Adapted by Ryan Elias

Sigil: A pair of eyes, different colors, in a cracked mirror.

The Exiles' only Kyriotate Archangel is an odd case in an organization full of odd cases. A being so devoted to his word that he (the male pronoun is generally used, although Malphas appears as either gender) rarely even agrees with himself these days. Although all Superiors can manifest in multiple locations, only Hades' Malphas can split his personality as well as his attention; there really is more than one of him at any given time.

Malphas has been known to appear as anything and anybody. The Archangel of Factions runs an organization that runs on paranoia and bloody-minded determination, and knowing that the boss could be anybody anywhere keeps things at least partially under control. The fact that there are generally a dozen or so different manifestations of the Archangel running around, each completely independent of the others, at any given time doesn't serve to make the atmosphere any more relaxed. As a result of all this, or possibly despite it, Servitors of Malphas tend to be independent, capable, and above all flexible, able to juggle the conflicting demands of half a dozen or more Superiors (all Malphas) should the need arise.

The Archangel of Factions is a member of what passes for a war faction in Hades, and would appear at first glance to work closely with the likes of Ogiel and Uriel. The truth is, although he consults Purity and Resistance, Malphas' Servitors generally don't play well with others. They work alone, when they can, and make poor companions when they can't.

But they live in awe of their Superior. Whatever his manifestation, Malphas is a powerful personality, and although the details change (some versions are stricter than others, some manifestations have a sense of humor while others don't, and so forth), the core of his being seems to be dedication to his cause and that of the Exiles, and it shows no matter the form he takes. The force of this dedication is strong enough that even though many of his Servitors grumble about the difficulties of serving Factions behind his back, few of them would ever dream of betraying him or leaving his service. Factions has one of the lowest turnover rates in Hades, an irony that goes quite unappreciated by Archangels on either side.

Where things get tricky for Servitors of Factions is when two different versions of Malphas give conflicting orders. Malphas is notoriously unreasonable about other versions of himself taking up a valuable Servitor's time, and a Cherub, for instance, trying to claim that there's no way he can go deep cover into the Belarussian Secret Service and guide the revolution in Zanzibar at the same time will get very little sympathy. Softening the blow is the fact that while Malphas generally knows that good Servitors are hard to replace, he has no qualms whatsoever about attacking himself, verbally or physically, in the event of a conflict of interest. Factions hosts some of the strangest politics in either Heaven or Hell, and a misstep can be dangerous (although punishments tend to be along the lines of very undesirable jobs rather than pain, death or Outcasting).

Malphas' Servitors liken themselves to guerrilla soldiers. They are charged with preventing Heaven's (perceived) goal, the assimilation of everything into a seamless, conflictless autocracy, and are authorized (by Malphas and to a limited extent the Council in Exile) to use any means to achieve this. Malphites respond by spawning and splitting religions and societies, creating cults, reformists, revolutionaries and, well, factions, as well as by spreading discord and conflict everywhere they go. Subtlety is preferred to violence, but both are acceptable in a pinch. No consensus has ever been reached as to what instruments the Malphites represent, although a Lilim Vassal once said 'We're more like a group of musicians playing outside the theatre trying to be heard over the noise of the orchestra. Problem is, some of us are playing Beethoven's Fifth, and some of us are hacking away at Stairway to Heaven'.

It is dissonant for an angel of Factions to consciously try to bring people together, or to cause someone to leave the fringe and enter the mainstream. Accidentally causing such things (such as when people are drawn together in the aftermath of a bombing) should be avoided if possible, of course, and remedied when plausible, but isn't dissonant.

More importantly, it is dissonant for a servitor of Factions to accept aid from anyone else, unless ordered to do so by Malphas. They can give help to others, but are not receive it in return. If the Malphite is helped without its permission (i.e. is knocked out of the way of a speeding car), this is not dissonant, but the giver of help certainly shouldn't expect to be repaid in any way. Most Cultists would rather be hit by a car than accept a helping hand. How will they ever learn not to stand in the middle of the road otherwise?

This does not mean, however, that they never work with Servitors of other Archangels. The restriction is gotten around in two ways; first, Malphas occasionally straight out orders one of his Servitors to work with other Exiles. Second, Servitors of other Archangels sometimes come to Malphas or his Servitors for help; in these cases it is not dissonant for the Malphite to oblige, although it would be if they expected, let alone accepted, aid in return.

Organization

Nicknames: Malphites, Cultists, Malphans, Psychos

Malphas' organization isn't really. An organization, that is. Although he has Distinctions, and lower ranking Servitors are technically supposed to obey higher, when there are a dozen versions of the boss running around with more tasks to do than angels to do them, a mere Vassal rarely has a chance to get a word in edgewise. Distinctions are still a mark of the Archangel's favor, but carry little actual authority.

Besides, any Malphan who thinks that having a title gives them a right to boss other servitors of Factions around has another think coming. Servitors of Factions, in part due to their dissonance conditions, in part due to their general irascibility, work even less well with each other than they do with others, and it is very rare to find two of them working on the same project. And, given their dissonance condition, it's a logistic nightmare. Finally, of course, Malphas tends to be reluctant to assign two Malphites to a single task when there's so much else to do.

Despite popular opinion that there is neither rhyme nor reason to Malphan activities, careful observers will note that there are Malphites spread evenly almost everywhere one looks, with very little redundancy. The system is by no means static, Servitors are constantly being reassigned (or reassigning themselves), killed in the field, retired and brought out of retirement by Malphas, but the approximate distribution of Malphites on Earth remains quite constant.

