Translated by Michael Walton

[The following is a transcript of a speech presented at the Tri-Planar Conference. The Archangel of Dreams personally shielded the speaker from the light of Heaven throughout the proceedings. This testimony is not meant to represent the views of Heaven or of any Ethereal pantheon; the opinions expressed herein are entirely the author's own.]

Friends, colleagues and fellow scholars,

I stand before you today to offer a personal testimony on the Purity Crusade. I, an Ethereal, was there when Uriel's forces swept through the Marches. I fled from the flaming swords of his Malakim and hid from the piercing eyes of his Seraphim. I choked on the smoke from the burning of Olympus and stopped my ears in a vain attempt to keep out the screams of the dying. All these horrors and more I witnessed firsthand. I am uniquely qualified to render judgement on this infamous chapter of history, and my judgement is this -- the Purity Crusade was a good thing.

Many of you seem agitated by this. I understand your confusion. "How," you ask, "Can this foolish spirit believe that about the slaughter of his people?" Others among you know my reputation and dismiss this assertion as just one more betrayal by one who has long been a traitor to his kind. I do not deny that I acted against the interests of my Pantheon. In my defense I can only say that I acted in the best interests of humanity. My reasons for doing so are at the heart of my current argument. Because of the prophetic gift -- you would say precognitive Attunement -- that I possess, I am partly aware of humanity's Destiny. I choose to serve humans because I have seen that humans are greater than gods. Of course, I would never rest such an outrageous claim on rhetoric alone. Allow me to offer proof.

First, there is the matter of reproduction. Among Ethereals, only the most powerful of us have the ability to create other spirits. Even then, there are fewer of us who have that power with each passing year. I understand that only the most powerful Celestials are able to create other Celestials, as well. Yet most humans, once they reach physical maturity, can create other humans. Indeed, the feat is so easy for them that they often do it without meaning to! Say what you will about my kind, one of the things that we have in common with you is an utter lack of accidental births.

Next there is the matter of creation. Only by means of special Songs -- Songs which are forbidden for Celestials to know and which spirits are destroyed for using -- can a Celestial or Ethereal create a human, and the results are by no means guaranteed. I know of no instances of humans creating Celestials, but human dreamers create Ethereal spirits every night. All humans possess this power from childhood, and a few have dreams of such power that the resulting spirits sometimes survive beyond a single night's dreaming. I might also add that creating Ethereals is beyond the ability of even the most powerful Celestials. How would you judge the power of a race whose children can do something that Archangels cannot?

Third, let us consider Tethers. Only human beliefs and emotions can create bridges between Heaven and Earth, Earth and Hell or Earth and the realm of dreams. Not only are Ethereals and Celestials unable to duplicate this feat, our endeavors are more likely to disrupt an incipient Tether than facilitate its formation.

Now, what does any of this have to do with the Purity Crusade? That is easily answered. My assertion is that humans have tremendous potential both as individuals and as a species, but most individuals never realize that potential and the species isn't even close to doing so. That squandering of potential is partly the fault of Ethereals. Far too many spirits are content to receive worship from humans without encouraging them to grow in any way. We forget that we are but dreams, and that the purpose of a dream is to be a lodestar that guides the dreamer in a voyage of self-discovery. Oh, great civilizations rose by following our tutelage. The more charitable among you may even recall my own contribution in that regard. The problem is that most Ethereals encouraged humans to grow only to the point of being useful to the spirits. Our relationship with humanity was meant to be symbiotic, but we had largely become parasites in the days before the Crusade. Civilizations stagnated as we stabilized our power bases. Progress halted for fear that new ideas would stem the flow of Essence.

The Crusade changed that. With their Ethereal patrons gone, humans were free to develop in ways that would've been anathema to spirits who were dependent on entrenched traditions. Uriel cleared out the deadwood that caused humans to cling to outmoded ways and freed them to take a step closer to their collective Destiny. The suffering that this caused was certainly tragic, and some of it was probably avoidable. But the fulfillment of the human race’s Destiny required that Man’s Ethereal masters step aside, and few gods would've yielded their thrones willingly. The Purity Crusade may have been unnecessarily brutal, but it needed to happen.

I look forward to that bright day when all humans cast aside the crutch of worshipping their own dreams and walk in the strength of their birthright. We spirits need humanity, but humans have outgrown the need for us -- and one day, when they finally achieve their full potential, they will outgrow the need for Celestials as well. The Age of Gods is past. The Age of Angels and Demons will pass. The Age of Man is coming, and it will be a glorious time indeed.

Prometheus

Expatriate Titan

Spirit of Enlightenment