Hazbin Hotel D&D Content
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Species (Lineage): Sinner
Whatever you once were, is no more in death. Now you walk with your spiritual scars shown bare on your flesh. Use them well.
Creature Type. You are an Undead.
Size. You are Medium or Small. You choose the size when you gain this lineage.
Speed. Your walking speed is 30 feet.
Spiritual Legacy. If you replace a race with this lineage, you can keep the following elements of that race: any skill proficiencies you gained from it and any climbing, flying, or swimming speed you gained from it. If you don't keep any of those elements or you choose this lineage at character creation, you gain proficiency in two skills of your choice.
Damned Immortality. If you would ever die, you instead remain incapacitated for a period of 3 days until your body heals enough to return you to consciousness. Any further damage to your corpse resets this process.
If you were turned to dust or similar, you re-appear at the space nearest to where you "died" once 3 days pass. Revivify and other resurrection effects will return you back to consciousness per their typical rulings.
CreaThe 6th Circle of Hell, Mahkate Niishwi, or “The Second Darkness”
“Across the sea there are a diverse group of tribes, who all developed an innate understanding of the magical energies permeating everything in this realm. From the stones beneath their feet to the waters they drink. Even the spirits and souls of animals are strong here, an entire race unto themselves called the ‘Totem’ with their own hierarchies and legends such as Coyote and Crow.
A shame, that their descendants did not survive the sons and daughters of Pluto. Yet in Hell, we have the opportunity to learn from the failures of our history. For those of the Americas, the oppressed learned that they would rather be the oppressor.”
-Dante Alighieri, Inferno Pt II
The tribes of North America live and thrive as beings of pure spirit, easily manipulating nature itself to fit their whims. Buildings and towns blend in with the environment, giving the impression of hills and forest for miles nearly unnoticed. A peaceful and idyllic land, where Sinners and Demons have no qualms with each other. The Totem race, souled animals especially plentiful in the Americas, co-exist with the Mahkate and often advise the political leaders and are tied to specific families.
Of course the peace did not last in this Circle, the children of the Tribes stopped manifesting in Hell entirely, and dire news was shared by the newly dead who came in droves. The American colonists that began to manifest in the Circle were confused, isolated, and terribly outnumbered by a people who would not be defeated a second time.
Now Mahkate Niishwi runs on a slave economy with the sons and daughters of Pluto, among other Circles, trapped in their borders. Initially an emotional response to have revenge for their children and bloodlines, now the situation has taken a life unto its own as the newly manifested Sinners quickly outnumber the original Tribes people. Desperately trying to fight the inevitable, the Mahkate turn to ever more brutal measures to dismiss any possibility of uprising, slowly burning political ties to the other Circles who seek justice for their kin and have them returned home.
Will Mahkate Niishwi collapse as a Circle of Hell? Or will its Sinners find a way through the generations of revenge and hatred? Only time will tell...
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FOR DMs
Mahkate Niishwi is simply a reversal of North American history, where the natives enslaved the colonists. Sending a campaign to this Circle guarantees a ton of Sinner VS Sinner stories in the weird wild west of the American continent. Of course you can take this to more of a “man vs nature” campaign, with the party composed of natives, Totem, pure demons, or dignitary characters from other Circles.
DMs should experiment with different groups that have been famously opposed in history, banding together to face mutual threats in Hell. Or with the bureaucratic processes Lucifer would apply to a Circle on the brink of destruction.
"As for my own home in Florence, I quickly found that not even death stopped the Roman Empire. The old pagans quickly reconstituted themselves under the banner of their death god and marched across Europe once more. Stopped only by the machinations and impregnable fortresses of the Nam-Lugal to our east.
Perhaps it is a saving grace that the republic took stewardship of these lands now filled with confused and lost Christians. While it is difficult to confess for Christ's love when we've all been rejected, all have fond nostalgia of those "better" times. Now witch and priest live hand in hand, until it is decided that blood debts must still be paid..."
