Mods of BTR (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
beyondriftmods) wrote2012-03-01 04:17 pm
beyondriftmods) wrote2012-03-01 04:17 pm
Entry tags:
(no subject)
Angels
Angels have been around since the beginning of this universe. They were created in essence to do good, and with demons created to do evil, the two together were supposed to create balance within the world filled with mundane humans.
However, things aren't always so simple, so black and white, especially in this universe. Angels are completely human until they turn sixteen years old, and this time spent without the Calling to influence their actions can mean all the difference. They become a fully developed person with their own wants, desires, strengths and weaknesses before the shift comes, and many angels hate their Callings and don't feel like they should be angels.
Several will try to deny what their Calling wants them to do, but that can lead to insanity in a short period. Others will lose themselves to their Calling, which means a loss of their human self, of who they are beyond the angel with the Calling. It's a struggle fighting against the voice, the inherent need inside of them to do what their Calling compels them to do, and there's rarely any choice.
If angels lie, they feel pain. The pain can vary based on the strength of the lie, and sometimes angels may try to tease or joke, but the angel-lie register has a difficult time distinguishing between that and an actual lie so they still feel pain from it. If they kill an innocent (which is categorized in the universe as someone who has never killed before), they fall (and more often than not, the falling results in dying). There's more about falling later.
All Callings can easily lead to insanity or an early death by giving in too much or not giving in enough. It's the Callings that (directly or indirectly) cause the most deaths in both angels and demons.
While other major cities have strong angel or demon presence, Chicago is free from either demon or angel ownership. A treaty made in 2008 at a ball between a First and a Neq'ael is supposed to keep the city free from violence without cause between angels and demons.
Physiology and Powers
Someone can become an angel if one of their parents is an angel. If both parents are angels, it is certain they will become one too. If only one parent is an angel, there's only a 50% chance of this happening, and this means on their sixteenth birthday, they remain human. Callings are not completely related to heredity, however. Sometimes life experiences or personality can play big factors in what Calling an angel receives.
Angels are human until they turn 16. At this time, their entire physiology changes, and the experience is incredibly painful and lasts a couple of days while the wings grow in through their back, their blood changes, and their whole body changes as well. From this point on, they age slower than a mundane human would.
Angels can live to be a thousand years old but most do not, because they can die as easily as humans (though diseases are generally more difficult for them to catch). They are much stronger and faster than the mundane human, and they have wings that they can hide within their backs (the only evidence of them is a scar or a tattoo there when the wings are hidden). When the wings are out, they are much stronger and faster. The wings will usually instinctively slide out of their backs when an angel is lost in their Calling, but they cannot fly with these wings. The wings can look like bird wings, insect wings, or anything.
When their blood spills, it's a pearly white color. Their internal body temperature is lower than humans so they will feel colder to the touch. They can recognize other angels, wanderers, and supernatural humans, but demons will read as ordinary human to them unless the angel has their wings out. In general, angels are faster than demons but weaker with strength though this varies based on the age, training, experience, and calling of each individual. Angels live longer than demons do but demons are in greater number.
Falling
There are two ways for an angel to become a human again, but it is incredibly difficult to do so, and it almost always results in the death of the angel. The percentages are very small. The first way they can fall is by killing an innocent, which is categorized as someone who has never killed before. As soon as the innocent dies, they are completely stripped. They go through the shift back into human much faster than they went through the shift to being an angel in the first place. Their wings are stripped from them in a mess of feathers. It is incredibly painful, and this shift back is often what kills the angel.
The other option is for an angel to literally fall. They have to choose a building or area that is high enough up that the chances of dying from falling off of that building is high, and they have to make the choice to fall. Any angel that accidentally falls cannot go through a Falling because of it. It is very important for it to be the angels choice. Most often they fall to the ground and die due to the fall itself and if not that, the angel dies during the shift on top of their injuries from the fall.
The experience of falling is painful, and it very rarely works. If they survive, many angels have a difficult time coping with being a human afterward. The longer someone has been an angel, the more difficult time they will have when being human again. They may experience feeling lke they have phantom wings, something missing from their back, something hollow inside. It also depends on how much the Calling felt like it was a part of them. For some, the Calling and angel side feels completely separate and for others, the line is not so clear. When the line isn't so clear, being a fallen angel can be more difficult to adjust to. They will read as humans to others from that point on.
