Damuck

Damuck is the Demon homeland.

The Demon race split into five bands, each of which has its own territory, skills, and duties. The capital, Lehfrie, is a large market where all the bands meet and trade. It is also one of the commercial capitals of the worlds, with merchants and tourists from all countries visiting its famous bargains, attractions, and casinos.

In the centre is Habooth, a large inverse volcano which slowly fills up during Tox and empties during Ottom. Habooth (also known as Haboothah) is inhabited by a large tribe of Unholy Fire Orcs, who worship Effle and have the ability to breathe while under-lava.

Demons have their own native names for everything, though they are just as quick to use the outsider nicknames. As an example, Demons rarely refer to themselves as Demons, preferring to call their race "Underlings". For ease of understanding, outsider names will be used, with Demon (Underling) terms included in brackets.

Bands

Blademasters (Amon)

The Blademasters are the most feared of the Demon Bands, with the world's finest assassins and bounty hunters coming from their ranks. Underling Law prohibits murdering another Demon, but any non-natives visiting Damuck are fair game. Non-Demons are advised to avoid angering anyone who can afford, knows, or possibly could be a Blademaster.

Prospective assassins from all over the world come to be trained by the Blademasters, but their criteria for non-Demon students are notoriously complex and terrifying. Very few survive the admission process, let alone the courses.

It should be noted that within the Blademasters (as with all five of the bands) assassins are the best-known profession within the area, but only a small percentage of Demons from the region actually work full-time in that job. As most in the region will have some basic knowledge on the sbuject, "Amon" or "Blademasters" is used to refer to everyone in the region - those who are constantly employed as assassins are known as the Berith.

Card-Sharp (Asmodai)

The Card-Sharp are banned from casinos in every other country in the world, so it's rare to find them travelling far from Damuck. Underling Law forbids getting caught cheating, and any Card-Sharp who breaks the law quickly finds themselves expelled from the Band.

Every Card-Sharp child is taught from birth a huge number of non-magical card tricks, and an even larger number of ways to cheat at each and every card-game in the world. People go to Card-Sharp casinos not in hope of winning money, but simply to see the masters at work: many casinos in Damuck have stopped bets on individual games, and simply charge an fee for entry.

Fingersmiths (Oeillet)

The Fingersmiths are the world's best pick-pockets: Underling Law forbids being caught stealing, so a large part of the economy revolves around businesses hiring out thieves and pickpockets. It's only illegal if they get caught, and some prestigious thief-hire companies have been around for decades.

Silver-Tongued (Pythius)

The Silved-Tongued are alternately salesmen and con artists. The salesmen will offer spectacular deals on items and services you don't necessarily want, and the con artists will steal your money and leave you with nothing. There are entire businesses that revolve around helping you tell the difference; unfortunately, it's equally difficult to tell them apart from con artists.

Skimmers (Mammon)

The Skimmers are renowned for two things: their acrobatic abilities, and their managerial skills. Every year, an election is held as to who should be in charge of maintaining Underling Law. While it's universally known and accepted that the Skimmers rig the vote each year, it's equally ignored, because no one else wants the job and the Skimmers are quite good at it.

Their name comes from either the fact that they live on the far side of Habooth, and have to skim across the lava to get to Lehfrie during Tox, or the fact that all other Underling tribes have to pay them 10% of their profits in return for their managerial talents. (known as "The Skim".)