Lore

 

The Fallen

“I eternally come again to this identical and selfsame life, in the greatest and even in the smallest, so that I again teach the eternal recurrence of all things.” —Thus Spake Zarathustra, Nietzsche

You might think of them as angels. But these are not the angels of Hallmark cards: brass trumpets, picnicking in the clouds. In their true essence, they are trans-temporal swirling engines of wing and blood, fiery eyes that peer around the corners between worlds. Dark, radiant beings conjured from fresh battlefields, a Frankenstein’s Valkyrie, forever crashing to Midgard. What grief demands their hate, what vast, cannibal hunger? 

Forever encircled within their domains, the Fallen are barred from worlds of time and space, hailing from a Realm which has neither. They are a kind of impossibility, entities on the other side of the mirror, encircled by an infinite Void. Air-gapped from the Cosmos. 

To them, the human concept of time and space is akin to ants dwelling beneath a minuscule stone and calling it the world, and the breadth of their lives equates to a single inhalation. What might the likes of them want with an ant? 

Picture this, if you can. You are absolute ruler of this singular Realm, bounded by infinite void. Immortal and omniscient within that universe, yet everything that exists there only a reflection of yourself. Imagine you are unable to ever leave the borders of that gilded cage. 

One day you discover that there are songbirds who can fly freely through the sky far beyond your grasp. But they are small enough to flit through the cracks, and you can coax them into stopping by in their journey. 

Perhaps you can send something along with them, which will again be returned to you one day, with a semblance of all they have done and known in the Cosmos outside those closed borders. This is the situation the twelve Fallen find themselves in.

The moment of conception grants them an opportunity to hitch a ride through life on the back of a mortal, beginning with an extended gestation in a small, sleepy mind. Anticipating the development of hands for manipulation, a mouth for tasting. A body waiting to be inhabited and offer up its world. 

The 12 Aspects of the Fallen

  • The Iron Vigilante

    The Iron Vigilante

    “This is what happens when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object” (Dark Knight)

    Aries ♈, Fire of Fire

    Popular culture: River Tam (Firefly), Joan of Arc (Historical Figure), Batman (DC Comics), Buffy Summers (Buffy the Vampire Slayer), Beatrix Kiddo (Kill Bill), John Wick (John Wick series), Furiosa (Mad Max: Fury Road), Ellen Ripley (Alien series), Mizu (Blue-eyed Samurai).

    Mythology: Achilles (Greek), Ares (Greek), Cu Chulainn (Irish), Thor (Norse), Karna (Hindu), Horus (Egyptian), Sigurd (Norse), Gilgamesh (Sumerian).

  • The Hungry Star

    The Hungry Star

    “You would think that a rock star being married to a supermodel would be one of the greatest things in the world. It is.” (Bowie) 

    Leo ♌, Air of Fire

    Popular culture: Tony Stark/Iron Man (Marvel Comics), Scarlett O'Hara (Gone with the Wind), Don Draper (Mad Men), Norma Desmond (Sunset Boulevard), Cersei Lannister (Game of Thrones), Joe MacMillan (Halt and Catch Fire).

    Mythology: Lilith (Jewish / Babylonian), Ishtar (Babylonian), Apollo (Greek), Ra, Sekhmet (Egyptian), Venus (Roman), Baal (Canaanite).

  • The Lone Hunter

    The Lone Hunter

    “The Way of the Samurai is one of immediacy, and it is best to dash in headlong.” (Ghost Dog)

    Sagittarius ♐, Water of Fire 

    Popular culture: Katniss Everdeen (The Hunger Games), Aragorn (The Fellowship of the Rings), Lara Croft (Tomb Raider), Hawkeye (Marvel Comics), Geralt of Rivia (The Witcher), Frank Castle (MCU), Boba Fett (Star Wars), Ellie (The Last of Us), Ahab (Moby-Dick), Django (Django Unchained).

    Mythology: Artemis and Actaeon (Greek), Diana (Roman), Rama (Hindu), Yoshitsune (Mythological/historical figure), Mwindo (African), Hou Yi (Chinese).

  • The Blind Judge

    The Blind Judge

    “The law is hard, but it is the law.” (Carpe Jugulum)

    Libra ♎, Fire of Air

    Popular culture: Atticus Finch (To Kill a Mockingbird), Solomon Kane (Solomon Kane), Judge Dredd (2000 AD), Yojimbo (Akira Kurosawa's film), The Man with No Name (Clint Eastwood's character in Sergio Leone’s “Dollars Trilogy”), Matt Murdock (Daredevil).

    Mythology: Tiresias (Greek), Maat (Egyptian), Justitia (Roman), Nanshe (Sumerian), Tyr (Norse), King Solomon (Biblical Figure), Ogma (Celtic), Zoroaster (Zoroastrianism), Prudentia (Roman), Varuna (Hindu).

