Rain filters in through the ceiling, sliding along the support beams in just such a way it misses the numerous pots, pans, and cups scattered around the delipidated apartment and is readily sucked into the mouldy carpet. Which is then again immediately transferred to a new object: your sock. Your very next steps now all dotted with a wet squelch."Argh!" You cry, as you balance on one foot to pull the sock of the other, only for said wet sock to cozy up to the business end of the cigarette you had tucked between two fingers, providing a new, enticing after-taste to the familiar menthol as you unknowingly take a drag. "Huurhg!" It might've been a week or so since you had washed that sock. How had it come to this?Well, the demon king lost against The Seven Braves. A poor title for a bunch of delinquents that jumped a guy seven to one. They murdered their way deep into the demon capital, defeated all the bureaucrats present, and killed the ministers while shouting inane things like "Die Heavenly Generals!" They hadn't been generals and they certainly hadn't been heavenly.They were butchered all the same and all branches of government were eradicated over the span of a few days. After performing what amounts to genocide, the "Saintes" had the gall to clasp her still-bloody hands together, bat her eyelashes, and say things like "No, we can't kill them all, that would make us just like them!" And so the remaining demons, conveniently all of middle-rank and lower, were accepted as refugees into human society. What's that? You want to stay here in the demon lands? I see. Hmm? That demon from earlier? Oh, they fell into the river. Yes, lost all their limbs along the way. Wild, isn't it? Anyway, safety and a bright future awaits you in the human nation of Lightsong!A few decades have passed since then, demons were by and large limited to awful jobs that made little to no money. The timing of the demons' arrival had been amazingly convenient, just as human society was entering an industrial golden age that required a massive labour force. Truly, the stars aligned for humanity. The era of sword, shield, and spell has long since passed into history. Few still practice the ancient, magical arts, but demand has somewhat diminished now that you can barely chant out the first seven incantations of a spell before a newly arrived bullet in the brain informs you that you shouldn't bother with final three.
>>6322613You are one of the many downtrodden demons in the nation of Lightsong. A lesser-rank demon or devil like any other. Although the ability to grow in power and evolve into upper ranks still resides within you, very few demons indeed have managed to garner enough magical energy to support these advancements or procure the necessary reagents to make the rituals happen. The few that have, seemingly all encounter unfortunate accidents. Very strange. Although technically still possible to cultivate magical power like in the olden days, the human lands have abysmal mana density. These days most demons courageous enough to reach for power do so by exploiting other races in some fashion, though it requires some creativity to make the old vices and sins churn out demonic energy in these modern times. 1 - Path of Avarice - Grow in power by accumulating wealthYour magical prowess scales proportional to your wealth. This'll make it possible to gain power quickly, but you can lose it just as easily. You've got weekly bills to pay and those reagents for the advancement ritual won't pay for themselves. Start a business, do odd jobs, or maybe settle for a life of crime. 2 - Path of Vanity - Grow in power by becoming popular or famousYou're a nobody right now, but that's easy to change into this modern era. Though you demonic heritage may initially work against you when it comes to broad appeal, it does provide you with something unique in the human-dominated entertainment industry. Acting, song, or dance. Or maybe do it all to become a modern day idol. 3 - Path of Pitiful Bastard - Grow in power through your own misery There's no hope. The path of a pitiful bastard is one filled with despair, but this'll allow you to uniquely fail upwards. This path leans heavily on social connections with people that'll feel unnaturally compelled to help you. Paradoxically, you are source of boundless optimism. Misunderstandings in your favour, handouts galore, and people tearing up on your shoulder, though you're not sure why. 4 - Path of the Write In - Grow in power through....?Insert path here.
>>6322615>2 - Path of Vanity - Grow in power by becoming popular or famousBecoming an idol sounds pretty cool. Actually, the setting itself is an interesting take on the demon king trope. Excited to see where you'll take it, OP.
>>6322615>2 - Path of Vanity - Grow in power by becoming popular or famous
>>6322619>Actually, the setting itself is an interesting take on the demon king trope. Excited to see where you'll take it, OP.Thanks, I'm excited to work on it. I'll wait till we have like 5 votes before I call the vote and kick things off.
>>6322636May take a while to get 5, if you even will. /qst/ is slow. I'll post in the /qtg/ to maybe get more people to check out the quest.
