Devils

**Devils** are the reincarnations of evil deceased souls or the offspring of existing devils. They hail from the Seven Hells.

## Harvesting souls

Devils are only able to remain in the Material Plains by harvesting mortal souls; Devils cannot harvest divine souls. A Devil obtains a soul by entering into a contract with a mortal; the mortal always and only pledges their soul, while the Devil may offer anything. Devils cannot enter into contracts with other Devils.

### Contracts

By sensing discontent, discordance and hatred among mortals, Devils find new victims. The usually appear aburptly before their victim and offer a solution. Although Devils can sense the negative emotions of mortals, they do not automatically know the cause thereof. Hence, Devils must use their cleverness to derive the cause and guess the mortal's desired solution. Once, they ascertained the victim's desires, Devils usually appear aburptly before them and offer a very limited time to accept their proposition so to prevent careful and objective consideration.

If the victim accepts, the Devil will make a contract made of unholy perchament appear; the contract is made of only a single page and only the front page may have writing. The Devil commonly gives its victim only a very limited amount of time to read. Only the victim needs to sign and the signature does not need to be authentic; in fact, the victim may write anything. As soon as the pen disconnects from the perchament contract, the signature is considered complete and the contract becomes effectual. This very moment, the victim's soul bonds with the Devil.

Contracts can include various downsides. However, the principal and inevidable downside is that the victim dies if the Devil dies.

### Offers

Using Infernal Magic, Devils can create any type of coin, gemstone (e.g. diamonds, rubies, emeralds...) or precious metal (e.g. gold, silver...). Infernal Magic also allows them to make the lifes of mortals easier in various other ways and enables them to communicate with deceased souls, an ability they can also grant mortals. Once, Devils have harnessed a substantial amount of souls, they can absorb the power of extraordinary beings, such as Wizards, Sorcerers and Alchemists, or absorb the knowledge of brilliant beings, such as Elfs and Dwarfes; with the power of absorption, Devils can practice Common Magic, Sorcercy and Alchemy and garner extraordinary knowledge with great ease and offer these assets in contracts. After having harvested countless souls and amassed immense power, Devils can even absorb the power of deities (or evenly powerful godly beings) and be reborn into Archdevils.

## Birth

Devils are born through reincarnation or procreation.

### Reincarnation

Any deceased soul dwelling in the Seven Hells can be reincarnated. To be reincarnated they must be blessed by their Lord Infernal and then enter the Raging Flames of their hell. If a soul enters the Inferno without being blessed, they will be erased. The Lords Infernal only reincarnate souls with great potential. Everytime a soul is reincarnated the Raging Flames shrink; everytime a soul dies and lands in one of the Seven Hells, the Inferno of that hell grows. Raging Flames cannot be extinguished but if they shrink beyond a certrain point, reincarnation are no longer possible until the Inferno grows again.

### Procreation

Devils can procreate with any humanoide mortals and biolocially, also with immortals (although extremely uncommon). Because they are undead, Devils cannot create offspring by mating with other Devils. If a Devil—female or male—procreates with a mortal, the child will systematically be a Devil. If a female Devil is impregnanted by a deity, the child will automatically be an Archdevil; male Devils cannot procreate with female deities, as they can dictate the race, sex and general appearence of their child during pregnancy.

## Death

Devils can be killed. However, the more souls a Devil has harnessed, the harder it is to kill. If a Devil dies, it returns to the Seven Hells as a normal deceased soul. Any soul bond to Devil through contracts, will die too.