LXVI - FORAS

66 - Foras aka Forcas, Forcase Appears in The Discoverie of Witchcraft, The Book of Spirits, The Book of the Office of Spirits, The Book of Oberon, Pseudomonarchia Daemonum, The Lesser Key of Solomon, and Dictionnaire Infernal

FROM THE LESSER KEY

FORAS. – The Thirty-first Spirit is Foras. He is a Mighty President, and appeareth in the Form of a Strong Man in Human Shape. He can give the understanding to Men how they may know the Virtues of all Herbs and Precious Stones. He teacheth the Arts of Logic and Ethics in all their parts. If desired he maketh men invisible, and to live long, and to be eloquent. Hecan discover Treasures and recover things Lost. He ruleth over 29 Legions of Spirits, and his Seal is this, which wear thou, etc.

FROM PSEUDOMONARCHIA

Foras, alias Forcas is a great president, and is seene in the forme of a strong man, and in humane shape, he understandeth the vertue of hearbs and pretious stones: he teacheth fullie logicke, ethicke, and their parts: he maketh a man invisible, wittie, eloquent, and to live long; he recovereth things lost, and discovereth treasures, and is lord over nine and twentie legions.

Original Text : Forras vel Forcas magnus Præses est: visitur forma viri fortissimi, and in humana specie vires herbarum and lapidum preciosorum intelligit. Plene docet Logica, Ethica and eorundem partes. Reddit hominem invisibilem, ingeniosum, loquacem and vivacem: Amissa recuperat, thesauros detegit. Dominium viginti novem legionum habet.

FROM THE DICTIONNAIRE INFERNAL

De Plancy redirects to the citation for Furcas, reprinted here:

Forças, Forras or Furcas, Knight, great President of Hell ; he appears in the shape of a vigorous man, with a long beard and white hair ; he mounts a great horse and holds a javelin. He knows the virtues of herbs and gemstones ; he teaches logic, aesthetic, chiromancy, pyromancy and rhetoric. He makes man invisible, ingenious and smooth-talking ; he discovers treasures and has twenty-nine legions under his command.

Original Text: Forças, Forras ou Furcas, chevalier, grand président des enfers ; il apparaît sous la forme d’un homme vigoureux, avec une longue barbe et des cheveux blancs ; il est monté sur un grand cheval et tient un dard aigu. Il connaît les vertus des harbes et des pierres précieuses ; il enseigne la logique, l’esthétique, la chiromancie, la pyromancie et la rhétorique. Il rend l’homme invisible, ingénieux et beau parleur. Il fait retrouver les choses perdues ; il découvre les trésors, et il a sous ses ordres vingt-neuf légions de démons

Appearance: A strong man.

Subrace: Former Power

Abilities: Health/medicine, Invisibility, Knowledge of Logic, Retrieval, Treasure

Legions: 29

Rank: President

Notes:

Foras has some tangles to unravel. First of all, De Plancy does not consider Foras a unique demon, and posits that Foras and Furcas are one and the same. I will consider both perspectives going forward, however given the dissimilarity between the two descriptions I am inclined to disagree with de plancy here.

Some additional notes on the translation: De Plancy notes his weapon as being a dard, a type of gallic throwing spear with a finned tail. There seems to be a pattern among the armed demons with using missile weapons. I am unsure if this has any significance beyond implying the demon is a former power.

Also, the french term “beau parleur” has no parallel in english. It refers to someone who is well spoken and charming but of little substance, and is often used in a derogatory sense.

Foras seems to be derived from the latin Foras, meaning out, or outside. It is the root of forage and foray. This falls in line with some earlier entries regarding hell having a borderlands or outskirts which requires patrolling. I could see Foras serving as a sort of frontier lawyer situation, possibly the administrator of some sort of ecological outpost or exploratory settlement in the ash wastes beyond hell.

Brand of Longevity - The Marked is able to siphon age from living things, rapidly aging them to dust and extending the lifetime of the marked. The conversion process is poor, six years of life taken only translates to a single year for the marked. The ability only serves to take from remaining years of a persons life, using the brand on a child will produce better results than on the elderly.