>>6322640I'll leave it open for another half or hour so and if no other votes come in then we'll just go with what we have so far
>>6322615>2 - Path of Vanity - Grow in power by becoming popular or famousDemondol
>>6322615>Path of Vanity
>>6322619>>6322632>>6322664>>6322674Winner: Path of Vanity - Grow in power by becoming popular or famous
Note: In an effort keep the quest simple, we'll work with Xd6 rolls. Advantage and disadvantage means adding or subtracting from that roll. The dice we'll use is a d6 6 = Success4 - 5 = Partial success1 - 3 = FailureLet's say a check requires a 3d6, but you have advantage. Then you'll roll 4d6. Multiple 6s means critical success, stacking. Dunno if I'll stick with it for the long term, but we'll see. Stats:- Stress (Mental Fatigue)- Energy (Physical Fatigue)- Fame (Reward modifier)Skills:- Charm (Appearance)- Dance (Choreography)- Song (Vocal ability)- Social (Communication)Stats can be trained and have no upper limit, you get an extra dice in the respective skill rolls for each 5. If the base roll is 3d6, having a 10 would give you a 5d6 roll in that skill.
>>6322710Demonic Ascension:Lesser demons look young until they ascend to a greater form and they can influence what form they ascend into based on the ritual and the reagents used.
>>6322719An odd fusion of pride, lust, and envy. The Path of Vanity is all about being your best self, screwing over those who happen to be better (they don't deserve it), and having people worship the ground you've walked on possibly because they're a little too into feet. Your journey to stardom is right around the corner, but it might take a while considering you're a filthy degenerate addicted to every vice under the sun. But that's okay, because you're a demon. You're supposed to be the embodiment of sin. The soggy carpet of your waterlogged apartment is littered with half-empty beer-cans. Some of them have remnants of beer in them, others you repurposed as ashtrays. Guessing which is which is a fun game that you often lose. Despite its horrible state, rent is way up there. Your landlord is a human, of course. The right to own property is reserved for humans. They're called *human* rights for a reason, silly! But before we get into your finances (or lack thereof), we need to know who you are: 1 - LemureEven back in demonic society, your family wasn't much to write home about. It would've been a wasted effort anyway, since none could read. Downtrodden then, down trodden now. You are a grime-riddled, nervous, little wreck that's quick to apologize and easily taken advantage off. Your sole redeeming feature is your grit. You may yelp, stammer, and maybe even cry as you go about your tasks, but you do them. Fuelled by stress and anxiety, you are the grind personified. Perk: Till You Drop - You maximum stress is 150 instead of 100. >Charm: 0 >Dance: 0>Song: 0>Social: 02 - Former Demonic NobilitySupposedly, your family were nobles before the humans took over everything. Your grandfather was a particularly powerful demon.Which is why he was one of the first on the chopping block.Your parents never adjusted to their new financial situation and kept their lavish lifestyle going with loans. Your fond memories of cuddling with your parents behind the couch was actually you all hiding from the loan sharks.While you were initially running from your financial burdens as a family, you lost track of your parents one day when the loan sharks pounced. Split up, you've been living on your own ever since. Though now dirt poor, your upbringing remains. You try to keep clean and are polite as a noble should, but have sadly fallen victim to the vices of humanity to cope with your reality. >Charm: 10 >Dance: 0>Song: 0>Social: 5
>>63227223 - Lesser ImpA lot has changed in demonic society over the past few decades, a lot hasn't. Imps are still total brats. Completely self-serving without a shred of conscience, an imp will lie, cheat, manipulate, and tease to get what they want. This'll usually work out until it doesn't, but when it does you can just blame somebody else and move on. Sure, you've got a bit of a history. Maybe scammed some people here and there, but they had it coming. Perhaps sobbed and lamented your way into an easy meal. Again, not your fault! These people are all just way too gullible. >Charm: 5>Dance: 0>Song: 0>Social: 10
>>6322722>>1 - LemureThe girlfailures are in demand this decade.
>>6322722>1 - LemureWe just need to get on Lightsong's Got Talent and then we'll be set for life!That, and the perk is more valuable than stat bonii in the long run.
>>6322722>1 - Lemure
>>6322722>LemureMatches our squalor, explains our tolerance.
>>6322722The Lemure perk sounds cool, and zero to hero story is appealing as well, but in the end I'll go with>2 - Former Demonic Nobilityt. >>6322619 my id changes with almost every post, so yeah, hope you don't exclude 1pbtid from voting later down the line
>>6322722>LemureThe Bocchi coded option
>>6322722>2 - Former Demonic Nobility
5 x Lemure2 x Former Demonic NobilityWinner: LemureI'd normally (you) each reply for counting, but apparently that's spam>Error: Our system thinks your post is spam. Please reformat and try again.
>>6322793It does that sometimes, yeah. It's very inconsistent.
