Mariel, Cherub Archangel of Memory

Mariel, once Angel of Memory and Historian for the Hosts of Heaven, is now Outcast, her Cathedral hidden somewhere in the Far Marches. It is her (and her Servitors') self-imposed mission to preserve the true accounts of the War, free of the deliberate distortions of either side. It is also their quest to preserve the past - its evidence, its narratives, its events - so that the future, should it come to pass, will remember what happened. So that God's memory will be saved.

In Celestial form, Mariel appears fragile, even by angelic standards - a tiny angelfish, of translucent silver and gold, her gossamer wings drifting away behind her. Looking closely, each scale on her form can be seen to be a memory from Mariel's life - and Mariel has lived a very long time. Those who look into Mariel's eyes see their memories, all of their memories, reflected there.

Few, even her fellow Archangels, can bear to look upon Mariel too closely... unless they wish to see something they would rather forget.

In corporeal form, Mariel reminds older celestials of Blandine's teenage Goth sister; fragile and beautiful, even in a vessel, with long, tangled black hair. She prefers to present herself in a formal and stylish manner, her clothes harking back to the Edwardian or Victorian eras (two of Mariel's favourite periods).

Mariel is also fascinated by archaeology - Servitors of Memory quickly get used to their Lady arriving to an invocation, still mud-encrusted and wearing the well-worn clothes from her most recent dig, and they love her all the more for it.

When dealing with unaware mortals, Mariel usually uses one of a number of variations on her name - Mary, Marie, Maria or Marielle. If she has to give a surname, she uses 'Nemo' - from Mnemosyne, the Greek Muse of Memory. (She's heard all the Little Nemo and Jules Verne jokes - and only the most stupid or ignorant Servitors will use them in her presence.)

Mariel's Servitors are prohibited from engaging in Ethereal or Celestial combat; each fight of this nature they get into causes them a point of dissonance, for Mariel sees the potential destruction of Ethereal and Celestial Forces - the destruction of memory - as anathema to everything she works for.

They must also work to preserve memory - if a Servitor of Memory deliberately distorts an account of the past, they gain a point of dissonance, until they can either restore or reveal the Truth of what happened (which removes the dissonance).

Memory does not encompass what has happened; that falls under The Past. Memory covers what is recalled to have happened, after the event. It may not be the objective Truth of what happened, but it is subjectively True to those who experience it. It covers what is told, what is set down, after everything that has transpired... regardless of whether it actually happened, it is recalled to have done so. It covers history, archaeology, palaeontology and biography - all of which deal with attempts to make sense of what happened before the Present.

Each and every living thing that is capable of recalling or acting on its past, instinctively or consciously, has Memory, and so falls under Mariel's Word. As every living thing lives and dies, its personal memories are collected, transcribed and stored in Mariel's Cathedral - giving her access to virtually anything that any living thing has experienced, even Superiors - unless they consciously choose to hide their memories from her. Only a Superior (Mariel believes) is capable of masking itself in this way. However, she cannot be sure whether anything set down in her Cathedral is True, only that the subject believed it to be so...

These subjective accounts together form the Word of Memory, and potentially make it one of the most powerful Words in existence. A Seraph would seek to extract what was True from Memory; an Elohite would seek what was in Memory's greater interest, regardless of personal Memories. Mariel, being a Cherub, seeks the protection of the Word. It is her attuned - to erase or obfuscate what is remembered would be a betrayal of the highest order.

And she wishes, more and more often these days, that she could.

Mnemoi, Historians, Recorders, Marielites, Memory-Keepers, 'those <insert celestial profanity here>!!'

Mariel's Servitors have a fairly loose hierarchy, ranked by level of Distinction (with Word-Bound and Mariel at the top), organised into branches.

One branch works in Earthly media, working to ensure that news is reported as the reporter recalled it. They actively work against 'spin-doctoring', and the celestials (usually Servitors of Nybbas) who promote it. Another works in the academic fields, making sure that any history or reconstruction is based on the most accurate evidence available - and searching for other accounts which poke holes in the 'established' account, and bringing them to light. Still another takes on the role of biographer, collecting and recording people's personal memories for future corporeal understanding - and revealing accounts of history which many mortals overlook. The invention of the tape recorder was a boon to these Servitors.

Some work as historians, palaeontologists or archaeologists, following in their Archangel's footsteps, and uncovering more pieces of a forgotten past. (Some work as detectives, following their Archangel's love of the crime genre.) Others work in psychology, psychiatry and biology, studying the workings of Memory itself, and searching to understand their Archangel's Word. Some go into storytelling or the arts - people may not believe the news any more, but they're often willing to receive more personal accounts of what happened. (Having a Role of 'gossipy OAP' is common.)

It's their work on the Celestial plane that inspires the profanities which so often follow them. They will slip into Heaven or Hades, (because Mariel was never Exiled, she doesn't bear the Mark), learn which particular piece of propaganda is being spread this time, and drop rumours about the Truth(s) of the situation. As well as rumours (checked in the memoryscapes beforehand - dissonance is to be avoided) of things both sides would rather stayed buried.

