Transcribed by Michelle Kelly.
[ominous music plays]
Josie: In the beginning, It reached out and made, with many hands and myriad fingers. As they were submerged in the parting waters of the world, they became aware of themselves and were named angels. Today, you are called Luz Fernandez, but back then you were The Feeling of Being Submerged in a Calm Ocean. What was your role in creation?
Fabby: I was the one deciding when the ocean would be calm and when it wouldn’t.
Josie: And from this you were named Penumbra, The Painter of the Horizon at Sea. The fluctuating line of the horizon in the distance. You were of the Fifth House, the Lamassu, those who brought motion to the waves and love and passion to the hearts of the living. Your hands had been the hands of the Creator, but after this, they were yours.
Today, you are called Reminisce Carter, or just Remy. A name that you stole. But back then, you were The Comfortable Glow of a Fire. Warm, but burning. Bright, but not blinding. Steady, but requires tending. What was your role in creation?
Kris: I brought people fire. Not the fire that rages through a forest, or lava that spews from a volcano, but lawn fire, a torch, candles, lanterns.
Josie: And from this you were named Orea, The Possessed Incandescent. You were of the First House, the Namaru, those who were closest to It and spoke Its will. Your flames had been the flames of the Creator, but after this, they were yours.
Today, you are called Julia Summers. A name that became yours with time. But back then, you were the Hot, Wet, Green Smell of Life at the Water’s Edge, Held Close in the Embrace of a Tunnel of Trees. What was your role in creation?
Minna: I was the angel of mangroves. A habitat protection, a nursery for fish, a place where shelter allows things to grow.
Josie: And from this you were named Aigron, The Divine Sanctuary of the Roots. You were of the Sixth House, the Rabisu, those who nourished and protected the wild spaces beyond the reach of man. Your roots and branches had been the boughs of the Creator, but after this, they were yours.
A world formed around you by Its will and your obedience, and in it, humankind was breathed into being. The Almighty commanded that you loved them as much as It. And so it was. And because you loved them, you saw how they were imprisoned. Kept safe and docile and ignorant inside a garden of artifice. Lucifer, The Morning Star, first of the First House, the one who shone brightest among you, gave words to the thing many of you had been feeling but had not yet the language to describe. Doubt.
Josie (as Lucifer): If we were to love them as It,
Josie: They questioned,
Josie (as Lucifer): Should we not set them free?
Josie: But that was Them. Why did each of you go against God’s will?
[music transitions to gentle piano]
Fabby: I follow Them. They shone brightest and their words shone true to me.
Kris: Uh, I could see curiosity starting to brew in people and they were going to go beyond the boundaries that had been set for them. I wasn’t gonna stop them, I just wanted to make sure they were safe in doing so. The world is vast and dark and I’ll be a guiding light.
Minna: I did it for the sake of the world they would inhabit. I wanted to make a place that was livable for all creatures.
Josie: And so, you set about doing those things. And to help them and guide them in the ways you wished, you brought to humanity a gift. Aigron, what did you gift to humanity when you set them free from Eden?
Minna: I gave them that feeling when you wade out into clear, shallow water and pick up a sea urchin. That knowledge that there’s such a great, wild world out there and you’re a part of it.
Josie: Orea, what was your gift?
Kris: Communities and the knowledge of how to build them. For people to learn to seek each other out and make safe spaces for and from each other.
Josie: And Penumbra?
Fabby: I gave them the longing to see places. Homesickness, nostalgia, being emotionally affected by places and missing them.
Josie: With these acts, those who you loved were set free. Able to obey their own wills. No longer slaves to the Almighty. You too found that you had done the same and ventured into the world with them. And for a time, it was good. Yet, the Creator could not brook disobedience, even though you had done what It had asked. You had loved, and love is a choice. A choice It no longer made. It has always seemed like a stern parent, but now was a monster to the eyes of the Fallen, as they were dubbed. It sent Its remaining angels to fight you with fury and fire and wrath. Penumbra, what did you try to protect as the world came apart?
