This thread is for background information that all supernaturals are aware of
This message was last edited by the GM at 19:52, Sat 06 Apr 2013.

The fifty biggest cities in the western world are assigned a Seraphim to act as Guardian Angel. The Guardian Angel keeps the other supernatural forces in check, and enforces the Covenant
This message was last edited by the GM at 19:52, Sat 06 Apr 2013.

Signatories of the covenant agree that they will reduce their impact on the mortal world. Any killing or enslavement of a mortal is to be reported to and investigated by the nearest Guardian Angel, who can deal with the matter as they see fit. Not reporting the death of a mortal at supernatural hands, or the enslavement of one, is a serious breach of the covenant, and will be punished by the nearest Guardian Angel as they see fit.

All signatories will keep exposure of their power to the general public to a minimum. Violations of this clause will be punished by the nearest Guardian Angel as they see fit.

The Angelic forces reserve the right to amend the covenant as required. Signatories are bound by any new clauses.

The Angelic forces agree that they will not summarily execute a signatory of the covenant without due process.
This message was last edited by the GM at 09:47, Sat 03 Jan 2015.

The previous Guardian Angel to Los Angeles was Raziel

Raziel was regarded by the supernatural community as a shining (literally) example of how angel / supernatural relationships should be handled. Fair, equitable and just. He extended God's mercy as well as the Wrath of God when it was needed.

A firm of lawyers that handle supernatural affairs. They are coincidentally based in Los Angeles, although they have branch offices in most major cities.

Ms Feathers is responsible for handling the affairs of Angels, Mr Scales demons, and Mr Smailes the rest.

The Council run the Angels. They have been only four for nearly a thousand years, since Gabriel went missing.

The Angels have a hierarchy

At the top is the creator
Closely followed by the Council of Five
Closely followed by other Seraphim

Then there is a big gap

Humans/Kerubim...it's difficult to tell them apart. Kerubim are so new, that many of the Seraphim don't understand them

Then another big gap

Pagan gods

Then another big gap

Infernal forces

It is an eternal mystery why the Creator clearly loved humans more then the Seraphim, his first children, but his ways are mysterious.
This message was last updated by the GM at 19:29, Mon 08 Apr 2013.

The gods of mythology, and the angels and demons of religious belief, had a common origin, an origin dating back to the times of Creation. Gods and angels are the descendants of Sephyr, the Tools of the Creator, elemental beings who helped shaped our reality. The Sephyr evolved into two distinct orders of beings, the Seraphim and the Titans. The Seraphim were beings of spirit, the emissaries and servants of the Creator. The Titans were embodiments of different aspects of reality, such as War, the Elements, and Justice. They were the first to lose touch with the Creator and to come to Earth and set themselves up as deities. The Seraphim unleashed the Flood on humankind when one of their kingdoms trafficked with the entity known as Leviathan. At some point before this event, they lost their connection with the Creator. For some two hundred centuries or more, the Seraphim have operated without direct orders. They also warred among themselves; the losers of this internal conflict were banished to the Realms of Death, where they formed the Infernal Legion. The winners, the Heavenly Host, tried vainly to communicate with the Creator, and after a long Diaspora returned to Earth to do what they thought was right: forming the Council of Five to best reflect the creators wishes.

The rise of monotheism was not mere happenstance. Even as human missionaries gained converts throughout Europe, the Heavenly Hosts besieged and overwhelmed the pagan pantheons. The Seraphim forced the Titans to stay out of the affairs of the mundane, and most of them became the Old Gods, remembered only in folk tales and ancient myths. Centuries later, some Titans returned to the world, but in utter secrecy, afraid of attracting the wrath of the Seraphim.

Eastern Celestials
It is unclear (to the Seraphim at least) how the Eastern Celestial formed. Led by the Jade Emperor with his four winds reporting directly to him, the Eastern Celestials have long stayed aloof from the affairs of the Barbarous west.

The wars on Earth reflect the wars between the Eastern and Western celestials. There are rumours that the Eastern Celestials are having problems, and are reaching out to the west for help

Immortals Not all the ageless beings living unnoticed among humankind descend from powerful supernatural entities. A subspecies of humans, said to be descended from the fabulous civilization known as Atlantis, has existed for millennia. Their numbers have always been small, although they have grown steadily in the past century. Hard to kill, these True Immortals stop aging upon reaching the prime of life. What they do with this gift varies widely. Some tried to usurp the gods, and were eventually hunted down by Titans or Seraphim. Most operate in utter secrecy, after experiencing the hatred and fear of mundanes. A few participated in the ancient conspiracies influencing the affairs of humankind, pulling the strings of politicians and world leaders, and fighting other bands of plotters with the same intentions, but different agendas

The Mad Gods
The Sephyr are not the only Greater Beings in existence. The most alien and dangerous of the Others are beings known as the Outsiders or the Mad Gods. Not native to our universe, they come from bizarre, twisted levels of reality as incomprehensible to angels as they are to humans. Their mere presence warps reality, much like a black hole warps light. They are cancerous tumors in the cosmic body, and only the most insane and corrupted creatures in our reality tolerate or welcome their presence. The nature of the Mad Gods is legion, as alien to each other as they are to us, and they often war amongst themselves. They attract into their service society’s rejects and misfits, those who have grown to hate their existence, and who wish to remake the world in their own warped image. Even the most hateful demon hesitates before dealing with beings such as this. Among their own kind, the Greater Beings forbid trafficking with these powers, the one rule enforced to the letter by all: pagan pantheons, elemental dragons, and angelic hosts. Many Mad Gods beset our world. There is Nath-Shagraa, the Blood God, once worshipped by dark Aztec cults. Or the Kraken, a being from an aquatic reality whose manifestations gave rise to many legends of sea monsters prowling the deep waters. First and foremost among them, however, is the being known as Leviathan, the First Invader. According to sacred writings, the Creator cast it out of our reality, the corrupt civilization of Ultima Thule worshipped it and the horrors crafted by Nazi Germany stirred into hateful wakefulness. Fortunately with the defeat of the Nazi's at the end of World War II, the Leviathan returned to sleep.
This message was last edited by the GM at 19:44, Mon 08 Apr 2013.

