in_nomine-digest Wednesday, February 27 2002 Volume 01 : Number 2558 In this digest: IN> Re: in_nomine-digest V1 #2557 Re: IN> He who lives by the Soul-kill.... IN> So what do you think the Malakim of Christopher would think? IN> Ethereal Player's Guide Re: IN> He who lives by the Soul-kill.... Re: IN> About The War... IN> Shedim of Fire Re: IN> Ethereal Player's Guide Re: IN> About The War... Re: IN> About The War... Re: IN> Shedim of Fire Re: IN> About The War... Re: IN> Shedim of Fire Re: IN> Ethereal Player's Guide Re: IN> So what do you think the Malakim of Christopher would think? IN> Re: Rules Questions, regarding an absence of Corporeal Forces Re: IN> So what do you think the Malakim of Christopher would think? Re: IN> So what do you think the Malakim of Christopher would think? IN> Valley of Eternal Night aka the Abyss IN> Clarification on Orphan Status Re: IN> Clarification on Orphan Status ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 25 Feb 2002 21:39:57 -0800 From: "Christopher Hughes" Subject: IN> Re: in_nomine-digest V1 #2557 Just a quick question for a GURPS Agglomeration world that I'm working on: When was Litheroy created, given the Word of Revelation, and raised to Archangel? Just a year for each is fine, to avoid/lessen copyright infringement (though as the mechanics are up on the INC, I assume this wouldn't be too much of a concern). If there's anything interesting about any of these events, then at least a note would be helpful, too . . . Specifically, I would like to know in relation to Raphael's death, but an overview would be nice and helpful too. Oh, and for the sake of interesting "what if"s, following from my "What if Lucifer wasn't a Seraph" question is . . . What if Lucifer wasn't the First Fallen, leader of the Army of Rebels Against God? What if it was Michael? Jordi? Andrealphus? Jean? Yves? Christopher? Lilith? Alaemon? What do ya'll think? Gold Dust Woman ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 26 Feb 2002 00:47:55 -0500 From: misha89@comcast.net Subject: Re: IN> He who lives by the Soul-kill.... > 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. Well... sort of. A Malakite gets a bonus to a Weapon skill, but Enhancer Talismans are necklaces, not weapons. You could probably create something in the form of a weapon with similar effects, but it ought to be significantly more expensive. I have my doubts about classing Enhancer Talismans as Celestial Artifacts, anyway. I think they make more sense as Ethereal Talismans, with some Special Features added ("Celestials Only", "Harms User"). Perhaps this could qualify as errata... Beth? > 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. Um, how does this follow? OK, a Berserk Calabite isn't likely to leave a fight, but Murderous doesn't make a Malakite less likely to withdraw if he's getting the worst of the fight. If his Perception is higher than the Calabite's, he can just run away, and the Calabite can't catch him; he can also, if he makes his Will roll, ascend to Heaven at any time. Anyway, it's not like you can pull your punches in Celestial Combat, so Murderous doesn't have any special effect there. If the effect of this artifact would be that one side would lose the option of retreating while the other side had no matching disadvantage, then you'd think the side that who lost flexibility would figure out they were at a disadvantage, and would stop using the artifacts. > Given how cheap Enhancer Talismans are, both sides would have large numbers > of lunatics running around with them. "Cheap" is a relative term, I suppose. 1 point per level isn't enormously expensive, but the side effects are unpleasant, and for about the same cost, you can get a regular talisman. (3 points for a level/3 Enhancer Talisman, and 4 points for a level/3 regular talisman with the -2 pt Feature "Owner can be tracked".) It seems to be that the side effects would make it much less likely that anyone would want to produce them in quantity, even if they were slightly easier to make. - -- Michael ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 26 Feb 2002 03:51:27 -0500 From: "Charles Phipps" Subject: IN> So what do you think the Malakim of Christopher would think? Hey guys I think this may be my best nightmare creation yet, comments much appreciated. Everything including the attunements just gels for me. The Red King Habbalah of Nightmares Baron of Screams Cor-3 Str-7* Agi-8* Eth-5 Int-12 Pre-10* Cel-6 Will-12 Per-12 Artifacts: Vorpal Sword (+5 to hit, triples every damage roll, and inflicts celestial damage in celestial form) 6/ Vessels: Human 4/, Cat 3/ Skills: Artistry (Dream craft) 5/, Bureaucracy 3/, Dodge 3/, Fighting 