Zariel

Zariel was an archdevil of the Nine Hells and the ruler of Avernus.

"Keep wasting my time with your pointless words and die, or join my war band and live. Choose swiftly. I have a plane to conquer."

- Zariel to emissaries from Dis

Description
Zariel's original form was that of a beautiful solar with precious skin, gold-feathered wings, and a blindfold covering her eyes.

After her descent, she took on a more diabolical appearance; a halo of fire burned atop her head, her once fine skin seemed scorched, and her angelic wings, ruined by flame, took a leathery appearance. Her blindfold was abandoned, fully revealing eyes that glowed with white-hot rage, and she had lost one of her hands and replaced it with a flail.

Personality
Zariel was an entity defined by conflict, a warmonger obsessed with battle who lived to fight and judged others on their combat skills and willingness to use them. She prized zealous fury as much as discipline and training and lead her troops into battle herself with iron resolve, leaving many a structure in ruin as she carved her war path. However, neither her own battle prowess nor that of her forces could disguise the fact that Zariel was reckless and rash, relying on berserker rage and determination to win her fights.

Her behavior had warped to match that of her peers, for she had also become a cruel being that inflicting psychological torment on her enemies and subjected those that displeased her to horrible fates. She had also grown distrusting, able to be taken aback by heroic acts of self-sacrifice, while becoming untrustworthy herself, setting numerous schemes in motion at once and refusing to keep to her word if not bound by a contract. While once a purveyor of blind justice, Zariel had allowed her emotions to color her decisions, twisting it into rage-fueled vengeance, and she refused to forgive even decades after being wronged.

Flaws
Zariel's biggest obstacle had always been her own inability to temper her emotions and act rationally, commonly seen in her refusal to play politics. She was the opposite of the carefully calculating Bel, led headfirst into dangerous situations by her righteous wrath, although she could also be considered his counterpart in another stranger way. Bel was, at heart, a realist, aware that the infinite nature of demonkind left him only capable of a stalemate against their innumerable horde. Zariel, despite her cynicism, was an idealist; she genuinely believed that a mere host of mortals would fare well in Avernus, only for a great number of them to flee against the fear-radiating fiends.

The nature of Hell was to corrupt and Avernus in particular specialized in the abuse of the sin that most frequently fell angels; hubris. Zariel had a sense of infallibility about her actions, which when further agitated by her other issue, her self-righteous anger, could be easily brewed by the first Hell into a deadly concoction of sins. Asmodeus had praised her for the strength of her convictions, but it was her dogmatic beliefs that had cemented her downfall. She had become so zealously absorbed in her mission to destroy the demonic menace that she was willing to abandon her principles and sacrifice innocent lives to defeat them, innocence she once sought to protect from them.

Hope
Though her obsession with defeating her foes no matter the cost bordered on madness, even her pride and wrath had limits. The burden of her duties weighed heavily on her soul and the memory of what she had lost to achieve her desire to fight filled her with sorrow, as well as hesitation to destroy reminders of her past. Even as she prided herself as a cosmic martyr, she could still be made to feel pangs of shame for the atrocities she committed to reach where she was. Despite her flaws, her conviction in the overall righteousness of her actions was not invincible, and if properly confronted it was possible for the small sparks of good within her to emerge once more.

Powers
Despite being an aggressive and accomplished negotiator, Zariel's greatest abilities lay in her war tactics, her command of the battlefield, and the frenzied inspiration she provided to her troops, often personally leading charges into demonic hordes.

Zariel had the ability to cast at will fireball, alter self, invisibility, wall of fire and detect evil and good. Three times a day she was able to cast finger of death, blade barrier and dispel evil and good.

Possessions
While Zariel was still an angel, she wielded the Sword of Zariel, which was later hidden for her by Yael, a general in her army and Lulu, a hollyphant who acted as her companion and mount.

Zariel lived in a massive fortress in Avernus. It was made of basalt and spanned an area of. Those who displeased Zariel were chained to the outer walls, and their screams of agony could be heard from almost away. The fortress was defended by a variety of devils.

Activities
Zariel managed access to and from the entire layer of Avernus. She had complete authority over who could pass through the layer.

She also personally oversaw all military activity on Avernus. She led a furious offensive campaign against the demonic hordes invading the layer, and had managed to almost completely drive them off.

Worshipers
Zariel dispatched emissaries to aggressively seek out bargains with mortals who showed promise as skilled and devoted combatants. Bargains with Zariel were eternal and indissoluble, and the freedom she provided for their mortal servants to hone their skills in life ensured that they became loyal and dangerous servants.

