Divine Host

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Elohim

The Elohim, also called Angels, are winged celestial beings who served as messengers and attendants of God in Heaven.

Overview

The Elohim were the first creatures created by God, born from His radiance on the first day of Creation. Each Elohim is a mote of divine power and wisdom, and their light was the first dawn of Creation. They stood at the edge of the cosmos, pushing back the void, for God made them to be the guardians and caretakers of all that He created.

To be more specific, Elohim are those angels that still serve directly under God. Elohim that participated in the Fall and subsequent Rebellion are no longer considered Elohim, but are instead referred to as the Fallen. Some Fallen who see themselves as wrongfully banished to the Abyss still refer to themselves as Elohim, but are not actually accepted as such by either God nor their brethren.

In the current World of Darkness, no trace remains of the Elohim or God, much to the puzzlement of the Fallen who escaped the Abyss. According to Lucifer, only two Elohim remain in Creation.

Attributes

Elohim are spirits of pure light. Although an Elohim's Visage varies with their House, they are generally humanoid in appearance, but with large feathered wings on their backs.

Trivia

The word "Elohim" comes from Hebrew אלוהים. The literal translation is "The Mighty One", often used to describe the Hebrew god.

Divine Houses

A House, also called the Sebettu (translated as "the Seven"), is one of the divisions of Fallen society. The seven ages of Creation spawned the seven Celestial Houses of angels, each one created to govern its own facet of the cosmos. Fire and wind, the Earth and the stars, the seas, the wilds, and even life itself was governed by a host of angels mandated by God.

The House of a Fallen dictates what type of job that he or she had in Heaven before they joined Lucifer's Rebellion and what kind of Lores they have an affinity with.

From Creation

God was alone in the depths of the void. He looked out at the endless night and sought to fill it with something that would ease His loneliness, so He gave of Himself, taking a portion of His essence and pouring it out into the emptiness.

The unborn universe was dark and without form and the void pressed against it from all sides. God moved across the darkness and said, "Let there be light", and from His radiance the angels were born. Each spirit was a mote of divine power and wisdom and their light was the first dawn of Creation. They stood at the edge of the cosmos, pushing back the void, for God made them to be the guardians and caretakers of all that He created. According to God's plan, the angels were ordered into a hierarchy, each rank given a specific role to play in the work that was to come. Having separated the day from the night in the wake of the angels' birth, God called out a number of the Heavenly Host by name and gave them dominion over the dawn. These were the angels of the morning and their duty was to bring God's light into every part of His creation and to communicate God’s wishes to the rest of the Heavenly Host. These spirits were the first angelic House.

God divided the heavens from the Earth and summoned angels by name who would direct the winds and carry His breath to every corner of Creation. He parted the waters and called forth land and summoned angels to tend its fires and watch over the wilderness. God lit the fires of the sun and shaped the moon and stars to give signs and seasons and portents and He named the angels who would direct their courses. He called forth angels to watch over the oceans and all the life within and still others to tend the beasts of the Earth. Every spirit had its role and each was content.

History of the Houses

Prior to their fall, the Houses of Heaven were overseen by an autarch, or a sort of angel overseer. The ranks of angels in each house went down from there; there were no promotions or demotions; each of the Elohim did as their Creator expected of them, happy to serve the cosmos by using their skills and love.

Then came humans. God's highest creation, the angels rejoiced until God decreed that no angel could interfere with them. God appeared to want humanity ignorant, while some of the angels felt, through their love, that humans deserved more. These angels, headed by Lucifer, eventually formed the core of beings that caused the Fall. Each kept, in spite of the Rebellion, divided among the Houses they had served in since their creation. Eventually, after the war, after the defeat, and after the time in the Abyss, much of the hierarchy of the Houses broke down. While some Fallen still serve their masters in their old house, the Fallen tend to remain more divided by their Faction.

The Sebettu

The seven houses of the Fallen are:

• The Namaru, the First House, who were once the flag bearers of God and bringer of his word.

  The Asharu, the Second House, who once watched over humanity like their own children.

  The Annunaki, the Third House, who created the world and the tools for those upon it to use.

  The Neberu, the Fourth House, who set the universe running like clockwork and could read its movements like no other.

  The Lammasu, the Fifth House, whose job was to inspire humanity to the heights of pure truth.

  The Rabisu, the Sixth House, who created and oversaw the plants and animals that were to serve under humans.

  The Halaku, the Seventh House, who destroyed when what was created by the other houses was out of time and use.

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Hand Servants of the Light

Dominion
Archangels

First Sphere

These are the Angel types corresponding to one of the Sephirot. Some are warriors, some are guides, some are just feelers.

Choir of Angels	Translation
Chayot Ha Kodesh	Holy Living Ones
Er'el	Brave ones
Ophanim	Wheels

Second Sphere

Choir of Angels	Translation
Elohim	Godly Beings
Hashmallim	Glowing ones, Amber ones
Malakim	Messengers, angels
Seraphim	Burning Ones

Third Sphere

	Choir of Angels	Translation
	Bene Elohim	Sons of Elohim
	Cherubim	Gods gatherersl
	Ishim

Lore of the Host

Common Lores

• • Lore of the Fundament
  • Lore of Humanity

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Namaru Lores

• • Lore of the Celestials
  • Lore of Flame
  • Lore of Radiance

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Asharu Lores

• • Lore of Awakening
  • Lore of the Firmament
  • Lore of the Winds

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Annunaki Lores

• • Lore of the Earth
  • Lore of Paths
  • Lore of the Forge

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Neberu Lores

• • Lore of Light
  • Lore of Patterns
  • Lore of Portals

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Lammasu Lores

• • Lore of Longing
  • Lore of Storms
  • Lore of Transfiguration

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Rabisu Lores

• • Lore of the Beast
  • Lore of the Flesh
  • Lore of the Wild

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Halaku Lores

• • Lore of Death
  • Lore of the Spirit
  • Lore of the Realms

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Unknown Lores

• • Lore of Law
  • Lore of Purification
  • Lore of Observance

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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

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Enochian Glyphs: Angelic Symbols of Power

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

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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.
• -- Nephilim do not have Faith, in general, although the merit should be available to them.
• -- Nephilim are too weak to master the lores. What little of divine lore they can handle is manifest in the Glyphs.
• -- Nephilim do not have Torment because they haven't fallen from heaven's grace and because they haven't spent eternity in the Abyss.

Nephilim & Resistance

• -- Nephilim are not immune to anything, but they do have resistances based on their semi-divine natures.
• -- Nephilim are resistant to mind control.
• -- Nephilim are resistant to possession.
• -- Nephilim are resistant to illusions.
• -- Nephilim are not normally resistant to lethal damage.
• -- Nephilim can heal bashing and lethal damage with their Sanguis, but aggravated damage takes time and exposure to raw faith.
• -- Nephilim are naturally gifted at Invocations, naming and communicating with angels and demons; although not so gifted as their angelic paterfamilias.
• -- Nephilim are gifted with Supernatural Awareness.

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Lexicon

• Furore -- Divine anger that lends speed and strength to the Nephilim, but also makes them subject to losses of control and ultimately the Wrath.
• Glyphs -- 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.
• Wrath -- A failing of human self-control that leads to spiritual darkness and uncontrolled violence.

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