After allowing themselves time to plan and organize their troops, the Aeshuahim unveiled their new plan for Earth. Each of the seven would seize control of a region of the planet and they would vie for supremacy. Azarael took control of the North American continent while Rafael took Europe and Western Asia, Gabriel South-Eastern Asia, Michael the Indian subcontinent and Northern Africa, Uriel South America, Raziel Central and Southern Africa, and Saraqel Australia. Each Aeshua had his own plan for winning over or subjugating humans.
Azarael in particular made fear and lies a prominent part of his campaign. He told the American governments that nefilim, monstrous descendants of angels were rising up in the human populations and would overwhelm human society quickly if they were not stopped. Rafael and Michael supported him in this misinformation tactic and all three began identifying and impounding those humans identified as nefilim, or having angelic blood. Gabriel, Saraqel, Uriel and Raziel stood in opposition to the tactic, preferring more non-violent methods of negotiation.
Most of the Aeshuahim refused to accept fallen angels into their ranks, citing isolation from the flock as their punishment for rebellion against Wayin. The exceptions to this were Gabriel and Uriel. They also opened refugee centers for nefilim fleeing North America, Europe, and the Middle East. Saraqel and Raziel maintained a neutral stance on the subject of refugees, negotiating with the Western and Middle East Serafim to extradite foreign nefilim arrested in their regions.
Resistance
During the Occupation, pockets of resistance began to form around 1995. Many of these were lead by charismatic nefilim or fallen angels, such as the Earth-born angels Nathaniel Charbonneau and Rezebeth Nightstar, both directly related to Lucifer and his original mate, Hana. Nathaniel led a rebellious sect through Northern Minnesota and Wisconsin, eventually settling in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Rezebeth rallied fallen angels and nefilim in New York City until her assassination in 1997.
Part of the resistance in Michigan was driven by the medical and scientific studies of Peg Hamilton and Micah Johnson, a pair of nefilim who had escaped into hiding near the beginning of the Occupation. When they were pursued by angels from the K.I Sawyer base in Gwinn, Peg and Micah were forced to separate, which slowed down their research considerably. Shortly thereafter, Nathaniel and his nefilim rebellion moved into the Houghton area, causing conflict with the local fallen population. Micah joined Nathaniel’s rebellion while Peg and her lebki, Killian, along with his rishki, Remy remained in hiding in Houghton.
Rishona and Milo
When Azarael made his first appearances on American television in 1993, he also unveiled his new apprentice, a young fledgling named Taysiel. Rishona and Milo recognized one of their final fledglings and Rishona insisted on going to New York to try to rescue him. While Milo felt strongly about helping her, he also felt a strong pull to stay in the Upper Peninsula on the shores of Lake Superior. He decided to remain while she traveled to New York alone. Rishona connected with Rezebeth’s forces in Manhattan, stalking Azarael and seeking a way past his guard to reach the fledgling she thought of as one of her sons.
1997 - The Battle for New York
Rezebeth’s forces conflicted with the regimental angels stationed in New York City in a climactic battle in late November, 1997. During this battle, Mibagadael Haniel lead an eserbe of assassins down into the subways to carry out a final assassination on Rezebeth Nightstar. At her death, eight of the ten assassins rebelled, unable to deny her angelic nature in spite of her Earthly birth. Four surrendered to Haniel and were executed as traitors. One was killed while escaping and the remaining three fallen escaped to join with the remnants of Rezebeth’s forces. Haniel and his partner, Mibagadael Tyriel remained loyal and untouched by Rezbeth’s death.
2000-2005 - Milo and Musiel
By the late 90s, Nathaniel’s forces had settled down in hiding near the Marquette area of Michigan. He decided to take a break from running the rebellion and began seeing a human woman who lived in Marquette, Talia. Unbeknownst to Nathaniel’s long-time partner and lebki, Musiel, Talia became pregnant with Nathaniel’s child. When Musiel discovered this, he left the rebel stronghold in Marquette and remained away for almost five years. During this period of time, Musiel lived near Houghton, Michigan and became close with Milo, who had moved there after Rishona’s leaving for New York. They became lovers in violation of regimental angelic taboos against angel/angel pairings (which both were used to violating anyway) and what was generally believed at the time about the nature of lebki bonding. In 2005, Nathaniel located Musiel and asked him to come back. Reluctant at first, Milo pushed Musiel to return, citing his natural talent for leadership and the obvious care he had for nefilim and fallen angels alike. Musiel agreed and returned to the Hogback rebellion. Milo followed him several months later, choosing to live in isolation along the coast.
2008 - Rishona's Nikeban
In 2008, Rishona planned and executed Taysiel’s escape from Azarael’s custody. They fled Angel Tower in Manhattan, pursued by Azarael’s forces and human police. When finally confronted with the archangel himself, Rishona stood up to Azarael and demonstrated her own aeshua abilities, lighting her celestial steel sword on fire and issuing a telekinetic blast that knocked Azarael from the air, disarming him in the process. Azarael called off the pursuit while Rishona and Taysiel escaped into the Adirondacks with the help of an upstate New York-based family with ties back to a family in Houghton who had been helping fallen angels for decades.
2010 - The Fall of Hogback
After hearing the account of numerous falling angels leaving service from the K.I. Sawyer Air Force Base near Marquette, Azarael became aware of the activities of Nathaniel’s rebellion based in Hogback Mountain. He dispatched Haniel and his partner, Tyriel to investigate the region. Han and Tyr connected with one of the Aredahim of K.I. Sawyer, Hamish.
As the assassins closed in on Hogback, Musiel and Nathaniel found themselves at odds: Nathaniel wanted to stand and fight for Hogback as a stronghold while Musiel thought it was more prudent to surrender the mountain and seek a better place to make their stand. Their conflict continued due to Nathaniel’s cavalier attitude about the Wasting Fall research being conducted long-distance between Micah and Peg in Houghton. Nathaniel thought it best to sever ties with the Houghton flock while Musiel recognized the importance of a potential cure for Wasting Fall. Their division resulted in a break with Nathaniel holding his ground at Hogback with less than half of his original force while Musiel led the rest into hiding near Houghton, reinforced by Milo’s return.
Areda Hamish led his forces from K.I. Sawyer to attack Hogback Mountain just before Christmas, 2010. Han and Tyr focused themselves on locating and eliminating Nathaniel as the leader of the rebellion while Hamish’s explosive experts set charges to blow the entire mountain. Once the charges were set and his troops had evacuated, Hamish blew the charges and Hogback Mountain was destroyed, collapsing and killing nearly eighty humans, nefilim, and fallen angels who were loyal to Nathaniel’s cause, including fifteen children and fledglings. The massacre deeply affected base morale, causing nearly 10% of the angels stationed at K.I. Sawyer to fall over the following six months.
Haniel and Tyriel were unable to confirm Nathaniel’s death.
2011 - Lucifer
Several months after the fall of Hogback, Lucifer appeared to the fallen angels living in Marquette. He claimed to know “the way home,” and encouraged all the fallen to follow him. As word passed through the fallen communities of the UP and Northern Wisconsin, many fallen rushed to join him in Marquette. He connected with Musiel’s flock in Houghton and found his son’s lebki reluctant to believe his rhetoric.
In the wake of Lucifer’s return, Milo received word that the New York flock had found Rishona and Taysiel alive and safe. They reunited in Houghton a few months later, leading Rishona and Milo to have serious conversations about what lebki bonding meant in light of Milo’s relationship with Musiel and Peg’s relationship with Killian and Remy.
