The Grigori,
(also known as The Watchers)

The mysterious eighth order of angels, the gentle Grigori were created by God to be Earthly shepherds of the first humans. The Grigori were both physically and spiritually gigantic, at least by the standards of the people who later wrote about them. They served early humanity as vast reservoirs of information concerning the finer points of civilization, and their selflessness was beyond compare. They were also called the Watchers, as it was their job to observe humanity, lending a helping hand when necessary but not interfering in the course of human development.

As has been implied before, angels -- though filled with God's divine grace -- are eminently corruptible in the corporeal world and, perhaps more importantly, when in the presence of humans. The Grigori, designed as the type of angels farthest from divine, proved to be so much more corruptible that it wasn't long before their enormous zest for life tripped them up, spiritually speaking. They took husbands and wives among the humans and led greatly debauched lives, neglecting their heavenly duties.

Legends tell us that the children the Grigori begot were hideous, misshapen monsters, now known in demonic circles as the Nephalim, and that a group of angels were quickly dispatched to destroy the half-breeds, after which the Grigori were damned to Earth for the remainder of their long lives.

This is mostly true. The Grigori, both for the sin of lust and for neglecting their duties, were banned from Heavenly society, doomed to spend the remainder of their days roaming the Earth. The Seraphim Council believes that even speaking the name of the Grigori disturbs the Symphony -- they refer to them as the Watchers, since that was their original duty. What few angels know, even today, is that besides their more famous gigantic spawn, the malevolent Nephalim, the Grigori did successfully engender half-breed children, part-angel and part-human. Angels are strictly forbidden to associate with the Children of the Grigori or, God forbid, any actual remaining Grigori they might run across in the course of a mission.

The Children of the Grigori

It is impossible to speculate on the number of full-blooded Grigori still alive on the Earth. Current estimates range from 50 to none, with most guesses leaning toward none. The clever reader in welcome to infer from their inclusion here that the extinction of the Grigori is wishful thinking.

Their direct descendants, most of whom have no knowledge of their Heavenly heritage, are uncountable. A few underground groups of crossbreeds exist to take care of one another. Children of the Grigori are most dangerous when passing through their teens and early twenties, when for the first time they find their minds pounding with an alien cacophony as the Symphony chimes out through their celestial genes.

A majority of the Grigori's descendants believe themselves to be remnants of an ancient race -- refugees from the mythical sunken continent of Atlantis, for example. There is an element of truth to that. They are, after all, descendants of kind and gentle beings who came from a faraway land with noble if misguided intentions to nurture civilization and inspire happiness.

Most Grigori half-breeds can exert some tiny degree of control over the Symphony that rings in their heads; many of them have been labeled witches and warlocks. Among humans, such people are universally feared and shunned, usually without provocation. Several of these unwitting sorcerers have altered the course of history more radically than the most dramatic actions on the part of either the Host or the Enemy. This is why a growing number of angels consider the Children of the Grigori to be more of a sacred "ace in the hole" rather than loose heavenly cannons, and are considering the possibility of seeking them out for help in the War.

Regardless of what they are called, they are the Children of the Grigori. In unconscious obedience to their heritage, they're one of the last major human forces fighting the flow of civilization towards the Pit.

The Eighth Choir and Free Will

The plight of the Grigori does add substantial fuel to the debate about free will, particularly as it applies to supernatural beings.

Consider: could it be possible that God knew that the Grigori, so wonderfully corruptible, would end up playing a major role in human affairs and, in fact, provide through their progeny a powerful supporting force for the other Choirs in their weakest hour? Yes, yes, and yes. The angels do not even speculate about it. Did He plan it? Sure. He's God.

The thought that God would plan the corruption and persecution of one-eighth of his divine army, just to help support the flagging spirits of a civilization millenia down the line, is pretty disturbing to some angels. It implies that God probably has plans for all of them, whatever free will they may think they have by virtue of their Celestial Forces (which exist outside the Symphony), and has removed any choice they might have in the matter.

It may flesh out your character's motivations to decide whether or not he believes that, as an angel or a demon, he has free will. Angels who do not believe they have free will whould see themselves as literal and not figurative "Hands of God." Existing merely as an extension of the Will of a greater being would certainly give him a different perspective on life.

Choirs of Angels -- Seraphim | Cherubim | Ofanim | Elohim | Malakim | Kyriotates | Mercurians