Janus

> The world is a whirlwind. It sweeps across bodies and hearts, bending the soft things and destroying the rest.
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The servants of Janus are Heaven’s agents of change, charged with shaking up the establishment and making the static into the dynamic. They are also divine thieves, confounding the wicked with their daring exploits.

Janus, a broad and brawny ofan, is one of the oldest archangels. Although his mission is to promote change, he himself has changed very little in the past millennia. In fact, like many archangels, he seems increasingly set in his ways as time goes by.

He’s very gregarious, but just as quick to condemn a friend as to praise him. Then, after his fits of criticism pass, he is very, very apologetic. While some worry about his stability, Janus’s usefulness is sometimes the only thing Gabriel and Dominic agree on. After all, his mood swings reflect his role in the Symphony.

Janus’s angels aim to disrupt normality and cause as much chaos as possible without upsetting the overall balance of the Symphony. In a typical scenario, an angel of Janus comes to town, scopes the place out, and mayhem ensues. Actually, almost any adventure of these angels ends with “and mayhem ensues.”

The servants of Janus are easy to spot: reckless youth, hanging out of the side of a speeding car to regenerate Essence, zooming from one town to another, attending rallies, blowing up cars, agents of change. They’re also known for their light fingers and bulging jackets.

Janus himself can be as gentle as a summer breeze or as destructive as a tornado.

Wind is unpredictable and yet follows certain rules. It can be calming and gentle but is often more notable when it seizes, shapes, or destroys things in its path. Janus’s servants are the winds of change.

There was no call for Janus to be an archangel during the Symphony’s overture. Everything was new, and good, and there was no call to alter or destroy what was being made.

Janus was elevated some time later, yet even so he is counted as one of the elder archangels as his elevation predates the birth of man. His very nature was change, and it was also good. He took ideas from Knowledge so that words might be crafted for them and Light from the stars so that flowers could bloom. In short, Janus was and artist and innovator, painting creation with the brush of theft and making it better in the process. His followers are much the same, larceny is the tool but change and growth is their true gift.

Lately, the ofan archangel has been putting on weight. Where once he was a lithe running back, now he is more of a linebacker ~ barreling his way through obstacles (though his fingers remain as light as ever). He is both strong and mercurial. The early welcome he enjoyed from the other Superiors is now more wary. He is a powerful ally, but there will almost always be a cost and it can’t be negotiated beforehand. Contracts are not how the wind works.

Most everyone from Gabriel to Dominic agree that Janus is useful, but he is not reliable. For Fire that’s just a fact of life, for Judgement it is a serious character flaw.

War cares little for consistency, so Michael and Janus are fast friends ~ and David provides stability enough for both.

The only archangel to despise Janus is Laurence. An army relies on order and discipline, and Janus embodies its opposite. The two rarely work well together. Typically, Michael or Dominic needs to act as an intermediary between the two. A role that neither of those other archangels particularly enjoys.

In the end, no one can really say what motivates Janus, and it is unlikely that he even knows himself. It is his nature to change ~ but for now he walks Heaven and Earth (and a few other places besides) making sure that nothing grows stagnant, and his followers do the same with the sort of gleeful recklessness that gives the rest of the Host unbearable headaches.

Janus can be dangerously unpredictable, even for his own servitors. Most of the time, life in his service is clear skies. His punishments are light, his manner genial, and his servitors skilled at getting away with almost anything.

Even so the Winds need to stay on their toes. Janus is known for some truly tempestuous mood swings. At those times he’ll strike out violently at any disturbance, even minor ones. There is some concern that he may be on the verge of a Fall, though his own servitors are loathe to believe it. Instead, they do their best to keep mum and clean up their own messes.

No reason to make the big man worry.

## Subsidiary Words

The Aeolian Process, Airline Pilots, Couriers, First Breath, Gales, Pranks, Lost Fortunes, the migratory populations, New Year's, Outlaws, Summer Showers, Travelling Showmen

## Dissonance

It’s dissonant for servants of Janus to stay in the same locale for more than three days. Each city is a locale, but some cities (New York, Los Angeles, etc.) sprawl over enough land that different districts could be considered different locales. But it’s important for those who serve the Wind to keep moving, at all costs.

