And I Feel Fine - Part 6: The 144,000
"Then I heard the number of those who were sealed: 144,000 from all the
tribes of Israel."
-- Revelation 7:4
For months now, everyone in Heaven has been accustomed to seeing
twenty-one of the twenty-four Elders arrayed around the Throne of God.
Indeed, the Elders were paid little attention, since the Occupant of
that throne always drew in one's spiritual vision. But suddenly there
were twenty-three Elders there, and people did notice. In minutes,
every Archangel had manifested in the chambers of the Seraphim Council,
and angels of Revelation began teleporting in with TV cameras and
notepads.
In the center of the chamber stood two Archangels: Song and Death.
Death turned to Uriel. "You have called. I have come." Uriel nodded.
Song turned to Dominic. "Our sentence is done." And Dominic nodded.
Song raised its hands, summoning, and new figures began to appear in the
Council Chamber -- beautiful giants, male and female, with golden auras
-- the Grigori, returning. "These are my closest servants," Song said.
"But many remain on Earth. And in Limbo. And here on the Celestial
Plane, in the gulf between Heaven and Hell. And on the Ethereal Plane.
Many I can reach, but all must be gathered in."
Dominic nodded. "Their sentence, too, is done." Laurence added, "And
Heaven needs all its angels, now."
"Tell me, Song," said Yves, in the tone of one giving a cue, "how did
you spend your time on Earth?"
Song smiled. "I am Song. I composed. I bring many new Songs to
Heaven." It gestured and, with a rustle, a thick stack of scores
appeared before each Archangel, and before many senior angels, including
Israfel, Angel of Music.
"And I am a Watcher," Song continued. "I watched. In large part, we
all watched. Many of the new Songs I bring you were written to assist
us in our spying. Thanks to them, many of us retreated to Limbo and yet
could watch and report from there. Over the ages, we sent our findings
to you, as well as we could. Here, now, is my final report." And Song
gestured to Laurence; a thick folder appeared before his place. The
Grigorian Archangel gestured more widely and similar folders appeared
before every other Archangel.
"I bring you the Grigori, I bring you new Songs, I bring you
intelligence for the War," Song said. "And I bring you a new Word. We
Watchers have spied and explored everywhere, in our exile. And we have
hidden everywhere. Including all the waste places of reality -- Limbo,
the Outermost Marches, the Astral gulf between Heaven and Hell, even the
Lower Hells. I led my Choir in that exploring, that hiding, that we
might not fail in our duty, and that we might survive. And for that
effort, I was given a second Word -- the Word of waste places and outer
darkness. I am also Archangel of the Abyss."
Song, who is also Abyss, bowed low before the Metatron, offering its
strange Word to Heaven. "Welcome back," the Metatron said.
"And just in time," said a new voice. All turned to it. "Eli!" cried
Novalis. Throughout the Council Chamber, many angels and saints closed
their eyes and turned to the East, to see the Throne, where now all
twenty-four Elders stood in attendance. A buzz of wondering filled the
room. Many looked to Dominic.
The Archangel of Judgement closed his hanging jaw with a snap, then
reared up. "Eli," he said, his voice clear and calm, "why did you leave
Heaven and your duties?"
Eli smiled. "I was on a secret mission from God!" He grinned at the
Metatron, who smiled back and nodded. "Good enough?" he asked Dominic.
Dominic settled back onto his seat in silver coils. "Quite good
enough. Thank you."
"What was this mission?" Yves asked, again giving a cue.
"Vessel 2.0," Eli announced. "It's immortal. Stress it to the point of
death, and it instantly goes into potentiality. The owner automatically
ascends, free of Trauma and ready to return, just like a Malakite with
spare vessels. But, ah, I've only got up to the beta-test version; I
can only attach one to a Child of the Grigori. That's why I'm so glad
to see Song back."
"And how many of these new vessels are you prepared to make?" Yves
prompts again.
"With all Archangels helping," Eli answered, "I estimate about ...
144,000." He grinned.
Laughter rippled through the Council chambers. But then Dominic rose
again. "Heaven has an ancient contract to fulfill. Long ago, Abraham
was promised that, in his children, all nations would be blessed. The
details of that convenant are forgotten on Earth, but not here.
Accordingly, I Judge that these new vessels should go to 144,000
children of the house of Israel who also bear Grigorian blood."
