Exalted/Godbound: The Vastness of the Yozis, Part 4

The legend of the fallen Titans is a long, ongoing tale.

Lesser Key of Solomon by Davey Baker.

It's Not Actually About The Yozis

The thing that is easy to forget (even for me!) is that it's not about the Yozis as individuals because Yozis are not individuals. This was the major mistake which crept into Exalted especially over the course of second edition: treating the Yozis as if they were a singular epic-tier NPC. The Yozis are more important as a series of themes for their demons to embody, as outlined here.

As such it is important for Second and Third Circle demons to have their own mindset, agenda and personalities even if they are themselves part of a greater whole. These agendas and motivations can be as simple as being power-hungry villains who care not for the greater unity of the demon realm and who wish to drag down and debase Creation. These are hardly the majority (and arguably the most boring) but the classical all-evil Demon Lord is a viable archetype for Yozi component souls especially if those souls express a more destructive and selfish aspect of a certain Yozi. Malfeas and Isidoros in particular are prime origins for such openly destructive demons, with Malfeas representing this vainglorious aspect (mixed with his own self-loathing and thus self-destruction) befitting a 'dark lord' while Isidoros doesn't like to be bound and is likely to produce a singular, extremely powerful demon whose only reason to exist to break things, destroy, corrupt and self-indulge in his own grand design of self-expression, wanton destruction and hedonism.

Other Demons are much more team players: their goals, while possibly selfish (demons aren't know for their empathy and generosity, after all) tend to at least be more constructive. These aren't uncommon for demons whose purpose is one within the greater demon society. In a way, these are the merchant, politicians and priests of the demon race. What drives them is what make demonic society work because demons, as creatures of Essence, have very little of the need and desire which fuel human society.

Demonic Design and Appearance

When it come to the appearance of demons, it should always be weird first and foremost. The Yozis are the progenitor and architect of Creation and their design predate and inspired the various life form which are part of mundane reality. Take for example the most famous and basic Exalted demon, the Bood Ape. On one hand it's 'just' a monstrous blood-furred intelligent ape with some spikes. That's boring.

Meh. Not exotic enough.

To me, the name and description of 'Blood Ape' is mostly just a shorthand and moniker to describe these creatures. They shouldn't be and aren't just red furred apes with spikes. The name of 'ape' come from their general shape and basic design: big, hulking furry humanoids who walk on their knuckles. That should be the starting point to describe these horrors. Their fur is a constantly blood-soaked mess, in shades of red, copper or even black. Their faces are like a cross between men, lizards and a bulldog stretched in a vaguely simian shape with protruding, jagged tusks. They have spiky, almost Klingon-esque ridges on foreheads, shoulders, knuckles and forearms. Their bony spikes are a bizarre fusion of brass and bone. Something alone those lines. Something more like this:

Orangutan Creature by dongjunlu.

Of course, the rank of the demons are very much endless. However this redesign of the Blood Ape is a good starting point on what demons should look like: alien and more than just chimeric mishmash of animals and people (that is more of a Wyld mutation thing). They are beings of wild dream, untapped possibilities and paths of world design not taken mixed with the expression of each Yozi's nature. Their inorganic (or vaguely elemental) design elements also tie these defeated Primordials in design to both Gaia and Autochton, the two Primordials who were not imprisoned.

Shiny.

She Who Lives In Her Name, The Principle of Hierarchy

The first description ever of 'SWLIHN' is: "She Who Lives in Her Name is a fire surrounded by a crystal sphere. That fire whispers its name to the 100 fires that surround it, each in their own sphere. Each of those fires whispers its name to the 99,997 fires that whirl around the whole." SWLIHN is the creepy obsessive neat-freak of the Yozis, there's just no way around it. This comedic description belies just how terrifying it's theme (and thus progeny demons) are. She is a being of absolute order, hierarchy and stratification. If SWLIHN (or rather her demons) were in charge, reality would be an insanely orderly micromanaged hell. Fortunately, SWLIHN is not in charge.

SWLIHN and her demons are complicated (in spite of arguably trying to make the world more simple, in a way) and can be both the most useful of servants to summoners, eager to create something or participate in a project which would help foster order in Creation just as much as they could be terrifying enemies or diabolical masterminds attempting to engineer something which would make Orwell shit his pants. Order and hierarchy are, after all, neither inherently good or evil...not that Yozis even care or understand these concepts.

Associations of SWLIN

SWLIHN is perhaps second only to Autochton in terms of being seen as 'artificial': the demons which compose her act and think more like machines than any other demons, beings of alien logic and cold emotional voids. The intellect and attention to detail of these beings is staggering but also near impossible to grasp, with multi-layered thought process and a complex system of priorities when it come to enacting or enforcing order.

• Element: Flames, crystal, glass and any translucent substance.
• Materials: Glass, metal, crystalline substances and any rainbow-hued material.
• Architecture: Straight line and cubic rooms or round circular rooms. Geometric patterns. Symmetry.
• Crafts and Skills: Architecture, engineering and mathematics.
• Objects: Timepieces, hourglass, glass work, harps and sitar.
• Positive 'Emotions': A sense of perfection, order and knowledge of one's place in existence.
• Negative 'Emotions': In a sense, an absence of emotion to the point of being like a machine.

"..."

Adorjan, the Silent Wind

There is constant noise in the Demon City and for good reason: silence is the herald of Adorjan. Her body (beside her demons, of course) is that of silent and destructive winds which destroy all in their path whatever Adorjan feel like destroying on a whim. Of all the Yozis she's among the most eccentric and whimsical: qualities not one would like to associate with a living wind of destruction. In the end she'll destroy everything, leaving nothing but silence.

Associations of Adorjan

Madness, whimsy, movement and violence are the hallmarks of Adorjan and her progeny. These creatures are often among the most mobile and destructive of warriors in the ranks of hell's armies and a threat to both their enemies and allies alike. Slightly less destructive demons of Adorjan are still likely to be quite something to handle if they share even a portion of their mother's mad energy as most have a rather anarchic bent.

• Element: Wind.
• Materials: Ivory and dust.
• Architecture: Open spaces, roads and large plaza. Ruins. Constantly fluctuating temperatures.
• Locations: Large, wide and empty plains where the wind course freely.
• Crafts and Skills: Assassination, athleticism, archery and anything requiring frantic motions.
• Animals: Anything lithe and agile, such as insects, cheetah or hummingbirds.