And God said unto Rahab, that firstly created angel, "Come out of the dark and drink up the seas so that I may part the waters and create the firmament."
(Created by: The Saint of Killers <stofkillers@earthlink.net>)
It's easy to see In Nomine as a world of yes and no, white and black, angel and demon. The authors have introduced us to the beings in the Marches, and hinted at evils that dwell in the Far Marches. (C'thulhu to the front desk.) Er... I have no clue where I'm going with this, so I introduce you to...
And God said unto Rahab, that firstly created angel, "Come out
of the dark and drink up the seas so that I may part the waters and create
the firmament."
And Rahab, who was created in the light, yet who dwelled in the deep said unto his Lord. "F*** you, gran'pa."
And the Lord Almighty, Creator of Heaven and Earth, said, "Pardon?"
The world is an ocean, a raging, roiling sea of turmoil.
There is no angel or demon who remembers the creation of Rahab. None who can recall his rebellion. A factual, on hand account of his damnation, a Fall long before that of Lucifer, cannot be found even in the Library of Yves. Only folktales and stories remain, references in Isiah and Talmudic legends. As every angel and demon knows, those fairy tales are always incorrect, more bedtime stories than encyclopedias of celestial lore. Names are often mistaken, duties are almost always mixed up and the mythical events that the stories speak of rarely actually happen.
Rahab exists. He is out there. He is waiting.
In the beginning, as the story goes, God created the heavens and the earth. He parted the waters and formed the lands and the oceans. It was at this time that Rahab was created, a demiurge to help aid in the creation. There are few angels who can truthfully answer the questions put forth to Job that day long ago on the dungheap. "Were you there?" Rahab was there.
The Lord had given Rahab dominion over the power of the seas. Before there was light, there was nothing. That nothing was Rahab's power, the chaos of the Outside, an infinite sea of Heisenbergian mathematics. When God spake "let there be light" the seas were metaphorically parted. When God demanded that Rahab aid him in physically parting the seas to allow for men to live without aqualungs, Rahab told God to leave him alone.
God was not nearly as happy to abide as you might think. In an act that Michaelangelo never painted, and Donatello never sculpted, the Lord stomped Rahab to death. Physically, that is. Rahab's celestial forces were cast into the darkness of the Far Marches. Without creatures to inhabit the Earth, without Blandine and Beleth to form towers in the Dream, it was all Far Marches. Rahab made it his own.
When the angels incurred into his territory, it was expected. Rahab pulled back and allowed the Marches to be tamed. He used this as an opportunity to spy on the servitors of a nemesis that seemed to have forgotten he even existed. Blandine never suspected. Beleth never knew. Rahab watched, knowing that his time would come again soon enough.
Lucifer rose up against God and Fell, pulling a full third of the Host with him. Rahab was astounded at Lucifer's gall. The Adversary decided to play God himself, to recruit his own anti-archangels and have the same system of heirarchy. Rahab found both cleverness and irony in the act. Fight fire with (hell)fire, but Lucifer had decided he could run things better, and when given the chance, ran things the same. The amusement of the angel caused tempests in the Marches for months afterward.
The Grigori walked the Earth and, as all angels are taught by their superiors in parabels and warnings, breeded with the mortals. "In those days the nephilim were in the Earth..." and God meant to punish them. Of course, by this time God had retreated to the higher heavens, allowing his angels to do as they wouldst. Michael and Uriel, with some help from Janus and David, poured the rains upon the earth for 40 days and 40 nights. The nephilim died, the sinners perished, and the chosen families made it through without a hitch. It was also the first time in centuries that Rahab had been free to descend to the Corporeal realm. He was elated.
The trip allowed Rahab an opportunity to see a world he'd not visited in more than four millenia. It was also a chance to aquire his first two servitors. The misfits of creation, beasts that bore no place in the corporeal world. Behemoth and Leviathan became Rahab's first followers.
When the time of Exodus came, Rahab watched, knowing that his time to act would soon come. The angels delivered their plagues and soon Ramses relented, allowing the Israelites to leave their hardship in Egypt. It was Rahab who coerced the Egyptian king to follow with his armies, leading them toward the desert where the Israelites saught to make their escape. When the seas parted at Moses' command, Rahab was pissed off. He extended his own power to prevent the seas from closing in upon the armies of Ramses, his ancient Word protecting the Egyptians. Unfortunately for Pharaoh, Rahab's tempestuous mind betrayed everyone as, in a fit of chaos, Rahab allowed the waters to close. Fwoosh.
