in_nomine-digest Wednesday, September 5 2001 Volume 01 : Number 2357 In this digest: Re: IN> Iron Rev:Survive the Secret Temptation of Maze Island Re: IN> Iron Rev:Survive the Secret Temptation of Maze Island Re: IN> On Lightning Re: IN> Out of curiosity... IN> Changing the Subject For The Newbie (Re: Iron Rev:Survive the Secret Temptation of Maze Island) Re: IN> Changing the Subject For The Newbie Re: IN> Iron Rev:Survive the Secret Temptation of Maze Island [ADMIN] Re: IN> Iron Rev:Survive the Secret Temptation of Maze Island Re: IN> Iron Rev:Survive the Secret Temptation of Maze Island Re: IN> Iron Rev:Survive the Secret Temptation of Maze Re:IN> Iron Rev:Survive the Secret Temptation of Maze Island IN> Why is it that writing up AAs of Faith takes me at least 3 months? (Part 1) IN> Heretical AA of Faith (Part 2) Re: IN> Iron Rev:Survive the Secret Temptation of Maze Island IN> Successors - A Sorcerers' World IN> Kyrios and Toungues... Re: IN> Why is it that writing up AAs of Faith takes me at least 3 months? (Part 1) Re: IN> Why is it that writing up AAs of Faith takes me at least 3 months? (Part 1) IN> I plead mild delirium... ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: 04 Sep 2001 21:30:08 +0100 From: "Richard C Hanton-Rutherford" Subject: Re: IN> Iron Rev:Survive the Secret Temptation of Maze Island >From: "Jo Hart" >> >> You're just jealous because not only do we do good TV better than >> you do, we also do crap TV better :P > >At least our version of Match Game didn't need a drag queen host to >be >interesting. ;p That's where your wrong - Blankety Blank (yeah, I know, Match Game _is_ a better name) still wasn't interesting, even with Lilly Savage (heavily dissonant Balseraph of Lust, anybody?). The show's original host was a fat man who's main joke to play the piano badly. Not even Kobal would own up it. Richie H-R - -- ------------------------------ Date: 04 Sep 2001 21:41:34 +0100 From: "Richard C Hanton-Rutherford" Subject: Re: IN> Iron Rev:Survive the Secret Temptation of Maze Island >second - have any of you run any cross-over games w/ >delta green? Not with Delta Green per se, but I have used Cthulhu mythos stuff in my games. Just treat the Old Ones as Ethereal Gods. Richie H-R - -- ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 4 Sep 2001 16:55:46 -0400 (EDT) From: Anthony Lawrence Damiani Subject: Re: IN> On Lightning >>Actually, one can make a case that Lightning was involved in human advancement very early, with the discovery of the uses of fire. The easiest source of fire for early Man to play with were fires started by nearby lightning strikes. (There's a quote from Jean in my campaign along the lines of "Do you know how many times I had to hit nearby trees before those humans got a clue about fire?") - - ---Walter 's a valid alternate take on Jean (and a really cool quote), but one of the reasons I had for my retro-Jean is that he wasn't responsible for teaching man how to make fire (in obscenely obscure canon from the GMG), it was Lucifer's project (admittedly with Jean's assistance). Hmm. What surprises me more there, looking at it, is that Gabriel, even then Archangel of Fire and linked with inspiration apparently had no role in teaching man how to kindle fire. Wonder why? -ALD (FINALLY back with proper net-access). ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 4 Sep 2001 16:54:23 -0400 From: Elizabeth McCoy Subject: Re: IN> Out of curiosity... At 2:21 PM -0400 9/4/01, Cameron McCurry wrote: > Is there any news at all on the status of getting the digests back >on line? No. O:/ I'll try to catch the webmaster on PyraMOO sometime, but short of that... *sigh* - --emccoy@nh.ultranet.com // arcangel@io.com In Nomine Line Editor RPG links; Random name list, Art: http://www.io.com/~arcangel/ ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 4 Sep 2001 17:06:01 -0400 From: Elizabeth McCoy Subject: IN> Changing the Subject For The Newbie (Re: Iron Rev:Survive the Secret Temptation of Maze Island) At 11:59 AM -0700 9/4/01, Jeff Schreier wrote: >Good day, Howdy! >I am a new subscriber to the list and just had a few >questions .... I am sorry if they have already been >addressed Here, let me be mean a moment: Make Sure You Have Read The Listrules. They are at www.sjgames.com/in-nomine/listrules.html . Reading them several times may well save you from the wrath of the Djinn Princess of List Admin. (That's me.) >first - is there a digest format? the amount of >traffic in the first hour is amazing ... I can only >imagine how many messages I will have tommorrow >morning ... The digest may or may not be working... check www.sjgames.com/in-nomine/lists.html on how to s u b s c r i b e to the digest, but don't u n s u b s c r i b e to this one till you're sure it's working. The digest archiver is _not_ online, though, which is not useful. Hopefully this will someday be changed. I suspect I will need aid from a digest-savvy person to update it from my personal files, too. I