Post by AceTheMercenary on Nov 17, 2015 7:32:15 GMT -6
Character Name: Joshua (or just 'Josh' to humans); the name of his human vessel, however, is Jacob Harper.
Age: Though his earthly vessel is 20 years old in appearance, Josh is in actuality far older than that, having been created by God shortly before the war in Heaven and Lucifer's fall from grace.
Gender: Male
Birthplace: Heaven (Earthly vessel born in Atlanta, Georgia)
Race: Angel
Physical Appearance (Photo or description):
Standing at 5'11", Josh is particularly muscular and toned, and while it would merely be evidence of a person who takes care of himself to unknowing human eyes, in actuality the body is merely a vessel: the body of a normal young human male housing an angel, the muscle mass of which Josh has increased to better withstand the harshness of combat against the worst supernatural creatures in existence. He possesses a mop of messy black 'emo' hair, bright blue eyes that occasionally glow bright with ethereal power, and pale skin.
In terms of his outfit he wears a simple white t-shirt which is overlaid with a blue and white checkered flannel shirt, with a waist-length black leather jacket with a grey hood, along with blue jeans and a pair of black cowboy boots completing the attire.
Good, Evil, or Neutral: Good
Strengths: An ethereal being created by God for the explicit purpose of both carrying out his will and slaughtering the evil beings of the world, Josh is perhaps the ideal candidate for a Hunter, as he possesses a set of skills that is nothing short of fantasy in the minds of most humans. From superhuman strength, speed and stamina to the ability to heal humans with but a touch upon their foreheads or 'smite' lesser creatures in the same fashion, every fiber of his being is dedicated both to protecting the humans who cannot protect themselves and utterly destroying his foes, no matter the cost. He is a swordsman with skill far beyond even the most proficient human masters of the art, and possesses the ability to use holy fire to burn his foes away.
Unlike his young Nephilim companion, Dusty, Josh is a full-blooded angel, and thus has access to a host of abilities that even he lacks. While he prefers to fight with an Angel Blade -- a weapon provided to all angels that can be willed into being wherever it is needed -- his superior physical strength makes him a particularly difficult foe even when fighting unarmed, with blows powerful enough to crush concrete or shatter bones to splinters.
Weaknesses: Owing to his heritage, Josh himself has very few weaknesses: but while the angel himself is nigh invincible, the vessel that contains him hardly is. Despite the augments and abilities provided to the host, the vessel is still entirely human and is thus subjected to more or less the same capacity for physical damage and death a human would be, such as being blown to bits or charred to an unmoving crisp. While knives and gunshots are still effective for their stopping power, short of breaking a bone and rendering a limb useless or amputating it, very little physical pain is felt. Should the vessel die, the angel himself will live on in most cases: however, as he has no tether to the mortal realm anymore, it renders him essentially powerless until another willing vessel can be found. In addition to this, holy oil set ablaze will destroy both the vessel and the angel, while angel banishing rituals also exist and can force him from his vessel for periods of time. Holy fire from another angel also has the potential to destroy them both.
Weapon Of Choice (Within reason): Josh wields an Angel Blade, an ethereal weapon made from materials contained in Heaven by unnatural hands, which can be willed into being whenever it is needed. It is a potent weapon, capable of slicing through most human-made materials with relative ease and can cleave through bone and hard muscle tendon alike -- even bisect some creatures entirely with a hard enough swing. The blade is elegant, awe-inspiring and terrifying in its appearance, with three razor-sharp edges -- one on each side, and another cutting through the center, creating what is almost an addition sign in appearance -- along with a golden wing motif making up the handguard above the hilt. The blade has further been customized by Josh himself in his time of wielding it: contained within a clear crystal on one side of the wing motif is a shard of the True Cross that Christ was crucified on, while another on the opposite side contains a small stone from the materials used by King David of Israel to build the Temple of Jerusalem to God's specifications.
Abilities:
Angelic Possession - As disembodied spiritual beings, angels can inhabit the body of any living creature and use it as their own to carry out their duties. However, they must have the vessel's permission first according to God's laws -- the vessel must consent willingly, or the possession cannot take place.
Telepathy - Angels can communicate psychically amongst themselves if need be, as well as hear and read the minds and thoughts of other angels, and also possess a telepathic union among themselves -- called "angel radio" -- which they can access and block out at will. They can also experience the dreams and emotions of others in limited capacities if desired.
Superhuman Strength - While possessing a human, the angel's presence within a vessel causes that vessel to pack on muscle mass, dramatically increasing its physical strength to rival or even surpass that of a human, vampire, werewolf, demon, and even their own kind. This strength, however, varies from angel to angel. Higher-ranking angels are invariably stronger than low-ranking angels, just as higher-ranking demons are invariably stronger than lower-ranking demons. On average they are far more powerful physically than most creatures in existence, however.
