Editing The politics of Hell

Back to [[The world of magic]]


Another supernatural element known to few outside the Arcane Alliance is the existence of demons.

When a sentient being dies, its soul's final destination depends on the amount of love and hate in their mind. If there is more love, the soul ascends to the Upper Plane; its nature remains unclear, as nothing from the Upper Plane can enter any other plane (which hasn't stopped demons from claiming for millennia that the Upper Plane is oblivion. The complete lack of evidence for this belief has never slowed them down). If there is more hate, the soul descends into the plane known as [[Hell]].

There is nothing ''inherently'' unpleasant about Hell - what makes it such a terrible place is the company of billions of hateful souls. Hell has its own social hierarchy - most souls are simply known as "the damned", those promoted as overseers and taskmasters are "demons", officers among demons are "Hell barons", and the leaders of the Hell barons are the "demon princes".

For thousands of years, the demon princes answered to Asmodeus, the King of Hell. A charismatic and competent demon, Asmodeus created and shaped Hell's society over many centuries, refining it into a tool for the indoctrination of new damned and corruption of the world. Actually manifesting on the prime plane require far too much energy for it to be a common tactic of Hell; however, subtle telepathic contact with humans is both possible and common. Demons cannot actually control human minds (barring exceptional circumstances), but they can usually read surface thoughts (making them very well-informed) and make suggestions.

About a millennium ago, Asmodeus came in contact with [[Nollius]], who was at the time a cruel, ambitious, scheming archmage and statesman of Avalon. Asmodeus offered the elf a terrible deal: To buy his soul in exchange for power. In practice, it would mean that Nollius would allow his mind to be rewritten by Asmodeus, and given a connection to Hell's energies that would greatly boost his magical power. Nollius accepted; Asmodeus removed what little good was left in his soul, and made him the single most powerful wizard in Earth's History.

Asmodeus's plan was to have Nollius - now the single most evil mortal on Earth - establish an oppressive empire that would span the planet. The plan failed when Avalon's population, rather than allow Nollius to go forth and conquer, proceeded to cast magic into Limbo. Even so, Asmodeus was able to put a positive spin on those events, presenting himself to his fellow demons as the mastermind who had cut humans off magic.


In recent decades, a Hell baron who had so far seemed unremarkable hatched an ambitious plan of his own: Sensing immense potential in professor Michael Hart, he contacted him in a moment of weakness following the death of his wife, and offered to erase the grief in exchange for Hart's soul. The scientist accepted, and the demon turned him into the power-hungry [[Professor Cryo]]. The same demon then helped him find and contact other villains, culmination in the conquest of Pittsburgh and the creation of the Cryosphere. For his accomplishment, the demon - who took the moniker "[[Wormwood]]" - was made a demon prince, and assigned the Cryosphere as his area of influence.

Whereas most demons attempt to make a show of their abilities and skill in the hope of earning promotions, Wormwood specialized in getting everyone to underestimate him. This led Asmodeus to treat him as an adviser of sorts - not because the King of Hell trusted him, but because he believed he could easily see through the young demon prince. Asmodeus would pay dearly for this mistake.

When the Cryosphere acquired inter-universal portal technology, Wormwood was quick to find an opportunity: Among the villains brought from other worlds, there was a cult of demon-worshipers; the cultists had perfected a ritual through which a demon could form a Hell-powered avatar on Earth. Wormwood co-opted the cultists, began making plans for striking at mankind...and made sure that Asmodeus's spies would discover those plans. The King of Hell stepped in, co-opted the cultists himself, and organized a massive ritual through which he channeled Hell's energies in the prime plane, become the Man of Might. His goal was to destroy the world's superheroes, and thus end hope and fill the Earth with despair as he symbolically destroyed heroism. When the Man of Might was defeated, however, Asmodeus found himself humiliated and disgraced - Wormwood had been taking steps, making sure to put the worst spin possible on the expedition. The King of Hell, to his shock and disbelief, found the demon princes agreeing to stop recognizing his authority.

Currently, Hell is an oligarchy, with the various demon princes vying for power and influence - a situation which suits Wormwood just fine. As the demon prince assigned to the Cryosphere, he has little doubt that he can rise to prominence - although he may be underestimating Professor Cryo, who has been concerned for a while about Hell's power, and would love to take this annoyingly uncontrollable factor out of the equation.

Another factor is Asmodeus himself, who, despite his downfall, is still planning a comeback. In order to re-establish himself as Hell King, he realizes that he will need something truly spectacular - something that will show everyone once again that he is the greatest demon of all times.

Plot seed: [[Days of Darkness]]

Plot seed: [[The War of Hell]]
@@ Line 25: / Line 25: @@
 Another factor is Asmodeus himself, who, despite his downfall, is still planning a comeback. In order to re-establish himself as Hell King, he realizes that he will need something truly spectacular - something that will show everyone once again that he is the greatest demon of all times.
+Plot seed: [[Days of Darkness]]
+Plot seed: [[The War of Hell]]
-Plot seeds:
-* [[Days of Darkness]]: Asmodeus's plan to regain the favor of Hell is, by necessity, ambitious: He aims to poison the soul of heroism, twisting it into something savage, brutal and cynical. To that end, he intends to corrupt Earth's heroes, possibly by targeting their families...and, what's worse, he may not be alone in his goal: Omnicorp is following a plan to that effect for their own reasons.
-* [[The War of Hell]]: Professor Cryo aims to rule over the world. As useful as his alliance with Wormwood has been, he doesn't trust the forces of Hell, and fears that they remain too much of an uncontrollable factor. To eliminate them, he may attempt to sick on them an enemy even they will fear. [[Checkerboard]] may be just that...