in_nomine-digest Thursday, April 4 2002 Volume 01 : Number 2590 In this digest: Re: IN> Contest Entry: Outside, Wanting to Come In Re: IN>Sailor Scouts in IN Re: IN> T minus 1 day IN> Purity Version 2.0 Re: IN>Sailor Scouts in IN Re: IN> PC's? PC's for the Poor? Re: IN> Breaking Moe's Brain: Belial, Archangel of the Flame Re: IN> Breaking Moe's Brain: Belial, Archangel of the Flame Re: IN> Breaking Moe's Brain: Belial, Archangel of the Flame Re: IN> Contest Entry: Outside, Wanting to Come In IN> T minus zero IN> Breaking Moe's Brain: The Undead Sun Re: IN> Breaking Moe's Brain: The Undead Sun Re: IN> Breaking Moe's Brain: The Undead Sun Re: IN> Breaking Moe's Brain: The Undead Sun Re: IN> Breaking Moe's Brain: The Undead Sun Re: IN> Breaking Moe's Brain: The Undead Sun Re: IN> Breaking Moe's Brain: The Undead Sun IN> And Death Has No Dominion Re: IN> And Death Has No Dominion Re: IN> Breaking Moe's Brain: The Undead Sun IN> Saminga the Lord of All part 1 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 03 Apr 2002 21:41:56 -0500 From: "Ruth Evers" Subject: Re: IN> Contest Entry: Outside, Wanting to Come In Ouch. Except I'm having so much fun reading these, I'd say Moe's mean to have come up with this contest. Well, that and he's one of my GM's. Gloriously painful. Kariel, etc. _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 3 Apr 2002 21:58:50 -0500 From: "William J. Keith" Subject: Re: IN>Sailor Scouts in IN >At 05:29 PM 4/3/02 -0800, you wrote: > >>Hey, William! Think there's enough of us fans on the >>list to discuss how the Sailor Scouts fit into IN? > >http://www.sjgames.com/in-nomine/articles/new/Gallery/Soldiers/sailorsenshi.htm >l > >He's already *done* it. (And in GURPS: IN format, too, damn your eyes.) > >-EDG 1.) Too much work to convert them all. I could try, but I wouldn't be sure of the result. 2.) GURPS had the additional Advantages and Disadvantages I wanted to make them real characters with personalities. 3.) Anyway, if someone's hot to use them in a game, they'd probably be the kind of person who would enjoy writing them up themself. ;^) If someone really wants a conversion, I could give it a shot. William ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 03 Apr 2002 21:59:32 -0500 From: "Ruth Evers" Subject: Re: IN> T minus 1 day snip >From: "Daniel Gallagher" >Subject: Re: IN> T minus 1 day >Date: Thu, 04 Apr 2002 01:29:02 >Guys? Eric's gone off the deep end. I think it's time to have the Makilim >in >White Coats pick him up. > >Daniel end snip You have no idea... it hurrrttts. 0 =) _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 3 Apr 2002 22:28:50 -0500 From: "Josh Moger" Subject: IN> Purity Version 2.0 A Statement of Purity When the first human reaches nine forces... you'll understand. You see... the Raising of the Fist was Uriel's supreme statement. It was his primal cry of rage against the hubris and blasphemy of Lucifer. Lucifer had dared go against God. Lucifer had spoken falsely. Lucifer had killed... the Voice. Uriel remembered the first time he hear the Voice. He remembered how the Words had spun him into existence. He remembered the first Word he spoke at his creation... "Uriel." Not just his name, it was the Truth that his creator had spoken to him, repeated by Uriel as his first Truth. Uriel was his name and his purpose; his Purity was the Truth that he had known from his beginning... The Purity of the Symphony... that which he had seen so much of, had helped form, had guided with Michael, Gabriel, David... and even Lucifer... now under attack... For some... for Uriel... it was too much. Uriel remembered the argument that Lucifer had used- "The humans... they are not of the kind that we are... they are ugly. They fight amongst themselves, they have no common goal, no common existence. See how they create gods of stone and wood to worship. They know not what true Purity is. They cannot even comprehend the Truest of purities, the Symphony." "What you say is True, Lucifer. But what I shall say now is also true, for I can only speak of the Symphony that is what God shows unto me: that the humans are not to be interfered with. I confess that I do not understand, but then, God has not granted me the right to understand. I suppose I shall see in time what purpose the humans serve, but only when and if God so deems it right for me." Lucifer had turned away at that time... but spoke as he left: "You have patience, my friend... but patience is not always a virtue." Uriel's mind was torn from his thoughts as he felt a pain in his left side. He twisted his head around and looked with surprise at the dagger that protruded from his silverly flank. As his tail flicked up to grasp at the dagger and wrentch it from his side, he saw the angel that had put it there... "Lucifer... why?" "Because I do not share your virtue of patience." Lucifer laughed as he