Corporeal Forces: 5 Strength: 11 Agility: 9

Ethereal Forces: 5 Intelligence: 10 Precision: 10

Celestial Forces: 5 Will: 12 Perception: 8

Vessels: human male/2

Skills: Artistry/1 (drums), Detect Lies/2, Dodge/3, Driving/1, Emote/1, Fast-Talk/2, Fighting/5, Knowledge (Philosophy/1, Malakim Lore/3) Languages (Latin/1, Greek/1, Indo-European/2), Large Weapon/5 (sword), Medicine/1, Move Silently/1, Ranged Weapon/2 (rifle), Savoir-Faire/3, Singing/1, Tracking/1

Songs: Harmony (Ethereal/2), Fire (Corporeal/2, Ethereal/4, Celestial/3), Healing (All/2), Light (Celestial/3), Numinous Corpus/2 (Wings), Shields (Corporeal/3, Celestial/1), Tongues (Corporeal/1)

Attunements: Malakite of Fire, Mercurian of Fire, Friend of the Divine Spark, Smite, The Last Spark

Oaths:

"Suffer not an evil to live, if it is my choice."

"Never surrender, or be captured by the forces of Hell."

"Always remember that what I have become is a tool, not an excuse."

"Never forget the ideals that I once embodied."

Nathaniel is one of the original Malakim. Since his conversion, at the height of the insanity and chaos of the Fall, he has served Gabriel as one of her troubleshooters. He is sent to the cruel, and shows them the folly of their ways with flame and the sword. His eyes have seen the dishonorable, and his hands have sped them forth to their just rewards. Like all his kind, Nathaniel's blade has been drenched in the blood of the wicked and his wings only stir from the last, choking breath of the cruel. He knows the wild, black joy that comes from evoking his nature. In the name of God, he has justly chastised the worst specimens of humanity for millennia.

And he's hated every Damned second of it.

Nathaniel, before the Fall, was a servant of Trade, dedicated to the job of teaching humanity how to get along with each other without using a club. He was pretty good at it, even for a Mercurian. It was just so much easier in those days: everybody pitched in, nobody worried much about internal politics, and every angel was your trusted friend.

Then, suddenly … they weren't.

Nathaniel doesn't like to think about the Fall. He doesn't like to think about how some of his closest companions slaughtered each other. He doesn’t like to think about the way that some of his own Choir threw away their very reason to exist in support of a futile rebellion. He doesn't like to think about the smoking bodies, the screams of pain and death, the noises, the blood, the ripping ache as the Symphony tore, the mad eyes of the fighters on both sides, the blood, the wrongness of what his senses were showing him, the attacks by those he once called brothers, the anguish and pain and rage that ripped through his being, the sudden furious, mad conviction that THIS WILL NOT BE…

… and Nathaniel doesn't like to think about what happened after his wings dimmed and blackened.

He doesn't like to think about it at all.

When the madness finally receded, Nathaniel was more alone than he had ever been before. He was cut off from his Choir, cut off from his beloved task, and he knew that he could not bear to serve Marc in another capacity, lest his heart break from longing. He gravitated to Gabriel's side, seeking inspiration in his flames, only to watch as Gabriel's sanity eroded over the long years and Fire changed from Inspiration to Chastisement. Nathaniel stayed true nonetheless, hoping to find within the Flame some inspiration that would let him regain his peace of spirit. He's never truly known how well he's succeeded.

Nathaniel stayed in Heaven for as long as he could, not trusting himself to walk among humanity. But as Gabriel grew more and more insane, she called on him more and more often to chastise the Cruel. Perhaps she saw in him the same war of self against self that consumes her: or perhaps Gabriel is still sane enough to see that Nathaniel could be relied upon to punish the Cruel without becoming cruel himself.

Whatever the reason, it has proven wise. Nathaniel has a solid reputation among the Host as a Malakim with empathy, restraint and a true love for humanity who nonetheless can be relied upon to do what must be done. He is often pointed out to newly fledged Choir-mates as a role model.

But none of his admirers could possibly guess that Nathaniel spends hours, sometimes, standing in front of a mirror, hoping with all his soul that someday he will see a flash of white among the black…