The world is a test of our Faith. Believe, even if
you do not see.
None in Heaven ever speak of the Watcher Archangels
anymore. Even after so many millennia, the anguish is
too deep. It was a necessary action to take (or so
the argument goes), but the Host had to force away the
embodiments of the two Words that most succored
angels. They had to cast out Song ... and Faith.
Neither Archangel has ever been seen again by their
former peers.
No matter how badly it seems that they needed both.
Organization
Before he was made Outcast, Phanuel had a small but
growing number of Servitors, set up along the lines of
a fairly traditional hierarchy. Due to the relative
newness of their Archangel, Servitors of Faith were
still working out protocols and formalities in dealing
with each other. Each Servitor still felt personally
bound to the others in general, and to any one of
several ad hoc groups in particular.
This solidarity shattered like a ceramic mug on a
stone floor when Phanuel and his Choir were made
Outcast. The Grigori of Faith went with their
Superior: the others were, bluntly, prevented from
following. The various groups were split up; their
members scattered among the rest of the Host. It is
interesting to note that very few assigned to Stone or
Purity lasted very long - and that almost no Malakim
that once served Faith have survived to the current
day. The rest have mostly faded back into the
background of Heaven.
Still, there are rumors. There are rumors that
Judgement is constantly monitoring (and sometimes
suppressing) secretive organizations descended from
the old groups. There are rumors that more than one
Servitor of Faith has joined Phanuel in exile - or
that some Outcasts have sought his service. There are
even rumors that there are angels that have never seen
Heaven, having been created directly by Faith and
fighting a lonely War on their own.
But rumors are rumors. The Truth is inaccessible to
any Seraph below the rank of Archangel, and they never
speak it to Servitors.
Dissonance
Before the Second Fall, it was dissonant for a
Servitor of Faith to cause a mortal to lose his or her
faith in God. Presumably, it still is; however,
Heaven no longer has any Servitors aligned to that
Word, and so cannot confirm this.
From the records, it would seem that Servitors of
Faith had to beware of being too obvious, or being too
subtle. It was not dissonant to confirm a human's
faith in God by revealing to him the War, but it was
considered risky. 'A little knowledge is a dangerous
thing': Phanuel was always concerned that revealing
too much could cause a human to stop exercising his or
her Faith - thus making it weak and puny when the
human needed it the most.
Choir Attunements
Some of these are conjectural: while former Mercurians
of Faith are relatively common (as are Elohim),
Phanuel's Seraphim are almost all gone by now - and no
surviving former Malakite of Faith has kept the
Archangel's appropriate Attunement. The Grigori of
Faith Attunement is only dimly remembered, and the
Bright Lilim Attunement is pure conjecture. All
attempts to reconstruct them have been fatally
hampered by Phanuel's Ineffability Servitor Attunement
(see below).
Seraph (restricted): Faith's former Seraphim were able to automatically
determine whether others had True Faith: with a
successful Perception roll, they could determine who
or what the Faith was in. Those Seraphim still
surviving that have this Attunement are universally
Servitors of Judgement, and apparently under orders by
Dominic to not discuss their former Superior.
Cherub: Cherubim of Faith could choose one person (not
necessarily someone that they were attuned to) and
protect them: the person affected gained a +3 to
Detect Lies, Dodge and any attempt to resist a demonic
resonance.
Ofanite (restricted): The Wheels of Faith could make a trade with the
Symphony: they could temporarily surrender their free
will, in exchange for being instantly being
transported to a place where they could aid someone in
keeping, rekindling and/or restoring one's Faith.
However, once this ability was used, the Ofanite was
not permitted to abandon the situation until the
crisis of Faith was resolved: doing so anyway resulted
in a point of dissonance, which would not be removed
if the angel had come back later.
Elohite (restricted): Elohim of Faith are able to automatically use their
resonance to determine why a person had faith, with a
CD equal to their Celestial Forces.
Malakite: Considering that these legendary warriors of Faith
added their Corporeal Forces to the Power of
successful attacks against demons and Hellsworn, it's
amazing that none of them have survived to the present
day.
Kyriotate: Kyriotates of Faith get a +3 to any resonance roll to
possess an individual sincerely praying for
deliverance.
Bright Lilim: A fabulous beast only whispered about but never seen:
indeed, there's no real proof that there are any.
Still, someone is causing those with the Need "Have my
Faith in God strengthened/defended" to be instantly
obvious to angels...
