in_nomine-digest Sunday, October 21 2001 Volume 01 : Number 2417 In this digest: IN/Cabal (was Re: IN> Until we get the EPG) IN> Re: IN/Cabal IN> In Nomine Highlander: Immortals IN> Horror Month: Pazuzu (Part I) IN> Horror Month: Pazuzu (Part I) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 20 Oct 2001 16:04:50 -0500 From: Travis Foster Subject: IN/Cabal (was Re: IN> Until we get the EPG) At 03:40 PM 10/19/01, you wrote: >Travis Foster wrote: > > > > - You move all the "gods" of Briah down into the Ethereal/Yetzirah. > > > > If there wasn't a Purity Crusade, would this necessarily be the case. > > Given the Serpent Lords and Fae and such in Cabal, I don't think that > > the Purity Crusade would be as per IN canon. How would you fit the > > other races into IN? Would they all be Ethereals? What about the > > Quilippoth? > >I think the Purity Crusade can still have happened in the Cabal-added >setting, but it was clearly not very effective. I would still make >fays, pagan gods, elementals, para-elementals, and any other natives >of Yetzirah be Ethereals, though the proportion that were dreamed >into existence by humanity might be much lower. I thought that all Ethereals were dreamed into existence; or do you mean that the other mortal races should have Ethereals of their own? >Qlippoth could be very nasty Ethereals or very stupid Infernals >(when not in sufficiently large aggregates). I lean toward Infernals. On the other hand, having the Qlippoth as something that demons and angels would mostly band together to fight has a certain appeal :) > > How would the Aethyrs and the decans relate to the Symphony and Words? > > Perhaps, the Aethyrs step down Essence into mana. Celestials and > > Ethereals use Essence and mortals use mana [except for Soldiers and > > such]. > >Each Aethyr holds the Word that is the quality of its decan, I suppose. >The energies they pump out run the entire sub-Celestial universe, >and maybe much of the Celestial, too, so it's like Essence, but if >you're using GURPS mechanics, you probably *call* it "mana." > >Insofar as it makes any sense to go on distinguishing Songs and spells, >perhaps Songs use unaspected Essence, raw, that the user draws straight >from the Symphony, while spells use mana, which is Essence drawn from >the decans and always aspected according to the decan it comes from. I'd like to have essence and mana as functionally separate things; I like angels and demons to have distinct, not really understood by mages, powers. > > What would you see as the Cabal's reactions to the War? > >The conflict between Heaven and Hell exists in Ken's setting, too, >so I don't think there has to be a big change there. The lodges >that are heavily infiltrated by celestials are very concerned with >it; the others will be much less concerned as long as the War continues >to be a semi-secret semi-stalemate, as it has been for millenia. If Qlippoth are infernals; then the Cabal, in theory, support Heaven. In practice, the drive for power and knowledge lead many to walk a fine line and fall over it on occasion. On the whole, I'd see the Cabal as primarily interested in the Ethereals with a lesser interest in Angels and a forbidden interest in demons. Grand Masters have, in theory, been to the Upper Heavens and returned which would make them some sort of saint? Unless you go by the Grand Masters form the Abyss theory and make them into > > I've been thinking about having both the IN essence based powers and > > Cabal's mana based magic in the same game. Cabalistic magic is > > primarily descended form Egyptian magic; would that make it some > > sort of Ethereal sorcery in IN terms? > >Sounds plausible. See the above remarks about mana and Essence. Any thoughts on what kinds of Songs would deal with mana based magic? I'd think that likely Songs would: Detect magic, dispel magic and protect against magic. Demonic Sorcery might use some Songs to enhance magic, for a price [as per Black Magic]. >Earl ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 20 Oct 2001 23:23:05 From: "Perry Lloyd" Subject: IN> Re: IN/Cabal >> > > - You move all the "gods" of Briah down into the Ethereal/Yetzirah. >> > >> > If there wasn't a Purity Crusade, would this necessarily be the case. >> > Given the Serpent Lords and Fae and such in Cabal, I don't think that >> > the Purity Crusade would be as per IN canon. How would you fit the >> > other races into IN? Would they all be Ethereals? What about the >> > Quilippoth? >> >>I think the Purity Crusade can still have happened in the Cabal-added >>setting, but it was clearly not very effective. I would still make >>fays, pagan gods, elementals, para-elementals, and any other natives >>of Yetzirah be Ethereals, though the proportion that were dreamed >>into existence by humanity might be much lower. > >I thought that all Ethereals were dreamed into existence; or do you mean >that the other mortal races should have Ethereals of their own? You could always do what I did . . . http://www.geocities.com/perrylloyd/tabletop/background.html In my game world, when Uriel purged the world of the ethereals, he purged the *known* world as of the Purity Crusade (which I basically interpret to mean the lands of the Roman Empire and the Holy Lands and those known to the Empire and the Jews, but only because history isn't my strong point). Thus, Blandine and Beleth had to expand the Vale to include the dreamers discovered in the New World, the Far