Rumour, Mariel has found, sometimes works better than screaming the Truth from a street corner. Best of all, no one can trace it. It's said that the Mnemoi's work has sparked riots - in Heaven and Hades. Laurence and Nybbas frown - strongly - on anyone who brings these rumours up.

Oh, and then there's their habit of stealing the books of history which remain in Heaven and Hades, too...

(Sometimes, these are actually returned. With corrections noted in the margins.)

Once, Mariel's Cathedral, the Memory Palace, was located in Heaven, near what was then Beth's Library and Raphael's study halls. When she left, her Cathedral vanished, to reappear somewhere in the Far Marches - and only Mariel and her Servitors can ever be certain where.

The Memory Palace is the expression of Mariel's Word. It shifts and flows, recalling every castle, every palace, every tower, every Cathedral - every building - Mariel and her Servitors have ever experienced, whilst maintaining a distinct identity of its own, something that sets it apart from all others. Each room inside contains the 'memoryscape', the accumulated memories of a living being. Her Servitors' Hearts are located within their own memoryscapes - making it all too easy to tell what happened when a Servitor returns in Trauma. Only the angel, Mariel, and anyone the angel permits may enter an angel's memoryscape.

The memoryscapes of living (and dead) beings constantly change and expand - when someone enters a memoryscape, they walk into the freshest memory in the being's mind, which may not be the most recent. Newer memories are 'nearer' the door, older ones 'further' back. Anyone in a memoryscape may watch what happens, but cannot interact with it or change it. The memoryscapes of those who have met soul-death, disbanded, or lost their Celestial Forces, however, remain frozen and static, unchanging. Very few of Mariel's Servitors will willingly enter one - experiencing the memory of a soul-death is one of the most traumatic things a celestial can experience.

It should be remembered that the majority of memoryscapes will contain years' worth of memories, making searching for a specific memory like searching for a drop of water in the Pacific.

And Mariel is attuned to all of them. She will feel it if someone deliberately alters or erases a memory, seeing it as damage to her attuned.

Mariel, embodying her own memories within herself, doesn't have a memoryscape of her own. She bases herself out of her personal study, which contains replicas and accounts of everything she's uncovered on Earth, through historical research, personal interviews and archaeological exploration, and a few items that are more ...personal.

<sidebar>

There's Something About Mariel...

So if Mariel's Servitors are prevented from Ethereal or Celestial combat, what's prevented the more militaristic members of the Host or Hades capturing one and holding them hostage in exchange for the knowledge of the location of Mariel's Cathedral - and the memories within?

Partly, it's because of the confusing, ever-shifting nature of the Far Marches themselves, making it almost impossible for anyone short of Beleth or Blandine to find a known location. Partly, it's because, in the cases where this has happened, Mariel has managed to move the Palace shortly afterwards.

And partly, it's because of the threat Mariel poses.

First, there's the small matter of Mariel's access to a Superior's memories... which, unless they're consciously blocking her attunement, means that Mariel can, potentially, know many of their dirty little secrets, things they would rather no-one else knew. Secondly, both Heaven and Hades fear that, were Mariel pushed too far, she could, at the price of accepting a crippling amount of Discord, erase humanity's memory of a Word, causing it to be redefined... with uncertain results. No Superior wants to risk the potential redefinition of a Word, so Mariel is left alone.

No-one knows if Mariel has ever used this punishment... though some celestials claim vague memories of such an event...

</sidebar>

The Holy of Memory, having lost access to the objective Truth of the Symphony, seek solace in the subjective Truth of Memory, believing that in revealing it, they will come close to the Symphony's Truths once more. They may add their Ethereal Forces to any use of their resonance to convince someone to reveal something from their past, or in learning whether a target believes a claimed memory to be True.

The Overseers of Memory are literally that; they may attune themselves to someone's memoryscape, and will know if it is deliberately altered or erased. They will also know who did it - but not why. They may also play a scene from that person's memoryscape, as their attuned would see it, in their own memories - and the Cherub must know of the memory - for 1 Essence.

(It should be noted that deliberately choosing to allow the memory to be altered or erased counts as a betrayal of their attuned, for non Cherub-Djinn, and causes a point of dissonance.)

Memory's Wheels can never be lost, no matter where they are. They always remember their route. They also remember everything they've seen on their way, giving them a bonus of their Celestial Forces to any knowledge-based skill roll.

With a Will roll, the Powers of Memory may, instead of changing their target's feelings about Memory, overwhelm them with positive or negative memories, stunning their target for (the Elohite's Ethereal Forces) in turns. This will cause a permanent reaction bonus/penalty of the Elohite's to any future reaction rolls the target will make regarding the Elohite. The target may make a Will roll to resist.

Memory's Barons see themselves as Mariel's paladins - and their Attunement goes some way towards proving that. They may look a human in the eye, and know what something, or someone, has meant to them - and whether they have dishonoured that memory. They will not know how the target has dishonoured that memory unless they use their resonance.

This only works once per day, on one human, for the Malakite's Ethereal Forces in turns.

