Devils
"The flames never damned us. Vile did." -Valek Runeskarn, Devil Wanderer.
The Devils were not born of Gaiatia but spilled into it, pilgrims from The Hells, a world once a stranger to ours where stone bleeds, steel births itself in molten seams, and survival is written in scars. Their bodies reflect that crucible, tall, iron-visaged, horn-crowned beings with ember-lit eyes and prehensile tails, carved by a life of war and pact. Some bear wings like scorched pennants, a rare mutation carried from the oldest hell-tribes, seen as a mark of good fortune. For ages beyond memory they fought each other in endless tribal carnage, until Vile rose among them and bound their chaos into discipline. Under his banner they marched into The Folklands during the calamity known as The Fall, bringing ruin of The Lost Ages in lockstep formation. But the true apocalypse came after, The Great Schism, when Vile’s attempt to grasp godhood obliterated his legions, tore open the skies, and soon-after shattered both worlds with a century of fighting for whatever pieces of the old world hadn't broken. For these catastrophes, with Vile and his legions dead, any Devil left alive inherited the blame; Fear, exile, hatred for causing the death of millennia of progress. Wounds Gaiatia has never let them forget. Yet the infernal will endures, for they have a secret weapon to protect them.
Devils wield a magick unlike any other, Pactcraft, a law-bound sorcery where words bind flesh and signatures bite deeper than steel. A spoken promise becomes a tether, a written vow becomes a blade. Even the gentlest agreement carries weight, shaping the Devil who speaks it as surely as the one who accepts. Through pactcraft they can ignite fire from argument, stitch wounds shut with obligation, or hollow a soul with nothing more than consent. The strongest of them eventually cross a threshold where pact and power become inseparable, this metamorphosis births a Fiend, a Devil whose body becomes a living contract and whose voice can unmake identity. Some call Fiendhood ascension. Others call it erasure, for every oath a Fiend carries chisels away another piece of the self beneath it. Despite their shattered history, Devils persist as wanderers, scholars, mercenaries and tempters. They adapt to survive, carving quiet lives in the cracks of cities or commanding fear from shadowed roads where their reputation walks ahead of them. They are feared for their bargains, hated for their past, and respected for the discipline that kept them alive in a world rebuilt on the ashes of a fire their ancestors lit long ago. A Devil remembers every promise, honors every pact, and carries every wound. They are creatures forged in fire, burdened by their legacy, and sharpened by the need to survive a world that would rather see them burn than rise again, and yet they rise all the same, oath by oath, ember by ember.
Naming Traditions
Feminine names
- Azara.
- Cindreth.
- Valmira.
- Drossa.
- Kethra.
Masculine names
- Vorun.
- Skarn.
- Rakel.
- Dravon.
- Malreth.
Unisex names
- Inva.
- Tharn.
- Vekka.
- Lioras.
- Brael.
Family names
Once glorious house names are now worn with shame, altered by history and infamy. Some families still hold to their ancestral lines, others adopt new titles based on clan, deed, or disgrace. Examples:
- Emberthrone.
- Of the Twelfth March.
- Ruinborn.
- Scion of Ash.
- Flamefallen.
Other names
Ashbloods (colloquial), Hornskull (slur), Demon (slur, colloquial) Brandborn (reference to Vile’s rune-marked legions), Cinders (common Gaiatian shorthand), Helltouched (formal, but outdated).
Culture
Major language groups and dialects
Devils speak Infernic, a fluid tongue of battlefield shouts and ceremonial litanies. It is often paired with hand-signs for tactical precision. Common idioms:
- "Ash knows its father." (Legacy never lies).
- "War remembers." (Nothing is truly forgiven).
- "The chain snaps loudest before it breaks." (Warning of rebellion or collapse).
