ANGEL/DEMON

Foreword

Christopher Blankley

Welcome to Angel/Demon: The Rapture. A public domain supplement to the Storyteller system. After being inspired by the professional quality of the public domain supplement `Highlander' for the same system, I decided to modify a game I had developed for my own Reflex system `Angel/Demon' to the Storyteller format. Thus we have Angel/Demon: The Rapture. I hope in doing this I have make a useful addition to the World of Darkness, that can be enjoyed by all role-players. For I believe this game will add a new dimension to any World of Darkness game that you might be playing. Be it Vampire, Werewolf, Mage, etc.

What exactly is Angel/Demon: The Rapture, and how does it interface with the rest of the World of Darkness? Well, Angel/Demon chronicles the battle that exists between the first born of god, Angels, and the minions of Lucifer, Demons. Or as they know themselves: The Cherubim and the Belial. The mythology surrounding these beings is probably known to most of you, being of Judo-Christian backgrounds, and no matter what your feelings about their true existence we must all understand that in the World of Darkness they are very, very real.

Justin Killam & Damien Hunt

Hello Internet World! How the hell are ya? My name is Damien Hunt and I am writing for myself and my friend Justin Killam, who is too busy sleeping in class at the moment. This is our first big project (I know some of you are going to laugh at that), revising an already good game and fucking it up totally. Well I can say that we are very proud with the results. But, we didn't do this because Christopher's game was bad, we did it because we thought we could add a little more Darkness to the game, and help clear up some of the rules a little bit. And I know that a lot of you are going to hate the revised edition, but quite frankly we couldn't give a care. Me and Justin did this mostly for ourselves, but in any case i hope you all enjoy. If you would like to flame us (PLEASE DON'T) or tell us how awesome this edition is e-mail us.

Darcy Martin

This is a working out of the flaws that I have discovered in the Angel/Demon system, let it be known that I have loved the Angel/Demon idea and took the liberty of revamping it. This should prove more accomodating to the White Wolf game system. As you can see, I knocked down some of the raw power that angels and demons wield, and added a few rules to clarify some of the more questionable rules. If you have any ideas as to how to improve this, then please email me at dmartin@stny.lrun.com. Thank you for your understanding. And as a final note, to Christopher, whom I have never met, you sir are a visionary, and it has been a pleasure expanding on the ideas that you have generated. I thank you.

Prologue

Don't be afraid child. Nothing is wrong.

My name is Simon, and I am from a realm far beyond the one you can understand. I mean you no harm. I have been sent here to help you. You see child, there are many things in this universe that you are not yet able to understand. From the Vampires to the Werewolves. From the Mages to the Fairies. But do not fear that which you do not understand in this realm. For if you fear it, you can never understand it. There are beings that walk among your kind, but they are not of your world. They are not of flesh and blood, though they inhabit it like leeches. These creatures have come to Eden in search of your destruction. They would drag you down into the bottomless void and feast apon your soul. These creatures are not of your universe, and you can never understand them. These creatures are only to be feared.

Know them as Belial. Though no name can deliver the true depth of their evil. Know that they have no body of their own, and must work from within your kind. Know that I come here to combat them, and that I am their brother in form. Know me as the Cherubim, and know that I am your only defence against this invasion. For only I can understand them, only I can perceive their evil.

Understand also that I love you, and he who has sent me loves you greater. Our blades are sharpened, and our eyes turned towards the horizon. We are ready to do battle, and no price is to great for victory. For we will never let you go without a fight.

Chapter One: Introduction

These are the final days. The end of the world is near, and soon all of virtue will be taken up in the Rapture. But Satan's power has grown strong, and his minions, the Belial, move upon the surface of Eden. Corrupting, twisting, defiling. But lacking physical forms of their own, these beasts must take bodies of humans if they are to continue their evil works. Possessing the body, suppressing the mind, corrupting all those around it. Leaping from body to body they continue their destruction, bring more and more mortals one step closer to eternal damnation. But this evil does not go unchecked, for god also has his agents working amongst his children. These creatures, the Cherubim, move through humanity by the same method as their enemy: from body to body, person to person. Their mission, though, is not the anti-thesis of the Belial. They are not sent to earth to save humanity, that is not within their power. They are upon the surface of Eden in a desperate holding action against the Belial. They are buying time until the Judgement day, facing and defeating the Belial where ever they encounter them. It is to this desperate battle for time that the two sides raise their forces. Will the Cherubim drive back the Belial and allow the final days to come, or will the Belial swallow up the souls of all mortals and leave no one to be taken up in the Rapture? Only the players of Angel/Demon: the Rapture will know for sure.

