Nylius is an enigmatic and passionate figure in the well-woven and colorful folktales of rumors of angels, and even demons. Confidant, suave and irreverent, he embodies the inherent human condition of defiance of existing authority.  He first made a name for himself when he stole a copy of the 88 Theses (Martin Luther's arguments against the Church), smuggled it off to a local printing press and distributed them about Europe in 14 days.  Much to Dominic's chagrin, he later commented "It took God 7 days to make the world, it took me fourteen days to change it... I need to get faster."  He always supported the concept of rebellion in order to create a better world, to knock down barriers forcefully if necessary, he was finally granted his wanted word after successfully masterminding the Magna Carta, a document which changed the very shape of government to come.

Ever since, he has been wherever the oppressed were fighting the oppressors, the wronged fighting to make right, and so on and so forth.  He was especially active in the American Revolution, though rumors fly whether he masterminded that entire thing or not, and the later Whiskey Rebellion he smiled at.  He has had his share of failures though.  He at first supported the Confederacy when it was supposedly finding for the state's rights, but withdrew his hat from their ring when it came apparent that the destiny of that revolt was becoming less and less likely, and its dark fate was more and more evident.  And though he supported Kerensky's peaceful democratic revolution in Russia, he was appalled by the following Bolshevik one, and frequently speaks of his suspicion of the Game's tampering there.  Strangely, he stills supports the tenents of Mao's revolt and whenever any challenged him on his support of such an atheist government, he just smiled knowingly, though he shed tears as he looked upon Teinamen Square that fateful night, like something had gone terribly wrong.   Though he may seem violent, Nylius actually prefers more peaceful methods that avoid excessive destruction and bloodshed.  He hoped with all his heart that the tenents of Gandhi would become the new paradigm of rebellion to come, but he quickly found it takes a certain type of culture to support such a tactic.  However, the peaceful ways of the youth and race rebellions of this century have mainly been to his efforts, and he has taken the motto, "by the ballot box if we can, by the cartridge box if we must," to heart.

Nylius holds a very strange position in celestial politics, and has gotten his share of enemies.  Dominic is eternally suspicious of him, disturbed that the Seraphim Council would even grant the word of Rebellion, for is that not what Heaven is fighting, the fruits of the First Rebellion?  David views him contemptously as one who creates needless cracks in the stonework of society.   Laurence shares a strange relationship with him, for though he is disgusted by rebellion within the disciplined ranks, he has fought side by side with Nylius in righteous rebellions.

As for his friends, Gabriel finds her band-brother Nylius impressive, full of inspiration and righteous fury for tyrants, and Jean finds him useful for more subtle rebellions, such as a new system of physics superseding the old, and new concepts coming to light.  Novalis has refrained from passing judgement on the erratic angel, for she is not sure his tenents of peace before war really stick.  Michael respects Nylius as a fellow warrior with the same passion for battle.

Nylius's current activities are numerous, for there is much rebellion in the world.  He has put his support behind some of the Mexican rebels in the northern provinces, as well supporting small groups of freedom fighters from around the world.  His most controversial behavior has been standing in the Groves and the Halls of Worship, speaking freely his thoughts and questions on the nature of Heaven's army, the Seraphim Council, the Divine Inquisition and whatever else comes to mind, questioning all of it.   Dominic and Laurence themselves have personally arrived at some of these sessions to put a stop to it, but have in the end been drawn into Nylius's gift for debate for change, though he does sometime tend to be outright belligerent, such as challenging Dominic to prove to him he wasn't a Balseraph.  His rant against Uriel's Crusade and the anti-ethereal policies of Heaven got him in major trouble all over, especially with many of Uriel's former servants, but when anyone tries to inform him angels don't necessarily have freedom of speech, he replies, "Then we'll just have to change that."   But there are many more rumored activities going on behind the scenes for the Ofanite.  It is known he has had a drink or two or three with Lilith over the years, discussing the nature of each other's Words, but more insidious encounters are rumored.  A few audiences with Malphas, even working with him, inciting riots for no apparent reason, supporting Communism, etc.  However, the most incredible (and therefore most spoken of) rumor is that he has personally sat down with the Lightbringer himself, and discussed the nature of the very first rebellion.

