More on Jahannan

Basic Information

Anatomy

It doesn't work just to stab 'em, see? They can take it. It's like poking a human with your fingers. They don't care. You can run 'em through, right between the ribs, and if you're lucky enough to hit a heart, it doesn't matter, because they got more! That means spears are better 'en swords. A squad with spears can hold one still long enough to take 'im out. Unless he got friends nearby.

— "Ol' Jake," veteran of twenty-two human-demon battles

Jahannan dimorphism is so extreme that for years Caldonians thought males and females were different species. Humans call them incubi and succubi , after types of demon in ancient Nogibozan mythology. The jahannan word for male jahannan is kurhan (singular, kurha). The word for female jahannan is diyun (singular, diyo).
Jahannan boast a wide variety of skin coloration, though very little of it resembles human coloration. Blues, purples, reds, yellows, and oranges are most common. Coloration is typically somewhat uniform, without presenting splotches of color changes. A blue demon will be blue all over, taking into account variations of coloration density in different regions of their body.
Jahannan eyes are almost always red or yellow, though it is a spectrum and any color between them is possible, including a few rare mutations that manifest by another coloration mixed with standard colors. Their eyes appear to glow, much like cat eyes do, but there are reports of their eyes glowing even when there is no light source to reflect. Also much like felines, demon eyes dilate horizontally.
Their ears often stretch toward the back, narrowing as they do to form rounded ends. Their ears lie close to the side of their head grow under or behind their horns when they appear close toegether.
Jahannan horns range in color from beige or light brown to black. Often this is tinted by the color of their skin.
Demons also have wings of varying shape and size. Large wings are frequently functional, though with the mass demons carry, they are, at best, clumsy flyers. While the muscles will be well developed, very few jahannan are endurance flyers. The coloration of demon wing skin matches the skin of the rest of their body.

Dietary Needs and Habits

Flee! They are here to consume your souls!

— Nogibozan psalm

Jahannan do not ingest and consume food like most species in caldonia. They instead draw sustenance directly from the life force of living creatures. This must be done via contact with the jahan's mouth, though the life force doesn't move through their throat and into a digestive system like most animals.
In their home dimension, most creatures are capable of donating life force to a jahan without significant risk of personal harm. They replenish their own life force rapidly and it is difficult for an individual, or even a small group, to pull enough energy to do long term harm.
The sapient creatures of Caldonia are a different matter, however. Eziareal's entire life was drained in a matter of minutes by a single kurhan. This was actually very traumatic for the kurhan who did it, who was only hungry, and didn't mean any harm. He had not expected the encounter to be fatal.
However, with care, jahannan can feed from Caldonians without causing permanent damage. It must be infrequent and in small sips, or else the energy source will become sick, but jahannan have learned to be careful about it.
It is fortunate that this feeding is possible, because jahannan who feed entirely from non-sapient creatures become feebleminded and sluggish to the point where they can no longer care for themselves. Therefore, most jahannan communities (or individual jahan) have established relationships with nearby non-jahannan for this purpose, thoroughly educating their energy source about the process and consequences of giving away life energy. Feren communities are most inclined to allow demons to feed from them, though significant numbers of cerebrek do as well.
Being somewhat hedonistic, demons will still eat on occasion, especially if the substance consumed has an unusually pleasant taste or texture, or can alter their state of consciousness in desirable ways. Alcohol and sugar are common food ingredients. How alcohol can make a demon drunk when they do not digest any of it is an unsolved mystery.

Civilization and Culture

Culture and Cultural Heritage

Enjoyment at the cost of another is not fulfillment.

— Koretaketo saying

Jahannan tend toward the religious thought of Koretaketo -- either because this already matched their cultural attitudes or because their cultural attitudes were shaped by Koretaketo. Either way, the pursuit of maximum pleasure for the most people is the dominant value held by the vast majority of jahannan.
As such, demons are often pacifists (a surprise to most humans ). They tend to avoid violent interaction with other species. With their strength and resilience, extremely violent interactions are not uncommon between willing jahannan -- never to the death, of course -- fights are entertaining to watch and to take part in.
Demons are generally regarded, even by those who hate them, as generally urbane and charming people. They have wit and are often gregarious. They enjoy making friends, even when those friends are different from them in most fundamental respects. In those that hate them, this is often cast as a seductive behavior. Among those with whom they get along, it is seen as simple likability.

Interspecies Relations and Assumptions

Have you ever seen cerebrek and a demon meet together? They just kind of ... sit there. You can't see anything happening, but you can feel it, you know? It's spooky. You can tell something is going on, but there's no way to describe it or even put your finger on it. And then the cerebrek will smile or the demon will lick their lips or one of them will sigh. I tell you, the lot of them are creepy. I sometimes wonder if they weren't right to try to kill them.

— Frerenda Millig, professor, Department of Unnatural Anthropologies

Demons believe the principles of Koretaketo also apply to other species, and it is for this reason that the feren could recruit jahannan allies in their war to end their enslavement. The decision was not easy, given the history of enmity between humans and jahannan, helping the feren was sure to increase that animosity. But jahannan also still felt resentful about their unjust treatment, and slavery is considered a great evil. There is no central leadership for demons, but most felt that helping the feren was the right thing to do.
Jahannan are largely indifferent to elves . They are aware that it was elves who helped enable human aggression, but they also know elves just do what benefits them. Most demons think elves are officious prats (an attitude not unique to jahannan).
There is still a great deal of empathy between jahannan and feren. In fact, jahannan are the most likely non-feren to be found in feren communities. Though their cultures are different, the friendship from their one-time alliance remains.
Structs are a matter of fascination to many jahannan. There is nothing like them in their home dimension, and such a foreign type of life is intriguing to them. A non-trivial part of this fascination can be attributed to how demons cannot feed on Struct life force.
Of all the races in Caldonia, it is cerebreks that are most like jahannan. The psychic resonance through which cerebreks perceive the world is apparently related closely to the means by which jahannan consume sustenance. This has, at times, both threatened inter-species relations and given rise to deep curiosity. As both jahannan and cerebrek are philosophical about it, the primary result has been a number of annual gatherings, almost professional in nature, where the two species simply talk and "experience each other."