Last Updated: 10 April 1997
Adapted by: Elizabeth McCoy (emccoy@nh.ultranet.com)
[Okay, I'm in a strange mood today...]
Disclaimer: This in *NO WAY*
is intended to threaten the copyrights and/or trademarks held by Disney
and/or Buena Vista on the Gargoyles characters, concepts, cartoons, or merchandise.
It is posted in a spirit of respect and admiration (for the 1st and 2nd
seasons, at least), with the desire to advertise this quite cool cartoon
show and get people to buy the Disney tapes of the 1st season. I have no
permission to do this, and all the Gargoyle characters mentioned are property
of Disney and/or Buena Vista (using the correct spelling if I mangled it).
All the In Nomine characters are SJG's, of course.
Most celestials, upon seeing the strange stone-by-day, alive-by-night creatures popularly known as "Gargoyles," would assume that they are some breed of Nephallim, more ethical than the usual sort, but still distorted children of the excommunicate Grigori. As such, angels are not supposed to associate with them, and demons find them annoying, but only minor nuisances -- after all, they are mostly exterminated. There is some suggestion that they may actually be creations of Ethereal spirits who simply lucked out during the "Purification" that destroyed the dragons and other creatures of myth.
That they were lucky during Uriel's little crusade is indisputable, but they are not -- or not entirely -- creatures of the Ethereal gods nor kin to the exiled Watchers. They are the forgotten Children of Stone.
Long ago, when the Fall was still recent in the minds of celestials, the angels of Stone found an unguarded, un-noticed Hell-tether. An army of David's finest -- mostly Malakim, but with a large minority of Cherubim -- planned, trained, and finally executed a direct assault, meant to take down many of the new and presumably slightly confused Demon Princes, or perhaps even Lucifer himself. Full of the sort of vain-glory that Dominic would later seek to eradicate, the Finest of Stone told no-one else of their plans.
Unfortunately, through bad luck, cunning entrapment, or even, somehow, betrayal from one of their own... the assault led the angels of Stone into a trap. They were slaughtered, so overwhelmed that the demons didn't even bother entirely killing most of them -- instead, Force-stripped angels were tossed out, adding mortal insult to mortal injuries. Those who had been crippled in Corporeal or Ethereal Forces made their way back to David's Cathedral. The Remnants of the army mostly lay where they had appeared, or wandered about aimlessly, kept near their comrades by the vague memories of protection and mutual loyalty.
And so it was that David, in his grief, came upon them at the setting of the sun and Did Something. To this day, it's not clear *what* actually happened. Perhaps he sought to rebuild their shattered souls himself, perhaps he enlisted the aid of Creation, perhaps he sought help from the Ethereal gods. Perhaps he dealt with a Grigori. Perhaps a Demon Princess found him sorrowing in the midst of his crippled angels and spoke to him of bargains...or a Prince spied upon him and saw an opportunity for a little joke. David does not speak of this time, even to those who remember the failed assault.
The celestial nature of these remnants was gone; there would be no way to heal them to what they were. At best, they might be re-created as young angels or relievers, scarred by battles they no longer recalled. It might have been more merciful to destroy their vessels and allow their tattered Forces to return to the Symphony, but David's Malakite honor and sense of duty to his stricken servitors would not allow this without one, last try...
The try was not entirely successful. David had hoped to somehow infuse these remnants with mortal souls, that they might be restored to him and the Symphony as Soldiers or Saints or even just good men who might one day be cleansed of their suffering in the upper Heavens.
Instead, he wound up with a new breed of un-human monsters -- with the hearts of Malakim and Cherubim. Though looking like the most twisted of demons, these new creatures treated honor as their life's blood, and sought to protect as they sought breath.
Though David was on unstable moral ground, having created a new sort of life, he was now even less able to take the choice of "mercy" to these new beings. They lived, they breathed, and though their memories of their past existance were almost entirely gone, they were still honorable creatures, still dedicated to the word of Stone.