## Choir Attunements

If the wind stops, it dies. Janus’s servants have an attunement for motion much like that of the ofanim.

### Seraph

The seraphim of Wind can add the number of their Celestial Forces to their Fast-Talk skill rolls. They still cannot lie without generating dissonance, but they can sway someone’s opinion with the overall hope of greasing the wheels of the Symphony.

### Cherub (restricted)

Cherubim working for Janus can only attune themselves to one person at a time, but the subject of that attunement becomes enthralled with the cherub (the equivalent of a servant at a level equal to the angel’s Celestial Forces) for as long as the attunement lasts.

### Ofan

Ofanim supporting the Word of Wind may add their Ethereal Forces to any roll involving breaking locks, opening doors or otherwise freeing themselves or others from corporeal restraint.

### Eloah

Barring the intervention of Celestial Forces, elohim serving Janus can look at the sky and accurately predict the weather ~ down to the minute ~ for a number of days into the future equal to their Ethereal Forces.

### Malak

The dark riders who serve the Wind are extraordinary demolition experts. They may add the number of their Ethereal Forces to any roll involving making, setting and using (including throwing) an explosive device.

#### Common oaths

Janus prefers for his malakim to embody the most destructive aspects of his Word. As a result, many have taken vows that make them even more excessive than their brethren.

* Never be swayed or deterred by property laws
* Seek out and confound all demons of Greed (and previously, Sloth)
* Breach “impenetrable” security on a weekly basis
* Never be held captive
* Leave no pillar standing when destroying a place of evil
* Faithfully deliver any honorable message
* Always listen in
* Liberate an artifact from the clutches of Hell every week
* Never take the same route twice
* Never possess more than can be carried in a single backpack
* Take a memento from every place you’ve been
* Never snitch
* Always help those on the run from the law
* Never gamble without being able to cover the debt
* Never break an angel’s cover

### Kuriotes

Kuriotates serving Janus may assume a gaseous form, manifesting in the corporeal realm without the need of a host vessel. They can’t communicate verbally or interact with the world in any significant way and move at one-fourth their normal speed. In this form, they can be spotted with a successful Perception roll, made easier by every note of dissonance the angel has.

### Mercurian

Janus’ mercurians can move through crowds like eels through coral. Waves of humanity part for them, whether or not the angel is visible. The angel can also tell at a glance if an object was acquired honestly or not.

### Grigori

Forced to wander perpetually, like Janus' other servitors, grigori of the Wind were pathfinders and explorers. Whenever faced with a choice of directions to take, they could choose to know either the *safest* or the *fastest* route (but not both, though in some cases, the safest route might also be the fastest).

The grigori of Jean & Janus oppose Meserach (industry vs indolence)

### Also Grigori

Barring the intervention of Celestial Forces, grigori serving Janus can look at the sky and accurately predict the weather ~ down to the minute ~ for a number of days into the future equal to their Ethereal Forces.

### Bright Lilu

As always, Janus is a bright mirror of Valefor. Janus's seducers may add their Ethereal Forces to the penalty for resisting when they attempt to Geas someone into any form of theft.

### Ohr

The Wind and the Light do not get along well. The only benefit these ohrot gain is that they do not generate dissonance for staying in place.

### Chezeq

Chezeqim of the Wind can triple their effective strength and use it to move air, with noticeable effects on the weather.

## Servitor Attunements

### Covet

Demons with this attunement can rouse the envy of the have-nots, encouraging them to take from the haves. With the expenditure of 1 Essence, Covet will amplify someone’s longing for whatever he most desires. The victim may negate the effect with a Will roll. If he fails, then for a number of days equal to the check digit of his failed roll, he will be required to make a Will roll (at a penalty equal to the demon’s Celestial Forces) to resist temptation whenever he has the opportunity to do something that will bring the object of his desire within his grasp. The GM may assign bonuses or penalties to the Will roll, depending on the victim, the object, and the means being contemplated.

### Distract

For 1 Essence, the demon can force one person to concentrate on something of the demon’s choosing and not notice anything else. This effect will last for a number of rounds equal to the demon’s Celestial Forces, and the victim may avoid being distracted by making a Will roll. Anything so blatant as to force the victim’s attention away from the object of distraction (such as screams, gunshots, explosions, etc.) will allow him a Perception roll (at whatever bonus the GM feels is appropriate) to take notice of whatever is going on around him. Physically assaulting the victim will automatically recapture his attention.

