Naamah

Mother of Divination; the Charmer; Queen of Whispers

Naamah was an ancient and mysterious figure, sometimes described as a companion to Lilith, and sometimes as her rival. She is both demon and primordial goddess, named one of the four fallen angels of prostitution. She is generally considered a descendant of Cain.

She was also the patron of divination and music, and a consort to the archangel Samael, alongside her sisters Lilith, Eisheth, and Agrat Bat Mahlat. She had many other lovers, and mothered several demonic children, including the prince of demons Asmodeus, and the Nashiym, or Plagues of Mankind.

As a succubus she was reputed to infiltrate the dreams of men, and was responsible for infant cot deaths. It was said to be her pleasant, musical voice which lured humanity to idolatry. She was known to have a great love of music.

Talents

Naamah was a gifted and natural dreamwalker, and used this skill judiciously yet secretly as part of her scheming. In this Age and among this pantheon, Tel’aran’rhiod was governed with great control and dominated by an order of angels known as the Watchers. All were men.

Over her long years Naamah learned many secrets of bending others to her will, but was possessed furthermore of an almost supernatural ability to win people; to her body, to her cause, to her words.

She had a touch of Dreaming ability in this life.

The Fall of the Watchers

The Watchers, or Grigori, were an order of dreamwalking angels meant to shepherd and guide early humanity. They served as vast reservoirs of information and guidance, and their selflessness and dedication was beyond compare. It was their job to observe only, lending a helping hand when necessary but not interfering in the course of human development. They were also the beings who guarded the portals linking worlds together.

Through Naamah’s manipulations, they became the second faction of angels to fall.

A gifted channeler, she is said to have woven spells to warp the appearance of the human women, making them more desirable not only in appearance but in soul, so that even divine beings such as angels were lured to distraction with the temptation of lying with them. In all appearance of sweet innocence, over time Naamah seduced their leader Samyaza with the art of music, and his second Azazel with the art of words. She was an unassuming figure, unconnected with the fires of rebellion she quietly stoked, and untouched by the sin of such passions as she sowed in their hearts.

Eventually the order’s angels finally relented to the stirrings of lust nurtured within them like a well tended garden, and together they made a pact to rebel. When Samyaza, their truthseer, submitted to her charms and confessed his affections, Naamah knew she had them. In love, he was utterly blind. And in those whom he bestowed his trust, others trusted in kind.

The Watchers began to defect and abandon their duties guarding the dreamworld, taking human women to wife and fathering children that became known as the fearsome and corrupted Nephilim: children Naamah believed through divination were a key.

Naamah took Samyaza himself as a husband, and bore him children. Meanwhile, her connection with his second in command Azazel encouraged him to whisper in the ears of mortals. By now Samyaza had confessed a secret about Azazel’s true nature, hidden from even him. Using this knowledge she incited him to teach humans warfare. Under her influence, the Watchers all began to share knowledge and secrets which were forbidden, teaching humanity all manner of enchantments and charms such as weaponry, cosmetics, mirrors, and sorcery.

Together, the Watchers and their demigod offspring began to dominate rule of the earth. They lived as gods. Yet it was not enough, for she wished to protect what had been built. She intended them to build an army. Not one of men, but one of fearsome nephilim. In fact, after awakening Azazel’s lusts for power and recognition, Naamah intended an entire new world order; to overturn the rulers of their pantheon, and reclaim dominion of the dreamworld. It was the work of long years of careful and targeted whispering.

But it ended in war and failure.

Ever aware, she fled upon sensing the arrival of the Archangels, who brought with them the punishment of the Flood. Humanity was wiped clean, and the Watchers were punished for their misdeeds and betrayal, being chained for all eternity.

Naamah’s role was never revealed, and Azazel took the full blame.

Relationships

Samyaza: the leader of the Watchers, and Naamah’s husband. His love for her blinded him to her manipulations. For her part, she was a faithful wife, and did not resent their marriage.

Azazel: second in command, with whom Naamah forged a friendship over the long years she remained with the Watchers. Though she seduced him with charm, it was never to her bed; rather, she awakened his desire for power and recognition, leaning upon knowledge she gleaned about him from Samyaza.

A Soul of Two Halves

Some believe the name Naamah was given to her because “all her deeds were pleasant” while other interpretations of her name suggest its meaning as “she would beat on a drum to draw people to idol worship.” Naamah’s origins are vastly unknown, though she appears to have been born a human woman. She is sometimes thought to be the righteous and mild-mannered wife or daughter of Noah, an image so at odds with her later tales as to seem to belong to two different women.

Other Lives