Demon Race

Biodata

History

The Demon Race split off from the Human Race and Beastfolk. After a long struggle over the Ten-Thousand-Blade Plateau, those three races were the only ones remaining in the area 37 40.

Some of the race’s ancestors were mixed-blood groups who separated from the Human Race and Beastfolk. Survivors of experiments on the Basket-Tailed Snake Species had settled on Lantiao Continent and joined the Beastfolk’s main lineage; their descendants later led mixed-blood Beastfolk in forming the Demon Race and migrating to Moonfall Continent 57 252.

More than 150 years before the story’s present, the three races signed the Wunu River Treaty beside the Wunu Embankment. The agreement ended their frequent struggles for control of the plateau and began a period of peaceful development on Moonfall Continent 39.

The Demon Race later incorporated intelligent freshwater species excluded from the Sea Race’s invasion of the land. Despite its diverse composition and internal factional struggles, a shared enemy in the Beastfolk helped its members maintain a common Demon Race identity 129 288.

Territory

Qiongfang’s city wall houses a protective barrier that keeps its interior at a steady temperature despite the mountain blizzards. Individual sections of the barrier can be switched off manually 40 43.

The mountain range also contains numerous smaller, well-hidden Demon Race settlements, as well as Jiqu’s residence and concealed research facilities. Qiongfang remained an important stronghold after the earlier war, but was destroyed during the Insect Mother’s later attack 216 377.

Society and Culture

• Hierarchy: Demon Race society places great importance on martial strength and has an exceptionally strict hierarchy. Resources and intelligence are concentrated among the upper classes, while commoners are expected to carry out decisions without understanding them in depth 40.
• Nobility: Upper nobles live on Qiongfang’s mountainside, separated by two social strata from lower-city commoners. Seating at a noble assembly also visibly reflects rank 44 46.
• Poverty: Homeless demons shelter in gaps between Qiongfang’s buildings and beneath bridges. The city’s concentration of resources leaves many wanderers at the bottom of society 42.
• Night patrol: Some descendants of nobility serve in Qiongfang’s night patrol, an easier assignment than regular duty on the walls 42.
• Cannibalism: A belief that “you are what you eat” developed alongside the nobility system over more than 500 years. Three noble patrolmen killed eighteen homeless demon children for food and brought their bodies to other young nobles 42 43.

Appearance and Clans

Demon Race members can have animal features. The race includes numerous Fox Clans; Xu Xiao, a fox woman encountered in Chen City, had fox ears 37. Other demons in Qiongfang include a tiger-eared noble and a household guard with black down on his cheeks 40 44.

Some demons have wings or features associated with other animal lineages. The race’s composition is varied, including descendants of mixed-blood Beastfolk and intelligent freshwater species 129 252 277.

Military and Cultivation

The Demon Race values martial strength, and its upper nobility have Heaven Realm experts. The E’er family, a prominent viscount family, has at least five Profound Realm powerhouses 40 46.

Qiongfang maintains regular troops on its walls, a city defense force and a night patrol. When Lou Shisui arrived, he judged the forces stationed there to be greater than necessary for the city’s defense, leading him to suspect preparations for an attack on the two races downstream 40 42.

The race also possesses Earth Realm fighters, numerous Heaven Realm experts and at least one Heaven-Controlling Realm expert, Jiqu. Its Undying Legion uses the results of its biological research in warfare and has inflicted heavy casualties on Human Race armies 66 206 271 285 286.

Biological research

The Demon Race favors bionic technology and biological modification. Its military equipment includes warships with flexible tentacles, while its laboratories develop modified test subjects 121 150 152.

• Undying Cells: Jiqu’s own cells, taken from a branch-like tentacle, served as the prototype. The cells were studied in Demon Race laboratories and used in experiments on subjects including Miao Xingyu 251.
• Wanren Laboratory: A project tested whether members of other races could be controlled by implanting Undying Cells. The Demon Race captured Yuwen Family descendants for their Blood Lotus healing talent and fused nearly fifteen children with the cells; Li Nai’an was the only one still alive 359.
• Shahai Laboratory: A concealed facility near Shahai City’s harbor studied Undying Cells and the Beastfolk’s Eye of Madness. Shisui entered and looted it during the attack on the city 273 275.
• Soul modification: The Demon Race sought Soul Modification Technology, an area of knowledge that the Sea Race believed its physical-modification research lacked 271 303.

