Who the Hell Are These Guys 5: “Lust and pain is the candy.” (Hell part 11)
Content Warning: Sexuality, sexual assault, non-consent, torture.
Welcome back to my blog about a new and ‘better’ approach to Hell.
In earlier installments, we've covered that Hell Has Its Laws,
https://www.ofgodsandgamemasters.com/blog/hell-has-its-laws-part-1 ,
Hell Has Its Place
https://www.ofgodsandgamemasters.com/blog/hell-has-its-place-hell-pt-2 ,
that Hell Hath No Fury
https://www.ofgodsandgamemasters.com/blog/hell-hath-no-fury-hell-part-3
, and the reasons Dungeons and Dragons, depicts Nine Hells, in How Many Hells and Why https://www.ofgodsandgamemasters.com/blog/how-many-hells-and-why-hell-part-4 .
We covered where names come from, in A Hell of a Set of Names.
https://www.ofgodsandgamemasters.com/blog/a-hell-of-a-set-of-names-hell-part-5
And then we talked about the Hells themselves, in What Fresh Hell Is This? https://www.ofgodsandgamemasters.com/blog/what-fresh-hell-is-this-hell-part-6
I wrote about Ibacar, Devil Princess of Despair, as well as some of her minions.
https://www.ofgodsandgamemasters.com/blog/abandon-all-hope
and then I covered Jajax Lal Anim, the Archdevil of Greed, Lord of Laqq.
https://www.ofgodsandgamemasters.com/blog/who-the-hell-are-these-guys-2-eye-of-the-needle
We recently talked about Immzebul, Lady of Flies, Archdevil of Gluttony and Rot.
https://www.ofgodsandgamemasters.com/blog/who-the-hell-are-these-guys-3-never-enough-hell-part-9
Lastly, we cowered in terror from Malhamit, the diabolical Bull of War, the Archdevil of Wrath.
https://www.ofgodsandgamemasters.com/blog/who-the-hell-are-these-guys-4-war-is-hell-hell-part-10
Today, we meet Sha’Urcit, the devil prince of Lust, Archdevil of Shakat, the Hell of Abomination. And we will regret it.
Sha’Urcit is, for good reason, one of the most reviled of all the Princes of Hell.
It is important to make clear that in this schema especially, Lust is not simple sexual desire. Lust is desire divorced from caring, divorced from seeing the object of your desire as a person. Lust doesn’t care about the well-being of others, or consent, and it certainly doesn’t include love. Even casual sex is not the sin of Lust, as long as one respects the personhood and agency of one’s partner. Partner is an important word here. You are partners in a mutually agreed upon search for pleasure and release, and whatever both (or more) adult participants willingly agree to is acceptable.
Sha’Urcit embodies none those things. He engages in, encourages, and *forces* the fulfillment of every wicked urge. He does not just disregard consent and the well-being of others, but actively works against them. Sha’Urcit is the self proclaimed ‘Dom’ who follows no rules but his own desires, and expects everyone else to act the same way. Rape, torture, murder, whatever pleases him in the moment, he indulges, heedless of consequences (especially to others) and he offers that same supposed ‘freedom’ to his cultists and adherents. Lines? Veils? Safe words? Hard limits? He laughs. Lust is sensual fulfillment taken to its most extreme, like the cenobites of Hellraiser. Sadism, masochism, dominance, submission... but entirely without the power the submissive is supposed to wield. Like all devils, Sha’Urcit is a tyrant, and Lust and desire are what he seeks eternal dominance over, without limits or concern for what he sees as his toys.
As a result, Shakat, the Hell of Abomination, is a reflection of him. It’s his desires and whims writ large. Shakat may come closest of the Seven Hells to what people consider Hell, traditionally, to be. It is a place of eternal conscious torture. A place of extravagant and endless depravity, of rape and sexual abuse. The whips, chains, flechettes, and thumbscrews are just set dressing. Every possible scene for such things exists, and is used. Everyone here, demon, devil, and mortal soul alike, is both torturer and tortured, perpetrator and victim, in an endless cycle of horrific sensual violence and self indulgence. In many ways, everyone here is a solipsist and narcissist: only their pain is important, only their pleasure matters. Everyone else is just their oppressor or their victim, and the roles change often, as a new person seizes the power to abuse others. And uses it gleefully. And so the wheel turns.
Mortals consigned here gave up everything that mattered to sate their Lust in life, and agreed to eternity here so they could keep doing it. They did not read the fine print, or thought it did not apply to them. But even they don’t deserve the Hell that is Shakat.
Sha’Urcit does. He didn’t invent Lust, that was Iht-Tabah, the Devil Queen, also known as Lylit. In Rega she is called Rixa. However, he focused it, perfected it. He is not distracted by Wrath or divided in his attentions. Every moment is given to Lust, to abuse of others for his amusement. He tells himself he is not ruled by Lust as others are, that instead he rules it. And on the surface, this seems true. He plots and plans with the best of them, possesses vast self control when he needs to. But in the depths of him, he is a slave to his Lust, and the canny might be able to leverage that against him, though few beings ever have, much less mortals.
Sha’Urcit has only beautiful forms, becoming that which is most enticing to those who view him. His most common form is a silver haired older man, bearded, muscular, with just a touch of softness around the middle. He’s well endowed, with a large phallus, but not too large. His flesh usually appears unmarked: pain is for others, not for him. He wears dark, almost navy blue, clothing. Whatever form his clothing takes, it speaks of power and sensuality. He might wear fine dress slacks, and a dark blue silk button up shirt with the sleeves rolled up to show his forearms; or a toga virilis trimmed in navy rather than purple. When he wears clothing at all, of course.
Even his primary diabolic form is beautiful, with dark blue skin, pale and slightly suggestive curved horns, and a long tail that certainly has many applications. His claws are well manicured, and his lips are full. He still has that silver hair, beard, and pubic hair, and his manhood is a little larger, proportionately, than his common humanoid form. He almost never bothers to clothe this version of himself. His weapon, as one might expect, is a whip that inflicts whatever sort of damage will hurt you the most, and magnifies the pain thereof. Lust and pain are his candy. He can inflict either with ease.
