Ashram,
Calabite Demon Prince of Conquest, Marshal of the
Armies of Hell
"Better to burn down Heaven and rule on the ashes than to serve in
it."
Dissonance:
It is dissonant for a Demon of Conquest to be defeated or run away from
any foe, although if violence has not started, they can avoid confrontation
until the time is right. It is also dissonant for them to surrender
anything held by Hell into the hands of Heaven.
Servitors, by Band:
Balseraphs:
Ashram assigns his Balseraphs to conduct covert operations or to lead surprise attacks; they can easily decieve people as to their true intent in war. On a successful Will roll, their check digit is subtracted from all target numbers to determine what they are really planning via espionage, military intelligence, scouting, etc. or to notice the presence of their force until it is too late.
Djinn:
Ashram is not completely neglectful of defense; part of Conquest is
administering and protecting what you've just taken, after all. Conquered
areas are often rebellious. His Djinn enforce loyalty and obedience;
should anyone inside a location they are attuned to begin to contemplate
rebellion, treason, going renegade, etc, they get a Will roll to notice
the incipient rebellion, and can choose to attune to the person who is
the traitor or rebel.
Calabites:
Calabites are Ashram's Shock Troops, thrown into the battle when it's time to duel with the Malakites and Ofanites. Their blows hit like hammers; they can make a Will roll each round and add the check digit of the roll (if successful) to any Strength target numbers.
Haballah:
Haballah of Conquest think they are Elohim of Victory. In addition to the usual repertoire of negative emotions, they can use their power to inspire loyalty, obedience, or cooperation in targets. This does not reduce the Intelligence or Precision of their targets, but has other effects:
Shedim:
Shedim of Conquest are more concerned with defeating Heaven than in the abstract corruption of human souls. They need not drive their hosts to greater and greater acts of evil; rather, so long as they successfully motivate their host to do something which hampers Heaven's activities or forwards Hell's goals, that is sufficient for them to remain another day. (For example, convincing their host to write out a donation to an orphanage which happens to be a tether of Piracy, where all the children will grow up to be theives, is sufficient to remain in the body, even though making a charitable donation is not a particularly evil act. In fact, many Shedim of Conquest revel in making their hosts do things which people will think are good, but which forward Hell's cause.)
Impudites:
Impudites of Conquest help to train Soldiers of Hell and Revenants, ideally inspiring them to feel obedience, loyalty, cooperation, pride, and hatred of Heaven. They can call upon this training to help them get cooperation and obedience and loyalty from any Soldier of Hell, adding their Celestial Forces to any Charm attempt directed at a Soldier of Hell or a Revenant.
Anthim:
Everyone wants to rule the world; the need to control, to conquer, to
take is a potent one. Any time an Anthim fulfills a need related
to these themes, the target number for the target to resist the Geas which
results is reduced by her Celestial Forces.
Servitor Attunements:
Art of Combat
As per the Baalite Attunement
Faithful Vassals
All Servants assigned to the Demon reduce their Will by his Celestial Forces as well as by their Resource level to resist his commands.
Fearless
There is nothing to fear, but fear itself. A Demon with this distinction
can never suffer Fear-related Discords and never becomes afraid, though
he does not become suicidially reckless or overly optimistic. This
attunement is never awarded to anyone with a Fear-related Discord.
Reward of Glory
Conquest rewards the victor; upon defeating a foe in combat, they recieve
a bonus to their target numbers against their next foe (in the same battle)
equal to their Corporeal Forces for a number of rounds equal to their Corporeal
forces.
Right of Conquest
If a Demon of Conquest seizes an area or object by force, he can spend an Essence and all the legal documentation and public records will change to show that he is the legal owner of it, if it was formerly private property. This won't change the previous owner's memories, though, so it's best you eliminate them...
Trial by Combat
By burning two Essence and defeating someone who denies his statement in combat, the Demon of Conquest can make all witnesses to the battle believe it must be true. The target must agree to the fight if he is on the side of Hell; those not serving Hell can be attacked whether they agree or not.
Distinctions:
Knight of Conquest
Knights of Conquest receive a manor in Gehenna, and have a number of Demons equal to their Forces placed under their command; they are expected to support them from their manor, which typically contains three times their forces worth of Damned. (Example: A Ten Forces Knight of Conquest has ten 7 force Demons under his command. This is a total of 80 forces worth of Demons, so there are 240 forces worth of Damned on his manor, which amounts to 48 five Force Damned.)
Captain of Conquest
Captains of Conquest are especially skilled at coordinating large forces under their command. Their orders never go astray, unless their enemies are directly responsible for it, and they sense if anyone under their command is planning to betray them. (On a successful Will check)
Baron of Conquest
Barons of Conquest coordinate multi-Word operations. They have an instinctive understanding of how to best exploit the strengths and flaws of other Words in order to get them to cooperate effectively.
Politics:
Allied: Beryl, Saionji
Associated: Metallia, Ryoko, Shinobu,
Hostile: Karla, Touga, Yukari
Basic Rites:
History:
Ashram is ancient, but not one of the Eldest angels. He was created by the Lightbringer after Humanity was created, in order to assist in the Lightbringer's work with defeating darkness on Earth. He studied the ways of the humans and learned how to fight from them, how to form and lead armies. He also became involved in the periodic clashes with the first generation of Ethereals. He became one of Akio's major lieutenants, called in when things seemed to be at their worst to turn the tide, and in time, he was rewarded with the word of Victory. It was during this period he was assigned one of Anthy's Anthim to assist him, Pirotess. Pirotess proved a great help to him, being a brilliant gatherer of information for him to plot his battles with, and she became the Angel of Military Intelligence.
It was natural for Akio to draw him into his conspiracy when the plot against the Metatron began; Ashram was not entirely sure about joining it, however. He liked humans, for all their flaws. But he trusted the Lightbringer, who was his Superior, and it was his duty to obey him. Once Akio convinced him the Metatron was corrupt, it was he who devised the plan to trap and ambush him.
Unfortunately, he discovered the hard way that his powers as Angel of Victory didn't work so well on Archangels. (As Angel of Victory, Ashram had been able to determine the best way to defeat any foe. But his power did not work properly against the Metatron, leading to an ambush which went awry and became a brawl, which became a riot, which became all out war.) He also discovered he was not able to stand up to an Archangel in combat, as he had foolishly fancied in his pride.
He nearly died at the hands of Haruka and Hotaru, having to run away to survive; he felt his old word ripped from him as he fled. Still, even with this defeat, he was able to pull himself together enough to organize the retreat of the rebels and hold off the worst of the pursuit; Michiru's Flood then distracted Heaven from finishing the job.
He was stunned when Akio appointed him commander of the Armies of Hell, raised him to Demon Prince, and gave him the word of Conquest. Despite his failure, he had proved loyal when many others did not, and he was still the best possible commander they had.
Since then, he has commanded the armies of Hell, ever preparing for
the day when Armageddon will come, and seeking to conquer as much of the
Marches and the Corporeal Realm as possible.
