There are hundreds of ways to interpret Angels. This is one interesting one. One of the premises of this write up is that something has drawn the Angels to the world. Now they are material and tasked with a) saving the world and b) stopping the threat to reality from "somewhere else".

Full Description
Angels appear as Humans, usually exceedingly beautiful humans with serene smiles and calm demeanors. They tend to be calm all the time as no mortal can withstand witnessing an angel enraged or excited (and the effects that has on reality). 

They are material (thus somewhat mortal) because they have lowered their vibration to be made flesh. They have joined the "Song of the Earth" and strive to protect it.

They appear as Humans of all types and ethnicities. They trend towards tall and thin, but those are generalizations. They come in all appearances, but tend towards the beautiful and exotic. They appear as they need to appear and that is that.

Oh, and when they invoke the Divine inside themselves, they have a luminous quality. They just seem brighter. A touch more and they seem to have dimly glowing patches on their skin or eyes. When they truly wish to be impressive, they give off light, to make a glowing aura. No matter what the expression the light is visible to a living eye but can not be captured on film or via video.

One trait that they all possess is the most musical of voices. This seems self evident as they are nothing but spacial vibrations or cosmic sound in their native forms. This gives them a vocal tool of parallelled beauty and power in mortal form.

They are "flying" spirits - spirits of "motion" - moving through the divine symphony providing notes and volume as needed. They always have wings. Their wings are bright, feathery, and nearly ethereal in material manifestation. Sometime when they walk the material spheres, they tuck them away - disguise then. They are reduced to tattoos of winds on their back, or scarves that hand down their back, or even oddly placed buttons on the back shoulders of their garments. When manifested, their wings allow them to fly, hover, and glide, as they will.

Manifestations
Angels are normally keyed to a word or concept. This "logos" binds their energies into the form and personality granting them an identity and mission in the universe. They can bring the local "music" in line with their logos, apparently shifting reality in minor ways in line with their word or concept. This is easy, nearly autonomic for an angel to do. The greater the change in reality, the more effort (conscious even) that the Angel must place on the shift. Eventually reality will shift back towards the way it was, following the main line of music for the area. However, residue will remain.

Most angels with a strong binding to a word or concept will seldom leave their post, so to speak, even to help save the world. Yet a few might, if they were redundant.

Angels can shift reality in line to what they people expect of Angels. Consider that they all share this logos. This allows them to fly, obscure minds, become invisible/ immaterial, and pull out "flaming swords of righteousness". Some call them "Angelic Super Powers", usually followed by the word "cool". This is harder for angels to do. They must have learned prowess to manifest these things easily. The ones they are comfortable with are more readily done - the ones they have dedicated points or skills towards. They can hold these nearly indefinitely. The ones that they have not are extremely difficult and very temporary.

Most of the Angels here to "Save the World" from this outside threat (like from The Grinches via their Wreaths are without strong logos, but are merely "Angels Unattached".

The Angels were always with "The Status Quo". The Great War had fallen into a "cool war" with both sides sniping at each other, careful not to really break effective cease fire and biding their time for their opening. The Angels had pulled back from the material world, utilizing the cosmic balance to limit and prevent "the other side" from touch it as well. The Angels had often lightly touched the world from time to time, to assist and correct. Mostly they only addressed the demonic imbalance. If demons touch the world, angels can touch it, so both sides has to be careful not to let the other side have too much access.

Yet something Outside this realm has entered.

When the Gates opened, they had to act. And Act they did.

As for the Demons in this scenario….
1) They can sit it out, letting the Angels take a brunt of it, looking for their opening. However The Angel’s public presence does much to reinforce their position in the hearts and minds (thus souls) of the populace. Even with balance restoring time, they may lose ground to the Angelic Side.

2) They can enter the world and play their own games. This can gain them a little ground, but it splits the Angels’ attention between them and the other threat. And if the other side succeeds, their position will be weakened and possibly toppled.

