Gulamendis looked annoyed at the interruption, but it was Amirantha who spoke. “Consider this something of a metaphor. The Fifth Circle is no more a disk than it is a circle. It’s a region, and I’m sure it has boundaries and what’s beyond those boundaries…? The void perhaps, or some other realm we do not know of, or perhaps it is the boundary with the Fourth Circle or the Sixth. In any event, it is this realm with which we are concerned, O seeker of answers.” The last was said in a friendly manner, but Sandreena’s dark look told the Warlock she wasn’t in the mood for banter.

“May I continue?” asked the elf.

“Please,” said Amirantha before Sandreena could ask another question.

“It’s in this inner realm where all our answers lie.” His finger stabbed around and he said, “It appears that chaos is something of the demonic nature, but at least in the inner circle, the circle of the greater demons, some semblance of order has emerged over the ages; these areas, what the author of this work calls ‘cantons,’ are each ruled by a demon lord, a self-anointed king, archduke, or some other like title.”

“Maarg?” asked Sandreena, having heard from Pug of the Demon King’s corpse being found on the Saaur world of Shila.

“He ruled the outer ring, as best I can tell,” said Gulamendis. “It is an every-demon-for-himself sort of place, and he literally clawed and bullied his way to the top. As best we can tell from this, Amirantha and I feel that what we had discerned about demons before all this began was in the main true, demons have a loose organization of alliances and services. You either destroyed your rivals, absorbing their power, or you found service. Those who were weaker than you found a stronger demon to serve in exchange for protection, and the stronger demon had a retinue ready to aid him in conflicts with his rivals. A lot of rising and falling among the demons of the outer circle was the result of betrayal, ambush, and treachery. And it always raised the question in my mind of how anything remotely like a society could arise from this chaos. How could they evolve beyond animal states, to have a language and magic?

“But here,” he said, indicating the inner circle, “is the answer. Each canton has its own society, apparently an army, and a ruler. Demons who somehow evolve enough to escape the outer circle but who don’t contest for domination, they find their way to one of these cantons and…” He shrugged. “I’m not certain. Service? Slavery? Freedom?

“We struggle to apply mortal concepts to a race more alien than anything we’ve encountered, even trolls and goblins.”