Superhuman Agility: An angel's presence increases their vessel's agility, balance, and bodily coordination to levels that are equal to, or in some cases surpass, the natural physical limits of even an Olympic athlete. They can easily perform any complicated sequence of gymnastics stunts, such as flips, rolls, and springs at speeds and angles that would be highly difficult or impossible for an ordinary human. Typically, an angel's vessel will exude grace and social poise with every step.
Superhuman Stamina: Angels are exempt from fatigue, hunger and dehydration, and endow their vessels with near inexhaustible energy as well, along with relieving them of their need to eat, drink, and sleep. While this is the case, however, it is not entirely uncommon for angels to eat human food while inhabiting a vessel; in some cases they even display a fondness for whatever the favorite food of their host is, though they rarely eat more than once per day.
Demonic Immunity: The vessels of angels are immune to demonic possession, as well as demonic diseases, such as vampirism and lycanthropy.
Immortality: Angels do not age and cannot be killed by disease or conventional human means. Likewise, their vessels do not age while under an angel's possession.
Healing Touch: By touching a human and filling them with their power, an angel can cure just about any bodily wound or disease they may be carrying. While it will not strip vampirism or lycanthropy once the change is completed, it greatly accelerates the time it takes to heal any given wound a human may sustain: sometimes the wound may heal entirely in a matter of minutes, but this is dependent mostly on the significance of the wound and the power of the angel in question. It is, however, a very strenuous process for angels, given that they lack the limitless power of their creator, and thus it requires a great deal of time, concentration and effort on their part, making it impossible to use in the heat of battle.
Healing Factor: An angel's presence greatly boosts the immune system and self-regenerative abilities of their vessel, dramatically reducing the time needed to recover from injuries while also ensuring that the vessel will never catch a disease or die from conventional poisons while playing host to them. Much like their healing abilities, however, how much punishment their vessel can take is dependent upon the strength of the angel taking control. Decapitations render a vessel useless regardless of the strength of the angel, as do massive explosions that can completely obliterate a human body, and while it can be eventually regenerated for further use, the process takes a long time to complete.
Vanquishing Touch: This is among an angel's most lethal abilities. By touching the head or face of any lesser creature (thin-blooded/newborn vampires, werewolf pups, essentially most weakling NPC enemies), the angel can flood the creature's body with its celestial light, burning the body to shreds and leaving little more than a charred skeleton behind. More ancient vampires, powerful werewolves and demons are immune to smiting and must be killed through other means. It also has little to no effect on humans, apart from giving them a splitting headache should they be thinking impure thoughts as the angel lays hands on them.
Sacred Blood: As beings created by God Himself, angels possess blood that is altogether unwholesome for vampires and werewolves to consume. Unlike the blood of a Nephilim, which acts as merely a potent poison (with more or less the same effects as a dead human's blood, complete with powerful hallucinations should they survive the encounter), the blood of a full-blooded angel is in most cases lethal to vampires; depending on the amount consumed, it can burn their vile, damned bodies from the inside out in a matter of seconds, liquifying organs and leaving little more than a charred skeleton behind. Their blood smells of sulphur and fire to vampires, making them altogether unpleasant prey, though vampires can still overcome their sense of smell being thwarted if they remain in the same room for long enough.
Personality: A bit of a rebellious angel, Josh is perhaps fairly unique amongst his kin. Instead of being an uncaring slab of concrete, Josh has observed humans and meddled in their affairs since the dawn of man, and has taken on many personality traits of them as a result. He understands sarcasm (and is quite fluent in it as a result), loyalty and forgiveness, as well as humor (in most instances, at least). He is fond of humans as a whole for their sense of freedom and willpower and all the chaos that comes with life, although occasionally this can be taken slightly insultingly: like a scientist observing some peculiar anomaly in a laboratory. He is earnest, compassionate, and trusting to a fault, and does more than most angels ever would to ensure the safety of the human race, making him strange and confusing to his fellow angels, who refer to him as 'the low-class warrior' at best and question his loyalty to God and Heaven at worst.
Despite his general easy-going attitude, however, he is still a warrior first, making him seem hard and cold and overbearing in times of crisis. Once a decision is made it is next to impossible to sway him from the course of direction: anyone who breaks his trust and attempts to bring harm to either himself or his friends will earn the ire of a being with all the powers of Heaven behind him, a formidible foe indeed. He is tough, dependable and serious in times of conflict, unswerving in his chosen duty of hunting the hostile creatures preying on humanity from the darkness. While amiable -- if occasionally aloof or seemingly confused amongst humans -- he does possess a 'game face', one that he wears quite well when the time for fighting has come.
