The Mad Sheep Who Kills the Greatest God

Tags

10 Force, In Nomine, McGuffin, NPC, Tsayadim

The Mad Sheep Who Kills the Greatest God (thereby dooming the world) may seem awfully specific for a random NPC ethereal – but this spirit actually holds a surprisingly important role within In Nomine canon.

It is the first ethereal spirit to be granted a mask of its image by Myth. While the human who first dreamed up the sheep is long, long, long since dead, Ethereals have stories of their own. It is this essence, and this belief which sustains the Mad Sheep Who Kills the Greatest God.

Uriel’s High Command

Tags

Andrealphus, Baal, Cherub, David, Dominic, Duchies, Eli, Elohite, Furfur, Jordi, Khalid, Kyriotate, Lawrence, Magog, Malakite, Malphas, Mammon, Marc, Metatron, Michael, Ofanite, Ohr, Seraph, Seraphim Council, Shedite, Tsayadim, Uriel

I have been trying to figure out what I can write for heaven that could serve as the counterpart to the Duchies of Hell series. And the truth is that nothing will quite be the same. In Nomine has made it quite clear that Heaven does not observe the same feudal system as hell, nor are the Archangels expected to adhere to a uniform structure the way the Princes of Hell are.

But this really just means that I need to look at each Archangel individually. Lawrence openly embraces hierarchy. Dominic embraces it somewhat more covertly. Jordi seems to let his masters make and rearrange their own hierarchies spontaneously so long as it is never formalized.

Today I will be examining Uriel

Azrael, Archangel of Death

Tags

Archangel, Azrael, Blandine, Grigori, In Nomine, Outcast, Saminga, Tsayadim, Uriel

Thanatos as a Winged Boy

Outcast Grigori

In every moment of every day the world dies and is born anew.

Contemporary angels would be excused for not knowing the name of Azrael. Ever since the expulsion of the Grigori, Heaven has only referred to him by his title: The Archangel of Death.

In spite of the imposing Word, Azrael is rather pleasant and approachable, valuing each day as if it might be his last. The other Archangels occasionally wonder at his adoption of the pagan philosophy of Stoicism, but Azrael finds that it fits his duty and outlook as the witness of endings.

The Light of Heaven (& The Ohr)

Tags

In Nomine, Lawrence, Michael, New Choir, Ohr, Tethers, Tsayadim

One of the things I love about In Nomine is that there is no reliable narrator. Every book has doubt baked right into its pages and GMs are granted free license to make as many sweeping changes as they like.

This makes it very easy to hand wave away inconsistencies as just being different options that a game master can chose to employ.

However, it can be a lot of fun to try and reconcile the differences as we can see by looking at The Light of Heaven.

Uriel, Archangel of Purity

Tags

Archangel, In Nomine, Seraph, Tsayadim, Uriel

Mosaic of Saint Uriel by James Powell and Sons

Unlike many of the “missing” Archangels, Uriel already has a well defined place and personality in the cosmology of In Nomine. You can see it in the bios of David, Michael, Lawrence, and Khalid. You can even find a good chunk of his mechanics buried in the Ethereal Players’ Guide (pgs 140 & 141).

Uriel’s Servitors were never designed to be PCs. Their attunements are significantly more powerful than most, but their dissonance condition make them especially hard to integrate into a party.