Saturday, February 27, 2016

Choral


And flights of angels sing thee to thy rest!

—Some bard, probably

There’s a lot of talk about the choirs of angels, but those are actually ranks more than actual choruses.  For the real heavenly singers, you turn to these guys: the choral angels.  In the Celestial Planes they contribute to the countless songs that ring throughout these sacred domains.  On the Material, they are more likely to be encountered individually as messengers.  In fact, despite their small size (they’re only the size of halflings) chorals have a number of sound-related powers to ensure they remain safe until their messages get delivered.  They're even more powerful in groups…but if you encounter a duet or an ensemble of chorals in the mortal realms, that probably means something has gone horribly wrong.

As with most neutral good outsiders, you have to be up to some pretty shady Scheiße to get on a choral’s bad side.  On the other hand, you know how singers are…there’s always one who thinks she should get more solos, belong to a better choir, or would be better off going solo.  And where there is pride and envy, there is temptation, even for angels…

Adventurers investigating a library haunting discover that the reports of floating scrolls and stolen musical scores are true.  The culprit is an invisible choral angel hunting for sounds she can’t find amid the tonalities of Heaven.  Her motives are innocent enough, but theft is theft…and the angel is so wracked with guilt and afraid of being confronted she may lash out with a piercing hymn prematurely.

Tired of centuries of choir practice, a choral angel coerces a messenger choral into letting her take over his route.  Unfortunately, she doesn't have the temperament or the exactitude required for the task.  When she delivers an annunciation to the wrong person, she sparks rumors of a new messiah.  Rather than admit her error, she remains in the mortal realms trying to force reality to fit the prophecy she delivered.

A misfiring rod of wonder takes adventurers plane-hopping—often quite against their will.  When they appear quite literally in the middle of vespers in the Platinum Vault of the Sixth Blessed Repose, the assembled chorals attempt to detain them so they cannot reveal what mysteries they have seen.

Chronicle of the Righteous 60 & Pathfinder Bestiary 5 22

The fact that angels speak Draconic is a fascinating hint that maybe dragons are as old and as integral to the multiverse as celestials are.  Also, I’m amused that angels speak Infernal but not Abyssal, as if they already know it’s just not worth trying to talk to demons, period.

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