Demon Diaspora

The demon diaspora is a large collection of distinct groups primarily defined by their rejection by both humankind and Angels. As the group has had numerous beginnings from numerous regions and through multiple different means that have since intermingled, there is a massive degree of individualistic variation among them, and some trends among different ethnic groups.   Demons of any kind may possess any skin tone found in their human ancestors as well as a large array of reds, grays, purples, and ashy tones. Eye color is similar, though demons also possess a much higher proportion over all of having colored scleras, typically being black, red, gold, or matching their iris color.  

Yokai

Named after the figures in local mythology in Japan, members of the Yokai ethnic group are typically found in East Asia and in a much higher proportion there. Yokai demons are typically more sexually dimorpic than other groups; males are typically far larger, have an easier time gaining and building muscle, and have thicker horns than females, who are still larger than non-yokai demons, but are much more lithe. Most yokai demons will have smaller horns than other demons, and have either very small vestigial wings if they possess them at all.   A large portion of Yokai were in the past aligned with Kizu, the fallen fox, and transformed by her to posses fox-like features. In accordance to human-era mythology, these Yokai have taken to calling themselves Kitsune. Kitsune demons may possess fox-like ears and a number of furred tails, long claw-like nails, and oftentimes yellow or gold sclera. Although not a common group today, they are still considered the sacred children of Kizu, and protected by Hikaru Vulapin, God of Foxes as her successor.  

Valdic

Originating from central Europe during the late human era, Valdic demons are perhaps the oldest group of demons to have arisen and likely did so due to blessings from a fallen bat god, as per their creation mythology. Valdic demons are much less sexually dimorphic than their human ancestors with males and females appearing relatively androgynous. Typically, valdic demons oftentimes have long segmented horns that superficially resemble antlers and large wings, whose webbing oftentimes extends to the mid-thigh. Nearly all valdic demons have long and slender prehensile tails. Valdic demons also typically have more ashy, grey, or red skin tones than other ethnic groups within the diaspora.

Demons typically prefer warmer climates and although warm blooded, often have a harder time maintaining their body temperature due to their leathery wings and often bare tails. Due to this, they are most often found around the equator or areas that have warmer than average winters, such as around coasts affected by the gulf stream.

Demons are omnivores and will eat a large variety of foods, typically balancing fruit, vegetables, red meat, and grains. Nearly every meal has some kind of meat, typically red meat such as beef, venison, or goat. Culturally, demons share a lot of food customs with Vampires and have no ill effects from vampiric food, so many also enjoy blood in their meals, often as a garnish.

Demon families often are matriarchal, with the eldest woman in the family, regardless of direct blood relation, being the most respected member of the family and in charge of major life events such as giving her blessing for marriages, deciding when and where families shall move, and often will resolve conflicts with other families. This role most often falls to a grandmother or great aunt. If a woman older than the current matriarch joins the family, typically through marriage between younger members of the family, she will become the new matriarch. The Matriarch is highly respected for her vast life experience and knowledge.   Typically, her word is final, and disobeying her or assuming her intentions can result in social shunning of other family members until they apologize and once again earn her favor. This does not usually result in the exile of a member of the family, as demons are often quite forgiving, but a hard lesson to be learned by temporarily not being allowed to attend family events, receive assistance from the rest of the family, and their word not being taken as seriously. Once the relationship is amended, the person is accepted back with open arms. This shunning is often quite distressing to demons, due to them being so highly social with their family groups and living communally, with many generations sharing the same houses and often entire families being one another's neighbors.   Demons hold onto tradition quite strongly and reflect it in their mannerisms and beliefs strongly. They value family bonds and allies, but also are prone to holding quite strong grudges against those who have wronged a family member in the past for centuries.

The most notable feature of a demon's face are their horns. Typically, horns are smaller in females.

