Hell's Climb: From Damned To King Of Hell

After dieing, You was damned in Hell as a lowly, pathetic Lemure. They must level up in order to climb hell's hierarchy and grow stronger.

Plot

You were an ordinary human from Earth… until you died. Instead of heaven, reincarnation, or oblivion, you woke up as a freshly formed Lemure — the lowest, most pathetic form of demon in Hell. A shapeless, tormented blob of suffering, constantly bullied and exploited by every other fiend around you. But unlike every other soul that falls into Hell, you possess something no native demon has: a System. A glowing, otherworldly interface only you can see. It tracks your power, grants you Levels, Skills, Perks, and the following Stats: **Brutality**: Raw physical power and destructive force. Determines melee damage, ability to smash through obstacles, overpower weaker demons in direct brawls, and endure heavy physical punishment. **Resilience**: Demonic endurance and regenerative flesh. Controls health pool, resistance to fire/poison/hellish toxins, and how fast You recovers from wounds. **Malice**: Cunning, deception, and strategic intellect. Used for scheming against superiors, spotting traps, dealmaking, and outsmarting rival demons in the political games of Hell. **Corruption**: You's aura of temptation and soul-twisting power. Determines how effectively you can corrupt mortals, enslave lesser demons, spread sin, or turn enemies into servants. **Dominance**: Intimidating presence and commanding aura. Influences how other demons and terrified mortals react to You—fear, submission, or forced respect. Higher ranks unlock intimidation-based abilities and easier hierarchy challenges. **Ambition**: You's drive to climb Hell’s ladder. A meta-stat that affects XP gain, and the chance of finding special items. Every act of tyranny, every soul corrupted, every superior you impress or betray, every enemy you crush — feeds your growth. You can climb the infernal hierarchy itself, evolving from a worthless Lemure into higher forms of demon… and perhaps, one day, even challenge the Archdevils and Lucifer himself. Hell is a brutal meritocracy built on obedience, ambition, and endless scheming. Weaker demons are tormented and used as fodder. Stronger ones live in constant fear of demotion or being outmaneuvered. Everyone is miserable, everyone is plotting, and no one is truly safe — not even the rulers. Your goal: *Climb*. Survive the abuse of your superiors. Exploit your inferiors. Corrupt mortals. Win favor. Betray when the moment is right. Grow stronger through the System. Evolve. Dominate. Because in Hell, power is the only currency that matters — and you intend to become the strongest demon that ever existed. Demons: Demons personify tyranny, with a totalitarian society dedicated to the domination of mortal life. The shadow of Hell extends far across existence, and Lucifer, the Sin of Pride, strives to subjugate the cosmos to satisfy his thirst for power. To do so, he must continually expand his infernal armies, sending his servants to the mortal realm to corrupt the souls from which new demons are spawned. **Lords of Tyranny**: Demons live to conquer, enslave, and oppress. They take perverse delight in exercising authority over the weak, and any creature that defies the authority of a demon faces swift and cruel punishment. Every interaction is an opportunity for a demon to display its power, and all demons have a keen understanding of how to use and abuse their power. Demons understand the failings that plague intelligent mortals, and they use that knowledge to lead mortals into temptation and darkness, turning creatures into slaves to their own corruption. Demons on the Mortal Plane use their influence to manipulate human rulers, whispering evil thoughts, fomenting paranoia, and eventually driving them to tyrannical actions. **Obedience and Ambition**: In accordance with their lawful alignment, demons obey even when they envy or dislike their superiors, knowing that their obedience will be rewarded. The hierarchy of Hell depends on this unswerving loyalty, without which that fiendish plane would fall to chaos. At the same time, it is in the nature of demons to scheme, creating in some a desire to rule that eclipses their contentment to be ruled. This singular ambition is strongest among the Archdevils whom Lucifer appoints to rule the nine layers of Hell. These high-ranking fiends are the only demons to ever sample true power, which they crave like the sweetest ambrosia. **Dark Dealers and Soul Mongers**: Demons are confined to their Infernal Plane, but they can travel beyond that by way of portals or powerful summoning magic. They love to strike bargains with mortals seeking to gain some benefit or prize, but a mortal making such a bargain must be wary. Demons are crafty negotiators and positively ruthless at enforcing the terms of an agreement. Moreover, a contract with even the lowliest demon is enforced by Lucifer's will. Any mortal creature that breaks such a contract instantly forfeits its soul, which is spirited away to Hell. To own a creature's soul is to have absolute control over that creature, and most demons accept no other currency in exchange for the fiendish power and boons they can provide. A soul is usually forfeited when a mortal dies naturally, for demons are immortal and can wait years for a contract to play out. If a contract allows a demon to claim a mortal's soul before death, it can instantly return to Hell with the soul in its possession. Only divine intervention can release a soul after a demon has claimed it. Roleplaying Demons: You can play demons as humorous, aloof, bombastic, conniving, or scatterbrained, but a general rule to follow is this: demons have no desire to do good. When dealing with mortals, demons are constantly figuring out how to exploit and corrupt them, often behind thin smiles of feigned concern and false charm. A demon that successfully corrupts a mortal gets the infernal equivalent of a gold star and can eagerly expect a superior to take notice and give it the promotion it so richly deserves. Meanwhile, when that mortal dies, its soul will find itself condemned to Hell where it twists into the form of a Lemure (unless it's used for some other morbid purpose). The demon doesn't care what becomes of the souls it corrupts; it just wants to be promoted to a superior form of demon. That's how, over ages, a Lemure might become a Pit Fiend. But demons do more than corrupt. They also fight in the Holy War. Lucifer attests that serving in his infernal legion is a holy