Chancel Aleph

Changes compared to canon:

Creature of the Light ……… added Estate: sub-Estate of Beauty
Chosen …………………………. added Estate: sub-Estate of Beauty
Gatekeeper ………………….. added Estate: Enemies of [Estate] (sub-Estate of Wicked Creatures?)
Gardener ……………………… added pseudo-Estate, (personal project of AngelName)

The basic Angelic build is the same as in canon, but I defined the Attributes so they are all connected to Estates.
In the process, the Attributes themselves got some of their component abilities changed.

What Makes an Angel?

Divine Attributes:

Beloved by [Beauty sub-Estate]
Chosen by [Beauty sub-Estate]
Feared by [Enemies of Estate]
Aided by [the personal projects of Angelname]

Dramatic Attributes:

Toxic: [2]Bond that helps spread and manipulate Gardens of your Estate.
Titled: [2] Bond that gives social authority to kick ass on your Estate's behalf.
Dubious Allies: [2]Bond that helps befriend and make connections to sketchy people.
Divine Warrant: [2]Bond that ensures helping your Estate is always morally correct.

Mortal Attributes:

Magical Skill, from Chosen
Likely some form of artistry or crafting Skill.

Senses and always-on effects:

[1]Tracking: Know where the nearest Enemy is.
[1]Eyes and Ears: Hear gossip your Estate considers relevant to you.
[1]Investigation: Know the facts about an Enemy its natural predator would know.
[0]Chainmaster: Access important tools and subordinates instantly.

Notable Minor Miracles:

[2]Messenger: Send a construct with a message or cheap miracle.
[2]Drain Energy: Absorb inimical energies into yourself, purifying an area.
[2] Well-lit: Estate arranges Dramatic scenery and lighting.

Intent-related Miracles:

[0]Tireless: extra Will when acting on behalf of Estate
[3]The World, Like Clay: modify a Garden.
[3]Spherecraft: Gain Edge when dealing with Enemy.
[3]Auctoritas Magister: Protect your mundane actions with Auctoritas when acting for Estate.
[3]Thesis: Reduce obstacles when using signature Magical Skill.

Notable Medium Miracles:

[4] Blink: Teleport a short distance
[4] Fade In/Out: Teleport longer distances, gradually
[0+4] Powerhouse: Gain extra Edge on your Magical Skill.
[4] Shield: Protect a target with your Estate.
[1+5] Helping Hands: Your Estate acts on your behalf.

The Nature of Angels

Angels, as we know, are the architects of Beauty. They work to increase beauty in the world, and in this they take an proactive, ruthless and uncompromising approach; sometimes the most efficient way to spread beauty is to mind-control some druglords into killing their friends and then themselves.

This is allowable and even righteous, because Angels are the ones who define the concept of righteousness in the first place.
Heaven invades.

The Eye of the Beholder

Beauty is a Transcendent Estate, and no one Angel can lay claim to it. But every Angel may still have a singular aspect of Beauty - Harmony, Proportionality, Elegance, Utility, Morality, Justice… - and make that into their Estate, working to make the whole greater.
Angels command the aesthetics of things - every measure that makes an instance of Creation objectively more beautiful than another is one they meticulously constructed.

Angelic Estates

Aaron's Serpents tend to have twin Estates that are spectra - Fire/Ice, Light/Dark etc.
Angels work similarly, except one of the Estates is designated "good", one is "bad", and Angels fight to push the needle all the way to the good side.
Example Angelic Estates are Integrity/Corruption, Harmony/Discord and Justice/Crime.

The Pseudo-Estate

With three Attributes focused on their Estate, I think the final one, Aided, is essential for granting an Angel a bit of personality and joie de vivre, a personal touch to set them apart from other Angels. The pseudo-Estate tells you about how the Angel goes about things, what kind of Garden they live in and the kind of projects they are involved in.

On Power Sources

Angels naturally have a plant-like outlook on life; they are autotrophs, sustained by Heaven itself. Nothing needs to die for an Angel to live; they are free of sin.
But like plants with water, Angels are hostage to their power supply. If you let a white rose drink blue water, the rose is dyed blue. Poison an Angel's well of power, and they'll grow sickly and strange. Just look at the Fallen Angels.

This is to say, the Power Source mechanic from Chosen is likely a major part of being an Angel; their politics and social dynamics are going to be affected by their intrinsic striving for purity.

Angels primarily use their own Gardens as Power Sources - having a pure inexhaustible Estate-Garden must make for a very easy Quest when you establish it as a Power Source.
While their main Aided Estate is a p-state, Secondary Aided gives them more Estates to pull from.
Then they might pull from the Estates of their fellow Angels, using *their* Gardens (with permission, of course).
Finally, they might establish a connection to the Transcendent Estate of Beauty - they do have a solid connection to it through their personal Beauty sub-Estate.

