In this digest: Re: IN> [admin] Check for Viruses! Re: IN> [admin] Check for Viruses! IN> Dissonance Re: IN> Dissonance Re: IN> Dissonance Re: IN> The Lanceolate Leaf, pt. II IN> Sorcerers of Dark Humor Re: IN> The Lanceolate Leaf, pt. II Re: IN> Okay, a PERTINENT question now...Cherubim! Re: IN> Okay, a PERTINENT question now...Cherubim! Re: IN> Zapan, Demon Prince of Ice Re: IN> Dissonance Re: IN> Warehouse 23 Re: IN> Okay, a PERTINENT question now...Cherubim! IN> Euhemerism Re: IN> Okay, a PERTINENT question now...Cherubim! Re: IN> Dissonance ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 28 Apr 2002 16:33:29 -0400 From: Cameron McCurry Subject: Re: IN> [admin] Check for Viruses! "Brian C. Petery" said unto us: > Is it a Windows virus or an Apple virus? Seems to be confined to Windows. Here's some more information. http://securityresponse.symantec.com/avcenter/venc/data/w32.klez.gen@mm.html On the topic of firewalls that David touched on earlier, Zone Alarm is available for free and is quite effective. http://www.zonealarm.com/ ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 28 Apr 2002 16:14:20 -0500 From: David Edelstein Subject: Re: IN> [admin] Check for Viruses! Cameron McCurry wrote: > "Brian C. Petery" said unto us: > On the topic of firewalls that David touched on earlier, Zone Alarm is > available for free and is quite effective. > > http://www.zonealarm.com/ Tiny Personal Firewall, which I gave the link to earlier, is also free. It should be noted that no firewall is effective if not configured properly, and although Norton and McAfee and other marketers would like to tell you that you can set it up with a simple point-and-click without knowing anything about TCP/IP or packet filtering, it just ain't true. You'll have to educate yourself at least minimally on the subject, or else when you configure your firewall so that it allows you to connect to the Internet, you'll probably also be configuring it so that it effectively provides zero defense against hackers. Oh, and if you have a broadband connection and you DON'T have a firewall, please turn off your computer immediately; you lack the requisite intelligence to be allowed near electronic devices, moving parts, or sharp objects. By the way, can I have your credit card number and all your passwords, since you're giving them away to everyone else anyway? - -David ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 28 Apr 2002 19:03:53 -0400 From: BC Petery Subject: IN> Dissonance >From: "Patrick None" >I'm sure this is dumb, but is Nybass' dissonance condition kinda...wussy? I >mean, not the condition itself so much as the absolute lack of a time limit >on working off the dissonance? Actually I've wondered about that myself. Specifically creating web pages, and writing. What if you're a slow typist? (I'm 13 wpm me-self.) Maybe its not quality or quantity; maybe its just the amount of time you spend (or waste) on it. Did you remember to spell check today? BC Petery http://www15.brinkster.com/ugwump/ ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 28 Apr 2002 18:16:41 -0500 From: David Edelstein Subject: Re: IN> Dissonance BC Petery wrote: > Actually I've wondered about that myself. Specifically creating web pages,> and writing. What if you're a slow typist? (I'm 13 wpm me-self.) > > Maybe its not quality or quantity; maybe its just the amount of time you> spend (or waste) on it. Dissonance rules should be observed more in the spirit than the letter of the dissonance conditions. It's not like celestials can read their Servitor's Handbook and say "Hmm, better make sure I follow regulation #3 or I'll get dissonance in exactly 3 hours 45 minutes...." It's how well you are relating to your Superior's Word (or not). So a demon of the Media who's not basking in the Media and doing his little part to propogate it gets dissonance. Neither Nybbas nor the Symphony cares about word counts. - -David - -- >From too much love of living, From hope and fear set free, We thank with brief thanksgiving Whatever gods may be That no man lives for ever; That dead men rise up never; That even the weariest river Winds somewhere safe to sea. ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 28 Apr 2002 19:20:13 -0400 From: "Patrick None" Subject: Re: IN> Dissonance I mean, Malphas (another timer dissonance) only gets one day to make it up, and his dissonance condition is nasty. its a real "demonic behavior here" sort of thing... whereas you can't go killing *every* producer and talk show host in the world... Can you? Patrick > >From: "Patrick None" > >I'm sure this is dumb, but is Nybass' dissonance condition kinda...wussy? I > >mean, not the condition itself so much as the absolute lack of a time limit > >on working off the dissonance? > > Actually I've wondered about that myself. Specifically creating web pages, > and writing. What if you're a slow typist? (I'm 13 wpm me-self.) > > Maybe its not quality or quantity; maybe its just the amount of time you > spend (or waste) on it. > > > Did you remember to spell check today? > > BC Petery > http://www15.brinkster.com/ugwump/ > > ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 28 Apr 2002 17:07:25 -0700 From: Tony Zbaraschuk Subject: Re: IN> The Lanceolate Leaf, pt. II Excellent stuff! More! This is really good -- I've always been uncomfortable with stuff that leaves the Archangels too much at odds with each other -- they're on the side of _Heaven_, after all; if we want massive backstabbing and feuds and undercutting, we've got the place for it somewhere else. Tony Z - -- "The King with half the East at heel is marched from lands of morning; His fighters drink the rivers up, their shafts benight the air, And he that stays will die for naught, and home there's no returning." The Spartans on the sea-wet rock sat down and combed their hair.--A.E. Housman ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 29 Apr 2002 10:59:20 +1000 From: "james walker" Subject: IN> Sorcerers of Dark Humor You didn't think that Kobal would let Kronos keep something with so much potential, did you? Here are a few rituals Kobal has commissioned, and hands out to his Servitors Servants, other Sorcerers - and to Laurence's Exorcists, if they want them: Humiliation (Command/Special) The Sorcerer's opponent in a Will-War gains a penalty to his Will equal to the Sorcerer's Celestial Forces *if* he is being jeered at. This penalty lasts only for the Sorcerer's next Will-War; if the opponent is not being jeered at, the ritual fades away. The opponent may make a Will roll to resist, at a penalty equal to the number of people successfully mocking him (a successful Emote skill roll is required to be considered sufficiently mocking). The level of the ritual depends on the creature to be mocked, and is the same as that required to Banish the opponent (if facing anther Sorcerer, it only requires Command/1). Time: 15 minutes Essence: 7 minus the Check Digit Inopportunity Knocks (Command/3) Performed on a creature the Sorcerer has just Summoned, this ritual grants a penalty to resisting being Summoned again equal to the CD; however this only applies if the being is in embarrassing circumstances. If the target fails his initial Will roll against the Summons, but makes the roll to delay answering the Summons, the this ritual kicks in the moment the target is in a circumstance which will make answering the Summons embarrassing (eg while intimidating a subordinate, in the bath, while speaking with their Prince, etc). The target may make a Will roll to resist being affected by this ritual when it is performed; further, failing this ritual exposes the Sorcerer to a Will-War. However, this ritual is normally only performed on a being the Sorcerer has just defeated in a Will-War, making this point moot. Time: 15 Minutes Essence: the check digit Sorcery: The Musical (Command/2) This ritual takes advantage of the truism that a slave gan be driven to work much harder than a free being would consider possible. The ritual can only be performed on one of the Sorcerer's Servants; if Servant makes an appropriate skill roll before performing a Song, he gains a bonus to the Song performance roll equal to the CD of the skill roll, but take a number of Mind Hits damage equal to his level as a Servant. The appropriate skills are: For Corporeal Songs, Dancing; and for Celestial Songs, Singing. For Ethereal Songs, the Servant must both Sing and Dance (using the highest CD). If the skill roll is failed, the Servant takes additional Mind hits equal to the CD; for Ethereal Songs, it is possible to both gain a bonus to the Song and take the additional Mind hits as damage. The ritual lasts for a number of days equal to the CD; it can be resisted with a Will roll (the Servant's Will is doubled for resisting this ritual), not that it matters. Time: 1 hour. Essence: the check digit. Strip Tease (Exorcism/2) [Check Digit] minor items - car keys, wallets, underwear etc - on the target's