Netheriel

The Archangel Netheriel was one of the five divine beings responsible for the creation of the world, taking the form of death itself. After his exile from the Heavens, he created heartstones to reclaim his former strength, but was unsuccessful in executing his plans before his demise. At the height of his power following his fall from grace, he posed a greater threat to Esria than any other being before him.
His hatred and loathing for the Heavens was matched only by his apathy for mortal life, and for centuries he plotted from the shadows to take every mortal soul as a sacrifice for his power. Countless innocent lives ended as a result of his actions, and many notable individuals such as the one-armed necromancer Lorawyn Allard fell afoul of his wicked influence.
At the end of the Common Era, during the very final hours of the Long Night, Netheriel momentarily succeeded in his plans. His victory would prove only temporary, however, as his soul was taken in by the necromancer he had seduced to serve him, and the remainder of his servants were finally defeated amidst the shattered pieces of Esria itself. With the destruction of the Grand Heartstone, Esria was recreated as if it had never been destroyed, and Netheriel's evil had finally been banished for good.
== Information ==
=== Personality ===
=== Appearance ===
Forced to adopt a distinctly mortal form, Netheriel stood taller than any human. He was deathly pale and beautiful, lacking any imperfections, and his dull crimson eyes looked upon the world with quiet disgust. With an eerily slender and shapeless set of robes which seemed to twist and ripple around him, he blended in with darkness and often was said to seamlessly fade into shadow.
== History ==
=== The Archangel of Death ===
Before his fall, Netheriel was the fifth of the Archangels who had created Esria and shaped the Heavens into a home. He was the supreme celestial being who ruled over death, and all matters by which souls would leave the mortal plane. 
Despite such a charge, however, he was good natured and benevolent, seeking to aid the passing of mortals in as many ways as he was able to. As time marched forwards, and the Archangels grew more distant from their creation, Netheriel stood alongside Israphel as one of the greater beings that still held compassion for Esria and all of its inhabitants.
 With the arrival of the mindlessly destructive entity known as the Devourer and the creation of new hellish realms, Netheriel was urged to descend to the Underplanes, an action that was strongly opposed by Israphel and Aethidus until it was deemed a necessity. Upon arrival there, he saw what had become of the realms below, and the fiery oblivion that would eventually come to consume the mortal world. For a time seemingly unending, he observed the entity known as the Devourer and its minions as they worked to begin an invasion of the planes above, and reported back to the Heavens what he saw.
 Netheriel, with the help of the Angel Zuriel, discovered that the spread of the Devourer was both attracted to and repelled by the energies contained within mana. With the consent of the Heavens and a heavy heart, he was able to successfully use a mortal soul to contain the Devourer for a small time. The Archangels set about shaping and forming the last empty plane as a result of this discovery. It came to be known as the Underworld, and Netheriel became its caretaker. He became responsible for the sacrifice of millions of mortal souls to the Devourer to halt its growth. If he did not, it would surely break free and come to destroy all that the Archangels had built.
The eons he spent struggling with the immeasurable weight of such a task would take their toll. Tasked with the endless sacrifice of millions of souls, he began to grow increasingly cold and disillusioned. He became obsessed with the guilt of the Archangels, despising the way that they consigned so many souls to be destroyed, and sought to plan their ruination.
Before long, however, he had become so affected by his time in the Underplanes that his heart had blackened. and his own intentions had become corrupted. He became apathetic to the suffering of the mortal souls he was sending to the Devourer and regarded mortals as little more than ants to be used in a much greater plan for revenge against the Heavens.
=== Banishment from the Heavens ===
Becoming more aware of his own power as an Archangel, and becoming increasingly wary of the power of the Devourer, Netheriel drew up his own plans to usurp power from the other four divine beings that inhabited the Heavens. 
The Archangels began to notice a change in Netheriel around this time, noting his absence from the Heavens and the growing darkness in his heart.
They banished Netheriel and his servants from the Heavens, working together to strip him of his power. The Lord of Death was unable to resist, and fell from grace against his will on blackened wings torn to pieces. He narrowly escaped destruction by utilising the last of his power, falling into the depths of the Weighing Halls where he could more easily hide himself and the servants who had been exiled alongside him.
The Angels Zuriel and Raziel were two of his closest and most prominent servants, celestials that had spent eons aiding in the sacrifice of mortal souls. They too had been blackened by their deeds in the Underplanes, and now also shared sentiments of revenge against the Archangels. During the time that Netheriel fought to remain in Heaven, they fought and fatally wounded Israphel's most loyal servant, Lazarus, on the mortal plane. Raphael, the first servant of Aethidus, was also present at the battle, managing to banish the two corrupted Angels but being unable to save Lazarus' soul.
With barely a fraction of his power remaining, Netheriel had little choice but to trade part of his already tarnished soul in a desperate attempt to carry out his plan. He bartered with Devils for the passage of his servants into Purgatory through channels unseen by the watchful eyes of Cethell, an offer that the soul-hungry denizens of the Weighing Halls could never refuse. In reality, however, he was sending Zuriel into Purgatory with the mission to steal the incredibly powerful magic that the Devils had been mysteriously coveting for eons. All the while, Raziel was sowing his own seeds of discord on Esria ahead of his master's arrival.
Netheriel's deception was more than effective enough, and Zuriel succeeded in stealing the magic of the Devils. Learning quickly that they had been taking mortal souls and converting them into immense magical energy, he fought fiercely to escape Purgatory. Although he would use most of the magic to escape the wrath of the Devils, he had learned of their methods and carried their deepest secrets back to his master.
Netheriel would be unable to perfectly replicate the unusual magic, but he now had more than enough to design something anew as only an Archangel could. Using the very last of his power before descending to Esria, where he would reside for a thousand years, he forged the foundations for carmine magic. Zuriel and Raziel followed closely behind him, later giving up most of their original power to aid in the creation of the first heartstones.
=== The Fire Ritual of Londorwyn ===
Netheriel assumed an Elven form, and walked amongst the Elves of the Alvyri Vandryl for a time during the Arcane Era. There he seduced the Emperor Amras Vorosaer, intending to reap the souls of the mortal plane. He orchestrated the events that led to the Fire Ritual of Londorwyn in 381 A.E, and hid from the sight of the angels for a thousand years as he waited for the perfect time to enact his plan. All that he had laid in place would later create the Heartstone Crisis of the Common Era, where he would ultimately fail and be destroyed.Category:Browse
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