I am kind of wiped, so I’m putting up a couple of In Nomine ethereals up from the old days. One I love, and one I… do not.
This is the one I do not.
Ttthhawkawkssssthhh
Ethereal Fertility Goddess
Corporeal Forces: 3 Strength: 4 Agility: 8
Ethereal Forces: 3 Intelligence: 4 Precision: 8
Celestial Forces: 4 Will: 8 Perception: 8
Vessel: Canada Goose made out of steam/6
Elements: Life: Beasts (Primary), Society: The Flock (Secondary)
Affinities: Animals (Primal), Fertility (Primal)
Skills: Dodge/3, Emote/3, Fighting/6, Survival (Forests/3, Urban/3)
Songs: Beasts (All/4), Healing (Corporeal/6), Movement (Ethereal/3), Shields (Corporeal/3, Celestial/3)
Dread: Failing to advance the interests of the species she identifies with/3
Image: A Canada Goose made of steam. To a goose’s eyes, at least; to a human, it’d be just a cloud of steam.
Worship Rite: See the grass, in front of the Holy Steam? Eat the grass. Thank your Goddess for Her bounty, that gives you grass in winter. After this, defecate on the walkway.
The Law of Unintended Consequences has a sharp edge, indeed. It was not the intent of those conservationists among the Host (and even some among the Horde; quite a few demons have nothing at all against animals) to help create an ethereal god; all they wanted to do was bring back the Canada Goose from near-extinction. What was unknown at the time was that geese are barely intelligent enough to know to bow their necks to a Power greater than themselves — the concept of ‘worshipping’ is not totally alien to them. And where there are dreams and worship, gods follow.
Ttthhawkawkssssthhh is completely sustained by the worship of geese; she is of course aware of humanity, but doesn’t think much of it. That is in both the sense of ‘doesn’t have a high opinion of humanity’ and ‘doesn’t really pay attention to humanity’; the goddess is of the opinion that what humanity does simply doesn’t affect her. This is obviously absurd, but Ttthhawkawkssssthhh is not nearly as intelligent as she thinks herself to be, and what intelligence is there is not terribly suited to comprehending other viewpoints. She achieved godhood due mostly to an utter lack of competition, after all; it would seem that while the concept of godhood is achievable by geese, the notion of a pantheon is not. Or possibly there’s a sharp upper limit to their collective power of belief. Either way, Ttthhawkawkssssthhh is a Goose writ large (and made out of living steam): quarrelsome, incontinent — and just a bit arrogant about being both.
Regardless, Ttthhawkawkssssthhh is solicitous of her worshippers (much more so than she is of anything else). They want good grass, healing for their hurts and healthy chicks; she can provide, and does. However, the goddess does not intervene when one gets shot or attacked; even a hunting party will not raise her ire. It is yet to be determined whether this is due to her acceptance of predation as part of the natural order of things, or is instead a tacit recognition of the fact that any attack on humanity will lead to her swift destruction by the Host. Possibly Ttthhawkawkssssthhh herself does not know. It is clear that the goddess restrains herself to promoting the interests of geese, to quite some effect.
Please note that Jordi, the Archangel of Animals, is exceedingly anxious that this entire situation be examined quite thoroughly, and without predetermined conclusions in mind. His position is logical; while Ttthhawkawkssssthhh is an anomaly, and a potentially disturbing one, her actual impact on the War is currently nil. Jordi is rather forceful in his opinion that there is no compelling need to immediately destroy the goose goddess — and never mind what the usual practice is for dealing with primal Fertility-spirits. The Host has (so far) publicly stayed its hand: Jordi’s researchers (most notably, his Saints Clive and Terence) are very visible in this matter, which will hopefully keep down the unofficial sanctions.
Of course, should Hell make an offer that Ttthhawkawkssssthhh is too foolish to reject, then all bets are, as they say, off.
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