in_nomine-digest Tuesday, November 13 2001 Volume 01 : Number 2441 In this digest: Re: IN> Marou, DP of Vanity (1 of 2) Re: IN> Marou, DP of Vanity (1 of 2) Re: IN> Marou, DP of Vanity (1 of 2) Re: IN> Marou, DP of Vanity (1 of 2) Re: IN> Patient Zero... IN> Traditional angelology and IN (was Re: Patient 0) IN> Traditional angelology and IN (was Re:Patient 0) IN> New Choir Re: IN> Traditional angelology and IN (was Re: Patient 0) Re: IN> Traditional angelology and IN (was Re: Patient 0) Re: IN> New Choir Re: IN> Project - Silence IN> Seraphim and resonance Re: IN> New Choir Re: IN> Alternate Realities Re: IN> Marou, DP of Vanity (1 of 2) Re: IN> Marou, DP of Vanity (1 of 2) Re: IN> Seraphim and resonance Re: IN> Patient Zero... Re: IN> Seraphim and resonance ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 13 Nov 2001 10:33:52 -0800 (PST) From: Michael Walton Subject: Re: IN> Marou, DP of Vanity (1 of 2) - --- Manny Nepomuceno wrote: > Marou > Impudite Princess of Vanity While I don't think that Vanity is a Prince-level Word, there was stuff that I liked about this... > The world revolves around me. ...beginning with this quote. I also liked the Attunements, but here are the obligatory quibbles. > Makeover > This attunement works like the Celestial Song of Form, > except that this may > affect others besides the Balseraph. I assume that you mean, "others besides the demon?" But at least I know what your first idea for the Balseraph of Vanity Attunement was. };> > Eye of the Beholder > By paying 1 Essence, the holder of this attunement can > see how others > perceive themselves. This effect lasts for 1 hour and > can be used to > detect other celestials -- especially those without > Roles! Habbalah will, > of course, confuse the demon with this attunement. An automatic Celestial detector is a game-breaking power no matter who has it. This definitely needs to be toned down if it's to be playable. ===== Michael Walton, #9805-068 "Love is an exploding cigar which we willingy smoke." -- Linda Barry __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Find the one for you at Yahoo! Personals http://personals.yahoo.com ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 13 Nov 2001 13:40:23 -0500 From: Earl Wajenberg Subject: Re: IN> Marou, DP of Vanity (1 of 2) Michael Walton wrote: > While I don't think that Vanity is a Prince-level Word, > there was stuff that I liked about this... Vanity abou physical appearance alone, perhaps not, but general vanity about oneself -- appearance, accomplishment, possessions, status, fame -- sounds princely enough. Earl ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 13 Nov 2001 14:18:35 -0500 From: Elizabeth McCoy Subject: Re: IN> Marou, DP of Vanity (1 of 2) At 1:40 PM -0500 11/13/01, Earl Wajenberg wrote: >Michael Walton wrote: > >> While I don't think that Vanity is a Prince-level Word, >> there was stuff that I liked about this... > >Vanity abou physical appearance alone, perhaps not, but >general vanity about oneself -- appearance, accomplishment, >possessions, status, fame -- sounds princely enough. In other words... Princess of Pride? (The sort of thing to make Dominic bang his head against a wall, ohyeah.) - --emccoy@nh.ultranet.com // arcangel@io.com In Nomine Line Editor RPG links; Random name list, Art: http://www.io.com/~arcangel/ ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 13 Nov 2001 14:21:33 -0500 From: Earl Wajenberg Subject: Re: IN> Marou, DP of Vanity (1 of 2) Elizabeth McCoy wrote: > In other words... Princess of Pride? Exactly. Pride is, of course, one of the Seven Deadly Sins, and is often named "Vanity" instead. I believe that's how it's named in "Dr. Fautus," where Faust meets personifications of the Seven Deadly Sins in an infernal masque staged for him by Mephistopheles. The main reason against having a Prince of Pride is that it might collide with Lucifer's own Word, since, if he has one, it might well be that. Earl ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 13 Nov 2001 15:56:44 -0500 From: "Jeffery Watkins" Subject: Re: IN> Patient Zero... Very scarry. Jeffery _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 13 Nov 2001 16:06:16 -0500 From: Matthew Gerber Subject: IN> Traditional angelology and IN (was Re: Patient 0) Earl Wajenberg wrote: >(This is because I basically DON'T LIKE Derek Pearcy's penchant for >screwing around with lots of perfectly good angel/demon mythology. >Knocking Mammon back to the minors is one example. Demoting >Michael, deranging Gabriel, deleting Uriel, and deceasing Raphael >and Beelzebub are others.) > Out of curiosity, has anyone already played around with IN material to link in more traditional angelolgy? If not, how much interest would there be in something like this? The most obvious problem I'd see