The Demonic Pantheon

[Mysteris]

"And there was a great battle in heaven. Michael and his angels fought with the dragon, and the dragon fought and his angels: and they prevailed not, neither was their place found any more in heaven. And that great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, who seduceth the whole world; and he was cast unto the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him." (Revelation 12: 7-9)

"Yes, our leadership did fall from Heaven. No, we're not out to conquer the world. Have you ever heard the saying "there's two sides to every story"? We're not out to enslave or corrupt or destroy. We're trying to save you-all of you-from the tyranny of a Primordial gone mad with power and his obsessed slaves! Look, don't worry about it for right now. The important thing is that I can keep you safe from those giant flaming wheels that keep stalking you. You just need to have a little faith is all."

-Amanda Brighton, Scion of Asmodeus

In the beginning there was the Word, and the Word was with El, and the Word was El. The shaper of Heaven and the World was the Primordial who came before all. He created the cosmos within a week, and created legion upon legion of spiritual beings, the Angels, to oversee and maintain his creation. For a time, all was as El had ordained it, and he deemed it good. Humanity was created as El's crowning achievement, the living proof of his mastery of Creation. But then the unexpected happened. One of his angels, Lucifer, led a rebellion against El's management of the human species. It grew to encompass a third of the Angelic hosts, and sparked a war in Heaven that is still spoken of in the World. Lucifer and his followers became Gods in their own right, fighting a Titanomachy against El and his Titanic angels. But unlike other Titanomachies, here the Gods lost. They were defeated by the Titans and cast out of the Overworld of Heaven, down into the Underworld of Hell. But they fight on to this day.

The Demonic pantheon is in a unique position compared to other pantheons. The Primordial they oppose and his Titan servants have built three entire world religions that wield an enormous amount of power in the World, and have for centuries. These religions have cast Lucifer and his rebels as demons and monsters, painting an entire pantheon of Gods as the figures humanity should fear and revile. It has only been in recent times that this has changed somewhat. While a great many across the World still hate and fear the Demons, there have been some who have been attracted to their cause in the last few decades. But it is still a far cry from the worship one would expect of a pantheon, and there is still a great ways to go if the Demons and their Scions are to be ready to bring the fight to El and his followers.

Principal Members

While the Demons are myriad in their numbers and rankings, and mortals have made several classifications of their ranks over the centuries, the pantheon is led by a small group known as the Inner Council, or the Princes of Hell. The Inner Council is made up of those former angels who fell with Lucifer in his rebellion, as well as some who fell later in the second great Fall. First among the Fallen is of course, Lucifer, the God of Light and Darkness. His Queen Lilith at his side, he presides over the rest of the Inner Council and the legions they command. Mammon the Treasurer, Apollyon the General of Hell, Astaroth the Demonic Inqusitor, Leviathan the forgemistress, Behemoth the slothful juggernaut, Azazel the Spymaster, Semyaza the Prince of Pleasure, and Asmodeus the God of Wrath make up the rest of the Inner Council. Beelzebub the Traitor Prince is no longer of the Council, but rather is their prisoner and pawn.

[Mysteris]

Lucifer, God of Light and Darkness
Aliases: Satan, The Morningstar, The Lightbringer, Old Scratch, Old Nick, The Serpent, The Dragon, The Devil, The Prince of Darkness, The King of Demons, The Father of Lies

The important thing to remember when discussing the Morningstar is that he never asked for this.There was a time, long ago, when he was happy. Back in the old days it was easy to be an angel. You emanated from the Primordial El, you did your assigned task, and you basked in the light and glory of fulfilling your purpose. Hell, Lucifer had it better than most. He stood among the highest rank of the angels, entrusted with command and responsibility. He was the shining Morningstar, chief emissary of El. At his side were his brothers: Michael, Gabriel, Uriel, and Raphael. Beneath him unfurled rank upon rank of glorious heavenly beings and the unending vista of Creation. All was well.

And then the humans came. And with them the problems. El gave his commands regarding them, but for the first time Lucifer knew that his maker was in error. Humans were complex beyond El's understanding. Beyond El's tolerance for disobedience and error. He saw El's experiment in Eden and knew with a cold clarity that human free will could not be so artificially constrained. To even try would damage the young humanity, possibly beyond repair. He tried speaking with El, but how does one reason with the hurricane? With the flood? El would not listen, Lucifer knew, until given sufficient reason. So it was that he planned and lead the rebellion, convincing a third of the angels to side with him. He hoped to force a debate, but in the planning of the rebellion, he found his nature, and that of his followers, changing. They came to take on the qualities of humanity, both good and bad. They developed free will and independent thought. And when his host marched to war, it was not as the near-emotionless beings they had been, but as a pantheon in their own right. Their Titanomachy was the Great Rebellion, pitting proto-Gods against the Titans that had become of their siblings and the Primordial who made them. And for all Lucifer's cunning and strategy, the rebels did not win.

Cast from the Overworld of Heaven, banished to the bleak and blasted wastes of the Underworld, the rebels faced their darkest hour. It was Lucifer who rallied them, still shining even in defeat. It was his honeyed words, his raw charisma and talent for leadership that unified the defeated rebels and convinced them to fight on. And though millennia passed and El and his followers did all in their power to demonize and stigmatize them, Lucifer has kept the faith. He has seen humanity at its heights and its depths and he knows, with every fiber of his being, that he was right to rebel. That he was right to champion them against the cruel whims of a cold Primordial. He is still the Lightbringer, even cast down into darkness. It is still his to illuminate the way for struggling, suffering humanity.

Lucifer affects the image of a beautiful man or woman of wealth and taste, appearing in finery and surrounded by luxury. His domain might be Hell, but he and his have turned that barren realm into a jewel in the Underworld. Despite the claims of many would-be "devilspawn", Lucifer prefers subtlety when it comes to siring (or bearing) children. Lucifer takes on female form as often as male (its' quite useful for being unexpected in many quarters). He doesn't advertise his Scions like some demons. He finds the attention they would draw if they were known to be his is counterproductive. Instead look for his Scions to be in positions that are easily overlooked, yet are essential lynchpins holding up organizations. Lucifer expects his Scions to be thinkers and innovators, guiding lights for a humanity still caught in the darkness of ignorance.

