Created by: "Leath Sheales (Leathal Weapon)" <938269@wrpc.riv.csu.edu.au>
["Okay, Here's my idea of the Archangel. Note that I only finished
her yesterday, so she's probably as unbalanced as hell. Have a read and
let me know what you think." --Leath]
Melody is relatively young as far as Archangels go. She began her career
as an ordinary Mercurian in the service of Blandine. Several hundred years
of faithful service passed until she realised that humans were becoming
more and more obsessed with the concepts of music. Ever since the first
humans became aware of banging objects together to make noise, their non-celestial
existence has attempted to recreate the Symphony in their own flawed, limited
and overall human way. Humans were using music to tell stories , to amuse
themselves, to evoke emotions. Their dreams were beginning to become filled
with music. Those who lacked the skill or dedication to create their own
acquired it in their dreamscapes.
Melody petitioned for the Word and after a hard-fought contest with several
servitors of Eli (who claimed that music should remain a part of Creation)
she was granted the title Angel of Music. Tirelessly she worked for the
next millennium, bringing the music of man closer to the music of God.
As humans mastered the ability to recreate complex sounds on magnificent
instruments, she guided them to performances more closely corresponding
to the Symphony. As time progressed, music became an international language.
People who could not speak another's language or comprehend their customs
could appreciate a common piece of music. In recognition of this advancement
of humanity's understanding of each other and to try and keep pace with
the importance humans placed in music, God granted Melody the title of
Archangel of Music.
The 60s and 70s were a boom-time for Melody, as peace movements and flower-power
proclaimed the joys of love and peace through song. Then a minor disaster
struck. Thrash, a minor demon
of Malphas, had been promoted to Demon of Music and in an extremely lucky
break (for Thrash) managed to inspire the punk movement, and capture humans'
desire to overthrow their rulers and revert to 'free' chaos. In doing so
he not only furthered his Word but that of his master. Through further
manipulation, Thrash was able to pervert almost every form of music to
deliver Infernal messages. Melody responded to the threat but was a little
slower and experienced a lull in power. For his efforts, Thrash was promoted
to demon Prince. A steady but uneasy truce has existed between the two
for the last decade or so, as each tried to consolidate their celestial
power, but recently Melody has succeeded in filling new music with love
and hope, and once again seems to be gaining the upper hand in the music
war.
It is Dissonant for any of Melody's followers to stop any music being played, directly or indirectly. Note that pausing or interrupting music in order to, for example, join in, is not considered to be stopping the music.
Gain the ability to tell limited lies through song. They can not directly lie, but are able to use poetic, musical language to express concepts they sing about. For example, a Seraph singing about love may use lines like "My lover has the brightest eyes I have ever seen," even if this is not strictly true.
A Cherub attuned to a musician or a band makes no disturbance to the Symphony with any action or power used to aid the band (eg. acting as bodyguard, singing Songs over members etc.). It is completely the GM's discretion whether something aids the band or not.
Musicians and bands with an Ofanite aiding them rarely have problems with weather, setting up, union strikes, traffic, etc. By making a successful Will roll, the Angel's check digit becomes a positive modifier for any roll for the band to successfully hold a concert.
These Angels are natural managers. They are easily able to tell musicians which gigs to play at, what investments to make and which songs sound better.. With a successful Perception roll, the Angel will know which choice is the 'best' one (GM's decision).
If visibly protecting a musician or band (just being seen by the crowd), all individuals seeking to bring harm to the band must succeed in a Will roll or automatically 'chicken out' of the action and stop trying to cause harm.
With a Perception roll, the Kyiriotate may move their chosen band (or musician) to greatness. The Angel may possess the band members without fully displacing their minds. All such possessed members may add the check digit of the Angel's roll to the check digit of any performance they do while possessed. ("It was as if the music had taken over my soul!")
When a musician or band meets one of these Angels, they feel as if their music is making a difference to the world. They may add 1 to the check digit of any musical attempt (writing, performing etc. They are 'inspired').
with a Perception roll, the follower of Melody may automatically tell if a note is out of tune and by how much. This power also makes them more sensitive to the music of the Symphony, and they may add their Celestial Forces to any test to detect disturbances.
the Angel may take any piece of music and instil in it a message of love, peace and happiness. Regardless of the actual words (which listeners will only vaguely remember) they will feel at peace and content, and will be less inclined to further the cause of selfishness and evil. This power requires a Will roll and 1 Essence for every thousand listeners hearing the music. The exact effects are left to the GM. Servants of Thrash hate Angels with this power and both can often be 'felt' at concerts trying to sway the feelings of the music. For music with a particularly evil or selfish message, a negative modifier may be applied to the Will target.
With a Perception roll these Angels may sense musicians and locate them to aid their musical dreams of greatness.
By succeeding in a Will roll, these Angels can play any instrument they touch, and can even teach this instrument to others (although they must re-make the roll every time they put down the instrument).
With a Perception roll, these Angels can sense Celestials moving through the Symphony. Servants of Thrash are their particular targets, and their Celestial Forces to the target number.
Melody gets on well with most of the other Archangels. Some of them
treat her with amusement due to her 'young' age as an Archangel. She is
not hostile to anyone who appreciates music. She is allied to her former
mistress, and with the Archangel of Flowers, as the two worked together
to further the hippy movement. Since music is all pervading, she is associated
with many of the other Archangels.
Allied- Blandine, Novalis.
Associated- David (the beat of the earth), Gabriel (music is alive
like fire), Marc (there is a lot of money to be made in music), Michael
(the harsh sounds of war music inspires soldiers).
Neutral- All others (including Charon).
Hostile- None.
Melody has yet to get annoyed with her followers. She loves meeting with them, because they are music lovers like her.
+1 Music being played (recorded).
+2 Playing own music (any form).
+3 A concert with less than 1000 people.
+4 A concert with 1000 - 10,000 people.
+5 A concert with 10,000 - 100,000 people.
+6 A concert with over 100,000 people.
This huge open-air music bowl has perfect acoustics and lovely weather.
Thousands of human souls and Angels sit, sing, dance or whatever to the
music that constantly plays. Usually the music being heard is an 'echo'
of that coming from the best musicians of Earth, but occasionally deceased
musicians who have chosen to remain on this level of Heaven take the stage
and play, their beautiful music uncorrupted by mortal limitations. Even
rarer, but still possible, some of Melody's more musically gifted Angels
will play, greatly pleasing the human souls and their mistress in the process.
All around the Bowl are lovely well tended trees, flowers and other plants.
All around and in these lie the hearts of Melody's followers, untouched
yet admired by her fans.