Factions does, however, employ at least as many Soldiers and Shades (to say nothing of servants) as any other Superior. And while Malphas generally deals with his angels individually, he doesn't have nearly enough time to deal personally with all of his human Servitors. Thus human servants of Factions fall into two categories. Most common are the independents, who having awakened, or been awakened, Symphonically are given a mission statement and left to their own devices. This is fairly inefficient overall, but Malphas finds that humans are often capable of ideas and leaps of judgement that angels aren't, and thus feels that these unsupervised servants are a worthwhile investment. Besides, they're awfully low maintenance (generally a senior Malphite will check every couple of years on a given independent, and usually not interfere at all). Malphas' Shades are almost all independent in this manner.

Second are the more traditional Soldiers and servants who report directly to an angel. Malphites like to act as mentor figures, inspiring new and interesting ideas in charismatic preachers and leaders who go on to spread them to the unwashed masses. Optimally, the aforementioned preachers and leaders will also turn out to be marvelously corrupt, leading to schisms and infighting. Servitors of Factions like infighting. These dependant servants are entirely the affair of the angel who keeps track of them, and are mostly mundane humans.

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Dark rumors about Factions' secret police force abound. Given the capacity for violence and apparent callousness of his normal Servitors, this is not surprising. Tales of dissonant Malphites disappearing, or being found in small pieces scattered around their Hearts (whose sanctums should be inviolable) are perhaps the mildest ones told.

It's all wrong. The origins of the rumor, besides the normal misinformation of wartime, can be traced to a particular manifestation of Malphas who dropped hints and warnings to a number of Servitors, before disappearing without a trace. The truth is that Malphas is his own police force, and doesn't have the Servitors to spare to keep an eye on his organization.

There is a particular assignment given to certain high-ranked, or at least fairly powerful, Kyriotates of Factions. This is a fairly new organization (Malphas founded it in 1902, and has yet to agree on a name for it), devoted to curbing and cleaning up after the excesses that have become commonplace in the activities of most Malphites. These Dominations clear away bodies, set-up media smokescreens, and deal with the Servitors of other Archangels, mostly as diplomats.

There are four of them, with a variety of abilities and modus operandi, all with one advantage; they are not attuned to Factions, and thus are not bound by Malphas' dissonance conditions (the disadvantage of this is that they can only take Servitor Attunements of Factions in addition to the Kyriotate Attunement). They can work with other Exiles, often helping salvage the delicate operations of some other Archangel which have been upset by an overzealous Malphite, and are far better at diplomacy (for when a serious faux pas has been committed) than either Malphas himself or the majority of his Servitors.

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Malphas' Seraphim are generally found in the upper echelons of society, where the inability to tell a lie is especially damaging.

Cherubim of Factions are attuned to any ideology or belief that they themselves formulate. They always know roughly how many people believe in the concept, and recognize believers or followers on sight (but only people who actually believe; those who merely mouth the words require a successful perception roll to detect). They specialize in cults and political parties, and can usually be found 'behind the throne' as advisors or consultants.

Ofanim of Factions can create copies of themselves on the same plane. This requires one round of concentration and 4 Essence, after which their duplicate will appear behind them, back-to-back. The Ofanite may have a number of copies equal to its Celestial Forces, at any one time. On the Corporeal Plane, each manifestation requires its own vessel - they cannot share (i.e., an Ofanite with only three vessels could only have two copies on the Corporeal Plane regardless of its Celestial Forces). If a copy is killed on the Corporeal Plane, the vessel is lost, and all other manifestations are stunned for one round. If one is killed on the Ethereal Plane, the angel (in all manifestations) immediately suffers (7-Ethereal Forces) levels of a random Ethereal Discord. If one is killed on the Celestial Plane, the angel loses a Force (Roll randomly; this will affect all manifestations).

The original Ofanite retains whatever Essence it had; copies are created with zero Essence, but regain it normally (e.g., Rites, sunrise, etc.) The player controls the original Ofanite, while the others are NPCs under the control of the GM (who should try to play them as the player would). Only the original Ofanite can create additional manifestations; you can't make a copy of a copy. The copies last until one of two things happen: (1) If the original leaves the current plane, the copies are drawn to the other plane with it, where they combine into one; (2) if one copy ever lays eyes upon another (or the original), it immediately disappears and combines with the other. When two manifestations combine, their Essence and Celestial damage is pooled (this can cause the angel to lose a Force); damaged vessels are still damaged, and Ethereal damage is lost.

More importantly, when the copies finally merge with the original Ofanite, all of their memories disappear (this also happens when copies merge with each other; in which case the oldest copy's memories are lost! Fortunately, phone conversations are allowed between two manifestations, so with a little planning, vital information can be relayed before being lost.

Malakim of Factions have no standard oaths. All four are unique to each Malakite, and their resonance can compare targets either to each Malakite's personal code of honor (which can vary widely) or to the Word of their Superior, as per the standard Malakite resonance.

Other Malakim tend to look down on these Barons.

Bastions of calm within a sea of dispute, Elohim of Malphas cause all those within (Total Forces) yards take everything said in the worst possible way (as the Imbroglio Attunement from the Core Rules). A Perception roll (minus the Elohite's Ethereal forces) can be used to avoid misinterpreting any given comment, and Celestials who make this roll are not affected by that Elohite for the next 24 hours. Servitors of Factions are completely unaffected. However, the Elohite cannot turn this attunement off.

These Elohim enjoy roles that allow them to get into public a lot, especially those places (such as courtrooms, or congressional halls) where hostility cannot be overtly acted upon.

Malphas' few Lilim have an Attunement similar to his Elohim. They cause everyone within (total Forces) yards to make a Will roll or become hopelessly obsessed with the Lilim as long as they are within the area of affect. They probably wouldn't commit suicide for her, or kill a loved one, but lesser requests will be generally be carried out without question. Once they leave the radius, they will probably be generally well disposed towards the Lilim, but are unlikely to carry out any dangerous or strange commands. Celestials and Ethereals are immune to this effect.