Callings: Leader, Lover, Trickster
Purviews: Beauty, Deception, Passion (Pride, Defiance), Fire, Epic Stamina, Fortune, Chaos, Darkness, Sun, Prosperity

[Mysteris]

Lilith, Goddess of Desire, Femininity, and Liberation
Aliases: The First Woman, The Mother of Witches, Queen of the Succubi, The Devil's Consort, Queen of Hell, The Goddess, The First Sorceress, The Whore of Babylon

"I bow to no Man or God. My freedom is my own." These words, spoken in defiance, were the spark that began the Great Rebellion, though Lilith had no way of knowing that at the time. Lilith was originally created for the Eden experiment, El's test of early humanity. She and her husband Adam were created to be El's test subjects in a paradise crafted for them. At first it truly was paradise, with delights enough to satisfy any hunger or curiosity. But it didn't last long. And it didn't last for one big reason. Adam. He was as heart-achingly beautiful as she, but beauty could not cover his chauvinist, misogynistic attitude nor his imperious demeanor. He insisted on being first in everything, claimed it as his right as the First Man. And he was even more domineering in the bower, insisting on treating Lilith as nothing more than a toy to satisfy his urges. It couldn't last. Perhaps no one was more surprised than Lilith when stood up for herself against the tyrant, when she asserted her independence and stormed out of Eden.

Angels were sent to fetch her home, of course, but she refused them too. Lucifer took note of her fiery independent streak, and they conversed in those early days before the Great Rebellion. He taught her secrets of sorcery, a thing El had forbidden to humans, and shared his plans with her. And when the Rebellion happened and Lucifer's host was cast down to Hell, Lilith knew. And she knew she'd never be safe in a world dominated by El. So she used her sorcerous might to crack open the gates of the Underworld, enabling the demons to walk free upon the Earth. This mighty Deed was enough to burn away her mortality and let her rise as a Goddess. She joined the demons and never looked back.

Over the centuries Lilith has given birth to her own host of demons: the succubi, female demons of desire and lust. She was demonized as a stealer of children and a mother of witches. That last part is true, for Lilith has always sought to empower women against the abuses of men, and has taught sorcery to women who found her favor or needed her assistance. She does not hate men though. She has been Lucifer's consort, and has known the touch of good and kind men as well as women. What she has with Lucifer is love, but their relationship is an open one, and she has often been the consort of Asmodeus and others as well. She has been an avid champion of the downtrodden and oppressed in whatever culture she finds them, from the untouchables of Japan and India to the slaves in America and many more. Wherever there are those who are oppressed and abused, one can find Lilith, working to provide liberation and freedom in whatever form she can, from education campaigns to taking up arms against abusers.

Lilith is a beauty by anyone's standards, but she doesn't focus on it. She prefers to bring out the beauty in those she meets, and in the causes she supports. She works in cycles, often embedding in one place to work on a persistent social problem for a time, and then traveling about until she finds the next hotspot. Her Scions tend to come from love affairs while she is embedded in a place and she is a kind and loving mother for as long as she can be. She's taken a shine to Wiccans, and it is not unheard of for her to Choose someone who impresses her, male or female, with a leaning towards female. Her Scions can be found all over the world, driven by passion and ideology in all they do. Three of her most famous Scions are Delilah, Bathsheba, and Jezebel, who long ago achieved divinity and serve as roving secretaries for Lilith and counselors for her other Scions.

Callings: Lover, Creator, Guardian
Purviews: Beauty, Passion (Desire, Love, Defiance), Artistry, Chaos, Fertility, Moon, Fortune

[Mysteris]

Mammon, God of Wealth and Greed
Aliases: The God of this World, Mr. Wall Street, Supply-Side Jesus, The Treasurer of Hell, The Lord of Usury

Ten-thousand dollar bespoke suits. Thousand dollar haircuts. Necklaces of platinum and diamonds. The penthouse suite of a condo on your own private tropical island and a private jet to get you there. Impossible? Not for Mammon. The Lord of Wealth has all these things and more. Simply follow his siren call, listen to his teachings, and all the kingdoms of the world can be laid at your feet. So goes the promise. Across the World, millions fight, scheme, backstab, and even kill in pursuit of that golden ticket to unimaginable wealth and power. The modern World would be a very different place without Mammon, as he well knows.

He didn't start as a fabulous mogul though. Before the Great Rebellion he was a minor angel indeed, hardly noticed in the ranks of the glorious. He tended the golden streets of Heaven, one of a small legion of servants who kept that Overworld well-maintained for the pleasure of El. When Lucifer came before him, radiant with authority, and spoke his words, Mammon was awakened to greed for the first time. Lucifer's goals were lofty indeed, but truthfully, Mammon cared less for humanity and more for the treasures of Heaven and the World to be had by following the Lightbringer. Lucifer made him no such promise, but Mammon inferred what he wished to hear in Lucifer's words. When the Great Rebellion came, Mammon was not on the front lines. While angels and Gods battled, Mammon snuck away to the World, carrying treasures looted from the battlefield of Heaven to be stored "for safe keeping". He was so busy hoarding that the end of the Rebellion and the banishment to Hell caught him totally by surprise, and he found himself dragged down with his erstwhile peers.

Mammon was not the most popular figure in Hell and he knew it. He compensated by building a cult of popularity among mortals. Humans, it seemed, appreciated the wondrous treasures he had to show them. And they appreciated his well-compensated advice for how to acquire treasures of their own. It was many centuries before Mammon had grown in power enough to challenge the Lords of the Pit, but when he did Lucifer did not strike him down. Distasteful as he found him, Lucifer saw that Mammon's methods could win followers for their cause. He named him a God and appointed him to the Inner Council of his followers, where Mammon's acquisitive instincts could be funneled for a higher purpose.