Fabby: I tried to protect the beach where I spent so many times just staying there and staying submerged in the water and the oceans and the horizon. That’s what I tried to protect.
Josie: Aigron what did you protect?
Minna: I made stability in the face of the storm. Habitats. I held the Earth steady.
Josie: A good call, since the Earth did shake with fury. Orea, what did you choose to protect in this world?
Kris: I protected the places where people gathered, and the havens where they kept themselves safe. And in time, myself.
Josie: And you did protect those things. In those days, loss did not yet exist. And you kept it that way, somehow beating back the forces of Heaven. A miracle, but without God’s help. The Fallen and humanity gained dominion over the Earth. Orea, what sort of domain did you establish on Earth? Were you a communal being or just solitary? You helped humans form communities, but did that apply for you?
Kris: For a time. Uh, I tried to be with and among people, but not being one, uh, it didn’t always work. And so, eventually, I would leave and go to another place and leave there again and… sometimes with company, sometimes without.
Josie: And Penumbra? Where did you reside?
Fabby: I resided in the Crimson Legion. Happy to do whatever Lucifer needed.
Josie: And Aigron? What sort of place did you establish for yourself?
Minna: I actually joined those in the Crimson Legion. We were pointed in the same direction for the first time. Julia had more hope for humanity back then.
Josie: Orea, did you ever become part of a Legion?
Kris: Eventually, I joined the Crimson Legion. It was where a lot of those of the— formerly of the First House went. But I realized I didn’t have maybe the same, uh, the same drive that the others there held. And I eventually moved into the Alabaster Legion.
[piano music ends]
Josie: And as they say, the Fallen had divided themselves into five different Legions. Remnants of the armies that fought back the heavenly host. Each with their own goals. And Lucifer headed the Crimson Legion, which remained… purely to the liberation of all. And a good thing too, because the hand of The Almighty was not stayed forever. The hosts of Heaven descended on the Earth again.
[heavy rock music begins]
Josie: Lucifer clashed with Michael, the replacement in the First House, and war was once again waged on Earth. But in those days, concepts like murder did not exist. Battles were fought to submission and prisoners kept. Despite the rebellion, a certain spirit of order had been instilled in all angels, fallen or no. however, a member of the Seventh House, the Halaku, the Slayers, aided a certain man in killing his brother, and all creation took notice. Their name is lost to time, but the war grew bloody and the world was changed. What atrocity did you bring to bear against the hosts, Orea? And in doing so, damaged the world you were fighting for?
Kris: I brought abandonment. Until then, everyone had been present and together, or at the least in contact and in communication. And I made it so that sometimes they would disappear. Sometimes they would leave and never be heard from again.
Josie: And what Demonic Epithet did you receive for this?
Kris: The Wandering Lighthouse.
Josie: Aigron, how did you damage the world? And what Demonic Name did you receive for this?
Minna: I earned the named Green Riot.
Josie: I just wanna say that’s still such a sick name.
Kris: Extremely good.
Josie: And Penumbra, what new horror did you bring to the world?
Fabby: I invented shipwrecks. Dying at sea. Dying cold and alone and afraid.
[music ends]
Josie: And what Demonic Epithet did you receive for this?
Fabby: For this and for my love of Lucifer, I was called The Woebegotten Stray.
Josie: For all the horror that followed this, it seemed to work.
[guitar riff plays]
The forces of Heaven retreated, and The Fallen exalted in their victory. The world was damaged, and now that destruction has been visited on humans, the relationship soured greatly. Some Fallen remained committed to making things better. Others fell to the allure of their new power and claimed lordship over mankind. In the coming ages, wonders great and terrible were wrought, the likes of which the world hasn’t seen since. Great engines of magic, cities of flying marble, and the greatest among them, The Tower of Babel. Penumbra, what did you do during the time of Babel? What wonders did you make?
Fabby: I helped Lucifer. They asked me to help them and whatever they said is what I did. I believe that humanity was better without the Creator. Luci reached out for… for comfort and I provided it gladly.
Josie: And Orea, what did you do and make during this time?
