The names of Demon Princess are largely taken from grimmoires and other traditional sources. The names of the Archangels, with a few exceptions, are rather markedly NOT traditional. In fact, they're often French. Clearly, this is a translation artifact; celestials presumably have true or original names in the celestial tongues, generally unknown or even unutterable to mortals. But Hebrew names are more traditional for angels, so here is a list of alternate Hebrew names for Superiors, should anyone want to give their game a more traditional tone.
All are taken from Gustav Davidson's Dictionary of Angels, based either on the name's given meaning or on the description given of the angel.
- Blandine - Duma, angel of dream
- Christopher - Armisael, angel of the womb
- David - (already Hebrew but not traditionally angelic) Turel, "Stone of God"
- Dominic - Daniel, "Judge of God"
- Eli - (already Hebrew but not traditionally angelic) Anael, an angel of creation
- Gabriel - (already Hebrew)
- Janus - Ruhiel, "Wind of God," angel of wind
- Jean - Barakiel, angel of lightning
- Jordi - Thuriel, angel of wild animals
- Khalid - Abdiel (or, in Arabic, Abdul), "servant of God"
- Laurence - Kavzakiel (a "prince of the sword")
- Litheroy - ( ??? )
- Marc - Anauel, angel of commerce
- Michael - (already Hebrew)
- Novalis - Rachmiel or Hesediel, both "Mercy of God"
- Raphael - (already Hebrew)
- Uriel - (already Hebrew)
- Yves - Phanuel, "Face of God", or Oriel, angel of destiny
- Zadkiel - (already Hebrew)
More name changes:
I would junk the musical nomenclature in favor of a more theological/feudal system of labels like "grace," "favor," "blessing," "indulgence," "dispensation," etc. But lots of people seem to like the musical stuff.
On a non-linguistic note, seraphim look like six-winged Chinese dragons, so they can still be snakey but also have six wings, hands, and feet, all of which are mentioned in their only Biblical appearance, in Isaiah.
For similar reasons, ofanim are rimmed with eyes, as in their appearance at the beginning of Ezekiel.
I would swap the roles of seraphim and cherubim (and therefore balseraphs and djinn/tanneanim). Traditionally, seraphim burn with love of God, while cherubim, one notch down, are the masters of divine knowledge. IN has this clean reversed.
In the present canon, the four most famous and recognizable Archangels have all been systematically diminished: Raphael is dead, Uriel is gone, Gabriel is nuts, and even Michael, who has fared best, has been demoted. Bag that.
Oh, and Jordi needs to be made playable.
What would really change the game most is that, in almost all traditional and cinematic spirit-lore, spirits spend most of their time invisible to the mundane world, instead of having the short times in celestial form that IN imposes. Letting characters hang about indefinitely in celestial might change the game past recognition, but it would make it fit better with the larger genre.
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