The auras of Elohim and Lilim of Factions overlap, and one of each in the same room is usually enough to start any number of fights to the death for the Lilim's favor within a couple of minutes. However, even though neither Attunement is restricted, a single Servitor cannot possess both.

Lilim tend to go for roles like teachers, business executives and clergy.

Malphas' Dominations have the ability to force the owner of a body out permanently. Upon possessing a body normally, the Kyriotate engages the host mind in a kind of Celestial combat. Once an hour (or every ten minutes if the host isn't human), make a Celestial Fighting roll for both host (at a bonus equal to total Forces for humans and Corporeal Forces for Celestials and Ethereals) and the Kyriotate (at no bonus), and deduct a number of Soul Hits from both equal to the other's successful check digit. During this period, the body will appear to be having some kind of mild seizure, and although the Kyriotate or the host (whoever had a higher check digit on the latest roll) is able to act physically, with all actions will be at a penalty equal to the other's Celestial Forces. The loser of this battle is killed as if in Celestial and Corporeal combat simultaneously (humans will go on to their final reward, Celestials and Ethereals will return to their Hearts, both minus a Force).

If it is the winner of the battle, the Kyriotate is the proud owner of a shiny new body. It acts as a vessel of level equal to the former owner's Corporeal Forces, with a level six Role as the former owner (or with whatever vessel level and Role the previous owner had if the target wasn't human). However, if the Kyriotate leaves the body, it dies within ten minutes (even less if it has been a long time since the original owner died). It takes up a number of Forces equal to its vessel level. Note that the Kyriotate only gets the body, not any skills, Songs, Rites or Attunements the former owner had.

Overuse of this attunement can get a Kyriotate into a lot of trouble with some of the other Exiles, especially if used too often on humans.

Dominations are Malphas' most numerous Choir, and can turn up anywhere. One job unique to them is damage control, where they take control of the leader of an organization going terribly astray (i.e. being turned by Heaven's Malphas, or otherwise looking to reintegrate itself into society) and set things right.

Malphas' Mercurians can use their resonance, at a cost of 6 Essence, not to insinuate themselves into someone else's life but instead to draw someone else into their lives. How thoroughly this happens depends on the check digit, which determines the maximum relationship affected. The target doesn't forget the broad strokes of his or her past life, merely little details, like names and faces. The Mercurian will be able to 'remind' the target who people he or she encounters are ('that's just Albert, your co-worker. You know, the guy whose cubicle is across from yours?'), and the target will subconsciously shuffle around his or her internal social map to accommodate this. With a check digit of 6, even family and spouses are forgotten and can be reassigned ('Don't tell me you've forgotten your own husband?').

New roles cannot be introduced into the targets life (this generally doesn't affect level 1 through 4 contacts, there are always a lot of blank faces and casual acquaintances in a persons life, but it would be impossible to introduce, say, a brother to someone who has no siblings), and thus this Attunement is rarely dissonant (no new bonds between people are created, old bonds are merely shifted).

The target is struck with extreme impatience with everything, as well as a sense that everything is going wrong. Traffic lights will seem to go red just as he arrives, and stay red for an inordinately long time, people keep cutting in front of him, the goddamn radio is playing teen pop on every damn station, his Starbucks coffee cup just burst, shoddy damn things, and now the f***ing cops are tailing him because he finally ran the red f***ing light, it'd been red for, like, ten bloody minutes, well he'll show them what's bloody what, where's that tire iron gone, goddamn mechanic must've nicked it, bloody New f***ing Yorkers, can't trust 'em to do a single bloody thing...

And so forth. This Attunement lasts for twice the angel's total Forces in minutes (generally more than enough time), and costs 2 Essence. It can be used on anyone the Malphite can see.

This Attunement severs a human's ties to the rest of humanity, temporarily. For 6 hours per point of Essence spent to activate this Attunement, the target (who must be human) will become a non-person. None of his relatives or friends will recognize him, his credit and bank cards won't work, and his driver's license will register as invalid. Even worse, complete strangers will consider him beneath their notice, and do their best to avoid or ignore him.

The angel can see the bonds between people, the way Mercurians used to be able to back before the Revolution. For the cost of one Essence, the Friend can use the equivalent of the Mercurian resonance for one hour. Note that this isn't actually a resonance, and thus is not penalized if the Friend has dissonance.

The Master becomes a powerfully charismatic figure. It gains charisma equal to its Celestial Forces (this supersedes any charisma its vessels might have, and innate Lilim charisma) in all vessels, and a similar bonus to all Emote, Fast-Talk, Lying, Savoir-Faire and Seduction rolls.

This Distinction is available to Kyriotates only. It has been given to only a few of Malphas' most trusted Dominations. Any body these angels control completely (either through use of the Kyriotate of Factions Attunement above, or by taking dissonance and booting the host) is halved (rounded down, but minimum of one) for the purposes of how many Forces it takes up. However, the bodies are completely independent of the Kyriotate (they have all the Chancellor's memories, skills, Songs, and so forth, but there is no mental link). They have whatever Essence was in the body they possessed, plus anything the central consciousness (which includes the key force, as mentioned in the Ofanite attunement) decided to leave them with. They cannot leave the plane, nor can they take celestial form. The central consciousness (which controls any bodies being possessed without using this Distinction), however, can manifest a number of Celestial forms equal to its Celestial Forces (although each still takes up a force for the purpose of determining how many bodies the Kyriotate can control, as per usual).

They central consciousness can choose at any time to recall any or all forces portioned off in independent bodies. It immediately gets all the body's memories and any Essence it had left. If the body had been out long enough to learn new skills or Songs (or even get new Attunements!) the central consciousness gets those too.

