Hamaya
Seraph Master of Divine Knowledge
Ethereal Forces: 6 Intelligence:
12 Precision: 12
Celestial Forces: 6 Will:
12 Perception: 12
Word-Forces: 20
Vessel: human male/2, human female/2, human child/3
Skills: It's hard to tell, frankly: Hamaya has
demonstrated the sort of breadth that one would expect from a highly powered
Servitor of Destiny. In those rare
times that he's been in combat, he's demonstrated Dodge/6, Fighting/6, Large
Weapon/6 (ARRTP) and Ranged Weapon/3 (pistol).
He's also shown commendable Artistry (Poetry/4, Sculpture/3,
Woodworking/6) and Singing/5.
Songs: Correspondence (All/4), Daydreams/6, Empathy
(All/3), Harmony (All/4), Healing (All/3), Motion (Celestial/5), Truth (All/6,
Virtuoso), Truthswearing/6, Shields (All/3), Symphony (All/6, Virtuoso),
Tongues (Corporeal/2, Ethereal/4, Celestial/3) and anything else the GM feels
like giving him.
Attunements: Seraph of Destiny, Ofanite of Destiny,
Mercurian of Destiny, all of Yves' Servitor Attunements, Songmaster, Master of
Divine Knowledge (Ofanite), Scholar-Philosopher of Ascension
Scholar-Philosopher of Ascension:
'Ascension' is a hard word to lock down, even for
Celestials. Like Destiny, it draws on
the concepts of 'improvement', 'striving' and 'gnosis': however, it differs
from Destiny in its emphasis on the process by which one improves. It treats the journey itself as being
important, although obviously the destination still remains paramount. One thing is for certain: it taps into the
very nature of Good and Evil - less so than does the parent Word, but still
potently.
1). Hamaya
does not need to spend Essence to determine someone's Fate or Destiny. He gives this out as a Servitor Attunement
(the recipient must also have the Divine Destiny Attunement).
2). Hamaya
also is able to use his Synchronicity Attunement once per day without spending
Essence: indeed, if the situation is serious enough, the Symphony will come to
collect him without prior notice. This
is not given out as a Servitor Attunement.
3). Finally,
as far as anyone knows Hamaya is in fact the only non-Archangel that can Redeem
a demon. This has happened a total of
three times in as many millennia: each time, the angel was apparently greatly
weakened (the procedure 'costs' no less than ten of Hamaya's Forces, either
personal and/or Word). Each of those
three went on to do great things in the service of Heaven (whether or not
they're still alive is up to the GM).
Rites:
All of Yves' Rites, plus
: Help someone transcend their nature (useable 4
times per day)
: Tell a story about a quest (Philosopher rite)
: Spend four hours working with people attempting to
be more than they are (Philosopher rite)
: Stop someone from degrading their essential nature
(Philosopher rite)
: Reveal a previously unknown story about someone
who transformed him or herself (Scholar rite) (+2 Essence)
: Memorialize an act of Ascension in some sort of
art form (Scholar rite)
Artifacts: A Really, Really Tough Pen
Theoretically speaking, everything should be fine
for Hamaya. Indeed it almost is
- but not quite.
Why things should be fine is easy to answer: the
Seraph is almost at the apex at anything an angel could hope to achieve. He holds a powerful Word that hovers at the
edge of Superior-level, a position of the highest authority possible for a mere
Servitor and a respected place on the Seraphim Council. No one questions his diligence and
expertise; his Word has prospered under his careful and benevolent
oversight. In fact, if current trends
continue, very soon it will grow to the point where not having an
Archangel of Ascension will seem odd.
In short, he is ready to join the first rank of the Host. There's just one problem.
He didn't fledge as a Seraph.
No one disputes that Hamaya had been possibly the
most inept Balseraph of Oblivion in history.
His earth duty in Mariel's service lasted precisely four days, six
hours, fifteen minutes and thirty-seven seconds before the demon gave up even trying
to pretend that he was interested in serving Hell. Some entities come to Grace through a sudden blaze of insight,
and others through years of cumulative experience: Hamaya's experience suggests
that he was never actually totally absent of it, and was merely waiting until
he had a clear shot at getting away clean.
When one showed up, he took it - it took him about three months of
running (with many a merry adventure along the way), but eventually he was able
to escape to Heaven.
This all happened about eight millennia ago. The new angel spent the next three thousand
years working mostly in the Library, quietly and carefully doing the tasks
given to him and rising in Yves' ranks.
About five thousand years ago he was given the Word of Improvement: he
spent two more millennia patiently nurturing it into its present form of
Ascension. The last three thousand
years have been spent in refinement to its current, powerful form.
All of this presents the Seraphim Council with a bit
of a problem. Of course the
Redeemed are to be welcomed back into the fold and allowed to repent of their
mistakes. Of course Hamaya has
proved his worthiness, loyalty and diligence a thousand times over. Of course he deserves the
position. Still... there has never been
an Archangel who was once a demon.
Ever. There are former demons
scattered throughout the Host, obviously: Hamaya was not even the first to sit
on the Council. But none of them have
gone quite as far as the Scholar-Philosopher of Ascension, and it is beginning
to dawn on the Host that the Seraph is representative of an issue that will
have to be addressed, sooner rather than later. The answer should be easy enough, but there's still something
there that makes angels hesitate.
For Hamaya's part, he presumably knows all of this,
but he's never shown any indication that it particularly concerns him. There was always a slight amount of
awkwardness as he climbed the ladder of rank: it faded soon enough as he
demonstrated his abilities. One could
legitimately conclude that his cheerful acceptance of the issue is due to a
belief that the Seraphim Council will act appropriately, when the time comes.
Of course, one could look at his Word, and conclude that said acceptance is due to an integral understanding that the Seraphim Council might not have any say in the matter...