Perhaps he panicked slightly, perhaps it was merely yet another side effect of whatever had created them. But when the sun rose again, David was surrounded by baroque and monsterous statues, and not the noble-hearted living things that he had created. But that night, he watched these new beings break free and live again; and he saw that sometime during the day, they had regained Essence -- either at sunrise, as angels do, or mid-day, as humans do. So whatever they were, they were not demonic, nor creatures of the Ethereal plane.
Uncertainly, sure he was making a mistake and equally sure that he could not just abandon these who had once been created by him from the Symphony, David instructed them "to protect." He told them that the soft, weak humans would require loyal protectors and noble examples -- and this would be their purpose in life. These Children of Stone agreed, filling the confused emptiness within their souls. And thus were born Gargoyles...
Gargoyles are commonly built on *8* Forces, usually in the pattern of 4 Corporeal, 2 Ethereal and 2 Celestial. Some exceptional individuals have been known to achieve *two* extra Forces -- usually Corporeal. A few (usually young or very weak) are as low as 5 forces. Their attribute maximums are angelic (12), not human (10). However, they are not celestials -- they are mortal, with mortal souls that can descend Hell-wards, rise to Heaven, linger as ghosts, reincarnate, or disintegrate into the glory of the Symphony. They do not spend Essence deliberately, but "all at once" as humans do. The sole evidence of their heritage is their dual nature -- during the day, they are frozen into stone statues, un-moving, unaware, dreaming stone dreams. At sundown, they come alive, bursting through a thin stone shell, healed of all but the most crippling injuries that they suffered the previous night. If shattered during the day, they remain gravel -- dead.
It is not entirely clear whether they gain Essence at mid-day, as humans do, or at sunrise -- they're stone throughout that time... Presumably, possessing mortal souls, noon is the correct time for that Essence regeneration.
All Gargoyles have the Discord (from human standpoints) of Discolored/1; to most humans, they are also Ugly (often at level 3 or worse!), though some have been known to look past the humanoid similarities and see the underlying alien patterns as merely "other," or even attractive. [This may just be some sort of Negative Charisma, physical -- which can be countered by postive Charisma, attitude! Alternatively, the GM can create an "Unhuman" Discord.
Note that this Discord is not the true, soul-staining Discord of Celestials.]
All Gargoyles have the Ethereal Discords of Angry and Berserk, usually at the level of their Corporeal Forces, but sometimes lower. (Even at level 0, however, a Gargoyle will still require a Will roll to avoid turning a situation violent or stopping their own violence!) Some have the Celestial Discord of Murderous. A gargoyle under the influence of Angry or Berserk will show it in the eyes -- which flare brightly to observers (white for males, red for females).
On the plus side, they're all very strong and generally manifest one or more physical features which are [astonishingly, for something not meant to go with IN] equivalent to various Numinous Corpus Songs -- the only commonality is that there is no commonality... Acid and Tongue are not known, but Claws are nearly universal, Wings only slightly less-so, Fangs (or a beak) are only rarely absent, and the same for Tail (usually not barbed, often used for striking). Horns are usually only vestigial, while Feet are only rarely hooves; more common are clawed and spurred feet -- few, if any, Gargoyles are not digigrade walkers. (Though one had no feet whatsoever, and slithered...) Unfortunately, few, if any, have Wings that will really fly; instead, they can only glide on updrafts or thermals, though they are good enough at it to provide an illusion of true flight!
They are also much tougher than the usual mortal, with Protection from natural armor equal to Corporeal Forces.
Few actually have the skill of Climbing at any level -- primarily, they use their Claws (and Feet) to dig into cliff-sides or buildings and move upwards slowly, leaving behind great gouges. They are *murder* on buildings...
