How can one Symphony be perfect? Isn't there only so much it can encompass?
That is, the fall of Lucifer aside, how can a single Symphony embody
everything God intended for His creations?
The answer, known to only a few, is that it can't. Perfection can only be
found in variation, and in infinity. There isn't just one Symphony -- there
an infinite number of Symphonies, each slightly different from the last.
In one world, Armageddon has come and gone. Saminga rules in Lucifer's
stead, grown fat by the deaths of so many. The only ray of hope is the
Redemption of Lucifer himself.
In another world, several Demon Princes, from Saminga to Haagenti to
Vapula, have Redeemed, due to the machinations of another...
In another, Khalid has Fallen, and become the Demon Prince of
Fanatacism. Armageddon is around the corner...
Sometimes the difference is small. Angels from several worlds would find it
odd that Laurence rather than Khalid replaced Uriel after his Crusade.
Sometimes the difference is large. When Amabael, Princess of Winter,
started a new Ice Age from 1200 to 800 BC before finally being defeated by
Gabriel, Egypt fell to the Sea Peoples. The Hebrews, after their Exodus
from a Philistine culture along the Nile, ended up rapidly blended into the
Aramaeans when they invaded Canaan from the other direction. This weakened
monotheism to the point that Uriel was killed during his Crusade, and both
angels and demons hide from increasingly powerful Ethereals, not even
terribly aware of what the humans are currently up to.
Often, the difference is in the humans, or caused by them. Worlds where JFK
wasn't assassinated to worlds where the South won the American Civil War to
a world where "Alf" is still on prime-time TV in 2001. While some
Word-bound Celestials may be different in these worlds, the Archangels are
often the same.
Sometimes the laws of physics are different. Suffice to say there are
worlds where Sorcerers are vastly more powerful than they are in most, and
not always is this obviously the case.
Humans refer to the concept of different, parallel worlds as "alternate
realities." Angels who are aware of all the different Symphonies refer to
the aggregate as "the Repertoire," as in the standard selection of
Symphonies that God has composed and decided to "play". Demons who are
aware of the different Symphonies refer to them as "the Cacophony", because
most of the Fallen with such awareness believe the wildly clashing
Symphonies are proof God is missing, dead, insane, or all three. Those
looking for a neutral term sometimes call all these Symphonies "the
Corpus", as in the body of "work" known to exist, God or not.
The Exclusive Social Club of Small Infinites
Just because there are an infinite number of Symphonies, does not mean all
possible worlds exist. All worlds seem to be made of the same Forces, and
have a Celestial, Corporeal, and Ethereal plane, though the connection
between them, and the rules of the Corporeal plane may vary. All worlds
have angels, or at least had them at one time. All worlds have demons, if
only those that visit those worlds as ordered by Adad, Demon Prince of the
Cacophony. Ask any mathematician; some infinities are smaller than
others. No one, even beings like Yves, fully understand why certain
Symphonies exist and others do not.
Who knows about the Corpus? To start with, God knows, assuming He still
exists. There are Symphonies where the Metatron still lives, but God still
speaks little nowadays. In any case, God has decreed that no one -- not
even most Angels, or even Archangels -- are to know about the Repertoire.
There are two opposing Superiors who are aware of the Corpus. One is Syth,
the Archangel of the Repertoire, and his opposing number Adad, Demon Prince
of the Cacophony. Yves, being an aspect of God, is also aware of the
Corpus, and so is Kronos. In fact, these four beings -- Syth, Adad, Kronos
and Yves -- are unique in all Symphonies. That is, the *same* Yves exists
in every Symphony, and the *same* Adad exists in every Symphony, and so on,
while most Symphonies have their own version of, say, Michael. (In fact,
Michael is Fallen in at least one Symphony.) This is one of the reasons
Yves is so easy-going about failure: Though failure is painful, things may
be going much better several worlds over.
Lucifer knows. At least, most versions of him know. The fact that there are
Redeemed -- or unFallen -- versions of Lucifer in some Symphonies would
seem to indicate that there is more than one version of Lucifer, and yet,
when Kronos told Adad of the Cacophony, and after he petitioned Lucifer for
his Word, Adad went to several worlds and Lucifer seemed to already know
him and his secret, though Kronos claimed to have never told those
Lucifers. Kronos is silent on the issue and Adad has been told different
things by different Lightbringers at different times. At least once Lucifer
told him that the Redeemed and unFallen versions of himself were actually a
different entity more properly known as Satan. As always, the Lightbringer
is an enigma.
No one is sure if Eli knows or not, or even if there are more than one of
him, or only one. Certainly, there have been no reports of a Fallen Eli in
most of the known Symphonies.
Some individual entities from particular Symphonies know the secret. A
version of Jean here, a version of Vapula there, a version of Thoth or two
here and there. Most versions of Litheroy know, but keep mum at the request
of Yves and God. Several Princes of Secrets know, but this is not
considered a problem, usually, as they help keep the matter quiet. Usually
entities "in the know" get a talking-to by Syth or Adad and leave the
world-hopping to others. Those that don't often get... hurt. At least twice
Syth and Adad have joined forces to destroy a version of Vapula that had
gotten out of hand. It is rumored that Legion knew, and existed in more
than one Symphony at once -- which is another reason he had to be
destroyed.
Nuts and Bolts
Moving between Symphonies is extremely unnatural. It causes a Disturbance
with a +30 to the roll to detect. However, since God wants to keep the
existence of the Corpus a secret, even a check digit of 6 will not reveal
what has happened -- just an exact distance and direction, as well as
approximate magnitude. Still, most beings capable of it prefer to shift
between Symphonies while, say, in the middle of the Sahara Desert. Some
demons refer to World-Hopping as "changing tempo".
A soul can normally only exist in one Symphony at a time. Alternate
versions of a particular person have different souls, and humans who die in
the wrong place will have their soul return to their proper Symphony before
its fate is decided as normal. The other effect of this is that if a
Kyriotate that is possessing a couple hosts and one shifts to another
Symphony, that vessel is no longer possessed. To go to another Symphony, a
Kyriotate usually needs to restrict itself to one host, as its soul can
only be in one Symphony at a time.
Also, Celestials who die in a Symphony other than their own snap back to
their Heart (in their home Symphony) if they have one, or go to the local
version of Limbo (or equivalent) if not. Servitors of Adad and Syth are not
immune to this. Most have a "home base" Symphony that their Heart is stored
in.
Moving between Symphonies is always a dangerous proposition. Whenever it is
done, whether through a device or an Attunement or a Song, a d666 should be
rolled, because there is a chance of an Intervention if a 111 or a 666 is
rolled. The GM is encouraged to be creative about Interventions in this
situation -- positive interventions may cause the character to arrive in a
more favorable position in the world than normal, while negative
interventions may push the character into an entirely different world than
intended.
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