Azarath was an interdimensional realm that existed between the planes of known reality.
History
It was once a veritable paradise, with blue-green skies and crimson clouds. The streets were paved in solid marble and the buildings were accented with columns of pure gold. Hundreds upon hundreds of years ago, a mysterious woman known as Azar convinced a group of Earth humans to abandon the ways of man and embrace a world of peace and prosperity. Whether Azar was herself a native of Earth, or whether she originally hailed from Azarath itself has never been revealed. Leading her charges from Earth to Azarath, she guided and taught them the ways of peace for more than two centuries. These men and women established the Temple of Azarath and formed a mystic society. Ages ago, they decided to purge their bodies of all evil. Using mystical incantations, they exorcised the darker passions from the souls and cast it out beyond the Great Door into Limbo. These discarded dark emotions did not dissipate into the ether, however. They coalesced and merged together, flowing between the endless dimensions beyond the Great Door. In another dimension, these dark forces were summoned during a mystic ceremony and they took physical form for the first time. This being called itself Trigon and proved to be an incomprehensibly strong and powerful inter-dimensional demon of the highest order.
After serving as the spiritual leader of the people of Azarath for more than two hundred years, Azar passed away. When she died, her name, title and spirit were passed along to her own daughter, who in turn shepherded the people of Azarath for an additional three hundred years. Following the tradition, the second Azar's daughter (also named Azar) assumed the role of spiritual leader and continued to guide the people of Azarath into the modern era.
Over two decades ago on Earth, a woman named Angela Roth had fallen in with an occult circle. Though they were rank amateurs in the field of Satanic ritual, they nevertheless attempted to summon the Devil. What they succeeded in conjuring was far worse. Trigon emerged and took Angela Roth as his bride. He left her pregnant with his child then abandoned her, patiently awaiting the day when he could call his offspring to his side. Trigon manipulated the priests of Azarath to journey to Earth in search of Angela Roth. He knew that the mother of his soon-to-born child would be safe under the care of these pacifists. They found Angela and brought her to Azarath where she was renamed Arella (the Messenger Angel).
Not everyone in Azarath was pleased to know that the wife of Trigon was among them. But Azar and High Magistrate Coman realized that should the child of Trigon be allowed to grow on Earth, her existence would threaten all life on that planet, and indeed, the entire universe as well. Shortly thereafter, Arella gave birth to a daughter who was provided an Azarathian name - Raven. From the very moment that Raven was born, the entire reality of Azarath changed forever. Raven once described the moment of her birth and its effects on Azarath. "Its emerald skies turned black as death itself. The sweet smell of Gossamer became the pungent odor of Brimstone. Our world shook and rumbled with protest. And peace turned to fear. Life became death."
The Magistrate of Food Production, Juris, felt that Raven's existence threatened the sanctity on all life on Azarath. To safeguard his people, he elected to break Azarath's most sacred law - the taking of a human life. Snatching Raven from her nursemaid, he attempted to hurl the child through the Great Door into the Limbo realm separating Azarath from other dimensional worlds and planets. Upon opening the door however, he exposed himself to the incomprehensible power of Trigon who disintegrated him with a mystical magical blast of golden glowing energy. Raven however, was unharmed.
Azar took it upon herself to personally raise Raven. Aware that Raven possessed the power and ability to freely control and manipulate emotions, she realized that the only way to safeguard the child was to deny her the power and ability to feel any emotion. She mentored Raven for ten years, before old age finally caught up with Azar and she passed away. On her deathbed, Azar gave Arella the duty of continuing Raven's education.
Over the next several years, Raven felt her father's evil influence slowly growing inside of her. When she was eighteen years old, she entered the Temple of Azarath, opened the Great Door and encountered her father for the very first time. This meeting prompted Raven to manifest her soul self for the very first time - that part of herself that was of her father. Realizing the danger that Trigon truly represented, Raven fled Azarath and came to Earth where she sought help in one would day that become a great battle.
Though she succeeded in bringing together a new group of Teen Titans, she had failed to prevent Trigon from piercing the veil between dimensions. She returned to Azarath and pleaded with the priests to intervene, but they refused. Trigon followed her to Azarath and was ready to lay siege to the entire world, but Raven halted his attack by offering him a bargain. In exchange for leaving Azarath and Earth alone, Raven agreed to return with him to his nether-realm and accept her role as his daughter. Trigon agreed, but secretly schemed to return to Azarath and destroy it. The New Teen Titans refused to let Raven sacrifice herself so they implored the priest of Azarath to help them find her. Again, the priests refused to compromise their pacifism. Raven's mother Arella, finally relented and brought the teen heroes to the Great Door that bridged the gap between dimensions. She accompanied them on a journey to Trigon's world to help combat him. They succeeded in barring Trigon from entering the realm of Azarath, and Arella took it upon herself to guard the portal ensuring that Trigon could never return.
