Arisen World – The threefold multiverse containing the universe of the Earth, its dark possibility which is Hell, and its bright potential which is Heaven. These three worlds overlap – each sharing a future interdependent with the others. The Arisen World is the gestalt or combination of all three acting in bonded discord. A kind of entangled conflict. Each world’s course and future is determined by Actus – or the action of dependent matter and independent forms. Forms are made up of life (corpus) and spirit (wisp or psyche). Forms possess Agency – which is the ability to alter, however subtly, the destination of the Arisen World through willful acts.

Asmodeus– The present lord of hell. Asmodeus overthrew the old lord whose name is now forgotten. In doing so, he secured the vast collection of wisps in hell from mortals who, in life, were afflicted with greed, rage, cruelty, lust, fear, jealousy and other emotional weaknesses to the point that they inflicted terrible harm upon those around them. The old lord of hell had sought to reform these souls – teaching them over long ages how to act without harming others. Asmodeus instead declared these souls irredeemable – deciding to use them as a kind of currency and fuel combined. He employed powerful demonic and diabolical engines to sunder their essence and produce energy to power mighty magics. In doing so, Asmodeus generated a greater cycle of exploitation and harm. One in which all forms of such abuse fed his power even as he enslaved the abusers – tapping their power and very being to fuel his own growing might. Over time, Asmodeus learned how to trap other poor hapless souls by exploiting any harmful activity in life to draw their wisps into hell. He did this by convincing individuals that a person’s character was forever marred by the worst thing they’ve ever done. This concept, called sin, became a self-fulfilling prophecy for many who would otherwise have developed the will to escape the influence of hell but were instead inexorably drawn in to its deepening spiritual gravity.

Ammit-Heh – The chimeric dragon displaying features of a crocodile, lion and hippopotamus who lairs upon the Burned Isle in the Lake of Fire. Ammit-Heh serves the purpose of devouring hearts. This enables Asmodeus to use whisps as both currency and power store.

Avernum — The battle land of Hell, Avernum is a blasted land crawling with armies fighting for supremacy. This terrible place of endless bloody conflict was set aside long ago by Asmodeus’s dictate of Bellum Aeternus or Eternal War. As an absolute dictator, Asmodeus rules with an iron fist. One would think this might lead to a kind of fearful peace. Not so in Hell. The Lords of Hell continuously plot to overthrow each other, to take power, and to even topple Asmodeus. The place is rife with internecine conflict, plots, rebellion, ambushes and assassination attempts that always threaten to boil over into war. To prevent continuous open warfare throughout Hell and to better organize Minos into ‘productive districts,’ Asmodeus set aside the land of Avernum as a battlefield where the lords of Hell, including himself, might settle their differences. Once war is declared, each opposing Hell-Lord moves their forces into Avernum with the aim to obliterate or subjugate the forces of his rival there. Any open major war conducted outside of Avernum invokes Asmodeus’s wrath and almost always results in the destruction or enslavement of the offending Hell Lord. To be clear, other conflict still occurs in Hell. But the ritualized, sanctioned conflict of Avernum is one structure that separates the Hell Lords from the roiling diabolical and demonic masses of Hell. And Asmodeus rewards those who take part in his structed conflict while punishing those who do not.

Beatrice Lushael – Mother of Myra. White mage. Angel. Mage name means – Rain of Stars.

Blue Skinned Devils — The most numerous humanoid devil. Blue skinned devils are also cast into an impoverished and mostly powerless rank in devil society. They mostly serve as slaves and low level servants for the less populous red skinned devils and other devils of high rank.

Blood of Earth – The mage name for fossil fuels – as they are gouged out of the body of mother Earth. Also the name of any industry or activity that results in the ruination of life giving lands, airs, and waters. Blood of Earth attracts the interest of demons and devils in much the same way as other harmful acts. However, it has a special attraction as destruction of the Earth, particularly for profit, often is the result of a combination of greed, lack of remorse, pride, and joy in doing harm.

Burning Lands — An expansive region of coal fields in the northern section of Infernia lit afire by volcanoes. Devils mine and capture the fluids and gasses produced by these lands for use in hellish infernal combustion engines.

Brian Gannon — an extraordinarily greedy Furze Bank executive.

