I am just curious, but how do you/the imms see Satan, and specifically his story in relation to the pantheon of Thera and its history?

Scarab is the father of devils, so Satan would logically be his son, but nothing in the inferno that I am aware of specifically talks about his past or how he got to where he is.

Do we simply assume that the entirety of the pantheon is a stand in for Yahweh, and he rebelled against all of it along with a host of angels? Would Scarab not side with him? Is there a story?

nt

First, I think it appropriate to mention that Inferno itself is far from a biblical model of Hell. In Christianity, Hell (γέεννα; "gehenna" or the lake of fire) is unpopulated until the final judgment and Hades/Sheol (ᾅδης; שְׁאֹל) is pretty clearly not in Dante's mind; in Inferno, the damned are already present, already facing an eternal judgment. In Christianity, Satan and his cohorts face the same torment as the damned; in Inferno, the devils do not suffer and are in charge and handing out punishment in Hell. In Christianity, Satan roams the world as accuser and tempter; in Inferno, Satan is trapped in the underworld. Additionally, Inferno is a cosmological chimera in which mythological figures and monsters roam as if real. So Inferno itself is not working within a particularly Christian worldview.

Second, trying to replace the uncaused Creator with the CF pantheon only introduces further problems. In Christianity, Satan rebels against God but is still just a (vastly inferior) created being and remains subject to his sovereignty; in CF we have a host of immortals who battle against each other in some mysterious way and rebellion is just a way of immortal life (and there is no Supreme Being to rebel against). There is no paradigm of the created rebelling against the will of the Creator or of the Creator then reconciling himself with his creation. Instead we have this Greco-Roman cosmology in which the gods are merely powerful but flawed beings that war against each other and can either bless or curse mortals with the power they have. Satan (who was renamed in CF some time ago) becomes something like these pagan gods, the steward over the Inferno and a being of great power.

The afterlife in CF is something we have never talked about much, but would probably be a worthwhile pursuit at some point.

Regarding naming, "Father of Devils" explains the relationship between Scarabaeus and the rulers of Inferno, rather than revealing some kind of genealogy. In-game I don't think we have ever explored exactly what that relationship is—creator of Hell or merely ruler over devilkind?

Does that help?

Both in relation to Carrion Fields and Inferno vs biblical hell.

Seriously, thanks a ton for being so in depth, and if you ever wonder "Should I elaborate more? I already said a lot" - Absolutely yes. Posts like this rock my boat.

You should think about investing in a new boat. When something as intangible as a forum post on the internet rocks it... well, you won't be making it far before capsizing.



Don't be the Titanic.

And it's starting to crumble!





Also, recently went to a Titanic exhibit at a museum, including cute little trinkets from the dead ship, and there was a little 'game' of sorts you did when you went to make it more entertaining (to put more bluntly - to make more than just old people want to come).

You got a card, random, at the start of the exhibit which provided you your name, class, etc. for the character you would be for the rest of the exhibit.

And yes, you guessed right.
I got John Jacob Astor.
Bitches jelly of my billionaire luck.

I hear the best watery grave is a rich watery grave.

I wanted to contrast the biblical Hell with what is found in Inferno because in popular culture there is little familiarity with the mechanics of the Christian hell, primarily because of the literary embellishments of ancient apocryphal/pseudepigraphal works (such as the Apocalypse of Paul) which fueled the medieval imagination and inspired writers such as Dante. Even among layperson Christians there is some confusion between Hades/Sheol and Gehenna/the lake of fire, a confusion which largely stems from inconsistency in translating the two Greek terms involved (sometimes mapping both to the English term "hell").

Having an internally consistent model for just about anything matters to me, even in a fantasy world. I have never been completely happy with our general agnosticism regarding afterlife, but I don't see that changing any time soon.

Having an internally consistent model ... matters.

One thing I absolutely love about this game is the intricate story that can be discovered throughout Thera. How/why certain areas interlink, their stories, the people in them, etc. etc.

Is the Divine Comedy a good read? I do not doubt it's an interesting one, but I wonder if it's fun to read or something you have to work yourself through?

It is not light reading and (should you give it a go) I would suggest reading it with a commentary unless you have a pretty comprehensive knowledge of the ancient/medieval world. If the epic poetry of Homer captures your imagination, then you'll find it an interesting read. If not, you might find it pretty laborious or bewildering.

When working on Hell for CF I did my reading of Inferno with (if I recall correctly) three copies in hand.

I recently gave Darwin's Origin of the Species along with my father to read, when my parents went on vacation and when he came back he was astonished that I had been able to read it twice*.

I suppose it's best to just take your time, and read it slowly, chapter by chapter. That may take months, but it's probably a fun exercise. That means buying it, or the library will not be happy :). Anyway ... Penguin should have it, they are normally very reasonably priced.

* Still, to be fair, it took me like eight tries before I completely finished the Silmarillion, and I'm a huge Tolkien fan ...

nt

This is one of those things you probably shouldn't try to rationalize too much. Satan is present because it's a central character to the Inferno literary works in which the area is based upon, but it's more of an abstract type of thing than something considered a reality within Thera.

If everybody has their own version of heaven in real life, then every cf character has his own version of Hell in CF, and Satan is just one of the actors in that scene.

Due to something that Satan himself says. But I won't say any more than that.