Azrael

Azrael had smooth mocha skin, pale blonde hair, and icy, ethereal eyes. Runes that shone a faint orange marked his chest and arms.

Known by various names throughout the world: The Betrayer, Death, but most commonly, Azrael. He was a Seraphim who won the freedom of humanity in the first Divine War when many high ranking Angels sought to curb the murderous instincts of humanity by imposing authoritarian practices, where Azrael led those who believed in strict non-interference from the angels, as Kraus intended. While victorious and revered as a saviour throughout the world, the war broke him and gave rise to necromancy, and all of its subsequent horrors.

Azrael was among the few hundred angels that the Archangel Kraus brought along to the newly created world of Eternia. As a close friend and loyalist to the Archangel, Azrael had spent a great many centuries witnessing the horrors of Atmos, an eternally war-torn, ravaged land. He came to loathe violence and oppression, as well as loss. He held the title of 'The Angel of Life' prior to falling to corruption.

In the gospels of The Faith, the Angel Sachael speaks in detail on Azrael's character and fall, "In Atmos, we were moving statues, unchanging with time. We were created whole, and we stayed whole. But the laws of these lands are much too different, like water rather than the stone we knew. Every action changes a person unbeknown to them, a century here having more influence on an Angel's character than a millenia in our homeland."

"With our wings only able to darken, unlike the souls of humanity that can find redemption, the fate of our kindest brother was black feathers. Azrael listened to the world and he heard the cries of the weak, of their pain, of their struggles. He closed his eyes and he heard only their agony. While his feathers were still white, he fought on the side of the vulnerable, but he was never a soldier. Each life he took was more weight on his shoulders, and before long his kindness turned to rage."

"And so he waged a great war. He took more from this world than any other. He sought to usurp Kraus so that he might become an Archangel and rid himself of the black wings he despised. He sought to rid the world of its mortality and establish a utopia that knows no sickness or grief."

"But he was mistaken. The beauty of humanity is their mortality, their frailty, and their ability to change."

Role Today

Having been defeated and stripped of his wings, Azrael was forced into Purgatory, where the former Angel of Life would become the infamous Angel Of Death, spending an eternity escorting the dead he loathed, ensuring that they make their way through the spirit realm. Forced into eternal servitude, Azrael was no longer a direct, active threat to Eternia but did inspire Azraelite empires in both Valmasia and Felera, several centuries ago.

In Esshar, the art of necromancy has long since been buried and forgotten, with unholy texts on the art having been sealed away or turned to ash.