Hell (Ultimate Earth)

*"Welcome, my friend, to the Land of the Damned, where torture and horror walk hand in hand-- where pain and despair unfettered roam. Men call it **Hell**. **I** call it **home**!"*
—**The Demon**
**Hell** is an alternate plane of reality, traditionally accessible only by those of demonic heritage, beings of a higher order and those whose souls have been barred from entering the gates of Heaven or Purgatory.

## Overview

**Hell** is an extra-dimensional realm which acts as afterlife for the Abrahamic religions. It's where for evil souls are sent and are subjected to punitive suffering, often torture as eternal punishment. It is home to various beings known as Demons and Fallen Angels. There are various Hell dimension they are separate from each other or different areas of a much larger dimensional plane has not been clearly explained, nor can be confirmed due to the deceitful nature of the realm(s)' various rulers.

### Politics

Many beings claim to be the ruler of Hell. These beings have all been referred to as Hell-Lords and have often worked with, or against each other and have referred to themselves and/or posed as the Biblical Satan at one point or another. These rulers have included:

* Daimon Hellstrom
* Johnny Blaze
* Lucifer
* Marduk Kurios
* Mephisto
* Satannish
* Thog

Hell is many things, among them a mirror of the collective unconscious.

## History

After the archangel Lucifer Morningstar, had led a rebellion and started a war in Heaven, Lucifer and his rebel angels were banished to Hell, which was empty at this point in time. Eventually the souls of deceased humans began showing up, drawn to the realm due to their own guilt. Having never been so close to a human before, Lucifer began experimenting with them. He took them apart, wanting to examine his father's creation closely to see how they worked. Due to Lucifer's brutal methods of examination, this became the first torture in Hell.

### 20th Century

One of the most active demons claiming to be Satan during the 20th Century was the demon that empowered the Black Widow in 1928. This Satan had the Black Widow bring him the souls of the wicked and those who violated deals that he had made of them. The first of these was criminal Lester Maddox, who killed the Black Widow's sister Debbie. Accounts of other souls that the Black Widow has brought to this hell-realm included James Wagler, Garvey Lang, and war profiteers Lewis and Sykes. The Black Widow was also sent to Germany during World War II to collect the souls of Nazi soldiers due to the fact that their leader Adolf Hitler had apparently violated some pact that he had made with the Black Widow's master.

One region of Hell was briefly run like an Earth-style business in 1942. Dubbed "Hades Inc." it was run by a demon calling himself Lucifer Satan (or L.S. for short). They claimed to have been responsible for Hitler's rise to power. They also sent one of their agents to the town of Arbor City in the United States and as local celebrity Victor Risling, entered into politics in order to spread his message of hate and prejudice. Risling was defeated and exposed by the other-dimensional Vision. In 1943, a demon calling himself Satan and his mistress claimed that they were involved in Hitler's rise to power. Unimpressed with the progress Hitler was making during the war they decided to replace him with Attila the Hun. This plot was foiled by the Destroyer.

Following his death, a Red Skull impersonator found his soul in an unspecified Hell Realm ruled by the Master Judge of the Lower Depths, calling himself "Satan". He tricked this Satan to pull the soul of Captain America to Hell. There both men battled for their freedom, with Captain America ultimately winning his freedom by defeating the Red Skull.

## Hierarchy

The hierarchy of Hell has changed several times over the centuries, the leader of which has always assumed the title of Devil. The most well-known Devil is Lucifer Morningstar, the second fallen Angel and the supreme ruler of Hell for many centuries. When Lucifer fell from Heaven, it was revealed that the First of the Fallen was cast out long before Lucifer and had already been ruling Hell, although the First of the Fallen was no match for Lucifer's power, allowing Lucifer to take over. When the great Darkness of creation threatened all existence, a civil war erupted in Hell and the realm was split into a triumvirate. Eventually, Lucifer grew bored with his position and retired to Earth with his consort Mazikeen. Neron then assumed a predominant position in Hell.

## Economy

The main currency of Hell are souls. Living human beings (or other sentient beings), through rituals, make pacts with demons to gain power, wealth or etc. The demons have between them a kind of "stock exchange" of ​​souls, to set the price of the souls. When the person who did the pact die, their soul is then belong to the demons whom they negotiated.

A sold soul can be use as fuel for the spells of a demon. Souls can also be use as raw material to create hellish furniture at Odium manufacturers and factories. Souls can be freely traded with other demons much like the money of Earth; however, at the time the mortal sells their soul, he/she can do so only to a single demon. John Constantine once managed to outwit three demons to cure his cancer, since they were so eager to take the soul of the occultist who did not previously consulted, so John got his healing without losing his soul. Sometimes, extremely evil humans who have been sentenced to Hell can be promoted and gain demonhood.

## Points of Interests

The realm is broken down into nine Sections or "Circles", They were described by Dante Alighieri in his book the "Inferno" during his journey to the depths of Hell.

* **Limbo:** the **First Circle of Hell** is a nether realm or void of in which souls go before they are judged to go to Heaven or Hell. The Gateway to Hell can be found here. Once through the gate the soul is ferried along the Styx River by the ferryman Charon to the second circle to be judged.
* **Second Circle of Hell** is home to the lustful and King Minos who judges the soul and decides what level they will reside for all eternity.
* **Third Circle of Hell** is home to the gluttonous and guarded by the hellhound; Cerberus.
* **Fourth Circle of Hell** is home to the souls of the greedy.
* **Fifth Circle of Hell** is home to the swamp of Wrath.
* **Sixth Circle of Hell** is home to the Heretics and the fiery city of Dis, home to hordes of Demons.
* **Seventh Circle of Hell** is home to murderers and those souls who committed violence.
* **Eighth Circle of Hell** is distinguished from its predecessors by being made up of those who consciously and willingly commit fraud.
* **Ninth Circle of Hell** is home the the treacherous and is the place in which Satan resides.