Let’s learn about the primary set of Archangels in the tabletop role-playing game In Nomine. In Nomine is a role-playing game designed by Derek Pearcy and published in 1997 by @Steve Jackson Games. You can learn more on the official website here: http://www.sjgames.com/innomine/ or the Wikipedia page here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_Nomine_(role-playing_game). You can buy In Nomine products here: https://www.drivethrurpg.com/browse/pub/12199/Steve-Jackson-Games/subcategory/28908_30775/In-Nomine?affiliate_id=50797
Time Stamps:
- 0:00 Intro
- 1:42 Blandine, Archangel of Dreams
- 2:40 David, Archangel of Stone
- 3:39 Dominic, Archangel of Judgment
- 4:38 Eli, Archangel of Creation
- 5:38 Gabriel, Archangel of Fire
- 6:36 Janus, Archangel of the Wind
- 7:35 Jean, Archangel of Lightning
- 8:32 Jordi, Archangel of Animals
- 9:31 Laurence, Archangel of the Sword
- 10:25 Marc, Archangel of Trade
- 11:21 Michael, Archangel of War
- 12:25 Novalis, Archangel of Flowers
- 13:24 Yves, Archangel of Destiny
- 14:19 Outro
About In Nomine
Written by Derek Pearcy + Illustrated by Dan Smith
Edited by Jeff Koke, Steve Jackson, and Susan Pinsonneault
Cover art by John Zeleznik (first printing) and Christopher Shy (second printing)
In Nomine is a modern roleplaying game in which the players take the part of celestial beings – angels and demons – as they struggle for control of humanity and themselves. The celestials, powerful though they may be, are merely pawns in a much larger game being played by their Superiors, the Archangels and Demon Princes. Based on the best-selling French RPG by the wonderfully diabolical Croc!
In Nomine won the Origins Award for Best Graphic Presentation of a Roleplaying Game, Adventure, or Supplement of 1997.
Transcript
Cold Open
Archangels are entities of immense power, with higher perspectives on the Symphony.
Intro
Welcome to Eviliv3, the live media commentary show that answers the question, what do angels look like? Subscribe if you’re new to the channel, because today we are continuing our In Nomine series with this episode, the Archangels.
Discussion
Archangels are not defined by characteristics and resources, but are embodiments of concepts and powers within the Symphony. Their motivations are unfathomable, and answer to no one other than God. While their servitors are used to consolidate their hold on reality even further, at times, they act in direct opposition to their brother and sister Archangels. A player character’s (PC’s) Angelic Choir or Demonic Band can be seen as their instrument in the Symphony, their Servitor is the style of music they play. These servitors assign the PC’s their earthly missions, and influence their perspectives and even motivations.
Superiors like Archangels grant their Servitors, the PC’s, boons in the form of Attunements, distinctions, Rites and even Songs–and can give powers freely, or force the PC’s to earn them. There is a complex web of political infighting between the Archangels and Demon Princes that doesn’t always fall down the line of Heaven vs. Hell, so choosing who you serve is incredibly important. Let’s take a bird’s eye view at the thirteen primary Archangels. We will go into further detail about each in future episodes.
Blandine, Archangel of Dreams
Blandine’s servants are charged with protecting dreamers and helping them battle their fears. The minions of Beleth, Princess of Nightmares, are her dire enemies. She humbly carries out her orders and follows her Word, helping the human race achieve its goals and dreams with as little celestial interference as possible. Her servants are rarely combat monsters. Like their mistress, they prefer subtle background manipulations to force, and seldom involve themselves in outright violence. Blandine prefers to appear as a beautiful woman in her early 20s with black hair and green eyes, wearing gray clothing with elaborate embroidery. An angel of Blandine may not take his celestial form in the mundane world, nor use Celestial Songs on Earth. To do so generates dissonance. If one of her servants knows his charge is in danger, he must warn him in his next dream or suffer dissonance.
David, Archangel of Stone
David and his angels created the first human shelters, and his disciples taught the arts of pottery, metal-working and building construction. He also helped to find new and better ways for people to beat one another to bloody smears. His angels strengthen people by forcing them to endure terrible labors. His Servitors encourage people to join together in strength for mutual loyalty and protection, even to the point of forming street gangs and militias. Some angels
think the servants of David are too brutal, but they themselves wonder if they’re brutal enough. David’s human vessel has a commanding presence, with steel-gray eyes set in a strong face. He rarely wears clothes, preferring to be naked as stone. Angels of Stone will never start a fight, but they’ll always finish it. Being provoked into attacking first generates dissonance. Also, they gain dissonance if they sully their hands with ranged weapons; they prefer close combat.