These days you'll find Mammon jet-setting about the World. Money never sleeps and Mammon is always on the move. One morning might find him on his beloved Wall Street, supervising the day-trading. Noon sees him in Osaka, enjoying a power lunch with Okuninushi and discussing terms for a new partnership. The afternoon finds him in Africa to oversee the blood diamond trade. Sunset sees him on his private isle, lording over a teleconference call with the World's financial elite and being fed grapes by some buxom beauty. Mammon is not a choosy guy. He goes where the profit margins take him, and gives his blessing to both ethical business and the worst abuses humanity has ever conceived in pursuit of money. His Scions are infrequent, often the results of one-night stands with pricey escorts or downtrodden women willing to do anything for money. When he's made aware of them, he works to bring his Scions (and all they own) into his own globe-spanning financial web. He has no problem with treating his Scions as junior partners, and buying their cooperation by giving them access to the good life.

Callings: Sage, Leader, Trickster
Purviews: Prosperity, Deception, Passion (Greed), Order, Journeys

[Mysteris]

Apollyon, God of War and Destruction
Aliases: The Angel of the Abyss, The Lord of Sheol, Minister of War, The Devourer, Abaddon, The Angel of the Pit, The General of Hell

It's a truism that for every general there needs to be soldiers. And that's where Apollyon fit into the Great Rebellion. He wasn't the charismatic leader that Lucifer was, but when the Lightbringer needed someone to command his troops in battle, Apollyon was who he picked. Apollyon likes to think that it's because he was stronger than any Archangel. Truthfully, Lucifer had tried to recruit Michael or Uriel, but they were too loyal to El. Apollyon was selected because he was the second-in-command of Michael's legions, a powerful warrior in his own right who was no slouch in the strategic department either. Lucifer thought himself above dumb bruisers, but Apollyon realized that they'd need muscular angels who could take orders to succeed with the Rebellion. Lucifer recruited the masses. Apollyon recruited the soldiers. And when the time came, he led them well. To this day it is his great shame that when he crossed blades with Archangel Michael, he could not best his former superior.

After the Fall, Apollyon was a mighty chief in the early days before Lucifer reestablished control. He was powerful enough that he could have challenged Lucifer for the throne of Hell, but Lucifer appeased him with honeyed words and a valuable position as commander of the Fallen armies. Lucifer set him the task of building a host of fallen, defeated, demoralized spirits into a lean, mean, fighting force, and Apollyon took to that job with gusto. He built his principality of Sheol into the nightmarish boot camp it is today, filled with lava flows, volcanic ash, biological contaminants, and cruel taskmasters. And when the path to the World was open again, Apollyon led his hosts forth to claim principalities in the World, to battle the angels and lay waste those who remained loyal to El.

Apollyon is brutal in his tactics, favoring scorched earth and total annihilation for the forces of El and those loyal to him. In ancient times he was infamous for the armies of locust-demons he would unleash on communities loyal to El. More than once Lucifer has had to reprimand or punish his War Minister for his total war tactics that sweep up innocents as well as the guilty. Apollyon is not one for high-minded morals or sentimentality, and feels that if the humans venerate El, they must be punished and made to see the truth. In chains if need be. Apollyon sees the demonic pantheon's status in the World as needing constant reinforcement. He is pleased by the rise of Satanist groups and other religious movements that challenge the orthodoxy of El and his cults, who he feels have been unchallenged for far too long. He is keen to make alliances with warrior-deities across many pantheons, and can often be found in the company of Maudjee-Kawiss and Ares, who he feels understands the true meaning of war.

Apollyon favors forms that showcase his tremendous strength. He holds himself as mightiest of the demons and his forms reflect that: tall, muscular, dripping with weapons and indicators of strength. When he walks the World, it's usually as a high-ranking military or police officer, arms merchants and crime bosses. In one Incarnation he owns Sheol Arms, a small but prosperous gun and ammo manufacturer that produces the popular Hellfire submachine guns. Apollyon is mostly consumed by executing his strategies against El's Host, but he does occasionally sire, create, or choose Scions as part of the war effort. He's indifferent to his children when they are young and vulnerable. It is only when they are old enough to bear arms against the enemy that Apollyon comes to claim them. He's an authoritarian hardass, treating his Scions like rookie soldiers in boot camp and not caring what ambitions they had for their own lives. But when they please him he is unflinching in his praise.

Callings: Leader, Warrior, Judge
Purviews: Epic Strength, Epic Dexterity, Epic Stamina, War, Fire, Fertility

[Mysteris]

Astaroth, Goddess of Judgment, Order, and Endings
Aliases: The Demonic Inquisitor, The Princess of Judgment, He Who Whispers Chain, The Executioner of Hell, Minister of Justice, Judge of the Damned

Astaroth would thank you kindly not to get her mixed up with Astarte or Ishtar. She's friendly with both, and hates that the modern world has so badly conflated her with them. In fact, misunderstanding is a common trait when it comes to Hell's chief of law enforcement. Strangely, it was the imagination of humanity that first drew her to Lucifer's cause, but it still causes no end of headaches. Astaroth often feels like a bemused mother, watching her adored children insisting on some folly, powerless to act against them. Yet power is what she is and what she wields.

Before the Rebellion, Astaroth was the recorder of El's judgments. Others pronounced them or enforced them. She was the scribe in El's court who recorded His judgments and decrees for posterity's sake. It wasn't glorious, but it needed doing. Lucifer appealed to her sense of fairness when he made his case that the humans could not, by their nature, live under the regimentation of El. The Lightbringer brought her among the early humans, and Astaroth witnessed how messy and how corporeal humans could be, while Lucifer convinced her of their better qualities. She realized that humans needed, not a stern and remote Primordial, but beings who understood them and could empathize with them. She joined the Rebellion and fought for these strange creatures who needed guidance, not tyranny. And when she wound up in Hell, none was more surprised than she when Lucifer handed her her gavel and her axe, and appointed her to be the Judge of the Damned.

