Laurence, Mercurian Archangel of the Sword
The world is a hone, and you are a blade. Let it
sharpen you.
When the assembled legions of Hell heard of Uriel's
replacement, their mocking joy resounded through Hell. Wonderful enough that the First Malakite had
been replaced, of course... but that his 'son' Laurence was to be his
successor? A Mercurian, and one
who had spent so much time in the service of his mother, to boot: with this
sort of leadership, Hell's winning of the War had just become a forgone conclusion. Indeed, the Horde to this day openly mocks
the Commander of the Host for his Choir.
Just not too openly: it's not precisely,
well, safe...
Laurence requires resolute, dedicated and (above all
else) selfless Servitors: it is dissonant for them to refuse a legitimate call
for aid from a member of the Host, its allies (including Soldiers of God) or
anyone that the angel knows has achieved his or her Destiny.
Laurence favors a flexible approach: his Servitors
can expect to see action in every possible arena of the War, after all. As a result, while there is a recognizable
chain of command, it can be - and often is - quietly ignored on the local level
when it interferes with the expert on the spot. The Archangel of the Sword is a great believer in not jogging
elbows: he's also almost indecently good at picking out talented subordinates.
Among other things, this means that Servitors of the Sword quickly learn to
cross-train in a wide variety of skills and occupations. Self-sufficiency is the Holy Grail for any
large group of Laurentines.
Servitors of Laurence rarely have to worry about
being bored. There are too many tasks
that need to be done right now, and there are never enough hands to do
them. Those that can keep up with the
pace will prosper: those that cannot are carefully vetted to Archangels with a
more limited focus. This is done
without malice. The Commander knows
that he's asking for a lot, after all.
Just don't make excuses - or worse, whine. Your workload is nothing compared to
the Archangel of the Sword's...
Unchanged from canonical Laurence's.
Cherub (Restricted)
Cherubim of the Sword have the equivalent of the
Songs of Lending: skill is equal to the number of appropriate Forces.
Ofanim of the Sword add their Corporeal Forces to
the CD of successful rolls in combat, provided that they are defending the
innocent (or Heaven). This is
cumulative with all other bonuses.
Unchanged from canonical Laurence's.
Laurence's Virtues specialize in gallant last
stands... for the other side. All
demonic resonance rolls targeting the angel are at a minus equal to the
Malakite's Celestial Forces.
Bright Lilim (Restricted)
Unchanged from canonical Laurence's. He's just as keen as his canonical
counterpart is on getting every Bright Lilim to work for him, too: he's just a
lot more subtle about it.
Unchanged from canonical Laurence's.
Mercurians of the Sword can determine a human's
strengths and weaknesses: he or she will automatically be able to identify the
human's best skill, and can determine Disadvantages on a Perception roll.
Grigori (Restricted)
This, of course, does not exist: after all, Laurence
was created after the Grigori were exiled.
Thus it is impossible for him to have any Watcher Servitors. This naturally means that there are no
Grigori out there with the ability to add his or her Celestial Forces to any
Role roll made to avoid Disturbance caused in the defense of Heaven and humanity. Naturally.
Those with this Attunement will instinctively
recognize any item or person that will be vitally useful in solving their most
pressing problem. They may not know
just how said person or item will be useful, but it's better than
nothing.
All Servitors of the Sword must take this
Attunement.
As per Superiors 1, page 73.
By making a Perception roll, the angel can determine
how much guilt and/or shame a person feels for his or her actions. This will not automatically detect demons.
Angels with this Attunement may choose to take on
the damage done to any human within (unaided) visual range. The angel must declare this before
the damage is rolled!
As per Superiors 1, page 73.
In times of trouble, this Attunement gives the owner
a +3 to all reaction rolls made by humans (including Hellsworn, oddly enough).
As per Superiors 1, page 73.
Identical to Laurence's canonical Distinctions.
