Demon: The Fallen
 Demon: The Fallen cover | |
| Designers | Michael B. Lee (Editor), Greg Stolze, Adam Tinworth, Pauline Benney (Art Director) |
|---|---|
| Publishers | White Wolf |
| Publication | November, 2002 |
| Genres | RPG |
| Systems | Storyteller System |
Demon: The Fallen is a role-playing game and a fictional setting from the World of Darkness line by White Wolf Game Studio. The player characters in the game are fallen angels, who were cast out of paradise after a thousand year war with God.
History
According to Demon: The Fallen, the War in Heaven began when an angel named Ahrimal foresaw a disaster in the future - a disaster which God had either directly orchestrated or would allow to happen. The angels debated whether or not to act against God in order to prevent this disaster; many argued that it would be safer to do nothing, because their action could potentially be the cause of the disaster. The angel Lucifer was the first to make a conclusive decision in favor of rebellion, and he became the leader of the rebel angels.
These "Fallen" revealed themselves to humanity in order to bring them "the light" of knowledge and awareness. In so doing they incurred the wrath of God, who had given humanity the potential to be aware of the Word, the good and evil, yet had not intended Man to have this kind of awareness yet. The humans (Adam and Eve) had been given gifts that they could not use due to their initial innocence ("A child is happy because he is unaware"), and the game's Adam and Eve are portrayed as having had only rudimentary knowledge and awareness, solely concerned with their survival. During the war that followed, the sin of Cain taught the Fallen how to kill and many grew twisted and evil. In the end, the Fallen lost the war, and were banished to the abyss of Hell as a punishment for their transgressions.
This background provides a possible explanation for the conflicting origin stories of the other games in the "old" World of Darkness setting. Reality is presented during the Fall as being far less static than it is in the final nights. The world went from being populated by two humans to having millions of humans with various civilizations and pasts existing at the same time (even when those pasts were contradictory to each other). One could deduce from this that the answer to which game provides the correct world origin story is: all of them were correct, all at the same time, and all at that one point (the Fall).
Setting
Due to the sixth maelstrom (caused by other supernaturals in the World of Darkness), the Gates of Hell that kept these Demons from escaping their prison have begun to weaken, allowing the Fallen to escape. However, to continue existing, a Demon must find a suitable host for itself: bodies with weak souls, for example: comatose patients, severe drug addicts or suicidal people. The Demon severs the weakened soul from the body and takes its place inside the host, merging with the host's memories and emotions, and continues existence on Earth to follow its own personal agenda. While the mortal body provides the Fallen with a shield against the full memory of their torment in Hell, they are sometimes hindered by the memories and feelings the mortal soul left behind. Some Fallen take revenge upon humanity, believing humans the primary cause for the war, while other Demons want to reconcile and repent for their sins, to be able to return to God, who, along with his angels, appears to have vanished.
Characters
All characters must choose a "house" and a "faction". The seven Houses are similar to races in other RPGs, to clans in Vampire: The Masquerade and similar groupings in other White Wolf games. The different Factions are based on the demons' personal opinions and positions regarding the war, and can have been formed before the War or after their escape.
All demons can use special magical powers called Lore. All demons have an "apocalyptic form"; this is a mirror image of their true nature, their form before they were forced into mortal bodies. They can be demonic, and horrible to behold, or angelic and beautiful (but no less terrifying to human eyes), depending on the Demon.
Antagonists
Upon their emergence, the Fallen quickly discovered that they were not the first to escape the Abyss. Hundreds of other demonic spirits were summoned back to Earth in the intervening centuries through the use of sorcery, and were then anchored to objects in place of the bodies possessed by the Fallen. This unnatural connection had left them hollow, tormented, and possessed of alien emotions and thought processes, as these artifacts do not provide the buffer against the memories of their suffering in the Abyss. The five Archdukes, lieutenants of Lucifer, were the first of the fallen angels to be summoned back to Earth. These included Asmodeus, Azrael, Dagon, Belial, and Abaddon, but were soon followed by hundreds of lesser-known demons. These "Earthbound" are immensely powerful, having had centuries to practice their abilities to perfection, as well as having been worshipped as gods by deranged cults for millennia. The rise of organized religion, as well as the Age of Enlightenment drove them into hibernation, but the return of the Fallen has led to the awakening of many of the Earthbound, who take steps to revive the cults which worship them, as well as enslave or destroy the Fallen. Every Earthbound possesses their own unique goals, but most involve the enslavement of humanity so that their potential can be harnessed to achieve the ends of that individual Earthbound.
