Demon Gods

The religions of Desmia teach of the "Demon Gods": three or four great and terrible gods who terrorize the planet and lay siege to humanity. The Demon Gods create diseases, monsters, corruptions, and dangerous lies intended to destroy the last bastions of resistance against them. They may or may not have created the world, but they have no love for those mortals who live in it. In these religions it is the moral duty of all good people to wage perpetual war against this evil pantheon.    It is well known and understood that these Demon Gods are essentially an interpretation of The Architects as malicious and evil entities.   Orthodox Desmianism teaches that there are three Demon Gods: 

• Tempest, a storm goddess who created Dryads, Prisms, and Solars as demonic hordes to corrupt and consume all life. Made of Jealousy and Greed.
• Leviathan, a god of darkness who created Leviathanss, diseases, and evil spirits to extinguish all light. Made of Ignorance and Fear.
• Chimera, a monstrous god of sin who created numerous monsters and dark arts to curse and torment the people of the world. Made of Rage and Resentment.

These three Demon Gods are framed as the ultimate enemy of the faith that can only be defeated by exterminating all religious enemies and non-human species.    Ishkibism traditionally teaches that there are four Demon Gods - the same three as before, but with the addition of one more: 

• Enigma, who created Hell to punish humans and is made of deception and confusion.

Ishkibism differs from Orthodox Desmianism in that it teaches that the Sage Ishkibal has essentially created purified mirrors of the Demon Gods. By redeeming parts of these Gods, he has weakened their power and allowed their creations to become good.    In Ishkibism and its offshoots, The Architects as good gods are those Redeemed Pieces, while the bad actions of the Architects are the Demon Gods.   The Temple of Ishket teaches that the Four Redeemed and Demon Gods are actually mirrors that have existed since the dawn of time, as all things have their good or bad inverse.   While all of these religions believe that the Demon Gods are widely worshipped as dark masters, basically no one worships the Demon Gods as these religions imagine them. A few lone weirdos in fringe groups like the Victor's Circle might, but those are rare exceptions.