Carcerus — The slave-labor prison of Hell, Carcerus is a land filled with fortresses that serve as combined forced labor and concentration camps. Wisps formed into bodies are often sent to Carcerus where they typically work until they perish in body — at which point their wisps are harvested for worbs or to fuel diabolical magic. The prison masters of Carcerus also send out Chain Bands to various regions of Hell to do heavy labor or dangerous work of various kinds. Slaves that survive 101 years of this deadly work are freed. However, time of incarceration under the slave masters of Carcerus can be extended even for minor infractions. So terms of slavery can often extend decades to centuries beyond the first 101 years. Nonetheless, devils do occasionally survive the slave masters’ whips to matriculate to ‘freedom.’ These freed devils are often among the most ruthless denizens of Hell — having learned the lessons of brutality, torture, and relentless unforgiving labor beneath the most terrible task-masters in all the Arisen Worlds.

Century — A battle group of one hundred devils.

Charon — Hell’s moon which was destroyed in a great cataclysm about 2,500 years ago. All that remains is an orange cloud of debris surrounded by an accretion disk.

Corpus – Physical form which is the unity of wisp and body.

Curse – Channeled or crafted magic that alters an aspect of reality. Called a curse because the ancient church long ago declared all magic blasphemy in an effort to permanently confine demons to the outer realm and devils to hell and to reduce their influence and remove their ability to harvest wisps. This declaration and the genocidal war against mages that followed had the opposite effect, however, generating numerous temporary hell gates while creating unnecessary confusion and fear regarding the use of magic. Eventually, the word curse was used to describe any socially taboo or offensive language – i.e. curse words, or to describe any solemn utterance aimed at invoking supernatural power to inflict harm.

Curse Riders – Asmodeus’s elite hunters who are specifically tasked with hunting down mages. Curse riders specialize in dragging mages into Hell and butchering them for their wisps. Mage wisps are especially coveted by Asmodeus. For this reason, most mages are hunted and do their best to keep their craft secret. It is typically considered suicidal to attract the attention of a Curse Rider. Though a few powerful, cunning, or lucky mages have managed to face one down or give one the slip on occasion.

Curse Hunt — When a Curse Rider hunts down a mage. Such hunts are often expansive — taking in numerous persons, demons, and devils held in thrall by the Curse Rider. Curse Hunts are often also called witch hunts.

Dark Psychic — A cleric of a diabolical religious order — Invicti Asmodei — wholly devoted to the service of Asmodeus. Dark Psychics possess the ability to project their senses long distances both individually and through a world-spanning Minosian Web (see below) in which every Dark Psychics’ worb acts as a node. The Minosian Web enables these devout servants of Asmodeus to possess a semi-omniscience. Accessing the Web allows them to see and sometimes hear past and present events occurring on Minos (Hell) so long as the Dark Psychic knows where and when to work. These Dark Psychics then feed sensitive information to the heads of their order who in turn inform Asmodeus. In this way, Asmodeus and his Hell Lords are able to observe practically any event on Hell that draws their attention.

Demon – A powerful and unruly wisp composed of pure, unbridled negative emotion. Demons are primal, often ancient, and inhabit the outer darkness but can also cross into hell or possess the bodies of mortals or mages. They feed on the negative and malicious emotions of mortals. It is for this reason that they congregate at hell gates or tear open small and temporary ones. Mortals afflicted by addiction, mental illness born of malice, or lack of compassion can create a channel through which a demon from the outer darkness may come to possess them. Demons in the hells can possess the body of a devil or a mortal – twisting it into draconic, chaotic, or other wild and monstrous shapes. Demonic possession can impart both great power and terrible madness.

Devil – A creature that inhabits hell. Often, they are wisps trapped in hell who are given a second body by one of the Lords of Hell or through forcibly taking over the body of a being stranded in hell. Devils are often twisted forms of mortals in life, can come in the imagined shapes of dark guardians like black knights and gargoyles, or, in the case of the lords of hell, are the dark reflections of angels.

Drivers — Devils who corral and enslave wisps. They are typically red-skinned with horns sprouting from the front of their foreheads. However, other devils can also act as Drivers.

Doppleganger – Fake body double used by some mages to house a wisp while the real body sleeps.

