The first Balrog was a Renegade Shedite who, without a host or any essence, was only saved from soul-death by a favourable Intervention. Laurence killed it personally, but it had already passed on the technique to other demons.
A demon who has been shown how to do this (the knowledge is rare enough to count as a ritual) may, while in Celestial Form on the Corporeal Plane, anchor himself to the Corporeal as if he were a ghost. This costs the demon a Force, and imposes a level each of the Burning Touch & Darkness Discords. If the demon leaves the Corporeal plane for any reason he ceases to be a Balrog and must spend another Force on returning to regain his nature. He keeps the Discords.
The demon is treated as a ghost for most purposes - he is limited to it's corporeal anchor and must spend a point of essence to interact with the physical world, as described in the CPG, and is immune to corporeal damage, even when manifesting. The first Balrog had developed a variant Numinous Corpus (Whip) which is known by all Balrogs; they also go out of their way to acquire Fiery Swords, partly for their usefulness and partly since 'all the other Balrogs have one'.
Burning Touch Discord - When manifesting, the Balrog is surrounded by a burning flame which does levels of damage equal to it's level to anything touched by the Balrog. If the Balrog acquires a host or vessel, his body also takes (level) damage every round. The Discord seems to be related to the Malakite Discord of the same name.
Darkness Discord - the demon absorbs light. Add three times this Discord to any attempt to see the demons Celestial Form; if the demon has a body, subtract the level of Discord from any vision rolls made by the demon.
Numinous Corpus (Whip) - May only be learned by characters with the Burning Touch Discord (either version). The Song creates a flaming whip with a length equal to the performers Total Forces, which has an accuracy equal to his Ethereal Forces and a power equal to the Songs level. If the Song is known at a level >2, ethereal damage can be done with the Whip; at a level greater than 4, Celestial damage can be done, and characters in celestial form may be struck with the whip. (The final Soul hit of damage may not be done to a character protected by a body). A commmon variant of this Song allows the performer an extra attack, with the whip wielded in his off hand, but has whip will automatically attack whoever the performer is most annoyed with even if that is an ally, or the performer.
Although popular with Baal and Beleth, Asmodeus is less happy with Balrogs, seeing them as a threat and potential renegades. He'd probably be even more unhappy if he knew that the first Balrog was created by a Divine Intervention...
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