Demons

Demons are organisms endemic to the Lightbringer Moon.

## Biology

A demon strictly speaking is either a colony of yeast (Saccharomyces Demonica) that is hosted or a yeast colony sufficiently large to be capable of functioning without a host body. Demons are accepted as being a colony of yeast capable of sentience.

Demons are capable of granting some of their abilities to others, be it its host or not, through pacts and deals. They are also capable of using parts of the colony as a source for magic.

## Saccharomyces Demonica

*Main Article: Saccharomyces Demonica*

Saccharomyces Demonica is a type of yeast endemic to the Lightbringer Moon, it is the basis of what constitutes a demon.

### Reproduction

*Main Article: Demonic Reproduction*

Demonic reproduction can either mean a demon reproducing with another entity via sexual reproduction, or the yeast reproducing by itself through budding.

Demonic reproduction is a complex affair due to their impermanent nature. Saccharomyces demonica is akin to DNA, a demon is defined by the configuration of the yeast it is composed of, which can radically change during summoning or over the natural lifecycle of a yeast colony.

## Demonology

*Main Article: Demonology*

Demonology is the study of demons, more precisely the science of transporting and tethering a demon to a realm other than the moon. Demonology is practised by demonologists and concerns three main disciplines or branches.

The first discipline is Summoning , which is the transportation of a demon to another realm.

The second discipline is Invoking, which is the study of Conditions, Pacts and other means to securely tether a demon to another realm.

The third discipline is Demonology which is the study of saccharomyces demonica and individual demons as organisms.

## Abilities

### Possession

*Main Article: Spiritual Possession*

Demons have the ability to possess entities without their consent, but this ability is limited, and should not be confused with a possession ritual.

### Dealmaking

A deal with a demon is an agreement where an entity pledges its soul (in reality its Animi) to a demon. Gaining access to an animi will allow the demon to reproduce.

A vital criteria for dealmaking is the willing surrender of a client's soul. This is because demons can only truly reproduce using animi, by itself the demon will simply create more yeast, but fueling the yeast using animic energy , the new demon will be akin to a child.

This is also why the price of a deal is often the contractors newborn child is so it will host the demon’s future offspring.

### Pacts

Demons can contract pacts, which is an agreement where an individual pledges itself to become a demons thrall and will offer belief sentiment to a demon in exchange for a yeast colony which will bestow the thrall a portion of the demon's power. Pacts bestow powers known as gifts. Demon Thrall bones are flammable due to a lack of yeast.

#### Gifts

*Main article: Demonic Gifts*

Gifts are powers bestowed by a demon to someone in exchange for their service. Curiously, most of the powers are kinetic. Examples include Keraunokinesis (lightning), Aerokinesis (air), Telekinesis (objects), Pyrokinesis (fire), Cryokinesis (ice), Entokinesis (insects), Cognitokinesis (thoughts), Visikinesis (illusions), and many others.

### Wish Technology

Some demons, specifically Alps are specialists in Dalmer technology, and have found another way to be summoned to Welt. The alps manipulated wish tech in order to summon themselves to welt. They can influence nightmares through their yeast magic. Nightmares are powerful tools for the alps as they express the strongest desires, which influences the algorithm and wish tech. Sleep paralysis leads to people believing and producing the appropriate sentiment in demons, and gives the firm most demons use when done. Eventually the first demons, alps, are summoned through sheer force of will of dreamers who unconsciously elaborated summoning rituals. The alps then teach those they torture to summon demons, and thus the first demon summoning sciences were brought to Welt.

## Weaknesses

Demons have several weaknesses that people can exploit to protect themselves against them.

### Sigils

Sigils keep places safe from demons or to keep demons locked inside something. Some tattoo sigils to protect themselves from possession.

### Totem burning

The ritual to get rid of some demons is to destroy the fears of the past, represented by a totem burned in a fire, dispelling the demon.

### Ritual to stop lunar eclipses

Requires a victim, goat skull and knife. Must start when the eclipse begins. Placed in a pentagram, the victim's blood must be drawn and poured into the goat skull, used to draw occult symbols on the forehead and stomach, and the victim force fed the remaining blood from the skull. the victim must then kill three attendees as sacrifice, before suffering trauma to the head (lethality is optional). the lunar eclipse will then stop, and the victim will be pregnant with the eclipse born demon.

### Soul Light

Some demonic creatures perceive the light of souls, and as such they are blinded by them when on Welt, and actively seek to extinguish the blinding light.

### Solomon key traps

Traps demons inside the circle. Generally drawn on the ceiling to avoid detection.

### Demon bone

If stabbed with demon bone in the eye, demons die. Possibly because of infection of the foreign saccharomyces.

### Speaking the demons name

Speaking the name banishes the entity. Demons are repelled by saying their real name, as it somehow triggers the warp fungus portal back to the Nether realm. The crafty use the threat of the name to leverage the demons' obedience.

### Disbelief

Loss of belief causes demons to lose their durability and their tether on Welt.

### Blessings

Blessings are anti yeast chemicals which repel any creature created or affected by the yeast. Generally these are anti fungal in nature.