Nylius's physical appearance is that of a scruffy male in his early twenties, with a very cluttered appearance.  His black leather jacket is marked with the French tricolor, a White Army officers badge, and various other doo-dads, and usually sports an irreverent or tie-dye t-shirt under it.  One thing he is rarely without is his old Confederate army hat, gray and tattered, a reminder that not all rebellions turn out as they should.  Should you meet him, he might be look like your average street kid, or look like he's been crawling around in the jungle for three days, depending on the circumstances.

Author's Note:  Nylius is intended as a powerful NPC for the characters to encounter, who can be as comic or serious or dark as you wish.  He can be an excellent direct superior to Servitors of the Wind, as his special dissonance conditions, should he grant them, allows Windys to stay in one place, as long as they support his word.  He can also be, given a few Soldiers and angels on his side, a good nemesis for servitors of some of the more order-minded Superiors (how many can you think of that would want his butt in a sling?).


Marko and Ripper created by Brian Rogers
BillionSix@aol.com

Marko (Mark O'Hanrahan, Marko to his friends)
Mercurian of Creation

Corporeal: 2  Str:4  Agi:4
Ethereal: 3     Int:6   Pre:6
Celestial: 4    Will:8  Per:8

Vessel: (Human Male)/3 Charisma/+3
Role: Bartender 4/2
Skills: Dodge/1 Fighting/4 Seduction/1 Artistry/1

Songs: Healing(Corporeal/2) Friendship(Corporeal/3, Ethereal/1, Celestial/1) Attraction(Ethereal/3)
Artifact: Stunt Cycle (Driving/2 requires brief, silent invocation)
Attunements & Distinctions: Mercurian of Creation, Ofanite of Creation

Marko is a very much a Mercurian. When Eli decided to go wandering, he was originally going to assign Marko to Novalis.  Marko was pleased with this choice, as her Word clicked nicely with his nature. In addition to which, Marko had (and still has) a deep, almost pathetic crush on Novalis.  But he also had a deep respect and affection for Eli, himself.  After much consideration, Marko approached Eli and asked if he could follow in his footsteps, wandering among humans and going where the Symphony leads him.  Eli seemed flattered by this and granted him his request.

Marko has currently settled in Evansville, Indiana, where he is bartending at a nightclub, and planning to open his own club.  He spends much of his time chatting with customers, trying to help them through their problems.  He also spends a lot of time flirting with his female customers.

Saminga liked the young Impudite's enthusiasm, and gladly made him a new Heart. He insisted on stripping of his Impudite of Lust attunement, but replaced it with the Impudite of Death attunement, which gave him carte blanche to kill whoever he liked.   He worked very hard to get the Zombi attunement, which allowed him to make better use of his "lady-friends" and the Lilim of Death attunement, which gave him Bethany.  Bethany was an experienced and powerful vampire, who Saminga gave to Ripper.   Ripper was very grateful.  Bethany was everything he'd ever wanted in a girl.   Beautiful, obedient, stupid and dead.  Ripper isn't the sharpest knife in the drawer, but Bethany was even dumber (Int:1), which made Ripper feel a little better about himself.   Together Ripper and Bethany cruise around the country like a couple of Natural Born Killers, having a Hell of a good time.   Ripper idolizes Saminga, and shares Saminga's dream of Zombi Earth, where everyone on Earth is dead, zombified, and obedient to the Prince of Death.  He doesn't rack up the sheer volume of some of Saminga's more industrious Servitors, but he makes up for that with sheer psychotic enthusiasm.


The Sunrise Story and Eos are (c) Douglas Muir 1999, douglas.muir@yale.edu

What... the sunrise story?  You want to hear that old thing again?

