in_nomine-digest Monday, May 27 2002 Volume 01 : Number 2655 In this digest: IN> Essence, the currency of the divine? Re: IN> a latin tagline IN> Song of Serendipity (rewritten) Re: IN> Essence, the currency of the divine? Re: IN> Essence, the currency of the divine? Re: IN> quick question Re: IN> Cathedrals, Word-Bound, and Tethers - Odd Questions Re: IN> Essence, the currency of the divine? Re: IN> Essence, the currency of the divine? Re: IN> Essence, the currency of the divine? IN> Dey Labghed adt Me In Univerdtity, You Kdnow... Re: IN> Cathedrals, Word-Bound, and Tethers - Odd Questions Re: IN> Essence, the currency of the divine? Re: IN> Essence, the currency of the divine? IN> Short vignette... Re: IN> Essence, the currency of the divine? Re: IN> Essence, the currency of the divine? Re: IN> Essence, the currency of the divine? Re: IN> Dey Labghed adt Me In Univerdtity, You Kdnow... Re: IN> Short vignette... IN> Once upon a time... Re: IN> Essence, the currency of the divine? IN> More Angelic Band Attunements ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 27 May 2002 11:27:05 -0400 From: BC Petery Subject: IN> Essence, the currency of the divine? >Next- celestial charge cards! ;) The Celestial Charge Card is a simple item. It allows the holder to perform a variant of the Celestial Song of Tongues. This allows the user to send a message to, and only to, the Bank of Marc (or Mammon for infernal cards). The message should run along the lines of, "[User ID], send Essence to [Recipient]." The recipient may be anyone the User can designate in the message, including himself. The Essence used to send the message is kept as the transaction fee. Anyone who knows the Celestial Song of Tongues perform the same transaction with the Bank, but should check with Bank occasionally to be certain that the "tellers" haven't changed. (Mammon is infamous for changing tellers. His former tellers will keep the transaction fee without explanation. Marc's former tellers will forward the message to the appropriate individual, but there may be delays of service.) Important! Do Not Go Into Debt With Mammon! Mammon charges ruinous interest rates. And he doesn't use leg breakers, if you don't pay (and pay and pay) he comes in person and collects out of your Forces. Marc, on the other hand, will not let you borrow. His cards work more like a Debit Card. "Neither a borrower nor a lender be. And shouldn't you be asking your own Superior, anyway?" "We don't morally censure you, we just want the money." -Michael Palin, The Blackmail Sketch Pete, Demon of Misinformation http://www15.brinkster.com/ugwump/IN/pete.html ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 27 May 2002 17:41:04 +0000 From: "James Bacon" Subject: Re: IN> a latin tagline What does "stercus, Stercus, Stercus Moritus sum" mean? _________________________________________________________________ Chat with friends online, try MSN Messenger: http://messenger.msn.com ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 27 May 2002 18:34:28 -0000 From: "Chris Anthony" Subject: IN> Song of Serendipity (rewritten) This is a completely revised Song, taking into account the commentary I've received. - -EDG Serendipity (Secret: Eli, Vapula, Yves?) The Songs of Serendipity do exactly what their name suggests: they act as "fortunate accidents", making sure that what the performer needs at the moment is directly at hand. Corporeal: The Corporeal Song of Serendipity summons a needed object, although it will not appear to do so: a set of lockpicks will appear nestled in the bottom of a pocket, or a portable generator behind a conveniently-placed tarpaulin. It will not conjure items larger than an average human, and does not work with creatures; only inanimate objects can be summoned, and even then only objects that do not serve as relics (although artifacts and talismans *can* be summoned). The performer of the Song does *not* get to specify what object is conjured, either: the object will simply be one that will be useful for the current situation. (Note to GMs: This may sound ripe for abuse: "What good is a pineapple going to do me?" "I'm sure you can figure it out." Don't forget that your players probably know where you sleep.) Once the Song has been successfully performed, the user will know the location of the object ("in your pocket", "behind that tarpaulin"). The Song lasts for (the performer's skill in the Song *plus* the check digit) in minutes, at which point the summoned object vanishes (unless it's been destroyed; food summoned by the Song will still nourish the eater after the Song has expired). Ethereal: The Ethereal Song of Serendipity conjures good ideas. For the duration of the Song, the performer adds the check digit of the Song's performance to his Intelligence (for straight Intelligence rolls *and* skill rolls, but not for calculating Mind Hits) and to his Will (*only* for the purpose of resisting an attempt to convince the performer of something - including the Balseraph and Impudite resonances). The Song lasts for the performer's skill in the Song in minutes. Celestial: The Celestial Song of Serendipity grants the performer the