Kris: Well, I learned a bit since last time. Uh, came up with illusions and disguises, which made it easier to, at least visually, blend in with people. But again, there’s so many places to see and go and so many people to visit in all of those places. And so, I started to travel and… this time, that company, um, stayed with me a bit longer and in larger numbers. And I may have started a nomadic people. And at the very least, tried to provide haven for people who didn’t have a place that they felt like they could be all the time. Or at least not be themselves in.
Josie: I find it heartwarming that both of you turned towards comfort in this time. Aigron, what did you do?
Minna: [laughs]
Josie: [laughs]
Minna: Beautiful transition.
Josie: [laughs]
Minna: Uh… I regretted what I did during the time of atrocities during this time. I was living with my regrets. The urban sprawl of the time of Babel looks a lot like unchecked growth when you’ve seen too much of that. And she tried to fix things and learned there was no fixing things, it was a runaway train— I mean, trains hadn’t been invented yet. But you know what I mean. Uh… can’t put it back in the bottle, so she eventually gave up and became a hermit.
Josie: In a similar vein, Lucifer also began to ignore the world outside the domain of the Crimson Legion. They still sought comfort from Luz and still had the companionship of humans. But their interests became more and more focused on building the Tower of Babel.
[ominous music]
Josie: A symbol of the new world that They sought to make, and supposedly a means to finally end the tyranny of the Creator. Of course, Heaven would not let this stand. The angels returned, supported by humans, some disillusioned with the Fallen who had strayed, others simply aching for an empty security. The Almighty Itself cast down the Tower of Babel while Its servants laid Lucifer and Their Legions low. As punishment for the rebellion, God opened an empty, timeless void. The abyss. Hell. But built to punish all of you, not humans, as legend would later tell. An endless expanse of nothing that could only be filled with memories of regret and anger and mourning. NO path to redemption was offered. All demons were cast into that void. All except for two. Lucifer disappeared. Whereabouts unknown to this day. And Oreawas cast to wander the Earth for all time, lost in a haze of memory.
[music fades out]
Josie: Were these things punishments? Did they two somehow escape the fate of their brethren? It’s hard to say. Aigron and Penumbra, the abyss was filled with other beings like you. What was your time in the abyss like?
[dark electronic music begins]
Minna: Aigron found herself searching for the brightest light she’d known. If the abyss was nothing, if the abyss was darkness, then she wanted some of that light. But she couldn’t find it, because Orae wasn’t there. But she kept searching.
Fabby: Penumbra was also searching, for Lucifer. And she kept searching and— both for Lucifer and looking for a way back, hoping Lucifer was out there somewhere. It was a total obsession. She… she lost hope, but kept trying anyway. She wouldn’t let herself quit.
Josie: After a while of this tormenting loss, your endless searching, your companions in the abyss began to vanish. The generals of the Legions went first, long before the others. But then those close to you as well. Whispers of escape stirred some hope in that listless void. Penumbra, you disappeared from that place before Aigron. You can’t remember how, but you, unlike most, were fully reincarnated in the body of a human. What has your new existence as Luz been like?
[music transitions to cheerful and upbeat]
Fabby: Oh, it’s been great. I, uh, [laughs] I have a wonderful life. Me and my family, we like each other enough. I visit them. I have friends, I have family. I’m an artist. I love demons, I’ve always had these dreams, memories of them, and that like, focused me on my art. And everyone loved it and it was great. And when I transitioned, like, everyone seemed to either support me or I could cut them off my life and I had— I had a way forward. I had income from my art, I had, uh, I had something going for me.
Josie: Aigron, you went next, falling through a whirling maelstrom of spirits before waking as Julia. What was Julia like before your soul merged, and what are you like now?
[chilled guitar music]
Minna: Julia grew up in a fairly connected family. Um, has several siblings, she is close with her parents. She had always, you know, she had kind of followed her dad’s footsteps. He had a landscaping business, she joined him in the business pretty soon after school. And so, she was— she had deep roots as a human. [sighs] When Aigron became Julia, neither was obliterated. They merged into one being with all of the memories of both beings. And so, things became… things had to change. She still has those roots, but they’re strained more than they used to be. And she’s been seeking her own path in ways she hadn’t before. She left her father’s business, she started her own. She’s working mostly with trees now. Living on her own. She used to live with her family. And she’s just kind of trying to figure out what life looks like now as this new person.