It is interesting to note that Josh does not consider most humans as being beneath him, contrary to the beliefs of the rest of his kin. Rather, he considers both angels and humans to be the children of God, flawed in their own respective ways. Demons, however, hold a special place of hatred in his heart, and he actively refuses to make alliances with them -- even temporarily -- and hunts them down wherever he may find them.
History: Just like the rest of his kin, Josh was created personally by God Himself, as a warrior angel of the lowest circle of Heaven during one of the most tumultuous times of angelic history: specifically during the years leading up to the War in Heaven and Lucifer's betrayal of God. Sides were taken as the angelic host in Heaven was divided between whom they were loyal to: their creator, God, or Lucifer, God's former favorite celestial and the most prideful of them all. In an attemp to usurp God, Lucifer and his allies waged a terrible war against him and the loyalist angels that nearly tore the entirety of Heaven apart, ultimately culminating in Lucifer and the surviving rebel angels to be cast out of Heaven for all their days and become the first of the Fallen Angels.
Josh would participate in the war on the side of the loyalists, and would be commended for his valor and strength by the Archangel Gabriel along with the others who slew many of the traitors, before they set about repairing God's realm in all its former glory. Many years later, God created Earth and the first humans, Adam and Eve. All would be right in the world for many years to come, at least until mankind fell from grace and humans began to populate and hold dominion over the Earth, still in line with God's wishes. Josh would continue to watch over the first humans, as he was tasked along with so many others, although he became seemingly obsessed with watching them grow, to the point of where other angels began to question his loyalty to Heaven, albeit quietly considering his previous example of loyalty to God during the War in Heaven. The peace was not to last, however, as groups of angels conspired amongst themselves to go down to Earth and live amongst these creations of God. It was then that the first Nephilim were born, from the union of these angels and humans.
He would witness many further events in his lifetime, such as the Great Flood that destroyed both the Nephilim and nearly the entirety of human life as a whole as God deemed it necessary to begin again, and personally had a hand in destroying the Tower of Babel. This would be the turning point of his interactions with humanity, slowly going from an observant watchdog to a meddler. He would take a vessel and have a more direct hand in his observations every so often, much to the consternation and irritation of his kin, though none of the Archangels put a stop to it, as he was visiting Earth according to the laws made by God. From the reign of David in Jerusalem during Israel's glory days to the rise of the Roman Empire and Christ's crucifixion, Josh had walked and seen the Earth through human eyes numerous times, meddling in the affairs of humans on occasion; sometimes, by command (He once destroyed an Assyrian army besieging the city of Jerusalem at God's command, by silently killing 185,000 men as they slept in their tents after nightfall), other times by choice (He slew Julius Caesar along with the co-conspirators by using Marcus Brutus as a vessel, fearing that an Imperial Rome would be another Tower of Babel, and later on would assist with burying Jesus Christ after his crucifixion), but apart from instances such as these, his meddling was never so impactful on human history, nor as widespread.
The side-effect of said meddling, however, was that the more time he spent amongst humans, the more estranged he became from his fellow angels and the more entrapping Heaven began to feel: the angels, unlike the lively, loud humans, were cold, stone pillars in regards to personality, and while they were still his kin, he slowly found himself feeling more and more isolated from them. He remained in Heaven through most of the Medieval era of human history, returning only once with the advent of firearms as he was fascinated by them, if entirely confused as to how they worked.
As the years rolled by he continued to remain in Heaven, though he still watched over the humans and continued to take a vessel and returned to Earth every so often simply to check up on things, interfering with the plans of the occasional rogue demon where possible and protecting humanity as best he could from the machinations of the unseen and even attempted to get other angels to hearken to his ways, but he found that they were all either entirely unswayed or noncommittal at the very least, and soon gave it up.
Eventually, while watching the Earth one day and preparing for another expedition to the human realm, certain events in particular caught his attention: there was a small town in the American South, with a population of little more than 200, and it had been entirely wiped out by local werewolf packs, whose numbers had swelled from hunting the roads. The beasts had slaughtered the entire town and then proceeded to masquerade as the townspeople themselves, hunting the wilds and taking what few drifters through the town they could catch. Angered at the insolence of a 'disease-ridden lesser species' forcing his Father's creation to endure such suffering, he began to scan the world at large to attempt to find a suitable vessel, so that he would be able to bring his wrath down upon them.
