There are many horrors of the world of Caelereth, one of the most horrifying is the Téi'Hái. One can recall the most unspeakable phantoms in the darkest reaches of their mind, and perhaps, it will measure up to the horror of the Téi'Hái. From the darkest regions of the Netherworlds, the Téi'Hái holds no shape initially, instead twisting an open vessel until it suits the demon’s needs. A corpse must be placed in the summoning area by the summoner in order for the Téi'Hái to arrive properly. Once summoned the Téi'Hái will occupy the corpse, and will warp it into a hellish body, capable of holding the Téi'Hái’s vicious spirit. The carcass will become a demon of horror, cunning, and strength, into a beast of the worst nightmares, and it will be real.

Picture description. A towering bulk of terror: The Téi-Hái Demon, the "Magic Bane". Image drawn by Seeker.

Appearance. The actual physical appearance of demons are extremely difficult to pin down. The knowledge that has been gathered explaing the appearance of the Téi'Hái ha come from a variety of a sources, journals of long dead scholars and mages, myths, and records. The elves, the most ancient race of the world, and their records, proved invaluable in gaining hard facts on the demon. Even with the help of their fair folk however, finding the description needed for this entry was very difficult. We at the Compendium however, believe we have succeeded in providing a concrete definition for the Téi'Hái.

Outside of the Netherworlds, the Téi'Hái has no true physical form. The Téi'Hái is not summoned like the other demons, they have no body when they make the voyage from the Netherworlds to ours, whether the Téi’Hái even has a body in the Netherworlds is unknown, but they lack one when the voyage from the Netherworlds to our world is made. In order for the demon to take form, a host, an empty body, must be provided before the summoning. The person must be dead, otherwise the Téi'Hái will be unable to become accommodated to the body, and will quite literally, tear itself apart. Once the corpse is provided and the summoning invoked, the spirit makes the crossing between the two worlds, and takes control of the corpse. After that, a very gruesome and horrific transformation will take place. The bones will crack, the blood will boil, the eyes will burst, and the skin will stretch and rip. The size of the corpse will increase, the hands will become dreadful claws, the skin will dry out, and the eye sockets of the corpse will become filled with an entrancing purple light. The corpse will become the Téi'Hái, and become a beast of pure terror.

The physical form of the Téi'Hái reaches well over three and half peds tall, far larger then any man or elf. It is an entire ped from shoulder to shoulder, and the Téi'Hái carries just as much muscle as the worst ogre. Its mere size inspires fear in all who gaze upon this demon, and who are then taken from this world by the beast. The skin of the demon is a sick looking yellow, almost unnaturally so, gazing simply upon the retched skin will make one nauseous, and lightheaded. The Téi'Hái’s mouth is filled with dozens of jagged teeth, capable of destroying anything placed in its mouth, clothes, flesh, bones, whole carcasses of animals have been said to been eaten by the beast, with nothing left, no flesh, no bone, no marrow, all was eaten. The Téi'Hái have incredibly strong fingers, with razor sharp nails reaching up to a palmspan long, and using merely its hands, the Téi'Hái has been said to crush the armour encased head of an orc, by a simple squeeze.

The Téi'Hái has a very narrow nose separating the eyes. it has been said that the nose itself looks like a miniature snout for a hog, and that it would be comical, if not for the horror of the demon it is placed on. Despite its size, the nose of the demon can sniff out most of its prey, and is its main tool in hunting for food. The veins of demon are entirely visible, as they pulse with a deep blue colour, it has been said by demonologists that the blue colour is its blood, but no one has had the courage to find out for themselves. From the head of the Téi'Hái to its lower back, two spikes leaning to the side erupt every twelve fingernail widths, making its back just as deadly as its front.