save _everything._ O:> [Question: Beth, why did you spell out those words above? Answer: Simple. In order to catch people who didn't save the message that says SAVE THIS MESSAGE, and don't know to check the listrules.html file, and send their u n/s u b messages to the list, I have a toggle set to catch those words and forward them -- not to the list -- but to the list admin mailbox, so I can deal with them. But if it sees "u n s" without the spaces, or "s u b s c r i b e", ditto, it will _still_ bounce...)] >second - have any of you run any cross-over games w/ >delta green? Nope. >third - are there many resources for conversions of >items into GURPs (aside from the book itself ... i.e. >has anyone converted the liber series items into >GURPS?) In the queue for the INC is a nice set of conversion-notes for the Liber Canticorum. The rest of the stuff should translate pretty well, far as I can think -- you'd just have to assign a reasonable point-cost to the artifacts from Relics, based on the notion that corporeal artifacts are generally 10 days to enchant per level, ethereal artifacts are 30 days per level (and cost as per skips), and celestial artifacts should take around a year per level. Unless it was a Superior gift, of course, in which case you just throw a reasonable-guess number at it and tell them it costs that many points to start the game with the Gizmo. O:> - --emccoy@nh.ultranet.com // arcangel@io.com In Nomine Line Editor RPG links; Random name list, Art: http://www.io.com/~arcangel/ ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 04 Sep 2001 16:15:58 -0500 From: EDG Subject: Re: IN> Changing the Subject For The Newbie At 05:06 PM 9/4/01 -0400, you wrote: >In the queue for the INC is a nice set of conversion-notes for >the Liber Canticorum. As a note, this conversion has been added, and is available at the following address: http://www.sjgames.com/in-nomine/articles/ginsongs.html - -EDG ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 4 Sep 2001 16:15:35 -0500 From: "Prodigal" Subject: Re: IN> Iron Rev:Survive the Secret Temptation of Maze Island From: "Richard C Hanton-Rutherford" > > > >At least our version of Match Game didn't need a drag queen > >host tobe interesting. ;p > > That's where your wrong - Blankety Blank (yeah, I know, > Match Game _is_ a better name) still wasn't interesting, My first reaction to seeing th ehost was "Well, that's interesting," thus my last reply. Agreed on the show itself being deathly dull - once the novelty of seeing a host in drag wore off, only extreme tiredness and a love for the original source prevented me from seeing if anything else was on. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 4 Sep 2001 17:59:20 -0400 From: Elizabeth McCoy Subject: [ADMIN] Re: IN> Iron Rev:Survive the Secret Temptation of Maze Island If there's no In Nomine content (and I just read at _least_ one where there was nada), then the discussion of Who Has The Worst TV Shows is off-topic. I mean, really, people -- not even a _mention_ of Nybbas, which is enough of a no-brainer... - --Beth, List Admin http://www.sjgames.com/in-nomine/listrules.html ------------------------------ Date: 04 Sep 2001 23:24:33 +0100 From: "Richard C Hanton-Rutherford" Subject: Re: IN> Iron Rev:Survive the Secret Temptation of Maze Island >Agreed on the show itself being deathly dull - once the novelty of >seeing a >host in drag wore off, only extreme tiredness and a love for the >original >source prevented me from seeing if anything else was on. I don't mean to sound like a dick (though I guess it's kind of unavoidable), but Blankety Blank easily predates the American version, so "original source" probably isn't the best term. Anyway, enough of the real world - this is an In Nomine list, after all. The Eli write-up was great, though I prefer it when Dominic is hostile to him. And I find the canon version perfectly playable - I generally treat him like him Destruction of the Endless, whom he appears to be kind of "borrowed" from anyway. Richie H-R - -- ------------------------------ Date: 04 Sep 2001 23:28:46 +0100 From: "Richard C Hanton-Rutherford" Subject: Re: IN> Iron Rev:Survive the Secret Temptation of Maze >If there's no In Nomine content (and I just read at _least_ one where >there was nada), then the discussion of Who Has The Worst TV Shows >is off-topic. > >I mean, really, people -- not even a _mention_ of Nybbas, which is >enough >of a no-brainer... Sorry If I helped us get kind of off topic, there. It did start as a totally valid discussion of my Iron Rev plot seed, but things kind of got lost along the way. We did get plenty of quality Nybbas discussion at the beginning though. Anyway, successors...... Richie H-R - -- ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 04 Sep 2001 18:51:07 -0400 From: "S.D." Subject: Re:IN> Iron Rev:Survive the Secret Temptation of Maze Island I'm posting purely to quote this part of a certain sentance. "That's right - Laurence is a