Cultists
Among all the human factions of the Abyss, the cults are the closest to the night creatures. Be it in their demeanor or goals, they abandoned their humanity to side with the forces of deviltry. As such, they are hunted mercilessly by the crown's hunters and retaliate with the strength of forbidden arcana. Not that I really care about their disputes. It is good for business.
Tales of Demons and Gods
Cults adore for most of them extra-planar entities, either occult deities living in their godly realm or demons of Hell. We are not discoursing here the Christian concepts of Paradise and Hell. In a way, Christianity is a giant cult that pervaded the mind of about every human, but the perception of the other planes of existence is oversimplified for the sake of keeping mindless followers.
First of all, demons are not inherently weaker than gods. Even if the Christian God is the closest thing to a supreme entity in our world, and hardly any demon or god could compare to him. In the end, the main difference between them besides their living realm is their purpose. While gods are driven by the creation and the making of things, demons are forces of destruction and undoing. It is very important however not to confuse the concepts of destruction and creation with evil and good. Those are intrinsically human perceptions, and otherworldly beings often have no morals whatsoever. Gods can be petty and malevolent in our views, and demons can fight alongside hunters.
On their use of cults
Where they differ the most is in their means of pervading in our realm and the cults that try to summon them. Neither can access freely our world, they need someone on this side to open the door. If some have a real purpose in doing so, to most of them Earth is a playground to kill time or play around and spend some time away from their otherworldly duties. Even with a successful ritual, they are not able to completely cross the boundary as opening a door large enough would require way more energy than what humans possess.
If the frontier between the realm has no real name, the passageway bears many: gateway to Heaven, the gate to hell, the outside door, the dimensional portal... in the end, it all comes down to the same thing: an opening that allows supernatural beings to set foot on Earth's ground.
Godly cults
They are organisations that look the most like religions. If it wasn't for the inhuman idols and abhorrent symbols that fill their churches, they could be mistaken as a current of a common faith. Although most of them adore a single god, pantheons are not so rare either. In the first case, the entity has to be extraordinarily powerful to compete with the gathering of weaker gods that together are unfathomably strong.
Demonic cults
They are probably what you thought of when reading about cults. With sacrifices, dark rituals, and such. Demons cannot be appraised through mere prayers, and require more direct acts of faith. While godly cults can be tolerated, Crown's hunters actively hunt down demonic ones down to their sacrificial basements. Surprisingly, that does not prevent them from blossoming.
Patrons
Most pantheons were openly revered in the past by whole civilisations. It was the case for the celts, Egyptians, Greeks (and Romans), and Norses. They all went into hiding after the fall of their civilisation, and although they are still known to scholars and locals, their influence on our world is heavily diminished. Single gods are a lot quieter and many times confused with the Christian God in the vulgar mind, so much so that they keep an influence on smaller cults rather than whole populations.
Except for cults genuinely fascinated by their patrons, and those are rarer than you imagine, they view the demons as a tool of power. Demons are organized by clan around incredibly powerful heads, in a much clearer way than gods do. Lesser demons are subordinates of higher ones, but the cults rarely consider only the clan head, as it takes more than a few rituals and sacrifices to satisfy such patrons. It is easier to soften the whole clan by making happy demon lords and devils.
Proxies
Gods may agree to lend part of their power to specific worshippers. Priests are peculiar cultists with a special connection to their gods. Through prayers and rituals, they are able to make use of the god's abilities. The most faithful priests can be granted the ultimate honor and ascend to angelhood. Angels are direct hands of the gods in our world, answering only to their powerful patron. Once a divine being has decided that one is worthy to receive its blessing, a great ritual is held to open the gate between the realm. Then, the god's power will pour through the opening into the body of their servant.
To become transcendental beings, the soon-to-be angels must absorb a significant amount of power, meaning that the opening has to be large enough and lasts for several hours. Since keeping a large door this long is no meagre feat, only the greatest cults have the manpower to achieve the ritual. Even then, it is not uncommon for priests to die of overexertion, sacrificing their lives "for the better" as they like to say.
