Drgwen says:
... Obviously there is some kind of existence apart from bodies ...
Agreed.
Drgwen says:
... I think I'd like to say there is some kind of afterlife where contracted souls become lesser demons ...
Sounds good... erm... you know what I mean.
Drgwen says:
... I'd like to avoid the more explicit trappings of the Abrahamic religions, though. ...
Cool. We definitely won't be answering the question of who is 'right', leaving open all the options.
Drgwen says:
... Just demons and Hell (or Hells!) is enough, I think. ...
Agreed. We know the facts we know, the Playbooks define as much as they define, and the players get to define the rest, or leave it undefined.
Drgwen says:
... perhaps I could switch her to the Imp playbook ...
Sure.
Urban Shadows Playbooks don't actually make a lot of sense for changing between them, a mortal becoming a werewolf, or a ghost, or a vampire, or a mage, all make a certain amount of sense, but many of the Playbooks are special versions of the concept, and carry baggage and imply time as that Playbook.
We will make any choices work. We may have to massage the options and not everything makes sense. We will loosely interpret the rules for changing playbooks and keep the bits of each playbook that make the most sense in each case. This is not a thing that happens often, so it is not all that well tested. In truth, I don't think I have ever seen it happen in a game, outside of where a player planned from the start to become something later and worked towards it (making the story work) (which I have seen planned quite a few times, but only seen get pulled off, like, once, I think). The main way people change playbooks has been through the story 'forcing' it on them, and then we play it by ear, using what makes sense based on the story. Don't let that deter you plans, though. :)