Realm of the Dead

**Realm of the Dead**, also called the **Underworld**, is the mythical location where shades of the dead descend to after death. It's ruled by the Underworld God-Kings from various religions and mythology.

## Overview

The **afterlife** is a purported existence in which the essential part of an individual's identity or their stream of consciousness continues to live after the death of their physical body.

According to various ideas about the afterlife, the essential aspect of the individual that lives on after death may be some partial element, or the entire soul or spirit, of an individual, which carries with it and may confer personal identity or, on the contrary nirvana. In some views, this continued existence takes place in a spiritual realm, and in other popular views, the individual may be reborn into this world and begin the life cycle over again, likely with no memory of what they have done in the past.

In this latter view, such rebirths and deaths may take place over and over again continuously until the individual gains entry to a spiritual realm or otherworld. Major views on the afterlife derive from religion, esotericism and metaphysics.

## Appearance

Despite popular beliefs, the Realm of the Dead appears as a seemingly endless metropolitan city formed of numerous skyscrapers and buildings made of gleaming obsidian, all built around a giant pit where the core of the realm and the entrance to the Kokytus Prison is located.

Outside the metropolis are vast meadows of ghostly flowers, which make the realm appear as enchanting and serene from afar. The plants that can be found in the realm are often those associated with death or funerals, such as asphodels, chrysanthemums, poppies, red spider lilies, white poplars... There are also many rivers smelling like embalming oils and running across the realms, which serve the function of masking away the natural smell of rotten corpse the realm naturally has.

The sky here is always dark, with no celestial bodies up upon the sky. The only sources of light come from the numerous magic lamps, neon and electric lights, and illuminating floras native to the realm. Despite this, the realm has many strange and often dangerous weather phenomena, such as "dagger-rains" (steel daggers raining from the sky) or "intestine-storms" (human innards rain down from sky alongside violent winds and blood rain), which make living here extremely difficult even for the natives.

The actual size of the realm is unknown, as it continuously grows every year without any warning or order, forming new territories for the various chthonic pantheons to snatch in countless political and military struggles, as well as to accommodate the endlessly growing human population living on the various worlds and dimensions within the mortal world, especially the numerous variations of Earth.

There are no seas or oceans within the realm, only large rivers and bodies of water, though in the far east and west where Netherworld and the Inferno are located respectively, the three realms are separated by a great sea called the Boiling Sea created and ruled over by the Leviathan Clan.

## Notable Locations

### The Underworlds

Each of the mythological underworlds are connected to the Realm of the Dead through numerous gateways stationed all across the borderlands of the realm and the Netherworld, such as one that leads to Naraka, or Haides, or Yomi, etc. These gateways are fashioned out of precious metals and jewels, and are placed in the heart of a great temple complex of their respective religion.

Known gateways to the mythological underworlds and their respective pantheon are:

* Duat (Egyptian)
* Duzakh (Persian)
* Haides (Greco-Roman)
* Helheim (Norse)
* Iriy (Slavic)
* Irkalla (Mesopotamian)
* Naraka (Hindu)
* Niraya (Buddhism)
* Otherworld (Celtic)
* Tuonela (Finnish)
* Xibalba (Maya)
* Yomi (Japanese)

### Netherworld

The **Netherworld**, also called the **Lost First Ring**, is the new home-realm of the demons and devils who were stranded in Creation after Hell was sealed behind the Ouroboros Barrier. While not traditionally considered a part of the Realm of the Dead, the Netherworld is depicted on map of the realm as a neighboring "continent", located in the far east of the realm and separated from the mainland by the Boiling Sea ruled by members of the Leviathan Clan.

### The Inferno

The **Inferno**, also called the **Burning Hells**, is the new home-realm of the demons and daemon who were stranded in Creation, yet chose not to remain in the Netherworld due to political differences with the current devil government, especially the Great King Faction.

While not traditionally considered a part of the Realm of the Dead, the Inferno is depicted on map of the realm as a neighboring "continent", located in the far west of the realm and separated from the mainland by the Boiling Sea.

### Kokytus Prison

**Kokytus Prison**, also called the **Frozen Prison of Treachery**, is an interdimensional maximum security prison reserved for the most dangerous criminals the supernatural world have ever faced. It is located in the deepest part of the Realm of the Dead, placed directly in the heart of the ninth and harshest region of the Inferno called the Kokytus Tundra. The prison is guarded by the Outer Gods, primordial gods who sworn an oath of neutrality, and is led by Judas Iscariot.

#### Rizevim's Institute

A research institute located near the Kokytus Prison that investigated anomalies and irregularities disproportionate to the prison. It is one of Rizevim's former hideouts before he was sealed and his group was destroyed by team D×D.

The institute is sealed under heavy layers of angelic runes, with a portal sealed with Blood Magic that connects each of the institute's 666 floors. In the 666th floor placed a secret vault where remnants of the original Lilith's physical body is sealed.

## Trivia

* Directly placed beneath the Realm of the Dead is the Dimensional Gap.
* The temperature in the Realm of the Dead is always several degrees belows that of the living world.
* The official language of the realm is called "Chthonian", with several regional dialects such as Abyssal, Purgatic, Gehennic, and Tartarian.
* Despite being the afterlives for those of the Abrahamic faiths, neither Heaven, Purgatory, nor Hell is considered a part of the realm, instead both belong to a higher realm of existence.