use of a salient skill. For a number of minutes equal to his skill in the Song, the performer operates with an effective rank of the Song's check digit in a single useful skill which he does not already possess. The skill granted can be any skill which that character could conceivably learn, although the performer does not get to choose the skill. The Celestial Song can also enhance existing skills, although its power is decreased if it does so: add half the check digit, rounded up, to a single skill which the performer already has. Again, the performer does not get to choose the skill, although it *must* be salient to the situation. Essence Requirement: 1 + the performer's Forces in that realm Degree of Disturbance: 1 + the check digit ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 27 May 2002 15:52:18 -0300 From: "vez o'rama" Subject: Re: IN> Essence, the currency of the divine? >From: W S >Date: Mon, 27 May 2002 05:25:16 -0700 (PDT) > >And before you posit reliquiries again, they are too >damn rare for everyone, or even most people, to double >or treble their Essence capacity with them. ... which is just another reason why being an outcast/renegade is not easy or fun :) If you have a Superior you can, at the very least, get essence back (insert cha-ching noise here) by being a good little Servitor and supporting your Superior's word, right? (a.k.a. rites :) Besides, why should all/most Celestials have access to double or triple their essence capacity? Truly, it is a noble goal for any demon (especially Gluttons), but the typical AA probably expects their Servitors to be creative enough to work with what they've got most of the time. >:P - - vez _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 27 May 2002 12:41:05 -0700 (PDT) From: W S Subject: Re: IN> Essence, the currency of the divine? > Besides, why should all/most Celestials have access > to double or triple > their essence capacity? Truly, it is a noble goal > for any demon (especially > Gluttons), but the typical AA probably expects their > Servitors to be > creative enough to work with what they've got most > of the time. >:P I'll grant, on missions a Celestial is expected to work with what they've got. But Essence is treated in the setting like money- celestials spend it to aquire stuff (goods and services) from other celestials. In Commerce Park, Artifacts and such like are sold for Essence. Celestial mercenaries work for Essence. This /doesn't make sense/ if spare Essence just bleeds into the Symphony. What I'm saying is the limited capacity celestials have for holding Essence makes this silly- > > - vez > > > > _________________________________________________________________ > Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at > http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp. > __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! - Official partner of 2002 FIFA World Cup http://fifaworldcup.yahoo.com ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 27 May 2002 16:13:57 -0400 From: Elizabeth McCoy Subject: Re: IN> quick question At 12:22 AM -0400 5/25/02, William J. Keith wrote: >>Basically, assume that if the attacker is non-human or Hellsworn, "as much >>force" includes pounding someone into the ground and further. O:> >> >>If the attacker is a stray mortal, then the Stonie gets to use discretion >>of whether to pound the sucker into the ground or just break a few arms. >> >>Does that help? >> >Yes. (Yeah, I know I wasn't the one strictly being addressed, but I was >watching the thread.) I'll be using this image of Stonies from now on. >Not that an exploration of a pacifist interpretation of Stone's ideals >wouldn't have been... interesting... but this puts me and canon on a nice >level footing. Thanks for the clarification. Truth be told, a Stonie can use discretion even with a demon -- there's just a bit of a cultural pressure to deprive the demon of its vessel by the most forceful means possible, so as to discourage it from coming back, or at least from coming back and starting fights. It is, of course, perfectly feasible to have a Stonie who _does_ take a more pacifistic interpretation of the ideals. Some of his (or her) fellows will look at it funny, but hey. There are more ways than one to serve a Word. Indeed, an Elohite of Stone, concerned by the lack of a balanced approach to the Word, might consider championing that aspect out of sheer logic. - --emccoy@nh.ultranet.com // arcangel@io.com In Nomine Line Editor RPG links; Random name list, Art: http://www.io.com/~arcangel/ ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 27 May 2002 16:51:30 -0400 From: Elizabeth McCoy Subject: Re: IN> Cathedrals, Word-Bound, and Tethers - Odd Questions At 6:54 AM -0700 5/26/02, Arovyn wrote: >In canon, how exactly does a Cathedral form? Handwaving! Handwaving! *ahem* I don't think it's entirely necessary to seal canon on that. Archangels get Cathedrals, while everyone else gets what they can "build" within that space. Some people think of Cathedrals as the Superiors' Hearts, and that's what I tend to do IMC. Your Milage May Vary. >2. Liber Castellorum states that Tether loci can form