The Bringers of Fire
“There are men who run on ahead of their age, and open the gates of the future.” – James Lendall Basford, Sparks from the Philosopher’s Stone
Patron: Metatron, seraphim, voice of god, the scribe of celestials
In life, Enoch was a pious man, renowned for his kindness and wisdom. When his time on earth passed, instead of dying as a mortal man, Enoch ascended directly to heaven, to become the Metatron, God’s voice to the angels and the world.
Metatron acted as God’s voice, but after a short while (in celestial time), the Lord was furious with what had become of the earth and the people on it, as they have almost to a one been corrupted by the great tempter, Lucifer. Metatron convinced God that one of his descendents — Noah — should rebuild humanity. For Enoch, the entirety of humanity almost being annihilated made it clear what his purpose is: of all the angels, he is the only one who has been human, and only he understands what humanity needs in order to thrive. Enoch, the Metatron, decided that no longer would humanity’s progress be brought by Demon Princes seeking to corrupt God’s creation. Unlike the legendary chastisement of Uriel and the first sisters, the Lord is said to have accepted Enoch’s plan. It was time for the Metatron, and the Huldufolk, to guide humanity towards a brighter, more prosperous, more selfless future.
Motivations: Did you ever ride The Carousel of Progress in Disney World? The central message is that technology, and progress, will fix everything. The Bringers of Fire believe the best way to stop humans from killing each other over oil and diamonds is by helping them develop infinite renewable energy and diamonds made in labs. They are spending their time nudging humanity further and further towards a technological, post-scarcity future, where there is a hell of a lot less reason to want to be evil.
Unfortunately, their most likely ally is the one they usually don’t know they have: The Chastened, trying to subtly maneuver the technology focused Bringers of Fire towards sowing calamity into the society they’re trying to improve. If you realize a Chastened is helping you with your goal, your best advice is to run.
Millennia of work have led to a world with less war, less murder, and higher overall happiness, though there have been quite a few costs to get there. If the Bringers of Fire are able to work together, and can avoid costly mistakes, the future they’re looking for is within their grasp — if they have the nerve to reach out and take it.
Goals: Improve the world through progress. Individual action does not help the world as much as overall progress and productivity. The Bringers of Fire push humanity towards better technology, better laws, and a more enlightened society. Throwing one starfish back into the ocean only matters to that starfish: building a levee stops starfish from getting stuck on the beach in the first place.
Beliefs Invoked: The world is a good place, and getting better all the time, because we work together to progress forward. I’m making the world a better place by making this law, this vaccine, this piece of technology.
Criticisms: The Friends see the Bringers of Fire as distant and heartless, making changes at the top without regard for how to help the people currently affected by the problems they’re trying to solve — or worse, improving the situation for some while adding new problems that stomp on others. However, the The Friends are often able to lure some of the Fire Bringers away from building monorails and rail guns, coercing them into using some of their influence towards social progress. The Judges see the Bringers of Fire as bureaucrats that just try to work around the problems evil people cause, instead of dealing with those people directly. The rest of The Blessed, and also the Agents of Balance, wonder if the Bringers of Fire missed the lesson of the Exile, and are trying to goad God into intervening again. They especially wonder if The Chastened are trying to lure the Bringers of Fire into doing so.