in_nomine-digest Thursday, February 27 2003 Volume 01 : Number 2976 In this digest: Re: IN> Newbie! With questions, too. IN> INcyclopedia is up. RE: IN> Big Bad Mike Re: IN> Newbie! With questions, too. Re: IN> Suggestion to Any Artists Looking For Something Weird to Do... IN> My players are *so* short-sighted. Feast of Blades spoilers. Also, two questions... Re: IN> My players are *so* short-sighted. Feast of Blades spoilers. Also, two questions... Re: IN> Newbie! With questions, too. IN> Newbie! With questions, too. IN> New Discord (was: The Giant Teleporting Pan-Dimensional Lemon OF DOOM) IN> Suggestion to Any Artists Looking For Something Weird to Do... Re: IN> Big Bad Mike Re: IN> Newbie! With questions, too. Re: IN> INcyclopedia is up. RE: IN> Forms of *OLD* cherubs... Re: IN> My players are *so* short-sighted. Feast of Blades spoilers. Also, two questions... Re: IN> My players are *so* short-sighted. Feast of Blades spoilers. Also, two questions... IN> Divine Cancer Re: IN> Suggestion to Any Artists Looking For Something Weird to Do... Re: IN> Suggestion to Any Artists Looking For Something Weird to Do... IN> Q on Song of Lending. IN> Angel of Madness - comments please Re: IN> Big Bad Mike Re: IN> My players are *so* short-sighted. Re: IN> Angel of Madness - comments please Re: IN> Angel of Madness - comments please ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 26 Feb 2003 19:25:37 -0500 From: "William J. Keith" Subject: Re: IN> Newbie! With questions, too. >Hello. I'm a relative newcomer to IN Welcome! >1) How the heck would Celestials regenerate Essence >while on worlds that were tide-locked by their parent >bodies? I do like the idea, mentioned earlier, of lifting the restriction on Rites, as long as the Rites take up a fair amount of time. (In GURPS: In Nomine, this wouldn't be too much of a problem, since buying a Rite multiple times for use in a 24-hour period is pretty cheap in terms of character points. Dunno about standard IN.) A second thing I can think of is to have your character on an Essence stipend from their Superior that can be as often as that Superior thinks the character is worth it. In this setting, daily Essence regeneration wouldn't happen at all (unless Earth with its time period is somehow special). Instead, reliquaries and Rites would generate Essence from the Symphony for personal use, and Tethers would funnel Essence directly to a Superior. (The damned in Hell would probably be forced to labor at performing Rites constantly, with the Essence going to the Prince involved.) Perhaps your standard character is considered to be worth 1 Essence every 24 hours; a demoted character would be provided 1 Essence every 36 hours, while a favored servant would gain an Essence every 12 hours, each of these being ways a Superior could show favor or disfavor. All the dawn-dusk-terminator issues wouldn't even come up. >2) What are the size limits for things that a Cherub >can attune to? I don't have the APG, and I don't think >it was mentioned in the Core Rules. Could a Cherub, in >theory, attune to something like a very large >starship, or a space station? Could it attune to >nanite-style machines? Here I think a generalization of the "touch" rule that Beth mentioned would work best. As long as the Cherub can perceive the object in its entirety from some viewpoint, they can Attune to it. (So they can't kneel down, touch the planet's surface and Attune to the entire planet, for example.) >Thanks. And I hope this ends up in text mode. Looks like! William ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 26 Feb 2003 17:37:32 -0800 From: "Steve Feldon" Subject: IN> INcyclopedia is up. For anyone who hasn't noticed, Sage has gotten the main URL for the INcyclopedia up at http://www.incyclopedia.org, and has control over the DNS, so there shouldn't be any multiple-month lapses in access to that URL any more. The "last updated" date still says year 2000, but it's the same database that I uploaded to feldon.org/incyclopedia, which will go away as soon as I notice it there and care, and will not be updated. Further updates--when there are any--will go only to incyclopedia.org. Thanks, all. :) steve ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 26 Feb 2003 17:45:52 -0800 (PST) From: Beryllium Subject: RE: IN> Big Bad Mike *applauds* Most amusing, especially for the mental images it conjures up... Beryllium, Elohite of Creation IST Jean, who is suddenly reminded of that whole "Demon Prince of Bunnies" thing. __________________________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Tax Center - forms, calculators, tips, more http://taxes.yahoo.com/ ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 26 Feb 2003 18:06:37 -0800 (PST) From: Beryllium Subject: Re: IN> Newbie! With questions, too. Thanks for the input, all. For the Cherubim, I think that the uppermost limit should be... nothing more than a kilometer long/wide. The exact size of the thing might be scalable, too, seeing as how the system I'm adapting to gives heroes benefits for having high ranks in skills--a Cherub with rank 1 in the skill might be able to attune to something the size of a person, or smaller (the nanites receive a resounding "NO" in that case...), and with increasing rank, the Cherub can attune to bigger things, track them more accurately, et cetera. Regarding the Essence thing: I think that I may have found a solution to this, as the Star*Drive setting includes a handy-dandy little number that can help here... Eleven hours, which, when squared to 121 hours, is the amount of time it takes for a ship to make a jump through drivespace, the standard mode of FTL travel. Everybody could regenerate essence at the same time, every eleven (or eleven multiplied by some other number). The rites would still work as they do in normal IN, but the period in which you could use them would be whatever the locals define as "day". The prayer idea sounds like it might be a solution, too, but I'm not sure if it'd be overkill considering the other options heroes have open. I'm also unsure of whether or not to let heroes use Essence to modify die rolls, as there's already an existing point mechanic for it. Okay. Now to the question I'm primarily here to ask: Are any of you familiar with the Alternity system by WotC/TSR? It's a generic RPG system that works for sci-fi and near-future settings (and can be adapted to accomodate nearly anything else, which I'm hoping will include the War and all its trappings). As I mentioned before, I'm in the beginning stages of converting IN to the Alternity rules. Given that there's some glaring differences in the rules in key spots (i.e. no Forces, entirely different system for altering die rolls, and a whole host of other little technical bugs), I'm looking for some other people to help me come up with solutions to this. Thanks. Beryllium, Elohite of Creation IST Jean, perhaps a petitioner for the Word of Really Weird Crossovers. __________________________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Tax Center - forms, calculators, tips, more http://taxes.yahoo.com/ ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 26 Feb 2003 23:00:21 -0600 From: Asher Densmore-Lynn Subject: Re: IN> Suggestion to Any Artists Looking For Something Weird to Do... Michael Walton wrote: > Vephar > Calabite Prince of the Seven Seas Andrelaphus Impudite Prince of Booty ... arrr. Haagenti Calabite Prince of Scurvy Fleurity Shedite Prince of Rum Vapula Habbalite Prince of the Mizzenmast Nybbas Impudite Prince of the Chanty ... now it's just getting silly. The first one was the one I wanted to inflict, anyways. - -- Asher Densmore-Lynn ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 27 Feb 2003 01:17:06 -0500 From: "Chris Bergstresser" Subject: IN> My players are *so* short-sighted. Feast of Blades spoilers. Also, two questions... Hi all -- I finally finished the Feast of Blades adventure (SPOILERS AHOY) with my players, after only 16 hours of game time spread over five sessions and two months. Interesting points: 1) The Malakite of Yves, based in the Library of Congress, did not possess Area Knowledge (Washington). Navigation in town proved difficult. 2) *Nobody* had the foresight to buy Driving. 3) The combat-monsterish Cherub of Gabriel tried to talk his way past about a zillion people, without Fast-Talk or Lying. 