Rigel's rampage across Siderea did not end with his dea- what do you mean tabletopxuro indicates he's alive?? Well, whatever, you get the point. Him being ambiguously dealt with was not the end of his destruction. He specifically worked to destabilize Siderea itself, tearing open sources of prima materia wherever he went and being something of an amalgam of it himself. Corruption spread across the land and monsters blossomed forth from it, and this age of ruin lasted for generations. While the Saints worked tirelessly to curb its effects, they were not the only heroes who rose during that time.
There was Michael, a Cetus who singlehandedly fought off the corruption that erupted from the deepest abysses until it consumed him. There was Gabriel, a Cancer who placed himself before countless threats in order to warn others of incoming monsters. There was Azrael, who freed spirits entangled in monstrosities. And there was Uriel and Raphael, experts in purification who attempted to cure as many of the corrupted as possible. Each of these five Sidereans shared something in common: when they inevitably died in the line of duty, their souls damned to the primordial monstrosities they spent their lives fighting against... their souls instead burst into brilliant light and ascended without issue to Librae, where Haumea's touch instantly reformed their bodies with a little extra pizzazz.
These five became the first of the archangels: a group of souls marked by Humilia for their pure hearts, heroism, dedication to Siderea, and respect for the gods. Over time more souls ascended, with each archangel always seeming to be someone the gods had their eyes on anyway. Even before the roster was filled out, however, the gods noticed something of a pattern and Humilia confirmed that the idea was that the archangels would help serve as aides to the gods - even as outright backups if needed - with each zodiac having its own archangel representative.
Abilities
First and foremost, there's the angelic stuff. The archangels all get fancy ethereal halos and wings that they can hide at any time, as well as the ability to fly when their wings are out. Their halos are communicative tools, allowing them to telepathically contact other archangels and transmit memories to those who don their halos. They gain the ability to raise and lower their vibe, the intensity of which is quite impressive - not too terribly far below the gods at all.
Speaking of the gods, they also have the ability to teleport to and from the Cosmos at will. Likewise they are immortal, heal quickly, are resistant to all forms of corruption, and can help answer prayers - particularly those relating to their domains of expertise. Additionally all of the archangels are given the Blessing of their associated zodiac's god, and pretty much all of them if not all of them have an assortment of other Blessings too to aid in their duties.
Due to Humilia's involvement with their existence, the archangels are particularly adept at handling viriditas. This is driven home by Arietis' gift to them of the Empyrean Regalia: copies of the Astral Regalia made from viriditas. Of course these weapons don't have the same effects and sheer power as the Astral or even Celestial Regalia, but they are nonetheless incredibly potent weapons. They are instilled with the power to purify: not so much in terms of prima materia purifying (though it does help a bit), but rather a different sort of purification. Additionally, to avoid... Orion incidents, despite the overall lower power, the Empyrean Regalia are specifically attuned so as only to be effective in the hands of the archangels. Any archangel can use any weapon, however, and them swapping things around isn't completely unheard of.
In this context, purification is a particular form of handling evildoers. When struck by the Empyrean Regalia, viriditas will bloom from the victim's wounds. The victim is rendered unconscious as the viriditas soothes them down to their very soul, dulling intense emotions like bloodlust and anger. The victim also enters a dream state, but from here the exacts vary considerably from person to person.
Depending on the victim's sins, they may find themselves trapped in their own personal hell as they relive the suffering they've put others through, their body eternally preserved until they either admit wrongdoing and earnestly seek forgiveness or until outside sources interfere and manually root out the viriditas "infection". Those of more understandable circumstance, however, may simply find themselves having a vaguely pleasant dream of a voice telling them everything will be okay, their negative emotions slowly being sapped away until they're eventually found by some authority or another to be judged from there. The archangels are responsible for watching over and judging their victims, typically expected to simply do their standard stabbing routine, ensure a local form of authority is en route, then depart once the situation is secure.
The ultimate goal for the archangels is to encourage change and rehabilitation rather than simply kill people who cause trouble. Thus it's uncommon for them to simply wander around searching for petty criminals to aesthetically stab; things like that are for mortals to deal with amongst themselves. Rather, they only target serious threats to Siderea, particularly vile criminals mortal authorities are struggling with, and those who are so good at hiding themselves that they can only be found through the desperate prayers of their victims.
In general, only the Powers (see below) engage in active purification. The others keep their weapons around - able to summon and de-summon them at will through their mastery of viriditas - but seldom use them.
also this stuff is on the siderea wiki but it's kinda better there even if it's all just bullet points.
Classifications
The first five archangels became a group of their own, helping any new archangels adjust to their roles. As the roster of archangels began to fill out, they wound up classifying themselves into different categories to represent their various skillsets:
Dominations: The top archangels, so to speak, are Michael, Gabriel, Raphael, Uriel, and Azrael. On top of having considerable seniority over the others, they each serve as sort of the head of five critical concepts: power, communication, life, justice, and death, respectively. Michael is considered the leader of the Dominations as well as of the archangels as a whole.
Virtues: Archangels with a focus on Siderea's primal forces, like nature and the elements. Raphael leads the Virtues. Other members include Ariel, Raziel, Sandalphon, and Haniel.
Powers: Archangels concerned with justice, aiming to resolve Siderea's problems before they happen, purify the evil, and save those who can only be found through prayer. Uriel is their leader. Other members include Zadkiel, Jeremiel, and Raguel. Michael is sometimes grouped in with them as well.
