Scapegoat
Malakite of Fire
Corporeal Forces: 3 Strength:
6 Agility: 6
Ethereal Forces: 3 Intelligence:
6 Precision: 6
Celestial Forces: 3 Will:
6 Perception: 6
Vessel: Human/1
Skills: Climbing/1, Driving/1, Dodge/3, Large
Weapon/2 (knife), Fighting/3, Ranged Weapon/3 (pistol)
Songs: Healing (Corporeal/3, Ethereal/3), Motion
(Corporeal/1, Ethereal/1), Shields (Corporeal/3), Tongues (Corporeal/1,
Ethereal/1)
Attunements: Malakite of Fire, Ofanite of Fire,
Mercurian of Fire
Malakite Oaths: Never suffer an evil to live if it's
his choice. Never surrender or allow
himself to be captured by the armies of Lucifer. Never allow himself to regret his choice. Always unconditionally
trust his Archangel.
He has no other name. It was one of the things Burned from him. Many things were Burned from him, including
his past, his old reason for existence and any lingering interest in learning
about either. Scapegoat does remember
that he voluntarily chose this existence.
This would comfort him, except that he is Malak, and thus does not
require such things.
Scapegoat exists because someone like him must, lest
the world end. His Archangel is mad,
and is unlikely to ever be truly well again; no one in Gabriel's service will
say this aloud, lest the Hyena hear. But the facts must be faced.
The screams of Gabriel are what cause Earthly fires to flicker. Her tears burn down forests and her anger
fuels the volcanoes. The corporeal
plane cannot withstand her full rage, and the Council knows it. The Hyena knows it, and waits for the day
when he can move against her.
They would die to protect her from anyone, including
herself. They would let themselves be
flayed with living fire, if that is what it took. They would impale themselves upon her burning gaze as an act of
supreme love and trust that she still knows her Servitors, even in the midst of
her madness. That she can keep hold of
enough control to avoid slipping into Cruelty.
That she is still an angel, no matter what that fool says.
But there is only Scapegoat. The symbolism works both ways; he represents
both the imperfection of the world for Gabriel to focus her retributive rage
upon... and the uncritical willingness of his fellow Servitors to gladly be the
object of that rage. It is not Cruelty
when you choose to accept, when you understand, when you absolve before the
fact. Gabriel's angels honor the
Malakite, because he has shown that he understands this better than any of his
peers, and so shows that he deserves his position.
And so, he goes about his days, somehow sustained by
this knife-edge of trust and acceptance, and when his Archangel appears before
him with a certain look in her eye, he goes to her, smiling, until that look
and she departs. Scapegoat knows that
she will never go too far, no matter what the outside provocation that she has,
because she is his Superior, and the Word both serves bonds them together in
chains of trust and love. He will
always recover from what she does to him.
That is all he needs to know, honestly.