4/, Large Weapon (Broadsword 4/), Lying 3/, Seduction 3/, Savoir Faire 2/, Torture 3/ Songs: Song of Attraction (Celestial 4), Song of Claws 3/, Song of Entropy (Corporeal 6/, Ethereal 6/), Song of Dreams (All 6/), Song of Light (Ethereal 5/), Song of Motion (Celestial 4/), Song of Thunder 4/ Attunements: Balseraph of Nightmare, Habbalah of Nightmare, Impudite of Nightmare, Dream Walking, Dream Joining, Nightmare Trigger, Dream Drain, Knight of Restlessness, Baron of Screams Special Rites: Drive a child abuser to suicide * Raised independently To not put too fine of a point on it the Red King is a public relations nightmare (no pun intended) for Christopher. Not only is he a point that is constantly brought up by Blandine in every conversation they have but Christopher's own Malakim are sometimes troubled over whether or not they should turn a blind eye to his activities so you can imagine the reaction of other members of his choirs. In truth, Christopher himself isn't sure what to do with his wayward servant. The Red King takes his name from the Dreamer in Alice in Wonderland who supposedly dreamt of Alice just as surely as she dreamt of him. As an Elohim he was fairly unremarkable in Christopher's service with his frequently being lent to Blandine for service in the Dreams of Children. It was there that the Red King fell in love with his "Alice". A girl of only seven at the time, her dreams were nourishing and her potential in the Red King's eye more than any mortal he had yet seen. They became fast friends and he departed after working her through the trying time of her parents divorce. The Red King as is customary for Angels went on to other assignments of which he fulfilled with reasonable acumen but no real distinction. After about eleven years of doing so it occurred to him that it might be time to once again check up again on his former assignment since another had brought him into the same area. What he found shook him to his very core as an angel and eventually broke him. His child-friend was suicidal and interred in an asylum in a catatonic state for killing her mother in an attempt to kill her step father. Confirmation from the a friend of his serving Yves that she had fulfilled her fate and had nothing to live for but dissolution and damnation drove the Red King mad. Shattering his heart he hunted down her stepfather like a dog before stripping the man of the truth; that he was a Hell-sworn in the service of Lust whose mission was to addict widowed or divorced women to his demon enhanced charms and begin abusing their children. Beating the man to death, the Red King hunted down the remainder of his circle from a ring of foster parents with a similar mission for their charges to their demon in the end. With the soul-killing of the monster the Red King found that he had fallen from grace and become a Habbalah......and he found it good. When the Red King was next spotted by servants of Christopher he had taken up service with the Princess of Nightmares. The Red King's M.O. is one of the major points of contention with his former Archangel's servants even as they all are loyal enough to say it is bad, it is fundamentally difficult to despise a demon who hunts those who abuse children. The Habbalah hunts molesters, the physically abusive, and the neglectful wherever they are. It is relatively easy to find an abundant source of them using public records and not so public ones (The fact that sex offenders are required to post a sign in their front yard has caused the matter to become considerably easier). Whether they are active practicers, seeking treatment, or imprisoned the Red King does not care and visits them with monumental series of carefully arranged horrors to prey upon what shreds of conscience they may have left or simply inflict unforgettable agony upon them until they destroy themselves. On occasion the Red King has linked them with the dreams of their victims so that they may witness the inherent justice of God's universe. Andrephalus personally despises this particular demon who has managed to snatch a number of souls fated to his realm to the terrors of Beleth's eternal horrors instead. The fact the Red King routinely preys upon his minions and soldiers as well has not helped matters. Andrephalus may eventually find the tool he needs to bring the Red King to attention of Asmodeus because unaging in an asylum's forgotten quarter is his beloved who remains kept from Hell's torments. - -Charlemagne _________________________________________________________________ Send and receive Hotmail on your mobile device: http://mobile.msn.com ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 