LIL: Alaemon, Lilithian Prince of Intelligence

By Eric Burns

**Flaming
Feather**

The world is information; he who controls the flow of information controls the flow of the world.

You ask me why I agreed to Lilith's price? How could I not agree? I could feel myself dying, no matter what I did. I could feel the Word within me ebbing away. Lilith came to me, under the pretext of spending one of the Geases we have established between us. But once together, we talked, and she made some interesting propositions.

We had never been close before, and I'll admit I didn't trust her. I don't trust her. But she knew things... things that were close and precious, and she told me. And told me she needed someone. Someone to be her eyes and ears, and her whisper in the night. And how could I not agree, with the only possible alternative being death. No, I did not trust her, but I accepted what she offered.

And now? Now I am stronger than I have ever been before. At last, I am completely beyond the accursed Litheroy's power, with a Word he cannot touch lest he damage his own. My strength is growing, my organization is waxing, and the implications of my Word are staggering.

What could she possibly be playing at? And how am I supposed to repay such a debt? Servitude? That is simple, and Lilith is not simple. But for now I serve, and we shall see.




Alaemon hasn't merely been stabilized -- he has been drastically Word promoted. Intelligence is more than espionage, even if that's the reason he was given the Word. Intelligence is more than data -- than Secrets -- even if that's the original source of his strength. Intelligence is the power of the mind, and the capacity of the mind to know things, and the things a mind might know, and the trading of that information between those minds... Intelligence can be so many things, and he has been given dominion over them all.

It is worth noting the old D&Dism. Intelligence is not Wisdom. And Alaemon has not become wise. His paranoia has grown, seeing the Game, Judgement and War in every contact. He now fights his cold war on many fronts, and never trusts anyone at all. Not even Lilith or his allies among the Lilithian Princes. Especially not Lilith and his allies among the Lilithian Princes.

The Conspiracy itself has flourished under his swelling power, especially as defectors from the War, the Game and even Fate (which Kronos has no comment about) swell his ranks and accept his fealty. The Black Crescent, long his secret police, have grown into the public face of the Conspiracy, building headquarters in both Stygia and a black ediface in Hades. This is useful, naturally, but also marks the end of the Black Crescent's power base in his organization -- even as his old Dukes and Marquises were nothing more than a dodge, so the Black Crescent is the public address of a secret institution. Otherwise, the Secret Societies continue to play their games, with only the Lodge of Gebbeleth fading to next to nothing (Alaemon was pleased that Gebbeleth's last remaining Word-bound are dying or have died out with Lucifer's death, and the Lodge could not survive Gebbeleth not returning in the wake of the Morningstar's destruction.) New Societies are growing as well. The more things change....

Alaemon is most pleased to accept Gamesters, even though his normal paranoia is magnified around them. Still, he recognizes that he is replacing the Game, and so powerful (or more valuably, well informed) Game Servitors are an invaluable part of that process. As with all Servitors he accepts, he wipes them clean of Attunements and Distinctions before giving them some of his own -- though it has become clear he covets the Humanity attunement, and while he won't let a Gamester keep it (too hard to track, to easy to have the Servitor's loyalties stay divided) he has captured a few Game demons for experimentation. It is likely that Alaemon's association with Vapula is connected to this work.




(Please note that the following only applies to Alaemish who have been 'adapted' by Alaemon to the Lilithian Word of Intelligence. There are still Alaemish with attunements from the Luciferian Word of Secrets. Also, Alaemon does not completely eliminate his old Luciferian attunements among his Servitors (certain favored Servitors might have both his Band Attunements -- the old and the new. As always, Servitors of the Luciferian Word of Secrets have their old attunements and dissonance conditions, and no access to Rites unless otherwise specified.)

