The business of punishment

from /hhg/ - Hazbin Hotel General Thread #242 & #243
-----
From the previous thread:


>I'd like it in the Hazbin/Helluva universe that all demons come with strengths but also weaknesses, but not necessarily making them weaker
--
>Wanted to correct something due to weird wording
>Demons would be weaker, but not due to simply having less raw strength, rather it could be the nature of their character and personality that drags them down
--
>It's honestly quite good worldbuilding and I really hope it gets explored more in the show proper
--
>I could see that happening to sin-specific demons:
>>A Lust demon would have a hard time focusing on anything other than sex and seduction
>>A Wrath demon is always angry and violent, often charging into battle without thinking, like a mad bull.
>>A Sloth demon may be crazy powerful, but their own inactivity renders them practically powerless.
>>A Gluttony demon may be motivated, but they're mainly interested in satiating themselves, and may be physically impaired by their own habits.
>>A Greed demon puts their own riches before their self-preservation.
>>Envy demons are notoriously hard to work with, and alone, they're weak.
>>Pride demons are even more powerful, but they're even more difficult to work with, and their own ego usually brings about their downfall.
>>Despair demons are powerful, but they're a danger to themselves and everyone around them.
--
>maybe some characters have itches, things they feel compelled to do as part of the punishment of hell. also i'm still trying to figure out what the downside is to hell besides the yearly "you-might-get-erased-from-existance-day"?
--
>I think this is the "wallow in your sins and vices away from the grace of God" kinda Hell, where nothing really feels truly satisfactory, and the negatives are all pronounced.

Cont.
-
>to me it seems like hell is a place where assholes can be assholes without consequences. no one truly "dies" (apart from rare scavenged angelic weapons), and unless the rules are different for imps, it doesn't seem impossible to live a relatively normal afterlife in hell.
--
>It's normal... But unfulfilling. Even if you're the top dog, living your best moment, you still find it to be... Lacking. Empty, in a way.
>Remember, Hell is Hell, even for Lucifer.
--
>My hc is punishment in Hazbin's Hell comes from unlimited indulgence in the sins that got them damned.

>Everyone's having sex, but STDs are rampant. Drugs are available from vending machines, but you need enough to OD to get high. Nothing's stopping you from causing untold pain and suffering to other people, and well, they can do the same toyou. And since you cant die in hell (aside from angelic weaponry), suffering can last however long others want!
--
>And the sheer fact angel weaponry completely erases you from existence is the cherry on top of the shit sundae and a ticking time bomb pretty much no one but Charlie really gives a shit about.
--
>Exterminations are only bad if you can't find a place to hide.

Cont.
-
>This gives me an idea
>Swapped gospel btw
>>Victor used to drown himself in his work before he got married
>>Now that he died and was given a small business by Lucifer, he's back to working himself to the bone
>>Hostile takeovers left and right
>>Profits are up? Not good enough, cut the pay of the least productive employees and make them work more hours
>>Strikes? Hire the jobless at a portion of the workers original wages
>>What little budget for safety was cut, OSHA nightmare
>>Only when Victor became one of the economic power houses in hell did he start acting fair to his employees and the community
>>Thats where he got his reputation as a fairly decent, if cutthroat, businessman
>>But he still wants more
>>More work
>>More forms
>>More profit
>>More growth
>>More GROFIT
--
>>"Attention, this advertisement is brought to you by VicTech and Brati-Armorments INC."
>>Victor shows up on the screen
https://youtu.be/76pK9G8CVP0
--
>To be fair, he still probably kept up some of his old habits, albeit in a more tame form:
>>meet with the union leaders, try to come to a common ground - if they resist, bribe them, or threaten them with economic ruin by moving his operations elsewhere
>>some jackass gang is threatening local businesses, demanding money for "protection", and thus, bringing down property values and morale? Hire Bratislav's goons to get rid of them - permanently
>>Some Overlords want to fight their turf war over his neighborhood?
>>have their properties destroyed, their bank accounts drained, their savings embezzled - leave them destitute, and ripe for the picking
>>some would-be revolutionary announces a wildcat strike, and some workers actually attend it? Announce that it's a holiday, and let the others go - they won't get paid for that day, and they'll know who to blame

Cont.
-
>Do you think he's gone after cherris business before he knew who she was?
--
>He mainly operates in Imp City, so it may have taken him a while to get to her - like in canon, she would operate out of East Pentagram.
>And by the time she ends up in Hell, he would've already been at a level of power that he had stopped with the hostile takeovers, and even if not, he would've been too far away.
>Hell, he may have taken notice of her and her methods trough scoping the capital as a possible place for expansion - perhaps, a chance encounter with her, and finding out he's been destroying her business would've made him realize that he had strayed too far of the beaten path, and would force him to scale back his operations.
--
>Victor jumps through the window to his targets office
>Landing on his feet he aims his gun at his adversary
"I'm here to buy you out."
>"Eat shit you bastard!"
>Victor drops his gun as he recognized the voice
"Fuck... Cherri?"
>"How did you... Dad?! What the fuck are you doing?!"

Cont.
-
>You make it sound like it would be easy when in reality all the meanest shrewdest shark like businessmen have been ending up in hell for centuries. I'd be surprised if there wasn't an illuminati banker businessman overlord in hell somewhere hiding.
>Anything easy would have been done already or not worth doing, and anything worth taking is going to be a knife fight to take from whoever has it. Business in hell would probably be even more vicious than a Mexican cartel.
--
>I think its mostly because Lucifer liked him enough to let him keep the "gift" he got from the deal they made years ago. If he didn't have it then his business would be either floundering or dead

Cont.
-
>Which precisely why making the right connections, being friends with the right people, and having Hell's most numerous and eager laborforce loyal to you (and having a gunrunnder/assassin organization at practically your beck and call) is so useful.
>For our friend Victor, it's not just about business - it had become a sort-of community project, that he'll defend with teeth and claw. Something to be passionate about, rather than just greed.
>The fact that he has been on his best behavior (as far as Hell allows it) also earned him the Royal couple's approval.
>And do I really have to tell you how important it is to have the patronage of the Devil himself, if you're in Hell?
>If anything, Lucifer and Lilith are using the relatively moral and straight-laced Gospel to rub other Overlords' nose into their own shit, as if to say "See, he's a better businessman BECAUSE he's a better person!" which pretty much flies in the face of everything they learned about business.
>Also, it's been hinted at that while Gospel's philanthropy in life often didn't translate into actually helping people, as the causes he supported often turned out to be flukes or mistakes, so, in a way, despite his best intentions, he still managed to cause untold amounts of misery - a streak he continues in Hell by getting imps to work for him, robbing other businesses of a numerous and seemingly disposable low-rung workforce, leaving them with the temperamental sinners - who are more likely to throw down the tools and strike (if not outright try to murder them) at the first mention of overtime.