In the second part of the series. In this I’ll be discussing the the creation of the Fae and the after effects of the Tower of Babel being disassembled (no dissemble!).
After The Tower Fell
Instead of Lilith slinking back into whatever hole she crawled from she decided to stick around. It was then that she used the Crucible (one of the few remaining objects in existence that survived the Flood and one of the Prima Artificium) to change the nature of her Fallen. using the Crucible her magics allowed for the creation of lesser Nephilim (or anunnaki as they came to be called) by her Fallen adherents. While they possessed a hawwah they did not possess a soul and that alone made them monsters in the skins of men. Before she could build up a sizeable force, Samael and Michael attacked with a heavenly host to once and for all put an end to her. It didn’t work. Instead they found themselves up against demons from Hell – sent by Lucifer (Heylel) as he’d thrown in his lot with her. Worse, Lilith used her mastery of the logos to break open some of the seals that led outside to summon an entire army of qliphoth. Lilith could have won hands down. Should have won hands down, but at the last moment some of her followers switched sides and helped both Samael and Michael into her demesne. They smashed Lilith’s forces from within and before Michael could kill his little brother, Lilith asked for a truce in the name of YHWH Himself.
God descended from Heaven and the Lucifer ascended from Hell. Lilith spoke for the nonhuman supernatural beings and an unnamed man (called simply “Kashaph” in later lore or “The Sorcerer”) spoke for humanity. At first God wanted to send Lilith away imprisoned forever in the endless plains of Sheol, but Lucifer argued that without her to tempt humanity, the armies of Hell would quickly be used up keeping the qliphoth at bay. Lilith argued that she was still very human (among the first of humans) despite being immortal and thus it was her expression of free will to act as she had acted. Michael on the other hand wanted to cast Lilith into Hell with Lucifer and lead an army of the Host to protect the wall on the edge of Sheol (as he always had).
It was Samael who came up the idea of an informal truce: Lucifer and his demons would be allowed more free rein to visit Earth to tempt mortals, while a new group of the Host (“guardian” angels) would have more free rein to protect their charges from that temptation. Neither side would be allowed to physically intercede without the other side being allowed to instantly do the same there or elsewhere. Lilith would disband her forces and leave for parts unknown and never again call or bind the creatures from Outside. All of the Fallen who made war with Lilith were cast into Hell with Lucifer and became part of his demonic cohort. The Fallen who helped Michael and Samael were exempt from this as they were truly repentant for what they had done. No side was particularly happy with their share, but all sides where happy with the share the others had. This eventually became known as “The Covenant.”
When all had left but for Michael, Samael, and the Fallen who remained on Earth Michael cursed them. The most bloodthirstiest among them were doomed to crave the blood of man. Those who fought for the sake of fighting were doomed to crave the flesh of man. Those who above all craved mortal delights were doomed to crave the pleasures of the flesh. Those who craved none of these things were doomed to wander endlessly. Michael called the lot of them “forsaken by God, beast, and man” and left them to their fates. What Michael couldn’t know (or foresee) was the traces of Lilith’s magic perverting his curse into a mixed blessing of sorts that would have far-reaching consequences later on.
And Now, The Fae
Note: Ceteri fae are weird – well, their origins are weird. Why? Because I wanted them to have a reason for their damnable blue-orange morality. The same morality that seems so popular in fiction these days.
When Michael started handing out curses (much of Old Testament God being a dick is actually Michael “acting” in the name of his Father – Ceteri Michael is a dick), many of the Fallen and their followers fled to Beyond. They had a way past the Gates and they took it. They probably shouldn’t have. Once outside they became the playthings of the Nameless Ones. Since time has no meaning Beyond even the most powerful of the Fallen caved in. Eventually, the Nameless Ones grew bored, but not before breeding with them. The end result of this hybridization process? The Fae. Well, the proto-Fae. This is important as the very next thing that happened is these proto-Fae burst from Beyond and into Sheol like a lanced boil and covered that barren place like an unstoppable force of nature. Lucifer’s forces were losing and badly before the King of Hell performed a feat of magic almost as mythical as Creation. He simultaneously Named all of the proto-Fae. These hybrids (like their forebears) didn’t have Names, but unlike their forebears they had the capability to have Names. Lucifer tried to merge these warriors into his own forces, but it didn’t work out so well for him. The most powerful among them were the offspring of Outsiders and Fallen Angels or Fallen whose mind had been savagely reduced to nothing and “rebooted” thanks to Lucifer’s magic. These lords of the faerie were known by many names later on, but most notably, they called themselves the Tuatha de Danaan and were led by Danu.
Unable to rule them Lucifer forced them to offer up mortal souls to him on a strict schedule – this would later on be known as the Teind – though it would be smashed by Tam Lin the Bard. The Fae fled inward until they found the remains of the Garden of Eden drifting just “outside” of Heaven and settled there. They called it Arcadia and stayed their until they decided the Inlands (Earth or the mortal realm) was better. The fae’s invaded the lands of Eiru (modern-day Ireland) and defeated the Fir Bolg – the native peoples of that place – taking it for their own. From there a second wave left by sea or traveled ley lines into other places while others went back to Arcadia. This would eventually result in the fae assuming identities based on the people who lived where they did (an unknown side effect of their genesis). It was the Fae who created the Autumn Road (a magical path that leads from earth to Between to Underhill and beyond) and Underhill from patches of dimensions in Between. The Lords of Faerie were some of the mightiest beings in existence at that time and this was the greatest of their works.
Picking Over the Bones
Another huge wall of text (IT REMAINS SUPER EFFECTIVE). This is looking like it may be more than a three part series. Sigh. That said, I hope you’re enjoying these because as I said before this is a pretty personal thing for me. I’ve been working off and on this campaign for over a decade and its only been recently that I’ve been able to get it “just right.” Any comments? Questions? I want to hear them.