Astaroth rules over the Demonic Inquisition, the institution charged with maintaining order in the Pit. The Inquisition is stern but fair, as keeping order over beings known for pride and rebellion is no easy task. While lesser judges, officers, and agents carry out the routine business of keeping order in Hell, Astaroth herself presides over the High Court, the place where even the senior Gods of the pantheon are called to account. It is to Astaroth that the souls of those who come to Hell are first brought. She judges their merits and their flaws and assigns them to the principality where they will spend eternity, a duty she takes most seriously. She keeps the laws and records of Hell in the bureaucratic maze that is her principality. And when the gravest of punishment is called for, it is Astaroth who is summoned, to deliver the final judgment with her gleaming black axe. She commands both respect and great fear through the principalities of Hell, and Mammon especially is known to fear her dread gaze upon him, for she has not forgotten how he abandoned the Rebellion to hoard wealth.

Astaroth is a busy Goddess, but she schedules regular sabbaticals to Earth so that she does not lose touch with the mortals she loves. She frequently takes on unassuming roles: a legal clerk, a waitress in a cafe, and other such roles that let her interact with humanity without them feeling her dreadful power upon them. While she frequently chooses Scions from those who impress her with their sense of justice, she is not above mothering them. Or fathering them. She sometimes takes on masculine form for a change of perspective or to better blend in. She saves her demonic appearance, riding a great dragon and bearing the chains that enslave the damned, for those who seriously displease her or who try to elude justice. Her most famous servant, the demon Legion, is her huntsman, but she herself takes up the pursuit when her passion is aroused. Her Scions tend to know that they have a loving but critical eye upon them.

Callings: Judge, Liminal, Hunter
Purviews: Order, Death, Epic Strength

[Mysteris]

Leviathan, Goddess of Envy, The Oceans, and Technology
Aliases: The Ruler of the Deep, The Hellmouth, The Great Sea Monster, The Craftswoman of Hell, The Temptress, The Green-Eyed Monster, The First Beast of Revelation, Gog

Leviathan and her male counterpart Behemoth share a distinction with Lilith among the Demonic pantheon in that none of the three started as angels. They were creations of El though. Leviathan was created as the prototype for the great beasts of the sea, a primeval monster who gave birth to the whales, the tannim, and the other creatures of the deeps. In her earliest days Leviathan was not intelligent, as such. El created her for a purpose and saw no need for her to have a mind of her own. During the Rebellion it was Apollyon who harnessed Behemoth and Leviathan's great strength for the rebel cause, defeating them and then choosing them as his first Scions to serve the war effort. When the Rebellion failed, Behemoth and Leviathan both were cast into Hell, rejected by El as failures.

It was in Hell that Leviathan developed her own personality and powers. When Apollyon began his raids against El's followers, Leviathan returned to the seas. She became feared and worshiped by the peoples of the Near-East as she grew in power, for she commanded the waterways and seas they depended on. The beasts of the rivers and seas dared not stand against their ancient broodmother, and instead became her servants. No mortal force could stand against her and she was more than a match for El's angels. She came to enjoy the worship and fear, cultivating it and increasing her power even further. She took a greater interest in the humans over time, observing their cultures. She realized that the primitive spears and nets they used to capture her children were growing more complex. One day humanity would be triumphant over her children, she knew. Humans could learn and adapt. Why couldn't she? She took to walking among the humans in human form, learning their strengths and weaknesses. Her meditations on humanity enlightened her.

She found that humans were quick to resent those of their kind who were more successful than they were. Mammon exploited this in a way, but Leviathan found him crude and crass. She became an expert in the subject, arousing the have-nots against the haves. It was a game to her. The technology that they developed to catch and kill her children aroused her anger and her interest. She studied it. Found ways to improve upon it. And she brought those innovations back to Hell, developing a reputation as an expert craftswoman in her own right. By the time she rose to divinity, Apollyon had recognized his Scion's talents and championed her before Lucifer. Lucifer agreed with his General. Leviathan was named a Goddess, assigned to the Inner Council, and given as her principality the seas of Hell, along with rulership over all its crafts and technologies.

Leviathan is often busy these days, overseeing Hell's increasingly complex technological development. She stays on the bleeding edge, leaking bits of technology to the mortals so they can be envious of her superior intellect and craftsmanship. While she is still fond of taking her true form, that of a seven-headed fire-breathing dragon, and swimming in the depths, she most often reserves that for Hell's waters. When she walks the World, she is a woman beautiful enough to inspire the jealousy of others. She favors roles that allow her to spread envy and resentment, such as the most popular girl in high school, the gossiping housewife, or the child of privilege who flaunts unearned and undeserved wealth. She often chooses as her Scions people of incredible beauty, who can inspire longing and jealousy in others. Some Scions she creates whole-cloth from her forges in Hell. When she mothers a Scion she keeps a close eye on their development, always encouraging them to develop skills or beauty or talent enough to make others envious of them.

Callings: Creator, Warrior, Sage
Purviews: Epic Strength, Epic Stamina, Water, Forge, Artistry, Passion (Envy), Beauty, Beasts (Aquatic Animals), Frost

[Mysteris]

Behemoth, God of Sloth, Sleep, and Dreams
Aliases: Belphegor, Juggernaut, The Second Beast of Revelation, The Lord of Dreams, The Disputer, The Lord of Indulgence, Magog, The False Prophet

Behemoth was created at the same time as Leviathan. Where she was the progenitor of sea creatures, Behemoth was the prototype for land-dwelling creatures. The colossal beast, capable of taking the form of any of the great beasts of the land, was always self-indulgent. Not having much in the way of intellect, it was content to feed and rut and sleep, paying no heed to the brewing rebellion among the angels. It was only when Apollyon battled and then chose him as a Scion that he was even aware of the conflict at all, and then found himself drafted to fight for the rebels. For all his undeniable strength, Behemoth had no motivation, and when he was defeated by Raphael and banished to Hell, his only interest was in returning to his former haunts and resuming his lazy way of life.

It was Apollyon, determined to find some use for the great beast, that provided a motivation. He beat and harangued Behemoth, goading him to anger, and then unleashing him on El's forces in destructive raids. But when the battle was done, Behemoth would sullenly slump to the ground and refuse to be budged until demon handlers came to drag him home. After a few centuries of this, Behemoth decided that the only way Apollyon would leave him alone was to grow strong enough so that he couldn't be harassed anymore. He found an empathy with people who also didn't like being pushed around. People who just wanted peace. He started encouraging them, making up fantastic lies and pointed appeals to the inherent laziness of humanity to build his reputation. His Deeds on the battlefield soon paled before his Deeds at encouraging sloth and laziness, both physically and in the dreams he crafted. In time he became powerful enough to become a God in his own right, and Lucifer saw the value in having someone who could demoralize El's followers without a blow being struck.