3) They can help the Angels get rid of the "other threat". Demons are of the same ilk as Angels, while they have different motivations, they have much the same abilities. This guarantees that they will stop the threat before it
can topple their position in the scheme of things. This is the option they have taken in Black Christmas the Campaign. The Demons and Angels have allegedly "teamed up" a number of times due to mutual threats over the span of ages.

Black Christmas Notes
In the Black Christmas setting, many people consider The Angels as Figments, as in "figments of the imagination". They were not real. As The Gates (The Wreaths) opened, wyld magics, magics unforseen by the Grinches, just flowed into the world. The magic took hold of the dreams, images, and ideals of the world.  It made them manifest. Some of those dreams obviously includes Angels and Demons.

Thus many believe that they winked into existance, like the Elfs and other odd things, as if they had always had been there. They believe they will just "go away", pop and disappear… returning to the dreams ... if the wreaths are closed. At this point, it impossible to prove or disprove otherwise. Angels will not even bother, in most cases, to correct this misconception.

Additional Information
Angels tend to be intensely focused on their cause, their mission, and their logos. The narrowness and intensity of their focus can be a little disconcerting to Humans.

Angels can hear the music of an area. They tend to know instinctively what is "in place", what is "out of place", and "what needs to be done" to bring the area back into harmony with the universal music.  This instinctive understanding can confuse and distress those working with an Angel who often will not bother to explain something, which to them, is painfully self evident.

This same talent allows them to know most beings and people instantly. However, since Humans have "Free Will" (and player characters have "Empowered Will") Humans can occasionally throw Angels for a loop.

The Angels are amused and amazed by their allies, The Humans. Angels have always known Humans are Celestially Touched, but their will and tenacity astounds even the Hardened Members of The Host.  In the Black Christmas Campaign, Elfs and other Figments have also joined the fight. (In many ways, it is the Angels who have joined The Elfs’ fight, as the Elfs do most of the fighting.

Angels seem unconcerned with religion.  Most questions of theology are meaningless to them, much like us discussing why 0+0 is 0. Religion is a human construction. They are only interested in Faith in The Universe and those that "harmonize" with the way of the Celestial and Universal.

Holy Ground or Sacred Space of all types is special to them. The entire world should be a sacred space eventually. They will do what they can to preserve such spaces, but they will never compromise the mission.

Black Christmas started on Dec 24, sunset in London, UK. It is the when the Grinches first attacked… and The Elfs came to Humanity’s rescue. Technically it continued until Epiphany (12th Day) when The Bomb was sent through the Wreath stopping The Grinch threat. (or so we think).

To understand all the context for this check out the FreeText Black Christmas.

http://www.strolen.com/view.php?node=free_search&free=Black+Christmas

or go to Black Christmas the Campaign. The trailer there makes the difference.

It is December 24th. People around the world are doing last minute shopping, traveling, and getting their work done. The world is filled with moments of joy and amusement as the world is desperately getting ready for a joyous holiday (or going to the movies or Chinese food w/ the family… depending on the tradition).

Then, the Gates open and the world changed. Mythics began to appear. However, out of the gates, yes those magical gates, out pours death and mayham into the Malls and Streets. They don’t have a name, nor do they give one. Some call them demons, aliens, or experiments; others just call them Monsters. The Elfs, they call them Grinches.

As the gates open, magic flooded into the world. Dreams and Ideals became manifest, living in motion already. The Elfs and Santa were already getting ready for Christmas to their view, but now they were material. Three seconds later, the Naughty Alarm sounded.

And The Elfs were Pissed.

Nothing was going to stop Christmas, especially if they had something to say about it. So they stopped making and wrapping up good toys. They broke out "the bad toys" and those things they built in their spare time (you know…just in case). Everyone put on their North Pole Defense Uniforms. The Big Guy snapped on his goggles. He adjusted his uniform. "It is go time."

No Grinch was going to destroy Christmas while they could stop it.

And unbeknownst to them, others felt the same way.

The summary pretty much…. sums up the world.