Principalities: Archangels concerned with matters of people, society, communication, and information, working behind the scenes to subtly steer Siderea in a positive direction. Needless to say, they have close ties to Nepsis. Gabriel leads the Principalities. Other members include Chamuel, Zadkiel, Raziel, Metatron, Jophiel, Raguel, and Sandalphon.
Thrones: Archangels who focus on matters beyond Siderea, pertaining to the gods and the afterlife. In addition to chronicling the acts of the gods and Siderean history, they attend to the Cosmos and the moon as well as aiding Librae in managing the flow of souls. They are led by Azrael, with other members including Raziel, Metatron, Jeremiel, and Haniel.
Aside from the Dominations being the accepted leaders of the group, there isn't a real hierarchy to these groupings. And even with the Dominations being on top (heh.), their word certainly isn't law: they're viewed more as mentors than anything, and as time goes on and the newer archangels get more experience the classification of Domination becomes increasingly irrelevant.
The Archangels
The archangels are listed in order of which zodiac/god they're associated with. In terms of when they were recruited, here's a rough guideline of when they were ascended from first to last, with archangels on the same line not yet having clear placement but being definitively before/after the subsequent archangels:
- Michael
- Gabriel, Azrael, Uriel, Raphael
- Raziel
- Ariel, Chamuel, Zadkiel, Jophiel, Jeremiel, Raguel
- Sandalphon, Haniel
- Metatron
Most of them were recruited in the span between the Vengeance of Rigel and the Death of the Sky, probably, with Metatron being a fairly extreme outlier who probably didn't become an archangel until shortly before the Great Cetan Invasion.
Some archangels have a "mortal name" listed. Most of the archangels had different names at the start, but changed their names at some point before or after becoming an archangel. Aside from those who had reason to change their names throughout their lives (like Metatron, Jophiel, and Sandalphon), many of them elected to rename themselves to divorce themselves from their past lives and accept their new reality. Some of them still use their mortal names at times, typically when pretending to be a mortal. This isn't universal, though, as the archangels aren't a group known to mortals; using their archangel names wouldn't give them away or really mean anything to most. In fact, sometimes it's better for them to use their archangel names, as some of their mortal names - like Raziel's and Metatron's - are so well known to mortals that it would be a little suspicious to use them.
also yeah i know the empyrean weapons don't have titles yet LEAVE ME ALONE
Name: Ariel
Title: Archangel of Nature
Pronouns: they/them
Zodiac: Faunal Piries
Patron God: Arietis
Empyrean Weapon: Mangala, Hammer of x
Classification: Virtue
Domains: Fauna, flora, courage, freedom.
Ariel's story is perhaps the most interesting of the archangels, and frankly of all Sidereans, really. Ariel began life as a literal sheep. Like a straight up actual sheep. This random sheep wound up grazing on enough fucked up like. Frenzy and Humilia flowers that it became increasingly conscious and increasingly concerned about helping people out. This escalated up until the sheep had gained outright sapience and consciousness and fiercely desired to become "human" in order to be better able to protect their fellow animal buddies. Arietis happened to encounter this weirdly strong-willed sheep and only encouraged them, and the sheep's anime spirit grew so powerful that it evolved into a full-on faunal Aries. (Which Arietis thought was sick as fuck, naturally.)
Ariel didn't stop there, though. As they learned more about humanity, they became very concerned about the dreamscape health of their furry companions. Who was taking care of animal dreams?? It seemed like a woefully unexplored realm! Unacceptable! And so through sheer will Ariel evolved into a Pisces hybrid, becoming a Piries. Arietis continued to think this owned and just kept enabling them up until the day they died through some means or another, at which point they became an archangel.
Despite Arietis being their patron god, Ariel spends most of their time in service of Virginis. They tend to Siderea's fauna and flora, serving as sort of the warden of Siderea's biosphere to compliment Aquari's guardianship of the atmosphere. They have a unique understanding of the minds and thoughts of animals and have founded their own little Dream Sea for them that only beings similar to themself have much of a grasp over. This is... not a very large number of beings, but they make it work!
Though they've had millions of years to become someone indistinguishable from an ordinary, "human" faunal, they're still a bit feral deep down. They tend to be very blunt and struggle to understand why people worry so much about things that aren't basic needs like food and shelter. They tend not to think much before acting, nor do they tend to pay much mind to consequences. They mostly just care about fellow little creatures, and to an extent that's quite deadly. They act so softly and kindly around fuzzy critters that people tend not to expect their... remarkably vindictive side.
Name: Chamuel
Title: Archangel of Love
Pronouns: he/him
Zodiac: Taurus
Patron God: Tauri
Empyrean Weapon: Cythera, Axe of x
Classification: Principality
Domains: Relationships, sex, peace, lost things.
Mortal name Camille, Chamuel at some point or another became a close personal friend of Tauri's, possibly through underground connections or possibly because she was like boning his sister or something. Maybe both. Who knows?? Point is, after Chamuel died and became an archangel he devoted himself to Tauri and her ideals, becoming an important point of contact for her and helping her set up all of her various mortal guises. He founded the Mayblossom Society: a group dedicated to maintaining Siderea's peace through social connection and subtle, elegant machinations.
