Ten

During the Time of Babel, Lucifer selected 10 of his most trusted retainers and sent them across the land. Their task was to teach the sons and daughters of Adam and Eve the secrets, not just of Creation but of Heaven as well. It was the beginning of the end.

Across the lands, the Ten taught the mortal flocks who then took this knowledge back to their tribes and built the Civilization of Ashes. So great was the knowledge the Ten brought with them that, in a few short years, cities that rivaled the bastions of the fallen spread across the world. The mortals built cities upon the oceans and mountain aeries, sprawling desert metropolises and golden jungle temples. Cities like Enoch, if the mortal book is to be believed.

The Ten visited these cities from time to time to watch over their charges and teach them. In time, these secretive tutors were known simply as "the Watchers."

Decked in cloaks made of light and shadow, the ten watchers stood tall and frail, yet their eyes swam with knowledge and potential. They were welcomed into all the cities of man, and they watched as the mortals learned the most secret lore of Creation. In time, the Ten left a book with each mortal city so that their knowledge could be passed down from generation to generation. These books came to be called the Canon of the Eye, and they were lost amid the chaos at the end of the war. Their existence has been forgotten even in the oldest surviving myths, and this is as it should be. Such knowledge was foolishly given once; it must never happen again.

Still, the Ten watched and taught.

Girieal tauhgt the race of dust the secrets of the earth, how to shape the land throguh the art of combining elements and minerals.

Sharaael imparted the knowledge of flesh and life so that mortals could recapture the immortality that God wrongly took away.

Of the secrets of the stars and the heavens above, Bephamael taught the race of mortals. The Book of Bephamael traced the patterns of the stars and how to predict the passage of time.

The secrets of wind and storm were written by the hand of Marael.

The secret of metal work and the forge was the providence of Gamael.

Ur-Shanbi taught mortals of fate and how to divine the future by looking at signs and portents. God kept Adam and Eve blind, but though Ur-Shanbi, humanity would be able to ascertain Heaven's plans.

Of the moon and her mistress, Samael taught mortals where to look for the Mother of the Moon, what secrets she possessed and how to protect themselves from her kin.

Agriel wrote of the many secrets of the bounty of the land, of fruits both good and bad, and how to manipulate them for nourishment or poison.

Of the sun, God's unrelenting eye, Shamshiel spoke to the race of Adam and Eve.

Finally, the greatest gift was given by Penemue to the race of Adam and Eve. Penemue taught the race of man the gift of writing language and the wisdom this entails. Through his gift, mortals gained the ability to defin the world according to symbols and concepts and not by things that needed to be seen or touched. The secrets he taught allowed mortals to open their own eyes. Creation no longer needed to be seen and touched to be believed. Knowledge could now spread of its own accord. In a few generations, many tomes and books were written in the First Tongue, and humanity was close to finally unlocking its own divinity.

The Ten were killed by the nephilim.