The Cosmic Circles

Relevance is a concept in this world that relates to how much impact one has on the world around. In order to interact with the Center Planes, particularly the very center, the Physical Plane, a being must have enough power and influence to tangibly impact said plane. All humans, in order to keep them anchored to this world, must have something tying them to this plane. In the case of most people, this anchor is a body, or a "meat-suit" that the soul-spirit (the actual, eternal part of a human) inhabits. The body is what gives souls relevance, or the ability to impact how things happen. By themselves, souls are mostly intangible. When a body is destroyed, the soul loses its anchor and drifts to its final resting place. The exception is when a soul has some sort of vendetta or unfinished business, in which case it is still relevant after death. These souls anchored by hate or anger are called Vengeful Spirits, the only kind of “true” ghosts. Archetypes also gain power from how relevant they are in society.

So, to clarify a few things about some concepts, like magic, ghosts, or gods. They are all grouped together under the common fact that there's no one explanation for any of these phenomena. Though they look like one concept from an uninformed human perspective, in reality, they are actually several different factors involved.

There's no one explanation for the beings ancient people call Gods. Some gods were Archetypes, some were powerful humans with really good PR, some were angels, some were Others, and some were demons.

The phenomena humans refer to as "ghosts" can actually describe a number of different things. There can be Vengeful Spirits, human souls tied down by a desire for revenge. Occasionally non-vengeful souls can stick around if they have unfinished business, although they will eventually become vengeful if they remain around for too long. However, there are also incorporeal Others like Banshees or Wraiths that also get called "ghosts." Sometimes a Thread will cause strange things to happen around an area, making it seem haunted.

Magic doesn't really exist like most people think. All "magic" is supernatural power of some sort. That power can be granted through miracles and blessings of angels, summoning demons, the favor of an Archetype, or by being related to an Other. Most types of so-called "magic" come from wielding objects created in the Never-Never, which have strange properties when used in our world. These objects are sometimes called Relics or Jujus. They have no "magical" powers, but simply operate in supernatural ways since they were designed and built in a separate plane of existence with different laws of physics.

Other things fall under this category (Aliens/UFOs) but are less important. The point is, some things we group together under names like "ghosts," "gods," or "magic," are actually composites of very different things.

There are a multitude of individual Races and Beings, so here are the most fundamental categories. Almost all races have the ability to walk unseen among normal humans, whether by illusions, shape-changing, invisibility, or by having an appearance nearly identical to humans.

Humans
Humans are the key race in the cosmic struggle. They are the favored race of the Almighty, as they are made in his image, whereas other races are made in the image of man, or in a unique form. Humans are unique in the amount of impact they have on reality, being the most relevant race. This impact is so powerful that no being in the universe can override their free will. Possession or mind control can only take place if that human allows it. This is the main reason for the subterfuge of the Legions of Hell, as humans can be deceived or persuaded, but not controlled.

Angels
“Angel” is a name that collectively refers to a number of different types of celestial beings. Angels were the first living things created, and as such, they have some of the most potent, unrefined power in the universe. Angel’s true forms are massive when interacting on the physical plane, but they have the ability to change their size. Angels have several notable powers, including the ability to understand any language, super speed, flight, and the ability to smite lesser beings with holy fire. Angels appear in a number of different ways, usually depending on their type. The Archangels in particular have the most diversified appearance. Lower hierarchies are slightly more uniform in their appearances within their class of angel. Seraphim have six gray or blackened wings and a number of shining eye-like markings covering their bodies, Ophanim have blue wings and can appear as a whirling pair of interlocking rings that move at sonic speeds, Malakhim have one pair of wings and act as the traditional "guardian angel," etc. No-one currently alive has seen a Cherubim, as they reside exclusively in the Throneroom, but descriptions say they have four separate faces that they cycle through. Angels go to Paradise when killed, where they must spend time recovering and healing. They will be released at the Fifth Trumpet of the Apocalypse when the Outer Gate releases the captured demons and Fallen.

Fallen Angels are angels that fell along with Lucifer during the Rebellion. They have the same abilities and general appearance as normal angels, but darkened. Fallen wield black unholy fire and have shadowy, ragged wings from falling. They are smote down and locked in Tartarus when killed.

ARCHANGELS:
Before the rest of the lower celestials (referred to collectively as the Heavenly Host) were created, sixteen high celestials, the Archangels (or Archons as they are sometimes called) were made by the Almighty to be leaders of the rest of the lower hierarchies. These beings are universally recognized as the most powerful created beings in the known realms. Even the Old Gods fear their power. During the Rebellion and subsequent War in Heaven, when a full third of the Host joined the Adversary in his assault on the Throneroom, an even larger fraction of the Archangels chose to join Lucifer’s side. As a result, the Legions of Hell had quite an advantage over the Host during the Antediluvian Age, before the Grigori Watchers were imprisoned for a period of time.