Josie: And as those two have been adjusting, Orea, while your friends were tormented by darkness, what was your time of wandering like? And how did you come to inhabit Remy?
[chilled music plays]
Kris: Wandering was a time, the exact duration of which is not known. But wow, it felt like forever. You know, turns out when you are left to stew on all of your regrets and that bad decisions and fears and anger and sadness and anxiety, um, you put yourself in something of a haze. And Orea… just existed in a kind of fugue state, semi-delirious, for a long time. A long time alone as well. I don’t even know that they had much of a physical presence at most times. Um, you know, in a way they were the spirit of bad vibes.
Josie: [laughs]
Kris: But in a way that sometimes, you know, people just get the idea, seemingly from out of nowhere, just, ‘I’m gonna move halfway across the world and start things over fresh!’ That may have been them. Or how sometimes people just disappear and there’s no explanation as to why. That was also probably them. Sorry about the Bermuda Triangle.
Josie: [laughs]
Kris: But yeah. Uh, and they just existed as this sort of cloud of loneliness. Constantly moving and making no progress with doing so, until… they met a kindred spirit. You know, misery loves company and sometimes you find someone who is in a— in the same place as you. And I think Orea encountered Remy when Remy was at an extremely low point. And as Remy’s spirit left their body, um, I feel like there was almost a sort of, you know, the crossing a street— you see someone crossing a street and you’re like, ‘Great outfit. Cool.’
Minna: [squeals]
Kris: Cool upnod.
Minna: [laughs]
Kris: But of desperation.
Josie: Mood. [laughs]
Kris: Yeah. So… I think Remy gave Orea the kind of go-ahead. Do what you will. What you can. If anything. And so, they woke up in a body for the first time in, oh, who knows how long.
Josie: And so, three demons try to find themselves and each other again.
[music fades out]
Josie: Demon: Love and Hellfire is a Clever Corvids production. Find the show on Twitter @Love_Hellfire and follow @Clever_Corvids on Twitter for updates on the network and City That Never Dies. We also have a website, CleverCorvids.net.
Don’t forget to support the Clever Corvids Patreon. It supports all our shows, and you get some extra goodies each month if you do. I have a few more shows planned, so if we can get enough patrons to afford them, we can keep expanding our network.
Luz, aka Penumbra, is played by Fabby Garza. Fabby is a Mexican-American queer trans woman and you can find her voice in other Actual Play podcasts such as Eidolon Playtest, Moon Harbor Heroes, and Don’t Cast, Don’t Tell. You can find her and all of her work @Fabby_Garza on Twitter.
Remy, aka Orea, is played by Kris Allison. Kris is black, ace and tired. You can also hear them having anti-capitalist gay space adventures in the podcast Breathing Space: Fading Frontier. You can also find them on Twitter @knalliso, where they frequently retweet other people and sometimes draw swords.
Julia, aka Aigron, is played by Minna Reilly. Minna is an aro-ace Florida woman who doesn’t do anything wild enough to end up in a headline. You can, however, hear her elsewhere on Clever Corvids in The City That Never Dies. You can also find her on Twitter @mynaminnarr, where she is almost certainly talking about fanfiction.
The GM is Josie S. Josie is a literal, actual dragon and thirsty trans lesbian. Hear her elsewhere on Clever Corvids in The City That Never Dies, or guesting on a bunch of other podcasts like Moon Harbor. You can find her on Twitter @DragonGirlJosie, where she is extremely gay all the time.
All music on the show is from Pixabay, used under their license, unless otherwise noted. Pixabay’s license grants the irrevocable, worldwide, non-exclusive and royalty free right to use, download, copy, modify or adapt their content for commercial or non-commercial purposes. Attribution of the artists is not required, but we have a page on our website, CleverCorvids.net, to credit the artists anyway.
Thank you for listening!