Upset with the disasterous results of his venture, Rahab returned to the Marches for a self-imposed exile of nearly four thousand years. He was not slothful however, ever vigilant and always plotting, Rahab has passed up many opportunities to once again make himself known, he is waiting for the perfect time. He keeps himself busy be recruiting more followers. Whenever an angel or demon finds itself lost in the Far Marches, Rahab will find it. Rahab does not have the number of celestials equal to that of God or Lucifer, or even one of the Princes or Archangels. With few angels and demons serving him, much of his 'army' is made up of mostly of etherials. Long forgotten gods who would find no essence through any other means, mythical creatures with no trust for the Hosts, but not love for Beleth. Most of Rahab's troops are quite dedicated and loyal, this is because most of Rahab's troops are quite insane.
Servitors of Rahab practically worship dissonance. It is expected that, at all times, they will have some dissonance. They gain no Superior specific dissonance, so they value the dissonance taken from acting against their band/choir.
Angels and demons of Rahab do not get special attunements based on their choir or band. Instead, they all may select an attunement from the following, with additional attunements costing 5 points. Unless otherwise specified, for any attunements that use dissonance, levels of discord count as three levels of dissonance. However, using discord in this fashion demands an immediate dissonance roll.
This allows the user to detect the amount of natural chaos resides in a person, and how best to release that chaos. This chaos can manifest itself in many ways, from a temper tantrum to an epileptic seizure, a natural impulse to skin women to an innate desire for pickles and ice cream. This power is potent, but extremely untrustworthy. A cop with his pistol drawn may be drawn to shooting his parner, firing into the crowd or attacking the bastard who keeps trying to get him mad. This attunement also allows the user to sense how much dissonance a celestial has.
Once per story, the servitor of Rahab may add the amount of dissonance to the target number of any roll. It is attunements and abilities such as this one that make followers of the Sea so self-destructive and dangerous. The more dissonant they are, the more powerful and less stable.
Once per story, the character may gain one essence for every level of dissonance they have. For every two essence gained this way, a dissonance roll must be made. If discord is used, two dissonance rolls must be made. As much or as little essence can be drawn, though even gaining one essence requires a roll.
The servitor may change a target's dissonance into levels of discord (3:1 ratio) which immediately manifest themselves in the target. The GM chooses the type of discord, based on the nature of the target. The discord lasts for as many turns as the servitor's celestial forces times three. The target may resist with a Will/2 roll. For every level of discord, the user must make a dissonance roll.
Using his dissonance, the character may wreath his hands in terrible nastyness. For each level of dissonance that the servitor has, he may do +1 damage with a hand to hand attack. Using this power forces the user to make a dissonance check. Type of damage done depends on the realm, though it can never be celestial.
For one turn, the servitor may embrace his dissonance and go completely out of tune with the Symphony. This makes him completely intangable and nearly invisable. It also requires a dissonance check. Using this power creates a +10 ripple in the symphony.
The servitor may completely remove one target from the Symphony for as many turns as he has celestial forces. This does not destroy the target, but it allows it to do anything (or have anything done to it) without it creating 'sound' in the Symphony.
The servitor may release his dissonance and discord into the Symphony briefly. This causes a +10 times the amount of dissonance spent disturbance in the Symphony. Such a huge noise can have profound effects in all the realms, though just what happens is left up to the GM. It will also disorient any character who is within the +50 range and who is able to sense the Symphony, such targets are stunned for 10 minus their celestial forces turns. While the dissonance is still in the Symphony, the servitor has a rare moment of clarity. During these few seconds he may think and act with the full sanity he had before he became a servitor of Rahab. Unfortunately, when the dissonance returns, it returns with a literal bang. The character takes corporeal damage equal to one half the level of the disturbance, and ethereal and celestial damage equal to one quarter. This is often used as a last ditch effort to call for help. Then again, there are those who will use it just for its unpredictable effects on the Symphony.
There is little organization among Rahabians. Rahab rules with Behemoth and Leviathan as his lieutenants. Any other heirarchy is based on power and intimidation.
Few archangels and demon princes even know Rahab exists. Of those who do, Yves fears him and Lucifer loathes him. Gabriel, Michael and Kobal know only whispers of the truth. Laurence heard stories from Uriel. The rest know nothing at all.
Rahab is a power beyond Celestial powers. He is a deity level celestial that has been banned from both entrance into the Kingdom of God and the Pits of Hell. In sheer power, he is greater than Lucifer but less than God. In numbers, he is dwarfed by both. He spends as little time as possible on the corporeal plane. Just the same as Lucifer and God, Rahab himself shoud make few or no appearances in any actual game.
Even though he is banned from the Celestial plane, Rahab has kept his Word. He embodies dissonance and is the antipathy of an organized symphony. If it can be said that Lucifer only plays dark music, and Duma plays no music at all, then Rahab's songs are a raw cacophony of mind-numbing white noise. His servitors live short, but loud, lives, leaving ragged tears and snapped strings in the Symphony when they go.