Callings
First Angels
These angels are the oldest in the universe, and there are only ever ten at a time currently living (sometimes less but never more). When an angel lives to be 900 years old, they become a First. These Firsts are able to tell all species (including demons) down to the Calling or type even if the First's wings are hidden away. They also usually have a psychic ability of some kind. For instance, they could be a weak empath, able to ascertain emotions from others. These angels tend to be set in their ways and set in the ways of the universe (i.e. demons are the enemies and wanderers are trouble). Their Calling compels them to lead people, the world, and most see it as being in such desperate need for guidance even if that means through violence or other means that most may not agree with. Because these angels are so old, they often see the universe in terms of black and white or as the ends justifying the means. Casualties in war are seen as more than acceptable if the war can be won for instance.
All First angels have a very faint glow over their head that is similar to that of a halo, and it can only be seen by other angels. It is instinctive for angels to feel respect and even a bit of fear of Firsts, even if the angel doesn't agree with their decisions and doesn't want to feel that respect, it's a part of their Calling.
They command a lot of power, and they usually own an empire of businesses and assets. All of these eldest angels control a certain territory within the world, and usually, this includes more than a single city within its grasp. This is how supremely powerful they are in the supernatural world.
Most frequently, First Angels were either archangels or angels of knowledge formerly as these two types have the strongest likelihood of making it to that age. Because they are so rare, it does take special permission to play a First.
Archangels
These angels have a Calling that compels them to kill demons specifically. Some take great pleasure in killing demons, quickly or slowly (the preference varies based on the individual). In general, they are highly adept and skilled fighters. In fact, they are considered the best fighters of all the angel types, because of their skill on the battle field and in combat. The Calling comes with innate instincts for being amazing on the battle field. They tend to have an edge in strength and speed over other angels. They can be more violent and prone to fighting in general, but if they do not want to attack a demon or go hunting for demons, it requires a struggle within themselves and against their Calling to remain in control at times, because the strength of it can easily overwhelm.
Even worse, it is very possible for an archangel, especially one in Chicago to become friends with a demon long before they realize that it's a demon they have been speaking to. There's no way for them to tell that someone is a demon unless they touch them to feel the distinct difference in temperature or unless the archangel has their wings out at the time. However, once they know that it's a demon that urge to fight them, to hurt them would become incredibly intense. Imagine really growing to care and love for someone only to find out that they are a demon and be overwhelmed with the need to kill them, because it's in your blood, in your muscles, and bones.It's all that you can think of while still retaining those human parts of yourself that love that person very much.
However, not giving in to that urge to kill demons leads will eventually lead to insanity or death as all Callings do when they are not answered. In general, they make great protectors of the cities they live in, because they are so skilled at fighting that they can take down monsters that fall through the Rift.
They are highly adept soldiers, and many archangel families have created their own personal armies out of their progeny, which they use to keep order in the cities they have control over like Boston.
Angels of Knowledge
These angels are consumed with the desire for knowledge and the pursuit of knowledge (sometimes at any cost which is where the danger potentially plays in). They are generally very intelligent with a lot of information in their heads about many different subjects. Most angels of knowledge will choose a few specific fields to focus on more than any other, which can be influenced by their Calling which may have latched on to their own life experiences or personality for inspiration. In these fields, they become virtual experts with no one knowing more about that field than they do. They are at the top of the research. Many of them know a lot of general information from many different subjects and are able to memorize long passages and/or have a eidetic memory. They read quickly and process information quickly.
Most major locations in the world will have at least one angel of knowledge in or near it to record what happens there. They keep these records safely archived in some unknown location to keep the knowledge and history safe. Most angels of knowledge don't learn about this secret location, however, until they become at least 300 years old. At times, their push within themselves for knowledge can be detrimental both to themselves or to others, feeling a virtual and complete need, a thirst for knowledge at any cost. Older angels of knowledge can become very detached as well from the world, recording and learning but not really living or experiencing life for itself. It can again become a matter of the ends justifying the means for them. The knowledge found out from the most dangerous of experiments could seem worth it for the sake of that learning.
Imagine nonstop needing to gather in more and more information. The brain doesn't know how to slow down with that Calling as loud as it is, and you can't stop the intake, don't want to, aren't aware that you haven't really eaten or slept in days. Imagine having a mystery within your life and as an angel of knowledge becoming obsessed with the need to find the answer to it to the point that that needs takes priority over everything and anything else. Angels of knowledge can work themselves into an exhaustion over it. Some like to horde their knowledge away and others want to share it with everyone.
Guardian Angel
These angels are supposed to protect, take care of, and help one specific individual, who could be anyone at all from any universe, any world. Very rarely will a guardian have a demon as their ward, however. In fact, this is only an something that's happened in very recent history. It's believed to be due to the increase in Rift activity, which has shifted so much of what had been believed to be 'set' in this universe.
