The Banlands

The Banlands is a location and Pressure's version of Hell. It is a retro Roblox themed wasteland where sinners are sent after death and is very important for the overall Lore of Pressure.

Overview

The Banlands is a retro Roblox themed version of Hell, being based on the Roblox myth of the same name. Various classic locations reside there, such as Crossroads, Happy Home in Robloxia, and Haunted Mansion. It is ruled by The Devil, who can seemingly control the fates of the souls sent there. Most sinners become apart the Lake of Souls, where The Ferryman takes them to the cities within the Banlands after being befriended by The Devil. Sinners who have committed incredibly heinous acts undergo an excruciating process in which their souls become one of the many suffering trees that populate the surface of the Banlands. Beings such as Lady Death have duties to fulfill, overseen by The Almighty through the Moon and Guardian Angel.

After Urbanshade defeated the Guardian Angel, the residents of the Banlands abandoned their posts as Heaven no longer held authority over them. Sinners ceased being brought to the cities, causing the Lake of Souls to overflow and become an ocean. The Devil carved a pentagram into the dark side of the Moon, blocking The Almighty's view into the Banlands. Currently, the only way to enter the Banlands is by dying and reviving.

Lore

Banlands Expedition & Guardian Angel

The Banlands Expedition was an operation conducted in 2006 after Urbanshade opened a portal to The Banlands. During the expedition, it was discovered that the Banlands was guarded by a divine being: The Guardian Angel of The Banlands. The Guardian Angel attempted to coax the expeditionary team back to Earth, but they refused to leave. It was only until the Guardian Angel accidentally stepped on and killed expoditionee Rivers that the team left. The angel, remorseful of its actions, created a grave for Rivers. Mr. Shade was unsatisfied with the results of the expedition, ordering the construction of four "Heavenpiercer" Class Self-Propelled tanks in order to neutralize the Guardian Angel and find a way exploit the Banlands. In 2008, a second expedition was conducted, where the Heavenpiercers would be deployed. The angel attempted to present Rivers' grave to the expeditionary team, but was struck down over it while doing so. Urbanshade had overestimated the durability of the Guardian Angel, as only a single shot was enough to completely decimate its lower body. Subdued and incapacitated, the angel was taken to The Hadal Blacksite along with multiple treeified people, where it was discovered that the angel had a seemingly infinite supply of blood. It is theorized that The Almighty provides a steady stream of blood to his angels, and that when consumed, absolves one's sins and allows them to enter Heaven. This blood was dubbed "Pureblood," and is given to employees upon their resignation.

As of 2012, Pureblood is being anonymously sold to religious establishments under the name "Pure Holy Water." During The Guardian Angel's rare moments of consciousness, it hurls obscenities in its native holy tongue at the employees responsible for maintenance.

Fearing backlash for the assault and torture of a divine being, Mr. Shade issued a cover story to low-ranking personnel, claiming that the Guardian Angel had mercilessly murdered expeditionee Rivers. To better sell this idea, Mr. Shade named a Trenchbleeder after Rivers as "the man who gave his all in the first encounter against The Guardian Angel of the Banlands." This story is to be kept up by N.O.S.T. personnel and Blacksite Overseers to prevent personnel from resigning or attempting to free the Guardian Angel.

The Devil, pleased with the defeat of the Guardian Angel, made a deal with Urbanshade: employees that went to The Banlands would be spared from treeification and would allow them access to Lady Death. In addition, the Devil carved the pentagram into the eye of The Almighty, publicly referred as the Moon, as an act of desecration, thus preventing The Almighty from supervising the Banlands. The desecrated side of the Moon is only viewable from the Banlands, while the people on Earth see the unaffected side. The desecration of the Moon and absence of The Guardian Angel led the residents of the Banlands to abandon their duties, as Heaven no longer had authority over them.

N.O.S.T.

N.O.S.T. is a subdivision of the Urbanshade Hadal Division that handles work related to The Banlands. The name N.O.S.T. comes from the word "nostalgia", seemingly because of the retro nature of the Banlands. Their logo is a combination of the Hadal logo and the Guardian Angel's halo (the Roblox spawnpoint), with a satanic pentagram in the center.

It is unknown when N.O.S.T. was founded, but they were likely responsible for the Banlands Expedition and the construction of the Heavenpiercers. A dedicated N.O.S.T. sector is located in The Hadal Blacksite housing the Guardian Angel. Crates from this sector can be seen in multiple locations, such as the Submarine Bay, Submarine Dock, and the room before The Ridge. They have also constructed multiple portals leading to the Banlands: one of these portals provides direct access to a base situated on the pier overlooking the Ocean of Souls, ensuring easy access to Lady Death.