Chamuel is renowned for his beauty and charisma, something that helps him considerably with his chosen "profession". He's so popular in fact, that his quaint little manor - the Mayblossom Estate - is extremely haunted, all by those who knew him in life and refused to leave in side in death. That's right. Ghost maids. Ghost maids that are almost universally trained in combat and subterfuge. It's a nice place! Don't ask too many questions about it, though.
Chamuel tends to take on the role of the guardian angel for whoever Tauri's current mortal girlfriend is, often introduced to them as simply one of Tauri's close friends. Wherever Tauri takes root is where Chamuel focuses his attention and he's the one who suggests new locales to her when it's time for her to move on - typically based on places he views as "weak points" or places of interest he'd like an excuse to devote more attention to.
Chamuel is well-known for his cunning and ability to read people, not to mention his capacity to get a job done without people even fully understanding how. He has a particular talent for finding lost things and loves taking on tasks or even prayers that let him play detective. He likes a challenge, and finds dealing with interpersonal relationships to be the greatest form of challenge out there, leading him to frequently address prayers that deal with love, sex, and other forms of relationships.
Name: Zadkiel
Title: Archangel of Mercy
Pronouns: he/him
Zodiac: Fadelike Gemini
Patron God: Geminorum
Empyrean Weapon: Stilbon, Spear of x
Classification: Power, Principality
Domains: Forgiveness, justice, memories, pain.
Zadkiel - Zads to his buddies - is not a person to encounter in the dark. His past is something of a mystery - mainly because I haven't come up with it - but what is known is that he became fascinated by the concepts of fusion and eclipsing early on in life and got to studying them. He particularly enjoyed tales of Geminorum and Saint Mulapin, especially stories written about Geminorum's early days when their fusion was hardly homogeneous.
While... quirky and a bit questionable in every sense, Zadkiel has a strong sense of justice and was raised with a firm belief in rehabilitation and mercy. Probably had some aspect of that in his own backstory, really. Point is, these two interests eventually came together into a fucked up little idea: what if he could serve as a sort of prison and get dangerous people off the streets while simultaneously rehabilitating them? It was genius! He would just forcibly use fusion to consume people's bodies and isolate their souls, then release them once they accepted responsibility for their actions and sought to become better people!
Zadkiel proceeded to become a vigilante, somewhat literally preying upon evildoers and entrapping their souls in his body to be subjected to the horrors of... Zadkiel just kinda going about his typically pretty ordinary life and engaging in therapeutic activities while espousing the virtues of virtue. Giving people a little scare like that worked pretty well, really, although letting people out of Zads jail on the other hand was a little harder. Recreating someone's body you subsumed is kinda tricky, but, hey... if you're really dedicated to humility and redemption now, starting your new life as a literal worm or some other fucked up little creature should be fine, right? It's more about redeeming your soul than integrating you back into society, anyway...
Needless to say, Zadkiel eventually wound up on local weirdo Geminorum's radar, and after his death and ascension they decided to help him refine his art. Greater control over consciousness and perception, greater separation of souls, compartmentalizing, better ejection, all sorts of fun things with fun terms. Zadkiel is better than ever at his job and is perhaps overly enthusiastic about it, much to the frequent :hildenope:ing of his peers. It is a bit of a shame (to him, anyway) that he's restricted to only zadsing (official term) those for whom it would be a karmic or otherwise appropriate punishment - like slavers and others who dabble in stripping others of bodily autonomy - but, hey! That still gives him plenty of company! Oh, so much company.
Zadkiel is kind of a fucking weirdo who always comes off as a little unhinged and threatening, but time and time again he proves that he's an altruistic person who earnestly believes in the ideals of mercy and redemption. He remains nonetheless cursed, an immense fan of Geminorum's aesthetics and culinary creations. His reputation also suffers a bit from the fact that he likes to toy with people, especially his ""bestie"" Metatron, but he does always seem to have a sense of when to back off.
Name: Gabriel
Title: Archangel of Annunciation
Pronouns: he/him
Zodiac: i keep flip-flopping on if he's a cancer or a canceo
Patron God: Cancri
Empyrean Weapon: Cynthia, Aegis of x
Classification: Domination, Principality
Domains: Communication, oration, childbirth, family.
Gabriel was once a humble musician, using his love of the trumpet to bring joy to the masses, but he had the misfortune of being born at the exact right time to live through Rigel's apocalyptic rampage. He turned his trumpet from a simple doot machine into the harbinger of the end, hurrying to the front of every threat so that he could alert the masses of approaching threats. Initially the trumpet - enhanced with his mastery of sound magic - was just to get everyone's attention, but soon the sound alone became synonymous with doom.
Unfortunately the whole "deliberately putting himself in the way of danger" thing predictably led to his eventual death, but at least he wound up becoming an archangel! He's rather content with this whole deal, especially since his longtime besties Michael, Raphael, and Uriel wound up joining him (which was pretty good in terms of cushioning the trauma of their horrible demises). He now serves as a sort of messenger and announcer, fetching the gods for meetings, managing communications between archangels and Facets, so on and so forth.
