Demons

Demons are seen by most creatures as pure evil, the root of all evil known in Kierra, but instead, they are just another species that live in a realm known as Hell by most other species. They are one of the oldest species, together with the angels and for that have their own, ancient language and society.

History
Demons are known to have existed since the beginning of time. They were there before recorded history and probably even one of the original species that walked Kierra. During the first era, Demons and Angels were the dominated species on Kierra, freely walking it and fighting the other species over population and land. At the end of the first era, Demons were driven back to their own realm and would have lived there in their own society for many more years.

At the end of the second era, thanks to the Arch-Demon Lilith, Demons returned to Kierra in large numbers, together with all other kinds of creatures that are seen as dark and evil. They managed to walk freely for 25.666 years before the Arch-Demon was captured and the Demons were once again returned to Hell.

Now, only few Demons roam Kierra, most of them under the control of the Arch-Demon Sciatur, even though they sometimes believe not.

Society
Demon society is one of the most dangerous and aggressive societies in Kierra. Their lands are split up in 667 areas, 666 of them being under the control of a Demon Lord, while the last one, known as 'The Heart of The Abyss' is under the control of the Royal Demons and The Arch Demon.

Besides that, Demons live in constant struggle, always fighting to become stronger, trying to prove themselves to the other Demons to show that they are worthy. Once a demon is created, they have to wait till the next tournament to show what tier they are, and with that earn their place in Demon society.

Demon Tiers
Demonic society exists out of a lot of Demons, each of them being in a certain tier that represent their place in this society. They represent the Demon's strength and power, and shows what a Demon is obligated to do.

Arch Demon
The Arch Demon is known as being the ruler of Hell, the one and only Demon that is stronger than all the others. He is known to be the strongest of all, and the one who controls all. The rank of Arch Demon is a rank that hasn't changed many times. It is known that at the end of the second era, a Demon known as Lilith slayed the previous Arch Demon and took control. Now, recently, a new Demon, seemingly much stronger than all the others, seems to have taken the rank of Arch Demon. This Demon is known as Sciatur.

There is, at all time, only one Demon with the rank of Arch Demon. If the Arch Demon is slayed by another Demon, that Demon takes this rank. But if the Arch Demon is slayed by a non-Demon creature, either a civil war occurs where all the Demon Lords together with the Royals fight for this rank, or, when possible, the offspring of the Arch Demon would take his place unless one takes it from him.

Royal
A Royal Demon, whether this is a queen or king, is the second ruler of Hell, standing directly below the Arch-Demon. They take over the reigns as the Arch-Demon would be absent for any reason, yet they are forced to obey the Arch-Demon's wish.

At all times, there are only two Royals, whether this is Queen-King, King-King or Queen-Queen doesn't matter.

Royal Knight
Royal Knights are the knights of the Royals. They all live in the Heart of Hell, in the castle of the Arch-Demon as they remain there as knights, the 'elite' soldiers of the Demons.

There tend to be around 50-60 Royal knights at any moment.

Demon Lord
A Demon Lord is a Demon who reigns over one of the 666 remaining sections of Hell. They have their own land and rule it like a country or duchy.

There are a total of 666 Demon Lords spread through Hell, one per section.

Knight
A Knight is a Demon who works for a Demon Lord as a Knight. They tend to give the Devils commands as the Demon Lords command them. Further than that, they act as the 'Elite' soldiers of that Lord's section.

There tend to be 20-30 Knights per Demon Lord.

Devil
A Devil is known as the Demon that commands the armies on the battle field. They mainly work directly under a Knight. The Devil rank is also the last tier you can earn in the tournament. The highest tier a Demon can become through the Tournaments.

Centurion
Centurions are basically pact-leaders. They get control over a small group within an army, known as a pact. They are the strongest of their pact, and there also is only one Centurion per pact.