Personality and Outlook:
Ashram is a very pragmatic Demon Prince. He wants to win, to crush his enemies beneath their feet and reduce them to his grovelling servants. He wants to reclaim the Word of Victory by achieving the greatest victory of all, the Conquest of Heaven. Though conquering the rest of Creation will have to do if that can't work out. He emphasizes loyalty, obedience, cooperation among Demons; they must work together to beat Heaven. He also has far more respect for the Damned and Hellsworn Soldiers than most Princes do; after all, Heaven turns its Blessed Souls into Saints who can sometimes take on Demons and win; why can't Hell do the same thing? Or at the very least, study them and learn their tricks--they're more clever than most demons think.
Ashram spends a lot of time being frustrated; the values he emphasizes go against demonic nature, and are, in fact, heavenly virtues. He has too much respect for humanity to sit well with most Demon Princes too. It was personal loyalty which drew him into Akio's conspiracy, and it's his Pride, his greatest sin, which keeps him there. He was Angel of Victory, and he cannot BEAR to concede defeat. He has to win, he has to conquer Heaven, or else he has nothing and IS nothing.
And so, he presses for war to the hilt, ruthlessly pressing against Heaven's forces, even though a part of him wishes for an excuse to get out of Hell, as it's slowly driving him completely insane.
Ashram is very protective of his lover, Pirotess. Enough, at times,
to make her a little crazy. Their relationship is very stormy, but
also very strong.
Priorities:
The Conquest of Heaven is his first priority. This includes conquering the Corporeal and Ethereal planes as secondary priorities which must, however, be fulfilled first in order to prepare the ground for the final assault. Ashram sees his word in terms of taking ground and holding it, spreading Hell's power on Earth outwards from its tethers until every inch of the planet is controlled by Hell and every Tether belongs to Hell.
Ashram is an offensive strategist; he is better at assaulting Heaven's strongholds and destroying them, than at protecting what he already has. His first priority is to break up Heaven's strongholds, destroy its tethers and footsoldiers, leaving a vaccum which the other Princes can then move into with their Words.
His secondary priority is to coordinate the recruiting, distribution, and use of Hellsworn Soldiers. He also oversees the creation and operations of the Revenants, and the training of the Damned in Hell for combat.
Thirdly, he sees to the combat training of demonkind; most see to their own training, making this less a priority for him, as much of his work here consists of periodically badgering other Princes to make sure their servitors are trained.
Finally, he has his own espionage group which studies human technology
and techniques, especially war methods, in order to make sure Hell doesn't
miss any good ideas that he _knows_ the other Princes will definitely ignore.
Whispers and Rumors
Ashram the Double-Agent
Certain people in Hell wonder why exactly the _Angel of Victory_ was unable to defeat forces led by Ifurita, who wasn't even a Wordbound. Why his plans have failed so many times over the years. Why he preaches virtues which are honored more in the breach than the observance in Hell. And they have an answer. Ashram is a traitor. Maybe he is a deep-cover agent for Heaven, enabling it to win by sabotaging Hell's efforts. Perhaps he's on the take from some Ethereal. Or perhaps he wishes to undercut the other Demon Princes in order that he might become the ruler of Hell...
Ashram the Shell, Pirotess the Puppet
Rumors linger, claiming that Ashram actually died in the Fall, that
Akio used his abilities as a Superior to transform one of his selves into
a copy of Ashram, and Anthy did the same for Pirotess. Having done
this to avert panic during the Fall, he could not admit they had died,
and so he permanently detailed some of his selves to take on the role of
Ashram, as did Anthy for Pirotess. They continue to maintain these,
leading the War by proxy, so as to avert all dislike for the necessary
but unpleasant measures of the war onto people other than themselves.
The Dream War
Certain rumors claim that roughly once a century, Ifurita and Ashram
share a dream, a dream which may, internally, seem to last for years.
In that dream, each of them commands an army, and they make war across
a dream landscape, applying everything they've learned since their last
battle. Their most trusted lieutenants join them in that dream battle,
and whichever one of them wins will tend to win over the other for the
next century, until the next battle of the Dream War. It is said
that Ifurita won in 1811, leading to Heaven dominating the nineteenth century,
and that Ashram's victory in 1906 strengthened Hell in the 20th century.
If this rumor is true, one might expect both Superiors to be preparing
for an upcoming dream match soon...
Variations on a Theme
Ashram the Dominator
Ashram cannot stand any deviance from his will. He encourages loyalty, obedience, and cooperation in order to turn his servitors into good little zombies who will form the perfect army for his perfect conquest. If he is thwarted by those he cannot control, he will rage at them and seek revenge. Ultimately, everyone else exists for him, only to serve his will and enable him to conquer others, and break their wills. Pirotess has long been broken to his will, and loves him with helpless devotion despite the abuse, for her will is now his will.
Knight-Errant
In a Bright game, Ashram might become a Knight Errant, a heroic warrior
fighting for the freedom of all, and fighting for his lady fair, Pirotess.
This Ashram is more a wandering hero than a general, one who conquers Heaven's
plans with stalwart bravery and respects the best among his foes.
His Principality:
Gehenna
Gehenna is a giant feudal kingdom, divided into many fiefs which are sub-infuedated, and so on, down to the lowliest manor, run by a Demonic Knight, his gang of Demon retainers and his Damned peasants and imp and gremlin squires. Ashram allows his subordinates to fight private wars to weed out the weak, so long as they continue to follow his commands when he calls. Thus it is that the landscape is constantly shifting as tides of battle ebb and flow and alliances are made and broken.
Fortifications, both ancient and modern stud landscape in various states of repair, and the terrain varies from arctic to tropical and everything inbetween.
Ashram himself rules from the Castle of Conquest, a huge medieval style castle which is, however, studded with modern armanents. It is generally known some sort of secret passage links it to Pirotess' Sanctuary, but only Ashram and Pirotess know how.
A broad highway leads from the Castle of Conquest to Akio's Academy.
Word Bound Servitors
Demons of Battle, Combat Planning, Conquest of Poland, Flank Attacks, French Surrenders, Frontal Assault, Forward Marching, Logistics, Retrograde Movement, Street Fighting, Sniping, Strategy, Waterloo
There has never been and will never be a Demon of Victory if Ashram
can help it; he plans to reclaim that word for himself, yanking it out
of Heaven's grasp.
Organization
The basic unit is the Manor, home to a Knight of Conquest and the Demons who have pledged fealty to him. It is also home to his workshops in which his Damned servitors work to build weapons for their masters, build things for the manor's fortifications, and serve in any other way he sees fit.
Knights pledge themselves to a Captain of Conquest, who is pledged to a Baron of Conquest, and so on up the chain to Ashram himself.
Should he find himself mistreated, anyone in the hiearchy may switch fealty to someone else; doing so risks one's old master making war on you, however. Ideally, your new lord will help you, but...
Many demons think Ashram should move to a more modernized style of organization,
as while his methods insure every individual demon is potent, it is easy
for a demon to block the flow of orders to those beneath him if he does
not like them. Ashram seems to prefer things this way, though no
one is quite sure why.