East, Mid to Southern Africa, Australia, etc. For the most part IMG, the Old Gods have gone underground due to the inability of the local cultures to combat the expansion of Christianity and Islam. (Thus, in some places, such as China, the Old Gods are still powerful . . .) >>Qlippoth could be very nasty Ethereals or very stupid Infernals >>(when not in sufficiently large aggregates). I lean toward Infernals. > >On the other hand, having the Qlippoth as something that demons and angels >would mostly band together to fight has a certain appeal :) Ohhhhhhhh, but it does. see Where Angels Fear to Tread http://www.meta-earth.com/nomine/ethereal/ for a nice version of this. I ran such an adventure, and it went very, very well. >> > How would the Aethyrs and the decans relate to the Symphony and Words? >> > Perhaps, the Aethyrs step down Essence into mana. Celestials and >> > Ethereals use Essence and mortals use mana [except for Soldiers and >> > such]. >> >>Each Aethyr holds the Word that is the quality of its decan, I suppose. >>The energies they pump out run the entire sub-Celestial universe, >>and maybe much of the Celestial, too, so it's like Essence, but if >>you're using GURPS mechanics, you probably *call* it "mana." I would situate them in the Far Marches, or an "third" Celestial plane (after all, Cabal has a LOT of opportunity for Plane-Hopping). Not alternate as in "alternate world" but alternate as in a Third Celestial realm, apart from Heaven and Hell. Also, I'd go so far as to make some of the Decans Archangels, or rather, some of the Archangels Decans, for instance, Jordi as Charachnoumis, Yves as Sphandor. After all, a Superior can go by many names. Of course, both Spandor and Naoth fit Yves well, so some AAs might have double-duty. Superior/Decan cross-overs also aren't a good idea if you want to pit Celestials against Hermetic Mages (unless the AA are playing both sides, heh heh.) >>Insofar as it makes any sense to go on distinguishing Songs and spells, >>perhaps Songs use unaspected Essence, raw, that the user draws straight >>from the Symphony, while spells use mana, which is Essence drawn from >>the decans and always aspected according to the decan it comes from. Sounds sound. >I'd like to have essence and mana as functionally separate things; I like >angels and demons to have distinct, not really understood by mages, powers. Makes sense. In my GIN campaign, the Children of the Grigori use Psionic abilities. Alternatively, they might use the Hermetic Magic system as presented in Cabal. It would certainly explain the *mysterious* abilities, AND if such a grand organization such as the Cabal does exist, it would certainly explain why Angels and Demons are instructed to steer clear of the CotG. (Especially if most of the Mages are capable of summoning things that scare Demon Princes.) To borrow heavily from the French game, why not have (a) the Children of the Grigori be mages (b) the Psis be the descendents of Adam and Eve (who were perfect human beings and have passed on some of that perfection to their descendents). (c) supernatural creatures still in existance, werewolves, vampires, etc, which is quite plausible if Uriel's crusade was limited, as per my coments above. >> > What would you see as the Cabal's reactions to the War? >> >>The conflict between Heaven and Hell exists in Ken's setting, too, >>so I don't think there has to be a big change there. The lodges >>that are heavily infiltrated by celestials are very concerned with >>it; the others will be much less concerned as long as the War continues >>to be a semi-secret semi-stalemate, as it has been for millenia. > >If Qlippoth are infernals; then the Cabal, in theory, support Heaven. Well, in so far as they don't wish to see Earth run-over with soul sucking monsters, yes, but this may be a mere case of "the enemy of my enemy is my ally" . . . If Heaven has been hunting down and killing Magi as it does Sorcerors and the Children of the Grigori, there may not be such a strong alliance there. In >practice, the drive for power and knowledge lead many to walk a fine line >and fall over it on occasion. On the whole, I'd see the Cabal as primarily >interested in the Ethereals with a lesser interest in Angels and a >forbidden interest in demons. Definitely more likely if many Ethereals are still powerful and have much power to offer. Grand Masters have, in theory, been to >the >Upper Heavens and returned which would make them some sort of saint? Unless >you go by the Grand Masters form the Abyss theory and make them into hrm. I would just call Heaven and Atziluth the same, and go from there (Cabal sidebar p. 77 seems like a good option here). >> > I've been thinking about having both the IN essence based powers and >> > Cabal's mana based magic in the same game. Cabalistic magic is >> > primarily descended form Egyptian magic; would that make it some >> > sort of Ethereal sorcery in IN terms? >> >>Sounds plausible. See the above remarks about mana and Essence. > >Any thoughts on what kinds of Songs would deal with mana based magic? I'd >think that likely Songs would: Detect magic, dispel magic and protect >against magic. Demonic Sorcery might use some Songs to enhance magic, for a >price [as per Black Magic]. hrm ... My instinct is to seek out the box on pGIN 195 regarding Psionics and Magic in In Nomine. If you decide that Songs are a "purer" form of magic, then maybe new (high energy cost) spells would be required to