I, Zetra Ashallow, demon of the Beneath and scholar of the Annals of Rage, shall tell you the story of my race from what we have gathered.

Long ago before the recorded documents, there was and still is many demonic realms that drift through the vast cosmos. Why they exist is the speculation of many. However, the one realm which this chronicle is focused on will be the realm called The Beneath, the largest demonic realm that is shared between the two worlds known as Jaern and Cahyali.

The Beneath started as just another hellish realm, nothing unique or special, until an event happened that caused it to spiral and swirl out of control. Its magic power and energy grew and swelled uncontrollably, nearly collapsing in on itself. Instead, the Beneath would smash into several other demon realms and absorb them. From this event the first demons were born in the Beneath, and their might and power was glorious.

There are many names for these first demons to be born from the raw magical energy of the Beneath. The Maveriks, the Gel'ithmatari, the First Born, the Princes of Change… or whatever fanciful title any two-bit demonologist wants to come up with in some damp and mold-infested basement, in a rotting temple that preaches to undeserving beings of worship. In any case, these firstborn were by far the most powerful demons and resided in the very center of the Beneath long before it was split into seven layers.

This mythic time was thought of to be a golden age of the demons, and many demonic royal houses ruled the lands. The most powerful of them all were the houses of Baal, Murmur, Andromaleus, Lazerus, and of course, the house of the Morningstar themselves. Then the Usurper came, the one called Paimon, and the great houses were slain, consigned to death and history.

It was recently discovered that was not quite the case. To escape Paimon, these houses created a pocket plane that is the shadow of the Beneath… or as many call it, “the 8th layer”. The Morningstar would give their life in this act to allow the others to escape.

Now, pay attention. The Morningstar, also called Lucifer, was responsible for creating the Morningstar Flame, one of the eight Flames of the Beneath. What is that, student? You don't know what a Flame of the Beneath is? Sit down, and I just may be inclined to tell you.

History lesson over, now time to get onto the part that most of you are here for: demons and demonic evolution. The first thing to cover is how a demon is born. Well, frankly, there is a myriad of ways that a demon can be born in this day and age… but I will keep it relatively simple and cover the most well known methods of demonic birth.

Demons can be born through natural childbirth. Yes, demons can have babies, however this is by far one of the most rare methods. A demon born from two demonic parents often inherits powers from both parents, and can skip over the harsh process of being an Ashborn.

The majority of demons are either born from souls of individuals deemed too wicked by the gods or brought to the Beneath via demonic contracts. If they don't get eaten right away and the Beneath's magic-draining properties don't absorb them into the fabric of the plane, a body slowly grows around the soul and thus rises an Ashborn. These Ashborn are often not the most coordinated, but usually retain some semblance of a consciousness.

There are places called the Spawning Pits spotted over the landscape. These magma-like pits are where Ashborn sometimes rise from the depths and slowly make their way onto the land. These pits are only ever found on the 1st layer of the Beneath, with one reportedly being in the 4th layer but that is just speculation. Of course, I have never seen it myself. Ashborn that come from the pits are mindless and incredibly uncoordinated. To say they are dumber than a sack of rocks would be insulting to the rocks. But now with that out of the way, let's discuss what an Ashborn is.

When I speak of an Ashborn, imagine a zombie without a visible mouth, completely covered in ash, with red magma flowing in the cracks in their bodies. Got it? Good, they practically all look the same. Ashborn are the lowest of the low in the grand hierarchy of demons, they are often brainless and work off of pure survival instinct. Their only goal is as follows: eat souls, survive, and evolve. They rarely, if ever, have a sense of self-preservation and anything with a soul is food for them, even other demons. A mortal farmer with an axe or pitchfork could easily kill one. Ashborn are not strong and at best they can maybe throw a ball of fire or acid at someone.

But that is no reason to be complacent. One Ashborn alone is no danger… but Ashborn rarely if ever travel alone, they often travel in groups of 10 to 20 on average. However, I have also personally witnessed hordes of Ashborn that range into the hundreds of thousands! Legends even claim that during the war between the gods and the Beneath there was a horde of Ashborn that grew to billions strong, all charging headlong into battles with anyone, demons and angels alike, cannibalizing the battlefields for any scrap of souls they could find to evolve.

Once an Ashborn has consumed enough souls, they often will evolve. The process of evolution for all demons sees them form a cocoon of stone in which they gestate and slowly change. After a period of two or three days, an Ashborn will emerge as a Malphorian.

Malphorians look almost identical to their Ashborn brethren, however they often appear with horns on their heads, darker colored ash like skin, visible mouths, or some combination of those features. But, the most important differences is the fact that Malphorians have far greater control of their bodies and are capable of more advanced thinking and risk assessment. They gain a greater understanding of their surroundings and are capable of greater planning. Malphorians may be seen leading Ashborn hordes on occasion.

Once a Malphorian consumes enough souls, they begin the process of evolution again into either demons proper or infernal beasts.

A proper demon, the sort you'd picture when I say the word 'demon', usually starts off as an Imp. However, they can also come out as a Fiend (like myself), a Balor, or simply as a full blooded demon. The last three transformations are slightly more unlikely to happen right off the bat but if it does, then congrats you saved yourself from being an Imp. Lucky you.

