Literature
I soon as enter'd throw mine eye around,
And see on every part wide-stretching space
Replete with bitter pain and torment ill...
...for 'midst the graves were scattered flames,
Wherewith intensely all throughout they burn'd,
— Inferno, Canto 9
Pandemonium, the palace of Satan rises, suddenly built of the deep: the infernal peers there sit in council.
Tabletop Games
Hades is a massive urban sprawl, reminiscent of the worst public housing or Soviet architecture interspersed with grandiose monuments, pseudomedieval battlements and echoing plazas. All of the great cities of Hell — Pandemonium, Dis, Jinjing and the others — have run together into the vast metropolis of Hades. Hades is oppressively modern, from the howling subways and flaring sodium lamps to the choking smog. Souls must first enter Hades before they are transferred in a moaning mass to their final destinations.
— In Nomine: Heaven and Hell
Shal-Mari is a melange of styles and architecture from different eras of history. Medieval alleys weave at the feet of skyscrapers, and Roman baths and vomitoriums rub shoulders with squalid tenements. The streets are thronged with demons and souls soliciting trade, trying to lure souls or other demons into their establishments. (Or, quite often, engaging in a little quiet mugging down a dark street — free enterprise is free enterprise.) The inhabitants come from all ages of history, and while many are fashionable enough to keep up with the latest trends, older demons frequently cling to the decor and dress of their time on Earth. Damned souls are rarely allowed the luxury of clothing, and when they are, it is usually the uniform or "themed clothing" of some demonic organization. Many low-ranking demons of Lust "work the streets", often in a pimp's string, either because they haven't managed to find a place with a permanent brothel, or because they want to stay freelance.
— In Nomine: Superiors: Pleasures of the Flesh
Video Games
"We moved toward the city, secure in our holy cause, and beheld such a fortress. And on every hand I saw a great plain of woe and cruel torment. Bitter tombs were scattered with flame made to glow all over, hotter than iron need be for any craft. And such dire laments issued forth as come only from those who are truly wretched, suffering and forever lost!"
— Dante, Dante's Inferno
Garcia: Demons are not very talkative.
Johnson: What have they to talk about? Once your soul rolls into town, that's it. You're damned, and Fleming doesn't let anybody off the hook.
Garcia: He sounds like a real dick-tator.
