List of Canonical Word-Bound

[tbug]

Is there a canonical list of Word-bound celestials someplace? This seems like the sort of resource someone would have already compiled by now, so I don't want to start the project if it's just duplicating work.

If this doesn't exist, where should I start work on it? Here?

[Rocket Man]

Start with the InCyclopedia: http://www.incyclopedia.org/ It's got a pretty good list, though I'm not sure when it was last updated.

[Andygal]

apparently August 2000.

[tbug]

Thank-you!

I'd be willing to help with research, and I've e-mailed the site's contact to that effect. Regardless, that's a really great starting point. :)

[tbug]

I've been hoping to find an angel with a word like "Doctors" or "Healing" or even "Hospitals". I thought maybe Zadkiel might have words like those serving her, but it turns out she doesn't have many Word-bound. Is there anything at all like this in canon? If not, have any of you done anything like this in your games?

(One of my PCs is an Outcast Mercurian of Lightning who used to work in a research hospital, and I'm looking for Word-bound he might have met.)

[Jason]

Originally Posted by tbug

I've been hoping to find an angel with a word like "Doctors" or "Healing" or even "Hospitals". I thought maybe Zadkiel might have words like those serving her, but it turns out she doesn't have many Word-bound. Is there anything at all like this in canon? If not, have any of you done anything like this in your games?

(One of my PCs is an Outcast Mercurian of Lightning who used to work in a research hospital, and I'm looking for Word-bound he might have met.)

Traditionally (outside In Nomine), Raphael is associated with healing. David Edelstein's non-canonical write-up of Raphael includes this implication. I don't recall seeing a canonical Angel of Healing otherwise, though.

[tbug]

It makes sense to me that the study of medicine would have fallen under the supervision of the Archangel of Knowledge. Thank-you.

So assuming that some Raphael-serving word-bound angel of Medicine has survived this long, who would she likely be serving these days? Jean? Zadkiel? David?

[Jason]

Originally Posted by tbug

It makes sense to me that the study of medicine would have fallen under the supervision of the Archangel of Knowledge. Thank-you.

So assuming that some Raphael-serving word-bound angel of Medicine has survived this long, who would she likely be serving these days? Jean? Zadkiel? David?

I think canon states that most of Raphael's servitors were divided up between Lightning and Destiny. Medicine is such a high-level Word that I could see it being one of the few Angels who is shared between a couple Superiors (perhaps Lightning and Flowers?), kind of like how Dominic and Jean have a joint claim on the Angel of Logic.

EDIT to add: Of course, if you run a very political game, this is a good opportunity to create some intrigue by putting Medicine in a not-so-obvious place. In my game, the Angel of Water (not to be confused with the earlier Archangel of the Waters) was originally a servitor of Purity who differed politically with the logical choices for new Superior and ended up under Novalis, which really ruffled some feathers (hence keeping him from being promoted to Archangel as his Word indicates he was groomed to become).

[Rocket Man]

It depends on how you approach it.

The Word of Medicine suggests (mostly) an emphasis on the treatment of the physcical body: surgery, pharmacology, herbalism, you name it. Done that way, I can see it coming under Lightning (with his powerful researchers) or Zadkiel (with her emphasis on keeping humans from harm).

But there's another approach, too. And that's to designate it as the Word of Healing.

Healing goes well beyond the physical. It can mean restoring trust, rebuilding a relationship, renewing strength in someone who has been abused. It takes in the physical, emotional and even spiritual state of someone, taking them from where they are to where they should be. It's about bringing peace to a life, whether that means bandanging a wound, or embracing a heart.

An Angel of Healing could still be under Zadkiel (notice that Solace attunement?). But he or she is just as likely to be under Novalis (the healing power of plants plus the metaphorical implications of peace to be found in Flowers), or Eli (since you're trying to re-create something that was broken). In this sense, it's less about understanding germs and more about understanding balance ... it might even be a subset of Destiny (getting people to a position where they can make their life choices honestly, with a whole mind and body).

[tbug]

So combining Jason's political comments with RM's word assignments, we might get the Angel of Medicine (a servitor of Jean) who reports to the Angel of Healing (a servitor of Novalis)? Does this sort of thing happen anywhere in canon, or so people always report only to other angels of the Superior?