Soldier
Soldiers are the main strength of the Demon armies. There are many of them and normally there are around 5-10 per pact. Soldiers are the first Demon ranked to only fight, compared to the other ranks below them.

Liege
A Liege is a Demon who has a group of Familiars under his command. He is not meant to fight in a war, instead he is meant to take control over the construction of cities or similar things, basically anything they can use slaves for. They are known to be the Demon's slavers

Familiar
A Familiar is a Demon who is nothing but a slave to a Liege or sometimes even higher ranking Demon. Most Familiars fall under the control of Lieges, having to work for them as slaves to get things done within the Demon societies.

Pawn
A Pawn is a Demon that is a bit stronger than a Peasant. They live in Demonic villages and Cities in the somewhat better homes that Peasants and Lessers, but besides that, they are put between them in times of war, they only tend to be able to take a bit more of a beating.

Pawns are also known to be used as spies. They don't look like much more than a Peasant or Lesser, making them perfectly able to blend in with them, yet they are stronger and can take more of a beating.

Peasant
Peasants are Demons that have shown that are better and stronger then Lessers, but still are quite weak. They don't really do much, and in war are put between the Lessers as cannon fodder, but outside that they just live in the Demonic villages and cities without doing to much, except for maybe picking on Lessers.

Lesser
Lesser are very weak Demons, they mostly already die from minor wounds, but they have an extremely high endurance. Because of this, Lessers are widely used as slaves, and in war mainly used as canon fodder to take the first blows or to swarm the enemy.

Lessers are looked down on by all other Demons, being pushed around all the time and being bullied. It is even known to that Lessers get killed for fun or when a higher tier Demon is pissed.

The Tournament
The Tournament is one of the oldest and most important Demon traditions. It is used to allow a lower Demon, or a new Demon, to show what tier he is. Once every Demonic year, a tournament is held and the positions of the lower Demons are shifted to the outcome of this tournament.

The rules on this tournament are simple.
 * Running or Hiding from your opponent is not allowed
 * Only Demonic magic is allowed in this tournament
 * The fighting keeps on till one of the two can't stand any more
 * When one of these rules is broken, the offender would be punished by death
 * Death is done by breaking up the Demon's soul and returning it directly to the Astral Rift

The way the tournament is created is simply. Two Demons are put against each other, to see which one is better. When you manage to win, you will go a tier up. Do you now, then you remain in that tier. In the beginning of the tournament, all participants are placed in a tier that they expect them they fit in, and can progress from there on. In order to go down a tier, you have to lose three fights.

Mak'Gora
The Mak'Gora means "Duel of Honour" and is an Demonic custom whereby someone may challenge a superior for leadership. This ritual is normally used within smaller groups, pacts of Demons within the Demonic armies, but can be used, even though it is very rare, in the upper ranks of the Demonic society.

Rules
The rules of a Mak'Gora are simple:
 * Each participant is allowed one weapon.
 * Body armour is forbidden
 * The use of magic is forbidden
 * Each participant must have at least one witness
 * If both or one participant refuses to fight, they can be banished from Hell.
 * This is a fight to the death
 * Interference in a Mak'Gora is punished by death or banishment
 * Cheating in a Mak'Gora is punished by death or banishment

Known Mak'Gora

 * Issued by Demon Lord Rag'dell to Arch Demon Sciatur because of a disagreement of his lands. Sciatur ended this fight quickly by kicking Rag'dell to the ground and tearing his head off with his bare hands
 * Issued by Familiar Garador to Liege Ich'nalath because of Garador's will to break free from Ich'nalath's leadership. Ich'nalath ended this fight by piercing Garador's heart with Garador's own weapon.

Shared Powers
Demons have certain powers and abilities that they all share. Each Demon, after having trained to be able to do it, can learn these powers.