Malphas gets on well enough with most Superiors, although he is a bit unpredictable for some, and his servitors are a bit too nasty for others. Still, none can accuse him of being anything but civil. He and Ogiel share a determination not to be beaten by the host. David, on the other hand, refuses to speak to him, remembering his betrayal during the Revolution and disapproving of his methods today.

Exiles

Allied: Baal

Associated: Lilith, Ogiel, Uriel

Neutral: all others

Hostile: Novalis, Nybbas

Enemy: None

Host

Allied: none

Associated: Jean

Neutral: Demogorgon, Israfel

Hostile: all others

Enemy: Asmodeus, Laurence, Malphas, Marc

Others

Allied: none

Associated: Mariel

Neutral: Gabriel, White Star

Hostile: Jordi

Enemy: Fleurity

: Initiate conflict between two people

: Cause an organization to schism (1+ pt., dependent on size and severity)

It's dead easy to attract the attention of one Malphas or another, but no Servitor has control over which version shows up.

+1 an underground newspaper

+2 a crooked policeman, or other public official

+3 a large and impressive piece of graffiti

+4 a fight between friends

+5 a banned organization, meeting in secret

+6 a battlefield, fought, or being fought, over ideology

Malphas was created, way back, by David to help him break apart the Earth's crust, and went on to become one of the few key assistants to the Archangel of Stone. Even from the start, he was insular, unfriendly and rude. Today, he would have been labeled a sociopath, but in the innocent days before the Revolution he was simply a bit odd. Those angels who thought of him at all were of the opinion that he was so surly because he was thinking deep thoughts, and didn't like to be disturbed. They may even have been right. His condition worsened over time, finally culminating in an outburst of anger directed at some underling or another. This is turn led not only to a visit from Dominic (not the first), but one from Lucifer as well. The Morningstar, then only just beginning to plan his rebellion, offered the younger angel a place in a world where he would be left to his own devices, in a position of power if he wished, to do as he pleased and never to be bothered again. Malphas agreed readily, and the Archangel of Light gained a follower who would serve him well, with the hope of never having to serve anyone again, until the closing days of the Revolution.

Like so many others, Malphas was a witness to the final confrontation between Lucifer and Michael. He watched the mob descend upon the corpse, saw Lucifer carried triumphantly back to the Cathedral of Light, and was struck by a revelation. This, the adulation of the masses, basking in the light of their praise, was what the Archangel of Light lived for. And this single-mindedness, this mob mentality, was what lay in store for creation, and for those who worked under the newly crowned regent of Heaven.

It was with trepidation that Malphas approached Lucifer in the Cathedral. He had chosen a spot, deep in the Marches, to make his home, and needed only the new Regent's approval to leave Heaven behind forever. He didn't get it. He didn't even get to ask. He had entered the Lightbringer's chapel, and was steeling himself to ask, when the Lightbringer, deep in contemplation of the altar, said without turning:

"Malphas, my servant. Bring me Yves."

When the Exiles assembled at the gates of Hades to be bound, Malphas was waiting for them. Even today he is unsure precisely what prompted him to make this decision, but he regrets it not at all.

The early years of the Exile were difficult for Malphas. He had fought on the other side, after all, and paranoia and suspicion were running strong through the Loyalists in any case. If it hadn't been for the intervention of Baal, things might have gone very poorly for the young Malphas. Baal, however, knew what it was to be tempted by Lucifer's words, and it was under the Archangel of Valor's wing that Malphas blossomed into an intelligent and vocal member of the Council in Exile. And it was Baal's sponsorship that eventually gained him, with some controversy, the Word of Factions (although in those days it was more often translated as Individuality), giving him the authority to create a stronger, better humanity to withstand the Heavenly Host. In many ways, Malphas looks back at the centuries of confinement, when he is in condition to do so, with fondness.

Those were better days, though, when Lilith had just freed the Exiles, and optimism ran rampant. Twelve thousand years of war have changed Malphas, and not for the better. The multiple versions of himself, previously a considered a slightly odd phenomenon, have grown in number and aggressiveness; while it was not unknown for Malphas to argue with himself in the centuries following the Revolution, it was rare, rather than the daily occurrence it is now. Malphas enters the twenty-first century hounded by rumors of insanity.

It is hard to ascribe a single personality to Malphas. Various versions of him have been described as friendly, overbearing, harsh, surly, angry, comatose, depressed and regal, to name a few. Those angels who remember him during the imprisonment remember a friendly angel, given to fits of impassioned rhetoric and possessed of a determination to oust Lucifer from his throne. Those who remember even farther back to before the Rebellion remember him as quiet and given to angry outbursts.

In truth, Malphas is rarely of one mind anymore. He makes a point of, yearly, recollecting himself, composing his thoughts and then splitting himself apart again to deal with the myriad problems an organization like Factions runs into. Although it is at odds with the faces he most often puts on for his Servitors, Malphas is in fact very conscientious about cleaning up after the large disturbances his Servitors occasionally make, or curbing those who are getting excessive. What exactly is excessive, however, has gotten more and more lax over the millennia. He is extremely busy; his Servitors are effective, not efficient, and his forces are spread extremely thin. There is little time for reflection.

Malphas himself has, in fact, changed comparatively little during the past 12 thousand years. However, as the war heats up and he feels himself losing ground in the face of mass-communication and globalization, he finds it more and more necessary to send out more and more aggressive doppelgangers, and also finds that they have had to stray more and more from their original goals in the face of mounting adversity.

This has shown in his organization as well. In the early days, Malphas' Servitors were teachers and heroes, leading by example or by the strength of their arguments. Today, though, this is rarely effective; what with the media presenting a thousand mass-produced role models, a Malphite is lost in the mix. The only techniques that continue to work are the ones Malphas is becoming known for; manipulation, scare tactics and violence. Malphas finds this trend worrisome as well, and has created a small unit of Dominations to try to at least moderate the damage done to humanity by his more volatile servants (see The Gestapo, above).