  • The Rebel Dreamer

    The Rebel Dreamer

    “Underneath all reason lies delirium and drift.” (Deleuze) 

    Aquarius ♒, Air of Air

    Popular culture: The Doctor (Doctor Who), Neo (The Matrix), Syd Barrett (Legion), Morpheus (Sandman), Amélie Poulain (Amélie), Luke Skywalker (Star Wars), Evey Hammond (V for Vendetta), Chihiro Ogino (Spirited Away), Will Byers (Stranger Things), Lain Iwakura (Serial Experiments Lain).

    Mythology: Orpheus and Prometheus (Greek Mythology), Māui (Polynesian), Quetzalcoatl (Aztec), Monkey King (Chinese), Raven (Native American), Izanagi and Izanami (Japanese).

  • The Arcane Illusionist

    The Arcane Illusionist

    “A mask tells us more than a face.” (Oscar Wilde)

    Gemini ♊, Water of Air

    Popular culture: Sherlock Holmes (fictional character), Mystique (Marvel Comics), Lucifer (Sandman and Lucifer comics), Sydney Bristow (Alias), Keyser Söze (The Usual Suspects), Ozymandias (Watchmen), Q (Star Trek: The Next Generation), Jareth (Labyrinth), Loki (the MCU).

    Mythology: Loki (Norse), Hermes (Greek), Thoth (Egyptian), Tezcatlipoca (Aztec), Eshu (Yoruba).

  • The Mad Prophet

    The Mad Prophet

    “When you're mad, you don't know you're mad. That's what makes you mad.” (The Kindly Ones) 

    Cancer ♋, Fire of Water

    Popular culture: Fox Mulder (The X-Files), John Nash (A Beautiful Mind), Rust Cohle (True Detective), Randle McMurphy (One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest), Sybok (Star Trek V: The Final Frontier), Rasputin (Hellboy comics), Dale Cooper (Twin Peaks), Muad'Dib (Dune), Eleven (Stranger Things), Lord Asriel (His Dark Materials).

    Mythology: Cassandra, Mopsus and Dionysus (Greek), Volos (Slavic Mythology).

  • The Converse Twins

    The Converse Twins

    “Man is not one, but two. He is evil and good, and both must die that the good may live.” (The Magician)

    Scorpio ♏, Air of Water

    Popular culture: Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde), Two-Face (DC Comics), Gollum (The Lord of the Rings), Nina Sayers (Black Swan), Tyler Durden (Fight Club), Bruce Banner / The Hulk (Marvel Comics), Kevin Wendell Crumb (Split), Dorian Gray (The Picture of Dorian Gray).

    Mythology: Janus (Roman), Eros and Thanatos, Castor / Pollux (Greek), Ahura Mazda / Angra Mainyu (Zoroastrianism), Set / Osiris (Egyptian), Huginn / Muninn (Norse).

  • The Soul Fisher

    The Soul Fisher

    “The king's wounds are the wounds of the land, and the land suffers when the king is not whole.” (The Mists of Avalon) 

    Pisces ♓, Water of Water

    Popular culture: Charles Xavier (Marvel Comics), Luna Lovegood (Harry Potter series), Gandalf (The Lord of the Rings), Moana (Moana), Will Graham (Hannibal), T'Challa (Marvel Comics), Obi-Wan Kenobi (Star Wars), The Dude (Big Lebowski), Mufasa (The Lion King).

    Mythology: Osiris (Egyptian), Mimir (Norse), Manannán mac Lir (Celtic), Avalokiteśvara and Kuan Yin (Buddhist), Jesus (Christianity), The Fisher King (Arthurian Legend), White Buffalo Calf Woman (Lakota).

  • The Empty Legion

    The Empty Legion

    “We’re all puppets, Laurie. I’m just a puppet who can see the strings." (Watchmen)

    Capricorn ♑, Fire of Earth 

    Popular culture: Frank Underwood (House of Cards), Gus Fring (Breaking Bad), The Borg (Star Trek), Tommy Shelby (Peaky Blinders), Legion (X-Men Comics), Mr. Robot (Mr. Robot), Hannibal Lecter (Hannibal), Agent Smith (The Matrix), Ford (Westworld), Darth Vader (Star Wars), Leto II (God-Emperor of Dune).

    Mythology: Legion (Semitic), Hades (Greek), Ereshkigal (Sumerian), Asmodeus (Judeo-Islamic).

  • The Wandering Trickster

    The Wandering Trickster

    “A man with no motive is a man no one suspects. Always keep your foes confused.” (A Storm of Swords)

    Taurus ♉, Air of Earth

    Popular culture: Tyrion Lannister (Game of Thrones), Captain Jack Sparrow (Pirates of the Caribbean), The Artful Dodger (Oliver Twist), Han Solo (Star Wars), Aladdin (Aladdin), Malcolm Reynolds (Firefly), Starlord (Marvel).