Mercurian: There are more Mercurians of Faith still around than
any other Choir: their ability to automatically find
the best way to explain matters of Faith to an
individual human is prized.
Grigori: The Grigori were able to use their resonance to
automatically determine whether a perceived
disturbance was caused by an attempt to make someone
lose or gain faith in something. Of course, all
Grigori of Faith were stripped of their Attunements
before they were Outcast. Of course.
Servitor Attunements
Ineffability: Every action performed by an angel with this
Attunement is shrouded in mystery: attempts to later
detect his or her influence will automatically fail
for those who are not Symphonically Aware. Those with
Symphonic Awareness will still be at a penalty equal
to (the angel's Celestial Forces) to detect said
influence.
(Sidebar)
Mystery Wrapped in an Enigma
Phanuel, of course, has this Attunement, only more so.
At Superior level, it effectively denies anyone below
the level of Superior the ability to resonate (or
remotely detect) any actions done by a Servitor of
Faith. This is the primary reason why it's so hard to
determine precisely what influence Faith has over the
modern world: the only ones with any semblance of an
idea are Dominic, Litheroy, Michael and (probably)
Yves... and they do not speak of it to others.
(/Sidebar)
Naked Gaze: Angels with this Attunement automatically knew when
someone was lying about having Faith: by making a
Perception roll, they could determine what the entity
actually had Faith in.
Distinctions
Phanuel had only designated one, by the time of his
trial: Soothers. Soothers were able to automatically
negate a demonic resonance by spending 5 Essence. The
Archangel of Faith used them to combat Balseraphs and
Shedim.
If there are other Distinctions available for modern
Servitors of Faith (assuming, again, that any exist),
they are not known.
Relations
There aren't any, officially. Of course, 'officially'
Michael isn't feuding with at least three of his
colleagues, 'officially' Eli isn't the Heavenly
equivalent of a Renegade, 'officially' the Council
isn't deadlocked between the Peace and War Factions...
That being said, if anybody has a link with Phanuel,
it's well hidden. The Council is pretty much
polarized on this issue: depending on whom you ask,
the necessary course of action regarding the Archangel
of Faith ranges from 'find him and bring him back' to
'find him and remove his Word'. Freakishly, the
middle position of 'ignore him and move on' is about
the only thing that Dominic, Janus and Jordi agree
upon.
Allied: No one (Novalis and Yves would be Allied with
Phanuel)
Associated: No one (Eli, Gabriel and Michael would be
Associated with Phanuel)
Neutral: No one (Janus, Jordi, Laurence and Marc are
Neutral to Phanuel)
Hostile: No one (Blandine, David, Dominic and Jean are
Hostile to Phanuel)
Superior Opinions
Blandine: "I don't know. The consequences of his
Choir's Outcasting are still unfolding: based on
Uriel's later behavior, it's possible that their
opponents were not totally disinterested, and we've
been hampered by the loss of Phanuel's Word. But the
Grigori weren't innocent, either. It might be best if
the Word ... became vacant."
David: "Are you joking? The others think too highly
of Faith, anyway: it is better to know."
Dominic: "I stand by the results of the trial. All of
the results of the trial."
Eli: "What do you think I'm trying to find out? There
are times that I wish that I hadn't been talked out of
bailing at the same time as Phanuel. At least that
way I might be able to figure out where he is now."
Gabriel: "We cast out Faith: is it so strange that it
has become such a slippery thing to grasp and hold
dear?"
Janus: "Much as I hate to say it, Phanuel was guilty.
He kept silent when the rest of his Choir was
sinning, making him just as deserving of punishment.
I hope that he has taken this lesson to heart ... but
until the world changes, Heaven must stay closed to
him."
Jean: "Faith is apparently necessary to humanity. The
current holder of the Word is unacceptable. The
logical conclusion should be obvious."
Jordi: "Animals don't need Faith: only a human would
be so contrary as to need such constant reassurance.
If Phanuel is still out there, he's among the only
ones who need his help, so what exactly is the
problem?"
Laurence: "Much as I dislike to contradict my
colleagues, I am ... unsure ... whether Phanuel's
Exile was completely called for. Surely we could have
determined the reliability of the Watcher Archangels,
at least, before such a drastic action. I really must
review the transcripts of that trial again."
(Sidebar)
Faith and the Sword
Laurence is starting to get annoyed.
He is, after all, Commander of the Armies of Heaven -
with all of the respect and deference that such a
position implies. However, the responses that the
Archangel of the Sword gets whenever he brings up the
subject of the Archangel of Faith are simply
unacceptable. Laurence has heard a variation of
"Don't worry about it, kid" one too many times, and
it's starting to grate.