affect SOngs, if not . . . - -Perry perrylloyd@hotmail.com pl312993@oak.cats.ohiou.edu http://www.geocities.com/perrylloyd/ "And that's the hardest thing for a human being to do - be wrong. Do you know that people would rather die than be wrong?" - --from A Matter For Men by David Gerrold _________________________________________________________________ Téléchargez MSN Explorer gratuitement à l'adresse http://explorer.msn.fr/intl.asp ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 20 Oct 2001 22:58:01 -0400 From: "Charles Phipps" Subject: IN> In Nomine Highlander: Immortals *TOP SECRET* To: Most Imperilous Scourge upon the Horde's traitors, Asmodeus From: Your most diabolically subserviant servant, Benedict Re: Immortals In recent studies of the threats to our cause I have managed to examine a race of most devlishly clever and dangerous beings whose strength poses a most interesting threat/oppurtunity to our works. These beings are those born among mortals known as the Immortals who are blessed/cursed with the gift of potentially eternal life without the aid of undead power. Having infiltrated the mortal organization known as the Watchers (name not coincidental) and dwelt among them in defiance of Celestial law I have compiled the following information for you and Lord Baal regarding their activities to examine at your own leisure. With any luck my most intelligent Lord it will provide you with a new set of pieces of the Game. History The origin of the Immortals stems originally to the incident known as the Fall of which I am most sure you are aware my Lord Asmodeus. As you are aware 1/3rd of the Host had the foresight to recognize the insane nature of Heaven's policy toward the Earth among numerous other terrible atrocities that the First Evil chose to rebel against in order to establish a new order for all the Cosmos. You are also aware that a significant portion of the Host chose to dwell in the simpering banality of Heaven that was the present state of affairs and worse were willing to fight to maintain the stifling stasis and choking chaos all in one. These were led by Michael, Yves, and David among other names equally repellant to you and I. However those who are frequently not mentioned were the 1/3rd of the Host which chose cowardice, begged for forgiveness once Lucifer fled for their rebellion, or otherwise attempted to abstain from the conflict. Irish Legend has this the form of the Fey and other myths that contain say they too were banished but a much different ending was proposed. Having never dealt with candidates for redemption before and disgusted by their cowardice Dominic, David, and Jordi gathered together in a terrible judgement of the following. For their "unforgivable" crime they would be bound forever in mortal hosts that would contain their celestial natures and be banished to the Earth. At the end of time they would be allowed to return. You will of course be aware of the similarity of this terrifying ritual to a certain practice that Hell uses specifically most under Saminga and indeed it is quite likely that this is where Saminga corrupted the ritual. Immortals are little more than a grave pollution of our lineage in the form of Celestial undead which as you will note is merely a curse not a blessing to us. The newly formed Watchers Choir was given each immortal spirit under their Archangels in order to spread the spirits among deserving mortals and let them be raised as mortals without memory or awareness of the Light of Heaven. As part of their duties it would be the Watchers place to look after their wayward brethren until the end of the war. As one might note the crime was either very serious or your counterpart was in a very cranky mood. Surely however had the One third of the Host remained in Heaven however they would have been slain all by the angered forces of Heaven which just goes to show you what sort of "love" God's servants are willing to give. It might have remained this way to today if not for a curious event. When the Grigori were finally brought to charge for neglecting their duties it was discovered to their horror that their wayward brethren were killing each other. Each was slaying each other in a peverse form of cannibalism that allowed them to drain the lifeforce out of their dead fellows. A strange legend had begun among them that should the immortals battle to the Last then the final one would inherit not only unlimited power of all the immortals he had slain but also rule over the World forever. Given the sheer volume of angels it would easily be an Archangel if he had all the power and quite possibly one stronger than any Archangel before or after him though I would certainly not compare the strength to any of our Princes given we have such secret caches of lore and power I as a mere servitor could never judge. The Word of Humanity perhaps? The Word of Life (Quickening)? Who knows what this Prize is, it might well simply be just a prank of Kobals or a deranged Malphasian for all I know. In any case Gabriel cautioned Dominic that this might well be the Most High adding his own particular variant to the punishment Dominic had placed upon them and after outcasting the Grigori choir Dominic reluctantly put the case aside. Gabriel had little fondness for the 1/3rd who had failed, considering them very cruel indeed. Uriel did however take action and laid down rules for fighting and engagement that he instructed his servitors to take