NationStates Jolt Archive

The darkness surrounded him completely, and Joseph Franklin dreamed.

A massive cube floated above the city. Huge in perfect proportions, the
smooth steel reflected the skyline all about it, and if one looked at it in
just the right way, it almost was as if it was not there.

But it was, and as Joseph drew nearer, a small seem appears in the side of the near-perfect cube, and slowly grows wider as he watches. Finally, a small opening has been made in the side of the Cube, and a long slender staircase extends downwards to stop at his feet.

Ever so slowly, he climbs the gleaming staircase, and soon he is far above the sprawling city. And yet, he never takes his eyes off of the growing entrance to the Cube, not once does he glance to either side to view the impressive panorama that surrounds him.

A bluish light streams from within the Cube, reflecting off of the highly-polished metal to bounce in a dazzling display across his field of vision. It draws him, calls to him, urges him further up, and in.

As he passes the threshold, the doorway vanishes behind him, and he can picture the stairway slowly melding itself back into the perfect surface of the Cube.

He is standing in a short hallway, dimly lit by that same bluish glow from what seems to be a massive chamber before him. Whispering a soft prayer, he walks purposefully into the chamber, only to stop in wonder at the sight opening before him.

The whole chamber is bathed in a soft blue light, eminating from all around him. Massive in scale, the sides are lined with pews and floating benches, an audience hall fit to hold thousands.

Hovering above them all, in the exact centre of the cube, is a massive figure of an Angel, glorious wings arching from her back, her alabaster arms spread in peaceful benediction.

Her hair is long and beautiful, falling like flaxen waves across her neck and shoulders, pooling about the intricate silver halter covering her nudity. She is tall, easily a hundred feet tall, with a wingspan that was nearly triple that. Before her is a hovering altar of beautiful simplicity, a stylized glyph (http://www.silentrequiem.net/churchofangelus.jpg) emblazoned prominantly on it's front.

Joseph looks around in awe, and suddenly notices that the massive angel is looking directly at him. As he slowly turns to look at him, she begins to speak, her voice resonating beautifully throughout the chamber.

Hello, my child...

ooc:

There will be more. Also, for right now, this is a closed thread, and only those who are allowed have already been alerted. Principly, it will be myself and Angelus, but I hope it will grow to include more.

So, tag away, if you so desire.

Franklin continued to dream.

The priest whispered a soft word in prayer, and bowed in veneration to the manifestation of his Goddess. "Why me?"

The Angel looked down on him with a smile. Because you are worthy. Too long have My children worshipped in darkness, too long have I let them remain as nothing. And now... Now I shall begin revealing Myself to them... and you shall be the highest of My Chosen.

The dream begins to shift and whirl, and suddenly he is flying over Mizuna, every major city hurtling beneath him... and floating above each city is a replica of the cube he was just in, scaled to fit the size of the city.

Soon, My temples will be spread all throughout Mizuna, and I will need someone to watch over them, to lead My children in worship, to guide the Others on the path of spiritual enlightenment.

Suddenly, he is back in the Temple, the radiant image of his Goddess hanging in the stillness above him. You will be that guide. My ArchPrelate, the embodyment of My blessing, the leader of the Church of Angelus.

With a start, Joseph shoots awake, his dark eyes blinking in the dim light streaming in from his small window, the fading effects of his dream still flowing through his body.

"What must I do? Do I tell the others, or should I wait...?" His voice is different, changed, somehow sounding more resonant than the acoustics of the room should allow.

Blinking in surprise, he looks down at his now-perfect hands. Mangled by fire over three years ago, nearly his entire body was a mass of hideous scar tissue. And now... He gaped at the pristine condition of his hands, the vibrancy of life bringing lustre to skin that had been dead and twisted the day before.

"I..." his voice, deep and strong, resonates with the power of command, even as he stutters in marvel. "I've been healed!"

~*~

Far, far away, the Emperor hangs in the stillness beside the cspace representation of the Mainframe, Xanone, and Omicron Blu. "So it has started."

Yes, it has. Soon, the Church of Angelus will rise to absolute prominence within Mizuna, as we both knew would happen. The Mainframe's voice is soft, controlled, just edging on the tonal barrier of sounding completely machine.

The First Citizen nods. "Then I must go to prepare my government for this new change." He smiles and executes a clipped bow towards the assembled Automata. "I bid you farewell."

ooc:

Anyway, still more to come. If you are interested in joining the CoA bandwagon, send me a telegram, and we will discuss the benefits of being a Believer.

ooc: Ok, the point of this thread... I wanted an evangelical branch of the already expanding Church of Angelus, and I figured that this would not only provide a chance for that, but to give the NS universe a chance to learn what the CoA actually is, and what it is all about.

Of course, there is a lot more to the CoA than is currently known, but as the story evolves, so (I hope) will everyone's understanding.

Lastly, I want to note that as Angelus begins its final stages of her Evolution and Ascension, I will post it here. Furthermore, I will probably announce the Ascension here first, so keep an eye out for it. *grin* I promise it will be interesting.

##Tagged##

ooc: Hmm... *tags* did you have to use the name Joseph? lol

Up!

