How long have demons been around?

[uv23]

My thoughts were first about demons, but this topic also applies to other "immortal" type creatures, gods, and so on. Basically, my question means "how long have they really been around, doing the same thing?" Many campaign settings seem to give everything a fairly new and fresh feel. I think even FRCS only goes back 10000 years.

So, have there been demons and devils at eachother's throats for thousands, tens of thousands, millions of years even? (assuming you subscribe to the blood war way of thinking)

Just some randomness as I try to escape my 14 hour work day slaving away code for the IT machine.

 

[BiggusGeekus]

Two schools of thought on this:

1) Since the dawn of time. Evil existed before mortals knew the name of such a force.

2) Demons were born when mankind first thought of a cruel deed.

I think D&D "cannon" is #1.

 

[Neowolf]

In my (Oriental Adventures-based) setting, the Oni (closest thing to demons, and the campaign's villains) have been around since just after the dawn of time. I've left the actual number of years pretty vague, which seems to add a bit of an ancient feel to it.

 

[Desdichado]

A common theme in many mythologies, both historical and fantastic is that the current regime of divine powers are the heirs of another regime which was overthrown. Therefore, obviously there was a time before them. How that applies to demons, devils, celestials and the like is up to the campaign, but usually those types of creatures are subservient and partially attached to the current regime of gods.