Hell

Hell, the realm of Demons. It is divided into nine layers, relating to the many vices of the mortal realm. Each layer is ruled by one King and two to three dukes. As you ascended deeper into Hell, the degree of eternal suffering is increased by magnitudes. Upon the decision in Limbo, you are dragged into hell by illusions of those you wronged. Once the elevator closes, your fate is sealed, and your very own sins will drag you to your befitting destinations. The first layer, being a light-hearted layer due to the ruling King’s nature, and is designed to be similar to city life of the mortal realm. Going to the last layer, which is befitting for those who committed treachery upon a special bond or relationship, is stated to be a place of wailing and grinding of teeth, where the strongest king rules and where the Emperor, Peppercorn is said to be in an “eternal slumber.”

Noble Rankings
There are 8 total noble ranks in Hell, with the top 3 being obtained by strength and remaining 5 by appointment. There are a total of 72 vassals and 1 emperor.

By Strength
These ranks are obtained only by display of strength

Emperor
The title belongs to the strongest among all of Hell, a position that can be fought over at any time. This position means that this person has control of all of Hell, and all of the Kings and Dukes of Hell are beneath this person. Whomever is in this position has the power to wield the entirety of Hell in one word. For the most part, the Emperor’s word is absolute, though revolutions are possible. If the Emperor decides to have a hands off access with Hell, a Regent can be Appointed.

King
There are a total of 9 kings. Each rule over their respective layer of Hell. All 9 kings were originally created by Peppercorn, but like the emperor, their positions may be fought over. A king has land that is directly under their control and the remainder under their dukes. They each have a unique ability or personality reflecting that of the layer they rule over. Each have access to their own legion, and some under their dukes.

Duke
There are a total of 23 dukes, with 2 or 3 ruling alongside each king. Dukes may be landless, or have landed titles. Those that are landed control an area of land within their layer, and are responsible for ruling over them before the king. Most have a unique personality and hail from a lineage of dukes, and they too have a legion of their own.

By Appointment
These ranks are obtained only by appointment.

Regent
There is not set amount of regents that may be appointed. The people of Jordanas may vote for a regent to rule over Hell, and cannot be fought over. Each term lasts 50 years, and they may serve a total of 2 terms. They can wield a substantial portion Hell, though to a limited extent. They may only direct, and the Council of the regent and kings must vote, majority rules. A regent's vote is worth 4, while a king's is worth 1. They may only reside in the seventh layer, and may split their power further as per the wish of Jordanas's populous.

Necropolis
The first layer, ruled by the King Belial, befitting as he was the first to be created by Peppercorn. He is a light-hearted man, in comparison to his siblings. He doesn’t directly influence the dealings of the races. As an intelligence focused Demon, he takes a hands off approach and watches relationships between the races unfold. leaving much of the work to his two dukes, Saleos and Vual, along with a handful of presidents. Duke Saleos and Duke Vual, similar to King Belial are light hearted compared to what is to come of the next layers of Hell. Duke Saleos takes the appearance of a handsome and gallant soldier, he spends his time as a romantic, causing love between men and women. Duke Vual, similarly, focuses on creating friendship between the races and supposedly knows numerous things about the past, present, and what’s to come. Necropolis is a very light hearted city, due to their rulers. Not much crime and violence appears here, and even tourists visit the many hotels and beautiful scenes of this anti-city. The inhabitants here consist of petty thieves, lechers, harlots, and small-time liars. Due to the consistent supply of sinners, Necropolis is a very heavily populated city and constantly expanding.

Styx
The second layer, uled by King Balam. Unlike his brother, King Belial, King Balam suffers from a unique multi-personality disorder. King Balam can turn into three heads of beasts, with each head having a unique personality. The thing about Styx is unlike Necropolis, with benevolent rulers, King Balam can turn from a prosperous, peace loving head of a sheep, a deceptive and cunning man, or a destructive serpent. King Balam also has a familiar of a hawk serving as his eyes and ears, and with varying degrees of punishment depending on his head. King Balam has three dukes and the power varies with what head King Balam has. The three dukes are Duke Aim, Duke Buné, Duke Dantalion. Duke Aim is powerful with the serpent, Duke Buné with the head of a man, and Duke Dantaloin with the sheep. With Duke Aim, they conduct torture and raids upon the inhabitants. Duke Buné and King Balam, think about how to advance their position within the demonic political standing. Duke Dantaloin along with King Balam’s Sheep head, loves the inhabitants and teaches them about philosophy and science. Styx is a strange place, due to Peppercorn’s frequent visits within Styx a long time ago created an aura of negativity amplification. The inhabitants of Styx were destined here due to their greed and gluttony. The aura of Styx causes these vices to become more apparent, due to this the area of Styx is rampant with murder, stealing and gambling. Styx in essence is one massive slum, where the law flip flops daily, and the only justice found is through strength.

