Hi --
I'm getting ready to run a game (a rather abrupt departure from my beloved Amber, I must admit) and last night I was in the midst of plotting. And I got stuck.
Some of the plot revolves around this object that I gave Vapula and his minions called "the Device". It's a giant H. R. Geiger-ish hulking monstrosity with metal plates and tubes and wires and computer hunks and the whole nine yards. You power it by stuffing a Celestial in it and it runs off their forces until it drains them dry. The computer interface uses "Microsoft Device" running on Windows 95. (This IS hell, you know.) I even created a minion, an Impudite of Vapula, to administrate it.
The problem is............. I can't decide exactly what it DOES, per se. Maybe nothing. I have a 117 ft. neon glowing Jesus somewhere out there that is supposed to do exactly nothing.
Or maybe it's a big web server.
Has anyone toyed with any really strange automations like this?
THANKS.
Emily K. Dresner, M.S.Eng.
Computer Systems Consultant III
Medical Center Information Technology
Desktop Applications Team
Current Quote:
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I really feel it's best if it doesn't do a blessed (pardon the expression) thing. Not that the PCs can discover, anyway. Once it goes past Hulking Menacingly and you lock it into actually *doing* something, part of its raw power in the story is gone; ultimately, it's just an {X}, albiet a really, really big, Evil Vapulan {X}.
-James, Think Fuzzy.
Since "the Device" runs off a celestial's forces, maybe it's a transfusion machine -- tears a force out of one celestial and solders it into another. For an amusing bug, maybe the inserted force always registers as corporeal -- you can make celestial superheroes this way, but that's all. Or maybe you can't predict how the new force will be assigned. Or maybe the new force AND one of your old forces gets reassigned at random. Or maybe you get a new force and some random discords.
After all, surely this is just the beta-test version, right?
Another idea for "the Device." It takes the celestial apart and puts it together differently -- minus one force for operating expenses.
The IDEA was to let demon princes (or Vapula, anyway) adjust the composition of their servitor population at will. "I need more balseraphs, so I'll just turn some excess impudites into balseraphs."
But, as I suggested in the previous post, the beta-test version. The celestial goes in and comes out re-assigned AT RANDOM.
Works on celestials of either side, but, since the side you're on is a matter of moral choice, it can't make you switch sides. Still, it ought to be upsetting enough to start the day as a malakite and end it as a bright lilim ... and down one force.
And don't forget the random-discord bug.
Earl Wajenberg
}I really feel it's best if it doesn't do a blessed
(pardon the
}expression) thing. Not that the PCs can discover, anyway.
}Once it goes past Hulking Menacingly and you lock it into
}actually *doing* something, part of its raw power in the story
}is gone; ultimately, it's just an {X}, albiet a really, really
}big, Evil Vapulan {X}.
Agreed. Perhaps even their Superiors aren't really sure what precisely it could be used to do - but once you've seen an angel/demon/celestial/outcast/whatever that the players cared about locked into it and drained to a shrieking, twisted shell, well, you just have to blow the thing up, no?
For some reason I am getting Avengers/Bond flashes at this point. No, no, Vapula does _not_ pet a white fluffy cat as the wide-eyed Seraph of Novalis is locked into its clutches. Really. And that isn't the Malakim of Michael doing a Chow-Yun Fat impersonation with two guns in the hallway. Nor is that the Ofanite of Gabriel doing a motorcycle skid along the catwalk in an attempt to get the Elohite with the vital knowledge to dismantle it there in time...
Of course, what happens when it blows up and all the vital Essence seething at the core gives birth to _something_ else... well, that's up to you.
Maya, Elohim of Eli in service to Blandine
Hey -
[ Insert lots of cool responses ]
Thanks all who responded. You guys rule. :)
} }I really feel it's best if it doesn't do a blessed
(pardon the
} }expression) thing. Not that the PCs can discover, anyway.
} }Once it goes past Hulking Menacingly and you lock it into
} }actually *doing* something, part of its raw power in the story
} }is gone; ultimately, it's just an {X}, albiet a really, really
} }big, Evil Vapulan {X}.
}
} Agreed. Perhaps even their Superiors aren't really
sure what precisely it
} could be used to do - but once you've seen an
} angel/demon/celestial/outcast/whatever that the players cared about locked
} into it and drained to a shrieking, twisted shell, well, you just have
to
} blow the thing up, no?
I'm leaning towards agreeing as well. I mean, hell, it's just in beta test. Not only doesn't it do anything, but it doesn't do anything with BUGS. It's like a big screensaver, but with lots of gadgets, that sucks a Celestial dry into a shrieking shell. (That part is cool.)
Although the thought of popping a celestial in and using their forces to churn out mindless Soldiers of Hell in the form of Microsoft Marketing Executives and IBM Customer Relations Representatives is equally appealing. I can't think of anything more EVIL.
} For some reason I am getting Avengers/Bond flashes
at this point. No, no,
} Vapula does _not_ pet a white fluffy cat as the wide-eyed Seraph of Novalis
} is locked into its clutches. Really. And that isn't the Malakim of Michael
} doing a Chow-Yun Fat impersonation with two guns in the hallway. Nor is
that
} the Ofanite of Gabriel doing a motorcycle skid along the catwalk in an
} attempt to get the Elohite with the vital knowledge to dismantle it there
in
} time...
