#eve firstman

--Bible Story--

The basic story is that Cain was a farmer and Abel was a shepherd. Both offered sacrificial offerings to God. Abel offered the best of his flock. Cain offered some of his crops, but there was no mention of the quality of it. So it's implied that Cain did not offer his best. It was either average or sub-par.

God was pleased with Abel's offering, but not with Cain's. Cain was upset that Abel was favored over him. So out of jealousy, he killed Abel.

As punishment for murdering his brother, Cain was cursed, 1) to be a wanderer and a fugitive 2) he could no longer farm, because the ground would no longer produce crops for him.

God gave him a mark, so others would know who he was and not to harm him(because vengeance and judgement is only for God to enact). Nobody was allowed to kill or harm him. If they did, the damage would be returned sevenfold.

After Cain's banishment, Seth was born and considered to be a replacement for Abel.

-personal interpretation: I consider the story of Adam and Eve to be representative of the evolution of ape to sapient humans. In a similar vein, I consider the story of Cain and Abel to be a representation of humans' ability to sin, due to the knowledge of good and evil that came from Adam and Eve having eaten the fruit. Without getting too deep into any specific theology or nuances, sin is to knowingly and intentionally do bad things. Repenting is to continuously learn and change to become a better person. God's goal for us is our personal growth and improvement.

-Mark of Cain: it's not clear what the mark was, or if it was even visible. It was some sort of sign that warned people who he was. The idea of the mark being dark skin and that black people are Cain's descendents is not supported by the Bible. That was a medieval and/or colonial American christian idea that was used to justify racism, discrimination, and slavery well into the 1800s. It's, thankfully, not widely accepted anymore.

-Folklore: There's another myth floating around that Cain is Bigfoot(originating from LDS folklore), cursed to wander the earth for eternity. Although the Bible does not say that he would live forever, just that he wouldn't be killed. It's silly, but it served as inspiration for Cain's demon form.

--Alterations for the Heavenbound AU--

-Birth Order: It is never stated that either Cain or Abel are the firstborn. There could have been other children born before them that go unnamed. That's ultimately not important, so we're sticking with the three who are named for now. The bible only specifies that Seth was born after Abel's death. But I'm going to change that around a bit because I can take artistic liberties. Seth is the oldest now.

-Each son represents a lifestyle of early humans. Hunter-Gatherer and Agricultural(agronomy/horticulture is growing crops/plants, pastoral is raising livestock).

--Seth--

-Mortal: Because the lifestyles of Cain and Abel are pretty well defined by their biblical roles, Seth represents the hunter-gatherer lifestyle. But that means I had to change him to be the oldest, since that came before agriculture. This gives him a bigger role in the family dynamic.

After Abel's death, he and his family(unspecified wife and kids) had to take over the responsibilities of Cain and Abel. Seth himself favored shepherding over farming, since his hunting skills could transfer to that a little better than to raising crops.

Because he's a hunter, his clothing is composed of primarily animal skins and furs. I wanted him to look sturdy and strong, so he's a bit stocky.

-Postmortal design: his halo has a crosshair design to reference his hunter lifestyle. I don't really care that it wouldn't have applied to his time period. It gets the idea across for us, and I think that matters more. He is one of the most dangerous soldiers of the exorcist army. And he is somewhat annoyed he can't exterminate Cain.

--Cain--

-Mortal: Represents agronomy/horticulture (growing plants, particularly for food). He's a farmer.

His clothing would be made of plant-based fibers, like linen or cotton. I based his design off of Aaron from Dreamwork's The Prince of Egypt. I liked the tall, lanky look. It felt like a natural choice, since I based Adam off of Dreamwork's Moses.

Mark of Cain: during his life, I'll probably depict the mark as a symbol on his forehead. It's better than going the mark=dark skin route. His skin is a little darker than the other two, but that was because I was thinking of a farmer's tan, so it's unrelated to the mark.

-Postmortal: Because he's a wanderer, he has the ability to go between earth and hell(also because I want there to be bigfoot sightings, lol). Maybe it would be obligatory that he has to wander earth for 7 years, then wander hell for 7 years, then back to earth, etc. To force him to be nomadic. Idk for sure. He is easily identifiable by the mark that floats over his head(not typically visible to living humans on earth). The exorcists are forbidden from exterminating him(much to Seth's frustration). The other sinners can't hurt him either. He's essentially untouchable, but has no significant power compared to other sinners. He can't sell his soul, even if he wanted to, and he can't take other's souls. He's just lonely and miserable now. Cursed to wander, and can never truly rest.