Laurence is just a bit too busy for pissing contests
- there's this thing called the War going on, you see - but the occasional one
does crop up from time to time. Oddly
enough, it rarely involves him, specifically: it's just that he's
usually stuck trying to mediate between two or more Archangels, with the result
that they sometimes end up glaring at Laurence, rather than at each other. Which is all to the good: it keeps things
running more smoothly, and he can deal with prima donnas, fits of pique and all
the other things that are supposedly alien to the angelic mindset.
Generally, though, Laurence's colleagues treat him
with the respect that his position and energy deserve. He is, after all, the lynchpin for all their
efforts: he is only second to Yves in understanding the Big Picture, despite
his relative youth. If there's any real
concern about Laurence as Laurence, it comes from Dominic. The Archangel of Judgment would probably
have been happier if God had chosen a Malakite to succeed Uriel as Commander of
the Host: there's also Laurence's ongoing refusal to do anything meaningful
about Eli's self-exile. This reserve
goes mostly unnoticed, probably because Dominic doesn't actually trust anybody
else, either...
Allied: Khalid, Marc, Michael, Novalis, Yves
(Laurence treats everybody as Allies)
Associated: Everybody else, except...
Neutral: David, Dominic, Jordi
Blandine:
"There is a lot of his father in him; thankfully, there's just as
much of his mother, too." "Thank the Lord for Blandine; I do,
every day. Without her, we'd be
hard-pressed to hold any of the Marches.
If she ever asks for aid, give it to her immediately."
David: "Youth has its advantages, and certainly
Laurence is to be commended for maintaining that which binds all of us
together. Still... well, our Heavenly
Father obviously had His reasons for promoting the lad. I am certain that it will all become clear,
in time." "David really
does only one thing well - strengthen humanity to withstand the hammer blows
descending upon it - and this limits his utility. But he does that one thing magnificently."
Dominic: "Every Commander of the Host's tenure
has ended in a trial. I have not seen
anything to indicate that Laurence will follow precedent, but if he does, I
will be ready to deal with the problem."
"Would that he did not have his burden - but I am glad that he
can bear it. Do not add to his inner
sorrow."
Eli: "I see his hand in a lot of things going
on down here, thank God." "I dislike second-guessing experts. If Eli thinks that he needs to maintain a
hands-on approach, well, I will give him his head. I also dislike looking like a fool, so I am not quite as
sanguine about the situation as Dominic thinks."
Gabriel: "He is a torch that burns himself
joyfully, eagerly, with no remorse for what it costs him. I would weep, except that it would hurt him
still more to see my tears. Do not
spurn Laurence's burnt offering of himself!" "So beautiful ... and
so wracked with pain. It is long since
past time that we did something about the latter."
Janus: "He should listen more to Michael: there
are times that you have to stop planning and do. Mind you, it's not that he does a bad
job. He does a very good one, in
fact. It's just that Laurence sometimes
thinks too much." "Janus
requires special handling: the presence of him and his Servitors can quickly
mutate a plan or situation beyond recognition.
Of course, this is often incredibly useful."
Jean: "There have been precisely four cases
where the current Commander of the Host has used his authority to override one
of my decisions, and in three of those cases Laurence later turned out to be
correct. It is not enough to be
statistically significant, of course, but the preliminary trend is
encouraging." "His work is
necessary, endless and largely unsung by the rest of Heaven. This is a true pity, and a problem that I
constantly try to rectify."
Jordi: "The more annoying aspects of his Choir
are almost absent in him - except for his bias towards humanity. Even then, it's usually a tolerable enough
aberration. Usually." "His... peculiarities... are not
entirely his fault, and in his own way Jordi is quite diligent and
effective. I try to remember that. Of course, when Jordi actually requires
assistance he usually requires it quite badly."
Khalid (Bright Lilim version): "Things are
better now." "Bare is back without sister to guard it. Now that the Children of Uriel be
reconciled... why, tremble, ye minions of Hell."