is, well, boredom. Most interpretations of IN already imply that if Heaven really had its act together, it could roll over Hell pretty hard. Traditional angelology magnifies this: in most religions that have angels--particularly Christianity--when you get things to the point where they're acting directly, the good guys win *way* too easily for it to make for interesting roleplaying. Getting by this wouldn't be impossible, of course--"the real fight is for human souls" is one of the more obvious ways. But it'd still be a concern. Matt ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 13 Nov 2001 16:10:05 -0500 From: Matthew Gerber Subject: IN> Traditional angelology and IN (was Re:Patient 0) Earl Wajenberg wrote: >(This is because I basically DON'T LIKE Derek Pearcy's penchant for >screwing around with lots of perfectly good angel/demon mythology. >Knocking Mammon back to the minors is one example. Demoting >Michael, deranging Gabriel, deleting Uriel, and deceasing Raphael >and Beelzebub are others.) > Out of curiosity, has anyone already played around with IN material to link in more traditional angelolgy? If not, how much interest would there be in something like this? The most obvious problem I'd see is, well, boredom. Most interpretations of IN already imply that if Heaven really had its act together, it could roll over Hell pretty hard. Traditional angelology magnifies this: in most religions that have angels--particularly Christianity--when you get things to the point where they're acting directly, the good guys win *way* too easily for it to make for interesting roleplaying. Getting by this wouldn't be impossible, of course--"the real fight is for human souls" is one of the more obvious ways. But it'd still be a concern. Matt ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 13 Nov 2001 13:10:30 -0800 (PST) From: Maurice Lane Subject: IN> New Choir I always liked that Minor Choir/Band contest that Ben did back in 2000. This one's been kicking in my head for a while. Moe Irin (The Witnesses, the Observers, the Igors) /The physicist swore underneath her breath as she returned from lunch: the afternoon looked to be nearly as frustrating as the morning. There was an obvious answer - she was sure of it - but it kept eluding her. /Her face blanched as she entered her office. While she was gone, someone had come in and cleaned. Worse, they had obviously disturbed her desk. From the looks of things, papers had been dropped on the floor and hastily put back in any sort of order. The scientist opened her mouth to start shouting - then noticed the title of one of the articles in the journal that she had meant to read for the last six months. She closed her mouth. Fifteen minutes later she was grinning. Two hours later she was still going through the implications (while a small part of her was mildly wondering how one said 'thank you' in Norwegian). /Down the hall, a nondescript man idly whistled as he pushed a broom around and waited for the chemist to go home./ Jean may micromanage, but he does know when to use a light touch. He may not be personally all that good at it, but he can see when it might be necessary. That's why tools were invented in the first place: to do a specialized job better than one's own bare hands. The Irin are Jean's tools for delicate and precise work. The antithesis of the brute force approach, one of the Witnesses can slip into a particular scenario, quietly arrange matters so that any problems fix themselves and slip out again without anyone or anything (including the Symphony) noticing. Except for the occasional dead body, of course. There are, after all, Things That Man Was Not Meant To Know. Resonance The resonance for an Irin (plural 'Irin') is for interference: they can see it, compensate for it - and in some cases, provide it. A Witness is always an expert in at least one field of knowledge, and often knows the solution to the problem that those around her are fervently working on. She may not give them the answer, but she can make it much easier (or much harder) for them to work it out for themselves. Dissonance It is dissonant for an Irin to just give a human the answer to a problem: instead, the Witnesses must find a way for their charges to legitimately work it out on their own. They may act either overtly or covertly, but Jean did not intend for this Choir to do humanity's research for them. If a particular human cannot see the clues (or warning signs) placed in his or her path, so be it. Manner and Appearance Irin are natural mimics: they are careful to create the exact appearance and demeanor that will allow them to truly fit into a group. This goes beyond such simple concepts as 'nondescript', actually: after all, anything so paranoid as a demon will always look twice at the people