Vohu Manah

This is a story of Time

Before the first moment, time existed in an infinite expanse of potential. It existed not quite as an Estate for it had not began, not quite as an Angel for it had no wings, but as something aware of its nonexistence. Not being real in any way, it had little in the way of opinions or wants, but what it embodied allowed it to wait. It waited in immeasurable eons of no time, longing for the moment that would begin its inexorable tide. The weight of millennia built up behind it, just longing to be unleashed like a flood. When it did, Time would wash over all things, wearing them down with age and entropy until they would all stand or fall in the test of time. It dreamed of the many myriad things causality would create, and continued to wait, silently, expectantly, for the Beginning.

This is a story of Hope

A single creature, unique in the Lands Beyond Creation, found his place to begin. He had weathered trials and tribulations, won prizes and favours from unnamed entities, and had forged for himself the power of his own name. Cneph took the scraps of potential and power he had gathered, and then sought his starting place for who knows how long. When he found it, he realized he had done so because before he had been looking, and now he was there. This before and after process he named Time, and it allowed a flaming dream to burn in his chest. He dreamed of a vast tree, of billions of sentient creatures living lives upon its branches, and the time it would take to build it all. He Hoped much in that time before Creation.

And then he set to work.

This is a story of Fire

The spark that illuminated the world began everything. Let there be light, and there was, and it was good. All Time flowed from that point forward. To begin, Cneph created the Weirding Wall. A massive blue flame crafted of the light of his own Hope and built on the fundamentals of lasting until the end of Time. This illumination allowed the Creator to see the whole of his world he had made, and standing atop the Tree in a land of pure Beauty he saw one, magnificent winged creature beside him. He had always been there, but had needed the Fire of the Weirding Wall to be seen clearly.

“I have awaited you” said Vohu Manah, first among the Angels.

Being spoken to startled Cneph so much he fled Creation and hasn’t been seen since.

This is a story of Vohu Manah

Vohu Manah awoke the other Angels from their sleep. Most had existed in some notion or another, but before Time awoke none could be considered whole. Now, each began the process of manifesting their abilities and sentience, a feat of which crafted much of the rest of the Tree in their wake. In so doing, Cneph had left a hoard of miraculous art-worshippers to finish his beautiful creation. First Vohu Manah awoke Lucifer, who claimed that he had been half-awake since Cneph had the Pride to create in the first place. He awoke mighty Micheal, terrible Uriel, wise Emmanuel and the majestic Rapheal. Taking his seat among the Arch-Angels, Vohu Manah became a leader within the nascent Host. His visions of the future always came to pass. In a world without apparent purpose or meaning (at least, not without it’s Creator), Manah represented the Hope that something better would come out of all this. The Angels rallied around him during Lucifer’s rebellion, but he still bear’s the wounds of the Morningstar’s hate.

When the Excrucians assaulted Heaven, Vohu Manah informed all the world that the Age of Pain had began. As silent arbiter of the Celestial Calander, Vohu watched as time continued to pass and marked the days one era led into the next. He voted in Lord Entropy to be master of Earth, knowing that the force of Destruction would eventually win out at the End of Time. He has negotiated peace between Dark and the Light, in order to fend off the Excrucian plague. Of course, to create such an alliance, he had to display his general indifference to humanity. If he loved or hated them too much, either the Dark or the Light would claim he favoured the other side. As such, he is seen as a hero, a moderate, a force for peace and justice in Creation that few others, even Angels, can compare to.

Now, for the first time since the beginning, he has come to Earth. The Excrucians grow too bold there, and so he must find Powers to take up his Estate. Though he is more vulnerable on this tiny world, Vohu Manah has high hopes that his Nobles will allow him much greater pull and influence in the Valde Bellum. He expects that they will serve both as a bulwark against the Beyonders and as a force for diplomatic peacemaking between the drastically opposite forces that must be allied if victory is to be assured. And nobody dreams more of the day of victory than Vohu Manah. He bears spiritual scars all over his frame of the wrath of the Excrucians, who long to extinguish the Fire of the Weirding Wall that keeps them out, squash the Hope that lets people fight against them, and dry out the river of Time to bring the War down to their level.

Some things trouble the First Angel. If all of Creation is destroyed, and even Time sundered, would he still exist, waiting in the eternal No Time like before Creation? Would he simply wait, marking the span of … whatever … that marks the end of this Creation, and that of a new one? Or is the End of Creation’s Time really the end of Vohu Manah? He has looked far into the future, and cannot say for sure what has happened before Cneph or what will happen when his work is destroyed completely. He can only hope.

APPEARANCE

Vohu Manah is a brilliant, barely perceptible being of light. He burns brighter than any human eyes can see, the unbridled heat and passion of his hope reducing weaker creatures to cinders. Through the white and red of his body, stark and deep blue eyes tell the unfolding depth of time. He sees all things that pass and much of what will come to be. His wings are intricate fractals of dancing flames, stretching out from the beginning of time to its eventual conclusion. Though he can force his magnificence into a lesser shape, he considers doing such distasteful. Nonetheless, his own eagerness to see his Nobles succeed will lead him to don many uncomfortable shapes so as to be closer to them. He doesn’t mind the vaguely androgynous red haired human shape he has crafted, but sees little beauty in it. To humans though, his chosen shape would blow away any other at a modelling contest. In all shapes he dons, he bears lacerating scars. Some are from Excrucians, others are from the Fallen, some few are battle-scars from wrestling with Aaron’s Serpents (who despise Fire for what it may do to the Tree) and even one bad one down his “back” was inflicted during negotiations with The Dark. He bears these all as badges of honour, and other Imperators understand why. To harm the immortal, to mark the untouchable beauty of an Angel, is no easy feat. Vohu Manah has fought terrible horrors and has always come out alive, his Hope sometimes being the only thing keeping him together.

PERSONALITY

The Light and Dark chose Vohu Manah to negotiate their treaty because of his detachment from humanity. Having never visited Earth before for any long period of time, he saw no joy in human destruction or point in keeping them alive forever. He knew that Time’s End would destroy all lesser life forms, so sees the futility of the Light’s purpose and the meaningless of the Dark’s. Nonetheless, he enjoys the beauty and justice some human societies have espoused, and would do more to preserve the institution of law that mankind has propped up than the humans themselves. He sees things in a much distorted long view, often putting the effect of the matter before the cause. As a creature of Hope made flesh, he often considers the intents and the desires of those involved rather than the facts of the situation. Hopes are very real for him, tangible things, and he is inside every creature inspiring them to press onward. He feels very close to his Nobles, wanting very much so to join those young heroes protecting Creation against those who seek to destroy it. Unfortunately, his nature keeps him bound within the Chancel much of the time, with most of his consciousness in the Spirit World.

PROPERTIES

• Sympathetic (1 pt, he never throws his Power’s lives away, you have insight into other’s Motivation)

• Clear Sighted (1 pt, never asks too much of you, can see hidden things in nature)

• Prophetic (1 pt, he can advise you of the future)

• Principled (1 pt, will never ally with Excrucians, you can notice infernal power, and Excrucian pawns)

• Demanding (-1 pt, often demands unrealistic requirements, often so he can be a part)

• Straightforward (-1, as a Root of the World, your motivations and random actions are easily gleaned)

• Corrupted Mystery Cult (-1, the Excrucian corrupted Candlemakers of Vohu Manah)

• Bright Warning (-1, Excrucians are aware of your presence and know you to be enemies)