The world of Altaryel Is in a constant state of war. Demons and pretty much everyone else

Demons though, aside from a penchant for acting in such a way to satisfy the sin they were born with, as well as their inborn strength, are normal people.

They will love, hate and make friends just as every other race does. If something occured that threatened the survival of not only themselves, but every living thing on the planet as well as Altrayel itself, they would cooperate with the ones they warred with since the beginning of time.

It just so happened that such a thing did occur, yet the consequences of this were quite unexpected.

One day, a creature from beyond the stars lay siege to the world. At first, the races kept to themselves, but it quickly became apparent that something else had to be done.

So, they reached out to one another, and the hero, along with his party, came to be in an alliance with the demon king and his generals.

Together, the party of individuals destined to an endless cycle of fighting against each other, were now cooperating against a common enemy.

Naturally though, while there were many that put aside their differences in order to fight the common enemy, there were also those who despised the actions taken by their kin.

A certain group emerged, neither on the side of the demons or the 5 races, but instead siding with  the eldritch horror laying siege to their world.

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They kept to themselves mostly, as they were few and were persecuted on sight.

But at the crucial juncture, when the hero and demon parties reached the core of the eldritch abomination, a terrible ritual reached completion.

Rather than dispersing among the stars, the energy of the eldritch horror was directed to the demon king, for he was the one that had made the final decision for the demons to side with the humans.

The ritual guided and infused the eldritch energies of the creatures core into the life-stream of the demon king.

Now, the ‘demon kings’ are special individuals. This is because of their unique lifestream, that is connected to each and every ‘demon’ and draws their fantastical strength from it. Should the demon king fall, another will inherit the lifestream.

By corrupting the lifestream of the demon king, they had in turn corrupted each and every demon king that would come for eternity, as well as the entirety of the demon race.

From that point on, the demon race became more and more aggressive, with an increasing desire for destruction and a hunger for power.

The tense situation this created was only exacerbated by the effects it had on the demon king.

His powers became laden with a corruptive and corrosive energy, and although due to his immense experience handling dark energies he remained mostly sane, he developed a split personality, one who wanted the best for his kingdom, and one who desired the destruction of all.

In a desperate attempt to save himself and his race from becoming savages, slaves to  their desire, he sought help from the hero’s party once again. Luckily for the demon king, this generation’s hero was compassionate, and had developed a feeling of camaraderie with the demon king, and agreed to help him.

Together, a ritual was developed.

It would create a third lifestream, that would hold and contain most of the corruption that currently inhabited the demon king’s lifestream. The corruptive effects would be contained by a piece of the hero’s lifestream.

The hero’s lifestream was different, yet similar. It was inherited from human to human, but it was initially a gift from the human’s patron goddess, in order to assure the survival of humans. Thus, it was comprised mostly of divine energy, and charged through the belief of the humans in the hero.

The pure and divine effects should, in theory contain if not destroy the corruption in the lifestream, as well as ensure that the one inheriting the lifestream would not have their mind corrupted.

The ritual was conducted, and though it failed to cleanse the demon lifestream of corruption, it had greatly lessened the amount and halted it’s progression.

Still though, it’s effects lingered slightly in the minds of the demons, and would hinder peace between the races for years to come.