Eli created it, of course.
"It", in this case, appears to be a colourful plastic puzzle, of the sort that was very popular twenty years ago in the wake of Rubik's Cube. Like similar puzzles, it's a regular pyramid, about four inches on a side. It also twists and turns in confusing, nonintuitive ways and seems to have far too many colours on it.
What does it do? Well, the Archangel of Creation gave it to a Dissonant Servitor some time ago to work on, The angel played with it for a week, and when it was finally solved the Servitor's Dissonance was gone. Since then it's been passed around the local Creationer community, whenever someone had a particular need for it.
Recently, though -- like yesterday -- that changed. The angels had allowed a Renegade demon to try solving it. It took the demon (a Balseraph named Korad) over a month, but he finally restored it to its pristine state... and had, in the process, realigned himself with the true Symphony. At least, they're pretty sure he did. It's difficult to say, because that's the point when the angels got ambushed by a squad of Calabim. Korad was wounded badly, then apparently vanished; the other angels had their Vessels killed. One of the casualties was Adleriel, a Malakite of Creation in service to War, who naturally reported what had happened when he reappeared in Heaven.
If you're running this for angels, this is where the PCs come in.
Their assignment is twofold: recover the pyramid, and figure out what happened to Korad. There's a certain amount of dissention within the Seraphim Council at the moment regarding what to do with the pyramid: Dominic wants to seize it as evidence, Jean wants to study it, and both Novalis and Laurence (in agreement, for once) want to know whether it really can redeem demons all by itself. Of course, to know that, they need to talk to Korad...
Adleriel will come with the PCs as a native guide. It's his opinion that Korad is in Limbo right now, but he's certainly willing to help find the demons who killed his last Vessel. And he knows at least one hangout for Gamesters that might be a good place to investigate, once they've checked out the site of the attack and found no better leads.
One thing that will happen when the angels visit the scene of the crime, though, is that one of the PCs will acquire a passenger: a flea. (Or actually several fleas; the Creationers who'd been living in the abandoned warehouse had kept dogs.) It won't be until the afflicted angel starts hearing a voice inside his or her head that s/he might realise that one of the fleas is not quite natural.
Korad has been a Renegade for a long time. The Prince he served was killed over six hundred years ago, and the Balseraph's been running ever since. He'd nearly forgotten about his "spare" Vessel (leftover from his role in his Prince's scheme to dominate Earth), and certainly hasn't used it in decades.
He'd finally decided, after centuries of internal struggle, to try for Redemption. Riddled with Discord, Korad eased his way into the loose-knit community, and learned about the pyramid. Here, it seemed, was a pathway to Heaven without having to face an Archangel, without possibly being gunned down by impatient Malakim, and -- most importantly -- without the risk of being dispersed into the Symphony. Korad convinced Adleriel and some of his cohorts to let him try the puzzle; the Malakite, sensing Korad's honourable intentions, agreed.
Korad is pretty sure that it worked. When he touched the pyramid, it swirled into a nightmare of colours and shapes; after hundreds of hours of doing nothing but examining and turning the puzzle, he could feel his Discord slipping away, feel something -- pure -- enter his consciousness. Elated, he ran out to tell the others, and ran face-first into a Calabite's fist. Switching into his flea Vessel was the only thing that he could think of.
When the PCs show up, Korad will latch on to one of them, and after a while use his Ethereal Song of Tongues to make mental contact. He'll be very evasive about where and who he is; old habits die hard. He's also suspects Adleriel might have set him up for the attack, and so will try to convince his host to keep his presence a secret. He does know a fair bit about the local demonic community, and so can silently prompt his host in likely directions.
Actually, the local Gamesters have nothing to do with the attack. They had heard about the Relic, and had started laying plans of their own, until they were pre-empted.
The interest of the Game is easy to see: a Relic that clears Dissonance, cures Discord, and possibly redeems demons...? There is no way that Asmodeus would let something like that roam around free. Some other Princes -- Kronos, Baal, Vapula -- agree with him, and so those four Princes will each have Servitors out and about to find out what's going on. This is one option for demonic PCs.
The demons that actually stole the device have somewhat more sinister purposes in mind. One thing that Adleriel didn't mention in his debriefing -- though it will come out if the PCs investigate within the Creationer community -- is that the Relic was given to a human once, in the hopes that it would help him through his difficulties. It didn't. In fact, it drove him completely mad; humans just aren't equipped to handle the insight into one's inner nature that the puzzle provides. Azgaz, Impudite of Dark Humour, heard about this side effect and thought that it was hilarious. He recruited some Calabim of Death (and possibly some other demons, i.e. demonic PCs) to help him get his hands on it. Now Azgaz is looking for the perfect... straight man. Of course, Azgaz has no intention of using the device himself -- and given the nature of rumours, might not even know the Relic's real purpose -- but it's a fascinating-looking object, and one of his confederates might well pick it up and start playing.
Two last things: firstly, it's not certain that Korad's been redeemed. After all, all the Relic is known to do is remove Dissonance and Discord (and madden humans); it's possible that one of the angelic PCs is carrying around a Balseraph in the form of a flea, stripped of all Discord and doubts about his demonic nature, who is pursuing his own agenda. (Or even worse: a Balseraph who is absolutely convinced that he's redeemed, convincing himself that he can read the Truth in what people say, and unconsciously using his (real) Resonance on his host to convince him/her as well.)
Secondly, Asmodeus considers himself a master of all games. A complicated puzzle devised by the Archangel of Creation might just pique his curiosity... which means that (if the pyramid can perform Redemptions) that the angels might want to do their best to make sure the demons end up with it, while the Gamesters would find it in their best long-term interests to "lose" the Relic by accident...
Return to main Iron Rev page.