Introduction
I bought the Marches sourcebook, and was both pleased and disappointed with some of the findings. Pleased, because now there are rules for sorcery, and I can incorporate them into my game. Displeased, because, well, because all arcane knowledge and practices of the world was relegated to the works of one servant of Kronos, and considering some of the religions and beliefs around the world, that seemed more then a little unfair.
Someone had been reading all those weird web pages out there, and getting the wrong impression.
So I split sorcery into two categories:
The first is practiced in several of the World's main religions - Christianity, Judism, Buddhism, Hinduism, Taoism to name a few that I know offhand. I have a real hard time believing that the Lotus Sutra, certainly a "magical" work, is from Hell and does any more then put students to sleep while reading it. And I'm pretty sure that the Buddha wasn't a sociopath, although I could be wrong.
But I understand where the concept of Sorcery coming from Hell comes from as well. The main imputus to learn #2 is to further one's selfish aims. There is alot of that going around, especially in the fringes of society in modern times, and much of it is quite unsettling.
So I dug into my books, remembered some weirder stuff I have read, and whipped out, what I hope, fills the void. Here is an Archangel and a Demon Prince, one of which comes right out of a few Angels books. I would also like to point out that these are more or less replacements for Alaemon and Lithorey, neither of which ever really sat well with me, both seeming to be lesser servants ("Revelation/Secrets") of wider Words.
Raziel is the Angel who represents Chockmah, the Sephira of Wisdom in the Kabbalah.
Ghogiel is the Angel who represents the Qlippoth Chagadiel, the Blood Stained Patriarch.
They are pretty good opposites.
Comment, suggest, flame, argue, go for it. Please, toss your criticism this way.
(Resources were
"Angels A to Z" by Matthew Bunson
"Dictionary of Angels" by Gustav Davidson
"Kabbalah and..." something or other. I always draw a blank.
Gersholm
Sholem.
"The Kabbalah FAQ" by Colin Low
)
Raziel, Archangel of the Mysteries (Patron of Science)
"God has created Man from the dust in his own image. It is our right to deliver the wisdom of God unto him, so he can take his proper place in the cosmos."
Angel of Secrets, Angel of Mysteries, Raziel is the possessor of a staggering amount of information about the arcane and occult. Once said to stand in the curtain between God and the rest of his Creation around the divine throne, Raziel carefully notes down everything said in a large book, the Sefir Raziel Hamalach (the Book of the Angel Raziel).
Raziel began his career as the herald to the Lord, carrying quick messages around to the ArchAngels before the Fall. But his role changed after the Fall when Adam and Eve were expulsed from the Garden of Eden. Raziel, feeling pity for the creatures down on the Earth, took his Book filled with the mysteries of God and handed it to Adam. This did not sit well with much of the heavenly host, and it was taken back from Adam by a group of angels and cast into the sea. Instead of God destroying Raziel for his involvement and interference with mankind, he ordered Raheb, demon of the sea, to fish it out and hand it back. But the book was not returned to Adam, it was returned to Heaven. The knowledge was temporarily lost.
Afterwards, Raziel tried to intervene with mankind again. It is said that he gave his book to Raphael, and Raphael handed the book to Noah so Noah would read it and learn how to build the Ark. Also, according to legend, Raziel personally contacted Solomon, and it was he who gave Solomon his sorcerorous powers.
Raziel was out of the picture through the later part of Biblical times, busy carrying messages to and fro through the heavenly host during that busy period. He reappeared in Medieval times, when badly copied versions of his book began to appear in the hands of sorcerers who had enlightened selfish interest to use the knowledge contained wherein to manipulate God's Creation. Since the heart of the book requires a key that only Raziel possesses, he has refused to work with these human creatures, allowing them to fall instead into the hands of minions of Hell. Although, since the middle ages, he has been attempting to get the correct information into the correct hands, and destroy the false tales and the lies.
Legend has it that he sometimes sits upon Mt. Horeb and yells the secrets of the mysteries into the air, hoping his angels will take them and deliver them to deserving humans. It's possible in modern times he just gets his email up there.
Raziel, an Ofanim, believes firmly in the right of Man to learn all they can about the cosmos. He's flighty, his concentration straying when he knows there's another human out there to be taught, and so much to learn now a days. He is not so much interested in staying around to teach, as he is to hand the information over and allow humans to learn how to best apply it themselves, with some helpful pointers. He often works with the angels of Yves to know who to best hand the information. He delights in technology, seeing science as a method to explore the mysteries, and a way to allow humans to explore the nature of Creation. He is annoyed by Jean, and the fact that Jean keeps these methods out of the hands of humans until "the time is right", whatever that may mean.
Raziel, in his enthusiasm, has been known to annoy more then one Archangel in his time.
