The Psychopomps

As former builders of Infrastructure, Psychopomps are the undisputed experts in Cover. As angels, they were the most likely to remain in Twilight or Manifest in their true form rather than take on human disguise. Being bound in human form often feels unnatural to them, so they’re no better off than any other Incarnation in understanding how Cover affects them. The act of building Cover, though, is their natural element: arranging a space for oneself in the world, attaching new elements via Pacts, and keeping all the elements that make up a life in place.

Psychopomps “get” human society, seeing it as a machine made of money, meat, and metal. Everything and everyone has utility and holds opportunity. The trick is to connect them together in useful ways. They’re fixers, providers of equipment, connections, and resources. They’re often the driving force behind forming a ring or Agency. Many find that they make good planners and tacticians — what is an ambush but disparate elements coming together in a confluence of events? They have the most experience with other supernatural beings, mostly ghosts and spirits, and are usually tasked with dealing with ephemeral incursions.

Psychopomps’ instinct to rearrange the world around them can cause problems in their Descent. Observant human friends usually realize that their entire friendship group revolves around the Psychopomp — everyone was introduced to one another through him and he remains the “hub” of the group. Many Psychopomps are materialistic collectors, feathering their nests with toys and objects they find attractive, surrounding themselves with people who make them feel comfortable, and believing the world exists for their benefit. They over complicate their lives by creating high-maintenance Covers, and take interference in their affairs seriously — few things are as angry as a Psychopomp whose design has been disrupted.

Psychopomps were the God Machine’s fixers, gathering resources and rearranging the world to bring the God-Machine’s various machinations to fruition. Most Psychopomps seek out Covers that allow them to pursue their odd obsessions. For example, a Wheel who likes to cultivate relationships with a certain kind of people — artists, for example — might create a Cover as an artist, an art critic, or a gallery owner. Another Psychopomp might look for a Cover that lets him act as a matchmaker, bringing people together into configurations — not necessarily romantic — that he finds pleasing.

However they use it, most Psychopomps don’t identify strongly with their Covers. The Fall doesn’t do much to make these alien angels into comprehensible demons. For most Wheels, Cover is little more than means to an end; at most it is a project in and of itself. It isn’t who they really are.

When it comes to humans, Psychopomps usually display a degree of fascination that rivals the Messengers. Humans and their artifacts are wonderfully complicated. The difference is that while Trumpets find humans interesting and likable, Wheels just find them interesting. Psychopomps don’t usually want to be human the way that some Messengers seem to. When they interact with humans, it isn’t just for fun, it’s part of some scheme to rearrange things to the Psychopomp’s strange liking.

Antinomian Wheels attempt to stop arranging lives around themselves entirely, but most settle for keeping things in a manageable scale, within the limits of their control.