The history of the demons began with the demiurge Saren, incarcerated in the prison-world by the name of Sarnaut. An ancient enemy, the dark demiurge Nihaz, imprisoned him there. Since then many tens of thousands of years have passed. All this time, Saren has been trying to escape and Nihaz has observed these attempts, taking pleasure in seeing an initially bright creator become an evil madman. Nihaz hoped Saren would lose his great gift - his ability to create life, which he had always envied for he was only able to control dead matter and energies.
Saren Demons
Saren created different creatures, hoping that they could destroy the prison world. He himself was constrained and deprived of most of his capabilities. In essence, he was only left with one: the ability to create life, which Nihaz was unable or did not want to take from him. The creatures that Saren first made were completely unable to destroy. But with time the necessary result was achieved. Mages broke the seals shackling the demiurge and maintaining the integrity of the planet itself. A terrible magic cataclysm almost destroyed the world, breaking it up in multiple pieces and the spaces in between these were flooded with astral. Saren, obsessed with the need to be free, created new astral creatures - demons. They were to finally destroy all matter in Sarnaut, which, because of the power of magic seals entwined within it, still held the demiurge captive.
Habitat
Astral is an atmosphere that the gods consider some kind of disease of space itself, where the regular laws are changed and the properties of matter differ from those that exist in the regular universe. Creatures of a higher level than gods are able to manipulate the power of the astral and use this energy to create. Astral can exist in space in the form of giant clouds, left from the creation of the Universe. But sometimes it turns up in planets, in areas where there is a large accumulation and disruption of ether. By itself, astral is not dangerous to planets and for several millions of years, it has dispersed under the pressure of surrounding matter. But the demons Saren created can contaminate normal reality, thereby increasing the area of their habitat.
Escaping into reality from astral, demons form bodies and use these to act. Even on a demon, if he is not stopped, can destroy an entire planet, although it would take millions of years. Lots of demons can turn the entire Universe into astral, so it is very important to be able to control them and their numbers. Thus, Saren made sure they were unable to multiply and the total number of demons is constant because they are immortal. When their physical bodies are destroyed, demons simply return to astral.
In astral, they are all of roughly the same strength, energy potential, and other stats. When lone demons appear in reality, they look like imps. The shape of the imp's body is determined by the general mental field (noosphere) of the inhabitants of the planet the demon has appeared in. If the planet does not have any intelligent life on it or the demon has appeared outside the planet, its body will take on the shape it had when it last "visited" reality.
Demon Types
In contrast to regular creatures, demons can join together to increase their efficiency. Imps are the most straightforward and numerous of the demon types. They can only "contaminate" areas where matter exists in an initially chaotic state, such as gas, and require sufficient free form ether - such areas are rich in magic and the astral is present nearby. Imps are not capable of anything else. As with the stronger demons, imps feel "the pressure of reality", even with bodies. They are not comfortable when they are too far from the astral - they become weakened and can die.
Aggressors are demonic creatures consisting of two demons, merged back in the astral. They can also only "contaminate" chaotic matter, but they do not need free ether to do so, just the presence of the astral. Aggressors are, so to speak, more intelligent than imps and can better evaluate dangers to their "work" of contaminating reality. They are also stronger, which makes things more difficult for the defenders of those worlds that aggressors have entered. But, as with all types of demons, their manner is such that they cannot establish contact, other than through combat, with anyone, even if it is in their interests to do so.
The third and strongest type of demon are the Furies, which are true destroyers of reality. They combine five demons in one, merged together with one common body. They aim to pour out "astral acid" - a substance with poorly researched properties, which literally eats away at matter and reality, gradually turning it into astral. Furies do not need magic or for astral to be nearby. Theoretically, they can pour "astral acid" anywhere, but it is more effective near astral, where it almost doesn't evaporate. Furies, like all other demons, are rarely seen far from the astral that was the source of their escape into reality. Furies can supervise more junior demons, but more often than not they work with their own kind.
The strongest and most dangerous of the known forms of regular demons is the Octhulhu. It takes dozens of demons to create such a creature and the strength of the Octhulhu will depend on that number, although they remain almost the same in appearance. The Octhulhu can lead and coordinate all other types of demons. Because they are smarter, and this is also in proportion to the number of demons in one creature, the Octhulhu can be considered the most intelligent demons. But like the others, they are not capable of any kind of communication. The Octhulhu often appear in places Nihaz has special plans for. Through them, the demiurge is able to observe what is happening, albeit in a very distorted way.
At Nihaz’s service
After a series of events, the demons fell under the power of Nihaz. Like many other creatures, they turned out to be convenient instruments for the dark demiurge. Nihaz needs the demons to be able to easily and quickly move into the worlds that interest him. These creatures can move around quickly and they freely move around in the astral, surfacing at any point of the Universe that has sufficient astral. Many demons act according to their destructive nature. When they land in another world they begin to dissolve it, increasing the astral. Usually, this does not concern Nihaz, unless the world is of interest to him. With the help of the demons, Nihaz has seen a different world and even visited some himself. This is how he found Aelion. This world really intrigued the demiurge.
In contrast to other worlds, where there are mortals and gods, on Aelion you cannot absorb ether bodies, which is one way to achieve greatness. In addition, Nihaz discovered the manifestation of Luminaries, an unseen force that appears in times of deadly danger for the residents of Aelion and helps lead them to victory. All this pointed to the work of a demiurge unknown to Nihaz and he decided to study the people of Aelion to discover their creator. The residents of Aelion do not interest Nihaz even as believers. He is a demiurge and a creature on an even higher level than a great god and does not need believers.
To ensure a good outcome, Nihaz needs a large amount of Astral on Aelion. And this is where the demons, which Nihaz could not have created himself, come in very handy. He was able to build an astral drill, combining many demons in one entity, in which he placed a particle of his own essence. Thanks to the direct aiming of demons towards any astral area, the astral drill can get very close to a planet. It carries enough demons to be able to quickly expand astral in Aelion to the required amount. With its appearance alone, the drill creates a large astral area, making the task easier.
The defenders of Aelion are trying to get rid of the demons, but Nihaz is not too worried about that. It is deadly for mortals to be in the astral, as their ether bodies (the only thing that remains unchanged in astral) are not powerful enough to prevent the disintegration of the physical body. Immortals and gods can remain in astral because their ether bodies are strong enough to maintain the physical body for a long time. But there are not enough of such defenders and Nihaz is sure that the demons will create sufficient astral for him to do his work.
Nihaz does not just use the demons as they are, he is able to expand their abilities in the regular Universe. So thanks to the dark demiurge, the demons have acquired technology. This includes transport ships on which groups of demons can land from the astral drill onto the surface of Aelion. Even the demiurge has found it unexpectedly hard to teach the demons to create such objects from themselves: these creatures are simply unable to understand why you would need an object that cannot contaminate reality. However, despite such restrictions, under Nihaz's leadership, the demons have become much more efficient and dangerous than Saren anticipated. Nihaz selected only a few of the different types of demons, but even that was enough to create plenty of problems for the residents of Aelion.