Ecology

Writer-facing reference, not in-world taxonomy. If this conflicts with direct prose evidence, chapter text wins.

Elementals

Elementals are not demons, corrupted fauna, or ordinary monsters. They are natural/world forces with will enough to move. They are not good or evil by default; moral language should not be applied unless a scene proves individual intent. Current long-range model: elementals are responding to leakage from the Demon Lord prison as a world-scale imbalance. That response may begin with scouts but eventually escalate toward destructive reset if mortal containment fails.

Creature Key facts
Magnog Weakest/smallest known elemental form, first named Ch 183 after being killed in Ch 178 under Irondeep. Scout-form associated with magma/pressure/mineral hunger/world-root heat. Normally belongs far below deep-dwarf crustal activity, in lower mantle/outer-fire regions; appearing in an Irondeep-accessible gallery is an apocalyptic lower-sign omen in deep-dwarf restricted doctrine. Current model: it rose unusually high as an early scout-response to Demon Lord leakage / distance failure rather than because it was demonic. Thomas killed it with Holy Lance Lv.6/five concurrent lances, supported by shields, cooling, water, and Form. Holy worked because the Magnog's elemental fire/magma nature had no ordinary counter-answer to Holy, not because it was evil. Public reports should call it a deep-heat entity/old heat unless inner-circle naming is deliberate. Tags: elemental, lower signs, Magnog, deep heat, Demon Lord leak.

Elemental escalation should not read as rescue. Before Ch.213 the working model allowed scouts, probes, local purges, regional burning/freezing/flooding/quaking and an ultimate fail-safe that might destroy the conditions allowing the Demon Lord to return, even at civilisation-scale cost. The Demon Lord is now gone, but no prose confirms that elementals understand this immediately or stand down. Preserve them as natural/world forces capable of continuing, redirecting or ending a correction rather than becoming grateful allies.

Demons

True demons were distinct from corrupted beasts/fauna and lesser dungeon monsters. Demon Kings and greater demons acted as jailbreak pressure serving, channelling or exploiting the imprisoned Demon Lord. Ch.204-213 establish the organised hierarchy of mouths, relays, shore wardens, labour yards and the island First Hand. When Thomas removes the Demon Lord from the world in Ch.213, every remaining true demon dies: bodies collapse, ash, or become inert; wards and command networks do not continue independently.

Creature Key facts
Lesser Demon ~6m, first seen Ch 98. Gigantic armoured humanoid with black plates, hooked armoured fingers, barred lower face plate, swept horns, pale steady eyes, layered hostile wards, and old pale Holy scars. Deliberate, intelligent, commander-like; uses terrain, thrown stone, armour seams, and warding. Associated with old western roads and Black Lock-adjacent pressure. Ambushed Thomas/Isha west of the hidden spillway and nearly killed Isha before Thomas destroyed it with repeated Holy Lance volleys and black fire. Clearest true demon so far. Tags: demon, armored giant, western threat.
Minor Demon ~3.5m, first seen Ch 101. Narrow horned demon with high sharp shoulders, long arms, hooked fingers, dark plates over hide cloak, unfinished mouth of small teeth, hooked blade, and black-glass strip on chain. Intelligent scout/operative using concealment, black-glass signalling, and indirect coordination. Seen in ruined marsh valley after basin fight, implying demonic structure/caste hierarchy. Tags: demon, scout, black glass.
Greater Demon / First Hand Highest embodied demonic authority in the fantasy world until Ch.213. A five-metre, lean, pale Greater Demon fused by stolen green-bronze chains into the Broken Court, relay crown and third-seal approach. It usurps maintenance language, suppresses witnesses, converts permission into possession and uses altered people/remote mouths as command and restoration capacity. Green Road separates its body, network and structural claim; Thomas kills it after Isha/Kelda create the safe line. Its death removes a corrupt brace and triggers final seal failure. Tags: greater demon, First Hand, Broken Court, hostile administration.
Shore Warden (lesser-demon role) Large lesser demon assigned to a name-post gate near the western coast (Ch. 205), with armour, old Holy scars and an iron/glass staff. Maintains human remains and belongings as road records. Thomas kills it through repeated controlled five-lance volleys while Isha disables the gate and Kelda holds the road. Role/title, not necessarily a distinct species.
Yard Warden (minor/lesser role) Four-metre horned, heavily jointed demon controlling the lower-hands labour yard (Ch. 208) through bells, chains and living interfaces. Killed quickly once Isha identifies the system, Kelda opens the physical line and Thomas separates command infrastructure then unleashes Holy volleys. Role/title, taxonomy uncertain.
Court Hand / threshold guardian Four-armed armoured demon stationed before the lower return office (Ch.212), connected to the Broken Court by black glass and a stolen green-bronze inspection staff. The court continuously restores its wounds. Erenai reads its cadence from safety; Isha exposes timing/eyes; Kelda breaks the staff cage; Thomas advances Holy Beam to Lv.2 and destroys it. Role/title, taxonomy uncertain.

Demonic material after Ch.213

Removal of the Demon Lord ends active demonic material. Black glass, command filaments and demonic tissue crack, shrivel, loosen or die; mortal bodies may convulse and reject them. This is not full healing. Ordinary iron/bronze braces, plates and supports remain; missing limbs, organs and tissue do not regrow; removing load-bearing material can kill. Western recovery therefore requires surgery, prosthetics, craft judgement, rehabilitation and consent.

Monsters

Ranked hostile creatures/dungeon fauna not best treated as ordinary animals, even when animal-shaped.

