In case you haven't noticed, Purgatory is an ongoing work of fiction. In other words, I'm making the whole thing up based on a number of things, none of them being religious beliefs. The only question I ask myself before creating any part of this world is, "What would make the best story?" and "How much mileage, plotwise, can I get out of this?" That's it.

So before you get all wound up and decide to post a comment (i.e. - Repent, Blasphemer!!!) or Grace forbid, email your rant directly to me, be warned: I will not engage in a discussion of the real world implications of anything found on this site. Not now, not ever. This is my world, and it works the way I say it works.

Purgatory began as an RPG (Role-Playing Game). At first, having a setting and characters seemed like enough; but anyone who reads knows that without plot, there's really no point.

What it's turned into is a collaborative writing project between myself and a couple other people. We do this as a hobby, as time permits. It's not the Magna Carta, and I doubt the Pulizer people will be beating down the door, but we're entertaining ourselves and that's the point. I hope we're entertaining you as well. I invite you to snoop around, read some of the archives, and enjoy the story.

What if when you died it wasn't the end? What if it was only the beginning?

You've had many mortal lives, and you'll have many more. While you're living them out on the Mortal Plane you didn't remember any other life, but once you die you remember all of them. Every life you've ever had and everything that happened in between.

What if you had a whole other life - an Afterlife - that exists outside the boundaries of time and space? An Afterlife populated with other souls like yourself, souls just working and playing and existing, waiting for that next incarnation and hoping this time they'll finally reach Ascension. An Afterlife filled with decisions, temptations, and situations designed to tip your karma balance one way or the other. It's an Afterlife that's lived out over centuries, in a place that's completely neutral. And the only thing that can save you from Hell is your own free will - because everything is a choice.

Purgatory is a neutral place where both Good and Evil exist - where both demons and Ascended have a right to exist. It's a place where demons walk the streets, devising ways to tempt you, to blackmail you, to try to win you over to their side. If they offered you enough, would you take it? And if you did, would the Good inside you still outweigh the Evil?

It's the biggest battle you'll ever fight, and you fight it with yourself.

Purgatory is about decisions and motives.

• A decision is the act of reaching a conclusion or making up one's mind.
• A motive is an emotion, desire, physiological need, or similar impulse that acts as an incitement to action.

In Purgatory, there are only 14 possible motives for anything - every action or reaction can be boiled down to one of these 14 things. They are:

• The Seven Heavely Virtues
• The Seven Deadly Sins

Some asked me once if they could eat karma as a method of getting it. Like you could walk into a bar and order a "good karma martini" and have your nemesis spike it with bad karma.

The short answer: No.

Karma is defined as the cosmic principle of rewards and punishments for the acts performed in a previous incarnation. We twist this definition slightly in Purgatory. Since the basis of these stories is Purgatory, not the Mortal Plane, I need for all the really big decisions to take place in Purgatory. So the way it works is something like this.

We all have, within ourselves, certain moral characteristics. We draw on these when we make decisions; both small and large. It is possible to go directly to Hell from the Mortal Plane, but it isn't possible to Ascend from the Mortal Plane. You do gain or lose karma on the Mortal Plane, in an unaware sort of way. While you're on the Mortal Plane, you don't know how it all really works; you can't see the big picture and you aren't sure who's keeping score or what's at stake. Because of that, the karma you gain or lose there is a small amount unless you're Hell-bound.

In Purgatory, you know exactly how it works and who's keeping score. You are fully aware of what's at stake. You could call the decisions made there "informed consent". And that takes a much bigger chunk out of your karma account (or puts a much bigger chunk in).

Upon a character's death, their karma is weighed to find their status. One of three things can happen to them:

1. Heavy on the negative side - they go to Hell to work it off. Constant terror and agony.
2. Heavy on the good side - they immediately reincarnate to another mortal life.
3. A certain amount plus or minus true balance - they go to Purgatory until that balance tips one way or the other.

Karma is weighed by the Office of Thanatos, he who is Death. Thanatos himself is only called in when the soul is so perfectly balanced a finer measurement needs to be taken.

While Purgatory itself is timeless, it does have access to time both forward and backward.