Demons are a simple description to describe a near-endless category of beings, creatures, amalgamations, etc. That inhabit the Calliope Star Cluster.

Demons are often described as any fell being whose soul (or lack thereof) are made up of fell and demonic energies often attributed to abyssal and hellish plains of existence and can not otherwise exist in the mortal realm or realspace without some form of anchor be it a soul-binding contract, corruption of their surroundings, sacrifice, etc.

And while there are corrupted and infernal beings who can survive long-term out of hellscapes and in basic reality without being anchored in some way it is uncommon and often only capable for those weakest of demons who require so little to sustain themselves, and those of immense power.

The most common way for demons and their kind to sustain themselves in realspace is often to find locations in realspace where reality is thinnest for whatever reason and invade, corrupt, or conquer the local space and area and seed corruption or bind their souls to local hosts in manners such as possession or through soul-binding contacts for the good or ill of the host.

Demons and infernal beings are varied in how they come to existence.

Some live and procreate much like any being, living their lives and forming partners and relationships and bringing new life into their world. using this method most demons are able to procreate with other demons even of other sub-species within reason and the offspring can be varied with variable conception rates depending on a number of factors.

Some demons are also created. Through the formation of soulstuffs by warlocks, cosmic chance in highly corrupt infernal areas when the conditions are right, and other means a demon can come into the world unnaturally. This is most common in areas of high corruption or infernal energies where soulstuff, physical matter, and magic will condense into a being of infernal energy. The intelligence, memory, and personality are dependent on the circumstances. Warlocks have also been known to create lesser demons using collected materials from dead or captured infernal beings in the attempt to garner power or create powerful servants.

Some demons are formed by their planet or realm and crawl from pits or gouges in the world where infernal energies have condensed and can create newborn demons of various races. Such locations are often seats of power for powerful demonlords who use birthing pits to keep a steady population and cultures stem around these pits where families will wait at these locations and adopt the newborns crawling from them into their families when such locations often have a low natural procreation rate.

Finally some demons are made from corruption. When a mortal or a divine being has had their soul entirely corrupted by infernal energies and is not consumed by another demon they often become a pseudo demon themselves. Wings will blacken and feathers will change, horns or fur or scale might grow, the skin might change color. The end result is a demonic version of their original self depending on how powerful the corruption is. Such beings are often shunned or hunted in their own realms but are welcomed freely in infernal realms and some nations actively seek to locate such beings due to their trophy status and in the case that corrupted beings usually have the power of their old life and their demon hood making them powerful assets for any demonlord to own. Infernally corrupted individuals are also more resistant to divine corruption compared to normal demons and are considerable assets against the divine even if they are still affected by it.

Infernal realms; Hellscapes, abyssal plains, and other such locations are the home existence of infernal beings. Here demons are born/made/created/assembled and live out lives not dissimilar from the rest of the Calliope Star Cluster. There are settlements, governments, wars, peace, trade, travel, and any activity of any scale one might think of involving daily life.

Infernal realms are similar to our own plains of existence but are often foreign and held in Starke contrast to what one might consider normal; Twisted and corrupted looking vegetation in purples/blues/blacks, water unfit for non-infernals to drink without killing them, terrible and horrid local fauna, burning acid rains or random pockets of never-fading fire are normal for the locals here as much as the opposite might be for inhabitants of realspace. The locals of these realms find nothing odd with a malformed and sickly looking beast with its guts hanging out, and would treat a pit of tentacle horrors the same way a normal person might any dangerous encounter without wondering how such a thing came to be.

The biggest difference between infernal realms and realspace is, however, the abundance of infernal energies from which demons and their kind supplement energy the same way a human would in realspace. It is also magically dense and transcends dimensions; Allowing demon mages to draw from it to cast magics or fuel constructs or infernal technologies even with diminishing returns. Infernal energy is a necessity to demonic survival outside of infernal realms without some form of an anchor; Leading many demons or invading hosts of demons to seed corruption to cultivate infernal energies in order to survive long-term on worlds in realspace.

When a world has fully succumbed to corruption and breeds infernal energies freely it is not uncommon for that world to simply be sucked into the abyssal realm of the invading host; Hence why no world of demons inside the Calliope Star Cluster never last more than a few millennia in realspace before they are simply sucked into an abyssal realm as a new territory for the invaders.

As it stands the Infernal Realms are all a part of one large combined dimension that spans near the entirety of the Calliope Star Cluster while existing just beyond the surface of its reality. The exist bellow the star cluster for lack of a better term while divine realms exist above it with the mortal realm in between.

