in_nomine-digest Saturday, December 21 2002 Volume 01 : Number 2910 In this digest: Re: IN> Divine/Infernal Mecha Re: IN> Mine own Song of Songs entry... IN> Christian mysteries RE: IN> Divine/Infernal Mecha RE: IN> Divine/Infernal Mecha Re: IN> Divine/Infernal Mecha Re: IN> Divine/Infernal Mecha Re: IN> Christian mysteries RE: IN> Christian mysteries IN> Ezgadi, Demon of Elevators IN> A Celestial Christmas Carol ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 20 Dec 2002 05:36:44 -0800 (PST) From: Michael Walton Subject: Re: IN> Divine/Infernal Mecha I'm not especially fond of Anime (sorry, Beth!), but this is quite elegant. =====

Michael Walton, #US2002023848

"Bones! You've got to save Ensign Pillsburry!."

"There's nothing I can do -- he's _bread_, Jim." __________________________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Mail Plus - Powerful. Affordable. Sign up now. http://mailplus.yahoo.com ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 20 Dec 2002 05:45:43 -0800 (PST) From: Michael Walton Subject: Re: IN> Mine own Song of Songs entry... [sigh] I'm so glad that I got my entry in before this. =====

Michael Walton, #US2002023848

"Bones! You've got to save Ensign Pillsburry!."