Lady Death & Revives

After The Ferryman was killed in a fight with The Guardian Angel, his wife, Lady Death (also known as Death), took his place, leaving her role as the Grim Reaper to Hallowed. Following the defeat of the Guardian Angel, Lady Death refused to do her duties of bringing souls to the cities within the Banlands, instead opting to stand on the pier overlooking the Lake of Souls, which had overflowed due to her negligence. The Devil, unhappy with the lack of new friends being brought to the cities, commissioned Urbanshade to build a machine that would act as the new Ferryman, with construction expected to be completed in 2026.

Ferryman Tokens are used to bring people back from the dead by giving one to Lady Death, who then scoops the desired person out of the Ocean of Souls and tosses the token into the abyss of bodies. After Urbanshade gained access to Lady Death, they were able to resurrect their deceased employees, as long as the person they wish to revive wasn't in Heaven. To combat this, Urbanshade designed a satanic pentagram onto their logo, ensuring that anyone who wore the mark of the Devil would be damned to the Banlands, where they can be brought back by Lady Death. To make up for the requirement of being branded a sinner when joining Urbanshade, resigning employees are given a cup of Pureblood to obliterate their sins, allowing them to enter Heaven. Although these tokens are cheap to obtain, acquiring many of them consecutively becomes very expensive. As a result, if an employee dies too many times, the cost of the tokens is deducted directly from their paycheck. It is also highly recommended to use EXR-P in situations where high casualties are predicted to occur. As of now, Lady Death has been unwilling to talk, so no interviews have been conducted with her. It is unknown why she takes these tokens, as she tosses them into the Ocean of Souls when given one, but it is believed that she does this in memory of her husband.

Noli & The Necrobloxicon

The Necrobloxicon is a cursed book written in Danish and translated to Runic. The book was commissioned by the Devil and written by Noli. It tells the story of how Noli was befriended by the Devil after he ordered Lady Death to retrieve him from the Ocean of Souls. Since then, Noli has lived with the Devil in his manor, serving him by drawing and writing.

The drawings within the book depict the desecrated side of the Moon, Noli himself and his mask, Guest 666, an upside-down cross engraved with a satanic pentagram, and two mysterious figures—one with a religious cross for a head and one with their body split down the middle. The book is said to be destructive in the wrong hands, though the specifics of its abilities are never revealed. The Devil gave Urbanshade copies of this book, though the reason remains unknown.

Cult of Noli & Paranoia's Box

The Cult of Noli is a group of followers that worship Noli.

In 2016, Urbanshade personnel raided a compound belonging to the cult in Rosebud, Montana. During the raid, personnel discovered a box with a peculiar appearance: completely bound by rope, it emanated a green fumes. Despite being partially open, its contents remain unknown, as not even a shot from a Heavenpiercer was able to open it. Since the followers had taken their own lives before being captured, information regarding the box has been left undisclosed to Urbanshade; reviving them was also not an option, as it was deemed as a waste of money. Due to these circumstances, N.O.S.T. sent an expedition into the Banlands to question Noli. During the interview, Noli claimed that he had no relation to the box and did not know why his followers possessed it.

The box is suspected to be of Soviet origin, sourced some time around 1932. The box's green fumes should not be inhaled by anyone, as doing so will cause the person to develop Arachnophobia, Cleithrophobia, Astrophobia, Erythrophobia, Cherophobia, Dystychiphobia, Capnophobia and Ommetaphobia, with each inhalation worsening such its effects; however, said phobias will appear asymptomatic until something triggers it. The box has since been dubbed Paranoia's Box.

Due to the hazard, Paranoia's Box has been locked in a containment room equipped with two ventilation fans to maintain constant siphoning of the green fumes. Maintenance of the fans is a cruciality; if they were to fail, the Hadal Blacksite would be contaminated with the green fumes. During the Blacksite Lockdown, the fans failed, likely due to tampering from Sebastian.

Documents

For more information, see: Documents/Lady Death

For more information, see: Documents/Guardian Angel of The Banlands

Gallery

Revive CutsceneGuardian AngelLobbyThe NecrobloxiconParanoia's BoxMisc

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  A Ferryman Token.
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  Lady Death overlooking the ocean of corpses.
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  A portal used to enter the Banlands.
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  The N.O.S.T. base within the Banlands.
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  Ditto, closer view.
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  Ditto.
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  A helipad within the N.O.S.T. base.
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  A satellite dish within the N.O.S.T. base.
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  The path above the pier leading into a forest of treeified people.
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  An example of the floating-point error effect seen on the Banlands' inhabitants.
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  A brightened image of the classic Roblox starter place "Happy Home in Robloxia" found in the ocean of corpses.
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  A brightened image of the castle from the classic Roblox place "Crossroads" found behind the pier in the revive cutscene.
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  A brightened image of one of the various scaled up Crossroads towers scattered in the ocean of corpses.

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  The Guardian Angel in containment.
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  The Guardian Angel when the player gets close.
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  A side view of the Guardian Angel.
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  Ditto, seen from farther away.
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  The Guardian Angel viewed from the side.
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  Ditto but from the start of the room.

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  The Bleeding Moon Lobby variant.
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  Inside the out-of-bounds N.O.S.T. Warehouse in the Lobby.

