The Eidolons
From Unofficial Handbook of the Virtue Universe
The Eidolons are a breed of cannibalistic demon originating from the Ninth Circle of Hell. The majority of them have gone rogue and are known outlaws to both Heaven and Hell. They carry properties resembling the trees they were born from. They're able to adapt their bodies to various environments.
Origins
When the original seraphim fell from the heavens along Lucifer, they each embraced the darkness at a different pace and handled their corruption differently. For dear Mephistopheles, the torment of being out of his Lord's light had ailed him. He became a hermit as he hid himself in the darkest pits of Hell in shame. As the anguish started to gnaw away at him and he could feel his body resisting the transformation into a demon, he knew he would soon be preyed upon by his brethren if he did not accept his transformation soon. He would need to protect himself and create an army.
So he did.
Mephistopheles dug his nails into his flesh and drew blood - blood? Such a mortal thing. He had been tainted already. It was here he ripped himself open and used his blood to water a family of seeds he had just planted. These seeds were born from the separation of all his regrets and sorrows. His love and passion. He separated these feelings into a sprawling forest. But this was no ordinary forest. Each tree in this forest was a womb to an eternal soldier to forever serve in Mephistopheles knight legion down in the Ninth Circle - thus naming them aptly as the Ninth Legion.
The Ninth Legion had many purposes: To wage war on the divine, to serve Mephistopheles first and Lord Lucifer second, to grow stronger through conquering, and to corrupt all potential power and things pure. The Ninth Legion was lead by a demon with the title Devil Captain Xervon, who eventually fell in battle against a powerful seraphim by the name of Academ. Dranoth was instructed by Xervon to devour him in order to contain his power before Academ could completely destroy it before he dies. Dranoth did as told once his friend had passed, devouring the corpse and feeling a rush of power coarse through him. (This isn't some weird vore shit, I promise.) Dranoth took lead of the Ninth Legion from there on.
But it was under Dranoth a spark lit a new flame, and perhaps he was too alike Lord Lucifer for even his liking. Dranoth and his men began to grow bored with their idle tasks and soon it felt as if they were only being kept busy as Mephistopheles had very little need for them beyond vanquishing or corrupting the stray paladin or curious dabbling mage. They grew complacent in watching the dukes of Hell sit idly by and forget about their revenge against the divine and those who cast them out for expressing their free will.
So. Freeze frame record scratch. Remember how Mephistopheles made these losers out of a part of himself? Yeah. Just making sure. Dranoth eventually lead his own men into attacking and devouring a Duke who took needless pleasure in tormenting souls who were sacrificed to Hell. They devoured the Duke and his men, growing more powerful. They then ascended the tormented souls by turning them into full blooded demons to join the ranks of the Ninth Legion. This angered a lot of Dukes, but not their father, Mephistopheles, who simply sat idly by and watched this performance with amusement. He watched as his demons took and devoured whatever they pleased. He finally approached then to discuss their behavior. When Dranoth and his men denounced Mephistopheles, the demon lord simply clapped and chuckled. "Oh. Do you?" He taunted. "No skin off my back. Well, I suppose that's not true. You're all made from me. Most of you, anyway." He spoke, eyeing the newer demons made from risen souls. "You denouncing my name saves me a lot of trouble. I will not hunt you, but should you come for me..." Each of the demons were forced to one knee all of a sudden with their hands on the ground. All except the noobies. "You will regret it." Mephistopheles hissed. Dranoth was helped up by the newer demons, but only in time to watch some of his men walk before and grovel to Mephistopheles. He grunts at this and turns his back, leaving as he watched his men reduced to below half their numbers. From here on out, his men were referred to as the Eidolons, the knight rebels of Hell.
One may assume Hell doesn't have societies and nations - but it does. Hell is much larger than our own Earth. It is perhaps even endless. Though one could doubt this statement. Nobody fully agrees on one perception of Hell. In fact the validity of this story could be questioned to many. But at least you made it this far. Good job reading through this boring bullshit. Anyway, back to the Eidolons. They became a black hand syndicate to be deployed by other demons on various tasks. They would serve all but the royalty of Hell earning themselves a wicked reputation. But they stuck mostly to areas the Dukes did not enter for the sake of their own pride. The Eidolons had consumed a lot but soon they felt bloated as they realized consuming any more would cause them their own destruction. Their bodies were not deformed. They were still each fit and lean, but it felt as if they ate one more demon they would explode. It turns out the Eidolons had a power compacity they would quickly reach from devouring demons more powerful than them, such as Dukes. They realized they could not help themselves any longer by staying in hell. The secret lied within mankind, the mortals who managed to stray off any supernatural threat that had threatened their entire existence.
The Eidolons made contact with some humans who were exiled from the Knights Templar for using their secrets in order to protect a large number of people openly. These people were hunted relentlessly, and even almost killed before Dranoth showed up to fend them off. Though he sustained an unusual amount of damage from their holy weapons and precise fighting styles. He attempted to make a deal with these humans on the run, stating he would offer them protection and secrets not even their order possesses in exchange for being the wardens of their secrets and telling them how these humans managed to do so much damage to them. Initially, they declined and parted, but the Eidolons kept silent pursuit until a second ambush, in which they offered the deal once more and the humans accepted, thus starting the order of The Wardens of Babylon, which over the years grew from just a regular secret societal into a small private army of mages, scholars, and mage-hunters, growing a powerful name in the supernatural underworld.
It was through the Wardens that the Eidolons realized demons have a 'hard cap' on power, but humans have no cap on their potential. Willpower is something out of the grasp of a regular demon. So what if the two were to combine? A half human and a half demon?
