Purgatory's Will

Purgatory's Will is a powerful presence in Purgatory. It is a force of nature and a manifestation of that plane's purpose, and yet it has a distinct mind of its own. This mind is alien and driven by its own primal directives to torture and consume. It is unknown how sentient the Will even is.   Its followers call it God, or the Mother, or the Gardener, or the Lord of Reeds and Serpents. Its enemies call it the Devil. Many have tried to give it a name but none of those names have really stuck. The Will is too flexible, slippery, and weird to be pinned down that easily.   Cults of the Will have formed over and over again over the history of Purgatory, as the souls of the dead have sought some kind of rhyme or reason to the madness there. These cults inevitably get the idea to incarnate the Will somehow, to give it a body and power over the 'world' through some horrific grand ritual. These rituals never seem to fully succeed but only ever form brief and temporary avatars that visit terrible destruction across the surrounding region. There is always some reason for the ritual failing, like a concerned interloper interrupting it or a cultist suddenly having a turn of heart or a rival cult attacking. But the failure seems to be just as inevitable as the ritual being planned. It is like the cult of the will is some grim predestined cycle planned and executed by the very god that "fails to be summoned." But Purgatory always washes away evidence of the cycle, leaving behind only tempting clues to seed the next incarnation of the cult.   The Will manifests in many shapes, often determined by the cult itself. Sometimes it is angelic and holy, sometimes it is verdant and organic, and sometimes it is shadow and hellfire. It can be almost playful in how it shows its face, performing its role as ancient evil God gleefully and with camp.   The small handful of immortals who have surveyed Purgatory have their own theories, but they have been hard to prove or disprove. Perhaps the Will is simply a really powerful Fiend: the fear of God, the fear of Purgatory, the shame of one's sins before God, and similar fears of divine judgment made manifest? A different argument is that the Will is actually a reflection left behind by The Hidden One, a sliver of their desire for suffering. Another theory is that this is a distinct immortal being created to steward Hell and ensure it serves its purpose, which might be communicated with in the right circumstances.   Regardless of the Will's true nature, the demigods that have studied Hell are certain that the 'rituals' are for show. The Will has no need for a body or to "ascend" anywhere. It is already in total control of its domain. Whether these rituals are part of its nature as a primordial Fiend or whether they are some kind of game played for entertainment, no mortals ever had a chance to change anything in Purgatory.