Dissonance

The half-truth remains the most powerful weapon in the spy's arsenal, but it is no longer the most important principle to Alaemon. Alaemish are now required to facilitate the flow of information up the chain to their superiors and to Alaemon himself, and to restrict the flow of information outside the organization. Demons of Intelligence become dissonant if they do not report information gathered on their missions as completely as possible (though note that they only must report information that pertains directly to their mission. 'Extracurricular' information may be kept secret) or if they lie about or refuse to answer any question put to them by legitimate superiors (though certain Balseraphs get creative on such things -- a Balseraph's successful Resonance use does not make him dissonant unless his lie is discovered. If it is, the Balseraph will automatically become dissonant from their Word and may potentially be dissonant from their Band as well.) Any information that a legitimate superior designates as classified must not be revealed to any person other than that superior's superiors, however -- to do so is dissonant. Note that for these purposes, a 'superior' may be a higher ranking Servitor of Alaemon, a higher ranking member of the Conspirator's Secret Society (or one of them), or even a Distincted Demon of another Superior who has been given command of a mission. Yes, this means it is possible to get locked between a driving need to report and a driving need to protect classified information, leading potentially to dissonance either way. Sometimes, it sucks to be Alaemish.

Band Attunements

Alaemon uses his Servitors -- generally -- as examples of different covert operatives and intelligence agents.

Balseraph (restricted): Alaemon's Balseraphs are his general field operatives, buried within the ranks of his enemies. When confronted by authorities (Celestial or otherwise), they may add their Ethereal Forces to any attempt to Resonate their confronters and convince them they have perfect access to where they're going. When on Earth, if they are successful, they are considered to have a Role in what they claim to be, at CD level, for CD hours. If they do have such a Role, they may add the effective CD to their Role's level, for CD hours. (This can exceed 6.)

Djinn (restricted): Alaemon's Djinn are his couriers and his counterintelligence operatives. They may attune themselves to a given piece of evidence. (Note that said evidence can be an entry in a database, as well as a physical thing, but must be something more than knowledge in someone's head.) Should anyone access that evidence by any means, without the Djinn's knowledge, the Djinn will instantly know it has been compromised, and will further get an automatic Resonance Roll to attune to the intruder, regardless of distance. If successful, they may track the intruder as normal.

Calabim (restricted): Alaemon's Calabim are his assassins. Their attunement is the same as per Superiors 4 p.6.

Habbalah (partially restricted): The Habbalah of Intelligence are his expert interrogators, charged with breaking the opposition's will, breaking their spirit, breaking their information and then breaking them entirely. They may add their Ethereal Forces to any attempt to use any skill on a prisoner they're interrogating (Detect Lies, Fast-Talk, even Seduction, as an example.) They may also use their Ethereal Forces to modify their Resonance Rolls when Resonating an Interrogation subject as a part of the process. (Habbalah like to alternate between Sadness and Fury at the target's predicament, Love for the Habbalite, and Emptiness when they try to muster their emotional reserves to fight the interrogation.)

Lilim (restricted): Alaemon's Lilim are his Moles. This is the same as per Superiors 4 p.7.

Shedim (restricted): The Shedim of Intelligence are the perfect Deep Cover operatives. When using their Resonance to possess a victim, they may choose to either possess them as normal, or to enter Deep Cover. With a successful use of this attunement, a Shedite may slip into their target's brain and sit, completely undetectable, with access to everything the target senses and to the target's thoughts. While in Deep Cover, the Shedite cannot communicate with his host, and therefore can neither influence nor control his host. However, he is exempt from his Band Dissonance Conditions, and rather than his host gaining bonuses to detect his guest, the host has a penalty of the Shedite's Celestial Forces to ever detect the Shedite. While in Deep Cover, the Shedite can do nothing to affect the outside world, including using other attunements or Songs, though he could still use the Snapshot attunement to record. (And the Disturbance for the Essence expenditure can be detected, which could lead to unwelcome investigation.) Note that while the Deep Cover Shedite cannot be detected, an attempt to possess the host (either through the Kyriotate Resonance, Shedite Resonance or the Song of Possession) will treat the host as already possessed.

Impudites (partially restricted): Alaemon's Impudites are his Agent Provocateurs. From Mata Hari to James Bond, the image of the seductive secret agent is ingrained in popular consciousness. These agents may add their Ethereal Forces to any skill use that ingratiates them with others, such as Seduction or Fast-Talk. They may also add their Ethereal Forces to any attempt to use their Resonance to Charm a target.

