Demon: The Fallen

Demon: the Fallen
Role-playing game published by White Wolf
Rule System	Storyteller System
First Publication	2002

One of the old World of Darkness RPGs, in this game you and your friends take on the role of demons, fallen angels who have escaped Hell and now live among humans. The premise is pretty cool and the lore and mythos behind it is for the most part well written and with a great deal of interesting ideas and an interesting story. A notable criticism of where the game fucks up is how it's heavily centered around Abrahamic religions to the point where one supplement almost outright states that every other religion were created by Earthbounds creating cults around themselves and are thereby false. Fortunately enough, White Wolf has always advocated tossing out anything you don't like about their games and make your own version of their material, so it rarely becomes an issue.

Background

In the beginning, there was God and despite being all powerful, he got lonely so he fashioned beings who were like him yet unique, the first beings known as Elohim, or Angels. Creating seven Houses, each with specific skills, objectives and powers they helped God in His works, preparing for the arrival of the epitome of God's work, His most glorious creation, humanity. When He was finished and created Adam and Eve, leaving them content in the Garden of Eden, he made two decrees to his Firstborn. They would only observe Man and never interfere for doing so would irrevocably alter his precious creations. The Elohim were at first disappointed, for they all were in awe of Man and wanted to befriend and help them achieve their divine potential, nevertheless they heeded God and obeyed. For a while things were calm and peaceful, however an Angel named Ahrimal foresaw a terrible catasrophe that would befall the world and undo all the hard work the Angels had done to help Man and forever mar the race of Man. Even worse God, would allow this to happen either unintentionally or otherwise. Those Angels who went to God to voice their grievances were never seen again and so the remaining Elohim began a great debate as to whether or not they should interfere and help save Mankind from this impending cataclysm. It was the favored son and mightiest of the Archangels, Lucifer Morningstar who rallied an third of the Elohim and left Heaven to finally interact with Humans. This of course angered the other angels so when the Archangel Michael arrived and told Lucifer to return and face punishment, he flatly refused and this began the thousand year lasting civil war of the Horus Heresy... ahem I mean the War in Heaven. After the rebels were defeated they were subsequently banished to the Abyss, the lowest corner of creation and farthest from the light of Heaven, and suffered greatly from the Torment becoming monstrous demons. All except for Lucifer who escaped and has roamed the Earth alone ever since. And that was the last anyone heard from the Fallen, until......

Splats

So The Fallen obviously used to be angels before the little.. incident. God may have done the heavy lifting on creating the universe but He wasn't big on sweating the details. So instead of missing His Murder She Wrote marathon, He made the Angels to handle all the time consuming bitch work that He didn't want to do. The Angels were divided into seven Houses who each handled a aspect of Creation.

• The Defilers(formerly the Lammasu, the House of the Deep)

These guys were in charge of the sea and poetry,art, and dancing. They had a intense fascination for humanity and chafed hard against God's decree of non interference since they were pretty distant from humanity being bound to the sea and all. Other Angels tended to mock the Lammasu for being useless as their sphere of influence was limited to being limp wristed poets and glorified pool boys. Belial was of this House and was the one who initiated the Great Debate that kicked off the whole Rebellion. More Lammasu joined the Rebels than any other House. Their Lores were the Lore of Longings, Lore of Storms, and Lore of Transfiguration.

• The Scourges(formerly the Asharu, the House of the Firmanent)

The Asharu were the Guardian Angels. One wonders exactly how hard it was to be a guardian angel in the Garden of Eden but apparently they were needed. Of all the Angels, the Asharu loved Humanity the most and were dedicated to making sure no harm came to them. This dedication caused them no small amount of grief as they knew humans would never know how much they loved and protected them. Their boss Lailah sided with God in the Great Debate but a lot of the Asharu joined the rebels. This ended up really costing Humanity as they were the ones who kept Humanity immortal and the Asharu's part in the Rebellion ended up making Humans able to die. The took this development.. poorly. Their Lores were the Lore of the Firmament, Lore of Awakening, and Lore of the Winds.