--Abel--

-Mortal:

He represents the pastoral lifestyle and is a shepherd. I've got a bit about sheep HERE

In canon, he's blonde. But since I redesigned his parents, I had to change his color palette too. I gave them a more Middle Eastern inspired look, since they're based on ancient Hebrew characters.

I wanted him to look young and innocent, to emphasize the tragedy of his death. I kept the chubby look from canon because I thought it fit the vibe. He's the youngest of the brothers. His clothing consists of animal fibers like wool and possibly some sheepskins.

-Postmortal: His halo has a stylized ram symbol because of his background as a shepherd. He plays the bugle/trumpet and leads his merry band of sheep cherubim. He wears a marching band uniform, despite the concept not existing while he was alive. He fell in love with it in the afterlife. I altered the canon design so I could wrap my head around the construction of it, and also to simplify it a bit cuz Hazbin has a habit of overcomplicating designs.

He has a hard time seeing himself as much beyond "Adam's son--the one that was murdered". So he's got some low self-confidence issues and is a bit of a people pleaser and is non-confrontational. He would prefer to just hang out with his sheep. He needs to learn to accept his role as more than just the first murder victim.

--Animal companions--

Because I like dogs and sheep and spent too much time thinking about them, I'm including a bit here.

Seth: The domestication of dogs happened pretty early in human civilization. So I gave him a wolf dog that he probably would had as a hunting companion in life. They're big doggos.

But I didn't stop there. I wanted to combine various aspects of different breeds of hunting dogs. So I combined a German wirehaired pointer(I like the eyebrows and mustache) with the tri-coloring of a Foxhound and Coonhound, and long ears like a Beagle. Basically a sighthound and scenthount cross. The idea was to give him a multipurpose hunting hound. Sighthounds visually locate and retrieve prey, scenthounds follow prey's scent and alert the hunter. Beagles, especially, do not shut up(my family dog is a beagle).

Cain: I figured a farmer would want help with pest control. So, a cat to deal with mice. But there are also dogs for small game and pests too. So I gave him a terrier. It's mainly based off a rat terrier.

Abel: Shepherds often use two types of dogs for very different purposes. Herding dogs are obvious. And border collies are well renowned for their intelligence and herding skill. They're a bit more gentle than other herding breeds(ie heelers will nip at cattles' legs to encourage them to move), that gentleness is helpful for sheep especially, because you want to reduce as much stress as possible (stress affects the wool quality, which can be a big deal). But I was also inspired by the Austrailian Shepherds' multicolor coat. The two can look pretty similar.

The other type of sheep dog is a Livestock Guardian Dog(aka LGD). They are raised with the sheep and will protect them from wolves or coyotes, maybe even sheep thieves. They're massive dogs, and will sometimes be given a wicked-looking spiked collar(called an antiwolf heck collar) that protects their neck from predator attacks. Great Pyrenese and Maremma Sheepdogs are a couple popular breeds, but there are quite a few that are big, fluffy, and often white-furred. They can be super sweet, but don't approach their flock of sheep without permission, cuz you don't want to make them angry.

I think that's all.

--Design Notes--

Appearance: I immediately wanted her to have dark, curly hair and a full, curvy figure. Lots of round shapes. Her eyelashes are similar to Charlie's because it has a nice, round, apple-like shape.

Apple: Canon has apples as a symbol for the Morningstars, especially Lucifer. But I think it would be more fitting for Adam and Eve instead. "Adam's apple" is a real term, after all. So I wanted to incorporate that. I also used apple blossoms for Eve, so I could throw in some feminine flowery stuff for some of her outfits.

Leaves: After eating the forbidden fruit, Adam and Eve made clothes of fig leaves. So one of her outfits is designed with leaves in mind.

Earthy colors suit her. I focused particularly on red, green, and yellow, but also included a little bit of pink because of apple blossoms. I made a few alternate color palettes for her clothes.

