Nephilim
Nephilim: Divine Bastards
The Nephilim (/ˈnɛfɪˌlɪm/; Hebrew: נְפִילִים) are mysterious beings or people mentioned in the Hebrew Bible. They are large and strong; the word Nephilim is loosely translated as giants in some Bibles but left untranslated in others. Some traditional Jewish explanations interpret them as fallen angels. The main reference to them is in Genesis, but the passage is ambiguous and the identity of the Nephilim is disputed.
According to Numbers 13:33, they later inhabited Canaan at the time of the Israelite conquest of Canaan.
A similar or identical biblical Hebrew term, read as "Nephilim" by some scholars, or as the word "fallen" by others, appears in Ezekiel 32:27.
The majority of ancient biblical interpretations including the Septuagint, Theodotion, Latin Vulgate, Samaritan Targum, Targum Onkelos, and Targum Neofiti—interpret the word to mean "giants". Symmachus translates it as "the violent ones" and Aquila's translation has been interpreted to mean either "the fallen ones" or "the ones falling [upon their enemies]".
Nephilim as Giants
Most of the contemporary English translations of Genesis 6:1–4 and Numbers 13:33 render the Heb. nefilim as "giants". This tendency in turn stems from the fact that one of the earliest translation of the Hebrew Bible, the Septuagint, composed in III/II century BCE, renders the said word as gigantes. The choice made by the Greek translators has been later adopted into the Latin translation, the Vulgate, compiled in IV/V century CE, which uses the transcription of the Greek term rather than the literal translation of the Heb. nefilim. From there, the tradition of the giant progeny of the sons of God and the daughters of men spread to later medieval translations of the Bible.
The decision of the Greek translators to render the Heb. nefilim as Gr. gigantes is a separate matter. The Heb. nefilim means literally "the fallen ones" and the strict translation into Greek would be peptokotes, which in fact appears in the Septuagint of Ezekiel 32:22–27. It seems then that the authors of Septuagint wished not only to simply translate the foreign term into Greek, but also to employ a term which would be intelligible and meaningful for their Hellenistic audiences. Given the complex meaning of the nefilim which emerged from the three interconnected biblical passages (human-divine hybrids in Genesis 6, autochthonous people in Numbers 13 and ancient warriors trapped in the underworld in Ezekiel 32), the Greek translators recognized some similarities. First and foremost, both nefilim and gigantes were liminal figures resulting from the union of the opposite orders and as such retained the unclear status between the human and divine. Similarly dim was their moral designation and the sources witnessed to both awe and fascination with which these figures must have been looked upon. Secondly, both were presented as impersonating chaotic qualities and posing some serious danger to gods and humans. They appeared either in the prehistoric or early historical context, but in both cases they preceded the ordering of the cosmos. Lastly, both gigantes and nefilim were clearly connected with underworld and were said to have originated from earth and as well end up closed therein.
In 1 Enoch, they were "great giants, whose height was three thousand ells". An Ell being 18 inches (45 centimetres), this would make them 4500 feet (nearly a mile) tall (1350 metres).
The Quran refers to the people of Ād in Quran 26:130 whom the prophet Hud declares to be like jabbarin (Hebrew: gibborim), probably a reference to the Biblical Nephilim. The people of Ād are said to be giants, the tallest among them a hundred feet high. However, according to Islamic legend, the ʿĀd were not wiped out by the flood, since some of them had been too tall to be drowned. Instead, God destroyed them after they rejected further warnings. After death, they were banished into the lower layers of hell.
Nephilim as Fallen Angels
All early sources refer to the "sons of heaven" as angels. From the third century BCE onwards, references are found in the Enochic literature, the Dead Sea Scrolls (the Genesis Apocryphon, the Damascus Document, 4Q180), Jubilees, the Testament of Reuben, 2 Baruch, Josephus, and the book of Jude (compare with 2 Peter 2). For example: 1 Enoch 7:2 "And when the angels, (3) the sons of heaven, beheld them, they became enamored of them, saying to each other, Come, let us select for ourselves wives from the progeny of men, and let us beget children." Some Christian apologists, such as Tertullian and especially Lactantius, shared this opinion.
The earliest statement in a secondary commentary explicitly interpreting this to mean that angelic beings mated with humans can be traced to the rabbinical Targum Pseudo-Jonathan and it has since become especially commonplace in modern Christian commentaries. This line of interpretation finds additional support in the text of Genesis 6:4, which juxtaposes the sons of God (male gender, divine nature) with the daughters of men (female gender, human nature). From this parallelism it could be inferred that the sons of God are understood as some superhuman beings.