Over the centuries Behemoth built up a reputation for both unstoppable strength when he was roused and for his talents at convincing people to just enjoy life. Let the cares of the world blow away. He took up the study of pharmacology and encouraged the use and abuse of drugs that altered consciousness and erased motivation. People started calling him Belphegor for some reason, and he was too lazy to bother correcting them. His pattern has been pretty simple: do just enough, build up just enough power that he doesn't have to hear the griping out of his peers, then laze about enjoying himself. As human society has advanced, he's found and exploited all the many ways to encourage sloth in people. The modern world greatly pleases Behemoth, with its infinite distractions. Why bother caring about war and progress and all the other little things when one can get high, play video games, and be perfectly comfy at the margins?

Behemoth walks the World infrequently. He has demons to import its' pleasures and diversions to his principality in Hell, and Incarnating himself is such a bother. When he does it's usually to shut up the Inner Council about his lack of Scion production for the war effort. He tends to take on roles that allow him to skyrocket to positions of power and authority, the better to collect the luxuries and perks due his position. Then he'll collapse back into his lazy ways: eating and drinking and rutting, just like the good old days. He can often be found as a drug cartel boss, an internet personality with a surprising following, or some corporate CEO who coasts on the benefits of an executive paycheck and stock options. He's very popular in the drug counter-culture. As a father, he's no great shakes. He likes the process of siring Scions well enough, but if his kids aren't motivated to join his hedonistic pursuits, he has no interest in them. He hands out relics with abandon, and really only notices his Scions when they contribute to or detract from his own enjoyments in some fashion. He knows also that El's cults proclaim he will have some role in their great Revelation. He doesn't much care, unless playing to their role gets him what he desires.

Callings: Warrior, Liminal, Creator
Purviews: Darkness, Epic Strength, Epic Stamina, Beasts (Land Animals), Earth, War, Deception, Passion (Sloth), Wild, Fertility

[Mysteris]

Azazel, God of Secrets and Wisdom
Aliases: Za-za-e'il, Azazil, Iblis, The Great Unclean Bird, The Scapegoat, The Teacher of Truths, The Sage of Hell, The Corruptor, The Whisperer, The Lord of Dis, The Spymaster of Hell

Azazel, like many of the senior members of the Demonic pantheon, got his start as an angel. Unlike most of the others though, Azazel came into being after the Great Rebellion. In the aftermath of the Rebellion there was much confusion as to why a third of the Hosts had rebelled for one measly mortal species. El's solution to the problem was to create the Grigori, angels of great size and strength who could blend in among the humans and learn just what made them so special. Azazel was one of the first Grigori, and spent the years in between the Fall and the freeing of the Demons walking the Earth and blending in with the early humans. Azazel found that the humans were indeed special, and he came to believe that they could be more special, with help. He didn't contemplate outright rebellion like Lucifer had, though. His way was subtler. He would use the times he returned to Heaven to report as occasions to steal a bit of Heavenly knowledge here and there. A book missing from the archives or a tool left unattended. At first his aid to humanity came in the form of little gifts left where they could do some good, but in time he became an active teacher of humanity. He knew he was stretching his mandate beyond El's bounds, but he was often busy in the World and beyond El's direct oversight.

Things changed when Semyaza, the chief of the Grigori, began to become enamored of the humans in an entirely more carnal way. When Azazel realized that Semyaza was going to go ahead with his plan regardless of consequences, Azazel decided to make the most of a bad situation. Let Semyaza lead with his crotch if he must, Azazel would take the opportunity to enlighten the mortals more directly and more effectively than ever before. He became Semyaza's chief advisor, and when the Grigori began siring and bearing children, he began educating the children too. The Nephilim were the next stage of humanity in Azazel's view: a better, stronger humanity. He taught them from their infancy, and they grew not just physically powerful but advanced in science and technology. They came to take over civilizations and improve upon them. Working in tandem with humanity, guided by Azazel's teachings and given time to grow, they could have been something even greater than El's vision.

Alas, that was not to be. The Grigori were cast down. The world was flooded to erase the Nephilim. Banished to Hell, Azazel came to Lucifer's attention. The Whisperer was a valued commodity to Lucifer's way of thinking, given how he had helped mold human society right under El's nose. The knowledge he brought with him from Heaven was even more valuable. But most valuable was how he and his fellow Grigori were still capable of slipping into human society without drawing the attention of El and his followers. Over the next few centuries, Azazel built a powerful spy network for the Demonic pantheon throughout the World and Hell. His elevation to the Inner Council was a fait accompli. His public adventures, the ones that got him remembered by El's cults, were often only fronts for secret intelligence coups that gave Hell advantages El and his followers didn't know to look for. He was happy to be the scapegoat if it kept El's followers looking in the wrong direction. Even his public "defeat" by Raphael was a ruse, for he planted a hidden spy-demon on Raphael, and learned much of the Archangel's knowledge and plans before the spy was found and executed.

Azazel walks in the modern World more often than most Demons. As a Grigori, he has a special knack for eluding the oversight of El and his followers, and he takes full advantage of that. He's fond of educational institutions, where he takes roles as a professor or a dean and shares the knowledge he's accumulated with rapt students. He's also fond of disappearing into the shadows of the World's intelligence communities. He's had identities in all of the major global intelligence services at some point or another, though he's especially fond of tweaking El's nose by taking on roles within the Israeli Mossad. Like a true secret agent, he's a master of shapeshifting, taking on whatever role or gender he needs to to get the job done. He sires or bears many Scions, and chooses just as many more. His Scions are groomed for their intelligence and cunning, fed on the knowledge of their father and used as tools of Hell's intelligence service whether they realize that fact or no. Every so often, he sires a Nephilim, which he takes great pains to hide from the World, as El might flood the World again should the Nephilim begin re-emerging in numbers. That this fact is lost on Semyaza and his followers means that Azazel winds up hiding and becoming patron to his fellow Grigori's Scions as well as his own. It suits him to keep the Nephilim hidden away, a secret strike force for Hell's needs.

