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 (after some drama involving Lilith getting tossed out), 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 for whatever reason was never sent down himself and has roamed the Earth alone ever since. And that was the last anyone heard from the Fallen, until......

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 millennia walk the Earth. What they do with their new lives is up to the PCs and storyteller.

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 an 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 Firmament)

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" fortune-teller 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 the Earth.

• 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 bothered that Adam and Eve would cry and curse them for reaping their pets and such when they just wanted to do their jobs in peace like everyone else were. 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. Their Lores were the Lore of Flames, Lore of Radiance and Lore of the Celestials.

Lores

Essentially the Disciplines of the Demons; their magical powers. Lores are interesting in the sense that there are typically two versions of all powers: one for Low-Torment Demons and one for High-Torment Demons. The former tend to be more benevolent and fit for doing the tasks their houses were once up to, such as healing injuries or shaping the earth, while the latter is more malevolent and damaging. Using the High-Torment versions of the Lores grant Temporary Torment, but sometimes it might be worth it. If you become too far lost in Torment you may start using the High-Torment versions automatically which is bad unless you don't care about turning into an Earthbound.

Lore of Longing: What the Defilers use when they wanna be muses. It ranges from reading emotions to being able to create obsessions. The High-Torment abilities typically put a dark twist on everything; reading emotions becomes drawing out dark desires, inspiring with great creativity turns genius to madness and manipulating senses are restricted to agony.

Lore of Storms: The Defilers were Angels of the Oceans and this is what they used for it. Ranges from being able to create water with a thought to invoking huge storms befitting of the name. High-Torment versions tend to make everything worse; someone who likes stormy weather will find that the storms they make are specifically out to damage everything around them rather than being just a force of nature, water they create becomes polluted and can create chemical burns and so on.

Lore of Transfiguring: Chameleon: The Power. Allows you to change your physical features in a slightly more effective, if cosmetic, way than the Tzimisce can. Unlike the Lore of Flesh, they cannot say add a bunch of arms or replace limbs; they can only make it seem like they had. High-Torment tend to either make it difficult to perform without strict focus or it invariably creates some manner of deformity in the victim whether the Demon wants to do it or not.

Lore of Awakening: The Scourges were originally designed, among other things, to ease human's sufferings. Some eyebrow raising on how they were meant to do that without interacting with said humans aside, this is the Lore they would use for it, capable of purging illnesses, healing injures and even resurrect at top-tier. The High-Torment versions venerate Nurgle and creates diseases, pain etc rather than curing it.

Lore of the Firmament: What the Scourges do to look at you when you shower. This allows them to see through the eyes or speak through the mouth of their thralls (see below) to scrying and being at multiple places at once. The High-Torment versions are largely identical but tend to have very nasty effects for the thrall such as bleeding from the eyes and ears or cause brain damages and so on.

Lore of the Winds: Pretty easy to guess what this does. You get to control wind! Ranges from making casual breezes that can help you pick up speed to creating massive cyclones or solidifying air into instant-walls. The High-Torment versions actively damages those it touches and smells very badly; for example touching a High-Torment air-wall will sear the flesh on your hand and a cyclone might start draining the air from your lungs even at a distance.

Lore of Light: Think 'Light' in the more scientific sense of the word and you're right on. Ranges from, unsurprisingly, creating light to being able to form optical illusions and even to a degree solidifying light itself and hamper people. High-Torment makes it fear-inducing, mind fuckering and, in the case of the 'solidifying light' one, makes said light lash out against anything getting too close.

Lore of Patterns: What the Fiends used to see the future. Ranges from that to being able to influence it and downright twist time at top-tier (which is the actual name for the ability). High-Torment becomes very obsessed with negative outcomes and may either just show that or actively push towards one even where there otherwise would be none.

Lore of Portals: Take a wild guess. No really. (It creates Portals) Can also make wards on their portals to keep others out. When induced with High-Torment the wards don't restrict invaders but do induce a shitload of pain on them, portals aren't opened but rather smashed or ripped open which might cause damage to anything too close when one is brought up or down, and the powers in general become less reliable.

Lore of the Beast: Animalism with a small spice of Protean in it for Demons. Allows you to summon, command, possess and become animals. The top-tier allows you to make mythical beasts. High-Torment, unsurprisingly, makes either them or you violent. Go figure.

