Iblîs

[Deleted]

Original

Name:
Iblîs – Head of the Council – Azazel

Age: 3,679,134,007
Gender: No.
Species: Jinn – Ifrit.
Planet of Origin: Earth.
Occupation: The Head of the Council

Physical Description: On the outside, there is nothing wrong with the Ifrit. It takes the form of a small male child. The child doesn’t reach but 4’9” off the ground. The black hair doesn’t grow longer than chin-length. The ears protrude from its hair, giving it an elfish appearance at times. Its lips are thin and usually set in a pensive frown. Several freckles litter the creature's face. The feature that stands most prominent are its pale eyes. Many humans don’t peg it as anything but human when it reveals itself to them. Its temperature is vastly higher than a human's, and as such it can be uncomfortable to stand next to the Ifrit. Although when the Ifrit is in its humanoid form the heat is mostly contained, it can still be like standing near a fireplace. When the djinn is in its natural form - a flickering green radiant cloudlike mass - the heat is as intense as sticking a hand into a furnace. 

Personality: 

• LOYAL.
  Iblîs values the stability and security of its species more than it values its own life. It is extremely devoted to each and every single Djinn, and would absolutely leap to the defense to any of its species without a moment's hesitation. The Ifrit is unfailingly faithful to the rest of the Jinn and the Reaper. It does the best that it can do for its species, and part of the Ifrit's eagerness to protect and care for its brethren stem from the guilt it harbors from the many tragedies it inadvertently caused the rest of its species. Its loyalty inspires an almost endless amount of patience and tolerance for its brethren. When the Ifrit says it will do something, it doesn't break its word. It strives to be reliable and a pillar of strength for its community. Iblîs may not be a good creature, but it does try to be good to the people it cares about. It struggles under the weight of its responsibility - running an entire species and being personally involved with all of its people is no job for a slacker - but it is very grateful to have been trusted with the responsibility. 
  
  
• MANIPULATIVE.
  The Ifrit has an uncanny ability to get anything that it wants. It's a charming force of nature - it lies as easily as it exists. It has a way with words that has been described as unnatural. It has been around humans for millions of years, and it has had encounters with other sentient species dating farther back than that. It has learned what people want to hear, and it has learned how to speak them. Iblîs knows how to suss out weaknesses, and has little qualms in exploiting pressure points. You don't gain a reputation as the devil without being charming and cunning. Part of what makes the creature so dangerous is because, contrary to popular belief, Iblîs is very much capable of compassion and empathy. It has galvanized many wars by carefully setting up a domino effect - a murder here, some panic there, pressure on one government, mass backlash from the country's enemies.
  
  
• AMIABLE.
  As aloof and cold as Iblîs presents itself as to strangers and neutral parties, while in the Council and around its loved ones it is a different story. Considered by most to be the 'father' of the Jinn, particularly after the deaths of the Drevnemi, Iblîs is more akin to a mother in personality. Iblîs worries after every Djinn when they leave the Council for the first time, and it is the first to respond when Jinn are in distress. As calm and unruffled as the Ifrit is, it is still undeniably tender when dealing with the people that Iblîs adores whether it be any of its brethren or its master, the Reaper. The Ifrit is, admittedly, startlingly ruthless when it comes to starting war and murdering humans. Despite the warmth it shows to the Jinn and its master, it is important to remember that the Ifrit feeds off despair and anger and thus it naturally incites those emotions in humans and other species. It still likes to think that it's genial while causing chaos wherever it goes.
  
  
• REASONABLE.
  Its major goal is to manipulate time to avoid the Solomon war. Its plan is to kill itself before the first contact with humans - it could reasonably kill Solomon himself, but there would always be other Solomons, and the Vetales had only warned the Ifrit about the humans. There wouldn't be another Iblîs. The only reason the humans are interested in subduing the Jinn is Iblîs' violence. As much as the Ifrit incites violence and hatred, it is more than willing to step down should someone make a convincing argument against the actions. 
  
  
• PROUD.
  While not necessarily proud of itself, Iblîs is extraordinarily proud of its species as a whole. The history of Jinn has been fraught with enslavement, but they've still managed to recover. Iblîs' name literally means "the one who is despaired", shining light to its defiance towards the Vetales and Drevnemi and its eventual and accidental betrayal of the Jinn. It carries a deep shame from those actions, and is willing to manipulate history to wipe itself out of the picture for the benefit of its species. 

History: It has gone through almost four billion years of history. It has lived through countless wars, the beginning of the end, and the destruction of civilizations. Iblîs was the first Jinn brought into existence. Its name was originally Azazel, but that name has long been since buried and repressed. It was born in a flash of scorching and smokeless fire – just a small cloud without a shape for the first few centuries of its life. The energy settled to the form of the young child. Other Jinn came after it – loud and curious and demanding – but Iblîs remained silent, watching as the other practiced their energy manipulated clumsily. Its brothers were curious, but it had been given the gift of observation. It did not need to experiment to learn.

Generations after the Jinn were banished to the Council's dimension to separate from the humans, the Ifrit returned to the human’s world in its physical form. The heat was immense compared to the frigid chills of the Jinn’s dimension. The Jinn had been multiplying steadily – several of the weak ones had chosen to live with the humans. Iblîs didn’t see the point – humans were arrogant and ignorant. The Jinn were vastly superior to the parasites made from dirt.