Gabriel comes off as calm, refined, and elegant to those who encounter him, and he works very hard to maintain his image. Beauty and decorum are paramount to him, and he enjoys being able to carry himself as a majestic angel beyond compare. To those he's particularly close to - or simply drunk around - this image tends to crumble rather quickly. Gabriel is a person of volatile emotion, so when his guard is down he's prone to open venting and vulgarity. Complaining after a good drink or several is a pastime of his, and if the drinking part's been fulfilled he doesn't even care who he's complaining in front of. Of course, once his senses return he'll be humiliated, and to take care of that he'll need a drink to take the edge off... fortunately, his friends are well-versed in interrupting the Gabriel Cycle:tm:.
Despite his first impressions being either "gorgeous, untouchable entity" or "wine mom who's had one too many", Gabriel does have a deeper component. His love for others is boundless and he's incredibly nurturing to anyone in need, especially his friends and allies. He's good with kids, and his one problem with immortality has always been having long since outlived his own family. He thus places a high value on familial bonds and tends to prioritize prayers involving them.
Name: Raziel
Title: Archangel of Mysteries
Pronouns: they/them
Zodiac: Lirgo
Patron God: Leonis
Empyrean Weapon: Sunnon, Gauntlets of x
Classification: Throne, Principality, Virtue
Domains: Knowledge, secrets, magic, anamnesis.
Mortal name Galizur, Raziel is the grandchild of Leonis and Virginis. Probably. Some descendant of theirs, at least. Anyway, from a young age they were very interested in magic, and as they grew older they wanted to go off and learn magics from all across the world. Their parents tried to snuff this desire out, wanting Raziel to stay with the pride and maintain the family's image; with Leonis and Virginis becoming gods, more eyes were on their pride than ever. Leonis and Virginis, however, encouraged them to follow their dreams, and so they did!
This was all well and good for a while. Raziel traveled the world and learned all sorts of magic, and as they grew older they turned more to teaching. In particular they became a mentor to Metatron, inspiring them to start writing the Book of Enoch in the first place, and eventually founded or at least became the headmaster of some big magic academy I need to name that prolly still exists to this day. Still kinda working out some backstory things, but there was tension between them and Regulus I - either their father or some other close relative - that led to them either seemingly dying or going into hiding.
In either case, the rough idea is that Raziel sealed themself away or was sealed away, intentionally or otherwise. This led to them getting unsealed - possibly multiple times throughout history - and eventually finding themself as part of Nepsis. They carried on without skipping a beat, the sort of person who's good-natured, ever-unfazed, and simply enjoys being alive. Very "cool old wizard with a sense of humor" archetype. Fits in well with Nepsis, really.
Eventually the day came where they died, and upon their ascension to archangel status Leonis and Virginis were overjoyed. Raziel is the only blood family they have remaining, as by then their bloodline had long since thinned out to the point of irrelevancy. Raziel is certainly happy to get to spend time with their grandparents as well, and doesn't mind all of their doting. Continuing to work with Nepsis and uncovering all of the secrets of the world - particularly interested in more forbidden affairs like offworld lore and anamnesis - keeps them quite busy, but they always make sure to find time to visit the old folks and get some butterscotch candy.
...Which is funny because Leonis and Virginis don't look a day past their catasterisms and meanwhile Raziel prefers the Wise Old Wizard Headmaster look. Even though they could look like any age they choose, they're quite stubborn about staying elderly because "I only got cuter with age!"
Name: Metatron
Title: Archangel of the Veil
Pronouns: he/they
Zodiac: Vibra
Patron God: Virginis
Empyrean Weapon: Hera, Scythe of x
Classification: Throne, Principality
Domains: Esotericism, magic, Disappearing, truth.
Mortal name Enoch, Metatron is one of the more significant Siderean figures. A curious sort, Metatron wanted to learn the secrets of magic, Siderea, and Entirety at a young age. It was hardly uncommon in their family to simply wander off to go explore the world - his sister, Jophiel, had done so around the same time - so he set off without much note. Eventually he met Raziel, who encouraged Metatron's studies and gave him all the information he desired, becoming something of a mentor to him. With Raziel's notes combined with his own, Metatron began writing what would become known as the Book of Enoch: an almost mythological tome containing information about the gods, the Creators, and all manner of esoterica.
Metatron's life took a turn when, while researching the subject of Disappearing with great skepticism, he met the resident expert (OG!)Sariel. She taught him her ways and they struck up a working relationship. This came in handy when Metatron started being targeted by unsavory folk for his forbidden knowledge, one day chased to a point where his choices were take a leap of faith into an abyss or be captured. Valuing his research more than anything, Metatron turned to the heavens and quite fervently demanded the Great Fade take mercy on him, for the information he carried with him was by far and away the most important thing on all of Siderea. With that he took the plunge and found he'd managed to escape... not only finding himself in a completely different location, but considerably further forward inside.
So began the most notable phase of Metatron's life. Metatron would Disappear, find himself in the future, struggle to catch up with all that had transpired in his absence, be conveniently around just in time for some world-altering event like the Tragedy of Orion, then coincidentally end up in circumstances where he needed to Disappear just as he was running out of forbidden information to record. He quickly caught onto the cycle and took it as the Great Fade giving him everything he wanted in the cheekiest manner possible, but he accepted fate with a begrudging eagerness. Sariel's weird little cave became a second home to him... at least it was, until the day when he showed up and found that Sariel was no longer Sariel.
