Abyssal Harvester

There are worst things than death - these ones prove it.

— Uthen, Dwarven Adventurer

Abyssal Harvesters are fragments of the Abyss, the home plane of the chaotic demonic hordes, given shape and hungry sentience. In the Old World, when there were stars in the sky and the Gods were still powerful, the soul of evil mortals rains down into Abyss or the Nine Hells like so much screaming hail. There, they became larvae, proto-demons that were herded by their millions to grow, be consumed, or traded for the raw stuff of their souls. Then, the End of All Things happened, and the Abyss was blasted apart, it's infinity shattered forever. Now, the Harvesters are the only way left for demons to create these larvae and restore their numbers, feeding on living beings to transform their souls.

Description

Massive, lumbering beasts of bloated, chruning flesh and wiggling tentacles, no two Abyssal Harvesters are exactly the same save for their general shape. All are dominated by an enormous maw at the top of their bodies, crowned by feeding tentacles, and another four to sixteen tentacles of varying size around their base. Though the tentacles are powerful and allows the Harvesters to manipulate things (usually shoving prey into their gullet), they are immobile. From there, the Harvesters appearance gretly depend on what Abyssal Layer they were spawned from. Their flesh ranges from rough to rubbery, covered in scales or sprouting tufts of fur, to hosting masses of blinking eyes. The typical Harvester, if such a thing exists, is a sprawling mass of horror that measure between five to ten meters in size.

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The Harvesters are created by other demons for the purpose of transforming souls into abyssal larvae by swallowing them hole, transporting them into a personal, private hell within the bulk of Harvester. Prey are swallowed hole and must be alive when consumed for the process to work, though the Harvesters are if anything vorocious and will swallow anything (or anyone) presented to them.
Although the space within the Harvester is much greater than their already impressive size would suggest, Harvesters are still limited to prey they can reasonably consume, though 'reasonably' is a relative concept among Demons. Some Harvesters can unhinge their maw to frightening degrees and have been known to swallow even giants whole.

Once a victim has been consumed, they are slowly transformed with the fleshy womb of the Harvester by a combination of mutagenic acids and warping magic. The time depends more on the strength of the victim's soul - something notoriously difficult to measure - than physical size, and many harvesters bloat from trying to hold as many victims as possible to make the most of the process. Anything with a soul is a possible victim of the Harvesters, and it has lead to some strange new forms of demons from consuming victims whose soul would previously have been forever denied the Abyss.

In The World

Without any sort of afterlife remaining after the End of All Things, demons found themselves lost and adrift when it came to their usual existence which had suddenly gotten much more difficult. Without the Harvesters, Demons - once infinite beyond number in terrifying hordes - might well face extinction. It is a fact not lost on the rest of Ithekshem, making the Harvesters high priority targets for pretty much everyone who know of them, and the demons guard them fiercely. Possible annihilation hasn't been enough to temper the demons inherently chaotic and quarrelsome nature, and with no Demon Lords in place to keep them in line, Demons might still kill each other off.
Abyssal Harvesters, while fierce and dangerous combatants, are kept well hidden by the demons who possess them, usually deep within demon-held territory. They are treated more like beasts of burden or animals than proper demon, the need to keep them around rankling many demons who would much rather just rampage wildly.

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Fungi From Yoloth

Harvesters from the Abyssal layer of Yoloth, a place of fecund blasphemy and wet sloppy mushrooms, are uniformly creatures of moist, sponge-like flesh that is riddled with growths of mushrooms and patches of mushroom. Many are have shrouded by a haze of spores, sometimes used to subdue - or more likely for demons, rile up - prey.

The Harvesters are a goldmine of magical components. As such concentrated forces of the Abyss, they are useful in any number of unpleasant spells, usually involving creation, cross-breeding, transmuting bodies or souls, or chaotic destruction.

Rescue

It is possible to save a soul that is inside a Harvester before the process is complete by splitting open the demon. Their fate depends on how long they've been inside the Harvester, with many emerging in states of semi-transformation that make them wish they'd just been dead all along.
Fish-Demon-Thing Harvesters from submerged Abyssal Layers, such as the Seas of Sin or Ocean of Woe, combine elements of aquatic and amphibious species into a jumbled whole. A frog-like maw lined with barracuda teeth might adorn one, while others resemble beached, angry whales. Tentacles with suckers or hooks are common, and are particularly dangerous in combat.

by Rock Cafe.info