Armand Jean Du Plessis
Cardinal and Duc De Richelieu
Saint of the Sword
Corporeal Forces: 2
Strength: 4
Agility: 4
Ethereal Forces: 5
Intelligence: 11
Precision: 9
Celestial Forces: 5
Will: 10
Perception: 10
Skills: Detect Lies/5, Emote/6, Fast-Talk/4, Knowledge (Canon Law/6,
Logic/6, Politics/6, Theology/6), Language (English/3, French/3, Spanish/3,
Latin/3), Lying/5, Savoir-Faire/6, Move Silently/3
Songs: Calling (All/4), Charm (Ethereal/4, Celestial/3), Dreams (all/3),
Motion (Celestial/3), Nightmares (Corporeal/3, Ethereal/4), Nimbus
(Corpoeal/3), Opening (Ethereal/4), Seals (Corporeal/5), Shields
(Corporeal/3), Sleep (Ethereal/3), Tongues (Corporeal/3), Truth (All/4)
Attunements: Blessed, Divine Contract, Divine Logic, Incarnate Law, Rituals
of Faith (Catholicism)
Say hello to Armand Jean Du Plessis, Cardinal Duc de Richelieu. Or just
Richelieu, as he likes to be called these days. Yes, he's that Cardinal
Richelieu. And don't look so surprised. He's not really such a bad guy,
once you get to know him. Back in life, he was just a very devout Catholic
and a fierce French patriot.
Well, he was also the most powerful man in 17th Century France, but that was
in support of his other two attributes.
It's mostly due to his powerful network of spies and agents throughout
France and Europe that Richelieu first came to the attention of the War. Or
rather, that the War first came to his attention. For a few years,
Richelieu had come to discover that foreign agents were interfering with
affairs in both his homeland and church, agents who seemed to belong to no
foreign power he could identify. It's not until reports came in of
"supernatural forces" and "Heavenly and Infernal Forces" that Richelieu
suddenly came to the conclusion that he'd actually stumbled upon the war
between the Forces of Heaven, and the Forces of Hell.
For a good deal of time, Richelieu did little about the matter other then
analyse the reports given to him by his agents, trying to determine which
side was which, and limiting the negative effects of these agents on France
and his own network of agents. After a few years, at which point Richelieu
was quite certain that he now knew which of these agents served Heaven, and
which one served Hell. He had found himself forced to maintain an uneasy
balance of secreting information and disinformation to one side or the
other, trying to further his agenda of protecting France, while trying to
stay on Heaven's good graces. Finally, he decided it was time to contact
Heaven, and pulled at the strings he had access to to get in touch with
Saint Michael, the Commander of the Heavenly Host.
...While he was surprised to recieve a message from St Michael himself to
address himself to the new commander of the host, Laurence, he had enough
self-control not to look too shocked when the Malakite Archangel came to
visit him in person. Once confronted with the Lord Commander of the Host of
Heaven, however, Richelieu actually impressed Laurence by actually trying to
make a deal with him: an offer of fealty to Heaven, offering his network of
agents and the information gathered on Hell's agents and bases, but only if
Heaven allowed for some resources to be used to ensure France's continued
prosperity.
Laurence was actually impressed with that human's sheer determination, and
resonnated him. While Richelieu's life was filled with acts both noble and
ignoble, overall the Cardinal's actions had been motivated by Faith and
Patriotism, two traits that resonated with high honor to the Archangel. And
Richelieu's offer was quite tempting.
And so the Cardinal De Richelieu became a Soldier of God in service to the
Sword. Although in Richelieu's perception, service to Laurence was very
much like his usual services to France, save that Laurence impressed him as
being a better lord then King Louis XIII, and gave him a bit more leeway in
his service to the divine. Until his death in 1642, Richelieu's
intelligence network did double-duty as France's intelligence agency and
Heaven's primary information network throughout 17th century western europe.
After his death, Richelieu (having already accomplished his Destiny) was
greeted by Laurence and given an administrative position in the Cathedral of
the Sword, helping the Archangel to better organise the network of Soldiers
of God still operating on Earth.
And Richelieu, true to form, has since helped to re-organise this network
into something quite resembling his old spy and agent network, although one
of greater size and influence, operating on an International level rather
then a continental one. And while the soldiers still serve their own
Archangels first and foremost, and while Laurence is still the true final
authority in charge of the Soldiers of God, Richelieu is the Saint who
gets a lot of the paperwork done, and that gives him all the access he needs
to push things in one direction or another to get things done effectively.
Richelieu now has as firm a grip on the political situation of Heaven
as any human can, and has the most extensive, powerful and efficient spy
network this side of The Game and the Conspiracy (and Richelieu's still
building, even today. Asmodeus really dislikes having lost that Soul to
Heaven). The full extent of this network is known only to Richelieu,
(although Litheroy's made some guesses and Yves seems to know something),
but he uses it to further the cause of Heaven and the Sword. Whether or not
he does this unbeknownst by Laurence is one of those things best left to
quiet speculation, for reasons of Heavenly security.
All in all, Richelieu's time in Heaven has him keeping busy. He even keeps
tabs on his old homeland's status, and while he knows Heaven must labor to
help the whole world, Richelieu still does all in his power to keep the
country that saw his birth stay safe and independant. It's well noted that
during both World Wars, Richelieu actually took a leave of absence from his
Celestial duties to help organise things to help people in France. Many
WWII French Resistance cells (and cells in other nazi-occupied countries)
were organised with help from Richelieu using various vessels and roles
which he'd acquired over the years. These actions where accepted by
Laurence, however, as furthering the cause of Heaven in the struggle against
Human evil. This is perhaps why Laurence didn't say anything to him about
keeping some of those networks in action after the end of WWII.
After all... Richelieu's more then one of the Blessed, he's a Saint.
Certainly, all he does is essentially in service to God, right?
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