Energetic Vessel — A mage’s store of curse energy coming from the multiversal spirit.

Felix Azriel — Furze Bank executive. One of many at Furze Bank who’ve attracted the attention of demons.

Fortress Invicti — The seat of Asmodeus’s power in Hell, Fortress Invicti is the mightiest stronghold of this terrible realm. Sitting on the shores of the Lake of Fire, Invicti commands the main trade route funneling wisps, newly fashioned worbs, and newly made devils northward to Mechanum, Avernum, and Carcerus. Its high towers can be seen for many miles in every direction. And its terrible inhabitants are among Hell’s most powerful and vicious.

Form Makers — Devils who forcibly shape wisps into devil forms. They appear as balls of floating darkness that shoot black lightning.

Furze Bank HQ — A large banking conglomerate with ties to various nefarious actors on the world stage, both earthly and otherwise.

Gibbens Crane — A Curse Rider summoned by Ivan Volkov to hunt Mori and Beatrice.

Holocaust Scourge — A powerful diabolical whip and channel for devilish magics that uses fire hot enough to cut steel for its lash. A holder of a Holocaust Scourge can also tap the energy of enslaved wisps to fling bits of this flame to inflict agony, grievous injury or both.

Helkey – An event or emotion that can serve to open a minor or temporary hell gate. These are often torn open by demons in areas where terrible things are happening. Helkey gates are usually temporary – only lasting for minutes to hours at most. Sometimes a permanent Helkey exists – attracting demons frequently who often form these temporary rifts over and over again.

Hell Gate – Semi-permanent structures that link Hell to Earth. Hell Gates form in places in which the most terrible events of the age have occurred. Present hell gates are located in places like Auschwitz or Hiroshima or in the warming Arctic or at the dying Great Barrier Reef.

Infernia — The equatorial region of Hell’s supercontinent Minos. Infernia features a great wasted defile of vast deserts, burning lands, and terrible silt bogs. It is also the region of Hell where wisps come to reside after death following their capture by the influence of Hell and its demons and devils in life. Infernia is so hot that it is only practical, even for the creatures of hell, to move about for extended periods during winter. Night-time travel is preferred. But the difference between night and day temperatures on Hell is less than on Earth.

Ivan Volkov – Otherwise known as Ivan the Wolf. Ivan is the unwitting dupe of Asmodeus on Earth – serving as his herald without realizing it.

Kindre Moss — A moss from Beatrice’s home-world of Heaven (called Heaven by those on Earth) known for its medicinal properties.

Knife Lake — A large lake on the eastern edge of Infernia whose shores are known for their abundant wisp-fields.

Lake of Fire — A burning region of Hell’s Ocean. While many areas of Hell’s Ocean burn, the Lake of Fire region is wracked by characteristically intense firestorms.

Lance — A fighting group of ten devils.

Mage Name – A partial true name that identifies the source of a mage’s power.

Magical Tattoo – A permanent channel for curses formed into the flesh of a mage just below the skin. Often taking weeks, months, or even years to complete, such tattoos often tap into the power of the mage’s true name. In this way, Magical Tattoos can serve as a direct link to the source of a mage’s power. Mage families will sometimes have these tattoos crafted for their children as a means of enhancing their ability to tap inherited magic and/or as a way to activate a specific kind of curse.  In the case of Myra, her name curse Helkey has been crafted into a magical tattoo.

Masters of Infernal Device — Asmodeus’s forge masters. Expert crafters of various devices and machines able to harness diabolical magic.

Mechanum — The ‘civilized’ region of Hell is a vast field of over-developed, smoking industry interspersed with hellish city-scapes. Here are Hell’s forges that craft everything from weapons, to transports, to dwellings, to Hell’s fearsome engines. Powering it all are the enslaved wisps — formed by various Hell-forces or creatures into devils, or housed in the traps used to power diabolical magic called worbs. Mechanum is located in the pole-ward portion of Minos just to the north of Infernia. Its climate is one racked by dust storms rising out of Infernia, drenched by vicious thunder leviathans, and poisoned by the smokes of Mechanum’s industry. Running through it all are toxic, burning black rivers.