that you wouldn't look twice at. They aren't as good as Mercurians at fitting in, but they aren't bad at it, either. A Witness is not emotionless, normally - but they usually are fairly sedate and calm. It isn't about them, after all. In their celestial form, Irin appear as mathematical abstractions. An inspired mathematician might be able to adequately describe them (to other mathematicians, at least): others - say, someone who was a liberals arts major in college - would just see 'a bunch of pretty curves and some numbers and stuff'. The major problem facing the Irin is frustration: they often have to fight the urge to scream at particularly obtuse humans - or, worse, give up and just tell the idiot the answer. Those that succumb on a regular basis (and they've all done it, at least once) are in imminent danger of Falling. If they do, they almost always end up working for Vapula as Regulators, tasked with imposing the Genius Archangel's vision upon the universe. The fact that none of them can agree on what that vision actually is never stops a Regulator. Irin never see themselves as musical instruments: rather, they see themselves as the cases for those instruments. Game Mechanics With a successful resonance roll, an Irin may boost a human's skill in a particular science or Knowledge skill roll by the resonance roll's CD. The maximum bonus allowed is the lower of either the Witness' or the target's level in the target skill: Irin much prefer to work with experts in their field. This bonus is also only available in cases where the target is already working under a disadvantage of some kind. Finally, the Irin must find a way to provide this assistance without the target catching on: this is pretty much a GM call, but it should in general involve some sort of surreptitious behavior. More Sophisticated Uses of Resonance The Irin give, but can take away. By making a successful resonance roll at -2, they can reduce a target's skill level by the resonance roll's CD (allowable skills and limitations as above). The average Witness does not enjoy doing this, but they usually agree with Jean that there are some paths that humanity should not walk. Irin in the Host Jean has been using this Choir for millennia - but only began creating them in large numbers once it became clear just how dangerous Vapula really was. Today, they act as silent muses, hidden shepherds and preemptive agents of karma. There are things Jean wants humanity thinking about - and things that that he most assuredly does not. The Witnesses are a useful tool for accomplishing both goals without unnecessary bloodshed. The Irin are not often seen serving other Archangels. Yves has some; so did Raphael, before her untimely death (they have since come back to Jean's service). Eli has been known to reward one or two of the Witnesses, as had Gabriel. /In non-canonical campaigns, the Archangel of Mending has shamelessly used her favored relationship with Jean to poach. For that matter, the Archangel of SCIENCE! would find this Choir highly useful... which is, apparently, why he makes them himself. How he does this is just another mystery of the fellow./ Irin of Creation (restricted) Eli wasn't one for taking Witnesses into his service, but was and is happy to reward Irin who were of assistance to them. As his usual reward is the ability to use their resonance without fear of disrupting the formation of a Tether, this is rarely an issue. Irin of Divine Fire Gabriel has no Irin in her ranks, but will reward the worthy with the ability to detect humans whose Cruelty would involve Things That Man Was Not Meant To Know. An Irin with this Attunement is not constrained by Gabriel's dissonance conditions, but that's really just a formality. Irin of Lightning (restricted) Witnesses of Lightning can determine (with a successful Perception -3 roll) whether the object of their resonance is being affected by deliberate Infernal aid/interference. Irin of Knowledge (restricted) There are a few Witnesses left with Raphael's old Attunement. They are able to assess a theory and determine the most likely way that later researchers will misinterpret it. Irin of Destiny (restricted) The assistance of an Irin of Destiny will not interfere in the target's achievement of his or her Destiny. /Irin of Mending (Restricted) Witnesses of Mending always know if a failed experiment is due to mechanical error. With a Perception roll at -2, they can also work out what the data should have been.../ /Irin of SCIENCE! (Restricted) Identical to Jean's Attunement, except that the roll will detect any supernatural interference. However, his Irin are not able to hinder a human researcher's skill rolls via the use of their resonance./ ===== Liber Licentiae Moeticae: http://www.stormloader.com/users/moelane/innomine.html