in_nomine-digest Monday, February 25 2002 Volume 01 : Number 2557 In this digest: Re: IN> Harnessing Lightning Re: IN> Harnessing Lightning IN> Hetaeras IN> Jordite humour Re: IN> Not the vision I had of Kronos... Re: IN> Creationers in Service to Destiny Re: Humans and Words (was Re: IN> Tethers of... Re: Jordi (rant)) IN> Rules Questions, regarding an absence of Corporeal Forces IN> He who lives by the Soul-kill.... Re: IN> Superior Victory: Vapula (Steampunk) Re: IN> He who lives by the Soul-kill.... Re: IN> Rules Questions, regarding an absence of Corporeal Forces IN> About The War... Re: IN> Rules Questions, regarding an absence of Corporeal Forces Re: IN> About The War... Re: IN> About The War... ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 24 Feb 2002 18:54:53 -0800 (PST) From: Maurice Lane Subject: Re: IN> Harnessing Lightning - --- jamoge@wm.edu wrote: > > "The sexual practise you refer to as the 'bdsm' > fetish > is obviously a reversion of the human psyche to > earlier > time in the mortal life when an authority figure > could > a physical threat of power over the individual. > > That said, tighter please." > > May your brain hurt evermore for that mental > image... > > And to bring it to a list for people with an above- > average imagination... Well, _I_ was going to just let that sleeping dog lie...* ;) Moe *Being fairly busy and all, at the moment. :) ===== Liber Licentiae Moeticae: http://www.stormloader.com/users/moelane/innomine.html Last updated 01/01/02(this is usually way out of date) __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! Sports - Coverage of the 2002 Olympic Games http://sports.yahoo.com ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 24 Feb 2002 22:57:19 -0500 From: misha89@comcast.net Subject: Re: IN> Harnessing Lightning > > "The sexual practise you refer to as the 'bdsm' > > fetish is obviously a reversion of the human > > psyche to earlier time in the mortal life when > > an authority figure could a physical threat of > > power over the individual. > > > > That said, tighter please." I think Jean would bring an entirely new meaning to the term "switch". :) - -- Michael ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 24 Feb 2002 22:46:58 -0800 (PST) From: Maurice Lane Subject: IN> Hetaeras Tanj dammit, why is it that, every time that I think that I'm going to write something with Naughty Bits in it, it goes haywire? This was _supposed_ to be a fairly scurrilous bit about Jean: look what happened to it. I don't know whether to laugh or cry. ;) Moe Hetaeras So much fuss over such a simple biological function that barely qualifies as a tertiary manipulation technique for the average Hetaera. Admittedly, said function is considered to have a somewhat greater significance on the corporeal plane, but that is no excuse for imprecise judgement. After all, the primary purpose of a Hetaera is not the imparting and demonstration of advanced sexual techniques, feverish Lust-propaganda to the contrary. The primary purpose is to provide a properly nurturing environment for a selected human s u b ject during critical periods in his or her development. How this is accomplished will vary from s u b ject to s u b ject, obviously: human beings are endlessly variegated in their drives, interests and personal tastes. A Hetaera must adjust his or her methodology to match in order to work at full efficiency. Possibly the confusion arises from the standard appearance of a Hetaera. There are reasons, however, why these particular Servitors of Lightning (plus similar groups from Judgement, Stone, Divine Fire and of course the Sword) usually choose vessels that conform to their current target area's standards of beauty. To begin with, it has been found that it can be difficult to get a particular human's undivided attention: appearing in a form that appeals to basic evolutionary drives is an obvious strategy. Also, of course, once this attention is gotten it needs to be kept for as long as might be necessary: physical appearance can be useful here, as well. Concupiscence really does not enter into the situation at all. Yes, it is true that some sort of pseudo-reproductive activity is often part of the job description, but this is primarily therapeutic, not to mention a safety measure. Human beings (most notably, the types that would require a Hetaera's attention) tend to define altogether too much of their sense of self-worth from that particular corporeal activity, especially at the age that most Hetaeras are called in. Assuaging the