Culture and cultural heritage
Devil culture was once a monument to disciplined brutality, war-rituals, legacy oaths, and rune-brands that bound chaos into structure. Vile’s unification forged their scattered tribes into a single ideology, law as magick, obedience as sorcery, and identity shaped by pact rather than bloodline. Even after their fall from power, this covenantal worldview endures. Devils do not treat law as metaphor. They believe words are weapons, signatures are chains, and every agreement, spoken, etched, whispered, or implied, reshapes the soul. To break an oath is to deform one’s own essence, to uphold one is to grow sharper, heavier, more dangerous. Their enchantments arise from this same covenantal force, flesh hardened by oaths, fire summoned from declarations, steel bound to service through promises older than language. This cultural obsession with pactcraft gives rise to the most feared transformation in their lineage, Fiendhood. A Fiend is the natural apex of a Devil who accrues too much power, too many oaths, or too vast a network of bound souls. Eventually, their own pactcraft reaches a critical mass and collapses inward, rewriting their body and mind into something closer to a living law than a mortal being. Their identity twists like a ram's horns and their voice becomes a binding force, every command a pact, every promise a threat. To outsiders, they appear godlike, to Devils, they are both revered and dreaded; Some fearing this change so much they either refuse to speak at-all or in-rare cases commit suicide to prevent their corruption. A Fiend’s will can alter reality with a sentence. Yet with this ascension comes loss, individuality erodes beneath accumulated obligation, desires calcify into doctrine; The Fiend becomes slave to their own power, compelled to enforce the very laws they built their strength upon. Because of this, Fiendhood is viewed with deep ambivalence. Some Devils seek it deliberately, believing ascension to be the rightful path of their race, the final shape Vile intended before his ruin. Others resist it with terror, fearing the dissolution of self that awaits. In practical terms, Fiends wield overwhelming arcane authority and near-immortal endurance, but they cannot break or bend the oaths they carry, every promise becomes literal, every bargain a cage. Their strength is immense, yet it is bound by their own words, making Fiendhood both the greatest triumph a Devil can achieve and the most exquisite curse their culture can inflict. To walk the path toward Fiendhood is to gamble one’s soul against eternity, knowing the only victory is to survive long enough to become something no longer entirely Devil.
Shared customary codes and values
All Devil values are rooted in one principle, agreement is sacred. To enter into words with a Devil is to invite consequence. They will twist, pressure, or coerce, but they will never break the law of pact itself, for in pact lies their power.
- Never kneel without purpose.
- War is sacred, waste is blasphemy.
- Forgive not the enemy, but remember them.
- Vile is not spoken of unless mourning or cursing.
Average technological level
Pre-Fall devil society possessed clockwork war machines, heat-forged armor, and magick-infused siege engines. Much has been lost, but remnants remain, some scavenged by Gaiatians, others hoarded or entombed in vaults beneath scorched cities.
Common Etiquette rules
- Speak only once when asked a question.
- Baring one’s horns is a gesture of honesty.
- Do not eat in sight of an elder without offering them the first bite.
- Refusing to duel when challenged brings dishonor.
Common Dress code
Functional armor and flame-resistant fabrics dominate Devil attire. Hellsilk, ash-weave, and brimstone leathers are popular. Colors of soot, ember, and coal are favored, though elite castes still wear radiant crimson or scorched gold as symbols of rank.
Art & Architecture
Devil architecture is symmetrical, formidable, and pragmatic, built to endure siege and entropy. Fortresses are carved into cooled magma flows, lit by captured starfire or rune lanterns. Art is bold and emotional, battle murals, scarred statues, and etched histories often mingled with magick to replay deeds of glory… or warning.
Foods & Cuisine
Devils consume what survives the flame, charred meats, fermented roots, and spiced stews. Nutrient slurry is common among lower castes, while nobles partake in elaborate “fire-feedings,” symbolic meals with illusionary flavor and magickal substance.
Common Customs, traditions and rituals
- Bloodmarch: A coming-of-age trial where youth must traverse difficult terrain with only fire and grit.
- The Ash Silence: Communal mourning ritual, no words spoken for a full day, only the hum of battle hymns.
- Hornblessing: During courtship, devil couples paint each other’s horns in patterns representing family, fear, and favor.
Birth & Baptismal Rites
Newborn Devils are presented before a Flame-Eye, a ceremonial brazier shaped like an open eye, said to represent both Xaethra’s lingering memory and the ever-watching judgment of history. The child’s tusks or horns (if present) are anointed with ember-oil, and a shallow brand is seared into their back or palm with their chosen name in Infernal Script, symbolizing both burden and permanence. In many surviving clans, the child is also wrapped in ashcloth woven with the sigils of three ancestors, offering a tether to both past and legacy.
Coming of Age Rites
At the age of sixteen, a Devil undergoes the Trial of the Ember Gate, a solo journey into one of the many scorched dead-zones left behind by Gaiatia's retaliation, known as Ashlands. There, they must retrieve an object of symbolic importance: a weapon lost in a past war, a page from a burned ledger, a melted emblem of rank. Upon return, the Devil is granted their first Fang-Ring, a loop of scorched iron worn in the ear, nose, or brow, depending on the region. The rite is less about physical strength and more about survival, remembrance, and the ability to carry history without being broken by it.
Funerary and Memorial customs
Devil dead are never buried. Their bodies are cremated in the Oathfire, with loved ones casting scrolls of remembered oaths, failed promises, and deeds fulfilled into the flames. Ashes are placed in obsidian urns etched with the deceased’s sigil and their final spoken word, then housed in vast fire-vaults or sealed in stone cairns at battlefields. Some are forged into blade pommels, spearheads, or even war drums, to be carried so their fury might echo through future generations.