Well... all right.  Walk along with me, then.

See, this was back near the Beginning.  Not _at_ it, but near.  "Darkness overed the face of the deep, while a wind from God moved over the face of the waters".  Yes.  Then God said, "Let there be light --"

I remember that, watching the sun turn on.

No Fall yet, then.  No Fallen.   Lucifer and Gabriel were God's lamplighters.  She moved across the void, across distances too big for even an angel to easily imagine, herding the stuff of creation into the first stars.  And then he touched their cores, here, there, getting the tiniest pieces of being to fall into place just right to bring the light out.

Sometimes he'd try to talk to us about it.  Telling the little pieces where to go, I mean.  Wild stuff, about tiny holes in the Symphony, and things that were and weren't there.  Nobody was too interested, though... it was all math, hard math, and even the ones who liked that sort of thing got lost pretty quickly.  Even Raphael, even Jean... well, we are all pretty young then.  I guess we figured he could talk to Yves, or to God.

But sometimes I think back, and I remember him, Lucifer I mean, talking about how, when things got small enough and fast enough, the truth just seemed to leak away.  And someone asked him, no truth?  None at all, like the Symphony going silent?  And he got the strangest look on his face and said,no, there was always _some_ truth, but only if someone was there to make it be true... and then he said, maybe the truth is waiting to be made. Well, even then, that seemed like a funny thing for one of the Seraphim to be saying.  I suppose people thought it was a joke or something.

Yah, we had jokes back then.  I think the first joke was very close to the start.  I suppose some would say it was right *at* the --

Oh, the sunrise.  Yes, yes.  Well, the sun had been burning properly for a few million years -- you have to understand, time was a little different then, and a million years didn't seem very long at all -- funny how full the days seem now, like everything is moving faster.  Or maybe we're the ones who... yes, well, anyhow Lucifer had retired for a bit to meditate on the Symphony, the way Seraphs always have and still do -- we figured he was making up a new Song or something, if we thought about it, which we didn't.  So, then, Gabriel and David were hard at work shaping the new Earth.

That was fun.  Collisions, you know?  And comets, lots of comets.  Gabriel could be very picky about the comets.  You'd think she wouldn't have anything to do with a comet, after all it's a big ball of ice basically, but, you know, it glows and it turns into gas and it moves really fast and it makes one great huge bang when it hits something, so I suppose it comes close enough.  And they're full of complicated chemicals, too, and Gabriel was always quite the chemist.

What, didn't you know that?  Yah, just like Lucifer with the math. Anything reacting with anything is fire, right?  Sure.  That's why a lot of us were surprised by the whole business with the Koran.  We were thinking that if she dictated anything, it would be, well, the periodic table or something like that.  But maybe she's lost interest, over the years.  That can happen.  Marc used to juggle -- no, really; I guess he puts it into the markets now, or something.  But he used to.  Said it helped him relax.  On the other hand, sometimes they keep their hand in, like Jordi with the beetles.  They say that Jordi and Novalis were walking along one day, talking shop, when --

What?  Oh, the sunrise, yes.  Well, Gabriel and David had some sort of arrangement.  She was going to turn things over to him once the Earth had reached a certain point.  We figured it was once the crust had cooled completely, but she said no, there'd be big volcanoes for a long time, it was something else.  Then she said she'd show us all when it was time.  She was like that... always liked a good surprise, even then.  She was a lot calmer then, though, yes.

So a few thousand years later, some of us were running through the clouds, getting some good storms going... oh, did I tell you about the clouds?  No?  Well, you see, the Earth had a lot more air then, and it was hotter and denser and darker than today.  Different mix than now, you know.  Carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide, all sorts of things.  And murky?  Well, the big impacts kept kicking up dust, and then the volcanoes were constantly pumping out smoke and ash and all sorts of stuff.  Most of the time you couldn't have seen your hand.  I mean, if you'd been there and had a hand.  Which nobody did, because there wasn't even life yet.  Corporeal life, I mean.

