Makatiel
Habbalite Prince of Disease
The World is diseased. I am the cure.
Makatiel was created long before the Fall, in the time when Heaven was pure, and unsullied by politics or machinations. A Servitor of Animals, the young Power would sprawl upon the Savannah under the gaze of his lord Jordi, considering abstractions of instinct, and marvelling at the beauty of nature. The earth was still new at this time, though Jordi had created vessels, and the young Elohite would often taken the form of a basking lizard and spend weeks beneath the hot sun, unless he was assigned a specific task. When he was given a mission, he would perform it as dutifully as only an Elohite can, fulfilling Jordi's wishes to the finest detail. But more often that not he was left alone, for there was little requiring haste in Heaven in those days. And so he would lie in the sun, and think about how God's creation was perfect.
This period of bliss ended, he would later point out, when humans got involved. From the start, Makatiel didn't like them. And not only that, he could objectively see why they were a Bad Thing; they didn't find a niche for themselves like any sensible animal, they made one. A big one. They were anathema to the primal balance, and they were only going to get worse. When Jordi announced his intention to destroy humanity out of hand, Makatiel was pleased. When Michael talked the Archangel of Animals out of this plan, the young Power was infuriated - what did the Firstborn mean, saying that humans "weren't Animals?" Of course they were animals; they ate, they bred, they died. Why were they awarded what no other creature of earth was? But despite his misgivings, Makatiel was a good Elohite and Servitor, and so did not act upon these passions. Instead, he followed the example set by his Superior, and stayed his itching hand.
Makatiel was intrigued when Lucifer suggested the Eden experiment. It was an idea worthy of an Elohite. To set a fair test for humanity and determine their fate based on the subsequent results. Perhaps some clue as to the intended role of the species would even emerge. Of course, he wasn't surprised when humanity failed the test, with not one of the three "perfect" humans created for it (Adam, Lilith and Eve) being worthy of paradise. As far as Makatiel was concerned, that was an end to it. They could all now get back to Jordi's original plan of doing away with the race.
He was most annoyed when Yves declared humans to be sacrosanct and forbade angels to travel to the Corporeal Realm. They had failed, for the love of the Almighty! And now he would no longer be allowed to rest beneath the noon sun, to add insult to injury? Makatiel began to find it harder and harder to accept that the God who created such a beautiful and harmonious Symphony could allow it to be infected by the filthy creatures now multiplying on the lower plane.
In time, Lucifer (returned from his loooonnng conversation with Yves) began to say exactly what the Elohite was thinking. It was not long before Makatiel had fallen in with the Star of Morning. And soon after, he Fell with him as well, along with all the others who could simply not bear to see God's work defiled. The Fall was an eternity of horror, plunging deeper and deeper into the void, surrounded by the weeping and wailing of his defeated comrades.
For a very long time thereafter, Makatiel wandered the outskirts of the realm of the Fallen, which was even more confusing and labyrinthine then than it is now. He struggled to understand how the Fall had come to pass, when they were so obviously in the right. He watched as his form changed over the years and decades and centuries; his once pale and delicately featured body being scarred and torn by the sharp rocks over which he crawled. And eventually he came to understand the truth. There had been a rebellion. But it had happened long before Lucifer made his stand. Those that had thrown him from the walls of paradise had themselves secretly rebelled, long ago, and had sealed God into the Higher Heavens. And then they had assumed control of Heaven, with Yves leading them. It was the only explanation that made sense. And with this knowledge, Makatiel made his was back into the heartlands of Hell.
When he reached the edge of the Principalities, he found that much had changed in his absence. The landscape was being rebuilt by his fellows, and he soon found other exiled Elohim, or "Habbalah", who fell in line with him. With this following he approached Lucifer, and explained his epiphany.
The Lightbringer listened hard to what the Fallen Power had to say. When Makatiel had finally said his piece, and sworn allegiance to Lucifer, the Lord of Hell raised one finger and spoke:
"Turn your enemies strength against him. Whatsoever he hath done, do it unto him sevenfold."
