in_nomine-digest Friday, November 9 2001 Volume 01 : Number 2435 In this digest: IN> Brainstorming SF Request IN> SF Jordi? Re: IN> Angels of Stone -- dissonance Re: IN> Quick test... Re: IN> Hi Guys... IN> Pyramid Scenario Re: IN> Brainstorming SF Request Re: IN> SF Jordi? Re: IN> Angels of Stone -- dissonance Re: IN> Pyramid Scenario Re: IN> Brainstorming SF Request Re: IN> SF Jordi? RE: IN> David & Dissonance Re: IN> Pyramid Scenario Re: IN> Brainstorming SF Request Re: IN> SF Jordi? Re: IN> Brainstorming SF Request IN> Project - Silence ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 08 Nov 2001 18:19:12 -0500 From: "Jeffery Watkins" Subject: IN> Brainstorming SF Request Hi all, I have been working on concepts for my IN SF game and wanted to shoot several ideas across to the list for feedback/input. In some places I am looking for ideas to expand upon or a 'am I missing something' approach. Here are some Servitors I am attempting to flesh out: Ouric The Angel of Space Exploration has become powerful indeed in the last two centuries. As humanity reached out to the nearby planets and then throughout the solar system, he ranged with him. Then in their STL Laser sail craft he was with them as they explored other star system, now with FTL he has travelled with humanity to ends of the universe. Elymas The Shedite Demon of Shadows has always been a powerful and ancient word-bound. The magincian, the corrupter, he has revealed in tempting humanity to do things in the dark, hidden and in the shadows. His Word also encompasses the dreaded shapes of things to come as well as those things done in secret. Recently he is being considered for Princedom as the new Echoes or as humainty calls them, parallel universes, are being looked into, the thought of having humanity treat the residence as not real people to be used as things, to dehumanize them. A new Superior Matrice Appeared on the heels of Uriel-Ozma. A Kyriotite, she is the new Archangle of Infinity who is to look after the Echoes. Matronly in appearance, she feels she needs to be the mother of the Echoes, nuturing them in preparations for the coming of humanity and the use of the Ethereals. Her appearance is more of the IN Anime type for the Kyriotates as she has a human-celestial shape with wings, but her face and body constantly change and shift between races, clothing fashions and hairstyles, never the same for more than a few seconds at a time. The above write up is from my Superiors 2215, I think I posted it on another IN list, but Matrice was not in the notes at that time. If this list wants, I can post the updated version here. Two Superiors' plans I would like input on Yves Has seen those among the Solar Nations off Earth meet their Destinies more than their Fates. He, of course, was not surprised by Gabriel's announcement or Uriel's re-appearance. Few know he has already, one could say always, involved in the Time Wars that humanity will/have gotten into. His chief Shepard overseeing the Time Wars has been Zoan, Angel of Time Travel. Looking to has Zoan ascend to Archangel hood as the Time Wars flare up later in the campaign, but didn't want to involve Yves in that, so instead decided to come up with a new celestial. The same goes for Kronos as the following will show: Kronos Everyone with a survival sense knows to not mention the Solar Nations in his presence. He hates the fact that more meet their Destiny than Fate and is looking for ways to change this. He is also weary from the Time Wars that have 'always' been going on. He is aware of the future fork in time where either he or Yves will win out. He has been promoting a Servitor of his for Princesshood, Mara Balsareph Demon of Eternity. Mara has become busier as Humanity has discovered time travel. He is also promoting Elymas, Shedite the ancient Demon of Shadows to have his Word encompass the Echoes, who Kronos is calling the Shadows, so that humanity will dehumanize itself by treating the denezines of the Shadows as not real, as things to be used. Kronos' plan is to counter the new Archangel Matrice with ancient Elymas. Mara is someone I want to build up because while her name is from Mythology of torment and evil, the word Mara in Swahili means 'time.' Vapula Wants to make the most out of the technological revolution going on. Since its mostly human in nature he knows the Jean will not stop it and all he can do is try and benefit from it as Vapula will be. The travel technologies, the dream and ghost technologies and the even darker necrotechnologies are all fascinating to him. The fact that alternate universes can be destroyed with this technology has given him the idea that he can finally perform an analysis, like a vivisection, on a universal scale. He either has to gain the technology or just wait for the humans to do it for him. He is also sponsering one of