for a lesser Word-Bound, >but where exactly does one appear for them? IIRC, someplace that the Word-bound tends to hang out a lot -- near the Heart is probable, but if you have the Angel of the Practice Field, then it might show up, well, on a practice field where that angel (probably of the Sword) hangs out and trains the newbies a lot. - --emccoy@nh.ultranet.com // arcangel@io.com In Nomine Line Editor RPG links; Random name list, Art: http://www.io.com/~arcangel/ ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 27 May 2002 16:58:42 -0400 From: Elizabeth McCoy Subject: Re: IN> Essence, the currency of the divine? At 12:41 PM -0700 5/27/02, W S wrote: >What I'm saying is the limited capacity celestials >have for holding Essence makes this silly- In one of the original drafts, Essence and character points were the same thing... You spent Essence to make a vessel, and (IIRC) got that Essence back when the vessel was toasted. These days... Well, it's in the core rules, so. O:> There may well be celestial-only (i.e., can't leave the celestial realm) artifacts which store Huge Amounts of Essence. If they're faster to make than reliquaries, then one can reason that it's easier to make those and store up the Essence than to make a reliquary which can both store and generate Essence. (Indeed, since most reliquaries have a /6 cap on them, perhaps a storage device sacrifices the ability to generate Essence in exchange for holding Huge Amounts instead.) Of course, Mammon uses damned souls and enslaved demons, but hey. - --emccoy@nh.ultranet.com // arcangel@io.com In Nomine Line Editor RPG links; Random name list, Art: http://www.io.com/~arcangel/ ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 27 May 2002 13:58:53 -0700 From: Sean McCarthy Subject: Re: IN> Essence, the currency of the divine? How's this for an idea? In Heaven and Hell, you can have more essence than your normal limit, but only by shaping the essence into Things. Shiny coins, for example. Whatever...it doesn't matter, you just form it into a celestial construct of a certain minimum size and carry it around. As these are purely celestial constructs and not really permanent, they can't survive outside of Heaven or Hell. This opens up the possibility of bank robbery in Hell! While a PC could accumulate a decent pile of Essence back home, they'd need to go through the relatively difficult(expensive, noisy and/or time-consuming) process of going back to the Celestial to recharge. Celestials in their respective realms don't automatically regenerate Essence. Damned/Blessed souls do... If you send a servitor to the Corporeal, they start generating essence. But the initial essence expenditure for a vessel is pretty high...much like how making a solar panel is expensive. Tethers and damned souls power Hell. Heaven has donations...and perhaps a stream of Essence pouring down Jacob's Ladder. Or not. It's just an idea. It might be fun. Sean ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 27 May 2002 14:46:44 -0700 (PDT) From: W S Subject: Re: IN> Essence, the currency of the divine? [snip- Celestial coinage, Celestials no make Essence] I like that :) Although I'd probally tweak it so that Infernal Tethers generate no Essence, while Divine Tethers do. OTOH, Hell pumps it's souls while Heaven doesn't. The whole selfless/selfish thing. __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! - Official partner of 2002 FIFA World Cup http://fifaworldcup.yahoo.com ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 27 May 2002 14:47:36 -0700 (PDT) From: Maurice Lane Subject: IN> Dey Labghed adt Me In Univerdtity, You Kdnow... (honking sound) Sorry. Had to blow my nose. Where was I... - --- Elizabeth McCoy wrote: >Hee hee hee hee! > > emccoy@nh.ultranet.com, Uppity Wynch Oh, sure, you laugh now. But will you laugh so hard when I unleash... PHLEGM ZOMBIS! Corporeal Forces: 2 Strength: 5 Agility: 3 Ethereal Forces: 2 Intelligence: 2 Precision: 6 Celestial Forces: 0 Will: 0 Perception: 0 Vessel: Corporeal/2, -2 Charisma Skills: Climbing/1, Dodge/6, Fighting/4, Ranged Weapon/4 (Phlegm), Singing/1 Attunements: Phlegmatic Attack, Phlegmatic Curse Discords: Need/3 (Phlegm), Ugly/3 Phlegmatic Attack: All Phlegm Zombis add their Corporeal Forces to their Strength when attempting to grapple with an opponent in close combat. Also, the nature of their day-to-day existence gives them a handy ranged weapon: yes, again, phlegm. Power is not applicable, Accuracy is -1, Range is about 15 yards and ammo is effectively infinite: a successful 'strike' will lower an opponent's Agility by 1 until he can shower it off. Dodging will work, but only if the CD of the Dodge roll equals or exceeds the CD of the attack roll. Phlegmatic Curse: those damaged by a Phlegm Zombi must roll against Strength +4 or be subject to the Dread Curse of the Phlegm. This manifests as the sudden conversion of body fat into phlegm, which will then proceed to issue forth from the nose and mouth at high speed: this phlegm will be enough to satisfy the Zombi's daily Need. The average American (for example) is overweight enough to be able to do this once without suffering ill