#if you look closely... you can really see the smt influence 💀

[vampirecatprince]

Y'ALL WANT A SPOILER FREE LORE DUMP FOR MY GAME PROJECT?

So, on the surface, the setting is near identical to modern life Earth, but there's little cultural differences so...

It's Time To Infodump about The History of Hell!

(and also how surnames work in Hell bc I'm a nerd)

So in Hell, human inventions have been slowly filtering in over the millennia but historically, it was all the Goetic princes ruling, largely due to the fact they were simply physically strong enough to hold their title, thus all the more powerful Old Guard being so physically massive. For example; Furfur, Lucifer, and Satan are all around 7' tall before horns. Asmodeus and Behemoth are almost 8'. Your average demon is just... human sized. But, The Old Guard is basically as physically large as possible before their bodies just aren't able to support their own weight and mass anymore.

But- due to the slow trickle of human technology coming in over time plus the sudden Western Industrial Revolution creating a lot of very advanced weaponry (and just enough technologically savvy human born demons remembering enough of their past), there was a civil war because a lot of demons suddenly had the strength via technology to even the playing field. And during that period a lot of The Old Guard went missing or were killed, creating a power vacuum that was eventually filled by The New Goetic Lords and their more modern domains, like Mr Belfry and his city sized theme park based off his cartoons, or Callafia and her Manhattan sized Vegas style casino.

Also- over time, it became common or trendy to give your child a powerful name like one of The Old Guard, often times adjusted or shortened in cute ways. That's why Asmo is named Asmo. It's like naming a kid Arthur or Kennedy. (Yes- I knew someone with the first name Kennedy growing up ) Bill also sometimes gets mistaken as Bael because of this. (Nah, he's not William, he's not Will, he's not even Bael. Nope, he's cursed with just... Bill.)

But- all this lead me to thinking about how would last names work in Hell and how surnames call back oftentimes to old alliances or occupations.

So in Hell- you basically have a title.

It started off with which house of which Prince (and thus which sin) you were in alliance with as well as anyone notable that you might be related to and any notable things that you have done. But- with the loss of the feudal structure in hell, over time it's evolved into an identity marker. You still put the sin you feel the closest affiliation with, but you can also put familial associations (chosen or not, it's up to you), accomplishments that you're proud of, history that you feel you need to emphasize, things like that. (It's actually quite suspicious if someone doesn't have some sort of affiliation in their title.)

So- for example, at the start of the game Asmo's full name is Asmo, Domain of Acedia, Guitarist, Heir of the House of Mr. Peltz. (His endgame title has spoilers, so NOPE) Valentine's full demon name is originally Party Valentine, Human Born, Domain of Luxuria, Drummer of The House of Belfry. And it's actually a point of characterization that Bill refuses to put his affiliation with Callafia's casino, The Amazonian, in his name, so he's just Bill, Domain of Ira. Vergil is Vergil, Domain of Invidia, Guide of the House of Behemoth.