Vessel are 'pushed sideways' to another of the target's Vessels, requiring the target to change Vessels to recover the items (if the target only has one Vessel, the items appear midair and clatter to the ground the next time the target goes celestial). Surface clothing is not affected unless no other items remain; if surface clothing is affected then it is (if possible) replaced with an item of clothing from another Vessel. As this can result in trousers being replaced by a skirt, high heels by work boots or even a dress being replaced by a dog collar, Kobalites try to be around whenever this ritual is performed. The target can resist the ritual with a Will roll *if* they detect the disturbance caused by the ritual - Sorcerers prefer to perform this ritual with the aid of binoculars or from behind the protection of the Celestial Song of Shields. If they do not detect the disturbance, they will have no way of detecting what has happened, or where their possessions have gone. Time: 1 minute Essence: the check digit. Transform Demon(ling) to Pumpkin (Banishment/3 or /6) The Sorcerer rolls Exorcism+Summon; if successful, the targeted demon(ling) must make a Will roll at a penalty equal to the CD or be catapulted into Limbo. [The target adds their Celestial Forces to the Will roll unless the demon(ling)'s true name is used - which increases the ritual to Banishment/6). Once in Limbo the target will immediately realise that the base cost for creating a new Vessel has been increase by the CD of the ritual (ie the cost is [15+CD]*creature Forces*Vessel level). However, for CD rounds, they have the option of gaining a pumpkin Vessel for free (with a level equal to the CD, maximum 6). Smart demons will want to give the pumpkin a mouth or eyes; this requires a successful Artistry roll (almost certainly at default) - a CD of 6 will even allow them to give the pumpkin tiny legs, allowing the pumpkin to move one foot a round. Failing the roll will normally create a Halloween pumpkin. Of course, there is nothing to stop the demon(ling) changing Vessels, which is the main reason for accepting the pumpkin Vessel. Rumours of variant on this ritual exist: supposedly turning the target into a carrot, mushroom or radish. Given the difficulty of performing this ritual, probably only members of The Dozen know more than one variant. Time: 1 hour Essence: 3 times the check digit Zombify Vampire (Necromancy/4) A successful roll of Enchantment+Necromancy unwinds the stabilisation ritual which created the vampire, causing the target to continue losing Forces until they become a zombi. The vampire may resist with a Will roll; even if this fails the vampire may counter this ritual by accepting levels of Discord equal to the CD: the vampire can either increase existing levels of Discord or accept random Discord. If taken at random, roll d6 on the following table: 1) Oblivious 2) Obsession (Megalomaniac speeches) 3) Obsession (Playing pipe organs) 4) Obsessive Compulsive 5) Oozing (Campy) 6) Paranoia Time: 1 minute Essence: The vampires Forces times 2, minus the CD. Cheers, James. ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 28 Apr 2002 19:49:19 -0700 From: WonderGecko Subject: Re: IN> The Lanceolate Leaf, pt. II > He would fight this evil with the > weapons most appropriate. *cheers wildly* I'm always up for a spot of fiction, well-done. You go, man. - --Kim, Angel of Random Enthusiasm ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 29 Apr 2002 14:09:09 -0500 From: Earl Wajenberg Subject: Re: IN> Okay, a PERTINENT question now...Cherubim! Bergeron, Robert F., DS1(SW) wrote: > I'd like to consider a Sphinx as a Cherubform, but I suppose it's so > far outfield that it's anti-cannoical. Which is too bad, really, since the cherub as it was drawn and sculpted in ancient Hebrew religious art probably looked a lot like those Babylonian gate-guardian figures that are winged quadrupeds -- lion, bull, or a mixture of the two -- with human faces. Very like Egyptian sphinxes, in fact, which also show up as guardian figures in reliious art. I once saw an artistic rendering of the Ark of the Covenant -- which had a pair of cherubim on the top, their wingtips touching -- showing the cherubim as two winged, human-headed bulls, standing tail to tail, their wings slightly raised, the tips touching. Looked very convincing. The surreal description of cherubim in Ezekiel is a hash of lion, eagle, bull, and human (with sidekick ophanim, who, by the