Halo Damage is my OC universe/story about cursed punk shows, liminal places where the veil has thinned out, metaphysically doomed humans, divine bureaucracy, and love as blunt force head trauma. The title comes from the idea of “brain damage,” except angels don’t really have brains in the anatomical human sense in this universe. Their halos are closer to it in function, being the center of memory, identity, instinct, judgment, and divine function, so when an angel starts acting wrong, getting too attached, disobeying orders, choosing love over purpose, etc., other angels might tauntingly call it “halo damage" as if that angel has endured a TBI that is impairing them. The main girl character, Rika Vesper, is demon marked, which in her case means she was made into the vessel that absorbs karmic retribution meant for her parents: their bad luck, their consequences, their spiritual debt, all the ugly fallout from the demon deal THEY made. Her parents selfishly offered her up as the one to be marked so they could stay safe, wealthy, and untouched while she became the living payment. Historically, marked humans are prioritized by guardian angels because they attract demons, breaches, curses, and other veil thinning related horrors, but Rika is so stubborn, reckless, and allergic to feeling like someone is protecting her instead of her protecting herself, that she keeps making her assigned guardian angels quit because she tests even divine patience. Cassian Veyr is the most recent angel assigned to her case. Heaven picked him because he is patient, terrifyingly strong, and getting him to give up is kinda like an ant colony trying to tip a cow...technically speaking they can organize in amazing qnd highly specific and well thought out ways, but it is just not happening. A cow is too heavy for an ant to move. He’s a huge fat armored Seraphim Engine (angelic war machines made to stop apocalypses caused by demons, ghosts, humans, etc. before they start) with a halo for a brain, a body built for celestial war, and an increasingly inconvenient soft spot for one loud demo marked punk chick who keeps telling him to patrol outside because she doesn't like feeling babysat. Rika fronts for the band Gutterlace Guillotine, a demoncore riot grrrl punk band that plays basements, abandoned churches, cursed theaters, illegally occupied rooftops, and basically anywhere you can plug in an amp and summon something by complete accident. I’ll get around to drawing the rest of them later, I have other stuff to do, but for now just know the vibe is: demon bounty hunters, halos that shift color and brightness with emotion, broken down churches, bad theology, pink stage lights, romance responsible for property damage, and a girl who was supposed to be a sacrifice becoming an urban saint instead.