He would find one quickly enough, a young man by the name of Jacob Harper who lived in Georgia, just a state away from the town, which was located in South Carolina. A devout young man despite his outward appearance, he had apparently prayed for years to be "able to make a real difference in the world", in addition to winning souls to Christ. Josh found that this boy's desires from Heaven coincided nicely with his desires on Earth, and he decided to speak to him, appearing to him in a dream. He was surprised when the boy recognized what he was simply by his very appearance, and conversed with him for a brief period before finally getting down to business and asking the question for what he had came for: and was surprised again when he received an immediate agreement to be possessed, without him even having to explain the particulars of it -- unlike all the others who had come before him. With a smile, he possessed the young man's body, and the vessel promptly woke from his sleeping position in a computer chair, blue eyes burning bright in the darkness of the room with ethereal power.
Now in possession of a tether to the mortal realm, Josh promptly left the house in Jacob's body, headed off in the direction of the werewolf-infested town in South Carolina. The journey there took more time than anticipated, given that Josh had never driven a car before and lacked a true set of wings to move about with as he so often did in Heaven, but the lack of a necessity to sleep or eat made things much easier. He would arrive on the outskirts of town late into the next morning and be forced to walk the rest of the way, given that his vessel's car had shut itself off somehow (A better understanding of how cars actually worked would have told him it had simply ran out of gas, however).
He must have seemed a strange sight, a fairly well-dressed young man striding into a town full of werewolves wearing dirty overalls and white t-shirts and trying so obviously hard to appear as a simple town full of rednecks, but odds were the creatures had little time to ponder the anomaly, as he materialized a blade out of thin air in his hands and began hacking away at them, spilling their blood across the pavement with reckless abandon. Many perished within minutes of his first attack, and as he stood amidst the carnage of wrecked sharp teeth and ruined bodies, deciding on his next course of action, gunshots behind a few of the houses caught his attention, just before a werewolf was smashed through a wooden wall of one of the houses and a young man stepped out, a gigantic magnum in his hand. The two froze upon laying eyes on each other, as each realized what the other one was: one, a full-blooded angel, the other, mixed between an angel and a human. A Nephilim. An abomination. Through the use of Astral Projection, Josh revealed the shadows of his wings to the young man; finding in return that he had his own set, albeit far more feathery and upright fitting with the classical human artist depictions of angels, in addition to a dark black halo above his head.
Before anything could come to a head between them, however, the two found themselves surrounded by the remainder of the town's 'inhabitants', and decided to call a temporary truce, at least for the moment. While ordinarily so many werewolves attacking as a full pack would have been a challenge even for a small army of Hunters, against the full arsenal of abilities an angel with a direct connection to Heaven possessed, backed by the sheer raw physical might of a Nephilim, the werewolf pack was fighting a losing war from the start. At the end of things the corpses of the dead creatures littered the streets, and all that remained in the center of it all was the angel and the abomination. But while any other angel would have struck down the person staring him down, or at least attempted to, Josh tried a different tactic instead: he spoke to the Nephilim, who introduced himself as "Dusty Hale".
Before the two knew it they had hit it off quite well and had been talking for at least an hour, covered in the blood of the werewolves they had just slaughtered wholesale. Their goals aligned quite nicely, and the young Nephilim had made a great first impression on Josh, both from his skill at fighting and his knowledge of the creatures hostile to mankind. When he told him that his entire profession was hunting down and killing the supernatural monsters who lived in the dark, Josh was particularly intrigued: this supposed abomination had been doing the same thing he had throughout time immemorial, albeit far more continuously. Deciding that perhaps he wouldn't mind attempting such a life himself, and remembering his vessel's desire of making a difference, he asked if he could possibly accompany Dusty on his travels and aid him where he could. The young Nephilim was obviously hesitant to accept an offer of help from one of his distant 'kin', given their penchant for hunting his kind down, but after talking some more, he eventually relented and the two proceeded to pile the corpses of the slain werewolves up into a small mountain, which Josh promptly incinerated before they left the town behind in Dusty's cherry red 1965 Mustang. The town would become a modern-day ghost town, with no explanation as to what had happened to the inhabitants.
Josh would remain with Dusty for three years, the longest he had ever stayed on Earth within a vessel, hunting any and all supernatural creatures they could find, focusing in particular on those who endangered humans. Those few who kept to themselves and stayed away from humanity, the duo left alone, considering them the "smallest fish in a real big pond", as Dusty had described it. Over this period, their bond would grow exponentially, to the point of where they considered themselves as brothers -- and in a way they were, considering they shared angelic blood.
After hunting together for a very long time, they eventually caught the trail of an unusually large vampire coven operating out of New Orleans, and promptly drove to the city to destroy them. After doing so, they would later on find out that they likely missed one of them, as more would spring up almost a month or so afterwards. Though it took a while, they eventually found a certain pattern to the nests popping up, and almost caught their prey on one instance, though he always seemed to be a step ahead and kept moving on.
At the start of the RPG they have begun traveling to Chasm, Nevada, continuing to dog their prey wherever possible. Though they had come to the town for relatively simple reasons, eventually they would discover that Chasm held many secrets and dangers in the darkness that were anything but simple.