### Exorcism

Demons are anchored to the Nether, meaning they can warp but never fully inhabit the middle ground that is Welt. They are tethered to their place of origin. Exorcism returns them to their place of origin.

### Vaccine campaigns

Vaccines against demonic possession exist. Anti demon campaigns protest demonic possession. Those who oppose these campaigns are declared demon worshippers and hunted. When demonic dalmer became commonplace, the political landscape divided into demon sympathizers who willingly host demons, those who seek to impose the vaccine on everyone and those who want neither.

### Holy waterworks

Holy water requires a silver holy object placed within a volume of water and a particular voice command to make the volume holy. Holy water basically functions as an entropic solution for Saccharomyces Demonica.

In areas with heavy demonic influence, holy water works are common. This can translate to holy water sprinkler systems and firemen who use holy water lances and cannons. Also, blessing the rains works in times of crisis.

## Demonic influence on the biosphere of Welt

Demons have relations with a vast array of organisms found on welt. Demons are intelligent yeast colonies, any other anima that are considered a race of demons are false demons.

De facto, Saccharomyces Demonica created most monsters and supernatural entities in the world.

For example, before demons ghosts weren’t considered creatures but rather the result of a dead being's undeparted soul, continuing its existence in the afterlife. Nowadays wraiths and specters reproduce in the wild and are considered as a species much to the confusion of biologists worldwide.

Another example, before demons vampires were simply undead affected with a disease that caused vulnerability to light and an appetite for blood; nowadays vampire is a category for several monsters such as the Fleder and Alps who reproduce in the wild. On top of this, the other races have learned occult arts and sciences from interactions with demons. For instance, Some vampires have learned to control Spirits, and use them to reanimate corpses in combat.

**Evidence of demonic infestation**

Any creature that is influenced by demons undergoes corpselessness. Slain anima with yeast disappear in a cloud of smoke (except for certain items considered sufficiently anti-mycological to kill any potential colony from feeding on it).

Harvesting plant or mineral matter causes a brief flare of yeast infection that makes the harvest to take a particular shape or prepared form that the colony will not feed on.

### Monsters

*Main Article: Monsters*

Demons are often confused for monsters, this is only partially true as monsters are in reality a codependent symbiosis of saccharomyces demonica and an animate. The result is a brand new lifeform.

### Demonic Witches

*Main article: Witches*

Due to their creation process involving lunar lightning, witches are closely linked to demons.

### Demonic Vampirism

In essence a Demonic Vampire is a spirit in a dead body. The body is animated by the spirit of its creator which it receives upon creation. The spirit is fueled by demon yeast infected blood. This type of Vampiric reproduction is done by transferring yeast tainted blood to a blood drained victim. A part of the spirit is given to the victim, creating a mentee. Down the line the powers become less and less powerful, unless they cannibalize a former generation, which augments their powers greatly.

Considered a demonic gift, the catch is that the Dalmer has to contend with the demon's presence in its body. When a Demonic vampire reproduces, some of the giver’s spirit is transferred to the young blood, and vice versa, forming a bond capable of surviving Death, as some vampires have felt the presence of their giver or young long after their destruction. However, the reproduction also changes the young bloods spirit for the worse, merging them with Demonic Yeast essence in blood and spirit and forever condemning them in the eyes of the Dalmer as no longer undead or living.

### Demonic Lycanthropes

Demons can possess animals, but by possessing such simple beings, they lobotomize themselves in the process. Eventually the spirits of the demon and the animal intertwine, and this fused soul can then possess a human and create a lycanthrope. Lycanthropes are a three-way struggle between the animal, the demon, and the poor blighted human host. When the animal is in charge, the person retroactively becomes that animal, and further was always that animal. The human is erased from existence entirely, but in a roughshod fashion that reveals that something's wrong if you know where to look. When the human or demon regains control, the human always existed, and the animal never did. This can lead to such oddities as someone seeing a lycanthrope crow, which becomes a human again, which leads the witness to believe that they saw a flying person but didn't think anything of it.

## Demon Society

*Main Article: Demonic Society*

The term demon refers to a great number of entities, some of whom have nothing in common beyond the presence of saccharomyces demonica in their organism. Demons create their own societies and civilizations which are alien yet familiar to the other races and the Dalmer.

## Demons and society

Demons are often the object of everyday concern by the other races, some worship them, some treat them as any other race on Welt, trading and exchanging knowledge with them.

## Habitats

Demons inhabit a number of places on the moon.

### Lunar Geographical Terms

Despite the fact that the Nether, Hell, Inferno and the Pit are all used interchangeably to signify the realms where demons live, they correspond to different areas under the moon's surface.

### Gehenna

All Demonic creatures originally come from a rift in the world in a Valley of where children are sacrificed by fire. One of the only ways to manifest themselves in Welt is through Demonic Possession. Depending on their nature they can arrive on Welt by possessing sapients, animals, corpses, machines and even particles. The other way to bring them to Welt is to summon them with rituals.

### Lunar Strain

*Main article: Moons of Welt*

It is believed that intense demonic reproductive activity causes the moon to become bright red.

### Demon nests

Demons often stay in apartment buildings with lots of people to avoid direct assaults. The Dalmer often inspect these in case of suspicions of illegal pact sealing.