Lammasu
Angels of the sea.
Before there was any land at all, the great oceans encompassed the world.
The angels granted dominion over this vast and powerful realm were called
the Nereids, and they were among the most beautiful of God's creations. They
were the well-springs and muses, and their powers resonated with the passions
that led to art and quests for insight and truth.
The Nereids were meant to inspire humanity, to beguile them with mysteries
and spur them to venture out into the world and discover its many hidden wonders.
They were the spirit of longing personified, always alluring, yet ever out
of reach. Their power gave them the keenest insight into human desires, but
God's design ensured that the vast gulf of the sea would always stand between
them. It was not long before they lamented their duty to Heaven and the love
they bore for mankind. Looking back, many Defilers believe that had Lucifer
not stepped forward to raise the banner of revolt, it would have only been
a matter of time before a Nereid did the same.
The Fall galvanized the Defilers, who used their powers to inspire both mortal
and rebel angel alike in the struggle against Heaven. They became living symbols
of the struggle, reflecting the best qualities of the resistance and spurring
others to do the same. More importantly, they sustained the morale of the
rebels, even in the darkest days of the war, healing spiritual wounds that
no Scourge or Devourer could touch. The devotion these fallen inspired led
to some of the most heroic exploits of the war, becoming the foundation for
romantic epics that still resonate in mankind's collective soul.
The loss of the war was a terrible blow for the Defilers, who never wavered
in their conviction that the rebellion was just. Although they were more accustomed
to isolation than most of the fallen, the Defilers were among the first to
succumb to the agonies of the Abyss, excising the pain of their loss with
hot knives of hate.
Now that the gates of the Abyss are broken and the Defilers are free once
more, they are able to work their wiles in a civilization that prizes appearance
above all. They can lead men and women to acts of obsession, jealousy and
desire that ruin families, end careers or topple entire governments. Yet they
can also encourage humanity's understanding of philosophy, fellowship and
art, and provide a vision of beauty amid the bleak reality of the modern world.
They were created as living mysteries, dangerous and beguiling, meant to inspire
acts of courage and strength that fuel the growth of the human soul.
Factions: Defilers are most likely to be Faustians or Raveners. In the first
case, they have become captivated by humanity - reacting with delight, or
at least respect, to their renewed relationship with mankind. The Raveners
act like spurned lovers, exacting an often subtle (but always unforgettable)
revenge on those who have inflicted such a crushing betrayal. They break hearts
and minds, and spread discord so as to watch groups crumble under bitter recriminations
and violence.
Alternatively, some Defilers are disappointed by modern human civilization,
and yet still become Faustians. They yearn for the beautiful vision they had
before the war, and recognize that humans are an essential part of that.
Some Defilers may well be fascinated by the quests of the Luciferans or Cryptics,
depending upon their associations and experiences in the war. Very few of
them become Reconcilers, though. Even if they wished it, most Defilers know
that there is no going back to paradise, and now that old barriers have been
broken, they cannot be rebuilt.
Prelude: Defilers are drawn to the vain and the passionate.
Their hosts are unlikely to have been spiritual or logical thinkers in life,
but rather people with a deep joy in the physical and the immediate. They
weren't necessarily promiscuous, but were just as likely to have spent all
they had on the latest fashions or the fastest toys. Often they were obsessed
with trivial things, constantly fine-tuning the present so as to ignore the
grand sweep of changes around them.
Idealists who attract a Defiler are not interested in abstract theories and
pragmatic realities, but in immediate action to change the world. The most
farsighted candidates are artists who try to reflect vast slices of reality
within their work, sure that they can capture the intricacies about them.
Other candidates might have been more profoundly affected by matters of the
flesh. Those who have loved deeply or often and have been denied, those who
have supported a cause and been betrayed by it - these people might also be
caught up in the present, where self-pity and thoughts of petty revenge replace
true grief or anger.
Another category of likely hosts are those who have suffered for their art
in a literal sense: starving artists, failed writers and skid row musicians
who have had their spirits broken by rejection, debt and addiction.
Faith: Harvesting faith is a tricky act for many Defilers,
because they are unused to close human contact. Getting people's attention
is easy; focusing it is not. With indiscriminate use of her lore, a Defiler
can gather a large group of followers very quickly (and possibly cause a few
riots in the process), but such a crowd is of little use to her. Blind adulation
and self-destructive longing is not faith, although with patience, it may
provide a foundation on which to create it. In essence, a Defiler must convince
her followers that they are worthy of such gifts as she gives them.
Many of these gifts involve expanding perception out beyond the demon and
into the larger world. They allow thralls to develop their knowledge and,
more importantly, their intuitive understanding of their surroundings. This
could be a general feeling of enlightenment, or a more specific focus on a
particular topic. It often manifests as works of art or expression in more
direct forms, such as political or social activism. Such understanding often
comes with renewed confidence as well, which might withstand even supernatural
fear or coercion.
Character Creation: Social Attributes are paramount. All
of them are important, and regardless of the condition of the host's body,
an Appearance of 3 should be a bare minimum. Talents such as Empathy, Intuition
and Subterfuge are instinctual, as is Survival. The Defilers' origin as water
spirits gives them a litheness that usually translates to a high Dexterity
and good ratings in Dodge and Stealth, and perhaps Brawl as well. Most are
not concerned with detailed knowledge of modern academics and related subjects,
and they see human politics as vulgar.
Starting Torment: 3
House Lore: Lore
of Longing, Lore
of Storms, Lore
of Transfiguration
Visages: Ishhara,
the Visage of Longing, Adad,
the Visage of Storms, Mammetum,
the Visage of Transfiguration
Weaknesses: Defilers can be frustrating, contrary creatures
who can strike off on tangents and drag a whole party along into a spiralling
morass of trivialities. They can overplay a deception well beyond the end
of its usefulness, and can turn petulant and stormy with little provocation.
To avoid this, they often just need a little room. The more ordered and claustrophobic
a situation gets, the more likely they are to snap at their partners, do something
unadvised or just wander off in a different direction. But such behaviour
is hard to predict, and it may even manifest itself days after the catalyst
for it, if at all.
Stereotypes
Devils: Defilers often look on the Devils with distrust,
because it seems the Devils are still trying to impose their vision on the
world in spite of a thousand years of tragedy. Once they were the voice of
God, now their only message is hateful demagoguery.
Scourges: There are many similarities between the two Houses,
being concerned with the physical elements and the mysteries of life. This
makes for easy friendships and an inclination to trust the Angels of the Wind,
a tendency that occasionally leads to tragedy.
Malefactors: This House holds the most interest and attraction
to the Defilers, because the Malefactors seem to truly grasp the intersection
of beauty, mystery and function, even if only in the inanimate.
Fiends: Defilers don't really understand this House and the
areas over which it holds dominion. The Fiends favour intuition over cold
reason, which they see as anathema to a sense of true wonder and inspiration.
Devourers: There is a strange kinship between the Defilers
and the Devourers, or so the Defilers believe. Both were given dominion over
the wild and are, in a way, concerned with matters of the flesh.
Slayers: To a large extent, the Defilers see the Slayers
as kindred spirits who understand the pain of real loneliness and isolation,
though the Slayers' moodiness and tendency towards introspection puts a strain
on their relationship