This was inspired by a Make a Christmas RPG game on another site. So I thought, "Some monsters from somewhere else try to destroy Christmas (actually they are destroying humanity, Christmas was just incidentally the day). So of course the Elves will stop them. And what about some other mythics?"

Thus I came up with Black Christmas

Black Christmas. The Elf Kicking Butt and Taking Numbers with Toys and Candy movie game.

That does set the tone, doesn’t it?

This is not a beer and pretzel game, this is an eggnog and cookies game. (Just make sure the eggnog has lots of nog if you know what I mean.) Play it for fun and laughs, we certainly wrote it that way. Put on some christmas music, even if it is july, and run with it.

Oh and if you need to get in the mood or need source material, just put on some Animated Christmas specials (Rudolf, Frosty, etc), The Santa Clause Movies, or Home Alone (I).

So there are a number of submissions linked to this. While I will also post up version one of the roleplaying game, feel free to adapt this setting to any simple game system that supports super powers or cool eqipment.

Elves
Grinches
Wreathes
Angels
Figments
Black Christmas Plots
Black Christmas Rules v1

Full Description
Elfs are fey humanoids three to four feet tall. Generally they resemble lean human children of all ethnicities, with extremely pointed ears and arched brows. The females seem to have a touch of glitter on their cheeks, eyelids, and hair. While technically not organic, as creatures of magic and energy, they seem to be flesh and blood.

Traditionally they wear tunics and tights, in green, red, and white. They sometimes will wear some ethnic Chistmastide costume from around the world, or variations on them. Pointed shoes and hats seem to be the common thread no matter their garb. Favorite accessories are baking aprons, tool belts, and clipboards.

Elfs are Fey of the Fairy/Sprite family. They share features in common with Small Folk, the crafting/ domestic feys. They are quite skilled at building and making, being the only Fairies who are. They are flightless, which seems to be the trade off for being… well crafty. They still retain the Fairy abilities of glamour/ magic as well. They can still shapeshift and be invisible, but shapeshifting is a slow laborious process. 

Like all fey, they are immune to natural forces. They are magically immune to cold (and heat) (though not of ice and fire). While they don’t need to eat or breath, Elfs seem to recharge themselves when they eat sugary foods. They do not need to sleep, but they like to dream.

The Elfs live in one of the few magical places still left in the world. Their fey place is The North Pole, a magical realm reachable only by passing over the true planetary north.

This Ring (community) of Elfs once lived in Europe. There, they were toy makers, gifting the children of their region. As the regio of light divine expanded and intensified, it became harder and harder for them to leave their domain. Thus thir community grew weaker and weaker, as they were unable to meet their "obligations" to The Mortal. Providence provided through. Along came a mortal child whom they raised and fey touched (imbued with fey magics). The child grew to a man, and acted as their courier. This worked for many years. However, their magic began to wane because of the increasing divine light. To maintain themselves they took a new course. The Elfs moved to a safe place, a new magical domain. They aligned their way along with new legends that were sprouting up, adding themselves to those legends. This increased the flow of beliefs that empowered them. Now these ancient powers are aligned with The Spirit of Giving, though most people have a different name for the avatar of giving.
As fey energies were draining from the world, a variety of fey reached this pace, one of the last safe refuge. Most have adopted the Elf demeanor. A few haunted spirits retain their old forms and roam the Christmas tree forests around the Elf City and Workshops.

Now the Elfs have done everything they can to keep their legend alive. They have gotten into the "creative content" creation. This started a while ago, with the inspiration of christmas books. Helping to create animated specials has strengthened their magic. Their recent innovation was to make sure that every Jolly Guy in every mall was accompanied by Elf assistants. Their pushing the secularization of Christmas to increase the number of the believers in Christmas has had both good and bad effects. The Council is reviewing this policy and might reverse it.  

As time has progressed, the Elfs had to adapt more and more. After all, children had different toy needs over time. The Elfs have learned of technology. They combined it with their own magical ways, thus creating ElfTech.