Creature Key facts
Corrupted Goblin Small/child-sized, first seen Ch 9. Grey-green goblinoid with thin limbs, too-wide mouth, black veins, ember-red eye cracks, scavenged knives, demonic taint. Fast, ambush-prone, dangerous after death; one corpse tried to reach Thomas's blood through corruption. Presence near Wood Elf wards implied infiltration, displacement, or larger-threat breach. Escalated forest incursions.
Stoneback Rat E-rank adults small-dog sized; larger D-rank breeding adult implied. First seen Ch 11. Rat-like monster with mineral-grey back plates, oversized yellowed teeth, old mortar/grain-store/cellar-burrow habits. Territorial, swarm-capable, underground infestation creature; distinct from ordinary rats.
Young Ghoul Human-sized, first seen Ch 121. Formerly or nearly human-shaped drain predator: grey skin over long limbs, blackened nails, fast throat-biting lunge. Lurks in dry maintenance recesses; encountered specimen underfed/young. Confirms Third Drain infestation beyond vermin.
Tunnel Sheller E-rank adults medium; D-rank broodmother nearly hunting-dog sized. First seen Ch 12. Beetle/freshwater-crab-like scavenger with dark shell, pale segmented legs, antennae, weak underside; broodmother guards pale eggs and stone-like encrusted shell. Colony in damp irrigation tunnels, light-attracted/aggressive in confined stone runoff channels. Early ordinary-monster quest showing low-rank danger in tight terrain.
Reed Mauler E-rank young, D-rank sow, possible other adults. First seen Ch 70. Monster boar with wedge head, curved lower tusks, heavy shoulders, reed-like back spines; close enough to pig to insult pigs. Sounders tear drainage banks, wreck fields, and kill in reed cover; Lowmere main threat.
Marsh Snapper E-rank by Thomas's estimate, first seen Ch 71. Water-hidden marsh predator revealed chiefly by mouth; camouflages as weed/peat-dark water until lunging. Ambush hazard in ditches, pools, peat cuts; supporting marsh-light threat often leveraged by wisps/bad footing.
Reed-Backed Crawler D-rank, first seen Ch 71. Long six-legged marsh crawler with reed-backed plating, poor turning radius, vulnerable underside/jaw line when flanked. Lurks half-buried in marsh banks/peat pits; principal marsh-light monster.
Greyback E-rank in small packs; D-rank leader/older female possible. First seen Ch 73. Hyena-like scrub scavenger with sloped shoulders, heavy jaws, bony spinal ridges, twitching ears; D-rank leader is larger, scarred, patient enough to bait panic. Tests weakness, withdraws from hard resistance, dens in gullies, circles trapped carts/isolated people. Central Werrin's Cross threat.
Frost-Gnawer Small, first seen Ch 140. Low pale-backed cold-country gnawer/scavenger with wedge head, dark eyes, rust-brown teeth, and human-adjacent cleverness with gaps/culverts/store walls. Drawn to hide, salt, warmth, hidden access; persistent Rimeholt hide-store infestation.
Limeclaw Small-medium, first seen Ch 143. Pale crab-like Crown Deep dungeon scavenger with shell, eye clusters, and affinity for drains, mineral crust, chalky sediment. Low hazard alone unless swarming "or get eyes"; irritated by light and redirectable, showing routine dungeon suppression.
Deep-Heat Crawler / Irondeep Heat Crawler Ordinary deep-heat fauna/monster encountered alongside the Magnog below Irondeep in Ch 178. Mineral-plated crawlers with glass-like jaws, heat-adapted bodies, and dangerous close-quarters swarming. Not elementals, not cosmologically special, and not religiously significant by themselves; likely displaced by tremor, following heat movement, drawn by the Magnog, or opportunistic lower-gallery predators/scavengers. Tags: monster, deep heat, Irondeep, not elemental.

Corrupted Fauna

Creature Key facts
Corrupted Hound Demon-associated hound with smoke leaking between teeth, used beside a prisoner cart on the north-west road (Ch. 204). Intelligent enough for coordinated cover; Isha kills one after Thomas turns its leap with Holy Shield. Distinct taxonomy from the older demonic wolves remains uncertain.
Demonic Wolf Medium-large dog-sized, first seen Ch 1 in Isha's home forest. Fierce canine E-rank monster with black smoking saliva, fangs/claws, light aversion, arrow resistance, frost vulnerability, tree/soil tearing, and pack attacks (four charged together). Violent nocturnal/crepuscular harassers of travellers; rare demonic menace, not domesticated. Feared in folklore; Isha/thugs use fear/light to repel.

Ordinary Fauna

Includes any named occurances thereof.

Animal Key facts
Boar Large ordinary wild pig, first seen Ch 15. Non-demonic/non-magical but enormous, angry, fast, campsite-ruining, and dangerous; reminder mundane fauna can hurt without rank/corruption.
Dog Medium domestic, first seen Ch 94: Brindle, cook's dog in palace courtyard; pet/guard, passive indoors.
Southern courier night bird Small trained messenger bird first seen Ch 191 with Nethis of the Blue Crescent road. Slate-feathered, pale-throated, sharp-tempered, carried in a travelling hood and used by dark-elf outer-court routes for night/ridge messaging. Ordinary trained fauna, not magical familiar unless later prose deliberately changes that.
Spider Medium venomous thorn-maze arachnid, first seen Ch 49; venom causes sweating and skin stinging.
Dragonfly Small insect, first seen Ch 45 dimming as it veered near magic in forest battle.

Flora

Plant/fungus Key facts
Willowroot Medicinal willow root, first seen Ch 45 with moon fern and ash-bitter.
Moon Fern Fern/herb, first seen Ch 45.
Ash-bitter Bitter herb, first seen Ch 45; appearance unspecified.
Mushrooms Fungi, possibly bioluminescent; Ch 94 says glowing mushrooms remain municipal property unless hostile.
Fungus (Glow) Fungus blooming under bathhouse roof, first seen Ch 94.