Warlock

**Warlocks** are infernal hybrids born between daemon and humans. They are known for their powerful magical power and their practice of witchcraft.

## Summary

Warlocks have existed since humans were created and began to populate the Earth, though their number only grew during the Incursion, when countless legions of devils and daemon came into the mortal world under the commands of the Lucifer Clan.

The oldest recorded sighting of a warlock in history dated back since the early days of human civilization. Said warlock was an offspring between a human man and a "screeching she-owl" that many speculated to be Lilith herself. The clay tablet on which her life was recorded was heavily damaged, though it did state that she had used her witchcraft to ensnare a Sumerian king and take over his kingdom.

Because of their unique characteristics, many warlocks were bred purely for the purpose of being employed into the Underworld's armies during the Great War, despite the demons' personal distaste for all things associated with humanity, including half-human hybrids like warlocks.

According to many historians, during this period, there were nearly a million Underworld-bred warlocks born every year due to the daemon kidnapping human maidens to rape and impregnate them with their demonic seeds. Due to their power, they were assigned works as both field agents and as supporters for the demonic armies in their war against the Heavenly Council and the Grigori.

When the Great War ended in a standstill between the Three Factions, they were the first to be hunted down and killed by the Vatican's exorcists under the crimes of their birth. Around 15 years after the war ended, nearly 70% of the warlock population were killed by the devils due to them being a liability.

In the span of a century, from a population of over a million, they were hunted down to the verge of extinction, as by 1256, there were only a total of 72 adult warlocks who were able to survive the Vatican's witch-hunt and the Netherworld's assassination attempt. They then allied themselves with the Grigori, who was the only faction that welcomed them with open arms, and found the Spiral Labyrinth in Purgatory after a peace-treaty was signed between them and the Sorcery Department.

Only by the beginning of the Renaissance period did they begin to see hope for their kind again, mainly due to the Devil Civil War happening in the Netherworld and the internal political struggles within the Vatican reaching its climax.

## Appearance

For the most part, warlocks appear as entirely human, if not for the universal trait among them that is their warlock mark - parts of their body that are strange or unique that identify them as unearthly. Those from the same demonic bloodline may have similar demonic features on their bodies.

## Characteristics

Warlocks are immortal beings who stop aging entirely at one point in their life, though which point exactly will depend on their demonic parent. At a certain point in their immortal life, after a *long* duration of time, they will begin to fade away when they become unsurprised by life and stop looking forward to the years ahead, which is the sign of the weight of their immortality settles on them.

Because of this, most of them tend to be very independent and mostly keep to themselves, hence why they do not have an established community or organized society of their own other than the Spiral Labyrinth. The closest thing they have to a government is the Spiral Council, which only rules over the Spiral Labyrinth and resembles a board of governors more than government officials. There also exist high warlocks who are seemingly appointed in every major city and/or locality around the world in order to protect younger and/or less experienced warlocks from harm.

Unlike many supernatural species, they are unable to reproduce among themselves and their pregnancy always results in stillbirth due to them being crossbreeds, and are thus, sterile. Because of this, in addition to their immortality, few warlocks opt to marry, let alone adopt children to pass their surname down to. However, exceptions from these limitations are the very rare offsprings of daemon and those with angelic power such as exorcists or shadowhunters, which would protect the fetus from the demonic power, resulting in a living child known as a "whitelighter".

Nearly all of them are, to some extent, powerful magic-casters, though some might inherit more magical aptitude than others. They aren't afraid of researching, performing, and/or practicing forbidden magic, such as Dark Magic and especially witchcraft. And because of their willingness to use magic for a price, even anti-demonic factions such as the shadowhunters or hunter organizations work with warlocks, either as partners or hired specialists, to allow them to make use of the demonic magic that their beliefs prevent them from.

## Population

According to Magnus, there are roughly 100,000 warlocks in the world, with one-eighth of them being above 300-years-old. Back during the Great War, there were over a million warlocks employed in the Underworld's armies, though the majority of them were hunted down and killed soon after, either by the Vatican's exorcists or by the assassins sent out by the devil nobility due to them being "liability" to their faction and to the Netherworld.

Due to their warlocks' marks, the majority of them were abandoned - or if unfortunate enough, were killed - by their own human parents as young children. Because of this, most young warlocks are sought out by the high warlocks who are in-charge of their respective area in order to protect them from danger caused by their human parents.

## Factions

### Spiral Labyrinth

**Spiral Labyrinth** (らせんの迷宮, *Rasen no Meikyū*) is the central home of warlock magical research and knowledge. It is considered the underground headquarters of the world's warlocks, of scholars and students of lore, where a great deal of arcane knowledge is hidden. The Labyrinth is managed by the Spiral Council, though according to Matthew, their authority isn't that great or influential.

## Weaknesses

* **Physical Damage**: Like the majority of supernatural species, warlocks can still be killed through normal means if they receive a large amount of physical damage or fatal injuries that their regenerative power cannot heal them in time.
* **Demonic Illnesses**: As half-daemon, warlocks are susceptible to several rare illnesses and diseases reserved only those of demonic origins like devils or other true daemon.
* **Holy Attribute**: The bane of all demonic creatures. Religious symbols, scriptures, and prayers are extremely effective when defending oneself against a warlock's powers, and items imbued with the holy attribute such as holy water or consecrated oil are the typical items used when fighting against warlocks. However, depending on the amount of demonic power a warlock possesses, the holy attribute's effects have upon them may differ, as the greater the amount of one's demonic power, the less effective the attribute will be upon them, and vice versa.
	+ **Reciting Scriptures**: Warlocks consider hearing recited texts from the Bible, the Tanakh, the Quran, or any religious scriptures within the Abrahamic religions to be torturous for them. They will suffer from intense headaches from hearing the reciting texts alone, and if they are exposed to them for an extended amount of time, they suffer from traumatic brain injuries that can potentially kill them.
	+ **Hallowed Grounds**: Warlocks are physically incapable of entering religious grounds, such as churches, synagogues, mosques, or other hallowed grounds associated with the Abrahamic religions without being personally invited. When entering pagan temples and shrines, they will suffer headaches that will increase by every minute they spend on the ground.
	+ **Holy Weapons**: Warlocks can be wounded or killed by weapons imbued with the holy attribute, such as holy swords or Sacred Gears with divine properties.
		- **Heavenly Weapons**: Weapons of heavenly origins can easily kill them.
* **Sacred Metals**: Weapons made out of sacred metals can be used against the majority of supernatural beings, warlocks included.
* **Primordial Regalia**: Weapons and artifacts belonging to the primordial entities can be used to permanently and absolutely destroy every and any being in existence, aside from other primordial entities, and erase their existence completely so that they can never be reborn or resurrected without the involvement of God.

## Trivia

* According to Azazel, only *Homo sapiens* can produce warlocks with daemon.
* Their hair stops growing when they stop aging.
* To magically sensitive beings, they smell like burnt matches.
* Their blood has strange effects on vampires, though what it does vary from one vampire to another.
* They are immune to the magically-binding effect of the fruits native to Faerieland.
* They prefer to use simple one-syllable last names, which possibly reflecting their mood during the choosing, such as Bane, Loss, Stain...
* It is more common for them to have a father than a mother as their demonic parent.
* Most of them often pass away before reaching the 1000-years-old mark.
* Due to similarities between them, it's extremely difficult to differentiate a warlock from a disguised cambion, and vice versa.