The Former Angel
Perfect, like a marble statue. Cold, no choice, only obedience. Dean do you know how many angels have actually seen God--seen his face? Four angels. Four. And I'm not one of 'em. We have to take it on faith. Which we're killed if we don't have.
- — Anna
Anna Milton is the daughter of Richard and Amy Milton, an otherwise barren couple whom have always referred to her as their "miracle child". Currently a journalism major in college, she lives an ordinary human life, where she enjoys chocolate cake, music and dating. She is entirely unaware that, before she was born, she was the seraphim Anael, one of the most powerful and high-ranking angels in the Heavenly Host, who became so infatuated with humanity that she cut out her own grace through an exceedingly agonizing process, and both she and it fell to Earth as meteorites. Having repressed most of her angelic memories, she is largely unaware of the powers she still wields, the knowledge locked within her - or the dangerous security breach she still represents to her former bretheren.
Personality[]
Anael values loyalty, forgiveness and love. She is couragous, and kind, and intrinsically sides with humanity over supernatural powers. She finds meaning and hope not in lofty philosophy, or obeying mysterious higher powers, or in seeking control - but in the mundane, which is the truely sacred. People. Relationships. Family - and family isn't always blood, but anyone. Even all of humanity, if you view it right. She enjoys physical things...like Chocolate, or Sex...but she could have had those things without falling. For her, there was something more important. She has no desire to either obey the Archangels, to join the lot of Lucifer, or to try and seize control herself. For her, the only way to win is not to play the game. She's unrelentingly a humanist.
But Anna Milton doesn't remember any of that. Her -human- father, Rich Milton, was a deacon - he made his living by serving the poor. Being called to service is a far cry from being called to obedience - and she has an entire human life of happy memories with a loving family, the likes of which Heaven could never have given her. She's a brave, inquisitive young human woman. And...she's also a rebellious, well-intentioned angel older then humanity.
SKILLS[]
INVESTIGATION[]
Competent
Anna Milton is a college journalism major, a profession that is primarily based around investigative skills, interpersonal relations, and getting people to talk to you about things they wouldn't discuss with other people. But long before she was Anna Milton, she was Anael, Angel of the Lord. In order to voluntarily fall in an environment of perfect obedience, it took uncountable periods of time of questioning, questioning her purpose, questioning heaven, and questioning herself. In spite of all of the pressure to OBEY OBEY OBEY, she still managed to discover the injustice of heaven, and more then that...the inherent injustice of being a programmed, obedient angel. She's an excellent investigator.
KNOWLEDGE[]
Expert
Anael was one of the highest ranking Seraphim of Heaven, second only to the Archangels themselves. Even as Anna Milton, unable to remember it, that knowledge is dangerous. She has extensive first-hand knowledge of Heaven, Angels of Heaven, Fallen Angels, Hell, and other related entities. She's spent two thousand years on Earth, invisible, travelling and watching humanity in intricate detail. She's been in the trenches of spiritual combat, and has been doing it since the literal dawn of time. She has a first-hand and expansive view of history, and is widely versed in spiritual rituals and lore. She's also knowledgeable about other spiritual creatures, many types and varieties of demons and other supernatural creatures, and various methods of treating and dealing with them. She's also familiar with Angels, their true nature, and how to deal with them as well - even lore that lower-ranked Angels might not have had access to. When it comes to other occult matters, her knowledge is broad but generalized, more of a reference then an in-depth treatise. But it is a very broad reference indeed.
The problem is, most of this knowledge has been voluntarily repressed within her mind, as it makes her a target and puts her at risk, and she can't really access it unless under the most stressful conditions.
ORDINARY SKILLS[]
Competent
Anna Milton has the ordinary skills you would expect a 22 year old college student to have. She can get pop culture references, drive a car, and knows how to use a cellphone. This may not seem like a big deal, but very few angels know anything about humanity or being human.
WARRIOR[]
Expert
Though she doesn't remember it, Anna Milton was once Anael, a Commander of the Heavenly Host of Heaven. When she was Anael, she was versed in many forms of combat, particularly in spiritual warfare that exists beyond the comprehension of most mortals. In physical terms, when she was Anael, she was quite adept at wielding a variety of weapons, such as those used by various classes of angels.