effects: further 'feedings' will cause 2d6 Body Hits. However, every level of Obese increases the number of 'safe feedings' by 10. It probably wouldn't surprise you to know that these Undead were invented by Kobal ... no, it wouldn't, would it? Anytime anybody encounters something that's just plain wrong, out comes the mental checklist. Weird but not dangerous: must be Eli. Dangerous and radiating promiscuously across the electromagnetic spectrum: that's one of Vapula's babies. Weird, dangerous, not radiating energy and looks like a sick joke: why yes, that does sound like Kobal. So, it's more accurate to say that it probably would distress you to hear that these Undead were invented by Kobal, as sort of a sardonic commentary about Kronos, Hatiphas and how both of them are completely lame about things. Phlegm Zombis are created with a variant of the Create Zombi ritual: knowledge of the regular ritual gives a +1 to the CD. Special ingredients are - well, lots and lots of phlegm (at least twenty pounds per zombi). Rumors of a Song of Phlegm that is taught only to Hellsworn Sorcerers of Dark Humor - well, if it existed, somebody would have reported back on it, right? Phlegm Zombis are usually found as guards or performance art: in the former, they've had it beaten into them to keep key areas free of intruders, while in the latter, half a dozen or more are just dropped off into an aesthetically pleasing venue and left to do their thing. Either way, their usual tactic is to grab anything living, get it to start spurting out phlegm, then drag it back to the Zombi's central lair so that it can be permanently adhered to the walls. They're just smart enough to go for the bulkiest targets first: unfortunately, they have no real conception of the abilities of Symphonically Aware entities, and outraged celestials rarely give them the opportunity to learn better. Phlegm Zombis can be fairly dangerous to regular humans - and the incredible grossness of their central lair would nauseate anybody. And, yes, they do chant "Phhlleggggmmm... Phhhlllleggggmmmm..." as they advance. This is Kobal that we're talking about, remember? ===== Liber Licentiae Moeticae: http://www.stormloader.com/users/moelane/innomine.html Last updated 04/13/02(this is usually way out of date) __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! - Official partner of 2002 FIFA World Cup http://fifaworldcup.yahoo.com ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 27 May 2002 18:20:47 -0400 From: "Eric Bertish" Subject: Re: IN> Cathedrals, Word-Bound, and Tethers - Odd Questions > >In canon, how exactly does a Cathedral form? > > Handwaving! Handwaving! I think of Celestial topography as a MUSH. This leads to interesting answers to questions like that... Why, they @dig them, of course. > I don't think it's entirely necessary to seal canon on that. Archangels get > Cathedrals, while everyone else gets what they can "build" within that > space. Some people think of Cathedrals as the Superiors' Hearts, and that's > what I tend to do IMC. Your Milage May Vary. Archangels and Princes are Wizards, with entire domans under their control. (God, of course, is God. Duh.) Senior Word-Bound and Distinguished servitors have Administrative powers... if you think of a Cathedral as a realm within a MUSH, then these guys get to @dig within that realm. Players, of course, need to petition for a builder login, and they have a strict quota. ;) - -- 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: Mon, 27 May 2002 18:39:56 -0400 From: "Steven E. Ehrbar" Subject: Re: IN> Essence, the currency of the divine? W S wrote: >But Essence is treated in the setting like money- celestials spend it to aquire stuff (goods and services) from other celestials. In Commerce Park, Artifacts and such like are sold for Essence. Celestial mercenaries work for Essence. This /doesn't make sense/ if spare Essence just bleeds into the Symphony. > Actually, it works just fine; you just have to change your economic assumptions. In the U.S. today, the U.S. dollar has *two* economic functions: it serves as both a medium of exchange and as a store of value. But it is not fundamentally necessary for a medium of exchange to also be able to serve as a store of value; it merely means the economy works differently. For a perspective on another economy, imagine, instead, you live in a country with, oh, 100% *daily* inflation. Obviously, no matter how much you're paid today (and it will double tomorrow), it isn't going to do you any good in a month, because it'll be worth only one-billionth its current value. In effect, you've got a cap on your total saved income of twice your daily income (the sum of the infinite series of 1+1/2+1/4+1/8...). However, that doesn't change the fact that you'll need your daily pay today to pay for your food, your rent, your taxes, etc. If you want to save anything, you'll have to find somebody who needs money right now, and get him to sell you a durable good that will keep its value (whether a TV or a bar of gold or whatever). Now, of course, this isn't an exact parallel to how an Essence-based economy could work; working out that would require extensive time and effort, isn't exactly central to the game anyway, and would be rather dry. But one could be worked out; it just wouldn't work like a human economy. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 27 May 2002 18:53:08 -0400 From: "William J. Keith" Subject: Re: IN> Essence, the currency of the divine? >While I agree about Essence being the perfect >theoretical medium of exchange (it has the ultimate >backer- the Symphony :)- well, an example. The least >a store can charge for anything is 1 Essence. In _You Are Here_, I think, there's a description of a Heavenly business -- a coffee company. Now, obviously, a cup of coffee costs a lot less than a day's work. Instead, you give one Essence to the storekeeper, a Creationer with Eli's Transubstantiation Attunement, who spends it to make a pound of coffee. (Out of something, one presumes, but the basic material needs only to be some simple organic. He can probably get mulched autumn leaves from Novalis to do it.) If I recall correctly, you get almost a whole pound of really good gourmet coffee, which you can take in small doses; and he keeps a little for profit's sake and personal enjoyment. Nobody needs to eat or drink in Heaven, of course, so it's purely a luxury item. > You go >to Commerce Park where stuff like artifacts are for >sale. How much Essence does an artifact cost? It's >certainly more valuable than even a week's worth of >total rest and recharging, and would probally have a >cost upwards of twenty or thirty Essence /at least/ >(for something like a Dodge/1 Talisman). What's the >seller going to do with the excess Essence though? >Unless he can use it right there, as it's coming in, >it'll just bleed out into the Symphony. Here's a thought I had -- maybe the ultimate target for a lot of this Essence is a Superior, who *is* in fact a Giant Reliquary[tm]. Picture this: Demon A rents a flat in Shal-mari. 10 Essence per month, payable on pain of eviction and having your stuff stolen or destroyed. He pays it to Demon B. Demon B owns the building. Part of the Essence he gets, he distributes to various demons for their services. A little to a Lilim for a few hours' work; a couple points to a damned soul for a week's relatively tortureless duty cleaning out the trashpit; a few points to his guards that keep the stuff in the place from being stolen, Calabim and Djinn. (The employees probably spend the Essence on their own business, or pleasure, in the rest of the city; the damned soul, to keep other demons off his back.) A big chunk of the renters' Essence, though, goes to the Duke who claims the property in this region, Demon C. Demon C doesn't pick it up directly, of course. He has his boys, Impudites generally, probably with Reliquaries, come by the apartment building and fill up on Essence. Some of it goes to the Duke, for his own use. The rest is taken to a spot in Demon C's Superior's Cathedral, and there given up (skimming doesn't happen on Demon Princes very much) to the Superior, who can hold and use it. In return for this payment, the Superior allows the Duke to continue to claim this part of the city. In Heaven, it's much simpler. Volunteers come and provide their daily Essence, or profit from their businesses, perhaps to Essence ferries or modified reliquaries. ("Well, you put the Essence in like a reliquary, see, but there's kind of a hole in the bottom of the stem. Goes straight to Novalis.") Heaven also has its own use for Essence which Hell does not, namely Creationers with the Abraccadabra and Transubstantiation Attunements, which can produce quantities of items not easily obtainable otherwise. ("We need a flawless 253 carat diamond? I'll get the Creationers on it, but they're going to need a *lot* of Essence.") This could easily be one of the reasons Superiors have such a vast supply of Essence to work with. They get it from their Tethers, they can pull some from their Word, and they can get it from their underlings in this fashion. The flow from this could in fact be one of the major sources of those oft-mentioned huge Essence reserves. If there is any task being done by a few demons that a Superior judges important enough that they need their chances of success increased, Essence could be funneled to those workers for them to use repeatedly, trying to perform some vital function. Don't underestimate the usefulness of blowing Essence on a vital roll, especially in Hell, where fights are regular occurrences and the demon that has the Essence to twist the odds in his favor is probably going to win. This again makes Essence less like a currency, which goes elsewhere when it is spent rather than being effectively destroyed, but does indicate why there is a desire for it as a commodity. Finally, also remember two Essence-intensive processes that are probably used in both Heaven and Hell. One is relic and artifact generation. Vapula has assembly lines, which nevertheless must be fueled; Jean has many of Heaven's artificers. Any Superior, however, could have designated artificers to whom Essence may be provided. The other is Song research -- Songmasters researching new Songs need to be able to travel