Jehudiel

**Jehudiel** is the Archangel of Faith, as introduced in Asphodel in both the first and second iterations. *(Played by Captain Whitehawk.)*

## Biography

### *Pre-Asphodel*

It's been so long since Jehudiel was born that recollection has rewritten his history. He recalls a long period of brokenness where he could not bring himself to live in Faith despite every desire to do so.  It was a destructive time, he might admit in a moment of rare honesty, one in which he nearly lost the war with himself many times.  Were one able to peruse the map of his body, they might find snippets of old evidence of: fields of scars make their home on wrists, arms, thighs, hips--old attempts at understanding why the heart beats.  Then as he would tell it, Elodi personally saved him, and from then on Jehudiel was sold into his service.

In peace and war, Jehudiel lived with his mate and their adopted children in the grand city of Zion.  Lordship of the fief he had secured some centuries before as a testament to his willingness to suffer through legislation and paperwork, and he ruled with an attentive, concerned eye.  For Elodi he would make himself a commander, for Elodi he would take ownership of the great Elysian cause.  For Elodi, he would do anything.  For Elodi, he would sacrifice all.

There's a blank period here, Jehudiel doesn't remember it well--there was a tragedy of some sort, some great loss on the battlefield.  It had been unintended, Jehudiel remembers that well.  By all measures, it may have been an accident.  It was terrible, he remembers, quite possibly it was the worst day of his life.  Sometimes he remembers what it was precisely -- but those days are bad, and even recollection of that recollection he does not remember well.  Jehudiel regularly visits the followers of Chastity to aid him with his memory troubles, asking them to bury it so he may work better.

After several centuries of this forced forgetting, Jehudiel is ... a little vacant.  He understands of course that by all measures he still has children, but the particulars of who they are and what they might have experienced together -- those memories are fuzzy at best.  As such, Jehudiel tries to avoid most family members.  He finds it inconvenient and unsightly when others try to call on him to meet emotional needs for which he has no recollection or connection.

It has been several centuries of war, several centuries of building up Elysians for their fight and their inevitable death, and centuries untold of grappling with the inevitable impasse that has been their fight. Elodi had prepared him for all. Except his exit.  Frustrated and angry, initially he had turned to wrath. But when it was certain that he was still the Archangel of Faith, he turned back to his old duties and now resides in Zion as military commander, as he has been for the last millennia.

## Personality

Jehudiel believes he is a man of the rules and reality. He believes he is not swayed by opinion, idealism, conjecture, or theory.  In his opinion, he is a person of purpose and dedication; he is intuitive, he is observant, he is always searching for the wisest course of action to lead them to slow but certain victory.  He feels most certain when he is working, most capable when there are problems to solve.  His own history is not very interesting to him, he says, as he wishes not to be distracted.  While perhaps a pretty face could tempt him, he's scorched into his very soul devotion to Elodi, and tries to want for very little.

His long life has been a product of his dedication to harmony, both for himself and the Elysian cause. He believes a large reason the Elysians have lasted as long as they have (having been overwhelmed by the numbers of both sides consistently through history) is because the Elysians work together, divvying up resources and forces to cohesively hold their own. Without Elodi to provide, his controlling tendencies have only grown more stubborn.

Much like a hard drive wiped one too many times, Jehudiel's capacities to recall himself and the details of his life are shaky at best. This he does not particularly mind--he much prefers himself as vapid as possible, given that his experiences with vitality have always preceded great suffering--but it does come with a number of unpleasant side effects: inane rambling, a degree of capriciousness, an uncertain grasp on time or place, difficulty sustaining or having relationships, and very little to look back on with fondness, as it is almost all gone. The repetitive memory wipes were intended for his well-being and stability, but relying for so long on repression has left him with a difficult bargain: remember little and have nothing to love, or remember all and flounder under the weight of your grief. Jehudiel tries to forget this as well.

### *Strengths*

Focused on success and conquest, he has little attention for anything else, making him difficult, nigh impossible, to distract or argue with. His devotion to Elodi is unquestionable. Jehudiel's quite analytical and presumptive, enabling him to reach at conclusions far beyond reasonable grasp.

### *Weaknesses*

Elodi's disappearance raises many questions about the chaos that has ensued since the Sundering, and while it does not shake his Faith, it makes him deeply question his priorities, and what, if anything, he thought he knew about how his god operated.

He's a mansplainer and also he never shuts up.

**PERSONALITY TYPE:** ENTJ // 9w1 4w3 5w6

## Abilities and Skills

* **Primary Abilities:**
	+ **Flashlight** (The ability to summon light, especially to banish shadows or darkness created by a Despair follower.)
	+ **Sollux Captor** (The ability to summon and use a blinding, purifying physic beam as a weapon against enemies. Can cause brain damage if used excessively/too powerfully, damaging the senses first and later the ability to speak, form coherent thought, maintain balance, etc.)
	+ **First Aid Kit** (The ability to heal major physical wounds, including internal bleeding. Drains from the user not just energy but also strength to power other abilities, requires time to recuperate in order to go back to full strength. A similar amount that is healed is drained from the user, though in Archangels the drains are less.)
* **Presence Effects:**
	+ **For Free: Backbone** (Steadies, strengthens, and solidifies psyches.)
	+ **Moral Compass** (Strengthens values and personal convictions.)
	+ **+20 Health** (Increases physical fortitude.)
	+ **Xanax** (Eases anxieties, tensions, worries, panic, clarifies thinking.)

## Relationships

* **Vardael** [Old mate, deceased] It's been so very long since he and Vardael were together, it's almost past his recollection. Together they raised their children, and ... he doesn't remember much beyond that. He tries to avoid remembering, as it brings up feelings he neither likes nor knows how to cope with.
* **Florizel** [Fellow Archangel] Jehudiel would like to believe that with all his contemporaries he shares an at least tenable relationship, but there's some level of spite that Jehudiel experiences from Florizel that he finds confusing and troubling. Stranger still are the pieces of intimate information that he can, on occasion, recall concerning her. He's not sure what he's done, but he hopes that he shall discover soon.

* **Elodi** [God] Jehudiel often thought that a good portion of their relationship was Elodi putting up with his multiple failures, something that took several hundred years for Elodi to assure him otherwise of.

* **Ahriman** [Diety] They've encountered each other several times in the past, each time for Ahriman to offer him a different deal in exchange for Jehudiel's loyalty. Every time he has been tempted, but he has yet to make a deal with the near literal devil.

* **Belgael** [Old Apprentice] That boy was flabbergasting, but Jehudiel was pleased to see him become Archangel of Chastity. The boy still insists on following him around and playing attendant, which embarrasses and annoys him some.  His insight and clairvoyance has been valuable in the past however, and so Jehudiel allows him to stay, even if half the time he doesn't remember the boy's name.

## Weapon

A thin-bladed, double edged sword similar to the Chinese *jian*, named Piso.

## Trivia

* Jehudiel's clinically depressed and often suicidal.
* Prior to Petra and the Sundering, Jehudiel's last Bonded partner was Connor Hollis.

* Other associated art for Jehudiel. (x) (x) (x) (x)
* Jehudiel's Spotify playlist.