The Netherworld is a location in Dragon Quest X. Connected to the land of Astoltia and was once part of it, it is the realm of the Demons, and is under threat of miasma leaking from the defeated body of Jagonuba posed a threat to the larger world. Its fast-travel related item is the Abyss Jewel.
Appearances
Dragon Quest X
Millennia ago, many years after his initial arrival, the invader Jia Gonuba made himself known by beginning to use his powers to turn all life in Astoltia into minerals, the same fate that had befallen the Eternal Cradle; four sages in the service of Goddess Luciana were sent to investigate, and after witnessing the mineralization for themselves, used the power of the Goddess bestowed upon them to seal away this ability. However, when Jia Gonuba's mineralization powers were sealed, it caused his body to violently mutate, turning it into a "grotesque lump of flesh", and causing it to spew out massive quantities of a magic-infused fog that would come to be known as "demon miasma". The miasma infected and mutated everything it came into contact with, and was spreading at a rate faster than it could be contained; left with no other options, the sages begged Luciana to cut off the infected land from the rest of Astoltia to halt the spread of the miasma, thusly leading to the creation of the Netherworld, by physically separating it from the rest of the world, and transporting it underground; the Netherworld still remaining tethered to Astoltia only by a single tunnel on the continent of Orgreede. While the opening of said tunnel was eventually sealed off by an off by an Ogre mage, Gamilgo, the king of Glenn of 500 years ago, who petrified himself in order to act as a seal, it was reopened in the modern day by the actions of Pujyu.
The people of the various races who ended up stranded in the Netherworld began being poisoned by the miasma; in order to survive, they eventually naturally transformed into Demons. Nevertheless, the Demonic miasma was still a serious threat in the form of the Great Mismal Event, which one day would have surely destroyed the entire Netherworld if not stopped.
After the land was sundered, Jia Gonuba, his name now distorted into Jagonuba, created seven beings from his own body and power known as the Dark Deities, and sent them to Astoltia to destroy it. They waged war against Luciana's children, the seven racial gods, and the land was devastated until Luciana herself defeated the Dark Deities and sealed them away in shrines across Astoltia, although, many years later, one of them would escape during a great disaster and begin to manipulate things behind the scenes. After the Dark Deities' defeat, Jagonuba himself invaded Astoltia and engaged Luciana in battle, a fight that would last for thousands of years. Sensing the collapse of the world if the fight were to continue, Luciana used her final resort: a powerful curse that would separate Jagonuba's soul from his body, but would do the same to her as well. Jagonuba's body was sealed away in the Temple of Jagonuba, inside Demon Mountain, the tallest peak in the Netherworld, while his soul was sealed inside the body of a human named Nalasia, who was in turn sealed inside a statue of the Goddess inside Rufa Temple, located within the River of Light, the remains of Luciana's body. Meanwhile, Luciana's soul was instead sealed in the twin sister of Nalasia, Illusia, while her body transformed into the underground great River of Light, which surrounded the Netherworld, further shielding Astoltia from the demonic miasma; at this point, the ancient sages that aided Luciana in her battles against the Dark Deities and Jagonuba, retired from the rest of the world in their hidden settlement in the wilderness of Puku Land.
As the years went on, Jagonuba's slumbering body continued to produce demon miasma, fueled by the anger and grudges of the demons living in the Netherworld. A demon by the name of Goda noticed this, and sealed the entrance to the Temple of Jagonuba by constructing Goda Temple on top of it. He then charged his son, Jyadain, with guarding the temple, as he led an army of demons in their first invasion of Astoltia, to prevent their negative emotions from agitating Jagonuba's body and producing more demon miasma. Goda became known as the first Great Demon King, and Jyadain would become the Oracle, the mediator between future Great Demon Kings and Jagonuba, granting the former the latter's power and encouraging them to invade Astoltia to continue relieving the pressure in the Netherworld. However, Jagonuba's corruption soon distorted the original meaning of the invasions, which became more and more violent, with Goda's expedition being stopped by the Ally Leone and the Hero Ashlay. As a result, the Demons tried multiple times across history to invade and take over the world for themselves, which shaped many events of the mortal history of Astoltia.
Since the very first demonic invasion, the history of the conflict between the two lands was furthermore marked by a usual pattern of a "a Hero and an Ally" duo appearing every single time to defeat the Great Demon King attempting to invade the world, thanks to the powers within them said to having been granted by the human patron deity, Zenus; the latest incarnation of said duo is composed respectively by Princess Anlucia and the Hero themselves.
Other historic battles included the clash between the young hero Azir, allied with the resurrected Leone against the Great Demon King Varzad, the Great Demon King Nerodus againt the Hero Alvin and his Ally Kamil, and the fight of Anlucia and the Hero against the Great Demon King Maldragora, who even managed to break Nagaland's seal, and create an illusiry copy of Rendacia by stealing some of Luciana's Power of Creation.
Eventually, the Hero themselves were crowned as the new Great Demon King, and after reuniting both the forces of the Netherworld and their Astoltian allies, managed to put and end to Jagonuba, and the threat of his demonic miasma for good, fostering peace between the two lands.
Major Kingdoms and Locations
- Farazade
- Valdista Fortress
- Zexus
- Jadine Garden
- Former palace of demon king Maldragora
- Necrodea Castle, the former capital of a kingdom destroyed by General Zobris.
- Barmeschke's Laboratory