bore himself aloft and into the air, his once shining wings already growing dark and losing their feathers to reveal stretched skin. Uriel stared at the dagger... the betrayal was all the more intimate as he realized it was made with the very blade that he had given Lucifer almost 4 billion years ago, when the Earth had finally been finished. The blade was made from a piece of the first ore that had been forced into existence by David and Gabriel's machinations. Uriel gripped the dagger and held it up, his own blood trickling down the blade onto his tail. "THIS CANNOT BE!" Uriel felt a new pain in his side, a spiritual pain, a pain that twisted throughout his serpentine body, wracking him over. It was the first dissonance that he had ever felt and it only served to reinforce in his mind the reality of God and the supreme Purity that was His Symphony. But Uriel had now become impure, he had become dissonant. And so... he realized what he had to do... how to cleanse himself and all of Heaven of the taint that Lucifer had brought into existence. But he didn't fly into battle. Rather... Uriel knelt down and prayed to God. He prayed of his hope for understanding correctly. Then he asked God that if it is as he understood... could he too be made as such. And Uriel heard something that he did not hear again for almost 20,000 years... He heard the Voice... "SO SHALL IT BE." Uriel dropped the dagger as his tail became immaterial, as did his entire being... he felt his celestial body, his very nature, even his interpretation of his Word change and be re-shaped into something new... Uriel stood on two bare feet, his skin glistening black in the flames that surrounded him. He looked at his arms and hands... things he had never known before. He could feel long hair framing his head. And his wings... Where once there was silver, now was there obsidian. And Uriel swore oaths to God, and as he swore them, he felt his nature become permanent and ever dedicated to God. At that moment, he felt stronger in his faith than he had ever felt before. Uriel had become the first of the Malakim. Others would soon follow. But none realized what had truly transpired. None understood or had even heard what Uriel had asked of God. Uriel had not simply changed his angelic nature. Uriel had become at once something less and something far more... He had become something ugly next to his once graceful, serpentine body, but he had also become a living statement of faith and purity of his belief in God. His belief that God understood something of humanity that Uriel did not. His belief that God would one day show Uriel what humanity could become. His belief that God had formed humanity for a purpose. And his question was simply that... If Uriel had correctly understood what humanity would one day be. Its okay if you don't understand now. None of the angels understand. Yves knows. Michael... perhaps understands. David, said to be the second of the Malakim, understood, but wouldn't say anything. Laurence... Laurence is both so far away from and yet so close to the Truth. You'll figure it out. Yes... when evolution brings the world the first human child of nine forces, you'll understand... And when that child unfurls her black wings for the first time... It will be another statement of Purity. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 3 Apr 2002 22:38:18 -0500 From: "William J. Keith" Subject: Re: IN>Sailor Scouts in IN >Thanks! I see that this is a TV continuity write-up. >Has it actually been used in play, or was it a >just-for-fun? > >Jennifer Just for fun -- I'm a complete Sailor Mooniac. I briefly considered throwing them into the mix with my group once I buy IN Anime, but they're not as popular with my players as they are with me; plus they're just a *tad* over the "Silly" line for our game world so far (not that that's a bad thing, I'm pondering a slightly silly campaign in the vague future). *shrug* Oh well. William ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 3 Apr 2002 19:43:17 -0800 (PST) From: Michael Walton Subject: Re: IN> PC's? PC's for the Poor? - --- Elizabeth McCoy wrote: > Have you checked out > http://www.sjgames.com/in-nomine/articles/INChar/Angels/Angels.html > yet? Ah, this looks promising! Much obliged. > Likewise, I hear the Liber Servitorum has rather a lot of > angels in it... Would that I owned the LS, or currently had the disposable income to buy it. [sigh] ===== Michael Walton, #US2002023848 "In film, the director is God. In documentaries, God is the director." - -- Alfred Hitchcock __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! Tax Center - online filing with TurboTax http://taxes.yahoo.com/ ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 3 Apr 2002 19:47:42 -0800 (PST) From: Michael Walton Subject: Re: IN> Breaking Moe's Brain: Belial, Archangel of the Flame - --- Manny