-Dante Alighieri, Inferno Pt II
On some levels, Pluto is an idyllic Roman-esque land where gargantuan aqueducts bring life giving water and allow transport between settlements. Gothic cathedrals are now manned by witches and warlocks rejected in their time, but now play an essential part of Pride's economy. Sinners worldwide will gladly pay to know their futures from astrologers, or even get a chance to communicate and keep tabs on their living relatives through mystic seers. Even Demons are known to parlay with Plutonian magi, where the Ars Goetia would otherwise deny their requests of knowledge better left forbidden.
Though augury and foresight can only do so much in war and deception. Many old families have brought their feuds and rivalries with them to Hell and vie for control of the grand Senate, hoping ignite the flames of empire once again. Woe to those unwittingly caught in grand conspiracies, cogs in an incalculable machine of prediction and betrayal where all parts are replaceable in time. Yet, just as the war between thrones and families has gotten more sinister in damnation, so too has the war for the soul...
That old Inquisition still haunts Europe, along with Witch Covens that claim to utterly reset a person's soul to its "pure" state. Both factions desire the end of all peace in Hell for the benefit of all, yet couldn't serve more opposed masters.
Pluto gives the impression that its people are at peace in Hell, but in truth it is constantly embroiled in a state of constant civil war and mistrust. Truly it is Hell when everyone you ever met was planning to kill you from the start.
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FOR DMs
Pluto is a “go-to” Circle for adventuring in Vivzie’s Hell, especially for a more urban mystery oriented campaign. DMs should play up the whimsical mega structures and classically beautiful architecture of gothic and roman styles, with the people largely at peace with their current state of affairs.
Pop your players with a sudden and shocking event at any time, from a found murder, to a case of mistaken identities, or mysterious strangers giving cryptic messages. Anything can be the start of a conspiracy for your players to get them involved with Hell’s politics and factions, especially if they don’t want to get involved...
If your players aren’t fond of webs of mystery and conspiracy, Pluto is still a great Circle purely for information especially concerning life or characters on Earth. If your players are willing to pay the hefty price for a diviner worth their salt to break through the planes and contact the mortal realm. Should Earth or spying on other demons not catch their fancy, they can always have their fortunes read. Knowledge of the future can in itself be a plot hook to lead them to more adventure.
The Mother’s Coven and God’s Hammer factions will be discussed as their own unique posts.
Now for something completely different, Circle 4, Fengdu Diyu
"While living I knew of the great Eastern Empires which rivaled the marvels of Rome and seated by powerful learned emperors. How warped Hell has made those people. A man-made "prison" of their own design where even Angels and Demons can be lost for eons. Some say that the laws of Fengdu Diyu are neither Lucifer's, nor God's. Though if it is neither Demonic nor Angelic, then by what power controls that elegant prison?" - Dante Alighieri, Inferno Pt II
The existence of magic can alone warp an entire culture of people beyond recognition, and that is the case with Fengdu Diyu. Qi and Feng Shui are made manifest in Hell, with scholarly traditions utterly enthralled by the possibilities of both. There is no Emperor or even central city and settlement in this Circle, but a constantly shifting political landscape of Overlords. Fengdu is still considered a "Circle" because of the general unified culture and because it has a literal border.
Once one is inside this Circle, all objects from the smallest needle to entire castles begin to move and warp. One moment you will be standing in a kitchen, walk through a door and you will find yourself outside in the garden of another settlement, walk back and you will find yourself in an Overlord's dungeon. This is because all items have been made to automatically follow the rules of Feng Shui, and everything is literally moving around at all times to generate the most Qi possible.
Likewise the culture revolves around generating as much Qi, or power, as possible. Often done through complicated rituals, or acts from murder to lust, with the fastest way to gain power being to "take" it from someone else. Many in Fengdu resort to some form of vampirism or cannibalism to steal the energy from others to power themselves, and promise to teach others how to do the same in Pyramid Scheme fashion.