Age: Though his earthly vessel is 20 years old in appearance, Josh is in actuality far older than that, having been created by God shortly before the war in Heaven and Lucifer's fall from grace.
Gender: Male
Birthplace: Heaven (Earthly vessel born in Atlanta, Georgia)
Race: Angel
Physical Appearance (Photo or description):
Standing at 5'11", Josh is particularly muscular and toned, and while it would merely be evidence of a person who takes care of himself to unknowing human eyes, in actuality the body is merely a vessel: the body of a normal young human male housing an angel, the muscle mass of which Josh has increased to better withstand the harshness of combat against the worst supernatural creatures in existence. He possesses a mop of messy black 'emo' hair, bright blue eyes that occasionally glow bright with ethereal power, and pale skin.
In terms of his outfit he wears a simple white t-shirt which is overlaid with a blue and white checkered flannel shirt, with a waist-length black leather jacket with a grey hood, along with blue jeans and a pair of black cowboy boots completing the attire.
Good, Evil, or Neutral: Good
Strengths: An ethereal being created by God for the explicit purpose of both carrying out his will and slaughtering the evil beings of the world, Josh is perhaps the ideal candidate for a Hunter, as he possesses a set of skills that is nothing short of fantasy in the minds of most humans. From superhuman strength, speed and stamina to the ability to heal humans with but a touch upon their foreheads or 'smite' lesser creatures in the same fashion, every fiber of his being is dedicated both to protecting the humans who cannot protect themselves and utterly destroying his foes, no matter the cost. He is a swordsman with skill far beyond even the most proficient human masters of the art, and possesses the ability to use holy fire to burn his foes away.
Unlike his young Nephilim companion, Dusty, Josh is a full-blooded angel, and thus has access to a host of abilities that even he lacks. While he prefers to fight with an Angel Blade -- a weapon provided to all angels that can be willed into being wherever it is needed -- his superior physical strength makes him a particularly difficult foe even when fighting unarmed, with blows powerful enough to crush concrete or shatter bones to splinters.
Weaknesses: Owing to his heritage, Josh himself has very few weaknesses: but while the angel himself is nigh invincible, the vessel that contains him hardly is. Despite the augments and abilities provided to the host, the vessel is still entirely human and is thus subjected to more or less the same capacity for physical damage and death a human would be, such as being blown to bits or charred to an unmoving crisp. While knives and gunshots are still effective for their stopping power, short of breaking a bone and rendering a limb useless or amputating it, very little physical pain is felt. Should the vessel die, the angel himself will live on in most cases: however, as he has no tether to the mortal realm anymore, it renders him essentially powerless until another willing vessel can be found. In addition to this, holy oil set ablaze will destroy both the vessel and the angel, while angel banishing rituals also exist and can force him from his vessel for periods of time. Holy fire from another angel also has the potential to destroy them both.
Weapon Of Choice (Within reason): Josh wields an Angel Blade, an ethereal weapon made from materials contained in Heaven by unnatural hands, which can be willed into being whenever it is needed. It is a potent weapon, capable of slicing through most human-made materials with relative ease and can cleave through bone and hard muscle tendon alike -- even bisect some creatures entirely with a hard enough swing. The blade is elegant, awe-inspiring and terrifying in its appearance, with three razor-sharp edges -- one on each side, and another cutting through the center, creating what is almost an addition sign in appearance -- along with a golden wing motif making up the handguard above the hilt. The blade has further been customized by Josh himself in his time of wielding it: contained within a clear crystal on one side of the wing motif is a shard of the True Cross that Christ was crucified on, while another on the opposite side contains a small stone from the materials used by King David of Israel to build the Temple of Jerusalem to God's specifications.
Abilities:
Angelic Possession - As disembodied spiritual beings, angels can inhabit the body of any living creature and use it as their own to carry out their duties. However, they must have the vessel's permission first according to God's laws -- the vessel must consent willingly, or the possession cannot take place.
Telepathy - Angels can communicate psychically amongst themselves if need be, as well as hear and read the minds and thoughts of other angels, and also possess a telepathic union among themselves -- called "angel radio" -- which they can access and block out at will. They can also experience the dreams and emotions of others in limited capacities if desired.
Superhuman Strength - While possessing a human, the angel's presence within a vessel causes that vessel to pack on muscle mass, dramatically increasing its physical strength to rival or even surpass that of a human, vampire, werewolf, demon, and even their own kind. This strength, however, varies from angel to angel. Higher-ranking angels are invariably stronger than low-ranking angels, just as higher-ranking demons are invariably stronger than lower-ranking demons. On average they are far more powerful physically than most creatures in existence, however.