Nepomuceno wrote: > Malakim (partially restricted) > In exchange for the oath "Suffer not a prophet to live", > Malakim of the > Flame can, on a succesful Perception roll, identify > Prophets. They are > adept at identifying those who exercise sexual cruelties, > and consider it > their responsibility to teach such perverts a lesson. Ummm... how did prophets get lumped in with perverts? And why would an AA want to destroy Humans who are touched by the divine? ===== Michael Walton, #US2002023848 "In film, the director is God. In documentaries, God is the director." - -- Alfred Hitchcock __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! Tax Center - online filing with TurboTax http://taxes.yahoo.com/ ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 03 Apr 2002 22:46:48 -0500 From: EDG Subject: Re: IN> Breaking Moe's Brain: Belial, Archangel of the Flame At 07:47 PM 4/3/02 -0800, you wrote: > Ummm... how did prophets get lumped in with perverts? >And why would an AA want to destroy Humans who are touched >by the divine? I'd presume that Prophets are those people who are touched by Gabriel, although I don't think this is mentioned in the writeup. As the Prince of Infernal Fire, Gabriel's touch would corrupt rather than enlightening. - -EDG ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 04 Apr 2002 12:10:12 +0800 From: Manny Nepomuceno Subject: Re: IN> Breaking Moe's Brain: Belial, Archangel of the Flame Hey, >--- Manny Nepomuceno wrote: > > Malakim (partially restricted) > > In exchange for the oath "Suffer not a prophet to live", > > Malakim of the > > Flame can, on a succesful Perception roll, identify > > Prophets. They are > > adept at identifying those who exercise sexual cruelties, > > and consider it > > their responsibility to teach such perverts a lesson. > > Ummm... how did prophets get lumped in with perverts? >And why would an AA want to destroy Humans who are touched >by the divine? Eeesh, I thought I'd put a CR in between those two sentences. Prophets aren't necessarily touched by the divine anymore. After all, Gabriel was the first Prophet, and he Fell. That probably doesn't sit too well with Belial and the Seraphim Council. It was the one duty of Gabriel's that didn't get passed along when Belial became AA of the Flame. There are a number of reasons why Belial would hunt down and kill Prophets -- perhaps the entire nature of Prophecy is corrupted by Gabriel's Fall, or perhaps he figures that since God hasn't made any other angels Prophets that it is no longer caused by a fragment of the divine. Or perhaps he's just trying to make sure that the Prince of Fire doesn't make use of Prophets to further his own agendas. (Something I rather enjoyed toying with when writing this piece -- Belial and Gabriel aren't as crazy as in canon; after all, there's not much Word-friction. Remember that bit about Gabriel being intensely focused and stable in S3? That can come to play now.) The second part was necessary because Malakim need to be able to identify some kind of cruelty to fulfill Belial's dissonance conditions. The original draft, IIRC, read "are adept at identifying those who are cruel toward the weak and defenseless" but I realized that that pretty much covers _all_ cruelties; there's not much fun being cruel towards people who aren't weak and defenseless, after all. The sexual cruelties, I figure, are the next most dishonorable; after all, these people have joined with others in what is potentially the highest form of intimacy, and have abused the trust put in them by their partners. Leery of all forms of cruelty, Belial does not approve. Thanks, ;) Manny Neps http://www.geocities.com/angeloffools ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 4 Apr 2002 14:17:46 +1000 From: "Shane" Subject: Re: IN> Contest Entry: Outside, Wanting to Come In On 3 Apr 2002, 20:30, Merior wrote: ... > Imagine being trapped, just out of reach of a glorious warmth, a > fraction beyond the Symphony you knew. To be able to see it there in > front of you, maddeningly close but still beyond your grasp. You never > know anything except for the moment so you mindlessly push against > whatever is keeping you out, never able to even -think- of doing > anything else. > > As the War goes on, more and more Celestials loose Celestial Force or > are even soul-killed. > > More and more might find themselves trapped "on the other side of the > glass" and straining to get back in. Millions of shards of "I" and "me" > doing nothing but push. > > Eventually something is going to give. ... *wibble* *reboots mind* Gah. Scary. And oh, the dreadfully wondrous possibilities. :) Hmm, what about those who "lost" both Eth and Cel forces? Shane. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 3 Apr 2002 23:16:14 -0500 From: "Eric Bertish" Subject: IN> T minus zero Astronomers in Australia and New Zealand observed a mysterious occultation of the sun for a period of exactly one minute, during a spike in sunspot activity. Details are sketchy, but one observer claimed to have detected "a kind of armature around the corona." Instrumental readings are similarly anomalous for that period, dropping to zero for a span of one minute. As if, for sixty seconds, the sun *ceased to exist*..... IT has come. - -- Casca "Many people hear voices when no-one is there. Some of them are called mad and are shut up in rooms where they stare at the walls all day. Others are called writers and they do pretty much the same thing." --Margaret Chittenden, writer ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 3 Apr 2002 23:36:24 -0500 From: "Eric Bertish" Subject: IN> Breaking Moe's Brain: The Undead Sun She appeared before the Council, wreathed in flames of agony. "My solar tether has fallen!" she wailed, her tears burning prophecies of doom in flaming script as they struck the floor. "It is now in the hands of the Usurper. Soldekai is dead in the Spirit. A blasphemous new cruelty is now birthed upon the Earth." She turned as she spoke, rage and grief fighting for eminence in her voice, looking each Archangel and councilmember in the eye. Rage won. "This is *your* fault!" she accused the Council as a whole. "You, who would not help me in my pain and madness and grief! You, who would rather not rock the boat! You, whose petty politics are more important than the well-being of an Archangel! You have all brought this upon yourselves!" She was positively shrieking now. "They have slain the Sun and raised it in unlife! THIS IS UPON ALL YOUR HEADS!" After she had departed, silence filled the chamber. "The sun shines on both the just as the unjust," murmured Yves. ************ It all started when Belial and Saminga started talking about the Good Old Days: Human sacrifice, murder cults, burning alive at the stake. Saminga noted that humans have an easier time committing atrocities when they can rationalize it, and the easiest form of rationalization is "It's necessary for survival." He savored the irony, especially. Belial countered that it was much easier back then, as the humans didn't have a global community to provide support and humanitarian aid. "Threaten the globe", Saminga riposted. Belial allowed as how that had been tried during the cold war. "Ah, nukes. So wonderfully destructive. Like focusing the sun on a single point..." "Bah, the sun," sneered Saminga. "Giver of life. If only there were a way to kill it....." The two Princes looked up at the same time. "Vapula," they announced simultaneously, and went to see the Genius Prince. ************ The plan was devilishly simple. Saminga recalled all Coffins of Undeath and transported them to Tartarus. There, Vapula would construct a framework large enough to encompass the Sun and incorporating the Coffins into its design. Necromantic rituals would be bound into the frame, turning it into a sun-size Coffin. Belial would ensure the Superscalar Coffin would not be consumed by the Sun's fire. When the design was complete, the Solar Tomb (as Saminga dubbed it) would be transported around the sun. At the stroke of midnight (any midnight... it didn't matter, as midnight is based on the position of Earth relative to the Sun, and the Sun doesn't move), it would be transformed into..... THE GREATEST UNDEAD THE SYMPHONY WILL EVER SEE, AND ALL WILL TREMBLE BEFORE ITS TERRIBLE MAJESTY!! MUAHAHAHAHAHAAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHHHHHH!!!!! (*ahem* Thank you, Saminga. Go play with your Neil Gaiman dolls.) ... transformed into a Zombi. Yes, a Zombi Sun. Stop looking at me like that. ************ Sidebar: How the $#!% do you zombify a sun? It's playing fast and loose with canon, but it's just this side of possible. Consider this: 1. Everything in the Symphony is made of Forces. Corporeal things like rocks, trees....Suns.... are made of Corporeal Forces. Sometimes lots and lots of Corporeal Forces. 2. Apparently, all you need to become a Zombi are Corporeal Forces. A corpse, which is nothing but Corporeal Forces, can be zombified. 3. It's a stretch, but the Sun can be thought of as alive in a certain sense. It was born from stellar gases; it lives and consumes its fuel; when that fuel is consumed, it dies. Symbolically and metaphorically, it *has* to be alive: how can something that is identified with life and life-giving properties by all of humanity not be alive in some figurative sense? 