What follows are excerpts from the scriptures of Valra. The lands of Antora have not developed a printing press. These words must be scribed by hand. As such, even when physical copies exist, they are often heavily abridged or contain errors. The following example is therefore not comprehensive.
Providence
“There is nothing more to fear, I am with you now.”
These were the first words spoken by Valra to her people.
During the days before the Seraph’s arrival, humanity had been ruled by the Zycharian Empire, led by its Empress and her ruthless eleven knights. In their boundless cruelty, their servants would exterminate entire bloodlines for a suspected trace of disloyalty or imperfection.
Countless rebellions had risen and failed in the times before, each ending with brutal retributive purges. The very spirit of humanity began to buckle beneath the weight of uncountable corpses and immeasurable loss. Finally, when tyranny threatened to snuff out the fires of resistance in one final blow, Valra first appeared.
She appeared first as a dazzling sunlight flash which split the clouds, and then with a mighty dive she sundered the very battlefield and laid waste to the Zycharian weapons. This was the beginning of humanity’s liberation, and the rebellion which would become the First Crusade and Valra’s Church.
When the day was won, many flocked to the Seraph, amazed by her grace and strength. They fell to their knees and praised her, then they begged to know her nature and purpose.
“I am not your creator*, yet I know no elder. There are none like me, and I have found you, and in my benevolence - I will keep watch over you, and I will strive to show you the just path. Should you permit me, I will be your guardian, your teacher, and you will be my church. Together we will break the shackles which bind you, and see to the prosperity, wisdom, and safekeeping of your people. Ours will be a partnership, and in time one among you will be appointed as my Praetor, they will be deputized with blessings to act on my behalf.”
In the days that followed Valra performed many great feats of war, but she also performed miracles of healing and charity. Once she gathered a great mass, and distributed food to the hungry. For the poor, she spun garments from her own hair. Speaking to her faithful she said:
“This I offer as humble charity, and ask that you follow on in my example. Serve not just your house, but your people. Think not just of your lord but your subjects, and the landless outcasts.”
As Valra fought alongside the rebellion, she would impart great wisdom to the people, and demonstrate the virtues of kindness, charity, mercy, and bravery.
Absolution
With Valra the rebellion claimed victory after victory, and come winter, the Empire teetered on the brink of collapse. The loyalists had been driven to their last bastions, and even those were being cast into fire.
While Valra took no pity upon their weapons of war, it brought great sorrow to her heart to see an age’s works of knowledge lost, and so she instructed her followers to gather their tomes, their secrets, and their scrolls, and before her they were redeemed, and from them she sculpted the first of her host - Gale, the Farseer.
After this, Valra came upon the Empire’s treasuries, and then the Zycharian mines, where generations were lost in the dark plundering the world’s riches.
“These things were raised by the suffering of my faithful, and so I charge them to make restitution.”
Thus Valra shaped the treasures of Zycharia into a form much like her own, winged and gilded, which she breathed life into. They became second of her host - Systrum Diamond Wing, who was appointed to serve and soothe the people of Valra’s Church.
There was much speculation who might be worthy to serve as Praetor, and as word spread of Valra’s mercy, a knight of the Empire came before her, and knelt at the Seraph’s feet. This was Tharok, who was known by all as a great warrior. He begged Valra’s forgiveness, and offered her his blade.
Valra could see the purity of Tharok’s heart, and the sincerity of his repentance, and so appointed Tharok the first Praetor, so that all would understand the wisdom of mercy, and the power of earnest repentance.
Annihilation
Valra now carried her holy armaments, the relics Retterbrand and Blitzmund, and with these was prepared to strike down the Empress herself. The eve before battle, she gathered her followers and spoke to them.
“It is said that humanity cannot defy the instructions of the Empress, and that she commands absolute submission from her subjects, yet I am the Seraph, and no worldly authority will prove greater than me. The Raven Sorceress begged my intervention, Tharok has shown the way of repentance, and where once eleven knights opposed us, now only three remain. Soon, the war will be won.”
There was great joy upon this announcement, and a great feast was held in celebration. As promised - within a moon the rebellion struck its final blow to the Immortal City. There, despite many sacrifices, the Empress and her remaining knights were defeated. They were bound to the great machines with which they once spread their terror, and cast into darkness.
