Urban Fantasy: The Demon Lords (and do they even exist?)

Ahriman by Pouya Zarif.

Spirits exist and the greatest among them are considered to be 'Gods', be they cosmic entities tied into greater concepts of the universe and/or archetypal beings drawn from human myths both real and remembered or imaginary and forgotten. But then Demons also exist so, logically, there must exist out there demonic beings of immense power: these would be the big name demons people hear pop up in popular culture, right? Belzebuub, Satan, Moloch and other things. The scary names people use in Heavy Metal music to frighten moral guardians in the '70 and '80.

Except there's a few problems.

For one thing, there is a lot which remain unknown about Demons because Demons constantly lie. Should someone gather the personal journal of a thousand people who have extensively delved into fighting monsters and sorcerers they would find multiple references to names drawn from Judeo Christian apocrypha as well as 'Pagan' religions. Demons who have used names like Zagan, Valefor, Mephisto and Azrael. Demons who have claimed to have been there at the dawn of time, when Lucifer turned nearly half of God's host of Angels against Heaven. Except none of that shit lines up at all. Most demons encountered in the past few centuries were dangerous creatures but not so dangerous and powerful as to be some god-like entity from the dawn of time. There are also massive inconsistencies in their powers, appearance, personalities and more. Basically, Demons appear to be passing around identities and mantles all the time to the point whatever name and face they show is always at least a partial lie. None of these bastards are who they claim to be.

The 'Demon Lords' of 'Hell'

So, do the Demon Lords exist? Are there 'evil Gods' out there, beings which have the pure malevolence and embodiment of suffering and imperfections of the world of common Demons, but possess the archetypal scope of a God? Probably. One issue here is that many Demons of pseudo canonical sources are Pagan Gods redressed and re-contextualized into 'Demons'. If someone out there use ancient Greek magic to draw power and favors from Pan the Greek God, is Pan a Demon because of his later associations? Obviously not. So what the hell is going on here, anyway?

Demon Lords are powerful, archetypal mantle. They are beings which are too vast to fully manifest into our world. Very few individuals ever truly meet them: at best they encounter some aspect or proxy of them, itself a lesser Demon lacking a true will of its own. Each of them is less of an individual and more of an archetypal embodiment of a certain vice or corruption which is reflected across the multiverse in the form of lesser Demons. None of them truly birth those demons or 'sins' but instead they exist as a manifestation of our own evils and can be drawn to the service of these arch-demons. Demon Lords exist in alternate dimension of pure suffering and horror. That place can be called Hell but it is not the Judeo-Christian Hell. Indeed, it is not a specific Hell or even an afterlife but rather a three (or more) dimensional place in which the spiritual essence of these Demon Lords exist in the form of vast domains where the soul(?) of those which have sold themselves to their power are tormented and extracted of whatever it is which sustain Demons.

The ranks of the Demon Lords are speculated to include, but aren't limited to:

• Mammon, Lord of Greed: In many ways Mammon is the least directly dangerous of the Demon Lords. As Lord of Greed and corruption he has very little to gain in destroying worlds across the multiverse and is merely interested in collecting the soul of those who are driven by greed and the power of money. From his point of view he already own the world so why break it? On the flipside this makes him a possible ally as Mammon is lazy. It is worth noting that contrary to popular belief, Mammon is not simply a byproduct of the modern world. Greed is universal.
• Moloch, Lord of Sacrifice: Second to Mammon when it come being the Demon Lord to which powerful individuals answer to, yet Moloch has a twist to him. As those with all the power, wealth and fame get more they paradoxically have less to offer to Moloch. As a creature of evil and suffering he only care for the act of sacrifice and unlike Mammon has little to gain in keeping on the top those he helped placed there. As such Moloch plays all sides at the same time and is just as likely to help the boot as he is to help the face. All that matters to him is what people suffer when sacrifice things to him. When the 'resistance' wins the day and declare the tyrant dead and ignore the mountain of corpses they create and will create, Moloch laughs and prepare to offer his help to the counter side which now has nothing to lose...
• Baphomet, The Occult Lie: Legends say Baphomet was born of misunderstanding as the Muslims cried the name of their prophet which was misheard as 'Baphomet'. It might be that the archetype which would become Baphomet took its name from the story and given how much Demons lie, such a misunderstanding seems perfect breeding ground for a demonic name. Baphomet is a Demon Lord of taboo, the occult and the perverse and a powerful patron of sorcerers who give deliberately perverted/altered knowledge of spells and rituals. He is utterly unrelated to any actual religious figures but rather represent deliberate perversion of them.
• Beelzebub, Lord of Lies: If there is any connection with Beelzebub and the Philistine God, then it is likely the demonic archetype stole the name and, obviously, lied about it. He and his minions rarely go by that name, meaning they lie even more than other Demons which is no easy feat by itself. Their goals, if any, are unknown and it is likely that as demons they simply scheme, lie and manipulate for the sake of it.
• Leviathan, the Beast of the Depths: Leviathan is an odd one and difficult to define, sometimes going by the name of Rahab. He is less of a Demon Lord and more akin to some primordial, almost Lovecraftian being and may not have begun its existence as a Demon. Leviathan draws power from the depth, madness, antediluvian powers and the like and spread suffering through its eldritch influence. As he is associated with Envy, some believe Leviathan spread its unholy influence to try to make the mortal world more like his antediluvian depths so he may emerge in this world.

Much of what is understood (which isn't much) of Demon Lords is heavily tinged with Western folklore and occult and it might be what could cause the misunderstanding, as these beings are more accurate to be compared with the the Dev of Zoroastrianism than the Fallen Angel demons of Judeo Christian or Islamic folklore. Demon Lords are more akin to an embodiment of a concept which makes the world a place where suffering, lies and imperfections exist.