• The Fiends(formerly the Neberu, the House of Spheres)

The Neberu were the seers but unlike the old "gypsy" fortuneteller that suckers waste their money on, they actually could see the future. They also were in charge of the movement of the heavens and the flow of time. They were the most distant from Humanity and joined the Rebellion in fewer numbers and with more reluctance then other Houses. Which is ironic as it was one of their number, Arhimal, who caused the Rebellion by foretelling that a great catastrophe would come to Humanity if the Angels did not act. Of course, because Fate is a spiteful bitch, the catastrophe was caused by the Angels acting. Their Lores were the Lore of Patterns, Lore of Light, and Lore of Portals.

• The Devourers(formerly the Rabisu, the House of the Wilds)

The nature loving animal activists of the Angels. These guys weren't your soft patchouli smelling tree hugger types though, they were the old school nature red in tooth and claw breed. The Rabisu created all the lower animals, ecosystems, and plant life and were charged with protecting them and Humanity from them. They designed the human form and considered it the pinnacle of their creations(I wonder what they would think of fat acceptance?). They followed Lucifer with slavish loyalty during the rebellion and took his defeat the hardest. Which is probably why so many of them are raging blood crazed Raveners in modern times. Their Lores were the Lore of the Wild, Lore of Beasts, and Lore of the Flesh(Slaanesh approves).

• The Malefactors(formerly the Annunkai, the House of the Fundament)

The Annunkai were the builders and craftsmen of Heaven and Hell, responsible for building the physical world and mastering the arts of the forge and working with metals of any kind. They faced the classic STEM major's dilemma, they wanted to understand and be loved by Humanity but were terrible at things like "Emotion" or "Social Skills". It wasn't their fault, they were just made to understand how the physical world and machines worked and fit together. Not how to socialize with primitive cavemen. Lead by Toguiel, over half joined the Rebellion because they were dissatisfied that their work on Creation was cut off before they felt it was done and to try to earn the love of Humanity. In Modern Times many Annunkai RAGE at humans for buttfucking the planet they put so much effort into making, and thus desire to 'cleanse' the Earth so that it may be healed and repaired. Their Lores were the Lore of the Forge, Lore of Paths, and Lore of Paths.

• The Slayers(formerly the Halaku, the House of the Second World/Afterlife/Death)

The Halaku were the Grim Reapers of the Angels. While this sounds badass and you would think that they would be be respected and feared by their brethren for their awesome power over life and death, it turned out more like being the acne ridden goth kid in high school that no one likes. The other Angels resented and disliked the Slayers for even existing and shunned them at every opportunity. The Halaku themselves were unsure of their purpose as God had cryptically mentioned a Second World they were to be vital to but as always was infuriatingly vague and smugly silent about the whole deal. They loved Humanity just as fiercely as the other houses and were pretty emo that Adam and Eve would cry and curse them for reaping their pets and such. This sadness lead a great number of the Halaku into joining the Rebellion even if their leader Usiel was too wishy washy to join. One of their number named Madisel was the one who gave Lucifer her scythe so he could defend himself against Michael in the first time a Angel raised hand against another. Their Lores were the Lore of Death(bet you saw that one coming), Lore of Realms, and Lore of Spirit.

• The Devils(formerly the Namaru, the House of the Dawn)

The very first House and therefore very first Angels made by God, these guys are the leaders of both Angels and Demons, Lucifer unsurprisingly came from this House and half rebelled against God. As leaders they are extremely charismatic and possess great powers of persuasion and manipulation. They are the most stereotypical Demon, commanding control over Fire and being very powerful.

Happy New Year!

The year 1999 was a major turning point for the setting of WOD. Due to all the magical shenanigans caused by werewolves, vampires, ghosts,etc. The magical backlash resulted in a spiritual storm in the Afterlife, which has weakened the walls of the Abyss allowing the Fallen Elohim to escape and for the first time in millenia walk the Earth. What they do with their new lives is up to you the PC.