Makatiel left Lucifers presence that day a Prince of Hell, granted the Word of Disease so as to keep humanity in check. He had been told to do as he would, so he gathered his Habbalah about him, and laid claim to the first unmarked stretch of Hell he came across. Here he built a garrison, and started to lay out his long, long list of plans, while his followers were sent out to gather recruits for his cause.
It took him a while to gather what would become his impressive following, despite the abundance of creatures in Hell who hated humanity as much as he did. His efforts were not helped by the sheer number of his fellows who had been driven mad by their defeat, and no longer wished to be known as angels. Makatiel could understand how this attitude could spread, and accepted even these poor souls into his service, hoping to show them the truth about themselves. He was angered by the appearance of Lilith in the lower Realm, and even more appalled by the fact that she was not immediately torn to pieces by the other Princes. He attended her coronation only out of respect for Lucifer, though this respect was shaken by the Lightbringer's acceptance of the human. When Lilith began to craft her "daughters", Makatiel laid down elaborate plans for her eventual death. The only time he would have anything to do with the Tempters would be when one was on the run from it's "Mother". In such a case, he welcomed the demon into his service, solely for the purpose of proving the ineffectiveness and irony of the Princess of Freedom.
Eventually, Makatiel was ready to start his campaign against the human race, and he travelled to earth for the first time since Yves had issued his ban. What he saw there shocked him. Humanity had spread across the planet. They were everywhere. And they had tainted everything they had touched. Animals were being kept in tight pens, and reshaped to suit human whim. The earth was rent by their tools. The forests were maimed to create their polluting fires. And of course, the false angels were there, having ignored their own dictates. Makatiel returned to Hell knowing one thing. It had to go.
From then on, Makatiel's strategy changed somewhat. Previously, he had intended to simply curb humanity, much as the sadly deceived Jordi had once set out to do. But seeing what had become of the world, Makatiel realised that the only way to make things right again would be to start from scratch, and that meant getting rid of all the life that was up there. He would have to strip the lot down to the bare rock and begin again. And that meant getting rid of the false angels too. It would be a tough job, but he was sure he could do it.
The increasing number if human souls ending up in Hell also disturbed the Prince of Disease. His faith in Lucifer began to waver - first Lilith was allowed to live after the whole Eden fiasco, and now the souls of humanity were being preserved too? The only reason the Makatiel didn't abandon Hell entirely at that point was that he discovered how to tear the human souls apart and create new life from them. Only angels (or "demons") so far, true, but he realised that he would need a good supply of Forces when the time came to recreate life on earth. The increased Essence tempted him too...
Makatiel's tactics were somewhat simple in nature, but were controlled and co-ordinated with a masterful hand. In Hell, his small Principality had become a lush but fetid swamp, filled with rolling miasmas and sweltering in the heat from Sheol. Here he and his Servitors cultivated the anthisis of human life, the disease. Once his knowledge of the frailties of humanity had reached what he deemed an acceptable level, he sent his Servitors to Earth. There they used the techniques learned in Hell to introduce new sicknesses and ill health to the race they were sworn to destroy. As mankind came to fear these new threats, the more social-minded Servitors of Disease started to play upon the fears of humanity. The practise of ostracising and destroying the diseased began, and right there with it were Makatiel's Balseraphs, convincing people that any sign of infirmity was a sign of sickness. Children born even slightly deformed were put to death, anyone suspected of leprosy was stoned from afar. The Word of Disease began to soar.
Heaven was at something of a loss to deal with this new threat, at first. Makatiel had never been a particularly active Prince on the Corporeal Plane, and so his sudden move came as something of a shock. But both Novalis and David were quick to respond, in their own ways, with the Archangel of Flowers teaching her Soldiers how to create new medicines (with a little help from Eli), and the Archangel of Stone working to remove the breeding grounds on Disease. Makatiel was in some way balanced by these actions, but he was by no means defeated, and he continued to work away, quietly and patiently.
