Outworld

In the Mortal Kombat fighting game series, Outworld is the evil realm that was once ruled by Onaga, the Dragon King. It is a realm where, although it mimics Earth in many ways (in terms of appearance), is a place of great wonder and great horror. Chaos and destruction lay within Outworld. It is a world central to the Mortal Kombat series where the supernatural and hideous (and generally evil) warriors come from. Warriors such as Shao Khan, the Dragon King, and Bo' Rai Cho are all products of Outworld.

History
Outworld has a very long timeline. It is made up of many realms that have been combined into one very large realm.

In the beginning, the Dragon King along with his undefeatable army ruled this realm. The power of the Dragon King went unchallenged as his army was not only undefeated and unbeatable, they were also invincible, due to Onaga's power to resurrect the dead. Onaga himself was not invincible however, and his advisor Shao Khan poisoned him. With Onaga's death, Shao Khan took control of the Empire, but there were some that were still loyal to the Dragon King. Many of the former rulers advisors and militia refused to serve Kahn. Thus, most had themselves ritualistically killed and entombed, with the belief they would serve Onaga when he returned from beyond death. Shao Khan began (or continued) to invade other realms and assimilate them into the new Empire of Outworld.

Shao Kahn's most notorious conquest was the ancient realm of Edenia. When Kahn gained entry into Edenia, he sent in his armies and began an invasion. Edenia's forces were crushed and their King, Jerrod, died at the hands of Kahn himself. He took the Queen of Edenia as his bride and adopted the infant Princess as his own child. Kahn then fused Edenia with Outworld. Soon after, Queen Sindel committed suicide leaving Princess Kitana as the sole heir to the Edenian throne. Kahn had the Princess trained in his personal guard as an assassin, along with her close childhood friend Jade. Mileena would then be introduced into the world when Shang Tsung was ordered to create a clone of his stepdaughter. Through continued conquests of other realms, Kahn's power grew to immeasurable heights. Since taking Edenia, his rule in Outworld had truly become absolute.

Kahn wished to expand his Empire and set his sights on Earthrealm. He sent his apprentice, Shang Tsung into Earthrealm with the task of tipping the scales of balance towards chaos. Eventually Kahn would need to send the Shokan Prince Goro to Earth to aid Tsung in his task. For the next five hundred years, Goro and Tsung would remain in Earthrealm only to return to Outworld empty handed. Shang Tsung had failed his master, and with the apparent death of Goro, he was to be sentenced to death.

Shang Tsung begged Shao Khan for one last chance; his latest plan was to lure Liu Kang and his comrades into Outworld where they would meet certain death. Kahn approved the plan and soon Tsung returned to Earthrealm with a small army, lead by Baraka. They laid waste to the Shaolin Temples, Liu Kang's home, and set out to send similar messages to the other warriors of Earth. Earth's heroes took the bait and entered Outworld.

Lord Raiden and his champions traveled through the portal to Outworld in order to compete in a tournament hosted by the Emperor. Earth's warriors fought hard and met Outworld's challenge head on. But they would soon learn that the tournament was nothing but a trap, a ploy to distract them while Kahn prepared his armies for an invasion of Earthrealm. The Hero's escaped Outworld with Kahn's forces in hot pursuit, the Invasion would soon begin.

Kahn's plan was to resurrect his former Queen on Earthrealm. By using the body and soul of Sindel, he would break through the dimensional barriers of Earthrealm and be able to finally take Earth. Kahn was able to merge Earthrealm partially with Outworld and after doing so, he immediately took every human soul as his own. Kahn then sent his armies to kill any survivors, for Kahn knew there were souls that he couldn't take. Raiden had sacrificed his immortality and protected those souls he felt could save Earthrealm. In the battles that followed, Earth's warriors would fight longer and harder then ever before. In the final confrontation, Liu Kang would meet Shao Kahn in Mortal Kombat. Remembering his fallen friends and brothers, Kang was able to defeat Kahn, ending his Reign of terror throughout the realms.

With Kahn's defeat, Earth returned to normal and Outworld's forces retreated home. Queen Sindel was freed from Kahn's control and with her daughter, Kitana, they would try to bring order to the chaotic realm of Outworld. During this time, the Edenian people were able to free their home world from Outworld itself. Edenia once again thrived as its own realm.

Years later, rumors of Kahn's return reaches Kitana in Edenia. She returned to Outworld with Edenia's militia in order to end Kahn's existence once and for all. An alliance is formed between the Edenian, Shokan (led by Goro), and various other Outworld forces in an attempt to overwhelm Kahn's forces. Kahn armies were stronger than initially perceived and the war was waged for years on end.

The fighting stopped when Kahn was mysteriously killed by unknown assassins. Quan Chi and Shang Tsung had teamed up and form the Deadly Alliance. They set out to kill the two beings they felt posed the biggest threat to their plans, Shao Kahn and Liu Kang. They were successful. The former Emperor of Outworld and the Grand Champion of Earthrealm were slain, and their plan to revive the mummified army of the long forgotten Dragon King was under way. By transplanting the souls of dead warriors into the remains of the ancient army, they would have the means to take over the realms.