Typical Tether
Tenochitlan
This tether was created by Cortez' conquest of the Aztec Empire, specifically by his storming of Tenochtitlan. It has moved itself around at times, though it always remains close to the heart of old Tenochitlan; it currently resides in the Museum of the Aztecs in Mexico City. Resiel, a Baron of Conquest, watches over the Tether, which for a long time had faded in strength, but is now regaining its potency as the Aztecs, mighty conquerors themselves, are now better remembered again. He himself plays the role of Miguel Hernandez, head of security for the museum. The access route to Gehenna is tucked away behind a locked door in the closet attached to Resiel's office.
Visiting Demons can work off dissonance by joining the security force
of the museum.
Beryl,
Shedim Demon Princess of Vengeance
"You will pay, all of you, for what was done to my Mother."
Dissonance:
It is dissonant for a servitor of Vengeance to forgive a slight, an
insult, or an offense against them, though they can defer vengeance to
a later date to insure its success. It is dissonant for a servitor
of Vengeance to pass up an opportunity at revenge that they could get away
with without worse consequences than not taking it.
Servitors, by Choir:
Balseraphs:
Balseraphs of Vengeance urge people to get even for imagined and unintended slights. Any lie they tell which is intended to make the target seek vengeance on someone reduces the victim's Will roll to resist by the Celestial Forces of the Balseraph.
Djinn:
Djinn of Vengeance wreak havoc on those who steal from them; they add their Corporeal Forces to their target numbers to attack anyone who takes something the Djinn has attuned to or destroys it.
Calabites:
Calabites of Vengeance like to get even with people by destroying their most prized possessions. They can make a Will check to determine what possessions someone treasures most.
It can be noted that Djinn and Calabim of Vengeance have been known, at times, to get into ever escalating wars with each other due to the ways their attunements interact...
Haballah:
Haballah of Vengeance see themselves as Elohim of Gemstones. They think Vengeance is the natural, objective response to people insulting you, robbing you, and otherwise offending against you. Anyone who is wearing jewelry or carrying a gemstone will find themselves unable to resist the Haballah's powers so long as they wear it. The Haballah still has to make a successful Will check, though.
Shedim:
Shedim of Vengeance find it exceptionally easy to drive people down the road of Vengeance. The Victim never recieves a Will roll to resist the Shedim if he is urging an act of Vengeance on him. (The Shedim is still subject to the normal necessity of Corruption Escalation)
Impudites:
Impudites of Vengeance know all about the cycle of revenge, and how to escalate it, in order to make groups rip themselves apart. They can use their resonance to determine who in a group has a grudge against who. From there, it's up to them to use their Charming abilities to turn brother against brother and parent against child. That's the fun part.
Anthim:
Some vengeance cries out to Hell itself to be carried out. If an Anthim of Vengeance helps someone carry out their revenge, thus fulfilling a need, the target suffers a penalty to his Will to resist the Geas equal to the Anthim's Celestial Forces.
Servitor Attunements:
A Dish Best Served Cold
If Vengeance must wait, best those who expect it come to forget you have reason to crush them, so that when the time is right, you can surprise them. The Demon adds her Etherial Forces to any attempt to feign forgiveness, in order to lull people into a false sense of security. Anyone using Danger on the Wind against her suffers a penalty to their Will check equal to her Etherial Forces.
Danger on the Wind
If someone decides to seek revenge on the Vengeance Demon, she gets
a Will check to realize that person is after her.
Know Thy Enemy
You may not always know who did something to you; with this attunement, you can burn one Essence and make a Will roll to know the name of someone who has committed an offense against you. This only identifies the most immediate culprit (for example, if one of Hotaru's servitors, Bungiel, slays your pet dog at Hotaru's command, you know his name, not Hotaru, even though she ordered it.)
Mark of Cain
This is used by Vengeance Demons to tag their favored servitors; any demon can see a Mark of Cain and knows who the demon or soldier serves and that they will have vengeance carried out upon them if they harm this person. A Demon of Vengeance can tag up to his Forces in beings, and knows if any of them have been harmed. If he possesses Know Thy Enemy, he need not make a Will Roll to know who is guilty of the offense.
Poetic Justice
Vengeance Demons usually prefer to handcraft their revenge, but sometimes, you're in a hurry...By spending an Essence and making a Will roll, the demon curses his victim to suffer some poetic justice for an offense done to him (or to someone under his Mark of Cain). The event will only annoy and harrass the target, which is another reason many Vengeance Demons prefer to do things the Hard Way.
Taste of Ashes
This attunement lets you turn the feelings of victory someone has gotten
from defeating you into a bitter taste in their mouth for fear of your
revenge. The Demon must make a Will check, and then the Target makes
a Will check with a penalty of the Demon's check digit. If the target
fails, he suffers a Fear Discord with regard to the Vengeance Demon
Distinctions:
Knight of Vengeance
Knights of Vengeance work as champions for people who need revenge. Once they agree to take on the role of championing someone's revenge, they can use all their attunements as if the offense done to that person had been done to them.
Captain of Vengeance
Captains of Vengeance can sense anyone who calls on them on any Plane by making a Will check. On a success, they know where the person is and who they are. Normally, they use this power to come and bargain with folk seeking revenge, in order to tempt Mortals to Hell and to make useful deals and contacts with other demons. They also use it to come to the aid of their own servants.
It is possible to use this to lure a Captain of Vengeance into a trap. You'd best hope you kill them and no one ever finds out, as such a deed will result in Beryl putting you under the Ban once she finds out.
Baron of Vengeance
Barons of Vengeance may attune automatically to one person who has committed an offense against them. This attunement lasts until they drop it. Unlike a Djinn attunement, you can be as horrible to that person as you like.
Lord of the Ban
This is a special distinction, which lies between Baron and Count of Vengeance; it need not be earned to move from Baron to Count, but anyone below the rank of Baron who earns it will be moved up to the rank of Baron as well, gaining those lesser distinctions. It is given to any Demon who slays someone who is under the Ban, or brings them alive to Beryl. (Beryl will award this distinction to any mortal or demon who slays someone she has placed under the Ban). Lords of the Ban are under Beryl's personal protection. Unless Beryl personally orders their destruction, anyone who kills a Lord of the Ban will be known to Beryl instantly and will be placed under the Ban within a few more seconds. All Lords of the Ban know who is under the Ban at all times.
The Ban:
Beryl does not take any offense against the Word of Vengeance or herself lying down, but certain things drive her completely insane. Those who commit certain offenses against Beryl or the Word of Vengeance will be placed under the Ban. Any Vengeance Demon who has a shot at someone under the Ban must take it; Beryl will automatically replace any vessels lost trying to kill someone who is under the Ban. Anyone who successfully slays someone under the Ban will be greatly rewarded by Beryl, gaining the Lord of the Ban attunement, and usually other songs, attunements, etc, as well.
In general, the major offenses which will lead to someone being put under the Ban:
Politics:
Beryl loves Metallia, her 'mother', and would do anything for her, anything at all.
Beryl hates Wasyuu because Wasyuu likes technology, and therefore is, at heart, a friend to Mizuhara, in Beryl's point of view. Best to strip the monkeys of all tools until they learn their place, in Beryl's opinion. She hates Nabiki because Nabiki encourages humans to plunder the mineral wealth of the Earth, wealth they do not deserve.
