Nephilim

Three Shadowhunters on a hunt

**Shadowhunters**, also known as **Nephilim**, are a secretive race of beings who are humans born with angel blood. They have fought demons and lived alongside Downworlders in the Shadow World for well over a thousand years, creating their own culture and civilization within human society. Their mandate is to keep the peace in the Shadow World and keep it hidden from the mundane world while protecting the inhabitants of both worlds.

Despite their ancestry, Shadowhunters are mortal and therefore vulnerable to old age and death; however, their angelic blood endows them with special abilities that allow them to achieve feats beyond what's humanly possible through the application of angelic runes.

## History

#### Creation

A thousand years ago, shortly after 1000 AD, the Earth was invaded by hordes of demons. During the times when the Crusades first began, particularly believed to be some time in the winter months, a crusader named Jonathan asked for a warlock, Elphas the Unsteady, to call on Raziel. Jonathan begged Raziel to help save humanity. Seeing the honesty and nobility of his wish, the angel obliged and mixed his blood with that of Jonathan in the Mortal Cup, a mixture he let Jonathan drink. Raziel then gave Jonathan the other two Mortal Instruments, the Gray Book, and the fitting name of Shadowhunter as a symbol of his transformation.

Soon, more men and women drank from the cup and became Nephilim warriors themselves. They soon became known as Shadowhunters, after Jonathan, the first of their kind. Their children, and their children's children, inherited their parents' angelic blood and became Nephilim themselves.

For some reason, undisclosed at this point, 1234 is a significant date among Shadowhunters. The 11th and 13th centuries are also cited by the Shadowhunter's Codex as the beginning and peak, respectively, of the promotion of the race of the Nephilim, when new members were being sought for and recruited after the death of the first Shadowhunters, and the two points in time pointed out as when the first edition of the Codex was written, the first being the time given in the presumption that the Codex was written by Jonathan Shadowhunter, and the second estimated based on modern research and dating techniques.

For the following centuries, Shadowhunters had a rocky relationship with other Shadow World residents. Eventually, they started a tradition of persecuting and hunting Downworlders, that remains to this day in the general racism of the Shadowhunter race.

#### 20th Century

There had been a time when some, if not most, of Nephilim women were not fighters; they were usually relegated to domestic duties such as cooking and fostering the current and future generations of young Shadowhunters at home. While there have been women fighters over the years, and it is recognized that there have always been women in the Clave—mastering the runes, creating weaponry, teaching the Killing Arts—but only a few were warriors, ones with exceptional abilities who had to fight to be trained. It was a generation in the late 1900s, which included Maryse Lightwood and Jocelyn Fairchild, that was the first where all women were trained to become Shadowhunter warriors along with the men.

#### The Uprising

In 1998, a group of dissidents called the Circle and led by Valentine Morgenstern the Uprising occurred during one signing of the Accords. They intended to steal the Mortal Cup that was put on display that day and kill the attending Downworlders. The day ended in bloodshed, with deaths on both sides.

## Home

#### Idris

Idris is the homeland of the Shadowhunters and is protected by the demon towers, forcing demons out and protecting the city, the only way to bring them down is to wipe demon blood on them from the inside—an almost impossible feat.

Idris is in Central Europe. It is a small country between Germany and France, with protective spells and wardings all around, all over the borders, preventing mundanes from entering. When they attempt to cross the border into Idris, they are simply transported into the next border without noticing.

Idris is mostly forest, littered with vampire nests and werewolf packs. There are mountains that can only be crossed in high summer without freezing to death. There is a small system of towns throughout Idris. These towns are not very big and are all sort of oriented around the one city, Alicante, which is also known as the Glass City.

#### Alicante

Alicante is the only city and the capital of Idris. It is often called the Glass City because of the presence of the Demon Towers that guard the city against demon attacks, reflecting light and looking like glass. The entire city itself is lit and powered by witchlights. The houses throughout the city are built from all eras. The Gard, the meeting place for the Clave, sits atop a hill at the edge of the city. All around are residences of several Shadowhunter families and the Council. There are stores throughout the entire city that display and sell a wide array of objects from weapons to clothes.

## Government and Politics

The Nephilim follow a strict set of rules of their Law, and they maintain their peace with their allied Downworlders through the terms of the Accords.