vengence on for any who broke. Thus it has more or less remained a continuing civil war among the immortals with the Grigori having hidden away the souls and apparently still distributing the souls of their brethren in an action Heaven is either unwilling or unable to stop. Their descendants to this day also continue their line with possible actual Grigori serving at the head of a group that observes and records the immortals and never interferes... well almost never. Furthemore on occasion it has proven necessary that some Angels are so utterly corrupt yet something remaining redeeming about them (A Angel which is hopelessly insane, A Malakim which believes Hell is right, etc) that Dominic imposes the same doom upon them with the Outcasting irrecoverable unlike others for the process cannot be reversed much like undeath but presumably the Lord will fix it at the end...or some similar droll. Physiology As stated immortals are Celestial spirits which have been so bound in corporeal vessels that it is very difficult to determine which is the ending and where is the beginning of both. This gives them the advantage of like mortals having a body type equal to their corporeal forces, eternal youth (which they would have anyway as immortals but they don't know that so it seems like an advantage), and a durability not found in common vessels. Their body type is the same as any mortals growing up from infancy but apparently in order to stop the "mental block" to stopping aging a trip into "mini trauma" (described below) is necessary to cease it. The body will remain identical (tatoos, age, scars) from that point on and be unable to be changed save with the celestial song of form. This durability manifests that only an aimed shot (or an extremely obese amount of damage) will destroy an immortal as their human brains must be severed from their celestial heats (kept in their bodies). In other words their heads must be severed from their bodies. Otherwise they will heal one body point per turn until fully restored. Hurting them beyond their bodies normal limit beyond death puts them in a form of "trauma" which resembles death and I believe trauma is indeed the source of their power since while celestial's soul heal thus does in an immortal their body do so as well. All immortals still can detect disturbance to the Symphony which has led to several rather unfortunate incidents involving them throughout celestial history as beheading will surely kill most vessels anyway. However it is difficult for celestials not to recognize immortals as they are living disturbances to the Symphony themselves and in a foot radius around for every force they possess they cause permanent disturbance around themselves. The Quickening or the "life energy" escape after an immortal's beheading deserves special note with some strange alteration to all immortals causing those present nearby dying immortals to be able to absorb fragments of the soul into themselves. The manifests as massive disturbance (equivalent to a human dying at the hands of a celestial plus the maximum essece in the body being spent at once) and song effects from motion, thunder, and even tongues to occur all around the body-usually related to the ones the immortal knew. Curiously immortals can kill humans and perform most day to day actions without disturbance, their natural disturbance probably muffling it. This does not occur if killed by celestials or mortals or elsewise but the subject is merely beheaded and soulkilled. The immortal who absorbs the soul gains also "skill points" equivalent to the number of forces in the dead immortal and the chance to learn any skills or songs the being had. Worse immortals are not restricted to human limits but Celestial on the Earthly plane (18 forces) which makes an elder more than a match for even some of the strongest of celestials below Superior. Certain weapons held by immortals for specific times and any time they spend essence during the use of them or attack inflict soul damage oddly enough on celestials. Heaven/Hell Relations The Grigori tie is already discussed and the possibility the Lord Almighty is using them to create a super weapon Superior though given the behavior of immortals it is a wonder whose side such a being may side on if any if a Prize exists. Laurence views the immortals with some degree of Fondness as does Michael and the later recruited very powerful soldiers from their ranks. The former remains restricted by Dominic injunction against dealing with such "outcasts" but his fondness for swordwork and honorable battle leads one to wonder if he is not using the "loopholes" of such statements to direct his champions. David and Jordi aside from their part in the creation seem to care little for the waywards though both are known to "test" worthy mortals in order to encourage them to their own views just in case the Prize does exist. Saminga simply put absolutely loathes all immortals and does his best (Immortals should be thankful because his best is quite worse than his regular) to have his servitors destroy them where they can. Unfortunately this has led to more deaths on his part than has made the work worthwhile though his Shedim have encouraged hunting of them in an ironic twist worthy of Kobal. Malphas...Malphas loves immortals; he loves recruiting them, manipulating them, and testing/twisting them. Frankly I wouldn't be surprised if he showed up at a hell meeting with a