Servitor Attunements

Lilith's Document Shredder: This attunement works the same as Lucifer's Document Shredder, Superiors 4 p.8.

Snapshot: This attunement is the ultimate concealed recorder. Within thirty seconds of seeing an event, hearing a sound, or otherwise sensing a moment, the Servitor may record the sights and sounds of that moment exactly at a cost of 2 Essence. The event may take no longer than thirty seconds total, but that thirty second block is perfectly preserved in the Demon's memory. The Servitor may glance at documents in a file, scanning over them very swiftly, and record large sections of information with this attunement. After storing, the Servitor may retrieve the information and place it on appropriate media (paper for written materials, videotape or DVD for footage, audio tape or a CD for a sound, and so forth) at a cost of 1 Essence. This does not erase the stored snapshot. A demon may have as many snapshots in his head as he has Ethereal Forces. If he needs to connect more than one (in thirty second blocks), he may create one contiguous memory for 2 Essence per thirty second block used, plus a successful Precision Roll, at -1 for each additional block after the first. A Servitor may 'empty' a snapshot's slot at will, without Essence cost.

Distinctions

Knight of Espionage: Alaemon's Knights have the ability to see in complete darkness, allowing them to read files under cover of darkness or otherwise perform their duties without running the risk of using lights. Printed materials they gather with the Snapshot attunement will be reproduced properly, though video recordings produced will be dark.

Captain of the Bureau: This is the same as Alaemon's Luciferian Captain of Private Chambers Distinction, Superiors 4 p.8.

Baron of Her Majesty's Secret Service: (Her Majesty of course referring to Lilith.) This is the same as Alaemon's Luciferian Baron of the Vault Distinction, Superiors 4 p.8.

Relations

With the change of his Word, Alaemon has been forced to interact with his fellow Lilithian Princes more than was his wont before. In particular, Kronos and his Archives are invaluable to Alaemon, and the Prince of Intelligence was swift to curry favor with the enigmatic Prince of Fate. Kronos himself finds Alaemon useful. Rebekah and Vapula, both strongly bolstered by the information Alaemon's spies can bring to them, have strongly supported Alaemon, and he in turn has instructed his Servitors to support them -- but always gathering information on them. Similarly, Alaemon and Andrealphus have cultivated an understanding -- the two Impudite Princes can see good benefit to staying close to one another. Alaemon resents the destructive Furfur, who decimates without warning, and works against him as much as any Lilithian Prince will oppose another. Furfur barely notices Alaemon, in response.

One item of note is Alaemon and Beleth's lack of association or camaradrie, when both had been Associated before Lucifer's death. Alaemon still can see the value of the Princess of Horror, but with the exchange of covert information now more important than the driving need for paranoia (beyond Paranoia's role in driving mankind to spy on one another), Alaemon has stepped away from the Princess. In return, Beleth -- herself unhappy with her Word 'promotion,' sees no value in cultivating such a relationship.

The Luciferian Princes, as in other cases, should be considered one step worse than their listing in Superiors 4 -- excepting Asmodeus. Alaemon is hostile to Asmodeus as he works to displace him.

Allied: Kronos (Rebekah and Vapula are Allied with Alaemon)
Associated: Andrealphus, Rebekah, Vapula (Andrealphus and Kronos are associated with Alaemon)
Hostile: Furfur (No one is Hostile to Alaemon)

Rites



Chance of Invocation: 1

Invocation Modifiers

Alaemon is consciously emulating his Luciferian opposite number (and enemy) by checking in with each of his Servitors personally on a regular basis -- about once every two weeks, for now.

+1 A human with more than 170 I.Q.
+2 A currently active codebook
+3 A working Enigma machine
+4 The only eyewitness to an atrocity
+5 The complete proof explaining a global conspiracy
+6 The complete nuclear codes of a superpower

**Flaming
Feather**

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