ANALYSTS

Let me see.
You were sent to analyze. You were one of the God-Machine s Eyes, an angel created
to measure, sample, digest, and report. Perhaps you watched impassively as your
Destroyer brethren did their bloody work, or perhaps you swooped in alongside a
Psychopomp to test the raw materials she transported. In any case, something ca
ught your attention. Rather than report back to the Machine, you Fell, becoming
one of the rarest of demons. You probably have no recollection of your mission o
r your life as an angel, other than vague understanding that you were once a ser
vant of the Machine.
Angels: Contrary to popular belief among the Unchained, Analysts, not Messengers
, are the primary method by which the God-Machine gathers information. Most demo
ns simply do not know about Analysts, because their missions are almost always s
eparate from the angels they are sent to accompany or observe. The reason for th
is is unclear. Perhaps the God-Machine feels that if angels know they are being
observed, this will impact their performance? Or maybe the God-Machine prefers t
o keep the existence of Analyst angels as guarded a secret as possible.
Analyst angels are perhaps the most common of the God-Machine s servants, but they
also often go unnoticed. Many Analysts are sent simply to watch and report, tho
ugh some the ones most susceptible to the Fall
have instructions to retrieve sam
ples, measurements, and other data. Analysts are seldom given solo missions; mor
e often an Analyst accompanies Destroyers to learn how to kill and break more ef
ficiently, Guardians to check the efficacy of their tactics, Psychpomps to time
their construction or travel, or Messengers to report back on signal-to-noise ra
tio in their communications.
For important missions, Analyst angels precede the others. Before the God-Machin
e creates Infrastructure to make a squadron of Destroyers, It might send an Anal
yst to check the defenses of the enemy it wishes to eradicate or to test the sui
tability of a potential Facility site.
The Fall: Analysts risk Falling when they express a desire to interact with thei
r subjects rather than simply observing them. When they draw conclusions from th
e data they have accumulated and assign meaning to the numbers, the Fall is immi
nent.
Some of the common catalysts described by Analysts are:
Distraction: Something caught the Analyst s attention and she couldn t let it go. Ma
ybe she missed a crucial moment while paying attention to something else, or may
be she simply gave up her primary focus to follow a new interest.
Overwhelmed: The world is infinite, and every raindrop carries a world of possib
ility. An Analyst that doesn t stay focused on its primary goal runs the risk of t
rying to take in too much data and becoming so lost in it that the only option i
s to Fall.
Humanization: Learning how much blood a given person can lose before he goes int
o shock, to an angel, is merely an interesting factoid. If the angel sees the pe
rson lying on the ground, slowly turning pale and cold, and takes greater note o
f his fear and pain than of the cubic milliliters of blood he is losing, that an
gel might very well choose to intervene.
Sympathy: Analysts are often paired with other angels, typically without those a
ngels knowledge. As such, an Analyst often has a front-row seat when an angel Fal
ls. While Analysts have standing orders to observe such activities and report ba
ck to the God-Machine which angelFell and under what circumstances, some Analyst
s choose instead to follow their compatriot on this journey, either out of true
sympathy to that angel s Catalyst or just a desire to see the analysis through.
Action Envy: Analyst angels don t normally interact with their subjects in any mea
ningful way. Often their role in protecting or breaking something is simply to w
atch and measure while Destroyers and Guardians do the heavy work. An Analyst oc
casionally wishes to get her hands dirty, as it were, or to pick up the slack wh
en another angel doesn t do his job. Of course, this is still acting outside progr
amming and still leads to the Fall.
Impishness: When you spend all your time looking for needles, you start to resen
t the hay, as the adage goes. Some Analysts don t necessarily want to risk themsel

ves or do anything exciting or glamorous, they just want to change the outcome b
y playing with the data just a bit. This generally leads to butterfly effect-lev
els of change that they couldn t have predicted and a swift Fall.
The Descent: The human world has great need of beings able to analyze informatio
n. Finding information isn t difficult for demons in general; the very nature of t
he Descent and the ability to influence the mystical sub-routines of reality mak
e investigation instinctive. Understanding what to do with that information, how
ever, requires looking at it from multiple angles, playing out possibilities and
correcting for variables. An Analyst, therefore, might show aptitude for police
tactics, mathematics, programming, logistics, engineering, or any of hundreds o
f other vocations that require her unique skills.
The most telling fact about Analysts, though, is that many of them don t realize t
hat they are Analysts. It is a commonly accepted fact among the Unchained that o
nly four Incarnations exist, along with four Agendas, four Keys in a Cipher, and
so forth. Demons who delve deeply into the angelic mindset, though, realize tha
t these distinctions are for the most part self-inflicted. For the God-Machine s p
urposes, an angel s classification is its mission, meaning that a near-infinite nu
mber of Incarnations exist. Once they Fall, Incarnations serve as a way for demons
to classify themselves. Analysts are normally mischaracterized as Messengers or
Psychopomps but they are unquestionably different.
What separates an Analyst from other demons is her ability to reconfigure and re
interpret data. In practical terms, the Eyes have an easier time creating Exploi
ts and Gadgets out of Embeds than most other demons do. Since they are already p
rone to analysis and calculation, they find it easier to apply the variance to a
n Embed that turns it into an Exploit, or to change its state and Install it into
a Gadget.
Analysts do occasionally realize that they are different from other demons, but
many Unchained are highly invested in the status quo and the mystical significan
ce of the number four. Challenging it might be met with disbelief ( Ha, no, really
, you re a Messenger ), suspicion ( Not any demon I ever heard of ) or outright hostilit
y ( Better safe than sorry, right? ).
Nickname: The Eyes
Character Creation: Mental Attributes are the most common primary choice, but a
good Composure rating is also typical. An Analyst often has good ratings in what
ever Skills are germane to her last assignment; this often means Mental is prima
ry, but an Analyst sent to assess tactical positions of street gangs might have
high ratings in Streetwise and Firearms as well as Politics. The Eyes have whate
ver Merits allow them to reach an advantageous position from which to collect th
eir data; this could mean Status, Professional Training, or just Striking Looks.
Embeds: Analysts do not favor any one class of Embeds, but they do show great fa
cility for Exploits. The player may select an Exploit at character creation with
out regard for normal prerequisites.
Demonic Form: Analysts are built to be unobtrusive. They often have stealth capa
bilities that allow them to blend into their surroundings or mental countermeasu
res that distract or redirect their subjects attention. Many of them have wings o
r other Propulsions that enable a quick getaway or the ability to escape the imm
ediate area and watch unseen.
Concepts: Occult mathematician, hacker, stress-tester, librarian, security exper
t, intelligence operative, Gadgeteer, Infrastructure scout, information broker,
Cipher consultant.
Stereotypes
Destroyers: You know how you knew exactly how hot it had to get before it burst
into flames? You re welcome.
Guardians: What s it like to care so much?
Messengers: Sing something else. That one has too many sibilants. It s distracting
.
Psychopomps: I ve meaning to ask: 21 grams. Is that true, or false?
Vampires: On average, 55% the living person they were, 42% the undead thing they
are, and 3% something I can t quite figure out. Outliers exist, of course.
Werewolves: It s not the killing that they need. Don t get excited, though. The kill

ing still happens.

Mages: They re better at our old jobs than we were, but they didn t earn it.
Prometheans: I don t know what I am, either. I mean, not the little pieces.
Humans: Seven billion variations, and don t ever let anyone say otherwise.