ponytail, trenchcoat, and katanna before shouting at the top of his lungs "THERE CAN BE ONLY ONE!" Baal after Malphas finds the most use for immortals and several highly placed soldiers have been made aware of the war by him and turned into Angel hunters in exchange for help in winning the Prize. Baal himself has no intention of any winning such however. In Conclusion The immortals are not in and of themselves a great danger to celestial affairs as any would be mortal who might cause a revolution or transformation for the good is likely to be beheaded by his companions. The same can also be said of evil but better not to let the amateurs handle it. However which each death they may be bringing us to our doom or Heavens and should be watched closely or eradicated outright....an action that while extremely dangerous may prove very profitable. - -Charlemagne _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 21 Oct 2001 12:13:23 -0700 (PDT) From: Michael Walton Subject: IN> Horror Month: Pazuzu (Part I) Can't remember whether or not I posted this already, but she's definitely appropriate for Horror Month. Pazuzu Shedite Princess of Plagues "The world is evil. It must be punished." Pazuzu was created as a Kyriotate of Fire, but she heeded the words of the Lightbringer and Fell during his rebellion. She served Belial for centuries without particular distinction -- she never found the infernal Word of Fire much to her liking. When Saminga was elevated to Princedom, Pazuzu transferred to the service of Death. That is where the Shedite found her true calling. As an angel of Fire, Pazuzu punished the cruel. As a demon of Death, she recaptured some of her former glory by killing evil Humans. Even then, it was evident to everyone except for Pazuzu and her Superior that she was quite mad. Which probably explains why Saminga showed her such favor. During a tour of duty in the Middle East, Pazuzu perfected her technique of finding corruptible individuals, inciting them to kill criminals and then possessing the resulting corpses. She made sure that her pawns were all devoutly religious. This earned her the ire of the Archangel of Faith. It also attracted the attention of an angel of Fire named Murad. This latter proved to be her undoing. Murad knew that he wasn't powerful enough to take Pazuzu on alone but he lacked angelic support. Instead, he found a group of Humans and recruited them into the War. While Murad used Songs of Forbidding to keep the demon from fleeing into a different Host, his Soldiers riddled the animated corpse with Songs and gunfire while the mundane agents fortified Murad with Essence. The Shedite was finally forced to abandon her Host, at which point Murad beat her down in celestial combat. Pazuzu, minus a few Forces, drifted down to Hell and was severely punished by Saminga as soon as she recovered from Trauma. The unfairness of it all rang in Pazuzu's shattered mind. Why should she be punished? She had done God's will - -- she knew it was in the Divine plan that the cruel should suffer. It wasn't her fault that the angel cheated. For years she pondered the injustice as she slaved away in the Soul Yards. Then it dawned on her -- she was suffering justly! Pazuzu had rarely lifted her hand against women or children, yet women and children sinned. She had never punished a member of the clergy, but they were even more prone to hypocrisy than laymen. She had even stayed her hand when a subject repented, thereby refusing to carry out God's just sentence. Pazuzu realized that she was being punished for showing mercy. The revelation that people should be punished not for what they did but for what they were going to do was the most profound insight of all. Pazuzu fell to what passed for her knees right there in the Yards and began singing praises to the God of righteous cleansing wrath. Other demons edged away from her nervously, but nobody wanted to miss the show of this crazy Shedite being blasted out of existence. Just before the overseer arrived to destroy Pazuzu, Lucifer himself happened to stroll by. He heard her singing and, intrigued, examined her more closely. Then he smiled and said, "Arise, Princess of Plagues. Go forth and smite the wicked that the righteous might prosper." Pazuzu's joy knew no bounds -- her holy mission was endorsed by the Archangel of Light himself! She immediately went about the business of recruiting Servitors and setting up her Principality. Now, at the dawn of the new millennium, she is ready to usher in a new age of righteousness. Pazuzu is a classic Shedite, albeit with Habbalite tendencies. She most frequently appears as a womanlike figure made of buzzing insects. If she has to blend in and be completely humanoid, she usually takes the form of an ugly old woman. Her Word encompasses all manner of disease but also includes plagues of Biblical proportions. Pazuzu has learned to make such things look like natural disasters, but she looks forward to the day when the need for stealth is past and the servants of God will walk the Earth openly. Only then will the world finally be made clean. DISSONANCE Servitors of Plagues cannot show mercy to those who are condemned to suffer; once sentence has been passed, it must be carried out. Repentance is desirable, but it's not enough to turn aside God's righteous wrath. It doesn't matter if the target is too strong -- that just means that the demon must employ other means to achieve the goal. Targets of Plagues