his own for the Princedome, Ahaz-monos, Impudite Demon for the Word of The Machine. If she is successful she will be the DP of The Machine. Presently working with some humans she has become known as the Monad. Traveling spacetime 'assimilating' life forms of all varieties into her Machine/Cyberhell ship vessel in corporeal space. She is capturing speciemens for Vapula to experiment on and this retangular kilometers long ship/factory is also experimenting in making vessels. If she is ultimately sucessful, the univerese, or atleast all living beings within it will become apart of one vast machine, Vapula will be able to study. As you no doubt can tell, Ahaz-monos, or Monad is based on the Borg of Star Trek fame. Picture her appearance, present day, as the Borg Queen and in her earlier inception as the robot from the film Metropolis. Explination of the "The fact that alternate universes can be destroyed with this technology has given him the idea that he can finally perform an analysis, like a vivisection, on a universal scale.": In a plotline the PCs just finished up several alternals or parallel universes were destroyed. It was rather epic, all caused by a man who wanted to keep changing history until a specific woman actually loved him. As you can imagine, he caught the attention of several DPs, like Andrealphus, even Beleth among many. Enough ramblings. Nybbas In some nations, Media is still king. Telling the citizens what or even how to think. Unfortuanately this is not true in most of the Solar Nations. The education system in place, particularly in the Jovian Confederation, encourages independent thinking and not relying on only one source for information. Presently he is working on gaining control of the SyInstruum, the solar-wide Internet and placing all the avenues of information under one source once again. His chief opponent has been the 'recently' promoted Orc, Archangel of (Computers*) whose domain encompasses the SysInstruum. *Every since my post on Orc, I have been rethinking this. Presently thinking either the suggested Networks or perhaps Data. I lean heavily towards Data. With Data he might even encompass some of Raphael, the Archangel of Knowledge's duties or even attunements. Any and all help, suggestions, input, etc., is very much appreciated. With Gratitude, Jeffery _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 08 Nov 2001 18:54:40 -0500 From: "Jeffery Watkins" Subject: IN> SF Jordi? Hi again, I meant to add a question about Jordi in the Brainstorming request: Should Jordi oversee alien animal life? One world discovered is based on (okay taken directly from) Expedition : Being an Account in Words and Artwork of the 2358 A.D. Voyage to Darwin IV by Wayne Douglas Barlowe. Along this same thinking, should there be a AA of Alien life/civilizations? I am taking the GURPS IN approach to alien life as they are created by humanity, but my twist is that they were secretly seeded by future human time travelers who wanted to add more variety to the universe. Most of them are seeded in parallel universe, but some are in the main universe. Thanks again, Jeffery _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 08 Nov 2001 20:33:52 -0500 From: Mike Bruner Subject: Re: IN> Angels of Stone -- dissonance > > (As an aside, isn't it strange how the Most Holy - the Seraphim > > - are the angels whose resonance is least suited to Heaven, > > where one *cannot lie*?) > >I wouldn't call their resonance least suited at all - IMNAAHO, their >resonance is perfectly matched to their home, just as the Balseraphic >resonance is the most perfectly matched to Hell. > >(And as the Grigori resonance is most perfectly matched to the corporeal, >for that matter. *g*) Seeing as how the Seraphim were the first true angels created, it's likely they were made without any eye towards a "useful" resonance anyway (the other choirs being created later as a particular need arose for them). Without a specific goal in mind, they just reflected the Truth they were created in the light of. Fortunately their resonance happens to have a valuable use on the Corporeal, so there's a point to sending them there. It's probably worth noting that with the exception of the Malakim and Grigori, none of the angelic choirs were probably created specifically with a use in fighting demons in mind (well, assuming things like choirs were in the purview of the Archangels (who do seem to make their own minor choirs) as opposed to God, who of course might have had a tad more insight into what was coming... :)). I imagine there are at least some minor choirs of angels that never leave Heaven simply because there's no purpose for them on the Corporeal or Ethereal planes; we just don't hear about them since that makes them kind of pointless for play in IN. So keep in mind when using an angel's resonance that it's more than just some "way kewl powerz" to them, it's an expression of their very being. They just happen to be able to use said expression to aid their work :). - -- Mike Bruner-- mbruner18@home.com I try to take one day at a time, but sometimes several days attack me at once. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 08 Nov 2001 20:48:54 -0500 From: Mike Bruner Subject: Re: IN> Quick test... At 09:55 PM 11/6/01 -0800, you wrote: >You are a stone cold IN fan if... > >You refer to your job as 'Role Maintenance'. > >You may be playing too much IN if... > >You refer to your social life as 'Role Maintenance'. > >You are playing too much IN if... > >You refer to your sex life as 'Role Maintenance' (also >found on 'Top 10 ways to get a knee in the groin from >your Significant Other' List) Can you call it Essence collection if you're a servitor of Eli? :) >You are a stone cold IN fan if... > >You visit a place that happens to be listed as a >Tether, just so that you can later use your >experiences in game. > >You may be playing too much IN if... > >You look for the actual Tether. > >You are playing too much IN if... > >Not finding a Tether, you attempt to make one. One hopes you weren't playing a demonic game for the last one... ("Oh Great Saminga..." :O) >You are a stone cold IN fan if... > >You write up a Superior for your campaign. > >You may be playing too much IN if... > >You write up a Superior based on your girlfriend. How about one based on your baby? >You are playing too much IN if... > >You write up a Superior of Cows. True! >You are a stone cold IN fan if... > >You convert a supernatural/horror/historical >roleplaying game to IN. > >You may be playing too much IN if... > >You convert every other game you own to IN, regardless >of whether you ever plan to play them. > >You are playing too much IN if... > >You convert Chutes and Ladders to IN. Or if you get carried away with the previous step and start converting your In Nomine stuff to In Nomine... - -- Mike Bruner-- mbruner18@home.com I try to take one day at a time, but sometimes several days attack me at once. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 8 Nov 2001 23:15:32 -0500 From: Elizabeth McCoy Subject: Re: IN> Hi Guys... At 11:39 AM -0600 11/8/01, Sean Gallagher wrote: >1.Are there any pending releases or is In Nomine Anime it? The EPG is simmering. I'm sure that SJ would consider it aesthetically displeasing to abandon the Superiors books. >2.Is the ethereal players guide ever going to see the light of day? I hear that the EPG's cover is being worked on. >Oh btw, is the formating on this ok, or do i need to find a way to jack with >it in hotmail? It doesn't seem to me HTML, so you're okay. - --Beth, typing w/a uncoopertive baby (iolanthe) causing typos. arcangel is nursing a trout with ARMS! ARMS that reach out and try to pound the keyboard! You say "And teeth. Ow." ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 09 Nov 2001 11:59:06 +0000 From: "Jo Hart" Subject: IN> Pyramid Scenario Hiya, Pyramid readers will no doubt have spotted pt I of an IN scenario on the front page this morning. I wouldn't normally point people at my stuff (although it does play really well, FWIW), but the history of this one is kind of interesting. I remember having heard people say that it was almost impossible to run an investigation game for angels, because of all the resonances, so I wanted to try to write one that would work. I think the conclusions I came to were mainly to try to encourage PCs to resonate anyone they met (because no one person knows enough of what's going on to shortcut the game), never assume that any NPC survives contact with PCs, and make sure PCs have plenty to do. Does anyone have any thoughts on running investigations for characters with angelic resonances? jo _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 9 Nov 2001 05:46:27 -0800 (PST) From: Michael Walton Subject: Re: IN> Brainstorming SF Request - --- Jeffery Watkins wrote: > Ouric The Angel of Space Exploration Heh heh... an Ofanite, of course? And shouldn't he be great friends with the Angel of Spacecraft who serves Jean? > Elymas The Shedite Demon of Shadows has always been a > powerful and ancient > word-bound. The magincian, the corrupter, he has revealed > in tempting > humanity to do things in the dark, hidden and in the > shadows. His Word also > encompasses the dreaded shapes of things to come as well > as those things done in secret. Ah, but there's another aspect of his Word that qualifies him for Princedom. Space is dark -- and very, very BIG. The Prince of the Outer Dark, should he manage to claim it, might well be a threat to Lucifer himself. He would certainly cause a major shift in the balance of power in the War. ===== Michael Walton, #9805-068 "Love is an exploding cigar which we willingy smoke." -- Linda Barry __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Find a job, post your resume. http://careers.yahoo.com ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 9 Nov 2001 05:52:05 -0800 (PST) From: Michael Walton Subject: Re: IN> SF Jordi? - --- Jeffery Watkins wrote: > Should Jordi oversee alien animal life? Absolutely. His Word covers animals no matter what planet they're on. In an SF setting, he might even have Word-bound for each word (Angel of Earth's Zoosphere, Angel of Rigel VI's Zoosphere, etc.). A similar situation would effect Novalis. > Along this same thinking, should there be a AA of Alien > life/civilizations? I wouldn't think so. However, each inhabitated world would have some AA's and DP's unique to it. And Salem, the Angel of Cities, would almost certainly be an AA in this setting. Someone else approached it from another angle. Since Mercurians are the Friends of Man, might there be Choirs of Angels who are Friends of (insert species here)? And those Choirs would naturally have Fallen analogs... ===== Michael Walton, #9805-068 "Love is an exploding cigar which we willingy smoke." -- Linda Barry __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Find a job, post your resume. http://careers.yahoo.com ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 9 Nov 2001 05:56:16 -0800 (PST) From: Michael Walton Subject: Re: IN> Angels of Stone -- dissonance - --- Mike Bruner wrote: > Seeing as how the Seraphim were the first true angels > created, Possibly not; canon is silent on that subject except for references to Michael as the Firstborn. > It's probably worth noting that with the exception of the > Malakim and > Grigori, none of the angelic choirs were probably created > specifically with > a use in fighting demons in mind [snip] I imagine there > are at least some minor choirs of > angels that never leave Heaven simply because there's no > purpose for them on the Corporeal or Ethereal planes H&H specifically mentions that there are Choirs that never leave Heaven, but it doesn't say that they are minor. Indeed, it's even possible that angels of the Heavenly Choirs outnumber the playable ones. Again, canon is silent on that subject. It's pretty much left as an exercise for the individual GM. ===== Michael Walton, #9805-068 "Love is an exploding cigar which we willingy smoke." -- Linda Barry __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Find a job, post your resume. http://careers.yahoo.com ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 9 Nov 2001 06:03:28 -0800 (PST) From: Michael Walton Subject: Re: IN> Pyramid Scenario - --- Jo Hart wrote: > Does anyone have any thoughts on running investigations > for characters with angelic resonances? I. Check Digits are the thing to watch out for. Most of the really cheesy stuff only happens at 4+. II. Mercurians create work, but they're not really that bad otherwise. Seraphim and Ofanim are the ones to really watch out for. If any Resonance breaks the game, it will probably be one of those. III. Some GM's dislike Malakim because they're combat monsters. Wrong! Malakim only have a _reason_ to fight (as do Cherubim, but few GM's object to them). Players who understand the game and want a PC whose Resonance helps in combat play Ofanim. IV. Bright Lilim have a Resonance with a very specific application when it comes to investigation; "I did something for you, now can you answer a few questions?" Make the players think of that on their own. ===== Michael Walton, #9805-068 "Love is an exploding cigar which we willingy smoke." -- Linda Barry __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Find a job, post your resume. http://careers.yahoo.com ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 09 Nov 2001 09:42:13 -0500 From: Earl Wajenberg Subject: Re: IN> Brainstorming SF Request I think the main thing you need to consider, as a piece of setting ground-work, is the relationship between the Superiors and the hugely extended setting. Specifically: You mention parallel worlds, but you seem to give some kind of priority to the "main" line, evident in the adjective "main." What, if anything, is the nature of that priority? Does each world have its own set of Superiors? Then how to they interact? Is contact between the parallels a human invention that catches the Superiors flatfooted? (That seems strange in beings that pre-date the creation of the physical universe.) Were the parallels all created "recently" in this time-trave- romance you mention? If all aliens are really gene-tooled products of a future human- founded civilization, then you can treat them as all part of the IN continuity. But if any of them are separate creations, you have to decide if they have their own set of Superiors and what the relationship is to Earth's Superiors. If all intelligent species have the same Superiors, then the Fall and the