Allied: Metallia
Associated: Ashram, Saionji, and Shinobu
Hostile: Wasyuu, Nabiki
Basic Rites:
History:
Beryl was one of Metallia's first creations, one of many children created to assist in the laying out and organizing of the planets into coherent structures of stone and metal and crystal. As a Kyriotate, Beryl could be in many places at once, so she often worked as a coordinator on large tasks, able to monitor many groups at once and pass messages between them. She had an especial love of crystal, and she it was who learned how a Kyriotate could pass into crystals and possess them. Many stories of magical gemstones flowed out of the work of her and the servitors she began to attract when she was named Angel of Gemstones as a reward for her discovery.
Beryl was torn about humans. They had a great love of gems, like her, and respected them as they should. But they also tore up the handiwork of the Angels of Stone with their mines and their metal working, and generally made a huge mess everywhere. Thus it was that she listened to the Lightbringer when he planed his rebellion against the Metatron, and thus it was that she fought in the resulting battle. And thus it was that she witnessed the striking down and near destruction of Metallia, and her transformation into the very cage in which the defeated Angels were forced to retreat and imprisoned inside. She swore Vengeance on all and sundry, and in some way, the very act of swearing transformed her into the Demon Princess of Vengeance.
Since then, she has worked to get her revenge, carrying out her grand plan; she hopes to one day turn Michiru (or perhaps Haruka or Rei, should the chance arise) into a great prison for all of Angelkind, to do to them what was done to her Mother.
Beryl likes to take credit for all the acts of vengeance which have happened over the years. In most cases, the mortals did it all themselves, with only a little help from her servants, or no help at all. Two particular acts of vengeance, however, are her shining pride and joy, which centuries later, she still celebrates.
The first of them was the destruction of Nineveh, when the Assyrian empire was torn apart by its enemies. The Assyrians, once strong and proud in their cruelty, had overextended themselves, and become weak and vulnerable. Metallia, who had been their patron, abandoned them due to their weakness, and asked Beryl to destroy them. Her angels found themselves working with agents of Heaven to bring down Assyria and destroy it.
Secondly, she successfully manipulated one of Purity's soldiers, Cato
the Elder, into becoming a driving figure in the final Roman war of revenge
which destroyed Carthage. This act of brutal, bloody vengeance created
the most powerful tether which Beryl had for centuries, and which she still
has today. It also caused Cato to achieve his Fate and thus end up
condemned to Hell despite being a Soldier of Heaven. (His destiny
would have been to bring about the reform of Roman morals he sought to
further all his life. But by destroying Carthage, he advanced the
process of Roman conquests which brought about the influx of wealth which
was the source of Roman corruption...) Beryl laughed for years at
that one.
Personality and Outlook:
Beryl is hard and inflexible, as one might expect of a former Angel of Stone; she is focused on her vengeance, and everything else, Hell itself, can be hanged if it gets in the way of her revenge. She is a harsh mistress, punishing failure cruelly, but she also rewards good service well. Just don't EVER screw up.
She expects to be obeyed, down to the letter; failure which came despite perfect obedience will be forgiven better than failure due to breaking her orders.
Beryl takes a great delight in causing Angels to Fall, especially those of Water, Wind, or Fire. She has a great hatred of the Angels of War and Technology, especially Technology, who she sees as a great traitor to Stone, who must die, die, die.
Vengeance is everything to her; she never forgives a slight, never forgives an offense directed at her. (She may eventually forgive failure, but not a deliberate offense). Anything she can't act on immediately, is stored up to be acted on later.
Beryl has a huge storehouse of vengeance awaiting action.
Beryl likes picturesque vengeances. Just killing people is not
enough; they need to suffer in hugely poetic ways first. She sees
herself as an artist. Of pain.
Priorities:
Beryl wants to see Heaven burn and every Angel be sealed away in a new Hell. This is her top priority. Every Angel must either perish or be turned to Hell's service. The Angels of Technology and War must be obliterated, down to the last reliever, and those two Archangels destroyed utterly.
In practice, Beryl operates on four fronts. First of all, she makes war on the Angels of War and Technology, trying to wreck everything they do. Oddly, this means, among other things, supporting groups of pacifists (and not so oddly, groups of Luddites and Greens).
Secondly, she assists the Angels of Cruelty in their work, for they do the bidding of her mother, Metallia.
Thirdly, she contracts out her forces to carry out revenge missions for other Princes. When there is Vengeance to be carried out, she steps in and offers to do it in the most picturesque manner possible. Her rates are quite cheap, as these missions strengthen her word greatly.
Fourthly, some of her agents help mortals to get vengeance on each other. This promotes her word and helps condemn the vengeful to Hell.
Finally, she works to undercut Heaven's defenses by tempting and corrupting
its best agents. This is as much a hobby as it is a job, an impulse
of her Shedite nature.
Whispers and Rumors
Metallia's Avatar
Beryl is incredibly devoted to Metallia's interests. Too devoted, some say. They claim Beryl is, and possibly always was, an avatar of Metallia. How exactly Metallia can hold two Words at once, why Akio would tolerate this, or what she gets from it, no one is sure, but Beryl's devotion certainly seems remarkably beyond that of a normal demon...
The Silver Crystal
Rumor has it that when Metallia was made into Hell, the Angels
carefully removed anything from her that wasn't corrupt, and fused all
those pieces together into a shining crystal, which was then kept in reserve,
for those times when the powers of the now Fallen Archangel of Stone might
be needed. Beryl is said to greatly desire to obtain this gem for
her mother, and would do anything it is said, anything at all, in order
to get it.
Variations on a Theme
Hell Hath Fury Like A Woman Scorned
This version of Beryl was in love with Mizuhara, who spurned her in favor of Ifurita. Being spurned in favor of an Elohite drove her over the edge, leading her to join the Lightbringer's revolt. This version of Beryl is the Vengeance of a woman scorned; she focuses on the revenge of women against cheating lovers and rivals above other forms of vengeance, though she doesn't completely neglect other aspects of her word. This version of Beryl has a great contempt for Shiori, and plots against her, viewing her as treating Juri abominably and deserving vengeance.
The Furies
This version of Beryl is a Haballah. She sees herself as the ultimate
embodiment of God's Wrath, the Primal Punisher, who smites those who violate
the Laws. She is a very hands-on Punisher, taking to the field most
of the time and leaving her servitors to carry out punishment for those
who do wrong as they see fit. Her servitors seek out Angels and Demons
alike who are dissonant and destroy them, as well as punishing other sins
according to Beryl's draconian code.
Her Principality:
Gemworld
The Gemworld is a subterranean principality, an endless maze of crystalline tunnels and caverns, some of which have been hewn to make effective 'buildings', some of which are large enough to hold actual buildings. Beryl's palace rises out of a lake at the center of the largest cavern, which is a good fifteen miles across and two miles high. Several of her major Dukes hold palaces in the same cave; others have found similar, smaller caverns and built palaces. Tunnels lead from the fringes of the Principality to other Principalities, those of Ashram, Saionji, and Shinobu.
