Ariel is a six-winged Atlantean archangel, Sacred Guardian of Sigil, the City of Doors, a paladin and swordsman who introduces himself by name on every formal occasion: “Maybe it’s not the best moment to introduce ourselves, but my name is Ariel.”
Description
Atlantean by birth (“in Atlantis they knew him”), he has naturally amplified sight by blood. He calls himself a spirit of air and water: “I have come from the sky. And from the water too.” He has six wings, three pairs, and is a tall, handsome man of elegant bearing and penetrating gaze. His hair is very light blond turning silvery white, “very metallic,” in a long sewn braid; his eyes are “the color of bees’ honey.”
He wears a suit of dark, slightly silvery gray (“not black”), a white shirt and a black tie, with three insignia:
- Tiara bearing effigies of “all the intelligent and charismatic people in the world,” among them Einstein and Darwin.
- Sword: a good curved sword at his belt. “The luck sword,” recorded as a sacred sword, is also attributed to him.
- Bracelets that say “I will take revenge” in every possible language, including True Speech.
Role
He is at once archangel and Sacred Guardian of the City of Doors; “a regulator, of course, a bad one”; a paladin; and a deputy among the new envoys to the region. His magical bond with Sigil is permanent, so he can be summoned from afar; the Lady of Pain summoned him this way (“because the lady of pain summoned me, I have a bond with Sigil”).
In the present he operates with the adventuring company: at the tower entrance, below decks in the ship during the first combat (not on the bridge), and among the deputies.
History
In an ancient era he stood in the same hall as Helter and Helter’s mother, whose favorite he was. He tried to stop Helter’s transformation and failed. In that hall Helter ran him through with the cobalt dagger and raped him.
Lineage
Tel is his daughter, “if I’m not mistaken,” says the voice that records it. Of his ancestry: “he may have two fathers.”
Conflicting accounts
- Height: 1.88 m in some records; 1.80 m in others, said to belong to an altered form.
Open questions
- What altered his form; what “a regulator” means and why “bad.”
- Whether the curved sword and the sacred sword are one weapon.
- How his death in the ancient era fits his presence among the present deputies.
- His two fathers, Tel’s mother and standing, the bracelets’ target, and who sends the deputies.