The guardian knows they have found their ward the moment that they meet that specific individual's eyes. The feeling of this experience is different for every individual guardian, but the guardian will know without a shadow of a doubt that they are supposed to protect this individual. They are locked to them, chained to them for life. Imagine you have people you love (family, friends, a girlfriend, fiance, wife) and then imagine that a stranger off of the street has now become the most important person in your life, the one you have to protect over all others. It doesn't matter if this person is evil, if they live across the world, if they don't want you, there's no choice in the matter. That's it. This can be either a very beautiful experience for both guardian and ward or a very painful one, but it's generally always rocky and never simple.
From that point on, a guardian will be able to feel a ward's strongest emotions or when they're in danger or hurt, and the guardian will be affected by that pain, will worry, will be consumed with it if they are not able to help or if their pain and suffering doesn't improve. A guardian whose ward is in danger or who is in constant pain can find their mind breaking. It's not only physical comfort that guardians can provide but emotional comfort too, and indeed, this is sometimes why a guardian will be tied to a ward who maybe can't die or has a hard time dying because they are more in need of that emotional help.
Most guardians will die with their ward or lose their mind if their ward has died but the guardian still remains alive. Guardians are tied to their wards for the entirety of the Guardian or the ward's life whichever ends first. If it's been years and years since they became an angel and they haven't met their wards, most guardian angels are overwhelmed with a feeling of wanderlust that causes them to move listlessly without direction from one place to the next until they find that individual.
Note: it is very important before embarking in a guardian-ward relationship that both muns have communicated openly and continue to communicate openly throughout it. if you do something to your character who is a guardian's ward, check with the mun of their guardian first so that they can be there or they know, because they will respond to intense emotions, danger, or any pain their ward may be feeling.
Angel of Healing
Angels of healing have a Calling that consumes with the need to heal the people around them. They have the power to heal, but this power saps energy away from them exhausting them with their efforts. If they heal injuries that are too great or heal too many people at one time, they can collapse into unconsciousness, a coma, or even death depending on how healthy they are at the time and the extend to which they have extended themselves. They tend to age faster than most angels due to the toll that healing takes on their body. They can heal diseases, cancer, and injuries of all kind.. Angels of healing can also bring others back from the very recently dead if done recently enough but the effort kills them in the process, and they do not usually feel the same pull towards healing the recently dead as they do toward those who are injured and alive still so there is able to be more choice when it comes to this particular moment of healing.
Often times, they cannot control who they heal, because the need to heal implies to everyone even someone who may be 'evil' or bad, someone who has been hurting others. The Calling doesn't see the people and what they have done, but they do see pain and hurt, and there's this feeling of a need to take it away from anyone who may be hurting. These types of angels can die much quicker than others due to the toll on their body, and if they live in a war torn state, madness is a very high possibility. In addition, angels of healing can try to resist their urge to heal others because they want to try to protect themselves, because the guilt of choosing who to heal and not being able to choose everyone could be overwhelming and is a huge burden to bear alone. Having great power can come with great responsibility, but there can be so little choice when it comes to Callings of any kind and this is no different.
Imagine needing to heal everyone around you, and the feeling is a need that consumes even if it's someone that you hate that's hurt, even if it's someone that scares you. Imagine being able to heal so many people but still losing someone because the Calling made you overextend yourself long before you could make it to the person that you love, because the Calling doesn't see individuals, it only sees the hurt and the need to heal that injury away. Imagine being in love with someone who is very ill, who has cancer. An angel of healing cannot heal that cancer completely. They can take bits and pieces away but not completely, but the Calling screams for healing whenever they see them, whenever they are near.
Children's Angel
A children's angel can only be seen by mundane human children or by other supernaturals. To adult or teenagers who are human, the angels are completely invisible (both in the way of sound and sight), which makes their living situation difficult at times. If they want to go out to eat, they cannot do so unless they take someone along with them, and then they would have to eat off of the plate. Anything they held in their hands would also disappear so carrying a fork or spoon would not necessarily make it look like a ghost was eating with whoever they want with. Either that or they have to go to supernatural-specific hangouts where everyone there is able to see them. Any plans they had for their future have likely been completely destroyed. Going to college, getting a job, all of it complicates for someone who cannot be seen and heard by most of the world. If they had friends at high school who were mundane humans, those friends would no longer be able to see them at all. They would just disappear.
Throughout their existence, many parents of children who see these children's angels have assumed the angels were simply imaginary friends. Children angels are very protective of all children and would give their life for them in a heartbeat but doubly so to any that think that children's angel is their imaginary friend. They are seen as protectors who can guide and lead children especially those who may not otherwise have that guidance. Usually, having a child who thinks that the children angel is their imaginary friend eventually results in sadness when the child grows into a teenager and can no longer see the children's angel anymore. Some of this type of angel can be very playful themselves and in touch with the child at the heart of themselves, which means they connect better with the younger group. They act almost as siblings or friends to the children. For others of this type, they can be very maternal or paternal, but basically they are very positive aspects in the children's lives.