The Precursors had outposts and influence in both realms, and the Gates also exist in both realms in the same locations as in the mortal realm. Hadal's Chasm is also just as turbulent to the infernal realms as the mortal realms and travelling through it or exploring it is extremely dangerous.

Demon and infernal beings are not anarchistic by nature. They are social creatures just like any other species no matter how violent or antisocial a sub-species of demons might be they will still always exist in some form of tribe, community, host, warband, government, etc.

And while the subspecies of demonic kind vary amongst the abyssal realms it is most common for forms of meritocratic feudalism to take root. This is due to the ancient practice of invasions into realspace from infernal realms to acquire power, resources, souls, slaves, and entire worlds into their realm.

This has bred a desire to be lead by often the strongest of their kind which in a feudal society where the strongest, smartest, most cunning, and capable of any demonic race will often be found at the forefront of driving their civilizations as compared to despots or nepotism and dynastic lines.

Most often a Demon King or Queen will rule a large portion of an infernal realm and can hold sovereignty over several planets or even an entire large empire while Demon Lords such as Demon princes, dukes, archdukes, counts, viscounts, etc. may lead fiefs of their sovereigns territory on their behalf and manage their affairs.

This is not always the case, however. As nations and governments not unlike democracies, republics, or other types of governance may exist to varying degrees of power or success. The norm is, however, that infernal realms are competitive places and even the most peaceful and safe of them are built upon the bones of others. Some nations or realms of demons even are built upon the foundation of conquering others of their kind or converting mortal realms through corruption and integration.

Infernal realms often subsist on conflict as much with themselves as they do with other non-infernal realms. The method of traveling between realms for invasion, exploration, defense, incursion, etc. Our wide and varied.

Some may use some form of temporary magical portal to cross into to other worlds. While some use methods of unique FTL-like travel in ships to pierce the boundaries between realities much like passing from one part of space to another to arrive in another reality.

The methods are often as wide and varied as any of the nations in the Calliope Star Cluster.

It is not uncommon for individual demons to cross the barrier between realities to possess or inhabit a body of an already living being. This can be consensual or not but is always a requirement on the part of the one being possessed to be a factor in the possession as a demon can not simply blunt-force their way across the divide and inhabit a person's body and/or soul.

The most common way to circumvent this is mortals willingly opening their soul to another being such as a demon in return for power, longevity, etc. Once possessed or bonded to the soul it is usually on the part of the demon to leave willingly unless certain conditions are outlined in a formal contract.

If freely possessed by trickery or deceit it is not uncommon for the host's body and/or soul to be corrupted and eaten/absorbed by the possessing demon.

While a mortal may only contract to one infernal or divine being; A demon or divine being can contract to as many mortals as they can make contracts with and spreads their power our equally to them with diminishing returns. When providing power, magic, etc. to a mortal the demon gives at the moment the contract is formed but takes more over the long term allowing them to empower themselves over time with multiple contracts weakening the demon in the short term but often acting as a long-term investment especially if they actively corrupt and absorb their host's souls or reap them entirely upon death.

It is a common tactic years before an incursion for demons to possess or make contracts with the populace of their target world prior to the invasion to see corruption and pre-empt pawns, followers, and sources of power.

There are also entire sects and cabals of warlocks, mages, and others who seek contact with demons and empower their orders with them.

In most cultures to have encountered demons, there is a common trait in their mythos to have also encountered diving beings. Divine, holy, higher, and other such beings are little more than a different side of the same coins demons inhabit and are not dissimilar to infernal beings.

They exist in separate realities, are powered by unique power exclusive to their realities, may freely inhabit the bodies and souls of mortals in return for power, and make contracts with mortals.

This is where the similarities end.

Diving beings are anathema to infernal beings and vice versa due to their species' innate corruptions being poisonous to the opposite species. Corruption is as damaging to angelic or divine beings as holy corruption is to infernal beings. And the two races seldom ever have positive interactions with each other; Other than in rare cases where either race's zealotry has not poisoned their psyche to seek violence first.

This is reinforced by the fact that to either race the soul-stuff of their enemy can be corrupted and converted into power and both races have waged reality-shattering wars over not only seeking a monopoly over mortal realms but power through corruption over the other.

While it is also a common trend to believe that divine beings are good while infernal beings are evil the truth of the matter is both sides live the same lives but in different realities and while an angel or humanoid-looking demon might beautiful or appealing to mortal; Both sides have horrifying races amongst them that the mere presence of one could shatter the psyche of a mortal to witness.

The main conflict between these races is mostly over a monopoly of souls in the mortal realm and from the driving forces of those on power on both sides and the zealotry of their peoples. Some of which may have once been angels or demons themselves before being corrupted by the other.

