Sarael, the Sword of Diel
Sarael was a powerful celestial -- specifically a solar -- known as "The Sword of Diel." She was an extremely high ranking member of the Hegemony and her authority was so great that monarchs and other political leaders were forced to yield to her commands.
Her divine purpose was to slay fiends and other extraplanar threats that threatened society. Her duties took her on journeys all across Verden, battling all sorts of unimaginable foes. Sarael is also the mother of Selena Nadir and Piers Garetson, both born from her relationship with Roland Garetson, a knight who lived roughly 600 years ago.
Consumed by zealous wrath that matured into anger and violence, Sarael has recently fallen from grace, transforming into a powerful fiend. She has not been seen since this transformation. It is unknown if she is still working for the Hegemony.
Mental characteristics
Personal history
Antiquity
Being a celestial in the service of Diel, Sarael is likely as old as the god she is sworn to. This would make her as old as civilization itself -- thousands upon thousands of years. Her exploits throughout antiquity are not well recorded, though it is presumed that she has been "The Sword of Diel" indefinitely. This title indicates that she administers the will and wrath of Diel to all those who would threaten the order of his civilization. Specifically, she slays fiends and other threats that originate from beyond the Material Plane. She wields the actual Sword of Diel, a powerful blade enchanted with divine magic that can only be wielded by the truly pure of heart. Diel was badly injured in the war against Lazu and had to retreat to the Outer Planes at the start of the modern era, leaving Diel's loyalists to build the Hegemony alone. It is unknown how Sarael's objectives changed with Diel's retreat from the Material Plane.Romance and Children
Around Year 90, Sarael began a relationship with a knight named Roland Garetson, who was the grandson of warriors who fought in Diel's mortal armies. They had two children -- Selena (born 93 PC) and Piers (born 96 PC). Being half celestial, the children had permanent angelic wings. Sarael thought it would be best if they were raised by mortals, as such an experience is precious and necessary to help them understand the society she felt they were fated to protect. She left them in the care of Roland Garetson while she resumed her duties as the Sword of Diel. She did not think her absence would be a bother, as celestials and other outsiders do not necessarily understand the concept of mortal love. Especially mortal parental love. According to folklore, Roland Garetson did not do well after her departure. He began losing influence at court once she was gone. Desperate to retain his influence, he began a relationship with a noblewoman, but she did not want children from a previous relationship. Roland abandoned his children at the edge of the Lost Woods, hearing tales that children would be adopted by fey or Kokiri. Sarael was subsequently unable to find her children and thought them dead.Finding Selena
Selena would later re-emerge as Selena Nadir, the Labyrinth's top warlord. Sarael was thus convinced that the Labyrinth's queen, Chikara Nadir, had kidnapped her daughter and turned her to evil. Not knowing that Selena had fallen on her own accord. Sarael became personally invested in "rescuing" Selena, killing Chikara, and destroying the Labyrinth. Around the year 610, she formed a tentative alliance with Xer, a priest of Lazu who wanted to overthrow Chikara. They unleashed the armies of the Nine Hells into the Labyrinth. Xer was meant to capture Selena and return her to Sarael in exchange for aid. But Selena ended up trapped within an Imprisonment spell cast by Chikara. Sarael remained unable to rescue her daughter. She was, however, nevertheless proud that she forced the Labyrinth to "fight evil and die as heroes" against devils of the Nine Hells, even if the choice had never been given to them.Reuniting with Piers
In the year 732, Sarael was the chief contact of Alleviator Hector Torrin, who had been sent to pressure the Free City of Hatena to willingly join the Hegemony by any means necessary. The two had a pair of Sending Stones bound to each other to communicate progress. This Sending Stone was picked up by Piers Garetson, her long lost son, after he and he new companions defeated the Alleviator. Piers and Sarael met in the city of Glenien. She learned that he had been raised by the fey and woodland creatures in the Lost Woods, and was overjoyed to see that he was in good health and had a natural inclination towards goodness. She was eager to train him to protect society and defeat fiends just as she did. Since the magical wards on the Labyrinth did not allow her to enter that realm, she requested that Piers go and free his sister. Then they could be reunited as a happy family. But she recognized he wasn't quite strong enough yet, and so she left him with a task: put a stop to the warlock cult that had recently started to plague Glenien. Piers did this and, together with his friends, killed a dangerous lesser devil beneath the city. She had killed this devil once before, and thought it was similar to letting a cub kill wounded prey. A fact which she revealed to Piers, leaving him a little distressed by her callous detachment.Falling to Evil
Sarael was later contacted by Xer via Sending. Xer had learned that one of Piers's companions, Meera, was possessed by the soul of Chikara Nadir -- cursed by Lazu to reanimate into deceased bodies. This was difficult. Meera was Piers's best friend. But Chikara was a dangerous entity that needed to be stopped. She gave Piers the option of mercifully ending her life as he saw fit. He chose to spare her. Sarael later decided to take matters into her own hands. With a combination of scrying and teleportation, Sarael was able to catch up to the party back in Glenien. She intended to kill Meera herself, but Piers and their other friends intervened. Frustrated, and in a furious rage over ancient grudges, Sarael used the actual Sword of Diel -- a powerful enchanted blade -- to strike two innocent people in order to carve a path to Meera/Chikara. By doing this, she fell to evil, and her celestial being was transformed into something fiendish and horrific. No longer able to hold the Sword of Diel and shamed by what happened, Sarael teleported away to hide herself from the world. She has not been seen since. Piers has since destroyed the Sending Stone he used to communicate with her.Relationships
Current Status
Missing; Fallen to evil
Age
Ageless Immortal
Spouses
Roland Garetson
(spouse)
Siblings
Children
Eyes
Gold
Hair
Long wavy brown hair with hints of gold
Skin Tone/Pigmentation
Pale
Height
Variable; allegedly over 9ft in true form
Belief/Deity
Diel
Aligned Organization
Comments