Gardeners of Men: The Great Commission of the Heavenly Powers, and How the Archon Daniel Approached It; Or, Under His Wing; Or, Breed Over Pasture
In the beginning, there was nothing. The earth was formless and empty. Etcetera.
Well, then again, there was a “deep,” a vast and dark primordial ocean, and that deep had a surface over which to hover.
Okay, so to say that "in the beginning, there was nothing" is perhaps less than accurate.
There was light, too. It belonged to the beings getting up to the aforementioned hovering over the surface of the deep: The Powers That Be. They had heard about all the other Powers That Were in various other universes, taking what was once (mostly) empty void and using the foundation provided there to cultivate an inhabited cosmos. They wanted to try that. So they did. They beat the record by two days and didn't even take time to rest afterward.
And the Powers saw that it was good.
Up to a point, at least. Evil entered Creation in the form of a schism from the established hierarchy of the 'Bove, the afterlife and seat of power for the...Powers. A group of the Powers' mighty angelic servants broke away from the 'Bove to establish themselves in the B'low, the antithesis to the Powers' throne. Where the 'Bove was a place of eternal reward, the demons of the B'low now sought to tempt and ensnare souls in order to subject them to eternal punishment.
The most powerful of these fallen celestials entered the world of mortals and seeded corruption in what had previously been considered the crown jewel of the Powers' efforts in the universe. The most pristine planet among the billions they had built, slated to grow into a utopia given time, was marred beyond repair. The Powers intervened to prevent damage to other worlds, but the greatest harm had already been wrought. The Powers mourned.
Wracked by grief from the loss of that first world, the Powers That Be swore to never again attempt to create and develop a planet suitable to sustain sentient life. Instead, they laid out a challenge. The Powers would provide templates for lesser celestials to build upon; undeveloped worlds that, with care and close protection, could become a true utopia. There were no stipulations, guidelines, or even clear definitions of what 'utopia' entailed. Those that accepted the challenge were merely to report to the Powers and submit their creation for judgement when they believed that utopia had been achieved. Seven stepped forward to take the challenge. Each one was stripped of their rank in the divine hierarchy, and placed in a different class of celestial entirely. The seven became the first
Archons, beings given a planet over which to hold dominion, and power by which to shape it however they chose.
Daniel was one of the group that stepped up to try and create a new Eden. The Powers had been generous, granting him a world that was already lush with plant life and docile grazing beasts wandering the verdant hills. Daniel was thankful that he wasn't granted a barren rock to build upon. He had the clay, the question was how to mold it.
One of Daniel’s fellow Archons had begun construction of a monolithic city, enough to cover his planet’s entire surface. Another believed he had found the answer to a perfect world by leaving the world itself untouched, placing a single mortal in permanent stasis, and then manipulating the vistas of his dreams to draw out pure bliss. One strategy seemed as if it was going too far, the other… Well, Daniel looked forward to hearing how the Powers judged the latter competitor’s slothful approach. Tending to a flock of one individual was
tempting, but Daniel believed he could do a
little better than that.
So, the Archon Daniel elected to create small, isolated groups of sentient races and place them in conditions where they wouldn’t ever have a chance of interaction with each other. Each tiny tribe would exist in a microcosm, a tailor-made Eden for each family, no risk for wars and other tragedies of human error.
Daniel began by raising 21 great rings of terrain into impassable mountain ranges. Within each circular valley, Daniel placed a spring-fed well from which to draw water. The mountainous bowls provided the advantage of not only keeping each tribe from bothering each other, but also a method of correcting any errors without having to start from scratch. If something went awry with the population of one valley, Daniel could simply flood that and exterminate the problem lifeforms, rather than flooding the entire planet. Clean and efficient.
Daniel made himself known to each family that he created to populate the artificial calderas. He told them to live as they chose and to be happy. Daniel had designed the inheritors of Arachis to live virtually forever, so they had all the time they needed to discover what true happiness
was for them. There were no hard-line tenets they had to follow, no commandments to keep, Daniel only asked his humanities that they try not to hurt each other, please. And to be happy. Before he left the presence of each group, Daniel stressed that if they ever needed anything that could help them along toward that end, they need only call upon him. Daniel then placed a warding sphere around the planet to protect it from outside interference, named the planet Arachis, and entered the upper atmosphere to observe his charges over the coming centuries.
As time passed, the Archon became bored. After a century of activity, the planet was ticking along, day by day, free from war or strife.The inhabitants of Arachis farmed and hunted and went about their simple little lives without incident. It seemed as though there was no longer any need for Daniel to intervene. In a millennia or two the people would achieve
just the right state of Utopia that would mean Daniel could submit his work to his superiors. Twenty-one ringed-in cubby holes meant that chances were high that at least one immortal family would get it right.
In the meantime, he left. Accepting the position of Archon had actually granted Daniel more power than he had among the ‘standard’ angelic ranks, and he didn’t want to waste it simply observing his charges for several centuries until they happened on the correct formula for paradise. Daniel passed into the next adjacent universe and embarked upon what he referred to as “research.” He could witness other Creations and see what their respective Powers had come up with.
Daniel was certain that Arachis would be fine without his direct supervision. The wards were in place and his bond to the world would alert him if anything in fact did go wrong. The seeds of Utopia were planted. The Archon merely has to wait until they blossomed.
Compartments and Categories; Or, Literal World Building; Or, Awfully Good; Or, Additional Information
Upon entering the mortal plane, Daniel adopted a youthful, humanoid appearance, preserved in a white robe and with a garland of curling vines ornamenting his hair, wrists, and ankles. The Archons do not possess halos, but are allowed to shape their wings into a form that they’re partial toward. Daniel’s wings possess brown feathers and are often extended out in full, and
never hidden from view. He is very proud of them.
When a lesser celestial accepts the Powers’ challenge and agrees to become an Archon, they are stripped of their rank and placed outside the usual governing systems of the ‘Bove. This alters their intrinsic nature and can be quite a jarring experience, but ultimately can prove beneficial, especially if the Archon was previously of a lower heavenly choir. Daniel, for example, was a run-of-the mill divine messenger, and he accepted the Powers’ challenge in part to escape his menial work. The competitors who were former archangels lost much of their power and influence in crossing over, but in return received new privileges that no one save for the Powers had possessed previously, namely the ability to shape life.
As part of his policy of partial non-interference, Daniel dissuaded the humanoids under his care from adopting religion. He is
not a god, does not benefit from their faith, and didn’t want diverging ideologies to spark deadly feuds among families.
Although Arachis itself is safe, the globe of warding energy Daniel placed around it is swarming with entities seeking to corrupt the world, now that its patron entity is abroad.
The Archon Daniel was a bit overzealous when he first traveled to another universe, accidentally opening a dimensional rift that to this day goes unattended to.
The Hither and Thither Expanded; Or, Drawing Back the Curtain!
The Archon Daniel is the alternate universe analogue of the shapeshifting warrior-poet, Daniel Obrove. He is not his former life, his blood relative, or a close acquaintance. He's the Obrove if Obrove were the angelic custodian for an entire world, while
the dragon is Obrove in the form of a former mentor and adviser seeking pleasure wherever he may find it.
Other Obroves can be found on their alt list,
here.
There are more "Danalogues" to come, eventually, so we kindly ask that you...
STAY TUNED!