OC SPOTLIGHT January: Samuel // sfw-ish?

samuel is known by many names--lucifer, the morning star, samael, the beast, the serpent, the god of this world, the adversary... in short, he's the devil. for simplicity's sake, i'll refer to him as samuel or samael throughout this text. 

samuel is from a set of stories collectively known as 'gods among us,' with his and his lover isaac being the main characters of 'the devil of ashwick.' in gods among us, or GAU for short, me and kubi weave stories based on mythology, folklore, and religion. we're both massive nerds and love to do research, but of course, we're applying hefty amounts of artistic liberties to our characters and storylines. sometimes they have a lot in common with the canon, other times they're just vaguely based on it. 

in GAU, the abrahamic god is referred to as 'shaddai,' and their best kept secret is that they were once a small, insignificant god who grew in power by devouring other divinities. in GAU, the abrahamic religions' growth at the cost of other religions is literally reflected by shaddai eating the gods they replace, turning bloated and self-absorbed in the process. their intentions were good, once--they wanted to become more powerful so they could help and protect more people--but they essentially corrupted themselves, demanding absolute and unquestioning obedience to the point where free choice among their followers (heavenly and mortal) had become an illusion. 

samuel--lucifer--was the first to recognise this. 

he was a seraphim, once, serving right at shaddai's side. they say he was the most beautiful angel, and for the longest time he obeyed god without hesitation, as one of their closest servant and as the angel of death. 

but samuel was different from all other angels in that he eventually started questoning shaddai's decisions. he was attentive, observant, and critical; while others obeyed without a second thought, samuel started scrutinzing shaddai's orders. shaddai trusted and valued him, but at the same time samuel was close enough to shaddai that he saw more of their god and father than most other angels, and he didn't always like what he saw.

then shaddai created adam and demanded all angels bow to him. samuel refused.

the others thought that man was perfect and flawless, like their creator, but samuel would not accept the notion that man was better than him, that he ought to bend to them. he was prideful, and insisted that humanity carried within it an abundance of flaws and weaknesses and shortcomings. he refused to bow to something lesser than himself simply because shaddai told him to. 

but after god had created eve and the first humans went to live in the garden of eden, samuel met her met in secret. he loathed the concept of humanity but paradoxically grew fond of this one individual, who was forced to obey both god and adam as if she had no will of her own. samuel was the first person to love her in a worthy way, and the reason he bade her eat the forbidden fruit was not merely to ruin god's plan--it was also to gift her knowledge and insight.

his fondness for eve was also the last drop that made the scales fully fall from his eyes; after loving her he could see his god as shaddai truly was, a bloated mass of dead usurped gods, selfish and despotic in its unquenchable thirst for power and control. 

by now, he was full of a seething bitterness and restless anger. in his pride, samuel thought that he himself would make a better ruler of heaven and earth. charismatic and eloquent, he soon amassed multitudes of others to his cause; he rebelled, together with an army of angels, and there was war in heaven. samuel was certain he would win.

but he didn't. no matter how many of god's servants they slayed, more poured forth. he duelled the archangel michael--and lost. michael's sword pierced his side, and samuel fell from heaven.

in his fall, his body changed; his legs transformed into a serpents tail, mimicking the form he had assumed to infiltrate eden. in his blind pride his eyes were covered by skin that had come to resemble faded marble, like the monuments of once glorious but long forgotten civilisations, and his hands and wings had become stained with blackening blood that would never quite wash off. and the wound at his side never healed; it had been inflicted by a heavenly weapon, and could only be healed with heavenly medicine. for centuries to come it would remain open and painful, a wound to his body and his pride--a constant reminder of his defeat.

but samuel would not give up. 

as king of hell, he gathered the other fallen angels--now demons--to a council. they debated what had happened and what to do. he was their ruler, but they were his trusted followers; he listened to them like shaddai had never listened to anyone. 

his first action was to conquer the rest of hell, part of which was already inhabited by kingdoms of underworld beings. samuel offered his defeated foes to join him and his cause, welcoming them to the fold if they accepted, and vanquishing them if they insisted on opposing him. new demons were born from the depths of hell itself, and samuel had a number of children, many of them with lilith. certain excellent demons were appointed as the primes (or princes) of the cardinal sin they embodied, 

and then he set his eyes on earth, and humanity.

he met with eve again, and in secret they had kain together; shortly thereafter, she had abel with adam. from there on, the humans multiplied like vermin, and samuel realised his revenge on humanity and on god would span across millennia. 

samuel is a subtle manipulator and instigator. he's fully prepared to get his hands dirty, but more than anything he works through the darkness hidden within every man. the devil does not sow his seed in infertile soil. he inflicts ill upon humanity, yes, but even more than that he works to prove that humanity carries evil within itself, and that it is ultimately the humans that are responsible for their own bad deeds, not some outside force. he did not make them evil, nor did he invent sin--he manipulates the evil within humans, makes them give in to it. samuel could potentially kill hundreds of humans with a single thought, but that doesn't prove anything. making the humans kill each other, on the other hand, encouraging the violence and selfishness they carry inside--that's his way of proving that humanity has no worth, and that nobody (him least of all) should ever bow to them. 

there was only one time after his fall that god called upon him, having need of his abilities--and the only reason samuel agreed was that in exchange the wound at his side would be healed. this happened during the plagues of egypt. god needed samael, the angel of death, to smite the first born. 

apart from that mutually beneficial instance of cooperation, god and the devil have constantly been at odds. there are thousands of stories that could be told of this rivalry, but let's have a look at the story mentioned above: 'the devil of ashwick'.

