Hazael, Master of the Realms of Night, Elohite of Blandine

Provided by Cameron McCurry

I have been contacted by several of my fellow angels who brought the latest discussion of the Purity Crusade to my attention. I admit some reluctance to joining in on this but my analysis of all sides of this debate made me realize that perhaps my views on this might be of some benefits.

My credentials in this matter are quite strong. I was a Servitor of Uriel for three centuries before the Crusade was enacted. I earned his Master Distinction and was one of his highest-ranking officers to lead the attack upon the Earth as well as the Marches. But more importantly, I was a member of what has come to be known as "The Seven." For the benefit of those who are unfamiliar with the meaning behind that (Which includes almost all angels created after the Crusade), The Seven were angels of Purity who refused to carry out their orders any longer and declared that Uriel had gone too far.

After we announced this, we helped many Ethereals flee into the Far Marches. We were all marked for soul death but nothing would stop us from trying to balance out the horrible damage that had been done. By the time we were caught, Uriel had been called to the Higher Heavens and opinion had shifted about his actions. We were cleared of charges of Heresy, but ordered to remain in Heaven as Servitors of other Archangels. I was sent to Blandine's service and have remained there since.

The Crusade itself was an idea founded upon a several sound notions. One of which was that humans should be able to live their lives free from the slavery that was imposed upon them by Ethereal Spirits. And there were Ethereals that were quite malicious. Many demanded human sacrifices, others stole the spirits of humans for their own sustenance, some ate the flesh of the innocent (e.g. Unicorns) and many ruled as tyrants. Our actions saved people from horrid Fates and turned many towards Heaven.

If we had stopped there, our actions would have been remembered in a far nobler light. But we overcompensated. We began to believe that all Ethereals were completely evil and must be purged from all realms. Thus began a campaign to cleanse the Earth and the Marches. I will not remark upon this further, since records of our deeds are kept in great detail in other tomes.

So with this in mind, why did we rebel? Why did we turn against our Archangel? I will not presume to speak for the others but my own reason was quite simple. We had come across a Spirit in the dreams of a child. It could have escaped easily out of the Dreamscape but it remained to protect the human. It thought of us as a threat to the child instead of itself and guarded it with a ferocity I have only seen in the Cherubim. That one action was enough to make me realize that the Crusade was out of control and that we were not seeing the good that we were killing along with the evil.

I have had several centuries to reflect upon what we have done and have learned more about the Ethereal realm through my service to the Archangel of Dreams. My meditations have revealed two important points that I would share with those who have taken the time to read these papers.

First is that Ethereals are not evil simply for being what they are. There are those that can do good and truly do not wish any harm to people. I have met one that was formed from a child's mind. The child was abused by its parents and took comfort in his stuffed bear that had become his imaginary friend. The Spirit that came about through this comforted the boy as he slept and was slowly giving him the courage to face the world. This Spirit knew that his time was limited and he would die when the child's mind was healed. But he didn't care at all. The only thing that was important to him was that the boy would recover. I have only seen this level of selflessness in others only twice before. We would be doing a great disservice to the Symphony in destroying such a noble nature based on its manner of creation.

The second point I wish to remind my colleagues is that many Ethereals are created by humans. Through sheer force of will, dreams and need, these spirits are being born. This suggests a level of Divinity within humans that is being ignored and under appreciated. The increase in the Ethereal population in spite of Heaven's efforts leads to the conclusion that the only way to eradicate them completely is to wipe out the race that is responsible for them. However, I know of no angel that would ever openly suggest genocide against the humans and I would take direct action against one who did.

In closing, I would like to say that the time has come for Heaven to rethink its approach towards the Ethereals. We must consider them each individually rather than make broad statements about their nature. As humble servants of God, we must set the example and reach out to those we have wronged.