Before her work of war was done, Valra knew of one more threat to her people. Many had come before pleading deliverance from the devouring shadow - the black dragon Avelious, who wore the leatherbound bones of her kind as armor, and whose very breath corroded men to charred bones before burning even those away in a flash.
Valra gathered her great warriors and met Avelious in caverns deep beneath the Ravenwald to do battle, however only Valra would emerge again alive, wounded and clutching a tarnished Retterbrand. Avelious was defeated, but Tharok and his companions were dead, and the Seraph mourned for three moons.
Many came to Valra, heart broken by the immeasurable loss of the war, and the death of Tharok and his companions, she wept with her people, and consoled them.
“Precious is my charge. Though the flesh and breath may fail, My faithful will endure in spirit. My love and guidance shall be a beacon for those lost in grief. I am there for the broken hearted, I will share in the grief of those sunken into despair. I will give you rest, I will give you shelter. I will soothe your wounds and wipe the tears from your eyes. My song will ease the forlorn in dark hours.”
Liberation
With the Empire laid low, the people of the First Church rejoiced. Yet the land was now scarred and ravaged by decades of war. The ground had grown toxic and boiling testaments to ruin now stood where cities once did. The bane had seeped into the very land and warped new growth into perverted mockeries of life. Valra knew this was no place for humanity to begin anew, and so she instructed her followers to embark on a great exodus to the corners of the world.
Following Valra’s instructions, they spread to the reaches of the land and built new cities and nations, and many people sought the Seraph’s guidance.
“How shall we live? What is wise?” the people asked.
“I give you these laws, to be kept in both spirit and word:
Murder is forbidden.
Heinous acts of cruelty or perversion are forbidden.
Theft and forgery are forbidden.
Speak the truth, and do not commit perjury.
Keep no slaves, nor debtors in perpetuity.
Honor your lords and subjects alike.
Forsake the old weapons.
Seek not the rift.
Serve the people of Valra.”
She summoned many scribes before her, and explained these things. She also commanded the institution of three orders to serve her people:
“The priests I ordain to spread my wisdom, to justly govern the Church in my name, and to perform miracles on my behalf. They will act as my voice, and my soothing hand. The paladin order I ordain to defend my people, to enforce the sanctity of my temples. They will act as my sword, shield, and spear. The inquisitors I ordain to root out those who would subvert my Church from the shadows, or pervert my teachings. They will act as the Church’s eyes against the insidious and scheming.”
Many years passed following these decrees, and the kingdoms of man flourished with Valra’s guidance and wisdom.
Vindication
In those early days, fearsome primordial spirits challenged Valra and sought to drive her away. She could see that these entities were as beasts, and cared nothing for the plight of humanity, still - she offered them terms. Blind in their rage, and possessed of savage instinct, they did not see reason.
Crasta came first, and their tendrils were torn from their body, so even as they were brought ruin they might be spared the cleaving fire from which there is no restoration.
Magloth came next, greatest warrior of the primordials, and his volcanic spines were shattered and his stone scales cracked by the cleansing lightning. The firefly will devOur the mountain’s heart and burn the world.
Muiro fought with many, and was buried beneath uprooted walnut trees where he raged for a generation.
Teratetra she released to the winds to fly forever unmoored, and it was so.
Akudiahaku she dragged ashore and held aloft until he became dry and passive.
Wise Irai Jyrngur returned to their burrow, and slept for three hundred years.
Each Valra spared, each Valra showed mercy. None have since risen against her. She warned the people against revering such beings, who would so readily devour them greedily, or crush them underfoot. She taught her people to let the wild things be as they are, to see beauty in nature unspoiled, but to leave things in their right place.
Valra will permit nothing to keep her from her people.
First Wisdom
Valra sat with her people, and in their hearts she could see the agony of ignorance and the agony of knowing. The people begged she might live for them, rule over them, and take from them the burden of governance. Yet Valra refused.
“You are human, nothing more, and nothing less. Your actions are your own, and you are not cursed to commit cruelty. I will guide you, but though you may profess in your heart to truly love me, the time for masters is at an end, for I will not lift again the chains of bondage which we have cast low, and should you hoist those chains upon yourselves - they will tear at your necks and you will find in that great pain. Freedom is the yolk you must carry, and though it may be burdensome, it is a burden worth carrying, for the stone of hierarchy will crush even those who sit atop.”
How shall we live with this freedom? The people asked.
