Chapter Three: The Campaign
An adversaries campaign can easily use all the material in this book, whether directly (with evil material for evil PCs and good material for their enemies) or indirectly (most likely with PCs playing fallen angels). Any item or ability dedicated to good in this book can be converted to evil with a small amount of work, even if it is something as complex as a prestige class (see Chapter Eight: Prestige Classes) or a system as broad as the dominion feat (see Chapter Seven: Feats).
Angel Society Heaven as a whole is made up of deities, the souls of the faithful, and countless angels of at least a dozen varieties. This makes heavenly culture a rich mixture of many perspectives and ideas. Unlike mortal society, angels don’t fear things different than themselves and don’t have an aggressive instinct to destroy similar creatures simply because of a difference of opinion. They recognize that all angels are agents of good, whether they serve a deity or wander freely, regardless of their outward forms, and no matter where on the Material Plane or Heaven they work. This amazing tolerance for the many varieties of good allows ophanim to converse with memunim, principalities to debate with malakim, seraphim to joke with couatl, and cherubim to have vocal competitions with lillends. However, life in Heaven is not a constant festival of worship, praise, joy, and song. The angels are quite aware of their differences, they just acknowledge them in different ways than mortals do. Chaotic angels shudder at the constraints that lawful angels consider perfectly natural, and good angels are often shocked by the things nongood angels are willing to do in order to get the job done. Malakim are nauseated by the thought of an ophanite sending a message to a group of demons under a flag of truce, and grigori grow angry when a hashmalite suggests a plan that preserves a cosmic paradigm at the cost of mortal lives. These disagreements arise because angels consider themselves perfect embodiments of good, and when they feel a certain way about something, they know to the core of their being that they are absolutely right. That another would think in a contrary way is strange. Unlike mortals, however, angels don’t grow to hate each other for these differences, and they certainly don’t go to war against their own kind (the First War, led by Samael, is an exception to this). They understand that all angels were created for a reason, and each must have some role in the promotion of good, even if that reason is unusual or contrary to how another angel feels. Because most of them are immortal or at least have years numbered in the centuries, angels are more than willing to give each other time to think things over and eventually change their mind. Because of this sense of absolute conviction and the vast amounts of time available for angels to consider things, many arguments between angels eventually fall into silence as both sides realize they have each made all of their arguments perfectly and the opposing side just needs time to absorb and process those arguments before changing their minds (unlike mortals, who tend to reiterate the same topics again and again or use violence to convince their opponents). Angels have a cyclic pattern in their debates: Two groups of angels meet, dis-
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cuss their issues, and finally leave without resolving the discussion only to return about a century later with each group hoping that their friendly adversaries have finally seen the light.
Angelic Ranking Traditionally angels have been assembled into nine orders, each with its own rank in the celestial hierarchy. Many scholars disagree on the actual ranks of the angelic orders, and they of course did not address the ranking of avorals, devas, and solars. Anger of Angels uses the following rough hierarchy (listed in descending rank). Note that individuals may gain a higher rank than others of their kind, and Hit Dice or overall power level is not an indicator of an angel’s rank. For example, Michael is an archangel and one of the three greatest angels ever to exist, even though he is a malakite (a relatively low-ranked order). In another example, hound archons are ranked lower than hashmalim even though hound archons have more Hit Dice and greater powers. 1. Seraphim 2. Solars 3. Cherubim Adventure Seed: Celestial Plague 4. Ophanim Angels present at the destruction of an evil arti5. Kalkydrim fact have contracted a strange wasting disease 6. Titans that defies angelic curative magic and is highly contagious but nonfatal. The angels are at first 7. Planetars quarantined in a remote part of Heaven but are 8. Trumpet Archons sent to the Material Plane when it is found that their presence corrupts Heaven’s flora. Mortals 9. Hashmalim remain completely unaffected but act as carri10. Principalities ers. Major forces in Heaven are debating whether to destroy the angels, keep them iso11. Astral Deva lated for eternity, or send them on a suicidal 12. Ghaeles foray into Hell. Demons make contact with the afflicted angels and admit that the plague is 13. Couatls also making its way through Hell. Who is 14. Dynamis behind the disease? What is the cure? Will deities need to intervene? Are deities 15. Malakim susceptible? Can Heaven and Hell work 16. Leonals together to eliminate a common threat? 17. Lillends 18. Bralanis 19. Hound Archons 20. Elemental Angels‡ 21. Parasim 22. Avorals 23. Grigori 24. Half-Celestial Template Creatures 25. Memunim 26. Lantern Archons 27. Celestial Template Creatures 28. Ephemerae
The Role of Archangels Archangels are the most powerful angels, rivaling or surpassing solars in their power and wisdom. (For a description of eight prominent archangels, see Chapter Five: Angels of Note.) Some are worshipped as gods, most are the direct agents of one or more deities, and at least one is suspected of being a divine avatar rather