Chapter Two: Setting

As mentioned above, these are the final days. The devil has the world by the throat, and his fingers ever tightening. His powers have grown strong and if his actions were to go unchecked the world would fall into the pit within a year. We sit at the edge of oblivion, and all that is required is one strong push. You are the Cherubim, Angels, older than time itself, created before there was even a world to be defended. It is your brothers, the Belial, the fallen angels, who you battle. And the greatest among their kind: Lucifer.

You are without a physical form on Eden, your only means of entering into the mortal domain is through the body of a mortal. With the Belial it is known as possession, with the Cherubim it is known as entrance. Even though these two powers achieve the same purpose, it is done in a very different manner. With the Cherubim, Entrance is a meeting of minds, a profound experience with beautiful implications. With the Belial, Possession is mental vivisection. The subject of Possession is subjugated to his own miniature hell for the length of the encounter, and is usually left a blathering mass of evil.

Within the Mortal domain both the Cherubim and the Belial are granted the three powers of their sphere, plus they may gain proficiency in a number of other powers. One should not confuse these powers with the actual power of the angels. The domain of man is very far from their own domains, and to maintain the connection to their realms requires most of their energy and power.

Though the Cherubim are divided into different Choirs, each is granted with a different duty in Heaven, Angel/Demon just deals with the Choirs of angels that directly interfaces with the mortal realm (Guardian Angels also deal with humanity though to a much lesser extent. They will be discussed in another supplement). Each Choir is divided into six or seven realms relating to their closeness to God. As a Cherub raises through these spheres he increases in power but his link to Eden weakens, effectively making it harder for him to Enter and Depart mortals. Hell is arranged in the same fashion as Heaven, except in the negative. Of Hell there are six levels, and the distance from Eden effects the Belial as is does the Cherubim.

The Realms of Angels and of Demons

7. Saturn
6. Jupiter
5. Mars
4. Sol
3. Mercury
2. Venus
1. Luna

The Deep Umbra
The Near Umbra
The Penumbra
Eden
The Shadowlands

1. Purgatory
2. Styx
3. Erebus
4. Tartarus
5. Hades
6. Sheol

What lies beyond the seventh sphere of Heaven, and what lies below the sixth level of Hell is beyond the perceptions of the Cherubim and the Belial.

Chapter Three: Character Creation

Note: This discussion assumes that the players will be playing Cherubim characters. While this is suggested quite strongly, there is nothing in the rules that stops a player from playing a Belial character. It is up to the Storyteller if he really wants characters like that running around in his game.

Playing Angel/Demon characters will present itself as a new challenge to even the most experienced role-player. Unlike the other World of Darkness games the players are not playing characters brought up in human society. Vampires, Werewolves, Mummies, Immortals, and Mages, although supernatural, are basically human. The Cherubim were born before the birth of time, their intellect and wisdom exceeds far beyond even a mortal's wildest dreams. They are, in short, perfect beings. Luckily this is not the character that the player must play. Like the powers of the Cherubim, much of their intellect is taken up in maintaining the link to Heaven. When in Eden they are bounded by the physical and mental limitations of humanity. They are not the super-beings that they are in Heaven, and they are prone to human mistakes and error.

Pursuant to this, Angel/Demon players do have to make a character just like everyone else. This does not represent the true abilities of the character however, it represents the aspect of the character that can materialize itself into reality. A Cherub in his own realm is a force that humanity cannot comprehend. Even with this though, an Angel/Demon character is still mentally superior to mortals while on earth. Only compared to his true form is he a babbling fool.

Character Concept

The first thing a player should do is come up with a good concept for his or her character. This will make character creation a lot easier. Then you must choose the Choir you come from. The most common choir is the Cherubim, the common angels. But there are a few others. There are the Belial, the Demons from hell, the Uriel, the angels of death, the Fallen, angels that have sinned and are teetering on the edge of oblivion and the Sundered, demons that have escaped hell but can't gain entrance to Heaven.

Angel/Demon characters have a nature like any mortal character. This can be anything virtuous of selfish. This may seem a little unusual that a Cherub can be selfish, or a Demon could be virtuous, but you must keep in mind angels, just like humans, have the power of free will. This was responsible for Satan's fall, and it may serve the characters in a very similar manner. Remember, not even the Cherubim are beyond the grasp of Lucifer. Angel/Demon characters very seldom have a Demeanor different than their Nature. They are socially rather simple creatures, saying what they think, and feeling what they feel. Players start characters in the Luna Realm, the lowest one, they must work their way up with good deeds if they wish to get more powerful.