Lilim who serve Memory are also its restorers. The trust the Charismatics evoke in others enables them, with a Perception roll, to detect what someone wants to remember - and what would help them remember it. (Not what they /need/, what they /want/. The two are not the same.) If fulfilling that want also fulfills a Need (and so grants them a Geas), the target may resist the Geas with a penalty of the angel's Ethereal Forces.

The Dominations are Mariel's sharers of memories; they may share their memories with their host. Whichever one of the host or the Domination has the highest skill level in something, that skill level will be used. If both have the same skill level, nothing happens.

The corruption of personality they bring is also lessened somewhat. Their hosts may make a Will roll to resist corruption every (time increment) the Kyriotate is in posession. - this reflects their ability to preserve their hosts' memories.

These Kyriotates are among the most likely to accept the dissonance from pushing their hosts into the Marches.

Mariel despises what the Mercurian resonance has become, seeing it as a fabrication of memory. Her Mercurians may not use the 'pseudo-relationship' resonance, or they gain a point of dissonance from each attempted use. Instead, she grants her Intercessionists a downgraded form of their original resonance: on a successful Perception roll, they may see the relationships the target remembers as most important to him in the past, over a period of time determined by the CD.

1 - 1 week

2 - 1 fortnight

3 - 1 month

4 - 3 months

5 - 6 months

6 - 1 year

The number of relationships they see will be equal to their Celestial Forces - and they will not gain dissonance if they fail.

On an Intervention, they may get the complete original resonance, as if they had rolled a check digit of 6.

It's not the Akashic Record, but it's the next best thing. For 3 Essence, the angel may ask a question of the Memory Palace, and receive an answer of no more than three words. (Proper names count as one word towards the total.) However, the question must be about something someone experienced and remembered - if no one did, the angel will not get an answer.

This cannot be used to get answers about the ineffable (that would require tapping into God's - or a Superior's - memories), or about anything which relies solely on the memories of a Servitor of Nybbas, thanks to Nybbas' encryption of his Servitors' memories. Asking for Nybbas' secretary's private phone number, for example, will return an answer along the lines of 'Mars Needs Angels!'.

Remember that irritating jingle or catchphrase you just can't seem to get out of your mind? With this Attunement, the Servitor may designate that the next thing the target sees (or hears, or touches, or smells, or tastes - only one sense may be designated at a time), will stick in their memory, temporarily distracting them... and causing a penalty to any Precision or Intelligence rolls of the angel's Ethereal Forces. This lasts three turns for every point of Essence the angel spends. The target may resist this... with a penalty to the Will roll of the angel's Ethereal Forces.

Deja vu is the feeling you've been somewhere before. With this Attunement, for 1 Essence, the Servitor may tap into the memoryscapes of the people who live in a place and, quite simply, know where every location there is or was, as long as it's in living memory (about 70 years or so) - where the coffee houses are, where the library is, where someone lives... (or lived) - and as long as someone there remembers it.

Reflexes, as instinctive reactions to a given response, fall under the Word of Memory. A Servitor with this Attunement may, with a Will roll, trigger a reflex in the target (blushing, blinking, swallowing, breathing, scratching... if it's an autonomous response, then it falls under Kneejerk). This may only be used once a day.

It may not seem powerful, but consider: hiccuping when a squad of Malakim is just around the corner...

This works on any living thing, including vessels and celestials. However, reflexes differ from species to species.

Using this Attunement, the angel may cause the target to flashback to a particular memory, reliving it as if it were happening now, by making a successful Will roll and spending 1 Essence.

The angel must specify a category of memory beforehand (happy memories, painful memories, memories of being in love); the target will experience a memory in that category, but the Servitor has no way of knowing what that memory will be.

Should the angel be successful, the target will be unaware of anything around them, completely lost within the memory. All they can experience during Flashback is what happened the first time they experienced it - and they'll react in exactly the same way they did the first time. (Be careful of making someone flash back to the Exile...)

Attacking the target breaks the Attunement; Servitors of Mariel usually use this Attunement to buy themselves time to escape.

Sometimes, people won't believe it unless they see it themselves: this Attunement helps. For 1 Essence, the angel may play a memory from the angel's memoryscape as a TV scene - using a TV is favored, but it can be played on any flat surface - allowing other people to see it. The memory must be one the angel remembers.

That's not its name.

No one's come up with a proper name for it yet.

No one wants to.

For 4 Essence and a Will roll, the angel may draw on Mariel's memories of a soul-death... and show them to another celestial, exactly as the soul-destroyed one remembered it, in complete detail. The target may get a Will roll to resist, with a penalty of the angel's Ethereal Forces. The results... no one talks about the results. Especially not those who experience it; but whatever else the target may experience, to an outside observer they seem to enter a 'pseudo-Trauma' for a number of hours equal to their Forces.

Yes, this means that the more powerful the celestial, the longer it lasts. More powerful angels have more Forces - and more pain - to experience.

(sidebox)

Most soul-deaths happen on the celestial plane; a mortal affected by this Attunement would get the feeling that something important had been lost, had died... and, perhaps, would get an intimation of their own, eventual, death. Not pretty, but not nearly as devastating as it is for a celestial.

