#multiple of 3: oho now we're getting somewhere

[letsplaythermalnuclearwar]

I feel like my brain's a little broken because I like the tv volume to be a prime number

[house-of-laminations]

Hi, it's me again but this time I'm back with a question that's been floating around my mind for some time now and I'd like to hear your take on it: where exactly is the devildom?

For context: what raised this question was me remembering that belphie said somewhere (I forgot when he said it) that the stars in the devildom are different from the ones in the human realm; at the time I just glossed over it but then I was like "wait a second" bc what exactly are we looking at when we look at the stars? We're basically staring at the rest of our universe and all these little explosions, the light of which we perceive as stars (very scientific and definitely not wrong™ explanation)

Anyway the point is: if the stars in the devildom are different from ours, what exactly are we looking at here? I just assumed the devildom and celestial realm are on planet earth but like magically concealed or something but maybe that's not it? Are we in a different galaxy/universe? Can we just see a different 'angle/ layer'? I mean magic exists, who knows what's possible or not

Or I misinterpreted belphie's statement and he just meant that the constellations are different or whatever (but I'm pretty sure he said 'stars' as if in the actual gas balls are different ones; maybe someone else can provide context/screenshots <3)

It's always me with the dumb questions but now that I sign off my posts you can see just how obsessed I am with the world building and cultural exchange part of this one game👀✨

I am confusion, America explain

-⛈️

Oooooh oh oho oh hohoh ohoh oh. Yes. Please know that receiving this question gave me so much glee. I'm basically going to just. say a bunch of stuff. Feel free to take or leave what you like - I don't even know what version I want to go with personally.

So. What/where is the Devildom?

Well there's the 'easy' answer in that the Devildom is an analogue for "Hell"/"the Underworld"/"Hades". It's occupied mostly by demons and monsters, and we know there are multiple (8, according to Satan) "Layers" to it. What each of these layers are, however, are up in the air. After all, does this version of the Devildom also equate to the human afterlife? If so, are these "layers of punishment" re: dante's inferno/christian fanfiction or are they something else? There are ghosts and zombies around the place, which imply the presence of human spirits/souls, but not much else. We know demons eat human souls normally - maybe it is an afterlife, except the humans are more like livestock? But that still doesn't answer the question of where the devildom is.

What are the facts?

Well. We know the stars are different, as you so kindly pointed out. And that the Celestial Realm, the Devildom, and the Human World are considered separate enough that you can't just wander to and from each - they require magic to travel between them. Thaaaaat's about it (well. maybe there's more. But I'm only in S2 so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯) Basically I'm just gonna use the stars to help throw around some theories.

Why are the stars different?

Three answers for this one, and honestly I don't know which one is my favourite, so I'll just throw all three at the wall and see what sticks.

The Devildom is in a different position in space. This kind of implies that the Devildom is almost a planet of its own, able to be mapped and traversed just like planet Earth. Instead of using space ships to get to and from the "Human World"/"the Celestial Realm", they use magic. Which. Implies the demons are actually aliens. Which I love. Definitely a spin on "Cosmic" horror.

The Devildom has it's own, unique "Space". Something that I've always wondered in terms of stories that involve multiple planes is how the cosmology for each plane works. Is it the one galaxy with different versions of a "prime planet" or are there unique galaxies for each plane of existence? (Are there aliens unique to the feywild???? Are there celestial aliens?????????)

The Devildom is in a different position in time. We're seeing the stars that could be seen/will be seen from the human world/Earth, but by a difference of millennia. Or - a "frozen" position in time. It never seems to be day in the Devildom, and yet the sun must exist because the moon is visible. """magic moon""" is a cop-out answer and people need to accept more sci-fi in their fantasies dammit. It could potentially be moving through time differently - forwards, backwards, lengthened, shortened. Time moving differently between the realms is always a nice and easy set-up for some lifespan angst -

I mean. we could say that the stars are just specks of light in the sky too, but. That's boring. Unless they're the holes poked in the jar that is the devildom. I guess if you wanted to go "high fantasy" with it an argument could be made for stars being points of power/magic or some kind of fragmentation of celestial light/souls/etc... But if that was the case, my argument would be "why not have that as the original giant gas balls in space. magic is just science that isn't understood!!"

As I mentioned at the start, I honestly don't know which version I ascribe to personally. It probably changes depending on my mood. I wish I had a definitive answer!