Attributes

Angels are not men or women. They are not tall or short, good looking or ugly, fat or thin. You do not determine any physical characteristics for an Angel/Demon character, though you will have to do twice as much work on his mental ones. There are only five of the nine attributes that an Angel/Demon character can allocate points to: Charisma, Manipulation, Perception, Intelligence, and Wits. Beings without bodies have little need for Strength, Dexterity, Stamina, and Appearance. These four attributes will change every time the character enters a new host, and will be determined by the Storyteller every time the character switches bodies. In the five characteristics that the character will create, the character starts with a base of two dots in each. She then has nine attribute points to allocate into these attributes, and yes an attribute can be raised above five. As was previously said, Angels are still mentally superior to mortals.

Abilities

Abilities, on the other hand, are done in exactly the same fashion as in the other World of Darkness games. Why are beings of such power not as advanced in abilities as they are in attributes? Two reasons. One, abilities are not something that is used outside of Eden, so everything that angels have learned they have learned while on earth. Two, angels don't spend very much time in any one body so they don't spend much time learning one skill. Even though they are very old, they are not really in any position to learn a single skill very well. Hench normal abilities.

Advantages

The only traits that angels have are Willpower and True faith, and Willpower they use to a great extent. Apart from being able to do what every other character can do with Willpower, an Angel/Demon character can use it to fuel his powers. All characters start with a five in Willpower, and this can be increased with the use of freebie points. All angels and demons have True Faith, it is a measure of their grace in the eyes of God and Lucifer that they have. Angels may use True Faith the same way that mortals can, as countermagick, to keep vampires and demons at bay, and various other possiblities. The beginning rate a character has in True Faith is one. This may be increased with freebie points, and the maximum rating is limited to the realm the angel or demon belongs to.

Backgrounds

Not as many backgrounds apply to angels as they do to mortals, the angel cannot spend points on resources, sanctuary (of any sort), influence, fame, artifacts, relics, etc. Backgrounds that do apply to Angels/Demons are:

Arcane: Their holy/unholy natures generate little attention in the realm of Eden

Mortal Affinity: This is the ability of an Angel to more readily enter and exit a mortal body.

Rating	Difficulty Bonus	Botches Negated
*	-1	None
**	-2	None
***	-2	1
****	-2	2
*****	-2	All

Destiny: See Mage: the Sorcerers Crusade.

Status: Status applies to angels and demons as well. However, when an angel or demon purchases this background, it represents its status among the heirarchy of angels or demons. Characters should specify this on their character sheet.

Influence: The same applies for influence as above.

Any other background will be gained when the angel inhabits a host, thus gaining, at least temporarily the backgrounds of the host.

Powers

The sphere powers of the angels are given according to their choir, but their power in each is determined by their sphere. There are also a number of extra powers that they might learn as gifts from their hosts. The number of points that each character gets in these extra powers depends on the choir.

Finishing Touches

Angel/Demon characters have 15 freebie points to spend. This is identical to Vampire/Werewolf/Mage except refer to the points chart below.

Trait	Point Cost
Attributes	5
Willpower	3
Abilities	2
Backgrounds	1
Powers	7
Retained Power*	10
True Faith	3

^*Vampiric disciplines, Hedge Magic, Psychic Phenomenon, Quickening power, Sphere, etc.

This is basically all there is to creating an Angel/Demon character. You may want to determine what your character's motives and methods are, and how they differ from the usual motives and methods of the Cherubim/Belial. Feel free to push the boundaries of the game and what you believe an Angel to be. Remember, even Heaven has its mavericks.

The Character Creation Process

Step one: Choose or invent concept, and pick a nature

Step two: Spend 9 points among Charisma, Manipulation, Intelligence, Perception, and Wits. Each of these scores starts at two dots. Spend no points on Strength, Dexterity, Stamina, and Appearance. These will be filled in by the Storyteller depending on the mortal host.

Step Three: Prioritize Abilities and spend points (13/9/5)

Step Four: Recored Willpower and True Faith. Willpower 5, True Faith 1. Spend Background points: 7

Step Five: Spend Freebie Points: 15

| Part One | Part Two | Part Three |