ElfTech
ElfTech is an odd amalgam of fey magics and the principals of technology. They will use elements of technology, but combine the "traditional" the forms the Elfs are familiar with. The items make some "logical sense", if you accept the fact that gingerbread, candy, coco, and peppermint sticks are high tech items; though they are sometimes "Rube Goldberg" contraptions. No matter what they look like or are made of, the ElfTech is very useful. With this hybrid, the Elfs were able to continue to create "cool toys" for the children who believed.
Additional Information
This write up can be used as by itself (with tongue in cheek) or used as part of the Black Christmas setting.

If in a "normal" setting, the Elfs are creating "spirit duplicates" that help inspire people to give those toys to children. They are creating "cheer" to be delivered to the mortal world, and forms that help reinforce the traditions. They will make a few real toys, to be properly delivered, but most deliveries are just "wishes fulfilled". After all, the Elfs are working for the Spirit of Giving these days.

In the Black Christmas setting, The Elves were not even that. They are Figments, as in "figments of the imagination". As The Gates (The Wreaths) opened, wyld magics, magics unforseen by the Grinches, just flowed into the world. The magic took hold of the dreams, images, and ideals of the world.  It made them manifest. They came into existence, as if they had always had been there. Only a few knew they had been immaterial or non existent a moment before.

Now the Elfs are on a mission to Save Christmas. They have strapped on ElfTech and are going to go kick some Grinch butt.

They have the unusual allies of Angels. These beings have parrallel goals of stoping The Grinches, but for different reasons.

The Scroll

The scroll portion of this submission shows some ElfTech Items that you might have in the Black Christmas Setting.

If you have not read Black Christmas the Campaign this submission does not make as much sense out of context.  So go read that. Don’t worry, I’ll wait. ..*tuneless whistling* You are back? Great. Now read on.

Full Description
The Grinches are extradimensional creatures that come to the world via Wreaths (Magical Gateways in Elf Speak). Grinches are not a born race, but seem to be made by the malevolent intelligences on the other side of The Wreaths. Made out of some form of psuedo-matter, akin to fey matter, the monsters manifest as they reach the material world. They come in a variety of forms, but they are all identifiable by some constant elements.

They are Green and Black in coloration. They all end up being oddly furry. Their skin is short nappy and "felt like". Their eyes come in a variety of looks, but red and glassy seem to be the most common variation. If their actions did not reinforce their name in the first place, the green motif does make them Grinch-like.

The name Grinches comes from The Elfs who came to fight them. The Human Media people who covered the attacks latched on to the name. It has stuck since then.

They are only somewhat intelligent. They are extremely intelligent pack hunters. Sometimes they will snatch pieces of christmas such as hats, garland, bulbs, and tinsel to wear… much the way a "traditional tribesman" might decorate themselves to scare their opponents or steal its power for themselves.

They do communicate primitively through screeches and wails. The sounds also seem to generate fear or nails on chalkboard annoyance in Humans.

Normally they are just some what intelligent monsters. A Grinch will occasionally show great cunning. Perhaps the intelligence behind The Grinches are puppetting those intelligent ones. If one "Smart Grinch" is taken down, another will often take its place. (At any given time, one Grinch in a pack might have this cunning.)

They are probably not normally "material" as we think of it. They come from a "place" that probably has different rules. That is why they are all twisted, mishapen, and odd when they come through. Even versions of the same "type" are not quite the same.

Each pack of Grinches seem to be tailored for each Mission/ Assault. Each "Mission" seems to have an accompaying Wreath in which they come out of. Destroying or closing down The Wreath will prevent reinforcements and weaken the existing Grinches. This explains their variation of shapes and abilities. If they are simple Grinches who use violence, then a good sized pack of 12 Grinches (3-4 per PC on Elf Assault Team) is unleashed through The Wreath. If they are an empowered Grinches, they will often have a small pack of 5-6 Grinches supporting them.  ("Ninja" Grinches seem to run solo). Additional Grinches might emerge from The Wreaths, if left undiscovered.