Superhuman Agility: An angel's presence increases their vessel's agility, balance, and bodily coordination to levels that are equal to, or in some cases surpass, the natural physical limits of even an Olympic athlete. They can easily perform any complicated sequence of gymnastics stunts, such as flips, rolls, and springs at speeds and angles that would be highly difficult or impossible for an ordinary human. Typically, an angel's vessel will exude grace and social poise with every step.
Superhuman Stamina: Angels are exempt from fatigue, hunger and dehydration, and endow their vessels with near inexhaustible energy as well, along with relieving them of their need to eat, drink, and sleep. While this is the case, however, it is not entirely uncommon for angels to eat human food while inhabiting a vessel; in some cases they even display a fondness for whatever the favorite food of their host is, though they rarely eat more than once per day.
Demonic Immunity: The vessels of angels are immune to demonic possession, as well as demonic diseases, such as vampirism and lycanthropy.
Immortality: Angels do not age and cannot be killed by disease or conventional human means. Likewise, their vessels do not age while under an angel's possession.
Healing Touch: By touching a human and filling them with their power, an angel can cure just about any bodily wound or disease they may be carrying. While it will not strip vampirism or lycanthropy once the change is completed, it greatly accelerates the time it takes to heal any given wound a human may sustain: sometimes the wound may heal entirely in a matter of minutes, but this is dependent mostly on the significance of the wound and the power of the angel in question. It is, however, a very strenuous process for angels, given that they lack the limitless power of their creator, and thus it requires a great deal of time, concentration and effort on their part, making it impossible to use in the heat of battle.
Healing Factor: An angel's presence greatly boosts the immune system and self-regenerative abilities of their vessel, dramatically reducing the time needed to recover from injuries while also ensuring that the vessel will never catch a disease or die from conventional poisons while playing host to them. Much like their healing abilities, however, how much punishment their vessel can take is dependent upon the strength of the angel taking control. Decapitations render a vessel useless regardless of the strength of the angel, as do massive explosions that can completely obliterate a human body, and while it can be eventually regenerated for further use, the process takes a long time to complete.
Vanquishing Touch: This is among an angel's most lethal abilities. By touching the head or face of any lesser creature (thin-blooded/newborn vampires, werewolf pups, essentially most weakling NPC enemies), the angel can flood the creature's body with its celestial light, burning the body to shreds and leaving little more than a charred skeleton behind. More ancient vampires, powerful werewolves and demons are immune to smiting and must be killed through other means. It also has little to no effect on humans, apart from giving them a splitting headache should they be thinking impure thoughts as the angel lays hands on them.
Sacred Blood: As beings created by God Himself, angels possess blood that is altogether unwholesome for vampires and werewolves to consume. Unlike the blood of a Nephilim, which acts as merely a potent poison (with more or less the same effects as a dead human's blood, complete with powerful hallucinations should they survive the encounter), the blood of a full-blooded angel is in most cases lethal to vampires; depending on the amount consumed, it can burn their vile, damned bodies from the inside out in a matter of seconds, liquifying organs and leaving little more than a charred skeleton behind. Their blood smells of sulphur and fire to vampires, making them altogether unpleasant prey, though vampires can still overcome their sense of smell being thwarted if they remain in the same room for long enough.
Personality: A bit of a rebellious angel, Josh is perhaps fairly unique amongst his kin. Instead of being an uncaring slab of concrete, Josh has observed humans and meddled in their affairs since the dawn of man, and has taken on many personality traits of them as a result. He understands sarcasm (and is quite fluent in it as a result), loyalty and forgiveness, as well as humor (in most instances, at least). He is fond of humans as a whole for their sense of freedom and willpower and all the chaos that comes with life, although occasionally this can be taken slightly insultingly: like a scientist observing some peculiar anomaly in a laboratory. He is earnest, compassionate, and trusting to a fault, and does more than most angels ever would to ensure the safety of the human race, making him strange and confusing to his fellow angels, who refer to him as 'the low-class warrior' at best and question his loyalty to God and Heaven at worst.
Despite his general easy-going attitude, however, he is still a warrior first, making him seem hard and cold and overbearing in times of crisis. Once a decision is made it is next to impossible to sway him from the course of direction: anyone who breaks his trust and attempts to bring harm to either himself or his friends will earn the ire of a being with all the powers of Heaven behind him, a formidible foe indeed. He is tough, dependable and serious in times of conflict, unswerving in his chosen duty of hunting the hostile creatures preying on humanity from the darkness. While amiable -- if occasionally aloof or seemingly confused amongst humans -- he does possess a 'game face', one that he wears quite well when the time for fighting has come.