throughout the three realms, experimenting and playing chords in the Symphony. You need Essence to do this. William ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 27 May 2002 19:02:18 -0400 From: "Rolland Therrien" Subject: IN> Short vignette... Just wondered when someone would finally tackle this idea... ^^ - -------------------------------------------------------- Jean was looking over some project reports when Laurence walked into his office, before pausing. Jean looked at the Malakite Archangel and noticed the Commander's apparant embarassment. Fighting the urge to automatically resonnate his own Commander in Chief, he observed the Archangel in more detail, and noticed that the Malakite was dressed in a different style then his usual fare. While Laurence sometimes made it a habit of dressing in the simple robe of a catholic monk, the robe Laurence was currently wearing resembled less that of a catholic monk, and more that of... Oh yes. Now he remembered the date. Jean allowed himself a smile and waved Laurence in. "Come in, Laurence... I assume you have a request to make of me?" Laurence blinked, then nodded as he entered. "Uhm... yes. I hope you don't mind my troubling you with something that you'll certainly find to be a waste of time, but..." Laurence's sentance was interrupted by Jean handing him a certain device. "Here you go, Laurence. Is this what you wanted?" Laurence blinked again as he looked at the device in his hands... At first glanced, it looked like a sophisticated, high-tech flashlight. Upon percieving it more closely, however, it was clearly an Artifact. A Fiery Sword, to be specific. Only, instead of resembling an bladeless sword hilt, it resembled... Laurence smiled at the Elohite as he held up the sword and injected some Essence into it, causing the flame blade to activate. But instead of resembling a sheath of flames, the blade was straighter, more concentrated, resembling a two feet long beam of light. The Malakite swung the blade around a few times, smiling even wider at the buzzing sound it made... "You actually made one? Jean... something this frivolous just doesn't seem like you..." Jean smiled in response and shrugged. "It's just an ordinary Fiery Sword, only with some slight modifcations to give it a new Role in the Symphony." "I thought Roles were supposed to make Artifacts inconspicuous?" "Inconspicuous to the Symphony, not to Mortals. And as long as people believe in such devices, even if they're "technically" fictional, the Role will allow it to fit into the Symphony with less trouble then a standard Fiery Sword would. To be honest, I'm thankful Vapula hasn't caught on yet." "I'm sure he's waiting to develop the Double-Bladed version..." Jean groaned at the thought and shook his head... "He WOULD do that, wouldn't he? Oh well... Care to accompany me? I have advance tickets to a premiere in Kansas City..." "You have tickets? I didn't think science-fiction was your kind of movie?" "I make exceptions for really Cool ones. Especially now that we purged The Media's influence from his studios. Now... if we could only go back and change that first one..." The two archangels chuckled as they walked off to see the movies... ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 27 May 2002 16:07:48 -0700 (PDT) From: W S Subject: Re: IN> Essence, the currency of the divine? [snip- massive inflation economy] I don't really see this as a parallel at all, except possibly in celestial inflation from unlimited supply (after all, you can always wait and get more Essence). Except even that doesn't really follow- after all, presently there is a firmer cap on how much celestial currency can exist than there is on any human coin- since the maximum amount of essence that can exist is limited by the number of Essence-generating things. It just bugs me when things don't make sense for the PCs and are assumed to be done by the NPCs on a regular basis. In that regards, In Nomine is a step and a half above most games- the world is eet up fairly consistantly within it's own rules, and where people have an advantage, they press it hard. But the whole essense-as-money thing strikes me wrong. Now, that manifesting Essence as celestial coins thing though- I like that. :) Combine with a lack of natural regeneration, and it all makes /somuchmoresense/. :) Otherwise, I want someone to tell me why their PC would sell an artifact for Essence. Because NPCs do such in cannon. Either that shouldn't be, or the economy needs to change- and I'm all for changing whole chunks of the system to correct niggling problems than to ignore the niggle! ;) __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! - Official partner of 2002 FIFA World Cup http://fifaworldcup.yahoo.com ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 27 May 2002 16:27:12 -0700 (PDT) From: Michael Walton Subject: Re: IN> Essence, the currency of the divine? - --- W S wrote: > How much Essence does an artifact cost? It's > certainly more valuable than even a week's worth of > total rest and recharging, and would probally have a > cost upwards of twenty or thirty Essence /at least/ > (for something like a Dodge/1 