Again Raiden and Earth's heroes entered Outworld in an attempt to stop the Deadly Alliance. They did not succeed. All were killed in the epic battle between the two forces except the Thunder God Raiden. In a tremendous effort, Raiden fought the two necromancers in a final attempt to save the realms. He too fell to the might of the Deadly Alliance. Afterward, the two sorcerors' hunger for power overcame them and they fought for supremacy. Quan Chi was the victor, but his moment of glory was cut short. A new threat was entering into the fray, Onaga had returned to reclaim his army and impose his dominance in the realms. Quan Chi tried to oppose him alone but the Dragon King's power was too great. Shang Tsung and Raiden awoke and joined Quan Chi in his siege against the Dragon King. As powerful as the three warriors were, Onaga still advanced, seemingly invincible. In a last ditch effort, Raiden focused his godly essence and released it. The ethereal blast was enough to incinerate everything within the immediate vicinity, but Onaga survived and is free to enact his diabolical plans.

Places of Interest in Outworld

 * The Dead Pool: An arena that is surrounded by highly caustic acid. It was once a place where prisoners where tortured and murdered (it would later on serve as inspiration for Tsung's "Acid Bath" stage, found in Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance).
 * The Kombat Tomb: An arena where kombatants once fought, and spikes on the roof served as a brutal deathspot for those who get too close.
 * The Wasteland: Baraka's Tarkatan race originated from this hellish badland.
 * The Living Forest: Perhaps one of Outworld's most memorable places, it features forests with faces that on occasion move and speak.
 * Kahn's Arena: The torturous place where kombatants are forced to do battle, with the evil emperor watching and enjoying himself.
 * Goro's Lair: Goro's arena of choice. (Proven to be in Outworld in Mortal Kombat Trilogy, which depicts it as being directly below the Armory and the Kombat Tomb.)

Native realm species

 * Outworlders (exact name unclear) - These people look like normal human beings from the Earth realm and many of them may be from the various realms Shao Kahn has conquered over the years. They hate their ruler Shao Kahn and his evil ways.  While many would do anything to gain freedom of evil rulers, many of them have their own schemes for conquest or power. their age is unclear, however like other realms it may expand into several hundreds of years. Most of them have pale skin, though some range to a slight grey tint as well.
 * Shokan - A tall monsterous race of 4 armed half-man, half-dragon creatures. Generally they range in skin colour from sandy brown through to orange and green.  They have no fear of other races and hate Centaurs.  They have produced several famous warriors from their race including Kintaro, Goro and Sheeva. Shao Kahn uses them for conquest constantly.
 * Centaurs - Centaurs in the Mortal Kombat universe are deadly creatures. They have brownish skin.  Their body consists of a horse-like lower body with a musclaur human body attached to where the horses neck starts.  They have scorpion-like tails and many have horns on their heads.  They are renoun for their hunting skills and were used in Mortal Kombat 3 to hunt down the surviving members of the human race.  They have only one race they regard as a threat and thats the Shokan.  Both races hate each other and do not trust each other.
 * Nomads/Mutants/Tarkatans - A freak mutant race produced by crossing oni with mortal races. They are evil brutes whose hordes serve Shao Kahn in the hope of gaining power. They feed on the flesh of other living creatures.  It is said you do not want to cross the path of one that is angry.  Generally, they have sandy brown to horrible brown/pink skin.  They have small spikes on their head and elbows and have long fangs in their mouths.  Their main weapon is two blades they can retract which are found on their forearms.
 * Cryomancers - a now extinct race of people who lived in Otuworld long ago. their appearance at the moment is unknown, however they are most likely like many other human-like races in appearance.  Their main skills in their race were controlling ice.  While they appeared to have died out, some of them escaped into the Earth Realm, Frost and Sub-Zero are the only two known descendants from this race.  It is believed Shoa Kahn destroyed their race because he feared them.  More details of this race will most likely be given in future Mortal Kombat games.
 * Vampires - Though not strickly speaking are not from Outworld, their realm was merged with Outworld, thus making them another species in Outworld. Recently their realm was separated from Outworld once more thanks to the efforts of Nitara.  Vampires live off the living, causing some people to become Vampire hunters who seek to kill them.  They are great record keepers, owning a vast array of ancient text and documents gping back many centuries.  Though they have the means to enter any realm, they cannot enter the Earth Realm during the day because the Earth Realms sun is harmful to them. They are human-like in appearence with fangs in their mouths and, at least in the case of Nitara who is the only vampire to have appeared so far, have wings on their back.

Trivia

 * According to the contact page on Midway Games' website, there is a Midway office in Outworld (though not listed with the other offices, it is included in a montage of pictures depicting cities which are home to a Midway studio or office).