Demon kind is magical by nature, but is not always the case. The majority of infernal realms and their people have access to many types of magic and use it to supplement the daily necessities and labors of their lives much the same as a technological race might automate or invent to improve their own lives.

Hexes, curses, possession, illusionary, and fire-based types of magics are fairly common and have different uses in infernal plains to improve one's life while also having the ability to harm as any magic could. And while these are common they are not exclusive to the infernal plains and any vocation of magic could be found in these places.

Technology is also fairly common in its own ways and even crosses utilizing technology and infernal magics are not unheard of.

Infernal beings are as widely varied as any of their real space counterparts. Some may be humanoid, some may be horrors beyond our comprehension. The majority are humanoid in nature, however, and this will cover them.

The average demon has no base height and often is reliant on their sub-species to determine how tall or not they should be. Some demons may be as tall as only twelve inches in height while others may be tall and imposing or anywhere in between.

Reds, blacks, purples, blues, and grays are fairly common. While the more common realspace counterparts of tans, browns, etc. Are less common due to the fact that skin color in the infernal realm is not dictated by heat or exposure to the sun.

This is not to say that human or other skin is uncommon. As some types of demons may look almost human.

The skin of Infernal beings is also most commonly harder than what you might find in a human; Being much more akin to leather than a soft and easily cut human counterpart. Furs, scales, keratin, or calcium growths are also common while wings with skin membranes may be as thin as paper or as thick as leather.

Some types of demons might have soft or smooth skin as well, or hard to discern furs contrast to hardier types.

While some demons can look like humans or other races, they is almost always defining characteristics to define their infernal nature. Horns, scales, wings fur, hooves, long tounges, tails, claws, keratin or calcium growths on the skin, skin patterns not unlike tattoos, etc. Are all extremely common and it is almost unheard of to find someone from an infernal realm without some defining characteristic from their realm to make them stand out.

Like any species, different demons find different aesthetics pleasing or not. But few of them ever see any of these secondary characteristics as displeasing or ugly like someone from a non-infernal realm might.

Infernal beings may or may not have genders. A succubus is always female, and an Incubus is always male, But there are few species amongst them that have such frequent examples. One species might not have any genders and simply be androgynous while another may only have one gender.

While aesthetic is usually dependent on the species and culture it is highly common for beings from infernal realms to dress differently and more leisurely than what one might normally find in non-infernal realms. With very proud and strong cultures it is not uncommon for some men to wear little to show off scars or just minimal armor or trousers to show off tattoos or patterns. While women might dress more openly and freely with little suffrage between the sexes to oppress them.

Some demon races are the opposite and prefer to dress in military cut uniforms, armors, or finer fabrics as well and it is entirely dependent on factors such as the nation, species, etc.

Here is a basic outline of some of the known types of demons in the setting and some information about them. Sub-pages for specific species may be in order if desired but should link back to here.

Imps are an extremely common type of demon and can be found just about anywhere there is infernal energy or corruption. Often portrayed as short and fat this is the norm but it is not unheard of to have larger, lither, smaller, or different shapes and forms of imp.

Imps are also rather simple, possessing often the intellect of a child, though they have the capacity to learn. They always have wings, a tail, and come in skin colors such as red, blue, gray, green, purple or black. While they can have normal legs and arms it is not uncommon to have goat-like legs and hooves and even horns to boot.

Imps have a natural affinity for magic and bleed black blood.

Dice Demons are one of the smallest races of infernal beings. Often standing at just under twelve inches tall with dark-gray skin, white hair and eyes, and drooping elf-like ears with long and thin tails that end in a heart/spade-like shape.

Dice demons are mischievous by nature and very magically inclined when it comes to hexes and curses. They often practice making pacts or contracts with non-infernal beings for soul-stuff or power and use this to shape reality in a limited fashion giving them a reputation for making deals with non-infernals for things like wealth, health and longevity, power, etc.

Dice demons are very specific and literal in their contracts and more often than not their mischievous will leave an unwitting fool at the bad end of a misread deal gaining little and giving more than their fair share to one of these gray devils.

A common type of demon a succu/incubus is a gender-specific subclass of demon who often influence others using pheromones or fell magics. While there is a common misconception about their nature, the reality is that these demons supplement themselves on raw soul-stuff harvested from unwitting victims who let their guard down and are often influenced by their magic or pheromones with no actual need to perform sexual acts.

Relatively weak and reliant on their magics; The mere presence of one of these beings is often enough to influence others around them and they can freely tailor their form to subtly alter themselves to meet the preferred appearance of a potential victim to better let their guard down.

Isferatos (Shadow Demons)

• Player char created this on 2022/02/09 15:05.

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