Sariel had been eclipsed by resident bogeyman Graffias, Exuro's OC who proceeded to steal Sariel's name and often rough appearance. They had targeted Sariel for her expertise in Disappearing, and Metatron was next on the list for his wealth of forbidden knowledge and magical talent. Fortunately for him he managed to Disappear and temporarily evade them, but for the next several "cycles" Graffias would continually find him. He resorted to changing his name, and advised his sister - who was still alive and hadn't yet become an archangel - to do the same. He became part of Nepsis but never stayed put, even after the point where Graffias stopped showing up because they'd left the planet entirely.
The cycles continued, Metatron living through every major point in Siderean history and publishing numerous editions of his findings as they became lost to history. He assumed this would simply continue for eternity, but eventually the day came where he was ambushed and abducted by a random cult that intended to sacrifice him to the Great Fade. He assumed that something would conveniently bail him out and he'd end up Disappearing as usual, but for once this proved not to be the case. He was successfully killed and had his soul sacrificed, much to his anger that his life would end so arbitratily, and that was the end of his story.
...As a mortal, anyway. The Great Fade, of course, presumably just chuckled lightly before flicking him back over to Siderea where he promptly wound up in Librae's lap and became an archangel. After he got done making the :tails: face he more or less resumed his normal life, just now with a lot less time travel and a lot more tolerating life at Geminorum's place. He's mostly content, but his personality is as indignant and jumpy as ever. Though he has impostor syndrome and doesn't feel worthy of the archangel role, he was known to the others and the gods for so incredibly long that by the time of his death they kinda expected him to fill that suspiciously empty last slot anyway...
somehow i got this far without mentioning sandalphon who is Really Important to him but all that stuff abt their backstory together can go there instead this is already too long.
Name: Jophiel
Title: Archangel of Beauty
Pronouns: she/her
Zodiac: Vibra
Patron God: Librae
Empyrean Weapon: Santa, Sword of x
Classification: Principality
Domains: Aesthetics, self-esteem, development, organization.
Mortal name Dina, Jophiel is the older sister of Metatron. She was rather obsessed with aesthetics from a young age and became ever more interested in fashion, design, and body modification. She left home as soon as it was reasonable, exploring the planet and learning about the aesthetics and customs that existed across the world. She became a jack of all trades when it came to style: she'd be a stylist for a few years, an interior decorator for a few, so on and so forth and frankly she was often many things at once.
Her true passion, however, has always been body modification, something with a bit different of a connotation on Siderea. With the existence of magic, cores, filigrees, vessels, chrysalises, and magic, there are an endless number of ways for Sidereans to completely change their forms as they please. Jophiel has a deep passion for engaging in these arts, eternally riding off the high of her own gender euphoria and wanting everyone to feel beautiful - no matter their definition - and happy.
She kept up with Metatron throughout his life, her penchant for swapping out her body parts to trade for ones she found lovely fascinating having kept her thoroughly alive without any need for silly things like time travel. She cares about her little brother quite a lot and dotes on him whenever she gets the chance, much to his embarrassment. She even tried to keep a low profile for his sake when he warned her about the new Sariel despite her extroverted lifestyle, but ultimately she wasn't really a target. Once she died somehow or another and became an archangel, she used her station to give him a hand, watching over him and getting him in touch with people of interest.
As an archangel, Jophiel primarily focuses on answering prayers and nudging people in the right direction, helping make everyone the best they can be. She also commonly handles prayers regarding body modification gone wrong, such as coming to the aid of those who have been eclipsed against their will or whose cores have been isolated from a vessel. She does serve another purpose, however, and it's going undercover on behalf of the gods or other relevant parties to gain information. She's an excellent social engineer, so it's incredibly trivial for her to blend in with a crowd and do as she pleases. Plus, it gives her an excuse to "dress up", and what's more fun than that?
Name: Jeremiel
Title: Archangel of the Underworld
Pronouns: he/him
Zodiac: Glowlike Librio
Patron God: Scorpius
Empyrean Weapon: Minerva, Misericorde of x
Classification: Power, Principality
Domains: Punishment, mercy, death, the afterlife.
Jeremiel began life as a very good boy with very altruistic goals. Being a Glowlike and a Librio combined with simple genetic fortune, Jeremiel was blessed with the ability to heal at remarkable rates. Once he was old enough for it to be reasonable, Jeremiel took to the metaphorical underworld of Dschubba and began giving away his own organs and other body parts on the black market. Didn't expect that, didja? Anyway, he felt it was only the right thing to do! Not many people could just rip out their organs and live! Of course, he was tended to by medical professionals who made the process as efficient and painless as possible, so it wasn't quite as grotesque as it sounds.
...Until unsavory parties naturally heard of him. His generosity and kind demeanor made him quite popular, so it was only a matter of time. One unfortunate day he was abducted and taken somewhere much seedier, where his new owners didn't care quite so much about his quality of life or ideals. They restrained him, Caged him, and proceeded to start harvesting his organs without much in the way of recovery time, using unethical means to configure his body to grow parts he never even had. Soon he was entirely unrecognizable as a human being, relegated to a life of endless suffering with only the hope that this torture might help someone, somewhere...
Fortunately for Jeremiel, Scorpius arrived upon learning of the group and cleared them out, as he is wont to do. Scorpius took Jeremiel into his care, working tirelessly to restore Jeremiel back to his former self. Jeremiel was grateful beyond measure and promptly dedicated his life to Scorpius, spreading the word that he was actually a really cool and nice guy. He even went so far as to goth up his look to the extent that people tend to mistake him for a Fadelike. He struggled to continue donating his body parts due to the trauma he endured, but continued trying to help people out wherever he could. He even took up vigilante work in the hopes that he could save someone the way Scorpius saved him, determined to end suffering.