Finally, Fengdu Diyu is somewhat organized, with odd meetings between all the Overlords in the Circle (a constantly changing roster) to discuss matters that concern the whole Circle. As much as Lucifer wishes he didn't have to deal with them, they are powerful and annoying enough as a whole that he has to acknowledge them as a Circle of Pride.
What happens to those "dead" Overlords? Well the pursuit of knowledge and power is often reckless in Fengdu Diyu, or perhaps, some rituals have the EXACT effect intended, and we just don't understand it yet...
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For DMs
Fengdu Diyu is a pretty crazy area that I humbly don’t recommend you spend too much time in with your players. They will probably get quickly frustrated by the rapidly changing physical and political landscape. While important setting information and lore can be found here, it’s only skin deep, as chances are anyone who starts to learn the truths of Hell in Fengdu will quickly dig too deep and die in the pursuit of forbidden knowledge anyway.
If you insist on having “Inception” be the basis of your sessions, make the players roll for Survival or Arcana anytime they want to leave to a new area, to see if they can actually end up where they desire, and keep those random encounters ready for when they show up uninvited to the middle of a vampire’s dinner.
Now to the 3rd Circle of Pride, India’s own Avichi
"We think only the brave and the mad would stand face to face with those monstrous Exorcists, yet in Avichi, they meet their reapers with peace. For every qualm and drop of existential dread the rest of the world has with their new-found existence in Hell, those Indians carry on as normally as ever.
One would think they were all simply in costume, and not reduced to bare soul ruled by demons. Even the most horrid event of the year becomes one of simple bureaucracy, nay, like sending a loved on a ship to a fantastical new world. They welcome the 2nd death after coming to peace with their pasts, with full faith that they will yet live again.
The most alien people in Hell, are those who do not even acknowledge it."
-Dante Alighieri, Inferno Pt II
According to the Agni Purana, that layer of Hell and the afterlife for awaiting reincarnation is "Avichi" a land for the waveless souls. When one appears in a new place after death, with no immediate or mandatory suffering, what else is a Hindu to do, but live?
A republic with representatives of different settlements and families guides the Circle and keeps a standing military and law enforcement arm. The only difference being that the average citizen is now immortal, and "demons" are merely native spirits to this realm, and are respected as any other citizen of the circle.
And of course, Yamaraja, an ancient Sinner who rivals the Nam-Lugal. According to him, he was the first to die, and did all he could to help others survives in the old hellish Badlands. Eventually made an official King and stopped the eastward expansion of Sargon. Though now, the millennia have weighed on Yamaraja, and he seeks to retire from politics and public life. Though he still retains a voting seek in the Republic with high influence, and is the last line of defense for this Circle. Yet he still loves his people of Avichi, and has sworn to never be taken by the Exorcists, for the sake of his Circle.
Finally, there is the matter of the Purge. See, Avichi's architecture is the most well preserved and consistent of all the Circles, for the Exorcist angels simply, don't, attack...
Instead, they merely wait at the walls and gates of every town or village for those who are finally ready to reincarnate. Parades of people will gladly walk out in orderly lines to be beheaded by the Exorcists. Those who have grown bored of immortality, or have come to terms with their pasts and themselves, ready to start anew once more.
For those foreigners to Avichi, the sight is a gruesome execution of lobbed heads creating a moat of viscera and blood outside the Circle. To those who know the true wrath of the Exorcists and those who truly believe in lives beyond, it is a welcome, and orderly, clean mercy.
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For DMs
Avichi is intended as a location that is the closest to modern day life as is possible in Hell. The NPCs players meet would not be concerned with impending revelations of one’s own life or the world beyond, and would more likely than not behave as anyone would IRL. There’s just a teensy bit more magic to go around, and everyone looks a bit freaky.
You should start new players here as a soft landing, especially with the Manifest Party faction.
Now for the 2nd Circle of the Pride Ring and the oldest Sinner settlement in Hell, Kur!
(1st Circle Pentagram City will be done LAST in this series)
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"Time, is change. Wealth grows in interest, fame spreads as more people tell stories, knowledge and understanding compound to make new connections. But what of good and evil? What happens to a person's humanity if they spend eons in Hell?