Lore of the Flesh: Think the same vein as the Tzimisce with Vicissitude. Wanna alter appearance? Can do. Fix up some nerves, add body parts or make bodily functions, ranging from sneezing to adrenaline surges to boners trigger? All there and possible. Has about the same amount of practical freedom as Vicissitude. The High-Torment makes nerve-fuckery straining on the victim, appearances inhuman and scary and new limbs potentially strangle whatever they're attached to, or otherwise lash out against those around said victim. Not the sort you want plastic surgeries from.

Lore of the Wilds: Power over plants to various extents, ranges from the casual to rapid growth, possession and mutations. Guess what High-Torment does with that.

Lore of Paths: Have you ever wanted to be a walking GPS? Maybe make some new paths when the outline of a neighbourhood or wilderness tries to force you through a long and tedious detour? NOW YOU CAN! You can also hide or warp paths, the latter meaning "change their directions." High-Torment ranges from getting in the way of the abilities to making them more dangerous. For example, instead of concealing a path, you set a trap. Instead of removing a path, you collapse it and so on.

Lore of the Earth: Not much more original than the name suggests. Meld into the earth early and causes earthquakes late. The High-Torment versions of the abilities are for the most part useful additions unless you're not trying to hurt someone by rupturing the ground beneath them, but can be a bit risky. High-Torment Earth Meld for example allows you to move beneath the ground, which you cannot normally do, but if you fail the roll you're forced back to the surface.

Lore of the Forge: Allows you to create and enhance objects to whatever effects. Maybe a tad boring on the surface but doubtlessly useful with the right mind behind it; a pencil that can double as a flamethrower might come in handy in a place like the World of Darkness, as could a secret drawer only you can open. The High-Torment of this Lore basically turns it into a Dark Mechanicus sort of deal where everything becomes weaponized and out to harm or kill everything it interacts with, possibly including the wielder.

Lore of Death: Ranges from the standard applications life, decaying objects and seeing how someone died to creating images of death in their enemies to traumatize them and creating zombies under the Slayer's command. We're not even on the High-Torment versions yet by the way; that tends to spiral the powers out of control. For example, trying to kill a specific individual becomes difficult because nearly all of your powers becomes Area of Effect and start fucking with everything nearby, including the likes of grass and house cats, and zombies becomes feral. A High-Torment Demon trying to see how someone dies can only see it if the person died violently.

Lore of Realms: Pretty much the ability to go into the Underworld where the Ghosts hang out, or what's left of it after the Sixth Maelstrom. High-Torment tend to create ripples where Spirits get through and/or agonize said Spirits and cause unsettling effects on both side of the realms they travel between.

Lore of the Spirit: Slayers use this to interact with Ghosts and Spirits, whether that means simply speaking with them, commanding them or helping them possess a soulless husk like the Demons themselves do. High-Torment may either spread the Demon's Torment onto the Ghost or cause suffering when trying to anchor them to the mortal world.

Lore of Flame: Also no more original than the name implies. You can play with fire. Top-Tier lets you ride flames. High-Torment makes the fires more dangerous, possibly to the Demon itself as well.

Lore of Radiance: What the Devils use to look glorious and appear powerful and like 'the leader'. Abilities ranges from thundering voice to creating instant morale (or terror) or bestow Marks upon people, an example given being "('Let every man give him shelter no matter where he travels.'). The number of successes achieved determines the potency and the effectiveness of the mark." High-Torment makes the Devils look terrorizing and demonic rather than majestic and angelic and turns their inspiration from say loyalty and morale to violence and fear.

Lore of the Celestials: You know when an Angel appears to you in a vision? Or when they smite evil with holy fire? This is that Lore. They can also to some extent manipulate their fellow Demon's Lores at top-tier by modifying outcomes to whatever effect which their others tend to be pissed about. High-Torment tend to do what you'd expect; their visions become terror, manipulating other's Lores becomes sending them flying back at the caster and where Low-Torment casts bolts of holy fire, High-Torment becomes a huge inferno of holy fire which inflicts Aggravated Damage on everything in the radius.

Lore of Humanity: This is a Common Lore rather than a House-specific Lore needless to say built around interacting with humans. The first power allows you to speak and understand any language the one you talk to speak and top-tier lets you alter people's memories. High-Torment either hamper the Demon's ability to use this Lore properly or adds nasty side effects to the person by making them anxious, insomniac or induce nightmares. The third ability, Fade, normally makes you blend in with crowds without anyone taking notice, but for High-Torments they stand out like beacons to anyone who really wants to bash some heads.