Tartarus and the Gate
Before entering the third layer, a great gate lays before you, the Great Gate of Peppercorn. This gate so old its origins dates back to the creation of this world. This gate is guarded by the Fallen Angel Azazel, a mighty Angel who works for both Heaven and Hell, to keep those souls who are damned to layer 3 and below inside and those above outside. For anyone who wants to bring a soul out from behind these gates would either have to bribe Azazel with other souls, or to defeat him in either a game of wits or in battle. Those who are not of Demon race will have great difficulty going past this gate. Azazel will only le Demons past unless under special circumstances. The force of demonic aether is much richer past this point, and those without strong aether capabilities or those who aren’t used to demonic aura will find great difficulty to stay down here for long periods of time.

Passing this gate comes the layer known as Tartarus. Tartarus as a layer is not necessarily meant to house souls, instead, it's a massive fortification. Tartarus is a layer for those filled with wrath. The King of Tartarus is Beleth. King Beleth is a mighty and ruthless king, as well a well known cavalier, giving him the right to own this castle. He was the perfect candidate for this position as he finds enjoyment in battle and only in battle. Having no desire in the political struggle of hell abandoning his right to succession, if there was a civil war in hell, King Beleth vowed to pay no attention to the civil war and merely focus on protecting and fighting for Hell as a whole. His goal is to recruit high potential souls, these people consumed with wrath are mostly soldiers, raiders, generals, kings, and those with power, making them great recruits. Those who Beleth consider useless are sent to a bottomless pit of lava where these souls will burn for all of eternity. A common spectacle is watching the souls using each other for a moment of relief from the lava before being dragged back down by his fellow sufferers, or a guard will simply kick him down. Those who have promise, are presented to Beleth and are offered a position in his army in return they offer up their soul to Beleth. Those who refuse his offer are sent to the lava pit surrounding the castle. There’s not many who refuse this offer. The men who accept are then turned into one of the many lesser demon races, with low intelligence, but high strength and endurance. Those who are granted higher positions of the army are given intelligence to accordance with his abilities. If one of these soldiers were to die or betray Beleth their souls would be reduced to nothingness, no reincarnation, no second chance. Due to Tartarus’ position as a military position, very demons, let alone any other races can freely enter Tartarus’ Castle. Those needing royal approval from a King or higher to enter, however, under certain circumstances even a Duke’s approval will be enough to enter. The leading general of Tartarus’ army is actually once before, a human. Furcas was once a famous knight long before aether was distributed among the races. He was once a noble knight yet falling from grace from the death of a loved one. Seeing the battlefield is the only place for solace of his weakened heart. Eventually, Furcas was betrayed by his own men, where Beleth saw enormous potential in him, and promoted him from the rank of sergeant to the leading general. Furcas now trains his men and prepares for the day he may seek his revenge on all of mankind. It is said that Furcas is now a fully fledged demon and that his strength is much stronger than his glory days. The two dukes of Tartarus don’t lead the army, but deal with logistics and sorting through the souls for potential recruits. These two dukes are: Duke Zepar, head of logistics and supplies, and Duke Agares, head of the recruitment. Duke Zepar is a soldier who likes to flirt more than doing his actual job, however, his logistical skill is second to none when he’s serious. Duke Agares is an eldery demon, who finds pleasure in making immoral expressions and cursing, but he is also well known for making cowards into unshakeable walls of courage.

The City of Tombs
The fourth layer, ruled by the King Asmodai. Unlike the other kings whore are related to Peppercorn, he is a dragon, who survived Ike and Jaysus’s slaughter. Finding shelter in Hell, Asmodai killed the previous king and took on his name. As Hell is a strong eats the weak, not many spoke up about this, being the only non-demon to rule anywhere in Hell. The City of Tombs is for special types of people, the people belonging here commit heresy against Jaysus and Zeus, cultists, and those who use corrupted aether. These people are then branded by an eternal flame produced by Asmodai’s dragon breath, which is infused with a special seal that prevents those with it from being unable to speak. The brand is always on their tongue, and if an attempt at talking is made, an enormous amount of pain is released throughout the body. The seal grows with every attempt and the pain is amplified accordingly. It will continue to grow with every attempt until it reaches down your throat, and will which will then crush it and begin devouring the soul. No reincarnation is possible afterwards, no resurrection. It is the final end.