26 Feb 2002 04:02:04 -0500 (EST) From: Arthur Roberts Subject: IN> Ethereal Player's Guide This is a MIME encoded message. - --=_d8d0be5ef2bffc9570eae87866c8115e Content-Type: text/plain Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Forgive me if this question has been asked, but some time ago I was on SJ's site, and I swear to Blandine I saw an announcement that the Ethereal Player's Guide was in development. This book would be a great boon to my campaign. I've since returned to sjgames.com and did a search but couldn't find any mention of it. Was I hallucinating again? - --Rob - --=_d8d0be5ef2bffc9570eae87866c8115e-- ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 26 Feb 2002 05:48:41 -0800 (PST) From: Michael Walton Subject: Re: IN> He who lives by the Soul-kill.... - --- james walker wrote: > 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. ACK! This sets off major munchkin alarms! ===== Michael Walton, #9805-068 "The other beattitude that's not in the book is this: 'Blessed are those who are pleasant to live with.'" - -- Rev. Claudette Copeland __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! Sports - Coverage of the 2002 Olympic Games http://sports.yahoo.com ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 26 Feb 2002 05:55:01 -0800 (PST) From: Michael Walton Subject: Re: IN> About The War... - --- Rolland Therrien wrote: > Anyone disagree with my assessment? Only in one particular. Remember that Baal's Word also encompasses the War between Heaven and Hell (some might say that it's the most important aspect). From that standpoint, any blow against Heaven supports Baal's Word. Sure, he may prefer violent conflict, but DP's are nothing if not pragmatic, and Essence is Essence. ===== Michael Walton, #9805-068 "The other beattitude that's not in the book is this: 'Blessed are those who are pleasant to live with.'" - -- Rev. Claudette Copeland __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! Sports - Coverage of the 2002 Olympic Games http://sports.yahoo.com ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 26 Feb 2002 14:32:02 +0000 From: "Janet Anderson" Subject: IN> Shedim of Fire When a Shedite of Fire possesses a flame, can it talk? The book just says such Shedim can possess and manipulate flame -- nothing about a nasty voice heard unexpectedly from a nearby fire ... I have already used this idea (and I think it worked quite well), but I'd like to know whether it's canon or not. Janet Anderson _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 26 Feb 2002 09:29:33 -0600 From: David Edelstein Subject: Re: IN> Ethereal Player's Guide Arthur Roberts wrote: > > Forgive me if this question has been asked, but some time ago I was on > SJ's site, and I swear to Blandine I saw an announcement that the > Ethereal Player's Guide was in development. This book would be a great> boon to my campaign. I've since returned to sjgames.com and did a> search but couldn't find any mention of it. Was I hallucinating again? It is in development, but between one author who's in his last semester of graduate school and looking for a Real Job (I'm never gonna be able to buy a house off of SJG royalty payments...), another who's busy with his own stuff, and no official editor yet, that last half-mile to where it's playtest-ready is taking a while. But I expect it will probably hit playtest within a few months. - -David (yes, Elizabeth, I'm working on it, in between programming projects and studying for midterms ) ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 26 Feb 2002 10:59:00 -0500 (EST) From: jamoge@wm.edu Subject: Re: IN> About The War... > > Kinda reminds me of Tyler Durden from Fight > Club, now that I think about > it... > Which brings up a potentially frightening/humorous decision of whether or not we want to become all heretical and make Michael and Baal two personalities of one Celestial... > Anyone disagree with my assessment? Only that World War 2 was definitely in Michael's camp more than it was Baal's. World War 1, mindless war, war of attrition, war prompted by the old "He has more than I do, so I'm going to take what he has"- that's Baal's war. But with the kind of evil that inspired World War 2, and what was needed to put it down with a sense of finality- that latter part had to be Michael. Josh ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 26 Feb 2002 16:24:36 +0000 From: DAMIEN MCGURRELL 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? > Fun fun fun with Baal and training the troops, balseraphs are not beutiful individual snow-flakes. "Our fathers were our models for God. If they bailed, what does that tell you about God? You have to be prepared