#### The Clave, the Consul and the Council

The Clave is the collective name for the political body of all active Nephilim. Shadowhunters become members of the Clave upon reaching adulthood at the age of eighteen, when they decide to declare their allegiance to the Clave. Members of the Clave all have rights to contribute to any Clave issue under discussion. They keep and interpret the Law and have the right to help decide on important matters that affect the Nephilim.

The Clave's governing body is the Council, and the Consul is their highest appointed official. The Consul holds little executive power but presides over the Council. The Council may represent the larger Clave when making decisions that don't require a vote—matters of immediate import that are not large enough for the entire Clave to become involved in.

The Clave is divided into smaller groups in different countries and cities of the world. These regional groups are locally centered around an Institute, and every active Shadowhunter residing in the area under their jurisdiction answer to them. These local groups coordinate their own local decision making and organizational structures as they see fit, though the Clave may still interfere in some cases.

#### The Accords

The Accords acts as amendments to the Law agreed to be taken as the law of the land by all of the Shadow World, a treaty that ordains how Shadowhunters and Downworlders interact with mundanes and one another, as well as each group's rights, responsibilities, and restrictions. With the Accords, groups of Downworlders also in peace with the Accords agree to the same oath to never reveal the truth of the Shadow World to mundanes. The Accords are revised and signed every fifteen years by representatives of these groups.

## Mission

The goal of the Nephilim is to fight, and someday end, the plague of demons on Earth. They are dispatched to every place on Earth to fight against demon hordes. The fight even continues after death. Their bones and ashes are used, as the bones of demon hunters are powerful protection, to fortify important buildings and to supply power to the Silent Brothers.

Aside from this, the Shadowhunters have also placed the responsibility of upholding the peace and secrecy of the Shadow World, as well as the protection of the mundanes and the world in general from the supernatural, upon themselves.

## Culture

As with all populations, the Nephilim have developed their own culture and traditions. They have traditions and habits that, though not official laws, are expected of them.

#### Calendar

The Nephilim use both the Gregorian calendar and the Razialian calendar, that puts the year 0 in 1086. The Gregorian year 2016 is the Razialian year 920.

#### Naming

Popular names for children are Jonathan, Abigail, David and Wayland, after four important figures of Shadowhunter history.

Shadowhunters have a True Name, their given first name and the name of their father. Bloodlines are determined through True Names. They sometimes have a Chosen Name, the name they go by, and a Marital Name, the name they take after marriage (for women).

#### Life

Shadowhunters spent their years up to their Runing Ceremony under tutoring by their families or hired tutors. Following the Rune Ceremony, they start attending the Academy, where they spend their years until graduations studying their crafts. All young nephilim spent at least one semester in training in an Institute, whether they have chosen to become a Shadowhunter or not.

An exception would be when Shadowhunters join one of their two monastic orders: the Silent Brothers and the Iron Sisters. The Brothers serve as the keepers of their lore and knowledge; they serve as their librarians, researchers, and occasional medics. They reside in the Silent City. The Sisters design and forge their weapons; they are the keepers of adamas, the holy metal given to them by Raziel. They reside in the Adamant Citadel.

#### Religion

The Nephilim do not conform to any mundane religion. Some Shadowhunters see their own lifestyle and beliefs as a separate religion. Mainly, they have their own beliefs about angels, demons, Heaven, and Hell, and they worship the Angel Raziel as their creator. Still, the Nephilim acknowledge the truths in mundane religions, mythologies, tales, and legends, and often integrate this into their real world knowledge.

The Nephilim ally themselves mostly with Christianity, even going as far as having an Institute in the Vatican. Throughout history, they followed colonization and missionaries from Europe towards other continents, settling along the way in the colonized countries.

Contacts and relations were established between the Nephilim and the Vatican, signing secret treaties that promises the continued provision of havens and weapons for Shadowhunters in exchange for protection. Their end of the bargain is upheld by allowing the Nephilim access to their church grounds, holy buildings, or places of worship as havens, or for their numerous hidden caches or reserves of holy tools and equipment for Shadowhunter use, the oldest of which is said to be in the Basilica di Sant'Ambrogio in Milan, dating to over five hundred years ago.

#### Training

Shadowhunters may be trained at a very young age, by their parents or other mentors and guardians. Some Shadowhunters may train at an academy in Idris, or at Institutes in other parts of the world.

