Before the Exile, Flowers were peace. They were prosperity. They were the ultimate indicators of "Things Survive Here". They were life.

Before the Exile.

While Novalis was in exile, the Word of Flowers fell into disrepair. Flowers began to indicate hidden danger - whether it was the thorns beneath, or the lion that used this particular waterhole. They began to symbolize death, as many cultures began using brightly-colored blooms only for funeral wreaths.

Novalis felt this, and for a while she was sorrowful that her Word had been so perverted. She built and maintained the Castle of Flowers, just inside the gates of Hades, and stayed on the grounds for weeks at a time, meandering through the gardens or wandering the halls of the Castle proper.

And then, when Yves faded away, she got up, dusted herself off, and got back to work - after all, somebody had to give people hope. When Lilith threw open the gates to Hades, Novalis welcomed her with open arms. Her Castle stands in full view of the gates, two of her angels - the Cherub Angel of the Final Rest, and the Mercurian Angel of the Wake - guard the gates of Hades and guide incoming souls, and she and most of her servitors are in the corporeal realm, working to reshape the image of Flowers, of Heaven, and of God.

She has never lost faith in God. Even when her depression was at its worst, the hope keeping her alive was the promise that one day, God would reopen the Higher Heavens to the Exiles. Now that she has been freed from Hades, she knows that as long as she keeps working to spread the Word of God, it's only a matter of time before the world knows the light of the true Heaven once more.

It is dissonant for servitors of Flowers to use violence to kill anyone or anything. Non-violent methods (such as lethal injection or disconnection of life support) are fine by Novalis, though - as long as they're not applied during a struggle - and in fact she encourages it when her Servitors see the need.

Servitors of Flowers actually have little organization, if any. They report back to the Castle of Flowers in Hades; each has a direct superior, who reports to one of three of Novalis' Faithful (see below), who report directly to Novalis. Very few actual orders are given, unless a strike is being carried out against Heaven, and even then the chaos of nature often creeps in.

A side effect of this is that the Seraph himself may never act in a violent manner. It is, strictly speaking, possible, but doing so creates a disturbance equal to the angel's total Forces, and causes a note of dissonance in the Seraph.

Those to whom a Cherub of Flowers is attuned are brought the rest and tranquility associated with a peaceful death. When they sleep, as long as they rest uninterrupted for longer than a number of hours equal to the Cherub's Corporeal Forces, they will be fully refreshed and invigorated when they awaken, as though they had received a full, uninterrupted, peaceful night's sleep. (This grants them a +1 bonus to the target number of all rolls until the next time they sleep.)

Ofanim of Flowers use plant life as a conduit. Once per day, an Ofanite serving Novalis may step into a plant (the plant must be large enough to hold the Ofanite's physical form - a large tree, or a bush) and reappear out of another plant, -anywhere the Ofanite has ever personally been -, so long as it is on the same plane. This travel takes a number of rounds equal to (7 minus the angel's Celestial Forces).

An Ofanite using this power may change her destination in mid-travel by successfully rolling against her Will. This may be done any number of times, but changing venues adds (7 minus the angel's Celestial Forces) again to the travel time.

Malakim serving Novalis are her trackers. Like Cherubim, these angels can celestially "tag" anyone they touch; they can tag a number of people equal to their total Forces (if they try to tag someone further, the first tag is lost, and so forth). At any time in the future, the Malakite can locate a tagged individual with a Perception roll, regardless of where that person is. These divine huntsmen are Novalis' major offensive effort against Heaven, and - by spending Essence - can use violent means to kill, without dissonance, a member of the Heavenly front whom they have tagged, for a number of rounds equal to the number of Essence spent.

Lilim of Flowers can communicate with plant life, and can inflict Geases on them as though they were humans. The favor called in must be a simple one - divide the CD in half, rounding up, and the level should be the difficulty for an average human (GM's call) doing the Lilim's favor - and nothing that that particular plant can't actually do. Thus, a Lilim of Flowers could Geas a tree to watch the area for a day and report that information to her when she returned, or (conceivably) to drop a hail of acorns if a person matching a particular description walked within range, but not to uproot itself and board a plane to Hawai'i.