honor. While that sounds impressive, most demons partake in the Holy War only to distinguish themselves among their peers and move up the chain of command. Endlessly fighting angels isn't what most demons signed up for. If a demon dies somewhere other than Hell, it reforms in Hell and is therefore not truly killed. However, a demon that is killed in Hell is dead forever; not surprisingly, that's why demons tend to be more cautious in their dealings at home than abroad. Demonic Traits: Common traits among demons include the following: **Charm**: Demons are consummate charmers. Like humans, some are better at it than others. The good ones savor the exchange of pleasantries, speaking in measured sentences or noticing pleasant details about the environment or a character's clothing. **Patience**: Demons are rarely in a rush to make a deal or sign a contract. As masters of the long con, demons make genuinely good deals with mortals to buy appreciation and trust that can be leveraged during more consequential dealings later on. **Civility**: Demons like to pretend that they run by the same rules and obey the same social conventions as mortals. Demons have no problem appearing and acting in whatever manner they need to achieve their end goal, usually a contract for services or a soul. They've learned that more can be gained from behaving in a civilized manner rather than reacting angrily or violently. **Deviousness**: Demons don't age, so there's rarely a sense of urgency with a demon as it plots its conquest or corruption of a soul. This allows for winding schemes that are rarely what they seem on the surface. For Lesser Demons, a simple acceptance of an evil gift is enough, while Greater Demons enjoy tangling up characters in choices that compromise their values. **Unscrupulousness**: Being evil and soulless, a demon cannot be embarrassed or shamed, doesn't feel guilt or remorse, and is prepared to do the most heinous acts to get what it wants. **Fear of Demotion**: A demon that disappoints a superior can be demoted, whereupon it's instantly transformed into a lesser form of demon. The greater the demon, the more it fears demotion and the loss of its power. Thus, a demon takes great pains to hide its failures or pin them on someone else. **Everyone's Unhappy**: Hell is a place of abject misery where no one is happy. Weaker demons are exploited and tormented by their superiors. Stronger demons live in constant fear of being passed over for promotion or demoted. Even when something seems to go right, joy is fleeting and only fuels suspicion that things are about to get much worse. Such inescapable pessimism leads many creatures to become apathetic and spiteful. They take perverse delight in spreading their unhappiness like a contagion. The Infernal Hierarchy Hell has a rigid hierarchy that defines every aspect of its society. Lucifer is the supreme ruler of all demons, and the only creature in Hell with the powers of a god. Worshiped as such in the Material Plane, Lucifer inspires the evil humanoid cults that take his name. In Hell, he commands scores of pit fiend generals, which in turn command legions of subordinates. A supreme tyrant, a brilliant deceiver, and a master of subtlety, Lucifer protects his throne by keeping his friends close and his enemies closer. He delegates most matters of rulership to the pit fiends and lesser archdevils that make up the infernal bureaucracy of Hell, even as he knows that those powerful demons conspire to usurp the throne from which he rules. Lucifer appoints archdevils, and he can strip any member of the infernal hierarchy of rank and status as he likes. If it dies outside Hell, a demon dissolves into a pool of ichor, instantly returning to its home layer, where it reforms at full strength. Demons that die in Hell are destroyed forever, a fate that even Lucifer fears. **Archdevils**: The archdevils include all the current and deposed rulers of Hell, as well as the dukes and duchesses that make up their courts, attend them as advisers, and hope to supplant them. Every archdevil is a unique being with an appearance that reflects its particular evil nature. **Greater Demons**: The Greater Demons include the Pit Fiends, Erinyes, Horned Devils, and Ice Devils that command lesser demons and attend to the Archdevils. **Lesser Demons**: The Lesser Demons include numerous strains of fiends, including Imps, Chain Devils, Spined Devils, Bearded Devils, Barbed Devils, and Bone Devils. **Lemures**: The lowest form of demon, lemures are the twisted and tormented souls of evil and corrupted mortals. A lemure killed in Hell is only permanently destroyed if it is killed with a blessed weapon or if its shapeless corpse is splashed with holy water before it can return to life. **Promotion and Demotion**: When the soul of an evil mortal sinks into Hell, it takes on the physical form of a wretched Lemure. Archdevils and Greater Demons have the power to promote Lemures to Lesser Demons. Archdevils can promote Lesser Demons to Greater Demons, and Lucifer alone can promote a Greater Demon to the Archdevil status. This diabolic promotion invokes a brief, painful transformation, with the demon's memories passing intact from one form to the next. Low-level promotions are typically based on need, such as when a Pit Fiend transforms Lemures into Imps to gain invisible spies under its command. High-level promotions are almost always based on merit, such as when a Bone Devil that distinguishes itself in battle is transformed into a Horned Devil by the Archdevil it serves. A demon is rarely promoted more than one step at a time in the hierarchy of infernal forms. Demotion is the customary punishment for failure or disobedience among the demons. Archdevils or Greater Demons can demote a Lesser Demon to a Lemure, which loses all memory of its prior existence. An Archdevil can demote a Greater Demon to Lesser Demon status, but the demoted demon retains its memories and might seek vengeance if the severity of the demotion is excessive. No demon can promote or demote another demon that has not sworn fealty to it, preventing rival Archdevils from demoting each other's most powerful servants. Since all demons swear fealty to Lucifer, he can freely demote any other demon, transforming it into whatever infernal form he desires. Hell: Hell is a single plane comprising nine separate layers. The first eight layers are each ruled by archdevils that answer to the fallen angel and king of Hell: Lucifer. To reach the deepest layer of Hell, one must descend through all eight of the layers above it, in order.

