Lehab
by Ryan Elias
Art by andi jones
Lehab
Ofanite Friend of Fire
Corporeal Forces -- 4 Strength 8 Agility 8
Ethereal Forces -- 4 Intelligence 6 Precision 10
Celestial Forces -- 2 Will 2 Perception 6
Vessel: Human Male/4 (Charisma +1) Liam O'Keefe, Itinerant Vagabond/6 Status 1
Songs: Healing (Corporeal/4 Ethereal/1), Speed (Celestial/4), Shadows (Celestial/3), Succor (Corporeal/3, Celestial/2), Tongues (Corporeal/2, Ethereal/3), Purity (Ethereal/3, Celestial/2), Attraction (Celestial/5), Possession/3, Transfiguration/3.
Skills: Drive/1, Track/6, Move Silently/3, Sing/2, Musical Instrument (Fiddle/6), Emote/2, Fighting (Corporeal/3, Celestial/1), Large Weapon (Spear/3), Small Weapon (Knife/2), Knowledge (Hunting/4, Farming/2), Area Lore/*, Language/*
*Lehab is very old, and travels almost constantly. Assume an Area Lore rating of 1 to 3 for most areas of Europe, Africa, Western Asia and the Americas, and assume a Language rating of 2-5 for the major languages of said areas.
Attunements: Ofanite of Fire, Last Spark, Mercurian of Fire, Friend of the Divine Spark.
Special Rite: Hunt down a dangerous fugitive (+1, +2 for Demons and Outcasts).
Discord: Celestial Blindness/2, Celestial Deafness/2.
Dissonance: 2.
Servant: Alexander (Class/6 Level/2).
History
One of the first celestials created by Gabriel, Lehab has been around for a long time. At the height of his power, just before the Fall, Lehab was one of her key servitors, and being considered for the Word of Hunting. However, he was seriously injured during the Fall by Belial, and removed himself entirely from Heavenly society to work on Earth. He furthered the Word of Fire on Earth by working closely with the various tribes on Earth, teaching them about both crime and just punishment, and by eliminating the demonic and the cruel as he found them. He saw Gabriel fairly often, and continued to be one of her favorite servitors, even as he grew more and more removed from celestial society at large, and gradually from human society as well. In the period from just after the Fall until the present, he has returned to Heaven only once, after his vessel was destroyed by a pair of Renegades in about 200 B.C. Gabriel replaced it willingly with the vessel he retains to this day.Seeing one of her favorite servitors becoming more and more withdrawn, and more and more given to working on his own, eschewing even human company, Gabriel assigned Alexander, an ex-tracker in the Roman Army and one of her Soldiers, to him after his return to Earth. Taking the hint, Lehab took the role of Laveus, a centurion and Alexander's commanding officer, and redoubled his efforts in the battle against cruelty.
In the year 50 A.D. or so, Lehab and Alexander (who had been kept alive, then and since, by the Corporeal Song of Entropy), becoming fed up with the corruption of the Roman Empire, began a trek that would last at least 2,000 years, moving from village to village, setting things aright, resolving conflicts and punishing the guilty.
By the year 1700, having been through most of Europe, Africa and bits of Asia multiple times, Lehab and Alexander came across the Atlantic to the Americas, where they have spent the majority of their time since (although the invention of the airplane has made possible a few trips back to Europe and Africa, usually at Gabriel's behest). They plan on going to Australia following their second complete tour of the Americas, which will be in the next few years.
They saw Gabriel intermittently, every decade or so, receiving small rewards and her approval, until the founding of Islam, after which they saw her only occasionally, once every century at best. They last had contact with her in the early 1950s, when she ordered them to destroy a Nazi war criminal hiding in Belgium. Neither Lehab nor Alexander have ever met Soldekai (Chamberlain of the Legions of Flame and Gabriel's second in command), nor do they plan to, if they can help it.
Personality and Outlook
Time and travel have softened Lehab. While once he was the prototypical Servitor of Gabriel, hard and ruthless in his duties, time spent among humans has cooled the fire which burns within him, and slowed him down. He received the Mercurian Attunement of Fire shortly before Gabriel dictated the Qu'ran to Mohammed, and has used it far more often than his Ofanite attunement since. He will not kill a human unless he has no choice, or believes the human to be irredeemable.He is much calmer than most Ofanim as well, although he can be whipped up into a frenzy quite easily, and still tends to move as quickly and frantically as any other member of his choir once things get going. In times of peace, however, he is capable of sitting still. For a short while.
Lehab's vessel is of moderate height, but is quite skinny, although he falls short of emaciated He is moderately well muscled, however, and is, naturally enough, far stronger than he looks. He has brown hair and blue eyes, and generally wears old and ragged, but clean, clothes. He has a soft voice and a quiet demeanor most of the time, but his Ofanite tendencies come out when he is excited , with his eyes blazing up and his movements becoming swift and agitated. He normally carries a hunting knife and some spare change (which he often gives to homeless), but little else.
