The world? It needs hope and inspiration. Just do it with style.
No one should have been surprised when the Day of Finality came to pass. Really. It had been building ever since the Fall. But the speed with which Blandine and Beleth turned their Cold War in the Marches into a hot one stunned Heaven and Hell.
It all started when one of Saminga's Impudites gave him a "bright" idea during a debriefing session. The Impudite mentioned to his Dread Prince that it might be easier to rachet up the kill ratio if people started dying in their sleep. After all, sleeping people spend so much time breathing and living even as they sleep. Wouldn't it be better to make them stop completely? Naturally, Saminga thought this was a great idea. So great that he gave the Impudite the Corporeal and Celestial Songs of Dreams and told him to consider his next mission a test. If the Impudite, Mushi, could pull off a workable scheme to frighten sleepers to death, he'd get to be a Knight of the Dead. If he failed, he'd be fodder for Abaddon.
It took Mushi a few weeks to get things set up, but when he did, he acted with uncharacteristic (for Death) intelligence. The few demons he got to infilitrate the Marches with him used props from Shal-Mari angelporn shops and the Celestial Song of Form. They appeared in the Marches from Earth (using the Corporeal Song of Dreams), and masqueraded as angels of Dreams trying to invade the Dark Side of the Marches. As time passed and Saminga became more supportive of the idea, he sent more and more demons to assist Mushi (now a Knight), until it seemed that a veritable army of Dream Servitors was invading at once. Blandine was largely unaware of it all as it occurred on the Dark Side of the Marches. She was aware when Beleth mounted a major offensive into the Light Side of the Marches. Neither side was aware of Saminga's demons, slipping into dreamscapes during the chaos and frightening people to death.
Once war was joined in the Marches, things soon escalated beyond the point where either Laurence or Baal could moderate matters. While this was all going on, Valefor decided to steal something from Heaven. Anything would do, so long as he could get the credit. His real prize was something way more valuable than Michael's Axe or Dominic's Cloak. He wanted to steal Heaven's very sense of security and ease right from under its nose. That would be a theft worthy of the Prince of Theft. He had it all timed. He knew when the guards on the back door into Heaven would be rotating, he knew when Zadkiel (standing sentry in these troubled times) would leave the watch to one of her senior staff to attend to important business, all of it. The one thing he didn't know was Blandine and Beleth's personal timetable.
Just as he crossed into the border between Dreams and Nightmares, the blow fell. The massive Symphonic jangling of two Superiors locked in mortal combat. The two former lovers had taken the field against each other, driven by extremes of passion and hurt, and all the Ethereal Realm felt the Symphonic beating from the showdown. This was no token battle, no show of fangs for the audience. This was the day when all the pain and hurt of the Archangel of Dreams and the Demon Princess of Nightmares made itself manifest. Even Valefor, fast as he was, was unable to clear the Marches before the final, titanic explosion ripped through his being and knocked all his manifestations unconscious.
Sometime later, the Demon Prince of Theft awoke in a cell inside the Celestial Tribunal, personally guarded by the Archangels of Protection, Judgment and the Sword. What was worse, someone had slapped several high-powered artifacts, handmade by Creation himself, onto Valefor, binding him into his vessel, binding his Will, preventing him from using his resonance, and even preventing him from using Essence for any reason! The Word-Dissonance of being in one place longer than three days (and the Light of Heaven) was eating away at him, leaving one very frustrated Calabite unable to express his feelings. A brutal (from his perspective) interrogation followed, attended by Janus of all people. It was enough to make him fume. Until Novalis came.
The Archangel of Flowers visited Valefor in his cell. At first she treated his injuries, but she kept trying to talk to him. Valefor at first was surly. Then he tried charm and flattery, and Valefor has always been charming. Novalis merely smiled and waited. When the Light of Heaven had dissolved Valefor to the point where desperation set in, she saw her words slowly but surely worm their way into the Demon Prince's selfish core. At first, he only considered her words of redemption and light in a selfish manner, as alternatives to destruction. She was patient. Flowers are patient things. It took months, and Valefor was running dangerously low on personal Forces when it happened, but it happened. One day, she visited his cell and a pitiful, crawling Calabite extended a claw and begged for forgiveness, for all the evil he had done. Novalis resonated him with the resonance of a Seraph and heard his words as True. She took his hand and let the Light of Heaven embrace Valefor. And the Light remade Valefor, into the angel he should have been.