### Passage

With a successful Agility roll, the angel may open any lock. Some are harder than others:

 -1
 -2
 -3

### Swipe

For 2 Essence, the angel can make a corporeal object (no heavier in pounds than his total number of Forces) vanish for a number of minutes equal to his Celestial Forces. It reappears later with the angel, wherever he is, and it makes no disturbance in the Symphony as long as no one observes the vanishing or reappearance.

## Distinctions

Outside the standard vassal/friend/master hierarchy, Janus recognizes a pair of special distinctions. These distinctions can be given to any of Janus’ angels, and act like a “half-step” between the more standard distinctions. An Intercardinal Vassal or Vassal Ranger is afforded slightly more respect than an ordinary vassal, but still well less than a friend. Non-Magpies pay very little attention to the Intercardinal distinction.

### Vassal of the Wind

Vassals of the Wind can communicate among themselves, as clearly and quickly as in human speech, in a silent language of gesture.

### Friend of the Unseen

Angels with this distinction always know if they’re being watched, listened to, or otherwise spied on.

### Master of Motion

The angel moves silently and at great speed. Double his flying speed if he has wings. He may add 4 to his Running skill before any roll, or to the check digit of any Running roll that succeeds without assistance!

### Intercardinal

Any angel who has impressed two or more of Janus’s Seven Cardinals may be given the Intercardinal distinction. These servitors may attempt to invoke either of their sponsoring Cardinals (Chance of Invocation: 3, same modifiers as Janus himself).

### Ranger

Janus does not like tying his servitors down to immobile tethers, but he can’t afford to neglect his corporeal tethers either. His solution is the Rangers. A Ranger is attuned to every tether of Janus that they have not visited in the past three months.

Rangers often take Roles that let them travel the world so that they can constantly move from one tether to another.

### Bishops and Archbishops

Janus grants higher distinctions to those angels who prove to be major (and continuing) forces of change throughout the Symphony. Almost all of them are Wordbound. In something of a mockery of Laurence, the greater angels of Wind are known as Bishops and Archbishops.

### The Seven Cardinals of Wind

However, the senior Dons of Janus’s band of thieves and troublemakers are the Seven Cardinals of Wind. These are typically Janus’ most trusted servitors (though not always his most powerful). Each cardinal’s title is based on where their winds originate.

* The Northerly Cardinal attends north to south currents
* The Easterly Cardinal attends east to west currents
* The Southerly Cardinal attends south to north currents
* The Westerly Cardinal attends west to east currents
* The Heavenly Cardinal attends downdrafts, outcasts, and expulsion from Heaven.
* The Infernal Cardinal attends updrafts, renegades, Redemption, and the return to heaven.
* The Ethereal Cardinal attends to the subtle and unpredictable winds of the Marches and has been known to blow every way imaginable.

The Seven Cardinals run much of Janus’s day to day operations ~ and can probably keep the whole of the Symphony in a state of dynamic disarray even without the help of their powerful patron.

## Relations

**Allied:** David, Gabriel, Michael

**Associated:** Yves

**Hostile:** Laurence

### Opinions of the Wind

**Blandine ~** Janus is my more literal self. He inspires, just like I do. And like me he knows he must go wherever his fancy takes him ~ but the consequences of doing so on the corporeal plane can be quite severe.

**Christopher ~** Janus can be a great ally. He brings a child his first breath and his first laugh. He knows that youth can bring the change he so longs for ~ but do not trust him for a moment. He would steal candy from a babe if it were in his path.

**David ~** Working with Janus can be difficult. Even communicating with him can be difficult, but we need him. He thinks in ways that would never occur to me.

**Dominic ~** Janus has always been one to break the rules, just and unjust alike. If only there were a way to focus his efforts on the unjust rules.

**Eli ~** For now I’ll follow where Janus blows. He knows some fascinating places.

**Gabriel ~** Janus is unstable. He moves around me and his changes nourishes me just as wind fuels fire. He is what he is, and contradicts himself because he must.

**Jean ~** There is no storm without the Wind, no innovation without change. I give direction to his chaos and ensure it leads to advancement, not just difference.