Accessing Beauty in this fashion lets them perform minor Beauty-related miracles, like broadening Eyes and Ears to learn things relevant to Beauty as a whole, such as what other Angels are doing. If you want to give the Voice of Cneph game-mechanical heft, this might be a way to do so.

Channeling a Transcendent Estate like Beauty may be draining, though - maybe they take a Deadly Wound while filling their Extra MP Pool with Beauty MP? - so they don't exactly spam the ability.

Having other Power Sources seems like something Angels would do - for example, they might pull from the Garden of a True God they befriended, or use Feared to pull from a Sealed entity - but doing this wouldn't be nearly as socially acceptable.

Estate Interactions

Angels are Beloved by and Chosen by their Estates.
This gives them both a resonance with their Estates and a mission to defend them.
They also are Feared by Enemies of their Estates, making for a potent package of bonuses.
They can use Beloved+Chosen for a Magical Skill Intention with reduced obstacles and 3 free Will, excellent against mortals. There's also Beloved+Feared for a Spherecraft use with Auctoritas, good against weakly miraculous opponents, and for a high-power punch, there's Beloved+Chosen with Auctoritas Magister, Powerhouse and Prodigious Magic, reducing a competing miracle's miracle level and then pitting it against an Auctoritas.
Interestingly, these synergies all rely on mundane Intentions.

There's strong incentive for an Angel to focus on the Estate that's a Beauty sub-Estate, and using Power Source to dabble in the others, maybe putting a few points in Secondary Aided to get Gardens of these Estates. It's the best of both worlds - power AND flexibility.

Arc Interactions:

With extra MP, extra Will, and four Bonds to service - one from each Arc - Angels have a lot of power and stamina, and they are always on the move making use of it to promote Beauty.

It makes sense for Angels with decent Aided to make constructs and tools from their Gardens, and then use Feared to bind them with Chainmaster, so they can be pulled out of the aether at any time.

Values and Relations

Interactions with their own Chancels:

Angels are likely to have a main Garden in their Chancel up in Heaven, and scattered Gardens outside serving as outposts; bases for influencing Creation.
The Gardens contain artisanal creatures and helpful constructs.
Their main Chancel is likely to be a Spiritual World where everything is aligned with their Estate. If they have Gardens of other Estates, Spiritual World might have been implemented there as well.

Interactions with their own Nobles:

Angels have high standards; most of them are going to be demanding bosses.
Angels are, after all, powerhouses of Will and Miraculous Power that teleport all over the world to maintain their Gardens, promote their Estate, fight its enemies, and so on. If they're going to get their Familia to substitute for them, even a group of 3-4 Nobles are going to be hard-pressed to fill those angelic shoes.

Likely, the Angel would Anoint their Nobles, endearing them to their Estates. They might be themed, each Noble getting a connection to their own Estate, or they might simply all get a connection to the Angel's main Estate.

Interactions with fellow Angels:

The Angels are going to coordinate beautifully with each-other - Coordination being another sub-Estate of Beauty - mostly due to Beloved helping them keep track of what needs doing and when.
They trust each-other to do what's best for their own Estates, and will assume any problems come from the interference of non-Angels.

They likely form interconnected Choirs, where they supply Power Sources to each-other to grow closer and be able to gauge each-other's needs without even communicating. Angels with different Attribute Distribution can help each-other out by using each-other's Power Sources, and it'll be the next best thing to doing it yourself.

And of course they're going to critique each-others work, draw inspiration, have collaborative projects - all very utopian.
The dissenters have, after all, already been consigned to the fiery pit.

Interactions with other Imperators and Nobles:

There's a story that Angels don't feel pride, because Lucifer, the Imperator of Pride and Persuasion, denied it to them, and they respect his right to do so.
If so, that's probably the only reason why they aren't haughty; they are literally the template against which good things are measured.

I think there's going to be an unstated assumption on their part that Beauty is the most important thing, so of course everyone should defer to them. Meanwhile, everyone else naturally goes: "No, Love/Freedom/Yggdrasil/Humanity/etc is the most important thing!", buuuut… they might well place Beauty at number two. There's a certain prestige that comes with being an Angel.

As such, Angels are politically influential in Creation; most Imperators wish to gain their favour, and none wish to be their enemy. Angels are trusted with mediation and leadership, though their image of inflexibility works against them for the more practical positions.

Interactions with Mortals:

Of the Imperators, I figure Angels may be the ones who most consider Creation a work in progress, themselves the hand modifying it, and a mortal just another piece of clay to be ripped away from the whole and added back wherever it's convenient.