It is interesting to note that Josh does not consider most humans as being beneath him, contrary to the beliefs of the rest of his kin. Rather, he considers both angels and humans to be the children of God, flawed in their own respective ways. Demons, however, hold a special place of hatred in his heart, and he actively refuses to make alliances with them -- even temporarily -- and hunts them down wherever he may find them.
History: Just like the rest of his kin, Josh was created personally by God Himself, as a warrior angel of the lowest circle of Heaven during one of the most tumultuous times of angelic history: specifically during the years leading up to the War in Heaven and Lucifer's betrayal of God. Sides were taken as the angelic host in Heaven was divided between whom they were loyal to: their creator, God, or Lucifer, God's former favorite celestial and the most prideful of them all. In an attemp to usurp God, Lucifer and his allies waged a terrible war against him and the loyalist angels that nearly tore the entirety of Heaven apart, ultimately culminating in Lucifer and the surviving rebel angels to be cast out of Heaven for all their days and become the first of the Fallen Angels.
Josh would participate in the war on the side of the loyalists, and would be commended for his valor and strength by the Archangel Gabriel along with the others who slew many of the traitors, before they set about repairing God's realm in all its former glory. Many years later, God created Earth and the first humans, Adam and Eve. All would be right in the world for many years to come, at least until mankind fell from grace and humans began to populate and hold dominion over the Earth, still in line with God's wishes. Josh would continue to watch over the first humans, as he was tasked along with so many others, although he became seemingly obsessed with watching them grow, to the point of where other angels began to question his loyalty to Heaven, albeit quietly considering his previous example of loyalty to God during the War in Heaven. The peace was not to last, however, as groups of angels conspired amongst themselves to go down to Earth and live amongst these creations of God. It was then that the first Nephilim were born, from the union of these angels and humans.
He would witness many further events in his lifetime, such as the Great Flood that destroyed both the Nephilim and nearly the entirety of human life as a whole as God deemed it necessary to begin again, and personally had a hand in destroying the Tower of Babel. This would be the turning point of his interactions with humanity, slowly going from an observant watchdog to a meddler. He would take a vessel and have a more direct hand in his observations every so often, much to the consternation and irritation of his kin, though none of the Archangels put a stop to it, as he was visiting Earth according to the laws made by God. From the reign of David in Jerusalem during Israel's glory days to the rise of the Roman Empire and Christ's crucifixion, Josh had walked and seen the Earth through human eyes numerous times, meddling in the affairs of humans on occasion; sometimes, by command (He once destroyed an Assyrian army besieging the city of Jerusalem at God's command, by silently killing 185,000 men as they slept in their tents after nightfall), other times by choice (He slew Julius Caesar along with the co-conspirators by using Marcus Brutus as a vessel, fearing that an Imperial Rome would be another Tower of Babel, and later on would assist with burying Jesus Christ after his crucifixion), but apart from instances such as these, his meddling was never so impactful on human history, nor as widespread.
The side-effect of said meddling, however, was that the more time he spent amongst humans, the more estranged he became from his fellow angels and the more entrapping Heaven began to feel: the angels, unlike the lively, loud humans, were cold, stone pillars in regards to personality, and while they were still his kin, he slowly found himself feeling more and more isolated from them. He remained in Heaven through most of the Medieval era of human history, returning only once with the advent of firearms as he was fascinated by them, if entirely confused as to how they worked.
As the years rolled by he continued to remain in Heaven, though he still watched over the humans and continued to take a vessel and returned to Earth every so often simply to check up on things, interfering with the plans of the occasional rogue demon where possible and protecting humanity as best he could from the machinations of the unseen and even attempted to get other angels to hearken to his ways, but he found that they were all either entirely unswayed or noncommittal at the very least, and soon gave it up.
Eventually, while watching the Earth one day and preparing for another expedition to the human realm, certain events in particular caught his attention: there was a small town in the American South, with a population of little more than 200, and it had been entirely wiped out by local werewolf packs, whose numbers had swelled from hunting the roads. The beasts had slaughtered the entire town and then proceeded to masquerade as the townspeople themselves, hunting the wilds and taking what few drifters through the town they could catch. Angered at the insolence of a 'disease-ridden lesser species' forcing his Father's creation to endure such suffering, he began to scan the world at large to attempt to find a suitable vessel, so that he would be able to bring his wrath down upon them.
He would find one quickly enough, a young man by the name of Jacob Harper who lived in Georgia, just a state away from the town, which was located in South Carolina. A devout young man despite his outward appearance, he had apparently prayed for years to be "able to make a real difference in the world", in addition to winning souls to Christ. Josh found that this boy's desires from Heaven coincided nicely with his desires on Earth, and he decided to speak to him, appearing to him in a dream. He was surprised when the boy recognized what he was simply by his very appearance, and conversed with him for a brief period before finally getting down to business and asking the question for what he had came for: and was surprised again when he received an immediate agreement to be possessed, without him even having to explain the particulars of it -- unlike all the others who had come before him. With a smile, he possessed the young man's body, and the vessel promptly woke from his sleeping position in a computer chair, blue eyes burning bright in the darkness of the room with ethereal power.
