Demons

Demons, Devils, Damned
Racial Characteristics
Hair Color:	Varied
Eye Color:	Varied
Other Information
Country of Origin:	No constant origin
Significant Populations:	No significant population spot
Language:	Infernal
Related Races:	Half Demons

Race Origins

The origins of demons are spoken of in many different cultures, there are some people that consider them to be related to religion as being the messengers and harbingers of death. Though the demonic race are at times thought this because of the massive amount of powers they hold, they are not normally affiliated with any one religion.

The demonic entity begins as a humanoid creature, they must have the higher cognitive functions, be able to think and reason and most importantly of all. They have to want. A demon or a devil begins as a person who wants with all of themselves power and control. Beginning as merely a magic worker, a practioner of the arts of working with power, a person has multiple paths to entertain. When the choice is made to start following a path of dark magic, black power, the person who chooses this path has chances as much as any other being to turn back, turn aside and take a lighter direction.

Over time as all power does, the desire for power and the power itself, changes the person that wields it, over a great deal of time as dark arts are performed and the magic user takes steps into extending his or her lifetime, as the soul becomes blackened and corrupted, the demon begins to form. It takes a long time, many lifetimes of being steeped in the blackest of arts and at the end when the soul is corrupted and nearly destroyed the body normally is mangled with it. When the soul finally expires the desire for power and the amount of power that this 'person' holds must be enough to keep them alive. They feed off different elements to maintain their power and thus create pockets where they keep creatures they can feed off.

History

The history of demonic entities as all things that are steeped in power, time, and dark arts, have become muddled. People confuse demons for things of religion, or fallen angels. In reality the history of the demon is more simple and more direct. People that had taken too much power and are unable to turn back. It is rare to find one such person who is able to control the level of power, maintain the drive and desire for it, and find them still at the end master of themselves to be able to funnel all that power into staying alive after the death of the soul.

Over time the legends of demons and their connection to religion or religious orders has become widely exaggerated. Either due to information spread by the race as a way of confusing and muddling their existence, giving them a greater foothold into the lives of those people that they seek to use, or due to the general public's fear of the unknown. The power of these people may also add to the general impression that they are religiously connected, the combination of tales relating to angels as well as to gods translating down into the feeling that the great degree of power they wield must be religious in nature.

Culture

Demonic culture is tangled, there are many things that are along with the nature of the race themselves that is shrouded in fable and legend. The few things about the culture that are correct have been passed along through generations of demon hunters and scholars. Much of what is known about the demonic culture are things to aid others in defeating one of the entities because of the nature of this knowledge.

As a group, demons do not normally interact with one another in a social scenario, much of what they do entails them being independently able to draw people to them. Having more than one demon vying for material to nourish themselves causes more trouble to the demon in the end. A demon feeds most commonly off the particular emotion, response, or off the lives of humanoid races. Depending on the thing that they feed on, the presence of another of their kind in their feeding grounds is something they would normally seek to correct. Because of this they tend to not associate with each other for long, though some will do so to gather information about others of their race. Because of the nature of their culture and the darkness, the corruption connected to it and more often than not the willingness to dispose of each other, secrets and information about others of their kind are valued things.

One constant about the demonic culture is the power of a demon's name. At one point along the path that they follow there is a consistent need for the magic user to bind themselves to a name, something that can not be easily guessed and something that is not given out willingly. The need to bind to a name, a word of power, follows a transition that comes with the accumulation of power. The magic worker is able to reach a plateau and move forward, gathering more and more power.

There are people who are partial demons, a human or humanoid creature breeds with a demon and the child that results from it would maintain the characteristics of both parents. The genetic mutation of the demon body after time would follow into the blood of the child that is born from it and they have as much chance to inherit characteristics of power, personality, and features as any other child. Because of the dilution of blood however, the powers that a demon possesses would be more limited in the child that they bring forth. A half demon child is rare but definitely not unheard of, demons are more than able to control when and if they wish to either become pregnant or impregnate someone. Normally the impulse for a demon to breed is based off the same impulse they have for a great deal of their lives, desire for power, amusement, or something else self motivated. Because of being so connected to an infernal creature the child of such a union doesn't normally survive passed the demon's need for them. However there have been partial demon children in history that have either sought to hide what they are, embrace it and seek to become like their demonic parentage, or are discriminated against for their blood.

The general ideal that the demonic kind make deals in trade for the souls or services of humanoid races are normally true as well, depending on the power structure of the demon in question. Making a deal with a demon normally leads to consequences that the other party didn't forsee. Depending on what kind of demon it is, and what kind of response they require for nourishment the side effects may or may not outweigh the desired for gains. For example if dealing with an entity that feeds off suffering, a deal made with this demon for wealth may end up bringing that person a good deal of pain and suffering and draw their family into it so the creature can feed off all the pain it causes. Because these beings base their decisions mostly off of feeding or amusement and self interest, dealing with them lightly isn't usually the best idea.

Typical Racial Characteristics

There isn't much that is typical to the race when it comes to a physical outlook, they can vary as much in their features as the original race they come from as well as anything that has happened to their bodies in the time between starting down the path of corruption and the death of their souls. They may retain all their humanoid features, adding only features for the mutation, or they may become completely devolved into and animal type of form. Not just horns, tails, and wings.

One thing that is characteristic of the race is the desire for self gratification. Much of what drives them is the need to fulfill that hunger of self. They seek for power, amusement, desires of the flesh or whatever they wish at the time and it drives them to burn away portions of their souls. It is possible for these creatures to love, lust and be driven by all the emotions of normal humanoid creatures but normally when they are driven by emotion it tends toward driving them to the extreme. Killing anything in the way of their desire because there is no check on their morality. If they love someone or something, it will be protected or theirs at the cost of all life. If they desire a thing, anything will be sacrificed to attain or keep it. The mind of self gratification which satisfies itself only after its ends are met.