ghosts & admissons

The Federation of Hell cont...

With the leadership off the sole political party in the Hades Republic now up for grabs, imaginations were stretched and all minds were limitless. A whole new day was descending upon the inhabitant on the far side of the river Styx. New abominations and cruel hostilities were conjured up in ghastly policy announcements, and visions of despair and depravity dripped from every last page of the Daily Brimstone. But it wasn't until an astonishing and new idea broke through that the citizens of the republic actually took a keen interest in the name of self preservation. A dilemma was outlined that threatened the very existence of Hell itself. It caused such a stir that even foreign corespondents at the Purgatory Daily picked up on it.

The 3rd pillar of Hades was announced. Up until now Hades had basically been beholden to the admonitions contained in the "Articles of Succession from Heaven" and the absence of a rule of law. But now, one ghoulish politician released what he felt to be the next measures to ensure the longevity of the Republic. That third pillar was sustainability. This turned the debate on its head as moral questions arose as to the true nature of Hell. Philosophers pondered, business men's eyes glowed at the thought of increased profits or better yet greater volatility. Children squinted at their tv's and radios trying to comprehend this new phenomenon.

"If Hell is to continue we must, I think, fundamentally change the way we do things" stated the demon, "we must re-evaluate our core principles and look at the yields that they produce. If we are to truly be what we always intended, we need to redefine the idea of virtue, and it's punishment"

With the advent of humans looming, forward thinkers appreciated the need for a proper definition of virtue itself and the consequences for it. However, it is difficult as the "Hades Antithetical Dictionary" provided the exact opposite definition of virtue contained within the "Heavenly Lexicon" used in paradise. Therefore making virtue, in its purest sense, evil in the eyes of Heavens' Refugees. However, since evil was regarded as an admirable thing and something to be celebrated, they were facing the introduction of goodness and virtue into hell. Since no provisions were made for this, and only a rigid legal framework that opposed all things Godly was in place, this was quite a constitutional mess that they were facing.

The politician continued, "The rewards for evil behaviour must be reviewed, so as to ensure a sustainable population growth of lost souls, we must make Hell a attractive destination. We must provide incentives for evil to combat the inevitable warnings that will come against it" So the proposition was a change in not only the mandate of Hell, but also the definition of what was and was not acceptable conditions for entrance to hell. "The use of good must be employed for the first time by our proud people to attract new souls"

Some called Him soft, others progressive, but he stood fast, that evil itself was not a behaviour but an end itself and therefore those committing evil should be encouraged not tormented. The problem was that "good" currently did not exist in Hell, so no amount of "good" was available to bestow upon evil souls thus ensuring their attendance in Hell. So the net effect would be good people coming to Hell by default due to the contradictory definitions contained with in the legal codes of Heaven and Hell. Therefore destroying the very purpose of Hell and a dilution of evil with the new injection of good. So the problem facing them was they had to first find "good" to combat "good" so as to continue their reign of evil. And since the use of "good" was prohibited in Hell, they had to derive a way for its subtle employment of "good" where the punishment wasn't death, which would only further reduce the amount of evil in Hell.

posted by El Chupacabra @ 2:40 PM