The Cult of Zariel attracted those who had the desire to find glory in battle but lacked the necessary experience. The cult provided military training to new acolytes. Most of the new acolytes were experienced warriors from martial organizations such as fighters' guilds and mercenary companies. Zariel's cultist were often led into battle by cambions.

During Zariel's imprisonment, her cult dwindled considerably and her followers were scattered.

Relationships
Zariel resented Tiamat for having been at her mercy during the time of her demotion. Unable to kill the Dragon Queen, she was instead bent on removing her from her home plane, seeking out mortals who wished to free Tiamat from her prison in Avernus. Her disdain for the political machinations of the other Lords made her a political pariah in the Hells.

A few tieflings carried the blood of Zariel. They were stronger on average than typical tieflings and possessed a few innate magical abilities connected to aggression and battle.

Lulu was her friend back when she was an angel. She was brought before her after her Fall, but she was unable to harm her old friend so returned her to Faerun.

History
Zariel was originally an impetuous angel of Celestia, who was tasked with tracking the progress of the Blood War on Avernus. Continued exposure to the plane led her to grow obsessed with the war and developed a growing taste for battle, which eventually led her to believe that an assault from the hosts of Celestia could wipe out both sides of the Blood War in one stroke and free the multiverse of those fiends. Frustrated by her superiors' refusal to engage in the war, Zariel decided to act on her own and led a host of mortal allies into Avernus. Following her defeat, Zariel was brought to Asmodeus, who then stationed her as Archduchess of the layer and named her his champion. She was tasked to protect Avernus from enemies who sought vengeance against the rebellious angels.

Zariel later sided against Asmodeus in the rebellion known as the Reckoning of Hell. Following the conflict, she retained her position as Archduchess of Avernus, but then the Dark Eight were promoted by Asmodeus to take command of the layer's armies. They used this position to stage a coup and overthrow Zariel, establishing the pit fiend Bel as a puppet Lord of the First in their stead. Hoping to reduce Zariel into an empty soul shell, Bel kept her locked in a prison in the Bronze Citadel while siphoning her powers to augment his own abilities. Zariel was constantly tortured by abishai servants of Bel, who continuously carved off bits of her flesh to feed their master.

Some time later, Bel fell out of favor with Asmodeus due to his inability to successfully repel a demonic invasion of Avernus. Zariel reclaimed her title as Lord of Avernus following Bel's demotion. He was forced to serve as Zariel's advisor and remained one of her chief lieutenants, waiting for her reckless tactics to lead to a mistake, so he could claim his title back.

Shortly after her reinstatement as Archduchess, in the late 15 century DR, Zariel allied herself with the Red Wizards of Thay at the time of Severin Silrajin's attempt to summon Tiamat into Toril. She assisted in their efforts by sending out mortal agents and by facilitating rituals of devil summoning. Her efforts, however, were opposed by Bel and his allies, who instead wished to keep Tiamat in Avernus.

Under her rule, Avernus was turned into a wasteland. Where large cities with considerable commercial activity once existed, only ruins remained. The only active sites were defensive citadels, built mostly along the banks of the River Styx or around portals to Dis.

Invasion of Waterdeep
On a Founders' Day in the late 15 century, Zariel was summoned onto Waterdeep's Field of Triumph. She, in turn, summoned a host of devils and bid them spread chaos in the city. Waterdeep briefly became a battlefield in the Blood War, as demons were attracted by the sudden presence of devils. Zariel hoped that strong adventurers would appear to defeat the fiendish invasion, and that she could lure or blackmail them into her service. A group of adventurers, commanded by Blackstaff Vajra Safahr to restore order to the city, was able to defeat Zariel and banish her back to the Nine Hells.

Rumors & Legends
Zariel was mentioned in The Trial of Asmodeus, a theater play written by the aasimar bard Anodius, allegedly based on real events. According to the play, during a long trial in the court of Primus orchestrated by the angels of Celestia to bring Asmodeus to justice for his crimes, then-angel Zariel protested as she demanded to be heard. The confusion turned into battle, as Asmodeus watched, smiling.

Legends held that Zariel also had a measure of environmental control over the entire layer of Avernus. This effect manifested itself as seemingly random fireballs that constantly detonated throughout the place, apparently drawn by moving creatures.

Appearances

 * Adventures
 * Baldur's Gate: Descent into Avernus


 * The Rise of Tiamat
 * Comics
 * A Darkened Wish #3
 * Video Games
 * Idle Champions of the Forgotten Realms