Last updated 09/28/01(this is usually way out of date) __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Find the one for you at Yahoo! Personals http://personals.yahoo.com ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 13 Nov 2001 14:18:59 -0700 From: "Ben Glickler" Subject: Re: IN> Traditional angelology and IN (was Re: Patient 0) > The most obvious problem I'd see is, well, boredom. Most > interpretations of IN already imply that if Heaven really had its act > together, it could roll over Hell pretty hard. Traditional angelology > magnifies this: in most religions that have angels--particularly > Christianity--when you get things to the point where they're acting > directly, the good guys win *way* too easily for it to make for > interesting roleplaying. Solving this problem while maintaining a proper challenge level makes your game darker. Imagine a scenario where an untainted Michael leads the hosts of Heaven with the fanatically lethal Uriel at his side. Imagine a scenario where Gabriel is the coherent, sane, deadly messenger of the Almighty. Imagine Raphael working closely with Jean and Yves as part of Heaven's intelligence-gathering triumverate. Imagine they still face the same odds of victory that the guys in the traditional In Nomine setting do. Depressin', ain't it? > Matt Ben ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 13 Nov 2001 17:04:05 -0500 From: Earl Wajenberg Subject: Re: IN> Traditional angelology and IN (was Re: Patient 0) Matthew Gerber wrote: > Out of curiosity, has anyone already played around with IN material to > link in more traditional angelolgy? If not, how much interest would > there be in something like this? Well, IN inspired me to make up a set of angel-based roleplaying material for my own home-grown set of rules (which have been successfully used by our game group for over a decade), but I haven't tried tinkering with IN itself. (Anyone who wants to see my "alternate angels" stuff, send me a request by private e-mail. I'll be happy to oblige.) There are, however, lots of ways one can bring IN closer to traditional angelology without changing the tenor of the game much. (Bearing in mind that "traditional angelology" is a pretty ill-defined beast.) For a start, there's using the well-known names of angels and demons for active superiors -- Michael (still as Commander of the Host), Gabriel (not in semi-exile), Uriel, Raphael, Metatron, Azrael, Moloch, Mammon (as a major Prince), Apollyon, Beelzebub. Next, one could use the celestial hierarchy of Pseudo-Dionysius. This is the hierarchy that was most widely received in Christendom, though, as a glance at Davidson's "Dictonary of Angels" will show, there were oodles of alternates -- none of them identical to IN's. The hierarchy went: seraphim cherubim thrones dominations virtues powers principalities archangels angels The rank "archangel" gets used ambiguously, rather like "secretary," which could mean an office admin or Secretary of State. The lower-case archangels were thought to be "captains" of squads of bottom-rank angels, while there were also though to be Seven Archangels who were much more cosmic, like IN Archangels. You could use the Dionysian hierarchy and accomodate IN Archangels under some other title, like Elders or Aeons. Another feature of traditional angelology is that angels and demons are thought to hang around Earth indefinitely and invisibly, with no time-limits on "celestial form," as in IN. *That* would change the shape of the game more considerably. Spirits being destroyed is pretty eyebrow-lifting in traditional angelology. You could adapt IN by substituting ages-long Trauma for soul-death. Either way, time to roll up a new character. > The most obvious problem I'd see is, well, boredom. Most > interpretations of IN already imply that if Heaven really had its act > together, it could roll over Hell pretty hard. Even in standard IN, Heaven is mostly concerned with thwarting Hell on Earth. As I understand it, Heaven doesn't intervene more because God's told them not to. Hell doesn't intervene more because they don't want to confront Heaven directly. Not very far from traditional angelology. Earl ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 13 Nov 2001 17:05:12 -0500 From: "Eric Bertish" Subject: Re: IN> New Choir > Irin > (The Witnesses, the Observers, the Igors) Jean's Menunim, in a way. - -- Casca ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 13 Nov 2001 22:10:58 From: "Perry Lloyd" Subject: Re: IN> Project - Silence > >A substantial number of Tethers are located in places which are NOT good >to > >drop a bomb into; the source of Tethers is some sort of fame among >humans, > >after all. You start blowing up monuments and such, the government will >not > >be amused by the "fighting