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Old 03-28-2010, 08:17 PM   #1
Jason
 
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: Boston, MA
Default My Secret Superior

Just a quick note to my own players, who are unlikely to be reading this forum anyway: there are some serious spoilers for an upcoming adventure in this post, so please don't read any of it at all.

I'm working on creating a new Superior for a campaign I'll be running this summer. It is an odd sort of exercise because the Superior in question is an Outcast with no official Servitors, but I want to determine what powers he has access to anyway, and I figure he'd have access to any powers he could grant himself. The PCs will all be humans, ethereals, and even some demons (Renegades with a bit of the Selfless discord), so he won't be giving them Choir attunements, but he might grant some Servitor attunements, Rites, or Distinctions ... if the solve the mystery of his true identity. He is, after all, the Archangel of Mysteries.

I'm hoping to get some feedback on how the character looks, with attention to whether these attunements work, what kinds of Rites or Distinctions might be appropriate, and whether I'm screwing up the canon timeline in how I'm conceptualizing his history.

This character was inspired by the write-up of Raziel in the In Nomine Collection. After reading the secondary sources that character was based on, though, and considering what would fit into my campaign, I decided I needed someone more ... well, mysterious. That version of Raziel is essentially a carbon copy of Litheroy with a lengthier history. The version I am working on is older than Litheroy, and would've been at odds with him if they had been Archangels in good standing at the same time.

Raziel, Outcast Grigori Archangel of Mysteries

Legend has it that Raziel recorded a book of all the mysteries of God and Heaven, and bestowed the book upon Adam. The other angels, in their jealousy, cast it into the sea, but God ordered it returned. The book reportedly found its way into the hands of Noah, to teach him to build his Ark, and to Solomon, who used it to learn sorcery. When asked about this, Raziel tends to chuckle and respond, "One out of three ain't bad."

Raziel was once a Servitor of Knowledge, concerned with the subset of Knowledge including supernatural phenomena that remained mysterious even to angels. He worked closely with his Choirmate Azrael, who went on to be promoted to Archangel of Death, in researching that which seemed to defy physical laws (which were more Jean's territory). After years of teaching humans to pursue divine mysteries over Faustian bargains, Raziel was elected to be a minor Archangel. He learned how to bestow the attunement needed to excel in sorcery, and learned several rituals himself, though only humans seemed capable of actually performing those rituals — the reason for which remains a mystery to celestials to this day.

Following the Outcasting of his Choir, Raziel was not given the tacit approval accorded to Azrael, whose work was considered too important to actively hinder. Many other angels had already been suspicious of his endorsement of sorcery even before the Outcasting, and for promoting Mystery for its own sake rather than Enlightenment or Revelation. Not long after Raziel's departure from Heaven, of course, Revelation would come to replace the function of Mystery in Heaven's hierarchy, though with a mandate to reveal everything without reserve. Despite their differences in focus, it should be little surprise that Jean and Michael are rumored to miss Raziel quite a bit, compared to his babble-mouthed replacement. Litheroy's ascension to Archangel also coincides a bit too neatly with the Outcasting of the Grigori, leading some friends of Raziel to question whether Revelation usurped Mysteries by revealing compromising information about the Watchers.

Raziel is believed to still wander the Earth, flitting from Role to Role over time, making no disturbance in his travels. He's fond of Roles that allow him to openly dress himself in the traditions and trappings of the occult, claiming to be a "paranormal investigator" or "amateur ghost-hunter" — which even succeeds in masking the disturbance of some of his mystical activities. As a Grigori, he is dissonance-bound to respond to all disturbances he hears, whether personally or by deploying trusted allies. As the Archangel of Mysteries, he is dissonance-bound to encourage humans to solve mysteries, but never to give complete solutions to humans himself. (He's quick to point out that he never taught anybody how to read that old book of his.) He's still especially dedicated to Mysteries in the cosmic sense, but smaller capers and puzzles do still fascinate and inspire him as well.