Talisman). What's the > seller going to do with the excess Essence though? > Unless he can use it right there, as it's coming in, > it'll just bleed out into the Symphony. Which brings us to Marc and Mammon, who both understand the concept behind paper money. Bills have little intrinsic value, but they're symbolic of stuff that is valuable (if the currency is properly backed, that is). Thus, Heaven and Hell can get around the limits you mentioned by using Essence not as currency but as the commodity that backs their currencies. Exchanges could be made using notes of some kind that stand for Essence. The holder of such an "Essence IOU" could call on the debtor for Essence at some point in the future. ===== Michael Walton, #US2002023848 If your principles don't inconvenience you from time to time, you don't really have any. __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! - Official partner of 2002 FIFA World Cup http://fifaworldcup.yahoo.com ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 27 May 2002 19:27:58 -0400 From: "Steven E. Ehrbar" Subject: Re: IN> Essence, the currency of the divine? W S wrote: >[snip- massive inflation economy] > >I don't really see this as a parallel at all, > Yeah, you missed what I was getting at. The point in the "massive inflation economy" story isn't that there's more and more money in the system, but that a person's ability to save value is limited. The total value of all your savings in the inflationary economy never exceeds "twice the value of today's income" in the same way that the total Essence saved by a nine-force demon without reliquaries never excceds 9 Essence. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 27 May 2002 16:33:08 -0700 (PDT) From: Michael Walton Subject: Re: IN> Dey Labghed adt Me In Univerdtity, You Kdnow... You may think it's funny but it's snot. 0;> ===== Michael Walton, #US2002023848 If your principles don't inconvenience you from time to time, you don't really have any. __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! - Official partner of 2002 FIFA World Cup http://fifaworldcup.yahoo.com ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 27 May 2002 16:39:08 -0700 (PDT) From: Michael Walton Subject: Re: IN> Short vignette... - --- Rolland Therrien wrote: > "I make exceptions for really Cool ones. Especially now > that we purged The > Media's influence from his studios. Now... if we could > only go back and change that first one..." !!! No way! Nybbas' fingerprints are all over that franchise. A New Hope (the original version, not special edition) was the purest of the lot in terms of being free of that influence -- though I agree that even that one was far from pure. ===== Michael Walton, #US2002023848 If your principles don't inconvenience you from time to time, you don't really have any. __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! - Official partner of 2002 FIFA World Cup http://fifaworldcup.yahoo.com ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 27 May 2002 16:49:26 -0700 (PDT) From: W S Subject: IN> Once upon a time... Once upon a time... There was a small group of Outcasts and Renegades. And such groups sometimes do, they agreed to work together for mutual benefit and protection. As is usally the case, they came from directly opposite sides of the camps- Vapula's and Jean's, in this case. They carefully maintained Roles as lab assistants at a major university near your campaign, Jean's folks working with the biotech department, Vapula's having fun at the high energy particle physics building. Once upon a time... One of the Vapulan Renegade got to wondering. Where do things sent with the Celestial Song of Motion go. HE conducted careful trials, patterened after the mortals he had observed- while explosions are interesting, they singe notes and attract attention. And he found there was a measurible delay of travel time- but not one that appeared effected by distance. When he sent a watch, he found that it was delayed by that measurable travel time. When he sent a camera, he found it skipped a single frame- sometimes -instead displaying... nothing. He tenetivly concluded that the Celestial Song of Motion used some way of sending stuff to Limbo and yanking it to where it was supposed to go, although he concluded this in more technical terms. Once upon a time... While the Vapulan Renegade was experimenting with teleportation, his Techy counterpart was playing with clones. Vessel clones, that is. Human bodies, complete and soul-less. He still couldn't work out how to attach the quasi-Vessel to himself. The Techy had a comrade, traped in Limbo- he made weekly Essence deliveries, hoping to one day re-unite. Celestials in Limbo, and nowhere else, can attach Vessels without Superior level assistance. Once upon a time... They put two and two together. Combining the Songs of Motion and Tongues, they discovered a way of sending things to Limbo. Corporeal things. Like Vessels that just need a celestial to attach to them. Together, they've started quite the little racket as they bring back many thought gone forever- in perfectly good Vessels, rather than Discordant riddled