4. It's a combination of Necromantic ritual and Vaputech (a kind of black magic in its own right.) and has the loving attention of three Demon Princes, as well as the Prince of Darkness. That's enough of a handwave for just about anything. ************ The only problem was how to get it there in the first place. As a celestial artifact, it could be carried along in celestial form, then materialized when in position. However, the Disturbance would be significant, and given the distances involved the invaders would be detected before they were in place, and the angels at the tether would be able to mount an effective defense, with Gabriel being invoked the moment a Demon Prince made his presence known. The Song of Celestial Motion was dismissed as being too Essence-intensive; while each Prince certainly had enough to move the Solar Tomb, such an act would leave him weakened, and weakened Princes become dead Princes. The possibility of sharing the burden was likewise unfeasible, as the only thing the three could trust each other to do was finding a way of contributing less and exploiting that advantage. It was about this time Lucifer wandered by and offered his assistance. The Sun, he explained, is as much about Light as it is about Fire. He once had a tether there, millennia ago. Perhaps if he... persuaded... it, it would reopen, however briefly. Sunspots? You bet. What, you thought patches of darkness on an otherwise bright, life-giving object weren't sufficiently symbolic? ************ Care and Feeding of your Zombi Sun All Zombis have needs. This one is no exception, and it's a doozy: Human Sacrifice. A human ritually burned alive at the stake, actually. Otherwise, the Sun takes a body hit every 24 hours..... Naturally, this Need won't be detected at first. But as the Sun takes damage, its 'lifespan' shortens, and it burns through its fuel faster. Pretty soon, the Sun will begin its transformation to Red Giant many billions of years ahead of schedule, and you can bet the scientific community is going to sit up and take notice. Once the panic has reached hysterical proportions, key servants of Infernal Fire and Death will begin influencing the death cults which pop up in every crisis. They will be able to give scientific proof that ritualistic human sacrifice is needed to appease the Sun God, and the only way for the human race to survive is to propitiate this hungry god. Belial is happy is because humans are being burned alive. He also gets to hurt Gabriel even more, by perpetuating a great cruelty upon the world. And , in perverting the Sun into a scorching destroyer, he takes her greatest tether from her. Vapula is happy because when they're not sacrificing themselves, the humans are worshipping at the altar of Technology in the hopes of colonizing another planet and/or halting the sacrifices. Saminga is happy because human sacrifice is widespread and institutionalized. Oh, and he's just made an undead with it's own gravity well. And, come to think of it: don't vampires have a Vulnerability to sunlight? I wonder what happens if that sunlight comes from an Undead Sun..... Pleasant Dreams. >:) ************ I'd like to thank everyone who helped me create this vile abomination: the darkwave band Upbeat Depression, whose song "Dead Sun" I mis-read and started me down this line of thought; EDG, whose comments on my "Forces Question" post nicely obfuscated my intent, while still enabling me to get the answers I sought; and Cathy King and Ruth Evers, two of my players, whose minds I broke when I described the rough draft of this idea to them (on Holy Saturday, of all days). I'd really like to be able to thank God as well, but I suspect He has far too much class and taste to want to be associated with a project such as this. ************ - -- Casca "Many people hear voices when no-one is there. Some of them are called mad and are shut up in rooms where they stare at the walls all day. Others are called writers and they do pretty much the same thing." --Margaret Chittenden, writer ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 3 Apr 2002 20:45:36 -0800 (PST) From: Maurice Lane Subject: Re: IN> Breaking Moe's Brain: The Undead Sun :blink: ===== 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! Tax Center - online filing with TurboTax http://taxes.yahoo.com/ ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 04 Apr 2002 04:46:51 From: "Daniel Gallagher" Subject: Re: IN> Breaking Moe's Brain: The Undead Sun Ok Eric. If It were up to me, you'd win. This hurt my brain pretty bad. Let's see how Moe reacts. Daniel _________________________________________________________________ Join the world s largest e-mail service with MSN Hotmail. http://www.hotmail.com ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 3 Apr 2002 22:52:50 -0600 From: "Wade Lahoda" Subject: Re: IN> Breaking Moe's Brain: The Undead Sun - ----- Original Message ----- From: "Eric Bertish" > Yes, a Zombi Sun. You know, as brain-breaking as this is - and I suspect the damage to *my* brain will take some time for me to assess... I must say...nothing could live up to your leadup. I lived through reading your post - given the leadup it was given, I really expected to die from some form