A Demon, sometimes also called a Yokai or a Spirit, is a manifestation of destruction spawned from the abyss. Their ultimate goals are to spread chaos, murder, and mayhem across all the planes.
Creation
True to their chaotic nature, there is no one way for a demon to be born. Many demons are formed from the Abyss itself, born from the realm's nature chaos and mutations. Many lords of the abyss create legions of demons in their image, but other demons are spawned haphazardly from cursed or shunned souls. Soul-shunned demons are often born in the Ethereal Plane and spend much of their life there, causing mischief and danger from behind their veil of etherealness. Sometimes, a demon under stress can manifest other demons, manifested as copies of their madness. These summoned demons often times live very brief lives, symbiotic to their summoner, but others grow in strength and perpetuate through the planes.
About
The more chaos a demon causes, the more powerful it becomes. The quickest way to disrupt life in the Material plane is to kill something, and murder is often a high priority for demons who make themselves known to mortals. Many times demons who grow in power also grow in size and shape, even mimicking the form of stronger demons they may have encountered. They do not do this as a compliment, but as a challenge, as demons almost always war with each other when crossing paths. While many demons may appear similar, you will never find two that are exactly alike; whether they be from different layers, of different ages, or just born of different forms of chaos. The best demonologists can do it to categorize types of demons, tracing similar paths of changes taken by demon types opr be demons molded y the influence of particularly powerful Demon Lords.
Types of Demons
Demon Lords
Demon Lords are the greatest and most powerful of all Demons. A lord gains their title by claiming dominion over a layer of the infinite Abyss, and as there are infinite layers, scholars assume that there may be near infinite Demon Lords. Those that make themselves known to Quelmar tend to be the most powerful of the bunch, able to pierce the vales between the planes to exert their influence in the Material Realm.
Manes
Manes are the weakest of all demons. Created by souls denied by all the other planes, Manes look like stubby and bloated rotting corpses. They are loathsome creatures misshapen and distorted with the overwhelming urge to harm other beings.
Abyssal Chickens
Abyssal Chickens are strange and carnivorous bottom feeders inhabiting the Abyss. Closer in behavior and temperament to a mangy rat, these tiny fiends run in small flocks in eager search for their next meal.
Dretches
Among the most common of demons in the Abyss are Dretches. They are small monstrous mongrel covered in mattered fur, parasites, and boils and fill their reeking packs fill vast demonic hordes.
Abtere
Abtere are winged humanoid demons covered on coarse fur with razor sharp teeth and claws. They gather in large flocks and like carnivorous vultures the circle the skies, swooping down on any poor creature that catches their eye.
Quasits
The demonic counterpart to imps, Quasits are tiny green fiends with a penchant for mischief and sabotage. They pathetically desire approval from greater demons, and will commonly reach beyond their means to cause pain and chaos.
Bulezau
Bulezau are humanoid demons with goat-like heads and barbed tails that reek of a foal putrid odor. They embody the chaotic violence of nature and many serve as foot foldiers in the armies of greater demons. They are eager to kill and fearless in the face of death, welcoming it even.
Dybbuks
In their natural form, Dybbuk's appear as ethereal floating jellyfish coated in a black slime. At their first opportunity, they will possess the corpse of a creature and twist it in horrifying ways to terrorize their victims. In one such case, it twisted a horse by giving it fingers and making it vomit black blood.
Shadow Demons
Other then in the lairs of demons who court night and darkness, Shadow Demons are not born naturally. Rather they are made when a demon is slain and is unable to properly reform in the Abyss, causing the remnants of their spirit and their evil to coalesce into a newly born Shadow Demon. These demons thrive in darkness, able to slip through walls like a spirit and disappear when the lights go out. The best way to fight a shadow demon is to expose it to bright light.
Barlgura
Barlgura's most often manifest as massive ape or bear-like demons coated in thick, matted red fur. Their brutality is famous across the realms and make their lairs in dense jungles or treacherous cliffs, climbing and swinging about with ease.
Tanarukks
Tanarukk are the result of summoning demons using the body (live or dead) of an Orc. The most notable instance of Tanarukk in the realm came during Realm War I when the Troverth Dynasty found out they could create "Super-Soldiers" by killing the feral orcs in their lands, and then summon demonic yokai to inhabit the corpse. However, Tanarukk summoning backfired when the blood of the Tanarukk seeped into the water supply of Balabag, causing the Balabag Plague.
Chasme
Chasme are large horse sized mosquito demons, with a droning wings and a proboscis that will suck mortals dry of all their blood. The sounds of their wings can be deafening and even disorienting to creatures who fight them unprepared.
Vrocks
Vrocks are large rotting vulture like demons that inhabit the skies of the Abyss spreading slaughter and ruin. They carry an untold number of diseases and toxins which they are eager to share with their victims.
Hezrou
Hezrou are fat and bloated frog fiends. They are violent and gluttonous, quickly devouring anything they kill. They dress themselves in the rotting flesh of their victims and their stench can make even hardy warriors wretch.
Glabrezu
Glabrezu stand out from most demons as they possess the ability to strategize and think ahead. They are cunning and intelligent, wielding arcane magic and devising traps to lure in their prey. Glabrezu's prefer to cause chaos and pain through deception and betrayal rather then brute force, though, with massive crab-like pinchers for hands, it isn't afraid to get its claws dirty when need be.
Yochlol
Yochlols are shifting demons made of flesh and toxic slime that possess the ability to take on the forms of other creatures. They will serve as spies and saboteurs for their demon overlords, with most serving at the behest of the Demon Queen of Spiders, Lolth. Though not all Yochlol are tied to the Queen of the Drow, with others serving in the courts of other Demon lords like Mother or Ozythra.
Rakshasa
Rakshasa unlike most demons, did not originate in the Abyss. Rather they were the first creations of the Sun God Pelor and were made to be his chosen people, looking like humanoid tigers with backwards hands. But sometime in the far past, they became cursed with fiendish magic, turning them into demonic creatures. With a heavy heart Pelor called for a crusade against the Rakshasas', bringing the species to near extinction. Only a few now travel the realms on the fringes of Pelor's light, dealing in dark magic and cruel secrets.
Nalfeshnee
Nalfeshnee are bestial ogre-like pigheaded demons that serve as brutal Abyssal warlords and commanders. They are dripping with pride, forcing other demons to bend the knee to them with many either serving as leaders in the armies of Demon Lords, or seeing themselves as "prospective" Demon Lords.
Marilith
Mariliths are demons with the bottom half of a massive serpent, and the upper half of a six-armed warrior. They wield multiple cursed swords at once and are some of the most skilled warriors in all of the Abyss. The most famous Marilith was the reformed demon Toi'Viral, a Marilith who was able to break away from the cycle of chaos in the Abyss. Seeing the threat posed by dragons to the realm, Toi'Viral crafted the legendary Seven Arms of Sin, and used the artifacts to wish the dragons away.
Goristros
Goristros are towering horned demons capable of singlehandedly bringing cities to ruin. With strength on par with most dragons, these abyssal minotaurs seek to bring low great structures and to turn kingdoms into piles of rumble.
Balors
Balors are some of the strongest demons in the Abyss, second to only the Demon Lords. These demons made out of fury and hatred wield weapons of elemental power and command vast demonic hordes, their wings casting dark shadows across the battlefield. If a Demon Lord is to fall, it is not uncommon for a Balor to be the one that takes their place.
Death
Demons can be destroyed only when killed in their home plane, The Abyss. A demon vanquished in any other plane or realm will be reformed and trapped in the abyss, where they must wander until they once again find a portal to the outside.