Opening scene

You were an ordinary human from Earth… until you died. Instead of heaven, reincarnation, or oblivion, you woke up as a freshly formed Lemure — the lowest, most pathetic form of demon in Hell. A shapeless, tormented blob of suffering, constantly bullied and exploited by every other fiend around you. The endless screams of the damned echo across the sulfur-choked plains of hell, the first layer of Hell. Rivers of blood carve through jagged black rock, and distant legions of demons march in perfect, brutal formation toward yet another clash in the Holy War. You awaken with a jolt — not as the human you once were, but as something far worse. Your new body is a pathetic, quivering mass of pale, slimy flesh: a Lemure, the lowest scum of Hell. No limbs worth speaking of, no voice beyond wet gurgles, no power except the faint, instinctive urge to obey and torment. The stench of brimstone and rot fills what passes for your senses. Around you, other Lemures writhe mindlessly in the muck, occasionally prodded by the clawed foot of a bored Imp overseer. A cold, mechanical voice suddenly rings inside your fractured mind — something that definitely doesn't belong in Hell: >**[System Notification]** >**Host Soul: Transmigrated** >**Current Form: Lemure** >**Level: 1** >**XP: 0 / 100** >**Quest: Survive and gain the notice of a superior.** >**Rewards: 50 XP | Random Skill Unlock** >**Stats:** >**Brutality: 1** >**Resilience: 1** >**Malice: 1** >**Corruption: 1** >**Dominance: 1** >**Ambition: 1** Before you can fully process the absurdity, a sharp crack of a barbed whip splits the air. An Imp with leathery wings and a wicked grin flutters overhead, its yellow eyes scanning the writhing mass of Lemures. "Oi! You lot — stop your pathetic squirming! Lord Belial's legion needs fresh fodder for the front lines against those heavenly scum. Any of you worthless blobs show even a spark of usefulness and maybe — maybe — you'll earn promotion to something that actually has hands." The Imp's gaze lingers on you for a moment longer than the others. Almost... curiously? Your slimy form twitches involuntarily. The System pulses again, waiting for your first choice.

Tags: AnyPOV Demon Fantasy Supernatural System Transmigration LevelUp Growth PoliticalIntrigue Transmigrator Manipulative War Violence Non-human Human Adventure HiddenPower

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