Additional Information
Unfortunately, even after Black Christmas, very little is known of The Grinches.

They are probably multidimensional, which is why they can have the odd making powers. By moving through the sixth and seventh dimensions, they can effect the three dimensions in ways impossible for us.

Time probably does not flow in their home realm as it does here. It is possibly not continuous as we think of it. If it is continuous, it is fast. This is becomes evident in their Christmas motif. They studied our world briefly, then maybe again, then maybe again, then sent them through. Little did they realize that is was 350 to 370 days between peeks. Their quick view of us showed that we have this "faith system" related to Christmas (and they lump Hanukkah and Kwanzaa in as well, and Diwali and possibly even Ramadan, into it as well). This is our belief and they seem to want to destroy it. (If they had viewed more or different times, they would of saw other beliefs in action. Then again, perhaps to their view of things, this is more important than our other beliefs).

What is their purpose in on Earth?  Well it does seem that destroying The Core Human Holiday does seem to be "their goal". They are striking at Holiday Events (Carnivals, Christmas in the Park, Concerts, Carolling, etc), and places where people gather (Malls and Airports). They seem to be avoiding churches and such for the most part.

While the monsters do kill, and often do it in interesting ways, they seem more into the hurting, maiming, and chaos. They like the screaming crowd.

This leads us to an alternate option.

They seem to need emotions. They obviously feed off them.  And they seem to prefer dark emotions, as they are powerful and easy to produce. So we have pain, despair, and the crushing of hope. This seems to be their bread and butter. If not for the Grinch Minions, at least for their Masters (Some Elfs and Angels have taken to calling them Dark Hearts) on the other side of The Wreaths. This idea is lent credence, as The Grinches do not attack Churches, Temples, etc, as the people in attendance might not fall to despair since they are charged with their faith.

Full Item Description
How do The Grinches get here? Wreaths. These are not your normal green wreath hanging from doors and walls. The Wreaths of The Grinches are metal rings ranging from 1.5 to 2.5 meters (5" to 8") in diameter. The Wreaths are made up of wire bundles. The wires are a mix of silver, gold, and a metallic green. (The green metal is known as Yuelium, with such unique properties that it will become a strategic material). The bundles of wire occassionally have odd little geometic shapes the wire. They seem like little ivy leaves and odd shaped blobs of berries.

This all struck The Elfs as a Christmas Wreath. The Humans picked it up and now the name has stuck.

Wreaths just seem to appear. The Grinches’ Masters seem to send them through The Void to this world. They just appear, power up, and open up the gateways. The Elfs quickly developed detecting globes to spot incomming wreaths. The Grinches responded by "planting" wreaths. These Wreaths start as 2-5 CM rings and grow into full size. They are placed and eventually activate. (Such wreath rings have been discovered a few times, usually just before they were activated). These rings and Grinches can be detected by certain toys the Elves develop.

The existance is Wreath Rings is disturbing. It means The Grinches (and their Masters) have been on Earth Realm for a while and have a greater plan. Another disturbing implication is that they have allies that are native to Earth (and a stockpile of Wreath Rings and Yulium items). 

History
Humanity’s and Elfkinds’s experience started with Wreaths started December 24th at sunset in London.

One of the first Elf Assault Teams (or was it an Elf Rescue Team… the two divisions have a rivalry and both claim many firsts) first discovered The Wreath and watched it self destruct (and stopped the reinforcements comming through).  Now part of every Elf Team starts looking for the Wreath to stop the Grinch reinforcements.

Magic/Cursed Properties
The Wreaths open a portal between the Earth Sphere and the Realm of the Grinches’ Masters (aka The Dark Heart’s). This portal seems to be two way. Otherwise, there would be no reason for the Masters to destroy Wreaths when they might be captured by Elfs or Humans.

When self destructing, The Wreath turns white hot and the gold and silver vaperizes. Some bits of Yulium survive and can help to make some awewsome technology and eTec devices. Note, a fire usually results due to the self distruct.