Bitspace: Demonic Marauders

Demonic marauders remain something of an urban legend for most people in Bitspace; they are said to serve as guards for the higher-ranking demons in Hell.  According to some old tales, they are the most fearsome sight one can encounter on a battlefield.

Demons in Bitspace do not bleed, a gift bestowed upon them by their leader Diabolus.  Their wounds heal quickly and leave no marks, which has an unsettling effect on opponents who only ever see fresh troops in front of them.  Marauders seek to create a different effect through careful and very painful preparation.

They wear razor wire and armor with studs that are screwed or hammered into their flesh, possibly all the way into bone.  They deliberately reopen some of their combat wounds until these become deep scars.  The life of a marauder is one of constant agony and rage.  The euphoria they feel in battle can overcome their physical pain, and death would free them from it entirely.  Thus, they fear nothing and will not hesitate in the face of superior numbers or firepower, attacking with savage and unrelenting ferocity.

Some claim to have met marauders and state that the rumors are untrue.  But those accounts are few and inconsistent, and it is to Hell's advantage for the truth to be unknown.  No doubt many of the rumors originate from Diabolus himself.  These rumors are effective-- few adventurers travel anywhere near the gates of the great city of Hell.  Marauders are not known for their compassion or for their love of conversation, and one might expect that they would be poor listeners.

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NOTES: Bitspace is the universe in which my comic stories take place.  More information will be forthcoming in the stories themselves.  This was just a quick sketch that I decided to do after finishing the layouts for the next page of the Bev Claus comic.