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There's no such thing as a Tinder for plurals, specifically for alters, so my friends and I worked together to make this because uhhh. Idk for funsies?
Note: There *is* a nsfw section. You can delete this if you need.
Hey there! I'm an OSDD 1B system and we have alters from greek mythology that have shared their experiences with the underworld, and I've compiled it all into one semi coherent autistic ramble. Below the cut is a very long yap about how the underworld works in their conceptualizations. If that makes no sense to you and you don't feel like learning about OSDD then just think of this as an autistic ramble of how I think the underworld works in the book im writing :)
When you die, you become a "Shade" - Other translations use Spirit, Soul, Ghost, Etc, but you get the point. A ghostly copy of yourself. However, in my interprtation, ghosts and spirits are ghostly apparations stuck in the mortal realm that cannot be touched or seen, while shades are physical.
A Shade takes the form of the person's "prime" - For example, even though Odysseus dies as an old man, his Shade appears as the 37 year old man he was during The Odyssey, or the fact Tieresias was a 300 something year old man upon his death but appears as the young man that accidentally stumbled upon a Goddess. You get the point.
Wounds that occured at the time of death appear as healed over scars, and any missing limbs that occured before the heart stopped beating will be left as stumps. Any injuries that occur on the body after the heart stops beating or consciousness is lost do not appear on the Shade.
A Shade cannot die a second time unless they are granted another chance at mortality by Hades Himself or choose reincarnation. However, a shade can be harmed, get sick, etc. The difference is that if a shade were to be dealt a fatal blow or were to die in any other normal circumstances, they would instead "Dissipate".
Dissipating means your form scatters and then reforms back together. If you sustained any non fatal injuries (Ex. Got your arm cut off) before the fatal blow, you would reform without any trace of those and any other wounds you may have sustained. Your shade form resets to default, but you still remember everything just fine. You'd have pretty shitty phantom pain for a while, but it'd fade eventually.
Shades do not automatically go to the underworld. There is a pull towards it, but some choose to linger on the surface to watch after their loved ones or end up getting stuck somehow. More often than not, Hermes shows up to help the shades that can't make it on their own and takes them down to the Styx.
At the Styx resides a daemon by the name of Charon. Daemons are spirits that somehow became a physical embodiment of a concept rather than being a shade, usually due to a God for one reason or another. I'm not exactly sure what Charon is the concept of, perhaps simply the concept of guidance, but he is the ferryman that takes souls to the Judgement Hall.
Unfortunately you had to pay Charon 2 Drachma (Charon was only a ferryman after drachma were invented. Before then Hermes helped souls cross but he was extremely overworked from it) for him to let you cross, or he'd just leave you on the beach. This is why drachma were placed on the eyes of the deceased.
However, due to the fact it was rare for people to be able to bury the dead during wars and such, and that only heroes can get to Elysium, something sort of had to be done so that the heroes from war could…You know, pay the ferryman
The kingdoms the warriors came from would have the warriors family's reserve drachma in case the warrior dies. If the soldier does not return from battle, they state the name in a prayer and bury it in their backyard
Ex. The Ithaca Family ™️ did Not have drachma buried with them but Diomedes did the above ritual so they'd be able to cross.
Upon arriving in front of the judges, Minos, Rhadamanthus, and Aeacus, they judge you based on like. everything. Minos was the head judge and held the final say on decisions, Rhadamanthus was known for his impartial judgements (although he mostly judged the dead from Asia) and he was responsible for determining punishments for the souls damned to tartarus Aeacus mostly did record keeping and maintained order, while mostly dealing with the judgement of the dead in Europe.
There were 3 different places the judges could send you to: Tartarus, Asphodel, or Elysium.
Tartarus, sometimes known as the Fields of Punishment, was the place where those who pissed off Gods, did horrible things, or overall lived unjust lives according to the Judges were condemned to be punished. Rhadamanthus or Hades Himself would determine the exact punishment for these damned souls, and the punishments would be upheld by the Furies, harpy-like daemons of Punishment.
Elysium, on the other hand, was described as a Hero's Paradise. Beautiful structures, warm lights, cushy homes, statues of heroes, fighting rings, etc. Whatever these shades desired they would recieve. While there is a common misconception due to later beliefs or certain translations that the only way to get into Elysium is by dying in battle, there are other ways, especially considering some who died in battle could still be sent to Tartarus or Asphodel. If a mortal serves a God very well they may tell Hades to keep them safe, if a Hero desires for a family member or a lover to be brought from Asphodel to them, and overall if you are judged to have been a Hero in some way you are a candidate for Elysium. While harder to get in, it isn't as impossible to get into as some other religions make their "Paradises".
The Fields of Asphodel are for those the judges decide fit neither in Tartarus or Elysium. It is a foggy, sleepy field, and it's so overcrowded with ordinary souls that it's hard for shades to find their loved ones in the sea- And because the Fields of Asphodel are so close to River Lethe, (The river of Forgetfulness) it is very common for shades to forget what their loved ones looked like.
There are five rivers in the underworld, four of which branch off the first one that encircles the entirety of the underworld: The Styx.
The Styx represents the boundary between the living and the dead, as well as binds people to oaths- The Gods swear to the Styx for important matters, as if one was to break such an oath terrible things would befall them. It has been shown that if a demigod were to bathe in the styx and survive, either with a weak point sticking out of the rivers tide or thinking very hard about a weak point that could be tied metaphorically to a physical spot depending on the myth, then that demigod could be impervious to mortal wounds everywhere except that spot- In return, however, that spot is extremely sensitive and fatal to hit.
An option for both those in Elysium and Asphodel is reincarnation, where you submerge yourself in the River Lethe and forget your past life to become a different being. However, this is usually chosen by those in Asphodel as a chance to reach Elysium in their next life, and unless a Heroic Soul finds themselves tired of paradise it's unlikely they would choose reincarnation when they have reached eternal peace.
In Tartarus, there is always a chance of redemption, but most punishments make this redemption next to impossible to reach. Sisyphus, for example, was granted redemption if he were to push the rock off the edge of his cliff, and yet he remains pushing that rock to this day. For those who committed smaller sins, it may have been possible for them to redeem themselves, but I have yet to read any stories of these redemptions. Those condemned are usually considered beyone redemption, after all.
Cocytus, the river of wailing flows through all parts of the underworld, mostly in Tartarus, a medium amount in Asphodel, and a small amount in Elysium. Being near this river will cause mortal shades to cry and become severely depressed over things that have happened unless they have dipped in the River Lethe and do not remember or know the feeling of sorrow.
Acheron is described as the River of Pain or Torment. In some stories, this is the river Charon crosses instead of the Styx. This river flows mostly through Tartarus, but spills just slightly into Asphodel. Getting too close, you can hear the screams of torment of all of the souls, and if you get any closer you'll get dragged in with them and are forced to relive every painful experience in your life, joining the choir of screams. The only ones immune are those who have bathed in Lethe and do not know the feeling of pain.
Finally, the River Phlegathon, also known as the River of Flames. This river flows equally through Tartarus and Asphodel, and is pretty much what you'd expect: A river of flaming blood, used mostly to punish murderers and other violent offenders, but considering the sheer amount it began flooding from Tartarus into Asphodel.
My friend @multimonorail 3d printed the official popcorn bucket file out and shipped it to me and I commissioned my irl friend @ walterthe_only1 on instagram to paint it. LOOK HOW COOL IT IS! Check him out if you're interested in getting something as awesome as this! He usually paints figurines or dinosaurs, but he's also willing to do stuff like this! IM SO HAPPY. Picking it up in a few hours.