Time beyond human comprehension passed. The War continued, and Hell suffered both its setbacks and its victories. Vephar was destroyed, Gebbeleth and Genubath lost. Makatiel worked on, finding ever more devious ways to spread his afflictions. When a culture was rendered mostly immune to a certain disease, he would spend a decade or so aiding in the construction of shipping routes to carry fresh sicknesses to them. Those plagued by mental diseases were tossed into hellish "asylums", where his servants could study them for inspiration. He promoted the concept of a healthy mind in a healthy body, driving people to destroy anything which fell short of "perfection". Humanity turned upon itself beautifully. But it wasn't enough. For every town or city razed by disease, for every child devoured by a fever, there were a thousand new humans born. And so, quietly, Makatiel began to make his plans for a final solution.
The Prince of Disease began to work on his final scheme shortly after the birth of Christ. Prince Saminga had begun to flood the Earth with the Undead by this point, and a great many of these were claimed by Makatiel and torn apart as he studied them. Souls in his Principality were subjected to tortures that would not be seen again until the time of Vapula. All the while his servitors continued to work as ever on earth, releasing viler and viler plagues, and creating "religious" orders such as the Flagalents.
It was more than a thousand years after he started planing his great work that Makatiel began to put it into action, but then, he was nothing if not thurough. The year of Legion was a true blessing for him, and one for which he gave great thanks to God. The Renegade Prince consumed the souls of thousands of humans, thousands of souls which were lost, never to be seen again. It was only to be expected that this would have a knockon effect in the Celestial Realms, with souls becoming briefly rarer in Hell. Most of the Princes went a little short on this, and no-one was able to keep track of who had how many souls at the time. So no-one noticed the brief, sharp intake of the damned into the Principality of Disease, or thought to question how they all could have fitted into such a small area. A rare few noticed, but the loss was put down to the fact that so many of Legions victims had been disease-carriers who should have ended up there, but of course hadn't. Makatiel was pleased with the results of his test, and gave the word to his Servitors to start work on sending out the most virulant plague he had created yet.
In the middle of the 14th century, the Black Plague swept across Europe. It was a horror unlike anything ever seen before, leaving entire cities dead in it's wake. And behind it all was the smiling Makatiel. In 1348 the Death was at it's peak, and Makatiel had travelled to the Corporeal Realm to watch it's effects. While there, a wave of Celestials lead personally by Dominic and Asmodeus overcame him. His Forces were scattered across the earth, most of the demons in his service were put to death, and Gabriel and Belial was manipulated into burning the disease away. In Hell, the River of Fire flowed into Makatiel's Principality, destroying every demon and damned soul within it. Heaven and Hell were told that Makatiel had pushed the Black Death to such a horrific level of virulence that it had threatened the entire Corporeal Realm, and it was only his destruction that had brought it under control.
This was True. But it was not the whole Truth.
Makatiel's scheme was far worse than the obliteration of all corporeal life. The Black Plague was only a cover for the true horror he had released. This disease, dubbed Mens Insana, was not a physical malady, but a spiritual one - Makatiel had created a Celestial disease. The very souls of those afflicted were weakened to the point where by their very forces would fracture and disband. The Prince of Disease would not be satisfied with the simple physical destruction of humanity, even their presence in Hell was abhorant to him. They had to be removed from every plane of existance. Once they had been removed from earth, then Makatiel would release the Mens Insana unto both Heaven and Hell, and then nothing would be left of the children of Adam. Only his highest-ranking demons were privalage to this information, and only they had been given the samples of the Celestial Plague to carry to earth. Had Asmodeus not uncovered the plot, and called upon Dominique for help, it is certain that Makatiel would have succeeded where Legion had failed two hundred years earlier. As it was, the plague was only released into a few cities before it was contained and purged, though the hundreds of souls in the Principality of Disease had all become infected and were lost. All those in Hell with knowledge of these events were put to death, and Makatiel's legacy was lost.
Apperantly.
Dissonance
It is dissonant for Servitors of Disease to ever promote human life, such as giving a human food or medical aid, unless said aid is going to cause further ill health. Likewise, these demons must never act in such a way as to halt or restrict the progress of a disease.
(It is theorised that Saminga was once a Servitor of Disease, and that it was from this period that he was inspired to create his dissonance conditions. No-one knows for certain if this is true or not. Very few demons payed any attention to the pitiful Shedite before he became a Prince, and no-one has dared to ask him since.)
