"Maybe I am. Are there not... other angels, there? Are none of them trying to organize?"

"This is a situation where I must resort to examples. Marten White leads a great travelling host of heroes, but I had noticed his tendency towards vanity. It is a sin, and it oft leads him to dismiss the advice of those who had not impressed him or earned his trust. Many - but not all - of the angels who answer his call for crusades in the demon continent eventually tire of it and depart for their own ends. Or perish in battle. Sosiel heads a church in the vast city of Ascore, and often speaks with other angels who live and work within that metropolis of millions and millions. They come to him for advice, as one of the oldest angels on Virata, and the most famous. Or they come to him for shelter and aid against demons pursuing them. He gives them shelter, and advice, and money, and magical artifacts, and introductions to people who need help or who can help in turn, but rarely if ever do angels stay within his temple for long. Outside of these two cases some examples of angels working together are an angel librarian doing research for a new arrival, an angel with wrathful powers who prefers a peaceful farming life taking up the sword on occasion when great threats rise and he is warned by others, an angel pair of wives who pursue physics and engineering research in hopes of developing improvements to life that reduce reliance on demon-causing magic."

"So there's just not many and they're all doing their own things and do not have, like, an email chain. Right. - how'd they meet, the wives, were they already married or -"

"I don't think they've given permission to share non-common knowledge about themselves."

"That is totally reasonable of them but does not give me any data points about the possibility of my ever getting married in a responsible fashion!"

"Alas. I don't understand this enough to see it without resorting to examples, and I have no examples I'm permitted to give."

"I will have to make do, I suppose. At present I am leaning toward the lantern as my relic - is it possible to, like, lose it, or anything -"

"They will work for anybody, and you can lose them. They are tough but can be destroyed. The lantern will withstand, say, being dropped off a roof, but not necessarily being crushed with a great hammer. And they will repair themselves, if slowly, over time. Furthermore, as the one who carries them into Virata, you shall be able to know their rough direction and distance from you, or that of the pieces if there are pieces, at a thought. I had thought some on the hypothetical Blessing of the Spouse and come up with a design for it that may fit your wants. For a cost of four quintessence, you can choose one person at a time, and make them like unto an angel without wings or halo, granting them eternal youth and also copies of all your other Blessings and Foundations at about half potency. For example, the immunity to mind control will instead be a very strong resistance, and their ability with magic will be weak. You cannot change this person once chosen, unless they perish. If they do, you may choose again. If you perish, the blessing fails."

"Hmm, pricey... but I can go over and it'll just make me more obvious, right? If I pick an ally who lives somewhere there are often angels coming and going that doesn't sound like it should be a huge problem..."

"It'll make you more obvious, and more of a target, possibly disproportionately so, and so that anyone associated with you is under threat. I don't want to understate this risk."

"I believe you that there is a risk but I'm confused about its mechanism. Is it... a coordination mechanism for demons, like, they all notice it and all know everybody noticed it, so they all come knocking when usually they'd need to do their own recruiting to have a go at me?"

"It means you cannot truly hide from demons, attracting them from far around, and indeed that they'll all know that many demons can sense you- They'll work together more often, seeing you as a threat. The demons' usual fractiousness and disinterest in each other is one of their greatest weaknesses, and allaying this even mildly makes them more threatening. Perhaps examples... If you found an empire as an angel with no overflowing quintessence, all demons within the empire's territory will know because it's common knowledge. But they won't work together to take you down just because of that. Some will try to spread corruption in secret, each scheming alone. Some will openly attack you. Some will leave for softer targets. Some will seek temporary alliances, but still mistrust each other. With five quintessence overflowing, you will shine to demonic senses, and you might face alliances of half a dozen demons at once, with a coherent plan to kill you and each covering each other's weaknesses, for they hate quintessence and angels deeply, and they are rightly fearful of the mightiest of the angelic host. This does mean that they will come to you rather than needing to be found and rooted out, but it's dangerous."

"Gotcha. So more of a plan for someone with a personal combat focus. Damn. I do want more quintessence but I don't want demons turning my life into the worst tower defense game."

"At two it would be more like a miniboss occasionally appearing, or being a celebrity that requires private security."

"How hard is it going to be to get private security?"

"You're likely to become rich and powerful, and healing miracles are very motivating to mercenaries and soldiers, who tend to live dangerous lives. I would say, not so difficult, but the most precarious days would be the first weeks when you are little known and have yet to win loyalty."

Nod nod. "And heads of state need security anyway. So maybe I can have a liiiittle overflow."

The angel produces an updated table for her perusal at this point.

"I think... I'm leaning Virata, and throwing on Lord Protector, Babel, and Endurance II, for a one-point overflow, two if we come up with a really good implanted skill idea. And... Consecration."

"You will have access to three Greater miracles. As a reminder, greater healing can restore lost limbs and things like heart disease. Lesser healing covers naught but wounds. Greater resurrection doth not require an intact body, and does not suffer from as strict a time limit, though it might yet fail on those who had chosen to enter the Gates. Greater ecogenesis allows you to create a 'heavenly' biome, which is near perfect for habitation, but expensive in favor. Greater consecration expands both effects greatly - a book that can be read by even the illiterate is the standard example of greater consecration."

"- what's the literacy rate on Virata?"

"It depends strongly on your location. Globally, I think around fifty per one hundred. This includes populations of peoples like goblins, who typically live nomadically, or merfolk, who have difficulty finding suitable writing material."

"Oh, merfolk, I might have to reconsider the thing that lets me be aquatic - how many merfolk - do you know if any angels are already, uh, ministering to them -"

"The aquatic sentient races number perhaps one hundred million. They have fewer angels per capita operating in those regions than many terrestrial regions, but not none."

"Well, I don't super want to be aquatic and it sounded expensive so as long as somebody's got it loosely under control... I want to greaterify the healing and the consecration, and... do you have a recommendation on whether to do the ecogenesis one or the resurrection one? I lean resurrection but maybe heavenly biomes are just that great and I won't have any trouble accumulating favor."