Kur, is the answer. Old Sumer ruled by being neither devil nor angel. Yet are so bizarre having been separated from the world for countless millenia few would consider them still "human" in any sense. The 2nd Circle is defined by the "god kings" referred collectively as the Nam-Lugal, who are worshipped, feared, and revered for the secrets they must surely know of the world's youth."
- Dante Alighieri, Inferno Pt II
IMPORTANT NPCS:
Nam-Lugal, the title of the God-Monarchs of Kur, the first city of Sinners. Each unique and individual in their practice and mysteries, whose whims and actions shape reality on a fundamental level within their Circle. They are the only beings with whom Lucifer pays personable interest and respect, for only they remember the world's youth before the cleansing waters came.
Dumuzid "Adonis" - The glorious and beautiful Adonis, formerly long ago known as "Dumuzid" as Kubaba loves to point out, is a Sinner made literally of milk and cream. A Sinner "god" of fertility, he is publicly known to be the only Sinner allowed to travel through the other Rings of Hell, specifically Wrath and Gluttony, to assist with fertility rituals for the world.
After -̶̧̦̹̼͖̩̠͈̻̻̪̩̬̽̀͆͋̌̾-̵̟̩͇̪̊̎̑͊̑̒̈́̎-̷̱̠̫̥̟̺̣̒͋̎͜ͅ-̸̹͉̺̦̲̣̮̲̣̪̳͔̑̏́͌́̄̎̉̔̍̚̚͜-̶̢̛̛̩̠̇͂͐͋̾-̴̨͕͌͐͂̓̽̆̈́͐͐̕-̶̝̪͍̮̺̦̭͉̖͚̈́̈́̏-̸̨͎̜̤͍̬̬͚̉͂͆́̾̔͘͝͠ years, he STILL regularly complains about his missing arm,
and missing genitalia. Apparently cursed to never feel pleasure again by Lucifer. Though that certainly isn't to say he doesn't try.
"Death" - A cloaked figure hunched like a were-beast and who never speaks, but only gives frightened trembling as a response. "Death"'s name came from its interest in the subject, always appearing suddenly in Kur where Sinners experience their 2nd Death. It picks at the remains, drawing still pulsing bodies into graffiti symbols for unknown rituals, and taking back body parts of interest to its personal sanctum.
Notably, "Death" seems to avoid mirrors and other reflective surfaces at all costs, it will never approach the ocean.
Kubaba - The Bartending-Lawyer goddess of Kur. She has run the same clay hovel bar for as long as she's been in Hell, but within Kubaba's Bar Sinners will find it far larger within than without, with rooms and tables spanning the fashion and sensibilities of all human history. She is the only worker of her establishment, and everyone is inexplicably within arm's reach of her. No one "orders" at her bar, they simply place money or valuables which she collects, and serves what she wants. No one dares to argue.
Her powers of Law allow her to suspend and command the magics and golem armies of Kur at will, even summoning anyone in the Circle to her bar instantly if she so pleases. Though her most notable trait is whenever 2 or more people beginning arguing in earshot of her. She will summon both to her bar and listen intently as she continues to work. After she has heard enough, she will instantly kill whoever she perceives as the "loser" of the argument, turning their soul into a delicious liquor for the victor to drink.
While horrifying, it's supposedly her best drink!
Sargon - The Emperor of Emperors, whose bloodline alone derives divine rights. Age and frailty gnaw at the once proud king's body. Even though he is made of pure blood, it coagulates and cracks unnervingly with every moment, every guttural word seems as painful to hear as it is for him to speak it.
Though he is claimed to be the strongest, or at least most politically invested of the Nam-Lugal. He calls the others to council, and is the first response to any threats to the Circle of Kur. Acting to any threat of the city with immense magical might, minus of course the Exorcists.