symptoms (while working on the root problem) both keeps the s u b ject centered and neatly derails a favorite tactic of the Enemy. It is inefficient to fail to use a useful tool for one's tasks (provided of course that the tool is essentially ethical), simply because the Enemy uses a superficially similar technique themselves. Still, the particular tool that most focus on is really the least important one in a Hetaera's toolbox - - and usually used less and less as the intervention continues. What Hetaeras do is to provide balance: their s u b jects are usually individuals with a particular talent or genius who have not yet been fully integrated into their local societal matrix. The Hetaera, through example and instruction, provides a conducive atmosphere for socialization in same, all the while striving to neutralize the more negative societal influences before they can inflict permanent harm their s u b ject's psyche. No less important to the Hetaera is the necessity of making sure that the s u b ject is, at the end, ready to face the pressures of human society unaided. Heaven is not in the habit of emotionally crippling humanity, after all. They leave that abomination to their enemies. It is not easy to be a Hetaera, of course. Each Archangel that sponsors the group insists on strict standards. To even be considered, a candidate must be able to demonstrate extensive knowledge and expertise in corporeal customs and history, psychology, philosophy, literature, music, at least two sciences, general athletic prowess and at least three languages. Furthermore, prospective Hetaera must also be able to demonstrate that they are capable of providing the moral lessons most favored by their respective Archangels. For example, Jean's Hetaeras usually deal with those who must be guided away from the false idol of knowledge at any cost, no matter how destructive that cost might be. Hetaeras of Judgement routinely handle those that will need a firm grounding on the responsible use of power. David requires his Hetaeras to concentrate on rescuing those who have been ostracized from their particular societal s u b group. Those of Divine Fire provide support for artists and victims of cruelty: the first are taught to not be unconsciously Cruel, and the second are given their self-respect back. And, of course, Hetaeras of the Sword have the trickiest job of all: they must go out and pull out of the fire those who are at the brink of falling into sin and error. It is fortunate that all Hetaeras are able to call upon the resources of Destiny: Yves has no formal servants of this type - or, in a sense, all of his servants can be considered to be Hetaeras - but he has instructed his Servitors to provide them with assistance whenever possible. It is not an easy task to be a Hetaera, by any means, but the rewards are no less satisfying for being intangible. The protection (or salvage) of a human soul as it picks its way through the metaphorical minefield that is modern society is a task that any true angel would willingly undergo. There is also a certain satisfaction in demonstrating to the Enemy that there is nothing that Hell can do that Heaven cannot do better - including the act of tempting. Thus, there is never any shortage of potential applicants for the position. Still, there continues to be the occasional coarse joke or comment, even among the Host. Really, such behavior is quite inappropriate... ===== Liber Licentiae Moeticae: http://www.stormloader.com/users/moelane/innomine.html Last updated 02/24/02(this is usually way out of date) __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! Sports - Coverage of the 2002 Olympic Games http://sports.yahoo.com ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 25 Feb 2002 13:33:32 +0000 From: "cassandra benner" Subject: IN> Jordite humour Heres a link to a pic i found on a pc i use. I think it shows the real reason that jordi dosnt like humans much. Either that or a Creationer/Humourist was having a night on the tiles with a Lusty... http://www.angelfire.com/goth/psyber/lol.html Cas *Knowledge is power. Power corrupts. Study hard. Be Evil.