must also know that their suffering is the will of God. It is Dissonant for Pazuzu's demons to punish evil without telling their victims that they deserve to suffer (and preferably why). Whether the punishment is for actual or potential sins is irrelevant. BAND ATTUNEMENTS All of Pazuzu's demons are attuned to some type of sin and have a special way to use their Resonance for punishing sinners. The detection aspects don't work on Celestials or Ethereals, but the Resonance aspects do. All of these Attunements are Partially Restricted. Balseraphim A Balseraph of Plagues knows liars, hypocrites and egomaniacs by the sound of their voices; the sinner's words are accompanied by the buzzing of flies. The demon can use his Resonance to make someone experience the symptoms of any disease that the Liar has knowledge of. Djinn Pazuzu's Djinn are attuned to laziness and apathy; they see these sins as a gray haze around the sinner. When they Attune to someone who has a communicable disease, they become carriers of that illness and can pass it on normally. Calabim Destroyers who serve Pazuzu can detect the wrathful. The taste of bile floods the demon's mouth when a violent person draws near and gets stronger as that person gets closer. At the Calabite's option, his Resonance may inflict damage at the rate of one Hit per hour as if the target were in the grip of a virulent disease. Medical treatment can halt the damage if the physician makes a Medicine roll to correctly diagnose the disease (each victim will suffer a different malady). This use of destructive Resonance creates no Disturbance. Habbalah A Habbalah of Plagues knows the greedy by the cold that washes over the demon whenever she touches such a person. These Punishers can use their Resonance to inflict mental illness on their victims (a phobia or mania of the demon's choice). Insanity imposed in this manner has the normal duration for Habbalite-inflicted emotions. Lilim Those who are prone to envy and jealousy can't hide from Pazuzu's Lilim. The demon sees a green glow emanating from the eyes of these people. After fulfilling a sin-related Need, Pazuzu's Tempters can strike their victims blind instead of Geasing them. This lasts for a number of weeks equal to the level of Geas that the Lilim could've imposed. If the Tempter ever accumulates a total of Geas levels greater than twice the victim's total Forces, she can forfeit them all to render her target permanently blind! Note that this blindness is not Discord; when used on Celestials and Ethereals, it only effects the target's current Vessel. Lilim-imposed blindness can be cured with the Corporeal Song of Healing, but only with a CD at least equal to the demon's Celestial Forces. Shedim Just to prove that she has a sense of irony, Pazuzu sends the Fleshless to punish sins of the flesh. Shedim of Plagues see a pinkish aura around the lustful. The aura is streaked with black in those who carry sexually transmitted diseases. Any Mortal who has sex with the Shedite will automatically contract any STD carried by the Host. Impudites Takers of Plagues can tell a glutton by his carrion odor. Instead of charming their victims, they may use their Resonance to make someone violently ill. This nausea imposes a penalty equal to the CD of the Resonance roll on all tests and lasts for a number of minutes equal to the demon's Corporeal Forces. On an Intervention favorable to the demon, the target is completely incapacitated (i.e. too sick to move). SERVITOR ATTUNEMENTS Evil Eye The demon can afflict someone with bad luck by making eye contact, succeeding on a Will roll and spending 1-3 Essence (in that order). The victim suffers a penalty on all rolls equal to the Essence spent for a number of hours equal to the CD of the Will roll times the demon's Celestial Forces. The target of the Evil Eye can resist with a Will roll, to which Celestials and Ethereals add their Celestial Forces. Humans with the Blessed Advantage are immune to this power. Fleshcraft This Attunement allows the demon to use the Celestial Song of Form on someone else (the demon must learn the Song normally). Fleshcraft can also be used to add or subtract up to two levels of Charisma or negative Charisma at the cost of 1 Essence. Using this power on one of the Damned while in Hell costs no Essence, and the effect is permanent. Wages of Sin By spending 1 Essence and succeeding on a Perception roll, the demon can find out what level of punishment would be just if the subject of inquiry had met his Fate (the person being read need not have met his Fate). This Attunement tells the user how badly the person deserves to be punished, not what he deserves punishment for. DISTINCTIONS Knight of Vermin The demon can cause an area the size of a single-story house to be infested with small creatures for (total Forces) days. Rodents and insects are the preferred pests, but arachnids, reptiles and frogs have also been used. Captain of Wormwood With a touch, Pazuzu's Captains can render (total Forces x 100) gallons of water undrinkable. The effected water changes color -- usually to deep red -- to signify its unhealthy state. Baron of Pestilence A Baron of Plagues can extend the effects of either of Pazuzu's lesser Distinctions over an entire city. Pazuzu only has three Barons as of this writing, all of whom earned her favor by soul-killing Word-bound angels of Fire. HIGHER DISTINCTIONS Pazuzu offers the standard Higher Distinctions from Hell's peerage