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The Centre Cannot Hold (Supernatural: Angel Quest) (Season 6 Divergence)

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King Arthur said:
Would this lead to not underestimating non-enemies outside of battle?

Cause just taking the capabilities of non-angelic/demonic beings seriously gets us like halfway to the Death lesson.
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Basically my take is that in addition to creating plot hooks for future character interactions each option for a mission gone wrong and resulting Lesson addresses a flaw of Bartholomew.

If you choose Rowena then Bartholomew got humiliated by a human with some magic tricks** which forces them to admit that even though an Angel is on paper OP that doesn't always translate to a martial win against 'Lesser' foes.

If you choose the failed negotiation with a Reaper option then Bartholomew is being forced to confront the fact Heaven's antics have built up bad blood, organisations etc aren't going to just fall in line now the appearance of Heaven as an invincible superpower has cracked. Subtlety is required going forward.

** This is a somewhat rude-dismissive way to go about thinking about a powerful witch with 300 + years of experience but that's kind of the point.
 
[X] Female
[X] The Angel was charged with arranging a meeting between Naomi and the entity known as Death, they managed to gain the ear of a Reaper servant of the Pale Horseman and exchanged stilted pleasantries at a war memorial in the French country side. The discussion fell apart when the Reaper made clear that Death did not answer to Heaven and bore some degree of grudge over being bound by the Archangels before the End of Days, a feat they could not repeat with Michael caged. The Lesson learned is that without that with the gloss of invincibility negotiation with groups outside of Angelic power systems is going to require a degree of finesse.

I don't really have a calculating logical reason for this vote, Death was just one of my favorite characters in Supernatural
 
[X] Female
[X] The Angel was charged with arranging a meeting between Naomi and the entity known as Death, they managed to gain the ear of a Reaper servant of the Pale Horseman and exchanged stilted pleasantries at a war memorial in the French country side. The discussion fell apart when the Reaper made clear that Death did not answer to Heaven and bore some degree of grudge over being bound by the Archangels before the End of Days, a feat they could not repeat with Michael caged. The Lesson learned is that without that with the gloss of invincibility negotiation with groups outside of Angelic power systems is going to require a degree of finesse.
 
Having thought a bit, I do like the idea of...we're not just picking a strength for Bartholomew, we're choosing weaknesses and flaws as well.

So the Failed Negotiations option gives us a Bartholomew who is capable of interacting with non angelic organizations in ways that aren't "COWER, BRIEF MORTALS" but also they have a temper and when they lose that temper they default to "I Will Simply Handle It, I Am Built Different", which is a combination that ought to lead to some interesting hooks and scenarios for the QM.
 
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[X] Female
[X] The Angel was charged with arranging a meeting between Naomi and the entity known as Death, they managed to gain the ear of a Reaper servant of the Pale Horseman and exchanged stilted pleasantries at a war memorial in the French country side. The discussion fell apart when the Reaper made clear that Death did not answer to Heaven and bore some degree of grudge over being bound by the Archangels before the End of Days, a feat they could not repeat with Michael caged. The Lesson learned is that without that with the gloss of invincibility negotiation with groups outside of Angelic power systems is going to require a degree of finesse.
 
[X] Female
[X] The Angel was charged with arranging a meeting between Naomi and the entity known as Death, they managed to gain the ear of a Reaper servant of the Pale Horseman and exchanged stilted pleasantries at a war memorial in the French country side. The discussion fell apart when the Reaper made clear that Death did not answer to Heaven and bore some degree of grudge over being bound by the Archangels before the End of Days, a feat they could not repeat with Michael caged. The Lesson learned is that without that with the gloss of invincibility negotiation with groups outside of Angelic power systems is going to require a degree of finesse.
 
[X] Male
[X] The Angel was charged with arranging a meeting between Naomi and the entity known as Death, they managed to gain the ear of a Reaper servant of the Pale Horseman and exchanged stilted pleasantries at a war memorial in the French country side. The discussion fell apart when the Reaper made clear that Death did not answer to Heaven and bore some degree of grudge over being bound by the Archangels before the End of Days, a feat they could not repeat with Michael caged. The Lesson learned is that without that with the gloss of invincibility negotiation with groups outside of Angelic power systems is going to require a degree of finesse.
 
[X] Male

[X] The Angel was charged with the capture of powerful witch Rowena MacLeod, they managed to track her down but lost the quarry in the streets of Paris when she proved potent enough to stun the Angel with a curse and set a pack of crazed mortals turned into magically enhanced attack dogs on them. The Angel defeated the pawns but the Witch used the distraction to veil herself from Angelic sight. The Lesson learned is that in battle no matter your inherent superiority you do not underestimate an enemy.
 
Okay voting seems to have tampered off and I have some free time today, so vote called. In a divergence from canon Bartholomew's Vessel is female and the lesson learned was via a failed attempt to negotiate with Death.
 
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Character Creation Part 2.5
  • Threadmarks
    • Every Vessel is different, each human who gives their consent to be filled with Angelic grace offering different combinations of genetics and spiritual makeup that influence the abilities of the Angel at the wheel. You remember previous Vessels. Man and Woman, different ethnicities and personalities.

