Nonetheless, they disagree with the same archangels and, for the most part, the two just plain rarely think about the other and their works. Rimu, the angel of Unicorns, malak of Animals in service to Dreams, is well-known among the Host as one of the rare exceptions to this detente. A former djinn of Lust whose Redemption was sponsored by the archangel of Animals, his wings almost immediately turned black in the Light of Heaven. Alokhosiel, however, is an even rarer example, in that they work with Blandine’s servitors and has even been rewarded by her for that work, but Alokhosiel remains firmly in the service of Jordi.
They are an old angel, serving for many millions of years beneath Atalef, the ofan angel of Bats, often possessing a species of parasites that used the winged mammals as hosts. When human effects on the ethereal realm were discovered, Jordi sponsored Alokhosiel for the Word of Bedbugs, a 5-10 million year old branch of those parasites’ evolution that had come to haunt the beds of early humans. Yves, archangel of Destiny, with his constant smile that is somehow both devious and indulgent, was the first to vote in favor. The archangel of Animals tasked his choirmate with the mission of keeping humans awake and thereby limiting their ability to effect the ethereal realm by their dreams. A mission Jordi never officially rescinded, though only a couple millennia later everything changed when the Eden Experiment failed and Lucifer rebelled. That was 22,625 p.e.v.
Lilith threw open the gates of Hell in 15,000 p.e.v., kicking off the War with her undeniable statement that Freedom is to be first among all values. Alokhosiel took it upon themself to reinterpret Jordi’s wishes into the fight against this new enemy. They learned the Songs of Dreams and began to protect the sentient apes for whom they had begun to develop a fondness from the demons who would harm them while they slept, in either the corporeal realm where their regenerative rest left them vulnerable or the ethereal realm where human thought and belief were the prize to be won as angels and demons fought.
This is the work Alokhosiel continues to do to this day, and Blandine herself has noticed. She considered approaching Jordi to bring the kuriotes into her service, but as the inventor of love and once the embodiment of Hope, she didn’t need to consult with Lang (mercurian of Destiny and angel of Foresight) to know that such an ask would not go over well. Nonetheless, she has rewarded Alokhosiel with a rite and a couple of attunements, even as Jordi has promoted them to the rank of Vassal. As a Vassal, they are in loose command of eight or so unranked angels, mostly other kuriotes. An ofan by the name of Cimex serves to keep Alokhosiel in contact with their old friend Atelef, and Pishpesh (a malak) has seized the chance to ambush demons unexpectedly by serving the angel of Bedbugs. A mercurian of Dreams in service to Animals who is known as Vants ferries messages between Blandine and Alokhosiel.
Ethereal 4 // Intelligence 10 Precision 6 // 40 Mind Hits
Celestial 3 // Will 6 Perception 2 // 18 Soul Hits
Word-Forces 4
Skills: Climbing/2=4, Escape/2=8, Fighting/1=7 or 11 or 7, Move Silently/4=6
Songs: Banishing (Corporeal/3=5), Draining (Corporeal/3=5), Dreams (Corporeal/3=5, Ethereal/2=6, Celestial/1=4), Entropy (Ethereal/1=5), Form (Ethereal/2=6), Numinous Corpus (Fangs/1=3, Plates/3=5), Revulsion (Ethereal/3=7), Sleep (Corporeal/4=6)
Attunements: Angel of Bedbugs*, Angel of Bloodsuckers**, Angel of Insects***, Call of the Wild, Dream Joining, Kuriotes of Animals, Kuriotes of Dreams, Ofan of Animals, Vassal of Animals
Rites: Drink a pint of blood; Rescue an animal endangered by man's works or man's carelessness; Spend 1 hour among a crowd of at least 300 beings who are all aware of each other; Spend 2 hours in a place where you are actively not desired; Spend 8 hours successfully protecting a sleeper from active forces of danger (+2 Essence); Spend 8 hours with no trace of civilization in sight; Live in a city for one full day as an animal, without spending Essence
Dissonance: Being swayed by the concerns of human society, its rules, or its expectations; Value human life over animal life; Kill sloppily or with torture.
