Zariel

The Archduchess of Avernus, Zariel is a former angel who fell from grace and into the Nine Hells, after which she became to rule its first circle, Avernus.

Over the course of her stay in both Elysium and Avernus, she inadvertently scattered a number of relics / artifacts of herself and her being which held great power. The Beef Babes spent some time searching for these artifacts for a variety of reasons.

## Origin

In the original *Dungeons & Dragons* lore, Zariel fell from grace after interfering with the events of the Blood War. During the Twitch stream of the Beef Babes, numerous different accounts were described. In the earliest she was but a simple paladin; only later was she confirmed to be an angel.

In Nominally Gnominess (T1.07), Zariel was first mentioned as a paladin who fell from grace, effectively mirroring Bethanee Smiles, who rose from damnation to do the impossible. She was not explicitly described as an angel. Rather, as told in My Mother Looks Nothing Like That Squirrel (T1.08), she was one of Pelor's first bodyguards and her chosen (arguably her friend as well) who fell in love with Selune's Avatar. She became conflicted, knowing that her love was incompatible with her oath to Pelor. To prevent anything from happening, she decided to retire from Pelor's service, leaving her post.

This decision broke Pelor's heart. It caused a rift between Pelor and Selune - Selune locked herself in the White Tower, never to be seen again, whilst Pelor left Elysium, no longer desiring to wander there. The breaking of Pelor's heart in turn caused a crack to appear in Zariel's soul (described as her *shining armor*) through which dark forces started to corrupt her. This started her downfall - a story spanning over a hundred years before she entirely fell into Nine Circles of Hell.

After falling into Hell - or perhaps during that process - Zariel has walked a number of planes, spawning a new bloodline of her own tieflings to be born. Bethanee is one of those tieflings.

During this process of falling, Zariel wept a single tear before leaving Hestevar. This tear was captured into a crucible by Moradin and forged into an incredibly powerful artifact simply known as the *Tear of Zariel*. It was retrieved by followers of Pelor and kept safe.

## Beef Babes

Whilst on Elysium, the Tear was stolen by Lalandra. The King Priest of Pelor, Midus, tasked Bethanee and her friends, the Beef Babes, to retrieve the item. Whilst they succeeded, the King Priest ultimately betrayed them and had the council banish them to Avernus.

When the Beef Babes arrive there, they quickly learn that the now archdevil resides in a triangle-shaped Flying Fortress. This is also where most of her known artifacts are kept. Zariel also made deals with most residents, ensuring the way things were usually handled on Avernus were contract based (or, as Kithercy Gellantara would describe it, through *bureaucracy*). Usually all contracts led back to her, but they could also expire over time, as Mad Maggie's had a duration of 100 years.

Mad Maggie's contract was particularly interesting: she made a deal to deliver any and all potential threats to Zariel to her. This way, Maggie could ship Bethanee and her friends (sans Freezo) up to Zariel's Flying Fortress.

## Flying Fortress

Zariel's Fortress was a heavily guarded fort with numerous uses. One of them keeping threats captured and classifying them with a 'skull rating' system, where the number of skulls would indicate how much of a threat someone was. The lesser threats were kept closer to the outer periphery of the Fortress, the more dangerous ones closer to the heart.

* Parafon 💀 (things not very threatening, merely a distraction)
* Modal 💀💀 (threats under the right circumstances)
* Proxima 💀💀💀 (incredibly dangerous, often fatal)
* Hyperproxima 💀💀💀💀 (able to destabilize regimes and/or destroy worlds)