Corporeal Forces: 3
Strength: 6
Agility: 6
Ethereal Forces: 4
Intelligence: 8
Precision: 8
Celestial Forces: 6
Will: 12
Perception: 12
Word-Forces: 6
Skills: Detect Lies/2, Dodge/5, Emote/5, Fighting/2,
Knowledge (Erotica/6, Psychology/4), Move Silently/3,
Ranged Weapon (pistol/2), Small Weapons (Knife/5,
Whip/6)
Songs: Attraction (Ethereal/2), Empathy (All/1), Form
(Celestial/3), Hysteria/6, Nightmares (All/3), Opening
(Celestial/2), Revulsion (Ethereal2), Self
(Ethereal/2), Sensation (Ethereal/3), Shields
(Corporeal/2), Sleep (Corporeal/1), Tongues
(Ethereal/2)
Attunements: Habbalite of Lust, Angel of S u b
limation
Angel of S u b limation: With a Will roll Tahariel may
effectively turn Lust into some other emotion. The
Lust doesn't actually disappear, of course: it just
gets expressed differently. Those with the Lustful
Discord/Disadvantage will have it turned into some
other Celestial Discord/Disadvantage of the same level
(chosen by Tahariel): those without must make a Will
Roll at -1 to avoid acting towards sexual stimuli in a
manner chosen by the Habbalite. The condition lasts
for 24 hours: if Tahariel chooses to reinforce the
condition, the target must also roll once per day
against unmodified Will. If the target ever rolls
seven straight daily failures in a row, the condition
is permanent.
Note that Tahariel also uses this ability on himself:
indeed, he must...
Rites: Burn a pile of salacious materials.
Discord: Lustful/6
The dichotomy between what Habbalah think that they
are doing, and what they actually are doing is rarely
in starker contrast than in Tahariel's case.
This particular Habbalite is firmly convinced that his
God-given task is to destroy concupiscence in mortals
- or, failing that, to suppress it. Sex is
disgusting, you see: physically, morally and
spiritually disgusting. It defiles everything it
touches, and it touches everything in human society.
There's sexual imagery everywhere, both overt and
covert (Tahariel is perceptive enough to see the
disguised sexual messages lurking in the most unlikely
of places, like trees and clouds). It keeps slipping
its way into human souls and minds, making them weak
and despicable. Yes, humans would be just filthy
animals anyway, constantly obsessing over filthy
animal things, but it's the job of angels to keep them
from going too far.
Angels like Tahariel. He finds those individuals ruled
by their depravities (and there's never, ever a
shortage of them), and convinces them to find a
healthier method of emotional release. Well,
healthier from the Habbalite's point of view: the
talking monkeys invariably end up exhibiting behavior
patterns that the deluded and sentimental might find
distasteful. There are more than a few serial killers
and fanatical inquisitors (of various types) out there
that got their start from a meeting with Tahariel, but
at least they're not fornicating any more. Nothing
could be worse than fornication.
That's what he thinks he is. Tahariel actually is one
of Andrealphus' experiments. The Beautiful Prince has
always been fascinated with the ability of individual
humans to use Lust to power obsessions other than the
pleasures of the flesh. Andrealphus doesn't much see
the point of not using Lust for the purpose for which
it was intended, but that's not the same thing as
denying that the condition cannot happen. Tahariel
was created to examine the phenomenon.
As an experiment, Tahariel has provided mixed results.
On the one hand, the people that he 'helps' certainly
do exhibit Lust, even if it powers activities that are
not normally associated with the Word. There's a
certain savor to those particular souls, too: a taste
and smell to their emotions that isn't present in
those that had unabashedly given in to their lusts on
Earth. It's not a drink that Andrealphus would want
to drink every day, but it does make a nice change,
now and again. The Prince has also always recognized
that having strong repressive forces in a society is a
potent fertilizer for his Word. Properly primed,
Tahariel is good at producing that fertilizer.
On the other hand, Andrealphus' regular minions loathe
the Habbalite. Wise Servitors of Lust keep their
favorite pets (or current projects) far, far away from
his reach: Tahariel finds them prime candidates for
his services. Indeed, only the fact that the
Beautiful Prince has given fairly strict orders to the
contrary has kept the Habbalah from being quietly
murdered by his own side. This loathing certainly
keeps him from being promoted (although, seeing as
Tahariel doesn't really understand who he's really
working for, that isn't much of a limitation). The
Host knows about him, too: in fact, he's been on the
verge of being formally put on the Order of the
Eternal Sword's list for about two centuries now. One
more major success will probably do it - and the Order
will be amazed at how many Servitors of Lust will
cheerfully volunteer information on Tahariel's last
whereabouts. All in all, while the experiment has
given valuable results, it will probably end with the
Habbalite.
Which is a shame. Andrealphus, on those rare
occasions where he requires Tahariel's attentions,
finds that the failed sublimation of the
Habbalite's essentially Lustful nature is the tastiest
of all. Tahariel can't channel his own Lust into
something else, when it comes to the Beautiful Prince.
He has to feel it, and loathe it, and want it anyway,
and loathe himself for that want...
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