Starglider wrote: Well maybe. Given the demon's rather abysmal performance in various other respects, I'd hesitate to assume that they're super-efficient torturers.
True. For instance, there's the common concept of Hell consisting of you being killed in excruciatingly painful fashion but given rapid regeneration so you don't die. This would be consistent with the description of damnation being a prolonged death, but inconsistent with the fact demons can be seriously injured by shrapnel; they would logically apply such bioengineering to their own warriors, resulting in near T-1000 level regeneration rates. If they limit it to stuff that can be continued on a baseline human indefinitely that limits what they can do significantly.
There are less demons than dead souls and they don't have much technology to assist, so they can't actively torture everyone all the time. They can possibly leave humans impaled on spikes or burning in flames indefinitely (depending on what 'magic' they've got and what if any special resistances once-dead humans have)
According to descriptions I've heard Hellfire is supposed to be "fire that does not burn" i.e. it causes the sensation of being burned alive without actually destroying tissue. Hell is often depicted as a giant fire pit with the damned being burned inside it, so that would make sense.
I'm not sure about how, or whether, they could deal with nervous system acculturation, we'll just have to see what Stewart decides. However, I would point out that at least some demons are telepathic, so I wouldn't put it past them to be able to manipulate the human nervous system in a variety of ways.
It's actually rather interesting to wonder about the nature of Hell's inhabitants. Stewart seems to have gone for a "resurrection" approach; certainly the demons are flesh and blood as we know it. For instance, do you still need to eat in Hell? Do you need sleep?
It's clearly possible (given what we currently know) that there will be a pre-existing 'resistance movement' in hell
Thinking about some of the most badass leaders and generals in human history (Alexander, Genghis Khan, Caesar, Saladin etc.) possibly having busted out and leading guerilla operations in Hell is certainly an interesting possibility.
Perhaps they have some supernatural means of sensing where 'souls' are going, enough to confirm that they get to the next level but not enough to confirm what happens to them when they get there.
That would seem to make the most sense. Remember how Abigor was worried that the inhabitants of the next level up might use the same strategy to boost themselves up, and there would be a higher Hell waiting for demons when they died.
That logic can lead to a pretty depressing thought: the universe as a long (maybe even infinite) series of Hells and Heavens, with the inhabitants of each exploiting the energies of the ones below them to boost themselves to the next level, only to suffer the same fate themselves.
That said, if demons are virtually imortal, why are they sinking so much energy into getting into the afterlife rather than merely minimising the risk of them dying in the first place?
Perhaps they do age, but they have million year lifespans or something like that?
