Records: Altercation of the Angels

There had been a myriad of the *Incidence of Incidents*, most innocuous, some devastating. From the megafauna to the orks, it was clear that humanity was the target. The Devil's Teardrop had tried to kill England, and the Burning Frogs of Cairo had tried to kill Egypt, and the methods bespoke of agendas beyond human understanding. Often, even if the physical damage was limited, the deeper meanings rocked the human psyche.

In 1382, the nature of the conversation changed.

## **The Day the Earth Stood Still**

On May 21, on what might've been the day of the "Earthquake Synod" in a bygone timeline, the Dover Straits were disrupted by an earthquake. It was felt as far as London, and moments after the shaking, a visitor arrived at the edge of the Westminster wards. Floating in the air, white robes flowing in an invisible breeze, a whole-body halo, he credibly claimed to be the Archangel Michael. After the earth shook, the earth stood still.

"Michael" asked permission to enter, but seemed pained when he did. The ROM instantly estimated it was due the protective wards that he was now walked through.

In the Royal Court, it was a conversation that was just barely comprehensible. He spoke English and French – or whatever the listener happened to speak natively. It was impossible to really record what he was saying because the words were half spoken within the listener's heads – and most couldn't tell where the internal started and the audible stopped.

Then it dropped: *Michael had appeared in many forms*. Surely the mortals of the court were sophisticated enough to understand different approaches for different audiences. He had been Mars, the god of war, and appeared before the court as much as Mars as Michael to encourage the *English King of Blood and Thunder* to unleash his wrath upon the world, starting again with recently-released France.

With many in the royal court transcribing on *Scrolls of Correspondence*, it was the magical equivalent of livestreaming to an audience not simply Europe-wide, but with courtiers from Aztec, Maya and Kaskaskia, around the world. And, particularly, *to France*.

### **The Fateful Reproof**

When King Edward IV rebuked the archangel of war, four other angels arrived. It had been terrifying and confusing before, but now it was absolutely mind-bending as the angels argued in tongues nobody understood. Barely translating were recriminations, oaths anf threats. Beyond, little was intelligible and the witnesses would be unpacking the memory for the rest of thir lives.

Things went south in the blink of an eye. Michael killed one of the other angels straight out. The remaining three tried to limit damage to the bystanders (Michael did not), and the fight erupted into energies that most witnesses had no words to describe. Within seconds, Michael/Mars killed two more of them, but the fourth – Camael – survived to "banish" Michael.

The Royal Court was spared only because of the quick reaction of the Royal Order of Merlin. The throne room of Westminster was heavily damaged in the battle.

### **Parting Words**

The survivor Camael confirmed the six archangels had gone mad, hence the *Burning Frogs of Cairo*. He went as far as to say God's voice and plan was *ineffable*, but Michael was going against the will of Christ.

Camael had little time, but he made the effort to explain there was a difference between the heaven of humanity's souls and the "Heavens" of the sky, where the angels come from. Michael's true message was all but a declaration of war.

And then he was gone.

## **The Aftermath**

If there was a miracle at all, it was that no humans had died in the exchange. There was absolutely no confusion as to why they had survived Michael's wrath: *the ROM's magical wards*.

Just as Arundel castle had been demolished and the stones thrown into the sea, or old Westminster carted away after the Devil's Teardrop, the still-new Crown Room was subject to massive work after the celestial battle. The scorched marble where the three angels died was removed, while three statues were erected in honor of the fallen angels. These became known as the *Defenders of Compassion*.

The one thing the magical wards didn't protect against were the soiled trousers of those in the Crown Room. They *thought* they were going to die, and even in the smoking aftermath, hadn't even begun to unpack the speech of Michael/Mars or the angelic argument.

It wasn't just the Crown Room of Westminster: this soiled trousers across Europe and beyond. Going against the Pope was one thing, but this was an archangel who had gone mad enough to encourage the English to commit genocide.

### **After-action Analysis**

It was difficult to analyze the words as they had been spoken in the heads as much as to the ears – and that included actual magical recordings of the Throne Room.

Looking at the differences in the heavens, Talmudic scholars were quick to point out "lore" that God flew through 18,000 worlds. That turned attention to the revelations of astronomy.

The exchange also potentially clarified the number and type of archangels. It did nothing to illuminate the origins of the angels and the archangels, or where their orders were coming from if God's plan was so indescribably "ineffable."

Also noted: the Jesuits were still able to call on divine magic to heal people in the Royal Court. While the archangels were supposedly gate keepers, they hadn't turned off the spigot for that source of power. The Mystic Sufis and others alike retained their ability to heal...

### **A Lack of Usual Suspects**

Also interesting: what *wasn't* said. There was no mention of arcane *or* divine magic, and there were arguments over what that omission meant.

There was no acknowledgement of the Devil's Teardrop, or the relationships between the classes of angels. There was no mention of Richard of Bordeaux as the Magus and potentially the first Jesuit. There was no rhyme or reason to *why France?*

There was only time for the assessment that the archangels had gone mad.

### **The Collapse of Faith**

While there were physical consequences to the battle in the throne room, it was the story that went out, around the world, that struck humanity through the heart.

An archangel's call to destroy the world turned the human psyche inside out. This wasn't simply a Christian issue, or limited to Abrahamic religions. The being had claimed to be Mars, and the Hellenistic pantheon had all their own rules. Mostly, though, "many names" meant religion itself – the basis for so much human identity – was suspect.

### **The Blind Men and the Elephant**

There was one shining moment that the exchange with Michael had brought to the world: in his apparent effort to connect to *Blood and Thunder*, his admission of appearing in other forms became a callback to the parable of the blind men and an elephant.

Of all the words of Michael/Mars, this was called on the most as a way to bridge the gap between beliefs. It led to a new level of cross-religion tolerance, and accelerated the humanism that the Church itself was already preaching.