**Jordi ~** Birds and bats and insects all ride the winds. Whatever the others say, Janus has his place but warn your wards to stay away when he rages.

**Khalid ~** Like all the archangels, Janus is a servant of the Lord ~ his change bringing life and faith where none may have been before. However, sometimes he forgets he is an instrument of the Lord and acts on his own.

**Laurence ~** He takes the War directly to the enemy, and I can respect that. However, he lacks discipline. He can’t just make up new rules whenever it suits him, that’s not how a team works.

**Litheroy ~** Wind can reveal and wind can conceal but the truth does not change. I do not trust Janus, but he can be a valuable ally in speaking truth to a lie.

**Marc ~** Janus is a necessary evil. When markets stagnate or greed takes hold change and unrest are necessary. It is unfortunate that we must endure his larcenous ways encouraging those exact same evils at all other times.

**Michael ~** Janus is one of our greatest champions. Unfortunately, he doesn’t handle endurance well. Neither maintaining an offensive, nor holding a reserve for when it can do the most good. Now if he’d just stop trying to change my Word.

**Novalis ~** Change is a part of the woods. What damages Janus wreaks the forest can eventually mend. What he takes from us just spreads our roots to new soil.

**Yves ~** Janus is what he is, pure and ever-changing. The chaos he spreads in his wake allows the Symphony to grow and renew itself.

**Zadkiel ~** Janus is dangerous and unstable. Even when others say he is doing good works, his victims come to me for protection. Does he even know which side he is fighting for?

## Rites

* Spend 1 hour in 80+ mph winds (for example, in a windstorm or in a convertible with the top down).
* Spend 2 hours meditating on a moving roller coaster ~ it can stop to let others off and on, but the angel has to ride it through.
* See a vehicle flip and roll at more than 60 mph, or watch a multi-story building demolished, in person. (+2 Essence)

### Expanded and Additional Rites

* Walk a tightrope between two skyscrapers
* Stunt-pilot an open cockpit aircraft.
* Spend a day teaching a youth to steal.
* Steal something and plant it on someone else.
* Watch a motorcycle daredevil show. Participate in it for +2 Essence.

### Invocation Modifiers

Just because a storm can’t be summoned doesn’t mean there aren’t ways to attract its attention . . .

**+1** Steal a newspaper

**+2** Deface a public street sign

**+3** Reroute a set of “Detour” signs

**+4** Blow up a car

**+5** Have a tornado in direct, unaided line of sight

**+6** Fall through the air for more than 10 seconds

## Whispers on the Wind

There are songs known to only a few Superiors and their trusted servitors . . . and Janus, who has a way of hearing a little of everything. He is known to teach the following Songs: Battle, Concealment, Correspondence, Disjunction, and War. Janus may have access to Secret Songs held by other archangels (he did help discover the Songs of Water), and perhaps even some known by the demon princes.

## Servitors

Janus’ Wordbound fit into several different categories.

First are the angels of weather patterns, including such luminaries as the angel of Gales, the angel of Summer Showers, and the angel of the Aeolian Process. Many of these angels were “inherited” from Oannes when the archangel of Water was slain by Belial.

Next are the angels of social disruption, including the angel of Pranks, the angel of Lost Fortunes, and the angel of Outlaws. Larger societal changes might be initiated by a servitor of Janus, but the angels who oversee them often end up being closer to David, Dominic, or Gabriel.

Most of the angels of travelers also serve Janus. This includes the patron angels of the migratory populations, the angel of Traveling Showmen, the angel of Airline Pilots, and the angel of Couriers.

And then there are a few odd-balls, like the angel of First Breath and the angel of New Year's. In many ways, these angels are Janus’ sfavorites, as they serve to shake up the expectations of his own servitors.

### Unknown Rank

* Elephanta, the strong southeasterly wind of India, is an Intercardinal who can invoke either the Southerly Cardinal or the Easterly Cardinal of Wind.
* Rainbow Dash, ofan

### Undistincted

#### 10 Forces

* Contradith, a cherub
* Honeyfuggle, a seraphic malak

## Tethers

Most of Janus’s tethers are tied to weather patterns, the most notable of these being the tether of Hurricanes, which forms wherever the winds are blowing strongest. Unfortunately, Janus is rather cavalier when it comes to static tethers. He did little to support the tether in Kitty Hawk or the Murdoc Dry Lake Bed (where the land sound barrier was first broken), and has basically left the Singing Rocks in Ghana to David. In fact, if the tether does not mark the site of some great social upheaval (such as the Palast Church where Martin Luther posted his *95 Theses*), Janus is content to let his static tethers only last for as long as mortals care about them.