Band Attunements
Balseraph (Restricted)
Balseraphs of Disease add their Celestial forces to any Resonance roll which involves the topic of diseases. This includes making the target think that they or someone else has a disease, convincing them that a (usually hazardous) activity will cure an illness, etc.
Djinn (Restricted)
A Djinn serving Makatiel may choose to make his attuned immune to the effects of all diseases, though they remain infected, and infectious. This is most commonly used to create carriers, though it has been used to keep a temporarily-useful human alive on a few occasions. The Djinn may invoke and revoke this immunity at will, but if he fails in an attempt to remove an attunement, then the target gains this power for the duration of the attunement, regardless of the Djinn's wishes.
(This is based on the Djinn of Disease description given in the Liber Servitorum.)
Calabim
Calabim of Disease make for wicked opponents, as every wound they inflict on an opponent becomes infected. Use the disease rules in Revelations 1 for this, with the disease having a cycle of 1 day, doing 1d-3 damage, and having a cycle of 1 month. The infection is mostly mundane, and so can be treated with Medicine as normal. Celestials in vessels are not affected by this Attunement, but Kyriotates and Shedim in hosts *are*. Obviously, leaving a host infected will cause a Hive to gain dissonance.
Habbalah (Restricted)
These angels are given the right to punish sinners, in the only way they know how. They may use their resonance to inflict a disease on a mortal, but only if they can denounce him as having "sinned". Luckily, the only person they have to convince of this is themselves. The disease inflicted has a 1 hour cycle, a 1 week term, and does 1d damage. It is not contagious, though the Virulence Attunement may be later used on it. It manifests as a fever, combined with coughing, shivering and rashes.
Should a Habbalite using this power choose to suffer the effects of a resisted Resonance roll instead of taking a note of dissonance, then they suffer the full effects of the disease as described above, even if they change or possess vessels. However, time passes for the term even if they are on the Celestial realm.
Lilim (Restricted)
Very, very few Daughters serve Disease, as explained under "Relations", below. Almost all of those that do are fugitives from Lilith, and are hence mistrusted by their sisters.
Anyone successfully resisting a Geas from these demons must immediately make a Strength +2 roll: if they fail, he or she comes down with a common, contagious and airborne disease of the Lilim's choice. This disease may be treated normally. (from Moe Lane's Yumiko)
Shedim (Restricted)
Shedim may come unto their hosts in the likeness of a disease, corrupting body rather than soul. In such a case, the demon takes on the likeness of an affliction, and the host becomes weak, sickly and feverish, losing 1d-3 Body Hits each day of the possession. While the Shedite manifests in this way, it need not mentaly corrupt its host, but it is gains Phantom Discord. Treat this as Aura, at a level equal to the demons Corporeal Forces. The Shedite must choose which approach (physical or spiritual) it wants to take at the moment of possession, and it cannot change from one to the other once it has entered the host. Should the host die from the illness caused by the Shedite, it causes a disturbance as normal.
Impudites (Restricted)
Makatiel's Takers may suck Essence from any sick being without having to first Charm them, though physical contact must still be made. Even a mild cold is enough to allow this. This also works on Celestials suffering from a disease, such as those targeted by Mens Insana, or Kyriotates and Shedim targeted by the Calabim of Disease Attunement. Note that sick mortals tend to use their Essence trying to heal themselves, and so very rarely if ever have more than 1 point.
Servitor Attunements
Mark of Pestilence
This Attunment only costs 5 character points!
It is well known that sigils and scripts have power within them, and that the placing of such a symbol can have a dramatic effect on events. Belial's Djinn are a prime example of this. Likewise, a demon with this Attunement has been thought how to craft a sigil which will inflict ill health on any human nearby. While this is a useful, if somewhat minor charm in itself, the true power of this Attunemnt comes from the fact that others can be thought how to craft the symbol. A demon with this Attunement may spend half an hour to teach it to a number of people eqaul to twice his Ethereal Forces. Note that unless the targets are Demons or Soldiers they cannot teach it to others. Also note that someone thought this need not know what it is, or even that it is anything other than a decorative symbol. Anyone in proximity with the symbol (including Soldiers creating it!) will be effected as though they have Flu.
