I wanted to see if I could still do this in half a day.
Raphael, Elohite Archangel of Knowledge – Google Docs
Raphael
Elohite Archangel of Knowledge
The world is a Truth for us to find.
When she lived, Raphael was one of the four Archangels that supported the world. Her remit was the Word of Knowledge; she shared with Jean, Elohite Archangel of Lightning, the responsibility of presenting the Truth to corporeal humanity, in ways that mortals could grasp. Like Jean, she was unwilling to simply hand out Knowledge freely, for fear that reckless humans would hurt others with it; or worse, themselves. However, Raphael always did inherently trust mortals better than Jean would, or perhaps could. This inherent tension between them made the two better partners — and spouses.
Raphael typically manifested on Earth using a female form. It is unclear whether she did so because of the way human Western philosophers personified Wisdom as being female, or whether the philosophers personified Wisdom that way because of Raphael. Superior-level ineffability clouds the question. Either way, Raphael rarely manifested on the corporeal plane, preferring to work via visions and relayed instructions. Even her Servitors had to work a little to get her attention.
Dissonance
It was dissonant for Servitors of Knowledge to personally convince a human to not to seek after either knowledge, or wisdom. Note that this did not prevent her angels from destroying knowledge themselves, particularly Infernally tainted knowledge. They just could not do so in the presence of mortals (including Soldiers of God). When faced with the sight of others destroying knowledge (however appropriate), the most a Servitor of Raphael could do to support that was to remain grimly, visibly silent.
Choir Attunements
Seraphim (restricted)
Seraphim of Knowledge did not need to make a resonance roll to determine whether a philosopher or savant (mortal or otherwise) believed his own espoused theories (CD equal to the angel’s Celestial Forces).
Cherubim (partially restricted)
Cherubim of Knowledge could attune to entire philosophical or intellectual schools of thought; once they were attuned, they could switch their attunement freely between adherents of that school until the end of the original resonance. Kyriotates had an effectively equivalent Choir attunement involving their resonance; any angel with both received a +2 to resonance rolls.
Ofanim
Ofanim could, with a successful Perception roll, add their Ethereal Forces to any mortal’s attempt to make an Intelligence or Precision-based roll.
Elohim (restricted)
Elohim could temporarily manifest ideas as ‘daemons;’ spirits that can communicate themselves to others. The spirits typically have Intelligence 2, cannot be targeted or destroyed, and are not truly self-aware; they fade from existence after about five minutes. However, they would also answer truthfully, and without malice, all questions germane to the idea that they represented. The Elohite could only manifest one daemon at a time, and doing so more than once per day required a Perception roll, at -2 for each manifestation past the second.
Malakim
Malakim of Knowledge could spend one Essence to create a physical manifestation of one of their Intelligence-based skills, which they could then throw at people (Power equal to skill level, Acc equal to the angel’s Precision, Range 50). The angel did not lose access to the skill.
Kyriotates (partially restricted)
Kyriotates of Knowledge could possess entire philosophical or intellectual schools of thought; once they were attuned, they could switch possession freely between adherents of that school until the end of the original resonance. Cherubim had an effectively equivalent Choir attunement involving their resonance; any angel with both received a +2 to resonance rolls.
Mercurians (partially restricted)
Mercurians never had to use their resonance to work out who was academically feuding or disagreeing with the target of their resonance (CD equivalent to the Mercurian’s Celestial Forces). Oddly, Seraphim of Knowledge could likewise use this Attunement.
Servitor Attunements
“Bring Me A Towel!”
With a successful Will roll, the angel could block a mortal from unconsciously spending Essence until the human’s next failed Intelligence roll. If the roll would have been successful if the human had spent Essence then, the Essence is spent, retroactively making the skill roll succeed; if the roll would not have succeeded, the block on Essence spending is removed.
Cord of Thought
With a successful Perception roll, the angel could look at a book or document and learn which books and philosophers truly influenced which section. As long as there was a copy of the refenced texts in question, the full history of an idea could be traced; and all mortal works of Knowledge can be found in Yves’ Library
Distinctions
Vassal of Knowledge
The angel added his Ethereal Forces to his Knowledge rolls.
Friend of Wisdom
The angel could read anything, coded or not, poorly written or not. Spoken language mastery was not provided.
Master of Lore
The angel had the Knowledge/1 (Everything) skill. Not cumulative with Vassal of Knowledge, but nobody ever received this Attunement unless they had 6 Ethereal Forces anyway.
Relations
Raphael mostly stayed out of Heavenly politics. She was partnered (in both senses of the term) with Jean, worked closely with Eli and Yves, and enjoyed good relations with Blandine and Marc. The details and arguments regarding the War itself she left to those more interested in it.
The three Archangels she most opposed (Raphael was never really Hostile to any of her fellow-Superiors) were Gabriel, Janus, and Jordi. Gabriel’s insanity during this period was an increasing concern to Raphael; the Archangel of Knowledge was one of the Superiors most open about getting the Archangel of Divine Fire under some sort of control. Raphael never really trusted Janus, as the Archangel of the Wind seemed to be deliberately hiding something from everybody (possibly even himself). As for Jordi; well, the Archangel of Animals absolutely did not like her, and Raphael felt it necessary to establish and enforce clear separation between her Servitors and Jordi’s.
Allied: Eli, Jean, Yves
Associated: Blandine, Marc
Neutral: David, Dominic, Michael, Novalis, Uriel
Opposed: Gabriel, Janus, Jordi
Basic Rites
- Correct a manuscript’s errors in a culture-appropriate fashion.
- Teach a class for at least one hour; at least one of the students must have had a skill level lower than the angel’s, in the subject being taught.
Chance of Invocation: 0 normally, 6 if the summoning Servitor was down to 2 Body, Mind, or Soul Hits. Raphael was difficult to reach except in dire emergencies.
Invocation Modifiers
+1 A set of writing implements
+2 A class of students
+3 A room full of working scribes
+4 The first edition of any manuscript
+5 A room full of arguing scholars
+6 The moment when a new philosophical theory is conceived of
Minor Notes
- The Purity Crusade did not take place until several hundred years before Raphael’s death. The Archangel of Knowledge did not support the Crusade, and there are rumors that she acted kindly towards refugee ethereals, particularly if they were Information based spirits. Certainly Raphael was known to be reasonably accessible to both certain pagan deities, and their mortal servants. Raphael’s death in the Legion Incident permanently ended whatever potential investigation Dominic might have planned, of course.
- If there is an Archangel that might have been sympathetic to so-called ‘white’ Sorcery, it would have been Raphael. Likewise the Children of the Gregori.
- Raphael’s particular enemies among the Horde were Makatiel, Prince of Disease; Mariel, Princess of Oblivion; and Kronos, Prince of Fate (once he appeared on the scene). Makatiel was terrified of Raphael, and Mariel was obsessed with her; the Archangel reacted appropriately, but without real heat. But Kronos received a disproportionate amount of Raphael’s attention from the very start.
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