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  The Necrobloxicon.
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  Pages from the Necrobloxicon, which depicts the Bleeding Moon and several Banland residents.

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  Paranoia's Box in containment.
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  Treeified people seen within Chainsmoker's jumpscare world.

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  Some examples of treeified victims.
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  The portal found in the Back Area roomtype that Sebastian uses to enter The Banlands to revive the player.
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  A teaser image of The Banlands from February of 2024.
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  N.O.S.T.'s logo.

Trivia

LoreGeneralCharacters

• The Heavenpiercers resembles the Schwerer Gustav.
• The Banlands is inspired by Dante's Inferno. Its inhabitants, however, are not.
  • The inhabitants are not demons.
  • The inhabitants exhibit the floating-point error phenomenon seen in Roblox's Null Zone.^{[Citation Needed]}
• The Almighty monitors the Banlands using the Moon, which is referred to as the "Eye of The Almighty."
  • After the defeat of the Guardian Angel, the Devil thought it'd be funny to desecrate the Eye of The Almighty by carving a large satanic pentagram into it.
  • The dark side of Earth's Moon can be seen from the Banlands, and is the side of the Moon that the Devil has vandalized. The Moon's pentagram cannot be seen from Earth.
• Urbanshade has portals to the Banlands set up that allow their employees to come and go as they please.
• The worst sinners are turned into trees as punishment for their actions, being fated to feel nothing but excruciating pain for all eternity.
  • These trees are called "The Suffering Trees of The Banlands".^{[Citation Needed]}
  • A treeified person will feel their nerve system constantly being chewed on by critters in the ground.
  • Urbanshade uprooted several of the treeified victims from the Banlands and placed them on display within the Hadal Blacksite, which can rarely be found in-game in Heavy Containment or as a rare room.
  • Being uprooted is said to be like a gift from The Almighty.^{[Citation Needed]}
• Heaven is not sending any more angels down to the Banlands, as they are afraid of Urbanshade and cannot compete with their military prowess.
• The Heavenpiercers have only seen combat in the Banlands.
  • This means that Paranoia's Box was likely taken to The Banlands to be shot by a Heavenpiercer.
• Being revived after dying of old age is not possible.^{[Citation Needed]}
• According to the "Haunter" jumpsuit description, Urbanshade tried sneaking into Heaven at some point.
  • This description also explains how the Post-Mortem Haunting gamepass are ghosts in Limbo.

• The Banlands is based off of the old Roblox myth of the same name, where banned users are sent to. It is commonly portrayed as a prison in Hell.
• Chainsmoker's jumpscare world contains treeified people in the environment and Paranoia's Box, which confirms that Chainsmoker has some relation to it.
• During a rare event in the Lobby, the sky becomes red, and the Moon appears as it would in the Banlands.
  • Two songs are played here, "N.O.S.T.'s Theme" (An organ cover of the First Theme) and "Winds Of Hell" (An organ cover of the song "Winds Of Fjords", which was popularly used in old Roblox games)
• There’s an out-of-bounds Easter Egg in the Lobby with a sign labeling it as a "N.O.S.T. Warehouse" which contains a reference to the Roblox "SMILE" creepypasta.
  • The interior of the warehouse resembles the old Roblox place "Haunted Mansion".
  • A painting of the Haunted Mansion can be seen on the wall in the style of Van Gogh's "The Starry Night".
• The year 2006 is most likely a reference to the year Roblox released.
• A slowed version of "Winds of Fjords" played on the organ can be heard by the forest of treeified people in the revive cutscene.
  • This exact song can be heard in the Special Tree Easter Egg room and rarely as ambience.

• Angels are the size of the Corpse of King Minos from ULTRAKILL.
• The Devil is (or was) Zerum's favorite character in Pressure.
• The Devil would hate it if Urbanshade sold copies of the Necrobloxicon, as he does not want random people to have it.
• The Devil would beat Sebastian in a fight.
• The Devil does not bleed.
• The Devil is not a fallen angel, nor is he a demon.
• The Devil plays the organ in order to spite The Almighty.^{[Citation Needed]}
• The Devil seems to have taken a liking to players who have the Got The Worm badge.
  • The "Devil Darling" jumpsuit description claims that the player's performance has "gained you the favor of one of Urbanshade's closest collaborators".
  • Sebastian calls whoever gave us permission to use The Necrobloxicon in the Dead-Drop Shop our "buddy".
• Noli is the same Noli from the Roblox myth.
• Noli does not care about his followers.
• Noli's followers thought that Paranoia's Box was like superweed, which is why they didn't give it up.
• Death Angel was originally going to be renamed to Lady Death, but was instead made into a separate character.^{[Citation Needed]}
  • To avoid confusion, Death Angel was renamed to Harbinger.^{[Citation Needed]}
• The Almighty is likely God of Pressure.
  • My Wife's document mentions a god with an uncapitalized G, this is likely a nod to god from Squirrel Stapler.