---

ashwick was always a strange place. it was said that during medieval times, a woman was wrongly burnt as a witch there, and as she died she cursed the town and the family of the person who lit her pyre--a man named fowler. a century later the whole population mysteriously disappeared, and the ruins of the town were abandoned for decades until people started feeling oddly drawn back to the place. as the rest of england switched to protestantism, ashwick remained a catholic anomaly. each english town has its stories, about ghosts and elves and strange creatures, but ashwick had more such tales than most. the manorhouse on the hill, hawksgate, was especially shrouded in mystery--as was the churh, st. margaret's.

such was the town that isaac ellis grew up in, towards the end of the 19th century. his mother died shortly after his birth and he never knew his father, but he was taken care of by father atwood and mother judith. everyone was shocked and delighted when, in his mid teens, he performed a miracle, causing a spring to flow out of nowhere--everyone but isaac himself. he became destined to be not just a priest, but a living saint. he grows into a kind, gentle young man, but with a sad heart.

one day, when isaac is in his twenties, an outsider arrives. a certain dr samuel valeriano has purchased the manorhouse, and settles down in ashwick. the stranger is masterful and charistmatic, calm and confident; there's immediate chemistry between him and isaac, and the months that follow are sweet torture for the dear priest. it doesn't help that he keeps having very naughty dreams about a man that looks a lot like the good doctor. 

years back, when isaac confessed his love for his childhood friend thomas, he was met with refusal and disbelief; the guilt over his sexuality has always caused isaac pain and he's always hid and denied it, but now here's this handsome doctor subtly flirting with him, as if it's nothing to be ashamed of. the two of them discuss theology, religion, morality, literature, enjoying each other's company in more or less innocent ways, at first. and then, one december eve as samuel is hosting a winter ball at the manor, they share their first kiss, hidden away on a balcony.

overcome by guilt, isaac tries to deny himself the mix of joy and confusion and relief and guilt that comes of being around samuel, but it's difficult to stay away from the only man that accepts him as he is. it so happens that samuel invites him on a trip to italy, and while staying at his tuscan villa, things go even further; they end up making out on a couch, pants are undone and touching and frotting happens.

father atwood and mother judith doesn't know the extent of their ... friendship, but they disapprove of how close they seem to have gotten, and try to keep isaac away from samuel. needless to say, it doesn't work; they keep stealing kisses in dark corners and hidden nooks, and isaac keeps having the dreams.

and then he finds out samuel is the devil, and everything seems to fall apart. he confronts samuel about it, and samuel doesn't deny it. isaac feels most betrayed by the notion that samuel never truly loved him, that he was just manipulating and using him all along--samuel assures him that if he hadn't been fond of isaac, the priest would have been long since dead.

the full story is that isaac is, in fact, a fowler. the wrongfully burned witch curse was for the souls of all fowler firstborns be claimed by the devil. for generations, the fowler family had been plagued by having their first children die within days. but when isaac's mother were expected isaac, and she saw the shape of the devil waiting by her bedside, she begged him to let her child live, for a time at least. she was weak and knew she would not live for long, but she desperately wanted her son to get to live before having to die. she loved her unborn child like she could never love his father--atwood. she reminded samuel of eve, and lilith, and he was moved to agree. "he shall have twentyfive years. then his soul will be mine." "... that is enough. thank you."

but samuel didn't come to ashwick solely to claim isaac. the place had turned into a site of contention between him and shaddai; god saw it as a beacon of faith, while samuel claimed the town would eventually ruin itself. and when isaac had dug up the miraculous spring, he had been fated to fulfill an age-old prophecy kept within the depths of the church's cellar, demanding the sacrifice of a living saint, as proof of faith and obedience.

of course, samuel couldn't let that happen. isaac soul was his, and ashwick would be his as well. but he hadn't planned to love isaac. it happened unexpectedly and against all odds, as love sometimes does.

isaac is racked by guilt, anger, disbelief, fear, and hopelessness. for the next little while, his sanity hangs in the balance. but unlike shaddai, samuel doesn't tell him what to do, what to believe, how to act. he lets isaac decide for himself, now that he knows the extent of what samuel can offer him.

long story short, isaac and samuel end up fucking on the very altar of the church. it cracks, the stain glass windows fade, all the candles go out. with samuel, isaac finds the freedom and love he's been longing for all his life. isaac has made his choice, and the fate of ashwick has been sealed. samuel has won, and it's not long before the town starts going mad. the witch hunts start anew, the inhabitants turn on one another, paranoia and fear clouds the town like a poisonous mist and before long, all that remains is ashes.

-----

not gonna lie, 'the devil of ashwick' is one of the most detailed and well-developed stories we have written. it involves many other characters, including cameos of vanu and hadrien, andreas and julian, and other characters you've seen in my art. a lot of things take place in this story, far more than i could fit into an OC spotlight, but we hope to tell the full tale one day, in one way or another.

as usual, feel free to leave any questions below, i'd love to answer them!

// art + samuel © me; isaac © kubi.