messes. It can't last long- neither side wants a quick and easy way for their cast out celestials to escape Limbo. But the technology has a risk of leaking out every minute... and the creators probally already have backup bodies, ready to be sent in the event of their deaths. - --- Your missions, wither or not you choose to accept it, is to investiage these rumors, learn the truth of the matter, and capture without destroying the Limbofication device, as well as the clone arranger. The Outcast and Rengade are to be terminated, and all plans destroyed. A team from the Other Side has also been dispatched. Do try not to let them get the widget- bad enough it everyone's cast outs can escape Limbo. How much worse is it if They can control the whole shebang, at will... __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! - Official partner of 2002 FIFA World Cup http://fifaworldcup.yahoo.com ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 27 May 2002 16:53:53 -0700 (PDT) From: W S Subject: Re: IN> Essence, the currency of the divine? > Which brings us to Marc and Mammon, who both > understand > the concept behind paper money. Bills have little > intrinsic value, but they're symbolic of stuff that > is > valuable (if the currency is properly backed, that > is). > Thus, Heaven and Hell can get around the limits you > mentioned by using Essence not as currency but as > the > commodity that backs their currencies. Exchanges > could be > made using notes of some kind that stand for > Essence. The > holder of such an "Essence IOU" could call on the > debtor > for Essence at some point in the future. Which makes perfect sense, and just isn't mentioned anywhere I can find. (Where is the Bank of Hell mentioned, anyways? It's not in Heaven and Hell that I can find, which also has Mammon's write up...) And the first solution I made up was celestial banks :) I still prefer the idea of a Celestial being personally able to handle excess Essence in some way, though. Just my opinion. Essence coins are neat :) __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! - Official partner of 2002 FIFA World Cup http://fifaworldcup.yahoo.com ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 27 May 2002 16:56:13 -0700 (PDT) From: Maurice Lane Subject: IN> More Angelic Band Attunements Interesting idea. Let's see, how can we make SURE that this situation will end up causing the Archangel of Judgement to pop a vein on his forehead? ... Of course. ;) Moe Angelic Band Attunements - Creation Note that there is no mention of the number of In-between demons with these Attunements. That's because the appearance of the first one will be all the excuse that Dominic needs... Balseraph of Creation A Balseraph with this Attunement may temporarily create items out of nothing. These items may be as complex as the demon desires, provided that he or she is actually capable of operating them - however, weapons will appear without ammunition. Duration is for five minutes: cost is 1 Essence per five pounds. The In-between process for a Balseraph of Creation would most likely result in the Selfless Discord. Djinn of Creation Djinn serving Eli can take on any damage done to the objects of their attunement. Doing so is a Rite for them, usable three times per day. Djinn that have sought out Eli can expect to be Obsessive-Compulsive if they end up In-between. Calabite of Creation Freaks with this Attunement are master satirists. They cause ethereal damage with their resonance, provided that they make a successful Emote roll. However, they are more than likely to become Merciful as a result of becoming In-between, so this ability is likely to be reserved only for the truly deserving. Habbalite of Creation Punishers touched by Eli can embody their resonance in a work of art. Anyone encountering that work for the next day must make a Will +4 roll per turn in its presence, or else suffer from the emotional state enshrined therein. An In-between Habbalite would almost certainly have Unshielded. Lilim of Creation A Lilim serving Eli can automatically detect any Need to destroy. The Host might be more tolerant of the existence of these half-demons. It's hard to say, because the Discord in this case would be Murderous... Shedite of Creation Eli gives them the ability to possess inanimate objects without fear of corruption. The Shedite may still only possess one item at a time, but duration is indefinite. Like Balseraphim, In-between Shedim of Creation are more than likely to be Selfless (although Merciful is certainly possible). Impudite of Creation By spending 2 Essence, these Fakers may designate another entity to be the beneficiaries of their Charm and Siphon Essence abilities. The effects last for one hour. A suitable In-between Discord for this Band would be Infatuation. ===== Liber Licentiae Moeticae: http://www.stormloader.com/users/moelane/innomine.html Last updated 04/13/02(this is usually way out of date) __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! - Official partner of 2002 FIFA World Cup http://fifaworldcup.yahoo.com ------------------------------ End of in_nomine-digest V1 #2655 ********************************