4) The combat-monsterish Cherub of Gabriel, having taken Dance of the Atoms strictly as a way to cool beer, did manage to clear out the cockpit of the downed jet by suddenly raising the temperature by fifty degrees and yelling "Oh My God! It's Gonna Blow!" 5) It finally occurred to the Kyriotate to go to a pet shop and buy a mouse as a spy for a couple bucks, rather than try to track one down in the city. 6) It finally occurred to the Kyriotate to possess a mouse *before* buying it, to make sure she didn't fail the roll to possess it. 7) For a brief moment, the group of them actually considered raiding the IRS Headquarters/Tether of Theft, just the four of them, to get the demon they chased in there. 8) The players have a tendency to split up, without making any provisions to meet back up. You'd think it would occur to one of them to buy cell phones. Or stop splitting up. 9) Having split up, the players have a tendency to attack without calling for backup. 10) Attacking three demons alone is not a good survival strategy, no matter how buff your character is. So they finally tracked down the sorcerer, subdued him, and interrogated him. The Malakite had gotten a 6 on his roll to recognize the artifact, so he knew everything it did. I figured I'd get the Seraph-of-Lithroy-GM-mouthpiece conveniently out of the way, by taking the knife they recovered up to heaven. They decide they don't trust him (a Seraph of Revelation!) so the party's Seraph and a piece of the Kyriotate head back with them. They almost all went, but the GM-mouthpiece convinced them to maybe interrogate the captive. The Malakite and Cherub stay behind, along with the Kyriotate's mouse. After discovering the whole demon-summoning, additional-blade-creating, strange-card-with-address-on-it story, and losing the captive to a demonic intervention before they could completely finish, the Malakite decides they've learned all they need to know, and that's a job well done. No curiosity about the back-story, no impulse to track down the second knife. The Cherub heads off to find a furnace to relax next to, the Kyriotate releases the mouse, and the Malakite heads back to the tether. Hrm. So the Seneschal talks the Malakite through the whole logic of the adventure again. "Powerful artifact, huh? There are two of them? That's odd. Did you get the imp's name? Really? That doesn't make sense -- he's infernal royalty. Got the other knife, huh? Gee, he's not the sort to give anyone a fair deal. Maybe he took the more powerful version. What's that address? There's a big party happening there tonight. Maybe you should check it out." So they all, minus the Seraphs, go over to the tether. The Cherub, surveying the demonic bacchanal, just strolls right in. Begins chatting with some of the demons. I figure the party's winding down, and there's the secrecy-vale across the grounds anyway, and let it slide. The party ends, they discover the secret passage, and the Cherub heads down. Alone. Finds the Duke of Hell in the middle of a Song, regarding him with a baleful eye. And *attacks*. The Duke beats on him a little, and finally just possesses him, walks him over to the table, and takes a bunch of sleeping pills. Next the Malakite heads down. Sees the Duke, all beaten up. And *attacks*. Repeat as above, except the Malakite makes his will roll to avoid being possessed. He and the Kyriotate jet out of there, and spend a couple hours getting cleaned up and buying some shotguns. They head back to the mansion to discover it in flames. They finally get the idea to summon a superior, and based on materials on hand (No crosswords, plenty of condoms) they summon Eli. The GM having had enough of this already, Eli strolls casually into the burning mansion, hops downstairs, fixes a ham sandwich while watching the final showdown unfold, picks up the relic, and with a wave of his hand transports the Malakite and the half-dead Cherub back out to the car. Was this as much work for other people? Anyway, the questions that came up: 1) How do you calculate Body Hits for a Kyriotate? 