Demon Lore

For anything that isn't covered in here, drop a question down below!

So, Demons are born out of an evil act. Weaker demons who are higher up in the levels of hell are born out of smaller sins, telling lies, taking a cookie from the jar, but they only come to be out of GUILT. The act doesn't bear a demon unless the committer of the act feels guilt for it.

The sin they are born from corresponds with how far down they live in the underworld. It's been mentioned on my Tumblr that Seir comes from the circle of heretics, as they were born out of an act committed by a heretic that was later felt guilt over. It's also why demons like Seir would rather lure victims into practicing dark magic as it feeds them better, since it's what created them in the first place.

When they have just been created, demons easily absorb energy from around them. It all sinks through the veil so all spawn is easily fed off of human emotion. When they gain more experience and grow, they gain tastes for certain types of emotions and start leaving their home to actively search it out in greater numbers instead of what trickles down.

It is why Seir does seek out the Witch, following negative emotions, even though heresy is their usual bread and butter. In truth, they were very well fed in 1700's and only recently needed to start eating again, and hadn't found as much of their usual food.

There is also a hierarchy in their home, based on how old the demon is and how prosperous they are in how many times they've been a familiar and how many humans they've led astray. In fact, one of the most famous demons down there, in Seir's neighborhood, approaching royalty status, is Paimon. Further down there are names far more familiar to those who are well versed in the Ars Goetia, Bhaal, Asmodeus, Belial, Beleth, any sort of names you can find in Ghost's Year Zero for example.

But they all have a different hunger. To be on the mortal plane.

Down below, the state they live in cannot be explained as anything else than living in a fever dream. Nothing feels completely real, it's always in a state of mass hysteria due to the souls down there and the demons feeding off of them. They can slip through the veil but they cannot take a solid form. They absorb raw, negative emotions, but do not see the physical world as humans do until they become a familiar.

Then, once they have a contract in place, it's a rush. Similar to endorphins that come from love or sex, when the agreement is bound in blood, leading more first time familiar to believe they are in love, or similar with their Witch. Older, more experienced ones, know better, such as Saleos. They also take the form of an animal their Witch feels a connection to, hence why Seir is able to take the form of a dog, cat, bird, fox, hare or snake. Saleos is always in the form of a mink, even though their own contract has been breached and they're working on repairing it.

Demons, despite coming from asexual reproduction, are able to create their own spawn through sexual intercourse, no matter the gender of their partner. This act creates new spawn, which is far more powerful than the average demon spawn. In fact, the aforementioned Paimon, is incredibly famous as a half Witch half demon spawn that has lived fully as a demon and has thrived as one ever since. These offspring have a natural leg up, and half Witchling half Spawn are the most common of demon off spring. Rarer is Werewolf, and Reaper, with populations being less than 2% and 0.4% individually. Very few times do half spawn spend a majority of their time in the mortal plane.

Finally, their magic. Demons have access to magic, that they hand over to their Witch once a contract is formed. For those who have studied the magic system, they will notice that dark magic is far more personalized, other than blood magic. Nature, light, elemental, grey, all have powers that can be expected so it's easy to anticipate what a Witch could do in a situation, and which makes Blood and Dark magic users far more unpredictable for researchers and hunters. Dark magic is created out of a need of what the Witch needs in that moment and is structured to be used again and again.