It is theorised that the symbol is in fact part of the Helltounge script for one of Makatiel's other titles, but this is unknown, particualry, nowadays. Of all Makatiel's Attunements, this is the one most likely to still be known.
Mens Insana
This was the final Attunement created by Makatiel, thought to a very, very few of his highest-ranking Servitors. To use it, a demon must target a normal disease with a Resonance roll. Success on this roll results in the disease mutating in the same way the Black Death did under Makatiel's hand. From then on, the disease becomes twice as virulant as it previously was, and is now capable of infecting vessels. Anyone so afflicted takes a number of Soul hits per day equal to the CD of the Resonance roll, even if they leave the Corporeal realm. Nothing short of the direct influence of a Superior will remove the Mens Insana, or the afflicted may expose themselves to the Light of Heaven, which burns the infection away in a horribly painful manner. Divine Tethers are not sufficient for this, the target must actually enter Heaven.
Lilim may not and would not be granted this Attunement.
Distinctions
Knight of Fevers
For the cost of 2 Essence, a Knight of Disease may remove the natural healing ability of any mortal creature. A Strength roll may be made to resist this. From then on, the victim will not heal lost Body Hits by any means short of the Corporeal Song of Healing. A succesful invocation of that Song with a CD of 6, or a Divine Intervention on a Medicine roll will completly overcome this power. If the target of this power should die as a result of injuries sustained, then they disturb the Symphony as though killed by a Celestial.
This will overwhelm those protected by a Djinn of Disease, though the effects will not become apperant until that attunement is broken. It will not work on anyone possessed by a Kyriotate or Shedite.
Captain of Contagions
With a Will roll, Makatiel's Captains can "boost" an existing mundane disease in a person. It becomes only slightly more virulant, but it's cycle is halved and damage caused is doubled. The boosted disease can still be cured by conventional medicine, but requires a CD of 4 or higher.
Baron of Plagues
As the Captain power, but now the disease's damage is tripled, and it's term is doubled. It requires a Medicine roll with a CD of 5+, or the Corpoeal Song of Healing, to cure this.
Relations
Makatiel has not become Allied with any other Prince, as their strange delusions simply make dealing with them to awkward. However, he does work rather well with Belial and Baal, who both loathe Heaven as much as he does, and Mariel, who he sees as useful for the "deconstruction" phase of his plans. Malphas regards Makatiel as a handy way to destroy communities created by David, and so has peaceful relations with his camp, though they are by no means close. Once Saminga rose to power, it seemed likely that he would be a strong ally of the genocidal Prince of Disease, but that has simply not happened. No-one knows why, but some suspect it to be tied to the "Saminga-served-Makatiel" rumour. Makatiel has nothing but contempt for the apathetic Meserach, being something of a proactive Archangel as he is, but his true vitriol is reserved for Lilith. He has absolutely no delusions about her nature - she was one of the three humans chosen for the Eden experiment, and she failed. There are only two reasons for Makatiel not launching an all-out attack on Lilith. Firstly, Lucifer is favouring the human, but Makatiel is sure that will not last. Secondly, Lilith's demonic creations, the Lilim, have proven themselves useful to Makatiel, and he intends to get a good stock of them in before he destroys her. Those few Lilim who have serious fallings out with "Mother" can be assured a place in Disease's ranks, if only to spite her. In the end, he intends to see her dead along with the rest of her pathetic race.
Asmodeus and Makatiel maintain distant but cordial relations, as very few of Disease's servitors go Renegade, and Asmodeus has an awful lot to keep him busy at the best of times. However, when the extent of the Prince of Disease's plans began to be realised, Asmodeus grew more and more concerned, until he finally shifted to being Makatiel's Enemy. Very shortly after this, he and Dominic got together for their little chat.
Allied: No one
Associated: Mariel, Belial, Baal (Malphas, Beleth and Belial are Associated with Makatiel)
Neutral: Saminga, Malphas, Asmodeus
Hostile: Meserach
Enemies: Lilith
Basic Rites
Chance of Invocation: 3
Invocation Modifiers
+1 A Rat
+2 A plague-carrier
+3 A flagalant
+4 A corpse of someone killed because they were sick
+5 A dying town
+6 An city wiped out by plague