for the possibility that God does not like you. In all probability, he hates you." "Our generation has had no Great Depression, no Great War. Our war is a spiritual war. Our depression is our lives." " It is hard enough to remember my opinions, without also remembering my reasons for them! " --Friedrich Nietzsche ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 26 Feb 2002 16:28:24 +0000 From: DAMIEN MCGURRELL Subject: Re: IN> Shedim of Fire At 14:32 26/02/02 +0000, you wrote: >When a Shedite of Fire possesses a flame, can it talk? Crackling embers and more green wood fires would sound particulary funky. Handy for those boyscout camping trips. " It is hard enough to remember my opinions, without also remembering my reasons for them! " --Friedrich Nietzsche ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 26 Feb 2002 18:04:03 +0000 From: "Fallen Seraph" Subject: Re: IN> About The War... >From: jamoge@wm.edu >Only that World War 2 was definitely in Michael's camp >more than it was Baal's. World War 1, mindless war, >war of attrition, war prompted by the old "He has more >than I do, so I'm going to take what he has"- that's >Baal's war. But with the kind of evil that inspired >World War 2, and what was needed to put it down with a >sense of finality- that latter part had to be Michael. Actually, the Nazi Atrocities went undiscovered/ignored for most of the duration of WW2. The war was primarily about territory (as usual), Britain for example, was not interested in The Reich grabbing large swathes of europe until they happened to invade an ally. And then we dragged our allies in, and then Hitlers allies dragged others in. It would be nice to think that it was a righteous war to end the horrors perpetrated on the jews, but sadly, very few people actually cared, or even knew. That said, WW2 is stated (somewhere) in canon as having been the last time Baal tried to jump-start armageddon. 'Luckily' for the world, the Nazis got to the Holiest Man on Earth before Baal's demons could, averting that particular trumpet (2 or 3 I think). and to further In Nominize this post: Division 17 (Die Ordnung Baalim) Towards the end of WW2, the Nazis were getting desperate for anything that would give them the edge over the Allies. Hitler's obsession with the occult was verging on mania, and his SS Occult Division was engaged in searching for a variety of relics and artifacts such as the Spear of Destiny, and the Tomb of The Dark Knight. Most of their work was misguided and lead nowhere. One group however had more success than the rest. Occult Division 17, as they are referred to in what records remain were engaged in state sponsored research into Demon Summoning. Even given the actual existence of Demons (a fact that the division was unaware of), they would have had little success were it not for the presence in their ranks of a pair of Sorcerors. it took 2 years for Manfred Klaus and Helmut von Szinger to notice each other's nature, but when they did, they swiftly turned the division into their own personal cabal. Given the nature of their research, the texts studied were ones that focused on Warrior Demons (Hitler had visions of commanding armies of demons to crush his foes). This, naturally, brought them to Baal's attention. In their brief tenure, they unearthed the names of several dozen Demons of The War, including 2 Word-bound and a Captain. Baal ordered the Demons in question to comply with the Sorceror's wishes, hoping to foster a circle which would provide regular Hellsworn. Alas, it was not to be. Since sorcerors are rarely compatible in their aims, views, and concepts of reality, Helmut and Manfred swiftly fell out. In a bloody coup Manfred took over the cabal, summoning an over-eager young War Demon to slay his rival. (The demon was later court martialed and force-stripped). Shortly after, the war ended, and the Nazi regime collapsed. Fearing for their lives, the remnants of the cabal scattered and Manfred died an unremarkable death in south america, the victim of a random burglary... ... Or was it? Amongst the items stolen were Manfred's diaries, in which he recorded all his findings. The diaries were written in High Gothic ( a security precaution of manfred's), but do contain all the names of the demons that Division 17 discovered. And Summon and Command rituals up to levels 6 and 5 respectively. And worse, it contains details of Manfred's sorcerous awakening, and an intelligent and studious mundane might be able to re-enact it sufficiently to awaken themselves. Did I forget that Baal never rescinded the order of co-operation he placed on the demons in question? And that the books have recently turned up in a