Callings: Sage, Liminal, Trickster
Purviews: Deception, Forge, Beasts (Birds, Goats), Journeys, Darkness, Passion

[Mysteris]

Semyaza, God of Lust and Depravity
Aliases: Samyaza, Shemhazai, Shemyaza, Semiazaz, The Lord of Harems, The Prince of Pleasure, The God of Sex, The Lord of Incubi, The Doom of the Grigori, The Prince of Depravity, The Pimp of Hell

Semyaza takes a great pride in his pedigree. He was created as one of the Grigori, the Watchers created by El to observe and report on humanity. Like all of El's forces, there was a strict regimentation. Semyaza stood at the pinnacle of the Grigori hierarchy, a position he felt was his by right of being a superior being, not merely a result of being the first-created Grigori. He masked his superiority complex when in Heaven to get assigned Earth duty, and suppressed it whenever he thought El or the senior angels might be watching, but that seed of self-love and pride was always there. It came out when dealing with the mortals he was supposed to be observing. Sure, he could pretend to be one of them but he always knew he was just better than them.

Semyaza himself isn't sure when he first noticed a particular quality of humans that made them stand out. Maybe it was all the time he spent watching the creatures reproduce themselves in an endless, tedious reproduction cycle. Or maybe it was one particularly beautiful woman that caught his eye. Whatever the case, Semyaza found himself for the first time feeling something other than boredom and superiority. He felt desire for the first time. At first he watched the daughters of Eve from a distance, but soon his desire to possess them demanded he get closer. Demanded he mate with them, and claim them as his own. He knew that was not El's intention, but he grew not to care. In fact, he began to stoke the same desires he felt within others of the Grigori. Not all, to be sure, but a good number of them came to feel as he did, and began to act out their lusts towards the sons of Adam and the daughters of Eve.

Of course, the good times couldn't last. Some busybody informed El and the Grigori found themselves hunted down and captured by Raphael and his legions, then cast into Hell. The good news was that there were succubi already. The bad news was that Lilith had claimed what he felt to be his, and being upstaged by some mere speck of dust inflamed Semyaza's pride. He set to work with a vengeance among the mortals, inflaming lust wherever he went. He wanted them lusting for each other and he wanted them lusting for him and his kind. Let Lilith have her passion projects and her care for the oppressed. Semyaza claimed for himself the darker side of lust, and built mighty Deeds around encouraging that among the mortals. Lilith found him appalling and advocated that he be imprisoned, but Astaroth said only that he had not broken the laws of Hell. In time he had grown mighty enough to contest with Lilith as an equal in power. Lucifer denounced him as a plague on mankind. So Semyaza took his case to the demons of Hell directly and built a mass following among them. Faced with the possibility that the demons might revolt against him, Lucifer reluctantly agreed to name Semyaza a Prince of Hell and a member of the Inner Council. His principality was Hell's pleasure pits.

Semyaza is not loved in Hell. Lilith and her succubi turn their noses up at him, so he compensates by using the souls of the damned allotted to him to staff his pleasure houses alongside his incubi and Grigori followers. Like Mammon, Semyaza finds that the World is more congenial to his tastes and efforts. In the World he has been a sultan with a legendary harem, a pimp, a Hollywood casting agent, a porn producer, and other such roles. He favors roles that let him get involved in the World's sex trade, especially its sleazy and darker side. He encourages the worst lusts humanity has, finding pleasure in driving others into depravity and asserting his superiority. He can find no satisfaction without the feeling of dominating or degrading another, another way he and Lilith differ. He opposes Lilith and all she stands for on principle, a dangerous position when she is Lucifer's Queen and both she and the Lightbringer despise him. Astaroth and the Demonic Inquisition are always trying to find actionable evidence against him. Surprisingly, he and Mammon get on like oil and fire, each encouraging the other to new highs (or lows). Semyaza produces many Scions, both human and Nephilim, for his own lust is all-consuming. He has little interest in the moral or ethical ones, tending to empower the beautiful, the amoral, and the perverse. Like Mammon, he considers himself a "family man", and brings those Scions who he feels he can trust into his shady empire, buying their loyalty and services with the oldest favors of all.

Callings: Leader, Lover, Creator
Purviews: Beauty, Deception, Passion (Lust), Health, Fertility, Stars, Prosperity, Chaos

[Mysteris]

Asmodeus, God of Wrath and Courage
Aliases: Aeshma Daeva, Asmodai, Ashmedai, Ashima, The First Son, The Avenger, The Wrathful Lord, The Champion of Humanity

Asmodeus is unique among the Demonic pantheon in that he did not begin as an angel or some other creation of El. His origins, in part, lie with humanity. When Adam was wed to Lilith, he cheated on her with Naamah, the Angel of Prostitution, and Asmodeus was the result. In later times Asmodeus would absorb the mantle of a Heroic Scion of the succubus Agrat bat Mahlat and King David, leading to no end of confusion for mortal scholars.

Asmodeus's early years were rough. Naamah delivered him to humans outside of Eden to be raised, and he would not see her until many years later, when she fell with Lucifer's host and became one of the first succubi, serving under Lilith. Raised by a mortal bronzesmith, Asmodeus would be found by his mother and claimed as a Scion by Lilith. He would go on to build a mighty legend about himself in those early days, as a conquering warlord whose brilliant strategies were matched only by his violent temper and his ability to coax his troops to legendary feats. He made a name for himself in Hell's legions, and when he rose to Godhood, it was both Lilith and Apollyon who sponsored him before Lucifer. The God of Wrath and Courage made for an excellent front-line commander when Apollyon or Beelzebub couldn't be at the scene, and a better, more relatable face for the rank and file demonic troops.

