"Pleased to meet you... hope you guess my name." - The Rolling Stones, 'Sympathy For The Devil'
Demons are fallen angels who chose to side with Lucifer and humanity rather than with God in the first days of Creation. As punishment for their rebellion and disloyalty, the Archangel Michael cast these angels out of Heaven and into the Abyss.
Many, especially those who fear or revile them, refer to them as the Fallen or the Damned.
History
Beginnings
The Elohim were responsible for the creation of everything, including humanity. Elohim were split into seven Houses (known as the Sebettu), each responsible for different aspects of creation:
- The Namaru, the First House, who were once the flag bearers of God and bringer of his word.
- The Asharu, the Second House, who once watched over humanity like their own children.
- The Annunaki, the Third House, who created the world and the tools for those upon it to use.
- The Neberu, the Fourth House, who set the universe running like clockwork and could read its movements like no other.
- The Lammasu, the Fifth House, whose job was to inspire humanity to the heights of pure truth.
- The Rabisu, the Sixth House, who created and oversaw the plants and animals that were to serve under humans.
- The Halaku, the Seventh House, who destroyed when what was created by the other houses was out of time and use.
During and after the creation of humanity, God set forth two edicts - the angels were to love humans as they loved God, but were never to reveal themselves to humanity - their work would be unknown and overlooked by the humans in their innocence (or ignorance).
Rebellion
The War in Heaven began when an angel named Ahrimal, one of the Neberu, foresaw a disaster in the future; a disaster which God had either directly orchestrated or would allow to happen. The angels debated whether or not to act against God in order to prevent this disaster; many argued that it would be safer to do nothing, because their action could potentially be the cause of the disaster. The angel Lucifer was the first to make a conclusive decision in favor of rebellion, and he became the leader of the rebel angels.
One-third of the angels sided with Lucifer and tried to prepare humanity for the impending catastrophe by accelerating its development. These Fallen revealed themselves to humanity in order to bring them "the light" of knowledge and awareness. In so doing they incurred the wrath of God, who had given humanity the potential to be aware of the Word, the good and evil, yet had not intended Man to have this kind of awareness yet. The first of humans, Adam and Eve, had only rudimentary knowledge and awareness, solely concerned with their survival. During the war that followed, the sin of Cain taught both humans and the Fallen how to kill and many grew twisted and evil.
For this transgression against the Creator's wishes, the Fallen were cast out from Heaven and Creation was devastated. After a lengthy, increasingly atrocious war with the loyalist Elohim over the fate of humanity, the Fallen were finally defeated when the Babel project failed and severed the link between the Fallen and humans. The defeated and former Elohim were cast into the Abyss and lingered there for untold eons - all except Lucifer, conspicuously missing from their shared prison. In the end, Ahrimal's vision was true; by abandoning God and misleading humanity, the rebel Elohim caused it to become a shade of what it was meant to be.
Then, the walls of the Abyss cracked during a great Maelstrom, and the Fallen started escaping back to the material world.
Escape
Those lesser demons who were able to slip through the cracks in the Abyss found themselves nearly torn asunder by the power of the storm and the barely-comprehensible nature of the underworld, but eventually forced themselves through the whirlwind of pain to the Earth they once knew - arriving scattered over decades or centuries.
Earth was a shadow of its former self to them - wracked by greed, corruption, ignorance and apathy. The demons who escaped felt the pull of the Abyss calling them to return, and thus they needed to anchor themselves to the material plane, doing so by possessing suitable human hosts.
Characteristics
Possession
To continue existing, a demon must find a suitable host for itself. Bodies whose souls have been eroded by trauma, emotional degradation, addiction or near-death experiences. The demon severs the weakened soul from the body or merges with it, entwining with the host's memories and emotions and continues existence on Earth to follow its own personal agenda. While the mortal body provides the Fallen with a shield against the full memory of their torment in Hell, their experiences are often shaped by the memories and feelings the mortal soul left behind.
A human host has the disadvantage of being unable to hold all the Fallen's memories, and also only allows a trickle of power compared to what the Fallen used to be able to accomplish. On the upside, the lingering memories and values of some hosts can restore the Fallen to sanity and help them restore and nourish their Faith after their long imprisonment.
Powers & Abilities
Once possessing a vessel, demons endow their hosts with demonic physiology. This gives them abilities that give them advantages over humans, some subtle (immunity to mind control, awareness of the supernatural) or overt (resistance to physical damage that would kill a human).
All fallen are gifted with an Apocalyptic Form, or Visage that grants certain innate abilities as well as providing a more faithful visual appearance to their inner self. In addition, demons have powers known as Lores, which reflect what the fallen's House in Heaven was before they rebelled.
Faith & Torment
Faith is the way that demons power many of their abilities; as Elohim, they had endless amounts of Faith to manipulate. Most fallen now "harvest" Faith from humans by forming pacts and creating thralls, either through genuine support, coercion, manipulation or pure intimidation.
In opposition to Faith is Torment, accumulated through sinful acts such as going against their personal beliefs or hurting someone they care about. Torment reflects in a demon's Lores and Visage: too much Torment will taint any attempts to use a Lore with something dark and undesirable, and any who see the demon's Visage will see a horrendous monster instead of a divine being.
Culture
Organization
Post-Fall and their return to the material world, demons tended towards the regimented nature they held as angels - organizing themselves in various ways from both philosophical and practical perspectives.
Factions
Much like their original Houses held distinct purpose in Heaven, demons on Earth have fallen into new philosophical divisions to dedicate themselves to. These factions do not tend to work in harmony as the Sebettu once did but instead pursue their own goals and edicts.
- Faustians, who seek to use humanity as a tool to overthrow Heaven.
- Cryptics, who want to unravel the puzzles to the motives of God, and possibly to existence itself.
- Luciferans, who look for the missing Lucifer, and hope he will again lead them in the war against Heaven.
- Raveners,, who want to end Creation through violent destruction and start anew.
- Reconcilers, who hope to be forgiven, rejoin Heaven and restore Earth to where it was before The Fall happened.
Courts
Demons that have returned from the Abyss usually organize themselves into Courts, which are remnants from the Age of Wrath, when the Fallen ruled their own Bastions in their war against Heaven. Modern Courts, however, are rarely united. Many of the Fallen flock to a Court to grant them a safe haven and to exploit others in the complex games of politics and power among them, most of which originated from their long imprisonment in the Abyss where they had nothing else to do than to plot against each other.
Other courts are a mess of those confused by the changes in the world, disillusioned or traumatized by war, or bured in hierarchical infighting. Like the case of the Inferal Courts of Savannah and Atlanta in Georgia, some are overtly hostile to others and distrusting of newcomers.