Balseraph." ....am I the only one getting severely disturbing mental images from that? ^_^; ~S.D. Ryukage http://fly.to/sd_nexus/ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Madness is a slippery concept. A shame that no one realized that he was a Prophet until he came to Heaven: it would have made things much easier all around. St. Phillip is certainly happier now that people aren't looking at him oddly whenever he comes up with an insight at ninety degrees to established reality. On Phillip, Saint of Divine Fire, 'The Cadre' ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 4 Sep 2001 21:07:34 -0700 (PDT) From: Maurice Lane Subject: IN> Why is it that writing up AAs of Faith takes me at least 3 months? (Part 1) I mean, Kyrio Eli just flowed out. AA Haagenti was a two-nighter. Silly Lynoure wrote herself. But, getting out a simple Heretical AA of Faith is like pulling teeth for me. Arrgh... ;) Moe "This one is for DARK campaigns, BTW. I just thought that I should mention that" Lane Phanuel, Grigori Outcast Archangel of Faith The world is a test of our Faith. Believe, even if you do not see. None in Heaven ever speak of the Watcher Archangels anymore. Even after so many millennia, the anguish is too deep. It was a necessary action to take (or so the argument goes), but the Host had to force away the embodiments of the two Words that most succored angels. They had to cast out Song ... and Faith. Neither Archangel has ever been seen again by their former peers. No matter how badly it seems that they needed both. Organization Before he was made Outcast, Phanuel had a small but growing number of Servitors, set up along the lines of a fairly traditional hierarchy. Due to the relative newness of their Archangel, Servitors of Faith were still working out protocols and formalities in dealing with each other. Each Servitor still felt personally bound to the others in general, and to any one of several ad hoc groups in particular. This solidarity shattered like a ceramic mug on a stone floor when Phanuel and his Choir were made Outcast. The Grigori of Faith went with their Superior: the others were, bluntly, prevented from following. The various groups were split up; their members scattered among the rest of the Host. It is interesting to note that very few assigned to Stone or Purity lasted very long - and that almost no Malakim that once served Faith have survived to the current day. The rest have mostly faded back into the background of Heaven. Still, there are rumors. There are rumors that Judgement is constantly monitoring (and sometimes suppressing) secretive organizations descended from the old groups. There are rumors that more than one Servitor of Faith has joined Phanuel in exile - or that some Outcasts have sought his service. There are even rumors that there are angels that have never seen Heaven, having been created directly by Faith and fighting a lonely War on their own. But rumors are rumors. The Truth is inaccessible to any Seraph below the rank of Archangel, and they never speak it to Servitors. Dissonance Before the Second Fall, it was dissonant for a Servitor of Faith to cause a mortal to lose his or her faith in God. Presumably, it still is; however, Heaven no longer has any Servitors aligned to that Word, and so cannot confirm this. From the records, it would seem that Servitors of Faith had to beware of being too obvious, or being too s u b tle. It was not dissonant to confirm a human's faith in God by revealing to him the War, but it was considered risky. 'A little knowledge is a dangerous thing': Phanuel was always concerned that revealing too much could cause a human to stop exercising his or her Faith - thus making it weak and puny when the human needed it the most. Choir Attunements Some of these are conjectural: while former Mercurians of Faith are relatively common (as are Elohim), Phanuel's Seraphim are almost all gone by now - and no surviving former Malakite of Faith has kept the Archangel's appropriate Attunement. The Grigori of Faith Attunement is only dimly remembered, and the Bright Lilim Attunement is pure conjecture. All attempts to reconstruct them have been fatally hampered by Phanuel's Ineffability Servitor Attunement (see below). Seraph (restricted) Faith's former Seraphim were able to automatically determine whether others had True Faith: with a successful Perception roll, they could determine who or what the Faith was in. Those Seraphim still surviving that have this Attunement are universally Servitors of Judgement, and apparently under orders by Dominic to not discuss their former Superior. Cherub Cherubim of Faith could choose one person (not necessarily someone that they were attuned to) and protect them: the person affected gained a +3 to Detect Lies, Dodge and any attempt to resist a demonic resonance. Ofanite (restricted) The Wheels of Faith could make a trade with the Symphony: they could temporarily surrender their free will, in exchange for being instantly