Oh man. Now I've got this image from Goldfinger in my head. Some poor Malakim being strapped into the machine by Vapula's grinning mindless Impudite henchmen as Vapula stands back petting a fluffy, very cute white cat.
"Okay, Vapula, now I'll talk."
"No, my friend. Now, you WILL die."
} Of course, what happens when it blows up and
all the vital Essence seething
} at the core gives birth to _something_ else... well, that's up to you.
Well, of course it will. It will give life to some technological hulking monstrosity which will do nasty things with all the extra essence it has built up. You can't let a good bad guy go out without a huge fight and some big explosions.
How about: It removes pollution from the air. Heck, he might get some Angels from Novalis or Jordi to sacrifice themselves in it. Of course, they wouldn't have to know that it simply precipitates the pollution out of the air into the soil and that plans will take it up and will themselves start to produce the pollution as part of their metabolic processes. Thus, in the long run, increasing the level of pollution. People would then have to rip up the plants to prevent them from polluting....
I tend to go for devices that look like they do something good but end up causing even greater problems. And a big device should have a big effect.
}Has anyone toyed with any really strange automations like this?
No, just a twisted imagination. {grin}
Off topic, I just ran Eudora Pro's spell checker and when it got to Jordi, it suggested "Word." Now I could see Jean getting in there but Jordi? {grin}
-- Jeff
Kinkycool!
I have been inspired -- 21 Infernal Devices:
1) It makes new demons. Meybe of a special band that can only be made with this machine.
2) It makes sausages. (Those who like sausages and respect the law...) {thanks Austin!}
3) It makes finger cuffs that suck essence.
4) It prevents Macintosh from getting a break. (Or whatever OS you prefer.)
5) It gives Jean the hiccups.
6) It makes really buff android vessels (vessel/7+).
7) It makes chihauhaus.
8) It's Vapula's office stapler.
9) It gives power to Bill Gates. Destroy it, and his `empire' will crash.
10) It gives power to Barney. Destroy it, and his `empire' will crash.
11) It keeps Hell warm. Destroy it, and Hell will freeze over.
12) It grades those 'fill in the dot with a #2 pencil' tests.
13) It makes airborne computer viruses.
14) It's Vapula's Heart.
15) It's an armageddon Bomb, capable of destroying the Celestial, Corpreal, and Erthereal planes simultaneously.
16) It's a Reliquary/666 for Vapula's personal use.
17) It makes industrial and nuclear waste.
18) It's a printing press for 'Infernal Mechanics' magazine.
19) It makes Tamaguchi (sp?).
20) It makes Hexium 666 microchips. (Don't even *try* division...)
21) Even Vapula doesn't know what it does, but he's sure whatever it is, it's really, Really, *Really* cool.
That was fun.
Hope this helps, Martin Leuschen martinl@rice.edu
Well, I've been waiting to mention this for awhile...I've got a suggestion for what the Device does...If you're willing to let it not _completely_ Force-Strip the Celestials placed in it...
I suggest the Device does the following, given a Celestial and a Celest
Step 1: Remove all Ethereal Forces from the Subject, which are used to power the device for the following steps. The subject will then gain an Ethereal Discord. The machine prevents the subject from gaining troublesome Discords, namely Bound or Aura. All the other Ethereal Discords in the core book are permitted.
Step 2: Destroy all Vessels the Subject has.
Step 3: Bind the Celestial into a prepared Celestial Artifact, This artifact will function as a Vessel on Earth, and as the new Celestial Form while in Heaven or Hell. It also serves to hide the Subject's presence, such that the objectappears to be a perfectly normal artifact.
Step 4: Apply the Bound Discord between the Subject and the Artifact. Apply sufficent levels to reduce the Subject's Will to zero when resisting commands from the holder of the artifact.
And that's where Hell's Reliquaries come from.
Removing only the Ethereal Forces tears away nearly all of the memory and personality, and the high levels of Bound are enough to reduce the Will of anybody but a Superior-Caliber Celestial low enough that he'll do anything the holder of the Artifact asks. The Vessel and the new Celestial Form are designed to Immobilize the Celestial on both planes, and cut it off from all sensory input, as Vapula would rather not have the converted soul of use to anyone if the process is ever succesfully reversed. All the lobotomized Celestial ever hears is the mental commands from its possessor, and it can't do a thing but comply.
The average Human soul will suffice to make up to a Reliquary/3 or /4, the average Celestial will make a /5 or /6...and if Vapula wants one bigger, he takes one of his more disobedient Impudites and graciously allows him to keep his Attunement while he's being twisted into a Reliquary/12.
And, if you want to get _really_ nasty with this sort of thing, you can allow the Celestial to continue to use his Resonance.This works better with Resonances that don't sense things, as the trapped celestial can't communicate. The Calabim Resonance can be used to break things, the Habbalah resonance can be used to force emotions on people, and the Impudite Resonance can be used to steal Essence.
The only other problem with making this the standard manner of creating Reliquaries is that Celestials with Hearts will snap back there if the Artifact is destroyed. These artifacts might be constructed in a manner akin to the way Saminga creates undead, in that destroying the Artifact destroys the Soul.
Barring that, the process could remove _all_ the Celestial Forces before killing the Vessels, and turn the subject into a Remnant. The Heart will then shatter, and the Machine can then replace the Celestial Forces once the subject has been successfully Bound.
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