While they do not gain dissonance in the way of the Servitors of David, the Children of Stone do seem to retain some of that nature: they prefer to defend rather than attack, and while they *can* use ranged weapons, those who deign to try are usually really, *really* lousy shots with them. Also befitting the Malakim nature that most of their remnant ancestors possessed, they are obsessed with honor and clan -- while a few have gone against their clan-families, or lied or cheated, it is difficult for them to rationalize it. And a gargoyle must have a protectorate, or he (or she) will feel incomplete.
Examples... (Flight is an Agility skill)
Forces: 9
Corporeal: 5 Strength 10, Agility 10 Ethereal: 2 Intelligence 4, Precision 4 Celestial: 2 Will 5*, Perception 4
(*Additional attribute due to experience)
Vessel/5 (as per human levels), Charisma +2 (voice and bearing)
Discords: Discolored/1 (lavender), Ugly/1, Angry/2, Berserk/1
Numinous Corpus: Wings, Claws, Tail, Fangs, Feet (spurs).
Skills: Acrobatics/1, Detect Lies/1, Dodge/1, Fighting (Corporeal)/4, Flight/3, Knowledge (Area: New York City)/2, Knowledge (Area: Castle Wyvern)/2, Knowledge (Geography)/1, Knowledge (Gargoyle Politics and Culture)/3, Move Silently/1, Running/3, Survival (forest)/1, Swimming/1, Tactics/5, Throwing (usually cars)/1, Tracking/2.
Forces: 8
Corporeal: 3 Strength 6, Agility 6 Ethereal: 3 Intelligence 7, Precision 5 Celestial: 2 Will 4, Perception 4
Vessel/3
Discords: Discolored/1 (green-brown), Ugly/2, Angry/2, Berserk/2
Numinous Corpus: Wings ("flying-squirrel" style; cannot use hands much while flying), Claws, Tail, Fangs, Feet (spurs)
Skills: Acrobatics/2, Computer Operations/5, Dodge/1, Electronics/3, Engineering/3, Fighting (Corporeal)/3, Flight/2, Knowledge (Area: New York City)/2, Knowledge (Area: Castle Wyvern)/2, Move Silently/3, Running/3, Survival (forest)/1, Swimming/1, Tactics/1, Throwing/1, Tracking/1
Forces: 8
Corporeal: 4 Strength 7, Agility 9 Ethereal: 2 Intelligence 4, Precision 4 Celestial: 2 Will 5, Perception 3
Vessel/4, Charisma +1 (voice)
Discords: Discolored (blue), Ugly/1, Angry/5, Berserk/4, *Geas/6 (Weird Sisters: future favors, unknown to Demona), Paranoia/1, Murderous/2
Numinous Corpus: Wings, Claws, Tail, Fangs, Feet (spurs).
Skills: [A *lot* -- she's been kicking around for about 1,000 years, due to intervention from Ethereal spirits... Who hit her with a Geas* in the second season. She's also sworn an oath to destroy humanity, which she takes quite seriously, but that may just be her twisted Malakite nature.] Rare among Gargoyles, Demona has picked up the skill of Ranged Weapon (Blaster) -- she is not very good at it, but makes up for this with autofire. She also has Large Weapon (mace) at some decent level.
[*The Geas is gone by the end of the second season, but Demona, twisted with guilt for the accidental killing of her clan, is still a loon -- and still immortal...]
Forces: 7
Corporeal: 4 Strength 10, Agility 6 Ethereal: 1 Intelligence 1, Precision 3 Celestial: 2 Will 3, Perception 5
Vessel/4
Discords: Discolored/1 (blue), Ugly/4, Angry/4, Berserk/3, horizontal and semi-sentient, with no opposable thumbs.
Numinous Corpus: Claws, Fangs, Feet (clawed, usually only used when climbing buildings)
Skills: Acrobatics/1, Dodge/2, Emote/3 (main form of communication), Fighting/3, Knowledge (Area: New York City)/2, Knowledge (Area: Castle Wyvern)/2, Move Silently/2, Running/6, Survival (forest)/2, Swimming/2, Tracking/6.
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