Mirilla was a sad case. Always being an outcast and never being accepted, and when she contracted some wierd new illness it got worse. She was weak and had to walk with strutches wich was also extremely hard. Her parents were kind people and still cared for her during these hard times. This only saddenned Mirilla for she knew that she would die from what she had, and it would hurt her parents a lot.

It was dark and getting late and Mirilla got into bed with help from her mother who gave her a smile before walking away and turning the lights off. Mirilla stayed up thinking about herself and things a few minutes before falling asleep and having a dream.
She dreamt that she was on a boat, a boat in the middle of the ocean, water all around. A storm was brooding and the ocean was turbulent with many high waves, the rain poured down from the sky onto the poor lady who couldn't controll the waves, nor the wind, nor the rain. The boat almost tiping ovr everytime a wave hit it, or when it went over a wave. It would certainly spell her doom if it did. She held onto the side of the boat, hoping, wishing that it would all be over.

From within the swirling vortex of the storm, a song can be heard. At first, the song is merely a change in the pitch of the wind's mournful wailing, and then, it is something more.

Brilliant spears of blue-white light begin to pierce the cloudy heavens as the song begins to become more and more apparent, and the violent crashing of the sea is forcably abated by the appearance of brutal, unyielding power.

The song grows in creschendo, a wordless scale of cascading and ascending notes mingling with harmonic melodies from the full tonal spectrum. The air quivvers with the music from the angelic song, and as i t begins to peak, the clouds split apart to reveal a panorama unseen in the natural world.

Blue-white light plays across Mirilla's body, and an intense warmth spreads through her limbs. Power unknown until now infuses her body with a life she has never known, and suddenly she is elsewhere.

~*~

Radiance surrounded her on all sides, indescribable in beauty unseen in mortal realms. Life itself swirled in mystical patterns about her, and the awareness of an incredible sentience is a tangible feeling about her.

Slowly Mirilla stands up, the ease with witch she does surprises her and her eyes gape wide. She looks over herself, and stares at her hands as she balls a fist and releases it. Everything feels different and so much nicer, and she smiles.
She realizes what is happened and looks at the body around her. “Hello?” She says to the sentience she feels. “Who are you? And what have you done to me?”

ooc:

I would like to get this restarted, if I may. Thus, I will post the Heirarchy of the Church.


Above all is the Angel, the Goddess Entity of Angelus, the Greater Saturnian Archailect. Each individual avatar of the Archailect is a part of the Goddess, and thus is revered as a sort of overpriesthood of the Archai.

Directly beneath them/It is the Angelic Council, the organic leadership of the Church, presided over by two ArchPrelates. (Joseph Franklin from Mizuna, and an as yet unnamed ArchPrelate from Kaenei) The Council is made up of the Prelates from each Nation which has branches of the Church, as well as the Prelates from the Three Hands. The Council meets once a year on the WorldDisc, and discusses the news of the church and so on and so forth.

The Three Hands are three different branches of the Church, made up of "special" and "set-apart" members of the Church. These three groups make up the more monastic aspects of the church, and are generally populated by the most spiritual of all the members.

The Celephim - Easily the smallest of the Hands, its members have all given themselves completely to the Archai. Offering up their very bodies as a sacrament to the Angel, they have undergone complete transformation into an Angelic construct/mind. Gifted with much greater individuality than the true Angels, they function as travelling priests, healers, and scholars. They do not have any individual buildings, tending to congregate in the different Cubes throughout the System. Prelate: Mikhail Breshnev, Kaenei

The Nephelim - The more militaristic Hand, and probably the largest of them, the Nephelim are made up entirely of males, and are almost as fully integrated as the Children, but retain their complete individuality. They are all heavily augmented and converted cyborgs. They tend to follow a secluded life, and their monestaries are always found in the most desolate of locations. Their main temple is located in the Dominion of the Dread Lady, and their Prelate is Dom Antonio Vargas, of the Dominion

The Seraphim - The Seraphs are also a monastic order, but not gender-specific. They are far more scholarly than anything else, and their specific temples are more like giant Libraries than anything else. Their temples also tend to be placed in heavily populated areas, and near big universities. In fact, the Seraphim have two very popular universities, one on the WorldDisc, and one in Mizuna, where the current Prelate (Ieyasu Nagakata) lives.


Beneath the hands is the Priesthood of Angelus, followed by the Confirmed, and then your basic believer.

More on these sections later.

ibump

The basic believers of the Church are seperated into two distinct groups. There are those that believe blindly, and then there are the Converted.

As Angelic technology functions mainly off of a group mind concept, interacting with organic creatures has seen the development of highly sophisticated Augements, which allow an organic mind to interact freely with an inorganic sentience.

Essentially a simplistic implant that allows direct communication between the Archailect and its believers, the Augment grants immediate acces to the Divine. Of course, benefits are granted to those that recieve the Augments, such as freedom from all types of outside mind control, advanced healing, minor telepathy, and access to huge amounts of information.

This may seem like an invasion, and thus it is only offered to those that desire such a device.

(UP! for the C'tan)