Devil ★

Devils are contract demons whose metaphysical purpose is to barter in fate by collecting the souls of mortals, to empower the hellish domains from which they originate in the Astral Veil. Devils can take incorporeal form at will, and prefer to manipulate mortals invisibly and by proxy. A devil will not make itself corporeal willingly: usually, a ritual of binding and the utterance of its true name is required to force it into physical form.

While they possess fearless morale, Devils prefer to avoid direct confrontation with opponents who might pose a threat to them out of efficiency because the longer they have to work in the material realms on collecting souls uninterrupted, the greater power they marshal for their domain. They use mortals they tempt as go-betweens to do their bidding. Such temptation is effected through the soul contracts Devils execute with mortals, where the Devil exchanges ownership of a victim’s soul for the victim’s material gain while he lives in the material realm. In death, the victim becomes a malevolent ectoplasm under the Devil’s control, and their soul essence is added to the total psychic torment of the Devil’s astral domain.

Victims in such contracts slowly lose their minds as the Devil quietly infects their dreams with nightmares and torments them with false visions and memories. Most commit atrocities out of madness, or take their own life out of despair.