Dominic, Archangel of Judgment
Dominic and his servants have been charged with maintaining order by rooting out corruption in the Symphony, even among angels. In the corporeal realm, he manifests just as frequently as a man as he does as a woman. Known as the most tyrannical of the Archangels, he heads the Divine Inquisition. They’ve even been known to help the Servitors of Asmodeus track down demonic Renegades. Only his most-favored Servitors, such as the player characters, operate autonomously. Dominic has little interest in the laws of mankind. An angel of Dominic will help execute a just human law, especially by aiding human police and courts, but will also ignore a law that fails to serve his master’s severe Justice. It’s dissonant for them to inflict a punishment greater than the crime, or to stand by while the innocent are punished unfairly. It’s also dissonant for them to overlook what they feel to be heresy in an angel.
Eli, Archangel of Creation
Eli produces the most contradictory images in the hearts of angels. He is both creator and destroyer–full of life and hope, his future wideopen, but out of control and out of his mind. He’s seldom heard from, and even his most ardent followers are afraid of what he’s become. His servants embody the Earth’s primal creative forces. Casual and disorganized they may have become, but they remain makers of beauty and servants of Heaven. A few decades ago, Eli
abandoned his divine mosque, stripped himself of his memories of the past and disappeared into the corporeal masses. Eli walks the Earth in various guises, and not even the other Archangels know for sure what he’s doing. Eli granted dominion of most of his Servitors to the other Archangels. Eli’s Servitors have every reason to be frustrated and confused. The servants of Eli have nothing unique which make them dissonant to their Word. Go play, have fun.
Gabriel, Archangel of Fire
Gabriel’s servants are fire incarnate. She and her servants may conduct themselves in an honest, simple fashion, but their true natures are complex. Physically, she’s perfect. Her male body is just as flawless as her female vessel, which she prefers in modern times. Mentally, however, she’s unstable. Her most important duty is to punish the cruel, which she does with a vengeance. She’s a primal force which can occasionally be channeled, but never controlled, by the rational factions of Heaven. She still walks the Earth, avoiding other Archangels and performing her role as she has since ancient times. Gabriel doesn’t insist that her angels clean the Earth of every human louse they encounter–but each time they finish with one, they must deal with the very next one they meet. The cruel must feel Gabriel’s fire within a number of days equal to the angel’s Celestial Forces, or the servant generates a note of dissonance.
Janus, Archangel of the Wind
Servants of Janus are Heaven’s agents of change, charged with shaking up the establishment and making the static into the dynamic. They are also divine thieves, confounding the wicked with their daring exploits. Janus, a broad and brawny Ofanite, is one of the oldest Archangels. While some worry about his stability, his mood swings reflect his role in the Symphony. Janus’ angels aim to disrupt normality and cause as much chaos as possible without upsetting the overall balance of the Symphony. Almost any adventure of these angels ends with “and mayhem ensues.” The servants of Janus are easy to spot: reckless youth, hanging out of the side of a speeding car to regenerate Essence, zooming from one town to another, agents of change. It’s dissonant for servants of Janus to stay in the same locale for more than three days. It’s important for those who serve the Wind to keep moving, at all costs.
Jean, Archangel of Lightning
Servants of Jean control the various energies which course through the corporeal world. Slowly, they dole out their secrets to mankind. Jean manages the technology of humanity, and their knowledge and comprehension of the physical world. He charges his Servitors with developing and experimenting with new high-tech devices designed to reduce the selfish desires of mankind. He and his Servitors don’t think very highly of humanity. Jean is a middle-aged blond man, just over six feet tall, with a face that looks like it was carved by a knife. He avoids the other Archangels. His personality is proud and pedantic. He’s a micromanager, who prefers that his angels not take too much upon themselves–especially when it comes to human innovation. It is dissonant to let a technological secret or celestial technological device fall into the hands of a human before Jean decides it is time; or to to allow an infernal technology to go unopposed.
Jordi, Archangel of Animals
Heaven has erred grievously in allowing humanity to keep its artificial trappings–mankind must regain its wild nature, or die. Jordi has a strong aversion to most of man’s works, he spends most of his time wandering across the world’s countrysides in animal form. He accepts as allies those humans who share his love for the animal kingdom. He’s exceptionally intelligent and wildly perceptive, and always willing to give a bit of leeway to supplicants who show consideration of his eccentricities. His servants may be wild and untameable, but they’re not cruel–they act as they must, with passion but without hatred. Jordi’s angels cannot allow themselves to be swayed by the concerns of human society, its rules or its expectations of behavior. They gain dissonance if they value human life above animal life. When they kill, it must be cleanly and without pain.