Angels may only possess a fraction of their god's power, but that still makes them unfathomably strong, beyond humanity though still mortals. They rarely venture outside of their stronghold, since they are a primary target for anyone that doesn't fancy an unreasonably powerful fanatic to their god. Which is, basically, everyone. Other cults, Crown's hunters, vampires, and some mages often make alliances of circumstance when an angel is sighted outside of their keep.
Demonologists are experts that devoted their lives to the study of demons and Hell. They are the few that delved into dark arcana while escaping the insanity often contained in their books. The strong-willed scholars know the secret of horrendous rituals that often involves blood and virgin sacrifice to summon demons in our world. Just like gods, demons are way too powerful to slip through simple cracks. However, they can project their mind into the body of the summoner, keeping some of their powers in the process.
The contractor is often overwhelmed by the spirit that possesses them and has his own mind obliterated. The experienced demonologist has the willpower to keep themselves together and even impose their own desires on the demon and make pacts. Such pacts are beneficial for both parties, as the spirit of the demon is let loose on Earth and the demonologist retains their sanity. Depending on the conditions of a pact, they stipulate the day, duration, and frequency at which the demon can be invoked. Most of the time, the fiend will then take over the body for the specified duration, choosing to abide or not by the goal of the body's owner.
The most talented demonologists can even create contracts that allow them to stay awake while the demon is possessing them, sharing their consciousness with it. It is a double-edged sword, as a conflict between two minds of equal strength would result in a standstill, with a poor outcome in a situation of jeopardy. By suppressing the demon, they could keep their intellect while benefiting from the otherworldly powers. This great power comes of course at a price. Should the summoner make the slightest mistake, their mind could be erased at the profit of the demon, resulting in a pure possession where the beast has no counter-power in its body.
To balance the risks and benefits, demonologists begin by summoning weaker demons they overpower easily and train with stronger and stronger demons until they are confident enough to tread with archdemons and their kin. The success rate is extremely rare, judging from how I never heard of any demonologists of old age.
Whispering corruption
The Outer Gods
Strange and terrifying beings, they defy reality and frighten gods and demons alike. They are entities beyond our comprehension, living in a realm beyond divinity, and are far more powerful. Their mere presence would corrode the world and they are to be kept at bay at any time. Their real purpose is unknown, but they try to get into our world by whispering their madness to all who listen. Cultists are the most likely to desperately contact otherworldly beings and the first to get corrupted when one of the Outer Gods makes a new attempt.
It is not that obvious at first. They hear voices in their head that they cannot understand, and assume it is their god speaking to them. Then they receive commands that they execute without questioning their purpose. Their idols turn into twisted versions of themselves and they slowly lose their grasp on reality. Eventually, the power of the cult will grow exponentially until it is able to summon more and more of the Outer corruption into Earth. Luckily, this has never happened past the point of no return, thanks to a tacit accord between all factions of the Abyss. If everyone can agree on one point, it is that the integrity of the world has priority over all grudges.
The Shattering
Only once did we get close to the end. That one time, the creeping corruption took all the main cults together. A coalition of thousands of people, infused with abhorrent power and set on one goal: to shatter the boundary between our world and the Outer plane. As usual, the remaining cults and other factions tried to stop them on their own, merely abiding by the implicit truce. However, the union of major cults was not something each could solve alone. As the day of the ritual approached, it became clear that we would never win without a real alliance.
It was the only time I had to step in personally, acting as the mediator in the negotiations. My ever-standing neutrality made me the only trustable middle man and I used that to coordinate an attack on the cultists. London never heard of the epic battle that occurred underground that day, and perhaps that's for the better. Thousands of people died in the gloomy corridors. For every corrupt cultist down, two of our men were killed.
short story spoilers ahead!
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