<br/><div align="center">“    <span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 12pt;"><em>The whole earth has been corrupted through the works that were taught by Azazel: to him ascribe all sin.</em></span>    ”<br/>     <br/>— 1 Enoch 10:8</div><div class="floatright">(http://img339.imageshack.us/img339/2910/iansomerhaldercomodamon.jpg)</div><strong>Character Name:</strong>Azazel, the Prince of Lies<br/><strong>Character Type:</strong>Archangel<br/><strong>Affiliation:</strong>Evil (Himself?)<br/><strong>Special Abilities:</strong><br/><ul class="bbc_list"><li><em>False Nirvana:</em>  Azazel is a being whose mind seems to be utterly at peace with itself, free of all desire, of all hatred, and of all negative thought.  It is a blank parchment, a tranquil void, a Beginning and an End unto itself.  To peer upon it is to know the beauty of Emptiness, and to dwell within it is to know Oblivion.  But this state is merely a clever shroud, a stalwart shield protecting his <em>true</em> thoughts from those who might seek to read them.  </li><li><em>The Masquerade:</em>  To wear the right mask around the right person is to hold their heart in your grip, and no one knows this better than the Prince of Lies.  His body is mutable, his personality like softened clay, and both can be altered to suit the one he wishes to manipulate.  To some he might appear as a beautiful maiden or bewitching gentleman, while to others his abominable guise cows all who dare to look upon it.  He is many things to many people, and only God knows his True Face, free of deception and trickery.</li><li><em>Sin's Vessel:</em>  Housed within his very being is a compendium of all the sinful machinations of the Past, the Present, and the Future; an innate and inexhaustible knowledge of all the harms Man may visit upon his fellow Man.  In practical terms this allows him to devise some of the most potent and horrifying weapons utilized by those under Lucifer's banner, matching and in some cases even exceeding those wielded by the forces of Good.</li><li><em>Sacrificial Temple:</em>  Through some twisted art crafted by Azazel's hands alone, he has gained the blasphemous ability to take sacrifices unto himself and feast upon their power, making it his own.  He has been deified by certain sects of demon and human cultists down on the Earthly plane, where animals and virgins spill blood upon stone altars or blacken beneath torrents of devouring flame.  His power still pales in comparison to the glimmering radiance of the Morningstar, but his wiles run deep and his plots are manifold...</li></ul><strong>Appearance:</strong><br/>[Angelic Form] (http://img222.imageshack.us/img222/5070/flamboyantdemon.jpg)<br/><br/><strong>History:</strong><br/><br/>One of the oldest of God's angelic host, Azazel was initially no different from the others.  He loved his Father with all his heart, and his brothers with all his soul, but in that purity of spirit and innocence there rested the kernel of corruption.  God came unto him and said that he was to contain within his breast all the knowledge of Sin, to seal it away within himself so that the eyes of others would never have to behold that which is Hateful, Dark, and Evil.  In doing so he sealed the fate of his most trusted children, the repercussions of this single act resounding through all existence and ultimately bringing ruin to the world that He had so lovingly crafted.<br/><br/>Above all else, Azazel loved God's flawed children, those He called Man and Lucifer called Monkey.  He loved how they scurried about in ignorance, how weak and frail their bodies were, how all their imperfections played off one another in that ceaseless comedy called Life.  But they were still slow, and without His word they would surely never travel far.  And so Azazel slithered among them in a serpent's scaled skin, drew upon his knowledge of Sin and hissed the<em>first lie</em>into the ear of a brother, so that he might shed his own brother's blood in anger.<br/><br/>Though his Father rebuked him for this heinous deed, the damage was already done.  Lies and Murder had been released into Creation, and so were planted forever into the hearts and minds of Man.<br/><br/>Azazel found endless amusement in what he considered to be his Father's "games".  The archangel laughed like a child at His scoldings, his heart alight and full of mirth.  For truly God must have known that he would do these things, Omniscient as He was, and<em>meant</em>for him to do so.  Azazel wondered at God's plans and delighted in guessing at His ends, and in time he returned to walk amongst Mankind.<br/><br/><div align="center"><em>And Azazel taught men to make swords and knives and shields and breastplates; and made known to them the metals [of the earth] and the art of working them; and bracelets and ornaments; and the use of antimony and the beautifying of the eyelids; and all kinds of costly stones and all colouring tinctures. And there arose much godlessness, and they committed fornication, and they were led astray and became corrupt in all their ways.</em><br/>1 Enoch 8:1-3a</div><br/>And so War and Lust steeled the blood and soured the minds of Men, granting them new Godless freedoms that they took to eagerly and without reservation.  He had planted the seeds of the endless Arm's Race that would continue throughout history, each nation of Men seeking new and inventive ways to kill one another, standing upon the very foundations that Azazel had shaped.  Again he was scolded and shamed by his Father, but was not yet turned from His holy light.  In His mercy, Azazel knew with all his heart that his deeds were correct, and that he was simply following the path set out before him like a dutiful son.<br/><br/>Content to let Humans bury themselves under his teachings, Azazel turned his attentions to his most beloved of brothers and God's most cherished son, Lucifer.  So consumed was his brother by disdain and confusion, incapable of understanding the attentions their Father paid upon his mortal children, that he had failed to see that it was Azazel's corrupting influence that had first turned Man away from His grace.  Azazel consoled and comforted his brother as only he could, feeding his mounting anger towards the creatures that bleated and bemoaned their fates even while spitting on the name of the Lord.  Truly he believed that Morningstar's love for their Father was without equal, and that he deserved His love more than the piddling, humorous insects below.  In so doing, he twisted the intentions of His most cherished son, resulting in their Fall.<br/><br/>Azazel fell to Earth with laughter on his lips when Lucifer's rebellion failed, amazed by his Father's wit.<em>'What a twisty, winding Plan he has for us!'</em>Azazel thought to himself,<em>'That He would cast us out for doing as He wished of us!  What fun!  What joy!  What rapture!  Our Father's cunning is without match!'</em><br/><br/>Free of inhibition and fear, Azazel's machinations ran rampant.  As Lucifer's most trusted adviser he had the ear of the most powerful being next to God Himself, and as his Right Hand he possessed more freedoms than he ever had whilst behind Heaven's gates.  He much preferred the realm of Man anyway, those laughable little gnats who always managed to surprise him with new and unexpected acts of debauchery.  But his whispers, through Lucifer, reached those of his Brothers who had not yet Fallen from God's grace, those who had felt the most hesitance upon casting them out all those years ago, so that when the Second War surged forth the Betrayers willingly turned upon their Brothers and imprisoned them.<br/><br/>That God had abandoned his own Creation did not perturb Azazel in the slightest.  For God's Plan is inscrutable and unknowable, and Azazel is all too eager to see where it goes.