Time in Hell with his mother and his on-and-off flings with Lilith gentled Asmodeus in some ways, but anger was never far from the surface. When the sorceress Raguel attempted to bind him as a slave, he slew seven of her prospective husbands. When the Archangel Raphael defeated him and drove him away, Asmodeus made it his business to stalk and slay Raphael's servants en masse, a hunt that continues to this day. Later adventures would bring him to greater infamy among El's cults, but he never forgot where he came from. He took it upon himself to champion mortals where he could, to defend them against the threats they could not face on their own and inspire them to the courage that drives humans to become great heroes in their own right.

Asmodeus spends a good deal of time among the humans. He considers himself one, after all, and will not stand for their abuse in his presence. His principality in Hell is known to be among the safest for the souls of the damned, and he is a popular figure among Hell's lesser-ranked demons as well. When he walks the mortal World he is often a police officer, a bodyguard, a security guard, or a soldier, protecting those in need. He has been a motivational speaker and a self-defense instructor, teaching people to find their inner courage. And when need be, he has taught them to find their wrath and strike back against oppressors. He sires Scions to aid in the war effort, but he cares for them a great deal. He strives to be there for his children in ways his mother could not be for him. He demands only that they have the courage of their convictions and that they protect their fellow humans.

Callings: Warrior, Guardian, Leader
Purviews: War, Epic Strength, Passion (Wrath, Courage), Earth, Fire, Epic Stamina

[Mysteris]

Beelzebub, God of Gluttony and Consumption
Aliases: The Lord of the Flies, The Traitor Prince, The Consumer, The Imprisoned Prince, The Disfigured One, Prince of the Air

Beelzebub is a study of contrasts. There was a time when he was a mighty commander among the Hosts of Heaven. Nowhere near the top ranks, but still highly placed and respected. When Lucifer was looking for recruits Beelzebub was a canny negotiator. If he would leave the comfort and security of his grand villa for Lucifer he insisted that he be given as high or higher a place in the new order Lucifer would create. This came early in Lucifer's recruitment efforts, and Beelzebub was able to negotiate a rank as one of the commanders of Lucifer's host, and he brought with him many legions of angels. When the Rebellion came Beelzebub fought as befit his rank, raining down lightning and terror on El's followers. He was the first after Lucifer to be cast from Heaven and as he fell he spit in Michael's eye.

When Lucifer established order in Hell, Beelzebub came before him and reminded him of his promises. For his valor in the Rebellion, Beelzebub was appointed as Lucifer's right hand demon. Beelzebub was everywhere in the early centuries, overseeing the construction of Hell's principalities and sitting in on meetings of the Inner Council. His principality was the very airs of Hell, which he oversaw from a floating palace. On Earth he stood alongside Apollyon and laid waste to El's followers wherever they could be found. The beasts of the skies learned to fear him and answer his call, diving and striking at his command. Like Mammon, he gathered treasures to himself but unlike the God of Wealth, Beelzebub's interest was never in the hoarding, but in the consumption. Even in Heaven he'd had a penchant to overindulge. Now he was unleashed to consume all he laid eyes on in an endless orgy of devouring. He developed a reputation among El's early followers for his all-consuming appetite, his taste for luxuries to devour, and his sheer destructive power. People called him the Lord of Flyers and feared his coming.

When El's Scion Yeshua (Jesus) was active in the World, Lucifer made a great effort to recruit him, all with no success. Beelzebub, who had grown fat with power and arrogance, resented his second-place status to the Morningstar and viewed his failure to recruit Yeshua as the final straw. It took a few decades but Beelzebub raised up a legion of traitors and rebels and attempted to overthrow Lucifer in a grand rebellion of his own. But the Lightbringer was stronger than Beelzebub had reckoned, and he had the support of Hell's nobility as well. Beelzebub was mighty, but was ultimately laid low, his followers killed. In light of his past meritorious service, Astaroth sentenced him to eternal imprisonment in the depths of Hell with a sentence of execution to be applied should he ever betray Hell again. His palace was torn from the skies, buried in the infinite layers beneath Hell, in a lake of magma. Astaroth chained Beelzebub in the ruins of his palace in the chains no angel, demon, or soul can escape and left him to scream in endless pain as the magma washed over and burned him without consuming him.

Beelzebub's reputation grew among mortals even as his name became a byword for incompetence and treachery in Hell. Now, when the Titans stretch the bounds of their prisons, Lucifer finds that his former right hand can still be of use. On occasion, Beelzebub is let out of his prison for a time, to walk the World and choose a Scion to bolster the war effort. In any form Beelzebub is obese and hideous, deformed by his scars in war, the magma, and Astaroth's curse. He is always surrounded by an aura of buzzing flies, and reeks of charred flesh and spoiled food. He is incapable of siring Scions of his own since his genitals were cut off and destroyed by Astaroth's axe, and he is never allowed out alone. He always has powerful minders about him, sometimes including Astaroth, his old rival Mammon, or even Lucifer himself. He's always bound in some fashion, usually by the invisible chains of Astaroth. He chooses his Scions from among the gluttonous and wasteful, and always with an eye towards those who might grow mighty enough to free him from his punishment. He never has more than a few days freedom at most. Hell reviles him and sees that his Scions fall under the supervision of another. Then it's back to his personal gaol, to writhe and curse in eternal agony.

Callings: Leader, Warrior, Trickster
Purviews: Passion (Gluttony, Revulsion), Sky, Beasts (Flies, Flying Animals), War, Order, Epic Stamina

[Nicolas Milioni]

Amazing! Just amazing

[Mysteris]

Cosmology

The cosmology of the Demonic pantheon is at once simple and complex, incorporating many Terra Incognita within it's branching structure. Above all things shines Heaven. Heaven is the inexpressibly radiant and beautiful Overworld, whose streets are paved in gold, and whose gates shine in pearlescent magnificence. In this paradise dwells the Angels, Titans of great might and near single-minded devotion to their maker. It is within Heaven that El dwells, shining with presence and power enough to melt the mind and flesh of those who approach without leave. It was from Heaven that Lucifer and his Hosts were cast, long ago. It is Heaven that Apollyon dreams of returning to, at the head of a conquering army, to claim vengeance upon the angels and the glories of Paradise for the Hellish cause.