War are probably much older than in the canon history, maybe even older than Earth itself. If they're all separate, maybe many alien civilizations are so many Edens, in the path of a whole hell-full of serpents, the DPs. This gives the Superiors of Earth and the other worlds plenty of occupation. In the middle, maybe some of the very old Superiors, like Lucifer, Gabriel, Michael, etc., are of cosmic scope, but others, like Christopher and Vapula, are concerned with, or "assigned to," humanity alone. If time-travel is such a major piece of the setting, which it seems to be, then it seems very likely to me that all the Superiors have always known about and used time travel in the War; its use by humanity is just a recent new wrinkle. (Though, of course, Kronos and Yves are chiefly responsible for regulating actual celestial time-traffic.) That being so, the Celestial Plane should be more like Eternity, a place where all eras meet and are equally accessibly. If they DON'T meet, it is probably because the Superiors find it tidier to keep things aritifically separated, and this means there can be deliberate and accidental breaches of temporal security in Heaven and Hell. You use a version of time travel in which history is mutable. In that case, the stability of the "main" history is either an illusion or some kind of tacit accomodation by both sides, like the rule on keeping the War secret from humanity at large. There may be interesting rumors circulating that history "used" to be very different. Certainly the Ethereals already circulate such rumors in the canon setting. Earl ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 09 Nov 2001 09:52:12 -0500 From: Earl Wajenberg Subject: Re: IN> SF Jordi? Jeffery Watkins wrote: > Should Jordi oversee alien animal life? That's simplest. In which case, he may have been so remote from most Heavenly politics with regard to humanity simply because he had so much else on his mind. Or Jordi could be the regional AA of Animals, with another such AA for each animal-bearing planet, which makes like very complicated when humans begin colonizing. Who gets jurisdiction over the Terran cows on the prairies of Alpha Centauri or the Centaurian Wheel-Bears in the London Zoo? How much complication do you want in your life? > Along this same thinking, should there be a AA of Alien life/ > civilizations? One AA hardly seems enough if the aliens outnumber the humans by the factor they usually do in space opera. Earl ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 9 Nov 2001 09:59:38 -0500 From: "Adams, David" Subject: RE: IN> David & Dissonance Please tell me it has a little old lady vessel? Everyone knows they are as tough as bootleather, and the mental image of her laying into a demon with her handbag is ... sweet ;) Picture that with the malakite of creation attunement. Dave ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 09 Nov 2001 16:30:58 GMT From: "prodigal" Subject: Re: IN> Pyramid Scenario Michael Walton writes: > > --- Jo Hart wrote: >> Does anyone have any thoughts on running investigations >> for characters with angelic resonances? > > I. Check Digits are the thing to watch out for. Most of > the really cheesy stuff only happens at 4+. And watch out for interventions on Investigation rolls - those can kill a plot deader than dead, if you're not careful. I and another player once circumvented most of a planned investigation plotline when he got a 111 on his Investigation roll, and the GM decided to run with my suggestion of the killer having dropped his wallet as he fled the murder scene. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 09 Nov 2001 12:02:29 -0500 From: "Jeffery Watkins" Subject: Re: IN> Brainstorming SF Request >--- Jeffery Watkins wrote: > > Ouric The Angel of Space Exploration > > Heh heh... an Ofanite, of course? And shouldn't he be >great friends with the Angel of Spacecraft who serves Jean? Yes! Wait! There is an Angel of Spacecraft? Is there a write-up anywhere? Elymas The Shedite Demon of Shadows has always been a > > powerful and ancient > > word-bound. The magincian, the corrupter, he has revealed > > in tempting > > humanity to do things in the dark, hidden and in the > > shadows. His Word also > > encompasses the dreaded shapes of things to come as well > > as those things done in secret. > > Ah, but there's another aspect of his Word that qualifies >him for Princedom. Space is dark -- and very, very BIG. >The Prince of the Outer Dark, should he manage to claim it, >might well be a threat to Lucifer himself. He would >certainly cause a major shift in the balance of power in >the War. Didn't think of that. That would cause some major political shifts with Hell and some great infighting. Thanks for the input! Jeffery _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 09 Nov 2001 12:05:35 -0500 From: "Jeffery Watkins" Subject: Re: IN> SF Jordi? >--- Jeffery Watkins wrote: > > Should Jordi oversee alien animal life? > > Absolutely. His Word covers animals no matter what >planet they're on. In an SF setting, he might even have >Word-bound for each word (Angel of Earth's Zoosphere, Angel >of Rigel VI's Zoosphere, etc.). A similar situation would >effect Novalis. Oops! Forgot about Novalis, good point. I like the idea of the Zoospheres. > > Along this same thinking, should there be a AA of Alien > > life/civilizations? > > I wouldn't think so. However, each inhabitated world >would have some AA's and DP's unique to it. And Salem, the >Angel of Cities, would almost certainly be an AA in this >setting. Would you mind expanding on this with Salem? Thanks for the input! Jeffery _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 09 Nov 2001 12:28:53 -0500 From: "Jeffery Watkins" Subject: Re: IN> Brainstorming SF Request >I think the main thing you need to consider, as a piece of >setting ground-work, is the relationship between the Superiors >and the hugely extended setting. Specifically: > >You mention parallel worlds, but you seem to give some kind of >priority to the "main" line, evident in the adjective "main." >What, if anything, is the nature of that priority? Background/Setting: Alternity, or parallel universes--the write-up for Gabriel 2215 would explain it best: Gabriel--She was had entered the council suddenly to announce with the voice of God the existence of the Echoes of the Symphony. Parallel universes that were but shadows of the corporeal realm, what humanity had labeled the Primeline. It was announced the instance the first molecule was moved in time by humanity's time travel experiments. It also heralds the time of the Purity Test had begun. The Ethereals will be allowed to take vessels in the Echoes and among the reflections of humanity that dwelt there. As humanity from the Primeline encounter them and develop relations with them will be apart of the judgment of Uriel's Crusade. It was after this announcement that Uriel-Ozma reappeared among the Host as well as introducing a new Archangel Matrice, the Archangel of Infinity, whose mission will be to oversee the Echoes. The parallels exist for the reason of a test and possibly a peace treaty between Heaven and Ethereal. >Does each world have its own set of Superiors? No, I was thinking that a Superior might be assigned them in general as more of a maintenace/prep for humanity, like Jordi oversees the animal kingdom and I suspect Oannes oversaw the seas. Then how to they interact? Is contact between the parallels a human invention that catches the Superiors flatfooted? (That seems strange in >beings that pre-date the creation of the physical universe.) While strange, Jean didn't think Humanity had it in them to do it, so it did catch them, except for Yves and Kronos, flatfooted. I am looking more on the technological advancement that comes suddenly from a gifted once-in-history genuis. It mostly caught Jean flatfooted because he didn't want to beleive Humanity could do it, other Superiors just didn't have the interest to see it. > >Were the parallels all created "recently" in this time-trave- >romance you mention? Yes. > >If all aliens are really gene-tooled products of a future human- >founded civilization, then you can treat them as all part of the >IN continuity. That is it exactly. >If all intelligent species have the same Superiors, then the Fall >and the War are probably much older than in the canon history, >maybe even older than Earth itself. Are you refering to if the intelligent species were non-gene tailored? Otherwise, would you elaborate by what you mean? Thanks! > >If time-travel is such a major piece of the setting, which it seems >to be, then it seems very likely to me that all the Superiors have >always known about and used time travel in the War; its use by >humanity is just a recent new wrinkle. (Though, of course, Kronos >and Yves are chiefly responsible for regulating actual celestial >time-traffic.) Not all. The other Superiors are just now being involved in the Time Wars. Yves and Kronos have always been involved and Zobah, the AA of Warfare (the Elohite version of Michael that was on the list I re-worked) is the other Superior. I haven't decided if he has a counterpart in Hell. > >That being so, the Celestial Plane should be more like Eternity, >a place where all eras meet and are equally accessibly. If they >DON'T meet, it is probably because the Superiors find it tidier to >keep things aritifically separated, and this means there can be >deliberate and accidental breaches of temporal security in Heaven >and Hell. It has always been possible, but few Superiors, and their servitors, have used it. The rest have to go linearly with time on the corporeal plane. Time travel is actually only possible