Then of course, there are the eyes of the demon. The eyes of the demon have been considered the worst feature of all the horrors it possesses. They are close together, and blaze with a purple light, there are no pupils, just pure light. It is said that if you get close enough to look into the eyes of the demon, you will find a madness deep inside them, and that you will begin to lose your mind as the horrors of the Netherworlds are explained to you via the eyes of this creature, your grip upon reality will be lost, and you will be lost to the world. Although such an accusation sounds foolish, this is widely believed, for once a very promising Ximaxian mage was said to have run into a Téi'Hái, and gazed into the demon’s eyes. He managed to escape the demon, carrying devastating physical injuries which were taken care of as best as possible by clerics, but, the mind of the mage, was forever lost. When seen by his old teachers and colleagues, they confirmed that he was indeed mad, one such colleague wrote in his journal:

The journal was found in the Ximaxian Library, although how it landed there is beyond us. Oddly though, while the journal would state the day, and the month, the year was left out in every page. We can guess that the author kept it for himself, and knew what year he wrote a passage in. This means that we are not sure when the mage mentioned in the journal was found, so we are unable to look for more details on the mage. We can only suspect that the mage did indeed run into a Téi'Hái, as it has been mentioned in several myths that the eyes of the demon can indeed cause madness.

Special Abilities. The Téi'Hái can be a deadly killer without any special abilities, few things cannot be torn apart by the claws of the demon, and none can withstand the razors that rest in the maw of the demon. To many, the main danger of the Téi'Hái is obvious from its appearance, but they are wrong. There are the obvious dangers, the strength, the claws, the teeth, but the Téi'Hái’ has more available to hunt down and murder its prey. The Téi’Hái possesses a cunning that does not seem to fit its appearance as a demon of pure strength, but the reality is far worse. The Téi'Hái is a calculating demon, not simply chasing after its prey, but leading them into corners and traps, it may not possess the intelligence of a man, but it has an animalistic cunning that makes it just as deadly.

The cunning is not the only ability that makes the demon a horror, its spit allows it to take out its prey at a distance, without having to outrun it to get in close. The spit is formed as an extremely strong aceed, but whether it takes fully aceedic affect when leaving the belly or if the Téi'Hái is simply immune to it is not known, but one fact is known, the aceed spit is not to escape predators, it is to kill its prey. The Téi'Hái is deadly accurate with the aceed, and it is capital of melting the armour off a knight, and then the knight himself. If the spit is formed by what the Téi’Hái eats, or naturally, is not known, but what is known is that no shield is going to save you from this aceed more then once… if at all.

The Téi'Hái is known as the “Magic Bane”, because of numerous old legends and myths about the demon. They claim that the demon lacks any magical aura, any cár’áll at all[1]. Without the cár’áll the Téi'Hái is immune to nearly all forms of magic, as its links can be altered. Even if face against the fabled xeuá and ecuá mages, the Téi'Hái would be impervious to their magics. With no magical aura, the demon becomes the bane of mages, and with its cunning and strength against those that dare challenge it face to face, the demon becomes the bane of all life.

Although a far fetched idea, this is widely believed because the mage Geta Siiken, the main researcher on the Téi'Hái and the chasm demon, wrote in his notes that his spells had no effect on the demon. There is also the legend of a group of mages sent to investigate disappearing game in a nearby forest. The surviving mage reported that they had found a creature as that looked much like a Téi'Hái, and that when it was alerted to their presence, it began to attack. The mages had retaliated, but they were incapable of any spells against the demon. All but one of the group, the lone survivor, were tore limb from limb, and unfortunately, bodies were never recovered.

Territory. Naturally, as a demon, the Téi'Hái is drawn from the Netherworlds via a summoning by a powerful mage. In the world of Caelereth however, the Téi'Hái have no official territory. There are so few in existence it is difficult to find the regions where they are mostly concentrated[2]. It is believed by many that the Téi'Hái are nomadic, constantly moving and following the best sources for food, but this is contested by others. Others believe that the Téi'Hái make their territory in dark forests and swamps, which is quiet possible because of the few reports of ‘supposed’ sightings most were in such a dark place. There are also rumours that the Téi'Hái gather deep in the Mists of Osthemangar, due to its ‘connection’ with the Netherworlds. This however has not been confirmed, as few go deep into the Mists, and fewer leave it sane… or alive for that matter. There is however, a report from the explorer Marvan Swiftrook who ventured into the Mists and returned alive, for a time. After several other explorartions he was lost in the Mists, and, hopefully dead.[3]