Needless to say eventually he flubbed the landing and got killed in the process of trying to infiltrate and demolish corrupt groups of villains, but he at least wound up becoming an archangel. He's quite flustered to be serving directly under Scorpius and is very nervous about bothering or failing him, not because he fears retaliation but because he couldn't bear disappointing him. Having Scorpius around has helped him learn how to handle war criminals far more effectively, though, and with his years of practice and effort he's become someone genuinely threatening. He additionally helps with matters of death, helping Azrael wrangle stubborn souls and frequently checking in on the moon.
All of that combined the edgy personality he puts on to strike fear into the hearts of criminals leads most to believe he's cold and intimidating through and through, but anyone who knows him outside of work knows that he's a massive softie and a top tier good boy.
Name: Raguel
Title: Archangel of Harmony
Pronouns: they/them
Zodiac: Sagricorn
Patron God: Sagittaria
Empyrean Weapon: Sui, Bow of x
Classification: Power, Principality
Domains: Friendship, justice, vengeance, happiness. :)
Whoooo now we're at the segment of characters who don't really have well-defined backstories!!! Raguel's thing is being a thembo. That's mostly it. They were probably buddies with Sagittaria before dying but idk what else they did before dying. Probably important stuff. I'll get to it.
What really matters is Raguel's current job as the Archangel of Harmony. Aside from attending to prayers, they're also responsible for ensuring everyone in the general Cosmos Gang:tm: has a good rapport. Making sure people are connecting, keeping spirits up, resolving conflict, encouraging people to open up, all of that good stuff, and since they're just so darn good-natured and cheerful their efforts tend to go off without a hitch.
Perhaps the more interesting thing about them is their vindictive streak. They also represent revenge, and they really like revenge. Outside of petty conflicts and misunderstandings, anyone who wrongs them or their allies immediately puts a timer on their life. They take friendship and harmony very seriously, and anyone who resists its warm and snuggly arms will be punished. They can be merciful, of course, if someone admits their wrongdoings and willingness to change, but secretly they hope their targets keep fighting against the tides of being a nice decent person. All of their brain cells seem to be exclusively delegated to the revenge department, where they work tirelessly to form elaborate schemes to make the lives of their victims utterly miserable.
Also, don't ask them about pineapples.
Name: Azrael
Title: Archangel of Death
Pronouns: they/she
Zodiac: Capricorn
Patron God: Capricoris
Empyrean Weapon: Phainon, Whip of x
Classification: Domination, Throne
Domains: Death, the afterlife, ghosts, aging, time.
Azrael has always had a connection to the dead, having had an affinity for ghosts since they were young. They spent their days trying to soothe addled spirits and encourage them to move on, whatever that entailed. This ability made it challenging for them to function in normal society, so they lived in relative isolation until Rigel became a problem. And become a problem he did, leaving countless stray souls in his wake, a level of death so immense that Librae was struggling to handle them all. With that combined with rampant corruption often causing spirits to get "stuck", rooted to the planet in anguish, Azrael knew they had to act.
During the Vengeance of Rigel Azrael traveled the world to try and calm spirits, free them, and even unite them against Rigel and his forces if they wanted something to channel their anger toward. They gained a number of titles they feel rather embarrassed about... "Queen of Death" this and "Commander of the Underworld" that, they were just trying to be nice!! In any case, eventually they met their end in the midst of their dangerous duties and likely would have fell victim to corruption themself had the souls they'd saved not done their best to launch their soul into the heavens.
Upon becoming an archangel, Azrael noticed how overwhelmed Librae was and offered them before they even realized they'd become an archangel. They slid into the role quite cleanly, becoming Siderea's equivalent of the Grim Reaper. At times souls will linger on Siderea when they refuse to accept death or otherwise have things rooting them in place, and it's Azrael's job to retrieve them. Of course, Azrael is rather soft-hearted, so at times they relent to protests and give ghosts 40 days to get their affairs in order before Azrael returns to reap them for real. And even then, sometimes, well... listen, it's hard, okay?! They're also the one who personally comes to reap divine incarnations if they reach their age limit of roughly 100, but that's a concept for another post entirely.
Azrael also assists with getting souls set up in their new lives on the moon, keeping them quite busy, though Haniel now handles the bulk of this work. When Azrael does have downtime, they often aren't sure what to do with it. Due to most of their social interaction being consoling, comforting, and convincing ghosts to be dead, they aren't very good at small talk. If someone needs some therapy they're all over it, but talking about weather...? They're not really sure where to begin, and when they do find somewhere to start they struggle to keep the subject away from death.
Name: Uriel
Title: Archangel of Repentance
Pronouns: he/him
Zodiac: Glowlike Aquarius
Patron God: Aquari
Empyrean Weapon: Georgium, Astrolabe of x
Classification: Domination, Power
Domains: Purification, justice, light, the arts, technology.