Important Aspects of being a Demon

Possession As they are spiritual beings Demons can only interact with Humans if they possess one. They usually pick humans who have little hold on their souls, coma patients, drug addicts, etc. They then possess the body, pushing the human soul into the background and gaining not only the human's body, but memories and emotions. These things not only serve as a barrier to protect the Demon from the memories of the Torment in Hell, but help rekindle what they used to be and even become more human. For instance if their host had a very strong emotion regarding a person, object or location the Demon will adopt it for his own to get a better understanding of life on Earth.

Faith Is the mana that Demons need to use their magic. When they were Angels this power-source came from God, since they are now rebels they have been cut off and now must draw out that power by utilizing humans, because all Humans who were made in His image retain a spark of his power in their immortal souls. The more human followers or thralls a demon has, the more Faith he gets and the stronger he becomes.

Torment After being subjected to countless millenia of torture and horror, the Fallen Elohim have been reduced to Demons. The more evil the demon acts on Earth the more Torment he accumulates, this can be both good and bad as it grants both strengths and weaknesses.

Factions

Being a diverse group of beings, the Fallen have had a long time to think in the Abyss, and over time various factions have emerged which represent their opinions on God, Mankind, the World and themselves. Upon possessing a host Demons usually seek out their own kind and join these factions, which are in a sense political parties for the Damned.

Cryptics The Cryptics have used their time in Hell to think. They feel that if God is omniscient, then his creations would be as perfect as reality would allow, and since Lucifer was God's highest angel, then his rebellion was a part of God's plan. The philosophers of the Fallen, the Cryptics gather knowledge to determine what is really going on and what they should do next. They dislike the Luciferans and the Faustians, approve of the Reconcilers asking questions, and dislike Raveners' destructive tendencies. They were initially to be called 'Inquisitors', but this was changed during production, although there are occasional references to them under this name in some books due to editing errors.

Faustians The Faustians lust for revenge against God, whom they believe unjustly exiled them from Heaven. Even without the leadership of Lucifer, they still try to awaken the human race to its true potential, but only so humanity can be used as a potent weapon in yet another war against Heaven. The plots and intentions of a Faustian are often as subtle as they are dangerous. They have no patience for the Cryptics, their goals are directly opposite to those of the Raveners, Reconcilers can be friend or foe, and they can work with Luciferans.

Luciferans The Luciferans still believe that Lucifer was right to rebel against God. Even though Lucifer cannot be found, they still follow what they feel to be his directives. Their leadership has divided them into three legions: the Legion of Majestic Liberation (who are searching for and attempting to free Lucifer), the Legion of Glorious Victory (who were organized to fight the Heavenly Host, but found no angels to oppose them), and the Legion of Stark Defiance (who secure supplies, resources, and safe havens for the rest of the faction). They dislike the Cryptics, can work with Faustians, consider the Reconcilers to be traitors, and consider Raveners to be enemies.

Raveners The nihilistic Raveners look at the broken world and wasted potential of humanity and believe there's only one option left: destroy everything. Some see it as a way to finally lure out God and his Angels; others see it as an act of mercy to a near-dead world; and many just don't care at all. They are enemies with all the other factions of demons, though they can tolerate the Cryptics (as the Raveners assume they will eventually stop asking questions and start breaking stuff).

Reconcilers The Reconcilers have used their time in Hell to reconsider their actions and the punishment that God meted out to them. Many have come to the conclusion that they were punished justly and that they must atone for their misdeeds; others simply feel that there is no point in continuing to fight a war they lost long ago against an omnipotent enemy. Now that they are free they wish to do some good, thinking that God might forgive them and allow them to return to Heaven. Even if he won't they might be able to help the humans, even fix things so the humans can have what they themselves can't. They are on good terms with the Cryptics and the Faustians, but are diametrically opposed to the goals of the Luciferans and the Raveners.