Makai/Proposal

History
Makai was created a long time ago by one of the most obscure figures of the Divine Pantheon: Shinki no Mikoto. It was a testimony to the less "friendly" nature that all living beings harbored deep inside, a love poem to the "darkness" that crawled inside each soul in existence. The materialization of Shinki No Mikoto's inner world.

As to why Shinki decided to create Makai as it was, the reasons are still somewhat speculated and unknown. One suggestion would be that she could not create anything else, based on the fact that her very nature was crooked, evil and manipulative. This of course came with with the assumption that Shinki No Mikoto's birth (which details are still unclear at this point) was of a corrupted nature -- an unfathomable union. The other theory would be that the true creator of the world wasn't Shinki, but rather, it was an alternate dimension to which she was banished for having been some sort of "hindrance" to the Celestial Bureaucracy, perhaps an unwanted detail which politicians preferred to get rid off.

It nonetheless remains an established fact: Shinki No Mikoto is Makai's ruler, having created many, if not all of the Demons that reside within the dimension.

Place Description
The Landscape varies greatly depending on where one is. There are hot areas as well as places that are Icy cold. Notable landmarks are:


 * Pandemonium: The Capital of Makai, a large prosperous city where Shinki no Mikoto and the many demons that serve her reside.


 * Frozen Fields: A large flat area where Ice Magic seems to be at its strongest. Crystal pillars of ice and snow-covered ground are all that there is in that place. Notable inhabitants are the Ice Demon Mai and her sister Yuki.


 * Ruins of Vina: A ruined city where some Demons have settled, Elis being one of them.


 * Hokkai: A rural area where Byakuren Hijiri had been sealed. Being on the exterior rims of Makai, it is rather easy to access from the Surface World.

Being a "negative-plane", there are a lot of things that are reversed in Makai compared to the actual world. For example, rather than being fresh air breathable to all beings, Makaian air is filled with a strange miasma that is toxic to most lifeforms not born in the land. Its composites are extremely strange, probably undefinable to science; what is known of them is that they somewhat eat away and gnaw at people's bodies and organs. One needs heightened physical resistance, regeneration and natural anti-bodies to such an oppressive atmosphere if they wish to survive, something that demons and the improvised flora of the land indeed possess.

The Makaian air isn't all about harm though, in a certain way -- it is replete with some strange magical essence, one which most call "dark" since it's a bit shadier than the other generic elements found on earth's surface. Just like the air it comes from, the magic that derives from this essence causes harm to the wielder's body, but as a trade off, the spells are both more powerful and much simpler than the average "normal" magic; thus, most Demons can handle this since they naturally have high regeneration and toughness.

Trivia

 * Makai probably resembles the description of "Hell" from John Milton's "Paradise Lost". However, Makai shold not be confused with Jigoku and any of its sub-regions, since the latter serves exclusively as a world of punishment for the spirit of the dead, while Makai is filled with the living... even if they're living demons.


 * Being the "reverse" of the Earth's surface, Makai is actually massive in size, and it'd be rather easy to get lost. Even though the terrain has changed a lot due to the influence of demons, or even, the lack of influence of the usual forces of nature, some mountains or scenery could be reminiscent of a sight on Earth itself.

Gallery
[TO BE COMPLETED~]