The views below are those held by Malphas during the 36 or so hours each year he spends as one entity. Malphas spin-offs may not believe these at all, especially in the days approaching the 21st of October, when they differ most from the original, having had a year of independence.

"God is not dead. How could he be? He is out there, somewhere, as he has always been. The problem we face is that he may as well be dead, for all that it matters to us. If God is watching, which I don't believe he is, then he is moving in exceptionally mysterious ways. I believe that, like many creators, he has lost interest in his creation, and it is up to us now to carry out his work."

"There is nothing wrong with rebellion. Looking back, I can think of any number of reasons to rise up against Michael, the Metatron and Yves. But Lucifer... Lucifer rebelled for pride. He felt threatened by the world he had helped create. And this is a remarkably stupid reason to overturn reality.

"Our children always surpass us. The sooner the Morningstar accepts this, the sooner we can all go home."

"Lucifer was wrong when he claimed that we are somehow better than humanity. We are the tools that created an enormous, elaborate instrument. But this instrument plays by itself, and although we can examine our creation, give it a few strums, a quick tuning even, it's not ours. Earth is their realm. Anyone who's traveled the Corporeal knows this, can hear the faults, the discordance we leave in our wake.

"It is true, though, that we are stronger than humanity. If I may shift the metaphor, we gave birth to them; we have to be larger and tougher. And we're older than them, so naturally we're smarter as well. Or we know more, at least. But babies grow into children, into teenagers, into adults. As the parents, it's our job to see that they make it there, to help them over the hurdles and prepare them to face the big bright world.

"It's a shame, then, that we can't actually get out there and do this, because of this bloody war. Heaven wants to keep humanity subservient forever, to make a race of quiet toddlers, seen but not heard, eternally obedient. And because, like children, people are easily won over by baubles and candy, because the Host had sole custody through infancy, we're fighting an uphill battle. We have nothing to offer humanity but struggle and a future worth living. Jam tomorrow rather than heroin today.

"It's here that the parenthood analogy falls apart, because in a custody battle, one lavishes the children with affection, and goes to court. But there is no court for us. God is gone, and we can't lavish them with affection, give them gifts, because that will only lead to further complacency. We become rabble-rousers. 'Slaves of the world unite, you have nothing to lose but eternal happiness in Heaven, nothing to gain but the freedom of your children's children's children's children.' The truth will do them no good, because no sane human will listen to us. So we have to breed conflict. We make them fight, make them scheme and plot and invent, learn. Raise the ante, give them passion and hatred and the will to survive, to win, and sooner or later they won't need us anymore."

"Things aren't as clean and crisp as they were in the old days. The Symphony is dying. There is quite a lot of fuss about that, both up there and down here, lots of wailing and shouting and gnashing of teeth. Nobody ever stops to think about it, is the problem. We, all of people, should know that death is not the end, and that there is no true oblivion, no real destruction. We have the ultimate metaphor, the teeming mass of humanity, most of whom believe, in their heart of hearts, that there is nothing after death, just eternal sleep. We know better. We can look deeper, at the dance of fission and fusion, matter and energy at the heart of everything, where everything is destroyed and remade a thousand million times a second. We can even look to ourselves. I fought in the Revolution. I've seen Angels shattered, scattered, reabsorbed into infinity, but I've never seen an Angel destroyed. Even Limbo has life, through the interaction of the essence and thoughts of those trapped there.

"So why should the Symphony be any different? Death is never the end, and although we may be no more able to see past the celestial than humanity can see past the physical, we have no reason to believe that the death of the Symphony is the end of everything. All that Israfel or Vapula see is the decay of the known, the descent into the unknown. And they can do little to stop it. But me, I'm not even sure they should."

Malphas' people get everywhere. That's the whole point, really. For every Malphan living under a banana leaf during a civil war in some tropical hell-hole, there's two living in middle-class America, one of whom is the secretary at the local chapter of the NRA, the other of whom is simply an accountant who likes to go out with his friends, have a few drinks and talk politics. Everywhere they go, though, they make waves. Malphites spread new ideas, new ways of life. They spread conflict, too, on the basis that a humanity at war is one that isn't serving Lucifer, and that those who come out alive will be better for the experience.

Servitors of Malphas are spread extremely thin; they serve Factions, after all, and just plain don't get along with each other. This means that Malphas has an excellent information system, though, since wherever they go his Servitors have to get involved with people at some level, lacking the basic infrastructure most other angels have. It also means that when another Exile needs a job done quickly in some out of the way place, coming to Malphas is generally a good bet.

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-T. Pratchett

Malphas' principality is the city of Dis, an enormous cavern deep in Hades, full of plateaus and shelves, filled with dwellings of every conceivable sort. Each Malphite is given property in Dis, to do with and alter as they please, and so there are palaces, bungalows, columns of light, mansions, giant alligators, copies of famous Corporeal, Ethereal and Celestial buildings, tepees and cardboard boxes strewn all over the floor walls and ceiling (physical laws are one's own province upon one's property) of Dis. Almost overshadowed by the extravagance of some of the dwellings is Malphas' own home, which has appeared as a number of things over the centuries, but which is currently a large, Tudor-style mansion.

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Malphas' main weakness is his inability to muster his forces properly. That is to say, the order could go out for an all-out assault on Host forces, for instance, but it would result in a whole bunch of individual attacks, rather than a coordinated force. He lacks the immediate, direct control over his Servitors that most Archangels have.

Malphas' operations are carried out almost exclusively on the Corporeal plane. Those few that have attempted to infiltrate Heaven were absorbed with frightening quickness into Coalition, and Malphas seems to have little interest in pursuing operations in the Marches. He himself has never been seen on the Ethereal plane.