on the corporeal plane, whose history is malable. On the Ethereal and Celestial, time is not that mutable or travel possible. > >You use a version of time travel in which history is mutable. >In that case, the stability of the "main" history is either an >illusion or some kind of tacit accomodation by both sides, like >the rule on keeping the War secret from humanity at large. >There may be interesting rumors circulating that history "used" to >be very different. Certainly the Ethereals already circulate >such rumors in the canon setting. > >Earl Actually, celestials remember all the historical changes, but only the ones that affect The War are of any importance. Time, like other aspects of nature are given to humanity to see how good a stewardship they will be with it. Thanks for the input! It helps me clarify some concepts and I hope my explanations helped. If you would like more details, feel free to ask. In Gratitude, Jeffery _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 09 Nov 2001 17:36:02 From: "Michael Cleveland" Subject: IN> Project - Silence The three hobos huddled around a fire, wrapping their blankets around them and praying to God that the cold would relent and their fortunes would get better. From her window in her laboratory, Sylviel looked down and wished she could do something for them. Since she'd been assigned to this Tether, she'd had the opportunity to watch humanity in action, and she was beginning to understand how humans could swear themselves to Hell. Knowledge of the Truth was sometimes a painful burden to bear, and she had stopped using her resonance casually on some of the people she saw on the street. 'Small wonder they lose faith, when they believe they are already in Hell.' she thought. Sylviel walked away from the window, and walked into the kitchen. Looking at the duty roster, she noted that all the soldiers had left for the day, leaving only angels on for the night. Thinking quickly, she grabbed the few pizza boxes that were left over from earlier in the day, setting what was left in the microwave for a few moments. 'Just because we can't bring thermal units out to them doesn't mean I can't do something to ease their suffering.' A few moments later, she walked outside to the homeless men standing around. "Excuse me, but I saw you gentlemen out here in the cold and I thought you might like something to eat." One of the men looked up at her, smiled a bit with his broken teeth, and took the pizza box. "Thank you kindly, ma'am. You don't know how much this means to us." Sylviel smiled, and turned to walk back inside when she felt something cold and metallic at the base of her skull, and then a falling sensation as her soul raced upwards towards her heart in Trauma.The three hobos looked at each other after hiding her body, and then started moving towards the building. One of them bent down and coughed a couple of times, then whispered into his sleeve. "We've got our entrance into the hive. All teams prepare for assault." - --------- Several minutes later, the conditions in the Tether had changed dramatically. The seneschal was dead, the primary research staff was missing or dead, and the 40 or so people that had stormed the building had gathered up the few remaining angels into one of the storerooms in the back of the building. The hobo with broken teeth was walking behind the few surviving Servants of Lightning, with a cigar in his mouth and a M-16 in his hands. Looking towards one of the other shabbily dressed men with an assault rifle. "Is that the last of them?" He nodded. "We think so, Colonel. Assuming they didn't have the opportunity to warn any of their other nests, the area should be secure. They could have gone extradimensional on us, but I think we're good. Teams 3 and 4 are beginning the inventory." One of the Cherubim spoke. "Please, you don't understand..." The men looked over at him, and then looked back at each other. "I think we can go ahead and kill these ones right here. Orders are for a straight smash and grab, not prisoners. Besides, we don't have containment units for them." The man with the cigar nodded. "I want these scum off my planet. Let's just go ahead and finish them." One of the Malakim that had survived, albeit without his legs, looked up at the people around him. "When I get back to Earth, I'll show you bastards what we do to Hellspawn." The cigar smoking man walking over and crouched next to him, pulling a pistol from a shoulder holster. Placing the weapon to the back of the Malakite's skull, he nodded at the rest of the people, who did the same with their rifles to the rest of the angels. "We're not any sort of 'Hellsworn', you alien freaks. We're _Marines_. Remember that when you get where you're going, and may God have mercy on your souls." - ------------- Project Silence Project Silence is a completely black