space aliens" excuse... > >Take that to a logical and paranoid extreme, by an extremist, and you have >Sep. 11 as an attack on Marc... O:/ Well . . . DUH!!! In My Campaign, the Sept. 11 attack was interpretated as a direct attack on Marc (and Mammon as well?), at least that's how he feels. It didn't help that immediately after the attack, a Baron of Fire named Ouikka was named DP of Terrorism. The Mercurian has been reorganizing his Malakim and pulling in his more War-ready allies to defend his other powerful Tethers, and he has been working diligently to combat Ouikka as much as possible (such as trying to cut off the money that fuel's the Terrorist organizations). > >The problem is, while I love the idea of a anti-celestial secret >government > >effort, I can't see HOW the thing would last long. > >Leave no witnesses, don't get attuned to, don't get caught. If the whole >thing is run by someone who has a strong Will (natural Soldier? Child >of the Grigori?), and enough strong-willed folk (with captured Force >Catchers?) can be put in key areas, it could last a pretty long time. >Depending on how hard these guys are to root out, compared to how much >damage they do overall, the cost-benefit analysis may require leaving >them in place. And having disenchanted Renegade and Outcasts helping out can't hurt either. Assuming the humans can't identify Celestials except through their behavior, a turn-coat feeding them info on what to look for would help a lot. It would also help the Renegades or whomeever take their revenge. >Or at least enough of them that the darned things keep coming back. > >(Oh, here's another good use for Remnants -- if the GM rules that >they Just Don't Show Up on angelic resonances, you have one of these >dudes (with 3 points in Per and Will, probably; just not a full Force) >in place carefully...) > >Computer/phone contacts are also good for keeping cells distinct -- a >Mercurian can't track a resonated associate like a Cherub. (Mind, a Kyrio >of Jean can scroffle this -- which is why you need Force Catchers.) force catchers are fun . . . - -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: Tue, 13 Nov 2001 17:13:00 EST From: StoyboI@aol.com Subject: IN> Seraphim and resonance Seraphim resonate with the truth. Good. Nice. Tidy. Now, what is truth? Interesting thought that. Here's why I am filled with sarcasm. Essence is an attempt to manipulate the symphony. On many levels, it's basically an attempt to force your will on the symphony. You use essence to improve your chances. It's not real skill, it's false skill. So there is a note of dissonance. Now some of you may argue that this is not so. After all, the poor Seraph isn't trying to hide the fact that he's using essence (a practical impossibility actually), he's merely using the tools he has to best do his job. Oh, good use of rationalization. But for every choir, that is an easy way to the depths of hell. And of course, a Seraph on earth is just asking for dissonance since he's not allowed to lie at all, but is told never to tell the truth about the war. Hmmmmmmmmm. No wonder Seraphim are on such high horses. They deserve it. No matter what they do, they are going to get dissonance. But what about using Songs and other such things that require essence? Simple. Songs are a part of the symphony, reality, the cosmic-all. We can all agree to that. But what about all those wonderful things involved in songs and attunements? They are not any fundamental part of the Seraphim. Basically, if a Seraph ever said, "I healed him," the poor little serpent would get a note of dissonance. The Seraph did nothing but sing a Song and put some power into it. They Symphony did the actual healing. The same goes with attunements. It isn't the Seraph doing it, but an aspect of the Seraph's superior. And that superior got the power from the Word, which got it from the Symphony. Basically, a Seraph is doomed and Damned from the start. Now I had best run before Dominic shows up and trounces me for heresy, though I doubt he could refute such statements. Stoybol, angel of magic. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 13 Nov 2001 15:09:59 -0800 (PST) From: Maurice Lane Subject: Re: IN> New Choir - --- Eric Bertish wrote: > > Irin > > (The Witnesses, the Observers, the Igors) > > Jean's Menunim, in a way. Yup. Except for the weeding subroutine, of course. :) Moe ===== Liber Licentiae Moeticae: http://www.stormloader.com/users/moelane/innomine.html Last updated 09/28/01(this is usually way out of date) __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Find the one for you at Yahoo! Personals http://personals.yahoo.com ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 13 Nov 2001 18:22:11 -0500 From: "Jeffery Watkins" Subject: Re: IN> Alternate Realities >So a visitor from the real world might, after a LOT of observation, >notice that people here in this "parallel world" are usually >very uneccentric and predictable, but occasionally VERY eccentric >and UNpredictable. > >Earl I like this! It makes the visit range from strange to creepy and back to weird again. Jeffery _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 13 Nov 2001 19:04:58 -0500 From: "Jeffery Watkins" Subject: Re: IN> Marou, DP of Vanity (1 of 2) Marvelous, simple marvelous. Definitely a keeper and time to try to work her into the game. [Let the Essence flow!] Jeffery >From: Manny Nepomuceno >Reply-To: in_nomine-l@lists.io.com >To: in_nomine-l@lists.io.com >Subject: IN> Marou, DP of Vanity (1 of 2) >Date: Wed, 14 Nov 2001 01:51:48 +0800 > >Hey, > >Gah. Just went through David Edelstein's Marou writeup. Nearly didn't >post this. > >Oh well. Hope you like. Part 2, with the Higher Distinctions and other >material, follows tomorrow...lest I risk the wrath of the Archangel of >Archives herself. > >;) Manny Neps >http://www.geocities.com/angeloffools > >Marou >Impudite Princess of Vanity > >The world revolves around me. > >She served Andrealphus well and faithfully for millenia, playing the >complex power games of the Beautiful Prince's court. As a favored >Servitor, she earned her place in history under the names Salome and >Delilah. But when the time came to ask Lucifer for her boon, she was cast >down and disowned, her attunements and Distinctions stripped from her, >until such time as the Lightbringer saw fit to dally with her again. She >waited years for her opportunity. >And Lucifer granted her his favor the second time around. She did not >receive the Word of Seduction. When the First Balseraph rose from her >bower, it was to bestow upon her the Word of Vanity and a Princedom. He >vanished, leaving her to deal with Andrealphus and the PFD. Fortunately, >the Prince of Lust was in a mood to be seduced that evening. >Today she is one of the rising stars of Hell. Although a minor Princess, >she is gaining Servitors by the multitudes. Marou's chosen are devoted to >keeping the talking monkeys alive and happy on their way to the Pit...well, >those of them who are pretty enough, of course. Her Servitors are among >the most attractive in Hell, but are also among the most selfish. Marou >herself goes beyond Vanity to outright solipsism -- she firmly believes, in >ways that her Balseraphs and Habbalah try to emulate, that the universe >revolves around her and her Word. >Petty and shallow, but also selfish and utterly alluring, Marou and her >demons aren't out to bring Hell to the corporeal plane. They ensure that >the humans who survive the War are those who most deserve to survive...i.e. >those who are most beautiful and attractive. They also make sure that they >are among that crowd, and even the most disdainful Servitor of Vanity will >worm his way into Earthly society -- the better to be the center of >attention and have everyone else fawn all over him, of course. >When she appears on Earth, it is always as an extremely attractive young >woman. She has other vessels as well, all of which exude charisma and >outright sex appeal, but for some reason she prefers the female form over >the male. Her Servitors work alongside Andrealphus and Nybbas to ensure >that humanity damns itself by its own actions and of its own free will. In >the few years since she was raised to Princess, Marou has been >frighteningly effective at this. >And Heaven's starting to take notice. > >Dissonance > >It is dissonant for a Servitor of Marou to acknowledge a higher ideal than >the self. Idealism has no place in the ranks of Vanity. It is also >dissonant to pass up an opportunity to promote oneself, whether by telling >the truth or by outright guile. > >Band Attunements > >Balseraphs: Balseraphs of Vanity build or destroy egos. Of course, they >all firmly believe that they are the center of the universe. Balseraphs >get 10 additional points that can only be spent on Roles. However, these >Roles must be at Status 2 or higher. > >Djinn (partially restricted): Vanity's Djinn can imbue a mirror with >Essence. The next being to look in the mirror must make a Will roll to >avoid being enthralled by his or her reflection for a number of hours equal >to the amount of Essence put into the mirror. This attunement costs 1 >Essence to use and requires a minimum of 1 Essence. If the Djinn is >attuned to the mirror, he becomes aware when the mirror is used! >Other Bands will not be alerted to the enthrallment, even if attuned to the >mirror through the use of a Song. > >Calabim (restricted): Unlike most Calabim, Marou's Destroyers tend to care >about how they look. The field of entropy surrounding them does not affect >the clothing they wear and material