Vigil (DTF)

Before the Rebellion, the Angels of the Fourth House were led by the Vigil, a council of seven high-ranking Angels that watched and protected the Grand Design, the original plan of God for the universe.

Role
In the beginning, the Fourth House was commanded by God to keep the universe stable. The most powerful Angels were tasked with supervising their underlings for this task. Under the authority of Tyriel, Throne of the Indigo Expanse, the Fourth House issued the first movement, setting God's plan for the cosmos into motion. The Edict of Memory served to specialize Angels to specific parts of the Grand Design. In doing so, they formed a framework that allowed outside observers to trace the relationships between disparate events, creating the concept of time itself. However, individual Angels lost the ability to see the entirety of the Grand Design, relying on their superiors for adequate information.

The Vigil was also responsible for governing the input of information from the Sources, Neberu that were assigned to watch occurences and update on any changes that would happen. These Sources, together known as the Gyre, were linked together that each would be informed of things regarding its concept, with the Vigil acting as maintainers that held the view of the entire Grand Design. The Vigil struggled to maintain its web over the changes brought by the following Fifth and Sixth Houses, who brought the volatility of life into the cosmos, creating an entirety of new variables. The Edict of Instance was issued to create a separate group of Angels whose duty was to maintain the cosmic order of the Grand Design.

Humanity proved to be an entirely new set of variables but also the first creation that would be actually able to harness these variables. The Fourth House saw in them the potentially greatest form of the Grand Design - and also its greatest threat. To protect the Grand Design from future threats, the Edict of Momentum was issued that created the Diviners, prophets that would watch for any potential threats.

The Vigil received numerous smaller warnings of threats, but were able to navigate them. At a certain point, however, casual threats became less and less frequent, until the Vigil was sure that a single climatic point rapidly approached which would decide the future of creation. Worried that this cause of events could be their fault, the Vigil issued the Edict of Silence, which forbade any discussion about possible future events with Angels of other Houses.

However, this did not ease the minds of the responsible diviners, who saw that the day drew closer and closer. They relied their anxieties to the Vigil, who responded: "Be calm. Have no fear. All is as the Creator wishes." Discontent with this answer, an angel named Ahrimal, who had come to believe that humanity would be the deciding factor of the coming breaking point, began to inform close associates of the coming turning point, which sparked the Great Debate.

The Vigil lost the trust of many Angels even within their own House after the contents discussed were more widely known. Some blamed them for letting the situation fester to this point and the Vigil split when Asmodeus, Tyriels lieutenant, chose to defect to the rebels under Lucifer.

The current state of the Vigil is not known, but the breaking point they foresaw came and passed with Caine's invention of murder.

Members

 * Tyriel, Autarch of the Fourth House
 * Kusiel
 * Gemmanor
 * Ysriel
 * Abishai
 * Osir
 * Asmodeus