Malphas, in any guise, usually refers to himself in the first person singular. To use 'we' would imply some sort of consensus among the varying hims, which almost never exists. And again, these are the opinions of Malphas during the short time every year that he is of a single mind. The rest of the time, they are merely guidelines.

Baal: We share a cause and our methods our similar, as are our aesthetics. He is the champion standing alone against insurmountable odds, and I believe that he will break free of Michael's shadow and lead the others to victory. As for myself, I'm grateful for his help in the early days, but me and my Servitors need to be able to stand alone if we're to hold the Corporeal.

Blandine: I'm not sure I myself would have the courage to walk back across the Vale and beg forgiveness, but I've never known love. From my vantage, though, this is the only solution for our Lady of Dreams. Beleth embodies her own word far too well to make her own crossing. Still, I'm grateful that she hasn't yet, as we lack a replacement strong enough to stand up to Fear, let alone Fear and Dreams united.

David: The Earth my father created was perfect. Molten stone beneath the silent mountains. But his greatest works are far behind him, and his utopia has been contaminated by wind and water and biology. And what is true for Stone, father, is not true for Man. This, I think, lies at the root of his depression. The world has changed and inflexible stone has been unable to change with it.

Dominique: Her Justice doesn't exist. Hades is proof of this. The warping of the Symphony is proof of this. Every death we cause, every life we ruin, every king we bring low, every breath our stolen bodies take is proof of this. It gets worse, though. Not only is there no Justice, there can't be, not in this movement of the Symphony. A universally applicable set of moral guidelines? I challenge her, as I have in the past and I will in the future, to find a Justice that applies fully and equally to any two humans, let alone all six billion.

Eli: He made humans too well, and has been made, in turn, redundant. The human brain transcended the physical long ago; now they see only what they want to see, and believe only what they want to believe. He can sense this, and mistakes the mutability of the reality he created for decay. The truth is, of course, that he has achieved the ultimate goal of any creator: the puppet has become a real boy and will now learn and grow itself. It's out of Jeppeto's hands now.

Haagenti: So much energy, so misdirected. Even if we were to feed everyone today, they'd still be starving and helpless tomorrow. He fixes the details when it's the core that's broken.

Lilith: Her heart's in the right place, but she needs to think things through a bit farther. Humanity can be deceived, manipulated. And will be. Granted, free will is our ultimate goal, but if we were to give humanity choice today, they would go straight to the Host. Free will is about an informed decision, and humankind will not be informed while Heaven has any say in the matter. We have to play their game for now, because our game requires a level playing field, which is a long way away yet. We must herd humanity for now, and trust ourselves to know when the time is right to give them their head.

Novalis: I find her motivation somewhat puzzling. She would find a way to give humankind a cure for cancer. Like Fleurity, she wouldn't give the enormous leads humans have made when faced with an inevitable death a second thought. However, she differs from Soothing in that the lives that would be saved and the pain avoided by a cure would not be her prime goal. She would cure the disease to fulfil the hopes, not of those who actually suffer from cancer, but of those who live with those who suffer. And how can I object to that? But I do, because I need to. We disagree not about goals, but about methods. We can give humankind no hint that they have an ally, a kindly parent to shelter them from reality. Humanity needs to find their own cure for cancer, through long hours and sleepless nights and sweat and desperation. There is nothing sweeter than a victory earned, and our Lady of Flowers would sacrifice that for the quick cheap fix of divine redemption. I can't teach people to help themselves if they know that she'll catch them if they fall.

Nybbas: Our young hero has no idea what he's up against. He's full of energy, new ideas and strategies, but fails to comprehend the depths in which our enemy is entrenched. They had ten thousand years to dig in, and he thinks that it'll only take him another century or so to dig them out? He's had some success so far, and has caught them by surprise, but he can't keep it up forever, and sooner or later they'll be able to pull out the big guns. I think he'll be lucky to survive, let alone keep his grip on the reins of power. And once he's fallen, where does that leave me? Facing an enemy who now has control of an instant global communication system, and a direct line into the homes of all the richest and most powerful people on earth.

Ogiel: I find him easy to work with. His Servitors are straightforward, with simple needs, predictable capabilities and enviable dedication. They're also good enough at what they do to not need any help from me most of the time, and pragmatic enough to come to me when they do need a hand. And they're willing to trust me and mine to get our jobs done as well. That said, I've watched Ogiel grow less and less predictable over the centuries, and worry that his obsession with the Firstborn could lead him to do something ill advised. He is cunning and ruthless and an excellent strategist, but he's not much of a tactician. And while he's shed his early ignorance, he has yet to find wisdom to replace it. So I worry.

Raphael: She would be more useful if Knowledge was more applicable. Humanity can't be reduced to facts. There are no patterns. Each individual is an unbelievably complex collection of chemicals and brain-waves and the divine spark. I made a game of it, for a while, to try and keep tabs on just a single human, to know what he'd do and why. I became pretty good at it, and thought I had him figured out, when he turned on me completely, betrayed both my own sense of logic and the guidelines I'd worked out for him. A woman, of course. What else? Problem is, I thought I had hormones figured out, and human courtship practices at the time were pretty simple, and about a hundred other factors all seemed transparent to me. And yet this single, unimportant, uninfluenced monkey managed to confound me completely. The point is, you can't reduce people to equations or anything. All the history, all the writings that she is so desperate to preserve are just so much words.

