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SAINTS

God’s beloved; God’s favored. Though not as flashy as the days of St Augustine and Joan d'Arc, new saints continue to be born; burdened with a sacred mission and bestowed with a Divine Gift. The ability that saints receive vary just as wildly as their divine calling. For some, the knowledge of what they're meant to do is baked into their bones, while others require greater guidance to realize their holy purpose — but all have dedicated themselves to doing the Lord's work.

Though still mortal, saints have a few advantages over ordinary humans. They are able to see divine auras and so can recognize other saints, angels, and demons at a glance. Saints are, essentially, living holy relics and so have the same hollowed properties of such artifacts: able to purify spaces and people and also possessing a certain degree of protection against demons.

All saints are divinely bestowed one special ability or holy relic. For some it's healing. For other's, clairvoyance. For another, it might be a piece of weaponry. The exact nature of their divine gift varies, but whatever it is it's meant to serve them in accomplishing their sacred mission.

Saints & Heaven Each saint has one of the seven main archangels — Michael, Gabriel, Raphael, Uriel, Camael, Jophiel, or Zadkiel — as their guardian angel. Just as Gabriel appeared to the prophet Daniel to explain his visions and Michael appeared to Joan of Arc, a saint's guardian angel is responsible for providing them guidance and counsel about their sacred mission.

The degree of a saint's bond with their guardian angel varies widely. Some saints communicate semi-regularly with their guardian angel, while others may only receive visions once or twice in their entire lifetime.

Saints & Hell Natural enemies. A saint's work is antithesis to that of demons and devils. But they are not completely resistant to corruption and a Saint's soul is considered quite the hot commodity in Hell. And so saints must be just as careful as any other mortal to avoid straying into damnation, lest they end up as apostates.

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APOSTATES

NOT ALL SAINTS REMAIN LOYAL TO GOD. Apostates are saints who have turned their back on Heaven by committing a grave sin and straying from their sacred mission.

Once a saint becomes an apostate, their blessed abilities become warped: though they retain their divine sight, they lose their ability to purify or protect against demons.

The special ability they had as saints becomes corrupted and unstable. The nature of that instability varies from ability to ability, as well as from apostate to apostate. One apostate who had the ability to heal may now find that they automatically absorb all the wounds and ailments from anyone they touch; while another healer apostate may discover their ability now causes injury. Typically, the further they deviate from their mission, the more distorted their blessing.

Apostates & Heaven What once was a sacred bond has soured. The voice of God and the Heavenly Host of Angels no longer speak to apostates. There have been incidents where some apostates strayed too far and their corrupted ability made them walking hazards. In such situations, apostates have sometimes been killed by their own former guardian angel.

Apostates & Hell There are few things that broker greater celebration in Hell than the descent of a saint into an apostate. The damnation of a saint is worth a high bounty in Hell, and so while some apostates wandered astray on their own, many were led into corruption by the wiles and temptations of infernal agents.

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Fallen Angels

STRIPPED OF THEIR WINGS AND CAST OUT The angels were created by God as extensions of Himself; His means of communicating with humanity and serving them so that they might use their free will to join Him in Heaven. His favored angel, Lucifer, His Light-Bearer and confidante, was the first angel to fall. But not the last. In the eons that followed other angels have violated Heaven's Laws in one way or another and as punishment have been cast down to Earth.

Fallen angels retain their immortality, yet it is no longer a blessing but rather a curse, for their abilities fade the longer they are on Earth — their great strength wans, their preternatural speed slows, their ability to heal themselves lessens. Whatever divine gifts or powers they had before their Fall will rapidly weaken and ultimately vanish. By the time they have been on Earth for 100 years, most fallen will have lost all of their former glory and become only little better than ordinary humans.

They do, however, forever retain their ability to see divine auras and so can recognize saints, angels, and demons at a glance. And though they no longer have complete immunity against demons, they do have a certain degree of protection against devils.

Fallen & Heaven Traitors. This is the word that thunders in Heaven when the topic of fallen arises. They are heretics, cast out of The Silver City and damned to wander the Earth till Judgement Day.

What they think of Heaven after their Fall varies. Some remain repentant and pious, hoping that perhaps when Doomsday comes and that final trumpet sounds they will be forgiven. Others fester in resentment. Some go mad. But what Heaven thinks of their plight, penance, or future remains unknown to them.

Fallen & Hell If there were ever a relationship of great complexity it would be that between fallen and Hell. Once mortal enemies, now Hell, in many ways, becomes the greatest of temptations. Some fallen, unable to stand their fading powers and immortal suffering on Earth, pledge allegiance to Lucifer and descend into The Infernal Pit to become higher order demons.

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Devils

Unholy creatures the pious fear. Stories of demonic possession, corrupted souls, or Faustian deals are usually the work of devils. Unlike higher ranked demons who were once angels before following Lucifer, devils are minor spirits who were formed out of the void of Hell. Devils have no physical form and must occupy human host bodies in order to walk the Earth.

Although a devil's spirit is immortal, their host body still retains a human lifespan and so they must regularly switch hosts if they wish to remain on Earth. That said, a devil's spirit does lend some advantages to the host body, including great strength, speed, and regeneration.

As creatures of the void and the inferno, they can manipulate darkness and heat. Some older devils may possess one or two of the following psychic abilities: telekinesis, dream manipulation, illusions, minor telepathy, empathetic manipulation, shapeshifting, invisibility, teleportation, or psychometry. They are vulnerable, however, to exorcism, holy weapons, and holy relics — their abilities have no effect on saints and are weakened against fallen.

Devils & Heaven Natural enemies. Devils are corrupters of the righteous, tempters of the lost, tormentors of vulnerable souls. The sole task of demons on Earth is to lead human souls to stray from the light of Heaven and so they are often the principal foes of existences like saints.

It is the common belief among holy and unholy creatures alike, however, that Heaven does not take these lesser demons all that seriously, considering the fact that God leaves dealing with them to mere mortals like saints and men of the cloth.

Devils & Hell Most devils who live in Hell are servants to higher order demons — lowly grunts at the bottom of the infernal hierarchy. Better to serve on Earth than to slave in Hell. It is for this reason that devils who are allowed to leave the Infernal Pit and instead act as Earthly agents of damnation leap at the opportunity.

The price for their freedom is mortal souls. So long as they continue funneling souls to Hell, be it through trickery, bargain, or force, they are permitted to remain on Earth.