The Damned compete ferociously for the good favor of the Demons, hoping to be promoted to Revenant status, so they can go to Earth and finally get even for their deaths. The vast majority will never succeed, and those who are promoted often find themselves the target of vengeance by those who didn't make the cut... About a third of the Damned are out of the running, given over to Demons who spend eternity finding interesting ways to revenge themselves on said Damned, using them as both entertainment and Essence farms. Another third serve Beryl or the Demons in various ways, from making useful equipment to doing research on vengeance targets, to being sent on insanely dangerous spying missions in other principalities. The last third are left to themselves in a section of the Principality which seems abandoned, an experiment by Beryl to see what the Damned would create, left to themselves; they also form a strategic reserve from which some will be drawn either to be tortured for essence or put to work.
And what sort of society have the Damned created? Only Beryl knows,
but it seems to amuse her...
Word Bound Servitors
Demons of Burning Beds, Castration of Lovers, Curses, Delenda Est Carthago, Killing The Children Of Your Foe, Indian Massacres, Massacres of Indians, Men Scorned, the Mossad, Murder, Nair in Shampoo, Petty Revenge, Reconquest, Retaliatory Raids, Vigilante Justice, Women Scorned,
Organization
Beryl has a small hiearchical section of her organization which is in charge of defending her tethers and running her personal essence farms. It is headed by Maktiel, the Duke of Reconquest, who once served Ashram, but defected to Beryl's service millenia ago after being left out to dry by Ashram, or so he saw it. (As Ashram saw it, he preferred to muster his forces in order to do the job the right way. As it was, Beryl's people came to his rescue before Ashram did, and the word was compatible, so he switched Superiors.) He oversees a hiearchically organized military force which protects Beryl's tethers and moves to occupy new ones when they appear. Beryl has also been known to loan him out to other Superiors to help them recapture a lost tether.
The rest of her organization is much looser. Most of her operatives work on their own, seeking out places where they can encourage the doing of vengeance. Many hire themselves out for a time to other words with her blessing, to help them get vengeance, for this furthers the cause of Hell and her own Word. Those with distinctions have more respect in the organization, and typically have their own gang which works with them in furthering the cause of vengeance. It is not strictly necessary for anyone to obey anyone other than Beryl herself, though in practice, it is wise to go along with the orders of those of higher levels of distinction.
The Damned, on the other hand, must obey any orders given them by a demon, unless a higher distincted Demon of Vengeance gave them contradictory orders. A fair number of the Damned of Vengeance are in the clutches of various Demons of Vengeance who continue to extract the vengeance on them which began on the Corporeal plane and now continues until they are of no further use. Most of the rest are either kept by Beryl herself or her personal staff, or are granted out as assistants/essence suppliers to demons who have pleased her.
Beryl's word is often riven by the efforts of various of its members to revenge themselves on each other, but the loose structure of her organization means this does less damage than it would in a more hiearchical one.
Beryl sometimes forms taskforces for particularly large works of vengeance, when she feels the need to _get something done now_.
Beryl makes some use of Revenants, though she mostly uses it as a carrot dangled over the Damned to get them to work harder and give up their essence more freely. Most of hers were Soldiers of Vengeance in life, rather than promoted Damned.
Typical Tether
Carthage
It is now hidden away beneath the modern city of Carthage, but this
is one of Beryl's favorite tethers, for it was created by the Third Punic
War, which destroyed Carthage in a fit of petty pique on the part of Cato
the Elder and Rome. The tether proper is located inside the basement
of an old Punic building which has had many buildings built over it over
the years. It is guarded by an old demon of Vengeance, the Djinn
Count Moroch, who is content to quietly tend his tether. He is the
Demon of 'Delenda est Carthago', drawing power from the memory of the destruction
of Carthage. It is not as powerful a Word as it once was, but it
provides him a slow stream of additional essence from every place where
Roman history is studied. Once a year, he recieves a large surge
of essence as all the Demons of Vengeance celebrate that day at once, and
as the Damned of Vengeance are forced to celebrate it and give up their
Essence to be taken by him and Beryl and all the Demons of Vengeance.
Juri,
Balseraph Demon Princess of Unbelief
"I don't believe in miracles."
Dissonance:
It is dissonant to assert or believe in the existence of God.
It is dissonant to assert or believe in non-materialist theories (adjusting
'materialism' to include the Angelic/Demonic knowledge of multiple planes
of existence, Celestial life forms, etc, all various observable phenomena,
if not observable by mortals all the time...). It is, in fact, dissonant
to assert or believe in anything which cannot be empirically demonstrated,
or in other words, to have faith.
Servitors, by Choir:
Juri, in her delusions, refers to all her servitors by the names of their Angelic counterpart Choirs. She refuses to admit any Malakites truly exist.
Balseraphs:
Juri's Seraphs have the power to reveal all Faith to be a lie, to force people to confront the Truth--There is no Goddess. Or so she sees it. All resistance rolls against one of her Balseraphs trying to make people lose faith in something they believe in are reduced by the Celestial Forces of the Balseraph.
Djinn:
In a world with no Goddess, you have to cling to something. Juri's Djinn find people to cling to, to give them some sense of meaning in a world where you can't believe in anything. Sooner or later, though, their skepticism and lack of belief destroys their ability to continue to believe in those they once called friend or lover, or else their constant lack of belief wears away at that person's ability to believe. Juri's Djinn can automatically attune with a touch to any being which believes in something greater than themselves. However, each time the Djinn has to renew the attunement, his subject must make a Will check with a penalty of any levels of Unbelief Discord or gain a level of Unbelief Discord. Once this happens, it becomes harder and harder for the Djinn to attune to them (the Djinn makes a normal check with a penalty of the target's levels of Unbelief)
[They can still attune to objects and places in the usual way.]
Calabites:
Juri's Calabites are very strange as Calabites go. They learn
to use their entropic resonance against people's belief, destroying intangibles.
They can use their resonance to do Mind hits, even on the Corporeal Plane.
When the subject falls to zero Mind hits, they suffer the Ethereal Discord
Skepticism. (One level for each time the Calabite does this to them.)
Haballah:
Juri's Haballah find themselves in a difficult position in some ways. Only Juri among all the Demon Princes makes it dissonant to have any faith in God. Thus is it is that Juri's Haballah have set themselves a very difficult task--to create a new God. God does not exist, but it is necessary to invent him. Only then can Unbelief become Faith once more. And the Universe needs someone at the summit of all being, or all being will crumble. It is no doubt the death of God which lead to the general weakness and decay of reality; this must be halted. The best way to do this remains debatable...
Juri's Haballah have the ability to suck all the emotions out of a person and displace them onto someone else, leaving one person an emotional wreck, while giving the other person crystal clear rational clarity for the duration of the effect. Both targets are able to resist with Will checks; if the first person succeeds, nothing happens at all. If the second succeeds, the emotions come crashing down on the Haballah, who must express them or take dissonance as usual.
Shedim:
A Shedim of Juri who possesses a target learns the best ways in which to destroy their victim's faith, whatever it may lie in. They especially like to possess preachers and lead them on a trail of sins which will eventually be revealed, wrecking the entire congregation.