Well, things stayed that way, dusty and murky, no worse, black like the bottom of the ocean most of the time really, until the Earth cooled down below the boiling point of water.  Or a bit longer... things got muggy, but it took years for the first rain to fall.  But once it started, oh, well, it just went on and on.  Most of the oceans were in the air, if you get what I mean, and they had to come out.  It took years.  And all that time, we were rushing around following Gabriel's orders, making more rain here, parting the clouds over there... oh, busy, busy.

So Belial and I -- oh, Belial was just a baby then.  But he already knew he didn't like anything about storms except the lightning part.  He could get some really good lightning going, and he liked hitting rocks and blowing them into tiny pieces.  He didn't like the rest of it, though, the winds and rain and clouds parts.  Well, a lot of angels didn't; you had to really enjoy just rushing back and forth, year after year.  It got tiring, too.  You could use up a lot of essence, herding storms.  I think that's why God made Janus -- Janus came just a little bit later, he wasn't around yet, quite.  He showed us a thing or two when he did get here, though!  Sure.  Would you believe, back then none of us had ever seen a --

The sunrise?  I'm getting to that.  See, Belial and I are running through the clouds over a continent that was going to be Gondwanaland one day, when an angel comes rushing up to us and says that Gabriel wanted us.  So we hurry off to meet her but she's not there.

Only there's a beach, with about a hundred angels lined up along it, looking out over the ocean.  Not with corporeal vision, of course -- we didn't have Vessels back then.  Didn't need them.  The corporeal and celestial were closer then.  Or, mmmm, not exactly closer.  But things were easier then.  Anyway, no Vessels.

So the angels are just looking out over the ocean, and Belial and I arrive and ask, well, what is it?  And Gabriel's still not there, but Raphael -- oh, yes, Raphael was there, so we knew it wasn't a prank.  Gabriel always had a great deal of respect for Raphael -- I think that's part of the reason... well, anyhow, Raphael says, Gabriel told us to look this way and we'll see something no angel has ever seen before.  So we look too.

And, do you know, the air was very clear at that hour.  The rains had been washing stuff out of the atmosphere for years, and no volcanoes had erupted in the last few days, and there was a cold front moving across that particular continent just than, and, well, you could see a long way.  All the way to the horizon, actually.  We'd never seen that far before, from the ground.  So we were thinking, is this the new thing?  It's interesting, but not really...  And then the sky began to change color.

It turned grey on one end, out across the ocean. Then pink, and the clouds -- there were still plenty of clouds around, things weren't *completely* clear, that wouldn't happen for a long time yet -- the clouds around that end of the sky started to turn pink too, and gold.  And right about then we start to notice an undertone to the Symphony that we'd never heard before, a low sustained note, like - aaaaaaaaah.

So we were thinking, say, its a volcano... a really big one, look how it's lighting up all the clouds.  But then, I think we all realized at once, it was _silent_.  A silent volcano?  We were looking at each other, completely baffled, and then this red dome peeked over the horizon, with these long rays and curtains of light shooting up off of it, and all the clouds turned the most amazing colors.  And that note in the Symphony?  It started to swell, louder and stronger, and suddenly it was adding on all sorts of complicated harmonics, now it was a rising chord, like -- *Aaaaaaahhhh*.

And we were just staring at it, dumbfounded, flabbergasted, and this dome rose higher and higher -- we thought it was some sort of shockwave, or maybe ball lightning -- the music getting louder -- and then someone, Raphael maybe, yells out, it's the sun!

The sun!  Who could imagine it?  We'd seen the sun from above the world, sure, but up there it's, you know, separate.  But here it was like a big red-gold circle, *rising*, moving up into the sky over the world, and filling the sky with all these impossible colors.