He appears as a young man, tall and thin, with a far off look on his face and a small knowing smile. He's considered more then a little wild, and he's easily carried away by his enthusiasm for a new subject. Cheerful and exciteable, he's more likely to be talking about the newest revelations in religion and science, then he is in about the War.
Dissonance:
It is dissonant to keep any arcane or mysterious knowledge out of the hands of human beings. It is also dissonant to give knowledge which is incorrect, or may be directly harmful to the humans it is being imparted to.
Choir Attunements:
Each angel is in some way attuned to the arcane mysteries of God in relation to the Symphony.
Seraphim:
The Seraphim of Raziel can read and translate any manuscript in any language they encounter at a touch.
Cherubim:
Cherubim of Raziel can automatically succeed on their attunement to an object of mystical nature.
Ofanim:
Still true to Raziel's original nature as the Herald of God, these Ofanim make pretty decent messangers. They add their celestial forces to their resonance rolls when they are carrying a message containing information or some sort of knowledge.
Elohim:
Patient teachers where their Superior is not, Elohim often appear as Theologians, Rabbis, Professors, or other religious practicioners who carefully search the tomes and distribute knowledge into a more accessable form. These allow them to add their forces their resonance roll when they are analysing data or a logical progression of information.
Malakim:
These Malakim automatically succeed on their resonance rolls to detect if the human in question is deemed worthy of the knowledge they are to receive.
Kyriotates:
Kyriotates of Raziel have access to the minds of the humans they inhabit. They receive essense for allowing the human to learn a new skill or piece of knowledge they did not previously possess.
Mercurians:
The Mercurians of Raziel are normally priests, pastors, and teachers, and other purveyors of knowledge who make themselves easily accessable to human beings. These beings add their Celestial forces to teach a human new skills.
Servitor Attunements:
ARCANE KNOWLEDGE
For two essense points, this attunement allows the caster to lay their hands on a tomb, and learn everything that is held between the bindings. This does not necessarily mean that the caster will understand all that is written, but for a time, the information is indelebly imprinted on their psyche.
KEYS OF GOD
Angels with this attunement understand the arcane locks that the Celestials, especially Raziel, place upon their works to conceal them from the Fallen or from Mankind who is not prepared to learn. The angel knows the secret keys which will decode the books and allow them to be read.
Distintions:
Vassel of Studies
This distinction allows an angel to inspire the need to learn a subject in any human they touch.
Friend of the Keys
This distinction allows an angel to confer the method to understand a subject, ie language or a piece of mathematics.
Master of Arcane Secrets
This distinction allows an angel to confer complete understanding of a subject to a human being with a touch.
Relations:
Allied: Yves, Blandine, (Raphael)
Associated: Janus, Eli
Hostile: Jean
Basic Rites:
* Spend two hours teaching a new subject to someone
* Spend four hours researching a new topic in a library
Chance of Invocation: 2
Invocation Modifiers:
+1 A library book
+2 A book containing technical/religious information
+3 A known mystical work in the users native language
+4 A known mystical work in its original language
+5 An unknown mystical work in its original language
+6 A copy of the name of God
Ghogiel, Demon Prince of the Occult
"Creation is meant to be a plaything. And only those with the proper knowledge will be allowed to play."
The Prince of Ignorance is dead. Long live the Prince of Dark Knowledge.
Humans, in their revolution, have shaken off the shackles of ignorance in return for access to the darker aspects of their existance. There are those who search the cosmos for secrets so they can have control, so it can give them power over others and their world for their own personal gain. Ghogiel, embodiment of the dark knowledge and the dark prices that are paid, is willing to bargin.
Ghogiel sees his Word as a method to corrupt more human souls by only giving them half-truths and only a partial taste of the reality that surrounds them, while offering the quick shot to power. Be it men hunched over ancient tombs in the dead of night reciting old dead languages, or the new magic which promises a happier, more comfortable existance through the use of psychic hotlines. Either way, the Prince is there, waiting for someone to happily hand over their soul for more information, more knowledge, more secrets. And he is happy to oblige.
Until the resurgance of popular magic in the 1800's, Ghogiel was a servant of Kronos, helping along in alchemists labs, the dark caves, or the covens of the middle ages, happily delivering ancient tombs or handing out the dark knowledge to his fleshy play things as he saw fit. But as learning began to spread, so did his power, and he found many a soldier of hell willing to popularize and spread his Word. He discovered there are many more men interested in learning the quick and easy method to power, then spending years upon empty years meditating, contemplating, working their ways up out of date ladders of authority. He offered these men what they wanted the most in return for their souls, and these men taught their dark secrets to their disciples, published books, magazines, and made cults and sorcery a popular hobby and pasttime.
With the coming of television, movies, more widespread publishing, and the glamourization of the beauty of the dark arts, Ghogiel finally became powerful enough to lobby for Princehood, and receive it in spades.