Lore of the Fundament: Another Common Lore consisting of the ability to fuck with gravity and/or the laws of physics. You can for example make yourself capable of running up walls, sticking to things like glue or walk on water. High-Torment tend to either leave the effects lingering for anyone else unfortunate enough to come across it or create demonic "I was here" marks such as warm footprints that burns.

Earthbound Lores are notable in that they did not originate from God but rather were developed by the Earthbounds themselves in their quest to rule/ruin creation somewhere after getting tossed in the Abyss. As a result of that, the Earthbound Lores do not have a Low-Torment version of their abilities but always cause utter agony upon everything they touch. The Earthbounds themselves are already lost to Torment, but a Fallen using them would automatically cause Torment spikes everytime. Mind you, the Earthbound are rather protective about their Lores and are unlikely to share them without trading say, your True Name.

Lore of Chaos: The ability to massively fuck shit up quickly, randomly and in true 40k Warp fashion. Ranges from violating the laws of reality by making houses cry blood or make people's reflections try to bite them to summoning fuck knows what from fuck knows where to mess shit up. Notable in that everything they do is very real and not, in fact, an illusion.

Lore of Contamination: More long-term and probably more controlled than the Lore of Chaos. Ranges from tainting the land and putting it under the Earthbound's control as if it was its body to corrupting objects, shooting its essence into people to make them die of agony and so on. Fun stuff.

Lore of Violation: Notable that the second power in this is literally called 'Mind Rape' to give you an idea of what the theme is. And it's not talking about rape in the kinky sense either. Ranges from sending nightmares to enslaving people to devouring their souls either for Faith or temporary stat increases. Scary in theory but more tame than the other two Earthbound Lores.

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. There are two major ways of doing this: Reaping and Pacting. The former involves revealing yourself as a supernatural entity to others beyond the shadow of a doubt and harvest their belief of "holy shit you're real" into Faith, something that tends to piss the Camarilla (Vampires) and Technocrats (Mages) off majorly in addition to attracting hunters and the latter involves bargaining with the mortal in question into binding themselves to you in return for some manner of boon or service which will regularly grant the Demon faith from the mortal who becomes a so-called 'Thrall' in much the same vein as the Vampire's Ghouls. Unlike what that suggests, they have a section in the corebook about how Demons, in fact, don't steal souls because souls are pretty worthless things to have. Your body may or may not be another thing entirely if the Demon needs a spare however.

Torment: After being subjected to countless millennia 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. In game mechanic terms, you typically have to fill out a bar of Temporary Torment before you gain a dot of Permanent Torment, the former which can be ridded by doing good and selfless deeds and the latter with experience, though Permanent Torment is hardcapped at 1. You gain Torment in both shapes by being evil. Fill out the bar to Permanent Torment 10 and you'll become an Earthbound; nolonger able to take on living host and must instead bind yourself to objects such as trees or monuments etc; attempting something living will kill it within the span of maybe an hour tops. In short, it's not meant for players to indulge and is typically answered with a "game over" akin to when Vampires lose all their Humanity/Path of Enlightenment score and become a mindless beast.

Supernatural Awareness: Demons are inherently attuned to the fabric of reality and they're sensitive to energies and influences beyond the awareness of mortals. Players can make a Perception + Awareness rolls for Demons to get a "feel" of the supernatural qualities of a given area. A hospital room might emanate a sense of pain and loss, imprinted by the emotions of the patients and doctors who've struggled and died within its walls. An otherwise unassuming basement might reek of the foul rituals performed there days before. Additionally, an alert Demon can sense the use of supernatural energies within their general vicinity. The fabric of reality distorts momentarily when powers are used, and Demon can feel the ripples caused by this brief disturbance. Highly perceptive Demons can draw extensive information from these ripples, gaining a sense of where the supernatural event took place. Yes that was a copy-paste. Sue me.

Names: Demons all have three names: Host Name, Celestial Name and True Name. The middle one tend to be "angel-styled" such as 'Michael' or 'Rafael' etc while their True Names are eldritch and nearly unpronounceable. Knowing someone's Celestial Name gives you an uncomfortable catalyst by which to reach or empower effects of supernatural funsies you may wanna use against them and knowing someone's True Name gives you heavy amounts of influence over them letting you easily hold them by a leash, so long as you're careful with keeping a steady grip and close track of said leash. Host Names, if you didn't figure, are the names of the people whose identity Demons steal when possessing someone.

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.