* In Nomine @ http://www.angelfire.com/goth/psyber/i-n.html In Nomine yahoo @ http://groups.yahoo.com/group/inveritas ADnD forum @ http://www.drunkendwarfinn.co.uk ADnD stuff @ http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ADandD_Stuff _________________________________________________________________ Send and receive Hotmail on your mobile device: http://mobile.msn.com ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 25 Feb 2002 05:41:20 -0800 (PST) From: Michael Walton Subject: Re: IN> Not the vision I had of Kronos... - --- Vaughn Romero wrote: > I believe Dark Humor got a hold of the Dilbert strip this > Sunday. LOL! ===== Michael Walton, #9805-068 "In a world without women, what would men become?" "Scarce, ma'am. Mighty scarce." -- Mark Twain __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! Sports - Coverage of the 2002 Olympic Games http://sports.yahoo.com ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 25 Feb 2002 11:20:50 -0600 (CST) From: edg@pyramid.sjgames.com Subject: Re: IN> Creationers in Service to Destiny Beth wrote: > > I just noticed that Superiors 3 has no "Creationers in Service > > to Destiny" or equivalent section. Was such a section ever > > written and perhaps omitted for space considerations? > *mutter* Dunno. I didn't do the edit. *mutter* As far as I can tell, no such section existed in the text that made it to me, and I don't recall writing one. :/ - - Chris A. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 25 Feb 2002 19:13:02 From: "Perry Lloyd" Subject: Re: Humans and Words (was Re: IN> Tethers of... Re: Jordi (rant)) >Michael Walton wrote: >>--- Donato Ranzato wrote: >>>Earth could be one big Tether of Eli. >> >> If that were the case, demons would take damage just from >>entering the Corporeal plane. > > Hey, I'm all for it. At least this would make sense of the phrase in the core rules "while angels are individually more powerful than demons, Lucifer makes up the difference in sheer numbers" or to that effect. - -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 _________________________________________________________________ Rejoignez le plus grand service de messagerie au monde avec MSN Hotmail. http://www.hotmail.com/fr ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 25 Feb 2002 21:15:48 +1100 From: "james walker" Subject: IN> Rules Questions, regarding an absence of Corporeal Forces Hi! - rules questions: It's possible for Shedim & Kyriotates to enter Trauma with no Corporeal Forces (as they enter Celestial form when their host dies). How long must they wait before making each roll to come out of Trauma? On a related subject, if a Traumatised Celestial/Ethereal loses Corporeal Forces (almost inevitable for ethereals, and likely for unpopular demons) does this increase the frequency of rolls to come out of Trauma? Finally: If a character loses all Corporeal Forces, are their Vessels (if any) merely inaccessible, or are they lost as well? Cheers, James. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 26 Feb 2002 10:57:28 +1100 From: "james walker" Subject: IN> He who lives by the Soul-kill.... A month or more ago people were discussing soul-killing, and how difficult it was to accomplish. Something that struck me last night - Enhancer Talismans (LR 59). Malakim gain a weapon skill (and the Enhancer can be a Celestial weapon) and Murderous while Calabim gain Unarmed and Berserk. A Celestial combat between a Malakite & and a Calabite both armed with Enhancer Talismans isn't going to end until somebody has been soul-killed; and this leaves the winner with another Relic to trade with their friends. Given how cheap Enhancer Talismans are, both sides would have large numbers of lunatics running around with them. Cheers, James. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 25 Feb 2002 16:28:46 -0800 (PST) From: Maurice Lane Subject: Re: IN> Superior Victory: Vapula (Steampunk) - --- Jonathan Walton wrote: > Tattered Fragments of the Past > Ask Moe. He'll laugh. Actually, it was more like I howled in unholy glee. (pause) Just wanted to be clear on that. ;) Moe ===== Liber Licentiae Moeticae: http://www.stormloader.com/users/moelane/innomine.html Last updated 02/24/02(this is usually way out of date) __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! Sports - Coverage of the 2002 Olympic Games http://sports.yahoo.com ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 19 Feb 2002 20:14:05 -0500 From: "William J. Keith" Subject: Re: IN> He who lives by the Soul-kill.... Oohh. *Nasty*. You're right, I could see these getting out of control real fast. Perhaps Heaven could ban their creation, and let Calabim with grudges against each other duke it out, and then share the meme with their buddies.... William ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 26 Feb 2002 01:25:31 From: "Perry Lloyd" Subject: Re: IN> Rules Questions, regarding an absence of Corporeal Forces >Hi! - rules questions: > >It's possible for Shedim & Kyriotates to enter Trauma with no Corporeal >Forces (as they enter Celestial form when their host dies). How long must >they wait before making each roll to come out of Trauma? I'd go with the minimum - 1 day. Of course, I might choose to be nice and halve that. >On a related subject, if a Traumatised Celestial/Ethereal loses Corporeal >Forces (almost inevitable for ethereals, and likely for unpopular demons) >does this increase the frequency of rolls to come out of Trauma? Well ... if they're force-stripped while in trauma, then yeah I guess so. Hrm. I wonder if this would be a quick way to "wake up" celestials in trauma? Kinda like the glass of water in the face ... >Finally: If a character loses all Corporeal Forces, are their Vessels (if >any) merely inaccessible, or are they lost as well? Their vessels are inaccessible but not lost, iirc. - -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 _________________________________________________________________ MSN Photos est le moyen le plus simple de partager et imprimer vos photos : http://photos.msn.fr/Support/WorldWide.aspx ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 25 Feb 2002 20:34:30 -0500 From: "Rolland Therrien" Subject: IN> About The War... Did some fact-finding about Gabriel's expanded write-up at my gaming store today. I'll probably do some more tomorrow, before my art class. From what I've seen, I might not have to alter Gabriel too much after all for my alternate write-up. But in the meantime, I got thinking about Baal, and about what, exactly, is The War all about. Here are some of my thoughts... Basically, Baal is a lot like a twisted version of Michael: He's all about War and conflict... Only he leaves the more subtle "struggle for victory" kind of stuff to Michael, and focuses primarily on the violence and gore. To Baal, it's not a war until someone dies, preferably your opponent. And preferably in a brutal and bloody fashion. To Baal, everything he undertakes is part of his never-ending War on Michael and Heaven. Every battle sparked on Earth, every Tether claimed by Hell, every human killed in The War... these are victories for Hell... Victories for Baal. And Victory, to Baal, is won through brutal violence and destruction, not through weak, "peaceful" negociations or deal-making. Let Michael negociate after the battle is won... After his battles, Baal leaves none left to make deals with. He takes slaves, or leaves only corpses. As for Baal's methods of waging war... Let's just say he's not picky: The Bloodier, the better. And as long as it brings glorious victory to him, Baal isn't above using dirty tricks to help him win. "Honor" is defined by the Winners, not the Losers, after all. And Baa's personal code of Honor hasl a lot of "loophole wiggle room" to allow dirty tricks and other tactics another might call "Dishonorable". Being a Balseraph has advantages... Baal's attitudes are reflected clearly in his choice of Princely allies: Asmodeus, Belial, Saminga and Vapula. Back when civilisation was just getting started, Baal could trust Asmodeus to handle the complexities of city-laws and politics, while he handled the more important duties (to him) of manipulating it's armies into waging more bloody wars. He's probably the one most surprised at how amazingly complex laws have gotten. Belial and Saminga reflect Baal's warrior tendancies taken at two different extremes. Belial is a warrior and a destroyer, who's been emulating Baal's sense of style for ages. He's also been trying to emulate Baal's rivalry with Michael, only his hatred for Gabriel have turned the Rivalry into a vendetta, with little class to it. Saminga is a killer, pure and simple. Unlike Baal, who favors direct violence, Saminga's not against using atomic, bacteriological and chemical weapons to do the job. Nor does he really bother with "fair" fights. Baal's association with Vapula... Is something of a compromise. He knows that not only must he keep up with every advance in military firepower developped on Earth, but that victory often comes to the side with the best, biggest guns... But he doesn't want his War to become nothing more then a Cold War decided by which side has the biggest Weapons of Mass Destruction or the best analytical computers. The War will be won by Warriors and Soldiers, NOT by labrats and analysts... Baal's hostility to the likes of Andrealphus and Nybbas also makes sense; he doesn't want a happily corrupted, peacefully conquered Humanity, he wants a brutally subjugated