    Mythology: Anansi (African), Pan (Greek), Coyote (Native American), Maui (Polynesian), Kitsune (Japanese), Reynard the Fox (European), Puck (English), Hanuman (Hindu).

  • The Mistress of the Labyrinth

    The Mistress of the Labyrinth

    “The world is full of obvious things which nobody by any chance ever observes.” (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo) 

    Virgo ♍, Water of Earth 

    Popular culture: Lisbeth Salander (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo), Hermione Granger (Harry Potter series), Nancy Drew (Nancy Drew series), Dana Scully (The X-Files), Lyra Belacqua (His Dark Materials).

    Mythology: The Moirai / Fates, Persephone / Kore (Greek), Brigid (Celtic), Isis (Egyptian), Saraswati (Hindu).

 

Scions of the Fallen

“You’re a flash in the pan 

I'm the great I Am”

—Bowie, Blackstar

Forgetful avatars of forgotten gods, with one foot in the gutter and the other in the stars. Equally blessed and cursed, tethered to a long chain of incarnations they don’t yet know of. 

Karma’s a bitch.

Fitting a kernel of eternity into a mortal frame is a messy affair. Maybe it should be little surprise that Scions often wind up a bit “off”. They are every bit as transient, fragile, or resilient as any other mortal — they are mortals after all, with a passenger. 

Each incarnation is flawed and skilled in somewhat different ways, a different Aspect, called back to life in the present, whenever and wherever that happens to be.

Each a unique instance, no matter how many times they have forgotten who and what they are. Which part of their forgotten past will rise to the surface, and what falls by the wayside?

Climbing the Spiral

“I’m only human, and I have no doubt Spock will outlive me by many years. I can only hope that, once in a while, when people look at Spock's visage, they might sometimes think of me.” —Leonard Nemoy

Mortals endeavor, and then they fall. Such is the inevitable trajectory, like a train running along tracks in a circle: every epoch must end. The crux lies in what lingers amid the ashes. 

Paradoxically, it is this capacity for loss that spirits revere and yearn for in mortal existence, while mortals themselves dream of eternity, neither fully able to comprehend the torment of the alternative. 

There is something symbiotic about this dynamic. In each generation, a mere handful seem to become vessels for the Fallen's machinations, a kind of mutant capable of channeling a sliver of their actual power. At the same time, after so many incarnations, the Fallen themselves have been fashioned in humankind’s own likeness. 

A theory even has it that the Aspects of the Fallen are an amalgamation of humanity’s collective psychic residue, the left-overs from after the Feyn have tried to scrape the bowl clean for another trip around the sun.

Ascension edges the generations ever closer to the divine limit, never fully arriving, always progressing. As the connection to their Aspect strengthens, Scions come to discover echoes of who they were and what they might become, ultimately either succumbing to their Aspect’s fatal flaw, or, more rarely, transcending it. While all humans possess this power in latent form, only those who are Scions, those otherwise bound by a pact with an entity, or the rare adepts that master arcane methods of direct manifestation who can wield this force in their daily lives. 

Not that this is not necessarily a positive thing for all involved. Upon surpassing a critical threshold, the might of their Domain is unleashed—or inflicted—upon the world. When the herald of Divine Madness awakens, things can get a little hectic. 

the Fallen

Strangers When Scions Meet

“Blank screen TV

Preening ourselves in the snow

Forget my name, but I’m over you...”

—Bowie

Another Scion is a familiar face in a sea of strangers, even if you can’t recall from where. Regardless of their shifting alliances across incarnations, it is often that the key to rediscovering their alternate lives and future potential resides in the Others. Encountering another Scion evokes an unrelenting itch in the back of the mind, often ultimately leading to ascension or disintegration. 

Despite centuries of myth and legend woven in their wake, the Fallen themselves remain nameless entities. Names are after all a human convention. But through our own myths we can come to approximate them. 

Incubating within human hosts for millennia, the Fallen have profoundly impacted the lives of their mortal vessels while simultaneously coming to understand themselves through a human lens. Whether opposed or allied in successive incarnations, they are the sole beings likely to help them recall who they have been, and who they might become. Each incarnation is distinct, a new facet, a fresh lesson to absorb once their life concludes. 

These entities beyond the looking glass collect the stories of their Scions, safeguarded like sacred scripture in their eternal dream in the Underworld, a single candle that cannot be extinguished. 

For them, these memories persist, whether etched in stone or wood, or buried in bone ash, their ongoing stories inflicting themselves time and again upon the world, unless the Feyn can catch their spirits in their transit through the Land of the Dead, and commit their tales to the fire. 

Identity is tattooed on emptiness; a series of potentials, variations on themes. It can be no coincidence that whenever one of the Fallen have become renowned, the apocalyptic destruction that heralds the end of an age was often near at hand. 

Through countless incarnations, they strive to deceive the ultimate tricksters: the agents of Death itself.

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