"There's nothing I can do -- he's _bread_, Jim." __________________________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Mail Plus - Powerful. Affordable. Sign up now. http://mailplus.yahoo.com ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 20 Dec 2002 10:07:20 -0500 From: "Wajenberg, Earl" Subject: IN> Christian mysteries From: Chris Bergstresser wrote: "Mother of God, is this the end of Rico?" That sounds like a quote. Where from? (I recall something like it was used as last words by the media-crazy super-organism in John Varley's "Titan" series.) Speaking of the Mother of God (ObIN), I was musing just this morning on a favorite topic of mine -- a Christian, or even specifically Catholic, variant on In Nomine, such as is described and supported in the GMG. I think IN can greatly benefit from increased color and background by attaching it to a real religions, with all the vast data that entails, so long as this is not offensive to any of the players. Of course, people also like the confusion and ambiguity in the IN setting. How can one maximize both? Well: Suppose that, as in standard canon, Gabriel announced the coming of Christ, first to Mary and then to the shepherds at Bethlehem. After that, the angels (and demons) are basically left wondering until the Crucifixion. Then the variations start. >From Good Friday to First Easter, *Something* blasts its way through Hell, leaving a trail of destruction and apparently taking a number of souls away with it when it vanishes. On First Easter, Yves dispatches a couple of angels to Jesus's tomb. They find it empty, decide Christ has risen, and tell as much to the female disciples who come long presently. (Someone, I forgt who, did a nice piece of fan-fic, in which the two angels are a young Laurence and someone else (Khalid?).) Forty days later, on the Ascension, *Something* blasts through the Pearly Gates and up Jacob's ladder, never to be seen again. The angels and Archangels are left to piece things together from the testimony of subsequent Christian souls. In this version, just about all of Heaven is convinced that SOME version of Christianity is true, though things get muddled as the next few centuries bring the great controversies about Christology. Then, Yves goes and has Gabriel deliver the Koran to Mohammed. *HUH*? is the general reaction. Yves won't explain; Gabriel storms off; Khalid decides to believe the Moslem interpretation of Jesus (which is that he was indeed born of a virgin, a great prophet but not the Son of God, and never truly crucified). So this is very nearly standard non-denominational IN except for the celestial equivalent of a UFO sighting. But then we have Saints. The easy way out is to have most of the saints on the church calendar just flit up Jacob's Ladder, but what if they don't? In particular, the Virgin Mary has a BIG reputation as a VERY interventionist saint. I've written variations on IN in which major saints, individually or collectively, can act like Superiors. But you don't have to do that to get angels involved with major saints. Just suppose Laurence, Dominic, or someone *gives* some angels "In Service To" Mary. In fact, you could have the whole Holy Family (minus Jesus) as non-Superior superiors to some PC angels -- Mary, her mother Ann, her cousin Elizabeth, Joseph, John the Baptist, etc. The legends of these saints then provide a lot of material for the kinds of missions these folk would send their angels on. Further complications: Suppose Mary isn't Catholic. She might just as easily be Eastern Orthodox. She might also be Arian, Coptic, Nestorian, or uncommitted. The same applies to any other members of the Holy Family. Some might even opt for Islam. And they WON'T all come to the same conclusion. Now, after 2000 years, they've probably gotten tired of arguing and agree to disagree (these are saintly people, after all), but it still might cause tensions among their angels, especially new staff. Then there are the great Moslem figures. In canon, Mohammed never shows up to be questioned. But he could, and not have any information that clears up anything. Then there are folk like his wives, his nephew Ali, and so on. There are lots of significant opinions about them (the Shiite/Sunni divide centers on Ali), and they'll have opinions of their own. What I'm saying is that, if you want, you can tap the great figures and lore of religious history without giving up Canon Doubt and Uncertainty, or only a little of it. Earl ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 20 Dec 2002 10:16:00 -0500 From: "Wajenberg, Earl" Subject: RE: IN> Divine/Infernal Mecha Do you ride in a celestial mecha like this, in the conventional manner, or do you just possess it? Earl ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 20 Dec 2002 10:17:32 -0600 From: "Gregg Forge" Subject: RE: IN> Divine/Infernal Mecha >Do you ride in a celestial mecha like this, in the conventional manner, >or do you just possess it? > >Earl More importantly, would such a device have distinctively seperate corporeal and celestial appearances? Can one have the 'role' of an automobile or jet fighter? If so, can they assume celestial form on the Corporeal? Can we say 'convinient tranformable mecha of God/fom Hell?' I knew ya could... Kamika-Z, definitely intrigued. And could use one... _________________________________________________________________ The new MSN 8: smart spam protection and 3 months FREE*. http://join.msn.com/?page=features/junkmail&xAPID=42&PS=47575&PI=7324&DI=7474&SU= http://www.hotmail.msn.com/cgi-bin/getmsg&HL=1216hotmailtaglines_smartspamprotection_3mf ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 20 Dec 2002 14:46:31 -0800 From: "Joey's mail" Subject: Re: IN> Divine/Infernal Mecha You ride in it, although the control interface is operated by will, although it may be a good idea to change it to Precision... - ----- Original Message ----- From: "Wajenberg, Earl" To: Sent: Friday, December 20, 2002 7:16 AM Subject: RE: IN> Divine/Infernal Mecha > Do you ride in a celestial mecha like this, in the conventional manner, or > do you just possess it? > > Earl ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 20 Dec 2002 14:49:53 -0800 From: "Joey's mail" Subject: Re: IN> Divine/Infernal Mecha > > More importantly, would such a device have distinctively seperate corporeal > and celestial appearances? Can one have the 'role' of > an automobile or jet fighter? If so, can they assume celestial > form on the Corporeal? Can we say 'convinient tranformable mecha > of God/fom Hell?' I knew ya could... > Hrm, that WOULD be interesting... Although my idea for transformable mecha would be either A)--A special relic that alternates between two different stated mecha (although the core and control system would have to be identical) or B)--A relic containing a variation of the celestial song of form. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 20 Dec 2002 12:05:25 -0800 (PST) From: Jennifer Shih Subject: Re: IN> Christian mysteries - --- "Wajenberg, Earl" wrote: > Suppose Mary isn't Catholic. She might just as > easily be Eastern Orthodox. > She might also be Arian, Coptic, Nestorian, or > uncommitted. Or she might still be a nice Jewish girl. - -Jennifer __________________________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Mail Plus - Powerful. Affordable. Sign up now. http://mailplus.yahoo.com ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 20 Dec 2002 15:26:16 -0500 From: "Wajenberg, Earl" Subject: RE: IN> Christian mysteries After I wrote: > Suppose Mary isn't Catholic. She might just as > easily be Eastern Orthodox. > She might also be Arian, Coptic, Nestorian, or > uncommitted. Jennifer Shih: > Or she might still be a nice Jewish girl. Excellent point. Now, by hypothesis, she'd be a "Messianic Jew," but she might very well consider her religious identity to be Jewish first and Christian second. Earl ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 21 Dec 2002 01:29:54 -0500 From: "Chris Bergstresser" Subject: IN> Ezgadi, Demon of Elevators Enjoy! Comments welcome, and appreciated. - -- Chris - --------------------- Ezgadi Renegade Calabite Demon of Elevators Corporeal Forces: 4 Strength: 10 Agility: 6 Ethereal Forces: 4 Intelligence: 8 Precision: 8 Celestial Forces: 2 Will: 3 Perception: 5 Suggested Word-Forces: 7-9 Skills: Climbing/2, Computer Operation/3, Dodge/2, Electronics/4, Engineering/6, Fighting/3, Knowledge (Skyscrapers/6), Languages (English/5), Languages (French/3), Lockpicking/1, Small Weapon (Wrench/2), Tactics/2 Songs: Entropy (Corporeal/4), Harmony (Corporeal/3, Ethereal/4), Motion (Corporeal/6) Discord: Obese/1, Slothful/3 Attunements: Demon of Elevators Roles: "Ed Gazzerro", elevator repairman, 6/2 Vessels: Human male/5 Demon of Elevators: Ezgadi can control the actions of any elevator he's within 10' of at will. If he's actually in the elevator this costs no Essence, otherwise it costs 2. This attunement will even cause broken elevators to function as long at the problems are electrical, not mechanical. In addition, his Band Resonance is automatically successful against elevators or elevator parts, should he choose to use it. Special Rite: Take an elevator Special Dissonance: Take the stairs, if an elevator is available. This dissonance applies even if the elevator is out-of-order. - ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- - ---- Everyone agrees: Ezgadi just burned out. He started out as an Ofanite in the service of Lightning, received his first post to Earth in the early 1830's, and happened to be passing through New York on an assignment in 1854. Having some free time, he visited the Crystal Palace Exposition. On that day an inventor named Elisha Graves Otis happened to be demonstrating his newest device -- the safety brake. Otis was hoisted into the air on a platform, then on a signal he had an assistant cut the cable with an axe. The platform held fast. The next hundred or so years were a blur. Ezgadi recognized the revolutionary potential of the safety elevator, and set about helping and supporting the spread of the invention. He received his Word in 1889 upon the opening of the Eiffel Tower, and probably reached his greatest triumph during the 1930's with the skyscraper boom in Manhattan -- elevators remain one of the technological advancements honored on bronze medallions in the lobby. Alas, a century of globe-hopping activity wore Ezgadi down. Always a little lazy, his natural inclinations got the better of his choir. He started racking up dissonance, then discord, and before long he found he was Outcast, then Fallen. Too far gone to care much, Ezgadi simply moved across town, switched aliases, and laid low. News of Ezgadi's Fall eventually reached Vapula, of course, and presented the Prince with a quandary. His distaste for Calabim is legendary, but here was a former Word-bound Servitor of Jean. Vapula eventually made contact with Ezgadi through intermediaries, and a deal was struck. Vapula arranged for another Superior -- both Lilith and Kobal are mentioned -- to create and keep a demonic heart for Ezgadi, and grudgingly sponsored him for his Word with Lucifer. In exchange, Ezgadi has promised to promote his Word on Earth, support any Technology Servitors he can, and stay far, far away from Tartarus. This suits Ezgadi just fine. He's still technically a Renegade, and doesn't have access to any Rites or Attunements of Vapula, but his Word's strong enough to support him without much help. He's happy keeping a very low profile, and most Servitors of the Game seem to feel he's not worth the risk of offending Vapula or Lucifer by tracking him down. He spends most of his time sitting around his repair shop watching reruns on TV. When he *does* promote his word, it's usually by fixing elevators enough that people will continue to use them, but not enough where they run smoothly, quickly, or reliably. He's friendly enough and willing to help just about anyone who doesn't pose a threat to him -- he has a soft spot for Outcasts and Renegades -- but some serious pestering is going to be required to overcome his Slothful Discord. ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 21 Dec 2002 13:46:15 EST From: TWISTEDKUB@aol.com Subject: IN> A Celestial Christmas Carol Hi All, I don't have anyone else to share my GMing experiences with. But you lucky list-subscribers make a fine audience. 'Tis the season, so I thought I'd share the fun silly adventure we had this past week... On Wednesday, I pulled my group together for a special "Ethereal Holiday Extravaganza" episode. Basically, the night's adventure was a "one-shot" in which the PCs were summoned to the Marches to help an NPC (the "Scrooge") regain her Christmas spirit. The NPC is an administrator/secretary at the local Methodist Church (of Magnolia, MA, where my campaign takes place). She has become disillusioned with Christmas (for various reasons--such as the death of a local priest, which they PCs were unfortunately involved in), and as a result she is considering cancelling the Church's annual Christmas Pageant. So, the PCs were summoned (by the ditzy-blonde Angel of Christmas Lists, a Mercurian Servitor of Blandine) to the Marches, to enter the woman's dreamscape and convince her not to cancel the Pageant. Our seraph acted as a "herald" (Jacob Marley role: warning the woman that she will be visited that night); the others (a cherub, malakite, and elohite) each acted as the Angels of Xmas Past, Present, and Future, respectively. I played fast-and-loose with the rules (since it's the Marches, anything goes; GM's perogative; it also helped speed things up), and everyone had a good time. Admittedly, it was a silly adventure (as my players kept constantly reminding me). In the end, they ended up scaring off Demon on Disillusionment and his minions; and convinced the NPC that "the show must go on", much to the delight of the children of the town (who had been rehearsing for weeks). So, they succeeded in their mission. There were also a few tie-ins to the rest of my campaign, so they were able to learn some things that will be useful to them in a larger context. In a message dated 12/20/02 8:34:10 AM Eastern Standard Time, greycat@sluggy.net writes: >Mm. Christmas. So...inspirational. Yes! It was. Heh. Please don't flame me, - --Scott in Boston. ------------------------------ End of in_nomine-digest V1 #2910 ********************************