Ašavastəma Gaiai

'Al-Azraili'

Played by: Al-Azraili

INFORMATION

Sheolian-Human, Female, 28

Aliases: Terrah Paige
Nationality: Canadian
Residence: Atlanta, GA, USA
Employer: Templars
Function: Inquisitor

• Brief •

• Office of Demonology, Templars •

• Known Associates/Affiliations •

CoV Personnel File: Al-Azraili

Status: Active

Affiliation: Templars

Sub-order: Office of the Grand Inquisitor

Description: Human female of about twenty-five years in appearance, 1.72m tall with an athletic build, distinctive red eyes, numerous distinctive markings (tattoos) on her body, and frequently dyed hair.

Narrative: The Templars acquired the asset in 2012, the inherited daughter of minor Templar birthright (see file: Astwihad). Templar mundane assets identified her and proceeded to initiate her under some minor duress. Initially trained as a mundane analyst, Al-Azraili was admitted eventually into the ranks of the Knighthood. She served as a squire for a year in the field.

During the Sheolian Incursion of Sochi (2014), Al-Azraili was exposed to demonic power from the invading force. The official reports conflicted with her direct testimony in several key details- either the demons recognized and empowered her latent abilities or she was corrupted into a demon-like entity herself. In any case, Al-Azraili was evacuated from the site and underwent forced exorcisms.

Notes from the exorcist state, "The patient is so corrupted that cleaving the influence will cause her death. At this time, I cannot justify such action, as the patient displays neither hysteria nor hostility (beyond clear distress to the icons and invocations I have used thusfar). She seems quite clear-minded. Neither abhorrent nor hyper-sexual behaviors demonstrated. Recommendation: observation, mentoring, and counseling until such time that the affliction manifests negatively."

Templars pulled her from the active roster for a year after the exorcism. She returned to the Active roster in 2015, this time as an Inquisitor.

Current Role: She serves primarily as a staff judge advocate, with specialization in occult and demonology cases. She's often prosecutes case crime relating to Sheol-Gaia breaches, and has sat as a lower jurist with the Council on occasion. While she demonstrates the ability quickly and effective oversee cases, and has satisfactory conviction rate, CoV jurists point that she seems more progressive toward judicial punishment than Templar tradition desires. (This is suggested to be corollary to either personal views and experiences and/or her lack of formal judicial training.)

Notice of Sheolian Ancestry

File name: Al-Azraili

After a complete research and recording of experimentation, The Office of Demonology has determined that Al-Azraili is in fact a natural Sheolian-Human.

Records indicate she is the daughter of File Name Astwihad, who was a member of the Sheolian clan Daevas (or Daivas).

Clan Daevas

Ancestrally, Clan Daevas are beings and aspects both favoring and opposing Ashura Mazda, the once recognized creator of Zoroaster's mythology (see Babylonian Templar records). Unlike neutral or antithesis demonology, the Daevas, to this day, spend much of their time thwarting and countermanding each other's attempts to influence the Gaian world. As such Zoroastrianism incorrectly represents the Daeves as two distinct clans: the Amesha Spenta (lit. "divine sparks", those that helped influence Zoroaster's cult) and the Daeves (lit. 'others', those that opposed them).

Like all demons, clan Daevas suffers from a complete dependency on the energy of Gaia, and have sought a unique way of obtaining it. Whereas other demons tend to want to conquer Gaia, Daevas demons have found a way to siphon the elixir of life from Gaia's inhabitants in innovative ways. By assisting humans, Daevas have learned to take minutely Gaia's energies in such a way that does no harm to Gaia or its inhabitants. This is often done by endearing themselves to the inhabitants (humans, most often). In exchange for effort or favors that can vary wildly in scope, the Gaian unknowingly feeds the Daevas demon through expressions of gratitude, adoration, even worship. As such, interaction with a Daevas can go wholly undetected until the Daevas has received what they need. As such, much of their influence is too subtle to detect, and some Daevas have apparently spent significant time in Gaia. As a result, they are quite prosperous and healthy compared to the remainder of Sheol's inhabitants.

The insidiousness of the Daevas' feeding comes from their apparent genuine nature to want to know their 'prey.' They often desire to become close friends to others, and in doing so, learn what a person wants. By giving their target their desires, or offering them timely advice on how to achieve it. In this way, the predatory nature of the clan Daevas' demons are masked by intimacy and friendship.

That is not to say that a Daevas' selfishness is detrimental to mankind in the end. In fact, clan Daevas demons come in two general forms: "soul cleansers" and "soul corruptors." (Author note: this is an archaic delineation, based on our prior ties to the church. Perhaps more accurately, and void of the moral implications, are "balance stewards" and "instinctive enablers." I will use these terms instead.) Cultivating long term relationships with humans and animals in Gaia, the Daevas reveal themselves in various forms: thoughts, totems, images, and even humans in their attempts to gain favor. A common example of Daevas "balance stewards"' influence is "wisdom of the flame." The Gathas cite that Ashura Mazda appears to Zoroaster and others as a holy flame. In fact, the concept of fire is part of ritual cleansing and cleanliness in Zoroastrianism. (This is non-unique to Zoroastrianism. We can certainly see the idea of the ritual flame echoed in later texts, such as the burning-yet-unburt bush imparting the Law of the Torah to the Hebrew tribes.)

Daevas influence has not ebbed with the Enlightenment. Instead, we can estimate that our scientific progress has flipped the tables on their intra-clan struggle. Now, the "instinctive enabler" Daevas who help perpetuate narcissism, greed, uneven wealth, and oppression tend to be more influential in our world today than ever before. It is unclear whether these Daevas are complicity influenced by "the dreaming ones" or if they are simply attempting to offer what they see 'humans wanting'- power, fame, success, and wealth.

According to records, Daevas demons do not follow human patterns of heredity. The offspring of an "enabler" Daevas may be a "steward".

Al-Azraili

Through observation and experimentation, it is the finding of the Templar Office of Demonology that Al-Azraili is most likely a "Soul cleanser/balance steward" member of clan Daevas. Her names are associated with aspects of Ashura Mazda in Avestan and have cognates in Persian, Arabic, and Hebrew as well. She's shown a deep personal desire for justice and given leniency when mercy is warranted. Her sense of right and wrong is in line with the preservation of Gaia and in accordance with Templar Code. We see no reason to relegate her to Ordo Obscurus at this time, and recommend a trial to deem her worthiness as an Inquisitor.

As Al-Azraili is now aware of her ancestry, she has begun to experiment with the limits of her magical power. Magnus Principali has noted her abilities with elemental (mostly fire) and chaos magicks. In concert with additional martial training in melee weapons, she has shown an aptitude with controlling a battle space and influencing opponents into missteps which open them up for attacks.

Al-Azraili has seven names and recognizes them all on an intuitive level, though she identifies only one of her true names as her completely. The Office of Demonology has stressed the importance of maintaining control of true names, lest someone use her against her own will.

She's a long-time friend of Russell Koyabashi who met her during her first week. She's maintained regular contact with the agent and his family during her tenure.

Al-Azraili believes she survives her late wife Lucy Paige, whose grave site is in Louisiana.