The Place Where Demons Live 1

Before we get into it, I have to say that this was actually my second idea for my first build on here. I wanted to take a scientific spin on the "Monster Girls" trope like how A Centaur's Life and Interview with Monster Girls do. However, A Centaur's Life already did it the way I would have initially done, with "monster" people actually being humans that followed a different evolutionary path, with more branching than we did. Interview with Monster girls did well, too, but it only explained the how, not the why. That is, how the "monsters", called demi-humans in the show and books (people with peculiar genetic conditions), differ from regular humans. There are scientific explanations for every condition, but some are ridiculous, and why this happens is never explained.

Anyways, I wanted to do that, but with the evolutionary path already done, and done well, it will take me some time to figure out a scientific explanation for modern monster people.

And now, with that out of the way, demons. I've offered my skills in world and lore building, and from several people, they asked for information on demons, demonic hierarchy, and the like. I've dabbled a bit, back when I tried to write stories, and the nature of the place where demons come from in fantasy stories has always interested me. So, this post will be discussing a fantasy realm where demons reside, the types of demons, their hierarchy, and how both their society, and summoning in general works. I'm starting this post before any research is done, so you will get an accurate depiction of how I build these things as I go along.

The Origin of Demons

The biggest thing, before we get into anything else, is the how. How did this all get started? How was the first demon made? Where did they come from?

If I was going to take the route favored by fantasy stories that are influenced by Christianity, I would say something like "Every demon is a feather that burned off of Lucifer as he Fell from the grace of Heaven". Which is fun, and I would love to see someone use that in a story. But the best stories, to me, avoid the mainstream. Though that makes me sound like a hipster. Everything has been done before. Our job is to try and make is teem like it's completely new.

So, no strong Judeo-Christian elements. I can't say none at all, unless I want to remove many of the demons people are familiar with. Which can be very good for a story. But not every reader wants every single thing to be new. If you add enough new names and words, it starts to sound like a new language. So, we want something familiar enough that people can understand it easily, but new and different enough to be interesting and stand out.

Many fantasy stories have multiple gods and goddesses. Pantheons just happen to be popular. I personally love small gods. Where any concept or object can become divine if worshiped. In those settings, there are usually good gods, and evil gods. Having a god be evil does not make it a demon, though many have control over demons or can become a very powerful demon that rules in their demonic plane.

So, how does that happen? How does a God become a demon? Often, it seems to happen when a God is murdered. Or maybe I'm just making that up. Doesn't matter. Gods can die, and become guardians of the undead, or fade away completely. But I think violent deaths are what make them demons. The nature of their death is what crosses that line from dead god to demon.

But if all demons are dead gods, shouldn't they all be very powerful? An imp is generally accpeted as one of, if not the, lowest of all demons. And they are usually the most numerous. One might say that murdering a small god could make an imp, but how could so many small gods have been murdered in order to make so many imps?

Maybe murdered gods aren't actually the norm, then. Then what are imps? Also, I'm going to point out here that I am going with the idea that demons don't really die.If slain in the mortal realm, they return to the void. Or Hell. Whatever it is, I can come up with a name later. In that place, they are ranked, and by performing specific deeds, they can rise rank, and possibly even become a different kind of demon. I'm not yet sure how they may fall rank. It cannot be so simple as death in the mortal realm, as I'm also going with the practice of using the demon's name to summon the same demon. I want the summoning portion of it to work in many fantasy settings. Summoning a demon using its name and binding it to your will with some sort of magical contract  that they do their best to find a loophole in is common enough that my netherworld should be able to work with them.

Okay, back to imps. I don't think any murder can make a demon. Humankind is rather violent, so the number of immortal demons created by murder would easily outnumber all the sentient races on your magical little planet. And I'm sure that they would do what they can to use their superior numbers to invade and corrupt the mortal realm. Basically the premise of Disgaea 2. So, while numerous, their number should remain mostly stable.

You know, I said back to imps, but I'm going to say back to gods, now. Back to evil gods and murder, specifically. What if a very powerful, evil god with many was killed? Murdered by a good god. At least, that's how he'd tell it. After all, he had as much right to exist and enforce his will as the good gods, didn't he? He didn't overstep in any way, so why should he be killed? It was not execution, in his eyes, but murder. And, since he was without a doubt evil, no one questioned whether or not his murder was right or wrong.