* Angel of Bedbugs: Whenever someone with this attunement spends Essence to improve a Move Silently roll, they also reduce their shortest dimension (depth for most humans) by one-half per point of Essence spent. For example, if Alokhosiel (inhabiting a human body measuring 10 inches from nose to back of head) spent 3 Essence to raise the target of their Move Silently roll to 9, the body of the human they're possessing would be reduced by 7/8 to 1.25 inches, allowing them to squeeze into much smaller cracks.
** Angel of Bloodsuckers: If someone with this attunement successfully hits with a melee attack without being noticed, they reduce the amount of disturbance caused by the number of ranks they have in the Move Silently skill (but at least by 1).
*** Angel of Insects: Someone with this attunement may add their Corporeal Forces to any Climbing roll or roll to hold onto, hang from, or balance on a surface. Including things like hanging upside down from the ceiling.
Converting Alokhosiel to GURPS In Nomine require some diversion from strictly following the procedure given in GIN, because GIN has a mechanical tool that In Nomine itself does not: the Extra Mind Hits advantage. That direct conversion method from the book resulted in Alokhosiel being smarter than any mortal human alive, possibly ever (IQ 22), which was over-the-top on its own, but that also resulted in them having virtuoso levels of ability in every Song they possessed. My solution was to start from that strict conversion and then to reduce Alokhosiel's IQ to reasonable levels while increasing their levels of Extra Mind Hits to compensate. After all, the reason I gave them such a high Intelligence in IN was to model that famous bedbug hardiness in their realm of focus.
ST 14 [0]; DX 6 [-70]; IQ 16 [20]; HT 14 [0]
Advantages: Angel of Bedbugs* [60]; Angel of Bloodsuckers** [20]; Angel of Insects*** [10]; Call of the Wild [20]; Celestial Racial Template [390]; Dream Joining☧ [15]; Extra Mind Hits +9 [22.5]; Kuriotes [175]; Kuriotes of Animals [75]; Kuriotes of Dreams [5]; Ofan of Animals [47]; Power Investiture (Celestial) 3 [0]; Power Investiture (Corporeal) 2 [0]; Power Investiture (Ethereal) 4 [0]; Power Investiture (Word)🔯 4 [12]; Rite: Drink a pint of blood [2]; Rite: Spend 1 hour among a crowd of at least 300 beings who are all aware of each other [2]; Rite: Spend 2 hours in a place where you are actively not desired [2]; Rite: Spend 8 hours successfully protecting a sleeper from active forces of danger (+2 Essence) [4]; Vassal of Animals [15]
Disadvantages: Distractible [-1]; Reduced Alertness -16 [-80]; Reduced Manual Dexterity -4 [-12]; Servitor of Jordi [-16]; Short Attention Span [-10]; Weak Will -8 [-64]
Skills: Brawling (P/E) DX-1 [1/2]-5; Climbing (P/A) DX-1 [1]-5; Escape (P/H) DX+2 [16]-8; Stealth (P/A) DX+1 [4]-7
Songs: Banishing (Corporeal) (M/VH) IQ+Corp [4]-13 or 18; Draining (Corporeal) (M/VH) IQ+Corp [4]-13 or 18; Dreams (Celestial) (M/VH) IQ+Cel-2 [1]-13 or 18; Dreams (Corporeal) (M/VH) IQ+Corp [4]-13 or 18; Dreams (Ethereal) (M/VH) IQ+Eth-1 [2]-14 or 19; Entropy (Ethereal) (M/VH) IQ+Eth-2 [1]-13 or 18; Form (Ethereal) (M/VH) IQ+Eth-1 [2]-14 or 19; Numinous Corpus (Fangs) (M/VH) IQ+Corp-2 [1]-11 or 16; Numinous Corpus (Plates) (M/VH) IQ+Corp [4]-13 or 18; Revulsion (Ethereal) (M/VH) IQ+Eth [4]-15 or 20; Sleep (Corporeal) (M/VH) IQ+Corp+1 [8]-14 or 19
Attributes -50 + Advantages 876.5 + Disadvantages -183 + Skills 21.5 + Songs 35 = 700 points
* As a relatively quick and rough conversion of the attunement described above, treat this as the Shrinking advantage, with the -60% limitation that it only affects the one dimension, the -15% limitation that it costs a variable amount of Essence, and the +30% enhancement that the user retains their usual hit points. That's a total of -45% to the cost of Shrinking. Technically, 9 levels should be purchased, which would cost 225 points, but it is highly unlikely that Alokhosiel would ever want to spend 5 Essence to shrink a human to a depth of 0.5 mm. While that would still be possible, I've set the cost to the equivalent of 5 levels, plus 5 points to cover the permanent link between this power and spending Essence on Stealth rolls.