being transported to a place where they could aid someone in keeping, rekindling and/or restoring one's Faith. However, once this ability was used, the Ofanite was not permitted to abandon the situation until the crisis of Faith was resolved: doing so anyway resulted in a point of dissonance, which would not be removed if the angel had come back later. Elohite (restricted) Elohim of Faith are able to automatically use their resonance to determine why a person had faith, with a CD equal to their Celestial Forces. Malakite Considering that these legendary warriors of Faith added their Corporeal Forces to the Power of successful attacks against demons and Hellsworn, it's amazing that none of them have survived to the present day. Kyriotate Kyriotates of Faith get a +3 to any resonance roll to possess an individual sincerely praying for deliverance. Bright Lilim A fabulous beast only whispered about but never seen: indeed, there's no real proof that there are any. Still, someone is causing those with the Need "Have my Faith in God strengthened/defended" to be instantly obvious to angels... Mercurian There are more Mercurians of Faith still around than any other Choir: their ability to automatically find the best way to explain matters of Faith to an individual human is prized. Grigori The Grigori were able to use their resonance to automatically determine whether a perceived disturbance was caused by an attempt to make someone lose or gain faith in something. Of course, all Grigori of Faith were stripped of their Attunements before they were Outcast. Of course. Servitor Attunements Ineffability Every action performed by an angel with this Attunement is shrouded in mystery: attempts to later detect his or her influence will automatically fail for those who are not Symphonically Aware. Those with Symphonic Awareness will still be at a penalty equal to (the angel's Celestial Forces) to detect said influence. (Sidebar) Mystery Wrapped in an Enigma Phanuel, of course, has this Attunement, only more so. At Superior level, it effectively denies anyone below the level of Superior the ability to resonate (or remotely detect) any actions done by a Servitor of Faith. This is the primary reason why it's so hard to determine precisely what influence Faith has over the modern world: the only ones with any semblance of an idea are Dominic, Litheroy, Michael and (probably) Yves... and they do not speak of it to others. (/Sidebar) Naked Gaze Angels with this Attunement automatically knew when someone was lying about having Faith: by making a Perception roll, they could determine what the entity actually had Faith in. Distinctions Phanuel had only designated one, by the time of his trial: Soothers. Soothers were able to automatically negate a demonic resonance by spending 5 Essence. The Archangel of Faith used them to combat Balseraphs and Shedim. If there are other Distinctions available for modern Servitors of Faith (assuming, again, that any exist), they are not known. Relations There aren't any, officially. Of course, 'officially' Michael isn't feuding with at least three of his colleagues, 'officially' Eli isn't the Heavenly equivalent of a Renegade, 'officially' the Council isn't deadlocked between the Peace and War Factions... That being said, if anybody has a link with Phanuel, it's well hidden. The Council is pretty much polarized on this issue: depending on whom you ask, the necessary course of action regarding the Archangel of Faith ranges from 'find him and bring him back' to 'find him and remove his Word'. Freakishly, the middle position of 'ignore him and move on' is about the only thing that Dominic, Janus and Jordi agree upon. Allied: No one (Novalis and Yves would be Allied with Phanuel) Associated: No one (Eli, Gabriel and Michael would be Associated with Phanuel) Neutral: No one (Janus, Jordi, Laurence and Marc are Neutral to Phanuel) Hostile: No one (Blandine, David, Dominic and Jean are Hostile to Phanuel) ===== Liber Licentiae Moeticae: http://www.stormloader.com/users/moelane/innomine.html Last updated 07/29/01(this is usually way out of date) __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Get email alerts & NEW webcam video instant messaging with Yahoo! Messenger http://im.yahoo.com ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 4 Sep 2001 21:09:11 -0700 (PDT) From: Maurice Lane Subject: IN> Heretical AA of Faith (Part 2) Phanuel, Grigori Outcast Archangel of Faith (Part II) Blandine: "I don't know. The consequences of his Choir's Outcasting are still unfolding: based on Uriel's later behavior, it's possible that their opponents were not totally disinterested, and we've been hampered by the loss of Phanuel's Word. But the Grigori weren't innocent, either. It might be best if the Word ... became vacant." David: "Are you joking? The others think too highly of Faith, anyway: it is better to know." Dominic: "I stand by the results of the trial. All of the results of the trial." Eli: "What do