(/sidebox)

Fellow Servitors of Memory are treated like mortals for the purposes of this Attunement - their affinity to Memory grants them some resistance.

Mariel herself remembers Michael's soul-death. Should she ever be pushed so far as to use this attunement...

...She has only used it once.

The celestial never unwrapped from around his Heart.

Upon gaining this Distinction, a Servitor of Memory gets perfect recall. From then on, they will be able to remember everything they experience.

The Vassal may calm someone's feelings by sharing their memories. For 3 Essence, they may share one of the target's memories as if they had experienced it themselves. Any emotions the target associates with the memory will be eased. They still remember what happened, and how they felt at the time... but the memory becomes easier to bear. The target must be willing to have the Distinction used on them, and it will not work on someone with Memory's Friend-level Distinction.

Memory's Masters may grant someone complete recall of their memories - whether they want it or not. With a Will roll and the expenditure of 4 Essence, the target will remember every memory they have, for their Ethereal Forces in hours. The target may make a Will roll to resist, mortals getting a +4 on the roll. The experience will have a massive impact on the target - one way or another.

Note that someone with Memory's lesser Distinctions will be unaffected.

Relations with the Host:

Allied: Gebbeleth

Associated: Beleth, Israfel, Kobal

Hostile: Lucifer, Laurence

Enemy: Beth, Demogorgon

Relations with the Exiles:

Allied: Blandine

Associated: Dominique, Malphas, Raphael

Hostile: Nybbas

Relations with Others:

Associated: Fleurity

<sidebar>

Mnemonic Communication

Mariel and Nybbas should get along, right? Memories should be communicated to the present and the future, whilst Communication develops and changes based on previous memories of communication.

They don't.

Mariel understands that some memories must be kept secret, that they contain hidden things. But when someone tries to claim that something is other than it was remembered, a memory that is a lie... Mariel will do anything, anything, to preserve her Word. Including revealing secrets others don't want kept.

Nybbas understands that communicating memories would be an effective agency in communicating God's message to the world. But when memories contain things that the Host should not know about, truths he would rather weren't shared, the intricate plans of the Exiles ... then communication must avoid, conceal or hide these memories. Or, best of all, suggest that they're only half-true... an attack Mariel's Word is particularly vulnerable to.

And so Memory and Communication engage in a feud that neither can win, because of the interaction of their Words. Nybbas conceals his Servitors' memories, hides them in symbolism and confusion; Mariel responds by communicating via memory, hiding her messages to her followers in a rush of memory. Only Nybbas knows how to decode his Servitors' memories; only Mariel can encode her messages into her Servitors' memories (and only Memory's Servitors, skilled at memory reading, can decode the message). Nybbas blocks Mariel from memory, and Mariel blocks Nybbas from communication.

For now, the two sides are at a stalemate.

For now.

</sidebar>

- Convince someone to keep a diary.

- Spend four hours in a well-maintained archive or reference library (this irritates Beth no end, so Mariel keeps handing it out).

- Record 10 different people's memories of the same event (+2 Essence).

<sidebar>

What's Beth's Problem?

The Archangels of Thoroughness and Memory do not get on; in fact, Mariel positively enjoys tweaking Beth's nose. Many angels have wondered why.

Wiseacre celestials have noted that, in their Celestial forms, Mariel looks like a fish and Beth looks like a big cat. Naturally, this leads to a lot of 'cat that got the angelfish' jokes.

The truth, as is usually the case, is a little stranger.

When Mariel was pronounced an Archangel, Yves' biographies, the books in his Library that recorded the memories of every living thing...

...disappeared, to form the first memoryscapes, the foundations of her Cathedral.

And the Memory Palace, as a repository of information, automatically linked to the Library.

The transformation didn't harm the biographies... but it did break Beth's Attunement to them. Needless to say, Beth was not best pleased... ("AAGGGHH!!! Why in the name of all that's Holy do people keep taking the books without THE PAPERWORK?! CAN'T THEY SEE I'M RUNNING A LIBRARY HERE?!?!!")

...and then she started /thinking/ about it.

Memories were inconsistent. Self-contradictory. Error-ridden. Quite frankly, Mariel was welcome to them. Just so long as she thoroughly checked them. And reported them to Beth afterwards. In triplicate.

Mariel didn't. Mariel prefers to leave them as they are - re-arranging a memoryscape to fit some kind of 'objective' order counts, to her, as deliberate distortion. Leave them as you remembered them; you'll be able to pick it up again later.

The rivalry between the two Archangels has continued, even after Mariel's departure. You see, while an Archangel (and Beth in particular) might be able to enter a memoryscape against Mariel's will...

...Beth knows that she'll have to organise each and every memoryscape she enters. Thoroughness demands that once she start one, she finish the job. While it would be ...fascinating... there's the Library to think of, after all...

Mariel enjoys this; teasing Beth about whether she remembered where she'd left the books was sometimes the only way she could get Beth to leave her alone (or get her frothing at the mouth).

(Beth, incidentally, did realise that the Palace contained the memories of angels - the Library had contained the biographies of angels, too. However, her report on all the books that were missing was a bit too thorough, covering several billion lost books (in almost as many pages as the lost books). Lucifer promises her he'll get around to looking at it, one of these days...)