“Live for each other, act with love, and do not build great towers of want or coercion. Find value in community, in love, in the beautiful natural things of the world, and in the perfection of simple form. Fight only as I have: for the uplifting of others, and when you do so, practice mercy. Yours shall be a world of gentle kindness if you should only choose.”
“How will our people prosper?” the people next asked.
“Hold your people’s needs in common good. Offer freely your bread and shelter, and tend your sick and wounded without demand. Do not trifle over pride, but offer praise generously, and look upon each other’s merit with keen eyes. Do not blame easily, but ask yourselves always your own responsibility. Do not live in shame, nor guilt, but ask yourselves only how to be better. DO not look upon your family and wonder why they do not practice this wisdom while stumbling blindly in its absence. I speak to the congregation present, but also the scribes, and those who shall behold the scribes’ written word.”
“How shall we spend our time?”
“Your days in the world are a treasure, precious and few. Do not spend them in petty bickering, or toiling to no end. A day spent building monuments to tedium is a day better spent serving another, exploring knowledge and beauty,, or savored in passions. Do not force upon each other monuments of tedium but in labor good works which serve. Do not waste even a single precious breath in pointless hate or insult, but spend them wisely in communication with those you love dearly.“
Subjugation
Many years would pass and the Church would grow vast, and though the people’s strength became mighty and the great struggles were those of legend, the hour of testing and darkness came again.
It was called the Shackler, a monstrosity wrought of blackened iron from which thick smog poured from every joint in its dark armor. It wrapped its plate in chains which hung from its torso and limbs and swung about like a terrible flail. This was the heart of Zycharia, stripped of any pretensions of humanities further cause - subjugation made flesh, made metal, arriving from shadow to drag humanity into chains for not but cruel amusement.
The Church reeled, and its people were dragged into torture and a place of confinement beyond the bounds of this world, beyond even the reach of Angels. Martyrs uncountable sold their lives, and in keeping with the teachings Valra had offered, innumerable innocents were saved by the actions of her saints.
Yet for all this heroism the ravaging continued, in accordance with Valra’s wisdom. The Second Crusade was declared.
Systrum Diamondwing was the first to arrive, and she fought beyond the means of any man. The Shackler was indeed gravely wounded, but the darkest hour had come, and in the moment of blasphemies of blasphemies struck Systrum Diamongwing dead.
Humanity cried out in agony and despair.
The Angels cried out in agony and despair.
Valra roared in agony and righteous vengeance.
So the time came, the Archangel Herself would face the Angel Slayer in single combat. They met in a great foundry, and wielding Retterbrand Valra cleaved from the Shackler great slabs of molten iron. Thinking itself cunning, the monster tried ensnaring Valra in chains, only for her to press Retterbrand into its chest, pinning against it the burning blade which could melt even that which was born of fire.
“Release my people.” Valra commanded.
The Shackler refused.
And so Valra lifted the Shackler by the neck and cast him into the foundry, imprisoning the beast in a tomb of metal with the pledge that it would suffer as her people suffered, and there it would remain until the last of her faithful was released.
Note: The Shackler’s Iron Tomb is currently housed beneath Lamenter’s Sanctuary of the
Vefali Sultanate. It measures 6 meters tall, 6 meters long, and 6 meters wide. It is faintly warm to the touch.
Intimacy
As the other Angels were shaped by Valra in redemption, so arrived Ara Amora, primordial of carnal desire, who sought to be sanctified and remade, and so in time they were, and they became like the others.
Ara Amora took upon herself to venture into the world and guide the people in matters of love. That whether they should marry, or find companionship in passing, they should honor one another and act as loving companions. Intimate relationships may appear in many forms, but must always spring from sound mindedness, consent, and maturity, these are boundaries to which all must adhere.
Intimate partners should not become as a priest, and as a mentor, and as a master, and as a provider, and as all things all at once, but instead relationships should exist in balance, and lovers should be tempered in their reliance upon one another. They should seek each other in times of need, but not depend on one another in all things and all trivialities, nor should they become codependent, as a martyr to the relationship.
Lovers should concern themselves with the needs and worries of their lover, but not lose themselves in delusions of absolutes. They should be passionate, but not expect such passions to arise from nothing. Passions are to be cultivated, day by day. Lovers should trust one another, but not expect such trust to arise from nothing, this too must be cultivated.