Marc: "Yes, he's young and fairly inexperienced
- but those are correctable problems, and well on the way to being
resolved. If he's this good now, I can
hardly wait to see what he'll mature into." "He is the most
faithful and skilled of companions, and it is a joy to see him battle in his
chosen arena - even if the weapons are unfamiliar."
Michael: "He's starkly dangerous with a blade:
it's a pity that he can't demonstrate it more often. We've had a couple of fairly lively discussions from time to time
about just what is and is not my business, too: no problems with assertiveness
with that boy, let me tell you.
He's also an absolute miracle worker when it comes to providing backup,
logistics or air cover, which is always something that I like to see in a
commanding officer." "Michael is a hammer, so of course he sees
all problems as nails. To his credit,
he knows this: he may not always care, but then that's why I have my
job. The trick is to find situations
where all the problems are nails, and let him have his head."
Novalis: "I might wish that he didn't take
after his father quite so much, but Lar.., Laurence has blossomed into
his duties well. I can always count on
him to at least try to keep down the suffering in this endless War. And he comes by for tea every week,
with flowers on Mother's day, no less..." "Mother's way... it is
not always the best way, but it works more often than some of my comrades might
think. She fights in the War with great
energy and skill, even if she refuses to call it fighting."
Yves (reading aloud): "'Goldilocks went to the
first bowl of porridge, but it was too hot.
So, Goldilocks went to the second bowl, but it was too cold. But then, she went to the third bowl, and it
was just right.' (looks up and smiles)
I'm sorry, but were you asking me something?" "Never play chess with him - but
trust him with your life. Without him,
it will all fall apart so quickly that we could never hope to salvage anything
from the wreck."
In many ways, Laurence is the War - or at
least it's lynchpin. Heaven is best
described as a feudal bureaucracy (much like Hell, really, although the Devil's
literally in the details): every Archangel oversees a distinct aspect of the
War, aided by servants personally sworn to his, her or its service. Now, theoretically at least the
organizations should not really come into conflict with each other (one way
that this setup is not like Hell's).
This being an imperfect universe, they often do.
That's where Laurence comes in. He is the final arbiter on every aspect of
the War: even Yves would be theoretically subject to his authority (although
there's never been a case where the Archangel of Destiny has been personally
overruled by the Archangel of the Sword).
This applies on the Servitor level, as well. Angels serving the Sword are expected to untangle any controversy
and/or dispute between any and all servants of the Host, anytime, anywhere.
In their copious free time, they go kill
demons. Servitors of the Sword are
often very, very happy to get free time.
It's such a simple job in comparison.
: Slay an evil creature.
: Convince a demon to Redeem (+2 Essence)
Modifiers:
+1 A well-crafted sword
+2 A human in danger from the forces of evil
+3 The slain corpse of a demon
+4 A sincerely-penitent demon, ready to Redeem
+5 A sword once possessed by Laurence
+6 Someone who has just manifested his or her sixth
Force and ready to join the cause of Heaven
History and Personality
Well, actually the history of this version of
Laurence pretty much mirrors canon: created by Uriel, converted to Catholicism,
became the Angel of the Sword, fought with distinction in the Purity Crusade,
elevated to Archangel and made Commander of the Host after Uriel's trial and
has been running the War ever since. He
even had the same estrangement and reconciliation with Khalid. In short, then, the broad lines of the
picture are the same.
It's the details that make the difference.
First off, there's his parentage: this version of
Laurence came about as part of the oddest 'coupling' ever seen in Heaven. Well, maybe 'fusion' would be a better word,
or possibly 'accommodation'. Uriel and
Novalis weren't fully comfortable with each other, even at the best of
times. Possibly he came about as a
byproduct of a transient spark of mutual attraction. He might have even been the result of some sort of debate. The motivations of Archangels are
notoriously hard to understand.
