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Avenging Angels, The Dirae
"Every angel is terrifying."
- Rainer Maria Rilke
“They say that by the time you hear their war screams you are already dead.”
- Brix, Imp assigned to Malbolge
When the Erinyes abandoned their duties and sided with the Devils in the War at the Gates of Dawn they left a vacuum of power that the gods, in their weakened state could not fill.
Originally known as the Eumenides, or the Kindly Ones, their divine task was to rightfully punish wrongdoers and the breakers of oaths. They pursued this task with a fervor that only divine justice can inspire. It was this devotion that made them an easy target for Asmodeus’ designs.
They fell, along with other angels and servitors of good, until they landed in Hell. Here they took on new forms and became the Erinyes or the Furious Ones.
Their power, their divine cause, and their roles were left untouched for time untold.
Until one night.
A small coven of proto-Druidic nature worshipers danced around a full moon. The parishioners, all women from the local village, danced and lept with pure joy. Unknown to them a group of raiders from a few villages over had heard of the moonlight dance and figured the women would be easy targets. They were. They were defenseless and without weapons or armor. These raiders believed they had stockpiles of gold and silver, but nothing like that existed. In outrage, the raiders slaughtered them all.
The murders caught the attention of the coven’s Goddess, Rhamnusia. Aggrieved and enraged she appealed to the other gods. “Please!” she cried out, “please let them know the vengeance they deserve.” But this was the time after the War at the Gates of Dawn and the gods were weak and weary. Not only did they fear to give up any remaining power they had, but secretly they could not do so; such was their weakened state. Only the God that had prompted the raiders on did not fear.
Rhamnusia screamed in rage. Cursing the impotent Gods She flew off till she found Death.
Death granted Her the power She asked for, but at a cost. No more of Her followers would ever be able to come back from the Realms of Death as part of a cycle of Life-Death-and-Rebirth. The Goddess Rhamnusia, hearing only the souls of her followers crying for vengeance, agreed.
With this power, She raised her followers. She equipped them with arms and armor and sent them on a mission of vengeance. Their forms were same; the Goddess wanted to these raiders to know that it was the once peaceful coven now come for their deaths. With sword and wing; armor and scream, the new angels flew to their targets. Like the Eumenides of old, their unerring flight sought out the guilty and they destroyed them.
They then continued to attack and destroy anyone that had harmed another innocent. Saving their greatest fury for those that killed women or children.
Enraged at loss of so many of His followers the God of the raiders demanded justice of His own. No sooner than He had uttered the words than the screams of the Angels were heard. They attacked this God, the forced Him back to his own plane and here they slaughtered Him.
More than that, they Unmade Him.
He would never come back, no matter the form, no matter what other gods or His worshipers did.
The Angels had tapped into the righteous fury left behind by the Erinyes. The power that was of thousands of Angels of Vengeance and Retribution now flowed through the bodies of less than a score beings. Gone was the peaceful coven. In their place stood the avatars of Vengeance and Death, and even the gods themselves were not immune from their justice.
Their Goddess too was changed. Rhamnusia took on an aspect similar to Her angels.
Gone were the accouterments of a pastoral Goddess. Sheaves of grain were replaced by a scourge. The sickle of the harvest became a sword of silver fire. Her rustic tunic became armor of the same silver. Rhammusia was gone.
In Her place stood Invidia, the Goddess of Vengeance. Her brothers were Fear and Terror and mortalkind called her Nemesis, "She whom none can escape."
Her Angles became known as the Dirae, the “Terrible Ones” or the “Vengengful Ones.”
Dirae (Angel)
Alignment: Lawful (Lawful Good, Lawful Neutral)
Movement: 60’ (20’)
Fly: 240’ (80’)
Armor Class: 2
Hit Dice: 8d8 + 16 (52 hp)
Attacks: 2 or 1 or special
Damage: 1d8 / 1d8 (sword) or 1d10 (scourge, see below) or scream (see below).
Save: Fighter 8
Morale: 12
Hoard Class: Nil
XP: 3,840
The dirae appear as angels with dark wings touched with silver. They are often armed and armored. All dirae are female, but it can often be difficult to tell when their helms are donned. They do appear attractive, but there is a quality of sadness, anger or purpose about their appearance that makes most mortals uncomfortable. The guilty fear them and the devoted see them as manifestations of justice.
The dirae are tasked with punishing the guilty. Petty crimes are beneath their attention as mortal laws are designed to deal with those. The dirae focus their vengeance on the worst crimes committed; those against the innocent. Not all crimes can be punished by the dirae; there are too few of them, but when they set out to punish a mortal nothing can stop them.
Dirae attack with a sword two times per round or a scourge. The scourge does damage and acts as a Rope of Entanglement. Both weapons are considered magical and holy when dealing with other creatures. They slay evil creatures without hesitation or remorse. If they are sent to slay a human then they will do so as quickly as possible. If someone is in their way or prevents them from their task they will slay that creature as well. Three times per day the dirae can Scream. This attack causes fear (as per the spell). Creatures 5 HD and lower are affected with no save. Creatures 6 HD and higher are allowed a save vs. spells. Affected creatures cannot attack.
Dirae have the following spell-like abilities, usable at will: detect invisibility, fear (was the wand of fear), invisibility, know alignment, locate object, polymorph self, produce flame, holy word, and gate (50% probability of success) a dirae or (75% probability of success) another angel of a lesser sort.
A group of dirae is known as a “flight”.
Dirae and Erinyes
As agents of good and evil respectively, the Dirae and Erinyes often are at cross purposes, but in their roles of vengeance, they will sometimes see their purposes aligned. Due to ancient pacts that go beyond gods and devils the Dirae and the Erinyes are forbidden to act against each other directly. They can’t harm or interfere with each others’ hunts.
If a mortal is claimed by both groups, then by the same ancient pacts they are given over to the Erinyes, the Dirae cannot interfere.