They can be seen as immature or naive by others in the supernatural world, but that doesn't necessarily mean that they are. Some have an inherent wisdom, a certain type of unique perspective through seeing the world in a different way than others ever do, and children angels can live for a very long time, but they do can suffer from insanity, from potential death if their Calling is either something they give in to too much or not enough, if they feel like they have failed the children that they attempt to watch over. It's a struggle like any other Calling can be, and nothing is ever simple even for children's angels.
Angels of Death
Angels of death are angels that help people through their deaths. They take the pain away from them, surround them in warmth, and talk to them in their last minutes or seconds on this Earth. These angels are able to comfort people in their dying moments in a way that no one else can, and they are there so people are not alone when they die. If they look anyone in their eyes and that person is going to die within a week, they will see that death through a vague vision and the knowing that the death will happen. They can sense how far away or how close that is from happening so they can know how close they have to be based on the time. From the point that they see that death onwards, they cannot be too far from the person that is dying. Mundane humans are unable to see angels of death who have seen someone's death until the angel has helped that person (this is a means of protecting the angel of death from the murderers). Many will follow them throughout their last days, close beside. Some try to form a relationship with them. Others remain a quiet presence behind, trying to let them enjoy their last days without interruption. Even if an angel of death warns them that the death is coming, it will still happen. No matter what that person does, and if a death is intervened in some rare, miraculous way, someone else will die instead. If they can't get to the person who is dying in time, they are filled with incredible amounts of pain, and it can create a break in their minds. During disasters, angels of death can completely exhaust themselves into unconsciousness or worse in their need to help people die. They can get themselves in dangerous situation unintentionally because they lose their sense of their own safety and needs when helping others to die.
Now imagine being someone that can see the deaths of others including the people that you love, that you never want to see die. The thought of meeting their gaze means potentially seeing that their death is coming and soon, and it can be terrifying. It can feel like you are the bringer of death instead of the person that helps with it, helps to make it better, to comfort them in those final moments that they would otherwise suffer through alone. It can feel like it is not helping at all. Imagine wanting to live, wanting to go to class, dances, to be there for someone you love, but then a death takes you from their side, because you the angel and Calling has taken over and kept pushing you beyond what you would really want. There's no choice.
The burden of seeing and helping with so much death comes with a very high cost. Angels of death have to bear and to carry so much death on themselves from those final moments that they have witnessed and felt again and again. These angels often do not live very long and do not remain sane for very long especially in areas where the rate of death can be so incredibly high. Percentages estimate that most angels of death die and/or completely lose their minds before the age of 21. These deaths are most frequently caused by suicide, attempts to fall, or the complete physical destruction of their bodies through the endlessness of the Calling.
There are generally only two angels of death in any one area at the world at any one time. However, Chicago has had up to three in the past, because of the incredibly high rate of death here due to the Rift activity which is stronger here than anywhere else in the world. It also means that angels of death are especially more susceptible to death or to madness living in a city like this one where disasters and death can happen so frequently. Due to the rarity of angels of death as well as the weight of what they struggle with, they do require special permission to play.
Angels of Vengeance
Angels of vengeance had something terrible and traumatic happen to them in their childhood, and whatever happened to them, it has come to define them through their Calling and maybe within their lives too. Whatever chance they had of processing what was done to them exploded with the edition of this Calling, which makes them obsess over it, remember it relentlessly, endlessly. Angels of vengeance are violently against and triggered by a specific thing or group of people that reminds them of this trauma. For instance, one of the angels of vengeance that had been in the game in the past, they were abused by their alcoholic mother, and so they were triggered by alcohol or by drunk people into violent fits of rage that could have ended in the drunk person's death. It's where angels of vengeance get complicated. Even if they logically know that not everyone who does this thing that triggers them is bad, they will still be overwhelmed by that violent urge when they are presented with it, and it frequently results in them harming or killing someone who could be innocent.
Anything that can remind them of that traumatic experience in their childhood has the high potential to trigger them into a very violent, unstable state. Frequently, they deal with the insanity and the Calling that wants constant retribution for what had been done for them. Most often, these types of angels are very unstable. Their trauma exists within their own mind so it's difficult for them to escape it, and it means they are frequently on edge. The struggle that they can have within themselves. Without outside help, they die very quickly or lose their minds faster than any other angel other than angels of death (it's a tie).
