L.G.D.K! Special – History of the Demon-folk

Author’s Note: Believe it or not, I am actually working on Chapter 9 right now. However… I just felt that I couldn’t go on without doing this. Especially since the Demon-folk aren’t going to make enough of an appearance anytime soon to put it into an actual chapter. Besides, I wanted an excuse to do another special.

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Two-thousand years ago, the two major powers were locked in a cold war. The now long-forgotten countries of Libertonia and Communistan eventually gave in and fired nuclear bombs across the world. Seventy-five percent of the population either died or were mutated in the fallout. The remaining twenty-five percent either made it inside of the bunkers or somehow survived the global bombing that changed the landscape. To this day, only a number of the mutated populace are still around. This is the story of the demon-folk.

The demon-folk are descendants of mutated humans who survived the final great war. Over time, their bodies began to show changes. Their eyes darkened to the point where they became black and horns grew on their heads. Not to mention their hair lightened to the point where it became white and they started to have black markings on their skin that resembled tribal tattoos. The only positive change from the radiation exposure other than still being humanoid were that their lifespans tripled. However, their longevity is still less than any of the elf species or even the dwarfs.

Overtime, they developed a new culture. Like the half-men, they were first separated into tribes. They were peaceful, but new problems had arisen as the demons started to make their own homes in the demon-folk’s territory. Around the time that the first residents started to leave Bunker 480 in what would later become the country of Ritme, a future leader of the demon-folk started a plan to fight back against the real demons. His name was Xar, a demon-folk who would later be revered as a man worse than the demons themselves. Xar had seen the suffering of his people as they tried to fend off the demons that either looked at the demon-folk as either livestock or existences lower than the dirt itself. He made his first move by killing the leader of his tribe in one-on-one combat for position as leader. After becoming leader, he chose to conquer another tribe. When that tribe refused assimilation into his own, Xar had the tribe slaughtered and piled the corpses as an example for those who defy him. The representatives of the next tribe where shown the pile of corpses and immediately agreed to the assimilation, losing their tribal identity and becoming members of Xar’s tribe.

Xar continued to wage wars with the other tribes of demon-folk until he had them all under his control. With his slave army known as Xar’s Legion, he started reclaiming the lands the demon-folk lost to the demons using the tactics lost centuries before the day the world changed. He even started his own empire, a nation that’s only known as Thanatos today as it’s first emperor. The vampires, the succubi, all of the demonic races feared that that the Empire would assimilate them.

Xar’s Legion hadn’t known defeat until new powers had arisen. In the west, humanity had started to reestablish itself with many new nations being formed. And to the deserts south of Xar’s lands, the Night Elves started to form the nation of Lethe. Finally to the east in the country of Styx, the first Devil King appeared. Like Xar had done with the demon-folk to form his empire, the Devil King gathered the demonic races under his own banner and started to form the Demon Realm. The biggest challenge, the one that had to be overcome the most out of all threats to the Demon Realm was Xar’s Legion.

A long and bloody war was fought between the Devil King’s army and Xar’s Legion. Neither side were able to give leeway in this war. Between the power and diversity of the Devil King’s army and Xar’s impregnable defensive tactics, it looked like the war would never end. But that’s when the unexpected happened, the first Hero appeared and shifted the scales in the Devil King’s favor by leading the Church’s holy army in battle against Xar’s Legion as the empire stood between them and the Devil King.

Xar knew that he couldn’t fight a war on two separate fronts. He sent emissaries to the human’s side, but only one returned. Humanity refused Xar’s request of an alliance against the Devil King’s army as they considered his people no different from the demons, thus gave birth to the name demon-folk. Not to long after, an emissary of the Devil King appeared in Xar’s court, with a proposal from the Devil King himself. The Devil King offered to protect the demon-folk in exchange for surrender. Xar sent the emissary away, demanding the the Devil King himself come to his court. Unexpectedly, the Devil King did arrive.

Xar himself could see the difference in power between himself and the Devil King. He was shaken to realize that he was the weaker between the two. The Devil King lauded Xar for his bravery in summoning him. For Xar’s bravery and the Devil King’s own respect for the emperor, he offered new terms of surrender. The demon-folk would not only be protected, but they would also be allowed to keep their identity when becoming citizens of the Demon Realm. And in turn, Xar’s Legion would be adopted into the Devil King’s army with Xar himself as one of the Devil King’s generals. Xar’s pride didn’t want to accept the terms, as he committed his atrocities in order to protect his people from the demons. All of the lives he had taken until now, would be in vain. However… his empire was about to fall regardless and he knew it. And the terms the Devil King offered were better than his own methods of assimilation, let alone the fact that the humans were ready to kill off every last one of the demon-folk.

Forced to abandon his own pride for the sake of his people, Xar bowed down before the Devil King and accepted the terms of surrender. Xar’s empire was dissolved and his mighty legion became part of the Devil King’s army. And with Xar’s tactics, the Church’s holy army were repelled. For Xar’s services to the Demon Realm, the Devil King gave him control of the lands that were once his empire.

Years after repelling the humans under the Devil King’s banner, Xar committed suicide to reclaim his personal honor. His name is well known in the history of the Demon Realm as the mighty emperor who bowed before the Devil King and became one of the first generals. However, his name is also remembered for his stratagems that were so strong that even the first Devil King had difficulties facing them. And in honor of the strongest enemy conquered, the forces of the Devil King’s army in Thanatos are named Xar’s Legion. Overall, Xar left his mark in the history of the Demon Realm. And even though his methods can be easily condemned, the demon-folk cannot look at him for the mass murderer he was. The ends justified the means, even if the ends were ugly.

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After Note: And that everyone is the history of the demon-folk. Originally they didn’t even have a history, they were there just to be there. I didn’t even plan on them being former humans until I got inspired by the Fallout series. As with the half-men, I needed to eventually give them some kind of back story. When I first wrote the personal glossary (which also went missing when I had to reprogram my PC), I wanted at least one country in the demon realm to be inspired by the Roman Empire. I needed something with a bloody history. However, I didn’t have a clue on which species to put in there. I already chose to name it Thanatos, after one of the rivers of hell (the countries in the Demon Realm are named after the rivers of hell). Eventually it hit me, I needed to get create more information on the demon-folk.

The main difference between Xar and the Ox King were the methods used to unite their peoples. Xar pretty much went Roman and assimilated all the other demon-folk tribes into a slave army while the Ox King went Laurence of Arabia and won over the other half-man tribes when uniting them. The only thing they had in common other than somehow uniting their peoples were the fact that they both gave up their pride to protect them. There is a few hundred years of difference between both Xar and the Ox King, so they never met.

I’m just glad that I finally posted something. And yes, I am taking time away from my Destiny addiction to write Chapter 9 of this story. But for now, read Chapter 87 of Tsuki ga Michibiku Isekai Douchuu, Reigo-senpai just recently translated it. You can also read “SCDK” by BakaGrappler, both chapters one and two are already out. I personally think it has potential as an original other world novel.

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