Realm of the Dead

**Realm of the Dead**, also known as the **Underworld** or the **Afterlife**, is the mythological location where shades of mortals shall descend to after death.

It is ruled by the Lords of the Underworld, gods of the dead from various pantheon and mythologies.

## 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.

Some belief systems, such as those in the Abrahamic tradition, hold that the dead go to a specific plane of existence after death, as determined by God, or other divine judgment, based on their actions or beliefs during life.

In contrast, in systems of reincarnation, such as those in the Indian religions, the nature of the continued existence is determined directly by the actions of the individual in the ended life.

## Summary

The Realm of the Dead was created by Gabriel moments after she created the progenitor gods to serve as the new home of the consciousness of deceased mortals, also known as **shades**, that was left behind as their souls entered reincarnation within Metempsychosis.

Soon after, it would become the new home-realm of the gods whose divine domains are associated with death, though they mainly live in the pocket-realms located in the bottom layer of their cosmos known as "underworld". And with the arrival of the gods, came the monsters and the daemon, with their twisted consciousness acting as pseudo-shades and allowing them to inhabit the realm while their physical body slowly reforms.

According to Azazel, for most parts of the Great War, the Realm of the Dead as a whole didn't participate in it, though they still had to face collateral damage due to the actions of their above counterparts.

## Appearance

Despite popular beliefs, the Realm of the Dead appears as a seemingly endless metropolitan city formed of numerous skyscrapers and buildings built 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 west where Netherworld, the Inferno, and the Realm of the Dead are connected, the three realms are separated by a great sea called the Boiling Sea created and ruled over by the Leviathan Clan.

## Inhabitants

The Realm of the Dead is mainly inhabited by the chthonic gods and the shades of the dead, who are led to the realm by the reapers, though most of them mainly lived in the numerous underworlds associated with the religion or mythology that their cosmos is based on. Other than them, the realm also serves as the home-realm of numerous monsters and daemon that choose not to be affiliated with any of the mythological factions.

## 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)

## Notable Locations

### Limbo

**Limbo** (リンボ, *Rinbo*), also known as the **Atheist Afterlife**, is a minor realm located near the heart of the Realm of the Dead where the shades are judged to see which afterlife they will be sent to for further judgement. Gates connected to Purgatory and the Third Heaven are located there, guarded by elite angels and fallen angels. It also functions as the afterlife for atheists who are judged not deserving of a proper afterlife, and are thus, damned to live in eternal silence and darkness for eternity.

### Netherworld

**Netherworld** (ネザーワールド, *Nezāwārudo*) is the new home-realm of the demons and devils who are stranded in Creation after the Underworld is sealed behind the Ouroboros Barrier and was originally the top layer of the Underworld that got stranded in the separation process.

While not being considered a part of the Realm of the Dead, the map of the realm depicted the Netherworld as a neighboring "nation", located in the far west of the realm and the two realms are separated by the Boiling Sea.

### The Inferno

**The Inferno** (インフェルノ, *Inferuno*) is the home-realm of the Extra Demons, the pureblood houses of elite devils who have excluded themselves from the current devil society, not wanting to involve themselves with the current devil government. Because of this, they founded their own land in the furthest land in the Netherworld and moved there alongside the majority of daemon.

While not considered a part of the Realm of the Dead, similar to the Netherworld, the map of the realm depicted the Inferno as a neighboring "nation", located in the far west of the realm and the two realms are separated by the Boiling Sea.

### Kokytus Prison

**Kokytus Prison** (裏切りの凍った地獄コキトゥス・プリゾン, *Kokito~usu Purizon*) is an inter-pantheon maximum security prison reserved for some of the most dangerous criminals the supernatural world has ever faced. It is placed in the deepest part of the Realm of the Dead where many rare and dangerous monsters live, and remnants of damaged shades of those who had perpetrated betrayals are eternally bound to.

It was built shortly after the Angelos Concordat was signed to signify the peace between Heaven and the pagan pantheons.

#### Rizevim's Institute

A research institute in the outskirts of a valley made of ice near the Kokytus Prison that investigates anomalies and irregularities that are disproportionate to the prison. It is one of Rizevim's hideouts before he and his Faction got destroyed. There is a strict security system and a password is applied to the door that connects each floor, so it is necessary to go through the door to over twelve doors to get inside.

At the deepest part, there is a culture layer that fills the entire vast floor, and the body of the original Lilith is stored in it.

### Labyrinthus de Michahel

**Labyrinthus de Michahel** (運命の古代神の天の神社ラビリンサス・デ・ミカヘル, *Rabirinsasu de Mikaheru*) is where the gods of fate from various pantheons dwell. It is located beneath the Chthonian Central Park of the northwest sector of the Realm of the Dead, and can only be accessed through a secret entrance. It is known as a labyrinth because of its immense size and complex structure, which is impossible for any god or mortal unfamiliar with the working of fate to decipher.

In the heart of the labyrinth is a shrine built in the architectural style of the Edenith civilization, with ritualistic symbols and iconography from Ancient Judaism, and a ceiling made of stained glass in the shape of a seven-pointed star. In the middle of the shrine is a gold-and-ivory statue, carved based on the likeness of Michael, the Celestial Prince who governs the fate and destiny of anything and everything within existence and even beyond, including that of the deathless gods. Surrounding him are hundreds and thousands of lit candles and incense is burnt every three hours.

Every year, on the thirteenth day of every four moons, the statue is brought outside in an ancient ceremony and all residents of the Realm of the Dead must not look unless they wish to have their eyes gouged out, gods and monsters alike, to the halls of the gods where it is bathed from water collected from all the rivers and offerings are burnt, sacred animals are sacrificed, and priceless libations are poured in Michael's name.

## Trivia

* The technical adjective for all things belonged/connected to the realm is called *chthonic*.
	+ It means "in, under, or beneath the earth" or "subterranean".
* 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 Chthonian, with several regional dialects such as Abyssal, Purgatic, Gehennic, and Tartarian.
* Despite being the afterlives for those of the Abrahamic faiths, neither Heaven nor the Underworld is considered a part of the Realm of the Dead, instead both belong to a higher realm of existence.