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For all the cultures and religions that have ascended and fallen in the Earth's fertile crescent region, the Nam-Lugal were there first and have had the most time to hone their powers so that none may challenge them. Some Sinners turn to the Nam-Lugal and revere them as gods, hoping to learn of their ways and curry their favor. Most people simply try to live their lives as they always have. Though they must contend with the autonomous Golems which serve the Overlords of the Circle without fail, and the passive rituals active throughout Kur which care not if those passing by understand what those runes are for.
Those new natives of Kur learn quickly to take up residence in abandoned structures whose dimensions within are larger than those without. Often left behind by previous owners who were selected for sacrifice where lamb and bird simply would not do enough, on the nights of eclipse, solstice, and equinox. Others build their own homes entirely from scratch and try to retain as much "humanity" to their communities as possible. Though when those magical days come, many more will die in the stampedes to holy sites such as the Temple Mount or Golgatha. Golems and Demons seem unable to pass through those spaces or affect them, but they only have so much room, and Hell is already so overpopulated...
Hundreds die in the flee to safety, not realizing they would be safer waiting to see if they would have been "selected" at all for sacrifice by their rulers.
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FOR DMs
Kur is meant to to be a mysterious settlement that can show off an early power ceiling to the players. DMs can freely change up members of the Nam-Lugal to their taste, but ideally they are all truly ancient and powerful humans from history who keep an air of mystery about them. All of these entities, if not being antediluvian, should at least have a major trait related to water or liquid in some capacity.
As per the above example, Kubaba turns people into drinks, Adonis and Sargon are made of liquids, and “Death” avoids the oceans and reflective surfaces (water would count).
The entire location revolves around the Nam-Lugal and their eccentricities, jobs, or personalities. At least one of them should be approachable to the players to better connect and understand the town, and to give important quest or setting information. Even if they still only speak in cryptic ramblings.
Book cover by LadyGValentine
Bartender by Glenn Hilario
Got inspired to create a D&D Setting book for VivziePop’s Hazbin Hotel / Helluva Boss. Enjoy the first faction~
"In many cultures when one dies, the people expect fire and brimstone leading to immortality in agony, or angelic comfort and hymns everlasting. No one expected the party hats, poppers, and whistles. Though I suppose I was lucky to be found, and lucky that day there was extra budget for cake.
The fire and brimstone, came later."
-Dante Alighieri, Inferno Pt II
The Manifest Party is the most respected faction and non-profit organization in Pride, for as much weight the word "respect" carries in Hell. Their mission is to find the location of every new Sinner who manifests in Hell and acclimate them to their newfound immortality. Before the wildlife, natives, or sheer culture shock kill them first!-Originally the name was a joking insult, but the volunteers decided to make it official. They're the world's only professional roving birthday party. Whether your found in ruins, someone's basement, or avoiding shrapnel, they'll make sure the first words you hear are a dorky "Happy Man-i-fest, To You!"
Structurally they are managed by a Board of Directors manned by veteran volunteers, Circle representatives (to claim desirable Sinners of their cultures), and wealthy benefactors. Without whom they could never pay volunteers to seek new Sinners during the Purge.
IMPORTANT NPCs:
Ditaolane - The Sotho hero who was never appreciated in his time. He is the founder of the Manifest Party, and eventually made a found family of unclaimed Sinners he rescued.
Agares, the Duke - For some reason, a member of the Ars Goetia took an interest in the Manifest Party. As much as the Party wishes they could be funded off the phone lines alone, this Duke of Hell is the man who keeps the lights on. Typically, the old demon is capricious and will randomly threaten or pull funding for bizarre requests or literally overnight before re-instating funding.
IN PLAY:
The Manifest Party is intended as a “first faction” for the players to meet and slowly introduce them into the world of VivziePop’s Hell. Ditaolane is meant to be a mentor character for the players early on and a trustworthy protective force. Agares is someone who should drive the players deeper into the plot and show off more of the demons’ and Hell’s eccentricities.
Cover Art by LadyGValentine
Agares by yukke001
Venom - Black Panther (Ditaolane's Sinner look) by Eric's Artverse