I had gone deeper in the mists with my team, all of us were surprised we had encountered no danger yet. The Noq Vak’hol guide we had hired was an expert, and thanks to him we had eluded any dangerous creatures that we may have happened upon. Unfortunately today would change that. As I was scribbling down notes on ruins I had found (located amongst the other maps and notes) I saw a massive creature, as tall as a giant with sickening yellow skin and the most horrible eyes I had ever seen. It was feasting upon some twisted mass of flesh that seemed to be sizzling under some type of goo. The beast had spikes running down its back, and I swear I think it heard me, but it was too occupied with its meal. I snuck away, and with my team began to flee out of the mists, but the path seemed to twist and turn, and I realized we were lost...

Marvan survived the ordeal (all but two others in his team of twelve did not) he later died in the Mist, without any more reported sightings of a creature like this. However we can guess that the creature that he had seen was indeed a Téi'Hái, as the sickly yellow skin, spikes, and eyes seem to point to it. The goo that the creature it was eating was covered in could likely have been the aceedic spit of the Téi'Hái. As for it being ‘as tall as a giant’ we can only guess that this was exaggeration on Marvan’s part, along with the fact that the mist could have easily forced him to misjudge the size of the creature.

Habitat/Behaviour. No matter how dangerous or how cunning the Téi'Hái is, its focus in life is that of a feral beast. It will hunt, it will survive, and it will kill. When a Téi'Hái is wild, it keeps to the mindset of surviving, hunt and sleep, those are the functions it upholds, but, when it can, it will kill. If something crosses its path, it will kill it to simply kill. The Téi'Hái is a demon that was created for the sole purpose of slaughter, of killing. Ithas no emotion, only one function, and that is to raise as much destruction and chaos as possible, and the only way to do that, is too kill everything it can find. Téi'Hái are very feral, but they are not stupid creatures, as written before, they are very cunning. If by some miracle you somehow capture a Téi'Hái, make no mistake, it is not beaten, it is trying to escape, and when it does, you will die.

The Téi'Hái is summoned in few circumstances, because, even though it is an extremely useful demon, it is very hard to control. No matter how long it has been employed, the Téi'Hái will never stop trying to break free. The demon will struggle against the spells that bind it nonstop, until, when for a split second the control against the demon wavers, the Téi'Hái will strike. This is why Téi'Hái are rarely summoned, they may increase ones power dramatically, but the consequence for a just a moment of lowering ones guard, is death. There may be times, when a Téi'Hái will stop struggling against its master, and appear to be submissive. If you do summon a Téi'Hái, and it begins to appear as if admitting that you control it, remember, it wants you to believe that. Just like how smaller animals play dead to run off predators, the Téi'Hái plays submissive so that its master will breathe easier, and lower his guard. The moment he does, the moment the cunning of the Téi'Hái pays off, it will move, it will strike, it will become wild, and it will slaughter.

Diet. The diet of the Téi'Hái is difficult to identify, as the demon never leaves any excrement behind in its wake, but, it is a fact that it does eat (see report from Alain Revar). It is believed that the Téi'Hái eats whatever it can get its hands on, whether that be, meat, fish, vegetables, flesh, blood, or even unorthodox things like bark, clothes, and armour[4]. It is not certain if the Téi'Hái will actually digest what it eats, considering it leaves no droppings behind. However, it is certain that it eats, and whether what is eaten is digested or simply vanishes is not for certain, but many believe the food[5] is digested, so that the Téi’Hái can make more of its aceedic spit. It is the belief among many demonologists and others who research the nature of this beast that the spit inside the demon simply dissolves whatever is eaten.