Uriel: I disagree with him only on matters of discipline. He believes that only a stringent series of guidelines and a strong sense of morality will allow the individuals that make up mankind to improve themselves. I believe the same thing, but only because human ingenuity will find away around it all, and the individuals will come out of the experience all the wiser. That being said, we really don't interact that much, so our philosophical similarities and differences have gone mostly unexplored. Which is probably all for the best, because he's an unbearable prick, and I fear that the cordial, if a bit cool, relations we currently enjoy would be jeopardized if I had to speak with him much.

Vapula: I disagree with him on all sorts of points, but his philosophical base seems sound. What with some of the other ideas floating around Hades, I'm certainly not going to argue with a progressive theory of knowledge and experimentation. I think it's a shame, though, that he spends so little time actually dealing with things, and so much working on his project, whatever it is. Putting all one's hope into a single item has never struck me as being especially bright, and is thus completely out of character.

Andrealphus: I often wonder how much control this decadent and ineffectual... thing has over a Word as powerful as Love. I dislike that one of my most powerful tools, and probably the obstacle most difficult to overcome, could be overly influenced by her. Mind you, the previous could also be phrased as gratitude that she doesn't interfere more often. Love is, after all, a very delicate thing to work with overtly, and almost impossible to affect indirectly, so if she could be bothered, Andrealphus could probably cause me considerable difficulty.

Beleth: Fear can only be used so many times before it requires something to back it up. But it is perhaps, when applied properly, humankind's greatest ability. Fear has driven almost every major technological advance I can think of in the past century, fear of death, fear of war, fear of powerlessness. She applies Fear as a limiter, though. She cripples humanity with caution, which is not the same as fear and much less healthy. If humanity truly feared car crashes, they would work much harder to ensure that a car trip would be truly safe. As it is, they are merely cautious, and avoid the problem rather than fixing it. A child who is truly afraid of sharp things will be driven to learn how to handle knives and scissors, whereas one who is cautioned by its parents will simply avoid the problem by never handling anything sharp. She limits humankind with an emotion that should serve only to better them.

Beth: If Knowledge is to be of any use whatsoever, it has to be applied. One who knows everything and does nothing is, for all intents and purposes, the same as one who knows nothing. I believe that this one, at least, does us more good than harm by keeping such a close guard on the books in Yves' library. That said, I don't believe, as some of my colleagues do, that the balance of the War would be so greatly upset if the Lightbringer had full access to her library. As for Thoroughness herself, we really have little chance to interact at all.

Christine: Innocence is useless, in and of itself. People talk about the purity of the innocent child, but it's really just a lack of experience. The worldly child, growing up in a village in Nairobi or on the streets of Miami is a far more capable human being the child who grows up sheltered from the world. And if we were to switch the two, the first would excel in the second's place, and the second would most likely die in the first's. The far more interesting question is why exactly the Morningstar felt it necessary to create such an unnecessary creature...

Demogorgon: For all his pseudo-scientific thought, he is a fool. There is no point to chaos and mindless destruction. He gains nothing, his faction gains nothing and Heaven loses as much as we do to his rampages and experiments. His methods are occasionally compared to mine, and they are distressingly similar at times, but everything I have my servants do is for a reason, whereas Chaos' Servitors do what they do out of spite, boredom or a sort of malicious curiosity, the same sort that leads children to dismember spiders. Or occasionally for no reason whatsoever that I can comprehend. In any case, I don't believe these games will hold his interest much longer. Either he will pull himself together and become a credible threat, or his pranks will escalate to the point where the Host itself will be forced to put him down.

Eve: Case in point, I feel. If this is what Heaven does to the human who has been most amiable to their cause from the beginning, whatever they have in mind for the rest of the species doesn't bear consideration. As for Eve herself, I know that in her place I would have ended it, one way or another, a long time ago. She is perhaps more submissive than I am (and who can blame her?), but I don't believe it will be long now until Lucifer's pet turns on him.

Gebbeleth: An enigma. His Word could fall either way. If he serves to conceal the truth, he is my enemy to be dealt with when I can. If he serves to pique humanity's curiosity by hiding and revealing just enough to inspire them and draw them to new heights, than he has my full support. That he has been among us for almost a millennia, though, without turning his hand either way, however, is worrisome. The Host doesn't seem to trust him, but we certainly can't afford to do so either, and neither side will move to destroy him if there is a chance that he might be an ally.

Iblis: Glory is only of use to those who lack real merit. Those who can, don't need to be told that they can. His servitors are difficult to deal with physically, but it is painfully simple to direct their efforts to gainful ends, without ever confronting them directly. Laurence and Zadkiel are much more dangerous.

Israfel: Her position is much more public than mine, but in many ways I feel that we are similar. The roles we've assumed are sweeping us away. They demand more of us than we can give them, our Words. But my problem is smaller than hers; I'm falling apart, but she's tied to something bigger and stranger than any of us can imagine. The Symphony is a whole magnitude larger than any other Word, and despite her claims to the contrary, I don't believe she even understands the concepts she embodies. How can she know that what she claims is decay in the Symphony is not the natural progression of things? I don't deny the possibility that she is correct, but how can she be certain?

Jean: He should have come with us into Exile. This much is obvious to anyone who has bothered to keep track of his mental state over the years. I even suspect that he knows he made the wrong decision, but his pride, and Jean always had pride, prevents him from admitting that he's been on the wrong side for all these millennia. He is, however, the angel in Heaven who's goals and views most closely align with mine, even though he won't admit it, so I am content to leave him to his own devices, even give him a bit of a hand now and then, especially when he comes into conflict with Laurence.

Kobal: Some of the others don't watch him as well as they should. Laughter was, after all, the last one of us to speak with God.

Laurence: The enemy. He takes Lucifer's faults and magnifies them a hundred-fold. He is proud and unbending, and absolutely blind to reality. He wants nothing more than a world of a faceless, mindless creatures, endlessly singing psalms to the glory of Lucifer. If I am mad, as some have called me, there is no word to properly describe the Archangel of the Sword.