Anna Milton, on the other hand, doesn't remember the first damn thing about combat, and is likely to be terrified by it. This may briefly change under extremely stressful conditions or with other influences, but as she enters the grid, she doesn't remember.
POWERS[]
FORMER ANGEL[]
Enhanced
Anna Milton is a former Angel. She was once one of the highest ranking commanders of the Heavenly Hosts - below only the archangels themselves. She cut out her own grace with her angel blade and chose to be reborn as a human. Consequently, she's had an entire normal human life, complete with parents, friends, an identity, and so on. This 'human identity' works somewhat to conceal her, as until/unless she reveals herself otherwise, there's nothing to distinguish her from any of the other 7-billion or so humans.
Unlike most Angels whom have lost their Grace, however, Anna is neither completely human nor slowly dying. Whether because of her extreme willpower, her intelligence, or the raw power she once possessed...there are traces of what she once was buried still within her. For one, she still has mental access to the angelic modes of communication. Anything the Angels send out over "angel radio" so to speak...she's aware of. Secondly, she can still perceive the spiritual nature of things, which allows her to do things such as identify angels, demons, and the true nature of other things (like faeries, vampires/etc.) that might have a strong spiritual presence, but otherwise appear human - akin to what is commonly called the 'Sight'. Of significant note is that, as a former Angel, she can perceive and understand raw angelic speech and appearance, as well as enochian, whereas most non-angels cannot.
Lastly, she still has traces of her former power. She occasionally exhibits greater-then-normal strength (though not enough to merit its own rating), as well as telekinetic abilities. Other minor effects such as electrical, radio, or light interference, of a cosmetic nature, have also been known to occur.
SPIRITUALISM[]
Basic
Anna can exert some power over spiritual entities and souls. She can perceive, communicate and interact with them, including containing, banishing or harming them if necessary, with the use of the proper ritual. She can forcibly exorcise minor spirits from unwilling hosts, or moderate-power spirits with the proper ritual. Very powerful spirits are likely beyond her, as she lacks the power of a true angel, and rituals can't make up for that.
WARDING[]
Enhanced
Anna can exert great skill with creating sigils and wards to contain or banish various supernatural creatures. Most of them take some amount of time to create (usually requiring that they be drawn on something) - but she can contain, or banish anything from demons, to even Angels. She's one of the few to know of the 'Angel Banishing Sigil', which expells all nearby angels from the area, often forcing them back to Heaven.
WILLPOWER[]
Enhanced
"You, celestial being, have been created to be an angel of the lord. Obey." These words (or their Enochian equivalent) are programmed into the most core, fundamental identity of every angel. They live every moment of their lives with the knowledge that they were created to be angels of the Lord, that they do not belong to themselves, that they live to serve Heaven. They are not supposed to have individual thoughts, they are not supposed to question the will of God, they are supposed to have faith and follow orders. And this programming is reinforced both by the actions of the angelic heirarchy, but also by a culture where difference means deviation, and deviation means disobedience. Angels struggle to even conceptualize free will - by design. They wern't built for freedom, they were built to follow. Few angels ever rebel, or fall, or choose to become human.
Anna thus has an exceptional willpower, moreso then Angels were really "programmed" to have, and it is unlikely she can be completely reprogrammed/controlled/etc. against her will, or even that lesser efforts will succeed at all. Everyone has their limits however, Anna included. Even should she come under such effects, she's more likely then most to throw such influences off of her, given time.
WEAKNESSES[]
FORGIVENESS[]
For a seraph, even expressing doubt is punishable by death. Not merely rebellion...simply open doubt. There is no forgiveness, only compliance and obedience to the hierarchy. Even Lucifer explains that the reason he rebelled is that God would not forgive him for failing to love humans. God. Anna, by contrast, hands out forgiveness like its going out of style - even to people who may arguably not deserve it. She lists forgiveness as one of the big reasons why she decided to stop being an Angel when asked. This element to her personality can cause her to approach and work with people who...may not always be trustworthy.
GRACELESS[]
The essence of every angel is what is called a "Grace.", essentially a core of divine energy that fuels not only their true form, but serves as their link to Heaven and that powers all of their various abilities. Anna's Grace was particularly powerful, as she was one of the most powerful non-archangels in the Hosts of Heaven. She cut this Grace out of herself and tossed it aside when she chose to be reborn as a human, and now no longer has any idea where it might be. A lost Grace is no small matter, and can be used (or misused) for a wide variety of nefarious purposes. It is entirely possible someone else might locate it or use it. It is even possible that it might be lost forever. Regardless, without it, Anna is stuck as a human.