Despite the ability to eat anything it can lay its hands on, the Téi'Hái prefers a good Netherworld meal. The flesh and blood of any race usually suffices, although humans seem to be the ideal meal for the Téi'Hái[6].

Mating. The odds of two Téi'Hái mating are very low, nearly nonexistent. The Téi'Hái is an extremely solitary demon, if two demons of the same (or in some cases, different) sex meet, they will fight for the territory they are in. Then, there is the fact that there are so few Téi'Hái in Caelereth the odds of two Téi'Hái meeting are extremely low. However, if a male and female Téi'Hái do manage to meet and not kill each other, it is entirely possible for the two of them to mate and bear offspring. The more common way for a Téi'Hái to form is through summoning. A mage will place a corpse into the area of summoning, perform the ritual to summon the Téi'Hái, and from the depths of the Netherworlds, a spirit is forced to inhabit the body, and in a matter of seconds it undergoes a gruesome transformation from a simple corpse to the body of a Téi'Hái, a Magic Bane.

Origin. The Téi'Hái was first documented coming into the world of Caelereth by the demonologist Ynath of Strata. Ynath was a very ambitious man, but he had been banned from Ximax after an ‘unfortunate’ accident with several of his fellow students. After researching alone for over ten years, Ynath finally perfected his summoning and demonologist skills in order to summon the first Téi'Hái since the War of the Chosen, or ever for that matter! Ynath summoned his Téi'Hái after killing one of the local ‘rabble’ who hung near his house nearly every day shouting obscenities about him and his practices. The corpse of the man was then warped into the demon during the summoning process Ynath wrote in his journal soon after...

Ynath kept true to his first goal. The unnamed rival mage was murdered the day after the journal entry, the wall too his house appeared to have been broken through by a bear, and the corpse was almost unidentifiable, it was so mangled. The Téi'Hái granted Ynath much power, and the small town he lived in (himself being exiled from Strata several years earlier) indeed did bow to him, for a short time. The Téi'Hái did grant Ynath that power and control he wished, but Ynath was obsessed with conquering the world that ‘had cast him out’ it had weakened his mental ability, and he fell under the control of the demon soon after he had killed his rival. When his hold over the Téi'Hái broken, the demon ripped apart his master’s body, and most of the town after that, and fled into the night. Whether it died after that or if it is still out in the world, is not known, but, it does prove that the Téi'Hái is not a demon for the inexperienced to try and control.

Researchers. Most information provided on the Téi'Hái was provided in numerous notes and journal entries from the mage Geta Siiken, a notoriously strong magus many years ago who is known for the information he provided on the chasm demon. Siiken worked on the Téi'Hái deep in Ximax, under extremely powerful protection spells and secrecy. It is believed that even the archmages were not aware of the fact that Siiken was researching and experimenting upon the Téi'Hái until the notes were recovered. Siiken performed many experiments on the Téi'Hái, feeding it different sources of food, exposing it too many types of diseases, forced all types of physical pain upon the creature to learn about its weaknesses and resistances. As time goes on, the notes are found to grow more and more... extreme about the demon and its habits. We can only guess that this is because, as time went on, Siiken found himself slowly going mad at the constant time he spent with the demon there. Siiken did manage to put his notes into a book however, and it is said to be in the Ximaxian library, but it could not be found for some reason , this info coming from the notes we found in Siiken’s own personal summoning chamber where he kept the Téi'Hái. Meaning, there may be far worse things about this demon then we know. What happened after Siiken’s work in the Téi'Hái is unknown.

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Footnotes.

[1] I would like to apologize for description of cár’áll as I am not to familiar to magic. [back]
[2] That, and there are extreme few who would wish to study them. [back]
[3] If he did not die…his fate is too horrible for us to imagine. [back]
[4] Not sure if that’d pass through my digestive track. [back]
[5] I use that term loosely (see eating armour and bark). [back]
[6] Or perhaps we are simply easier to catch. [back]

26th Rising Sun 1670 a.S. Information provided by Tarquet Galbar and Agran Velion