Woolie Wool
Member
Posts: 453
Registered: 08-02 |
Maes said:
A way to totally demystify hell would be to look at it as any other workplace/institution/authority:
The demons/devils are nothing but poor bastards in fireproof red vests that just try getting by working there.
They clock in every morning, wear some red fireproof vests, grab their gear (pitchforks, lashes, torture instruments, torches, propane burners, bellows etc.) and with a tired grunt worth of Al Bundy after a day at the shoe store, they shamble to their business.
One can (presumably) apply for the position of apprentice devil by becoming a satanist or by being picked for your "qualities" during your mortal life (so gangsters, politicians, etc. get to be devils in the afterlife as well).
Sure enough, there would be various ranks of devil/demon to which one can rise through service and depending on his aptitude. So a lowly apprentice will be given a beaten up fireproof vest and will be tasked with the more menial tasks like carrying all those heavy torture instrument, having to swim in the lava/shit/whatever, etc. while the higher ranking devils can enjoy torturing the damned, using more sophisticated machinery and implements, and have authority and responsibility over lower ranking devils. Very high ranking devils have their own offices and other positions of responsibility.
Those entering hell as The Damned just didn't qualify for Heaven, nor did they make the appropriate career choices early on ;-)
If you think about it, there are real-life scenarios where "hell-like" situations ensue (dictatorships, authoritarian states, military occupation, etc.) and where only those working for the system, be them lowly snitches, informers, members of paramilitary political organizations, armed forces, law enforcements etc. have it easy and have unsurmountable authority over others. If you know you're going to hell, you'd better be with the devils ;-)
I prefer to imagine that some but not all of Hell's monsters are sentient. Barons, Hell Knights, and any other members of their race, would be the most intelligent (at least as much as humans), being a sort of "master race" ruling over the rest of Hell's inhabitants. Arch-Viles would also be sapient but somehow bound to the will of the Hell nobles. Below them in intelligence would be the imps and similar creatures, who would be of rather low intelligence (perhaps similar to early hominids like Homo Habilis, with partial sentience and rudimentary language) and kept in line by brute force. They might hate their masters, but have neither the power nor the cunning to defy the Hell nobles.
Most of the other demons, such as pinkies and Cacodemons, are essentially animals, some trained and some wild.
|
07-02-09 20:10 
