General Species Info

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They are generally bipedal, but can walk and run just as well on all fours. Hands are squirrel like, with five fingers, claws, and (if desired) squirrel paw pads. The back feet also have five toes, but the inner and outer toe are shorter than the middle three. They are perfect climbers and spry runners. Sizes can range from small house cat, up to as tall as the average human at around five feet. Size is often related to the type of animal they pretend to be, unless their magic is strong enough to hide their girth or lack thereof. 

They can be bony, skinny, fat, or muscular. Just as well, other parts of their body such as fur type, ear type, and horn type are just as variable. They always have a fluffy hood, which may either lay against their back or poof up over their heads. Feathers usually stick out from the hood, and the hood is commonly ticked. If one of Them has shrouded their face with their hood, be warned, they are in a sour mood or perhaps even up to something shady.

 They are always sharp toothed, but their eyes have a wide range of shapes and colors. Pupil shape by default is diamond, but they come in all sorts. Their horns, when present, always come in twos or fours, but never as a single horn like a unicorn (not counting broken horns.)

There are also mutations and anomalies. These are special characteristics that cannot be passed down to children, as there are no genes actually involved with them, though an owner may present a mutation as MNT in the genotype, if so desired. Mutations are very bodily, such as growing extra limbs, whereas anomalies are more unnatural, such as having a body made of fabric. These characteristics are difficult to hide with magics, so the demon must be extremely strong to hide themselves, must huddle in the wilds, or find a human who sees their nature but does not mind.

They are able to hide among humans by altering the minds of those who see them. They make people see them as nothing more than animals, such as house pets or livestock. This is the main way they intend to multiply and overtake the human world. Not all of them have a strong enough magic to hide themselves, and instead keep far away from humanity. In others, their isolation from humanity is willing.

More info can be found about body types in the genotype guide.

The most common coat colors are gray and brown, with the least common being black, isabella (a special, lightened shade of black or brown), and yellow. Cream genes can lighten a base coat, while sooty genes can darken with an ashy texture. Dun is also a coat lightener, but is accompanied by black socks and a black stripe to the back.

The color and pattern of the eyes, teeth, tongue, horns, nails, paw pads, and feathers are up to the artist and are not affected by genetics. Hoods are generally plain white, a very pale shade of the base color, or if the animal is black, the hood may be black. Ticking of the hood is common, and is always either black or the color of the base coat. Hood ticking is not affected by genetics. 

Blood is any color and consistency other than red. Yes, you can have glittery blood.

Find more examples of ways colors can express in the phenotype guide, here.

They are sentient and intelligent, capable of making complex decisions and forming extensive social groups. Because they are demons, it's common to find your animal has a strong vice, like over consumption or problems with aggression. Demons have personalities as diverse as humans, though the wilder ones may give the opposite impression. Ideas and end goals may be different between generations, leading to some tension.

Hellborn demons can speak in any language, including dead ones and animal languages. Earthborn demons are not so lucky, and must learn how to communicate as they grow. Though unlike humans, they pick up on language frighteningly fast, and can master one in a mere few months.

These lesser demons are rather docile compared to the horrors of Hell. They may be ravenous, or lazy, or vicious, but they're in no way the Prince of Hell's prized greyhounds. That said, the occasional demon may not be above murder, or human consumption, or terrible, unforgivable acts. Just hope you don't end up with the one in five hundred who's good and truly bloodthirsty.

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They age differently depending on where they were born. There are two types of demon;
Hellborn, demons who originated from Hell, and Earthborn, demons born on Earth after the breach.

 ✦ "Hellborn" demons come about in a handful of ways, ranging from being lesser fallen angels, to being corrupted versions of what were once humans. These Hellborn demons aren't 'born' in the traditional sense, and tend to be ageless, or at the very least age very slow. So a child who has gone to Hell and who has been transformed into a low class demon, will find theirself remaining a child for a very, very, very long time. If a player has created a demon who is stuck in one phase of life (such as an adolescent) and doesn't want to wait 100 in-game years (who does?) they can apply a special reward to age-jump the character early, so they're not stuck as a kid forever. These rewards are not in circulation yet. Hellborn demons, being almost entirely immortal, cannot be removed from this mortal plain unless discovered and properly exorcised. Once this is done, a Hellborn demon is pretty much gone for good, whatever immortal atoms that were buzzing about their bodies are scattered into the infinite universe and beyond.

✦ "Earthborn" demons are just a little more mortal. They have a baby, toddler, adolescence, adult, and mature stage. They remain harmless babies for a few months (2 real life weeks), toddlers half a year (2 real life months), teenagers roughly three years (12 real life months), and adults 14 years (56 real life months/4 years) before becoming "mature." Earthborn demons have never seen Hell, which results in the mature phase where though they aren't really old, they have begun to see a slight dip in magic and fertility. Mature demons will become truly elderly after hundreds of years, and can live hundreds more.

