ALT It has been an unusually long time since I last wrote, but I have been rather busy. The Agency is thriving. Escrael and his fellow angels are doing excellent work, and there’s an enthusiasm in Heaven that I haven’t seen in millennia. After the old engines of Salvation and Damnation, full of arbitrary rules and pitfalls, ground to a halt, I was worried that the Host might turn on each other. Instead, they seem excited to tread this new path with us. Some of the demons have been showing an interest in joining, which might have surprised me if I hadn’t spent so much of my existence learning from Crowley. The Erics, recently unionised, have offered their services — negotiations are ongoing. Demons really are just angels who rejected Her plan for them, not knowing that even their rebellion was fundamental to the scheme. Some are more approachable than others, just like the rest of us.

ALT (One could feel rather cynical and disillusioned by the whole matter, but living well, as the proverb goes, is the better vengeance.) It’s not perfect, but it’s better. We’re still learning to live with the absence of both God and Satan. When he’s in one of his philosophical moods (or after a night of a particularly alcoholic nature), Crowley has been known to advance his favourite theory that they were one and the same, that the angel Lucifer never Fell, because they were only a projection of God, placed among us to seed dissent. I’m still not sure how to feel about that, but Crowley does have a talent for seeing the line at the bottom long before the rest of us. Some of the demons have forgone their more extreme appearances — the Amnesty removed any restrictions — but others have chosen to keep them as a badge of honour. In the end, the important thing is that they finally have the choice.

ALT Freedom is frightening, and it’s going to take time to adjust, particularly as the Hierarchy loses influence. The higher spheres and deeper circles have found their power much depleted, leaving little more than fairly minor miracles to most of us. That’s for the best, really. We need to stop ‘messing the world around’ as someone once said. There are, of course, other worlds. Alpha Centauri is becoming quite popular; I heard from Gabriel last month, and he and Beelzebub have Opinions about their neighbours. Still, it’s a big universe. I’m sure they’ll all learn to rub along quite nicely and, if they don’t, Barnard’s Star has plenty of room and some lovely views.

ALT Hell looks very different since the Restoration. There are windows and working lights, for one thing, and new facilities. Crowley always did fancy the latest gewgaws — sleek black portable computers that look as if they were primarily designed for their aerodynamic properties, clever watches, fact machines &c — and I think he had a little too much fun sending technological brochures to the demons who took charge of the refit. Initially there was talk of using them to design more efficient tortures for the Damned, but naturally Crowley was prepared for that. When it comes to a choice between patrolling the offal pits and sitting in front of a screen gleefully manipulating hapless beings, the latter has much greater appeal. Apparently it’s called ‘The Sins’, and it seems to be keeping the more… intense demons very entertained.