Angel

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Angels are the chief messengers and proxies of the Divine. The divine host is huge, and in the canonic setting angels are ubiquitous within the Dominion and are also present in Divine regiones.

All angels share a certain nature and, correspondingly, mechanics. In their True Form they are spiritual beings, and the greatest of which are huge, majestic, alien and terrifying. Most angels can take on a Mantle of human form, however, and often do so to interact with mortals. They all have Divine Might and can appear in dreams or vision to impart their Divine message. They cannot be coerced to act against their nature, which includes love to God, and can see past any illusion and reach any place (save those places warded against them). Angels are not infallible or omnipotent, however, and indeed can be rather weak and of limited mental capacity (though never below +1 in their Intelligence or Perception). Ultimately they are finite beings, attempting to follow the Will of God to their best ability - but they have the advantage of more enlightened superiors, and a pure essence.

Every angel is made for a specific purpose, and belongs to one Choir (excepting Archangels, which also belong to the Archangel choir). Members of a particular choir serve a certain type of task and are granted common powers to accomplish it, but each angel is unique and may have further powers and attributes in addition to the generic angelic and choir traits.

Angels include some of the most powerful beings in existence, such as the Seraph Michael, a Divine Might 100 Archangel of great personal prowess, ability, and wisdom. They also include some of the weakest, such a Divine Might 1 guardian angel. In theory, angels can be affected and even destroyed by Hermetic Magic, although no sane magus would attempt such a thing.

The Nature of the Divine Host

Angels have free will, but those that would choose to deny God already did so in the great rebellion and were cast out to Hell. All angels that currently exist are unwaveringly faithful to God, and cannot be swayed be any magic.

By canon, angels are also sure of their purpose, have clear tasks, and live in perfect harmony. But this is rather boring. Those groups that want to entertain another option can consider that as finite beings, angels can have uncertainties, hesitations, and factions even while united in the service of God. Even the Thrones, residing in the highest parts of the Divine realm in intimate proximity to God, are still somewhat removed from His presence and have a limited intellect with which to interpret His will. Sagas can use conflicts in Heaven as background or story fodder, and may wish to model them on earthly schisms and religions. At the least, uncertainty should make angels more interesting characters to interact with.

Note that the Divine Realm includes beings which are not strictly angels. These include Christian saints, Divine creatures, the great prophets and patriarchs of monotheistic religions, and the souls of those who were saved and reached Heaven. How they interact with the angelic host is not described in canon.

References

• Angels are detailed in Realms of Power: The Divine page 17-
• Note that the angel provided in the core ArM5 rulebook does not precisely fit the mechanics presented in RoPD. The supplement includes notes on converting his statistics, although the affects aren't overly significant.