Let's say that he was the God of Sin. The gods had just started their project with the super smart animals they were calling the Races of Men, and they did not like how he influenced them. Essentially, though, was he not just doing his job as a god? The god of natural disasters still lived, as did the goddess of pain. But it was not them that the goddess of virtue murdered, oh, no. She was simply jealous of the sway he had over the mortals. His following was large enough to create wars and evil empires. She would not stand for it.

So, she took her holy blade, and cut him into 7 pieces, which she dumped in the astral garbage bin. But you can't just throw a god into the trash, and expect that to be that. Those 7 pieces warped and grew into their own beings, powerful demons lords of sin. Ah, damn, I've come back to Judeo-Christian influence. Although, 7 is a divine number found in religions the world over, and those specific 7 Deadly Sins are reflected in multiple religions as, well, very bad things. It's hard to think of other sins that don't crossover with one of those.

Anyways, I'm sticking with it. If I can come up with different sins to mold them on, I may well do so. I'm siding with Familiarity here, but I would rather go with Unusual, if I could. These 7 demon lords took with them their former entity's followers, and warped them into the demons we know and love today. Their hierarchy and the nature of their garbage dump of a world comes next, though I don't know if that will be one post or two.

Welcome to Mythopoeia Lore!

 Lies breathed through silver

- C. S. Lewis to J. R. R. Tolkein about myths

For a long time, I thought I was a writer. Correction - I thought I was an author. The muses sang to me. I'd create stories in my head, and worlds in which they played out. They were amazing! And since I wrote well, it seemed like destiny. And yet... I could never finish a story. Short stories were too short for my long-winded way, and I always ran out of steam before I finished a novel. I have hundreds of half-written, dead stories. Which, of course, is not that rare for any author.

I don't quite remember when it happened. It was sometime over the  past few months. Maybe it was while I was working on the Sci-Fi universe I've been creating for several years now for a future video game. Maybe it was as I played Enderal, and reveled at the in-depth world created for a Skyrim mod. Maybe it was as I played Monster Super League, reading the bios of the cute monsters and realising that, coupled with conversation snippets and story dialogue, that this phone game has surprisingly interesting lore that most people don't notice.

At some point, I realised that this is what I never got tired of. The world building. The lore. When I played DnD, I always had a long and detailed backstory. Really, any tabletop game. I would research my character. Anyone telling me to make a character for a game did not realise that I may spend 24 hours straight (has happened more than once) researching different regions, their history, what the people look and talk like, their beliefs, their gods, and so on. I'd also do research from outside of the game book, using real world examples. To effectively write a canon for my character.

When it came to fanfiction, I hate using characters involved in the media. I always created my own characters, who had their own story in that world. Perhaps my 'fanfiction' falls into the realm of derivative works. Or self-role play, if that's even a thing. And again on role playing - every role-playing game that I have, even if the character was meant to be generic, I gave them an in-depth backstory tying them to the world. I've spent hours in Minecraft building fantasy-inspired cities in clouds (well, mad out of wool or snow, but amongst the clouds), in trees, and underwater. Not that unusual, but with the specific intent of bringing in villagers, thus creating a world, not simply a decorative piece. Then, I'd bring friends to role play, or make machinima. My love for machinima is yet another example of my love for lore. Of course, it's about making a story, but a story that creates and uses lore has always been my favorite kind.

I could go on and on about different ways I love lore, and I've probably already rambled on a bit too much. I still feel that I have yet to express completely my feelings, but the show must move on. My point is that creating worlds, creating myths and backstories, and all of the hours of research that comes with doing that well are all things that I am passionate about. And so, this blog.

I want to use this space to share what I do, how I do it, and share what I create with others. Not only that, but I want to create world for others. I want my readers to use my worlds and play with them. Homebrew games, role plays, writing contests, challenges, public domain stories and practice are all examples of what readers are free to do with my content. I also want to be able to create worlds that people can buy for their stories, games, movies, and so on. I say buy, because I like what money can do for me, but I also have no problem with giving over the rights to a world and its lore in contests, or to readers who can show that they'd make good use of them. If you ask me to make a world for you, based on a theme, just ask. Life is not about money. To me, it's about enjoying your existence. I would be happy to spend hours creating a world for someone else, and see the amazing things they do with it.

But if you want to pay me to create a world, language or myth, that is definitely fine. You can't eat words.

Anyways, please comment! I will do my best to respond back. I also hope to host, review or post about others' works, be they stories with great lore, world builds or crafted languages. I may also post about my influences, like Tolkein, Marc Okrand, Brandon Sanderson, etc.