But what no one expected was that when it was done, when the Calabite Prince of Theft was a shining Ofanite, no one expected that the soft but unmistakable presence of the Almighty would bestow the reborn Word of Dreams on the penitent. The Seraphim Council was astounded. Janus was mad enough to spit fire. But as Dominic told them, it was the will of God that the newly pentient Ofanite Archangel of Dreams sit amongst the Council, and thus, reluctantly, Valefor has been accepted into Heaven.
Dissonance
It is dissonant for the Servitors of Dreams to cause damage in a dreamscape. It is also dissonant to allow the theft of a mortal's hopes and inspiration if the angel can possibly help it.
Servitor Attunements
Seraphim: Valefor's Seraphim are charged with the inspiration of mortals. These Most Holy gain +2 to all attempts to use the Celestial Song of Dreams. Add another +1 if the Seraph is in a mortal's dreamscape. They must still purchase the Song as normal.
Cherubim (restricted): Unchanged from the canonical attunement. If it ain't broke...
Ofanim: Valefor loves being an Ofanite. The angels of motion who serve Dreams can sweep through the Ethereal Realm like a natural force, and as they do, the dreamscapes they pass through become extremely fluid. Mortals would experience the sensation of being in a wind-tunnel. The Ofanite moves at 2x their maximum rated Agility while in the Ethereal Realm.
Elohim: The Elohim of Dreams can sense the dominant emotions of those whose dreamscapes they are in, and can sense the best way to impose rationality on wild or frightening dreamscapes.
Malakim: Unchanged from canon. Valefor loves these guys, but he insists on certain dress codes for them. They have to be in style, after all, in case they inadvertently enter someone's dreamscape.
Kyriotates: Unchanged from canon. Blandine did have some pretty good ideas, even if they don't match Valefor's inimitable style.
Mercurians: Similar to the Mercurian of Flowers attunement, save for the fact that the effect only applies if a mortal sees a Mercurian in Celestial form within their dreamscape.
Servitor Attunements
Dream Walking: Unchanged from canon.
Chains of the Mind: The same as the Bounded in a Nutshell attunement. (Valefor: "Bounded in a Nutshell?! What was she on?!!")
Healing Dream: Unchanged from canon.
Nightmare Hunter: +2 to all attacks while in the Marches; add an additional +1 if the target is a hostile Ethereal or a former Servitor of Nightmares.
Imaginary Weapons: Malakim love this one. If an angel with this attunement is in a dreamscape when they engage in battle, they can turn anything within the dreamscape into a weapon, regardless of its original intent or function, the same as the Malakite of Creation attunement. And yes, Valefor is aware that he swiped this from Eli. No one said that redeeming a Thief would be easy...
Pool of Illuminated Thought: One of Valefor's new attunements. It enables an angel of Dreams to take a direct look into the memories and life of someone through their dreamscape. The effect only lasts for a number of minutes equal to the angel's Perception, however.
Distinctions
Vassal of the Dreamscapes: +2 to all uses of the Songs of Dreams.
Friend of the Inspired Dreamer: The same effect as Blandine’s canonical Vassal of Dreams attunement, save the effect is extended to 1000 yards.
Master of the Dreams of Light: In the corporeal presence of (or the dreamscape of) a mortal whose dreams have not been influenced in any way by a Celestial, the Master generates an aura of hope and positivism that boosts the mortal's Will by a number equal to that of the Master's Celestial Forces. These effects last for an hour, and in addition inspire a burst of creativity, hope, and good will that last for a number of hours equal to the angel's Will.
Special Distinctions
These Distinctions are given to those who perform well in Valefor's service.
Talent Agent: These angels recognize those with great creative potential when they enter the person's dreamscape on a successful Perception roll. These angels work closely with those of Creation, Lightning, and Destiny.
Tracker: On a Perception roll, these specialized angels pick up the direction of the closest Ethereal, Tsayad, or demon of Nightmares.
Rites
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