Appearance. The Sephet is a demon kind that generally grows from 5 up to 12 peds in length. The body is described as that of a large snake with the upper body of what can be interpreted as a man-like creature. The strong muscled tail makes these creatures stand up to 3 peds in height. The skin are scales colored in a metallic mixture of greens and blues which makes the beasts extremely sturdy against all kinds of physical attacks.

Image description. A fully grown Sephet-demon, also known as the Matar-Sephet, waiting for an unsuspecting victim. Picture drawn by Seeker.

The back of the Sephet Demon has the skin fold like a cobra with a complicated pattern on it and has an array of glands on the inner and outer side that cover its skin with a poisonous fluid. The head of the Sephets are bald, with snakelike, multicolored eyes and a bony skull structure. The mouth hardly contains two dangerous teeth that make up most of their upper jaw. There are several variations of the Sephet demon known which are all different age levels of the same demon kind:

• The Sephet
  The smallest version of this demon. Standing it is as high as a man. They seemed mindcontrolled by their mother till they transform into its higher form and care for the nest and the protection of their mother.

• The Le-Sephet
  The Le-Sephet is the mobile variant of the Matar-Sephet. Already grown up in mind and power, these demons are smaller than the Matar-Sephet and still lack the final pair of arms and the tail might not have split, yet, however the rattles and tentacles are already fully developed. With adulthood the Sephet turns into this version, the back of the head breaks open and tentacles grow from the back of the head, a second pair of arms grows from under the first one and out of the large skin fold and rattles grow out of the tail. The transformation must be painful but obviously the Sephet are able to mutate that way and the old body becomes a second hull that once breaks open.
  
  The Le-Sephet seek out a new place to found their own nest, only seldomly they can stay with their mother and form an even bigger nest.

• The Matar-Sephet
  The fully grown Sephet-demon, also known as the Matar-Sephet, is the biggest of its kind. The bald head is covered by dozens of moving tentacles and the twin tail has the ends of a rattlesnake. Also the number of arms has increased from two to six. The Matar-Sephet is the largest and oldest of its kind and the most dangerous, physical and in its magical powers, however with growing age it turns rather immobile and slow in movement. This kind is the one known to lay eggs in a nest and give birth to dozens of lesser Sephets.

Special Abilities. The grown up Matar-Sephet has great mental powers and can cast terrible magic that can make opponents perish easily right away. Even without the magic the lesser Sephet make formidable enemies protected by their sturdy skin and a terrible contact poison that can weaken any foe that gets into contact with their wet skin.

The many glands on their back are mainly for this purpose. Their claws become deadly through this poison and there are also stories about Sephets bearing rudimentary twin-pikes or other weapons. The picture of the six-armed Matar-Sephet, every arm bearing a scimitar has become a famous legend.

The most dangerous weapon of a Sephet however is the poison of their teeth. The long teeth that replace most of the jawbone contain vast amounts of an even deadlier poison than the skin has for self-defense. With the tips of their teeth that stick out of the flesh and are responsible for the hissing sounds of their language they can spit their poison over a distance of up to 9, sometimes even 15, peds. Often aimed at the eyes of their foes the poison can have a paralyzing sometimes instantaneously lethal effect on their victims.

Territory. Coming from the Netherworlds the Sephet are nevertheless coldblooded and enjoy the warmth of warm wells, caves and volcanoes. They don’t seem to suffer much from heat and moisture however in extreme measure it can be rather harmful to them. Therefore elemental mages may have the best advantages when fighting these creatures.

A Matar-Sephet coming to Caelereth first will look for a good place to create its nest and then starts breeding. The surroundings are later defended and hunted by her daughters and can infest vast tunnel system with these deadly creatures.

Habitat/Behaviour. The first thing a Le-Sephet or Matar-Sephet would do in Caelereth is to build up a nest in a protected location and start to breed. After the first generation of daughters (all Sephet seem to be female) arrive they’re sent out to hunt for more food, care for the eggs and protect the nest. Breeding is considerable fast, it is guessed that a Sephet colony can grow up to several dozens individuals within two years, which is not much for a demon. Only few of them grow into Le-Sephet to leave the nest.

After a certain sector around the nest is secured and an abundant source of food is found, the Sephets can stay in this place for centuries. If the food source depletes the Matar-Sephet starts killing its children to compensate so a certain balance can exist and the Sephets might stay in the place till someone destroys the nest and kills the Matar-Sephet.

Summoning a lesser Sephet is a less dangerous act for a mage as these creature still seem of only minor intelligence and are easily controlled. The Le-Sephet and Matar-Sephet are far more intelligent and capable of dangerous spells and mental powers on their own so dealing with them often is about forming a pact or treaty otherwise the mage can easily end as the first meal of the summoned demon.

However, the Sephets are easily satisfied when a sufficient source of food is offered which is the main reason why so much research about this particular demon kind was possible. As long as the food lasts the Sephets don’t care much about anything else around them.

Diet. The Sephet supply from meat, fresh raw meat. If feeding and reproducing is the reason why they come to Caelereth in the first place is unknown, but a predominating occupation of a nest of Sephets becomes to hunt enough food for the breed. What kind of meat is in this respect highly irrelevant.

As these Sephet creatures don’t seem to be able to chew, they rip their victims into acceptable pieces and swallow them in a whole by dislocating their thin lower jaw. Terrifying is the fact that the Sephet like their meat to be fresh and sometimes keep their meals imprisoned for days - an unbelievable torture for the few that survive this imprisonment.

Mating. The legend tells that the Sephets mate in the swamps of the Netherworlds but how, when and why is unknown. It is only guessed that Matar-Sephets are capable of returning to these places and there breed their only generations of male Sephets to continue their kind. But all this is only speculation. None observing these creatures from the Netherworlds could ever prove it.

Myth/Lore. The Sephets hail like all demons from the Netherworlds, however, their first appearance is reported back in the War of the Chosen when they were part of the terrible armies of dark mages. The power of the Sephets is terrible and devastating and despite all attempts even a fed Matar-Sephet remains a chaotic creature so in the course of time these demons were banned to the Netherworlds again till the last nest was destroyed. Not necessarily the last - whether the sporadic appearance of new nests of Sephets in dark caverns or volcanoes are from one of the last remaining nests deep within the earth or by Sephets that escaped the Netherworlds is unknown...

Researchers. There are three researchers of the Sephets worth mentioning:

• Gambarish the Pale
  He was one of the first mages after the War of the Chosen who tried to discover more about this mythical demon kind. Well, he should have started with something less than a Matar-Sephet and it took months to get the demon out of his home.

• Malik the Sorcerer
  He secretly hosted a whole nest of Sephets in the southern Tandalas. Many journals tell in shocking detail about the habits and features of these demons, however, as was also reported with Gambarish the Pale, Malik perished when he was not able to supply food to the growing Sephet community which sooner or later found a way out of its prison…

• Ralik the Bald
  He was the only one who dealt with these demons only to find out how to kill them. He also tried to find a relationship to the mythical Psyrpents, the snakemen, but couldn’t find any proves. His researches ended when the bite of a Sephet nearly killed him - despite all possible defense spells and powerful antivenoms - and he remained paralyzed at parts of his body for the rest of his life.