Due to the punishment given here, there are not many that survive for long. The punishment is quite a sick one as they are placed into tombs infused with the eternal flames created by Asmodai personally, which creates an unbearable pain that causes one to scream and wail in pain, which is then registered as an attempt to speak. After their soul is devoured, the very tomb they died in will be the last memory of them. This punishment gave The City of Tombs its name due to the thousands of thousands of tombs laid empty. The two dukes, Barbatos and Gusion, have lost much of their power, and in secret, attempt to resurrect the old Asmodai and take back their power. Barbatos is extremely wise even among Demons, and many seek out his virtually limitless wisdom. Gusion is known for his abilities to answer many questions, and like Barbatos, is also a philosopher and works in unison to bring back former King Asmodai.

The Den of Wicked Tongues
The fifth layer, ruled by King Purson, who is also known as “the Wise” as he is able to see the objective truth. As the seer of truth, he is genuinely excited for curiosity and rewards curiosity with more truth. However, if you try to deceive him, he’ll personally haunt you down to your children. As such, he was rewarded to rule the Fifth Layer of Hell, which is for those that commit fraud. The defrauders and divided up into the many sections of fraud. For example, corrupt royalty and those in power who abuse their power for their own greed are stabbed through with a spear and dipped in boiling tar repeatedly. To symbolize their sticky fingers, Purson devised this punishment as a clever twist. Likewise, hypocrites are forced to walk on paper thin rope with lead weights tied to their ankles, pulling him down. If they were to start going the other way, the rope would snap, sending him to a pit of spikes before doing it all over again. Those in religious positions who sell their position are blessed to undergo forced demonic torture. Those convicted of identity fraud will be chased by the vision of those they impersonated. The vision is a feral version of the impersonated, and will claw and bite at the defrauder. The hated of most by King Purson are instigators as their actions caused more violence in the world. These people are then hacked limb by limb by King Purson and then mutilated by lesser demons for all eternity. The two dukes ruling here are Murmur and Vapula. Like King Purson, these two focus on philosophy and would all three regularly discuss the truth and find a higher truth. The two dukes are personally loyal to Purson and do a lot of intrigue to increase their king's position in the demonic hierarchy. Purson, due to his enlightened mind, pays attention to his duty and pays no mind to the hierarchy. However, his dukes wish for him to advance for the greater of the realm.

The Chamber of the Ego
The sixth layer is ruled by the tricky King Zagan. He can give men delusions of grandeur, enticing them to live a scheme-ful life of the prideful. This layer is for those who live their life pridefully, doing anything to increase their prestige. Zagan personally scouts out people from the poorest to the richest, both men and women, to tempt and influence them to make their biggest ambition come true. In return, they sign their soul away to Zagan and turn into one of his many accessories. Zagan is able to hold five rings and one necklace at once. If he wants to change a piece, he has to destroy the accessory, and in turn destroy the soul assigned to that accessory forever. The rings give a bonus related to who the soul is from If the soul, for example, is the soul of a famous warrior, it will grant him a good boost to his physique. The necklace gives him a much stronger bonus to the original contracted soul than the rings, even allowing to use their special aether abilities if they happen to have one. The rings and necklace have a timestamp life expectancy of 100 years and 200 years respectively. The other souls not scouted out by Zagan, have a much worse fate relative. An average prideful soul has multitudes of punishments, all focused on tearing apart your “outer core” of pride covering the soul. In reality. it’s an excuse to have some of the worst forms of torture done on these people. Some are put into a boiling pot of water and forced under the water by the demons surrounding it, whilst stabbing you with their spears and swords. Some are marked with a black line, from the pelvis stopping at the lower abdomen. A demon then hangs these people upside down and cuts them from the pelvic down, letting them watch their organs spill out, only kept alive from all the blood rushing to their heads. One of the Chamber's most famous punishments is where a soul must survive with every single unique type of blade trip*, and the punishment restarts if the person were to surrender. The three dukes are quite the “leaders in management efficiency”, them being Bathin, Focalor, and Vepar. These three men run the Chamber with such great efficiency that they personally gave this layer its title as the worst torture in all the floors.

