Here's the chant:
My group's about to start a 3e planescape campaign for the first time, and I, the DM has decided one of them is going to be fallen angel. (So far I only have 1 player who is definitely going to participate, and one who probably will)
Basically, right when the campaign starts, he'll have no idea why he's laying down in the middle of a Sigil-ian street. Through discovery and flashbacks he'll uncover his history.
I've always liked the concept of a fallen Deva from Planescape: Torment.
Anyway, this character was once a deva general of Celestia. At the height of his influence and power, one of his superiors assigned him the task of assassinating/destroying a demon ruler, something went wrong, something that should never have happened.
He fell in love.
The demon duchess had always suspected that this strange visitor, taking the form of a diplomat from a neighboring layer of the Abyss, was something else. And through conversations, small and trivial at first, but gradually deeper and more meaningful, both demon and angel mutually developed a romantic relationship and realized their destiny.
Even up to the moment when the Deva revealed his full glory, raised his radiant sword, and ready to strike, the duchess never doubted both his true identity and his love.
Obviously, the deva couldn't do it. Instead of killing the duchess, they embraced each other in passionate love. When Celestia discovered this treachery and unspeakable horror, they summoned him back to his home. Promising her his return, he traveled through the planes back to Celestia.
Upon returning, Celestia binded him in heavenly chains and forced him to appear before a council of Celestials. They sentenced him to eight hundred years of solitary confinement with his angelic magnificence slowly being torn out of his body, reducing him to a hollow, mortal husk, a derelict, a fallen angel. In addition to his power and influence, and as a final act of retribution, they stole his memories, including the memory of his pure, yet forbidden love for the duchess.
After the eight-hundred year ordeal ended, Celestia cast him out into Sigil with no memories of who or what he is. And since he had earned himself such a powerful reputation when he was still a deva, Celestia is giving him one more chance at redemption, complying with their beliefs of salvation through suffering and torment. He must discover his true nature and subsequently return to Celestia, and as a final act of salvation, slay the duchess. Or, after discovering who he is, he can forsake his position in the heavens and remain forever with the duchess as a demon prince. KoTOR-esque.
Mechanics wise, the character will start as a 3rd level human with strange abilities. As he goes on his journey of self-discovery and self-enlightenment, he'll be constantly harrassed and threatened by both angelic and demon beings, thus leading to his own questionings of what is really good and what is really evil.
I'm not that educated yet in the details of Celestia, and I'll flesh out the details later, but thats the general idea.
Instead of a typical fantasy campaign, I hope to have a much deeper campaign with more meaningful themes, ideas, and philosophies, as a Planescape campaign should be played.
The main themes are:
Does love transcend good or evil?
Does love transcend duty?
And eventually the character will question the subjectivities of good and evil themselves.
And also, heh, the famous riddle of Ravel, what can change the nature of a man?
Sounds very interesting and could have a very powerful climatic end to the campaign. Please post summary of progress (or even a story hour) as I'd like to see how it develops.
Personally I am reluctant to let any PC have that kin of power to build up to - but then again at the end of my last campaign the PCs ascended to becoming very minor Powers