system; she has no special ones of her own, nor does she feel that a truly dedicated Servitor would need them. ===== Michael Walton, #9805-068 "The surest way to keep a secret is to make people believe they already know the answer." - -- Fremen saying __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Make a great connection at Yahoo! Personals. http://personals.yahoo.com ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 21 Oct 2001 12:13:54 -0700 (PDT) From: Michael Walton Subject: IN> Horror Month: Pazuzu (Part I) Can't remember whether or not I posted this already, but she's definitely appropriate for Horror Month. Pazuzu Shedite Princess of Plagues "The world is evil. It must be punished." Pazuzu was created as a Kyriotate of Fire, but she heeded the words of the Lightbringer and Fell during his rebellion. She served Belial for centuries without particular distinction -- she never found the infernal Word of Fire much to her liking. When Saminga was elevated to Princedom, Pazuzu transferred to the service of Death. That is where the Shedite found her true calling. As an angel of Fire, Pazuzu punished the cruel. As a demon of Death, she recaptured some of her former glory by killing evil Humans. Even then, it was evident to everyone except for Pazuzu and her Superior that she was quite mad. Which probably explains why Saminga showed her such favor. During a tour of duty in the Middle East, Pazuzu perfected her technique of finding corruptible individuals, inciting them to kill criminals and then possessing the resulting corpses. She made sure that her pawns were all devoutly religious. This earned her the ire of the Archangel of Faith. It also attracted the attention of an angel of Fire named Murad. This latter proved to be her undoing. Murad knew that he wasn't powerful enough to take Pazuzu on alone but he lacked angelic support. Instead, he found a group of Humans and recruited them into the War. While Murad used Songs of Forbidding to keep the demon from fleeing into a different Host, his Soldiers riddled the animated corpse with Songs and gunfire while the mundane agents fortified Murad with Essence. The Shedite was finally forced to abandon her Host, at which point Murad beat her down in celestial combat. Pazuzu, minus a few Forces, drifted down to Hell and was severely punished by Saminga as soon as she recovered from Trauma. The unfairness of it all rang in Pazuzu's shattered mind. Why should she be punished? She had done God's will - -- she knew it was in the Divine plan that the cruel should suffer. It wasn't her fault that the angel cheated. For years she pondered the injustice as she slaved away in the Soul Yards. Then it dawned on her -- she was suffering justly! Pazuzu had rarely lifted her hand against women or children, yet women and children sinned. She had never punished a member of the clergy, but they were even more prone to hypocrisy than laymen. She had even stayed her hand when a subject repented, thereby refusing to carry out God's just sentence. Pazuzu realized that she was being punished for showing mercy. The revelation that people should be punished not for what they did but for what they were going to do was the most profound insight of all. Pazuzu fell to what passed for her knees right there in the Yards and began singing praises to the God of righteous cleansing wrath. Other demons edged away from her nervously, but nobody wanted to miss the show of this crazy Shedite being blasted out of existence. Just before the overseer arrived to destroy Pazuzu, Lucifer himself happened to stroll by. He heard her singing and, intrigued, examined her more closely. Then he smiled and said, "Arise, Princess of Plagues. Go forth and smite the wicked that the righteous might prosper." Pazuzu's joy knew no bounds -- her holy mission was endorsed by the Archangel of Light himself! She immediately went about the business of recruiting Servitors and setting up her Principality. Now, at the dawn of the new millennium, she is ready to usher in a new age of righteousness. Pazuzu is a classic Shedite, albeit with Habbalite tendencies. She most frequently appears as a womanlike figure made of buzzing insects. If she has to blend in and be completely humanoid, she usually takes the form of an ugly old woman. Her Word encompasses all manner of disease but also includes plagues of Biblical proportions. Pazuzu has learned to make such things look like natural disasters, but she looks forward to the day when the need for stealth is past and the servants of God will walk the Earth openly. Only then will the world finally be made clean. DISSONANCE Servitors of Plagues cannot show mercy to those who are condemned to suffer; once sentence has been passed, it must be carried out. Repentance is desirable, but it's not enough to turn aside God's righteous wrath. It doesn't matter if the target is too strong -- that just means that the demon must employ other means to achieve the goal. Targets of Plagues must also know that their suffering is the will of God. It is Dissonant for Pazuzu's demons to punish evil without telling their victims that they deserve to suffer (and preferably why). Whether the punishment is for actual or potential sins is irrelevant. BAND ATTUNEMENTS All of Pazuzu's demons are attuned to some type of sin and have a special way to use their Resonance for punishing sinners. The detection aspects don't work on Celestials or Ethereals, but the Resonance