Micah Tanhumeth, Malakite Master of Destiny, Angel of Innocent Blood

By Manny Nepomuceno

With right are the sufferings of the Holy Innocents attended with less festivity than the celebration of other saints, for, though they were crowned with martyrdom, they went at once, not into Paradise, but into Limbo.

-- Micrologus

It's a bleak Christmas. It always is.

Snow outside. Cold inside. But when I close my eyes...blood.

Blood everywhere. And the voices, calling out to me. I can hear them with perfect clarity, remember the sound of their shrill tears. Sometimes I can even remember what wielding the sword was like.

Their blood was warm and sticky. I remember that.

Some days I can almost forgive myself.

When I open my eyes there is blood on my hands...that's nothing new, that's been there for the past two millennia. It seeps through the gauze bandages and stains the side of my mug. Damn, my coffee is cold already.

And so I wait, and every year around this time I feel them out there, somewhere, calling to me. For just one day I'm certain that they're still waiting for me to bring them home. It's the only day my wounds hurt, and the only day they refuse to stop bleeding, until everything is covered in blood: my hands, the bandages, the sink, everything I touch. Bloody. Like my hands have been for two thousand years.

And I wait still. I have not yet earned my place in Heaven.

Corporeal Forces: 5
Strength: 10
Agility: 10
Ethereal Forces: 6
Intelligence: 12
Perception: 12
Celestial Forces: 5
Will: 9
Perception: 11

Suggested Word-Forces: 2-3

Vessel: Human male (Caucasian male)/6, Charisma +1

Role: "Philip Rochester", Private Investigator/4, Status 3

Attunements: Malakite of Destiny, Seraph of Destiny, Malakite of Judgment (from Dominic), Divine Destiny, Vassal of Destiny, Friend of the Sages, Master of Divine Knowledge (Elohite), The Angel of Innocent Blood

Songs: Entropy (Celestial/4), Light (Celestial/4), Form (Corporeal/3)

Skills: Ranged Weapon (Pistol)/4, Move Silently/3, Tracking/3, Fighting (Brawling)/3

Discord: Stigmata/2

Malakite Oaths

Yield not, nor allow myself to be captured by the legions of the Fallen.
Suffer not an evil to live when the choice is mine to make.
Permit no murder brought to my attention to remain unsolved.
Shed no innocent blood, whether knowingly or unknowingly.
Conduct the Holy Innocents into Heaven's graces.
Permit no Superior to remove my Discord until my sin is atoned for.

The Angel of Innocent Blood: While his Word is trivial, it grants him a number of abilities. First, upon viewing a corpse, he can, on a successful Perception roll, determine whether or not the person died through foul play. A failure on this roll gives him false information -- he should not be aware that he has failed his roll! Second, like Yves's Synchronicity attunement, he is drawn to wherever in the Symphony he will be needed, but through subtler, mundane methods. If, for example, one of the Holy Innocents is about to surface in Las Vegas, Micah will be called in on a murder in Las Vegas. Third, he is immediately aware, on looking at someone, whether or not that person is one of the Holy Innocents reincarnated. Fourth, he is aware of how many of the Holy Innocents have achieved their Destinies or Fates. So far, only four of the Holy Innocents have achieved their Destinies, but none have succumbed to their Fates. Micah works hard to keep them from the Pit.

Rites

All of Yves's basic rites.
Correctly identify a murderer and bring him to justice.
Spend two hours defending an innocent in court. (from Dominic)

He was just another Malakite, living the demands of his simple but unfulfilling Role in Bethlehem two thousand years ago. As a soldier in the pay of King Herod, he tried his best to stamp out the wickedness he saw in the King's court, and for a while he was successful at it.

Until he was ordered to slay the children.

History does not record the actual number of baby boys slain, and only one Gospel writer (Matthew) takes note of their deaths. But Micah remembers; he wielded the sword that ran red with their blood. He did his job with ruthless efficiency, and to this day he wonders why the Symphony did not ring with each successive death. Historians estimate that between six and twenty-five boys were slain that day in Bethlehem. Micah knows. He knows their names and remembers the manner of their deaths. After all, he was their executioner.

When he had finished his bloody work, he returned to Heaven, broken and distraught. Yves, ineffable as ever, was no comfort, and instead directed Micah to Dominic. The Archangel of Judgment heard his confession and found no sin in the Malakite.

But Micah looked down at his hands (still bloody, even in Heaven) and knew that this was a matter beyond his Archangels. He walked to the Marches, obtaining permission from Blandine to walk to the ruins of her abandoned Tower. In the shadow of love that had failed, he wept bloody tears. And felt God's presence all around him.

When he arose it was with a divine Word, and he swore new Oaths to atone for his sins. His hands were still bloody; he knew that they would remain that way until he had atoned for slaying the infants. When he returned to Heaven it was to find Yves waiting. They talked quietly for many hours before he was allowed to return to Earth.

He is there still.

Shunned by other Malakim for his Discord, for all intents and purposes an Outcast from Heaven, Micah is, nevertheless, one of Heaven's most brilliant and effective investigators. In spite of his Discord, which he has refused to have removed, Dominic himself has tried on a number of occasions to recruit the Angel of Innocent Blood. Micah always refuses; he has work to do.

When he slew the infants, he prevented them from achieving either their fates or destinies. His acceptance of his Word and mission has forever bound him to them; to this day he waits for them to all reincarnate so that he can shepherd them safely to Heaven. He cannot directly influence them to achieve their Destiny; that would go beyond the strictures Yves himself set on his Servitors. But he does what he can to make sure that they are given every opportunity in this life to achieve what they could not in their past existence.

In spite of the fact that he works for Destiny, Micah is sometimes assigned triad work with Dominicans. Micah doesn't mind; he is also an effective trainer and has a number of proteges in Dominic's organization. As long as it does not interfere with his divinely ordained mission or with any of Yves's orders, he is willing to help out Judgmenters in need. Oddly enough, this has earned him little but scorn. Overzealous Seraphim and Malakim in particular are quick to bring the discordant angel to trial, only to find themselves slapped down by higher-ranking Dominicans. This has done little to improve Micah's image among other angels.

PCs encountering Micah will find him a powerful ally and a disturbing companion. Remorseful without immediate cause, serious even for a Malakite, Micah works with the subtlety of a Master of Destiny and with great (most would say, too much) faith in the workings of the Symphony. Dominic and Yves have taken note. They use him to rub the rough edges off Servitors who tend to be too direct-minded for their organizations. After all, if a Judgmenter can't stand one brooding Malakite of Destiny, what makes him think he can take on one of Gabriel's or Michael's angels?

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