However, while Thoroughness and Memory don't get on, Archives and Memory did, in the time before the Exile...

Some Mnemoi remember seeing their Archangel, on occasion, walking with an anthropomorphised tiger who 'felt' like a Superior.

Usually at times no one can remember seeing Beth anywhere in Heaven...

</sidebar>

+1 - Someone using a mnemonic to remember something

+2 - A diary

+3 - The recorded memory of the sole witness to an event

+4 - The archives of a TV station

+5 - The British Library

+6 - Something retrieved from the Library of Alexandria (or other lost repository of memory)

Mariel is Outcast. She left Heaven, and will not join the Exiles - both of them, to her, see Memory as a means to an end, a way to promote their version of Truth, deliberately altered.

Her Word and Choir cannot allow this.

Therefore, she promotes the creation of a History of the War and the Symphony, free of deliberate distortion, allowing all personal, honest narratives of those involved to be told - even those that contradict each other, for such is in the nature of Memory. She also fights the propaganda both sides spread, seeing it as distortion. Again, it decieves those who turn to the past - for it is presented as truth, not as propaganda. Mariel doesn't mind the spreading of propaganda... as long as it's not used to promote one Truth of history above another. Given most propaganda depends on this...

As might be expected, Mariel is not well-liked by the 'intelligence' factions of either side...

Mariel remembers God. She remembers her creation by God, to be his Angel of Memory, a vital minor key in the Symphony.

And she remembers wandering the streets of Heaven, in the time before the Exile, seeing the sights, the sounds, the blessed souls, the Choirs that never came to Earth... wonders near-impossible to express in any corporeal tongue. She worked with many Archangels in that time, for Heaven's organisation was looser then, and such was allowed; with Beleth and Blandine, Dominic and Lucifer, Eli and Gabriel...

...and, most of all, with Raphael and Yves.

Memory enables you to make the choice that leads to Destiny. Destiny is served through the memories of those Destinies - and Fates - achieved. She worked closely with Raphael; so much so, later accounts would have her as Servitor of Knowledge. Mariel remembers that this wasn't so - she always remained independent of Heaven's hierarchy. Eli taught her the arts, that she might record her memories of what occured. She learned many arts from him, but most of all, she delighted in poetry, in song, in story-telling... for it enabled her to properly _express_ to others what she had experienced.

And back then, her voice was amongst the most beautiful in Heaven - not as gentle as Blandine's, or as quiet as Beleth's, but her soft retellings of what she had seen that day could win the respect of even Baal's Servitors. Her voice, her beauty... and above all, her stories... made her one of the beloved of Heaven, and few would dare to lay even a finger upon her.

She remembers when Beleth and Blandine fell in love themselves, and Andrealphus was named Archangel - for then, she could put a name to the feeling she felt. And she knew she had come to love the studious Archangel of Knowledge, and the gentle Archangel of Destiny. And from that time on, she grew ever closer to them.

It is said that, in the time before the Exile, she met Gebbeleth, eldest of the children of Blandine and Beleth, child of their love, and fell in love with him - a love, some said, that rivalled Dreams and Fear's itself. Of this, Mariel has never spoken, never to confirm or deny. And none can see such a memory upon her scales.

She remembers the evolution of humanity, and Jordi's call to cull them; she could not agree, for she saw how the humans expressed her Word, in the ways she had been taught so long ago, and she could not hate them for it. She remembers the Eden experiment, and how it ended. She remembers Lucifer, the bright Morningstar, withdrawing in the time afterwards. And she remembers hearing him speak, and the happiness she felt, that he once more shone his light upon the world. She remembered what he said, that others might hear it and debate. She remembers the look of sadness and expectation upon Yves' face when she recounted what the Lightbringer said. But he never spoke a word against it.

Shortly afterwards, as time in Heaven is reckoned, came the Revolution.

And Mariel looked around herself in horror, in shock, distraught in disbelief...

For she had never believed that angel would raise hand against angel, that one could choose to spill a fellow's blood, that the champions of Heaven would turn on the unarmed. She could not bear what she saw, could not stand to look upon it: the bloody death of shining Michael, Uriel's betrayal as Laurence turned on him, even Blandine and Beleth, now turned upon each other…

...but she had to, for such was her Word.

And she screamed, her beautiful voice cracked and broken with grief. Screamed for the bloodshed, the violence, the war... to stop, /stop/, please stop. PLEASE, MAKE IT STOP!!

The battlefield fell silent.

And Yves, whom she loved perhaps more that even her Word, came forward, Raphael close behind. She remembers the anger, the grief... and the pain, so clear upon his face. And she, alone of all who live, remembers what Lucifer and Yves said to each other then. That Lucifer spoke for a time afterwards... and then he turned to Raphael, and they agreed. And as they did, Yves turned to her and spoke unto her, his eyes sad and his voice kind. And he said 'Remember'.

And when she came to herself once more, the Exile had begun, and it was too late to join. She wished, more than life itself, more than her Word, that she had been there. Not that she might accept Exile... but that she might have accepted Laurence's offer of the Sword, of a quick and quiet death. For her Memories burned within her, and it was almost more than she could stand.