you think I'm trying to find out? There are times that I wish that I hadn't been talked out of bailing at the same time as Phanuel. At least that way I might be able to figure out where he is now." Gabriel: "We cast out Faith: is it so strange that it has become such a slippery thing to grasp and hold dear?" Janus: "Much as I hate to say it, Phanuel was guilty. He kept silent when the rest of his Choir was sinning, making him just as deserving of punishment. I hope that he has taken this lesson to heart ... but until the world changes, Heaven must stay closed to him." Jean: "Faith is apparently necessary to humanity. The current holder of the Word is unacceptable. The logical conclusion should be obvious." Jordi: "Animals don't need Faith: only a human would be so contrary as to need such constant reassurance. If Phanuel is still out there, he's among the only ones who need his help, so what exactly is the problem?" Laurence: "Much as I dislike to contradict my colleagues, I am ... u n sure ... whether Phanuel's Exile was completely called for. Surely we could have determined the reliability of the Watcher Archangels, at least, before such a drastic action. I really must review the transcripts of that trial again." (Sidebar) Faith and the Sword Laurence is starting to get annoyed. He is, after all, Commander of the Armies of Heaven - with all of the respect and deference that such a position implies. However, the responses that the Archangel of the Sword gets whenever he brings up the s u b ject of the Archangel of Faith are simply unacceptable. Laurence has heard a variation of "Don't worry about it, kid" one too many times, and it's starting to grate. At the moment, he's mostly trying to gather intelligence (more accurately, he's having Marc gather intelligence for him) about Faith's history, operations and influence on Earth. The Archangel of the Sword is keeping an open mind: if Phanuel has been keeping his nose clean enough and doing his job, then .... well, there is such a thing as time off for good behavior. The political stink that would arise from this parole will be considerable - but so is Laurence's current frustration with trying to fight a War without all the right tools. Getting Faith back into the toolbox will be very, very satisfying. If the rest of the Council doesn't like it, well, they can go complain to God. (/sidebar) Marc: "He's still fighting Hell - I think. I'm pretty sure of that, from what I've been able to uncover. The time may not be right for all of the Grigori's return, but possibly Phanuel's expiated his own sins. Ask me again when I've acquired more information." Michael: "You know, the older I get the less inclined I am to consider someone to be evil just because he or she causes the Hyena to froth at the mouth. Seeing as I was never so inclined in the first place, by now I'm just about ready to go look for Phanuel myself." Novalis: "I said then that exiling all of the Grigori was wrong. I kept saying it for the next thirteen thousand years. I'm saying it now ... and some of the others are finally starting to listen to me. I just hope that it isn't too late." Yves: (Looks at watch) Role in the War Before he became Outcast, Phanuel's task was to nurture humanity's Faith in God: not for His sake, but for theirs. The proclivities and habits of demons had come as a violent shock to the Host: their attacks on humans, more so. However, it soon became clear that a true belief in Goodness provided at least some defense against even the most heinous acts: Phanuel threw himself into the job of strengthening and refining that defense. Presumably, he's still doing it - and it's almost certain that he's got helpers. Nobody's quite sure whether or not Phanuel can create new angels, but even if he cannot, there are enough Outcasts (and, some whisper, Renegades) in the world for the Archangel of Faith to recruit a decent-sized army. By now, these servants of Phanuel have passed beyond conjecture and gone straight into myth. It's said that they call themselves the Defenders, pledged to fight their lonely war in the shadows, never openly revealing themselves in the light. It's said that they will still come to the aid of those who have rejected them - but never in a manner that would confirm their existence. It's said that they seek out the bleakest situations and places, tirelessly striving to keep nigh hopeless from becoming truly hopeless. But then, people say so many things. Rites The Host remembers that "Rekindle a person's Faith" and "Compose a art work that celebrates Faith" were two of Phanuel's Rites before he became Outcast. Whether he supports them or not anymore is unknown: those Rites were removed from former Servitors of Faith en masse, and no angel of Heaven currently has either. Chance of Invocation: [White noise] Modifiers: None known. Personality The tragic thing about Phanuel is that he was personally a wonderful entity to know, both as an angel and as an Archangel: joyful, hopeful, compassionate, hardworking and moral. The Archangel of Faith had no enemies among the Host - even among the Malakim (who were traditionally highly disdainful of the Grigori). Every one liked him, and he liked everybody. If he had only spoken up when his Choir began to slide into negligence, he might have been able to stay ... but he did not. Phanuel saw that his fellow Grigori were losing themselves in earthly pleasures before anyone else did, but he chose to remain silent. There is some indication that he attempted to restrain them on his own, but that ended in failure. Thus, when the Choir was put on trial, he stood there among them, head bowed: the only word that he spoke during that time was 'Guilty'. There was no smile on his face as he went into exile ... but no tears, no rage, no trace of emotion at all. Phanuel walked out of Heaven showing no sign at all of what he felt about the situation. And that's the Hell of it: the Host today still doesn't know how much becoming Outcast has changed him. Is Phanuel regretful? Happy that he can now do his work without interference? Angry and plotting revenge? Fighting despair in a grim rearguard action? Does he wish to come back? Does he wish that the rest of Heaven would join him? Does he miss the powers that were stripped from them, or has he recovered them - or did he even ever really lose them in the first place? Nobody knows ... and the Host has found that about the only thing that helps when you spend too much time worrying about what the loss of Faith to Heaven actually means to the War is to just trust that God will cause things to work out properly in the end. There's a certain irony there. ===== Liber Licentiae Moeticae: http://www.stormloader.com/users/moelane/innomine.html Last updated 07/29/01(this is usually way out of date) __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Get email alerts & NEW webcam video instant messaging with Yahoo! Messenger http://im.yahoo.com ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 4 Sep 2001 21:17:50 -0700 (PDT) From: Maurice Lane Subject: Re: IN> Iron Rev:Survive the Secret Temptation of Maze Island - --- Richard C Hanton-Rutherford wrote: > >second - have any of you run any cross-over games > w/ > >delta green? > > Not with Delta Green per se, but I have used Cthulhu > mythos stuff in my games. Just treat the Old Ones > as Ethereal Gods. You could also go the Delta Green / CoC / GURPS Cthulhupunk / GURPS IN / In Nomine translation path: as a bonus, this will also allow you to incorporate Toon into IN, as there is a Toon/Delta Green crossover already in existence.* Moe *The mere thought that Delta Charteuse came into being without any help or input from me is profoundly comforting... :) ===== Liber Licentiae Moeticae: http://www.stormloader.com/users/moelane/innomine.html Last updated 07/29/01(this is usually way out of date) __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Get email alerts & NEW webcam video instant messaging with Yahoo! Messenger http://im.yahoo.com ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 05 Sep 2001 15:53:22 +1100 From: "james walker" Subject: IN> Successors - A Sorcerers' World It all began when Hatiphas struck a deal with God. She didn't negotiate it in person, of course. As always, Marc handled such mundane matters. Kobal suspects that she'd have got a better deal if she'd insisted on negotiating direct. The terms of the deal are simple: ========================================================================== Every Sorcerer under Hatiphas' direct and indirect control (plus Heavens' Exorcists and the Ignes) participate in a ritual to Banish diabolicals & Ethereals permanently from the Corporeal Plane; they may now only enter the Corporeal if Summoned by a Sorcerer. They lose a point of temporary Will every (19-Total Forces) days they spend on the Corporeal, even if Summoned. The sole exception is Hatiphas herself. God reactivates the ban on angels interfering with humanity, and forbids angels from entering the Corporeal Plane unless Paged by a Sorcerer. They may not possess Vessels, limiting the time they can spend on the Corporeal; Kyriotates may not possess a human without their explicit informed consent. In return for the Archangels forswearing any involvement in the Corporeal Plane, Hatiphas trains 100 Saints for each Archangel to handle Corporeal matters for their boss. ========================================================================= The deal was sufficient to make Hatiphas a Superior. Although Lucifer refused to grant the title, the Banishment was such a blow to Demonic Freedom that Lilith had a fatal heart attack. Hatiphas zombified her body and used the geases she was owed to somehow acquire Lilith's title. Hatiphas now dwells on earth as a Renegade Demon Princess; Lilith's zombi still serves her as a handmaiden. The remaining Superiors immediately switched their efforts to the Marches, much to the displeasure of Blandine and