These types of angels do require special permission to play due to the nature of the trauma and the need to treat what is often very serious, triggering subjects for many with delicacy, and you also need to have a clear, solid idea of what you want to do with this type of character.
Angels have been around since the beginning of this universe. They were created in essence to do good, and with demons created to do evil, the two together were supposed to create balance within the world filled with mundane humans.
However, things aren't always so simple, so black and white, especially in this universe. Angels are completely human until they turn sixteen years old, and this time spent without the Calling to influence their actions can mean all the difference. They become a fully developed person with their own wants, desires, strengths and weaknesses before the shift comes, and many angels hate their Callings and don't feel like they should be angels.
Several will try to deny what their Calling wants them to do, but that can lead to insanity in a short period. Others will lose themselves to their Calling, which means a loss of their human self, of who they are beyond the angel with the Calling. It's a struggle fighting against the voice, the inherent need inside of them to do what their Calling compels them to do, and there's rarely any choice.
If angels lie, they feel pain. The pain can vary based on the strength of the lie, and sometimes angels may try to tease or joke, but the angel-lie register has a difficult time distinguishing between that and an actual lie so they still feel pain from it. If they kill an innocent (which is categorized in the universe as someone who has never killed before), they fall (and more often than not, the falling results in dying). There's more about falling later.
All Callings can easily lead to insanity or an early death by giving in too much or not giving in enough. It's the Callings that (directly or indirectly) cause the most deaths in both angels and demons.
While other major cities have strong angel or demon presence, Chicago is free from either demon or angel ownership. A treaty made in 2008 at a ball between a First and a Neq'ael is supposed to keep the city free from violence without cause between angels and demons.
Physiology and Powers
Someone can become an angel if one of their parents is an angel. If both parents are angels, it is certain they will become one too. If only one parent is an angel, there's only a 50% chance of this happening, and this means on their sixteenth birthday, they remain human. Callings are not completely related to heredity, however. Sometimes life experiences or personality can play big factors in what Calling an angel receives.
Angels are human until they turn 16. At this time, their entire physiology changes, and the experience is incredibly painful and lasts a couple of days while the wings grow in through their back, their blood changes, and their whole body changes as well. From this point on, they age slower than a mundane human would.
Angels can live to be a thousand years old but most do not, because they can die as easily as humans (though diseases are generally more difficult for them to catch). They are much stronger and faster than the mundane human, and they have wings that they can hide within their backs (the only evidence of them is a scar or a tattoo there when the wings are hidden). When the wings are out, they are much stronger and faster. The wings will usually instinctively slide out of their backs when an angel is lost in their Calling, but they cannot fly with these wings. The wings can look like bird wings, insect wings, or anything.
When their blood spills, it's a pearly white color. Their internal body temperature is lower than humans so they will feel colder to the touch. They can recognize other angels, wanderers, and supernatural humans, but demons will read as ordinary human to them unless the angel has their wings out. In general, angels are faster than demons but weaker with strength though this varies based on the age, training, experience, and calling of each individual. Angels live longer than demons do but demons are in greater number.
Falling
There are two ways for an angel to become a human again, but it is incredibly difficult to do so, and it almost always results in the death of the angel. The percentages are very small. The first way they can fall is by killing an innocent, which is categorized as someone who has never killed before. As soon as the innocent dies, they are completely stripped. They go through the shift back into human much faster than they went through the shift to being an angel in the first place. Their wings are stripped from them in a mess of feathers. It is incredibly painful, and this shift back is often what kills the angel.
The other option is for an angel to literally fall. They have to choose a building or area that is high enough up that the chances of dying from falling off of that building is high, and they have to make the choice to fall. Any angel that accidentally falls cannot go through a Falling because of it. It is very important for it to be the angels choice. Most often they fall to the ground and die due to the fall itself and if not that, the angel dies during the shift on top of their injuries from the fall.
The experience of falling is painful, and it very rarely works. If they survive, many angels have a difficult time coping with being a human afterward. The longer someone has been an angel, the more difficult time they will have when being human again. They may experience feeling lke they have phantom wings, something missing from their back, something hollow inside. It also depends on how much the Calling felt like it was a part of them. For some, the Calling and angel side feels completely separate and for others, the line is not so clear. When the line isn't so clear, being a fallen angel can be more difficult to adjust to. They will read as humans to others from that point on.
Callings
First Angels
These angels are the oldest in the universe, and there are only ever ten at a time currently living (sometimes less but never more). When an angel lives to be 900 years old, they become a First. These Firsts are able to tell all species (including demons) down to the Calling or type even if the First's wings are hidden away. They also usually have a psychic ability of some kind. For instance, they could be a weak empath, able to ascertain emotions from others. These angels tend to be set in their ways and set in the ways of the universe (i.e. demons are the enemies and wanderers are trouble). Their Calling compels them to lead people, the world, and most see it as being in such desperate need for guidance even if that means through violence or other means that most may not agree with. Because these angels are so old, they often see the universe in terms of black and white or as the ends justifying the means. Casualties in war are seen as more than acceptable if the war can be won for instance.
