Makatiel, Habbalite Prince of Disease (Part 1)

[Moe Lane]

Makatiel
Habbalite Prince of Disease

The World is sick, and I am its physick.

They all called him mad, of course. Such is the price of genius. And make no mistake, Makatiel was one of the smartest Superiors to ever reach apotheosis: it was one of the two things that made him dangerous. The other thing that made him dangerous was his tendency to obsess, which was noteworthy even among celestials.

Makatiel was from the first generation of demons created (by Beleth, in his case) after Lilith freed Lucifer from Hell. Very few of his contemporaries have survived to the present day, perhaps unsurprisingly. After all, most of them developed oddly, and were prone to suicidal forms of madness in their later years. While still alive, Makatiel's own inner insanity lurked inside his fascinated loathing of humanity; the Prince of Disease had a name for being aware of the most trivial (to demons) corporeal matters. Very few besides Saminga regretted his passing, and none were foolish enough to display their feelings where Asmodeus could see.

The Word of Disease, when supported, focused more on the psychological effects of disease than on the physical ones. Makatiel saw both his Word and himself as tools by which to control humanity, which meant that serving his Word required a more subtle approach. Among other things, this meant that his Servitors were expected and encouraged to integrate themselves thoroughly in human society; the better to torment it, and eventually bring it down. Whether or not there are still any Orphan Servitors of Disease out there and doing things is a matter of no little concern.

The Prince of Disease died in 1348 AD, destroyed through the combined efforts of Dominic, Archangel of Judgement, and Asmodeus, Prince of the Game. Makatiel had decided that it was God's will that humanity be wiped out completely, and had already gone to great lengths along those lines by the time that he was discovered. After his destruction, those of his Servitors who escaped the Game's clutches ended up in Saminga's service, where they remain to this day.

Dissonance
It was dissonant for Makatiel's Servitors to ever reveal to a mortal the true cure or cause of an illness, whether physical or mental. The Prince viewed his Word as a tool for spreading terror as well as death, and ignorance served his purposes very well. It was not dissonant for Servitors of Disease to cure people, although doing it too often was considered unwise.



Band Attunements
Makatiel lived and died centuries before humans worked out the germ theory of disease, and so did not give his regular Servitors many ways to actually create illnesses. There was no need. The Prince of Disease's attunements instead reflected his original goal to control humanity via his Word: saving one person here, killing a thousand there, as it would serve either the needs of Hell, or Makatiel’s own personal whim.

Balseraph (Restricted)
Balseraphs of Disease could suppress the symptoms of one disease with a successful resonance roll. The victim still had the disease, but would show no outward signs of it for the next day.

Djinn (Restricted)*
Makatiel's Stalkers were able to cause their attuned to be unaffected by diseases, while still remaining highly infectious.

*Originally from Liber Castellorum, Page 126.

Calabite (Restricted)
Calabim of Disease could choose to inflict a disease upon a living mortal as part of their resonance. All damage done would manifest itself over the few hours, at the rate of one Body Hit per hour. This slower damage proved to be less likely to provoke the Symphony: treat the damage done as if it were done as part of a Role, with the Role’s level equal to the demon's Corporeal Forces.

Habbalite (Restricted)
Habbalah of Makatiel automatically succeeded at their attempts to impose Emptiness on others (roll anyway for the check digit and Interventions). They usually used this ability to ensure that certain individuals would not panic at the sight of the plague, and thus perhaps flee to safety.

Lilim (Restricted)
Makatiel's Lilim automatically detected any target's Need to see someone else healed. Makatiel had fewer Lilim than the norm, and he never received any of them directly from Lilith. The antipathy between the two was legendary.

Shedite (Partially Restricted)
Shedim of Disease could "cure" illnesses by taking them along with them as they switched hosts. The newly-cured individual would not be immune to the disease in the future.

Non-Shedim could purchase this Attunement, but had to know the Song of Possession in order to use it.

Impudite (Restricted)
These demons automatically Charmed anyone suffering from a life-threatening illness.

Servitor Attunements

Diagnosis
Demons with this Attunement could determine both the true cause and the true cure of a disease.

Mountebank
This Attunement allows a demon to add his Ethereal Forces to all reaction rolls, provided that he was acting in a medical capacity.

Distinctions

Knight of Plagues*
Makatiel's Knights could choose to inflict or cure diseases with a touch.

*Originally from Liber Castellorum, Page 126.

Captain of Miasmas
Makatiel's Captains could automatically determine which disease a particular human feared most.

Baron of Pestilence
Makatiel gave his Barons access to the regular Balseraph resonance. Balseraph Barons instead added their Celestial Forces to all resonance rolls.

This Distinction was one of the most stubborn mysteries surrounding the Prince of Disease. Prior to Kronos, no other Prince had ever managed enough command over the Symphony so as to impose a ‘foreign’ resonance upon demons. The closest to come to this was Asmodeus and his Humanity attunement, but that was thought to be just a deliberate lowering of power. What made this more unusual was that Makatiel was imposing the Balseraph resonance, not the Habbalite (which would have been presumably easier for him to do).

It is rumored among some that Asmodeus's true motive for removing Makatiel was to learn this secret. It is also rumored that the Prince of the Game chose not to move against Disease until he was no longer unique. It is certainly true that no Baron of Pestilence has survived to the modern era.

Relations
Makatiel had one true ally in Hell: Saminga, Prince of Death, and that was not nearly enough to save him from Asmodeus. Most Princes found him vaguely and subtly disquieting, to the point that the revelation of his madness and plots came as no great surprise. It is rumored that it was Lilith who eventually discovered the Prince's plans, and that she was the one who betrayed them to Asmodeus.


Allied: Saminga
Associated: Belial
Neutral: Baal, Beleth, Kobal, Kronos, Malphas
Hostile: Andrealphus, Haagenti, Valefor
Enemy: Asmodeus, Lilith

Basic Rites (Included for completeness)
* Cause someone else to come down with an illness
* Burn or destroy useful medical information

Chance of Invocation: 1

Invocation Modifiers
+1 A dead cat
+2 Tomb dust
+3 A medical textbook with at least twenty serious errors
+4 A room full of people dead from disease
+5 The burned corpse of a true physician
+6 A room full of people dead from disease -- with all of the deaths due to the demon

Name, Appearance and Manner

Makatiel was one of the rare Habbalah who disdained the title of "angel." To him, the Archangels were the Rebels against God, and so their own use of the term cheapened it utterly. Likewise, he refused to use the word "demon," as he considered it an insult from his enemies. The Prince of Disease was adamant about using the word "celestial" to mean "demon". His own Servitors conformed to Hell's usage, once out of his presence, but only if circumstances required it. His own titles were generally "Prince" or "Dread Lord," as Makatiel found overt flattery tedious.

While the Prince of Disease could easily change his appearance, he generally did not bother. A hooded robe was about the only concession that he made to covering up his scarred and patched body. This was apparently due to a genuine disinterest on his part.

The Word of Disease

Makatiel preferred to focus on ways to promote fear and panic through his Word. The Prince was not shy about taking the credit for the death toll, but he and his did very little to directly foster the spread of disease. What they concentrated on instead was making sure that the state of affairs did not change. A doctor burned as a wizard here, a "miraculous cure" using trash there, a careful rewrite of a medical text somewhere else; it didn't matter much what the intervention was, as long as it continued to keep humanity from actually working out proper methods for fighting illnesses. It is a dark testimony to the system of suppression that Makatiel set up that it survived his demise for several hundred years before finally collapsing.


A PDF version of the write-up may be found here: http://moelane.com/2019/09/26/makati...ase-in-nomine/