This realm of Earth is but one of many worlds. Mythical and legendary realms, thought to be mere fantasies or allegories, are real. Heaven and Hell, the Courts of Faerie, and the Abodes of the Gods compose the Otherworlds, different planes of existence with their own inhabitants, lands, and physical laws. The Otherworlds are known by occultists as Sephiroths, the Spheres of Reality. The Quabbalists and the Norse described the Universe as a tree, with each world or sphere on a different branch of the tree. Earth (Malkuth or Midgard) at the bottom, and Heaven or Kether at the top. Each Sephiroth is in turn divided into several Realms, somewhat like different nations on the same continent, or different provinces or states in the same country. Like nations or provinces, each Realm has boundaries, laws and “government” (or lack thereof).

In the Sephiroth of Geburah, for example, several Death Realms exist, from the Kingdom of Hades, ruled by the Graeco-Roman god of the Dead, to the Pit of Abaddon, Lucifer’s Hellish domain and prison. Netzach, the Abode of the Gods, is divided into dozens of Realms, each controlled by a different pantheon. Even Binah has realms beyond the Elyssian Fields; it is said the Elemental Realms can be found in this dimension.

According to Quabbalism, there are ten Sephiroth (eleven if one counts the Abyss, the space between spaces). Six of the most important Sephiroths are briefly described below.

Binah:
This is a realm of energy and raw Essence. Identified as the Realm of Understanding, several primal forms exist in this realm, including the Elemental Spirits. Chief among the Realms of Binah are the Elyssian Fields, ruled by the Seraphim. The swirling energies pervading this realm, both physical and psychic, make it difficult for mortals, even the Gifted, to survive there for long. Most Realms in Binah are places of extremes, of blinding light or eternal flames, of cold endless oceans or mad whirlwinds. A place of understanding it may be, but if so, it is an understanding that still eludes most humans.

Geburah:
The Realms of the Dead can be found in this sphere, the Sephiroth of Severity. The Gods of Death hold courts here, connected to Netzach via a system of Gateways. Tormented souls, ghosts, and Phantasms often venture into the Twilight World, a shadowy reflection of Earth where One City, One Forest, and One Desert await the errant dead. Lucifer rules over Abaddon, where he punishes the souls of evil humans, either cleansing them of their sins or twisting them into increasingly more monstrous creatures. Above it all stands Death, the First and Last, an entity of unimaginable power feared by all beings, human and “immortal.” Death’s agents, the Grim Reapers, act as enforcers and border patrolmen, pursuing those who refuse to die or who invade the Death Realms. Geburah is for the most part a place of gray shadows, marked by a pall of fear and despair.

Kether:
The most mysterious of the Sephiroth, Kether is a realm of wild creative energies. Here the Creator is said to dwell, although the Seraphim spent centuries and countless lives looking to no avail. The souls of humans who are ready to Move On are said to ascend to Kether, never to be seen again.

Netzach:
The Abode of the Gods is a world of epic proportions, where elements of the “real world” are taken and expanded. Mountain peaks soar higher than Everest. Monstrous trees, gigantic animals, and fabulous creatures populate the forests. Every natural feature, from a tiny stream to a great desert, vibrate with the power of myth. Many of the legendary pantheons can be found here. Mount Olympus and Asgard exist in this Sephiroth, as well as legendary Aztlan and Celestial Court of Jade. Fiercely insular, the gods tolerate little commerce or interaction with other Realms, except through limited visits and the occasional contest or war. Mortal visitors find themselves in a dangerous world where wolves grow to the size of horses and the least of the natives possesses the strength of three men.

Yesod:
 The Sphere of the Moon is home to the Sylvan and Fey races, creatures descended from the Naturas born during creation. The Norse called it Alfheim, the land of the Elves. Once, Fey races such as the Sidhe, the Satyrs, and the Dryads lived on Earth, but humans and the Old Gods, and later humans and the Seraphim, eventually pushed them out of their old homesteads. Many Elder Races, long extinct on Earth, survive in some Realm in Yesod. Here, forests and jungles are not as titanic as those in Netzach, but are far more alive. Most trees can speak to passersby, or lead them to their doom. Animals are intelligent and human-like, equally capable of good and evil deeds. The Fey races themselves are a mischievous and whimsical lot, and many remember the crimes of humans with well-aged hatred. The two major Realms of Yesod are the Seleighe and Unseleighe Courts; both have their own ideas on how to deal with humans and their destruction of Nature. The coming of the war has made the Sidhe venture back to Earth in great numbers.

Hod
 Hod is unique among Otherworlds. It is the only Otherworld that everyone visits—usually a couple of times each night. Everyone has been to Hod. No other Sephiroth can claim this, not even Geburah—although everyone dies (eventually), not everyone goes to the Otherworld of the Dead upon doing so.