The Garian Heresy: converting the Celestial Paragons from D&D's Book of Exalted Deeds

[Pope Uncommon the Dainty]

The Book of Exalted Deeds for D&D 3.0 was one of the first D&D books I was seriously excited for. I was minoring in Religious Studies at a Jesuit university and first beginning my slide into hippiedom and Leftist politics. I wanted to play D&D Dorothy Day, goshdurnit! (For those who may not know, she was a badass pacifist anarchist Catholic who preached the virtue of voluntary poverty)

The Book of Exalted Deeds was . . . not the book I'd hoped it would be.

I think the most salvageable part of the book was the chapter on the Celestial Paragons, the high muckity mucks f the angels (well, not the angels cuz D&D is weird, but the lesser good celestials). And by "salvageable", I mean the best use of them is to make them into In Nomine archangels.

This is the Garian Heresy, then (in honor of both Gygax and the Arian Christians of old), a Symphony in which none of the canonical archangels exist and Heaven looks more like like all the upper planes of the Great Wheel from Arcadia to Ysgard all smooshed together, but the basic In Nomine cosmology and ideas will be in place (Fate and Destiny, the three planes, et cetera). I'll try to include as much of D&D's cosmological concepts as well.

I might at some point do Pathfinder's much more interesting and useful equivalents, as well, either expanding the Garian Heresy or as its own, separate Golarionite or Jacobsean Heresy (names are in honor of the Marionite Christians and the Jacobeans).

Barachiel, the Messenger

Archangel of the Trumpet

The world slumbers and you must wake it, it trudges and you must inspire it. For in those moments is Creation completed, and the world truly exists.

Barachiel has perfect timing. Much like the instrument whose Word he bears, the eloah is neither quiet nor subtle nor even particularly melodic. Long millennia of practice have well-honed his understanding of the moments when a blast of punctuation like a bolt of lightning can perform miracles.

The blast sounding over troop formations that unites their blood and drives them to heroic acts. The sudden shock of deafening sound that can clear unwanted influences or moral inertia from a mind. The announcement that conveys a message’s importance. The alarm from the walls that saves lives. If a trumpet is blown at the right moment, it can be any of these things, but the slightest wavering from selfless service quickly crumbles perfection into cacophony.

Servitors of Barachiel walk the walls and range the borders of Heaven, reporting ever to Barachiel’s white-marble-walled fortress, the Citadel of Stars, in the port city of Lunia at the base of Mount Celestia, on the shore of the Silver Sea. Each eagerly waits for their turn to journey across the ethereal or even the corporeal planes, a message in their hand or a mortal teetering between their Fate and their Destiny in need of a call to heed. In many ways, angels of the Trumpet are the workers who keep the celestial ways working.

Barachiel’s angels have on occasion drawn wary gazes from the rest of the Host, who worry that they may take too much joy in their work. The peals of laughter that tumble from these agents when their work startles someone seem to veer too close to the ways of the demons for an archangel of the Committee of Harmonious Order.

Dissonance
Angels of the Trumpet gain dissonance whenever they act subtly, quietly, or steadily. Drawing attention to themselves when not acting also brings a point of Dissonance; one of Barachiel’s agents should fade into the background until it is time to take sudden and blaringly obvious action.

Servitor Attunements
Seraphim
Seraphim of the Trumpet can amplify their voice to be heard by large groups over the din of battle. If they yell, they can always be heard by everyone in any situation.

Cherubim (restricted)
As the canon Cherubim of Protection attunement, but broadened to include the protection of places, things, and any possibility, not just humans.

Ofanim
A message borne by a Trumpet-Wheel cannot be deterred by any obstacle that might try to bar ther way. Locked doors will unlock at a touch, portcullises will lift, and so on, but they will only do so as long as the ofan both carries a message from another and is directly journeying to its intended recipient. The Wheels are on their own for getting out afterward, though, and living beings may still opt to bar their way. {adapted from the canonical ofan of Revelation attunement.}

Elohim
Elohim in Barachiel’s service are immune to damage from corporeal lightning and electricity. Their vessels’ energies balance automatically, with any excess being distributed across the rest of the Symphony, and any deficit made up from it. {copied in part from the canonical ofanim of Fire attunement.}

Malakim (restricted)
By using their resonance, malakim of the Trumpet can see the sincerity of someone’s professed desire for redemption in their eyes. They learn about as much information about the person’s desire for redemption as they would on a standard resonance roll.
Sample Malak Oaths
✠ I will never abandon those under my protection, for any reason.
✠ I will serve Barachiel with perfect obedience to his commands.
✠ I will spend at least 6 hours a night patrolling the borders of Heaven.
✠ I will spend at least 1 hour a week teaching mortals to overcome their fears.
✠ I will protect any bearer of inspiration.
✠ I will bring inspiration to those who despair.
✠ I accept the ever-present possibility of forgiveness.
✠ I will always give a demon a chance to seek redemption before slaying it.
✠ I will inspire others with a story of heroism every day.

