The unending servants of the Chained Gods. Each demon embodies their patron deity and seeks to fulfill their will. While the demons have their own intelligence, minds, and personality, they cannot ignore the commands of their god. As the Chained Gods are forever bound to Utopia, their demons must act as their hands to reap mortal souls and to destroy everything the Prime Gods created.
As the dimension of Utopia is closer to the physical realm than the Aether, the Chained are far easier to summon than angels of the Prime Gods. Bringing a demon onto the physical realm is also helped by the fact the summoner does not actually bring the demon down from Utopia, the demon possesses a host. A Chained possessing a host, willing or not, will form its body around the victim. The two become merged. The mortal body is very much alive, only the demon scraped out the soul within and placed its own essence inside. The demon’s essence inside the mortal body mutates it to form the body of the monster. The mortal flesh becomes a tether for the Chained. It is a clever and insidious way of working around the laws of the universe. Reality will fight to push a being from a higher plane of existence back to its home. It is why angels summoned have a limited time before they are forced back. Meanwhile, a Chained brought down can remain indefinitely. And what a terrible curse they are.
A Chained’s flesh by itself remains resistant to damage. Craetus has a greater effect, but is still weakened. But even if you burn every atom from their body, they will still fully regenerate, unless you break their chains. Every demon has at least one brass chain that goes into their chest before looping back to connect at the spine. These links are the demon’s tie to immortality. The more of these chains a demon has, the higher the rank of the fiend. Only after breaking all of them will a demon’s regeneration stop and permanent damage be inflicted upon them. However, these links require extreme damage, or dragon iron to cut through them. Even if a demon is slain on the physical realm, it will merely appear once again in Utopia, leaving behind a lyshan crystal and the soulless corpse of the host. The Chained must be slain in Utopia or by a godbone weapon to be given final death.
Beyond their durability, each Chained will possess unique abilities based on the god they belong to. For example, the demons of Psyzarath can move at extreme speeds through darkness to the point they seem to be teleporting. In addition, every demon will emit a psychic field around, the radius and strength based on their rank. Such a field is debilitating to even the strongest-willed individuals. An example of this is if an individual came within range of a Chained of Fastuk, the Chained God of Gluttony. The human would feel as if a thousand locusts were devouring their body. The only sure-fire protection against such a field is to be in contact with dragon iron.
Chained Ranks
Cursed Beasts
The lowest of the low amongst the Chained. They are either demons that have displeased their masters in some way, or useful mortals that have died and have been transformed once their souls reached Utopia. A cursed beast is the highest position a mortal could possibly achieve, as all mortals are despised as playthings of the Prime Gods. Still, it is of infinitely higher status than the legions of damned souls that are tortured or consumed entirely. Cursed beasts barely have functioning minds and only a sliver of personality remaining. They have no chains of immortality, but they can still rip through a regular mortal in seconds.
Once-Chained
The weakest of the demons, but do not be fooled. A Once-Chained is more than a match for even a metaphysical. They are often the leaders of small cults. They are considered disposable by the higher ranks.
Twice-Chained
The first rank of respect among the Chained. They will often be seen in command of several Once-Chained. They are the frontline troops of the demons, their strength allowing them to take on even demon slayers. They are the first rank that can use Chained magic.
Thrice-Chained
The lieutenants of the Chained. Seeing them on the mortal plane is rare, and is a sure sign of doom if spotted on a world. As the demons do not devote such a resource as a Thrice Chained lightly. Taking one down requires coordination and extreme skill by competent metaphysicals to bring one down, or extreme mundane firepower.
Heir to Forever
The strongest of all the Chained. They possess four chains that are practically indestructible to everything but dragon iron. Each Chained God has only two of these apocalyptic entities in their retinue. But a single Heir on a world can corrupt the entire planet with its malign influence. So rare is their summoning that if one is, likely an era-defining event is about to happen. All ten Heirs were present during the Gore War.