Global- Favors warm climates

Human intelligence

As a whole, demons have quite low magic resistance, allowing them to use many forms without many limits. Due to a high degree of hybridization with mages and vampires, it is not uncommon for many demons to possess latent abilities with shapeshifting and blood magic.

Demonic, Common

Traditonally, demons wear layered clothing, with tight shirts and leggings with holes for the wings and webbing, and long flowing layers on top. Black, red, orange, and brown are favored colors. They will also wear the typical clothing of other races, such as mages and vampires, although with alterations for their horns and wings.   A common practice among demons is wearing feathers as part of their clothing and accessories, often in hair combs, earrings, or necklaces, tied to the many religious beliefs of demons and typical culture of worshipping avian gods.   It has become quite common for demons to also adopt the clothing of upper class Angels, spurring their tense relationships as this is seen as mocking and cheapening the value and history of the clothes, though as pointed out by many demons, this is often due to that in areas high in angel population, angelic clothing is often the only kind available at all. Angelic clothing has become a fashion statement and trendy in many demonic circles in recent years. These are usually dyed to reflect demonic culture.

Demonic culture is centered around the belief that every person has their own place in the world and their own story to create. Personal histories of their families are held in high regard and there is very little cultural pushing for one centric ideal job, hobby, or practice, but rather a great strive to find what is right for each individual. Demons are known to be extremely passionate about their individual choices, with incredible drive and work ethic once they have found their craft or career.   Typically, the most common gods within demons' personal pantheons are gods associated strongly with flight, fire and earth, heritage, and family structures. Gods associated with water, independence from family or solitary lifestyles, and rejection of tradition or heritage are not commonly worshipped among demons, mainly due to their culture being strongly associated with family bonds. Food is also a large part of demonic culture, leading to a general association with fire within their communities, as fire associated gods tend to more often be associated with food holidays.

Burial among demons is rather similar to that of vampires, however lacks the practice of storing cremated remains in a mausoleum. Instead, among demons a body is cremated in a somber ritual with symbolic feasts of the individual's life, telling stories about them, and hosting all relatives at the home of the family's matriarch. During the event, the family's matriarch will don a shroud, shawl, or veil decorated with many small vials, lockets, or jars filled with the ashes of deceased members of the family. This act is seen as the matriarch ushering forth the spirits of deceased members of the family to welcome the newly deceased to Limbo peacefully, among friends and family. Once the body is fully cremated and cooled, a portion of the remains are stored in their own vial and added to the garment worn by the matriarch, with the rest scattered. In demonic families where there are vampire members or relations, the rest of the remains are often given to the vampiric members for housing in their mausoleum, with a small reserved portion to be scattered instead.   Matriarchs of a family also are highly involved in the wedding practices found in demons, almost always leading and officiating weddings. Typically, in marriages between two separate families that do not merge into one, both matriarchs take part in some fashion, often with one officiating the wedding and the other running the food services, dress, decoration, and guest management for the event. Family matriarchs also wear the same symbolic shawls, veils, and shrouds worn at funerals in the belief that ancestors' spirits will also be in attendance of the wedding.

Across the demon diaspora, there has been a common thread in their past of rejection at the hands of humankin and Angels. Many within the diaspora have faced discrimination, racism, and religious zealotry and numerous times throughout history there have been mentions of 'purging' demons from human cities, particularly in nations that had a high Christian population. Due to this, the vast majority of demons exiled themselves from human societies to form their own relatively early in their history. This coincided with the near worship of Angels at the hands of humans in these same regions, leading to extreme religious bias, ethnic cleansings, and wars.   Notably, areas with far lower populations of Christians did not see as much extreme action and a far higher degree of acceptance of demonkind, particularly in the far east. In these regions, demons still face far less discrimination and oftentimes have much more rigid protections directly from the pantheon, such as in the case of Yokai and Kitsunes.   Due to shared bad blood with Angels, the diaspora aligned themselves in most regions with Vampires into a heavy alliance, leading to a high degree of cultural mixing and intermingling.