Dissonance

If Raziel were to have any Servitors, they would be required offer support — in sincere word or deed — to humans who seek to solve mysteries, but by no means would they interpret this with the tell-all approach of Revelation. In fact, would also be dissonant for them to completely solve a mystery for a human.

Choir Attunements

Raziel does not typically bestow Choir attunements, as he has no contact with angels, and no interest in redeeming any demons he knows. While he has no particular love for demons in general, he has met some "goodish" sorts, and would not want to endanger them by transforming them: Heaven wouldn't want any angel redeemed by a Grigori, and Hell would be sure to destroy any such being. He does, however, have the ability to perform himself all of the Choir attunements he was once able to bestow, and some of his former Servitors may still retain their original Choir attunements.

Seraphim
On a successful resonance roll with CD < 6, the Seraph can opt to know the Truth (as if a 6 had been rolled) with no other information about the speaker's own sincerity or knowledge.

Cherubim
If the Cherub's resonance detects danger in the future for an attuned person, that person immediately receives a sort of "psychic vision" warning them of the danger as well.

Ofanim
Raziel's Ofanim can recognize and predict the location of places of mystical significance. In game terms, this might translate into a bonus to Area Knowledge rolls to guess where the nearest magic shop might be, suddenly realizing that they are on top of a haunted burial ground, or other effects at the GM's discretion.

Elohim
As long as the angel carries no dissonance or discord, Perception-based resonances, Songs, and attunements only ever reveal, "This person is very mysterious..."

Malakim
Their resonance detects whether a human would be likely to responsibly handle mystical knowledge or artifacts.

Kyriotates
During the possession, the angel controls all action, but human hosts remain vaguely conscious, viewing what their body is doing from their dreamscape. The angel can mentally communicate with the host, who can answer simple questions and occasionally muse out loud to the angel. After the possession, the host will remember the possession as a vaguely mystical or religious experience.

Mercurians
These angels recognize on sight any human born with a natural potential for a 6th Force. This does not detect whether or not the human has already reached or exceeded this Force, nor whether the human has achieved additional Forces unnaturally.

Bright Lilim
If a target of their resonance is trying to solve a mystery, this can be detected as a Need upon sight, without a resonance roll (unless the GM desires a check digit).

Grigori
The Choir attunement of the Grigori of Mysteries remains a mystery even in Heaven. It's rumored, however, that these were the only celestials — other than Hatiphas, Demon of Sorcery, perhaps — capable of practicing sorcery themselves.

Servitor Attunements

The Unlocking
Grants the Sorcery attunement to a human without the performance of a ritual. Traditionally, this attunement was only granted to Malakim with the Grigori of Mysteries Attunement and a high distinction, or used by Raziel himself in his wanderings among humanity. It is believed to have been offered to only a very few "White Sorcerers" ever.

Cipher
Creates an original language, code, or other "unlockable" step to guard information. The information under effect must be physically held in the hands (e.g., holding up a book or a hard drive). The information can be copied in cipher to another medium held in the hand, or can be used to physically transform the original information into that cipher (e.g., changing the words and images within a book, or rewriting the data on the hard drive).

Suggested revisions, or additional suggestions for Servitor attunements, Rites, and Distinctions are very much welcome. Thanks in advance.
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Old 03-28-2010, 08:57 PM   #2
Rocket Man
Petitioner: Word of IN Filk
 
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: Longmont, CO
Default Re: My Secret Superior

Interesting! First question -- does the Library Card of Yves work against the Cipher of Raziel? (If you don't have Sup3, the Library Card basically says that the angel can't be denied access to information ... doors will unlock, guards will look the other way, passwords will be guessed on the first try, and so on.)
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“It's not railroading if you offer the PCs tickets and they stampede to the box office, waving their money. Metaphorically speaking”
--Elizabeth McCoy, In Nomine Line Editor

Author: "What Doesn't Kill Me Makes Me Stronger"
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Old 03-28-2010, 09:41 PM   #3
Jason
 
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: Boston, MA
Default Re: My Secret Superior

Quote:
Originally Posted by Rocket Man View Post
Interesting! First question -- does the Library Card of Yves work against the Cipher of Raziel? (If you don't have Sup3, the Library Card basically says that the angel can't be denied access to information ... doors will unlock, guards will look the other way, passwords will be guessed on the first try, and so on.)
Yes. Ditto for the Ofanim of Revelation attunement. Raziel's Cipher is meant to slow down humans from acquiring powerful knowledge, not angels or others already aware of the Truth of Heaven. (Granted, angels of Mysteries were always kind of a pain when working with Soldiers, but not nearly as bad as angels of Faith have turned out to be.)

