A location in Heaven...
----
The Pool of Knowledge
Shadowed by and nestled at the feet of the giant trees of Heaven's Groves, lies a small pool of water. It is perhaps three or four feet across, and in the dim half-light it is dark and appears much deeper than it actually is.
The pool lies deep within the heart of the Groves, and the path that leads to it is narrow and ill-maintained. There is nothing that betrays the fact that this pool took the combined efforts of three archangels to create. There is nothing that betrays the fact that the water of the pool is taken from the waters of the deep that God made Creation from.
There is nothing at all extraordinary about the pool, until someone with need gazes into it. Then, instead of their reflection, they will see a scene from somewhere in the Symphony that bears upon and illuminates their need.
History
Soon after the Fall, God closed the higher heavens, and the archangels found themselves needing a source of information about the Earth in order to effectively combat the advances of the Pit. The warrior archangels of the Grove were the ones who found themselves most in need of information, and it was they who worked together to create the pool. David created a stone font that could contain the waters of creation; Janus added every word cast onto the wind; and Michael added a single drop of a hero's blood, as a reminder that nothing of value is won without cost.
Game mechanics
To use the pool, a d666 roll must be made with a base target of 0. (This means that at the default, the pool will only work on an intervention.) The angel's choir and Superior can both alter the target number.
With their natural resonance for the truth, the seraphim find they are the most able to use the pool, and receive a +1 bonus. The natural resonance of the Malakim is for what *should be*, not for what actually is, and as a result they find it harder to use the pool than most angels, and so take a -1 penalty.
The angels of Wind, Lightning and Dreams are all at +1 to see something in the pool. Yves, like the Malakim, is more concerned with what should be than with what actually is, and as a result his angels are at a -1 to their rolls. (So a Malakite of Destiny is at a base -2, and a Seraph of Dreams is at +2.)
Essence can be (and probably will need to be) spent to modify this roll. The amount and type of information gained should reflect the nature of the angel looking into it, but this is a style thing. Given the amount of Essence the pool requires to function, and that the angels are probably not supposed to be in Heaven, I'd recommend giving them a fairly substantial amount of information.
---- Neel Krishnaswami neelk@alum.mit.edu
--emccoy@nh.ultranet.com // arcangel@prismnet.com In Nomine Line Editor GURPS, Roleplayers, In Nomine stuff; Art: http://www.prismnet.com/~arcangel/
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