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Hadraniel & The Seven Heavens

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//Context: The player characters have been aware of an existential threat, an alliance between Infernals and Celestials that may well undo reality. As they pursue their leads in the Material Realm, elements of that plot are in motion and events are occurring even in their absence, much the way that you might transition from one area to another in a game to find that the army you were helping advance in one zone has now conquered or been defeated in the next.
With that in mind, some of the more upstanding Celestial entities eventually became aware of what was transpiring around them, and in their failure to discover it sooner or prevent it, suffer terribly. One of them, Hadraniel, would become an ally to the party for a short period of time before he sacrificed his own life not to stop this greater threat, but to give his first and only friends a chance to live.
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Galizur believes that there is a conspiracy between certain Celestial Seraphim and Infernal Princes, and that this faction is manipulating many of the events of The Heavens and The Underfires, as well as on Thea, in order to achieve some nefarious goal. Galizur brought his concern to Uriel, who told him that Aroj, a lesser malachim,  claimed something similar, but was censured after claiming that Michael was part of the conspiracy, and that he was not who he presented himself as.

Galizur went to Humuxus to try to learn more, as he is Archangel of Secrets and can see that which is unseen. Before even reaching the Throne of Araboth where Michael sat, he passed through the Celestial Nexus; though it appeared still as ever, he saw through the illusion into a layer of powerful magic; the Nexus had been attuned to a plane that Galizur could not identify, so great was its secrecy, and that pathway had been open for some time. Beyond that, however, the pathway to Thea also was just recently opened.

Galizur feared that whatever was unfolding could very well consume his as well if he were not careful. Whoever was using the Nexus to reach the unknown plane may not realize that The Pact of Thea had been broken, and if he called any attention to it, whatever nefarious forces were at work could suddenly have a new weapon at their disposal.

Galizur thus went to Hadraniel, a fellow Archangel and one of the Gatekeepers of Induxus, guarding the passage between the Underfires and the Heavens. Galizur was somewhat a mentor to Hadraniel, and therefore trusted him. He told Hadraniel of what he found, and of what Uriel told him regarding Aroj and Michael. Galizur also confided that he did not approach the Throne for fear that if someone else was posing as Michael, they may well know of Galizur’s ability to see through such illusions, and any entity powerful enough to take the Throne of Araboth was more powerful than Galizur or any angel could contend with.

Hadraniel confessed that he’d seen more than the normal number of Infernals coming to entreat with the Seraphim, and though it was not his place to question Divine Will, he did wonder privately why the demons were appearing with more frequency in their plane. Galizur then told Hadraniel his plan: they would go back to Humuxus, together, where Galizur would focus his vision into divining two rituals: how to open the way to Thea, and how to collapse the Nexus. The former would be how Hadraniel would arrive on the Material Plane and tell their story to the Heroes of the Aevum. The latter would be only a temporary resolution, but would slow down whatever was at work, even if it cost Galizur his existence.

So it went; Galizur divined the rituals, and opened the Nexus to Thea, hurrying Hadraniel onto the platform as the booming of an exploding star heralded the beating wings of Michael descending from the Throne of Araboth. Galizur began to collapse the nexus before Hadraniel even fully dematerialized, and before the messenger departed for the Material Plane, he heard his mentor exclaim: “You? You would betray us all? And for what?”


Hadraniel arrives in Thea in the sky high above Colareton in the evening just after sunset. A great and sudden storm so large that it blots out the entire sky manifests from nowhere, and within seconds the sky is alight with thunder and lightning. A quarter minute later, a great blue streak begins descending towards the town, at first mistakable for just a flash of energy, but soon discernible as something rapidly approaching. Within a half minute, the streak stops approximately thirty miles above the town, and then quickly resolves itself into a humanoid shape, so gigantic that the ‘head’ is where the streak stopped, and the legs are mountainous trunks spanning miles on either side of the town.

The storm shifts into an expanding ring, the sky clearing around the head of Hadraniel, as his form begins to rapidly shrink. He descends at the same time, growing smaller yet closer at alarming speed; by the time a minute has passed since the storm appeared, it is on the distant horizon, and Hadraniel stands in front of the gates of Colareton.

He is approximately twelve feet tall, and has a single pair of wings, burnt down to hollow bone; he appears bloodied and badly wounded, yet despite his injuries, he stands proud and without wincing. After greeting him / inviting him in, he will collapse to the ground, suffering greatly from his transit from the Nexus to Thea.

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