All First angels have a very faint glow over their head that is similar to that of a halo, and it can only be seen by other angels. It is instinctive for angels to feel respect and even a bit of fear of Firsts, even if the angel doesn't agree with their decisions and doesn't want to feel that respect, it's a part of their Calling.
They command a lot of power, and they usually own an empire of businesses and assets. All of these eldest angels control a certain territory within the world, and usually, this includes more than a single city within its grasp. This is how supremely powerful they are in the supernatural world.
Most frequently, First Angels were either archangels or angels of knowledge formerly as these two types have the strongest likelihood of making it to that age. Because they are so rare, it does take special permission to play a First.
Archangels
These angels have a Calling that compels them to kill demons specifically. Some take great pleasure in killing demons, quickly or slowly (the preference varies based on the individual). In general, they are highly adept and skilled fighters. In fact, they are considered the best fighters of all the angel types, because of their skill on the battle field and in combat. The Calling comes with innate instincts for being amazing on the battle field. They tend to have an edge in strength and speed over other angels. They can be more violent and prone to fighting in general, but if they do not want to attack a demon or go hunting for demons, it requires a struggle within themselves and against their Calling to remain in control at times, because the strength of it can easily overwhelm.
Even worse, it is very possible for an archangel, especially one in Chicago to become friends with a demon long before they realize that it's a demon they have been speaking to. There's no way for them to tell that someone is a demon unless they touch them to feel the distinct difference in temperature or unless the archangel has their wings out at the time. However, once they know that it's a demon that urge to fight them, to hurt them would become incredibly intense. Imagine really growing to care and love for someone only to find out that they are a demon and be overwhelmed with the need to kill them, because it's in your blood, in your muscles, and bones.It's all that you can think of while still retaining those human parts of yourself that love that person very much.
However, not giving in to that urge to kill demons leads will eventually lead to insanity or death as all Callings do when they are not answered. In general, they make great protectors of the cities they live in, because they are so skilled at fighting that they can take down monsters that fall through the Rift.
They are highly adept soldiers, and many archangel families have created their own personal armies out of their progeny, which they use to keep order in the cities they have control over like Boston.
Angels of Knowledge
These angels are consumed with the desire for knowledge and the pursuit of knowledge (sometimes at any cost which is where the danger potentially plays in). They are generally very intelligent with a lot of information in their heads about many different subjects. Most angels of knowledge will choose a few specific fields to focus on more than any other, which can be influenced by their Calling which may have latched on to their own life experiences or personality for inspiration. In these fields, they become virtual experts with no one knowing more about that field than they do. They are at the top of the research. Many of them know a lot of general information from many different subjects and are able to memorize long passages and/or have a eidetic memory. They read quickly and process information quickly.
Most major locations in the world will have at least one angel of knowledge in or near it to record what happens there. They keep these records safely archived in some unknown location to keep the knowledge and history safe. Most angels of knowledge don't learn about this secret location, however, until they become at least 300 years old. At times, their push within themselves for knowledge can be detrimental both to themselves or to others, feeling a virtual and complete need, a thirst for knowledge at any cost. Older angels of knowledge can become very detached as well from the world, recording and learning but not really living or experiencing life for itself. It can again become a matter of the ends justifying the means for them. The knowledge found out from the most dangerous of experiments could seem worth it for the sake of that learning.
Imagine nonstop needing to gather in more and more information. The brain doesn't know how to slow down with that Calling as loud as it is, and you can't stop the intake, don't want to, aren't aware that you haven't really eaten or slept in days. Imagine having a mystery within your life and as an angel of knowledge becoming obsessed with the need to find the answer to it to the point that that needs takes priority over everything and anything else. Angels of knowledge can work themselves into an exhaustion over it. Some like to horde their knowledge away and others want to share it with everyone.
Guardian Angel
These angels are supposed to protect, take care of, and help one specific individual, who could be anyone at all from any universe, any world. Very rarely will a guardian have a demon as their ward, however. In fact, this is only an something that's happened in very recent history. It's believed to be due to the increase in Rift activity, which has shifted so much of what had been believed to be 'set' in this universe.
