Is Eli an outlaw?

[PenitentDemon]

have wondered a time or two, can he probaly expect to face immediate arrest, or at least interrogation, if he shows up in heaven, assuming the default setting, or will he probaly be given an awkward glance at most

asked this once, but never got a straight answer, can he probal pop into his cathedral, strike, mend, or create a heart, then pop out again.

[sir_pudding]

If he wasn't an Archangel he would be, surely. I guess it really depends on how you've set the darkness and contrast knobs. Is you Heaven universally just? Is your Dominic fascistic? Is he unwavering in his zeal?

In high contrast Heaven Eli probably turns himself in first if he ever needs to return and is tried and God sends a blanket pardon down through Yves.

In low contrast Heaven he skulks around avoiding Judgement. If caught he's tried and acquitted because he's an Archangel and the Seraphs don't really have the authority to do anything about him, but want to appear like they do.

[William]

Eli is at the least wanted for questioning on charges of dereliction of duty, or as Dominic might put it, Sloth. Deliberately avoiding Judgment's questions is also an offense. So yeah, he probably avoids Archangels he expects to try arresting him.

I figure that being an Archangel he knows how to avoid anything short of other Archangels hunting him, and Dominic can't put his full attention to it very often. In my canon, he has never had to actually flee arrest, and has some kind of trick to avoid doing so. If he needs to pop into his Cathedral to do something, he can do it. I do think that he wouldn't be making new Servitors, since they'd immediately have to leave his service, most likely. But otherwise, he can do most things you'd need an Archangel to do in a plot.

[tHEhERETIC]

In my campaign I emphasize the politicking within Heaven, running a not-too-low contrast and a brightness set to Good Intentions vs. Bad Intent. So it's not a nice place.

I have Janus actively assisting Eli in staying out of trouble, not the least because a trial of Eli would set a dangerous, er, precedent isn't quite the right word. Trend? Eli is The Fool card in the Tarot--kind of an idiot and kind of all-knowing, but he's been hiding out Earthside for fifty years and he's pretty good at it.

Dominic is about as busy as Laurence, and as long as things closer to home aren't right--and they're never perfectly right--he's not going to spend a lot of effort on Eli. He's regretting that now, with the Accidental Soldier plot in play. But Dominic is as busy as Laurence and as proud as Michael, trying to make everyone morally perfect, by force if need be but with a strong preference for counseling and advising. He/She genuinely cares, genuinely wants what's best, but has an inflated sense of her ability to know what's best, which is how I read canon here. "If I'm wrong, God will correct me" reads to me like "Father Knows Best".

So it's not that Eli is up for criminal charges but that he must be made to see how terribly wrong he is and how terrible the consequences, that he must fix what he broke and prove he won't break anything else. Good luck with that Domme.

[PenitentDemon]

Yes, all interesting... but if he wants to strike, mend or create a heart, would he be able to do that.

e.g. can he probaly go directly to and from his cathedral.

[johndallman]

Originally Posted by PenitentDemon

Yes, all interesting... but if he wants to strike, mend or create a heart, would he be able to do that.

e.g. can he probaly go directly to and from his cathedral.

Does he need to be in his cathedral to do that? A quick scan of the books hasn't shown me that a Superior needs to be in their own domain to do that. He probably can come and go to his cathedral if he wants to.

Taking the question more literally, Eli isn't an outlaw. If you try to kill him or steal from him, you're still breaking the law, so it protects him, insofar as this matters to Superiors.

[Rocket Man]

Originally Posted by PenitentDemon

Yes, all interesting... but if he wants to strike, mend or create a heart, would he be able to do that.

e.g. can he probaly go directly to and from his cathedral.

Originally Posted by johndallman

Does he need to be in his cathedral to do that? A quick scan of the books hasn't shown me that a Superior needs to be in their own domain to do that.

And remember that Eli's Word literally encompasses "mending and making." If there's any Superior who can make or affect a Heart without actually appearing in Heaven, it's going to be Eli.

[Archangel Beth]

I'm forgetting if we nailed down much in the Eli expansion*, but I'd say that... it kind of depends on how the GM wants to run things. In my games, I would usually let Eli sneak up to his Cathedral and not be noticed... so long as he didn't do it much. But in my games, Eli's not half so amnesiac as he pretends. If I were going to pull "no, really, Memory Pearl abuse is a sad thing in a Superior" as a theme in a game, then he wouldn't be bouncing up there... at all, really.

(...pardon me while I have an Avatar: The Last Airbender/Eli moment here... Mostly amnesiac, just this guy, but sometimes, in emergencies, Superior State happens...)


{* Footnote: This is the obligatory plug for Superiors: Eli, available now at e23.sjgames.com. O:> }

[PenitentDemon]

just a curious note... think Dominic Would be reluctant to try hunting Eli in his own Cathedral?

especialy without clearcut proof.

I do think Dominic would become VERY interested though, in any angel that Eli popped back into heaven JUST to strike their heart and make them an outcast.

If the punishment turns out to be unjust, its great evidence to file charges against Eli in the Seraphim Council.

If just, he'd definitely want to watch them

[Archangel Beth]

Originally Posted by PenitentDemon

just a curious note... think Dominic Would be reluctant to try hunting Eli in his own Cathedral?

Would he be able to find Eli, in his own Cathedral, without significant work and attention? (Eli's Cathedral, at least in my games, is not what you would call orderly and laid out in a logical manner. It is, rather, a great sprawling thing with a zillion rooms and side-doors and banisters and stairs and ladders and somewhere among all of them is Eli's Door, which has been known to sidle around from time to time. Even then, there's Under Eli's Bed.

I mean, that's my take on it -- but I would tend to think that an Archangel on his home turf, not wanting to be found, could be a wee bit difficult to ferret out. Not impossible, especially for another Archangel, but... difficult. Time-consuming.