Daniel

In the beginning, there was nothing. The earth was formless and empty. Et cetera.
No, no. That can’t be right. Is that really it?
In the beginning, the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Powers That Be were hovering over the surface of the waters.
Well now, that’s even worse. That doesn’t even make sense.
In the beginning, there was Chaos, out of which sprung the Powers That Be.
That’s even less helpful. How can order come of Chaos?
In the beginning, something about a cosmic egg?
Not quite.
The Powers That Be scraped mud up from the bottom of the waters to create the earth and all its people
No.
Four brothers, the Powers That Be, felled a great giant, and from its body they formed the cosmos.
Please stop.
Ocean water commingled with fresh water, from which sprang the Powers That Be.
Stop!
There was no beginning. There is no end. It all functions in a single connected loop.
Ȩnoug̸h̀!
. . .
I don’t remember how the world began.
. . .
I do know that, in m̷y begiǹn͡ing, there was a girl.

---

Promoted to Babysitter: Regarding the Archon Daniel’s Ascension to a Lord of Order; Or, Becoming a Higher Power; Or, Divine Intervention; Or, Nurturing Nature; Or; Orderly Conduct; O̯r̮̞̣̠,̱̯̪̕
I͟n W͜ḩi͘ch̷ the҉ Sheph̵er̷d̶ ͠is̶ Ǵiv͟e͢n a̧ Gr̶ea̵t̢e̡r ͞Fl̛ocķ
In the beginning, the Powers That Be tried their hand at occupying an infinite emptiness with their own universal designs. That is as simple as the story gets without arguing the finer details, such as just how “empty” the cosmos was at the start, or how the Powers even came to exist.

After this, it is generally agreed that there was a schism within the divine hierarchy, leading some of the Powers’ mighty angelic servants to rebel, establish their own kingdom in the underworld, and find a way to sow a previously perfect Creation with wickedness.

There is much contention as to the nitty gritty of that affair, too.

Usually, the story ends there. A heaven and a hell are established and there is an ongoing moral chess match waged by the two sides. What many people don’t realize is that the story continued. It’s ongoing, in fact.

It’s lucky they don’t realize this, or they would be sure to discover yet more silly minutia to argue over.

The Powers, too grieved for their blemished universe to continue the act of divine creation, deferred the duty of constructing a new Utopia to any celestial courtier that felt up to the task. Seven initially stepped forward, and these seven were each given a planet in the mortal world to do with as they pleased, so long as the end result was a true paradise. They were called Archons, diminished for being stripped of their position in the heavenly ranks, yet greater for being allowed reign over a world of their own.

On the planet Arachis, the Archon Daniel created a very neat and efficiently-structured society. The world seemed well on its way toward the perfection his superiors first sought to achieve. Daniel was pleased with his work and was prepared to see it truly blossom, given a few centuries. While he waited for his world to mature, he toured the multiverse to observe the work which other Powers That Are had set about on. Daniel lived and he loved. There was betrayal, there was heartbreak, and there was forgiveness.

At some point in time, exactly when is no longer relevant, Daniel was selected to join the ranks of the Lords of Order. These entities strive to uphold equilibrium within every plane of existence, working tirelessly to thwart the plans of their nemeses, the Lords of Chaos. They operate outside the universe to maintain it, and their authority is above that of any god or spirit. And they had selected Daniel.

Of course Daniel saw this as yet another chance to rise in the cosmic hierarchy, and according to the Lord of Orders’ representative, this was about the highest position that a being could achieve. Daniel was essentially moving from franchise manager to a position on the corporate board of directors. There was a catch, though. Upon becoming a Lord of Order, all memory of Daniel’s past life would be gone. Arachis would be left unattended, and all of the friends he had met during his sojourn from dimension to dimension would by all likelihood never see him again. Daniel rationalized the decision by telling himself that he would be protecting those he loved on a larger scale. Any remaining doubts were wiped away as the Archon was transformed.

Once he was a Lord of Order, Daniel was given the task of overseeing a newly-created goddess who achieved her apotheosis in a most unusual fashion. In the universe that Daniel was sent to, deities were typically summoned from their spirit world to serve the needs of mortals. Daniel’s charge, Jaymay, was not called to the world, but instead ascended when her human soul merged with the essence of a dying fallen god. Jaymay was perfectly fine for the experience and her worship was widely accepted by her people, but the Order was concerned mostly due to the nature of the new goddess’s component parts. A god only fell when it betrayed its followers, devouring souls indiscriminately rather than accepting anointed offerings. As well, fallen gods were the Lords of Chaos’ most popular candidates. Jaymay now had one of these corrupted beings dormant within her, so Daniel’s task, essentially, was to observe the girl and make sure the fallen god didn’t make a resurgence, in addition to making sure no outside party attempted to take advantage of her.