Samuel’s Notes: DON’T f*ck with these guys. Just. Don’t. I got killed by some lower hierarchy Fallen, you do NOT want to go up against their big brothers. Just one of these Archangels would make the one who killed me piss his robes in fear. Lucifer doesn’t show his ugly mug much these days, but I hear from some older spirits that he comes out when serious shit goes down in the Unseen Plane. Azazel and Semyaza are like, his top commanders, so was Abbadon before he got looted and locked behind the Outer Gate. That battle must have been crazy. The rest of the Fallen Archons are high commanders of his honor guard, The Grigori. These guys are a lot more active than the others. The other five Archons still aligned with Heaven are a lot chiller I hear, but I wouldn’t go pissing them off either. Maybe it’s just better to avoid the Archangels all together. You know?

Gabriel: The Leader of Messengers

Michael: The Leader of Warriors


Raphael: The Leader of Guardians


Uriel: The Leader of Intercessors


Metatron: The Scribe of Heaven


Lucifer/Satan: The Accusing Adversary


Azazel: The Prince of Manipulation

Semyaza: The Prince of Perversion


Azrael/Abaddon: The Prince of Destruction

Shamsiel: High Grigori of Politics


Sariel: High Grigori of Divination

Gadreel: High Grigori of Warfare


Penemuel: High Grigori of Sorcery

Kokabiel: High Grigori of Astrology


Chazaqiel: High Grigori of Illusion


Kasadiel: High Grigori of Murder



Archetypes
Archetypes are a very strange type of being, one who's power depends on how relevant they are in Human society. An Archetype is the physical personification of an Idea. Any idea could be an Archetype, but usually they are general concepts that are relatively timeless, or at least incredibly important in their time period. Notable Archetypes include Father Time, Mother Nature, Hades, The North Wind, Father Christmas, and the Four Horsemen: War, Famine, Pestilence, and possibly the most powerful Archetype, Death. Some Stars are also Archetypes. Archetypes are usually heavily dosed with symbolism, their appearance and abilities deriving from the symbols and associated things behind their idea. Archetype's powers wax and wane based on how relevant they are in society at a period of time. More powerful Archetypes are ones that have been relevant for a long time, whereas concepts that have become less important (a good example is something like Chivalry) have less power and influence. Archetypes live mostly in the Never-Never, but tend to wander more than other beings into other circles. When they are killed (those that actually can be killed) they go to Purgatory, and are judged based on how much harm or good they did.

Others
An Other is anything different than one of the above three races. They share few traits in common, however, which is what designates them as Others. First is that the plane they originally inhabited, the Never-Never. All Others are confined strictly to the middle three Planes, and go to Purgatory when they die. Besides that, Others have very little in common. Many times, there will be small "sub-races" inside the overarching group, while other times they will fall under no known category.

Hybrids
Hybrids are not technically a race, but rather a combination of two races. There are two main types of Hybrids: Fallen Angel offspring and Other offspring. When a Fallen Angel has a child with a human, Other, or animal, a Cambion is created. Half-human Cambions are called Nephilim, and when a Cambion dies, its soul has no place to go, so it continues on as a Demon, or unclean spirit. Cambions are vicious and bestial. They have no moral code, beyond essentially doing whatever they want.

The offspring of Others are usually just called Hybrids. Because these Hybrids also go directly to Purgatory when they die, many classify them as simply a type Other, rather than a separate type of being. Other Hybrids can be created when an Other has a child with a human or a different species of Other.

There are no known hybrids of Archetypes.

Humanoids
These others are unique in that through illusion, shapeshifting, or other means, these races have learned how to pass unawares among the human race. Some are seelie, some are not.
Arachne/Anansi (spider person)
Akhlut (Inuit legged whale)
Blemmya (headless humanoid with face in chest)
Daeva (shadow creature)
Djinn/Ifreet (humanoid with glowing arm and hand tattoo like markings)
Doppelganger/Shapeshifter/Fetch (tall, looks like a grey alien)
Dragon
Dryad
Dullahan (removable head and spine)
Erlking (Hunting fey without a nose)
Fenris (bus sized wolf)
Fu Dog (chinese lion-dog creature)
Futakuchi-Onna (woman with second mouth and tentacle hair)
Golem
Gnome
Grimalkin (cat person)
Hyperborean (blue skinned frost giant 10+ feet tall)
Kitsune (multi-tailed magic fox)
Krampus (horned troll-like anti-klaus)
Leprechaun (green wearing small fey)
Lung (chinese dragon)
Mothman (winged human insectoid)
Mi-Go (Winged fungoids)
Oceanid (Water nymph atlantean)
Oni (3 eyed asian ogre)
Polong (blood imp)
Pookah (fey shapeshifter)
Puck/Trickster
Putto/Cupid (winged humanoid)
Rakshasa (hindu shapeshifter)
Ratatoskr (magic squirrel)
Raven Mocker (bird person weird)
Redcap (savage fey wears red hat)
Sasquatch/Yeti
Satyr
Selkie (seal woman)
Shoggoth (shapeshifting black slime)
Siren (basically a mermaid)
Strix (Intelligent owl)
Sylph (tall, beautiful fey)
Syrbota (really tall african giant 12+ feet)
Tengu (bird person)
Totem/Familiar/Skinwalker (single form shapeshifter)
Troll
Tulpa (thought-form)
Tzitzimitl (central american insect person/mummy)
Unicorn
Ursanthrope (were bear)
Vampire
Vision Serpent (Oracle snake mayan/greek)
Wendigo (flesh eating skeletal monster)
Werewolf
Wereworm (acid spitting red worm)