in contact with their vessels unless >they want it to. Vanity's Calabim are never permitted to take Corporeal >Discords as their starting Discord. > >Habbalah: Arguably the cruelest of their Band, Habbalah of Vanity winnow >out the ugly and unattractive from Earth's multitudes. They receive 10 >additional points to create vessels, but these vessels must have at least 1 >level of Charisma (2 if the Charisma only affects one sex). > >Lilim (partially restricted): Marou's Daughters are her greatest >sycophants. On a successful Perception roll, they can learn what a person >Needs to hear someone else say about him. They earn Geases for convincing >the person that they really mean what they're saying. >Other Bands can learn what other people Need to hear, but cannot earn the >Geases. > >Shedim (restricted): The Fleshless of Vanity are given makeup kits that can >serve as temporary vessels while in between hosts. The makeup kits are >also corporeal artifacts at (Corporeal Forces) level. Some of these kits >are specially designed to show the Shedite in its celestial form instead of >a normal reflection -- after all, stunned hosts are remarkably easy to >enter... > >Impudites (restricted): On a successful Charm roll, an Impudite may force a >weak-willed human to obsess over him. The human acts as a temporary >servant (at a level equal to the Impudite's Celestial Forces) for CD >hours. This effect may be resisted with a Contest of Wills. This can also >affect other celestials! > >Servitor Attunements >Makeover >This attunement works like the Celestial Song of Form, except that this may >affect others besides the Balseraph. This effect lasts for (Celestial >Forces) hours, after which the target's form reverts to normal. This >attunement costs 1 Essence per use. > >Eye of the Beholder >By paying 1 Essence, the holder of this attunement can see how others >perceive themselves. This effect lasts for 1 hour and can be used to >detect other celestials -- especially those without Roles! Habbalah will, >of course, confuse the demon with this attunement. > >Cult of the Self >This attunement induces emotional detachment in its target. This may cause >a variety of effects -- the person becomes enstranged from his or her >friends, or the person begins to obsess over himself. Paranoid people >will, of course, feel even more paranoid. This effect lasts for 24 hours >and affects even celestials, who may make a Will roll to avoid its >effects. Take note that an Elohite affected by this attunement is cut off >from his resonance for 24 hours, but is safe from Choir-dissonance! This >attunement costs 3 Essence and works on line-of-sight. > >Distinctions >Knight of the Mirror >Marou's Knights are known for their silver tongues. They receive bonuses >to their Savoir-Faire, Fast-Talk, Seduction and Lying skills equal to their >Celestial Forces...the better to dazzle the talking monkeys, of course. > >Captain of Ego >By making eye contact, a Captain of Ego can reinforce someone else's >selfishness. For the next 24 hours, the person is forced to indulge him- >or herself, ignoring important tasks in favor of more venal ones. This >costs 3 Essence. Celestials may resist with a successful Will roll, but >with a penalty equal to the Captain's Celestial Forces. > >Baron of Narcissism >Barons of Vanity inspire envy in everyone around them, except for those >with equal or higher Distinctions from Marou. They receive an ability >similar to that of Rex, The Demon of Cool (see S2 for more details). Once >a day, they may choose one action they perform in public and spend 1 >Essence. That action becomes "cool" and is emulated by everyone around >them with Wills lower than the Baron's (GM's call as to how long this fad >remains in vogue). Celestials may resist with a successful Will roll. > _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 13 Nov 2001 16:30:20 -0800 (PST) From: Maurice Lane Subject: Re: IN> Marou, DP of Vanity (1 of 2) - --- Elizabeth McCoy wrote: > > In other words... Princess of Pride? > How did you know about Michelle? I haven't posted it yet. Hell, I haven't _written_ it yet: it still needs to ripen. Waitasecond. Now that I think about it, haven't _I_ seen the idea elsewhere? Yes...no...crud, now I don't know. OK, _somebody's_ messing with reality around here, so whoever it is, own up. Moe ===== Liber Licentiae Moeticae: http://www.stormloader.com/users/moelane/innomine.html Last updated 09/28/01(this is usually way out of date) __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Find the one for you at Yahoo! Personals http://personals.yahoo.com ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 13 Nov 2001 19:35:58 -0500 From: "William J. Keith" Subject: Re: IN> Seraphim and resonance >Essence is an attempt to manipulate the symphony. On