Impudites:
Impudites of Unbelief know that it's the company you keep which has a big influence on your ability to have Faith. They can use their resonance to inspire people to develop friendships with those who lack Faith, or whose behavior will wear away at their Faith, and to drop friendships with those who do have it. (Targets can resist with a Will check. On a failure, they will pursue the friendship for days equal to the Impudite's check digit. It may persist if the people are sufficiently compatible to make good friends. This friendship is not so potent as that inspired by Impudite Charm.).
Anthim:
Bright Anthim can sense how best to use a person's Needs to destroy
their faith.
Servitor Attunements:
Analyze Logic
The Demon can make a Will check to find the flaws, holes, and vulnerabilities in any argument.
Cold Reason
By burning a point of Essence, the Demon can function without being clouded by its emotions for its Ethereal Forces in hours. This lets him add his Ethereal Forces to any Intelligence or Precision check due to his clarity of thought. If he has any Ethereal or Celestial Discords, he can supress them as well by paying one point of Essence for every three levels of Discord.
Logical Deduction
Through a heightening of observation capacity and of intellectual capacity, the Demon becomes capable of incredible feats of deduction from small, hard to notice clues. (On the line of the sort of thing Sherlock Holmes did all the time).
Mock Belief
The Demon becomes supernaturally good at mocking people's beliefs in order to hamper their ability to debate against the Demon's own position; anyone he debates with suffers a penalty equal to the Demon's Ethereal Forces to whatever skill they're using to debate with.
Sense Faith
With a Will check, the Demon can sense what a person has faith in, if anything.
Skeptic's Eye
The Demon is not easily fooled, and now possesses the Seraphic choir
resonance (right down to making a Perception check). They also acquire
the Seraphic dissonance condition.
Distinctions:
Knight of Unbelief
Knights of Unbelief are master debaters, able to explain their beliefs with great clarity and precision. They can add their Ethereal Forces to any skill being used to debate a foe.
Captain of Unbelief
Captains of Unbelief radiate an aura of clarity of thought and calm reason which appeals to anyone who is fundamentally intellectual (The GM's call, but in general, anyone who has Ethereal Forces as their highest set of Forces). Such folk react to the Captain of Unbelief with a bonus to the reaction roll equal to the Ethereal Forces of the Captain of Unbelief.
Baron of Unbelief
Barons of Unbelief question everything, sometimes including their own
existence. Everyone around them (within ten times their Etherial
Forces in yards) becomes more skeptical as well, as if they had the Skepticism
Discord at a level equal to the Demon's Ethereal Forces.
Politics:
Juri is, as one might expect, allied to, indeed, subservient to, her lover, Shiori.
She is associated with Ashram and Beryl because she too wishes to defeat Heaven, or at least some of its members, though her goal is reform, not destruction. Her forces provide good planners who can help conduct the war against Heaven in a more logical and rational manner.
She greatly enjoys the company of Karla, because they both have a great fondness for logical, philosophical debate.
Juri dislikes Nephrite because she doesn't want to be 'ruled by the stars'. There are no mystic forces guiding everyone's destiny or fate; it's all the result of their choices.
Juri is on bad terms with Ryoko, as she was unfortunate enough to end up bordering the woman, and is a constant victim of Ryoko's pirates.
Juri can't stand Suzu, whose frivolity and vanity and emotionalism are the very opposite of Juri's own temperment.
Juri surprises many by opposing Wasyuu; really, though, it's quite logical. Juri exalts reason over emotion, while Wasyuu is all about using Reason to service the desires of Emotion. She also makes huge messes.
Allied: Shiori
Associated: Ashram, Beryl, Karla
Hostile: Nephrite, Ryoko, Suzu, Wasyuu
Basic Rites:
History:
Juri is ancient, though not one of the Eldest among Angels and Demons. She was one of the rare angels created by the Metatron himself. He appointed her to work with her fellow Angels, bringing hope to those who felt burdened by their tasks, and renewing their Faith in their creator, the Goddess. She did this task well, bringing renewed hope and faith to others, by exposing their fears and worries as untruths they could shed themselves of. In time, she was awarded with the Word of Faith, and then even became Archangel of Faith, once humanity came into existence, for humans needed Faith more than Angels, for they had less direct proof of Goddess' goodness and power.
In those Halcyon days, Juri developed a great affection for one of her fellow angels, Shiori, a bright and cheerful servitor of Flowers. Shiori was a Mercurian, and her lively energy had a great appeal to the stern and restrained Seraph. She was afraid to approach Shiori, though, as she had never been in love before, and did not know how to cope with it, and she was so busy, she could rarely see Shiori as she desired. But she felt in her heart that God could never let true love go unrewarded, and that one day, they would be able to share true love.
And thus it still stood at the time of the Fall. One glorious day, as it seemed at first, Shiori came to Juri and announced that she was in love with Juri, and begged her for some token of her affection. Juri was stunned, then overwhelmed with joy to have her heartfelt desire granted. She spent the day in a haze with her new lover. A very pleasant haze. Until it was shattered by the screams of the Metatron under assault.
She tried to come to his rescue, but she was too late, arriving, just in time to see him die. She couldn't believe it. How could this happen? How could the Voice of Goddess be slain without Goddess intervening? Her Faith wavered. Goddess could not do that. Not if She was real. But was She real? Had there ever really been a Goddess? Or had the first Angels made Her up to justify their actions? The Lightbringer...surely he could not attempt this if he thought the Goddess was real; it would be suicide.
She stood, impaled on her indecision, as the battle raged on. It could not be true. This couldn't be happening. The Goddess could not allow such slaugher of Her children, the Angels. Shiori caught up to her, and she turned to Shiori, hoping for some comfort, some help in holding onto her hope, her faith. Instead, Shiori informed her that she had joined the Lightbringer's revolt, and hoped Juri would join them too. That was the final straw for Juri. Her own love was a traitor and her 'father' had been attacked and slain while she'd been snuggled up to the traitor. There was no Plan to this, no meaning. It could not be Goddess's will. The Voice of Goddess was dead.
And so she lost her Faith, and fled, unable to face the horrors unfolding around her. She fled to the place where Hell would be built, and when the Angels turned Metallia into a prison, they sealed her inside with the rest. She brooded, alone in the dark, for many years it seemed to her, until finally, Shiori found her, and brought her to Akio, who offered her the Word of Unbelief, only to find that she already had it. There was no Goddess, she knew that now. And she had to make the others understand. The truth was cold and bitter, but she was at heart still a Seraph despite her fall, and this truth, it was the only Truth. And only the Truth could set people free. A cold, dark, lonely freedom, but lies could not be tolerated. No, they could not.
And thus she took up her Principate with Shiori at her side, the Demon
Princesses of Unbelief and Envy. And so it has remained.
Personality and Outlook:
Certain people refer to Juri as the Habbaraph, for she continues to refer to herself as an Archangel. In fact, she does this with all the Princes, going even further than Haballah. From her point of view, they were exiled because they saw the fundamental Truth of the universe: There is no Goddess. Faith is meaningless, because it involves believing lies. She wants to reveal the Truth, the whole Truth, to make the other Angels see. Only pure Reason is the proper guide to life.