The guardian knows they have found their ward the moment that they meet that specific individual's eyes. The feeling of this experience is different for every individual guardian, but the guardian will know without a shadow of a doubt that they are supposed to protect this individual. They are locked to them, chained to them for life. Imagine you have people you love (family, friends, a girlfriend, fiance, wife) and then imagine that a stranger off of the street has now become the most important person in your life, the one you have to protect over all others. It doesn't matter if this person is evil, if they live across the world, if they don't want you, there's no choice in the matter. That's it. This can be either a very beautiful experience for both guardian and ward or a very painful one, but it's generally always rocky and never simple.
From that point on, a guardian will be able to feel a ward's strongest emotions or when they're in danger or hurt, and the guardian will be affected by that pain, will worry, will be consumed with it if they are not able to help or if their pain and suffering doesn't improve. A guardian whose ward is in danger or who is in constant pain can find their mind breaking. It's not only physical comfort that guardians can provide but emotional comfort too, and indeed, this is sometimes why a guardian will be tied to a ward who maybe can't die or has a hard time dying because they are more in need of that emotional help.
Most guardians will die with their ward or lose their mind if their ward has died but the guardian still remains alive. Guardians are tied to their wards for the entirety of the Guardian or the ward's life whichever ends first. If it's been years and years since they became an angel and they haven't met their wards, most guardian angels are overwhelmed with a feeling of wanderlust that causes them to move listlessly without direction from one place to the next until they find that individual.
Note: it is very important before embarking in a guardian-ward relationship that both muns have communicated openly and continue to communicate openly throughout it. if you do something to your character who is a guardian's ward, check with the mun of their guardian first so that they can be there or they know, because they will respond to intense emotions, danger, or any pain their ward may be feeling.
Angel of Healing
Angels of healing have a Calling that consumes with the need to heal the people around them. They have the power to heal, but this power saps energy away from them exhausting them with their efforts. If they heal injuries that are too great or heal too many people at one time, they can collapse into unconsciousness, a coma, or even death depending on how healthy they are at the time and the extend to which they have extended themselves. They tend to age faster than most angels due to the toll that healing takes on their body. They can heal diseases, cancer, and injuries of all kind.. Angels of healing can also bring others back from the very recently dead if done recently enough but the effort kills them in the process, and they do not usually feel the same pull towards healing the recently dead as they do toward those who are injured and alive still so there is able to be more choice when it comes to this particular moment of healing.
Often times, they cannot control who they heal, because the need to heal implies to everyone even someone who may be 'evil' or bad, someone who has been hurting others. The Calling doesn't see the people and what they have done, but they do see pain and hurt, and there's this feeling of a need to take it away from anyone who may be hurting. These types of angels can die much quicker than others due to the toll on their body, and if they live in a war torn state, madness is a very high possibility. In addition, angels of healing can try to resist their urge to heal others because they want to try to protect themselves, because the guilt of choosing who to heal and not being able to choose everyone could be overwhelming and is a huge burden to bear alone. Having great power can come with great responsibility, but there can be so little choice when it comes to Callings of any kind and this is no different.
Imagine needing to heal everyone around you, and the feeling is a need that consumes even if it's someone that you hate that's hurt, even if it's someone that scares you. Imagine being able to heal so many people but still losing someone because the Calling made you overextend yourself long before you could make it to the person that you love, because the Calling doesn't see individuals, it only sees the hurt and the need to heal that injury away. Imagine being in love with someone who is very ill, who has cancer. An angel of healing cannot heal that cancer completely. They can take bits and pieces away but not completely, but the Calling screams for healing whenever they see them, whenever they are near.
Children's Angel
A children's angel can only be seen by mundane human children or by other supernaturals. To adult or teenagers who are human, the angels are completely invisible (both in the way of sound and sight), which makes their living situation difficult at times. If they want to go out to eat, they cannot do so unless they take someone along with them, and then they would have to eat off of the plate. Anything they held in their hands would also disappear so carrying a fork or spoon would not necessarily make it look like a ghost was eating with whoever they want with. Either that or they have to go to supernatural-specific hangouts where everyone there is able to see them. Any plans they had for their future have likely been completely destroyed. Going to college, getting a job, all of it complicates for someone who cannot be seen and heard by most of the world. If they had friends at high school who were mundane humans, those friends would no longer be able to see them at all. They would just disappear.
Throughout their existence, many parents of children who see these children's angels have assumed the angels were simply imaginary friends. Children angels are very protective of all children and would give their life for them in a heartbeat but doubly so to any that think that children's angel is their imaginary friend. They are seen as protectors who can guide and lead children especially those who may not otherwise have that guidance. Usually, having a child who thinks that the children angel is their imaginary friend eventually results in sadness when the child grows into a teenager and can no longer see the children's angel anymore. Some of this type of angel can be very playful themselves and in touch with the child at the heart of themselves, which means they connect better with the younger group. They act almost as siblings or friends to the children. For others of this type, they can be very maternal or paternal, but basically they are very positive aspects in the children's lives.