Almost.

In time, Lucifer came to her. He never offered her pardon, for she had not fought against him. Instead, he offered her position, to become Heaven's Historian, and recall all that had transpired, and the beginning of his reign. She was quiet then, beautiful Mariel, whose voice had made the angels weep.

Softly, almost beyond an angel's hearing, she agreed.

Lucifer raised her up then, naming her Historian and Archangel, from now until the End. None in Lucifer's court would gainsay him. For they too remembered the beauty of the Angel of Memory, and could not bear to harm her. In time, many of Yves' and Raphael's (and a few of Blandine's) abandoned angels came to her, becoming her first Servitors, and she set her Cathedral near Yves' Library.

And she remembered.

Unlike many of Lucifer's court, however, she sought to defend humanity. To her, their memories needed her protection, were as valuable to her Word, as a celestial's. But as one of the minor Archangels amongst the Host, her voice, ironically enough, carried little weight. She watched Heaven begin to place themselves over humanity, convinced that, in every respect, they were superior. But Mariel, who saw the memories, knew that this was not true.

Memories are rewritten; that's part of the way they work. Some aspects are emphasised, some removed. Mariel felt the dissonance screech upon her soul, screamed as someone tore at her Word, their Memory, deliberately erasing and changing what should have remained inviolate and untouched. She sought out the source of this dissonance...

...and found it in Lucifer's memories. The Lightbringer was rewriting his memories of the Exile, of the time before, proving to himself that he had been proved Right.

And she wailed then, alone in her Cathedral, for the betrayal of her attuned, for his betrayal of his memories, for the Lightbringer himself, that Light had come to this...

..wailed, that she could not prevent this...

In time, she learned the truth; Lucifer did not wish to set down, and let others know, what had happened. He sought only to use memories as a tool to serve his Truth, and convince others of that Truth. They were a tool, to be used as and when it pleased him. Mariel never told him that she could access the memories of angels, for he would surely have used it as another tool, ignoring the memories themselves.

Had Heaven paid more attention to her, realised what her Cathedral contained, they would have known of the First Incursion before it happened; the Exiles were unaware Mariel had been made Archangel, and saw no need to shield their memories. They did not - few of the Host would come to the Memory Palace, it was forbidden to the blessed by Laurence's decree, for fear that they might see something that disturbed them... and only Mariel could enter an angel's memories. She did not lie; she simply never spoke of what she saw.

Heaven eventually realised the potential Mariel's Cathedral held, as the Exiles began to work amidst those overgrown apes; perhaps an angel would slip, reveal itself to a mortal, perhaps the humans would seek them out, perhaps they could see the Exiles' influence upon humanity, and spy on Hades. Mariel, and her Word, soon became one of Heaven's greatest weapons - and one of its greatest secrets.

For that, more than anything else - that Memory became nothing more than a tool in the War - Mariel hates Laurence.

There were times, it seemed, when only Mariel remembered the time before the Exile, how the Symphony had sung around them. Then Israfel was made Archangel of the Symphony... and in her, Mariel saw memories of how the Symphony was, how it could be, could have been...

...and Israfel saw someone who also remembered, who might understand...

It was, in part, Mariel's perfect memories of the original Symphony that aided Israfel's Servitors in their research. Mariel also once was one of the few who could coax her out of a fugue into the past - Mariel knew that danger all too well, it was inherent in her Word. Then Gebbeleth made his flight into the Heavens. And he returned, Word-Bound none knew how, and was made Archangel by Lucifer's decree. He came to Mariel, then, and they spoke for a time. About times past, and shared memories. And then he left.

And the next day, she was gone, vanished into the Marches.

The Sword investigated, for they thought that, after Jordi's example, they had made certain that no other would Outcast themselves, and Gebbeleth showed himself innocent of any wrongdoing, any hand in Mariel's escape.

They have sought her since, but Memory's Mistress always manages to evade them.

She considered joining the Exiles... but did not. For they, too, saw Memory as a means to an end, a way to triumph in the War. Nybbas' rise has done nothing to allay Mariel's fears. So she has remained where she is, deep within the Marches, defending her Word as only a Cherub can.

Defending God's stories, his memories...

...defending the story, so that someone will remember, when it is gone.

Mariel has nothing else left.

Mariel loves her Word, loves it with the total devotion that only a Cherub can manage. It is her attuned, her very being - to betray it goes against everything she was created for. More and more, these days, however, she wishes that she could.

Mariel remembers.

The word is an absolute. She remembers everything she has ever experienced, every sight, sound and sensation, every thought and feeling, every word and action... she remembers it all. As if it happened only a second ago.

To Mariel, the Revolution, the Exile, the Symphony's tearing... these are as fresh in her mind as her stories, her love, her learning. She remembers - experiences - it all, in a way no other celestial approaches. And, ironically, it is that self-same focus which allows her to function in the present. She was told to remember. Not the distant past, or her happiest memories, but simply remember. Which means she must focus on what is happening now, that she can remember it.