second hand book fair in your player's area? I didn't? good. - -FallenSeraph "tausend graue M䵳e mit blauen M䵳eh䵳ern" http://www.geocities.com/archangel_nine ICQ: 110193631 _________________________________________________________________ MSN Photos is the easiest way to share and print your photos: http://photos.msn.com/support/worldwide.aspx ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 26 Feb 2002 13:30:07 -0500 From: Elizabeth McCoy Subject: Re: IN> Shedim of Fire At 2:32 PM +0000 2/26/02, Janet Anderson wrote: >When a Shedite of Fire possesses a flame, can it talk? The book just says >such Shedim can possess and manipulate flame -- nothing about a nasty voice >heard unexpectedly from a nearby fire ... > >I have already used this idea (and I think it worked quite well), but I'd >like to know whether it's canon or not. I'd have probably fudged and given them a crackly sort of voice, depending on the flame. (Fireplaces get it, candles don't.) On the other hand, if it WORKS, don't knock it. I don't think there's a canon ruling on it. - --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 13:27:50 -0500 From: Elizabeth McCoy Subject: Re: IN> Ethereal Player's Guide At 4:02 AM -0500 2/26/02, Arthur Roberts wrote: >Forgive me if this question has been asked, but some time ago I was on >SJ's site, and I swear to Blandine I saw an announcement that the >Ethereal Player's Guide was in development. It's still in development. Or, to use an bit of an in-joke, it's not just in the pantry, it's on the stove, and simmering. However, I don't think it's ever been _OFFICIALLY_ announced as more than a "This would be interesting to do" kind of thing. So I don't know where on the schedule it would be put, etc. (SJ said he was intending to have it done up within the year. Things got a bit hairy. O:/ Still, it's being worked on...) At 9:29 AM -0600 2/26/02, David Edelstein wrote: [...] >-David (yes, Elizabeth, I'm working on it, in between programming >projects and studying for midterms ) O:> Gotcha. Luck on the midterms. - --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 13:14:22 -0600 From: "Prodigal" Subject: Re: IN> So what do you think the Malakim of Christopher would think? From: "Charles Phipps" > Hey guys I think this may be my best nightmare creation yet, comments much > appreciated. Everything including the attunements just gels for me. Interesting concept, especially in how the King helps to illustrate the disunity of the Princes in his mission. Nice work. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 27 Feb 2002 10:19:49 +1100 From: "james walker" Subject: IN> Re: Rules Questions, regarding an absence of Corporeal Forces > From: Elizabeth McCoy > Subject: Re: IN> >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, Nuh. A Shedite or Kyriotate who has their (last) host killed goes celestial - they then have (10 Minutes * their Celestial Forces) to find a new host IN(p103 & 152). That's plenty of time to get into trouble. If nothing else, a Shedite's host gets dragged into the Locus of a Divine tether and is killed there - the Shedite is probably going to lose a couple of Forces from the Light of Heaven - and then there's the Malakim waiting for them... James. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 27 Feb 2002 13:07:34 +0800 From: " Cameron McCurry" Subject: Re: IN> So what do you think the Malakim of Christopher would think? > The Red King > Habbalah of Nightmares > Baron of Screams Hmmmm...I think that Christopher's Malakim would be out for blood based on this alone: >>On occasion the Red King has linked them with the dreams of their victims so that they may witness the inherent justice of God's universe. No matter how horrid the abuse inflicted, showing the murder to a child would probaby have even the most docile Servitors of Christopher forming a hunting party. And most Malakim tend to see the world in black and white. A demon is a demon unless they want to Redeem. And the Red King is not interested in doing so. And then there is the matter of the person being killed. What if he is innocent of the abuse? There are many cases when someone files abuse charges to do damage to someone. To a Habbalah, that won't make a difference, but it could damage a child beyond repair. If my own Malakite encountered him, he'd probably treat him like this: Kill him if you have the opportunity, come back with a lot of friends and large rocks if you don't. - -- ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 26 Feb 2002 21:13:32 -0800 (PST) From: Maurice Lane Subject: Re: IN> So what do you think the Malakim of Christopher would think? - --- Prodigal wrote: > From: "Charles Phipps" > > > Hey