There are also various human enemies that the Fallen may encounter: from those who mistake them for alien invaders to demonologists intent upon enslaving them to the Society of Leopold (the Modern Nights equivalent of the Inquisition) and others.
And then there are all the other supernatural creatures of the World of Darkness, who can become either ally or enemy to the Fallen. This all depends upon the views of both the Fallen and the supernatural that the Fallen is interacting with (i.e. a Ravenor is more likely to make friends with a Black Spiral Dancer than would be a Reconciler).
Rules were provided in one supplement to allow players to fight/become Angels/Elohim. The problem with this was that Angels received Faith (the fuel for powers in Demon the Fallen) at a rate of 25 points per round of play. The rules for fighting an Angel are therefore almost identical to the rules for fighting Caine.
Houses
- Defiler (or Lammasu)
- Devil (or Namaru)
- Devourer (or Rabisu)
- Fiend (or Neberu)
- Malefactor (or Annunaki)
- Scourge (or Asharu)
- Slayer (or Halaku)
Factions
Factions in Demon the Fallen are the fictional groupings of like-minded fallen angels, or demons. Unlike houses, each "demon" chooses their own faction according to their beliefs, which may change over time.
Cryptics
The Cryptics have used their time in Hell to think. They feel that if God is omniscient, then his creations would be as perfect as reality would allow, and since Lucifer was God's highest angel, then his rebellion was a part of God's plan. They gather knowledge to determine what is really going on and what they should do next. They dislike the Luciferians and the Faustians, approve of the Reconcilers asking questions (just not enough), and dislike Ravenors' destructive tendencies. They were initially to be called 'Inquisitors', but this was changed during production, although there are occasional references to them under this name in some books due to editing errors.
Faustians
The Faustians lust for revenge against God, who exiled them from heaven. Even without the leadership of Lucifer, they still try to awaken the human race to its true potential, but only so humanity can be used as a potent weapon in yet another war against heaven. The plots and intentions of a Faustian are often as subtle as they are dangerous. They have no patience for the Cryptics, their goals are directly opposite to those of the Raveners, Reconcilers can be friend or foe, and they can work with Luciferians (though they don't like to).
Luciferans
The Luciferans still believe that Lucifer was right to rebel against God. Even though Lucifer cannot be found, they still follow what they feel to be his directives. They dislike the Cryptics, can work with Faustians, consider the Reconcilers to be traitors, and consider Ravenors to be enemies.
Raveners
The nihilistic Raveners look at the broken world and wasted potential of humanity and believe there's only one option left: destroy everything. Some see it as a way to finally lure out God and his Angels; others see it as an act of mercy to a near-dead world; and many just don't care at all. They are enemies with all the other factions of demons, though they can tolerate the Cryptics (as the Raveners assume they will eventually stop asking questions and start breaking stuff).
Reconcilers
The Reconcilers have used their time in Hell to reconsider their actions and the punishment that God meted out to them. Many have come to the conclusion that they were punished justly and that they must atone for their misdeeds; others simply feel that there is no point in continuing to fight a war they lost long ago against an omnipotent enemy. Now that they are free they wish to do some good, thinking that God might forgive them and allow them to return to Heaven. Even if he won't they might be able to help the humans, even fix things so the humans can have what they can't. They are on good terms with the Cryptics and the Faustians, but are diametrically opposed to the goals of the Luciferans and the Raveners.
Banishment and Death
When a demon's host is slain, the demon is not killed. The demon must merely find a new host or be pulled back into the Abyss. There are only two methods for slaying a demon written in the rulebooks. The first is if demon's "soul" is devoured by another demon. The second is a ritual that can be performed by the members of the Inquisition which will "unmake" any high torment demon, but leaves low torment demons unaffected. There is no defense for demons against this, so the demons that know of it greatly fear Inquisitors.
List of published Books
Taken from White Wolf's Comprehensive World of Darkness Booklist. Since the production of the game line ended, no further books are to be expected.
Role Playing Source Books
- City of Angels (8211) ISBN 1-58846-752-X
- Damned and Deceived (8221) ISBN 1-58846-758-9
- Days of Fire (8281) ISBN 1-58846-762-7
- Demon Players Guide (8202) ISBN 1-58846-756-2
- Demon Storytellers Companion (8201) ISBN 1-58846-751-1
- Demon: The Fallen (8200) ISBN 1-58846-750-3
- Earthbound (8280) ISBN 1-58846-761-9
- Fear to Tread (8270) ISBN 1-58846-753-8
- Houses of the Fallen (8203) ISBN 1-58846-760-0
- Saviors and Destroyers (8220) ISBN 1-58846-754-6
Novels
- Demon: Lucifer’s Shadow (11904) ISBN 1-58846-824-0