The Present Day
Things have been going pretty well recently for Lehab. However, he is starting to worry that with his long absence (he hasn't been back to Heaven since his first vessel was destroyed in 200 B.C.) that his connection to the celestial plane is diminishing. He's quite sure that he hasn't become either a Remnant or an Outcast yet, but he is having trouble perceiving the Symphony the way he used to (he failed entirely to see an Ofanim spiral overhead recently, and if Alexander hadn't seen it, wouldn't have been aware of it at all). While in the past he was quick to act and self-confident, he has recently become increasingly vague and unsure of himself. He has also manifested some Discord (as, he admits, in the past he has been known to "overlook certain things", letting a fugitive he felt some respect or sympathy for escape), and worries that he may become a target of Judgement, should anyone other than Alexander notice.Still, life goes on, and he and Alex move from town to town, in the guise of itinerant farmers through rural areas, and simple homeless in more urban areas, seeking employment where they can and making life better for the people in the area. He has little interaction with demons (he kills them when he can, but they aren't his first priority), and less with angels, although he will stop to get the latest news from other Servitors of Gabriel he meets (although recently he has been more comfortable masquerading as a Soldier). He avoids Servitors of the Sword and Judgement, and will keep as low a profile as possible should he catch whiff of their presence.
Adventure Seed
The players, who are angels, or at least allied with Heaven, are called in to investigate a murder in a nearby town, which their superiors suspect were committed by a demon or possibly an Outcast. Their investigation will eventually lead them to a farm on the outskirts of town, where they find two itinerant workers matching the descriptions of the killers. Lehab and Alexander, of course. They may note that the man killed, a local school teacher, was the owner of the farm's daughter's teacher. Watching the farm will also reveal that Lehab makes nightly trips to the daughter's room. Should they attempt to capture or kill either Lehab or Alexander, the pair will fight back only as much as is necessary to make a retreat. However, Lehab will return to the farm by night to see the daughter.The real story is that the man whom Alexander (not Lehab) killed was responsible for molesting several of his students, including the farmer's daughter, and that Lehab is currently trying to prevent her from committing suicide. A couple of other undesirables (one of which is a convicted child pornographer) may disappear in the next few days as well, courtesy of Alexander, as he discovers associates of the teachers. This may lead, should the PCs end up working with Lehab and Alex, back to a Servitor of Lust.
The PCs, should they discover Lehab's true identity, and possibly a bit about his past, either through interrogation or through observation, will be left with a bit of a dilemma. Lehab is little better than an Outcast. However, he is hardly evil, and it seems unlikely that he will fall. What do they do about him? Turn him in? He is a discordant angel, and a Servitor of Gabriel to boot, and will probably be executed. Leave him be? Judgement certainly wouldn't be pleased, and besides, how do they know that he's everything he seems? He's a discordant Angel so he must have done something wrong. Help him? Try to reintegrate him into Heavenly society? Lehab himself will resist this. And should they deliberate too long, Lehab will move on, and the PCs might have trouble tracking him down again.
Other Adventure Ideas
Lehab would make a good random ally for angelic PCs, should they need a bit of help in almost any adventure, although he will masquerade as a wandering Soldier of Gabriel, and will almost certainly leave should people quest too deeply into his background. He is also suitable as an antagonist for demonic PCs as well, as he will do his utmost to protect the people of whatever town, or neighborhood, he currently occupies from demonic influence.
Alexander
Soldier of Gabriel
Corporeal Forces -- 3 Strength 5 Agility 7
Ethereal Forces -- 2 Intelligence 4 Precision 5
Celestial Forces -- 2 Will 3 Perception 7
Status: 1.
Toughness: 2.
Skills: Tracking/4, Move Silently/2, Survival/4, Swimming/1, Medicine/1, Small Weapon (Knife/3), Drive/2, Throwing/3, Dodge/2, Climbing/3, Knowledge (Forestry/3), Large Weapon (Spear/2).
Songs: Entropy (Corporeal/5), Healing (Corporeal/4), Shields (Corporeal/2).
Attunements: Smite, Kyriotate of Gabriel.Once a tracker in the Roman Army, Alex has worked with Lehab for centuries. He was made a Soldier of God by Gabriel herself when he personally hunted down a Vandal chieftain (actually a Calabim of Belial) who was responsible for the destruction of several small villages in what is now Northern Italy almost 200 miles across Europe, burnt the hut he and his men had occupied to the ground, and killed the demon with his own spear.
He, like Lehab, has mellowed considerably over the years, but is still the more aggressive of the two, urging action when Lehab falters, and hunting down those who are cruel to others while Lehab deals with those who are cruel to themselves. He is strangely protective of his master, and has remained with him for two millennia because of this.
He is short, by modern standards, and reasonably stocky, with black hair and dark brown eyes. His apparent age ranges from about 16 to 50, depending on when the Song of Entropy was last used. He is aware that sooner or later the Song will fail him (on an Infernal Intervention), and he will die of old age, but prefers not to dwell on this. In 2000 he is about 35, physically.
Article publication date: January 28, 2000
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