Notes from the Arcanum: Raquia

Perched like shining lanterns of divine fire, stars swirl in the skies above Raquia, the second heaven. Just as Shamayim is bathed in omnipresent light, Raquia is a place of eternal night. A broad valley bordered by suffocating darkness that even starlight cannot penetrate, Raquia is used as a road for those travelling between the first and third heavens. Elohim do not linger in this stark and austere place, despite its beauty. Mournful tormented cries and screams echoing across the valley carry with them familiar voices, voices of those once loved friends now in torment and agony. After the War of Wrath, nearly all the fallen elohim and their princes were gathered up and cast into a place of darkness created from the fabric of Raquia. Unlike the sad valley above, this place of punishment is of total darkness, denied all access to the divine emanations of the Symphony. Fallen elohim trapped there have gone mad with despair and have become more like monsters than the divine beings they once were. A dark citadel at one end of the valley marks the fortress where elohim guard the entrance to the Pit, that which humans have called Hell. Stern angels and cherubim guard the entrance, said to be a unbreakable stone standing across a cave mouth, sealed by the will of God herself. Raphael rules Raquia, and one of his many duties is to ensure that none of the demonic monsters sally forth into Heaven.

Raquia also borders near to the realms of the dead. It is said, when the Pit was first fashioned, that Raquia was chosen so that the torments of the damned elohim would act as a lash and furnace for the souls of the wicked dead. The souls of the wicked were not allowed to pass beyond to whatever fate awaited those who had found salvation. However, this proximity has apparently proved a weakness; demons found they could escape the Pit by travelling through the shadow lands of the dead, back into the world of the living, guided by summons from stupid mortals seeking to harness their power. Moreso, Lucifer, now called Shaitan, or Satan, has been busy. He has been building his empire, allying with elder demons from realities predating the elohim, readying for the end of days, when the unbreakable seal will be broken and his dark legions will sally forth and battle one last time for the ultimate mastery of reality. Demonic tethers have bypassed the heavenly seals and now Hell is a presence on Earth. More demons than elohim walk the Earth. As he did before, Man is susceptible to the guiles of the Fallen. The enemy grow in numbers and with the aid of human worshippers, they travel freely between Earth and the Hells as do elohim to Heaven.

Note: I doubt that this assessment as told me by Raguel is accurate. Indications are that most spirits of the dead travel beyond this pale; but that a few stay behind. There seems to be no correlation between how a person lived their life and what spirits are abandoned to limbo. The wicked are just as likely to be freed from mortal toils, whereas many a good and saintly person's soul is trapped in the Shadowlands. What Raguel is speaking of is that some spirits, who suffered spiritual annihilation in the Shadowlands, becoming mindless spectres, dwell in an area close to the dimensional reverberations of the Pit and are therefore subject to the emanations thereof. These spirits suffer great cruelty at the hands of the demons who reach out, torment of these spectres being their only diversion from their own pain. This could explain why spectres are so full of hate and malevolence, to all things living and dead.

I note also that Raguel did not mention the wraith spirits of men that seem to have been left behind, as it were, or that some cultures had found ways to bypass death, as it were. When I brought it up, he denied that spirits were left behind and that if any were, it was the work of the Enemy. - See notes on Wraiths and Mummies - A.S.