Beleth. Once the smoke had cleared, every Superior had lost large numbers of Servitors and the ex-lovers once again ruled the Marches. Investigations into cases of 'friendly fire', and rumours of collaboration between Blandine & Beleth have ceased; Dominic was ordered to stop investigations by God; Asmodeus stopped investigations when it became clear that Beleth could seal her Tower off, preventing the other DP's from access to The Marches. The other Superiors have been sidelined unless Allied with one of the rulers of The Marches. The most furious is Kronos - Hatiphas has somehow sidestepped her Fate. Despite becoming a Demon Princess, Hatiphas hasn't done as well as she'd hoped. Archangels don't have to forswear activity in the Corporeal until their Saints have been trained; although all of the old AA's now have their Saints, the Seraphim Council has been creating new AA's (the AA is required to provide 100 Saints for training, so this isn't as much of a rort as it could have been). The Grigori AA's also revealed themselves, demanding that their Saints be trained. Also, with God's signature on the deal, Dominic has been obliged to lift his restrictions on Sorcery, and the trained Saints have been teaching Sorcery to other Saints and to Soldiers. The population explosion has provided Heaven with a large supply of potential Saints, and their number continues to grow. Further, Angelic Seneschals and relievers can remain on the Corporeal indefinitely. Hatiphas' plans to rule Earth have been stopped - - at least for now. There is a continuous turn over of Archangels operating on earth, of course. However, the following Archangels have a presence in The Marches expressly to allow Lucid Dreamers to contact them - the Archangels of Exorcism, Banishment (a Word much wider than the Sorcerous skill) and Alchemy. Other Archangels either bug Blandine to allow them to operate in the Marches and/or remain in Heaven training up their Saints. The only Demonic Superiors of importance are Hatiphas and Lilith - Hatiphas has given Celestial Forces to Lilith, allowing her to regain a modicum of power; however Lilith is still 'only' a proto-Superior, and no longer possesses the ability to create Lilim. Hatiphas has a number of WordBoud serving her, who operate from either Limbo or The Marches. More later, James. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 04 Sep 2001 21:02:30 +0200 From: "A. Brimmer" Subject: IN> Kyrios and Toungues... Ok here's the thing. If a Kyriotate possesses people of a different culture, will he be able to speak their language from each host, without having the skill to do so? - -Brimmer What power would hell have if those imprisoned there could not dream of heaven? Dream, in Preludes & Nocturnes (The Sandman) ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 5 Sep 2001 05:57:38 -0700 (PDT) From: Michael Walton Subject: Re: IN> Why is it that writing up AAs of Faith takes me at least 3 months? (Part 1) - --- Maurice Lane wrote: > Phanuel, Grigori Outcast Archangel of Faith Interesting. Some of his Attunements are quite similar to what I did with Raziel (who, btw, makes a reasonable almost-canon successor to Raphael). ===== Michael Walton, #9805-068 The next time someones says "Talk is cheap," remind them of how much Oprah Winfrey makes. __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Get email alerts & NEW webcam video instant messaging with Yahoo! Messenger http://im.yahoo.com ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 5 Sep 2001 08:00:47 -0700 (PDT) From: Maurice Lane Subject: Re: IN> Why is it that writing up AAs of Faith takes me at least 3 months? (Part 1) - --- Michael Walton wrote: > > --- Maurice Lane wrote: > > Phanuel, Grigori Outcast Archangel of Faith > > Interesting. Some of his Attunements are quite > similar > to what I did with Raziel (who, btw, makes a > reasonable > almost-canon successor to Raphael). This is the point where I nag you to get a website set up, so that I don't have to take your word for it. Nag, nag*. :) Moe *That goes for the rest of you, too ... and those who _have_ them should _update_ them. Nag, nag. ===== Liber Licentiae Moeticae: http://www.stormloader.com/users/moelane/innomine.html Last updated 07/29/01(this is usually way out of date) __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Get email alerts & NEW webcam video instant messaging with Yahoo! Messenger http://im.yahoo.com ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 5 Sep 2001 08:05:29 -0700 (PDT) From: Maurice Lane Subject: IN> I plead mild delirium... .... no, wait, I've used that excuse already. Anyway, I called out sick today - and, hey, it's even true. Amazing in today's society, huh? Not too sick to find the keyboard, alas. I apologize in advance. Moe Smurfs Corporeal Forces: 1 Strength: 1 Agility: 3 Ethereal Forces: 1 Intelligence:3* Precision: 4* Celestial Forces: 3 Will: 6 Perception: 6 *Bought up Vessel: Smurf/2 Skills: specialty/4, Language (default/3, Smurf/4), Move