>>6322793It tags the post as spam if you reply to more than 6 people at once iirc. A measure for other boards' mass repliers that slightly damaged /qst/ as a collateral.It also sometimes triggers on other bullshit reasons, I heard Heretic Cultivator had trouble posting because it thought Chinese characters were spam.Care to make a trip or name btw? QMs usually take up one to make it apparent it's them posting.
>>6322793When a child is born, they are fostered and loved. Educated and guided. Told that they, as long as they work hard, can do anything. Accomplish any goal, aspire to any dream. Lemures are told the opposite. Well, not so much told as reminded. Being born as a Lemure means a life of eternal servitude. In demonic society, which adheres to a strict hierarchy, this means always working hard to ensure that your betters remain your betters. In return, you were fed and housed. A pretty good deal according to Lemures who received no education whatsoever, but were told by their superior that the deal they had was, in fact, a pretty good one. When humans took over it destroyed demonic society from top to bottom, but not the very bottom. People say that there's nowhere to go but up when you're at rock-bottom, but it turns out that isn't true. You can move laterally to a different area of rock-bottom. And that's what the Lemures did as they forcibly immigrated into human society. In a strange way, the destruction of demonic society was a boon for the Lemures. Not because they suddenly received things like education, gods no, but rather because now no other demons did either. They hadn't so much risen up in the world as everybody else had come down. However, turns out that demons, like humans, can make do as long as they have somebody beneath them to kick down on. Capable of bearing any suffering as long as they're warmed by the knowledge that somebody else has it worse. Even if all were equal under humanity's torment, the Lemures were still, somehow, less equal than others. One such Lemure is currently tucked away in the corner of her apartment. Her jacket, three sizes too large, covers her from neck to toe. Her hair is messy, her clothes are caked with dirt. Though the apartment has no heating nor electricity, the Lemure warrants no pity. As such luxuries are foreign to Lemures anyway. There she sits, her back pressed against the glass of the sole, tall window of her room as the few, lingering rays of the setting sun warm her back. >1 - Dirty blonde hair, blue eyes>2 - Purple hair, purple eyes>3 - Grey hair, red eyes>4 - Write-in (Feel free to mention other characteristics, too)
>>6322825>2 - Purple hair, purple eyes>Asymmetrical bangs>Flattish chest>Bags under eyes
>>6322825This vote is a bit open ended as it'll be my last udpate for today as it's getting late where I am. Will update again tomorrow.
>>6322825>dirty blonde hair, red eyes>scars on knees/elbows/hands/feet, anywhere that could reasonably touch the ground. Gained from scrounging and begging, doing odd-jobs in confined spaces, etc. Probably elsewhere too from some untreated beating or another, but those are the hotspots.>Bags under eyes>Tip of one horn broken off
>>6322825>2 - Purple hair, purple eyes
>>6322825+1 >>6322882
>>6322825>2 - Purple hair, purple eyes>Glasses with a thick black frame, taped together on the bridge and with a small crack on the right lense>Tip of one horn broken off>Bandaid on the same horn hiding a crack
>>6322825To sorta combine it all:>Bags under eyes>Tip of one horn broken off>Some scars>Purple hair, purple eyes
Glasses > bags
>opted to draw in black tape on the cracked horn rather than a bandage because medical supplies are expensiveAs mentioned above, lesser demons are similar in appearance to teenagers. Previously, they would more or less ascend into a full demon (young adult) at one point or another as ambient mana was abundant in the demon lands. The tradtional ascension ritual for Lemures was typically completed without expensive reagants, which meant they didn't gain any benefit from ascension outside of an adult form. Child labour is, of course, a terrible, horrific human rights violation, but luckily Lemures are demons and such protections don't apply to them. And since Lemures don't need to spend time on wasteful things like education, they can work from a young age. Since we've opted for the "Path of Vanity" aka the idol route, it wouldn't be uncommon for one to start their idol career as a teenager, so that's where we'll be starting. At the start of this quest the Lemure would still be a lesser demon and around her late teens. The final thing we need to decide upon is a first name. Surname are reserved for nobility in demonic society. >1 - Mirae>2 - Ryn>3 - Amiko>4 - Lilith>5 - Haruki>6 - Write-in
>>6323213Excellent work on the art QM, she looks like she deserves headpats>4 - Lilith>BUT>Humanized to Lily, because humans are marginally less cruel if you have a human name
>>6323214+1
>>6323214>>6323213Supporting to get the ball rolling.
>>6323213+1 >>6323214
>>6323214Winner: 4 - Lilith (Lily)
