Underworld

Underworlds^WP (冥界^?, lit. "Netherworlds") are realms in which the souls of the deceased are gathered during the Age of Gods.

Characteristics

Since the beginning of time, humans have feared death. So, to suppress this fear, they defined what the world would be like after death. They clearly set it apart from the world of the living and gave names like the underworld: this meant that death was no longer the end, but a new beginning. In the Age of Gods, the land of the dead was much closer to the living than it is in modern times. In those eras, where it was very difficult to cross an ocean, even the land of the dead seemed closer than the other end of a sea, both psychologically and physically.

Graves were a way of giving a form to this underworld, a tiny, separated land of the dead. For this reason, kings and other influential people all over the world would build mausoleums. Because graves were the underworld itself, they were their new palaces and fortresses built to continue their conquest. Valuable funerary objects, as well as countless figurines of soldiers, were placed there precisely for this reason. Whether they were pharaohs, kings, or emperors, they did not think that death was the end.

The difference of the name by which the Underworld is called changes what meaning it has. For example, the ancient Mesopotamian Kigal is vastly different from the Valhalla of the Norse. There are any number of Underworlds that resemble the living world. In fact, the tombs of pharaohs, emperors, and the like are themselves rituals to carry a city with them to the Underworld. There are numerous accounts of people who saw their ancestors engaged in an identical way of life in identical locations after death.

During the Age of Gods, in which the existence of underworlds were prevalent, there was a separation between "physical death" and "spiritual death." It was possible for a soul to be taken from the body and later returned so long as the body was preserved, viewed as a type of medical treatment in some cultures. Should the soul have been destroyed before reaching its respective underworld, the body would eventually perish. The soul being taken to the Underworld itself wasn't death, but rather the nothingness beyond that Underworld was actual death.

Deification

• Anubis
• Enma/Yama
• Ereshkigal (Alter)
• Hades
• Izanami
• Ōkuninushi
• Osiris
• Tezcatlipoca

Known underworlds

Doomsday Come

Main article: Doomsday Come

Kur (Babylonia)

• The Underworld Gate
• Kur
• Kur in the anime adaptation.

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Kur^WP is the underworld of Babylonia.

There is a field of soul cages containing deceased souls within Kur. In Kur, there are seven gates that one needs to pass through in order to reach Ereshkigal's palace. The gates will ask a binary question that's fair and logical to test a soul's morality.

A God's powers are nullified in Kur to prevent their escape after death. In the Babylonia Singularity, Ishtar shrinks with every gate she passes through, losing 1/7 of her divinity at a time.

Hell (Buddhism)

• Enma-tei
• Enma-tei's entrance

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Hell^WP (地獄^?) is the underworld of Buddhism.

Datsue-ba is an oni of Hell tasked with collecting the fare used to pay the ferryman to cross the Sanzu River^WP by stripping the dead of their clothing. She was the wife of Enma, and it was said she had been in Hell longer than Enma himself.

Beni-enma is a Gokusotsu (獄卒^?), a kind of Oni akin to prison wardens in Hell, who runs "Enma-tei."

Ne-no-Kuni (Shinto)

Ne-no-Kuni^WP (根の国^?) is a hellish underworld in Japanese mythology which is said to exist underground. Oonamuchi endured hardships here in order to become a true god.

Tokoyo-no-Kuni (Shinto)

Tokoyo-no-Kuni (常世の国^?) is a paradise afterlife in Japanese mythology which is located across the sea. It is surrounded by violent waves, which Sukunabikona crossed on the boat Ame-no-Kagaminofune.

Olympus (Lostbelt)

Not a traditional Underworld, the underground infrastructure of the city Olympus known as Tartarus is the domain of Hades and thus possesses the name of the Underworld, originally designed to facilitate maintenance of the city's systems. The structure of Tartarus is comprised of the fallen of the Titanomachia, Gigantomachia and Olympiamachia, and as such, it is referred to as a 'country of the dead'. Due to the lingering influence of Hades's Authority, Zeus cannot conduct surveillance in the majority of the undercity besides areas of shallow depth (downtown areas) without expending a considerable amount of his resources.

Xibalba (Maya)

Xibalba^WP (シバルバー^?) is the Underworld of the Maya^WP. Quetzalcoatl associates its power with the meteor that wiped out the dinosaurs. The Mayan bat god Camazotz dwells in Xibalba.

Mictlan (Aztecs)

Mictlan^WP (ミクトラン^?) is the Underworld of the Aztecs^WP. It is a nine-layered Underworld stretching underground. Humans who died of natural causes, but not death in battle, descended the nine layers and faced various trials, until they reached the final layer Chiconahualóyan where they faced their own lives and returned their souls to nature.

Mictlan (Lostbelt)

Main article: South American Lostbelt

In the South American Lostbelt, the world of Mictlan is made up of various interconnected layers inside a cylindrical Hollow Earth. Of those layers, several are underworlds:

• Tlatlauhqui, the second layer, the red underworld border. The endless river where the giant iguana lives.
• Iztauhqui, the fourth layer, the white underworld border. The valley of blades and wind where bones are discarded.
• Xoxoauhqui, the sixth layer, the blue underworld border. The galactic dunes, the thundering vacuumous gardens.
• Yayauhqui, the eight layer, the black underworld border. The sunless underground mountain range.
• Land of Fear Xibalba, the ninth layer, the place where the Ceiba tree is rooted.

The Underworld border layers are places where Maia's influence doesn't register, though they only became lands where the dead roam after Tezcatlipoca from greater history arrived in the Lostbelt. Like greater history's Mictlan, the dead are compelled to face trials at these Underworld borders.