Common Taboos
- Speaking Vile’s Name outside of ritual or historical recitation is seen as a provocation of fate.
- Forging with stolen ash (the remains of a Devil who has not been properly cremated) is an unforgivable crime.
- Wearing the Fang-Ring of another, even a family member, is seen as soul-thievery.
- Mocking the Lost March, the name for the day Vile sacrificed his legions, is grounds for exile or blood-duel.
- Showing the inside of one’s mouth during a war cry is considered a curse upon one's kin, it symbolizes an oath you intend to break.
Common Myths and Legends
- The Crimson Betrayer: A tragic warrior who removed his Fang-Rings to forge chains and lead his people back to Gaiatia in peace… only to be flayed alive as a traitor by both sides.
- The Silent Brand: A tale of a Devil too young to fight, who engraved the names of fallen soldiers on his skin. He grew older, and the skin vanished beneath ink. They say his descendants carry memory in their bones.
- The Forge of Regret: A legendary hammer said to have been made from the melted war banners of Vile’s generals. It can only strike once per moon but always finds the weakest part of armor, or soul.
- The Hundred Names of Vile: A whispered poem said to unlock forgotten powers, but anyone who speaks it incorrectly on their first attempt is consumed by their own shadow.
- The Book of Burning Law: An eternal scroll said to be penned in Vile’s own blood during his unification of the Hells. It contains the first true infernal contracts, and it is whispered that any Devil who speaks from its pages may rewrite another’s soul as though it were parchment. Warlocks dream of finding fragments of it, for even a torn verse is enough to bind a kingdom.
Historical figures
- Vile, the Branded General - Architect of the Hellish War, conqueror of the Hells, and the being most responsible for The Fall. His name is taboo, his legacy fragmented, some call him liberator, most curse his memory.
- General Drossa - One of the few Devils to refuse Vile’s final order and survive. Her faction led thousands to safety during the Fall’s end and now governs one of the few stable Devil enclaves.
- Skarn 'The Emberhand' - A Devil blacksmith whose weapons were so precise they were said to “cut the sins out of a man.” Killed in the post-Schism purges.
- Rakel - The Devil commander who held the last open portal against a Gaiatian counter-offensive long enough for over 3,000 civilians to flee. Rumored to still live in exile, burned but unbroken.
- Little Horns - An ancient Fiend and master manipulator, both his age and skill in Pactcraft so great countless stories recant his machinations spanning thousands of years.
Ideals
Beauty Ideals
Devils value form shaped by fire, soot-streaked skin, horn carvings, battle scars, and brands worn as marks of survival. Jewelry is often forged from salvaged weaponry or ancestral steel.
Gender Ideals
Gender roles are largely tactical. Who leads depends not on gender but on victory, wisdom, and loyalty. The strongest lead. The wisest guide. The others endure.
Courtship Ideals
Courtship is intense and practical, marked by sparring, blood-vows, and offerings of strength or strategy. To win a mate is to earn their loyalty through cunning and shared hardship.
Relationship Ideals
Partnerships are seen as mutual pacts. Monogamy is common, but poly-unions exist in larger clans. Love, when it exists, is expressed in sacrifice and survival, not sentiment.
Interesting Facts & Folklore:
Idioms and Metaphors:
- Many devils only live 50-60 years on-average depsite being able to live several centuries due to The Hells' harsh conditions and most folk's extreme prejudice of their kind following The Schism.
- It’s said Vile’s final breath still burns in the deepest trenches of the Hells.
- Devil children are told that Vile’s whisper rides the wind, and to never dream with your mouth open.
- The oldest devil clans still perform rites in languages no longer spoken, inherited from dead planets long since forgotten.
- It is said that even the weakest Devil’s pact, once spoken, leaves a faint scorch on the victim’s shadow.
- Fiends, the eldest and most terrible of their kind, are Devils whose mastery of pact and law has become so absolute that it reshapes the flesh and soul alike. They are living contracts, demi-gods bound by their own oaths, capable of rewriting truth, possession, and death through mere assent. Their presence burns the air, their words twist reality, and even other Devils avoid speaking their names aloud, lest the act itself be taken as consent.
- “He dreams of the First Flame.” (Someone who seeks power they’ll never control).
- “The horns curl inward.” (One who hides their shame poorly).
- “She burned the pact and the page.” (Someone who abandoned all duty).
- “Ash walks backward.” (A legacy you cannot outrun).
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