Uriel, like... did some stuff, probably?? Well he's a longtime friend of the Dominations, probably made in the midst of Rigel's fuckfest when he was going around fighting monsters with that cool flaming sword he has. He's sort of unique among Aquarians; Aquarians typically take either an air, water, or solid form, but Uriel is instead plasma. The cool flaming sword, thus, was actually formed from his own body and further refined to be a more effective weapon. He went around banishing monsters and probably saved Gabriel and Raphael at least a couple times, just sort of joining the party from there. And then dying, eventually. But then becoming an archangel, yaaaay!
Uriel is driven by an urge to do something to improve the world. He can't help but pay attention to everything around him and is constantly ground down by the evils of the world, prompting him to desire to purge them. He thus leads the Powers in punishing the sinful, hoping to enact change. Though he's pitiless, he is merciful, focusing on purification over simply ridding the world of the vile. He believes anyone can change, but they often require some forceful push to put that change into motion.
Uriel enjoys the arts when he gets the time, particularly viewing artwork, theater, and poetry. His constant :tired: face often leads to people being surprised that he has such refined hobbies and interests, which just makes him make the face even more. He also likes music, and is probably part of Gabriel's band. I think all of the Dominations are in a band. The Dominations would be a sick band name. Anyway. He's also interested in technology and collects tech from bygone eras, often maintaining it or repurposing it. He's like, the only one of these bitches who knows anything about computers. Or wi-fi. Uriel has internet access.
Name: Sandalphon
Title: Archangel of Prayer
Pronouns: they/them
Zodiac: Pisces
Patron God: Piscium
Empyrean Weapon: Oceanus, Scepter of x
Classification: Virtue, Throne, Principality
Domains: Prayer, the Dream Sea, music.
Mortal name Elijah, Sandalphon's life was defined by one little naughty action. In the Dream Sea, it's forbidden to enter the subconscious of a person who's currently awake without explicit permission. This is for a variety of reasons, one of which Sandalphon was about to find out for themself. They had been curious about the mysterious Metatron and decided to peer into his subconscious for just a moment when they found the opportunity... and wound up riding along exactly long enough for Metatron to Disappear, suddenly stranding Sandalphon in the future.
This immediately presented more than one problem. For one, the whole coping with unexpected time travel thing. Second, if they went back into the Dream Sea it would be readily apparent that they broke a rule. Third, when they attempted to check on their wakeself... well, in the years their wakeself had been unconscious, opportunistic criminals had taken the opportunity to reduce it to piscite.
With no other options, Sandalphon made their presence apparent to Metatron, apologized fervently, and pleaded that he take mercy on them and let them ride shotgun indefinitely. Metatron - who was in the midst of his fleeing Sariel arc and could use someone to keep an eye open for him while he was asleep, not to mention someone to keep any other curious people from entering his mind - agreed rather quickly, much to Sandalphon's surprise. They became his only real consistent companion throughout his ventures, and all seemed well enough...
...Until some cult wanting control over the Dream Sea came into the picture. Still kinda working out the specifics and kinks here but the idea is that somehow this group came to find out that Sandalphon was alive and joyriding in Metatron's brain. They also probably had their "body" around, which altogether combined to let them blackmail Sandalphon. Whatever the exacts, eventually Sandalphon either willingly or unwillingly wound up in the cult's custody and was used as a catalyst/sacrifice in a long-planned scheme to project a consciousness across the Dream Sea. With Sandalphon being manipulable and their "body" being utilized kind of as a core idk somehow this all seemed like a feasible thing. And it kind of was!
Sandalphon wound up being essentially merged with the Dream Sea itself, though unfortunately for the cult they didn't have the control over Sandalphon that they'd hoped. Instead the sensory overload and conscious experience beyond normal comprehension overwhelmed them and caused chaos throughout the Dream Sea. Despite the unprecedented nature of the incident, Piscium was able to figure out the problem rather quickly and helped calm Sandalphon down and cope with their new existence. With no idea of how to fix this, Piscium instead had to work with the assumption that this was permanent and go from there.
Though not having technically died, Sandalphon is still considered an archangel and has the applicable abilities despite the... complicated, avatar-reliant nature of their existence. They help manage the flow of the Dream Sea and point out threats, providing a unique perspective that's been incredibly helpful. Sandalphon has taken this in stride, just grateful that Piscium didn't see fit to punish a crime that wasn't even that big of a crime at the end of the day, and just hopes to be helpful. They are almost overly polite and apologetic, believing themself more prone to error than they actually are.
Sandalphon is, needless to say, in charge of the Dream Sea. In dealing with Siderea's collective unconscious, however, they also help manage prayers and who they go to, as well as identifying concerns cropping up in the populace. They struggle to explain how exactly they do any of this, as they're currently an entity beyond mortal comprehension. They are sure to have avatars active just to get some normal "human" experience, and they've even gotten help making a new sort of wakeself to experience the waking world. They enjoy listening to and playing music when they get the chance, as well as spending time with Metatron which is Kind Of Gay. There's certainly part of them that misses the good old days, the sort of frantic excitement of being on the run together, but what can you do?
Name: Raphael
Title: Archangel of Healing
Pronouns: he/him
Zodiac: Ophiuchus
Patron God: Serpentarius
Empyrean Weapon: Easter, Staff of x
Classification: Domination, Virtue
Domains: Healing magic, health, medicine, travel.