guys I think this may be my best nightmare > creation yet, comments much > > appreciated. Everything including the attunements > just gels for me. > > Interesting concept, especially in how the King > helps to illustrate the > disunity of the Princes in his mission. Nice work. Yeah, although I have to admit that my first reaction was, "What, you mean that you don't let ALL Servitors of Children do this sort of thing in your campaign?" ;) 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! Greetings - Send FREE e-cards for every occasion! http://greetings.yahoo.com ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 27 Feb 2002 00:17:10 -0500 From: "Charles Phipps" Subject: IN> Valley of Eternal Night aka the Abyss Here's another bit from my Beleth folder... Beleth gets a number of souls from the Realms of Human damned just like the rest of the Demon Princes but she also has the added benefit of being able to potentially torment every single human being in the world as well every night. In other words her attention is less focused than on the damned of her realm than many demon princes. The Valley of Eternal Night however is a place in Beleth's realm which allows a great deal of he torments Beleth wishes to inflict on humanity to be taken care of while sparing her the essence expenditure that wouldn't make the non-dreaming damned worth the torture. History The Valley itself is older than the Fall and roughly 25,000 years old when humanity's darker urges began to convalesce into a physical shape that was reprehensible beyond belief. Humanity was still in a primal state and the horror itself was nothing less than the embodiment of the human id. Blandine was horrified by this particular creature and wished to call the valorous Baal to eradicate the monster while Beleth was shocked by the manifestation of Abyss and wanted to call Lucifer to understand it. Eventually Blandine was won over to Beleth's request as Lucifer came and contemplated the Darkness for far longer than Beleth expected. Their conversations regarding the nature of it and how it related to humanity are grave but it is said it is also where Lucifer seduced Beleth for the first time and in their adultery whispered the seeds of rebellion. It did not really matter that particular bit of history though because when Blandine and Beleth's tower was destroyed the Princess of Nightmares was banished with the rest of Lucifer's followers to Hell. Blandine wished dearly to destroy the Abyss but her efforts were for naught as even Uriel could not develop a method to wipe out the scourge that seemed to grow larger with each passing year. Eventually the First Human Woman cast a powerful ritual (or so the legend goes) over the Abyss which was an unawakened tether to Hell and brought forth the hosts of darkness onto the Marches and eventually the Earth anew. Beleth alone stood behind and constructed her tower from the depths of Hell through the Abyss where she would forever consign the darkest inhabitants of dreams to be tormented. Nature The Abyss is indeed sentient though it is an alien sentience quite incomprehensible by mortal beings and most immortal. Beleth herself seems to be the only one to routinely communicate with the eldritch horror and have any particular understanding of it though the Demon of the Abyss, a Shedim, whose name is unpronounceable in human tongue is said to also possess a horrifying affinity with it as might be expected. The Valley of the Night for the most part is an infinite blackness which stretches on and on in a literally bottomless pit, though figuratively it does eventually "end up" in Hell. The Black does not actually have any gravity though either and thus for the most part the damned cast into it drift aimlessly in the horror with no escape or end. The Valley of Night receives as the embodiment of humanity's selfishness and repressed wickedness an enormous amount of vile essence every day so it does not particularly need to feed on the damned who are tossed to it. Instead it actually expends that essence to terrify the damned to an incredible level in order to bring forth their vilest fantasies. The Abyss uses these fantasies to extract essence and occasion string it together to spawn some of the most alien monstrosities that are imaginable. Furthermore these monstrosities are usually quite powerful and some even approach the level of the gods of myth (rumors that some surpass them are unsubstantiated) What the Abyss does not expend from the damned in a night it offers up to Beleth in a sort of symbiotic relationship that is parasitic on humanity. The Valley of the Night benefits from human beings who suffer from nightmares