Thousand Hells

A series of liminal realms between the Spirit World and the Underworld. Early in mankind's history, a number of powerful demons from the Inferno were forced into exile, and they proceeded to cannibalize and colonize certain Dead Dominions of the Underworld for themselves, separating and isolating them from their original place in the universe. The intermingling of life energy from the Spirit World and death energy from the Underworld resulted in a new type of (tainted) energy and the transformation of the exiled demons. These lands then became known as the Thousand Hells, a large number of interconnected pocket realms.

Their new abilities also allowed the demons to draw power from the souls of dead humans, and in fact, create more of their kind from them. To make use of this, the ancient demons anchored their realms to the first big concentrations of mortals, namely Mesopotamia, India and East Asia. This allowed them to leech some of the mortals who died in these areas, ordinarily destined for the Underworld, to their own realms. In particular, ghosts whose lives were dominated by their vices, or who felt deep guilt or regret about their lives, were the most likely to be drawn into the Thousand Hells.

The Mesopotamian realms were mysteriously destroyed early on, but the ones in India and East Asia endured ever since. These hells have evolved significantly since their conception, as the influx of mortal souls influenced them, the hells affected by their myths and folklore, the demons created from them reflecting these. Some enterprising former mortals (such as a certain medieval Japanese Genius, known as Mikaboshi) have even managed to elevate themselves to rulership (rulers of the Ten Thousand Hells are commonly termed Yama Kings). By the time of the 20th and 21st Century, the Yama Kings and their unique brand of corruptive energy were playing pivotal roles in Asia.

The Thousand Hells also serve as the origin point of the Wan Kuei, unique revenants with certain vampiric characteristics, altered by the Hells' peculiar demonic essence.