applied magic

Stuff from my headworld!

Although magic was discovered in 1935, it would take several years for it to be implemented in widespread warfare due to the the young ages of viable magicians; the oldest of which had been born in 1930. Barring several alleged cases of child-soldiering in WWII, the following decade would be largely spent studying the workings and limits of magic and doing an anticipatory rehaul of existing battle tactics.

The use of demons on the field became a relatively painless alternative to employing ten-to-fifteen-year-olds during these early years. Although initially perceived as a useless side effect of magic: tiny, short-lived black organisms that would spontaneously swarm bodies of water in proximity to active spells, their potential as weapons became apparent quite quickly as scientists discovered that they craved magic. Cutting spell diagrams into the bodies of living creatures (most commonly dogs) and submerging them in said water (essentially an opening to a pocket dimension of demons; termed abyss) for days would result in what would be called constructs; agressive, yet obedient abominations covered in fusions of demons. Their sturdiness and ability to regenerate made them excellent attack dogs.

Demon constructs formed from humans become popular and controversial weapons as the Cold War unfolds and increasing amounts of magicians appear on the battlefield. Amorphous, intelligent, and violent; they can move independently of soldiers and create and execute complex stratagems. Amalgams, or constructs with the core of a magician, are particularly desirable. As natural sources of magic tied to the metaphysical 'sea' of demons, they regenerate within seconds, and may utilize glamours to pass as human. Understandably, the creation of such constructs is forbidden under international law; the few amalgams under employ of first-world countries are claimed by their governments to have been rescued and recruited from illicit magical experimentation or randomly summoned from the void. Drowners, mercenary mages paid by nebulous third parties to get around said law, attack pre-chosen magicians(particularly occult-class magicians, who are particularly susceptible), and drag them down into the abyss, where they and other victims will serve as an accessible 'pool' of potentially summon-able amalgams.

Nid here was hit by a drowner early on; his fellow magician Lafayette was luckily able to summon him back before he was snapped up by another country. As an amalgam, his size and speed is ideal for collaboration with infantry soldiers. His vast amount of limbs is typical for a construct; demons are formless and structure themselves by sampling anatomy from both their host and from the combined 'genetic ocean' of the abyss; hence him being a collection of eyes, dog teeth, spinal cords, and hands. Personality wise, he's a bit of a douche, suffering from a collection of debilitating psychological disorders common to those who have spent time in the abyss.
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Worked on this on-and-off for a while. Soldiers are kind of speedpainted on and are supposed to be vaguely vietnam-war-era (didn't use a ref) but the conflict depicted probably took place beforehand. I need to figure out how to make my stuff more vivid..

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!