many levels, it's >basically an attempt to force your will on the symphony. > >You use essence to improve your chances. It's not real skill, it's false >skill. So there is a note of dissonance. I disagree with both of these statements. Essence is what something *is*. It's distilled Symphony, distilled being. Spending Essence on something is like reaching into yourself to give it your all; it's like a human's most fervent prayer. And, in In Nomine, this kind of prayer gets answered. >Now some of you may argue that this is not so. After all, the poor Seraph >isn't trying to hide the fact that he's using essence (a practical >impossibility actually), he's merely using the tools he has to best do his >job. >Oh, good use of rationalization. But for every choir, that is an easy way >to the depths of hell. I'd argue that the Seraph is merely applying himself to his work. Essence is less a "tool" than a part of you; spending Essence on a resonance roll, for a Seraph, is like twisting the focus knob on a TV to get a better picture. It's not dissonant for a Seraph to sense *anything*, and that's what he's doing. Is it dissonant for a Seraph wearing a body with Bad Sight, say via the Song of Possession, to put on glasses? The glasses bend light waves... but it's not dissonant because the Seraph gets a picture that he's confident is truer. You can argue about rationalization, and objectivity and subjectivity of Truth, and the Balseraphs take the latter view wholeheartedly, but a Seraph believing in objective truth (i.e., God) and reaching for it is never going to obtain Choir Dissonance. >And of course, a Seraph on earth is just asking for dissonance since he's >not allowed to lie at all, but is told never to tell the truth about the >war. You don't have to lie. You stay shut up about it. >No wonder Seraphim are on such high horses. They deserve it. No matter >what they do, they are going to get dissonance. Huh? Angels don't take pride from dissonance.... >But what about using Songs and other such things that require essence? >Simple. Songs are a part of the symphony, reality, the cosmic-all. We >can all agree to that. But what about all those wonderful things involved >in songs and attunements? They are not any fundamental part of the >Seraphim. Basically, if a Seraph ever said, "I healed him," the poor >little serpent would get a note of dissonance. The Seraph did nothing but >sing a Song and put some power into it. They Symphony did the actual >healing. The same goes with attunements. It isn't the Seraph doing it, >but an aspect of the Seraph's superior. And that superior got the power >from the Word, which got it from the Symphony. What is "heal"? On Earth, I say someone heals another by applying healing skills to that person successfully, and this is a sufficiently broadly-accepted meaning that the Seraph can say this and mean it. In Angelic, he'd probably be more exact about it -- what we would translate in English as "I healed him" would be closer to "I initiated, via what appears subjectively to me to be use of free will, the process culminating in the target's healing" -- but that would require listening closely to the Angelic anyway. If you weren't paying attention that closely, it would probably sound like "I healed him." :^) >Now I had best run before Dominic shows up and trounces me for heresy, >though I doubt he could refute such statements. Probably even easier than I could. >Stoybol, angel of magic. That's heresy too... ;^) ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 13 Nov 2001 16:35:06 -0800 (PST) From: Maurice Lane Subject: Re: IN> Patient Zero... - --- Jeffery Watkins wrote: > Very scarry. > > Jeffery Yes. A nice little thing to keep PCs up nights. Hmmm. I wonder if there's enough celestials on earth at any given time to justify having disease organisms that have adapted to vessels? Probably not, unless somebody had a vessel signed out for a _long_ time...* Moe *But not necessarily a long /linear/ time. :) ===== Liber Licentiae Moeticae: http://www.stormloader.com/users/moelane/innomine.html Last updated 09/28/01(this is usually way out of date) __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Find the one for you at Yahoo! Personals http://personals.yahoo.com ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 13 Nov 2001 16:39:12 -0800 (PST) From: Maurice Lane Subject: Re: IN> Seraphim and resonance - --- StoyboI@aol.com wrote: Nice BalProp. Moe ===== Liber Licentiae Moeticae: http://www.stormloader.com/users/moelane/innomine.html Last updated 11/13/01(this is usually way out of date) __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Find the one for you at Yahoo! Personals http://personals.yahoo.com ------------------------------ End of in_nomine-digest V1 #2441 ********************************