--Background--

Adam and Eve were the first humans and were tasked with cultivating the garden of Eden. Abyss wanted them to Fall so it could consume them, so it created Lilith. Lilith befriended them, then offered the forbidden fruit to Eve. Eve, realizing she'd be kicked out, ran to Adam. So he could stay with her, he ate the fruit as well. The fruit gave them the ability to understand morality, and ultimately the ability to choose good and evil, aka sin. Now that they could sin, they could Fall.

Abyss instructed Lilith to seduce Adam to sin. She tried to force herself on him, to get him to commit adultery, but he rejected her. The friendship between the three of them was broken by this. Lilith hadn't eaten the fruit yet, so she didn't really know what she did wrong.

Adam and Eve were banished from Eden, while Lilith was cast to hell with Helel(Lucifer). Adam and Eve had a family and lived happily ever after. Until Cain killed Abel. I don't have that aspect of their story totally worked out, and I'm not sure how relevant it will end up being.

Children-- The Bible only names three children. Cain, Abel, and Seth. But it says they had "more sons and daughters". There's no definitive numbers. It's not even clear if Cain was actually the firstborn. The true firstborn may have gone unnamed because Cain had a more prominent role to document. No daughters are named in the Bible, but some traditions and apocryphal writings mention a few. Aclima, Awan, and Azura.

The bible story basically goes like this: Cain and Abel offered sacrifices to God. Abel was a shepherd and gave the best of his flock. Cain was a farmer and gave some of his crop. There is no specification to the quality of Cain's offering. So the implication is that he was selfish and kept the best for himself and either gave an average or sub-par offering, maybe even as an afterthought. So when God favored Abel, Cain killed him out of jealousy. Seth was born to essentially replace Abel, so I'm assuming that means Seth was also a shepherd. But I may make Seth a hunter, for variety.

History or myth?-- I personally think the Adam and Eve story is largely symbolic, not literal. The method of history keeping during the early biblical days was through stories, often using symbolic imagery to portray a general idea of an event. Which is why there will be other stories across various cultures with similar themes and plot elements. I think the story of Adam and Eve is representative of the evolution of mere ape to sapient human. While Cain and Abel is about how humans can sin.

Afterlife-- While Adam is the Chief Saint and official leader of the saints, Eve is the same rank of angel as him. While he leads the army, she focuses on uplifting saints in ways that Emily can't. Emily struggles to relate to the mortal experience, while Eve can.

When concern over hell's growing population and risk of an uprising became prominent, the exterminations began. Recently, the exterminations have been more brutal. Turns out Eve has gone missing, and Adam thinks hell is to blame somehow. So he's furiously searching for her.

I don't have details figured out, but Eve is trapped in hell due to the machinations of Abyss. It might have something to do with why Lilith has been missing for seven years. IDK yet, I just like designing characters. She's even been cursed with a demon form, which has made her more difficult to recognize.

While in hell, she's referred to as "Apple Blossom" or "Blossom"

She's a sheep because of the religious symbolism. Sacrificial lamb, lost sheep, etc. While I was designing her, my sister had commented that she looked kind of like a sheep, and that sort of solidified that I wanted to design a sheep form for her.

Deciding on the colors was sort of hard. A totally white sheep is a fairly stereotypical sheep, but I didn't really want the whitewashing implication. So I went with a darker colored sheep with white wool for hair. The yellowish color is due to lanolin, which is a waxy oil-like substance from wool animals, primarily sheep. It's a good moisturizer and is naturally anti-bacterial. It's extracted from wool that had to be shorn anyway, so no sheep are hurt for lanolin.

The Exorcists are recruited from pre-existing angels, and are consequently not exclusively women. Most used to be human and are now "saints"(which is the term I'm using instead of "winners"). But there are some heavenborn who joined as well, specifically High Cherubs, which are basically supernatural-looking/mythological type of angel creatures, like elves or dryads or whatever.

Nobody is just created to be an exorcist. Being an exorcist is a choice, just like joining the military. Their job is to protect heaven and earth from threats. Which has been interpreted to include the Exterminations.

Lute has a pretty fanatical devotion to the cause, and admires Adam in a similar way as people admire their favorite super heroes. In her eyes, he can do no wrong. Even though he is actually still a flawed person. Regina wouldn't have spent much time with Adam herself. She was a more rank and file soldier, while Lute was an officer.