Raphael is... kinda ill-defined. They were long-time besties with Gabriel, having connected through Raphael's wanderlust and resultant ability to give Gabriel pointers about where to bring his music next. He has a penchant for music himself, so he probably plays some instrument or another. He has a bit of a mischievous and can be a little smug at times, but he's good person who's dedicated much of his life to healing people and inventing medicines. In fact, maybe that's why he started traveling? To find stuff to make new medicines? That sounds right. Yeah, that's canon now.
Anyway, during the Vengeance of Rigel he was predictably the healer of the Dominations party and predictably died at some point as the rest of them did. Fortunately he became an archangel, so it worked out pretty okay. He's pretty pleased with the whole thing since now he has even fewer things tying him down, not to mention he gets to observe how the world changes over time. Aside from answering prayers - which he doesn't get to do too much of since Serpentarius overlaps with the vast majority of his domain and is extremely dedicated to answering prayers - he spends a lot of time cataloguing the geographical and societal changes of Siderea. He also likes cataloguing plants, particularly herbs used in remedies.
When I was making his Selfy Collection pic I made an alt image of him with a lil cat plushie so I think he likes stuffed animals and also just animals in general. Likes to be comfy cozy. Likes baths? Animal print? Green? Basking in the sun? Pasta? Yeah sure that's all canon and stuff. Also he tends to be Gabriel's handler, doing his best to keep him from drinking, keep him out of trouble when he fails that, and tending to his hangovers.
Name: Michael
Title: Archangel of Archangels
Pronouns: he/him
Zodiac: Cetus
Patron God: Cetia
Empyrean Weapon: Xena, Trident of x
Classification: Domination
Domains: Protection, combat, authority, space, the abyss.
Michael, at the Great Cetan Exodus, vowed to Cetia that he would stay behind to help cover her duties and be there for the Cetans in her stead. She gave him her Blessing before she left, and so Michael began a lonely existence of fighting abyss monsters, fighting space monsters, and watching the remnants of Cetan civilization slowly fade into obscurity.
He continued his solitary existence until by chance one day he heard Gabriel's trumpet like a siren song and couldn't help but listen, activating Gabriel's trap card and forcing Michael to have a social interaction. This led to him becoming part of the Squad:tm:, albeit a more distant part of it due to his dedication to duty and general distaste for shrinking down to a more reasonable size to interact with terrestrial society. Still, they often interacted and had enough of a rapport to where they all wound up forming a sort of RPG party when the Vengeance of Rigel came a-calling. Which... didn't work out too well for Michael in the end, since he was the only one in the group who could handle abyssal beasts.
Michael inevitably fell victim to corruption, but somehow found himself reawakening as an archangel instead of becoming some sort of monstrosity. Given how much work he'd already been doing, this only felt like a natural extension of his role in life. He's a very serious, no-nonsense kind of guy so naturally he slid right into the role of general archangel leader, managing the others and instructing new archangels on what their duties are.
...However, he's decidedly bad at just, like, relaxing. When Cetia returned and told him to take a break as a reward for all his hard work he had no idea what to do with himself. He feels restless when not actively vanquishing monsters and will typically find some way to work when he has downtime, but fortunately he has his other Domination pals - as well as Cetia - to keep him distracted for long enough to trick him into relaxation.
Also when I was making his Selfy Collection pic I didn't realize he wasn't wearing pants until after I uploaded the pic. So. I feel like sometimes he forgets to wear pants.
Name: Haniel
Title: Archangel of Intuition
Pronouns: she/her
Zodiac: Pisces-Arachne
Patron God: Arachne
Empyrean Weapon: Tellus, Tome of x
Classification: Throne, Virtue
Domains: Mind magic, the moon, spirituality, weaving, water.
Haniel was previously a Pisces who heard of Arachne and was fascinated by her and all she represented. She sought her out and arrived in her lair, where Arachne quickly took her in and was delighted to have a friend she didn't have to make by saving their life or whatever else. Haniel decided to go through with the conversion process, becoming a Pisces-Arachne, and enjoyed her new life.
However, this was about the time when Arachne was becoming a significant point of controversy, having become significantly more prominent and seeming intent on sticking around. Arachne was demonized and Haniel struggled with what to do. She had always been shy and introverted, so the idea of leaving was quite frightening to her. However, Arachne and her companions had been so kind to her that she couldn't bear to sit on the sidelines any longer.
Haniel publicly revealed herself and attempted to preach about Arachne's virtues, but things didn't go well. She wasn't particularly persuasive and frequently stumbled over her words, and had a tendency toward wincing and crying rather than having the capacity to defend herself. Mood. In the end though many did come to believe her words, she was cornered by an angry mob and... well, she wound up becoming an archangel, so you can imagine what happened there.
Her death served as a point of further controversy and in the end the Siderean Council ruled that they would recognize Arachne as a new god and the Araneans as a new zodiac. Haniel herself became an archangel and immediately felt as though she wasn't worthy of the role. Still, she didn't want to let Arachne down further and does whatever she's asked, tending to scurry off and bury herself in books and sewing projects when she's left with free time.
Haniel, having always felt a spiritual connection to the moon, increasingly leaned into lunar affairs. She's become sort of the official person in charge of the moon, freeing up a lot of room for Azrael and Jeremiel to focus on other death-related matters. She spends much of her time there, for some reason feeling a bit more at ease when dealing with the deceased than with the living. Which is somewhat ironic considering that all of her fellow archangels are dead, too... but they're all so much cooler and worthier!!!!