This power must be used on living plants; the GM is encouraged to give the plant one point of Will for every ten years it has lived.

An Elohite of Novalis can know, at will, whether any given target honestly wants to die. If he does, the Elohite may bring death to the subject with only a touch, although the subject must resist with Will. Success indicates that the power has backfired, and the subject actually recovers Body Hits equal to the Elohite's total Forces. The power may, however, be used again immediately, but only after checking again as to the target's death wish.

This power can only be used on the corporeal plane. If it is used on a celestial, treat it as though the vessel had died; Elohim of Flowers cannot inflict Soul Hits with this Attunement.

A Kyriotate of Flowers may inhabit not only plant life as a vessel (the GM should determine the number of Forces required to take over any given plant), but newly-dead (less than 3 days old) corpses. The Domination may only stay in the body for 24 hours, but during that time it has access to all of its host's pre-death memories, and must make certain that the host's last wishes (the strongest desire that the host had before death) are carried out: to fail to do this incurs a note of dissonance in the Kyriotate.

A Mercurian of Flowers can inspire tranquility in a human simply by touching them; for a number of hours equal to the Mercurian's Celestial Forces, the subject will not be affected by strong emotions, instead remaining pacific and calm.

This attunement grants the user the ability to sacrifice himself for another. By spending 2 Essence, the angel may substitute his vessel for the body of another, allowing that person to escape death in perfect health. This works for any fatal condition - whether it's dying of a disease (in which case the subject returns to complete health) or being crushed by a falling ceiling. When this attunement is activated, the user's current body hits decrease to match those of the subject. (This attunement can never be used to raise the user's body hits; using the attunement on someone who currently has more body hits than the user causes no change in the user's body hits.) The angel in question goes into Trauma as usual.

The angel with this attunement may use the plant life around her to boost her capacity for thought. For a duration of (Essence spent * 10 seconds), each single plant within a (Celestial Forces * 100 feet) radius adds 1 to the angel's effective Intelligence or Precision; this power can bring these statistics above 12. (For massed plants, such as grass or moss, treat every hundred-foot-square area as a single plant.)

Beware of angels of Flowers in forests.

An angel with this Distinction may summon an alternate Song of Shields. It can affect as many targets as the angel has Forces, and - at his command - creates a layer of flowers, vines, and grasses to cover the targets. For the duration of the ability - a number of rounds equal to the angel's Celestial Forces - nothing may pass through this cover, from either direction. The cover is a little stifling, but will not impair breathing.

Master of Peaceful Death: These angels can look at anyone and know, to the instant, when that person will die (barring celestial intervention). (For celestials, they get either the current vessel's death or the soul-death, at the GM's option.) Furthermore, they know how that person will die, and - if the death scheduled is not a placid one - how to arrange events so that the subject dies peacefully.

All of these are parallel distinctions, and more than one may be granted to a single angel.

Novalis' Gardeners have the uncanny ability to make plants grow. For each round that they stand in a garden, concentrate, and spend one Essence per round, any plants in a radius equal to their total Forces will grow at a rate equal to one thousand times their natural rate of growth.

The Faithful are the spiritual leaders of the organization of Flowers, and indeed of Hades, to some extent. They are the core who believe so strongly in God's benevolence that they strengthen the Symphony where they stand; the Symphony cannot, will not degrade in the presence of one of the Faithful, regardless of what attempts are made, as though God Himself were watching over it again.

Anyone near one of the Faithful who attempts an action which would cause disturbance must first engage in a Contest of Wills with the Faithful. Success indicates that the action can proceed as planned; failure means that the trespasser may not attempt a violent action for the next hour, as he is overwhelmed by the perfection of the Symphony around the Faithful.

While powerful, the Faithful are the rarest of angels; only five are known to exist. To grant this Distinction, Novalis must graft one of her Forces - not a Word-Force, but a personal Force - onto the angel, and he must spend a number of years equal to his new total Forces doing nothing but sitting in the center of a Tether to Flowers (earth locus), attuning himself to the Symphony.