Daniel now dwells on Jaymay’s jungle world, aloof and invisible to the tribespeople as he watches his young charge’s daily life. Time will tell how the curious relationship of deity and more-than-deity will develop, or what sinister foes may appear to threaten their peaceful life.

Made to Order; Or, Called to Order; Or, A Tall Order; Or, Order of the Day; Or(der), Additional Information
Although a Lord of Order’s true form is something omnipresent and unfathomable, usually they must adopt a physical form to perform the tasks assigned to them. A Lord of Order’s physical form usually reflects their bodies from their previous existence in some way, not that they themselves are aware of the parallels.

When he was an Archon, Daniel appeared for the most part like a normal human being, albeit one with an incredible 20 foot wingspan. He wore a long white robe to match his plumage. When he wasn’t airborne, a curl of ivy would inevitably wrap its way around his ankles, a mark of his status as a world shaper.

Daniel’s transformation into a Lord of Order brought a few dramatic changes to his physiology. His skin, while pale originally, became an unnatural porcelain white when he ascended. Running over the surface of his body are thin purple veins like cracks in marble. These sometimes pulse with light as power runs through the Lord of Order’s body. His eyes, originally brown, are now suffused with that same purple energy, to the point that it seems to “leak” out of his eyes in the form of wispy ribbons.

As an immortal being from outside the bounds of spacetime, Daniel doesn’t need to eat. Where Daniel’s mouth would be is a smooth plane of skin. He can, however, give shape to a mouth and the necessary organs for ingesting and processing food as might be required of him. In the off chance he needs to, the skin on his face splits horizontally to reveal a mouth rimmed with pristine white teeth. The skin of Daniel’s mouth glows with the same aura of power coursing through the markings on his skin. This characteristic is present through the entirety of the Lord of Order’s insides; he is purple and luminescent from his gums to his stomach.

It’s not as if anyone would ever have to discover any of that first hand, though, surely. What are the odds anyone would ever come face to face with the interior of a Lord of Order? Preposterous!

Another major change Daniel underwent was a multiplication of limbs. The Lord of Order possesses four arms and wings, though his overall wingspan was halved when he transformed. It’s not as if he really needs wings to fly, anyway. The feathers of Daniel’s wings became a speckled brown, rather than white, so that they don’t blend into his odd new skin tone.

His fashion sense also changed. Rather than a full robe, Daniel now only wears a robe bottom. It is the same purple as the patterns across his body.

His hair got longer too. Like, shoulder-length. He’s essentially a ghostly-white four-armed Fabio, to be honest.

Without a celestial caretaker, the Planet Arachis has become corrupted and overrun with fel entities. Originally, Daniel used his power to maintain a globe of warding energy around the planet. Even while traveling to other planes, Daniel saw to it that Arachis was protected. Despite this, demons and similar troublemakers took notice of the planet and swarmed the space surrounding it, hoping to one day find a crack they could enter and destroy the incubating Eden. The moment Daniel became a Lord of Order, his protections around Arachis crumbled, and the monsters were allowed inside. The people he cared for were consumed or corrupted along with their world, and Arachis has now become a haven for evil.

If Arachis’ state of ruin escalates and begins to threaten the rest of the universe, the Lords of Order may have to intervene and send one of their number to deal with it. Ironic, that.

The Powers That Be, Daniel’s former divine superiors, are unaware of his ascension and simply assume he got distracted on his travels. After seeing the extent to which Arachis had fallen, Daniel was officially disqualified from their contest. Other Archons had strayed from the path of creating Utopia, certainly, but none of them this much.

The Hither and Thither Expanded; Or, Drawing Back the Curtain!
The Lord of Order Daniel is the alternate universe analogue of the adolescent abyssal abomination, Obe. He is not the creature’s past self, its blood relative, or a close acquaintance. He's a former Archon removed from his task to pursue the greater goal of upholding the stability of everything to exist ever, whereas the stygian cephalopod currently lies in wait of its full destructive potential from the comfort and safety of an apprentice witch’s magic hat.

It’s a long story.

Additionally, this Daniel is not the same as the other celestial entities known as Daniel that you may have witnessed overseeing their respective domains. Normally their timelines run parallel to each other, rather than consecutively, but in this instance the Lord of Order can exist outside of linear time and appear anywhere he is needed. Currently, this is with Jaymay. Becoming a Lord of Order is one possible outcome for the Archon Daniel across all timelines, though it is unlikely that another will be selected. Still, it’s an option. Savvy?

More Obroves, few approaching the level of power this Daniel wields, can be found on their alt list, here.

(Daniel is also technically a character from the realms of MixedMythos; additional species/world information can be found there)

There are more "Danalogues" to come, eventually, so we kindly ask that you...

STAY TUNED!