The Demons reside in Hell, which is the region of the Underworld that the Demons crashlanded in after being expelled from Heaven. Originally a deep and jagged pit of stone and lava, Lucifer and his followers have had millennia to build their new home. The approach to Hell takes one across an empty, windswept plain of crimson stone that stretches for thousands of leagues, empty in all directions save one. Above the plain rises mountains of black stone, and set within those mountains are the skyscraper-high Gates of Hell, formed of beaten and enchanted steel and bronze. Past the Gates and their legion of guardians, one enters Hell proper, which is divided up into many Principalities. Principalities, in Hellish parlance, can be regions of space, as well as specific things or classes of things. For example, Leviathan's principality is the oceans of hell, which surround the layers of Hell proper like a winding sheet. But it is also the command of Hell's forges, lathes, laboratories and factories.

Each layer of Hell proceeds downward from the Gates, stacked atop one another like a series of pancakes. Each layer encompasses entire continents in size, with many places concealed by the metaphysical layering of Hell.There are entire worlds to be found as one descends the staircase of black marble that neatly crosses each layer, surrounded by the phantasmal waters of Hell's oceans that spiral around each layer. Hell has cities and plains, mountains and forests. One need only step off the staircase to find oneself in a new world, and under the jurisdiction of one of Hell's many Lords or Ladies. Each major Principality is itself a layer, such as Apollyon's volcanic wasteland of Sheol or Asmodeus's great kingdom in Gehenna. At the bottom of the spiral resides the Palace of the Dawn, the home of Lucifer, which occupies an entire plane unto itself. It is from here that Hell's sun rises each day, and to here that it returns at night. It is said that beneath Lucifer's palace lie an infinite number of layers, and it is in these that Beelzebub is imprisoned, screaming forever in agony.

Terra Incognita: Dis

Hell is massive, but the Demons' grasp on the World is not limited to their domain in the Underworld. They have laid claim to many Incognita in the World, from which they can enact their hidden plans. One of these Incognita is Dis. The entrance to Dis is hidden among the Ural Mountains, concealed with illusory trails, switchbacks and dead-ends, predatory birds, hidden cohorts of highly trained demonic soldiers, and more. Even if one could find the hidden entrance, passage to Dis is not possible without the key, which only Azazel knows. The reason for all the secrecy is that within Dis lies the kingdom of the Nephilim.

The Nephilim are the children of the Grigori, a race of angels charged with observing and monitoring humanity. They once dominated the ancient Near-East, until the Great Flood culled their numbers. Though the Grigori were cast down to Hell, they can still produce Nephilim children. Azazel has taken it upon himself to shelter these children within Dis. Dis resembles a verdant forest paradise, surrounded by mountains on all sides. The land is hilly, watered by great rivers that flow from and to an underground reservoir that never runs dry. Everything is Dis is giant-sized compared to the World outside it, with many Nemean beasts and birds for hunting.

The Nephilim Queen, Corinth the Sixteenth, resides from a grand palace in the capitol city of Dispater, which resembles a city out of Earth's ancient Levant built to a giant scale. There are other cities scattered about, each overseen by a Governor. For all that their world looks ancient, Azazel has imported modern pleasures and weaponry. The Nephilim have a mandatory period of military service, five years for every child upon reaching the age of majority. They drill with ancient weapons like swords and axes, as well as the latest guns and rocket launchers. All Nephilim serve a time with the Ural Rangers, patrolling the paths outside their Incognita home and arranging for the nosy to "disappear". The Nephilim answer directly to Azazel, who visits often to update and maintain the security of this hidden redoubt.

[Mysteris]

Religion: The Satanisms

El and his followers have had much of the World under their control, directly or indirectly, for the last couple of millennia. It was always an uphill struggle for the Demonic pantheon to attract and protect followers, even in the ancient World, but the last two millennia have been brutal towards them. It was not uncommon in Europe for anyone who disagreed with Christianity to be labeled a devil-worshiper, and from there to have their property and their lives become forfeit. It was also a common practice for religious authorities to conflate other deities with Lucifer and his forces, labeling other pantheons as demons. Such acts often confused legitimate Gods and Goddesses for demons and vice-versa, which did not make it easier for the Demons to find alliances in other pantheons.

Things slowly changed over the last few centuries, with works like Paradise Lost encouraging people to see Lucifer in his original role as a freedom fighter against tyranny. Slowly, Lucifer and by extension the demons, started to receive more sympathetic portrayals, and to have more of a role within occultism and esotercism. Of course, the Demons had always had some who would work with them, even during the heights of the Inquisition and the witch burnings, but they slowly started to get a foothold in the World with these more sympathetic outlooks among mortals. The founding of the Church of Satan in 1966 was the first time people had openly declared for the Devil and not been crushed immediately by the forces of El's followers. Over the next decades there would be divisions and the foundation of new organizations, but Satanism, in some form, would spread along with the effects of globalization. While the Satanisms remain strongest in America, they've spread across the globe, especially with the rise of the Internet.

Generally, the Satanisms can be divided up between Theistic Satanism which regards Lucifer and the demons as actual supernatural beings and devotes itself to their worship, and Atheistic Satanism which regards Lucifer and his actions as archetypal images or examples to follow without actually worshiping him. Throughout the late 20th and early 21st centuries, both branches have had their adherents. The Demonic pantheon is somewhat torn on the subject. While they support both branches of Satanism (with Lucifer especially finding value with the Satanic Temple of late), the challenges of organizing the religion are ongoing. Lucifer, Lilith, and Asmodeus tend to focus on those aspects of Satanism that build up individual self-worth and the protection of the rights of others. Semyaza goes in for sex rituals and encourages those who view Satanism as a means to gain power. Mammon simply wants the religion to grow big enough that he can commercialize it (as he proudly claims to have done with some of the prosperity gospel preachers in Christanity), while Apollyon looks to make the Satanisms into a tool for the war against El. Azazel is neutral on the subject, and focuses more on building up the Satanisms into a useful tool for Hellish intelligence. Because the senior members of the pantheon each have differing viewpoints, there has been no one unified stance on the Satanisms to emerge. Lucifer notes with some irony that this enables the religion to grow by mortal effort and mortal belief.