#the goetia is insane to read through but decarabia was short and sweet

[dailydemonspotlight]

Decarabia - Day 21

Race: Fallen

Alignment: Neutral-Chaos

April 18th, 2024

The greatest demonic compendium, the Ars Goetia, holds many strange demons, but one sticks out to many as the most peculiar; the sentient pentagram, and our demon of the day, Decarabia. An iconic design in the series, this demonic starfish has appeared in many SMT games, almost always as a fallen race demon, yet his role in the goetic grimoire is... bizarre, to say the least.

Decarabia is the 69th (nice? sorry, i just had to.) demon listed in the grimoire, and his description gives way to him being incredibly bizarre. Described as a pentagram star when first summoned, this Marquis of Hell's purpose is effectively as a treasurer and jeweler, providing his summoner with the ability to understand the value of any gems and gold in their possession when presented to the demon. As the lesser key of Solomon puts it,

"He appeareth in the Form of a Star in a Pentacle, ⭐, at first, but after, at the command of the Exorcist, he putteth on the image of a man. His office is to discover the Virtues of Birds and Precious Stones."

But what's that about birds? Well, I have no idea! Next to his ability to appraise gold, Decarabia provides his summoner with the ability to commune with birds, as well as being able to conjure a bird familiar to do one's bidding. Decarabia is strange, even by the standards of the grimoire, with his reign being defined mostly by a control over things that could either be done by a human, or are mostly useless!

However, I do have to admit, I respect the hustle. As the sixty-ninth demon in the grimoire, it's quite clear that Solomon was likely running out of good demons to summon, given that it finishes at 72 (Joke shamefully stolen from Tony4You.) Decarabia's entire existence is bizarre to me, yet also fascinating, a Marquis of Hell whose entire domain is based around things that most people could already do, or would have next-to-no interest in.

In SMT, though, this misfet marquis is given some much needed love- his design, a demonic starfish with an eye in the center, is about as good a design they could get given how vague most descriptions in the Ars Goetia are, and is iconic in its own right- you show even a casual Persona fan this star pentacle and they'll recognize him right away. Of note, of course, is his appearance in SMT III, wherein he's found in the city of Ginza waiting for the arrival of his best bud Forneus, who you murdered earlier that week. I gotta wonder if he ever found out about the untimely fate of his friend.

Overall, in spite of his domain being small and nigh-useless, this misfit starfish has won many an SMT fan's heart, and I'm no different. Decarabia my beloved.