    Bartholomew's current vessel is -

    {} Irina Knobel

    Bio: A hunter, one of those humans who become aware of the supernatural aspects of the world and decide to fight against the creatures that prey on mankind. Not long ago a struggling musician in Romania the Vessel became a Hunter after her brother was possessed by a demon. She refused to give consent to be used as a Vessel due to seeing it as exactly the same as possession. Bartholomew was only able to wheedle an exploitable yes from her when she was on the brink of death and delirious from blood loss.
    • Positives: Irina has combat experience allowing Bartholomew to better fight in a mortal body, Irina's memories of Hunter life give Bartholomew an extra edge in interacting with-exploiting-bypassing human authorities and investigation feats which has come in handy.
    • Negatives: Irina's consent was dubious at best and she deeply resents her body being hijacked, she simmers with helpless rage and regularly pushes against Bartholomew's control though the odd muscle spasm or a word pushed from lips is all she has managed so far. Bartholomew has to exert some effort to keep Irina down or endure her mental shouting.

    {} Agatha Lehman

    A London born girl from an impoverished home Agatha gained employment at a not entirely legal age acting as servant for a wealthy member of the occult group the Men of Letters. She endured the predatory conduct of her employers companions with clenched teeth and quietly made off with money and sellable trinkets when she could, only to watch her drunkard father waste what she acquired. When her employer came into possession of a tome of magical lore Angels didn't want in mortal hands Bartholomew was dispatched to retrieve it and was pleasantly surprised Agatha had a compatible bloodline and was more than willing to agree to be a Vessel if it meant she could leave her miserable life behind and revel in divine power/luxury.
    • Positives: Agatha's biology is very suited to housing Angelic power so Bartholomew can bring greater power to bear across the board than in a lesser quality vessel. Agatha is honestly pretty happy living in a conjured for her dream with her only request being that Bartholomew look after her pet dog down on Earth.
    • Negatives: Angelic vessels do not age or meaningfully change from the moment of investment till the Angel leaves, as such Bartholomew's vessel looks like, well, a malnourished teenager, which makes interacting with mortal authorities difficult. Agatha's peacefully withdrawing to an internal paradise means her memories are harder to access, decreasing the amount of useful skills Bartholomew can draw from her.

    {} Meghan Anglin

    Bio: A former ghost, one of those unlucky souls who declined to go with a Reaper to whatever afterlife their actions in life warranted and so lingered on Earth slowly going mad. The Irish born business executive Meghan was earmarked as a Vessel due to careful breeding of her family line but was killed in a freak accident before she could be approached. Bartholomew was able to contact her spirit before it decayed too much and bribe her with resurrection and an assured spot in Heaven in return for her consent to be a vessel.
    • Positives: When she was contacted Meghan was a ghost, an existence that both allowed her to stretch her spiritual muscles and forced Bartholomew to directly touch her soul when they remade her flesh. As a result of these factors Bartholomew can use soul magic, using the energy of the soul to achieve feats of greater power than normal for short periods of time.
    • Negatives: Naomi is not the sort who ever lets a resource go to waste, because you can use Soul Magic to become stronger you have been pushed to do so over the course of missions, this has put a significant strain on your Vessel's spirit. If this ace in the hole is used to much and the essence of Meghan may be permanently damaged or outright destroyed as a result of the process.


    OOC: Apologies for the delay, this story is not dead and I have a pretty good idea of where the next few updates are going to go - what they will cover. But during the writing stage the interplay between Bartholomew and their host kept coming up as a factor and since I wanted to determine said Hosts backstory via vote I needed that decided before I could cover the interaction's to come.

    Since Angels on Earth need Vessels and the fact any Angelic character has the chance to interact with their Vessel's soul - personality I will confirm now that we will be seeing Bartholomew interacting with the Vessel regardless of the option chosen. Who Bartholomew's Vessel is decides some context for their relationship going into the stories events.
     
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  • Threadmarks
    • {X} Meghan Anglin

    Pros: Sweet ghost superpowers
    Cons: Naomi: "BART FOXHOUND IS GONE ROGUE AND STOLEN METAL GEAR ARE YOU A BAD ENOUGH SERVANT OF HEAVEN TO FIX THIS?"
     
    toxinvictory said:
    Naomi what with her penchant for rewriting her underlings memories and corrupt state intelligence service motif would work scary well as a Metal Gear villain. Probably one involved in giving Raiden even more mindscrew related trauma.
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    I am reading that right though, one of the issues with that choice is Naomi in her creepy Orwellian office with ominous lighting "All right my strongest soldier, time to dump some harder battles in your lap" and if that sears Meghan into non-existence then that is a sacrifice Naomi is willing to make?
     
    Wade Garrett said:
    I am reading that right though, one of the issues with that choice is Naomi in her creepy Orwellian office with ominous lighting "All right my strongest soldier, time to dump some harder battles in your lap" and if that sears Meghan into non-existence then that is a sacrifice Naomi is willing to make?
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    I mean Naomi being a creepy Orwellian presence who is probably not going to do good things and is going make things worse for anyone in her orbit is something of a given.

    But yes choosing Meghan means you have a power up option or Kaioken Supernatural style with the downside Naomi is ...... not all that concerned what making use of that resource to solve problems is going to do the human soul being used as a battery and will point Bartholomew at problems she thinks they can solve.
     
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