When I Grow Up I Want To Be An Impudite

By James Walker

**Flaming
Feather**

When I grow up, I want to be an Impudite.

The Takers, and the demonlings from whom they are drawn, are the Infernals who realise the potential of humanity to benefit the demon(ling). Demons tend to despise the hordes of Damned Souls who are driven through the gates of Hell; ignorant 5 Force failures that they are. For a demonling though, the Damned are a source of protection, training and power which can cause the demonling a degree of fondness for humans.

Weak as a Damned Soul is, to a 2-4 Force demonling a 5 Force human can be a potential protector. Coming into existence without skills or other resources, a demonling's one advantage is that he speaks Helltongue fluently. As the Damned need to learn Helltongue quickly so they can obey demonic orders, it wouldn't be difficult for a demonling to attach himself to a human to arrange a trade. In addition to protection, most of the Damned will have a wide selection of skills to teach; a small handful will have Songs or Sorcerous rituals. Given that the first skill the demonling is likely to master is a language, they will tend to specialise by language. Continual exposure to humans from a specific region/culture will grant the demonling local skills, such as Area Knowledge; these demonlings will make excellent familiars, getting them out of Hell and continuing their specialisation is human culture. Those who remain in Hell will establish themselves as the front men for gangs of humans; understanding demonic society better than a human ever could, they make the perfect middle men between demons and humans, and can hope to be recruited as foremen/slave drivers by full demons.

In both cases the demonling is learning far more social skills than he would otherwise. Unfortunately for him, he's likely to attract the attention of Habbalah recruiters; on the upside a gang of humans has the power to beat up a 7 Force demon, or failing that forcibly drag off the demonling and wait for the Habbalite resonance to wear off. A demonling with a gang of humans is likely to owe his life to them a number of times over, especially as he's the only ally the humans have.

Of course, the most useful humans, those with the finest skills, will be too powerful for a demonling to browbeat and too shrewd to trick. The demonling will watch in awe as the humans he most wants to sponge off are charmed and befriended by Impudites. Although Liars, Lilim & Habbalah will all think of themselves as experts on getting what they want from humans, only the Impudites get humans to open themselves up and give freely; only Impudites know that the most useful humans know much better what they have to offer than the demons they're talking to. By the time the demonling has reached 6 Forces, he's drooling with anticipation, desperate for the Impudite resonance.

A special sub-group of Impudite is the combat capable leech. Most common among Servitors of The War & Death, these battle veterans are created by the different nature of hell compared to earth. A human with 3 Corporeal/1 Ethereal/1 Celestial Forces is a savage bruiser on earth, and is probably very skilled in combat. Being the ultimate weakling in hell is a painful shock. They still have their skills, however, and the demonling can offer protection in return for training. Roaming the plains of Abaddon with a motley of human hangers on, a demonling of Death can easily meet his quotas for Soul-stripping, and in the process be trained by the most brutal stalkers, poisoners and killers humanity has produced. In Gehenna, the brutal regimentation makes this harder; however these demonlings can still wax strong with the aid of a human sidekick. When they become Impudites, they see no clash between their resonance and Superior; the humans are only valuable for helping the Impudite master their Superior's Word, after all.

**Flaming
Feather**

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