The Speakers for the Dead are Novalis' elite. They may be summoned by anyone, at any time, to perform last rites for the dead, and when they arrive, they come bearing full knowledge of the subject's life, the circumstances of the death, how those involved in the death feel about it, and how those involved in any close manner with the victim felt about him while he was alive. When the Speaker is prepared to talk, he will talk - and those within earshot must listen, for the duration of the oration.

Speakers for the Dead tend to be very powerful and influential people, and in turn orate the deaths of much more powerful and influential people. Speakers have spoken at the deaths of presidents, kings, and emperors, and there is a rumor that a Speaker for the Dead has been summoned by a Heavenly party to orate the death of Michael.

Allied: Everyone on the side of the Loyalists

Enemy: Everyone on the side of Heaven except:

Hostile: Lucifer

Neutral: Andrealphus, Kobal

- Plant a garden

- Ease the pain of a mourner

- Convince a nonbeliever that God still loves the world (+2, +3 if this results in an angel converting to the Loyalist side)

- Protect a plant from destruction (+2)

Novalis is fairly difficult to get in touch with, but she loves to hear from her Servitors, and she's always willing to lend a hand if the cause of God is being forwarded.

+1 A garden

+2 A mourner

+3 A wake

+4 A forest

+5 A tropical rainforest

+6 An unassisted, peaceful death

Novalis was a newer Archangel. Flowers had only recently been recognized as a potent force in the Symphony, and together she and Jordi made up what was referred to as the Life Faction; Jordi represented the fauna, Novalis the flora, and together they forged the world into a better place for everyone.

Then came the Rebellion. Novalis stood back while Jordi fought tooth and claw, but in the end - as her Cathedral crumbled under the feet of the Host troops - she bowed her head and went with Yves and the rest of the Exiles into Hades.

Locked inside the gates of a Marchean prison, Novalis despaired. She tried desperately to grow a garden, at the very least, but all she could manage was ivy growing up the walls of the castle which her servitors were building for her, grasses on the grounds, a single piece of topiary commemorating the fallen Michael. Without a connection to Earth, the Marches would not respond properly to her. So she languished within her Castle, and her servitors mourned her.

No one wanted to believe that Yves was dying, least of all Novalis - part of why she stayed hidden away. But when one of her Faithful came to report that he was in his last days, Novalis emerged from her Castle for the first time in years, made her way to Yves' Cathedral in her tattered, faded dress, and sat by his side until the end came. Looking closely enough, one can almost see that moment reflected in her eyes still.

Many thought that without Yves, there was no hope; without Destiny, the Exiles had no leadership, no motivation. Novalis disagreed. Without Yves, there was even more a need for a strong front. So when Lilith broke open the gates of Hades, Novalis was there to meet her, her angels streaming out into the world to begin undoing the damage that Heaven had wrought upon the Symphony.

Unfortunately, Novalis herself was struck by the decay that her Word had suffered in her absence. Flowers had come to symbolize death, not life; their sway lay in mourning, not celebration. And Novalis was moved. Again she spent years in her Castle, saying nothing, moving silently about, writing and reading and preparing. And when she emerged again, all of her angels felt the shift as their old attunements fell away, leaving their new focus underneath, armor against the world, hope in an age of death and destruction. Novalis had embraced Death, and turned it toward Life.

Novalis believes fervently that God is still watching over His children, and she works every day to be worthy of being in His presence again. She positively radiates faith, and this reflects on her servitors: while not all share her ardor, every one of them shares her absolute belief that things will be made right again.

Novalis appears extremely happy, in every one of her guises. She is cheerful, unabashedly so, and she'll tell anyone who asks that this is because she can still feel God's love within her. While perhaps not the most effective evangelist in the world, she manages to lift the hopes and spirits of all she touches, and she has been known to lead impromptu musical-style parades down city streets.

She is the Tattered Symphony's greatest optimist, and perhaps its best hope for survival. If only she could convince Heaven of this...

