Ethereals

"Hollywood is a place that attracts people with massive holes in their souls." --- Julia Phillips

The Ethereal Realm is also called the "Marches" and the "Dreamlands". Human minds dream things in the Ethereal realm into existence and Ethereal spirits take part in human dreams every night. It's also where the Superiors Beleth and Blandine wage their war for the minds of humanity. The 'old gods' (the ones left after the Archangel of Purity, Uriel, executed his Heavenly Crusade to eliminate them all) often hide out in the Marches and marshal their little remaining essence for trips to the corporeal worlds.

Ethereal spirits themselves are pretty strange. They are formed from human ideas, and can be wispy and non-sentient, or solid and real. They thrive on Essence (like Celestials in that respect).

The In Nomine book says that Ethereals can easily get from the Ethereal realm to the Corporeal realm assuming they have a corporeal vessel. I would add that the only entities powerful enough to give a corporeal vessel to an Ethereal are, of course, Heaven and Hell.

However, in Los Angeles, Ethereals have another option. Since Los Angeles is so close to the edge of the Dreamlands, Ethereals can become "real" enough just to walk across the border (if they can find it), or ride the Grand Central Railroad there (if they can afford it). See the Los Angeles section for more.

This is also a great opportunity for the 'old gods' - and the reason why Los Angeles has so many strange cults and religions!

What Ethereals Want With The Real World

"The freeway experience ... is the only secular communion Los Angeles has... Actual participation requires a total surrender, a concentration so intense as to seem a kind of narcosis, a rapture-of-the-freeway. The mind goes clean. The rhythm takes over." --- Joan Didion

Worship of spirits also generates Essence, which is why the Marches are where you can find the deposed gods and heroes of the past.

In Los Angeles, certain Ethereals can get through to the real world. Only the realest Ethereals (the ones with the most Essence) can make it across, usually, though there have been some odd ones out. Once across, the realer they act, the longer they can stay. Yes, this is just like having a Role. The better they are at keeping their Role, the longer they can stay. If they have the assistance of one "side" or can develop enough "real" contacts, they can stay pretty much indefinitely!

Important Ethereals