Demon: The Fallen
One of Classic's World of Darkness old RPG's in this game you and your friends take on the role of demons, fallen angels who have escaped Hell and now live among humans. The premise is pretty cool and the lore and mythos behind it is well written and with a great deal of interesting ideas and an interesting story.
Background
In the beginning, there was God and despite being all powerful, he got lonely so he fashioned beings who were like him yet unique, the first beings known as Elohim, or Angels. Creating seven Houses, each with specific skills, objectives and powers they helped God in His works, preparing for the arrival of the epitome of God's work, His most glorious creation, humanity. When He was finished and created Adam and Eve, leaving them content in the Garden of Eden, he made two decrees to his Firstborn. They would only observe Man and never interfere for doing so would irrevocably alter his precious creations. The Elohim were at first disappointed, for they all were in awe of Man and wanted to befriend and help them achieve their divine potential, nevertheless they heeded God and obeyed. For a while things were calm and peaceful, however an Angel named Ahrimal foresaw a terrible catasrophe that would befall the world and undo all the hard work the Angels had done to help Man and forever mar the race of Man. Even worse God, would allow this to happen either unintentionally or otherwise. Those Angels who went to God to voice their grievances were never seen again and so the remaining Elohim began a great debate as to whether or not they should interfere and help save Mankind from this impending cataclysm. It was the favored son and mightiest of the Archangels, Lucifer Morningstar who rallied an third of the Elohim and left Heaven to finally interact with Humans. This of course angered the other angels so when the Archangel Michael arrived and told Lucifer to return and face punishment, he flatly refused and this began the thousand year lasting civil war of the Horus Heresy... ahem I mean the War in Heaven. After the rebels were defeated they were subsequently banished to the Abyss, the lowest corner of creation and farthest from the light of Heaven, and suffered greatly from the Torment becoming monstrous demons. All except for Lucifer who escaped and has roamed the Earth alone ever since. And that was the last anyone heard from the Fallen, until......
Splats
So The Fallen obviously used to be angels before the little.. incident. God may have done the heavy lifting on creating the universe but He wasn't big on sweating the details. So instead of missing His Murder she wrote marathon He made the Angels to handle all the time consuming bitch work He didn't want to do. The Angels were divided into seven Houses who each handled a aspect of Creation.
- The Defilers(formerly the Lammasu, the House of the Deep)
- These guys were in charge of the sea and poetry,art, and dancing. They had a intense fascination for humanity and chafed hard against God's decree of non interference since they were pretty distant from humanity being bound to the sea and all. Other Angels tended to mock the Lammasu for being useless as their sphere of influence was limited to being limp wristed poets and glorified pool boys. Belial was of this House and was the one who initiated the Great Debate that kicked off the whole Rebellion. More Lammasu joined the Rebels than any other House. Their Lores were the Lore of Longings, Lore of Storms, and Lore of Transfiguration.
- The Scourges(formerly the Asharu, the House of the Firmanent)
- The Asharu were the Guardian Angels. One wonders exactly how hard it was to be a guardian angel in the Garden of Eden but apparently they were needed. Of all the Angels, the Asharu loved Humanity the most and were dedicated to making sure no harm came to them. This dedication caused them no small amount of grief as they knew humans would never know how much they loved and protected them. Their boss Lailah sided with God in the Great Debate but a lot of the Asharu joined the rebels. Their Lores were the Lore of the Firmament, Lore of Awakening, and Lore of Awakening.
Happy New Year!
The year 1999 was a major turning point for the setting of WOD. Due to all the magical shenanigans caused by werewolves, vampires, ghosts,etc. The magical backlash resulted in a spiritual storm in the Afterlife, which has weakened the walls of the Abyss allowing the Fallen Elohim to escape and for the first time in millenia walk the Earth. What they do with their new lives is up to you the PC.
Important Aspects of being a Demon
Possession As they are spiritual beings Demons can only interact with Humans if they possess one. They usually pick humans who have little hold on their souls, coma patients, drug addicts, etc. They then possess the body, pushing the human soul into the background and gaining not only the human's body, but memories and emotions. These things not only serve as a barrier to protect the Demon from the memories of the Torment in Hell, but help rekindle what they used to be and even become more human. For instance if their host had a very strong emotion regarding a person, object or location the Demon will adopt it for his own to get a better understanding of life on Earth.
Faith Is the mana that Demons need to use their magic. When they were Angels this power-source came from God, since they are now rebels they have been cut off and now must draw out that power by utilizing humans, because all Humans who were made in His image retain a spark of his power in their immortal souls. The more human followers or thralls a demon has, the more Faith he gets and the stronger he becomes.
Torment After being subjected to countless millenia of torture and horror, the Fallen Elohim have been reduced to Demons. The more evil the demon acts on Earth the more Torment he accumulates, this can be both good and bad as it grants both strengths and weaknesses.