Rift
A Demon can open a rift, a cut in the oblivion barrier, that allows the Demon to travel between Kierra and Hell. A rift is always limited to a fixed point, meaning that one point, always leads to the same since Kierra and Hell overlap one another. The first rift can only be opened from Kierra, meaning that the Demon would first have to escape Hell in order to learn this ability

Sensing Demons
All Demons, except of those with the mark of the Rogue, give away a certain energy to the outside world. Other Demons, and certain Angels, can sense this energy and even recognize it if they know to who it belongs. Passively, a Demon senses up to a radius of roughly 100 meters, but when fully focused on it, a Demon can track down another Demon across the world.

Possession
A Demon can possess another living creature. This, when successful, can grand the Demon a husk, allowing them to walk Kierra freely, instead of a limited time of a few minutes. A Demon can, at any time, choose to possess a new person, thus acquiring a new husk. The downside of this is that, when the old husk far exceeded it's maximum age as it's race, the old husk will die. And when it still is able to live, it will remember /everything/ the Demon did whilst in the husk.

The husk itself is only visible outside of Hell, whilst in Hell you see the Demon self.

Language
Demons of Kierra speak mostly in their native tongues, which is the Demonic Language.

Next to Demonic, most Demons posses the ability to speak common and Demons can learn other languages if needed.

Mating
Demons are created in various ways. One of them being actual mating between a male and a female, another would be the painful process of transforming into a Demon.

Mating
Mating is done in two ways.

The first one being with a 'mate'. These two Demons would mate for the soul purpose of getting offspring.

The second one is being with a 'wife' or 'husband'. In this case, the two Demons swear to remain together for the rest of their lives, getting children as a family. This is normally only done in the highest ranks of Demon society as it shows how they can care for their children, and thus also for their followers. This gives these Demons extra reputation and are less likely to be opposed.

Transforming
This is a very common way to create Demons. These result in Demons who once lived.

The process of transforming in a Demon is painful. When a person dies and their souls remain roaming the world for any reason, they will slowly turn insane, their bodies turning with them as they over time will turn into a Demon. These Demons are normally caught by the Oblivion Barrier and sucked into Hell

Notable Demons
There are numerous notable Demon in Demon society, those who played a larger role than other Demons.

Arch-Demons:

 * Diabolus (Entire Great War, first era)
 * Arbiter (End first era 'till the year 2016 of the second era)
 * Asmodeus (The year 2016 of the second era 'till the end of the second era)
 * Lilith (End of the second era till 4.758 of the fifth era)
 * Sciatur (The year 4.758 of the fifth era till present)

Mark of the Traitor
The mark of the traitor is a combination of burn marks spread over the Demon's chest, shoulders and back. This mark is burned into the body using fire, or when this doesn't work, it is burned into it using Demonic energy.

This mark is given to those who are considered a traitor, those who betrayed their kind. They will be given the mark, then will banished from Hell with no way of returning. When the Demon returns with this mark, the Demon can be killed be anyone.

Mark of the banished
The mark of the banished is a mark burned into the back of the Demon. It is burned into it using fire, or when this is not possible, using Demonic energy.

This mark is given to those who are banished from Hell, but are given a chance to redeem themselves. They will be given a task to complete to prove themself worthy of returning.

Mark of the Rogue
The Mark of the Rogue is a mark burned into the shoulder of the Demon. It is burned into it using fire, or when this is not possible, using Demonic energy.

The mark is given to those who want to step away from Demon society and live their own lives in their own ways. They are known to be outcast and are regularly hunted by other Demons as a sport

Mark of the Slave
The mark of the slave is a mark burned into the back of the slave. This doesn't has to be a Demon, it can be any creature and is actually rarely used on Demons.

The mark is given to those who are to be enslaved by a Demon. Every slave has this and the mark have special properties. As a starter, the owner always knows where the slave is, making it near impossible to escape from it as long as the mark is there. Next to that, the slave never truly dies. When it dies, the soul is pulled back to Hell, to a certain location the owner chose and there the body shall reconstruct with the soul inside it, meaning that death isn't a way out.