2) So the Cherub was under a Geas to fetch the relic for Lilith. The knife is now, more or less, unfetchable. What happens? - -- Chris ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 27 Feb 2003 00:30:10 -0600 From: Asher Densmore-Lynn Subject: Re: IN> My players are *so* short-sighted. Feast of Blades spoilers. Also, two questions... Chris Bergstresser wrote: > 1) The Malakite of Yves, based in the Library of Congress, did not > possess Area Knowledge (Washington). Navigation in town proved difficult. > 2) *Nobody* had the foresight to buy Driving. > 3) The combat-monsterish Cherub of Gabriel tried to talk his way past > about a zillion people, without Fast-Talk or Lying. > 5) It finally occurred to the Kyriotate to go to a pet shop and buy a > mouse as a spy for a couple bucks, rather than try to track one down in the > city. > 6) It finally occurred to the Kyriotate to possess a mouse *before* > buying it, to make sure she didn't fail the roll to possess it. > 8) The players have a tendency to split up, without making any provisions > to meet back up. You'd think it would occur to one of them to buy cell > phones. Or stop splitting up. > 9) Having split up, the players have a tendency to attack without calling > for backup. The funny part is, great gobs of this match what would happen for first-assignment angels on a mission. I can just -see- the Kyrio in a vessel, buying the mouse, crossing her eyes... and, uhm, trying to exchange it for a non-defective mouse. - -- Asher Densmore-Lynn ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 27 Feb 2003 06:55:03 -0500 From: "Josh Moger" Subject: Re: IN> Newbie! With questions, too. >Beryllium, Elohite of Creation IST Jean, perhaps a >petitioner for the Word of Really Weird Crossovers. > I really should just let that go... But I can't. http://www.stormloader.com/users/moelane/innomine/silly/JCINB1.htm Josh ^_^' ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 27 Feb 2003 08:17:29 -0500 From: BC Petery Subject: IN> Newbie! With questions, too. > It's been said on the list that characters regenerate > Essence every 24 hours regardless of day/night cycles > (which is why Celestials who go to the poles don't have to > wait six months). Or simply run around the pole and cross the international dateline over and over. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 27 Feb 2003 08:17:28 -0500 From: BC Petery Subject: IN> New Discord (was: The Giant Teleporting Pan-Dimensional Lemon OF DOOM) > -EDG > > Novalis has some pretty strange things in her garden. If Bell Blossoms can work as aqualungs, then these aren't too far out. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= D-Ranged (Corporeal) This is most commonly found among the Servitors of Vapula. D-Ranged acts like a magnet. Anyone firing or throwing a ranged weapon with the word "Doom" included in the title gets a bonus to hit the discordant one equal to the level of the level of the discord. This also acts as a penalty to the user of a "Doom" weapon when trying hit anyone else who might happen to be down range, as the sufferer draws the fire towards himself. A sufficient quantity of D-Ranged sufferers will screw up any targeting attempts. Unless you've got enough for everybody. .oO(Kicking over a crate of big ole lemons and watching them chase Techies over hill and dale.) ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 27 Feb 2003 08:17:29 -0500 From: BC Petery Subject: IN> Suggestion to Any Artists Looking For Something Weird to Do... > Saminga > Shedite Prince of Skull And Crossbones The Dread Pirate Furfur Calabite Prince of Atrocities "The Dread Pirate Furfur never takes prisoners." "Don't worry, feller me lad. I'm not going to make ye walk the plank. Haven't done that in years. It be boring." "The Dread Pirate Furfur is here for your _souls_." ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 27 Feb 2003 09:05:07 -0500 From: Elizabeth McCoy Subject: Re: IN> Big Bad Mike At 12:17 PM -0800 2/26/03, Michael Walton wrote: > Oh, my. This is... different. }8> . o O (Here, Lucy, Lucy, Lucy.... I've got something foooooorrr you...) (Okay, okay, so mine was much less evocatively written. O;> ) - -- - --Beth, arcangel@io.com / archangel@sjgames.com In Nomine Line Editor http://www.io.com/~arcangel/ ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 27 Feb 2003 08:57:52 -0500 From: Elizabeth McCoy Subject: Re: IN> Newbie! With questions, too. At 7:25 PM -0500 2/26/03, William J. Keith wrote: [...] > (So [Cherubim] can't kneel down, >touch the planet's surface and Attune to the entire planet, for example.) I dunno, I might allow it. Do you want to take dissonance for pollution? Mining? Asteroid strikes? Death-stars? (Ooo, death stars!) I suppose it would be good for an early warning system, and the interaction between Cherub of Judgment might be interesting... A