Ultrakill

1. #1Earth Eventsconstant

   Keys: Final War, 20st century, Earth Events, Earth, V1, Gutter tank, Earthmover, Guttertank, The Final War

   Earth Events The Final War In the early 20th century, for various reasons, the nations of Earth became locked in an era of trench warfare. Called the "Final War", this event is believed to be an alternate outcome of World War I in the real world.[1] Early in the war, the first machines to be deployed in wide-scale conflict were known as the Guttermen, built by the Russian Empire,[2] one of the first successful experiments in using blood as a fuel source. Guttermen were capable of very efficiently clearing out trenches, and their creation single-handedly ended the trench phase of the Final War. In retaliation, the Guttertank was developed by the German Empire[3] as a direct counter to the Guttermen, spiraling the conflict into a global arms race between the world's industrial powers. Every machine created for use in the Final War was designed to counter the last.

   As the War had grown into the biggest global conflict in history, the sudden increase in death rate caused the River Styx in Wrath layer of Hell to overflow into an ocean[4].

   As machines quickly dominated the battlefield, human soldiers became obsolete. While at first they celebrated coming home, they soon found that the war left little in its wake. Civilian populations were wrought with shortages as most resources were poured into further war machine development. The widespread poverty and ensuing chaos meant nowhere was safe, with the home front becoming just another battlefield.

   The 1000-THR "Earthmovers" marked the end of the Final War. They were the pinnacle of the arms race, so massive that they required solar power to supplement their blood supplies and so powerful that even a single Earthmover could destroy an entire city. They sometimes acted as frontlines for smaller machines to continue fighting from. The surface had become so hostile to all forms of life that the remaining human survivors had to settle down in cities built upon the backs of the Earthmovers. It is implied that V1 is a prototype machine designed specifically to counter the Earthmovers.[5] However, V1 models never entered mass production.

   As a result of the Final War, soot, ash, and debris clouded the skies, blanketing the Earth in a global darkness that became known as the "Long Night". Without solar power, the Earthmovers could not sustain themselves and shut down one by one.

   As war had become dependent on Earthmovers, their death made any wide-scale conflict impossible. The Final War finally drew to a close after more than 200 years of war without reason. Mankind was obligated to cooperate to resolve the ongoing climate collapse.

2. #2The New Peace

   Keys: New Peace, The New Peace, Peace, Streetcleaners

   The New Peace With the Final War concluded after over two centuries of fighting, humanity realized their mistakes and cooperated to end the Long Night. Machines such as the Streetcleaners were developed to assist in purifying the effects of the Long Night, and were successful enough in their endeavors to become obsolete.

   With the end of the Final War, V1 had no purpose, and its development was abandoned. V2 was developed as a peacekeeper, and to justify the time and money that had went into designing V1. Demand was low, however, so only a prototype V2 model was ever made. Drones were also developed during this era for security purposes.

3. #3The Hell Exploration and Excavation Projectconstant

   Keys: Hell, Terminals, The Hell, The Hell Exploration and Excavation Project, Excavation, Hell Exploration, Excavation Project, Terminal

   The Hell Exploration And Excavation Project At some point during the New Peace, the entrance to Hell was discovered. A mining complex meant to extract and process minerals was built around it, and old war machines were repurposed to explore it[6]. Many new technologies were invented to aid in this process, such as the transportation of physical material via the Terminals. Terminals were able to convert physical matter into radio signals, which could then be picked up by another Terminal and be rebuilt into an object. However, this was a lengthy process. The only recorded use of teleportation between the surface of the Earth and Hell was a test which used a 78rpm vinyl record of the single Were you Foolin' of the Russ Morgan Orchestra. The connection between the surface and these Terminals was cut before another transfer attempt was made.

   Eventually, employees at the mining facility began to notice strange occurrences, such as doors closing and locking on their own, machinery going missing, and "creatures" (likely husks and/or demons) being teleported into rooms with employees. One unnamed employee concluded that Hell was sapient and attacking those in the complex for its own entertainment, and urged the higher-ups to evacuate the facilities and abandon the project.[7]

   The Hell exploration project and mining facility were indeed abandoned, due to fear that Hell would find a way out and spread to the surface, leaving many machines, including the Terminals, trapped down there. The same group of researchers who worked in the project later attempted to reconnect to the Terminals, and discovered that they formed a symbiotic relationship with other machines in order to entertain themselves, as without new inputs from human users, they grew bored.[8]

4. #4Death of Mankindconstant

   Keys: Mankind, Death Mankind, extinction, Death of Mankind, Mankind is dead

   Death of Mankind Eventually, humankind became extinct. It is unknown how, when, or why it happened. The influx of new souls in Hell was noted to be sudden and widespread, enough to shift the current of Wrath's Ocean Styx, so it is assumed this extinction was global.[9] After the death of humanity, machines became the main inhabitants of the surface. Without humans, blood quickly grew scarce, resulting in machines fighting each other for fuel.