Now in possession of a tether to the mortal realm, Josh promptly left the house in Jacob's body, headed off in the direction of the werewolf-infested town in South Carolina. The journey there took more time than anticipated, given that Josh had never driven a car before and lacked a true set of wings to move about with as he so often did in Heaven, but the lack of a necessity to sleep or eat made things much easier. He would arrive on the outskirts of town late into the next morning and be forced to walk the rest of the way, given that his vessel's car had shut itself off somehow (A better understanding of how cars actually worked would have told him it had simply ran out of gas, however).
He must have seemed a strange sight, a fairly well-dressed young man striding into a town full of werewolves wearing dirty overalls and white t-shirts and trying so obviously hard to appear as a simple town full of rednecks, but odds were the creatures had little time to ponder the anomaly, as he materialized a blade out of thin air in his hands and began hacking away at them, spilling their blood across the pavement with reckless abandon. Many perished within minutes of his first attack, and as he stood amidst the carnage of wrecked sharp teeth and ruined bodies, deciding on his next course of action, gunshots behind a few of the houses caught his attention, just before a werewolf was smashed through a wooden wall of one of the houses and a young man stepped out, a gigantic magnum in his hand. The two froze upon laying eyes on each other, as each realized what the other one was: one, a full-blooded angel, the other, mixed between an angel and a human. A Nephilim. An abomination. Through the use of Astral Projection, Josh revealed the shadows of his wings to the young man; finding in return that he had his own set, albeit far more feathery and upright fitting with the classical human artist depictions of angels, in addition to a dark black halo above his head.
Before anything could come to a head between them, however, the two found themselves surrounded by the remainder of the town's 'inhabitants', and decided to call a temporary truce, at least for the moment. While ordinarily so many werewolves attacking as a full pack would have been a challenge even for a small army of Hunters, against the full arsenal of abilities an angel with a direct connection to Heaven possessed, backed by the sheer raw physical might of a Nephilim, the werewolf pack was fighting a losing war from the start. At the end of things the corpses of the dead creatures littered the streets, and all that remained in the center of it all was the angel and the abomination. But while any other angel would have struck down the person staring him down, or at least attempted to, Josh tried a different tactic instead: he spoke to the Nephilim, who introduced himself as "Dusty Hale".
Before the two knew it they had hit it off quite well and had been talking for at least an hour, covered in the blood of the werewolves they had just slaughtered wholesale. Their goals aligned quite nicely, and the young Nephilim had made a great first impression on Josh, both from his skill at fighting and his knowledge of the creatures hostile to mankind. When he told him that his entire profession was hunting down and killing the supernatural monsters who lived in the dark, Josh was particularly intrigued: this supposed abomination had been doing the same thing he had throughout time immemorial, albeit far more continuously. Deciding that perhaps he wouldn't mind attempting such a life himself, and remembering his vessel's desire of making a difference, he asked if he could possibly accompany Dusty on his travels and aid him where he could. The young Nephilim was obviously hesitant to accept an offer of help from one of his distant 'kin', given their penchant for hunting his kind down, but after talking some more, he eventually relented and the two proceeded to pile the corpses of the slain werewolves up into a small mountain, which Josh promptly incinerated before they left the town behind in Dusty's cherry red 1965 Mustang. The town would become a modern-day ghost town, with no explanation as to what had happened to the inhabitants.
Josh would remain with Dusty for three years, the longest he had ever stayed on Earth within a vessel, hunting any and all supernatural creatures they could find, focusing in particular on those who endangered humans. Those few who kept to themselves and stayed away from humanity, the duo left alone, considering them the "smallest fish in a real big pond", as Dusty had described it. Over this period, their bond would grow exponentially, to the point of where they considered themselves as brothers -- and in a way they were, considering they shared angelic blood.
After hunting together for a very long time, they eventually caught the trail of an unusually large vampire coven operating out of New Orleans, and promptly drove to the city to destroy them. After doing so, they would later on find out that they likely missed one of them, as more would spring up almost a month or so afterwards. Though it took a while, they eventually found a certain pattern to the nests popping up, and almost caught their prey on one instance, though he always seemed to be a step ahead and kept moving on.
At the start of the RPG they have begun traveling to Chasm, Nevada, continuing to dog their prey wherever possible. Though they had come to the town for relatively simple reasons, eventually they would discover that Chasm held many secrets and dangers in the darkness that were anything but simple.