ATaxonomyOfMadness/TaxonomyMadnessComments

Comments for ATaxonomyOfMadness

Don't mind me, just thought I'd repair the format and replace the "\\"s while I was adding a new Yozi. Anyway, cool list. You guys must have put a lot of effort into it. - Paranoia888

Cool; this looks like a useful project. I'm not 100% in agreement with your taxonomy, however. The four Lesser Winds are noted to be Adorjan's children by a mortal, which implies that they aren't among Adorjan's souls, and I'm pretty sure that the status of Szoreny (and its sister forests) as a Yozi, a Third Circle Demon, or simply as an artifact of the Malfean landscape, has never been made explicit. - Quendalon

Ah, I didn't catch that bit about the four winds. I have a strong impession that Szoreny is a Yozi, though the other two forests are not; I'll try and find you a pageref for that. For the time being, I've changed the heading on 'doubtful' creatures to "Other Beings" and made a note re: the daughters. Does anyone know the ancestry of the demons presented in the ST Companion? - FourWillowsWeeping

We don't know the ancestry of the demons in the ST companion; I think it's implied that the bisclavrets come from Mara and the anhules come from Sondok (or maybe the other way around), but it stops there, leaving Mara and Sondok without any canonical Third Circle masters. Also, aren't Isidoros, Kimbery, Oramus, Cytherea and Sacheverell explicitly named as Yozis? - Quendalon

I'm not sure about Isidoros; I'm tempted to read him as progeny of Szoreny. The others are definitely Yozis. (There should be what, 23 in there? Hmm... along with the other two living Primordials, that makes 25.) - FourWillowsWeeping

Upon re-reading the source material, it seems pretty clear to me that the passage indicates that Isidoros is a Yozi; the other two Yozis noted in the preceding and following sentences, Kimbery and Oramus, each hold the same place in the sentence structure as Isidoros. By the way, good call on the 25 Yozis. I'd never noticed that before. - Quendalon

Could the forests of the demon city be other souls of Malfeas himself? Maybe his third circle souls are all defining features of the landscape. I'm throwing this out as an idea not an interpertation of canon (and if I put this comment in the wrong place I'll be happy to move it.) ~Dalassa

That's an interesting idea, Dalassa. (By which I mean, I'd love to see some of your ideas for his third-circle souls written up in the Taxonomy. As it happens, all the souls other people have written are much more personlike than landscapelike.) - willows

Maybe it's just the mystic numerologist in me, but 25 sounds right. That 5 5s- And Five is the Sacred Exalted Number. :) - DariusSolluman

Well, yeah, that's the point.  :) - Quendalon

Yeah, it's possible that you could associate each Infernal Charm tree to a Yozi and its progeny, but that's a terrific amount of labor. We'll see. - FourWillowsWeeping

So... a new fetich, eh? An ambitious start, Darius.  :) So is this a fan project or a compilation; that is to say, are we trying to create a single comprehensive listing of demons, or simply assembling a listing of demons for readers to use or ignore for their own games? I favor the latter, and as a corrolary I believe that we should either leave out references to fetiches or else admit multiple fetiches for any given Yozi to the list. - Quendalon

A compilation - I'm not going to take a stand on the fetich issue, but I'd be quite happy even describing such creatures as Adrián, the Yozi that Adorjan was before her previous fetich died. Someone might find it useful or entertaining. - FourWillowsWeeping

To me, the Fetich is the most interesting of the Demons, short of the Yozi's themselves- they are the one's most likely to become involved the PC's story, because killing them has such a resounding potential impact on the setting. Further, as the literal core of the Yozi, they help to illustrate what aspects are most important to the Demon Prince itself. Although you're right- maybe direct reference to fetich-status should be left out... Mm. This requires thought.

And I thought this was both a fan project and a compilation myself.  :) - DariusSolluman

I particularly like the description for Jolenta, and the effects of the serpents' venom. But I must inquire: what is the nature and function of Ekrasios? - Quendalon

Thanks for the Ekrasios update, FWW. Nice entry with Aramedisae, Translucidity; it has a nice mythic feel to it. - Quendalon

If anyone has time and interest to spare, I could use some commentary on my demon contributions. I'm not sure about whether some are properly placed in the hierarchy, particularly Zinnridi and Thancharat; the former might be better suited to some other Yozi, and the latter might belong with another Yozi's Third Circle Demon, or might be Third Circle itself. - Quendalon