** If someone with this attunement successfully hits with a melee attack without being noticed, they reduce the amount of disturbance caused by the amount by which their Stealth skill is larger than their DX-3 (so in Alokhosiel's case, by 4).
*** Someone with this attunement adds their Corporeal Power to any Climbing roll or roll to hold onto, hang from, or balance on a surface. Including hanging upside down from the ceiling.
☧ This attunement is used to merge the dreamscapes of two separate dreamers, so that they “meet” one another in their dreams. It requires 2 Essence. Both dreamscapes must be active and occupied, and in the same part of the Marches (within what passes for “line of sight” in the ethereal realm). Once two dreamers are joined, the dreams also join, and support one another. If one of the dreamers fails a skill roll by 6 or more, the dream will not automatically slide into the realm of Nightmare unless the other dreamer does so, too. And if the first dreamer makes any successful skill roll before that happens, the “nightmare slip” is nullified entirely, and both dreamers once again have “clean slates” until another skill roll fails by 6 or more. However, it is equally difficult to slip out of Beleth’s grasp once in it . . . if a merged dreamscape passes into the darker side of the Marches, it takes two successes, both by 6 or more, for an automatic journey back. A merged dreamscape contains elements of the psyche of both dreamers, and the dreamers are both “along for the ride” together. If either dreamer wakes up, the merge is gently broken, and the two dreamscapes drift apart again.
🔯 3 points/level: Every level of this advantage allows you to store and spend one extra point of Essence; this can allow you to exceed the usual 2/3 HT limit. It also grants a +1 bonus on aging rolls made as a result of your Soul Hits going to 0 or less.
In In Nomine, Alokhosiel is relatively weak. Without their Word and the rites and attunements of their intermediate superiors (the angels of Bloodsuckers and Insects), they're really not much more powerful than a starting angelic PC. They thus lends themself both to serving as the immediate superior or mentor of an appropriate PC (probably one of Animals or of Dreams, obviously), as well as to storylines emphasizing one of my favoritestest themes in all of In Nomine ~ that the existence of the Divine elevates every tiniest bit of the world, no matter how small, to the greatest level of significance, and that the struggle between Fate and Destiny draws attention to that significance where otherwise it can easily be forgot.
GURPS, on the other hand, as it always will with kuriotates, stresses just how ungodly (ha!) powerful they are. I mean seriously, the absolute minimum point total for a kuriotes is 693 points, and for a kuriotes of Animals its 698. This puts them, by default, at significantly higher than the standard GURPS Supers starting level and about equal to a black op from GURPS Black Ops. Here, the theme might be that even the weakest of angels stands far superior to humanity and that danger can come from any crack or crevasse. It can be an object lesson in human pride and arrogance, if the spirit behind such seemingly miniscule, weak beings as bedbugs stands equal to the most ridiculously talented, highly trained ubermenschen that the human species can produce. Alokhosiel, thus, works well as either an ally or an enemy of a black ops team getting involved in matters way over even their elevated heads. It's a little grittier than I think most GURPS Black Ops games would play, but I think it fits strongly into the setting from all three of GURPS Black Ops's genre inspirations: neo-noir, cosmic espionage, and Men in Black.
