Downside

“This place is the most perverse fusion of convenient and cruel.”

"…Y’know," says Eights, "I’m gonna remember that line. That’s a good one.” - Eights and Shell

Downside is one of the many worlds connected by Milliways. It is the afterlife for most of the other worlds the characters have encountered. Once in Downside, you do not die; otherwise fatal events simply cause you to torch. Downside is run by the Admin.

Torturers and Contractors

New arrivals are reviewed by a judge, who sorted them into either Downside (for those were likely to cause trouble for other people) or Upside (for the well behaved). Their sins then sentenced them to the appropriate time with a torturer; alternatively, they could arrange for someone called a contractor to take their punishment in their place. As part of their job, torturers could physically control anyone who was not a contractor; immunity to this ability was part of the appeal of the contracting job.

Upside

A part of the same world, in Upside there are no Torturers and there is vegetation, people here can visit Downside but aren't safe from its dangers, so they decide not to.

Imported from the Effulgence Wiki on Fandom (CC BY-SA).