There is another reason.

Yves' last words to her were to remember. Even these millennia later, even after his death, she cannot betray him, betray one she loved with a passion equalling that of her Word. To do that…

...would be to dishonour her memories of him. And that she cannot allow.

She could erase her own memory, start anew... but Mariel recognises that to do so would, in effect, to deny herself everything she ever experienced, and there would be nothing to prevent her from making the same mistake as last time. And this time, there would be no one to stop her.

She wishes to forget because it hurts her. She remembers every betrayal, every oathbreaking, every breaking of loyalty she has ever experienced. For a Cherub, there is almost nothing worse. But she cannot forget, for in doing so, she would be committing two betrayals even greater - betraying a promise, and betraying her Word.

No-one else knows how close Mariel comes, sometimes, to doing that.

Her love of her Word, however, is what drives her most of the time. It explains her preferance for archaic fashions, her fascination with archaeology - unearthing artifacts she knows mattered to someone, somewhere. She views the use of the Memory Palace to find out why it mattered as cheating. It also underlies her love of detective fiction - reconstructing accounts of what happened from those who were there epitomises her own mission perfectly... something which also comes into play as a love of antique restoration, restoring something from someone else's accounts.

Her perfect Memory also means she can never be lost, lose anything, or forget who she's met and what they've done - she always remembers where she's been, who she's seen and where she's left everything she's ever touched. This does extrapolate to a knowledge that something has been taken from her...

If she comes across as concerned with the past at the expense of the future, it's because she has to be. How can one build the future without acknowledging the past?

And, as the Symphony decays, Mariel's Servitors become more and more urgent, collecting, recording, storing the memories, in the hope that whatever happens, whether the Symphony is restored or destroyed, some memories will survive, to remind people of the mistakes, and the successes, of those who came before. To remind them that Memory, above all else, is something to be cherished and preserved.

She loves her Word and her Servitors. She is not afraid to show it. And in turn, they love her with devotion rarely seen elsewhere, in Heaven or Hades. For they know that she will never betray them.

Should one of her Servitors knowingly betray her, however, she is unbendingly harsh, harsh in a way that belies her seeming fragility - in so doing, they have condemned another Memory, which could have been saved, to be lost with the Symphony. If they had no other choice... Mariel will be slightly more lenient in these cases.

But only slightly.

She looks favourably, therefore, on those Servitors who uncover proof that a memory has been falsified - even more so on those who can show what the truth originally was. Those who discover a piece of the past previously thought forgotten to celestial or mortal ken are also rewarded.

Those who succeed in an assigment, she rewards highly - another piece of Memory has been rescued, another part of the past saved. Usually the reward is with Songs or Skills - Mariel remembers a lot of these - but she also has access to a considerable amount of corporeal resources and forgotten artifacts.

To those who succeed beyond expectation, she will occasionally give out one of her antiques - these are highly treasured by those Servitors fortunate enough to receive one, and none of Memory's Servitors would dream of selling one.

Effectively... if you're working for Mariel, you'd better make certain you succeed; she will not be kind if you fail because of your own mistakes...

If it's because of an outside force, however... your next mission will be to investigate. For Mariel wants to know how someone could betray Memory, in the name of another cause...

Views on God:

Mariel remembers God, remembers being created by God. She has no doubt that He exists, that He still does. She remains loyal to Him - not from faith, like Novalis, but from memory. He has never directly betrayed Himself, or His memories. Her loyalty remains unswerving and unchanging.

However, this does not translate into faith that the Symphony will be preserved. She does not remember this happening before; therefore she does not remember how He would act. He may be unable to act, without betraying the memories of those within, without destroying or altering them. Mariel can understand that.

This is why she fights to preserve Memory - so that, win or lose, something will be left of the Symphony, a treasured memory for God to retain forever.

Mariel is, perhaps, one of the few beings in the Symphony to feel pity for Lucifer - an astounding statement, considering he is the Regent of Heaven, but one that makes more sense when you look closer.

She remembers how he was before the Exile, how his Light shone into long-forgotten corners revealing lost Memory, keeping Memory illuminated. And she remembers how he betrayed that very same Memory, betrayed what he was, to serve his own Truth. At that moment, she wailed, cried out in anguish, in shared suffering... and in pity, that Lucifer Morningstar, bright Son of the Morning, had fallen so far.

Millennia later, that feeling remains, still caught in Mariel's perfect Memory. It has been overlaid with later anger and hatred, as she saw what his treachery led to... but deep down, she still pities him, and hopes that, one day, his Memory will be restored.

No matter what it will do to him.

Mariel's opinions are coloured - by her perfect memory, and by her knowledge of what they remember. Though both sides now know of her knowledge - and how to block it - Mariel still remembers.

Opinions on the Others:

Fleurity: We... get along. He cannot soothe me... but helps me focus, reminds me of the pain it causes others... But blotting them out is not the answer...

Gabriel: She remembers what it was, and what it is... and she cannot make her way past the confusion of the two. Fire consumes Memory, but Fire warms Memory... and Memory tells me of her many faces. I can only hope she can find one again.

