Zachary Shadow: A little research for you.

Having a little too much time on my hands and being a tad , I took a look into the hierarchy of heaven's Choirs of Angels. The best summaries I've found depict nine distinct classes, which I list in order of rank. The Choirs are arranged into three spheres, with three Choirs in each.

Sphere 1: Contemplation

Seraphim
The highest choir of angel. These great beings are few in number (only seven), but they are of God's inner-most circle. They act as the attendants and guardians of God. The greatest of the Seraph is the Metatron, who acts as the voice of God. They are among the more level-headed of the Choirs; while they have a sense of pity, their willpower is unmoving.

A small note: Prior to his fall, Lucifer was a Seraphim.

The Seraphim are by far the most intriguing of the angelic Choirs. Depictions vary, but they are often associated with fire. They have 3 pairs of wings: the first pair covers the face, the second they hold outward for assumed flight purposes, and the third covers the feet. The first and third pairs never yield their positions, and their body rarely moves. I personally perceive them as a thin and vaguely human in form.


Cherubim
Contrary to popular belief, these angels are NOT little boys with wings. They are likely what we consider to be Arch-Angels, when in fact they are not. Cherubim possess an intimate knowledge of the secrets of God and are the wisest among the Choirs. They essentially act as information storage banks. I personally would classify them as the nerds of high-heaven.

The Cherubim are manlike in appearance, with two pairs of wings. I'd toss in an extra halo or two and plenty of glow to signify their importance as well.


Thrones
The Thrones are angels of pure humility, fairness, and honesty. They symbolize peace and submission. They also act as the gateway to God's upper kingdom of the first sphere. Any lower angels who wish to access God must do so through a Throne. The Thrones reside throughout the cosmos where matter begins to take shape.

Since they seem to exist primarily within God's higher kingdom with a bit of presence in the second Sphere, I perceive these angels as having a sort of fuzzy appearance. Give them a bit too much glow, so that any details of their true figure are indiscernible.


Sphere 2: Cosmos

Dominions
The highest Choir of angels within the cosmic Sphere. Dominions are the head maintainers of the universe. They are essentially the bosses of what is, second only to those of the first Sphere. They give the orders, they oversee progress, and they pass down word from "the Man." If any lower angels hear from God, it's usually through a Dominion.

Physical descriptions of Dominions were hard to come by. I'll leave this up to you.


Virtues
Under the command of the Dominions, the Virtues weave all that is. They control the essence that makes up the sun, moon, stars, and Earth. They govern all nature and every facet of natural life. They are also in charge of miracles and instilling valor, courage, grace, and faith.

They are often referred to as "The Shining Ones." That's about it in the way of physical descriptions I could find. As ones that weave the matter of existence, I'll leave their appearance up to you.


Powers
Ah yes, the Powers. I foresee them having the greatest impact with your map's Heaven side. Led by either Samael or Camael (scriptures are apparently not clear which one leads. Perhaps both. Perhaps they are the same angel ), these angelic beings are the warriors who defend heaven and earth from evil spirits, Hellborne or otherwise.

I wouldn't deny you the creative factor with these units, now would I? :ggani:


Sphere 3: World

Archangels
This is the true Archangel class. This is a confusing class, for it is no real specific class of angle. Most Archangels belong to other classes. Archangels take the role of delivering messages from God to the people of Earth. I wouldn't exactly put them as a new class of unit, because they're simply angels of other Choirs doing the duty of message-bearer.


Principles
Don't ask me how this happened.

Principles are guardians and caretakers of, how could I put this? Regions. They are essentially the guardian angels for nations, countries, cities, buildings, and houses. This entire Choir apparently fell however, so as a distinct class they no longer exist. I'd put former Principles among the ranks of Hell's forces.



Angels
The most numerous and spoken-of, run of the mill Angels are the closest to the material world and human beings. They deliver the prayers of man to God. They also have the ability to access any and all other Choirs up to the first Sphere at any time. These are the most caring and socius of all Angels.



Well, that's all for now. It's getting late and I have to hit the sack. I'll see if I can't find more helpful information tomorrow.

Thanks Malice :)

I've found exactly this, on http://www.catholic.org/ :)

I can see you've added some extra things, u found this another place?

It's great to see people wanting to help, thanks alot :)

This should be very helpful indeed :) Much more describing than what I had so far :)

That was one of several websites I used, yes.

I plan to add some more, hopefully of the Hellish nature, but info on hierarchy in the pit is hard to come by.

Thanks for the compliments. :ggani:

Yup, that is so true. Hell is more "go by what we know or think" kinda...

They can be everything actually...as long as it's evil :P

well, Dante's "Hell" or inferno or whatever it's name is on english is not a bad place to start...altho i read the book and don't recall finding "Demon classes" etc :)))
try some ocult sites, maybe that'll help you :)

it would be hard ot use the divine comedy (dante's works) to come up with classes because they are condemned souls... not necessarily forces of hell.... HOWEVER... you could adjust this a little and go with the circles of hell being the different ranks for the fallen angels... which I believe there are nine circles... so 9 sets of angels and nine sets of "demons"

if you need any help at all making this map or theological help i can look things up. It sounds very interesting. good luck

this map of u'r is really turning more and more interesting....if u need help, i pledge my allegiance :)

About 20 have been wanting to join the "team", but since it's a one man effort, there is none :) ANY comments, ideas or help is truly welcome and might even (will be no doubt, unless it's like: Hel is spelled Hell...or something stupid like that) be credited :)

So if u got anything u want to share with me, send me a pm :) ty :)

i don't practice PM :)
i'll try to find u some interesting hell material....:)))

You could make the heros on hells team based off of sins...

Mind you I am giving you ideas that I myself am using for a different... somewhat similar but not AoS style map...

the 7 deadly/mortal sins could be used.. or lesser sins... also the three main category of sin for the inferno....


3 categories:

Incontinence: losing control of natural appetites or desires

Brutishness: attraction to things which repulse the healthy soul

Malice/Vice: abuse of reason, the most God-like atributes we possess



7 deadly sins:
Pride, Avarice/Greed, Envy, Wrath/Anger, Lust, Gluttony, Sloth

Also the principalities can be used in hell's forces since they are all fallen angels...

That's not a bad idea, Sour. Not a bad idea at all.

For the demons you could try searching for an online copy of the Dictionnaire Infernale. Its quite hard to find an english version though, since it was written in french.