Silently/3 Songs and Attunements: only if you're playing a weirder game than even I want to contemplate Ah, Smurfs: otherwise known as 'an example of why Novalis now never drinks anything that's in Eli's refrigerator without checking it first'. The Archangel of Creation doesn't label anything, you see: he apparently thinks that it makes for more interesting parties. In that particular case, he was correct. It took the Host days to track down Des Moines... but I digress. Anyway, when Novalis woke up, there they were: Smurfs. Lots of them, all industriously doing whatever it is that Smurfs actually do. The reaction of Heaven was not good - until they noted that Smurfs could, freakishly enough, actually be of benefit to the War. God help us all. Smurfs are actually effectively living artifacts, interestingly enough (and isn't everybody glad that they don't breed?): more accurately, they're effectively living talismans. Every Smurf is a Talisman/4 (added) for one non-combat skill: they also have that same skill themselves at level/4. The Smurf does not actually have to touch its keeper in order for the bonus to work, but it must remain within earshot: a Smurf can have only one keeper at a time. Smurfs can also never be further enchanted: only Novalis knows how to make them, and she gives them out as ... she gives them out. Now, this is pretty powerful, correct? Self-aware talismans with their own regenerative Essence capacity (no, to all my fellow munchkins out there, I didn't overlook that): pretty neat, and all you have to do to get one is sweet-talk Novalis. Well, it's not all that rosy. First off, there's the Smurf itself. Servitors of Flowers are too nice to notice, and Servitors of Dreams/Creation have their own methods of selective perception, but any member of the War Faction (or even the Well, We Can Whack on Hell a LITTLE Faction) is going to be constantly restraining himself from kicking the cute little thing through the nearest window. Touching a Smurf is an odd experience: one can almost feel flakes of insipid sweetness come off to melt in your skin. This is seriously bad mojo for a Servitor of War. And they know it, too, which leads to the next problem: having a Smurf makes it harder for many entities to take you seriously. They assume that anyone in that close proximity is undergoing involuntary changes in his or her blood chemistry - and they're right. A Smurf 'owner' who becomes dissonant is just begging to be saddled with the Smurfy Discord (see below). Even those who haven't been infected are going to have to learn to ignore giggling behind his or her back. Smurfhide Certain demons, once they learned about Smurfs, decided to get some of their own. They failed to convert any ... but skinning the hide and tanning it worked almost as well. At the GMs discretion, a player may indicate that a new demonic talisman of level/3 or lower may be made out of smurfhide: this is merely a special effect, and thus worth no points. Captured or freshly dead Smurfs may be converted to regular talismans in 1/10th of the time that it would take to create an equivalent talisman. Certain players may insist on having a +1 or more to reaction rolls from other demons (and some angels) for being so hardcore as to make talismans out of Smurfs. If they do, let them: they'll need all the plusses that they can get when *they* start suffering from the Smurfy Discord, poor things... Smurfy (Ethereal) I don't need to tell you, right? Those with this Discord end up with a linguistic glitch that causes them to replaces parts of speech with the word 'smurf'. For an example of the progression of this condition, see below: Level/0: The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog. Level/1: The quick brown fox jumps over the smurfy dog. Level/2: The smurfy brown fox jumps over the smurfy dog. Level/3: The smurfy smurfed fox jumps over the smurfy dog. Level/4: The smurfy smurfed fox smurfs over the smurfy dog. Level/5: The smurfy smurfed fox smurfs over the smurfy smurf. Level/6: The smurfy smurfed smurf smurfs over the smurfy smurf. S u b tract the level of this Discord from all language rolls, including celestial ones: indeed, at level/3 and above making a player roll to be able to speak coherently at all would not be amiss (albeit possibly against the Geneva convention). The Songs of Tongues won't help, either. Luckily, two entities with the Smurfy Discord (and all Smurfs) can communicate normally. This Discord is worth a straight -2 to reactions per level: Superiors react at -1 per level, except for Novalis, Eli and Kobal. ===== Liber Licentiae Moeticae: http://www.stormloader.com/users/moelane/innomine.html Last updated 07/29/01(this is usually way out of date) __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Get email alerts & NEW webcam video instant messaging with Yahoo! Messenger http://im.yahoo.com ------------------------------ End of in_nomine-digest V1 #2357 ********************************