Diabolists
Diabolists are fascinating demons. A Diabolist is a rank achieved and earned by Carnival Demons who have devoted themselves to the arts of illusion, deception, and mental manipulation. They are more than mere performers: they twist and bend reality itself for their audience.
During their performance, a Diabolist does more than cast simple illusions. Rather, they convince the audience that their created version of reality is the truth. They bend the minds of those watching to accept their vision and their performance. They enjoy toying with the mind and playing with the mind. They suggest and they guide the minds of the audience in order to create a new reality in which their illusions and their performance has become the singular truth. By the end the audience can no longer tell where the illusions end and they themselves begin. When Diabolists perform, they lead their audience through a series of stories or lessons. They entertain, pulling the audience along with them. The audience believes themselves to be merely spectators watching a performance. They are, but, they have also become a part of the show itself.
Diabolists love stories with darkness. Stories with sublime macabre. They are drawn to where the beautiful and the terrifying intertwine. Their performances explore the hidden areas of the psyche, the places where most people do not willingly visit. The more forbidden and feared areas. Diabolists will pull from these areas of the mind and take the audience there with them.
They love imagery and integrating imagery into their work. Vivid and unsettling images. Images that linger in the mind long after the performance has concluded. They love poetry and using rhythmic and evocative language that speaks directly to the subconscious. They love the artistic aspects of their work, and they choose every moment of it with care. They weave the most fascinating of stories with very deliberate intent.
Their words themselves are illusions, a part of the mind control. They use words that are full of double meanings and layered references. Diabolists are very intentional in how they speak, and their words will reveal what is going on within someone. They can see which meaning an audience member responds to and know all that they need to know about that individual. While the audience is captivated by the performance, Diabolists are watching and reading their audience.
They are masters of mind control and of mental manipulation within the context of performance. They enjoy challenging other’s perceptions of reality. They enjoy using their illusions and their words to reveal truths about others. They find genuine pleasure in watching someone question what they once held to be true. They revel in the disorientation and the uncertainty. Diabolists believe that this is what it means to be free. Unexamined, unexplored, reality becomes a cage. Diabolists unlock the door.
Some Diabolists, in addition to their illusion work, become talented stage magicians. Some become talented pickpockets. They are in general very talented at any trick that involves misdirecting attention. They know how and where to direct the eyes and minds. They create falsehoods to showcase what is real, a paradox on reality.
Diabolists move through deception on a multitude of layers. Deception of the mind. Deception of reality. Deception of what is happening in any given moment. They navigate through deceptions effortlessly and are dishonest in their pursuit of honesty.
Diabolists can help their companion reveal truths. They can help them see through illusions and see through the deceptions of others. Some illusions are cast upon the self, and Diabolists can help break through these as well. Moving through life, some things will be accepted as truths that were never true to begin with. Diabolists can help shatter these illusions and bring to light the lies that one has told themselves. They can show their companion where their mind has been playing tricks on them, where fear has distorted their thoughts, where perceived truths have become a cage that is carried wherever one goes.
They can help fortify the mind of their companion. They can make them more difficult to deceive, more difficult to manipulate. They can show their companion the true intentions behind someone else’s words. Diabolists are excellent at reading people and can help their companion learn this skill. They will help them learn who has their best interests at heart compared to who is being deceptive or not wholly truthful. They will help their companion train their mind to have clarity and focus.
They can also aid their companion in creating illusions of their own. Illusions, glamours, misdirections. They can show their companion how to create a new reality for themselves and elevate themselves to live in that higher reality. How to transform themselves entirely.
Diabolists will have you questioning everything while they reveal to you new truths. They are very interesting and fascinating Demons. To achieve the rank of Diabolist requires mastery of illusion, mental manipulation, performance, poetry, psychology, and deception. They exist effortlessly in paradox. They must be both artist and strategist, both liar and revealer of truths.