The New American Bible commentary draws a parallel to the Epistle of Jude and the statements set forth in Genesis, suggesting that the Epistle refers implicitly to the paternity of Nephilim as heavenly beings who came to earth and had sexual intercourse with women. The footnotes of the Jerusalem Bible suggest that the biblical author intended the Nephilim to be an "anecdote of a superhuman race".
Some Christian commentators have argued against this view, citing Jesus's statement that angels do not marry. Others believe that Jesus was only referring to angels in heaven.
Evidence cited in favor of the fallen angels interpretation includes the fact that the phrase "the sons of God" (Hebrew: בְּנֵי הָֽאֱלֹהִים; or "sons of the gods") is used twice outside of Genesis chapter 6, in the Book of Job (1:6 and 2:1) where the phrase explicitly references angels. The Septuagint manuscript Codex Alexandrinus reading of Genesis 6:2 renders this phrase as "the angels of God" while Codex Vaticanus reads "sons".
Targum Pseudo-Jonathan identifies the Nephilim as Shemihaza and the angels in the name list from 1 Enoch.
In Arabian Paganism
Fallen angels were believed by Arab pagans to be sent to earth in form of men. Some of them mated with humans and gave rise to hybrid children. As recorded by Al-Jahiz, a common belief held that Abu Jurhum, the ancestor of the Jurhum tribe, was actually the son of a disobedient angel and a human woman.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nephilim
Demon the Fallen (excerpt)
The Nephilim were the offspring of demons and human women. They are the result of demons serving under Abaddon and Asmodeus, raping imprisoned human women during the Time of Babel. They possessed the gifts of man and the Lores of demons and were terrible to behold - if not for their hideous countenance, then for their potential. Some may have been born with benevolent, gentle spirits and took it upon themselves to guide and enlighten, but many were born knowing only hate and tyranny. In a few short years, they dominated the cities of their birth. They hunted down and killed the Ten and were then in turn hunted down and killed by Lucifer and his demon followers.
Azrael was the only one not involved with the creation of the Nephilim to discover their origin. He traded his silence for the right to their souls when they finally passed on. These dead Nephilim worked as ferrymen in Haven. What has happened to these dead Nephilim is unknown.
It is unknown if any Nephilim survived to pass on their lineage to the Final Nights, but many demons wonder if any of the supernaturals that populate the modern world are descendants of the ancient Nephilim.
Enochian Sigils
Evocations & Enochian Sigils
The Nephilim differ from their angelic and demonic ancestors in the evocation of the divine lores. Angels and demons simply do, there is no hocus-pocus, and the evocation goes off with a following effect - just as god intended. But Angels and demons were never intended to have offspring, and the earthly children of Heaven and Hell are mutants of the highest order, the way they evoke the lores is more complicated. For the Nephilim the lores are evoked through the Enochian Sigils, divine symbols that are activated on three different levels: manualism, utterance and visualization.
Like their divine forefathers the Nephilim begin their evocation through visualization and further support the effect through utterance and manualism. Just like the Elohim and the Fallen, the Nephilim can evoke the Enochian Sigils through pure visualization, but at the expense of willpower and much greater difficulty. If gagged and bound, the Baseborn can still visualize the sigils necessary for evocation, but needs to spend willpower in addition to an other expenditures.
Equally, if trapped in a silenced area, the Nephilim can use visualization combined with manual gestures to effect an evocation, but with a medial increase in difficulty. And if unable to gesture, the Baseborn can use visualization and utterance to evoke the sigils, but again at a moderate increase in difficulty. If necessary a Nephilim can boost his or her evocation through the additional expenditure of willpower for more potent or longer lasting effects.
Inscription is a fourth and final means of evoking the sigils and is used for more permanent effects like the creation of minor items of power or more potent artifacts.
The Enochian Abecedarium
The Enochian Abecedarium (a book of practice exercises illustrating the correct forms of the sigils and their correct uses) concerns itself entirely with the Enochian Sigils and their Permutations. Each sigil has a singular original form and five distinct permutations that evolve the original sigil's potency and potential. Each sigil is named for a patron angel, but as the names of angels draw their attention it became common practice to encrypt the original patron's name with a anagram or approximation of the original name, thereby allowing the Nephilim to use the sigils without unwanted angelic or demonic attention.