*Wth does this mean.

Jornadas | City of Demons
The seventh layer, ruled by King Paimon, given this important role to do his prowess and loyalty. Jornadas is the layer of those who committed extreme acts of violence, and as a sense of irony, Jornadas is the City of the Demons. An expansive city, complete with houses, markets, and plazas. A good portion of all intelligent demons are born here. To gain a position in Jornadas is a high honor, meaning you are recognized for your power or loyalty towards demonkind. Majority of positions are given by the respective duke who owns the section of the land. Adding a system of political intrigue, and political factions about how all of hell should be runned. The three dukes correspond with the three factions; Duke Valefar of The Novitatis, Duke Eligos of The Incursio, and Duke Gremory of The Portus.

The Novitatis are the moderates they wish to continue running hell as usual. Valefar isn’t a part of The Novitatis, but they came to an agreeable compromise.

The Incursio are the jingoists, they wish for a great invasion from Hell to the surface world, creating a literal second Hell on Capellus. Eligos is a commendated warrior, even being rewarded a demonic lance and a familiar horse by one of the nine Kings.

The Portus are the newest faction, usually followed by the younger generations. They wish to change hell entirely and make a peaceful demon city on the surface, while maintaining Hell for its original purpose with changes to the punishment aspect, making every layer like Necropolis or Jornadas. The Duke Gremory is a younger noble demon and would rather chase after women and pleasure than giving out punishment.

These three factions fight over for the position of Regent, due to Peppercorn’s “hands off” policy with Hell; The Regent takes a good portion of control over hell. Kings are not allowed to take the position of Regent to prevent a strong power consolidation. The term length of a regent is fifty years, and they may be reelected twice. Every intelligent Demon has a vote, however, they are not universally weighed. A commoner Demon might just have a vote worth 1 or 2 points, but a stronger Demon might have 10 points. The vast majority of Regents have gone towards the Novitatis as the vast majority of people desire to keep Hell the same, however, there are times; “blips” where the Incursio gains the regency and the Demons starting tens of years long wars, killing millions. The Portus, as they are the newest faction, doesn’t have the connections as the other two factions. However, the youth heavily supports this faction, with some exceptions. The City itself, doesn't have any significant events occurring. It functions as a normal human city. There are many old buildings, relics of the thousands of years this city has been around, due to the mass quantities of demons and negative energy, demonic aether is at it's strongest; along all the pressure from Hell, and all the Kings and Dukes you’d have to go through. Jorandas is said to never have been completely taken over.

The Great Keeper
The second to last layer. Unlike prior layers, it is a great wall, preventing anyone from entering or leaving, the biggest worry being someone escaping with some of the worst people in history, and is ruled by only King Vine, Duke Astaroth and their henchmen. Duke Astaroth's battle experience outshines even the King's, as he is the sole reason why no one has ever escaped the Keeper. Many previous attempts have been made but the wall has remained unbreeched. King Vine himself, happens to be of the more intelligent type, an engineer who tirelessly works towards improving the wall and its defenses. The only way through this wall is a King’s approval and a ten day waiting period for verification.

Malebolge
Ruled by King Baal, the strongest of all the Kings. The oldest layer of all of Hell, made to keep the worst of the worst locked away. Malebolge is for the traitors, to their people, their loved ones, and even themselves, people who betrayed their ideals and passions to advance themselves. The punishment itself, is left up entirely to Baal’s discretion. There is only one duke here named Amdusias. He is the “first duke” or Grand Duke, being masterful in strength and wisdom. Amdusias was assigned to keep an eye on King Baal, as rumor has it that Baal wishes to overthrow Peppercorn, and take control of the throne. The Loyalist Faction is separate from the Jornada's factions, as many members of the moderates are loyalists but some want a change in administration. The other major faction, the Malcontent, wishes to dethrone Peppercorn, but are disunited over who shall take over. Another faction, the Isolationists, wish to take over or influence Peppercorn to shut off Hell entirely. The newest faction is the Anarchists, they wish to entirely dismantle the King, Duke, and the current hierarchy of Hell. It is the least popular faction as their ideas are seen as absurd and ignorant. Peppercorn doesn’t involve herself, mostly spending her time in her residence, whose appearance is unlike all those in Hell. She remains unattached to her position and doesn't care for ruling or the factions. Despite her small frame and weak nature, Peppercorn has been hailed as the strongest and the demons fear that strength. However, Peppercorn would probably give up her position if they simply inquired.