Kuriotates (restricted)
Barachiel precipitates one Force of each of his Dominations into the form of a trumpet; choose which of the three types it is. Whosoever bears that trumpet may be possessed by that kuriotes indefinitely, without the need for the kuriotes to invest any other Forces in that being. On the other hand, one of the Domination’s Forces is remarkably more vulnerable than those of any other angel. If a kuriotes’s trumpet is destroyed, Barachiel will not replace the lost Force but will dismiss the reduced kuriotes from his service with shame and disappointment.

Mercurians
Mercurians of the Trumpet add their Celestial Forces to any Knowledge roll involving heraldry or the lineages and fealties of the nobility. In addition, they may use their resonance upon coats and shields of arms to perceive information about the web of relationships involving both individuals and families, houses, nations, lords, etc.

Grigori
There are not many grigori of the Trumpet. As a Choir, they were ever intended to be silent listeners, ever vigilant. Trumpets are not silent. The relayers of alarm, Barachiel’s few Watchers may, upon hearing a Disturbance, replicate it to alert other celestials of its occurrence and possibly to allow those with the appropriate attunements to divine information about it the grigori could not. This relayed Disturbance originates from the grigori’s location and the check digit for others to hear it cannot exceed the grigori’s. It does hurt the grigori’s ears.

Bright Lilim (restricted)
A Gifter who serves Barachiel can always tell when the most powerful time to fulfill a perceived Need would be. Should they suddenly and showily fulfill the Need at that exact moment, the Geas they receive as a result will be one level higher than it would have been if not fulfilled at that eact moment.

Menunim (restricted)
One might expect there to be as few, if not fewer, menunim as grigori in service to Barachiel, given the similarity of their proclivities. But menunim are angels of hope as much as they are of subtlety, and the Trumpet’s blast is a powerful vehicle for hope to enter the heart. Barachiel gives each of his menunim one chance to directly influence any given mortal by means of corporeal action without acquiring dissonance, as long as it is sudden and showy (or at least loud). Any further attempts to influence a mortal in this way will accrue dissonance as usual, and in fact, if any such mortal witnesses the menun influencing someone on the corporeal plane, the angel gets dissonance and loses their chance to corporeally influence any mortals watching with impunity.

[Pope Uncommon the Dainty]

Relievers
Obviously, relievers do not receive a special Choir attunement, being, y’know, not yet fully fledged into an angel with a Choir. Nonetheless, this is a good spot to talk about how they might serve the archangel of the Trumpet (the same goes for the next two entries, of course).
These tiny angelic spirits most often serve Barachiel’s servitors as pomp and circumstance, carrying banners, shields of arms, scrolls of mark, and other such indicators that their business is official. When it comes to the more subtle work of the Trumpet, they are always ready to subtly direct attention either towards or away from the Trumpet-angel as necessary. They massage the timing, in other words, to expand the possible window to a handful of moments instead of just one.

Soldiers
Mortals who have sworn themselves into Barachiel’s service tend to temper fiercely unyielding protectiveness with careful calculation, slathering it all with a heavy dose of charisma. Monks and warlocks proliferate, though enough bards and paladins walk the narrow balance between daring and efficiency. Barbarians can almost never step so carefully. Fighters and rogues, of course, show up everywhere, and there is a particular type well-suited to the work of the Trumpet that combines strategic genius with the flair of a swashbuckler or the leadership of a general. Rangers know well how to defend land without walls or borders, and some are comfortable enough with other people to join Barachiel. The rigor and rabbitholes of study tend to preoccupy wizards too much for Barachiel’s tastes, though sorcerers can easily find a place in his service.
Barachiel joyously welcomes the mortals who want to sound the Trumpet and tends to teach them the Songs of Cacophony, Calling, Shattering, Thunder, and Tongues. Almost every one of his Soldiers is assigned a specific angel of the Trumpet as their commander; the angels so honored tend to oversee small platoons of Soldiers.

Saints
Considering the subtle and individual focus of most Saints’ works, it should not come as the surprise it usually does that most of those in Barachiel’s service are neither heralds nor soldiers. Both occupations focus on the destiny or fate of large groups of people, even as large as entire kingdoms. Most of the Saints of the Trumpet instead work on the corporeal plane as actors or storytellers, keeping alive the inspiring echo of past heroes’ glory and keeping a constant eye for danger unseen by others.

I'ven't yet figured out any of Barachiel's distinctions, relations, rites, or invocation modifiers yet.

[William]

Hah. As a longtime Planescape fan, I look forward to these. A long time ago I posted kind of the opposite, where you could take the In Nomine Archangels and Demon Princes and scatter their Cathedrals across the Planes. Easy enough to take a Cleric of, say, Heironeous, and make him a Cleric in the Laurentian Order.

And yeah, I've heard... not-great stuff about BoED and BoVD.