Data V - Overlords
Souls are an important topic, and there are two types in Hell. One is Hell's currency; money with a smidge of power from souls of the fallen. It works as anything you may want it to, including sustenance in a pinch (though good luck not getting fucked over if someone finds about it), but it is universally used as coin, the only thing to remain stable in Hell.
The other form of soul? What most would expect it to be: The core of any being.
Demons, angels and humans alike have souls. Hellborn's souls are malleable, weak and largely powerless in their majority. Angels' souls are rare in number and incredibly powerful, to the point that the Imp equivalent, the Cherub, could easily take more than one of its counterparts without much trouble if both had the same level of training. But human souls? They are the powerhouse, not in initial ability and strength, but the upper ceiling they could achieve. They are also less 'bound' to their forms than other souls for reasons unknown, perhaps their latent power, which is why they are valuable.
And this is what Overlords mainly use to gain power: Living souls, almost universally HUMAN souls.
Overlords are those demons and Sinners that have landed many Deals, Pacts or Contracts that garner them the ownership, partial or otherwise, of enough human souls to grow in power. By harnessing the souls under their command, be it power wise or as manpower in any way they wish, Overlords rule from meager dozens or hundreds, to thousands if not up to millions of souls. This augments their usually already vast powers that they acquired through their life in Hell (for the hellborn), or their innate abilities as the human soul morphs into a Sinner once their mortal life ends.
Generally speaking Overlords are almost exclusively post-human in origin; Sinners that arrived in Hell at the apogee of their deeds on Earth. Oft this means quite… unscrupulous beings. Although fairly decent and moral humans can end as easily in Hell as the common murderer, and in some cases those (relatively) stand up people may wake up as a Sinner of great ability that will rise to the ranks of the Overlords if their deeds, willpower and other far more nebulous attributes, were impressive enough. A much easier thing to do if they were already knowledgeable in magic, that is to be certain, but it is not a requirement, as Overlords may lack in magic abilities, instead being resilient to such effects and have certain physical, or other supernatural, effects on their person.
As such, a general characteristic of an Overlord is not the number of souls under their control, or their metaphysical characteristics, although these factors do help, but the power they demonstrate to take over land and resources. This is not a requirement in itself, but a show of the Overlord to be and their capabilities. Failure to meet the standard of brutality, cunning or general abilities, knowledge and powers to fight other Overlords usually leads to a very brief afterlife for those that attempt to join this particular niche within Hell.
This is important: Demons are limited in power and Sinners, while able to grow through more frequent deals than the hellborn, are either smart enough to push past the boundaries of regular old Soul to the rank of Overlord, or they are trampled upon. A good brain is far more important for an Overlord than power itself, and those that lack it… either find companions that possess them, or they don't last long.
Being an Overlord is not a permanent position however, and not just because they tend to die from time to time.
If said Overlord is naturally insanely powerful, then it is almost guaranteed that their position is assured until their eventual, and very certain, death. If it is not? Then they need to rely on souls. Power is partially granted, not just augmented, by the souls they take their might from. Without these souls empowering the Overlord's knowledge, strength, cunning, agility and other physical and mental factors, as well as their magical ones, many Overlords are way above average, but still within attainable levels for most Sinners. In many cases an Overlord is indeed little more than the average Sinner that used their cunning and opportunity to rise into power while also having a few tricks up their sleeve beforehand.
In some cases it is even worse than the lowest of the low. The most despised, and weakest, Overlords became such an entity only by having acquired souls through the most underhanded, or desperate, means. Those Overlords may end up deposed by losing their souls, or, in some cases, chained to someone else through a Deal of some kind. Worse comes to worse, these deposed Overlords may end up in a binding Contract of some kind, although even the most powerful ones have, in some cases, ended up in service to another.
The rare hellborn Overlord that you may find is a much different story altogether. While demon souls are weak in most cases, with many, like Imps, being barely any better than a human physically speaking, and generally much weaker magically, hundreds of years of life may change that. In some cases the demon in question may just be naturally gifted, and they will rise to a position of power within the Ring they were born in. Those Overlords, unlike Sinners, will likely hold their power until death, no deposition. It is almost an universal desire for hellborn Overlords to fight to the bitter end, unwilling to part with any of their power by any means. They know that, once they lose it, they will have everything else taken, thus death is generally preferred as a hellborn Overlord being a servile sycophant is seen as a far worse fate.
Of these Overlords only those born in the Pride Ring, or the most powerful, ruthless and merciless, can compete for a spot in the Ring controlled by King Lucifer, which is the main means humans have to know and summon said demons (As Pride is the easiest to access through rituals on Earth). The most famous in many cases is the ancient Zestial, someone that, at this point in time, few know the origins of. Is he a Sinner? Or was he here almost for as long a time as Lucifer himself? Many consider him a hellborn just because his power keeps growing as time goes by despite the rise and fall of the souls under his power. Whether this is true or not however, is unknown.
Whatever origins an Overlord comes from, just remember: Deals for souls are common, and yours may just be the next in line. If you ever have to sell, make sure you not only pick your owner well, but to read the fine print in any Deal you make. Whatever freedom you have will depend on how much you are willing to give your future master.
And if you are forced to pick between an afterlife of servitude and a second, final death? Think long and hard. Dying a permanent death may not be the worst outcome yet.