aspects do. All of these Attunements are Partially Restricted. Balseraphim A Balseraph of Plagues knows liars, hypocrites and egomaniacs by the sound of their voices; the sinner's words are accompanied by the buzzing of flies. The demon can use his Resonance to make someone experience the symptoms of any disease that the Liar has knowledge of. Djinn Pazuzu's Djinn are attuned to laziness and apathy; they see these sins as a gray haze around the sinner. When they Attune to someone who has a communicable disease, they become carriers of that illness and can pass it on normally. Calabim Destroyers who serve Pazuzu can detect the wrathful. The taste of bile floods the demon's mouth when a violent person draws near and gets stronger as that person gets closer. At the Calabite's option, his Resonance may inflict damage at the rate of one Hit per hour as if the target were in the grip of a virulent disease. Medical treatment can halt the damage if the physician makes a Medicine roll to correctly diagnose the disease (each victim will suffer a different malady). This use of destructive Resonance creates no Disturbance. Habbalah A Habbalah of Plagues knows the greedy by the cold that washes over the demon whenever she touches such a person. These Punishers can use their Resonance to inflict mental illness on their victims (a phobia or mania of the demon's choice). Insanity imposed in this manner has the normal duration for Habbalite-inflicted emotions. Lilim Those who are prone to envy and jealousy can't hide from Pazuzu's Lilim. The demon sees a green glow emanating from the eyes of these people. After fulfilling a sin-related Need, Pazuzu's Tempters can strike their victims blind instead of Geasing them. This lasts for a number of weeks equal to the level of Geas that the Lilim could've imposed. If the Tempter ever accumulates a total of Geas levels greater than twice the victim's total Forces, she can forfeit them all to render her target permanently blind! Note that this blindness is not Discord; when used on Celestials and Ethereals, it only effects the target's current Vessel. Lilim-imposed blindness can be cured with the Corporeal Song of Healing, but only with a CD at least equal to the demon's Celestial Forces. Shedim Just to prove that she has a sense of irony, Pazuzu sends the Fleshless to punish sins of the flesh. Shedim of Plagues see a pinkish aura around the lustful. The aura is streaked with black in those who carry sexually transmitted diseases. Any Mortal who has sex with the Shedite will automatically contract any STD carried by the Host. Impudites Takers of Plagues can tell a glutton by his carrion odor. Instead of charming their victims, they may use their Resonance to make someone violently ill. This nausea imposes a penalty equal to the CD of the Resonance roll on all tests and lasts for a number of minutes equal to the demon's Corporeal Forces. On an Intervention favorable to the demon, the target is completely incapacitated (i.e. too sick to move). SERVITOR ATTUNEMENTS Evil Eye The demon can afflict someone with bad luck by making eye contact, succeeding on a Will roll and spending 1-3 Essence (in that order). The victim suffers a penalty on all rolls equal to the Essence spent for a number of hours equal to the CD of the Will roll times the demon's Celestial Forces. The target of the Evil Eye can resist with a Will roll, to which Celestials and Ethereals add their Celestial Forces. Humans with the Blessed Advantage are immune to this power. Fleshcraft This Attunement allows the demon to use the Celestial Song of Form on someone else (the demon must learn the Song normally). Fleshcraft can also be used to add or subtract up to two levels of Charisma or negative Charisma at the cost of 1 Essence. Using this power on one of the Damned while in Hell costs no Essence, and the effect is permanent. Wages of Sin By spending 1 Essence and succeeding on a Perception roll, the demon can find out what level of punishment would be just if the subject of inquiry had met his Fate (the person being read need not have met his Fate). This Attunement tells the user how badly the person deserves to be punished, not what he deserves punishment for. DISTINCTIONS Knight of Vermin The demon can cause an area the size of a single-story house to be infested with small creatures for (total Forces) days. Rodents and insects are the preferred pests, but arachnids, reptiles and frogs have also been used. Captain of Wormwood With a touch, Pazuzu's Captains can render (total Forces x 100) gallons of water undrinkable. The effected water changes color -- usually to deep red -- to signify its unhealthy state. Baron of Pestilence A Baron of Plagues can extend the effects of either of Pazuzu's lesser Distinctions over an entire city. Pazuzu only has three Barons as of this writing, all of whom earned her favor by soul-killing Word-bound angels of Fire. HIGHER DISTINCTIONS Pazuzu offers the standard Higher Distinctions from Hell's peerage system; she has no special ones of her own, nor does she feel that a truly dedicated Servitor would need them. ===== Michael Walton, #9805-068 "The surest way to keep a secret is to make people believe they already know the answer." - -- Fremen saying __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Make a great connection at Yahoo! Personals. http://personals.yahoo.com ------------------------------ End of in_nomine-digest V1 #2417 ********************************