Roleplaying seed: The Muster of the Grigori
The Grigorian Archangel of Song is able to contact the bulk of the
Grigori, and in fact many ascend to Heaven within hours of their
Archangel's return. But quite a few remain hidden. They need to be
called back. Song can give some clues, but leg work and detective work
is needed. PCs can provide it.
The Grigori have found many obscure places to hide, so the hunt can take
the PCs to almost any corner of the In Nomine setting, outside Hell --
the more remote, the better. Resident aliens in pagan pantheons, nomads
in the gap between Heaven and Hell, hermits in Limbo, and members of the
plankton floating for centuries through the seas in very tiny vessels,
are just some of the possibilities, along with the usual hideaways in
the human population.
Once the Grigori are back in Heaven, where do they go? Some may want to
go back to their old Words and find they are still not welcome. Some
may have signed on with Song during their long exile and find Song
doesn't want to let them go. Or perhaps Abyss doesn't want to let them
go; (same Archangel, different Word). The PCs can get involved in this
if some of them are very old and have Grigorian friends -- or foes --
who have shown up again. Or if they make a new friend among the
Grigori. ... Or if they find that a "human" or "Ethereal" ally of theirs
has been a masquerading Grigor all this time.
Roleplaying seed: Eli's Return
With Eli's return, there will be another round of personnel reshuffling,
like those that accompanied the returns of Raphael, Uriel, and Oannes.
Eli's exoneration can have a roleplaying effect on old grudges between
Creationers and their detractors.
Roleplaying seed: The Muster of the Children
Some of the 144,000 are already in Heaven, but some are on Earth. Or at
least *candidates* are on Earth. It may be one's Destiny to be one of
the 144,000, but not everyone achieves their Destiny. Yves can give
information on where to find these candidates, but it will be up to
various PCs to do the recruiting. Since many of the candidates did not
even know they had Jewish blood, much less angelic blood, they are in
for a shock. And they very likely have unfinished business. And they
may not *want* to be recruited. Remember, they almost instinctively
avoid celestials.
And what if Heaven overshoots? What if they make up the 144,000 and
have Jewish Grigorids left over? Once these people are finally
recruited, they are likely to want to play some role in the War as they
now know it. Come up with something.
Then there are all the gentile Children. The faint suspicion that the
Grigorids may be Heaven's ace in the hole has expanded into a roaring
rumor among the Host. Many folk won't settle for the idea that the
rumor has been "fulfilled" by recruiting the Children for the 144,000;
they will be seeking out Children on Earth and in Heaven, to recruit for
their own schemes. Some Grigori (not all) will be willing to help
locate and convince their descendants.
Roleplaying seed: Death Angels
It is canonical that the Archangel of Death exists, but virtually
nothing is written up about it. There are some non-canonical write-ups
at:
http://www.amadan.org/Innomine/Azrael.htm
http://www.sjgames.com/in-nomine/articles/INChar/Angels/Archangel.Charon.html
Now that the Archangel of Death has (re)appeared in Heaven, its
servitors come out of whatever cosmic woodwork they have been hiding
in. It turns out that only a few Death Angels have operated out in the
open, and those few have been deliberately kept in the dark about their
Archangel and fellow servitors.
Heaven has a whole new sub-culture of angels to assimilate -- angels who
know much more about the rest of Heaven than Heaven knows about them,
but who are still quite foreign. You can roleplay meetings with Death
Angels in Heaven -- personal encounters, or guest lecturers coming to
gives get-acquainted talks to other Words, or official envoys of the
Death Archangel working their way through diplomatic formalities. The
tone of these encounters depends on how you paint the Heavenly Word of
Death -- otherworldly, icy and dark, violent, or sentimental.
It may also be that some old acquaintance -- a supposed angel of Destiny
or Fire or War -- turns out to have been an undercover Death Angel.
That might take getting used to.
The Angels of Death are very powerful, numerous, and busy. Among their
other duties, they saw that Hell only got souls that were truly
damnable; they were the next-to-last filter before the Angels of Final
Judgement at Hellgate. They were the reason ghosts are so rare. Death
and Destiny worked together, secretly, to regulate reincarnation, and
Death Angels escorted reincarnating souls to their new bodies.
And every Death Angel regards every Undead as a personal insult. They
will be more than happy to help in raids on Saminga's zombie factories;
in fact, they will have a tendency to lead them.
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EDG <edg@sjgames.com>
In Nomine Collection Curator