HUMANITY[]
The three things she values most about humans are their capacity for loyalty, forgiveness, and love -and she demonstrates those traits herself. They do her credit, but can also be used against her. She's loyal to those around her, those she can see and touch and form a relationship with. Moreover, she hands out forgiveness like its going out of style, even to those whom may not deserve it. And she has a passionate love for the world and for humanity...the good parts and the bad.
These are experiences that no Angel is permitted to have. They are supposed to repress such feelings, and if they refuse...the punishment for even displaying -doubt- openly is death, though reprogramming is also a possability. Anna is everything her kind are not supposed to be.
REPRESSED MEMORY[]
As a young child, Anna chose to repress much of her angelic memories - they were causing her too much distress. With exposure to the supernatural, and those whom know what she is, some of these memories may return. However, specific memories are likely to be spotty and unreliable for the time being, unless under extreme stress. Simply because she has an ability doesn't mean she knows she has it, and doesn't mean she'll know how to use it conciously. Likewise, simply because she speaks a hundred languages doesn't mean she remembers that she does - she's thousands of years old, but only remembers the last twenty or so.
VALUABLE TO HELL[]
As a fallen Angel, Anna potentially has a vast amount of secrets locked away within her, any number of which could prove useful in aiding Hell against the Heavenly Host - secrets which could probably be extracted by means of torture. Even that aside, there are any number of uses that the forces of hell could put a fallen angel towards...and should the news of her true nature get out, her peaceful existance as a 'normal' human is liable to come to a crashing halt.
WANTED BY HEAVEN[]
As a fallen Angel, Anna is effectively considered an AWOL traitor from the Heavenly Host. Regardless of whether or not she conciously remembers them or not, she has access to a great number of secrets that could put Heaven and the plans of the Archangels at risk, and would have to be delt with on that account alone. However, more then that - her disobedience and abandonment of Heaven has honestly brought shock and shame to many of her former comrades and subordinates, and has brought the wrath of her superiors (the archangels) down upon her. It is very much personal, and it is likely they'll try and make an example of her, if nothing else. Heaven is nothing if not authoritarian.
Anael was one of God's Angels. Created as a Seraphim sometime after the Archangels, she served them loyally and faithfully until she chose to Fall. Showing more intelligence and skill then most Angels, she rose up through the ranks to become a commander of the Seraphim. She spent the past two thousand years before that on Earth, silent and invisible, watching humanity, missing her home, and wondering about the unknowable nature of a God she couldn't hope to understand. Those under her command became more important to her then those above, and as she watched humanity, for all of its flaws...she slowly started to understand just how much her kind were missing, and why God said they were His ultimate creation, not the angels.
For one, humans understood loyalty. Angels didn't. They thought loyalty was something you could program into someone, drill into them, brainwash into them. Forced obedience - be loyal, or be destroyed. That wasn't loyalty. Loyalty had to be earned. If it isn't, its not meaningful. She learned from humanity that loyalty had to be for the right reasons.
Secondly, she learned about forgiveness from humans. She saw humans do terrible things, and kill each other for it. She saw humans do good things, and still kill each other for it. But she also saw parents forgive their children. Murderers change their ways. She saw the worst of humanity - and also its best. What was she supposed to think of cases of heartbreaking betrayl, forgiven in an instant for the sake of loyalty and love, when her fellow Angels wouldn't even forgive her if she expressed her questions and doubts to them?
And lastly, there was love. But that needs little explanation.
Anna didn't want to seize power in Heaven. She'd only be replicating the problems the Archangels had currently created. And she didn't want to be like Lucifer. It was if all those in power in the Host and its opposition understood was absolute power or absolute obedience. And she could see the cycle repeating itself over and over again across history. She wanted nothing to do with it, nothing to do with false freedoms. The only way to win was to not play the game.
And so she became a human. The daughter of a deacon. Her Grace went...elsewhere. She had no idea. But her fears of the Heavenly Host were exposing her, so as a child she chose to forget. To be normal. And since then, she's been a normal girl - and is currently a college student, majoring in journalism.