of mental trauma in the first couple of lines. Hrm, there's a Saminga/Kronos teamup to think of, although it's likely already been done. Just wanted to say - very brain breaking, but you showed yourself up with the leadup. =) A. Wade Lahoda ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 04 Apr 2002 04:59:41 From: "Daniel Gallagher" Subject: Re: IN> Breaking Moe's Brain: The Undead Sun >(*ahem* Thank you, Saminga. Go play with your Neil Gaiman dolls.) Hey, I want Niel Gaiman dolls! I want one of Morpheus and one of Fiddlers Green (Person and Place), one of Odin(American Gods, not Sandman)and Richard Mayhew, and Death and Crowley and the Marquis de Carabas... Daniel _________________________________________________________________ Join the world s largest e-mail service with MSN Hotmail. http://www.hotmail.com ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 3 Apr 2002 23:27:38 -0600 From: "Charles Glasgow" Subject: Re: IN> Breaking Moe's Brain: The Undead Sun - ----- Original Message ----- From: "Maurice Lane" To: Sent: Wednesday, April 03, 2002 10:45 PM Subject: Re: IN> Breaking Moe's Brain: The Undead Sun > :blink: You blink. Me, I'm going to pretend that I never saw that, that it never happened, that it's Just Not There. And pray to God that nobody in my college's RPG club besides me *ever* reads that e-mail. - -- Chuckg ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 4 Apr 2002 00:28:37 -0500 From: "Josh Moger" Subject: Re: IN> Breaking Moe's Brain: The Undead Sun >:blink: > Dammit. Knew I shoulda chucked the Malakim idea and gone ahead with Yves as an Ethereal... Josh ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 04 Apr 2002 00:30:00 -0500 From: EDG Subject: IN> And Death Has No Dominion Special thanks for Gryphon for helping to inspire the title (tho he doesn't know it). - -EDG It was not a good day for Hell. According to current intelligence, two Demon Princes were dead, another had Redeemed, and still a fourth had gone Renegade with no sign of his whereabouts. Meanwhile, Heaven didn't even seem to have skipped a beat; operations were going as smoothly as they ever did, which - unfortunately - the majority of Hell seemed to take as a personal affront. Saminga was not in the majority of Hell. Saminga's opinion was that the more Princes died, the more powerful his Word became, and therefore he wasn't terribly concerned about the fate of his fellow Superiors. He wasn't about to kill them himself - that might get him in trouble - but he wasn't going to argue with whoever was doing it. The reports filtering into the Hall of Death were grim: it appeared as though Haagenti may have been behind the death of Baal, and could possibly have been masterminding the events leading to Nybbas's demise. His agents couldn't find any link between Haagenti and the redemption of Vapula - in fact, all evidence pointed to Asmodeus as the catalyst there; one Prince ought not kill another in the middle of a cathedral and expect not to be held accountable for it - but he was sure that Malphas's spin doctors could find a way to turn that to the Prince of Gluttony's detriment. The loss of Baal hurt Saminga in a way that little else could. The Prince of Death had always admired Baal for the sheer amount of destruction that his armies could inflict, and had considered him a friend ever since the Confrontation with Legion, when Baal had literally dragged Saminga away from the fight moments before that final, catastrophic clash between the Prince of Corruption and the Archangel of Knowledge. The image - that last instant - was still indelibly engraved on one of Saminga's Forces, as it was on everyone who had been there, as a sort of Symphonic reminder of the consequences of unhindered growth. Which was why Saminga was cautious now about killing other Princes. It would certainly feed his Word - but what were the consequences? A knock on the great oak doors of the Hall startled Saminga out of his reverie. "Come," he intoned, and the doors swung wide, revealing a pair of Djinn, both humaniform, both cloaked from head to toe. One's robe was the jet black of space, without the veil of stars; the other's was white, with blue highlights where the shadows lay. "You have my attention," said Saminga, affecting lazy almost-disinterest even as his many ears pricked up. "What is it?" "We come to make a proposal, Lord Saminga," said the Djinn in black, her voice oddly empty. "We seem to have a situation on our hands, and we know how much Baal meant to you. We would like your assistance in... curtailing the trouble." Saminga nodded. "What is it that you would have me do?" The Djinn in black spoke again, bluntly. "We need Haagenti to die. He is the one causing all this trouble, and he must be stopped. By any means." So Malphas has already begun to play. "Tell me what you offer me in return. Haagenti is a