Memory Draught – A powerful and illegal potion that is designed to selectively wipe parts of the drinker’s memory. Memory draughts can be dangerous, harmful and unpredictable. Memories from these draughts can take between days and years to return.

Minosian — The primary tongue of Hell spoken by most devils. Though the super-continent of Minos is vast beyond the imagining of most Earth-dwellers, a common culture and tongue unite the devils in their misery.

Minosian Web — A network of interconnected Dark Psychic worbs that allows these psychically sensitive devils to project their senses and the senses of those who touch them practically anywhere and to any time on Minos (Hell). Each Dark Psychic forms a nexus in this Web. Their worbs continuously send energy bled from their captured souls out to other Dark Psychics. This outward flow of rendered spiritual energy captures sights and sounds as it travels. Dark Psychics can project their senses and the senses of others down these web strands to observe past or present events near a Web segment. The Minosian Web is a primary tool of Asmodeus in maintaining his stranglehold on power in Hell. Its Dark Psychic constituents are fanatical devotees who consider it a religious duty to report what they find to Asmodeus to ensure the sanctity of his unrelenting tyrannical reign. The fanatical Dark Psychics and their Minosian Web thus form an information and religious hegemony. A sect that through their Hell Web holds a stranglehold on both information flows and the interpretation of reality in Hell.

Mirror Specter — A magical mental construct that appears as a ghost or hologram and has a modicum of intelligence. These constructs usually act as archivists, librarians or lore-keepers. Myra’s Mirror Specter is an image of herself sent to give her advice in Hell. The curses used to activate her personal Mirror Specter are locked up in her magical tattoo as name curse.

Mottle — A form made out of wisp by a Vila in Hell. One of Asmodeus’s forbidden forms. Mottles are flat, wide bat-like creatures. Their muscular, cloak-like bodies are capable of flight, constriction, and partnering to assist humanoid creatures. When draped across a humaniod, they can grant short flight, help to reduce the impacts of Hell’s terrible environment, and even provide nourishment through IV-bites. Mottles also possess the ability to send thoughts by touch. These creatures are vegetarian and subsist on various Hell plants.

Multiversal Spirit — The energy of the multiverse which is composed of the interaction of all material and life that exists. How mages describe an all-encompassing spirit similar to a transcendental oversoul. One that connects all things, all life, all spirits and all realities. Mages draw in some of the energy of this multiversal spirit to power their curse-magic.

Myra Helkey – 17-year-old daughter of Beatrice Lushael and Robert Mori. Mage name has a double meaning. Actual name informed by a curse that has yet to be unlocked.

Nightmare — A specialized wisp-powered machine made to serve a Curse Rider for his steed. Typically made to resemble a horse, the Nightmare infernal construct is both capable of transforming into a variety of conveyances and of taking on the shape of a vague fearful shadow.

Overseer Tower — A wisp slave trade outpost overlooking Knife Lake.

Plumacats — A form shaped from a wisp by a Vila in Hell. One of Asmodeus’s forbidden forms marked by the Lord of Hell for genocide. Plumacats appear to be a hybrid of a velociraptor and a tiger. Two raptor eyes peer out from a feline face. Opened mouths reveal long fangs. Hands padded for running and pouncing feature both fingers and claws. Covered in large and lustrous black feathers, the bodies of Plumacats are capable of both bipedal and quadrupedal movement. Swift and graceful, these predators hunger to devour the flesh of devils.

Poachers — Devils who hunt various creatures to use for food, material, and wisps. Poachers and Drivers often overlap — trading, sharing information and resources. At times Poachers also act as slavers — selling captured creatures and wisps to Drivers and their clients. Poacher work is typically transactional and for profit. However, some Poachers also host hunt tours for sport.

Pride Eater – A form of demon that feeds on overweening pride and lust for power blind to consequence. Pride eaters inhabit Hell and the outer darkness. They often appear as tall, skinless demons composed of flesh and sinew on bone with hollow eyes, tapered skulls and giant claws protruding from their hands. Pride Eaters can form tethers with those they feed upon. They can use these tethers to possess or control their victims. Occasionally, Asmodeus will direct a Pride Eater to unlock a person’s diabolical potential through forced transformation. This is one way that the monstrosities of Hell are brought into being on Earth. When this happens, these monsters are called prophets of Asmodeus. It is a rare and terrible event for such an instance to occur.