Jordi: Yes, humans remember how to honour the Symphony. I could have told him that. But he's starting to remember again, past the anger and pain of his own memories... and I remember what he did to Michael. We'll see.

Opinions on the Host:

Andrealphus: He embodied Love. My love. I cannot hate him for that... but for his self-deception, for lying about what he remembers... He's lost in the lie, now, fallen in love with it... and I think he prefers that to his true memory.

Beth: She allowed it, the warping and tearing and betrayal of Memory. So much for thoroughness... only that things were where she thought they should be, memory or no. But her memory fights back... <smiles grimly>

Beleth: We worked together, that they'd remember Fear... Her fears constantly haunt her. She cannot forget them... and neither can I. I... took them on, sometimes. I still do.

Christopher: I wonder... I remember being innocent. And I remember what happened on the day I lost that innocence. He preserves the memories of innocence... and he seems to want all memories to be innocent ones... Are his memories so innocent? This bears further thought...

Demogorgon: Destroyer, betrayer of Memory. He is what we fight against... in his Chaos, there is no place for Memory, no way to make sense, no past... nothing.

Gebbeleth: Gebbeleth? He's a mystery to me, and so are his memories. But he's still the one I remembered, who fought to remember the Holy Mysteries... and the search for Mystery uncovers more memories. Good and bad... <sad smile>

Iblis: He's powerless without me. What's the point in Glory if no-one can remember it? I know how he remembers Baal... He refuses to learn from his memories, blinded by his Word. I think he'll need a lesson, very soon...

Israfel: She remembers, so clearly, so purely, as if she were still there. Her clarity... is a wonder. But... her memories are confused, pasts, present, futures... She needs perspective. She needs peace, to make sense of them... and she can't get it...

(Oblivion?! *Me*?! Elohite?!?! *Princess of the Void*??!! /*Destroying the Symphony*?!!?!/ I... She's telling what she remembers to be True... but...)

Jean: He's stripped it all away, down to what he first remembers. But he's lost all that the memory of his Word could have given him, had he kept it...

Kobal: I know what he experiences, better than most. Like me, he sees sorrow as well as Laughter. And, like me, he wishes he could forget. But both are a part of Memory... and sometimes, we need to remember to Laugh, as well as cry.

Laurence: Black and white, two-edged... Memory can cut like a sword. But I see the shades of grey... He will not let himself remember, let himself question that memory. And he will not allow anyone else to question it, either... to serve his own Truth. His own memory. No. All Truths shall be revealed, and then he shall choose.

Lucifer: He has fallen, so very far. And the first loss of Lucifer's battle, when he first rebelled, was Memory... It will be restored to him, and then we will see who wins...

Marc: He's forgetting why he chose, what he chose for. The end he sought has been lost in his methods. He needs to remember both.

Zadkiel: Oh, I know why she changed - and why she hates. But she can't let that Memory go, won't remember her other memories... The Watcher can't see the forest for the trees. Ironic.

Opinions on the Exiles:

Baal: His memories eat at him, drive him to make the Symphony a memorial to his guilt. We share a goal... even if he doesn't remember it.

Blandine: Without Memory, how can one hope - Dream - of something better? She knows where to find me... and I remember the love she lost. It can come again...

David: I... understand. His memories have broken him, as mine nearly broke me... but he has nothing else to hold fast to...

Dominique: Her Memory blinded her. Now, Memory serves Justice. Now, Justice serves Memory. Together, we will make sure that Justice comes to those who betray that Memory.

Eli: He taught me so much, back then. How to express Memory, to tell others what I saw, what had been created. Now, he battles for what is, while I save what was. I think we need to talk. Urgently.

Lilith: She's lived so long, and seen so much. Memories will be released, and be free, so that others can be free. But we cannot be free from Memory, not the way she thinks...

Malphas: So many factions, so many memories. The diversity he brings reflects my own Word - all the memories, all true, all contradictory. I like him... even if some memories do get buried in the mess...

Novalis: Memory. Remembrance. She knows these things, keeps them alive... but her concern is only the remembering of the dead for the living. The living must be remembered too, their memories protected. And the dead's memories must be kept, that no-one forgets who they thought they were...

Nybbas: Communication bent and twisted. Once, many truths could be spoken without fear. Many truths, many memories, now left unspoken, now lost in the Symphony, for who would dare to contradict the Truths he spreads? I dare.

Ogiel: I remember what he was, and what he became. I remember his orders, which he cannot betray. I remember what he weeps for, when he thinks no one listens. I cannot bring them back... but I could help him accept, if he did not resist it.

Raphael: I loved her once, for she understood that Knowledge needed to be remembered... and Memory was living Knowledge. Now, she has let it become a tool, a means to an end... but I cannot forget my love.

Uriel: Purity. Pure honour. Pure memory. Pure cause. He cannot be faulted for that. But he forgets the rest of his Word, in his anger...

Vapula: So, that's what he plans. Very well. Promise me this, Vapula - when the time comes, you will not forget us, or what we did. Or I will find a way to come for you...

With thanks to Ben Acosta, Beth McCoy, Charles Smith and James Walker for suggesting corrections and additions.