friend, an ally. What could you give me that would be worth that?" The Djinn in white smiled, with teeth that glittered like crystal. "My services, Lord Saminga. You will trade one Prince, one who consumes all and leaves nothing for you, for another - one whose practices leave you the bodies to reanimate." He grinned and threw back his cowl. The Djinn's skin was so white as to be almost transparent, although he didn't seem to have any blood vessels near the surface to speak of. His hair was long, and as bone-white as his robe, and seemed brittle enough to break at the slightest provocation. His ears carried slight points, as did his eyes, and his teeth did indeed sparkle like crystal, even out of shadow. This was a creature the likes of whom Saminga had never seen, and yet - "Vephar?" he asked, hollowly. The Djinn cringed. "I... I remember Vephar. Distantly, as if in a dream. I am told that I bear his Forces. But he is gone, no more than a legend. Call me Zapan." The smile returned. "I represent Ice." Saminga smiled. This might work out after all. The three found themselves shortly thereafter in Haagenti's favorite lounge in Shal-Mari, laying in wait for the Prince's eventual appearance. (Zapan would think, later, that to hear "Bad, Bad Leroy Brown" in Tagalog was an experience that almost demanded a Force-purging.) The Djinn in black, who had yet to reveal any portion of her body or her name, sat at the bar in what was apparently an accustomed place; Zapan and Saminga, both humaniform, took a booth, waiting silently. Saminga was busily running "It's A Small World After All" through his head in a desperate attempt to DROWN OUT THAT DAMNED SONG when Haagenti, followed by a small entourage, walked in the door. Immediately the staff converged on him, smiling and complimenting and leading him to what was, again, obviously an accustomed place. "Wait," he said, and smiled toothily in Saminga's direction as the staff, the band, and even the ceiling fans stopped dead in their tracks. "Sam, my old friend, what brings you here?" Saminga swallowed his dread. "Haagenti... you've gone too far. Nobody liked Nybbas, not really... but Baal?" The knife, its blade long, wavy, and serrated, made its way into his hand, and he stood. "You shouldn't have killed Baal, Haagenti. He was the leader of our army - our best chance - and a good friend. And you killed him." The knife rose high; as one, the entourage backed away. "No more, Haagenti. No more." The knife plunged. The scene held for a moment: Haagenti, hands clapped around the blade, fingertips pressed against the hilt as the much-stronger Saminga drove it downward. Then Haagenti spread his hands, and the knife, now bladeless, pounded against his chest. "What?" Saminga roared, looking desperately at the hilt. Haagenti calmly plucked his own knife, a stiletto whose blade was black as night, from its hidden sheath under his jacket, and slammed the point deep into Saminga's forehead. "Next time," he whispered so that only the dying Prince could hear him, "get a blade that won't melt." He stood, watched as the Saminga-pool began to dissolve around the knife. "Delusional," he said loudly. "A pity, too; Saminga was a good friend, but I couldn't have him trying to kill me. I wonder where he got the idea that I killed Baal, though?" He turned. "Do you have anything to say about that, Zapan?" The pale Djinn shook his head. "I said nothing to him." Haagenti shrugged. "Ah well. You'll be remembered, Sam," he said, more quietly. "Leroy! A double!" he called out, and the entourage and band all returned to their work smoothly. "And Leroy - dump a double out for the deceased, would you?" ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 04 Apr 2002 05:41:12 From: "Daniel Gallagher" Subject: Re: IN> And Death Has No Dominion It's a sad thing that one of the last things going through Samingas mind was "It's a small world after all." Daniel _________________________________________________________________ MSN Photos is the easiest way to share and print your photos: http://photos.msn.com/support/worldwide.aspx ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 4 Apr 2002 00:09:19 -0600 From: "Prodigal" Subject: Re: IN> Breaking Moe's Brain: The Undead Sun From: "Maurice Lane" > :blink: That was nicely done. I can feel the rush of essence flowing to my contribution from last night... ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 04 Apr 2002 01:42:29 -0500 From: "Charles Phipps" Subject: IN> Saminga the Lord of All part 1 Hey guys I just got back from seeing Resident Evil for the Second Time and man was it a great movie (okay I'm going to have to buy the DVD version to see the good gorey stuff in the unrated version but you can't have everything-and a kickbutt Mila, zombie bashing excess, and evil corporation are nothing to sneeze at). It also inspired me to check out the old George Romero works and the books of the RE series again which of course lead me back to Saminga and my own particular little adventure hooks. Basically this will be a series of adventures involving Saminga's final culmination of adventures for bringing about the Apcolypse. Adventure Hook: The Dawn of Death's reign Laurence has been discovering some unusually unpleasant incidents as Commander of the Host and with Litheroy's help noticed a rather unique pattern to it all. Outcast Angels and Renegade demons have been dissapearing at a steady rate that has only now been noticed. Laurence in hopes of figuring out what is some trivial hell based plot has sent one of his operatives to go outcast after a "showy" trial which he instructs the PCs to follow the man in hopes he will be kidnapped and traced back to their base to rescue him and find out what's up too. What the PCs will encounter will be far more than they ever bargain for beneath Austin, TX leading bio-research lab (See Night Music) as inside is literally dozens of angels and demons having been kept for research and in the mining shafts connected the corpses of thousands of mortals having been harvested for research for creating the better zombu. The Abbadon Society of which is Saminga's personal apcolypse group has finally perfected the virus from Makatiel and Legion's DNA and crafted a perfect vacinne to immunize themselves. Faced with legions of zombies, demons of death, and the occasional greater undead the PCs should triumph in the end with the aid of the captured malakim of the Tsaydim, Grigori, and even demons of some who are Prince's of enemies of Saminga who are desperate to escape the relentless cruelty of Saminga in a knock out drag out battle. What the PCs aren't aware of is that Saminga's lead researcher Duke Appolyon (he prefers Steve) has had this planned all along. The captured angels and demons are all meant to bring back the Doomsday virus into Heaven and Hell which has improved significantly since that time with the advent of Gene research and the aid of Vapula himself in developing Makatiel's "pedestrian" ideas about disease. Gradually before the PCs are even aware of it rampaging through the streets of Heaven is the Soul-killer Virus even as it spreads through Shal-Mari brothel rows... Saminga himself also made sure that the destruction resulting from the bio-warfare facility ignites the Zombi creating variant of the disease into the air above Austin, TX itself as it germinates in the City Water supply and the Rainclouds above the City itself that are soon to be prepared to blow across the nation. It will rain heavily there first because Saminga is a master of the Symphony...he's been playing the fool for 65 million years waiting for this day and he's not going to stop now. Someone will have to be dispatched to protect the secrecy of the Symphony when suddenly people begin dropping over like the Black Death again....only this time to rise and start biting people... The Virus once detected is easy enough to cure Jean and Laurence both discover but the cost is enormous in essence requiring massive expenditures to burn away the soul-eater much as it does to redeem a demon and there's no way to immunize a person against it without a sample of saminga's own immunization serum. Of course someone will have to be dispatched... Blandine herself takes note of this horror more than anything when suddenly she finds her entire citadel under attack by the Tsaydim who have mutated horribly, the disease before soul-killing inflicting massive dischord on the subject as they're most vile natures are brought forward. Someone needs to evacuate the Citadel of Dreams long enough for Michael to take some serious action. Meanwhile down below Baal angrily confronts Saminga as Kobal chuckles to the side with Saminga making his offer very clear.....all who tow the line to the Commander of the Horde will be spared while those who do not will be denied the virus. Unfortunately the cure is not something that can be readily duplicated... Immunization requires the sacrafice of a single living souls entire forces base and Saminga has been stockpiling what he needs for a very very very very very long time....with a large number of psychotics to provide the essence just in case....also immunzied while everyone else's damned equally turn savage and soul kill. Belial quickly throws his lot behind Saminga and Kobal laughs uproarishly to it with Haagenti loving the living dead. The cement of the Hell alliance is sealed by Kronos's approval. and the culling of the Earth begins - -Charlemagne OOC: Suggestions for next part? _________________________________________________________________ Chat with friends online, try MSN Messenger: http://messenger.msn.com ------------------------------ End of in_nomine-digest V1 #2590 ********************************