They came to our world in a haze of fire & fury; we watched the entire sky alight
with there presence. Across the spectrums visions we watched with curious eyes
& the presence of an open mind. Into the people's ranks came the great deceiver,
Gabriel spoke to our leaders in the voice that echoes in the mind. What was
ours became theirs with the promise of a future. It turned to cold, death, &
the ending of many of my people caught within the bounds of hunger away from
the light of the transition. We cannot forget nor forgive the Night of Lies.
Truth must always illuminate the mind lest the memory slide into the darkness
of the Sea of Ignorance.
Translation from Green's of Shade Chromatic religious leader about memories
from the Night of Lies 2122.
This article concerns the group of Aberrant's featured in the Trinity series
Alien Invasion, further there is mention in Stellar Frontiers, yet we know next
to nothing about this group of highly dangerous & enigmatic villains. If you're
a player who's game master is running the Alien Invasion series stop reading
here! You're only going to spoil the surprise of a finely crafted series of
adventures that will add to a wonderful role playing experience.
So here is what we do know as readers of the series, the speech on page 69 of
Invasion called the Terrible Swift Sword gives the name of the nova known as
Uriel to be Jason O'Hare. The interview takes place during 2049 according to
the Trinity time line, 2049 to 2061-various major cities (mostly in North America
& Europe suffer destruction at Aberrant hands).
In my humble opinion Uriel is one of those novas. The interview gives the impression
that Uriel & company is a group of Evangelical Christian fanatics. His group
was formed in 2047 just about one year after the Teragen faction know as Allah's
legion seizes control of Bahrain. Seems like religious fervor was in the air
that year. Uriel is a real fruitcake who thinks that he God's terrible swift
sword & agent on Earth. The Seraphim Uriel's traveling tent revival show might
be laughable if they didn't go on crusades across the States. These crusades
recruit new followers & punish sinners. Under the heading of punishment the
Seraphim destroyed Aspen Colorado in 2048.
Yet with all of this great background in Invasion book one we're not give any
templates for the Seraphim or Uriel who is dead by the time of the events in
the adventure. The Storyteller is told to use the aberrant template on page
303 of the Trinity rule book. Don't make this group who has so much more potential
into the standard monster of the week. I mean this was a group whose leader
received a vision from God to lead his children to a New Canaan. What they found
was a harsh planet with a group of primitive people who they could grind into
the earth. To the Chromatics, these novas are the great corrupters of their
planet. There is some much more room to flesh out these novas.
So how does one create some truly memorable villains? Well kids grab your copy
of the aberrant rule book& turn to page 103. Use the rule for one dot of Quantum
equals one point of initial taint. Remember that trait costs can't be saved
on. But hey beginning Quantum rating of three is nice with the max of seven
can be down right nasty. What do we know about the main leader of the Seraphim?
Uriel thinks that he's one of God's angels on Earth. Now pulling out my copy
of the Angel Dictionary I see that Uriel means Fire of God. Also known as the
regent of the sun, the flame of God, & the angel of presence.
The entry further states that he is the sharpest sighted in heaven. His symbol
is an open hand holding a flame. Using this I open Aberrant & go to work building
a character with the powers of warp, mega-stamina, mega-perception, mega-manipulation,
& elemental anima with the element being fire of course. Taint should reflect
his nature, lets see Anima banner with the sword of god as the symbol. Energy
emission with the fires at his command leaking out of his skin, mental disorders
like receiving visions from God, megalomania, vestigial limbs with four useless
wings.
Given time we'll go fill the rest of his character sheet. In the Invasion text
we're also given the name of another of the Seraphim Gabriel who has some type
of telepathic powers. Using the Angel dictionary we can see that the information
in the entry is quite extensive. His name means Strength of God, he is the angel
of resurrection, mercy, vengeance, death, revelation. We've quite a bit to work
with here putting some flesh on this character. For example his powers could
revolve around healing, & death with the dual nature of his abilities played
around with for the amusement of the players. Examples of the various abilities
that might crop up are healing, magnetic mastery, pretercognition, telepathy,
body morph, flight, etc. Am trying to keep the angel motif intact. I've found
that the names for most of these groups also contain valuable insight into their
motives & actions. Novas by there very nature are not always subtle. Uriel's
group operated for years on Chrome Prime. This begs the question how did they
survive?
Well if I was Uriel leading my followers for the "New Canaan" among the heavens
followers would be a must. Promise them that their place in after life was assured.
Well, 200 people would be a good start. They would have a hard life indeed on
a strange New World with hostile life forms. You can bet that if any of them
were left alive after the events of Invasion they'd have very high survival
skills indeed. People can survive in very adverse circumstances. The cult of
the Seraphim, used things like field kits, special tents designed for the atmosphere
of Chrome Prime, lasers, and vacuum environment suits, oxygen generation equipment,
most of all plenty of faith in their nova leaders.
Speaking of the novas the name Seraphim is given to the four angels around God's
throne who sing holy, holy, and holy. They are responsible for love, light,
& fire. They also take the form of fiery serpents other forms include angels
with four faces & six wings. They also roar like lions what even that means.
For the purpose of design the storyteller should keep in mind the idea of fire
which over the years has been seen as a cleansing element in the various Christian
religions over the centuries. The Storyteller could set up the dynamic of the
Chromatics using light & the Seraphim using plasma. It makes a nice interplay
as these elements wash over the surface of the planet. A very chilling proposition
for characters caught in the crossfire. Got carried away there for a moment,
sorry. I've decided that since there are four Seraphim than I'll use these four
as Uriel's advisors. Gabriel should also be counted among their ranks. Others
include Michael, Raphael, & Israel. Draw inspiration on these from many different
sources.
Finally I'd like to draw on the describing the visual element of these Aberrant's
The raw visual impact that a storyteller can impart to his players is incredible
for example, the following description of Michael. As your characters watch
there is movement on the horizon. It moves through the sky at tremendous speed,
contrails forming around the greenish shape. As it passes over your position
we get a good look at the silvery shape cast in the sky. Upon its next pass,
it slows to a stop & hovers. With metallic green wings reaching toward the heavens
it regards you. Eyes of ebon fire burn from under a helm of white armor cast
in the shape of some lost sea creature. With a sense of horror you realize that
it is the creatures skin. Fire dances over the limbs of the armored nightmare.
It regards you with the cool intelligence of a man looking at a bug. Held in
hands far to delicate a spear of fire glows in the shadow of this being's wings.
A movement far off to the left distracts him. With a flick of his wrist the
spear of fire is launched & a quick series of explosions can be heard through
your suit. There is a soundless explosion of light in the being's hand & another
spear appears. With cool indifference he launches skyward. You've just seen
Michael & lived count yourself lucky.
This author in no way feels that his work should impact on the religious beliefs
of his audience after all we describing a game. Thank you for your time.