Although this tactic succeeded for many years, Trigon eventually amassed enough power to bridge the dimensions once again and invade Azarath. He sent a horde of winged demons that scorched the entire land, killing all those who resided within Temple Azarath. The Teen Titans, accompanied by their former teammate Lilith Clay arrived and attempted to save the Azarathians, but they were fiercely outnumbered. All of Azarath was reduced to a desolate plain of fire, broken rock and ash.[1]
Years later, the disembodied spirits of all of Azarath took root within the body of the metahuman Jericho. Corrupted by Trigon's evil, these souls poisoned Jericho and used him to take control of the criminal Wildebeest Society. Jericho returned to the ruins of Azarath and erected a base of operations there. He had the Wildebeests kidnap various members of the Titans and brought them back to his base where they were hooked up to a Transference Machine. It was the intent of the Souls of Azarath to use the Titans as host physical bodies to house their disembodied spirits. The Titans were rescued by a group consisting of Arella, Deathstroke the Terminator, Pantha and Phantasm. During the conflict, Deathstroke was forced to take the life of his own son, Jericho.[2]
Points of Interest
- Temple of Azarath
- The Temple of Azarath (also referred to as simply Temple Azarath) was more akin to a city than an actual temple. This was where the people of Azarath lived and prayed. Raven was born and raised here, and her mother Arella stayed here for a period of time as well.
- Great Door
- Within the Temple of Azarath, there stood a giant portal to the nether-realms. It was here that a concerned Juris attempted to expel the infant Raven into the ether. Upon opening the door however, the power of Trigon disintegrated him, but spared the child.
- Tomb of Azar
- This was the resting place of all those who went by the name of Azar. It was located near the Temple Azarath. During Trigon's second invasion of Azarath, the Tomb was one of the first places attacked by Trigon's demonic minions.
Residents
- Arella
- Main article: Angela Roth (New Earth)
Having conceived a child with the demon Trigon, Angela Roth was prepared to take her own life. Priests from Azarath found her and convinced her to return with them to their temple. On Azarath, she was given the Arella and gave birth to her daughter Raven. Arella remained in the Temple of Azarath for some time, but eventually returned to Earth when Raven was an adult.
- Azar
- Main article: Azar (New Earth)
Azar was an older woman with long white hair. Described as an almost Goddess, she oversaw the education and training of the young half-demon Raven. Azar later died, but her spirit lived on and was strong enough to ultimately envelop and destroy Raven's demonic father Trigon.
- Coman
- Coman was the High Magistrate of Azarath. His authority was second only to that of Azar herself. Coman understood the threat that Raven represented and knew that for the sake of all, she had to be drained of all emotion. She could not afford to ever know love or hate less Trigon's demonic influence take control of her. To this end, he made certain that Raven never formed a familial bond with her mother Arella.
- Galya
- Galya was Raven's nursemaid on Azarath when Raven was still an infant.
- Juris
- Juris was the magistrate of food production on Azarath. Fearing that the child of Arella would one day destroy them, Juris attempted to kill the infant Raven by casting her into the void of Limbo. His plan failed however at the cost of his own life. Following the man's death, Raven was placed in the care of temple founder Azar.
- Raven
- Main article: Raven (New Earth)
Though conceived on Earth, Raven was actually born in the Temple of Azarath. She was raised there under the tutelage of Azar herself until she was sixteen-years-old, at which point she journeyed to Earth in preparation of the coming of Trigon.
- Souls of Azarath
- As years passed, Trigon's evil influence began to poison the souls of the people of Azarath. No longer able to sustain their own forms, they journeyed to Earth to seek surrogate bodies to contain their life essences. They found that the mutant form of the Titan known as Jericho would make for an ideal host, so they took residence inside of him and used him to establish the Wildebeest Society. With the resources of the Wildebeest Society at their disposal, the Souls of Azarath attempted to create genetically perfect host bodies for their wayward souls. This plot failed however, and the Wildebeest Society was destroyed.
- Theron
- Theron was one of the citizens born in Azarath. When Raven was ten-years-old, he handed her an ill bird and watched as the young empath used her demon-spawned powers to absorb the bird's injuries into herself, thus granting it renewed life.
- Tynan
- Tynan was a male Azarathian and the one who first alerted High Magistrate Coman that their leader Azar was dying.
Trivia
- In the Teen Titans animated series, Raven invokes the name Azarath as part of her spoken mantra, "Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos!"
- In Action Comics #534, Lord Satanis invokes "the spell of Azar from the dimension-lost land of [his] birth", implying that he may have been born in Azarath in the far future.