"So, Why Does A Nature Archangel Give A Flying Leap About Violence, Anyway?"

By Maurice Lane (moelane_1999@yahoo.com)

**Flaming
Feather**

Novalis has a tough job: one of the toughest, in fact.

The central fact of the War is that Heaven is fighting Hell for control of creation. Hell consists of entities that have, for one reason or another, decided to oppose themselves to the will of their Creator. Whether it be pride, weakness, or simply ignorance, every demon can be assumed to be committed to their own vision of Creation, at everyone else's expense. Even their friends'. Even their Superior's. This is an alien viewpoint for angels: those who manage to embrace it tend to Fall.

Worse, demons are users. Even the best of them discount the feelings of those weaker than them -- and humans are almost always weaker. The worst of them kill, loot, rape and corrupt their way across the corporeal realm, taking delight in destruction for selfish reasons or no real reason at all. In other words, they are considered creatures steeped in evil.

It's so damned easy for Servitors of David or Laurence or Michael. They can simply divide the universe into Us, Them, and Clueless, and get right on with eliminating Them. Their Superiors have granted them the boon of black-and-white thinking. Even Michael, the subtlest of the three, has fallen into this trap: while he might use questionable or non-aligned assets, he'll never trust them, unless they formally align themselves with Heaven (if they can). The war faction has picked a very simple, and terrifyingly direct, methodology for winning.

Novalis can't be so indulgent of her celestial limitations. Nothing and nobody is ever that simple. Even the most abjectly corrupt and depraved demon has a weak spot, a flaw in his or her mindset that can be used to drag the demon out of the Abyss. Someone has to act on this belief: the Host has too many angels that Smite their way through problems without thinking, and needs those with enough moral courage to trust that their Cause Is Right, and not just The Cause That They Happened To Join.

This is why Novalis prohibits unnecessary violence. Not because she hates the sight of blood, or because she believes in some tripe about how all you need is Love. If she honestly believed that, she wouldn't allow her Servitors to fight at all. Novalis discourages violence because it's too easy. Those who use it as a universal solution are, in her opinion, showing a deep-seated uncertainty in either their cause or their judgement. In other words, they show a fundamental weakness.

And there is no room for the weak in Novalis' front lines.

**Flaming
Feather**

Back to the INC Mainpage.
Back to the Resources page.

INC maintained by Chris Anthony <edg@sjgames.com>
Angel of Information Dissemination
Page edited by Casca <ebertish@techemail.com>
Seraph of Archives