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Malakim [Longish] was written by:
Warsinger
ngm1@standrews.ac.uk
Cute and
fluffy....(with claws)<tm>
Kafziel, Ofanim of Light , Master of the
Realms of Night (if you can mangle Lilim as a singular -I can mangle Ofanim
IN> Malakim [Longish]
Player looking through the IN rulebook in
character generation: "I want to play a Malakim - so I'll take the
Fighting, Dodge, Large Weapon etc. skills right?... Oh and Song of
Thunder..."
The Malakim resonance is for Honor not combat - based on
pure Resonance the Calabim are overall the more effective Celestial
fighters - and on the angelic side I'd say the Ofanim are. So why do
all Malakim get lumped into combat bunny category? 'Historically' in
IN I'd blame Uriel - psycho little freak that he was :) (I like to
make my biases clear at the start:), but in game mechanical terms - well
the write-ups under each Superior make it clear.
And then there is
that Oath - "I shall not suffer an evil to live, when it my choice".
Stereotypical Malakim of the Sword - there is an evil before me - therefore
I will kill it and so the 'live' part of the Oath becomes the critical
bit. Malakim under orders from a s(S)uperior to leave
this demon/dodgy human alone takes the 'when it is my choice" part as
critical. The third option of course is removing the evil.
Redemption.
I can certainly see some deeply honorable Malakim of
Flowers working to redeem the Fallen - I was always a little uncomfortable
with the blanket statement that Novalis has few Malakim as they are too
violent - I don't really like the immediate equation of Honor with violence
- surely some Malakim could find another way to show their honor. And
I can see Malakim of War having some following both attitudes - recruitment
of a valuable resource is better than its destruction after all - and there
are plenty of hints in the books that Michael is that pragmatic (er his
Saints in particular). The rest of the Malakim of War might not
generally know of them perhaps...
Hmmm - another point here is the
general fear demons have of Malakim - particularly with regard to the
'quick' help Malakim sometimes give a potential demonic Redemption
candidate - I sincerely hope that they hadn't found confirmation via
Resonance or other Celestial means that the demon was a true candidate - I
don't see any Archangel being happy with a trigger happy Malakim at that
point - even Laurence understands the value of military intelligence after
all. Basically angels are discouraging demons from attempting to
Redeem which is wrong - I know an argument can be made about the importance
of Faith - but there is also a reasonable argument that since the demon has
removed itself from God's grace it is up to it to find it's way to a
suitable angel as part of its penance and expecting divine help is
egocentric in a way they should be trying to deny at that time. But
that debate always comes up with Faith - it is described better for IN in
the APG (IIRC).
While I can see David, Archangel of Stone, taking the
tough approach - I really can't see a fair few other Archangels being happy
with the idea.
Blandine: Her Malakim Attunement is fine as it stands
(very nice too :) ) but given her connections to Novalis - and the whole
matter of the Word of Fear - I can certainly see strong potential here for
redemptionist Malakim.
David: Already covered above. Although
this could be altered a lot with how you see David - as per Fall of the
Malakim - er he's probably too stupid to have an opinion on the issue
frankly, but if you look at the idea of growing stronger in groups - then a
group an angels picking a demon to take into that group to gain some of
their strength of spirit doesn't seem that unreasonable. Not your
average Malakim of Stone admittedly - but an interesting potential.
Oh and any Malakim of Stone can use the time while he waiting for his foe
to attack to attempt a conversion natch :)
Dominic: I'm not getting
the debate on Dominic being dodgy and suspicious here - but if you are
slanting him you've probably already worked out how his Choirs act anyway -
but taking at the main books desc - and the impression I got from his
expanded write-up - most of his Malakim would be busy with Triads - but
Triads investigating the demonic community on Earth for redemption
candidates are a possibility.
Eli: Given the general slightly more ah
'relaxed' attitudes of these Servitors I can a distinct split between those
who went to work for Michael, those to Gabriel, and those work as
redemptionists. Course a faker trying to catch out one of these guys
is going have very interesting fight on their hands if they get caught out
:)
Gabriel: I'd say these guys are too busy - the world is very full
of cruel people who need their attention - Gabriel needs the release
from pain they provide her. I'd think they'd be sympathetic though to
the redemptionists. And I could see quite a few who would not
immediately go for the You're cruel - you die approach - You're cruel - so
stop it or else more likely.
Janus: Definitely sympathetic, and I
think even a dodgy Dominic would be happy if it quieted down the
disturbance these guys would otherwise make:) Bit too long term
though... Although keeping a potential redemption candidate on the
move is quite a good idea now that I think about it more.
Jean: Not got
my book with me - and I can't rem what they get and what they do as an
assignment - drat.
Jordi: Well I think the relevant word here is
predator - and I don't think many of his Malakim would be redemptionists -
if any.
Laurence: There is certainly a place for 'traditional'
Demon-Hunter Malakim - and its here. But can see a small group of
Redemptionists here taking a slightly different angle on the Word of Purity
- purification on the small scale so that each individual soul is
cleansed. It's fairly hard to argue against the idea that demons can
redeem and those who want to should be helped - it is just how far you are
willing to go to meet them that is the issue.
Marc: Oh I like
the whole style of the canon Malakim of Trade - I'm just not sure about
what the Virtues are doing as spies. I like James Bond too, but
still... Checking for Demons of Greed and Media within the corporate
structure - taking them on in their mutual home ground - but then that does
pretty much about to the canon thing... Oh well - fairn enough
:)
Michael: Already covered above.
Novalis: Already covered
apart from the issue of her Attunement for them. Perhaps an addition to
their Resonance so that they can see how the code of honor of the target
should(in terms of how best it could be improved and expanded) grow ?- make
them popular with Destiny Servitor's certainly.
Yves: These guys
already have a difficult job but the redemptionist philosophy basically is
their job so no problem really.
I'll think I'll leave this here for now
- Minor Superiors aren't really required to make the point any
further.
:) )
