Re: Hell in Dungeon Fantasy
 

In my own fantasy campaign I have hell be a 'natural' plane- by default all souls end up there, and everything there (directly or indirectly) is made of souls.

Demons themselves feed on souls, all of there towers, and citadels are build with souls, the entire existence, economy, and even there base selves are constructed from soul matter.

The elaborate tortures that the soul feels when in 'hell' are not real, but are a reflection of the soul reacting to the consumption, digestion, manipulation, and transformation of there soul into everything that makes up the abyss. The greater the 'taint' on a soul from evil, the more processing/digesting/etc it takes for a demon to get what it wants from it, and processing by the demon translates to tortures for the soul. Demons really like pure innocent souls, they require no processing at all and are generally more potent to boot.

gods by comparison are powered by worship and belief, and worship from a soul, while not as good as worship from the living, is still worth something. So gods snatch there chosen followers away from the abyss (at some risk to the god or at least its agents) to live in whatever dimensions they have constructed for there followers.

As for what happens to a soul after the demons have completely used it up, not even the demons know.

Re: Hell in Dungeon Fantasy
 

Well, a soul can't enter into the brightest celestial city with any darkness within it... So perhaps before one can enter heaven, all a soul's light and beauty a are purified...

All the weakness, suppressed malice, jealousy and rage, that little sadistic streak that was overcome and buried deep, all wrung free and cast away, so that the pure goodness of the soul could ascend.

But what of those shadows that were cast off? Left to drift in the ether through the worlds, gathering with other shadows like themselves. In this unseen storm of dark passions is where demons are born....

Demons as heaven's pollution, I love it!

Re: Hell in Dungeon Fantasy
 

Why would it be depressing? your soul goes to a place where you actual agree with the other locals on what the proper way to live, and you hang out there until you're ready another go at life. Of course while partaking on a prime material life you don't normally remember you past reincarnations. Though souls also have the ability to transcend beyond the mortal, so thoughs might makes right types are not automatically doomed to be the bottom of the heap on their planes just but it the exceptional that manage to pull that off.

of Course in the setting the Death goddess, is actually the Goddess of the life cycle, Her priests are quite happily heal you, unless it's 'your time' then they work to give you the best transition, and making sure you get to your right plane. but they're just as consorted with being midwives too. What they hate is the Undead.

Re: Hell in Dungeon Fantasy
 

It's sisyphean in the extreme. Everything you are is erased, and you struggle to attain an identity again, only for it too to be erased in a never ending cycle of mortal suffering and a brief respite where you can see that fall into the mud of life getting closer and closer. That blows!

I would need to have some way of escaping the endless "soul laundry cycle" in any game I would want to play in. But not the Buddhist obliteration of identity/soul kind. That's just as bad, but far more complex than simple non existence.

Re: Hell in Dungeon Fantasy
 

It could be as in The Screwtape Letters...



SPOILER ALERT SPOILER ALERT

Re: Hell in Dungeon Fantasy
 

Then it killed Tasha Yar... that demon bastard! STNG joke.

Re: Hell in Dungeon Fantasy
 

It's not erased per say but a lot of the progress is on the subconscious level for mortals.

Hence the 'reborn when you're ready' if you're not ready you not reborn. Plus it is possible transcend at least to the divine servitor level if the condition are right. Actually a couple of the gods are actually divine servitors who ascended to godhood. [there also a mortal that ascended to god hood] but such assentions to godhood requires an open meme that you can fill.

Re: Hell in Dungeon Fantasy
 

The idea that souls are just another layer with almost exactly the same rules and physical laws as reality just seems like such a lame failure of imagination. It adds nothing but needless complexity. You got to change it up a bit to keep my attention.

Re: Hell in Dungeon Fantasy
 

I just can't see how any but the tiniest speck minority would ever voluntarily choose to have their entire being erased and flung back to the random suffering of life. As many troubles as I have, they don't compare at all to the sh*tastic lives of the vast majority of the human race.

Re: Hell in Dungeon Fantasy
 

So personalities don't follow even the semi-predictable patterns of real life heredity and environment? Hopefully there's no magical way to tell what soul a baby has. Otherwise it might make sense to kill the born bad ones, to avoid the hassle. And that's rather disturbing.