Djinn doing it might be more annoying -- or interesting for astrogation purposes! Hmmmm... - -- - --Beth, arcangel@io.com / archangel@sjgames.com In Nomine Line Editor http://www.io.com/~arcangel/ ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 27 Feb 2003 09:05:59 -0500 From: Elizabeth McCoy Subject: Re: IN> INcyclopedia is up. At 5:37 PM -0800 2/26/03, Steve Feldon wrote: >For anyone who hasn't noticed, Sage has gotten the main URL for the >INcyclopedia up at http://www.incyclopedia.org, [...] WAHOO! *beth does the happydance* - -- - --Beth, arcangel@io.com / archangel@sjgames.com In Nomine Line Editor http://www.io.com/~arcangel/ ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 27 Feb 2003 09:29:54 -0500 From: "Chris Bergstresser" Subject: RE: IN> Forms of *OLD* cherubs... > -----Original Message----- > From: Janet Anderson > Sent: Tuesday, February 25, 2003 3:35 PM > > About this adventure seed -- if Novalis gets her way and all > plants are declared the equal of humans, what will animals (and > humans) eat? Fruit. Basically, the parts of plants *designed* to be eaten, in order to spread the seeds. No killing necessary. http://www.islandnet.com/~arton/fruitext.html - -- Chris ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 27 Feb 2003 07:18:32 -0800 (PST) From: Jennifer Shih Subject: Re: IN> My players are *so* short-sighted. Feast of Blades spoilers. Also, two questions... - --- Chris Bergstresser wrote: [snip] > 2) *Nobody* had the foresight to buy Driving. Not in your campaign, but... Some of us have very good IC reasons to not have driving! Underage vessels, for instance. (Says the career Girl Scout) - -Jennifer __________________________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Tax Center - forms, calculators, tips, more http://taxes.yahoo.com/ ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 27 Feb 2003 10:36:50 -0500 From: Elizabeth McCoy Subject: Re: IN> My players are *so* short-sighted. Feast of Blades spoilers. Also, two questions... At 1:17 AM -0500 2/27/03, Chris Bergstresser wrote: >Hi all -- > > I finally finished the Feast of Blades adventure (SPOILERS AHOY) Spoilers! Spoilers! Spoilers! >players, after only 16 hours of game time spread over five sessions and two >months. Oh dear... We managed it in about half to 2/3rds that time, spread over two long sessions... > 1) The Malakite of Yves, based in the Library of Congress, did not >possess Area Knowledge (Washington). Navigation in town proved difficult. "Navigation is what Ofanim are for." > 2) *Nobody* had the foresight to buy Driving. *giggle* "Driving is what Ofanim do!" (At least the penalties for failed Driving rolls aren't _too_ bad...) > 3) The combat-monsterish Cherub of Gabriel tried to talk his way past >about a zillion people, without Fast-Talk or Lying. Awwwwwwwww! > 6) It finally occurred to the Kyriotate to possess a mouse *before* >buying it, to make sure she didn't fail the roll to possess it. *SNICKER* Kyriotates of Lightning at least have lots more options... > 8) The players have a tendency to split up, without making any provisions >to meet back up. You'd think it would occur to one of them to buy cell >phones. Or stop splitting up. That's what Kyriotates are for, right? > 9) Having split up, the players have a tendency to attack without calling >for backup. Oh dear... > 10) Attacking three demons alone is not a good survival strategy, no >matter how buff your character is. *SNICKER* Which 3? > Was this as much work for other people? *LAUGH* Well, sort of. See, we found the place early due to a DI on the Sorcerer in the Tether where he realized he was dying and spilled the beans to get revenge on the demon who tricked him. The demon cop geased my Lilim to get the knife for _her_ -- which put her into Geas-conflict between her and Lightning (who had her geased as a Servitor for a year)... But we ganged up on her and made her abort the Geas. The Kyrio of Lightning possessed the walls and found secret tunnels, so we went skulking around the place looking for the knife. After, er, alerting all our Tethers, including the local Windy one. Anyway, eventually all the other demons left and we spied on the Baron and made the GM talk to himself when Eileth and whatshisname of Revelation showed up. Eventually, via Kyrio of Jean with Song of Acid (ceiling dripping!) and other stuff, the Ofanite of Jean got the knife via a well-sung Song and zapped away via the electrical lines, getting it back to the Tether. So Jean got both halves! Then the Windys showed up in a stolen military helicopter, having been informed that no disturbance was getting out of the Tether-grounds, and exchanged shots with the Brat Pack upstairs. They had shotguns. The Windys had missiles. We ran like heck. (So did Huzzie, who returned to plague us later in a subsequent game.) The Kyriotate really starred in that game. Sunk two demons' cars, flattened tires, and otherwise was useful and considered demons to be playthings. That's why we invented Force-Catchers for the Liber Reliquarum. (Our group: Seraph of Destiny [Eileth: "Officer down!" Seraph: "On her BUTT!"], Ofanite of Lightning ["We all have our own ways of being obnoxious in the service of the Lord"], Kyriotate of Lightning ["You can't Dodge your underwear!"], Mercurian of the Wind [no quote yet], and Free Lilim IST Lightning ["I'm only Renegade if the Game notices me..."].) > Anyway, the questions that came up: > > 1) How do you calculate Body Hits for a Kyriotate? Host's Corporeal Forces = vessel level in the equation. (Is this in the errata yet? If not, I need to make some... O:p ) > 2) So the Cherub was under a Geas to fetch the relic for Lilith. The >knife is now, more or less, unfetchable. What happens? The Cherub takes a note of dissonance, and the Geas goes away, if the knives are destroyed. Otherwise, he gets dissonant if he hasn't gotten the relic by the end of the Geas. - -- - --Beth, arcangel@io.com / archangel@sjgames.com In Nomine Line Editor http://www.io.com/~arcangel/ ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 27 Feb 2003 09:43:53 -0700 From: sirea@softhome.net Subject: IN> Divine Cancer (I don't know what inspired this. It's evil, and I hate myself. It started out kinda nice, then it just got angry and mean. But seriously, enjoy ;D) You, angel, over by the jukebox -- put on something jazzy and calm, will you? Quit giving me that look and do it already, I'm a paying customer afterall. Thanks. ...what? Oh, oh yeah. You wanna know how some scuzz-bucket like me knew you were an angel just like that? Well, I have to tell you, my ears have become quite sharp to the noise we make these past 50 years. Not nearly as sharp as their ears though, and I'm an Archangel. What? Your a Judge? Good for you. *laughs* excuse me if I'm not exactly afraid, Donminic has never scared me and never will -- the fool would gouge his six eyes out if he took more than ten minutes to talk to me, and he knows it. "Tactful avoidance" they call it. Look, stop your frothing and sit down for a damn minute, you might learn something. Here, have some orachetti. It's a pasta. Trust me, just eat the stuff, you'll like it, OKAY? Thanks. Your a sharp one, aren't you? Well, even if your not, you can try to whet your dull brain against what I'm going to tell you. I do get a kick about shattering the precious world-views of my mistaken Heavenly brethern. First off, I want you to tell me the name of at least 10 humans you've helped in the past week. Take your time now... you can't, can you? Yes, I know your Judgment, but that's not an excuse. Your in the majority anyways, so shut UP already and stop defending yourself. Look -- the Host knows, how to put it, jack-DIDDLY about mankind, and they're the race that everyone claims this whole mess is for. Yeah, right. You don't have to be a Seraph to know that's not true -- Heaven has become just as selfish as Hell in it's mighty crusade against evil. Not their fault really, many of the Archangels are the real perpatraitors anyway. It's not that they lie, they -can't- do that. It's called ignorance, and selective Truth. Pay attention to what's important that keeps the Malakim happy, ignore what doesn't jibe with the Heavenly world-view and sacred agenda. Hell, the Malakim are what they are today because a bunch of angels at the Fall commited an act of supreme selfishness, and because they Truly didn't want to join Lucifer, they decided to kick his ass instead. Heavenly demons indeed. Well, taking a cue from Janus (who's just as bad as the rest of them) I decided to shake things up, once I finally realized what was up. I left Heaven to be with