Red Skinned Devils — Devils stratify their society into ranks based on race, form, power and skin color. The red skinned devils are a higher level class of humanoid devils. They are characterized by their brutal sense of entitlement, reliance on bullying and violence to advance, and plotting nature. They viciously exploit others through various means. This includes the blue skinned devils whom they have mostly enslaved or forced into dangerous, less desirable work.

Robert Mori – Father of Myra. Death mage. Human. Mage name means – to kill or to die.

Sadie Medela Dextera — Pastor at St Mary’s Church in Berlin. Life Mage. Angel. Mage name means — princess of the healing hand.

Spirit Tether — A bond formed between a demon and a mortal. This bond is the first step toward demonic possession. Pride-Eaters are particularly adept at spinning spirit tethers and placing them on their victims.

Stelo-mal — Bad lizard. A large species of devil lizard native to hell. Shares some chameleon and comodo dragon-like features in addition to retractable projectile tail spines and vicious razor-sharp teeth. Like many devils, stelo mal are capable of speech and can practice diabolical magic.

Terror Hounds — Demons that prey upon the souls of those who have recently died in great terror. These hounds usually appear that scenes of terrible massacres or other traumatic events in which ultimate fear grips large numbers of creatures at their last moments all at the same time. Some Terror Hounds have been trained by devils to draw wisps taken by fear into Hell. These Terror Hounds are also sometimes called Hell Hounds.

The Great Arch of Time – The passage of time throughout the multiverse of the Arisen World. Time by mages is seen as an illusion that describes the consequences of action which generates a dimension. Time is, therefore, not seen as linear – per se – but as a pathway of consequences containing many branches that extend both forward and backward. As a result, different decisions generate different consequences – represented as bows in the Arch of Time. Eventually, the Arch of Time, like a rainbow, bends inward, forming a vast, expanding circle.

Urdrake — A form shaped from a wisp by a Vila in Hell. One of Asmodeus’s forbidden forms marked by the Lord of Hell for genocide. Urdrake are massive reptiles covered in large, spiked shells. Standing 6-7 feet tall and weighing 300-500 pounds, Urdrake are the most physically imposing of all the Vila-made forms. Their reptilian faces feature keen, binocular eyes and long boney snouts with fang-like ridges. From their foreheads and down their spines sprouts a ridge of white crystals. These are capable of emitting powerful beams of light like lasers. Urdrake’s voices are sonorous and strangely melodic. Like Plumacats, Urdrake hunger for the flesh of devils.

Vila — A faerie tree spirit native to Hell before its fall into tyranny and environmental destruction. While many consider the Vila to be an extinct race, a few survive in isolation.

Vortex — A single wheeled conveyance much like a motorcycle used for rapid movement. An engine powered by a wisp and by mined fuel propels these loud and dangerous machines. Vortex wheels are made of knobby metal and coated with glass. This glass continuously grows one to four inch long spikes — turning the machines into lethal weapons.

Wisp – The spiritual body of a soul. Wisps house a person’s unique being. A wisp remaining on Earth or passing into heaven or Hell retains consciousness and experience of a sort. On Earth, wisps are commonly called ghosts. There they are rare, mostly imagined or come in the form of a deep memory — often fleeting. Wisps passing into the great void disperse – losing form and consciousness. But, occasionally, these wisps coalesce in another material body at some point along the Great Arch of Time.

Wolf of Wrath — A demonic transformation into one of Asmodeus’s prophets on Earth. The Wolf of Wrath embodies the sin it is named for in the form of a terrible and twisted demon-wolf that incorporates the lethal traits of numerous creatures. The existence of The Wolf of Wrath on Earth sets off a string of killings and disasters as the demon-wolf’s instinct is to gorge itself in a killing rampage so long as it maintains its form.

Worb — A special device used by devils to hold wisps. They appear as orbs that devils often wear on their shoulder. The most powerful of devils have multiple worbs. Worbs can liquidate wisps in a number of ways — usually using them for power, food, or a kind of diabolical currency. To devils, wisps are the most fungible of all resources.

(Want to read or listen to Myra Helkey’s story? Here is where you can find the Helkey Table of Contents and chapter links.)