Elizabeth, Blessed Soul

By Moe Lane

**Flaming
Feather**

Corporeal Forces: 2
Strength: 4
Agility: 4
Ethereal Forces: 3
Intelligence: 7
Precision: 5
Celestial Forces: 3
Will: 7
Perception: 5

Skills: Artistry/1 (poetry), Emote/5, Knowledge (British History/4, How to Rule a Patriarchal Society Without Becoming a Figurehead/6, Literature/1, Politics/4), Languages (French/1, Latin/1, Spanish/1), Savoir Faire/6, Seduction/1, Singing/1

The traditional problem regarding rich people, Heaven, a camel and the eye of a needle is even worse when the rich person in question happens to be a fairly-absolute ruler in life who had to do quite a few unpleasant things for the greater good. Fortunately for Elizabeth, her Fate would have been to die a penniless exile whose actions had destroyed her country, while her Destiny was to inspire a great work of poetry, so things pretty much worked out satisfactorily. The worst part was trying to find some meaningful way to apologize to Sir Walter Raleigh about her choice of heir... but Elizabeth managed, somehow. Actually, she made it look easy - but then, she always did.

Elizabeth fairly quickly gravitated into Stone's human organization, and has stayed there to this day. For the most part, she works with the Granite Madams as an advisor on human psychology, specializing in the field of how to properly handle males without them ever quite noticing. She also regularly teaches a course in practical politics that routinely attracts individuals who do not serve David: her teaching style can be fairly dry, and Elizabeth is a merciless grader, but the combination of innate experience and diligent post-mortem study makes her classes quite popular.

In her copious free time, Elizabeth keeps in regular contact with several other blessed souls who happened to be crowned heads of state in their lifetimes. There is, of course, an ulterior motive (beyond the simple need for companionship): Elizabeth is of the firm opinion that monarchy is a necessary and useful form of government, and wishes to encourage its resurgence on the corporeal plane. To be sure, today this would probably mean some sort of constitutional monarchy (no sense in wasting talent), but the blessed soul has a dim view of any sort of government that has no mechanism for a firm, prompt action to a crisis, and monarchy has the best track record for that sort of thing. She also recognizes that such a program requires allies, which is one reason why she enjoys good relations with Blessed Churchill (and his own organization). He has wide access to all sorts of ears: she has a similar influence within Stone. Arrangements can be made.

The afterlife has had several beneficial effects on Elizabeth: she has essentially worked through her vanity and put aside her suspicious nature with a deep sigh of relief. However, she remains flirtatious (in a seemly manner, of course) and is perhaps still a bit too conscious of her dignity. Woe to the entity who pushes Elizabeth too far; she remains quite good at verbally flaying the presumptuous (the pithiness of her retorts are legendary among Servitors of Stone). Aside from this, the blessed soul is still fairly easy to get along with; civility and courtesy goes a long way with her. The possession of artistic talent goes a bit longer, though: Elizabeth is always ready to make allowances for a good poet or dramatist.

One final thing that should be noted: one of the major reasons why Elizabeth has stayed in the lower Heavens to this day is simply because she remains fascinated - completely, totally fascinated - with the Archangel of Stone. After seventy years of careful, constant maneuvering around male vanity, male preconceptions, male sheer bloody-mindedness, it was quite the relief to encounter a being with penultimate power, but without gender biases of any kind. Not that Elizabeth has ever demonstrated this fascination in public, or ever plans to.

Occasional scraps of half-finished poetry don't count.

**Flaming
Feather**

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