| Sigil | Title |
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Cimlealah -- Sigil of Awareness |
| [[]] | Annale -- Sigil of the Sciences |
| [[]] | Arlyceimeh -- Sigil of Mankind |
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Sources
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celestial_Alphabet
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enochian#Alphabet
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transitus_Fluvii
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malachim
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enochian_magic
Bruce's Theories
Ok here goes. It would be easy to define the Nephilim as lesser versions of Angels and Demons, but that isn't really true or at least I don't see it that way. The above definitions from biblical scholars, some centuries dead, but no less eloquent or well educated suggest that rather than lesser angels the Nephilim are super-humans. Yes they can call upon some of heaven's powers and abilities, but they are fundamentally human, just stronger and faster and more resilient than mere mortals. Likely they have longer lifespans, but they will eventually die of old age if allowed to live that long. I believe that as super-humans they draw their powers from angelic faith, but they do so through their blood. Its their angelic paterfamilias that determines the strength of their blood and the degree to which they can manifest divine abilities. In many ways this blood related affinity parallels the Children of Caine, but only in superficially, because the Kindred are cursed by god while the Nephilim are essentially blessed.
Differences between Angels and Nephilim
- -- Nephilim do not have a Apocalyptic form. However, as super-humans, they do inherently possess superior physical attributes and may over time develop greater than human social and mental attributes as well.
- -- Nephilim do not have innate Faith. Instead they can reap Faith from holy objects, places and people, even from angels and demons.
- -- Nephilim are too weak to master the lores. What little of divine lore they can handle is manifest in the Sigils.
- -- Nephilim do not have Torment. This is because they haven't fallen from heaven's grace (they never had Grace) and because they haven't spent eternity in the Abyss.
Nephilim & Resistance
- -- Nephilim are immune to possession due to their divine inheritance. That is, provided they have at least one point of Faith left in their faith pool.
- -- Nephilim are resistant to mind control. This means that in general the difficulty to manipulate their minds through supernatural means is at a +2 difficulty.
- -- Nephilim are resistant to illusions. 'Nephilim can be fooled by illusions, but it is just more difficult for the would be illusionist, with a penalty of +2 difficulty to any illusionist roll.
- -- Nephilim as angel-human hybrids are resistant to lethal damage. As superior human-beings, the Baseborn have only seven health levels, but due to their mutant physiques they can soak lethal damage like other corporeal supernaturals.
- -- Nephilim can heal bashing and lethal damage at will. This is true, provided they have some faith remaining in their pool. Aggravated damage is another matter and takes time and rest upon holy ground to cure.
- -- Nephilim are naturally gifted at Invocations, naming and communicating with angels and demons; although not so gifted as their angelic paterfamilias. Like the Angelus, the Baseborn can hear their name spoken and can communicate with other beings as their paterfamilias do, however as they are only partially divine this takes effort (a dice roll) and they may only focus upon one conversation at a time, regardless of whether they are eavesdropping or carrying on a conversation.
- -- Nephilim are gifted with Supernatural Awareness. While this is true, their Awareness is only passively active within a few yards, and may only be used actively over hundreds of yards with concentration and intent.
- -- Nephilim may use the angelic lores to a lesser degree based on paternity, but do so through the evocations of Enochian sigils. The Nephilim may only begin to access their divine heritage through the sigils that correspond to their paterfamilias' divine lores as they are based upon angelic Houses and the sigils that relate to the more common lores.
Merits & Flaws
Seven points of merit are optional, but the physical merit: Huge Size (4pts) is automatic. Flaws of course are also optional, but what is a character without a few flaws?
Lexicon
- Baseborn -- A derogatory term for the Nephilim, primarily used by the Elohim and Fallen when they interact with a Nephilim.
- Furore -- Divine anger that lends speed and strength to the Nephilim, but also makes them subject to losses of control and ultimately the Wrath.
- Grace -- An attribute possessed by angels before the fall, its measures how closely an angel adhered to God's Plan. Demon no longer possess Grace, but now have a hole in the center of their being called Torment.
- Sigils -- Remnants of divine language that can evoke divine effects, they can be worked onto any surface or material including the flesh, but they are just symbols without the power of the blood.
- Sanguis -- The angelic blood that elevates Nephilim above everyday men and women, it bears the signature of the paterfamilias, his characteristics like strengths and weaknesses.
- Sovereignty: -- The Creator gave dominion over the world and everything in it to the crafty ape called Mankind, but the Fall of Adam & Eve has hidden this from the masses. Nephilim are divine-humans, or superhuman, thus they know that everything in creation is theirs to command and the strength of their Sovereignty allows them to manipulate all things in creation within the laws of nature.
- Wisdom: -- The epitome of Wisdom King Solomon could command angels, demons and jinn.
- Wrath -- A failing of human self-control that leads to spiritual darkness and uncontrolled violence.
