On the Origin of Malakim

[JCD]

But then we have those dream angels who are almost totally useful for Blandine and useless for everyone else. And as stated in Heaven and Hell, there are the 'nursemaid' angels who really weren't necessary before angels started to go into Trauma.

Could it be that the Symphony just had a spasm of Malakim and created 'antibodies' to deal with the infection that was the Fall? And as a result of seeing the mutable nature of angels, did the Archs (and eventually Demon Princes) start to muck around a bit to create specialist angel/demons?

[JCurwen3]

Originally Posted by JCD

But then we have those dream angels who are almost totally useful for Blandine and useless for everyone else. And as stated in Heaven and Hell, there are the 'nursemaid' angels who really weren't necessary before angels started to go into Trauma.

Could it be that the Symphony just had a spasm of Malakim and created 'antibodies' to deal with the infection that was the Fall? And as a result of seeing the mutable nature of angels, did the Archs (and eventually Demon Princes) start to muck around a bit to create specialist angel/demons?

The Menunim (Blandine's) and other Minor Choirs are generally specifically tuned to the Word of the Superior they serve - they're basically like custom-made choirs. It's very possible that when some existing angels transformed into Malakim as a result of the Fall, it did inspire the idea that angelic nature could be mutable, as you say, and some Superiors like Blandine decided to give custom-choir building a test run.

On the other hand, the Ministering Angels don't seem like they're even a minor choir... from their descriptions they sound like robed Elohim (which would make excellent celestial medics / shrinks).

The idea of Malakim as a kind of Symphonic immune response is interesting as well. My only issue with it is that it necessarily prejudges the Fall as a bad thing, and not a part of God's plan - that they're reactions to an event that might, in some possible alternate history, never have happened. But the Fall did happen, which means God gave angels the ability to choose, and to fall, or perhaps Lucifer himself carved that freedom out of the Light of the Symphony himself. Lucifer, incidentally, is noted in one of the books as uniquely being able to change a demon's Band from one to another (though not, I believe, to a Lilim); to me that suggests some deeper role and importance than just the first and most headstrong of the Fallen. Other than the first Malakim changing from their respective original Choirs that's the only way a celestial has ever changed "teams" (other than, of course, the act of falling or redeeming switching from Choir to Band and vice versa).

[Methariel]

Originally Posted by JCurwen3

The Angelic Player's Guide says God created the Grigori after the Fall to protect and look after humanity. Now, whether God was obviously and explicitly creating them, or whether they just sort of started appearing in the Symphony and the angels said it was God (or whether there were any existing angels that transformed into them) is not entirely clear. On the other hand, if there was direct and unambiguous evidence that God created the Grigori then it becomes at least somewhat less likely that the Seraphim Council would cast out the entirechoir - the one choir God would have certainly and explicitly created as a response to the Fall.

Hm, I don't know if they really wouldn't have. The Grigori were created to fulfill a special purpose. Many, probably most of them didn't do what they were made for when they were hauled up by David's angels. Instead, they had become debased creatures doing sometimes the opposite of what they should've done. And those who weren't severely dissonant, heaps of Discord or even Fallen and not hidden didn't reject what their Choir-mates did. Instead, they sided with them - a non-dissonant behaviour, that still shows clearly that the angel in question is in active rebellion against God.

So the decision to Cast the entire Choir Out was a valid one, in my opinion.

M.

[tHEhERETIC]

Originally Posted by Methariel

The Grigori were created to fulfill a special purpose. Many, probably most of them didn't do what they were made for when they were hauled up by David's angels. Instead, they had become debased creatures doing sometimes the opposite of what they should've done.

Ah, then that's a design flaw. Made too-like humans with something too-much resembling Free Will, to stray so far from the purpose they were made for.

I like to distinguish humans from celestials in game by making my human characters as well-rounded as possible (within the PbP game that necessarily relies on tropes), and the celestials as specialized as possible. The Grigori might have found that roundedness too great a handicap--other angels just do what their urges point them to and trust in that. Grigori urges pointed them to breeding, because that's a strong human urge. They failed to distinguish role from Divine Purpose, a failing I think any angel would fall into.

Design flaw.