They can be seen as immature or naive by others in the supernatural world, but that doesn't necessarily mean that they are. Some have an inherent wisdom, a certain type of unique perspective through seeing the world in a different way than others ever do, and children angels can live for a very long time, but they do can suffer from insanity, from potential death if their Calling is either something they give in to too much or not enough, if they feel like they have failed the children that they attempt to watch over. It's a struggle like any other Calling can be, and nothing is ever simple even for children's angels.
Angels of Death
Angels of death are angels that help people through their deaths. They take the pain away from them, surround them in warmth, and talk to them in their last minutes or seconds on this Earth. These angels are able to comfort people in their dying moments in a way that no one else can, and they are there so people are not alone when they die. If they look anyone in their eyes and that person is going to die within a week, they will see that death through a vague vision and the knowing that the death will happen. They can sense how far away or how close that is from happening so they can know how close they have to be based on the time. From the point that they see that death onwards, they cannot be too far from the person that is dying. Mundane humans are unable to see angels of death who have seen someone's death until the angel has helped that person (this is a means of protecting the angel of death from the murderers). Many will follow them throughout their last days, close beside. Some try to form a relationship with them. Others remain a quiet presence behind, trying to let them enjoy their last days without interruption. Even if an angel of death warns them that the death is coming, it will still happen. No matter what that person does, and if a death is intervened in some rare, miraculous way, someone else will die instead. If they can't get to the person who is dying in time, they are filled with incredible amounts of pain, and it can create a break in their minds. During disasters, angels of death can completely exhaust themselves into unconsciousness or worse in their need to help people die. They can get themselves in dangerous situation unintentionally because they lose their sense of their own safety and needs when helping others to die.
Now imagine being someone that can see the deaths of others including the people that you love, that you never want to see die. The thought of meeting their gaze means potentially seeing that their death is coming and soon, and it can be terrifying. It can feel like you are the bringer of death instead of the person that helps with it, helps to make it better, to comfort them in those final moments that they would otherwise suffer through alone. It can feel like it is not helping at all. Imagine wanting to live, wanting to go to class, dances, to be there for someone you love, but then a death takes you from their side, because you the angel and Calling has taken over and kept pushing you beyond what you would really want. There's no choice.
The burden of seeing and helping with so much death comes with a very high cost. Angels of death have to bear and to carry so much death on themselves from those final moments that they have witnessed and felt again and again. These angels often do not live very long and do not remain sane for very long especially in areas where the rate of death can be so incredibly high. Percentages estimate that most angels of death die and/or completely lose their minds before the age of 21. These deaths are most frequently caused by suicide, attempts to fall, or the complete physical destruction of their bodies through the endlessness of the Calling.
There are generally only two angels of death in any one area at the world at any one time. However, Chicago has had up to three in the past, because of the incredibly high rate of death here due to the Rift activity which is stronger here than anywhere else in the world. It also means that angels of death are especially more susceptible to death or to madness living in a city like this one where disasters and death can happen so frequently. Due to the rarity of angels of death as well as the weight of what they struggle with, they do require special permission to play.
Angels of Vengeance
Angels of vengeance had something terrible and traumatic happen to them in their childhood, and whatever happened to them, it has come to define them through their Calling and maybe within their lives too. Whatever chance they had of processing what was done to them exploded with the edition of this Calling, which makes them obsess over it, remember it relentlessly, endlessly. Angels of vengeance are violently against and triggered by a specific thing or group of people that reminds them of this trauma. For instance, one of the angels of vengeance that had been in the game in the past, they were abused by their alcoholic mother, and so they were triggered by alcohol or by drunk people into violent fits of rage that could have ended in the drunk person's death. It's where angels of vengeance get complicated. Even if they logically know that not everyone who does this thing that triggers them is bad, they will still be overwhelmed by that violent urge when they are presented with it, and it frequently results in them harming or killing someone who could be innocent.
Anything that can remind them of that traumatic experience in their childhood has the high potential to trigger them into a very violent, unstable state. Frequently, they deal with the insanity and the Calling that wants constant retribution for what had been done for them. Most often, these types of angels are very unstable. Their trauma exists within their own mind so it's difficult for them to escape it, and it means they are frequently on edge. The struggle that they can have within themselves. Without outside help, they die very quickly or lose their minds faster than any other angel other than angels of death (it's a tie).
These types of angels do require special permission to play due to the nature of the trauma and the need to treat what is often very serious, triggering subjects for many with delicacy, and you also need to have a clear, solid idea of what you want to do with this type of character.