 
Earthborn demons will find themselves dying far before any of their Hellborn family members, even though they still live rather long. Like the Hellborn they are extremely resistant to any sickness or poison, and they can bleed heavily yet still come to survive their wounds, if conditions are right. However, severing their heads, fatally wounding them without any time to regenerate, or severely wounding them enough to bleed out without replenishing blood will kill them. Of course, a good ol' fashion exorcism still works, too. 

All demons can usually regrow limbs in a manner of days and replenish blood in a matter of minutes if they can stop the bleeding.

Once a demon is dead, they are gone for good. Hell is not allowing these lesser demons back among their ranks.

A demon's name is important and can say a lot about their personality. They may even go by multiple names.

Hellborn demons, especially ones born of human souls, may have human sounding names. Fallen angels may retain their old angelic names. Some demons will name themselves, and are especially fond of sacrilegious or ironic names, such as "Angel." In other cases, their human caretaker will name them. It's not strange to see an Earthborn demon named something like Ms. Snowball or Fluffy Mittens. Sometimes a demon will have their demonic name, and then the name their human gave. Though, a demon can force their name upon the human, making the human believe such a name was their idea, if it so pleases.

All demons retain some demonic magics. This is most commonly shown via their ability to shroud the sight of humans, to make them see something else. But they also can preform such small acts as: spontaneous combustion, the power of suggestion, walking on water, transmutation of materials (lead to gold, water to wine, cotton to wool), and fast plant growth. 

Strong demons, especially if Hellborn, can also shape shift. But shape shifting is not a viable way, in most cases, to hide among humans. This is because They, as lesser demons, will retain most of their demonic features, such as horns and hoods. If shape shifting is done in tandem with shrouding the human's sight, it can be a fine way to hide, especially for demons who take up hiding as such animals as horses or larger animals. However, it is also an extreme energy drain. Even a strong demon who does this will become uncontrollably exhausted after five or six hours of straight shifting/shrouding. 

Demons can give certain gifts to humans and animals. The most two notable gifts are limited immortality and the ability to see and use the demonic teleportation portals located near schisms. Limited immortality insures that a human will never die from old age and their physical body will age slower.
It can be revoked at will or when a demon dies and does not need the consent of the human; demons can still gift this secretly (see 'history, time, and location for specifics). Otherwise, demons can give other gifts to humans in exchange for something, such as giving them the skills to play an instrument. While this gift exchange has been traditionally in return for the soul of the receiver, a soul isn't required to give a special gift.
Sometimes a demon might just want something smaller, like a special meal or a beloved object.

Humans and animal who purposefully receive a gift from a demon will be given a mark by that demon upon their skin,
marking them as having made a deal with a devil.

Demons can take the souls of humans and animals by either an exchange (see above) or through more subtle corruption.
Once the soul has been taken it cannot be given back, they will live forever knowing it is damned. It can never go to Heaven.

Only strong demons can take human souls, and once taken the soul is eaten and kept inside the demon's body.
The more souls a demon has the stronger and more evil they're likely to be. What the demon does with the human/animal after is up to the demon.
Those whose souls are kept by a demon will feel tethered to that demon and vice versa.
Whether this makes the them feel controlled or more intimate with the demon depends upon their relationship.

Killing the demon will release the souls but they will simply dissipate into the world as energy in the same way the dead demon is.
The soulless human/animal will not die if their soul keeper does, but they will feel the pain of their soul's untimely death.
Some see this release as "putting the souls to rest."

{ Taking souls will be fleshed out more later and will likely have stats involved in them! Try not to give your soul away too early,
or you may not get to have the benefits of increasing stats! }

Most frequently, humans have no idea that they are sharing a home with a demon(s). In order to continue dwelling unfound upon the Earth, demons use magic to shroud their less-than-normal forms from people. What they hide as is usually related to how they look, but in rare cases of strong magic, even a massive, terrifying thing can mask itself as a cute, tiny creature. In other cases, demons aren't strong enough to hide themselves very well, or at all. These demons take to life outside of society, living in small demon communities.

Most demons prefer the comforts of letting humans care for them while they multiply. So cats, dogs, rats, rabbits, horses, sheep, etc, are prime animals to pretend to be. But that doesn't stop some from hiding in the wild as deer, lynxes, wolves, bears, foxes, and other such untamed creatures.

Not all humans are affected by demons' magic. This can cause quite the stir, as a demon may find itself being walked only to have a passerby uncomfortably question their human master on the funny green thing next to them. Sometimes this inability to be affected by magic works out in a demons favor, as not all humans are out to get them. Some people rather like Satan and his kind. A demon just may get lucky, and find themself with a human lackey.

Humans cannot understand demons unless demons intend to make their voice known.

Almost all animals are aware that a demon is otherworldly. Even when they are using demonic or transformation magic to hide themselves animals can usually tell that something isn't exactly right with the thing they're looking at. Whether or not the animal cares is another subject all together. One dog may jump and growl and try to fight the demon, while another may just think that it's a very, very weird spirit dog. One cat might puff up in fright while another would just be annoyed some strange creature is bothering it. Demons can understand animal talk, but note that most animals only have a limited range of 'language.'