way, have eyes on their rims). Earl ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 29 Apr 2002 18:24:22 +0000 From: "Janet Anderson" Subject: Re: IN> Okay, a PERTINENT question now...Cherubim! >sidekick ophanim, who, by the way, >have eyes on their rims). > Makes perfect sense to me; how else would they see where they're going? Janet Anderson _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 26 Apr 2002 18:42:45 -0400 From: Elizabeth McCoy Subject: Re: IN> Zapan, Demon Prince of Ice At 1:30 PM -0300 4/26/02, vez o'rama wrote: >>From: "Brian C. Petery" >>Subject: IN> Zapan, Demon Prince of Ice >>Date: Fri, 26 Apr 2002 10:34:20 -0400 > >>OK, but it should at least exist. Asking for the iceberg that sank the >>Titanic is like asking for Nero's last fart. It's gone, never to be >seen >>again. > >Hrm. Am I doing this wrong? I always assumed invocation modifiers were >reference objects... As in, you get the modifer for or >for something similar to . That's about right -- and/or standard, "known" things with invocation bonuses. Guides to the GM for non-standard thing, as well as a list of standard things for when the PCs can't think of anything. O:> I think this is elucidated a bit better in GIN. - --emccoy@nh.ultranet.com // arcangel@io.com In Nomine Line Editor RPG links; Random name list, Art: http://www.io.com/~arcangel/ ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 29 Apr 2002 16:11:27 -0400 From: Elizabeth McCoy Subject: Re: IN> Dissonance At 3:19 AM -0400 4/28/02, Patrick None wrote: > I'm sure this is dumb, but is Nybass' dissonance condition kinda...wussy? I >mean, not the condition itself so much as the absolute lack of a time limit >on working off the dissonance? Oh, I dunno -- 1 hour now is 2 hours the next day, 3 the next, etc. After a while, it gets kind of troublesome. And it interferes with resonance while it's there. And don't take any _other_ dissonance while you're carrying it, or you'll be a blue puddle of Discord before long! But if you want to make it nastier, rule they can only catch up for a day after, like Malphas'. O:> - --emccoy@nh.ultranet.com // arcangel@io.com In Nomine Line Editor RPG links; Random name list, Art: http://www.io.com/~arcangel/ ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 29 Apr 2002 16:14:20 -0400 From: Elizabeth McCoy Subject: Re: IN> Warehouse 23 At 10:51 AM -0400 4/28/02, Brian C. Petery wrote: >Warehouse 23 is chock full of VapuTech. THe Weldon Pharmacy alone is worth >the price of the book. (Out of Print!) > >Of course, the place is run by Jean. Oh, I dunno -- maybe it's a Vapulan storehouse... Or a Silencers one, IIRC firefly's human org's name? - --emccoy@nh.ultranet.com // arcangel@io.com In Nomine Line Editor RPG links; Random name list, Art: http://www.io.com/~arcangel/ ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 29 Apr 2002 16:22:33 -0400 From: Elizabeth McCoy Subject: Re: IN> Okay, a PERTINENT question now...Cherubim! At 2:09 PM -0500 4/29/02, Earl Wajenberg wrote: >Bergeron, Robert F., DS1(SW) wrote: > >> I'd like to consider a Sphinx as a Cherubform, but I suppose it's so >> far outfield that it's anti-cannoical. > >Which is too bad, really, since the cherub as it was drawn and sculpted >in ancient Hebrew religious art probably looked a lot like those >Babylonian gate-guardian figures that are winged quadrupeds -- lion, >bull, or a mixture of the two -- with human faces. Hmmmm... Considering that the vessel-form can be used in Heaven, at the exact-same-time as the normalform (you see both at once; these are not bound by corporeal light physics...), doing a humanface slightly animalized would probably be close enough to canon to make no nevermind... - --emccoy@nh.ultranet.com // arcangel@io.com In Nomine Line Editor RPG links; Random name list, Art: http://www.io.com/~arcangel/ ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 29 Apr 2002 16:20:58 -0500 From: Earl Wajenberg Subject: IN> Euhemerism You really think they could dream us up? Oh, I know you can't lie, Six-Eyes. I just have a hard time believing it. Sure, I'll be happy to tell you the real story, and you can sit there and resonnate me all you want. I started out human -- completely human. I was chief of a nomadic tribe in the southern steppes of Asia, in the early Bronze Age. A high chief, with many tribes under me, and a good one, lucky, charismatic, and long-lived. When I finally died, I stayed on as a ghost. I was expected to. We worshipped our ancestors, and I