*record skips*

Novalis believes fervently that God is still watching over His children, and she spits curses at his name for not interfering. This side of the Archangel of Flowers is rarely seen; in fact, before she became the de facto Archangel of Death, it didn't exist. Her Word-associations have been affecting her more strongly than most would suspect, though, and every day she becomes more somber and bitter.

She does her best to remain happy during these episodes, but mostly she secludes herself in the innermost room of her Castle of Flowers and waits. Soon enough, she'll get better, and forget all about how God has abandoned His children. Her servitors are so full of hope - they don't need to see their Mistress like this.

Perhaps more to the point... their Mistress doesn't want to see them.

In her aspect as Flowers, Novalis brings hope to the War. Her absolute, unwavering faith in God buoys the spirits of those whom she encounters, and her Earthly activities are perhaps the primary source of defection of Host angels to the Exiles. Hers is a campaign of morale.

In her aspect as the de facto Archangel of Death, Novalis has forged Flowers into a weapon. She has little interest in reforming Heaven; she wants its occupants to go away. Having betrayed God, they now stand in blasphemy, unrepentant and disgusting. Many of her servitors believe that if they cannot reform an angel of Heaven, they must destroy it; Novalis rarely tells anybody that she sometimes feels this way as well, and skip the reforming part.

Host

Andrealphus: "Poor, sweet Andre. He has deluded himself for so long that even were the truth shown to him, he would deny it all the more."

Beleth: "She who needs hope must first learn to accept it."

Beth: "She knows nothing of hope, nothing of faith. Only her books matter, and only her record-keeping will satisfy her. Proof denies faith, and without faith we are nothing."

Demogorgon "He is a danger to everything that ever has lived and ever will live. If I could stop only one Archangel of the Host, it must by need be Demogorgon."

Gebbeleth: "He is opposite Beth. While his mysteries obscure the truth, they also allow for hope."

Iblis: "Blind. He will never be satisfied until the fields run red and the grass is matted under the feet of a thousand soldiers."

Israfel: "Israfel has forgotten God in her quest to save the Symphony. While the latter is admirable, the former is abhorrent."

Jean: "Jean thinks that he can take the place of Yves. Nothing more will be said on the subject."

Kobal: "He knows what he has to do. I still miss him."

Laurence: "The Sword believes that he still serves God. How could he, when he also serves the one who denied God?"

Lucifer: "Lucifer shows only Pride as his sin, and for this I can forgive him. The others of the Host have succumbed to Lucifer's pride, and that is unforgivable."

Malphas: "He is the worst kind of idealist - the sort that believe that they can preserve some small part of what will eventually be destroyed. He doesn't see that we need to work to make sure that nothing more is destroyed at all."

Marc: "I have nothing but disdain for the weak fool who was once my friend."

Zadkiel: "She guards the walls of Heaven against those who only want to save it from itself."

Exiles:

Baal: "Even in his lack of faith, he encourages faith in others. If only he could be made to learn what he himself teaches!"

Blandine: (silence)

David:

Dominic:

Eli: "Eli knows that something must be done to protect the Symphony. He alone among the Archangels actively seeks to preserve what is left, allowing the rest of us to begin to repair the damage that Lucifer has wrought."

Haagenti:

Lilith:

Malphas: "I don't know if Malphas' multiplicity will strengthen the Symphony or destroy it altogether. Until I can see which, I reserve my judgment."

Nybbas: "Had Nybbas been born to the Host, his power would terrify me. As it is, I can only hope that it terrifies them."

Ogiel: "Ogiel's war and my own are different on many levels, so it is strange to know that we fight for the same thing."

Raphael: "I cannot deny her contributions to our cause, but are they made because she believes or because she fears that if she failed to impress us, we would abandon her?"

Uriel: "Purity burns with his faith in God. I hope it doesn't destroy him from within."

Vapula: "It doesn't take a lot to see that Vapula isn't all that he seems. Without trust, though, what are we but the scattered group Heaven thinks us to be?"