A more complete list of Tethers of Wind can be found on page 79 of Liber Castellorum.

### El Niño

This tether is located somewhere off the coast of Chile, but the exact location has a tendency to move. While the tether has little direct impact on mortal affairs, its eloah Seneschal is quite adept at reading how even minor fluctuations in power can be leveraged to have devastating consequences. What he can’t do is tolerate the servitors of Marc, whom he feels have done much to assist Belial in undermining the sanctity of the sea.

### The Panemone Tether

The panemone tether is located somewhere along the mountainous border of Pakistan and Afghanistan. Though there is nothing to mark the tether now, it is considered the birthplace of one of the first practical windmill designs ~ a collection of six wooden vanes attached by horizontal struts to a wooden shaft used for pumping water and milling grain. The tether has no permanent seneschal, but there’s a malak Ranger who likes to make trouble along the border and has a particular fondness for the landmark.

### The Gates of Janus

Before the Christianization of Rome, it was the cunning statescraft of Janus that allowed monotheism to gain a toehold in the otherwise Olympian territory. Rather than represent the Lord openly, Janus posed as one of the city’s ethereal deities, and a temple was built in his honor right at the entrance to the Roman Forum.

Worried that Janus might succumb to vainglory, Dominic insisted that a malak be appointed as seneschal. Having other, greater concerns, Janus agreed, and as a result Rome had a particularly martial view of their Heavenly patron.

After the decline of the Roman Empire many believed that Janus would allow the tether to dissipate ~ but the archangel of Wind has never been one to live up to others’ expectations. The seneschal Portunes still lives in the area, posing as a humble and migratory locksmith. With his tether in such disrepair, the seneschal is rarely called upon to perform his formal duties, but when time and circumstance allow, he likes to head through the tether to its third terminus, the foothills of Olympus.

### Other Tethers

* A location with high (or musical) winds.
* An aeronautic wind tunnel.
* A site where a single act of defiance caused a major social upheaval (sites of communal actions tend to go to Gabriel or David instead).
* Stops on the Underground Railroad.
* Places where rogues and scoundrels were considered to have been the main opponents of oppression (Sherwood Forest is squarely in the hands of Janus).

### Seneschals

The seneschals of Janus forced to mind static tethers are at a significant disadvantage because they constantly have to divert some of their efforts to keeping themselves from Falling. This is why Janus favors large and/or mobile tethers. Their Wordbound seneschals can still roam about.

It’s not like Janus ignores his other tethers, he just counts on the Rangers to see to them, and if one happens to peter out between Ranger visits, it’s no big deal. Janus is one Superior who is a-okay with change.

## Janus Bifrons

Janus is unique among the archangels in that he was once worshiped as a god.

Specifically, Janus was a Roman god of beginnings, endings, and transition. He was invoked on doors and gates, at the start of religious rites, the change of seasons and at the onset and conclusion of war. The month of January is named in his honor (though the Romans actually dedicated it to Juno), and he was typically depicted as a being of two faces, one young and one old.

The contemporary image of old man December and newborn January is likely drawn from Janus's iconograpy.

### Priests and Worship

While Janus did have a cultic following, he rather notably lacked a dedicated priesthood. Among his followers he was known as the Opener, the Gatekeeper, the Good Creator, the Two Faced, the Janitor, the best and most powerful of kings, and the father of gods.

On account of the first two he is sometimes associated with Mercury, on account of the last he is sometimes associated with Jupiter and Uranus.

## Janus the Oncoming Storm

There are always storm clouds over Janus’s head. No matter how much he tries to explain things or delegate work, he always ends up having to do it himself ~ or at least that’s how the archangel views things. He is blown in too many directions at once for anyone else to possibly keep up with his current desires, not even his servitors, who love him dearly.

The servitors of Wind endure their archangel, and serve his Word, but they rarely bother to obey the ofan himself ~ his expectations are too unreasonable, and he often forgets or countermands them anyway.