Following their Rune Ceremony, Shadowhunters attend the Academy. It is often during their Academy days that parabatai bonds are formed. Upon completion of their training, it is customary and traditionally expected that Shadowhunters travel to other Institutes to learn about other Nephilim cultures.

#### Battle

There are varieties of weapons and gear used by Shadowhunters. Most of these weapons are made with materials capable of killing demons, some using adamas forged by the Iron Sisters.

Most used are the seraph blades, the primary weapons of the Nephilim, made of adamas and calls upon the power of an Angel's name to access the blade's power. In addition to seraph blades, some Shadowhunters choose to have a weapon of specialty, such as swords, bows and arrows, and many more.

#### Ceremonies and Rituals

##### Birth

The first rune a Shadowhunter receives is the Clairvoyance Rune, applied at birth. Newborn Shadowhunters have spells cast on them to protect their minds from demonic influences. These rituals protect the Shadowhunters from demon visions and possessions directed towards them. Technically, the ritual is mainly only necessary for those who are in danger of being targeted, so people with Shadowhunter blood but who are un-Marked and raised among mundanes, with no one knowing what they are, will remain unaffected, or minimally so, by the lack of the spell. The rituals are performed by a Silent Brother and an Iron Sister.

Since Nephilim blood is mostly dominant, if a Shadowhunter has children with any species, their children will still be Nephilim. A special case is when one parent is a  Seelie, wherein some of their kind's characteristics or attributes may manifest in the child, and a demon, such as Tessa Gray, though this is very rare as the child of Shadowhunters and demons are usually stillborn. When the half-breeds continue to have children, the trace of the other species will either slowly diminish through the generation or disappear entirely.

##### Runes

Shadowhunters were given runes by the Angel Raziel, all contained in the Book of the Covenant and copied into the Gray Book. These runes, or Marks, are applied on the Shadowhunters' skin and gives different effects and abilities.

When a young Shadowhunter is set to begin his or her formal training they receive their Angelic Power Rune in a formal ceremony done by Silent Brothers.

##### Parabatai

Parabatai is the term for two Shadowhunters who fight alongside each other. These Shadowhunters are partners and are particularly close to each other. Shadowhunters have the option to choose their parabatai before they turn 18, after which the option will the longer be available to them; in fact, having parabatais is quite uncommon among the Nephilim.

The runes drawn by one's parabatai are stronger than those used by another. Also, there are some runes that can only be used by parabatai for it draws on the parabatai's double strength. It is forbidden for two parabatai to fall in love with each other. If this happens, they will be separated. Most Shadowhunters don't have a parabatai, so they are not very common. In a Shadowhunters life, they can only have one parabatai, even if their partner dies.

##### Marriages

Engagements are typically made with the man giving out his family ring. Whether the wife chooses to keep it or not is up to her.

The traditional color of marriage is gold. Shadowhunter women generally wear gold dresses.

A tradition in Shadowhunter weddings involves a significant person to the bride and groom: having a suggenes who would "give away" the bride/groom to her/his partner—similar to the mundane tradition of "giving away the bride"—and welcome the other into the family. The suggenes would be a significant person—a father, mother, sibling, child, friend, parabatai, or an elder who symbolized the whole family—chosen by the bride/groom. It is not always necessary or even possible to have a suggenes.

There are two wedding runes. The first one, the Wedded Union Rune, is one that is usually drawn on the wirst or the back of the hand during the ceremony. The second one, the Devotion Rune, is one that is usually drawn on the heart, during the wedding night.

Same-gender and interspecies weddings are not recognized by the Clave.

#### Punishment

When proven guilty of a violation of their important laws, Shadowhunters may be stripped of their Marks. This is mostly done when a Shadowhunter chooses to leave the Clave to marry a mundane, and become one in the process. Another act of treason to receive this punishment is by consorting with demons; this grave act may even be accompanied by the forceful transformation of the violator into a Forsaken mundane, as well as the removal of the family's Marks and the removal of their family name and records from Nephilim history.

#### Death

Shadowhunters often die young as their fight against demons kill off many of them in battle. The traditional color of mourning among the Nephilim is white.