At the moment, he's mostly trying to gather
intelligence (more accurately, he's having Marc gather
intelligence for him) about Faith's history,
operations and influence on Earth. The Archangel of
the Sword is keeping an open mind: if Phanuel has been
keeping his nose clean enough and doing his job, then
... well, there is such a thing as time off for good
behavior. The political stink that would arise from
this parole will be considerable - but so is
Laurence's current frustration with trying to fight a
War without all the right tools. Getting Faith back
into the toolbox will be very, very satisfying.
If the rest of the Council doesn't like it, well, they
can go complain to God.
(/sidebar)
Marc: "He's still fighting Hell - I think. I'm pretty
sure of that, from what I've been able to uncover.
The time may not be right for all of the Grigori's
return, but possibly Phanuel's expiated his own sins.
Ask me again when I've acquired more information."
Michael: "You know, the older I get the less inclined
I am to consider someone to be evil just because he or
she causes the Hyena to froth at the mouth. Seeing as
I was never so inclined in the first place, by now I'm
just about ready to go look for Phanuel myself."
Novalis: "I said then that exiling all of the Grigori
was wrong. I kept saying it for the next thirteen
thousand years. I'm saying it now ... and some of the
others are finally starting to listen to me. I just
hope that it isn't too late."
Yves: (Looks at watch)
Role in the War
Before he became Outcast, Phanuel's task was to
nurture humanity's Faith in God: not for His sake, but
for theirs. The proclivities and habits of demons had
come as a violent shock to the Host: their attacks on
humans, more so. However, it soon became clear that a
true belief in Goodness provided at least some defense
against even the most heinous acts: Phanuel threw
himself into the job of strengthening and refining
that defense. Presumably, he's still doing it - and
it's almost certain that he's got helpers. Nobody's
quite sure whether or not Phanuel can create new
angels, but even if he cannot, there are enough
Outcasts (and, some whisper, Renegades) in the world
for the Archangel of Faith to recruit a decent-sized
army.
By now, these servants of Phanuel have passed beyond
conjecture and gone straight into myth. It's said
that they call themselves the Defenders, pledged to
fight their lonely war in the shadows, never openly
revealing themselves in the light. It's said that
they will still come to the aid of those who have
rejected them - but never in a manner that would
confirm their existence. It's said that they seek out
the bleakest situations and places, tirelessly
striving to keep nigh hopeless from becoming truly
hopeless.
But then, people say so many things.
Rites
The Host remembers that "Rekindle a person's Faith"
and "Compose an art work that celebrates Faith" were
two of Phanuel's Rites before he became Outcast.
Whether he supports them or not anymore is unknown:
those Rites were removed from former Servitors of
Faith en masse, and no angel of Heaven currently has
either.
Chance of Invocation: [White noise]
Modifiers:
None known.
Personality
The tragic thing about Phanuel is that he was
personally a wonderful entity to know, both as an
angel and as an Archangel: joyful, hopeful,
compassionate, hardworking and moral. The Archangel
of Faith had no enemies among the Host - even among
the Malakim (who were traditionally highly disdainful
of the Grigori). Every one liked him, and he liked
everybody.
If he had only spoken up when his Choir began to slide
into negligence, he might have been able to stay ...
but he did not. Phanuel saw that his fellow Grigori
were losing themselves in earthly pleasures before
anyone else did, but he chose to remain silent. There
is some indication that he attempted to restrain them
on his own, but that ended in failure.
Thus, when the Choir was put on trial, he stood there
among them, head bowed: the only word that he spoke
during that time was 'Guilty'. There was no smile on
his face as he went into exile ... but no tears, no
rage, no trace of emotion at all. Phanuel walked out
of Heaven showing no sign at all of what he felt about
the situation.
And that's the Hell of it: the Host today still
doesn't know how much becoming Outcast has changed
him. Is Phanuel regretful? Happy that he can now do
his work without interference? Angry and plotting
revenge? Fighting despair in a grim rearguard action?
Does he wish to come back? Does he wish that the
rest of Heaven would join him? Does he miss the
powers that were stripped from them, or has he
recovered them - or did he even ever really lose them
in the first place? Nobody knows ... and the Host has
found that about the only thing that helps when you
spend too much time worrying about what the loss of
Faith to Heaven actually means to the War is to just
trust that God will cause things to work out properly
in the end.
There's a certain irony there.
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