Laurence, Archangel of the Sword
Honorable to a fault, and the supreme commander of God’s army on Earth. Laurence is
responsible for training Soldiers and assigning them to angels, coordinating official missions and keeping track of the Foe. He hasn’t always been an Archangel. The youngest of the major Archangels, Laurence, the finest of all of Heaven’s demon-hunters, ascended to his current stature when Uriel was recalled to the higher celestial realm. He’s also become the patron Archangel of Christianity, actively promoting its growth. Laurence appears most often on Earth as a small skinny man, with long, black hair. His servants never have a spare minute. Laurence’s angels feel that the others are too quick to beg for help–which his servants feel obliged to give, instead of solving their own problems first. Disobeying either the word or the spirit of his orders generates dissonance in an offending angel.
Marc, Archangel of Trade
Commerce has complicated the lives of humans, but has lowered the amount of violent conflict in the world. Wars cannot be fought without spilling blood–but in commerce, paper and numbers and the structures inside people’s minds are the only casualties. The Archangel of Trade is a Mercurian, well-suited to the human-level complexities of the fiscal world. He and his servants are divine diplomats, Heaven’s negotiators. They lie only by omission and always for good reason. Marc bears the heavy burden (his words) of promoting the abstract concept of currency and of managing the divine fortune. Snappily dressed, fashionably polite, Marc is one of the celestial in-crowd. He has occasionally stumbled, during times of turmoil when his Word was not given proper respect. It is dissonant for angels serving Marc to break their word when they have given it freely. They know the cost of cheating on a deal.
Michael, Archangel of War
The first angel created by God, older than any Celestial but the ineffable Yves, Michael is a Seraph and he tells it straight: Things aren’t run in Heaven like they used to be. As the most powerful angel, in mind and in body, Michael bested Lucifer in hand-to-hand combat and personally kicked his red ass out Heaven’s door. His servants fight vigorously so that one day the War will end. They are proud, powerful and never back down from a fight. But they’re also sympathetic to the human condition, and try not to miss an opportunity to relieve a human of his pain, if only by listening to his war stories. Michael is a warrior. He lives only for God’s struggle. Retreat from any conflict without a direct order generates dissonance in Michael’s servants. An agent of Michael must otherwise be beaten into unconsciousness and dragged bodily from the field of battle. They must conquer in that battle or fall, but they cannot flee.
Novalis, Archangel of Flowers
The servants of Novalis are charged with calming the souls of humanity. She is a powerful female principle; her Word in the angelic tongue resonates with tones of growth, nurturing and peace. She most often uses a human vessel, looking like a cross between a debutante and a flower child–elegant, earthy, flamboyant and introspective by turns. Her servants may be as precise as a new bonsai, or as wild and mad as a valley of kudzu, but none would have felt out of place at a Dead show. Novalis’ kindness is unequalled; she avoids direct conflict as much as possible. Her servants are just so damned friendly that other angels can’t help but get along with them. Angels of Novalis earn a note of dissonance for performing or allowing any violence that is not absolutely necessary. Killing a human will earn the offender at least a note of Dissonance, plus whatever other discipline Novalis herself thinks fit.
Yves, Archangel of Destiny
Legend has it, Yves was the first soul created by God. Armed with his knowledge of the universe from its most primal state, he and his Servitors have a miraculous ability to predict the Symphony’s future. Though he serves as an Archangel, he belongs to no Choir. The other inhabitants of the Earthly Heavens speculate that he represents a higher order of being, sent to guide the angels as the angels are sent to guide man. Yves is perpetually quiet and rational. He intervenes very rarely on Earth, spending most of his days in serene meditation. On every plane, he manifests as an elderly man, radiating calm good cheer and spiritual strength. He and his Servitors are the givers of names, the guardians of knowledge. The angels of Yves are charged with helping people achieve the greatest heights of their destiny. They may not take any direct action to move a person toward his fate.
And that is a brief overview of each of the Archangels. I will cover their Choir & Servitor Attunements, Distinctions and Rites in other videos.
Outro
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And as always, remember that evil spelled backwards is live, so get out there and Be Evil!