DARK VICTORY

Lucifer, Archangel of Light

By: redneck@txdirect.net (Redneck Gaijin)

(Note: This writeup does not reference anyone else's endeavors to write up Lucifer as a Redeemed angel. This is strictly my thought on things. Any similarities are coincidental.)

(This is Lucifer as he becomes if, after the scene written up in 'Dark Victory,' Lucifer Redeems himself. If Lucifer doesn't, the world gets destroyed in the next war, and Lucifer will keep destroying rebellious Celestials until, in the end, he is alone in a universe consisting only of himself. Comments on the philosophical implications of this routed to /dev/null, as they have no bearing on the DV universe.)

Pride goeth before a fall.

Lucifer, in the hour of his victory over the forces of Heaven, discovered that his rule over all of Creation was, in fact, a hollow victory... he could not conquer and hold the universe without, in the end, becoming its destruction. The prime lie which had shaped his life and led to the First Fall - "I can run things better than God could!" - had been revealed to him.

Saying that Lucifer Redeemed himself in the blink of an eye is accurate, as far as it goes, but it fails to describe the incredible pain and torture of that instant, as his own angelic Word forced him to face the truth about himself, burning his pride away, leaving him a humbled, penitent, and much weakened Seraph in the very heart of Hell itself.

Although no longer the most powerful Celestial, Lucifer was still quite potent, and when he left Hell he spirited away the captured Archangels wih him. (Dominic soon returned to Hell, as in his shame and anger he Fell from grace and became the Prince of Cleansing, and through him Hell learned of Lucifer's treason.) He met the regrouping forces of good, along with the several 'defectors', and asked not to lead or fight, but to be permitted to help preserve what little was left of the corporeal realms.

The world is darkness; let there be light, banishing the shadows of fear, ignorance, and bondage.

Lucifer, alone among the 'converted' Archangels, has truly Redeemed himself. In Celestial form his serpentine Seraph form is solid blinding light; non-Celestials who percieve his Celestial form must save against Will to avoid being totally dazzled for the check digit in minutes - and if they are dazzled, they must wait until Lucifer is gone or in corporeal form before thay may roll against Will to recover.

Lucifer has a modest group of followers and is creating more; the majority of his Servitors are truly Redeemed demons who wish to repay the universe for their entropic acts. They are, as a group, the Repentant, and their task is to lighten the burdens of Humanity and the other angels, and to rebuild what, in their Fall, they have destroyed.

DISSONANCE

It is Dissonant for Servitors of Lucifer to encourage fear or ignorance among others. Servants of Lucifer may encourage others by a show of strength against the wicked, but they may not use intimidation to achieve their goals, nor may they play upon prejudices and jingoism to turn others to their way of thinking. It is also Dissonant to refuse to help someone in need, provided that the Servitor is able to help and would not be forsaking another task to do so.

CHOIR/BAND ATTUNEMENTS *

(*NOTE: Since many of the defector-Angels are still demonic in nature, in the DV universe Archangels may have Demon servitors as well as Angel servitors. Demonic servitors of Archangels may Redeem without fear; however, an Angel Falling is still a dangerous thing, since -there is no guarantee the fallen Angel will not be claimed by Hell.- One of the basic tenets of the New Heaven is that angels and demons must learn to co-exist and work together, or else risk the destruction of the Universe.

(The one exception is this; Shedim, being the ultimate destroyers they are, may -not- serve in Heaven. Even Calabim may turn their Resonances to good, or at least to harmless endeavors. Shedim, OTOH, are bound by their nature to destroy their hosts' souls, and cannot be used by Good.

(Demon Princes may only have Demonic servitors.)

SERAPHIM:

Lucifer's Seraphim rarely leave Heaven. They are the conscience of the New Heaven. Seraphim of Light may detect both the subject's inner feelings about a decision or action, and the overall morality of the decision.

BALSERAPHS:

Lucifer will not suffer a Balseraph to serve him. They represent what he once was, and what he now stands foursquare against, ignorance and lies. Balseraphs seeing Lucifer in his Redeemed Celestial form do not dazzle - they take one point of Soul damage PER ROUND until they flee or Lucifer turns away from them, or they Repent.

CHERUBIM:

Cherubim of the Light may add their Celestial forces to resonance rolls to attune themselves or sense their attunement to those who work peacably against fear, hatred, and ignorance.

DJINN:

Djinn also do not serve Lucifer; those who want to are usually on the cusp of Redeeming themselves in any case. Lucifer restores these demons to Cherubim before accepting them into his service.

OFANIM:

Ofanim of Lucifer can discern spiritual Darkness, fear, hatred, prejudice, agression, cruelty, et al. This can either be in a single individual or as an abstract force, the latter sense providing more exact location and intensity information according to the successful check digit.

