Melhed/History/Age of Betrayal/Daimon/Autopsy
Washing the blood from his hands, Aldo made a few quick notes in an open journal while the guards behind him watched over the fire.
Reports from the fields of battle across the continent reveal a wide varriety of nightmarish creatures that all fall under the name of daimon. Wether or not the various creatures are indeed related is uncertain, but they do exibit the cooperation usually only seen in monsters either way. Below is the autopsy results for each type of daimon as they are aquired, those traits that are similar in multiple strains will be listed first.
Common Features:
Interestingly most of the organs do not seem to exist under normal conditions, but instead only appear when an artefact is within close proximity. This was discovered when the workers first opened the organ cavity without my presence revealing a relatively large void. At first thought to be empty it was discovered when I came in holding the Scroll of Time that the voids actually hold other, unknown organs that are tied completely to the shadowlands. It would appear that the daimons find our world a little thin for their taste, and the presence of other things from the shadows helps to strengthen their hold. This effect works both ways however, the more solid the daimon becomes, and the easier it becomes to affect it. It certainly explains why daimons are only found in large numbers and how the presence of artefacts can increase the effectiveness of our soldiers.
Daimons seem to heal nearly any injury given enough time. Since we started examining the bodies many have shown signs of marked improvement over their dead condition, one or two have even twitched on occasion. Dismemberment seems to halt the regeneration, as does the presence of artefacts, but only so long as the measures are maintained. To be truly certain the daimons don't return to life we've taken to incinerating the remains with Incindia, though even that is not fool proof since the daimons can return from the shadows.
With all this cutting daimon blood became a considerable problem. Dark yellow in colour and smells strongly of rotten eggs, most of the staff and guards became ill after prolonged exposure to the stench. I'm hesitant to collect any for brewing purposes, but that's what peasants are for.
Dragon-Spawn
Be advised, Linen should not be used as bindings or anything else that may come in contact with dragon-spawn. Contact with dragon flesh causes the cloth to burn with a heatless blue flame, turning all to a fine white ash.
Initial efforts to open the daimon's torso for study reveal that while conventional blades will cut, pure iron works far better. The amount of force needed to bite through the skin, muscle and bone, was greatly reduced by the application of a cold iron blade.
Preliminary analysis of the dragon's corpse reveals a startling difference in anatomy, beyond the obvious wings, tail and dual quadra/biped nature. Unlike a human, where most of the organs are spread throughout the torso, the dragons posses most of their vitals far lower, towards their abdominal region. The entire torso area is made of a dual layer of interlaced bone, over which is a thick layer of muscle. After pushing through this protective measures for the chest area a twin pair of fleshy, bag like organs, exceedingly similar to lungs, were found. However rather then collect air, these sacks were filled with a sticky, vicious liquid, which burns easily. Analysis of the mouth revealed a small organ, which produced ignition when it contacted the burning fluid and it is theorized this is the source of the fire breathing ability. Not all dragons possess a fully developed set of ignition organs, with only 3 in 5 corpses found to have them sufficiently large enough to be able to hurl fire. The spark caused by a blade passing into the chest cavity of a daimon is sufficient to ignite the fluid, which could be the basis of the burning blood legend associated with daimons. It was further found that the leathery hide of the daimons is immune to the heat given off by the sticky liquid, and it seems possible that the fire throwing displayed by certain dragons probably involves collecting the ignited fluid in hand before throwing it. However experiments show that Incindia does still burn dragon flesh.
The lower abdomen of the dragons contains the proper lungs, and heart as seen in any creature, though easily twice the size. The largest change is the digestive system, which is only passably similar. The stomach of a dragon seems to have more in common with a furnace then anything found in a human. There seems to be actual fire within each of these furnaces, with any and all matter consumed by the dragon is used to fuel this flame. As a result there is no waste, and thus the system is exceedingly small compared to our own.
The tail of the daimons acts much as a tail for any other creature of their type, if such a thing can be said. It seems to provide stability and a way for the creature to have cursory ability to interact with things behind it, such as swatting flies or soldiers. Some exhibited a barb on the tail tip, but it was unusual.
The wing span of the dragons seems to vary from one creature to the next, much as their size, and aforementioned ignition organs. It is difficult to say if the wings allow flight in all cases, but it seems highly likely that at least a few of the creatures we studied are capable of taking to the air. The question is, why haven't then so far? The wings are not overly strong, making arrows an effective weapon for bringing them down if need be, but it would take a skilled archer to hit a dragon in flight.
Screech Daimons
Far larger then most daimons, screech are so called due to their constant piercing wails, even in death. At present four members of the staff have been given leave when the insistent screams became too much for them. There seems no known way to silence the cacophony, which appears to be less a function of sound and more a function of rending souls. Once we collect a Child from the breeding pens of the Factorium we will see if soulless creatures are able to hear anything, but until then, do not allow the faint of heart to close to the screech corpses.
Standing on a multitude of legs, the aptly named screech daimons are often the first and last form of daimon seen by a soldier on the battlefield. Unlike the more thoughtful dragons, the screech seem to delight in the close quarters bloodletting to the point where they rush forward blindly in a mad skitter in an effort to reach the enemy.
The front side of the screech is composed of a series of interlocking bone ridge plates which function much as a cuirass and pauldrons made of the finest steel. As a result of this, the front of the screech is highly ridged with limited movement, while the back houses the components that require motion by definition.
Possessing four arm like limbs high up on their extra long torso, and six leg style talons, the screech are capable of both rapid movement over even difficult ground, and spilling a great deal of blood in one go. Rather then hands each arm ends in syth like blade, and seem to have rather limited motion. The screech do however capitalize on their rapid movement and large bulk, not to mention constant drone, to deliver devastating charges more then capable of crushing a full grown man in armour. The legs end in spike like protrusions, but also have numerous smaller barbs and hooks, which allow the screechers to adhere to rocky and broken ground with ease, though it does seem to cause corpses to become entangled in the truely exuberent specimines.
The organs of the screech seem to be far simpler then those found in the dragons, as though only the bare minium amount were included just to keep the thing moving long enough to rack up a body count. Oddly enough the heart and lungs are in relatively exposed places located along the rear of the torso. This is exposed because the arms and legs of the screech do not in fact bend sufficiently to reach the long, vulnerable back. Arrows, and catapult boulders have proven to be effective, if the crews manage to acquire a target quickly enough. The head of the screech can turn a full 360 as needed which makes it possible for the daimon to bite at an enemy, but it is still far less dangerous then facing the creature's front.
With compound eyes and a thresher like maw the screech head is nearly as revolting as the noise they cause, however unlike the rest of the armoured front, the head is devoid of protection. Unfortunately the head is so far above the ground that only the tallest of men holding the longest of weapons could hope to reach the target.
Unlike dragons which seem to focus on grain stores, the screech seem to prefer the freshly dismembered, however their appetites are not so strong as to cause them pause when there is more blood to spill.
~Courtesy of Unknowable