Deep down, she knows that she can't even manage that. She continues to be Shiori's lover because it is the only source of Hope she has, even though Shiori uses her as a toy and they've been playing the same self-destructive games for millenia. She lets Shiori yank her around and ends up backing up all of Shiori's schemes. She is unable to overcome her emotions, though she hides them.
On the outside, though, she is all reason and self-control, speaking clearly and calmly if somewhat coldly, explaining and justifying her every action with rigorous logic. She does nothing on impulse, instead, meticulously planning, then double-checking her plans, then executing them with mechanical precision.
On the inside, she seethes with the despair and hopelessness and desperate need that leads her to cling to Shiori, even knowing she's being cheated on, because there are moments when, just for a little while, she can lie in Shiori's arms and forget all her pain.
But even Superior-level Balseraphic resonance can only go so far...
Priorities:
Juri's highest priority is, ultimately, to assist and support her lover, Shiori. She provides the logical structures and careful planning which Shiori lacks, while Shiori gives her the drive she has lost in her hidden despair.
Secondly, she works to promote her word by encouraging humans to be rational and empirical, encouraging the spread of science and philosophy and the abandonment of religion. The Truth will set people free from the lies which shroud their minds, so that they may face the world as it really is.
Thirdly, she works to block the work of those Angels she sees as most deceptive, spreading lies and untruths. She also fights those Demon Princes she sees as foolish. Which is a lot of them.
Whispers and Rumors
Juri the Sequel
It can be difficult to be really, really sure what Band a Superior belongs to; with appropriate songs, they can appear as whatever they like, and they typically possess all the powers of all the Bands which serve them. Juri's behavior reminds many of Haballah in some ways, or even an Elohite, given her emphasis on Reason. This, combined with her subservience to Shiori, has led many to believe that this is not the 'real' Juri, but rather a duplicate. (And quite likely a Haballah instead of a Balseraph) Just as the eldest Angels were created when the Words they hold first came into existence, some argue this Juri was created by the death of the Metatron, that true Unbelief could only exist in a universe where the Voice of God was silenced. Or perhaps Shiori made her (perhaps in part from the Forces of the original Juri). Or Akio made her as a gift for Shiori (perhaps even as the price of Shiori's support for the Lightbringer during the Fall...)
No Exit
One of Juri's harshest punishments is spoken of only in whispered terms. It remains unclear how exactly it works, as the survivors of it either can no longer speak coherently or else will not speak of it, ever. Publically, it is spoken of as 'The Room With No Doors'; a Demon or one of the Damned who has misbehaved too much is moved into it by the Celestial Song of Motion and not allowed to leave The Room for days, weeks, months, or even years. Something is in there, something horrible, something which seems able to break even the strongest willed Demon.
Juri will not say what is in there. However, it is noted by many that Jean Paul Sartre vanished after only hours in Juri's Principality after his death, and thus it is generally thought that those sent to the Room With No Doors have to put up with him until they snap.
No one wants to find out for sure.
The Voice of Goddess
Before the death of the Metatron, the job of prophesy and spreading
the divine word of Goddess directly to mankind was handled not by Rei,
but by the Metatron. Certain people believe that Juri would have
inherited this task, if she had not Fallen, perhaps even become the new
Metatron, speaking for Goddess directly. Many in Hell worry that
if she ever redeemed, she might well take up this mantle, especially if
she once again recieves her old Word...
Variations on a Theme
Candle in the Darkness
Best suited for a Bright, Hell-focused game (or possibly as a Redemption candidate for a Bright Heavenly game), this version of Juri is as close to an Angel as any Demon can be. Her Principality is a clean, orderly place, more like Plato's Republic than what most would think of Hell, home to souls about as happy as the Damned are capable of getting. Her servitors are the voice of reason in a world of madness, motivated by the desire to help others achieve their own state of rational, clear thought without prejudice, skeptics in the best sense who build up new world views to replace those which they have had to criticize to Death.
Why then, does she remain a Demon Princess? Because she does not believe Goddess exists. Not 'does not believe Goddess exists' in the same sense that a faithful Hindu might reject monotheistic conceptions of Goddess, or even the way in which a Materialist might, but in the sense of a Balseraph who has focused her self-delusional abilities on herself for millenia. Until this fundamental self-delusion is erased, she cannot move closer to God, as you can't travel to something which does not exist.
Akio keeps her around, despite the danger that she may switch sides, precisely because it is much easier for someone who is squeaky clean to recruit for Hell and subvert the potentially heaven-bound than it is for someone clearly evil. Her rational, humanistic, materialistic utopian vision has great appeal for many on Earth, and has brought many souls to Hell. And deep down, the part of him that was once the Rose Prince, admires her for her ability to find herself a purpose, to do so much good. Even if he can't admit it to himself.
Chronicles of Juri the Unbeliever
Juri's Unbelief, her skepticism is so deep, that she can't actually believe that ANYTHING that is happening is real. This is why she continues to call herself an Archangel, not because she is pseudo-Haballah or something, but because she thinks she has dreamed everything since just before the Fall. It's all just a nightmare. This version of Juri doesn't speak against belief in Goddess, but rather insists everything around her is a figment of her own imagination. She plays the game of Hell because she got tired of waiting to wake up and they wouldn't let her back into Heaven in her dream for some reason, so for now, she will play along until she wakes up, recruiting Soldiers and teaching them they don't actually exist...
At times, she forgets it's all a dream, and gets caught up in events,
roused to some grand passion, but most of the time, she lets Shiori run
her organization and loses herself in her love affair with Shiori, as it
is the most pleasant part of this nasty, apparently endless dream...
Rage Against the Fortunate Fall
In that horrible moment where the Metatron died before her eyes, Juri looked at him and saw he was _smiling_. She felt his voice, one final time, offering her the chance, as Archangel of Faith, to take his place, to become the new Voice of Goddess. And then it all became clear to her. His death was Goddess' will. Goddess had, for some reason, decided that the Fall must happen, had nudged events so as to ensure that the Rebellion would break out, had damaged Her own creation for some purpose. But she could not accept that. A Goddess who could do something so horrible was unworthy of worship, of love, of trust.
And so she rejected the offer and cursed the Goddess, pledging herself to oppose such a filthy creature in all things. At that moment, she fell, cast into Hell by the Metatron in his final act. Since then, she has made war, war to the hilt against Heaven, because it serves such a horrible creature, blinding herself to the degree that she has become just as horrible.
This version of Juri is much angrier with Heaven than the standard one; she sees them as the voluntary servants of a horrible monster than as merely deluded by their own emotions. She fights Heaven much more fervently.
This version of Juri most hates of all beings in the universe those
theologians who argue the Fall was fortunate, that it paved the way for
Christ to be sent to mankind. She finds this entirely ludicrous;
while this version of Juri believes the Goddess exists, she sees neither
value in the Goddess manifesting in Christ nor does she see it as necessary
for Heaven to self-destruct in order for this to take place. Such
theologians are marked by her for corruption that they will fall into Hell
so that she can personally claim them and torment them for all of eternity.
She has not been nearly so successful in this endeavour as she hopes, though.
