Superiors

"Where is Hollywood located? Chiefly between the ears. In that part of the American brain lately vacated by God." --- Erica Jong

Superiors, in general, are angels or demons who are higher up in the "hierarchy" than the player characters. For example, a Mercurian may be assigned to serve the Angel of Music - that Angel is the Mercurian's Superior.

There is a big list of Superiors in the In Nomine book. I'm not going to go into too much detail on them here. Player characters can have any Archangel as their nominal Superior, who grants them special abilities and the like. However, for the purposes of plot, they may be told to help out some other Superior. (I generally make Archangelic Superiors much more friendly to each other than the book makes them out to be.)

Click here for a general overview of the Superiors.

What I will go into is what the Superiors which are involved in the war for Los Angeles are doing there. The choice of a Superior is important for the PC, since the Superior will grant them extra abilities and attunements - as well as prohibit them from certain conduct (on pain of more Dissonance).

Heavenly Superiors

"Through this the well-beloved Brutus stabb'd;
And as he pluck'd his cursed steel away,
Mark how the blood of Caesar follow'd it,
As rushing out of doors, to be resolved
If Brutus so unkindly knock'd, or no;
For Brutus, as you know, was Caesar's angel." --- William Shakespeare, Julius Caesar

• Any analysis of Heavenly Superiors in Los Angeles has to start (and maybe end) with Blandine, Archangel of Dreams. Los Angeles is formally the domain of Rodia, the Angel of Los Angeles, but Rodia and Blandine have a very close working relationship. Blandine's task includes watching the Border between Los Angeles and the Marches. (See the section on Ethereals and Los Angeles for more on that.) Blandine sees Los Angeles as a high priority, and helps "stragetize" with Rodia about what the best way to win the war is. She is likely to be at least informed about most Angelic operations through the LA Marches and LA proper.
• Laurence, the Archangel of the Sword, head of the armies of Heaven, has technical charge over the Soldiers of Heaven in LA, and Rodia tries to keep him informed and clued in as to what's happening. However, Laurence is generally unsure of the best way to proceed in LA, particularly with Blandine's pervasive involvement. When he does act, he generally has a pretty good idea of what to do, though - his caution has paid off and therefore is unlikely to change. Michael (Archangel of the War, head of the armies until deposed) has much less caution about what to do and is always advising Laurence to rush on ahead. Why a corporeal city should be directed by an Ethereal-oriented Archangel is beyond him.
• Eli, the Archangel of Creativity. Los Angeles is one of Eli's big playing grounds. Like most stuff Eli does, it's erratic and has flashes of brilliance, and is completely unpredictable what he'll do and when. Marc, Archangel of Trade, generally takes care of Eli's better projects while Eli is doing other things (which is practically all of the time.)
• Rodia, the Angel of Los Angeles, a Kyriotate, handles the day-to-day workings of the city from the Heavenly perspective. You can learn about her in the Los Angeles Citybook portion. Rodia is not an Archangel.
• The Others
  • David, Archangel of Stone: "Highways don't count. The city's built on sand. Not that there's anything wrong with sand. You just don't build cities on it."
  • Dominic, Archangel of Judgment: "The first priests who lived in Los Angeles saw it happening: people there only care about money, sex, and debauchery. Are they paying the price? Is the price high enough? Those are the important questions of Los Angeles."
  • Gabriel, Archangel of Fire: "Where there's smog, there's fire. Just because you can't see it doesn't mean you can't feel the heat."
  • Janus, Archangel of Wind: "I like the Southwest, and California, too. It's so unreal, it's like the wind could one day just blow the whole place away and it would be like nobody was ever there. Los Angeles smells bad, though."
  • Jean, Archangel of Lightning: "Los Angeles has a lot to offer. And all those lights...the nerve center of the world is here, if it is anywhere. It must be protected at all costs, until we understand it."
  • Novalis, Archangel of Flowers: "I love Los Angeles, but it bothers me. It's hard to put a finger on. But I love it."
  • Yves, Archangel of Destiny: "If going West is the destiny of European civilization, then all those millenia of development ended the human race up at Los Angeles. It's easy to get discouraged when you think of that. What's difficult is to find something there that makes you believe it might be true."

Infernal Superiors

"Man is his own star; and the soul that can
Render an honest and a perfect man
Commands all light, all influence, all fate.
Nothing to him falls early, or too late.
Our acts our angels are, or good or ill,
Our fatal shadows that walk by us still." --- John Fletcher

• Beleth, Demon Princess of Nightmares. Anywhere Blandine goes, Beleth is sure to follow. Those two will be fighting each other until Judgment Day.
• Daralef, Demon of Los Angeles. This Habbalah looks like a stringy, wizened old man with a box in his throat, or a younger, more successful Ronald Reagan. He has a lot less of a sense of humor now than he used to, according to Rodia and other "old-timers". He's also supposedly a protege of Malphas, Demon Prince of Factions, playing Beleth and Nybbas off each other and building racial, social and political walls between people.
• Nybbas, Demon Prince of the Media. Nybbas' seat of power is in Los Angeles, and practically everyone there works for him in some way or another, though most of his power is focussed outwards at the world instead of inwards to his own "house" - where Malphas and his variety of infighting rules the day.
• The Others
  • Andrealphus, Prince of Lust: "It's a party. I love parties like this, where everyone arrives in separate cars and it's fifty miles to anywhere, so you can invite someone over for a drink...and it's much too far to just have a drink...or you can go home alone, in separate cars, and have a long, long empty time between the party and your front door..."
  • Asmodeus, Prince of the Game: "Los Angeles is too large for most people to see the whole board, but the game is played here perhaps more than anywhere else in the world."
  • Baal, Prince of the War: "It's Beleth's business. I don't pretend to know or care what's going on there. If she wants a goon squad, I send a goon squad. Who cares?"
  • Belial, Prince of Fire: "Yeah! I like riots. They're neat! Of course it'll be a long time before I get to burn so much stuff again...or maybe not..."
  • Haagenti, Prince of Gluttony: "There's too much of everything in Los Angeles. It's paradise."
  • Kobal, Prince of Dark Humor: "Los Angeles is my best joke ever."
  • Kronos, Prince of Fate: "If ever there was a city fated to end badly, it would be Los Angeles. Somehow, though, it has always managed to avoid the final horror...we have been satisfied, more than satisfied, with the dispatch with which the city crushes individuals."
  • Lilith, Princess of Freedom: "No. Comment. You don't have enough for me to tell you what I'm doing in Los Angeles."
  • Saminga, Prince of Death: "Los Angeles has more than it's share of death. It's sweet death, too, generally for no good reason, because there are no good reasons for anything in Los Angeles..."
  • Valefor, Prince of Theft: "Mmmmmmm...a big crystal city where everyone steals from everyone else? I'm there!"
  • Vapula, Prince of Technology: "I'm busy. Sure, we have some labs there. So what? Nybbas handles most of that stuff."

Take me back to the Los Angeles Citybook page.