CALABIM:

Calabim of Lucifer are especially attuned to the destruction of symbols of fear and opression. They may add their Corporeal rolls to resonance rolls to destroy any object which, by its nature or appearance, promotes fear or ignorant hatred in others. Lucifer's Calabim work side by side in uneasy alliance with his Malakim (of which he has very few) as his warriors, rather than his healers.

ELOHIM:

Elohim of Lucifer can tell the one thing the person they use their Resonance on fears most; once having used this resonance, however, they must do their best to relieve this fear.

HABBALAH:

Habbalah of Lucifer, when they sense fear or hatred in a subject, can also tell the subject of those feelings. However, using their Resonance to force emotion on another is automatically Dissonant.

MALAKIM:

Malakim of Lucifer are sworn not to kill humans unless they seek to kill or have killed others. They are also sworn to spare the truly repentant. With a resonance roll, they can tell if a subject has deliberately caused fear of themselves in another being, or if that person has murdered another recently - how recently depends on the check digit. However, with this knowledge comes the knowledge of whether or not the subject regrets their actions, and if that subject wishes to undo what they have done, the Malakim may not strike against them. (There are only a handful of Malakim in service to Lucifer, all very young and inexperienced - the few old-guard Malakim remaining shun their brothers in service to the former Adversary.)

LILIM:

Lilim of Lucifer may add their Celestial forces to an attempt to Geas someone into doing something which promotes knowledge, understanding, and courage. However, they -subtract- their Celestial forces from all other Geas attempts.

KYRIOTATES:

Lucifer's Kyriotates may possess a host without a Resonance roll; however, this possession does not grant control, but rather leaves the Angel as a mental presence inside the host, where it may work to encourage and calm them. The host may make a Will roll to resist. Kyriotates of Light may also possess hosts in the usual fashion, with a Resonance roll.

MERCURIANS:

Mercurians of Light can tell whether an individual owes their position in human society to honest respect, love, or fear from their subordinates.

IMPUDITES:

Impudites of the Light can inspire humans to courageous and noble acts, adding their Corporeal forces to efforts to charm a subject or group of subjects into doing something requiring bravery or which promotes knowledge and harmony. (This -does- include physically attacking oppressors, like for example a band of marauders molesting a post-Armageddeon town. In such cases, the Impudite gains no Dissonance for lost lives on either side, although he is obliged to help keep the losses and suffering of his side to a minimum.)

SERVITOR ATTUNEMENTS

LET THERE BE LIGHT:

Holders of this attunement may cause light to be generated anywhere, even in the darkest room, apparently from nothing. They may also appear to glow with an inner light while in their corporeal vessel.

I WILL FEAR NO EVIL:

For 1 Essence per subject, the Angel may banish all -unreasoning- fears from a human for the check digit in hours. The subject human will have concern for their own self-preservation, but will not be affected by stark terror or prejudice-driven phobias.

DISTINCTIONS

VASSAL OF LIGHT:

The Angel knows the piece of information which the subject being must learn to end a particular aspect of their ignorance - for example, they may look at an anti-Semite and know he needs to learn that Hebrews are humans just the same as he is.

FRIEND OF THE COURAGEOUS:

The Angel can detect humans with the potential to inspire other humans into bravery, harmony and knowledge. (Lucifer does not give this distinction lightly - the handful who hold this distinction are almost constantly roaming the Earth, spotting people and quietly recruiting them to help rebuild the ravaged world.)

MASTER OF COMFORTERS:

This Angel can automatically soothe the fears and traumas of a being, human, Celestial or Etherial, whose life or mind have been ruined by the War. (Lucifer has given this Distinction to one being, Novalis, the former Archangel of Flowers, now Lucifer's chief servitor. Novalis' time in Abaddon stripped her of much of her power, and now, like Gabriel, she is but a shadow of her former self, not quite broken but incredibly saddened by what she has seen - and even more scarred by the tortures of Saminga's creatures.)

RELATIONS:

Lucifer has no beef with any of the old-guard and true Angels, wishing only to make amends as best he can with them. With the defectors, he has less of a good relationship, excepting Lilith, who is wavering on the edge of Redemption herself. The only one he is truly hostile to, however, is Andrealphus, whom he sees as being a reborn Angel only by convenience, and in reality as much of a destroyer as their enemies in Hell.

Allied: Lilith
Associated: Eli, Yves
Hostile: Andreaphalus

BASIC RITES

* Keep a light glowing in an otherwise dark place for twelve hours or until another light appears
* Teach a human the truth behind an ignorant superstition or belief
* Spend three hours among a harmonious gathering of humans (12 or more, +2 essence if more than 500)

Chance of Invocation: 3

+1 A lantern
+2 A book banned or burned by others for its content
+3 A group of people standing together against agression
+4 The ashes of a peaceful martyr killed for acting against ignorance
+5 A thousand points of light
+6 A demon wishing to Redeem themselves

-- Redneck (wow, this took longer than I thought)

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