It was on those streets that it met the child who would fuel the first skirmish against the humans. The Jinn and the humans had come to an uneasy understanding. The Jinn were much more powerful than the humans could ever hope to be. The humans still requested favors and knowledge from the Jinn, especially from the Drevnemi. Most of the time, however, they did not bother with each other.

Iblîs was a gifted speaker. It could easily lure the most guarded of men into its trap. It used this to its advantage with the child on the dirt streets. It had been a mild curiosity at first, but Iblîs began to ask it questions. It lulled the boy into a false sense of security and charmed him into following the Ifrit. Its hands then slipped around the boy’s thin neck and Iblîs knocked him to the ground, its knees digging into the child’s stomach as it strangled him. It had murdered before – but it had always done it with its energy, drawing it out of its victims and watched as they went into cardiac arrest or simply asphyxiated. This was the first time it had its hands on someone, throttling the life from the boy. The lips spread apart again in a malicious smile, the eyes blazing as it looked into the meek brown ones of the human.

“Dirt,” it whispered hatefully, lifting the corpse’s head and slamming it against the ground. The Ifrit continued, trembling from excitement as the blood began to paint its human form a delicious color of red. A woman shrieked behind them, and it let go of the corpse at last, standing in a single graceful motion. Blood was splattered along its face and it was pooled along the ground. It stepped towards the woman, its tongue swiping at the blood as it approached her, its fingernails extending into claws.

The act had not gone unpunished. The Drevnemi scolded it for its actions, but it ignored them, instead summoning cats and dogs to their realm to carve them. Their blood covered it and its teeth ripped at their flesh and its claws dug at them. It was unfortunate for the Ifrit that it could not foresee what the Vetales were hiding – the consequences of Iblîs' violence and the bloody battle that would soon ensnare the Jinn, killing thousands before the Jinn would act on the pounding of the drums of war.

King Solomon rose to power. He heard of the murders of humans done by the Jinn. He was wise and not human, though the rest of the humans seemed to think otherwise. Iblîs taught the king the songs to ensnare the lower levels of Jinn - the Ifrit was young and foolish, intrigued by the alien nature of the man. The King expounded upon this knowledge after secretly torturing the lower Jinn. The Drevnemi warned their children that the humans and Solomon were nothing but trouble. The Jinn didn’t listen, and Iblîs and the Drevnemi were captured along with the rest of the Jinn. They were ushered into a large cave lined with salt. The salt killed the younger Jinn.

King Solomon’s treatment was cruel on the best of days, but Iblîs could bide its time until the King dropped its guard. The Jinn were forced to build a temple – a temple they would not be allowed in, and a temple that led to the downfall of many. Misbehaving ones were covered in salt, and the humans watched as the Jinn screamed and screeched and howled from agony. The first time Iblîs witnessed the destruction of a life like this, it swore that it would avenge its people. It would find a way to undo the pain.

The King died standing. The corpse’s eyes stared out at them, overseeing the construction. It wasn’t until a small earthworm took to chewing the cane that held the corpse up that the Jinn realized they’d been tricked. After his death was when the horror began truly for the Jinn. The humans amused themselves by singing their songs, songs that ripped a Jinn’s soul out and bound it to another object. Its Lamp.

The Ifrit was dragged to a room. It was dark and it was damp and the humans sang to it. The song ripped open its chest, flaying it apart until its fire sparked and its ash spilled along the table. The pain was intolerable. Screams ripped from Iblîs’ throat and it howled, damning the descendants of Solomon and all of Israel. It wished that it had gone numb from pain, but instead it could only watch in horror as it felt the soul being bound to an object not of this world. When the process was finished, Iblîs was paralyzed. It could hear the screaming of thousands of its family - the only thousands that remained from their once prolific numbers.

That was when it looked behind the humans. It saw the carnage – the ashes of the dead souls, the scorching fire, the agonizing and writhing bodies of its kin. The Ifrit growled and its energy ignited. The humans clawed at their throats as it pulled their life from their throats. The other Jinn joined in the rebellion – joined in the slaughter. Iblîs tore at the humans, teeth and claws digging furiously into the flesh. Its mouth and hands were covered in the human blood. 

The sun scorched above them. The sands were stained with blood and ash. Iblîs mutilated the humans, clawing and ripping at their stringy flesh. Its teeth were stained red and its eyes seemed paler against the stark red splattered on its face. “Stop,” one of the humans gasped. Iblîs paused, staring down at them. It lifted its hands, a sneer spreading its lips. The human sobbed and thanked him, and Iblîs ripped the jaw off the human. Iblîs grabbed the human’s tongue and ripped it out.

“The humans will pay,” the Ifrit snarled, shredding the muscle in its hands. The humans scattered, fearful of the Jinn. Fearful of Iblîs – Satan they called him. They formed the Council then, and Iblîs was naturally the Head of the Council. It took the younger Jinn and eased their mind, erasing the majority of the memories of their enslavement. It oversaw the Council, beginning to put their natural energy to use to manipulate Time. If it could just wipe away the actions of the Solomon then it could ease the pain of its people. 

It manipulated the humans, whispering in their hearts to hurt each other. It was to be blamed for much of humanity’s problems. Greed, corruption, war, violence. It twisted each heart until they turned on each other. It was particularly brutal to particular groups of people. The Arabs. The Jewish. They were the cause of its problems, and they didn’t have the decency to mention the enslavement of its people, only to complain about theirs.

Additional medical information: Allergic to salt and iron.

[Ace McShane]

Accepted!

Now what?