Fallen Angels is a play written by Luca Syara
Fallen Angels is a dramatic and emotional play following the story of an angel of Syrania. This angel, titled the Voice of the Innocent and Keeper of Hopes, was in an observational role in the towers of Syrania, but they could not bear to simply sit by and watch suffering unfold while they were comfortable and safe. The Keeper of Hope went to their superior, the Dominion of Hope, and beseeched them to allow him to descend to Eberron to ease the suffering, but was forbidden from doing so. It would be too dangerous, for you and them, the Dominion said, and their decision was final.
The Keeper of Hope obeyed, for a while, but as the suffering they observed grew, so did their own. Eventually, a catastrophe occurred in a fantastical, vertical city. One of the towers fell, crushing an entire district beneath its weight, and the city abandoned the people to fend for themselves. This, the Voice of the Innocent could not abide. They gathered their things in secret, and when the opportunity arose, they abandoned their post. The city of towers contained a portal to Syrania, which allowed the angel to enter the city undetected by forces mundane and supernatural, and they quickly made their way to the scene of the disaster.
In a fitting show of symbolism, the play portrays the angel arriving at the ruins of a temple. Survivors have flocked to the structure, gathering together what scraps of hope they could, but the temple was not safe. It had recently collapsed again, crushing some and trapping others, and it was those trapped who called most clearly for help. The Keeper of Hope approached, hooded and cloaked to hide their nature, and in a show of supernatural strength, cleared the rubble and rescued the trapped survivors.
These people, victims of a disaster, abandoned by their government, finally had hope again. Their very spirits were buoyed by the angel's presence, and they could not keep their nature a secret. These people needed help, and the Voice of the Innocent was positioned to provide it, consequences be damned.
For a time, things are looking up. The Keeper of Hope is able to summon food and water. The people make repairs to the temple, reinforce the construction, and make it safe. More and more people begin to flock to the temple as word of the safe haven spreads. Many of these people are starving or injured when they arrive, but the angel gives them hope. They are fed and watered, their wounds healed by the holy power of their saviour.
What begins as gratitude for their salvation quickly turns to worship. The survivors cannot see the angel as anything but a benevolent god, an all-powerful being that sees to their every need. The angel was never meant to be worshipped. They resist it, they tell their flock that they cannot claim to be a god, they are merely a servant of the divine, a well meaning immortal that simply couldn't abide their suffering a moment longer.
Slowly, though, the angel begins to believe it. Why shouldn't they be worshipped? Maybe they were a god. The more their flock prayed to them, made offerings to them, the more powerful the angel became. As the worship of mortals corrupted the angel, the angel corrupted their mortal followers in turn. Soon, the angel was able to invest power directly into the faithful, allowing them to perform their own minor miracles. What was this, if not evidence of the divine?
The people of the fallen district had become utterly, totally reliant on the angel for their survival. The Keeper of Hope began to expand its influence, instructing its followers to go forth and spread its divine light to others, violently, if necessary. The play depicts horrors, atrocities commited in the name of their righteous deity, in the name of saving those they were killing.
Eventually, the angel's transgressions could not be ignored. Resistance against their violent salvation increases, as the play shifts perspective to focus on those victimised by the angel's cult. A new cast of main characters gain the spotlight, and the play follows their adventures as they gather support and research their enemy. They do not know of the angel's history or nature, and know it only as a false god whose light spreads only hopelessness and despair.
The final scene of the play depicts the heroes confrontation with the angel. Despite its might, the heroes bring it low, and it pleads with them. Why did they resist? The Keeper of Hope wished only to help them, to ease their suffering. The heroes proclaim that the angel's hope came at too high a cost, and the angel was too far into their own delusion to see the harm it was causing.
The angel is struck down, and the lights dim as the music fades.