Now, we'd all been busy running around building the Earth -- herding storms, tending volcanoes, getting the continents lined up properly -- and, you know, it was pretty tiring work.  So you can imagine how we felt when, just as the sun lifted over the horizon, the new sound in the sympony peaked into a single, triumphant chord, for an instant filling the entire world -- **AAAAAAAHHHHH!!** -- and then, _whack_, suddenly each of us felt a jolt of pure delight at the center of our beings, and we realized that we had all gained Essence just from being there.  See, that was the very first sunrise, ever!  So we had no idea that it was going to work that way.  But that was Gabriel's surprise.  Pretty clever, hey?

So that day she gave up her viceregency of the Earth, handed it over to David and Oannes, and we all had a big party right there on the beach, singing and dancing -- my, we had some parties in those days -- and then Gabriel got to work on her next job, which was preparing all the little fires that would go into the new life on Earth, the corporeal life, something called the Krebs cycle, and then we --

Hm?

How did we gain Essence before that?

Oh, well.  Now that's a _really_ long story.  Kind of interesting, though, actually.  See, it all goes back to when --

What?  Oh.  Well.

Next time, then.  Have a nice trip.




Eos, Angel of the Dawn

Ofanite of Gabriel(?)

Str   4 Int  7 Per 8
Agil  8 Prec 5 Will 8


Eos, an Ofanite, is one of the oldest of the angelic host... and as far as anyone can tell, he is *the* oldest angel without a Word or a high rank in the Host.

The first generation of angels has been thinned out considerably over the last five billion years.  Many have died; many more have ascended to the Higher Heavens.  Those that remain are almost all very powerful --
archangels, demon princes, or very high ranking Servitors and Vassals.

Except for Eos.  This modest Ofanite has managed to live through almost the whole history of Creation without rising in rank... or acquiring a Word... or even developing more than ten measly Forces.  No other angel his age has managed this.

Why?  Well, the best explanation seems to be that Eos just lacks ambition.  He doesn't _want_ a Word... he has actually REFUSED Words.  And while he's a loyal Servant of God,  he's not all that interested in fighting the War, either.  He likes wandering around, and looking at new things, and telling stories... and that's about it.  Think of him as an eternal enlisted man.

Eos is called "Angel of the Dawn", but this seems to be a title (a very old one) rather than a Word (although there's a minority opinion that says it *is* a Word, and it's *the* Dawn, the first one, and he serves his word just by telling that story over and over again).

So why doesn't his Superior whip him into shape?  Well... it gets stranger.  It's not clear that Eos _has_ a Superior, or if so, whom.

It's the seniority thing again.  The Superior system predated the Fall, but
> it wasn't really formalized until after Lucifer's rebellion.  Eos spent most of his time in Gabriel's retinue, so it was assumed that he was one of hers... but while he's very respectful of Gabriel, he's never called on her, and he doesn't seem to feel bound to her service.

Gabriel has neither claimed nor disowned him.  Eos himself answers questions on the topic with a smile and a shrug; talkative about most things, this is one topic he simply doesn't discuss.

This annoys Dominic intensely, of course.  But as long as Eos doesn't break any of heaven's rules otherwise, there's nothing to be done about it.  Like an old soldier who has managed to finagle an indefinite leave, Eos seems very happy with the way things are.


There are several other odd things about Eos.

First, he _doesn't hurry_.  He's always moving, yes, but *slowly*.  He strolls, he saunters, he puts his hands in his pockets and he smells the roses.

Nobody's quite sure what to make of this.  An ordinary Ofanite would be exploding with Dissonance if he lived like that, but Eos seems to be just fine.  He shows no signs of Dissonance, Discord, or dissatisfaction.

Some think that he might actually be a "different model" of Ofanite... an earlier, slower version; Wheels 1.0, as it were.  This gains support from the fact that Eos' appearance, in celestial form, is noticeably different from his brethren... he's somewhat bigger than most of Ofanim, but also redder and dimmer.

Others believe that it's a side effect of his being so old (Jean said this once, and added some stuff about "black body radiation" and "the Hubble Constant" that no one could understand).  Yet another theory is that he *is* moving fast, on his own time scale; he's just so old that time is different for him.  Nobody knows for sure.