Zinnridi seems completely appropriate; Thancharat looks to me like the progeny of Orabilis or Makarios (or are those too obvious?). - FourWillowsWeeping

As always, FWW, you rock on toast; I envy your talent for weaving disparate ideas and images together into an unexpected whole. I particularly like Badr Basim's power. - Quendalon

Thanks! I just noticed the Naneke, who are really cool, and tied into the setting really well. Great work. (I hope you don't mind I stole the soul of one of your demons.) - FourWillowsWeeping

Thanks, Quendalon. I'm very impressed with what you and FWW are coming up with, too - with any luck, I'll be struck with something insightful to say or another demon to add soon. In the meantime, I have just the one query - wouldn't Clariandra be better suited as one of Cecelyne's souls, as she's the Yozi given care over the demons of the city? - Translucidity

Thanks for the good words, guys! FWW, you're welcome to poach my demons' souls as often as you like, so long as I get to return the favor.  :) Trans, you have a good point; I didn't think about Cecelyne's role when I wrote her up. Unfortunately I don't have my copy of GoD with me today so I can't finagle the details at this time. But I think Clariandra still works with Malfeas; Cecelyne sets forth the law of Malfeas, but that doesn't mean Cecelyne is always the one to enforce it, nor that every source of authority is in harmony with Cecelyne's law. But I've tweaked her description in any case, to clarify that she isn't *the* ruler, just *a* ruler. - Quendalon

Works for me ;) Besides, I suppose a certain amount of paradoxical contradictions and conflicts of authority is almost demanded by the nature of the Yozis...

Okay, Inchoal added. A brownie point to whoever guesses the inspiration behind Aramedisae and her souls first... Oh, and consider anything I've written fair play for soul-poaching. ;) - Translucidity

I dunno. Darkened hallways, disgusing parodies of children...what, is this Silent Hill or something? ^_^;; Mockery

What does Inchoal look like to someone who hasn't had children? - Quendalon

Description updated ;) I really should learn better than to write demons while half asleep. - Translucidity

Something occurs to me. If there were 25 Primordials, as seems likely, then there can't be 25 Yozis- because some of those Primordials got turned into Malfeans.

Who of the above still lives, do ya suppose? - DariusSolluman

The point isn't that there were 25 Primordials, but that 25 Yozis are alive today; the Malfeans are dead aspects of the world; they no longer exist in creation. Look at the Nobilist's collection of Excruciated Estates sometime for ideas. - FourWillowsWeeping

Ahh! Which, I suppose, answers where the Primordials of Computers and Driving have gotten off too.  ;) - DariusSolluman

As a general note, I think it would be a really good idea to not do the various genealogies all in italics, especially now that they each have their own pages. It's really hard on the eyes. I'm sure some other way could be worked out to mark canonical v. noncanonical... perhaps just italicize the names of noncanon demons?\\ _Ikselam

I concur, and have made such a change to my get of Kimbery's.\\

Also, I've changed the Progeny count to show by type, so it's easier to see who's lacking what. And finally, I've personally found that Russian and Czechian names have a Maelific ring, for those with baby naming books :) - DariusSolluman

I use names from a variety of cultures, just like Rebecca Borgstrom did. It turns out that pretty much every demon name in GoD can be found on Kate Monk's Onomastikon. By the way, is it necessary to track each Yozi's progeny count on two separate pages? - Quendalon

By the way, it just occured to me why brass figures so heavily in the descriptions of the Demon City; it's from the Arabic myth of the City of Brass. - Quendalon

Thari is an incredibly hot reference to Amber. Great idea! I'm so on making demons for that beast. - FourWillowsWeeping

Thanks for the compliment! I eagerly await the demons you're brewing up. - Quendalon

Mount Qaf! I knew those Batani bastards were Nephies! No one can pretend to be that good without being evil! ;) - DariusSolluman

Hey, Four Willows Weeping! I liked your summation of various Yozis in that RPG.net thread: Malfeas as Growth, Cecelyne as Space, She Who Lives In Her Name as Order, and the Ebon Dragon as Causality/Consequences. How would you sum up the essential nature of the other Yozis, insofar as we know them? Bonus points for doing the same for the new Yozis on theATaxonomyOfMadness/ATaxonomyOfMadness page! - Quendalon

My inspiration for the demon project has run dry. This makes me sad.  :( - Quendalon

): That's OK; I've been trying to feed off your ideas, maybe when I post some stuff you'll feel inspired again. I'll get to the other Yozis once I recover from my Internet-free Thanksgiving.

