The Vigilantes

By James Walker

**Flaming
Feather**

Saminga gets the majority of Fallen Mercurians. Given that they normally Fell through offering violence to humans, this isn't surprising. Nor is it surprising that they remember why they Fell.

The Vigilantes are an organisation of Impudites of Death whose goal is to persuade humans to solve their problems violently. As most of them are Fallen Mercurians, they usually have excellent social skills and Roles and can 'make a difference'. A battered wife; a police officer who knows a criminal who will never be committed; the victim of a crime; a jilted lover - any of these people can be targeted by the Vigilantes. Although the Vigilantes can and do take matters into their own hands, after a century of so most of them rely on persuading humans to kill their enemies themselves. After all, if the Vigilante kills a wife basher, there's a better than even chance that she'll just find a new abuser; if she kills him herself, she'll be required by the courts to see a psychiatrist (whether she goes to jail or not) and there is hope that her life will actually improve.

Usually, the problems the Vigilante help humans 'solve' are ones that Heaven would want fixed - most Vigilantes are Heaven-born, after all. This tends to complicate matters for the angels sent to oppose them. Even when an angel decides to kill a Vigilante they are often surprised to find that the Vigilante doesn't hold a grudge - and may even criticise the angel for taking so long to attack! Combining Heavenly hatred of evil with Saminga's love of Death, Vigilantes approve of angels who try to kill them - it's what they'd do if they were still angels. They tend to laugh at Redemption attempts - 'where's the point?' they ask. Sure, if they could fledge as, say, a Malakite - then Redemption would be an idea. But to return to being a Mercurian would mean that they'd just be a waste of space - belonging to a choir that was made obsolete by the Fall. To do anything useful, they need to remain Impudites of Death. And you'll try and kill us for that? Good. Killing is the only way to improve the world.

Although the Vigilantes will fight angels (especially if the angels are trying to get humans to use non-violent solutions to their problems "you're just encouraging them to weasel out of DOING anything! As long as you dangle false hopes in front of them they'll never take the plunge and SOLVE the problem!) they prefer to kill either humans or enemy demons. They've racked up an incredible total of 'kills' on Lust, and an impressive total against The Game, Factions, Nightmares, The Media and Technology.

Any Vigilante targeted by The Game will first attempt to bribe them with information useable against demons of other targeted Words (or by killing a demon who The Gamesters would rather collect from trauma) - if that fails, the Gamesters will 'disappear'. They're careful to make the deal worth the Gamesters while - otherwise The Game is will start avenging their slain members.

The favourite targets of the Vigilantes are Lust and Factions. Both Words create the problems which the Vigilantes seek to solve; both are outright enemies of Saminga. Nightmares is targeted when a human is simply to afraid to kill someone, The Media if the Vigilantes aren't impressed with the quality of the publicity they get. Technology tends to be incidental, caused when humans need to get rid of unpleasant technology - whether pollution (noise seems to attract the most ire), suspected surveillance or bad technical support.

Before they Fell: Vigilantes tend to have been Friends of Stone, Flowers, Creation, Fire, Animals or Children. Friends of The Sword tend to serve Baal, those of War or Destiny tend to serve Dark Humor - however, the Vigilantes are starting to accept members from Allied Words. Nonetheless, the Heavenly Words have had an impact on the Vigilantes. The organisation is as tight knit as any brotherhood of Stone; cruelty to children or animals will bring the entire organisation down on the offenders head; and a contact point for the Vigilantes will usually be in a funeral parlour filled with flowers. Saminga doesn't seem to have noticed, being more interested in the (commendable) slaughter the group causes.

**Flaming
Feather**

Back to the INC Mainpage.
Back to the Settings page.

Send mail to the Curator