MAZOKU
THANKS TO: Slayers Universe,
Xelloss-kun for insight, and every Slayers Fan!
Quote from "What is a Mazoku?"
The Mazoku are spiritual life forms, which live in the spiritual world (called "the astral side" in Slayers). Only a powerful Mazoku can exist in the material world in human form. They can maintain the human form by their own power. The more powerful a Mazoku is, the more perfect their human forms appear.
For example, when one high level Mazoku who disguises itself in a young man is damaged by the sword of light or some magic spells, at first it changes into a monstrous form. This is because it has lost some of its power, and cannot maintain its human form. If it is damaged seriously and loses most of its power, it can't exist in the material world at all and goes back to the astral side.
"Surdian [a middle class Mazoku] twisted its face with hate. No, it changed into a grotesque form. There were no eyes under the twisted eyelids, but instead just black holes. Black beard and black hair became a group of small, black, twisted horns. It wasn't Surdian's real form. Because of its damage, it was difficult for Surdian to maintain the form of a human."
The less powerful of the mid-level Mazoku (Seigram is one) can exist in the material world by itself, but their human-like forms are disproportionate. The lowest level Mazoku can't exist in the material world unless the higher level Mazoku give them enough power. Even if they were given enough power to exist in the material world, it won't be sufficient to let it take human form. Once, one appeared as a pair of balls, or like a tomato with many arms and tails.
"Kanzeru [a middle class Mazoku] said, 'Those were the lowest class Mazoku. They can't keep existing in the material world with their own power, so they unite with the living things in this world. That means they must change their forms, but they'll become to be able to exist on their own. I hear that humans call them 'lesser demons'. I don't know how they seemed to you [Lina]. Those were their real forms in the astral side.'"
When a Mazoku exists in the material world using its own power, it can't be damaged by Shamanistic magic of the four elements. Normal weapons cannot harm them. They can be defeated only by spirit-type Shamanistic magic, black magic, and weapons with magical power.
"Lina said, 'Mazoku belong to the spiritual world. So, they can't be damaged by swords or flame. It is like how we, humans, can't be harmed by abusive language. If you hit one Mazoku with a sword, you should think 'Go to hell!' strongly in your mind. Your will goes into the Mazoku through the sword, and if your will is stronger than the Mazoku's emotional strength, you can at least damage it. They say silver weapons are effective at getting rid of ghosts. It is because silver can channel more power from a human's will than other materials. To tell the truth, Gourry's sword of light gathers the power of the will of the one who has it in his hands, and makes the blade with that.'"
The reason why the high level Mazoku choose to take human form is simple - only because it is convenient for them. The Mazoku eat dark emotions of mortals - hate, anger, despair, agony, regret, sorrow... etc. The Mazoku need to be close to people in order to eat fresh dark emotions in sufficient quantity. They disguise themselves as humans for the purpose of their meals. Although Xelloss and Fibrizo seem to eat and drink, foods mean nothing for them. They eat the negative emotions of the nearby humans. So, Lina, Gourry, Zel, and Amelia were really their prey.
"Kanzeru said to Gourry, 'Don't you know what we, the Mazoku, eat?'
Oh! I [Lina] know!
He continued, 'We eat shouki (evil spiritual energy) and get power. The evil energy is composed of the dark emotions of all the living -- fear, anger, sorrow, and despair. These are very delicious for us! Causing pain is the most effective method to produce those dark emotions!'
(.....)
I understood -- Kanzeru hoped to eat. He wanted to eat my despair and fear, and Gourry's anger and sorrow, at the same time!"
Being spiritual life forms, Mazoku can't think anything which leads them to deny
their own existence. If one Mazoku thinks he isn't strong enough to fight a human, it
can be seriously damaged - before the fight! So, a Mazoku fights a human with its
own attacks - magical bullets, magical strings, magical beams, and so on. It uses
neither Shamanistic magic nor black magic. It has to fight for itself. Self-denial is
mortally dangerous to a Mazoku. For the same reason, Mazoku refuse to use any
items in a fight. I remember that Xelloss used Galveira, one of the five weapons of the
Dark Star, in the anime "Slayers TRY". To use this weapon wouldn't harm Xelloss'
self-respect, for Xelloss channeled his power to Galveira and the weapon created the
energy arrow with Xelloss' power. So Xelloss attacked at the enemy with his power.
The weapon was a only a tool to attack Dark Star with his power, just like the Ruby
Eye used Gaav the Chaos Dragon as a tool in the battle with the Aqualord.
"'Well, Mirgazia-san [the eldest golden dragon of the Dragons' Peak],' I
[Lina] said. 'In the last battle, a Mazoku attacked Memphis [an elf, Mirgazia's
ally] from the astral side, didn't it? You and Memphis can defend yourselves
from such attacks. Is it possible for humans to defend the attacks from the
astral side?'
'Impossible.' Milgazia answered in a heartless voice. It made me fall silent.
'But, I don't think a Mazoku would attack a human from the astral side,' he
continued.
'What do you mean?' Luke [one of Lina's allies] asked.
'You humans say that a dragon hunts a bird with all his might. Mazoku won't
do that. For them, humans aren't the enemy, but are prey. (....) If a Mazoku
attacks a human from the astral side, it means that the Mazoku can't defeat a
human unless it fights in earnest. Thinking in this way is deadly to a Mazoku.'"
End Quote
Mazoku are extremely powerful beings of magic, there only true purpose is to cause chaos, and destroy everything. But this doesn't mean some of them don't have their own personal goals or aims (Xelloss & Gaav are good examples of this).
These conversions are intended for SDC Games (like PF or Nightbane). If the GM allows, the Mazoku CAN be used as an R.C.C., but the GM & player must be VERY good to handle something of this magnitude.
If requests and help comes in, I will do Upper Hierarchey Mazoku (example: Saygram & Xelloss), and maybe even Mazoku Lords (example: Fibrizo, Gaav). Dark Lords are a long shot, and the Lord of Nightmares is a snowballs chance in hell.
MAZOKU HIERARCHY
LOWER HIERARCHY MAZOKU
MAZOKU PRIESTS & GENERALS
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