and enslaved Humanity, conquered through raw military power. Likewise, he has little tolerance for Beleth, Kronos and Malphas, whom he sees as weak because of their reliance on subtility and political manipulation. In Baal's mental world, if you can't win through fighting, you can't win at all. Which brings us to realize Baal must absolutely DISPISE modern Western Civilisation. Sure, we've invented machineguns, jet fighters and tactical nukes, but when was the last time we had a serious war? World War 2, in restrospect, was Baal's last big Word-rush. Vietnam was a nice brushwar, sure, but it never really WENT anywhere beyond it's borders. At least not like Baal had hoped. That's why, these days, Baal prefers to hang around The Middle East and The Third World... It's not that he's reminiscing his glorydays as a Bronze Age God of War. It's that only those regions really have what he's looking for on Earth: Conflict. The Bloody, "we don't want an agreement, we want to wash in your blood" kinda conflict that warms that old Serpent's heart. Those bureaucrats in today's Pentagon just don't have the Warrior's Spirit Baal finds in an East African War Lord, honestly. I also suspect Baal would be giving anti-western terrorist groups a lot of back up, in hopes of helping them take down western civilisation, so he can those westerns back on a "Healthier" track of bloody civil wars and brutal police actions, rather then all that "weak number-crunching" we've been doing so far. Kinda reminds me of Tyler Durden from Fight Club, now that I think about it... Anyone disagree with my assessment? ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 25 Feb 2002 20:45:35 -0500 From: Elizabeth McCoy Subject: Re: IN> Rules Questions, regarding an absence of Corporeal Forces At 9:15 PM +1100 2/25/02, james walker wrote: >Hi! - rules questions: > >It's possible for Shedim & Kyriotates to enter Trauma with no Corporeal >Forces (as they enter Celestial form when their host dies). Eh? Only if they got into celestial combat, first, and lost all their Corporeal Forces, which kind of suggests they'd be unable to _stay_ on the corporeal plane... I certainly wouldn't let them possess anything else (just as other celestials don't get to stay in their vessels if they lose all Corporeal Forces), myself. This is a case where a wise Kyriotate or Shedite heads for its Heart _first_, I suspect... O:> >How long must they wait before making each roll to come out of Trauma? Minimum 1 day, I'd figure... >On a related subject, if a Traumatised Celestial/Ethereal loses Corporeal >Forces (almost inevitable for ethereals, and likely for unpopular demons) >does this increase the frequency of rolls to come out of Trauma? Yup. >Finally: If a character loses all Corporeal Forces, are their Vessels (if >any) merely inaccessible, or are they lost as well? Inaccessible. - --emccoy@nh.ultranet.com // arcangel@io.com In Nomine Line Editor RPG links; Random name list, Art: http://www.io.com/~arcangel/ ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 26 Feb 2002 02:34:40 From: "Perry Lloyd" Subject: Re: IN> About The War... > >Anyone disagree with my assessment? [of Baal] > No arguement here. I want to see his Superiors write-up (with what you just said included) - -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 _________________________________________________________________ MSN Photos est le moyen le plus simple de partager et imprimer vos photos : http://photos.msn.fr/Support/WorldWide.aspx ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 25 Feb 2002 19:41:56 -0800 (PST) From: Jim Burzelic Subject: Re: IN> About The War... > Kinda reminds me of Tyler Durden from Fight Club, > now that I think about > it... > > Anyone disagree with my assessment? > I wholeheartedly agree. In fact, the first adventure I ran had a cherub freeing a "fight club" of it's infernal influences. Originally set up by David, it was easily usurped by Baal and Malphas. For several years Baal was using the club as training grounds for Soldiers of Hell. A Shedite of the War was about to take the nation-wide club to the next step. They were about to become an invisible army. But at the last moment the demon was stopped by the Cherub PC. That was in Seattle. There's still enough of the club around that I can still utilize them. Jim __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! Sports - Coverage of the 2002 Olympic Games http://sports.yahoo.com ------------------------------ End of in_nomine-digest V1 #2557 ********************************