Whatever the cause, both 'parents' ended up proud of
their progeny. From the first, Laurence
displayed the best qualities of Purity and Flowers: he showed a relentless
opposition to evil, yet never used that relentlessness to justify unnecessary
bloodshed. His blade always struck home
- but it never struck the innocent. He
was the perfect paladin, even in the confused butchery that was the Purity
Crusade: where he fought, it was amazing how many beneficial spirits managed to
slip away... and how many maleficent abominations fell screaming to his
blade. His ascension to Archangel and
Commander was not really a surprise: there was something about him that made it
all seem perfectly natural.
Unfortunately, things weren't perfect, by any
means. In this world, the Archangel of
Faith is a Bright Lilim (and only named Khalid because it gives people a point
of reference) - but that did nothing to mitigate her and Laurence's
estrangement. Combine sincere religious
differences with a certain uncertainty towards each other's place in the new
order of things, mix with a Host that grew more and more suspicious of the only
Bright Lilim Archangel in existence, let simmer for a millennium... and you get
precisely the same problems as in a more canonical universe. Neither Archangel likes to think about how
badly things could have ended; but it all worked out satisfactorily, and more
or less identically to canon.
Of course, just because Laurence's history is
broadly the same doesn't necessarily mean that his personality follows
suit. This Archangel of the Sword has
several distinct divergence points between him and his canonical counterpart.
First of all, obviously, his Choir filters his Word
quite differently. For better or worse,
this Laurence is not as concerned with honor as say, a Malakite Archangel would
be. This is not to say that he is not
honorable, or that he allows his Servitors to act dishonorably - but it is not
the central aspect of his existence.
The Archangel of the Sword is instead dedicated to unity: the unity of
Heaven and the unity of all good men and women against those that would drag
all of creation down to Hell. Laurence
has no tolerance for those that would break that unity: angels would be well
advised to quietly shelve all faction politics in the presence of him or his
Servitors. The Archangel has no
compulsion towards descending like an anvil on any servant of Heaven that slips
up in this regard.
Of course, being a Mercurian means that this
Laurence has a slightly different perspective on letting the War affect
humanity. Inexperienced demons tend to
assume, quite erroneously, that Laurence can be thwarted with sufficiently
ruthless threats towards human beings.
More experienced demons realize that such tactics will not work: the Order
of the Eternal Sword exists in this universe, and is if anything even larger,
better supported and more of a threat.
The Archangel of the Sword accepts no accommodations, no-go areas or
tacit truces. These things still exist,
of course - but they immediately implode when a Servitor of Laurence discovers
such abominations.
Partially mitigating this 'problem' is the fact that
Laurence will always give someone the chance to repent - on his
terms. The Archangel recognizes, of
course, that the average demon has not precisely been raised in an atmosphere
that encourages a proper subordination to the will of the Lord. He has also by now seen that his mother's
belief that anyone can be brought back into the fold is often correct. As a result, Laurence accepts surrenders,
provided that they are immediate and unconditional. Quite a few Tethers to the Sword have a potential Redemption
candidate in residence. A demon that
can get through the preliminary reclamation process stands an excellent chance
of surviving Redemption. Of course,
many don't quite measure up. They are
invariably soul-killed: Laurence is many things, but never a fool.
Two things that stay true for this variant of
Laurence is his love for humanity and his sincere Christian faith. Indeed, the two are inextricably linked in
his mind; to him, God's favor towards His mortal children was never more
clearly shown than by His Incarnation, death and Resurrection. Even here, though, the details are
different. Though Laurence has a deeper
appreciation of the flaws of humanity, his love of them is slightly less
abstract than in canon. He understands
them better, you see - and this understanding drives him to ever-greater
efforts on their behalf.
As for the Catholicism - well, he has a definite
appreciation of the services, but Laurence has never been much for dogma. After all, he knows that
non-Catholics get to go to Heaven. The
Archangel of the Sword is really quite ecumenical these days.