Re-imaging Hell

[Jürgen Hubert]

I'm currently in the process of moving Urbis to yet another site after the current one hasn't worked out as I've hoped. This time, I'm putting the whole thing into a Wiki format. Only a minority of stuff has been ported over, but I'm slowly getting there...

And while I'm at it, I'm also redesigning some parts and writing new material to make it all fit better with D&D 4E. One of the most recent additions has been the introduction of the Urbis equivalent of the "Nine Hells" - the home plane of the devils. I've called it "Sheol", and you can read more about it here - basically, it's one huge mountain consisting of the petrified remains of dead devils.

Furthermore, since the 4E GSL does not list any specific types of devils, I came up with an entirely new description for them as well. You can read it here - essentially, devils are parasites and predators feasting on repressed desires and mortal souls.


Any feedback on these elements would be greatly appreciated!

 

[Asmo]

Why did you choose "Sheol" as the name for the setting?

Asmo

 

[frankthedm]

Why did you choose "Sheol" as the name for the setting?

It has not been used much.

SHEOL
Position and Form.
Hebrew word of uncertain etymology (see Sheol, Critical View), synonym of "bor" (pit), "abaddon" and "shaḥat" (pit or destruction), and perhaps also of "tehom" (abyss).

 

[Jürgen Hubert]

It has not been used much.

Yup, pretty much. "Hell" has been used all too often in RPG settings. So have "Abyss", "Hades", and all the other terms from the more well-known mythologies.

And since I had already decided to call the realms of the demons in Urbis the Qlippoth, "Sheol" seemed like a natural fit.

 

[El Mahdi]

Sounds a little like Shayol Ghul, from The Wheel of Time (but not too much like it). I wonder if Mr. Rigney derived his idea from the same word? (He also used Shaitan, like Frank Herbert, the Arab root word for Satan).

 

[Jürgen Hubert]

Sounds a little like Shayol Ghul, from The Wheel of Time (but not too much like it). I wonder if Mr. Rigney derived his idea from the same word? (He also used Shaitan, like Frank Herbert, the Arab root word for Satan).

All the best fantasy literature steels liberally from mythology. The archetypes of myths and legend are enduring and powerful - it's only their interpretations that differ.

 

[Jürgen Hubert]

I've also started working on the demon equivalent, but that one is still somewhat vague...

 

[Rackhir]

I always liked the Cenobites from the "Hellraiser" movie series (based on the Clive Barker short story "The Hellbound Heart"). It comes across better in the short story, but the Cenobites aren't so much evil, as so alien that their concept of pleasure is torture to humans.

 

[Rechan]

On the topic of Words for hell, I'm particularly fond of Xibalba.

 

[Jürgen Hubert]

I always liked the Cenobites from the "Hellraiser" movie series (based on the Clive Barker short story "The Hellbound Heart"). It comes across better in the short story, but the Cenobites aren't so much evil, as so alien that their concept of pleasure is torture to humans.

I'm not familiar with either. Could you elaborate on that?