was supposed to stick around and inspire my successor. It was very interesting, to find myself hanging about my tomb and the chief's hall. There were a lot of sincere mouirners at my funeral. That's when I first saw it, that bright energy flowing out of their chakras -- well, not visible, but perceptible. And meant for me. So I took it. Essence, mana, numen, vis, chi, prana, orenda, elan vital, the Force, spell points. Whatever you call it, it was great. And I used it. I dished out luck and I visited in dreams, once I learned how. I learned more spells -- yeah, sorry, "Songs" -- and delivered miracles. And in return, I got Essence, delivered in hymns and prayers and tales and sacrifices. I was on the road to godhood. It was a lonely road. Not many ghosts hung around, I learned. But I hunted up the ones from my nation and soon had me a pantheon. "Soon." Well, in a few centuries. But it didn't seem long before we were too big for me to attend all my worship myself. That's where the dream and myth and imagination come in. They're like your Rites, only running the Essence *from* the performer, not *to*. And, to get that Essence, you have to be what they're worshipping, you have to match the image. I learned the trick of that and soon had Essence and to spare. A vast stream of it. My underlings, the priest-ghosts and hero-ghosts that guarded my temples, could tap into it. Couldn't keep them out, the bastards. That's how pantheons split. Ours did. For a while, all us founders had a sort of franchise, with underlings tapping into Essence streams and learning our Songs. Then our worshippers would migrate away or fight each other; the underlings quit and take sides, and you have folk worshipping Zeus or Thor or Jupiter or Indra instead of me. Dyeaous? Who's he? Yeah, that's right, I'm Dyeaous. Write all the vowels. Original king-god of the Indo-Europeans. Haven't had a worshipper in millenia. So that's it. The gods are human, ghosts built up by ancestor worship. The worship and myths power and shape the god, but the core is a human soul. Well, not always. Some of us are Primals. Some are ghosts of animals, gotten smart over time. Some are so old, they've forgotten what they were in the beginning. Some are really expatriate celestials. Some we made. Yeah, made. At the top of my form, I could sing the Ethereal Song of Life as well as your Archangel, Six-Eyes. Uriel? No comment. I'm just glad I was under his radar. One advantage of being a forgotten god. Earl ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 29 Apr 2002 20:24:12 +0000 From: "Janet Anderson" Subject: Re: IN> Okay, a PERTINENT question now...Cherubim! >Hmmmm... Considering that the vessel-form can be used in Heaven, at the >exact-same-time as the normalform (you see both at once; these are not >bound by corporeal light physics It can? I thought the only celestials who could use vessel forms in Heaven (or Hell) were Archangels (or Princes). I can see several good uses for this in Heaven, like helping to acclimatize bewildered newly-arrived humans, or bad uses for this in Hell, like fooling humans, providing entertainment for demons, etc. And what about Kyriotates? (Or Shedim?) Janet _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 29 Apr 2002 15:21:52 -0700 From: "None None" Subject: Re: IN> Dissonance Oh, yummy. I think that I'm going to crack it down to one hour, to match that Nybbas is finally hitting his limit - the unchecked, uncontrolled, madcap pace of the Media's growth is finally exceeding its capacity maintain intself. Which, I suppose, is a big theme in my game, so. How does everyone else feel about the theme of Gluttony in the tune of the Media? And, of course, thanks for the replies to this. Patrick > >Oh, I dunno -- 1 hour now is 2 hours the next day, 3 the next, etc. After >a while, it gets kind of troublesome. And it interferes with resonance >while it's there. And don't take any _other_ dissonance while you're >carrying it, or you'll be a blue puddle of Discord before long! > >But if you want to make it nastier, rule they can only catch up for a >day after, like Malphas'. > >O:> > >--emccoy@nh.ultranet.com // arcangel@io.com In Nomine Line Editor >RPG links; Random name list, Art: http://www.io.com/~arcangel/ > > _________________________________________________________________ Send and receive Hotmail on your mobile device: http://mobile.msn.com ------------------------------ End of in_nomine-digest V1 #2617 ********************************