operations program that deals with the unenviable task of rooting out 'Extradimensional Entities', or Celestials. No celestial is quite certain when they formed, but over the past sixty or so years there have been more than a few celestials that have found their way back to Heaven or Hell via the guns of this group. There is no open source of funding, no obvious command structure, and unfortunately for those who would like to see them gone, there always seem to be _more_ of them. Initiated in the later years of World War II, Project Silence came out of multiple reports that aliens had aligned themselves with the Axis powers and with the Soviet Union. While the people who were first put into the program were some of the military's castoffs who didn't fit in anywhere else, the would-be dumping ground for problem cases soon found itself in the middle of a firestorm. Apparently the reports were true, but not complete. Not only was there an alien conspiracy backing Hitler, but there was evidence of a different group of aliens working inside the Allied camp as well, albeit one that was trying to overthrow the Axis and the other aliens. It also became apparent that these aliens had the resources to insinuate themselves into human society, appearing to be human in every way until they chose to show their powers. Several high ranking officers in the armed forces were soon discovered as being in collaboration with these 'foreign powers', thus proving to all the skeptics that there was a legitimate invasion in progress and that there was a legitimate threat to national security. The decision was made - the aliens had infiltrated the military complex, the intelligence organizations, the courts, the legislative branch and the financial industry. There was no reason to do such a thing covertly, unless there was a plan to quietly take control of the United States without anyone being aware. Realizing that since their enemies apparently were able to move in more than 3 dimensions, the military came up with the idea that their actions might well coincide with the abilities of 'spirits' that occultists had been claiming to contact and control for centuries. Pressing into service some of the occult-minded members of the military, as well as some of the Jewish Kaballists rescued from the Nazi death camps, they began a very ordered and difficult training program to train their soldiers to recognize the potential warning signs of these 'spirits'. While the few celestials that knew laughed at the plan, their laughter soon had cause to stop. Most soldiers gain their sixth force and their Symphonic Awakening due to experience and a conscious awakening attempt by either Heaven or Hell. In the case of Project Silence, you have hundreds of people training at a time, taken from the physically and mentally elite of a trained military organization. Through the forced education in occult and scientific principles, as well as a physical training regimen that would be the equal of any other Special Forces unit, many people began to show the signs of success. This was characterized by hearing unearthly sounds in the presence of the aliens, hence the designation 'Silence'. They were sent back into the field as hunters and snipers, but also as cooks, logistics personnel, and many other specialties. When a nest, also known as a 'Tether' is found, the people spring into action, placing the location under surveillance as well as anyone who comes or goes to the place. After a few weeks, the human collaborators and aliens are distinguished from the unknowing dupes, and the operation begins in earnest. Details vary by the nest, but high explosives are always part of the plan. The central transport pads in the center of the bases can be well disguised, being constructed from almost any earthly material, but this pad, or 'locus' has to be destroyed quickly. Otherwise, more entities will come through to reinforce the garrison already present. The truly hard work isn't so much with the aliens - it's with the poor souls that have associated with them for a long time. The people often claim that their alien associates were not aliens, but rather 'Angels' or 'Demons'. This part is the most tragic, as they can seldom be brought back to rational sanity, requiring their institutionalization. Many good, decent church-going people become wrapped up in these conspiracies - people who just were in the wrong place at the wrong time. It's for these people, and for the regular folks on the street that Project Silence is working for. To guarantee the freedom of the people of the United States from the alien forces that would oppress them. God help us all. Michael Cleveland Gulf Coast Geotech _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp ------------------------------ End of in_nomine-digest V1 #2435 ********************************