The Witnesses, the Observers, the Igors
The physicist swore underneath her breath as she
returned from lunch: the afternoon looked to be nearly
as frustrating as the morning. There was an obvious
answer - she was sure of it - but it kept eluding her.
Her face blanched as she entered her office. While
she was gone, someone had come in and cleaned. Worse,
they had obviously disturbed her desk. From the looks
of things, papers had been dropped on the floor and
hastily put back in any sort of order. The scientist
opened her mouth to start shouting - then noticed the
title of one of the articles in the journal that she
had meant to read for the last six months. She closed
her mouth. Fifteen minutes later she was grinning.
Two hours later she was still going through the
implications (while a small part of her was mildly
wondering how one said 'thank you' in Norwegian).
Down the hall, a nondescript man idly whistled as he
pushed a broom around and waited for the chemist to go
home.
Jean may micromanage, but he does know when to use a
light touch. He may not be personally all that good
at it, but he can see when it might be necessary.
That's why tools were invented in the first place: to
do a specialized job better than one's own bare hands.
The Irin are Jean's tools for delicate and precise
work. The antithesis of the brute force approach, one
of the Witnesses can slip into a particular scenario,
quietly arrange matters so that any problems fix
themselves and slip out again without anyone or
anything (including the Symphony) noticing.
Except for the occasional dead body, of course. There
are, after all, Things That Man Was Not Meant To Know.
Resonance
The resonance for an Irin (plural 'Irin') is for
interference: they can see it, compensate for it - and
in some cases, provide it. A Witness is always an
expert in at least one field of knowledge, and often
knows the solution to the problem that those around
her are fervently working on. She may not give them
the answer, but she can make it much easier (or much
harder) for them to work it out for themselves.
Dissonance
It is dissonant for an Irin to just give a human the
answer to a problem: instead, the Witnesses must find
a way for their charges to legitimately work it out on
their own. They may act either overtly or covertly,
but Jean did not intend for this Choir to do
humanity's research for them. If a particular human
cannot see the clues (or warning signs) placed in his
or her path, so be it.
Manner and Appearance
Irin are natural mimics: they are careful to create
the exact appearance and demeanor that will allow them
to truly fit into a group. This goes beyond such
simple concepts as 'nondescript', actually: after all,
anything so paranoid as a demon will always look twice
at the people that you wouldn't look twice at. They
aren't as good as Mercurians at fitting in, but they
aren't bad at it, either. A Witness is not
emotionless, normally - but they usually are fairly
sedate and calm. It isn't about them, after all.
In their celestial form, Irin appear as mathematical
abstractions. An inspired mathematician might be able
to adequately describe them (to other mathematicians,
at least): others - say, someone who was a liberals
arts major in college - would just see 'a bunch of
pretty curves and some numbers and stuff'.
The major problem facing the Irin is frustration: they
often have to fight the urge to scream at particularly
obtuse humans - or, worse, give up and just tell the
idiot the answer. Those that succumb on a regular
basis (and they've all done it, at least once) are in
imminent danger of Falling. If they do, they almost
always end up working for Vapula as Regulators, tasked
with imposing the Genius Archangel's vision upon the
universe. The fact that none of them can agree on
what that vision actually is never stops a Regulator.
Irin never see themselves as musical instruments:
rather, they see themselves as the cases for those
instruments.
Game Mechanics
With a successful resonance roll, an Irin may boost a
human's skill in a particular science or Knowledge
skill roll by the resonance roll's CD. The maximum
bonus allowed is the lower of either the Witness' or
the target's level in the target skill: Irin much
prefer to work with experts in their field. This
bonus is also only available in cases where the target
is already working under a disadvantage of some kind.
Finally, the Irin must find a way to provide this
assistance without the target catching on: this is
pretty much a GM call, but it should in general
involve some sort of surreptitious behavior.
More Sophisticated Uses of Resonance
The Irin give, but can take away. By making a
successful resonance roll at -2, they can reduce a
target's skill level by the resonance roll's CD
(allowable skills and limitations as above). The
average Witness does not enjoy doing this, but they
usually agree with Jean that there are some paths that
humanity should not walk.
Irin in the Host
Jean has been using this Choir for millennia - but
only began creating them in large numbers once it
became clear just how dangerous Vapula really was.
Today, they act as silent muses, hidden shepherds and
preemptive agents of karma. There are things Jean
wants humanity thinking about - and things that that
he most assuredly does not. The Witnesses are a
useful tool for accomplishing both goals without
unnecessary bloodshed.
The Irin are not often seen serving other Archangels.
Yves has some; so did Raphael, before her untimely
death (they have since come back to Jean's service).
Eli has been known to reward one or two of the
Witnesses, as had Gabriel.
In non-canonical campaigns, the Archangel of Mending
has shamelessly used her favored relationship with
Jean to poach. For that matter, the Archangel of
SCIENCE! would find this Choir highly useful... which
is, apparently, why he makes them himself. How he
does this is just another mystery of the fellow.
Irin of Creation (restricted): Eli wasn't one for taking Witnesses into his service,
but was and is happy to reward Irin who were of
assistance to them. As his usual reward is the
ability to use their resonance without fear of
disrupting the formation of a Tether, this is rarely
an issue.
Irin of Divine Fire: Gabriel has no Irin in her ranks, but will reward the
worthy with the ability to detect humans whose Cruelty
would involve Things That Man Was Not Meant To Know.
An Irin with this Attunement is not constrained by
Gabriel's dissonance conditions, but that's really
just a formality.
Irin of Lightning (restricted): Witnesses of Lightning can determine (with a
successful Perception -3 roll) whether the object of
their resonance is being affected by deliberate
Infernal aid/interference.
Irin of Knowledge (restricted): There are a few Witnesses left with Raphael's old
Attunement. They are able to assess a theory and
determine the most likely way that later researchers
will misinterpret it.
Irin of Destiny (restricted): The assistance of an Irin of Destiny will not
interfere in the target's achievement of his or her
Destiny.
Irin of Mending (restricted): Witnesses of Mending always know if a failed
experiment is due to mechanical error. With a
Perception roll at -2, they can also work out what the
data should have been...
Irin of SCIENCE! (restricted): Identical to Jean's Attunement, except that the roll
will detect any supernatural interference. However,
his Irin are not able to hinder a human researcher's
skill rolls via the use of their resonance.
Back to the INC Mainpage.
Back to the Angels page.
Send mail to the Curator