Okay, I've posted my one or two-word interpretations. Some of them are a little too obvious, some of them a little too obtuse. I'm particularly happy with Thari and Kimbery. - FourWillowsWeeping

Yay thanks! I think I will spin the interpretations off to their own page soon though; the main Taxonomy page is a bit cluttered and the interpretations could use their own comments page for discussion purposes, I'm thinking. - Quendalon

I'm actually going to take the opportunity to move lots of stuff off the page today. You're right, it's cluttered. Ew. - FWW

I need demons for my Exalted game this Thursday. If you've got any neat new demons brewing, please post them! I'd be ever so grateful. - Quendalon

Willows! It is time for... Definitions of Yozi Functions! - Quendalon

I don't usually remember much of my dreams, but I recall that one snippet of last night's dream involved a black filament twisting up into the sky. He Who Follows In His Wake has invaded my dreams! - Quendalon

Trying to edit down Thinker's descriptions of Nypion and Anhelios to make short forms for this page. - Raindoll

To whomever has been adding a bunch of new demons today: who are you? You haven't been appending your name to your entries. - Quendalon

That would be me. Sorry. Nero's Boot

All this stuff you've posted, NB, make yourself a page. Some have less. Many, really. - Telgar

If I can make a suggestion about Yggdrasil's souls: Ratatosk (messenger), Nidhogg (defining), Vidofnir (expressive), the Eagle (warden), the Four Deer (indulgent), Mimisbrunnr (wisdom), Uradarbrunnr (reflective), and Hrevergelmir (progenitive) - Glamourweaver

Also, NB, do us a favor, please, and format and sign your demon descriptions following the model set by the others. If you're adding demons to a Yozi that doesn't have its own page, you should split off a subpage. Maybe I'll do this later, but don't hold your breath. - willows

Sorry, didn't realize there was a secret handshake required before I could start posting. My bad. (Nero's Boot)

Added a new Yozi, this one stolen directly from Call of Cthulhu. Nero's Boot

Very cool. I think it's interesting how many moonlike entities people have written into Malfeas - thinker has one, Quendalon has Ululaya, the red liquid moon (a Second Circle of Kimbery?), you have this Yozi-moon... (Incidentally, the reason we ask people to sign their entries is basically so we know who to compliment.) - willows

Just added Autochthon; even though he's not a Yozi, he deserves his own page, full of fan-made souls. Nero's Boot

Yes, I am well aware Gaia is not a Yozi; however, she is a Primordial, and I feel her and ol' Autochthon belong on the Yozi page. Nero's Boot

Nice, it's good to have linkages to the other Creatures compendia. One last thing - we keep a progeny count at the top of the individual Yozi pages; when adding demons, it's nice to update the count as well. Don't worry too much about it just now, I'm going to run through and recheck the counts today anyways. Thanks for reformatting the other stuff; it looks great! - willows, who now has way more demons than he knows what to do with. Update: As of this posting, the progeny counts for all demons are correct.

Hey... just reading Outcastes again, and I find a reference to Eshemati, the Hundred-Eyed Shouter of Blasphemies, who has chosen Knowledge as her sphere of influence.
A quick wiki-search returns zero results, so is she missing completely from these pages? (You seem to have everyone else...) Unfortunately, no information is given about which yozi she's descended from, although the name implies a second or third circle at least. Pg 154, E:tO. Hope that helps a little -- Darloth

'S because this is pre-Outcastes and I don't own it. (: - willows

Ello, I've had my demons up for a while and realized I should probably throw them up here. Any objections to me putting up my yozi and stacks upon stacks of demons? - TheHoverpope

Eshemati is mentioned in the Dragon Blooded book as a servant of "She Who Lives in Her Name" and was freed by Bagrash Köl. So I'm treating him as a Seond Circle demon of her's. Also while I'm commenting- anyone noticed the connections with the Yozis and certain numbers.

13 for she who lives in her name seems to be 12 for Kimbery etc...

I'm sitting here with my dozens of demons, (actually, 71 + 7 yozi) thinking that I should add them to this except that many of them are fairly far out of canon, particularly the yozi. My question is this: given that my designs of many of these things are fairly out of the mainstream (see Cytherea vs. TheHoverpope/Cytheria, for example), should I try to fit them in, or should I just leave well enough alone and work on my own little hive? Does anyone care if my stuff doesn't quite fit in or takes over with my readings? - TheHoverpope