The Ogdru Hem reign over death
The End Times, also known as the Death Stranding, is an apocalyptic event revolving around the complete annihilation of humanity and the Earth's creatures under the reign of the Ogdru Hem.
Overview[]
The End Times is a cataclysmic event that shows the Earth being utterly gripped with death and decay. Biblical authors describe it as a chaotic period of time said to come before Armageddon where evil temporarily overpowers good in the world. This holds true considering that the Ogdru Hem have achieved temporary victory over the forces of good.
It is also claimed to be the "third chapter" of the fabled Anung Un Rama, Urush Un Rama and eventually culminating into the enigmatic Final Conflict. This was possible due to the death of Hellboy during the Dagor Dagorath, an event that depicted the end of all monsters and subsequent prevention of Hellboy destroying the Ogdru Hem.
Description[]
Due the chaotic metaphysiology of the Ogdru Hem's presence in our plane of existence, the veil between the material and the immaterial was at its thinnest. They defy the laws of the universe and are an affront to the very natural order and principles set forth by God, so much so that the planet's very geography and atmospheric conditions is hideously warped and ever-changing.
Some particularly noteworthy phenomenons include the land of the dead becoming entangled with the living world, where the souls of the dead become stranded in the world of the living, specifically souls who died during the subsequent events of the Blackest Night and later the End Times. The presence of the Ogdru Hem prevents them from moving on to the afterlife as the environment is assimilated by the other world that it forces the souls to wander aimlessly; this is part of the description involving the biblical End Times where in the Day of Judgement the true punishment for evil or lost souls is to remain on a ruined Earth rather than enter Heaven. Although this may tie into the notion of the Ogdru Hem being foreign to even the very concept of death.
The second is the introduction of large quantities of chiralium into the living world - a form of temporal matter which crystallizes when making contact with linear time, and exhibits strange time-altering properties in its interactions with normal matter and living things especially. However, the increasing density of chiral matter in the atmosphere leads to perpetually overcast weather as well as chiralium-infiltrated rain that causes whatever it strikes to rapidly decay.
History[]
Background[]
The End Times came to be in the aftermath the Blackest Night which marked the end of vampire-kind. It was triggered when Varvara Rasputin, the daughter of Grigori Rasputin, was used as a means to resurrect the mystic. Rasputin, now speaking through Varvara, kills himself using the Moonblade that was "carved from the abyssal beach" and with her death coupled with wielding Shakti came an explosion that completely wiped out New York City off the map. This explosion was coined as a "voidout" by Dr. Hartmann, an explosive annihilation event that disrupted the veil of the natural order to where it emitted a pulse that woke the Ogdru Hem. Varvara's death via the Moonblade's contact with Shakti was intended as an explosive beacon for the Ogdru Hem to rise from their graves across the world with the voidout sending a signal for the Old Ones to lay claim over the now barren planet.
This was the day the Earth stood still as all that lived now perished, from plants to simple creatures, the world grew cold and humanity attempted to withstand the darkness. Hell had been emptied of its demons as its gates rattled in the wind. But luckily, humanity had a chance to survive; the Hollow Earth beneath the surface of the planet itself, in which humanity could survive the end of the world. Guided by the ghost of Edward Grey, the coordinates of the secret cave-entrances to the Hollow Earth are beamed into the computers of ARC, who in turn share the information with the various civilian governments and militaries around the world, hoping for as many people as possible to make it to them.
The Day the Earth Stood Still[]
ARC also plants to evacuate and reestablish itself underground, but Dante, Vergil, and Nero decide to stay behind and find a way to bring Hellboy back in order to face Rasputin and the forces of the Ogdru Hem. With the End Times now in play, the world above is completely barren and devoid of any life. Ecosystems devastated, the geography of the world became unrecognisable - ground has been weathered, plant life has mutated enormously, animal populations have been killed en masse and artificial structures built by humans have decayed, all while the Ogdru Hem reign supreme.
Humanity slowly but surely thrives in the Hollow Earth while being sheltered and supported by Agartha, replenishing their numbers and resources to take back their home. The dwindling population of the former United States has isolated themselves in what is dubbed as Knot Cities and a handful of smaller settlements, ostensibly unified under the banner of the United Cities of Terra. The central city that stands in the midst of the others is Brückenkopf where the remnants of the defunct Dark Knight Initiative set up their quarters. The central government seems to have been largely powerless until the chiral network was activated, restoring the capacity for instantaneous long-range communication between settlements across America which had been lost due to the destruction of pre-Stranding telecommunications infrastructure.
Meanwhile, the crisis above goes to an all-time high when Shub-Niggurath, one of the Ogdru Jahad, escapes from the Outerverse and lands on Earth, ensuring that even if the Ogdru Hem are physically destroyed more will spawn from the Black Goat Goddess for their spirits to inhabit.