Some Malphorians occasionally evolve into an infernal beast. Infernal beasts are theorized to happen when a Malphorian consumes many souls of animals, land or sea, doesn't matter. And, yes, animal souls can end up in the Beneath. You're probably thinking now you should have trained Fido better to not take a leak in the neighbor's yard, he's probably some demon's lunch now. Anyway, an infernal beast is usually a more demonic version of an animal on the surface. They can take on several features of several different animals, often becoming chimeric monsters with several animal features and traits.

Once any of these demons consume enough souls or raw magic, gain a true name, or become a herald of the Flames, they can then begin the evolution process into an greater demon.

Greater Demons are those that have gained enough energy to undergo the process of evolution. And note, you do not have to be a full demon to undergo this. Devilkin and half-demons can and have undergone this process. Now I'm not going to cover the entire broad spectrum of every possible greater demon, as each are ultimately unique, but I will cover a few just so your little mind can get the idea.

Generally, the most common characteristics of a greater demon usually boil down to greater strength, magical power, agility, endurance and the like. Some demons gain more abilities beyond the standard.

• Shadow Imps are imps that have honed their stealth far beyond what is normally capable and gain access to shadow magic.
• The Spine Fiend is a type of fiend that gains extra bone-like armor as well as the ability to generate bony weapons from their bodies, and yes, this can even include guns.
• Dark Iron Balors usually are far more heavily armored and are able to create a dark iron shield from which they can absorb oncoming magical attacks.

This is just a couple of examples, as the list can go on and on from succubi and incubi to the obscure and elusive frost demons. The possibilities are endless, but the list does not end there.

Greater infernal beasts also exist as well and this usually tends to result in the beast taking on a more mythical form or aspect, usually becoming an infernal version of some mythic or rarer creature from above and gaining more abilities or even the ability to cast spells. I ran into a massive infernal wyvern once… oh, my poor singed hairdo.

Alright so Demon Lords, again this is a type of evolution….what? oh don't give me that slackjawed look, you thought that was just some fancy title? HA! Hardly. No, a demon lord is a type of evolution category, the penultimate that just about every demon aims to attain. Becoming a demon lord is no easy feat, as it requires an immense amount of magic energy or souls consumed to undergo the process. What's more, the evolution itself can take anywhere from 6 weeks to 2 months to complete, at which point you are completely helpless.

However once this process is complete, the demon will emerge as a demon lord, not always larger in size but larger in powers. They often gain an ability called the Demon Lord's Will, a power that allows a demon lord to subjugate and control lesser demons. It is deadly in the hands of demon lords that have been around for a long time. A demon lord is often capable of taking on several foes at once, has command over powerful magic, and usually commands several hundreds of lower level demons. They can often maintain large territories.

Appearance-wise, a demon lord can look however they please as they gain full control over their shapeshifting abilities. There are some that often change their appearance, and others that don't change them at all. Some that look mortal, some that look like monsters, and others that fall in-between. However, this is not the end.

The true and final stage of evolution for any demon or infernal beast. For infernal beasts, we call them leviathans. For regular demons we call them demon monarchs. I would love to tell you more about them but unfortunately we have very little in the way of records on what the monarchs were capable of. All we know is that there is maybe only a handful of them left, often in the furthest corners of the Beneath, plotting away in how to grab more power, wealth, and prestige… silently waging wars against each other and the gods for longer than we know.

The powers of a demon monarch are the stuff of legends and something many adventurers, mortal or otherwise, would aspire to either slay or become. Their powers can range from manipulation of time and space, to creation of weapons that can rend mountains asunder, or bring about apocalyptic flames and disasters.

As for how one becomes a demon monarch…. well, I think you get the idea at this point from every other evolution process. I see that ambition in your eyes, and good luck trying to become something like that. You'll have every demon in the Beneath gunning for you and the servants of the gods watching you like a hawk.

Hm? The Flames? Yes, yes, I'm getting to that.

So the Flames of the Beneath are, in short, the closest thing to gods in the Beneath. And no, they don't need followers, they are power given personality and meaning by their own will.

They are eternally bound to the Beneath and hold it together, along with defending it from outside threats. But make no mistake, my student. The flames are still demons, and represent concepts that demons know. Occasionally, the Flames will pick a demon and make them undergo a test to become a Herald of the Flame. These demons are tested to within an inch of their life, their very bodies and souls filled with so much power they burn up and are often consumed by the flames. But, those that survive are rewarded with power beyond their dreams and eternal servitude to the Beneath.

There are eight Flames in total and each represent a concept that we demons know in our own twisted way. Each Flame has a color associated with it, and usually this influences the color of any Herald's magic.

Now, two Heralds of the same Flame will likely manifest wildly different powers. While the trials of becoming a herald are grueling, they do come with some benefits. For example… the laws that govern the different layers, the ones imposed by Paimon before his untimely demise yet still shackle us like cattle? A Herald can ignore these laws with no consequences. In addition, regardless of what layer they are on, a Herald of the Flame is impervious to the magic draining effects of the Beneath and are capable of using their powers wherever they please, even outside the Beneath.

How does one seek to become a Herald, you ask? Simple, you don't. The Flames seek you out, you don't seek them out unless you have a death wish. Now! I believe that answers most of your curious and incessant questions on the basics of demons and their evolution processes.

If need be I will create more notes on how demons live and whatnot… or you can just go and explore yourself, I'm sure the powers that be will always have a different interpretation of how my kind live our lives.