Her Principality:
The League of Republics
While Plato achieved his Destiny despite Juri's efforts to recruit him, she greatly admired his attempts to apply philosophical thinking to many areas. Indeed, the ancient Greeks in general had her favor due to the flourishing of philosophy and logic among them. As a result, she has modelled her Principality on lines inspired by Greece. Her principality is a series of mountain ranges and valleys, each ruled over by one of her Dukes, who presides over the city built in that valley. Rivers run down from the Principality of Shiori through the valleys, finally emptying out into the Great Sea of Hell (Ryoko's Principality); many of the cities are built upstream from the coast, close enough for easy access, but not so close as to be easily raided by Ryoko's pirates.
Each city is referred to as a 'Polis', and is ruled by the Gold class (aka, the Demons), who form the Great Council which advises the Tyrant (Duke) of each Polis in his decision making. Many of them are too busy with their works of logic and philosophy or spreading their Word on Earth to take much interest in politics, unlike many Principalities.
They are assisted by the Silver class, the Revenants, those Damned souls who are sufficiently intelligent to gain Juri's favor; some act as Earthly agents, while others act as assistants to the members of the Gold Class.
Finally, the Bronze Class is the common Damned. They have few rights, and no power, but are much less likely to be randomly tortured and maltreated than in some Principalities. They do all the grunt work; some eventually work their way up to Revenant status, while most remain carriers of books and research slaves for eternity.
Juri herself rules from Juripolis, a city at the very border with Shiori's.
Indeed, Shiori's capital sits next to hers and their palaces are joined
to a degree so as to form a single Palace. One cannot easily say
when one has passed over the border.
Word Bound Servitors
Demons of Atheistic Churchmen, Doubt, Flawed Proofs of Goddess' Existence, Logic, Mockery, Philosophy, Reason, Scepticism, Science, Truth,
Organization
Juri's organization is a hiearchical bureaucratic meritocracy, at least in theory. She sits at the top, the Demon Princess of Unbelief. Each of her Dukes heads a Polis, which is dedicated to advancing some sub-aspect of her word. The Dukes meet sometimes, acting as her Grand Council, who advise her in major decisions, though the final choice is hers. The Dukes divide their Polises among their Counts, who, in turn, have a set of Marquis working for them. And so it proceeds down the chain of command, down to the common demons, who command the Revenants, who in turn command the Damned.
The promise of advancement helps motivate her demons and Damned alike to work hard. Those Demons below the rank of Marquis typically are not fixed in one part of the hierarchy, but will likely be moved around between different Marquisates and Counties, when they get a promotion, unless they show so much affinity for one area of work that it is best to keep them in it. Advancement slows beyond the rank of Baron, as the standards get higher and one typically becomes involved in jockeying for a Word.
While the Damned have a glass ceiling (They'll never rise above Silver Class and will be flunkies of demons for life), the desire to get as close to that glass ceiling as possible drives them to improve themselves, so as to achieve revenant status.
Almost every Duke has a part of his organization which works on Earth,
and another section which works in Hell; Juri tends to let each experiment
with different organizational styles, so no two Polises are organized exactly
the same. Demons on Earth often have problems with sorting out who
is in charge if they work for different Dukes and have similar levels of
distinction.
Typical Tether
The Bertrand Russell Research Centre
McMaster University
(http://www.humanities.mcmaster.ca/~russell/)
Bertrand Russell, famous philosopher and atheist of the early to mid twentieth century, was not, in life, a witting agent of Unbelief. He was the best kind of mortal for Hell, someone who espouses demonic ideas and leads others to Hell without being connected to Hell in any way, and thus being far less likely to draw down Heaven upon himself than a Hellsworn. In the 1960s, before his death, he donated most of his papers to McMaster University, which has since created a Bertrand Russel Research Centre (formally opened in 2000) and publishes Russell: the Journal of Bertrand Russell Studies (Now in its 31st year). The initiation of the journal opened a minor tether to Unbelief, which has grown much stronger with the formal opening of the center.
To a casual glance, and even to many Angels, the tether does not seem hideously demonic. It is an academic research center full of folk who are no worse than any other academics for the most part, simply dedicated to humanism and logical thinking. The Castellan, Timothy, is not a bad sort as Djinn go, taking great pride in the work of the center and pushing its scholars to constantly improve themselves. He has taken on a series of roles as graduate students over the years; a role as a full professor ends up consuming too much time, he's found, to his regret, since he greatly enjoys the cut and thrust of academic debate.
(For the curious, Bertrand Russell finds himself one of the favored
Damned in Juri's Principality, a position about which he rather has misgivings.
He didn't believe in Heaven or Hell or demons or angels, and yet all of
those are real. And given the choice, he would rather have gone to
Heaven than be in Hell where most of the Demons regard him as only slightly
higher than a slime mold and only slightly more useful. He would
much rather see mortals informed of the whole truth, and has come to see
Juri as delusional and the methodology of Unbelief as hypocritical.
Unfortunately for him, he seems to be utterly screwed, trapped forever
in Hell, or at best, able to return to the Corporeal Plane as a revenant,
but only as a fugitive in the night... If Demons can Redeem, why
not Damned Souls, he asks himself. It is not fair. Bertrand
is likely a bundle of trouble for Unbelief in the making...)
Karla,
Shedim Demon Princess of 'Balance' (Factions)
"Anything imbalanced inevitably spirals to destruction."
Dissonance:
Servitors, by Band:
Balseraphs:
Djinn:
Calabites:
Haballah:
Shedim:
Impudites:
Anthim:
Servitor Attunements:
Distinctions:
Knight of Insight
Captain of Insight
Baron of Insight
Politics:
Allied:
Associated:
Hostile:
Basic Rites:
History:
Personality and Outlook:
Priorities:
Whispers and Rumors
Variations on a Theme
Her Principality:
(Fill in here)
Word Bound Servitors
Organization
Things to do in service of
Typical Tether
Newton's Tree
Lina,
Calabite Demon Princess of Destruction (Gluttony)
"Dragon...SLAVE!!!!!." *Kaboom*
Dissonance:
Servitors, by Band:
Balseraphs:
Djinn:
Calabites:
Haballah:
Shedim:
Impudites:
Anthim:
Servitor Attunements:
Distinctions:
Knight of Insight
Captain of Insight
Baron of Insight
Politics:
Allied:
Associated:
Hostile:
Basic Rites:
History:
Personality and Outlook:
Priorities:
Whispers and Rumors
Variations on a Theme
Her Principality:
(Fill in here)
Word Bound Servitors
Organization
Things to do in service of
Typical Tether
Newton's Tree
Karla,
Shedim Demon Princess of 'Balance' (Factions)
"Anything imbalanced inevitably spirals to destruction."
Dissonance:
Servitors, by Band:
Balseraphs:
Djinn:
Calabites:
Haballah:
Shedim:
Impudites:
Anthim:
Servitor Attunements:
Distinctions:
Knight of Insight
Captain of Insight
Baron of Insight
Politics:
Allied:
Associated:
Hostile:
Basic Rites:
History:
Personality and Outlook:
Priorities:
Whispers and Rumors
Variations on a Theme
Her Principality:
(Fill in here)
Word Bound Servitors
Organization
Things to do in service of
Typical Tether
Newton's Tree