If an Angel's Enemy includes mortals, I expect the Angel to be entirely ruthless with them, and in no way engage with the notion of them being people. If they don't kill them, it's because they're more useful alive - Angels, on the whole, do not have great Attributes for starting an Organization, so when they need one, they might just co-opt an Enemy organization and start ordering it about by sheer force of strength.

So Angels are pretty distant from regular people - at most they get to know them briefly before they hurry to another place in need - but they might get to know their own mortal minions and contacts better over time, and develop emotional bonds to them.

Interactions with Excrucians:

Angels are overpowered paladins of their Estates. They're used to having a crushing advantage against the weeds in their gardens. Against Excrucians, though, the shoe is on the other foot. Their Estates hesitate in targeting Excrucians as 'the Enemy' - Estates struggle to notice them *at all*, because they're not a natural part of Creation.

In addition, Strategists, Mimics and Deceivers neatly target their vulnerability of being fundamentally honest and straightforward people. Warmains outmuscle them in the category of physical violence.
The Angels feel under-prepared, outmatched, repulsed - and likely fascinated, despite themselves. They have a Bond specifically about making friends with unsavoury characters, after all.

The Angels would probably like to swarm against the Excrucian threat like, well, avenging Angels, but they are actually fairly unsuited to it. What they *can* do effectively is to politically drive the issue among Imperators, coordinate and supply the armies of Creation, and to attempt to craft more Estates faster than Excrucians can destroy them.

Angel-adjacent Fictional Characters:

High Chosen by [Beauty Sub-Estate]

• Diana Prince, Wonder-Woman …………………….. Chosen by Truth
• Usagi "Sailor Moon" Tsukino ……………………….. Chosen by Justice
• Princess Adora, "She-Ra" …………………………… Chosen by Courage
• Elissa M. Powers, "Empowered" ……………………. Chosen by Kindness
• John Ross, Knight of the Word …………………….. Chosen by The Word
• Kael'thas Sunstrider, The Sun King ……………….. Chosen by The Sunwell

High Beloved by [Beauty Sub-Estate]

• Lucky Luke, The Man Faster than his Shadow ……….. Beloved by Luck
• Dean Winchester ………………………………………….. Beloved by Balance
• Nathan Summers, Warden of Ervon …………………… Beloved by Providence
• Antonio Smith, Forensic Linguist ………………………. Beloved by Clarity
• Paksenarrion Dorthansdaughter ……………………….. Beloved by Faith
• Ace Rimmer, (What a Guy) ……………………………… Beloved by Ordinary People

High Feared by Enemies of [Beauty sub-Estate]

• Buffy Summers, "The Slayer" ……………………………… Feared by Demons
• Sabriel, "The Abhorsen" ……………………………………. Feared by Spirits
• Michael Carpenter, "Knight of the Cross" ………………… Feared by Dark Wizards
• Geralt of Rivia, "The Witcher" ……………………………… Feared by Monsters
• Othar Tryggvassen, GENTLEMAN ADVENTURER! ……….. Feared by Sparks
• Erik C. Brooks, "Blade" ……………………………………… Feared by Vampires
• Roland Deshain, "Gunslinger" ……………………………… Feared by Mutants

High Aided by the Personal Projects of Angelname

• Onmyoji …………………………… Aided by That Which Onmyoji have Inscribed
• The Zonai …………………………. Aided by the Machinery Made by the Zonai
• Druids ……………………………… Aided by the Groves Grown by Druids.
• Richard Rahl ………………………. Aided by Those That Swear Fealty to Richard Rahl
• Galadriel …………………………… Aided by Light Gathered by Galadriel
• Egon Spengler, "Ghostbuster"….. Aided by Physics Equipment Modified by Egon Spengler

Arc Variations and Alternate Builds:

The core Arcs of Angels are, I think, Chosen and Beloved/Holy, with Aided/Gardener a distant third.
The Arc it makes most sense to change is, by exclusion, Feared/Lore.
Feared is what makes Angels so overwhelming at enforcing their power over their Enemy, what gives them their vibe of wandering dispensers of justice.

One possible variant is Domain/Conductor(of Enemy). This is the kind of Angel that micromanages the dark threat the heroes must overcome.

Another is Prophet/Oracle(of Projects of Angelname). This is the kind of Angel that stays at home in Heaven and creates new forms of Beauty.

Finally, Become Somebody/Seeker(of Beauty sub-Estate) is suitable for an overwhelmed Angel who keeps working when their cause seems hopeless and their Enemy dominates Creation.

Thoughts and Comments