Demons

As I've explained before, the Atrocissimus is ruled over by demons; but what, exactly, is a demon? In my first book, The House on Blackstone Hill, I have this to say about demons:

This world of which I speak is one ruled over by legions of demons, evil fallen angels tormented by their Satanic master to a hatred that has become madness. Their only wish is to inflict unending misery on humanity, whom they hold responsible for the fall. They use as many different fell tools in this torture as possible, so it is also a world in which monsters, evil spirits, and nightmarish creatures beyond counting are all horribly true. These vile creatures lurk in the deep, dark shadows of the world, creatures used to horrify, plague, or simply slaughter as many humans as possible. 

But that doesn't actually go into too much detail, so let me flesh that out a little bit here. All of the demons were once angels, created by God at the beginning of all time to serve Him and, due to His later creation, to serve humanity. Most angels happily accepted this duty, and accepted the fact that, though they were individually created by God Himself, were powerful supernatural beings just like God, and were sempiternal spiritual being with no end, co-rule of the world was given to man rather than to the angels. 

Most angels accepted this, but not all of them.

A sizable group of angels were led in revolt by the angel Lucifer, the Lightbringer of Heaven. He was chief of the whispering angels, those who were tasked with interacting most directly with humans, to whisper God's guidance or wishes to them, to be the ones who would provide moral guidance when needed and courage when required. They were to be a soft, still voice in the darkest nights. They, in many ways, had been created by God to be the conscience of humanity, to help keep humankind on the right path.

This is an old story and we all know how it ends. But in the ending of this story comes the beginning of the Infestissumam. Those fallen angels, now twisted and mutilated into foul reflections of the creation they wanted to destroy, set themselves to the task of ripping apart humanity. As soon as they could, the fallen angels -- demons -- started to torment and torture individual humans and humanity as a whole. They are evil beyond description, slaves to their master's hatred of humanity, whom he feels are responsible for their fall -- and, since God so loves the world so much, tormenting mankind is a fine way to perpetually break His heart. 

The demons' one collective task since their fall has been to twist the human soul, to turn good people foul and to empower the evil to become even more so, to ruin every vestige of light in the world and plunge it into a second darkness. 

So far, they're doing a fine job of it.