And anyway, Raziel was always on pretty good terms with Yves, at least how I imagined him. I suppose I should have considered writing up other things that the Superiors write-ups get, like Relations and Invocation Modifiers. Off the top of my head, I'd imagine that they looked like this as of the time of his Outcasting:

Allied: Azrael [non-canonic], Eli, the Grigori Archangel of Song (Eli was allied to Raziel)
Associated: Yves (Janus and Yves were associated with Raziel)
Hostile: David, Dominic, Uriel (Dominic and Uriel were hostile to Raziel)

Raziel would get along well with Eli, given their shared interest in human-created religions and rites. Raziel also openly supported the work of Azrael and the (as yet unnamed) Archangel of Song, whose research into death and Songs he saw as crucial to his own research in the workings of sorcery and the arcane.

Raziel and Jean shared similar opinions about making humans work for knowledge, but Raziel seemed to rather enjoy giving clues even more, and was actively interested in that which was unexplainable by science; they weren't exactly buddies, but remained neutral. Among his friendliest associations was Yves, however, whose counsel Raziel often sought on what kinds of knowledge would help humans rather than lead them to corruption. For his part, Yves was a soft-spoken supporter of the work of Mysteries. Raziel found a louder supporter in Janus, who figured divinely-aided sorcerers sounded like a great force for change, but Raziel hardly needed that kind of support, given other Archangels' suspicions of his responsibility.

Raziel once thought he got along well with David, given a shared interest in mystical brotherhoods and whatnot, but he holds an understandable grudge based on the Outcasting of his Choir. He was mutually hostile with Dominic and Uriel even before the Outcasting, given his apparent willingness to hand out powerful secrets to mortals and his promotion of rituals that appeared to have strong connections to pagan mythologies.

Also, I know I didn't even post this that long ago, but I'm already considering a replacement for the Seraphim Choir attunement: Once per day on any given target, the Seraph may automatically succeed on a resonance roll with a check digit of 6, but the Seraph may not share the knowledge gained through this success with anyone but a direct superior in Mysteries. (This, and the Elohim Choir attunement, would not have endeared Dominic to Raziel any further.)

Last edited by Jason; 03-28-2010 at 09:45 PM.
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Old 03-28-2010, 10:16 PM   #4
Rocket Man
Petitioner: Word of IN Filk
 
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: Longmont, CO
Default Re: My Secret Superior

My GM uses the "other" Raziel in our campaign, so you might be interested in a bit of flavor we introduced.

Raziel's Cathedral in Heaven was known as Raziel's Workshop. Every entrance to the workshop save one is hidden, capable of being located only by a determined searcher. The one exception is the door that opens onto Litheroy's Abbey, openly referred to as Raziel's Door. However, once you step over the threshold, you are out of Revelation's country and into that of Mysteries ... human souls can find their way to the heart of the Workshop if they persevere, but non-Mystery angels and relievers have a habit of getting turned around and finding themselves re-emerging into the Abbey. Only a handful of angels (none of whom work for Litheroy) have been thought to have reached the end of the trail, but none of them will speak of what they found.