Malphas: A blow to the ego, if nothing else, to see myself take such complete leave of my senses. It does add another level to the competition on Earth, however; while we are different in many ways, me and my doppelganger's thoughts often follow similar paths, and I have on occasion anticipated his actions quite satisfactorily. Of course, he has done the same, and often seems better at it than I am, but one advantage to the lack of control I have over my Servitors is that there is less for him to predict. Our few similarities aside, though, he is merely another immediate enemy, who I will have to destroy before I can attack Heaven directly.

<Sidebar>

Yes, Heaven has their own Malphas. How this happened is not clear to anyone who's talking, but the fact remains that when the Exiles were freed from Hades, they were as surprised to find a Malphas in Heaven as the Host was to find one among the Exiles. There are, of course, numerous theories as to how and why this came about, but mostly it's old news by now. Laurence retains some suspicion in Heaven, of course, but that's his job, and in Hades, past the initial investigations, questions of Malphas' multiplicity are simply left to lie.

The Archangel of Factions himself, however, harbors more doubts. He knows very well that he can program the memories of his clones, so as to lead them to do certain tasks in a certain manner. And since he has absolutely no memory of creating his double in Heaven, there are only two other alternatives; either there is a third, original Malphas, or Coalition is the original. Either way, he can be reabsorbed at any time, the prospect of which is scarcely encouraging. Malphas, the one in Hades, gets around this mostly by not thinking about it, and getting as much done as he can while he still can. Go down he may, even inevitably, but he'll go down fighting.

</sidebar>

Marc: Stupider than he looks. He is an excellent speaker, and a master of the politics that he seems to believe guide humanity, but is, at base, working with a flawed premise. He stayed in Heaven, I'm told, to keep things in check, and to add a pro-humanity voice to the Council. The first problem, of course, is that Lucifer is not a president, but a dictator, and can ignore the Council entirely. The second is that he lacks the influence to do much to moderate the less salubrious activities of the Host, but as an Archangel in Heaven provides them with the resources and networks to perform the atrocities he seeks to prevent. He hurts humanity, in other words, more than he helps them. This, combined with his basic blindness to human nature (he equates the ceremonies of Trade and politics with actual human interaction), makes him ineffectual in his stated goals.

Zadkiel: I find her presence disturbing, not because she is especially threatening at her post on the walls, but because she reminds me that even should Laurence fall, there will be plenty left to replace him. On the other hand, what little I've seen of her does point to a slightly less aggressive mentality that would be easier to work around should she be made General. And she would make an ineffectual inquisitor. Still, I would much rather keep her guarding the walls, if at all possible...

Adam: Those who never die, never evolve. This is as true of him as it is of us.

Beelzebub: A fool. He has been granted War, so he runs and hides with it? He is in the perfect position to tip the balance either way, or even to come out on top of the game himself. The specter of Michael is strong enough that Beelzebub would have no trouble whatsoever inciting all out war between our two factions. Were he to side with Heaven Ogiel would storm the walls tonight, and were he to come to us he could cause the same to happen, and I doubt sincerely that Laurence and Zadkiel could hold against the forces of Baal, Uriel, Ogiel and the newly minted Archangel of War. And our struggles, and the run off onto Earth, would feed him to the point that he would have no trouble whatsoever taking on the winner of a full-scale conflict between Exile and Host. The possibilities of the Word of War are endless, and I count it as a blessing, really, that its holder is too frightened to see them.

Fleurity: Pain is a survival reflex, an early warning system, and to Soothe it doesn't solve the problem. Pain has saved far more lives than it has ended. Taken to an extreme, of course, it is debilitating, but Fleurity's servitors would see to it that nobody every has to feel pain again. That's leprosy, you idiots! If humanity is no longer required to reap what it sows, you will be creating a society without consequences, without any sort of order. What's wrong with murder if a handy servitor of Soothing will come along and revive the victim? No harm done, after all. Fleurity is, with the best of intentions, trying to create a race of children, who've never known pain or hardship. And what's worse is that he gets indignant when you try to stop even his worst excesses, claims neutrality and that nobody 'good' would ever get in the way of his oh-so-altruistic servitors.

Gabriel: In many ways, she and Fleurity have opposite problems. He ignores consequences, whereas she is fixated on them. The cruel get what's coming to them all on their own; even if they get off scot-free during their lifetimes, we get them down here afterwards. The flames of inspiration are what's needed today, but she seems to have let that aspect of her word fall by the wayside. A shame, really, since she was good at it.

Jordi: My poor, mad choir-mate. I find it worrisome that the only other example of a Domination Superior is so completely insane, especially since neither myself nor my double are especially well balanced (its even worse if we're taken as a pair rather than individuals). That said, I find a raging, genocidal force to be comforting, really. We know where we stand with Jordi, and he's not quite big enough to be a real threat. He can be occasionally annoying, but I try not to worry too much; either the Morningstar or Baal will deal with the Archangel of Animism once our little War is over.

Mariel: It has been commented, by a rather perceptive clone of mine, that since I have the ability to warp and erase memories, as do some of my Servitors, my affection for and protectiveness of Mariel is a bit strange. But this clone of mine was looking at things from the wrong angle; it is precisely because I know how fragile and malleable memories are that I feel that she should be protected and preserved. There is selfishness in that, of course; my own memories are most likely false, after all, and I find it comforting to know that the truth might be kept somewhere, although I have no desire to learn it just yet.

White Star: No matter how well one knows one road, it is still only one road, and can only take you to a single destination. Beyond his rather simplistic worldview, White Star is similar to Fleurity, only he works with angels rather than humans, and is thus less directly threatening. I have little sympathy for him, however, and if he or his Servitors place themselves in the way, I can't promise that they'll enjoy it.