To honor a Shadowhunter's death, most of them are buried in the City of Bones. Those whose deaths are not considered honorable, such as suicides, criminals, monsters, and traitors forfeit their right to be buried in the Silent City; they are instead buried at the Cemetery of the Disgraced in Idris.

During funerals, if the deceased left behind family or someone close to him/her, the person may stand by the corpse, covered by a white cloth, and will call out the deceased's name(s). The words "For we are but dust and shadows. Ave Atque Vale, hail and farewell" are spoken. After this, those "left behind" may leave the deceased's side and join the others gathered, and a Silent Brother will touch the tip of his stele to the corpse(s). In front of a mourning rune close to the body, the Silent Brother and any other official figure will raise their hands in unison as the souls of the deceased depart their bodies and visibly drift into the air.

Relatives and loved ones of the deceased often chose to draw on a Remembrance/Mourning Rune, showing to the rest of the community that they are mourning. The rune is often drawn on the arms or hands, as to be seen by all, even more modest attire.

#### Honors

Some Shadowhunters leave behind legacies that become marked and included in Shadowhunter history. Historical figures such as Jonathan Shadowhunter and the Angel Raziel are among the very well-known figures throughout their history.

Of course, over the course of centuries, events occur that shape the future of the Nephilim. Tapestries, illustrating passages from history, and monuments may be made in their honor or memory. Apparently, grand deeds, such as victory in a war, may warrant the creation of such tributes.

#### Motto

The Nephilim's motto is "Facilis descensus Averno," or "Descensus Averno facilis est," which means "The descent into Hell is easy" in Latin. It was taken from Virgil's poem, The Aeneid.

#### Colors

*Black for hunting through the night*
For death and mourning, the color’s white.

Gold for a bride in her wedding gown,

And red to call enchantment down.

White silk when our bodies burn,

Blue banners when the lost return.

Flame for the birth of a Nephilim,

And to wash away our sins.

Gray for knowledge best untold,

Bone for those who don't grow old.

Saffron lights the victory march,

Green will mend our broken hearts.

Silver for the demon towers,

And bronze to summon wicked powers.

## Known Nephilim Surnames

* Acosta
* Aldertree
* Ashdown
* Balogh
* Baybrook
* Bausejours
* Beauvale
* Bellefleur
* Blackthorn
* Blackwell
* Blackstair
* Bloodowl
* Branwell
* Breaskpear
* Bridgestock
* Carstairs
* Cartwright
* Carvalho
* Casales
* Castel
* Chaudhury
* Coldridge
* Crosskill
* Dearborn
* Delgado
* Dieudonné
* Fairchild
* Fairgreen
* Featherstone
* Freeman
* Gladstone
* Gonzales
* Graymark
* Greenlaw
* Grunwald
* Hayward
* Herondale
* Highsmith
* Hightower
* Hillwater
* Joshi
* Kaidou
* Kanuni
* Ke
* Keo
* Khatri
* Kingsmill
* Kriegsmesser
* Larkspear
* Lightwood
* Lindquist
* Lockheart
* Longford
* Lovelace
* Maduabuchi
* von Mainz
* Makepeace
* Malatesta
* Malhotra
* Mayhew
* Mendoza
* Merryweather
* Midwinter
* Montclaire
* Monteverde
* Morgenstern
* Nightshade
* Nightwine
* Overbeck
* Pangborn
* Pedrowo
* Penhallow
* Penmount
* Penwater
* Pontmercy
* Pounceby
* Ravenscar
* Rayhorn
* Rocio
* Rockford
* Romero
* Rosales
* Rosegreen
* Rosewain
* Safar
* Scarsbury
* Sedgewick
* Shimizu
* Silverhood
* Starkweather
* Tefereel
* Thrushcross
* Tokugawa
* Townsend
* Trueblood
* Turan
* Underhill
* Velez
* Verlac
* Villalobos
* Wang
* Wayland
* Whiteash
* Whitecock
* Whitelaw
* Winterbrook
* Wrayburn
* Youngblood

## Trivia

* Nephilim couples are encouraged to have at least two children, to better perpetuate the bloodline. Some families consider one boy and one girl to be the minimum amount of children acceptable.
* Arranged marriages are common, alliances between families being one of the safest ways to accumulate political power. Some arrangements are planned from childhood.
* Nephilim get married early, usually between 16 and 20 years old. Few Nephilim get married after 25.