Second, Eos remembers stuff going (almost) all the way back to the Beginning.  It's true that angels have limited memories; Eos has _forgotten_ whole geological eras ("Don't ask me anything about the Mesozoic, folks").  But, as is often the case with the elderly, he remembers episodes from his youth very clearly.  If you can sit still through his rambling and discursion, Eos is a treasure trove of history, gossip and trivia from the earliest days of creation.


Third, Eos seems to have picked up some tricks in billions of years of existence.  Despite his limited Forces, he can use *all* the Songs listed in the IN handbook (plus quite a few more that aren't).  And while he seems to lack any Distinctions or Attunements, he's singularly hard to kill.  Whether because of his great age, or for some other reason, Eos doesn't suffer Trauma... and he seems to have an unlimited supply of Vessels.  Kill him off, and he can pop up the very next day, not a hair out of place.  No one quite knows how he does this, and Eos isn't telling.


Eos is on good, almost chummy terms with several of his contemporaries.  He's friendly with Marc, with Jordi, and -- oddly enough -- with Michael.  He's also occasionally seen chatting with Eli ("Oh, yeah, Eos.  Him and me, we go back, man.").  Somewhat more disturbing is the suggestion that Eos has kept in touch with some of his old companions on the other side... though Dominic has never been able to prove this.

Since Eos either has no Superior, or is on permanent leave from Gabriel, he has no fixed assignment.  This suits him fine; he wanders around through
Heaven and Earth, seeing the sights and telling his rambling stories to anyone who'll listen.  This aimlessness is annoying to Dominic and some of the other, more focussed angels... after all, if everyone behaved like that, everything would go straight to Hell.  But most angels are tolerant of Eos, and quite a few are very fond of him.

If Eos is encountered sauntering through Heaven, he'll always be friendly and willing to chat.  He won't be drawn into any sort of job, though (unless directly requested by an Archangel, and maybe not even then).  Like most old soldiers, he has learned never to volunteer.

If encountered on Earth, Eos appears as a rather rumpled-looking man in
late middle age.  Again, he'll be cheerful and talkative but rarely more
> than minimally helpful.  If faced with a direct and immediate appeal ("We NEED help, right now, or the demons are going to brutally murder an entire
> village of innocents"), he might perhaps pitch in, but no one should ever count on this; Eos is always capable of smiling, shrugging, and strolling on.

Eos doesn't seem to care for combat much.  In a pinch, though, he's a surprisingly shrewd and dangerous opponent.  Not only does he have a huge arsenal of Songs, but he's quite cunning; he seems to be able to guess just how to confuse and divide demonic opponents.  More than one demon has made the mistake of confusing great age with weakness, and been sent screaming
> back to Hell for his error.  Eos is a pleasant old fellow, but he hasn't
> survived this long on charm and old stories.

Eos is one of the very few angels to spend much time in the empty cathedrals of the Fallen.


PCs could interact with Eos in a wide variety of ways.  Angels might want to talk to him if they need information about the old days.  Or, they might be asked to investigate him... he *is* a somewhat mysterious character.  Or Dominic might finally lose patience and order Eos brought in for examination.

Demons, too, might seek out Eos for information.  He'll be hostile to most demons, but it might be possible to sweet-talk him around... and a Prince might want a message delivered through him, or even to him ("Baal says he's claiming the bet he won on Pangaia, back in the Permian").  Alternately, two Princes might clash over the old angel:  Vapula wants to capture him and take him apart, but some other Prince seems to be sentimentally attached to an old friend, and has sent someone to help him...  Or Saminga might decide that no one should be allowed to cheat Death for that long.

But Eos doesn't have to be a plot seed.  He can serve just as well wandering in and out of campaigns, a minor mystery, reminding the PCs that the universe is bigger and older and stranger than they usually imagine.


Doug M.