Since Raziel is an Outcast Grigori in your campaign, the Workshop has likely become even more mysterious than before. And rumors abound that the rogue Archangel has sometimes been seen within, depsite his ban from Heaven -- though naturally, no one has been able to confirm that yet. :)
__________________
“It's not railroading if you offer the PCs tickets and they stampede to the box office, waving their money. Metaphorically speaking”
--Elizabeth McCoy, In Nomine Line Editor

Author: "What Doesn't Kill Me Makes Me Stronger"
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Old 03-28-2010, 10:22 PM   #5
Jason
 
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: Boston, MA
Default Re: My Secret Superior

Quote:
Originally Posted by Rocket Man View Post
My GM uses the "other" Raziel in our campaign, so you might be interested in a bit of flavor we introduced.

Raziel's Cathedral in Heaven was known as Raziel's Workshop. Every entrance to the workshop save one is hidden, capable of being located only by a determined searcher. The one exception is the door that opens onto Litheroy's Abbey, openly referred to as Raziel's Door. However, once you step over the threshold, you are out of Revelation's country and into that of Mysteries ... human souls can find their way to the heart of the Workshop if they persevere, but non-Mystery angels and relievers have a habit of getting turned around and finding themselves re-emerging into the Abbey. Only a handful of angels (none of whom work for Litheroy) have been thought to have reached the end of the trail, but none of them will speak of what they found.

Since Raziel is an Outcast Grigori in your campaign, the Workshop has likely become even more mysterious than before. And rumors abound that the rogue Archangel has sometimes been seen within, depsite his ban from Heaven -- though naturally, no one has been able to confirm that yet. :)
That is completely and utterly awesome. Perfect. Thank you.
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Old 03-30-2010, 08:26 PM   #6
ISNorden
 
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Location: Madison, WI
Default Re: My Secret Superior

I'd like permission to use some of the attunements you developed for Raziel, mostly some Choir Attunements that seem more appropriate for his Word. Raziel is still a very-much-active Ofanite in my heretical campaign, with a few relationships tweaked closer to your version. He's also the patron of White Sorcerers, and the arch-rival of Ghogiel (Balseraph Prince of the Occult)--who replaces Hatiphas in my "personal canon". As you suggested, no other Archangel offers the Sorcery attunement; I'd hesitate to let his angelic servitors have it, but mortal followres are another matter. :-)
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Old 03-30-2010, 10:08 PM   #7
Jason
 
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: Boston, MA
Default Re: My Secret Superior

Quote:
Originally Posted by ISNorden View Post
I'd like permission to use some of the attunements you developed for Raziel, mostly some Choir Attunements that seem more appropriate for his Word. Raziel is still a very-much-active Ofanite in my heretical campaign, with a few relationships tweaked closer to your version. He's also the patron of White Sorcerers, and the arch-rival of Ghogiel (Balseraph Prince of the Occult)--who replaces Hatiphas in my "personal canon". As you suggested, no other Archangel offers the Sorcery attunement; I'd hesitate to let his angelic servitors have it, but mortal followres are another matter. :-)
Sure, go nuts. I kind of assume anything I post here is up for grabs. And if you have any other attunements, distinctions, or Rites beyond what's posted online already that you think fit well, I'd love to hear them!
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Old 04-03-2010, 08:57 AM   #8
Jason
 
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: Boston, MA
Default Re: My Secret Superior

Additions thought up on the plane yesterday!

Servitor Attunements

Pathfinding: In trying to solve a mystery, characters with this attunement will eventually get a strong sense when they are investing excessive effort in pursuing a dead end. (This works at the GM's discretion, basically to have something in-game to point characters away from unintentional red herrings.)

Inquisitiveness: If asked a question the character is not inclined to answer, this attunement provides +(Celestial Forces) to Fast Talk in replying with another question to deflect and distract the original questioner entirely. In addition, once per conversation, the character with this attunement can spend 1 Essence to receive a clue as to a highly effective question to ask (at the GM's discretion). The attunement offers no hint as to what the question is effective for, however, so angels may find themselves inexplicably (for the moment) asking murder suspects what they ate for breakfast.

... One of these might get turned into a Distinction later. There is some potential overlap with Litheroy's attunements here, but the main thing I'm trying to do differently is let Revelation have stuff that points directly to answers, whereas Mysteries has stuff that points more vaguely, and sometimes offers even more questions than it solves.
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