(Created by: The Saint of Killers <stofkillers@earthlink.net>)
The world is pain, inflicted on those who live there.
Purah, Djinn Princess of Sorrow, has been nobility of Hell since the Fall. She has had brief periods of power, and times when she could have seized great power, but she never does. Like Belial and Saminga, she has become confused about where her Word ends and she begins. Her inability to identify herself apart from her Word has prevented her from adequately playing a part in Hell's politics. She is Sorrow, and her days are spent in the corner of a small, dark room in her Keep of Pain in the City of Dis, staring at the wall and crying.
In Heaven, it was her duty to ease the pained. Sorrow was meant to pass, leading to a better understanding of pain. Man could go through the time of hardship and come out a better person. In Hell her Word is twisted inside out. Her servitors aid Sorrow, bringing minor pangs and slight remorse to wonderful fruitation as feelings of wracking guilt and life shattering angst.
In recent years, a new phenomenon has occured that has given Purah more power than she cares for, or knows what to do with. Selfish Sorrow. Feeling sorry for yourself just to feel sorry for yourself. Dozens of previously Wordless demons suddenly have new purpose in life with such titles as Demon of Attempted Teen Suicide, Demon of Depressing Poetry and Demon of People Who Wear Black All The Time.
The Princess herself rarely talks to her followers, having retreated to the dark corners of her Keep for silent brooding. In a rare turn, her servitors, most of them, do truly like her. Few of them suffer from her blurring of identity and Word, but they can feel her pain through their service to the Word. There are those, however, in her ranks who have their eye on her Word. In the same vein, Asmodeus watches her. He fears that her depression may eventually lead to an attempt at redeeming. He will not allow this to happen.
When she must appear, Purah will take the form of a slender, pale girl. In times past, her vessels were often those of lepers or nuns, but a certain comic book writer has completely shifted her image of how she should look. The more sympathetic of her servitors are amazingly embarassed by this, but keep it to themselves.
It is dissonant for a servitor of Purah to knowingly cause sorrow. It is their duty to nurture sorrow to selfish lengths, but they cannot participate in an act that would create sorrow itself. This isn't to say that a servitor of Purah couldn't work out a deal with a servitor of Saminga to create a little sorrow, but the servitor of Purah could not, herself, participate in the act.
A Balseraph can use his resonance to force a target to see the hopelessness of any situation.
Calabim of Sorrow can use their resonance to destroy hope. Remarkable rolls can lead a target to fall to his knees and weep. This attunement can be used on angels and demons, as well as humans.
Djinn can sense the amount of sorrow in anyone they are attuned to, and know the cause and duration of the sorrow. Djinn often use this attunement to increase the amount of pain in a human until they eventually kill themselves.
Habbalah who serve Purah cannot use their resonance to cause sorrow, but gain +2 to the check digit of any attempt to harden the hearts of those who would usually care for the sorrowful person. Like emptiness, this is a dangerous emotion to face in backlash. A Habbalah who's heart is hardened will suffer dissonance.
Lilim servitors of Purah may use their resonance to lessen the sorrow or guilt in exchange for a favor. No matter the size of the person's guilt, the favor can be as great or small as the Lilim decides. The difference between the actual value of the Lilim's favor and the sorrow eased will be made up exponentially some time after the favor is granted. The value of the guilt and the favor are up to the GM, not the check digit. The digit is used in determining the degree of guilt or sorrow felt later.
(This is confusing, so I offer an example. Bob the human is cheating on his wife. He feels great guilt over this. The Lilim offers to ease the guilt, and in exchange the human will do for her a favor. The GM decides that the guilt is worth a level 3 favor, so the Lilim demands only a level 1 favor. The check digit on the roll was a 5. Up to five weeks after the man fulfills his obligation to the Lilim, his guilt will catch up to him with dazzling and painful results. There is no system for guilt and sorrow, it is up to the GM. Using the proper rites, essence may be drawn from the disasterous results of this attunement.)
Shedim are somewhat free of the dissonance caused by Purah. While possessing a host, they cannot cause sorrow in -another- person, but they can force their host to do things that the host will feel sorry for later. Add celestial forces toward such a roll.
Impudites can, at any point in a conversation with a target, make a comment that will make the target remember a forgotten or buried sorrow. The Impudite won't always be certain just what it is they said that caused the suffering, and they won't know exactly what it is they're about to say when they use the attunement, but it will always seem unintentional and natural. Impudites often seem like they're trying to be helpful when in fact they are destroying the resolve of their target. This attunement works on angels and demons as well as humans.
This attunement gives the demon the ability to grant the mundane in question some false hope that will completely and totally fall apart. The victim will completely believe whatever false hope the demon puts into their head, as long as it has something to do with their situation. This can be anything from 'your husband is just fine, go tell your kids that he will be home in an hour' to 'I am an angel of Jesus, and I will protect you from harm'.
The Knight of Pain can sense the amount of sorrow that has been felt in an area. This allows them to automatically detect tethers dedicated to sorrow, death and anything else that is applicable.
Captain of Despair
The Captain of Despair can make a subject feel extreme sorrow for as many turns as the Captain has Celestial forces. This sorrow does not cause dissonance, as it is not true sorrow, but is an emotion forced on the subject. The extreme feelings of sadness will completely disable the target for the full duration of the power. While the distinction cannot be used on angels, it can be used on Soldiers of God. Most people will not, when the sadness passes, realize what has come over them.
As the last vestages of hope drain away from a mortal, the Baron of Anguish may take what Essence is left in them before they succumb to sorrow. Applicable use of this power is completely up to the GM. While there is no roll to see how much Essence can be stolen (all Essence is taken, with the assumption that the average mundane has 1d6-4 Essence at any one time) the use of this power does cause very minor ripples in the Symphony. It sings out as if one Essence had been spent.