By EDG

It tends to be rare that Archangels require their servitors to have specific skills; rarer still are the Archangels whose required skills involve a specific Knowledge, and Novalis is the only Superior known to require each and every one of her servitors to know a certain Language. Given the context, though, nobody's complaining.

The Language of Flowers is one developed as a way to communicate simply through floral arrangements. Funeral wreaths can often directly connote how the deceased person died; the colors of a corsage are determined in part by the occasion for which the corsage is worn, and even a bouquet from one person to another can carry complex messages pertaining to relationships and feelings.

Oddly, although Novalis directs that each of her angels, Shades, and Soldiers know the Language of Flowers at a minimum competency, it was a mortal who developed the first rudiments of the Language, and the Archangel of Flowers has merely watched it grow as more people adopted it. Now the Language is a nearly universal phenomenon on Earth, with surprisingly little variation; the only differences seem to be in areas where special flowers are grown for specific purposes.

There is an additional facet to the Language of Flowers; those who know it at level 4 and above can use it to leave each other brief messages that are nonetheless exquisitely detailed. The colors, shapes, and sizes of flowers, their positions in relation to each other, even their relative ages can tell a skilled viewer volumes of information. In more than one instance, a gang leader has used this method to leave detailed notes for a lieutenant; possibly the most famous example was a certain high-ranking official being saved from a hostage situation when his gardener rearranged the pattern of flowers in his rose garden to communicate the danger to outside viewers.

The Language of Flowers has one further use, one which is not widely known among the human populace (and indeed, among many outside of the service of Flowers). Using the Language, it is possible for anyone knowing both the Language and this technique to turn bouquets, wreaths, and even single flowers into one-shot pseudo-Relics, able to carry a Song in stasis until the bearer of the flowers activates it.

With a successful Language of Flowers roll, followed immediately by a successful performance of the Song in question, the singer may choose - instead of the Song actually activating - to place the Song within an arrangement of flowers. Any Song which the singer actually knows (Songs may not be taken from other relics, or sung by a person other than the one who knows the Language of Flowers) may be sung into the flowers, up to a Song level equal to the singer's skill in the Language. After this, the Song can be activated - using the original Singer's Forces, Song level, and check digit - by any holder, simply by spending a single Essence to invoke the Song. After the Song leaves the arrangement and is activated, the flowers revert to normal; no more Essence can evoke another instance of a Song until another has been sung into it.

It should be noted that living flowers can be used in this fashion; however, this application of the Language requires that 1 Essence be spent upon the initial use of the Language, in addition to any spent on the Song or otherwise spent to boost the target number or check digit.

An interesting side effect, and one that has pleased many servitors of Flowers, is that the flowers in question (living or not) become immune to aging while the Song is imbued within them. Additionally, for 2 more Essence, the flowers can be made to be fully damage-resistant: they will bend, but never break, and their blooms will neither fade nor fall apart.

Regardless of how much Essence is spent, only one Song can be imbued into a specific flower or group of flowers at any one time. Oddly, Disturbance goes off when the Song is initially sung; this makes for very loud flower shops, but also very confused celestials when an obvious Song of Thunder goes off without making any noise...