5. #5Dissapearance of God and Chaos in Heavenconstant

   Keys: God, Chaos in Heaven, Heaven, Dissapearance of God, Angels

   Disappearance of God and Chaos in Heaven At an unknown point in history, God suddenly disappeared, resulting in panic and chaos in Heaven. All angels were recalled back to Heaven, leaving Hell unsupervised and catalyzing numerous events in many of the layers simultaneously.

6. #6The Lust Renaissance

   Keys: Lust, Minos, Lust Layer, Lust Renaissance, King Minos

   The Lust Renaissance With the angels absent, Minos, the Judge of Hell, set out to reform the Lust layer; he did not believe people deserved eternal punishment for the crime of loving another. Rallying the inhabitants of the layer, Lust was completely transformed from a windswept wasteland to a thriving city, ushering in a time of peace, civilization, and prosperity with Minos as their benevolent king. This effort to thrive within Hell even extended beyond Lust itself, with infrastructure and attempts to rescue husks documented at least as far as Wrath.[10]

7. #7The Greed Insurrection

   Keys: Insurrection, insurrectionist, King Sisyphus, Greed Layer, Sisyphus, Greed

   The Greed Insurrection Like Minos's Lust Renaissance, King Sisyphus took advantage of the absence of the angels in Greed. However, in contrast to Minos's peaceful revolution, Sisyphus trained the husks of the layer and led a militant insurrection to take it over by force, before subverting Heaven's tyrannical rule entirely. Sisyphus and his army killed the demons of the layer and trained any husk strong or intelligent enough to fight against the angels in anticipation of their inevitable return.

8. #8Retaking Hellconstant

   Keys: Hell, Holy Council, The Council, Retaking Hell, Retake, The Corpse of King Minos

   Retaking Hell In Heaven, the angels finally decided to establish a holy council in God's place, using force and fear to rule both Heaven and Hell with an iron fist, in an attempt to follow their own increasingly twisted, obsessive, and dogmatic interpretations of God's will.

   The Council soon learned of the many changes in Hell designed to end the eternal punishments they believed the damned souls deserved. Outraged, they ordered the archangel Gabriel to lead an army to Hell and restore the status quo.

   Gabriel first encountered King Minos in Lust amongst a peaceful cityscape. Minos attempted to reason with Gabriel but the archangel slew him without a thought. Weeping and grieving over the death of their great king, the citizens watched as Gabriel gloated on his divine mission in the name of justice and the glory of God. Gabriel then inherited the title of Judge of Hell.

   Minos's snakes, once aiding him as the Judge of Hell, became grotesque parasites commandeering their previous master's corpse. The Corpse, controlled by the snakes, began to destroy the now-decrepit city, dismantling what Minos and the damned of the Lust layer had worked hard to achieve. The husks were presumably forced out of their homes to endure the winds once again.

   Gabriel continued through the layers and entered Greed, encountering Sisyphus and his army of insurrectionists. A war of biblical proportions began. Gabriel, noting the insurrectionists' idolization of Sisyphus, focused on Sisyphus himself. He unsheathed his swords and decapitated him, shattering his warriors' morale and leading to the downfall of the rebellion. The body of Sisyphus was entombed inside a large chamber inside a massive pyramid, decaying, headless, and held up by outstretched arms.

9. #9The Hell Invasionconstant

   Keys: blood, invasion, Hell Invasion

   The Hell Invasion After a period of routine, machines from the surface discovered an entrance to Hell through an abandoned mining facility. With blood growing more and more scarce on the surface, they began pouring into Hell to consume the blood of the creatures inhabiting its layers. So many machines entered Hell that they pose a serious threat to all life within Hell, capable of clearing out entire layers in days.

10. #10Husksconstant

    Keys: Husks, Death, Soul, Filth

    Husks Husks are the remnants of humanity, their souls reformed with accurate representation in Hell to endure their unending punishment for their sinful, unholy lives.

    When an unrepentant human dies, their soul manifests in Hell in the form of a husk. A husk's appearance depends on the soul's value - their willpower and status in the mortal world. The more important a soul was during its life on Earth, the bigger and more powerful the resulting Husk is. The husk's intelligence also scales with its appearance, with the worthless Filth only feeling primal hunger, while Minos and Sisyphus were able to revolutionize an entire layer and rally an insurrection against Heaven.

    If the soul of a husk is so incredibly strong to a degree that it can manifest without a vessel, then upon the husk's death, it will become a Prime Soul -- an incredibly powerful being that threatens even angels.

    All husks (with the exception of the Corpse of King Minos, the former Judge of Hell) do not have eyes or are blinded. The significance of this is unknown.

11. #11Demonsconstant

    Keys: Demons, Hell Mass

    Demons Demons are the natural fauna of Hell. Demons act as wardens of Hell -- supplementing the torture of sinners, ensuring they stay in their proper place, and protecting their area from potential invaders or rebels.

    Demons are smarter than most husks, but both are still incapable of rational thought and communication.

    Most demons, with the exception of the Leviathan and Mannequins, are created by Hell Mass coagulating into a stone-like shell. It is unknown if this is natural or if there is something or someone controlling this process, though the Minotaur is noted to have been deliberately sculpted by an unidentified individual.

