Sachluph
Angel of Profanity
Corporeal Forces: 3 Strength:
6 Agility: 6
Ethereal Forces: 6 Intelligence:
12 Precision: 12
Celestial Forces: 5 Will:
9 Perception:
11
Word-Forces: 5
Vessel: petite human female/3, +2 Charisma
Skills: Artistry/6 (poetry), Dodge/6, Emote/6,
Knowledge (Invective/6, Literature/3, Research/6), Languages/3 (Lots),
Savoir-Faire/6, Singing/3
Songs: Charm (All/2), Harmony (All/3), Healing
(All/3), Shields (All/3), Tongues (All/6, virtuoso)
Attunements: Cherub of Flowers, Mercurian of
Flowers, Cherub of Revelations, Cherub of War, Crown of Joy, Nothing But
Flowers, Friend of the Gardeners, Angel of Profanity
Angel of Profanity: Sachluph is very, very good at
swearing. She is so good, in
fact, that when she really gets going (makes a Precision roll at -2) she can
cause everyone within earshot to stop and listen, openmouthed, to her exquisite
command of language and colorful imagery.
All listeners must make a Will Roll at -4 to shake off the effects: if
Sachluph has a hand free and gesturing, the roll is at -6.
Rites:
Spend a ten minutes swearing at something that
deserves to be sworn at, without repeating yourself once and with at least
three original phrases made up on the spot.
Obviously, you've never actually listened to
Servitors of Flowers when they're off duty - otherwise, that eyebrow wouldn't
be up. There is a legitimate reason
that Heaven in general and Flowers in particular support this Word.
What might help clear things up is that the concept
involved is somewhat hard to properly translate into English: 'profanity' is
merely the best of a set of not really suitable words used to describe what
Sachluph does for a living. The Word
could be better translated as "Use of colorful language to relieve tension
and provide a safe expression for potentially dangerous violent impulses",
but that's a bit of a mouthful.
'Profanity' works, more or less: you just have to shed the negative
connotations.
Look, if it's a problem, just shift all the letters
over one and call her the Angel of Qspgbojuz, or anything else that helps with
the cognitive dissonance. The
limitation inherent in all corporeal tongues isn't exactly Heaven's fault, you
know.
Anyway... Servitors of Flowers need to be
able to swear. It's part of their
general tension-relief techniques: working for Novalis can sometimes be a bit
internally stressful. Dedicating
yourself to peace doesn't mean that you magically lose all those violent
impulses, after all - and sublimating them never ends well. Much better by far to have a recognized,
therapeutic outlet that doesn't cause any physical harm, and is even poetic, in
it's own special way.
All of this leads up to why the Glades has an annual
Oath-making Night, and the local champions routinely trounce all outsiders that
sign up to compete. Sachluph was one of
those champions: indeed, she was the champion, even before she got her
Word. Nobody could even come close to
her for over a century (lots tried, though): some people are just good at
certain things, and there's no rational explanation why. The Cherub was so good at it, in fact, that
the only way that Novalis could think to give the others a chance was to
sponsor her for the Word of Profanity.
Needless to say, the Council... actually, the
Council pretty much collectively shrugged and rubberstamped the petition. They were wise enough to see the benefits of
a safety valve, after all. Michael did
do some pro forma grumbling, but that got shut down fairly quickly when
Sachluph smiled sweetly at him and offered to provide a rebuttal - in
private. Unfortunately, Superior-level
shielding prevented an increasingly interested Seraphim Council from hearing
anything except the dull hum of Sachluph's voice from the adjacent room where she
and Michael adjourned. Said hum quickly
raised in volume over the next hour until it had reached a crescendo of sound,
followed by dead silence for at least a minute.
After that minute, the Council Chambers was filled
(at one remove, no less) with the whooping laughter of the Archangel of War: he
wasn't actually staggering when he walked back in (Michael never staggers), but
there might have been just a little bit of unsteadiness as he honest-to-God chortled
his way back to his seat. Sachluph's
promotion was a formality after that (although that formality was perhaps
marred by a low voice chuckling, "True!
It was all True!" throughout).
Since then, if anything Sachluph has gotten better
at evoking her Word. She is never
crude, and never mean - but she is incredibly good at getting her point across,
and is given the respect due a true virtuoso.
Sachluph has done her best to make her Word useful to Heaven in general:
she is the author of the standard work on human insults, profanity (of course),
cursing, swearing, blasphemy, imprecation and general invective. That's why she has the Attunement from
Litheroy: the one from Michael should be self-explanatory. Indeed, the Cherub is one of the few
Servitors of Flowers automatically welcome anywhere that Warriors gather. Indeed, her only problem with them is
that, when she gets started, they keep shouting, "Slow down! Slow down!" as they frantically jot
down the choicer phrases in little notebooks.
Oh, well, it keeps them out of fights when she's
around.