Relationships are the sweetest of back breaking labor. Perhaps, at first they may come easy, but one should not sink into despair at the daunting task of maintaining love day after day, we should instead take joy in the labor.
A word of affection is easily forgotten, but a word of cruelty may scar the memory for life. Lovers must take care not to take action in anger which cannot be undone in reconciliation. They must treat one another with respect and kindness, but not grovel or accept false blame. Forgiveness should be offered easily, but with a memory keen towards patterns.
Lovers must never act inappropriately, such as to incite their lover’s rightful jealousy. Adultery and affairs are betrayals most foul. Their passions instead should be reserved for one another, which are to be savored as a fine wine.
Wisdom of Gael
Gael, first of Valra’s host, who sees forward and predicts, sat with the people. He instructed the people on many things, as a patient teacher, showing them the ways of mathematics, reasoning, and rhetoric anew. He showed the people the joy of the forum, but cautioned them always, that the freedom to discuss was not the freedom from consequence. He warned them their unbound expressions could not abide the calls to silence, nor words of petty hate, and he warned them of those who would wield cries of hypocrisy, and denounce this guidance.
“In time you will grow mighty in your knowledge, but remember the Wise Law Valra has granted you, and though it should be examined in sound mind, I tell you the wisdom shared will be as a beacon in the night, and in its absence you will find ruin as those before once did. Do not become an example again to future generations.
Decide for yourselves what great project your people hold dear, and temper your research to serve these ends. Do not be lost to great developments which serve no function.
Some will say ‘this thing has occurred,’ and unduly say ‘so this cause is apparent’ - they are fools.
Some will say ‘this is so, so this other thing surely shall come to pass” - they are fools.
Some will say, ‘I find no fault in your words, but you are a fool so I will dismiss you’ - they are fools.
Some will say, ‘one may be two, and two may be three, but three could not be one’ - they are fools.
Some will appeal to the wisdom of ancients long past - your kind did not grow less wise.
Some will say “look into this thing yourself, for we have done so, and many experts are fools.” Ask how they have looked into this thing.
Some will find no fault in your words, but respond with arguments unsuited to the topic - they are fools, and should not be entertained.
Some will say many things they know are false, in hopes you will find no time to debunk each lie. They should not be entertained.
Some believe in no truth, and will say whichever thing they think serves their argument. They should be thrown from the roof.”
Works and War
Ground yourself before all trials, such that the spirit cannot be shaken. Look to the word in your hour of testing and you shall not find weakness in your soul which your enemies might prey upon.
Do not labor in vain when a ready solution would ease your toils, but do not toil in indecision seeking to ease your task. Work easy, be decisive, practice simple plans.
Be as water in war, and as a rooted tree which is flexible but unyielding within your sanctuary
Confidence is a weapon, though the fool may stumble upon their own blade, a master wields it deftly. Do not betray your own shortcomings before an enemy. It is folly to overestimate your foes just the same as it is folly to underestimate them. Allow your enemy to believe you are capable of more than you are, but do not assume they are capable of more than they are.
Your time of glory will come and pass, but there is greater honor yet in the success of a precious student. In this way, immortalize your legacy. A master lives on in their apprentice.
Do not despair in defeat, but become studious. It is a fool who looks to circumstance and decries “I have been cheated!” but it is a wise person who reads the signs of their own failure and commits themselves to improve, practicing humility but becoming eager for the next challenge.
You learned in play, be playful in execution and you will surely remember your stride. We are not as stones, all things exist in rhythm, find yours, and be observant of the rhythms of others.
Your enemies will folly, allow them.
The desire for victory most correlates with victory. Do not be defeated in your heart before the first hurdle is reached, but rally yourself and hunger for the prize. Hope is our armor, and despair is the double bladed sword which threatens to skewer without discern. Place your hand upon the grip of despair and secure your armor well.
Allies are precious, count them carefully and give them no cause to lose loyalty. Offer gifts freely and do not count debts. Do not become overly dependent, but do not stand alone in the rain as a fool who will not share the welcome of another’s tent.
When you build a fire, understand its desires, feel its essence, and do not smother it. Many things have a nature, and may be understood through empathy. You will accomplish much knowing the feelings of that which is held to have none. When you sow your fields, use empathy. When you rebuild your hearth, use empathy, when you sharpen your sword, use empathy, and when you dig your well - use empathy.