12. #12Machinesconstant

    Keys: Machine, V1, Swordsmachines, blood, V2, Drone, Machines, Sentries, Mindflayer, fuel, Streetcleaners

    Machines Machines are mechanical constructs created by humanity to carry out specific tasks. Every machine has its own purpose it was created for, such as Sentries acting as bipedal snipers and Streetcleaners burning away contaminants in the air during the Long Night.

    All known machines use blood as fuel. Machines generally require a separate refueling process, with one glaring exception: V1 is capable of absorbing blood directly through its outer plating.

    Machines show the ability to adapt to the environments they are in by using parts of other machines and random pieces of metal to improve themselves, such as V2 creating a new arm by kitbashing parts of other machines and the Mindflayer and Drone somehow managing to wield Hell Energy.

    Curiously, machines are often described to have prevalent personality traits similar to most other creatures. The Swordsmachines exhibit a possessive hoarding behavior, Drones are curious by nature, Streetcleaners are described as having an "urge to clean and purify the world", Mindflayers create fake plastic bodies for themselves for purely aesthetic purposes and will protect said body with their lives, and V2 will enrage if punched with its own arm. It is implied by the Secret Terminal at the end of P-2: WAIT OF THE WORLD that this has something to do with the machines being fueled by blood, or otherwise incorporating biological components in their mechanical systems. A poem left behind by a Gutterman in a secret room in 7-2: LIGHT UP THE NIGHT implies that the conscience it possesses is different from the conscience of its living fuel source, albeit the exact reasons why are unknown. Whether or not machines were designed with sapience and high-level reasoning in mind is likewise unknown: the code poems found in the game's title screen and death screen imply V1 is programmed to call upon its limbic system(a part of the brain that manages emotions and memories, likely as a means of increasing performance by inducing various emotional responses i.e. fight or flight), however, the aforementioned Secret Terminal is written by researchers whom seem to be documenting and discovering the idea of emotions within machines for the first time.

13. #13Angelsconstant

    Keys: Holy Light, Gabriel, Council of Heaven, Supreme Angels, Greater Angels, Lesser Angels, Council, Angels

    Angels Angels are inhabitants of Heaven, also known as Paradise, with Lesser Angels being formed from human souls.

    The basis of a Lesser Angel's forming are similar to that of Husks, wherein the physical manifestation of the soul is dependent on its value, though unlike for Husks, virtuousness also acts as a factor for angels. Lesser Angels are recognizable by the abstract shapes of their bodies. Greater and Supreme Angels have a more human-like form, being created in Heaven by God personally. The appearance of a Greater Angel is unknown as one has yet to appear in-game.

    All angels are connected with, contain, and survive off of a power known as Holy Light, which grants them an eternal lifespan, although they are still prone to getting killed. If an angel is separated from the source of this Light, it slowly diminishes over the course of 24 hours, after which the angel finally dies. All angels, even the archangel Gabriel, are vulnerable to this. Some angels, like those who make up the Council of Heaven, have the power to sever an angel from the Light themselves.

    Lesser angels, like Virtues, are known to have a multitude of eyes. However, when they are sent to Hell, they are either hidden or removed. This may be related to the reason why husks do not have eyes, but this reason is similarly unknown.

    In Hell, angels act on the behalf of Heaven as wardens to ensure that sinners stay in their places of torment.

    Lucifer - Described in Testament IV as "an angel so bright and beautiful", Lucifer was cast into the deepest pit of Hell by God after questioning Him over its creation, believing that the punishments within were too extreme for humanity.

    Council of Heaven - A group of angels who established rule over Heaven following God's disappearance, using fear to sway the lesser masses. By giving Gabriel orders, they are indirectly responsible for most of the history surrounding Hell, including the deaths of Minos and Sisyphus. After Gabriel's first defeat by V1, the Council punishes him by removing his Holy Light, thinking that he deliberately lost the fight. They give him 24 hours to try defeating V1 again, but upon engaging a second fight with it and losing, he realizes that their tyrannical rule is unfit for Heaven and kills all of them to restore order.

14. #14Prime Soulsconstant

    Keys: Will, Sisyphus Prime, Minos Prime, Minos, Sisyphus, Prime Souls, Prime

    Prime Souls Prime Souls are an incredibly rare occurrence and are the most powerful phenomena for both in hell and the physical world, to the point that even prideful angels see them as a threat and will use any means necessary to stop them from forming, due to the fact prime souls pose a severe danger to heaven and it's inhabitants.

    They are manifestations of pure will that occur when a soul amasses so much power that it no longer requires a physical vessel to manifest. When a husk possessing such a soul is killed, the soul is left behind, and will begin transforming into a Prime Soul. The forming of a Prime Soul can be halted, though the only known method of doing so is trapping the unformed soul inside a specific construct made of flesh powered by great amounts of angelic and demonic power. It's assumed that once a Prime Soul begins forming, nothing can stop it, but it can be paused indefinitely.

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