Relations and Organizations

• Human Race — A fellow signatory of the Wunu River Treaty. A human delegation travels to Qiongfang for the Three Races conference, while human spies also operate in the city 39 45 47. After fighting over Huaihuang Continent, the two races temporarily allied against the Sea Race; distrust and Demon Race attacks elsewhere led the Human Race to end cooperation, and the Demon Race later invaded Human Race forces on Huaihuang 145 288 293 370.
• Beastfolk — The third race party to the treaty and the conference 37 39 49. The races have longstanding grievances, although evidence found at Shahai Laboratory suggested that some Beastfolk factions had secretly cooperated with the Demon Race. Their leaderships declared all-out war after a confrontation at the Spirit Resonance River 271 288.
• Sea Race — An enemy against which the Demon Race and Human Race temporarily cooperated. The Demon Race later attacked Sea Race cities and forces around Ringwater Continent; its offensive stalled after a Sea Race counterattack 145 324 329 336.
• Insect Race — Joined the Beastfolk offensive against the Demon Race. After a later missile strike, the Insect Mother retaliated with a swarm that devastated Qiongfang and the mountain garrison 272 376 377.
• Red Crane Orchid — A Demon Race rebel organization opposed to the upper echelons. Its members deny private dealings with the Human Race and regard collusion with another race as contrary to their purpose 45 46.
• E’er family — A prominent viscount family whose member E’er Kai reports on internal Demon Race meetings after Shisui places him under toxin control 46.
• Moluogelo family — Grand Duke Moluogelo rules Qiongfang City and commands its forces; his son Moluoke is a Heaven Realm expert 64.

Story Role

Qiongfang security crisis

Shisui entered Qiongfang with a Youhe Trading Company caravan and used a delivery job to gain access to noble residences. He later infiltrated the city wall and unleashed a spatial slash that damaged it and triggered its defenses 40 43.

The breach prompted a security review, gate checks and a census. After Shisui destroyed Youhe’s Qiongfang branch and left a Red Crane Orchid badge behind, nobles intensified their investigations. Soldiers arrested lower-city families on fabricated charges, deepening resentment toward the upper class 44 45 46.

A protest by civilians and wanderers was branded a rebellion, and its participants were rounded up. Qiongfang subsequently came under martial law 47.

Three Races conference

The Three Races’ Friendly Communication and Exchange Conference and Youth Sparring Tournament is held in Demon Race territory. It includes meetings and sparring matches, generally with ten official contestants and two substitutes from each race 39 49.

E’er Kai reported that the Embracing Moon Peak spirit treasure would mature during the assembly and that the other races had likely noticed signs of it. Shisui suspected the Demon Race was deliberately drawing their attention and stirring unrest to conceal a greater objective; this remained his inference 46.

After the human delegation arrived, its leader announced that Tan Anqing had been killed by Eight-Tailed Owl and suspected the criminal had Demon Race ties. Shisui then bombed targets across Qiongfang, adding to the unrest and forcing the city defense forces to search for the attackers 47 49 50.

Shisui also left Red Crane Orchid badges at attacked strongholds, encouraging conflict among the rebels, the Human Race and the Beastfolk. During the tournament, he controlled the Demon Race contestants E’erbo and Tangtai Nuote, as well as the human Lin Shunan, to cause further chaos 51 58 59.

Demon Race regulars subsequently entered the fighting in Qiongfang and deliberately intensified the unrest. Human intelligence concluded that the fighting was tying down rival forces while the Demon Race moved toward the mountain pass leading to Huaihuang Continent. Grand Duke Moluogelo ordered the operation at the pass to begin 64.

Wars and shifting alliances

Shisui later disguised himself as a Demon Race test subject and used Bixu’s death to encourage the Sea Race’s Third Prince faction to suspect Demon Race interference in Mao City. Separately, Arakawa Jiushu planned to frame the Demon Race for political intrigue within the Sea Race 122 142.

Fighting on the Huaihuang front paused when the Human Race and Demon Race agreed to a temporary alliance against the Sea Race. Their fleets fought together near Ringwater Continent, though the Demon Race remained wary of its allies 145 150 152.

Shisui’s destruction of a Beastfolk settlement helped draw a Demon Race investigation team into a confrontation with a Beastfolk fleet at the Spirit Resonance River. The team destroyed the fleet and its three Heaven Realm defenders, after which the Demon Race and Beastfolk declared all-out war. Beastfolk and Insect Race forces then attacked Shahai City 269 270 271 272.

After sensing that his Undying Cells were being devoured, Jiqu mobilized a large part of the Demon Race to investigate. Demon Race attacks on Beastfolk and mixed settlements alarmed the Human Race, which ended its cooperation. Demon Race forces later assaulted the Human Race’s Layered Peaks City, while Shisui destroyed Shahai City 285 286 288 293 294 302.

The Demon Race continued fighting the Sea Race, cutting off supplies to its forces on Ringwater Continent and bombarding a Sea Race city. Jiqu refused the Dragon King’s request to cooperate against the Planetary Will; after Crown Prince Yuanli visited Demon Race territory and was killed, the Dragon King threatened retaliation against Demon Race territories 329 336 338 340.

Later attacks

The Demon Race later entered another conflict with the Human Race, initially targeting its forces on Huaihuang Continent. After a Demon Race missile strike provoked the Insect Mother, the race sought peace and arrested the officer responsible, but her killer wasps attacked nonetheless. Jiqu sent an avalanche against the swarm; the attack nevertheless destroyed Qiongfang City and devastated the mountain garrison, leaving the race facing a possible survival crisis 370 376 377.