His servants do not just dwell in caves or in basements of run down farmhouses. They infest areas of academia, engineering, the business world, anywhere dark secrets are spoken behind closed doors and dark practices occur without notice. The dark arts are intertwined into engineering, medicine, law, pursuading people to use technology and devices in way that mankind does not really understand.
Ghogiel is a Calabite, a whirlwind of entropy who enjoys the destruction to minds, lives, sanity, and ultimately souls that his dark Word brings. Not one to sit and patiently teach, he offers the quick road to knowledge without any roadstops. He cannot be bothered with the consequences of his actions, just with the actions themselves.
Ghogiel appears as a middle aged man, usually an academic scholar in a well tailored suit and a small smile upon his lips.
Dissonance:
It is dissonant for a servant of Ghogiel to give warnings or encourage enlightenment through the use of the dark secrets they peddle. It is also dissonant to encourage a human to leave a group once they have joined.
Band Attunements:
Balseraph:
The Balseraph of Ghogiel often appears as those who are seen in authority of groups, coven heads, sect leaders, technical directors and those other liars which promise an easy road to ultimate wisdom. They may automatically make their resonance rolls when pursuading a human that their road to enlightenment is the correct one.
Djinn:
The Djinn of Ghogiel are often attuned to objects of power. They can locate any arcane object, such as a book or a special candle or a computer program, that they need to complete a rite.
Calabim:
The Calabim join and help the destructive cults, which put forth the concepts of selfishness and using their knowledge to manipulate the world around them. They regain essense if they participate in any group activity which causes the destruction of an entity, ie. computer "technopagan" groups which hack viruses, Temple of Set groups who commit sacrifices.
Habbalah:
The demons of emotional projection use their resonances to addict a human to the source of power, getting them to believe they want more, need more, have to have it to continue their ways, and giving the target the need to be driven to learn so that they may be more powerful then their peers, or the whatever is their target, regardless of the destruction to their homes, lives, or family. They receive no dissonance on the failure on a roll like this.
Lilim:
Lilim offer dark knowledge in exchange for certain acts, showing humans that it will offer them a way to impose their free will upon the world. The lilim can add her celestial forces to detect a Need to find out what piece of knowledge the human craves.
Shedim:
Ghogiel's Shedim are satanists, arsonists, all those people who show up on television after they have scarred their bodies and killed all the cats in the neighborhood. The Shedim can reduce their host's Will roll by their Ethereal Forces if the act is in some sort of dark worship to a darker lord.
Impudite:
These Impudites come off as cult leaders, pseudo-religious figures, and other chrismatic people who offer a quick route to happiness and "magical powers". They may add their Celestial Forces to any roll to Charm a victim who has bought into their circle of madness.
Servitor Attunements:
PENTAGRAM
Demons with this attunement can, for two essense, draw a dark pentagram around them, which will temporarily heighten their resonances. This will allow them to add their Celestial forces in using their resonances.
SORCERY
Demons with this attunement may confer the SORCERY attunement on humans of their choice, as set forth in the Marches supplement.
Distinctions:
Knight of Visions
This distinction allows the demons to instantly know how much a subject knows about an occult subject through a touch.
Captain of the Occult
This distinction allows the demon to get a subject to believe any occult subject, no matter how convoluted, confusing, or outright bizarre it might seem.
Baron of the Tetragrammaton
This distinction allows the demons to insure that any complex ritual goes off without a hitch - the more dangerous, the better. This allows completion of the ritual, but does not take in any of the after-effects, like the demon they have summoned says, "LUNCH", and eats the human sorcerer.
Relations:
Allied: Malphas
Associated: Kronos, Saminga
Hostile: Valefor
Basic Rites:
* Spend two hours performing an occult rite
* Spend four hours teaching a human a new rite or spell
Chance of Invocation: 1
Invocation Modifiers:
+1 A pack of Tarot cards
+2 A copy of the Book of the Law
+3 A copy of the Zohar
+4 An ancient occult resource translated into a known langauge
+5 An ancient occult resource still in its original langauge
+6 Any book and translation key key written in the Angelic tongue
Artifact:
The Sefer Raziel Hamalach (The Book of the Angel Raziel)
The book of the Angel Raziel is supposed to contain the 1500 keys to the mysteries of the universe. As the tale goes, the book is written in such a way that it is coded, and without Raziel or one of his angels it is impossible to read.
Additionally, within the book is a whole host of other arcane and sorcerous knowledge, including amulets to ward off evil spirits and healing spells of all kinds. Several copies of this book appeared, beginning in the 13th century, of which were either written by Isaac the Blind or Eleazer of Worms. The hand written copies are heavily corrupted versions of the original, missing the coded pages in the center.
