Uploaded by Charles Smith

To: The Pan-Entity Symposium on Tri-Planar Affairs

From: Onariel, Seraph of Flowers

Re: The Purity Crusade Debate

Hello to all my fellow beings! To those of you who don't know me, I am Onariel, Seraph of Flowers. To clarify from the beginning, I was not alive for the Purity Crusade. I was created by Mother Novalis in 1995 AD. I feel that all of you elder angels need a viewpoint from one of the younger generation to provide balance. What I write is my own opinion and not representative of my Mother's or anyone else's views.

First of all, I have to say that I am disappointed that such a debate even needs to occur in Heaven. We are angels, not demons. We debate this genocide as if it were in any way valid or even justifiable in any sense. I have read the paper from our poor lost soul who serves the Prince of Death, and I must say that I am greatly saddened. Even though I recognize much of the paper as the delusions of a Habbalite, and one warped by the perceptions of the Prince Saminga, I strongly fear that his views are echoed strongly by many of those who fought in the Crusade and by the Commander of our Host.

I believe that the Purity Crusade can best be summed up as the end result of a military mindset. The military mind, from my perception of it, seeks to annihilate all it perceives as the enemy, often claiming that their foe is evil, is wrong-minded and dangerous. Certainly, the militant mindset justifies such actions as being defensive, as being for the greatest good of all. Did not Uriel in his madness claim the same? Uriel, First of the Malakim, Archangel of Purity. In some ways he authored the military mindset even before Michael. Is it any wonder that he whose Word was Purity was driven mad by the purified militancy that his actions caused?

Could Uriel's madness have been predicted? I believe so. Note his very first reaction when his Purity, a thoroughly subjective Word, was threatened. He led the Raising of the Fists, the transformation that took otherwise happy angels and transformed them into the first of the Malakim, the Virtues who are Heaven's warrior-angels. What is Purity? Can anyone say? What was he trying to keep pure by forever staining the ideals and happiness of Heaven with his thoughtless massacre? He gave up the bright Truth and in so doing, he embraced something that I believe ultimately claimed his mind and soul.

What else could explain his irrational actions against the Ethereals? The Ethereals are the creations of the human mind, making them, or so I believe, the grandchildren of God. I have read that we of Heaven enjoyed a long peace with the Ethereals, even working with them. The kindly Blandine, our own Archangel of Dreams, knew the most of them and I've not the privilege of meeting her, but I have heard some of the older Servitors of my Mother speak of the times they worked and fought alongside the spirits of the forest, and they describe a partnership of love, not fear or hatred. I have even been given to understand that some of the pantheons, in particular members of the Indian one, enjoyed a working relationship with the Archangel Michael, so what finally snapped in Uriel's mind?

Part of it can be traced, I believe, to the battle with Beelzebub that I have read about in the Great Library of Heaven. The effects of Superior on Superior combat are so little known. Who is to say that Uriel was not corrupted in his battle with Corruption, and the corruption affected his mind? I cannot. All I know is the results. Millions dead, our friends sundered from us, perhaps forever, a massive gain in the morale and the forces of Hell, and all for nothing. We wish to redeem our kindred in Hell, and by our actions we proved that their rebellion has changed us for the worst. We allowed their attitudes of selfishness and desires for dominion dominate us. By what right could we claim the Marches as our own? Heaven is our province. Only the Lady Blandine knows enough of the Marches to truly thrive there.

Instead, the Host of Heaven presumed to dictate to our Ethereal kindred the terms and limits of their functions, functions granted to them by the humans that made them and by extension, by God Himself. It is not the place of angels to countermand God. In so doing, we have only justified the actions of our sundered demonic kindred. If it is acceptable for an Archangel, the Commander of the Hosts of Heaven, to flaunt God's laws, then why should not the demons? Can you imagine the study in hypocrisy our behavior makes by declaring that they may not flaunt God's laws but that we can? We compromised our entire cause and averted the potential redemption of countless demons in a war that ultimately accomplished nothing save the division of the Host and the loss of our allies.

Look about you. Ethereals are still forming today from the thoughts and dreams of mortals. The old pantheons still hang on, gathering Essence, and many now serve Hell since Heaven has proven untrustworthy. Purity is gone, perhaps forever. The only positive thing to come out of this whole fiasco is that, perhaps, we have learned a lesson. Our so-called victory in the Purity Crusade was Pyrrhic, too high a price to pay. The ultimate madness of following the stern dictates of the military mindset has forever damaged the angelic psyche. Perhaps, hopefully, we can learn from this tragic and horrific crime and not repeat it in the future. I refer to Armageddon here. In our thirst for dominion, in our self-proclaimed righteousness, we massacred countless Ethereals. It is my fervent and Truthful hope that we will not repeat such a calamity in our dealings with our demonic kindred in Hell.

Thank you for your time.

Onariel, Seraph of Flowers.