even as Beleth causes more beings to have nightmares which allows it to spawn ever greater horrors which gives Beleth shock troops to create more nightmares... If their is an ultimate goal here then it is perhaps best not to comtemplate. Inhabitants Humans who achieve their fate and end up in Nightmares are of a select breed. Either they were utterly consumed by their own twisted phobias and villainy given life or they tried to impose such things on others or both. Anorexics who starved themselves into nothingness, KKK Klansmen afraid of the "Negro menace", Schizophrenics with murderous bents, and of course the usual claim of Adolf Hitler all float around in the darkness somewhere. At heart every being trapped in the darkness was motivated by combinations of terror, madness, and imagination rather than abition or desire as in other hell-realms. Surprisingly enough for the most part all demons of Beleth seem to hate the Abyss but the Shedim. Even the Habbalah dislike the extreme emptiness of the place of torment and prefer to restrict themselves to the living nightmares for their punishments. Only the Shedim can seemingly deal with the essential monomania and subtle torments that the Valley of Eternal Night so openly invokes. While no worse in some ways than any other part of Hell the Valley of Eternal Night is one that most preys on insecurity and the fear of the Unknown, things most demons are blessed with in abundance. Because the Abyss handles most of the torments the Shedim inhabiting the Abyss under the Duke who oversees it mostly ferry out the monsters and essence to their mistress or take what they term "spiritual enlighten" from the study of evil-whatever that means. Beleth's minor Band of the Frighteners dislike the Abyss as much as the choirs not Shedim but curiously they seem to understand it better than the Corruptors and have a mysterious "love/hate" relationship with it. If one has a reason for going through the Valley it would probably be wise to seek out one of the Pachadim for the trip. Adventure Seeds * A sorcerer circle has spent centuries perfecting their own study of the Abyss and have managed to prepare a ritual sacrifice of a 100 innocent souls to complete their ultimate goal since it's inception...the bringing of the Abyss into the world physically. * A Saint of Blandine has been captured by Demons of Beleth and instead of outright soul-killing them they have tossed the fellow into the darkness of the Abyss in hopes of corrupting him to the forces of Hell. The Archangel of Dreams wants angels to overcome their most terrible inner-doubts to rescue him. * In hopes of formenting unrest between the Far Marches pagan gods and the Princess of Nightmare Urielites squads have been secretly depositing captured legendary treasures of them in hopes they will eventually war upon them. Beleth allows this practice to go unhindered in hopes of eventually using them as bribes or fomenting the very same assault the Tsaydim want to make her undisputed mistress of the Old religions. Certain forces would be willing to pay handsomely for their return in a less obvious manner though. * The Unthinkable has happened and Beleth has need for a mortal (or two). Not being able to keep track of all that they toss in the Abyss she has made a request of several expendable Demonic PCs to go retrieve the fellow for some unstated reward later on. - -Charlemagne _________________________________________________________________ Chat with friends online, try MSN Messenger: http://messenger.msn.com ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 26 Feb 2002 21:33:42 -0800 (PST) From: Maurice Lane Subject: IN> Clarification on Orphan Status Yeah, I know, I should have had the books memorized by now: well, I didn't, but I need to know where the rules are that clarify whether or not a Servitor of a dead Superior is still subject to that Superior's dissonance conditions. 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! Greetings - Send FREE e-cards for every occasion! http://greetings.yahoo.com ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 27 Feb 2002 00:00:51 -0600 From: David Edelstein Subject: Re: IN> Clarification on Orphan Status Maurice Lane wrote: > > Yeah, I know, I should have had the books memorized by > now: well, I didn't, I don't, and I wrote a lot of them! ;) > but I need to know where the> rules are that clarify whether or not a Servitor of a> dead Superior is still subject to that Superior's > dissonance conditions. The GMG, and IIRC, the answer is "No." (But don't say that to the Tsayadim...) - -David ------------------------------ End of in_nomine-digest V1 #2558 ********************************