Imperfections: Human 'dissonance'

[Acolyte]

Originally Posted by Whitelaughter

If you take the claim that the war is about humans seriously, then the only conclusion is that hell is right: while the best option for humans is that the Impudites rebel from hell and kick both sides off the planet.

I don't even remotely follow that reasoning. Impudites suck Essence away from humans, making them unlucky, depressed, and low-energy. How could a world run by Impudites be in humans' best interest?

*Very* good question!
Demons can corrupt/control/twist humans with ease: there's no equivalent for angels.
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Imperfections are weaknesses that angels *can* deal with, giving them a reason to care about the presence of the humans. Meanwhile, demons can exploit the Imperfections, giving *them* an additional reason to interact with humans.

On the contrary, Disadvantages differ from Discord (other than the type of being each can affect) primarily in the fact that Disadvantages can be worked off by an individual and Discord can only be removed by a Superior (or, I suppose, an Intervention). Angels can't miracle away a Disadvantage created by demons, but they can steer a human in the direction of working it off himself (providing therapy or recommending a good therapist for that Ethereal Disadvantage, buying a gym membership for the overweight guy, etc--> and it's not as though every Shedite has a high-level Song of Corruption).

But the real problem with your analysis is that angels and demons don't need additional reasons to interact with humans, because they have a hard-wired directive on that matter based on the Word they Serve in addition to whatever current assignment they might be on. Angels of Trade should be constantly interacting with humans to promote free trade, economic growth, increased prosperity for all social classes, and a spirit of healthy exchange (a Malakite might kill CEOs who abuse the system, an Elohite might manipulate the same CEO into changing his ways, a Mercurian might become a politician on the local scale and change the way laws treat corporations). Angels of War should be doing heroic things in front of humans and publicizing martial human endeavors, be it an Ofanite conducting vigilante justice on robbers mid robbery or a Kyriotate temporarily borrowing a pedestrian to save an innocent from gang violence and refusing to name the host's name, creating legends about modern Good Samaritans. Demons of Dark Humor should be using cruel laughter and mockery to debase the self-worth of the humans around them, be it a Balseraph who drives a human into believing crazy conspiracy stories to such an extent that his friends enjoy baiting him and lose all respect for him or a Shedite who constantly puts his host into ridiculously compromising situations (like sexting people who follow him on Twitter...). Demons of Death, rather than simply killing everything in sight in inventive ways, should be fostering a culture where life is viewed as a meaningless struggle against the all-powerful presence of death, whether a Lilim who Geases a human into performing acts that lead to his suicide in front of his own children or a Calabite who kills only teenagers that act or claim to be invincible in such a way that the other kids are haunted by the ugly sight of the corpse for the rest of their lives.

It is true that celestial resonances and abilities easily overcome human defenses (but watch out for dumb luck and Interventions!), but there's a big difference between breaking one human and painting the Symphony with your Superior's Word in big, broad strokes, which is what every celestial is supposed to be doing.