mankind, because they're the ones who are important to Creation, and to God. We aren't. We're just little sentient tools that went awry, and now we bicker and fight like overpowered toy soldiers as the important, living, breathing people, the -humans-, have to suffer. I'm learning about them down here, with the only other Choir who even really loved and understood their importance... yes, you can say their name. Watch. Grigori Grigori Grigori Grigori Grigori! What's that? Ah, no disturbance. They were cast out of Heaven not because of their sins my ignorant Judge, but because they didn't go along with the Crush-Hell-Game-Plan that was laid out by the senior angels. They wanted to help and study humans, not just aid them for the sake of Word-maintinence. So they were tossed out, and mostly slaughtered by the Horde. We-he-elllllll... I'm changing that. She has a really beautiful siging voice you know. Along with mine, and a few tweaks here and there, the Grigori (go ahead, twitch some more) now number in the millions. Everyone of them living out human lives. Everyone of them watching in silence. Everyone of them giving birth to Children of the Grigori, all of them instilled with divine hatred for the angels that forsook their God-given duty, and the vile demons who seek only destruction. Oh, they're not awake yet. That'll come Judgment Day (ah, irony...) when Heaven and Hell get their pathetic rage-on's at one another. Then the Grigori and their millions upon millions of children will rise up, along with me and Song and all the rest of humanity, and crush those who seek to enslave them for their own twisted needs. Then I can Remnatize myself and live a good life until I finally die and can forget this bullshit. God must be ashamed... But that's not important. So Judge, now that your vessel has defecated all over the chair, what do you say? Kobal did the same thing when I told him. Oh? Why yes he is. Of course Kobal is in on this also, what joke did you think God gave to him all those years ago and then made him forget? Hell, Lilith just chuckled and nodded when I told her -- she'll mess them up real good with her lovely little hooks. I hope they place her beside God when the world is reborn. What's that? Strip you of your attunments and Distinctions? Gladly my good angel. Finish your pasta, clean up the seat, and lets go bowling and for drinks to talk more. Another hand is always appreciated. (On a lighter note -- for some reason, I always imagined Eli to look and act like The Dude from The Big Lebowski. #$%& it dude, let's go bowling :D) ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 27 Feb 2003 08:50:06 -0800 (PST) From: Michael Walton Subject: Re: IN> Suggestion to Any Artists Looking For Something Weird to Do... - --- BC Petery wrote: > The Dread Pirate Furfur > Calabite Prince of Atrocities Hah! The Demon Princess Bride! I love it! "Never go against Saminga when Death is on the line!" =====

Michael Walton, #US2002023848

Smart knows what. Intelligence knows how. Wisdom knows why. __________________________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Tax Center - forms, calculators, tips, more http://taxes.yahoo.com/ ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 27 Feb 2003 09:58:20 -0700 From: sirea@softhome.net Subject: Re: IN> Suggestion to Any Artists Looking For Something Weird to Do... >> The Dread Pirate Furfur >> Calabite Prince of Atrocities > > Hah! The Demon Princess Bride! I love it! > > "Never go against Saminga when Death is on the line!" > You of course realize that Vephar will have to be made second-in-command to Lucifer himself in a setting like this :D arrrrrr. --- Sirea, Free Cherub IST Destiny, Angel who Wanders, petitioner for the Word of Eternity (currently being ridden by Grapejuice, Renegade Shedite of the Game) ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 27 Feb 2003 11:43:28 -0700 From: "Rampaging Crypto-Man" Subject: IN> Q on Song of Lending. My ancient angels have found a demonic Remnant, and want to know what will happen if the Cherub in the party uses the Song of Lending to hand the demon a Celestial Force. I'm thinking this: 1. They'll get in trouble with someone. 2. The entity will be a brand-new Celestial, a demon, with a lifespan of five minutes. 3. On a 666, they'll lose the force. 4. On a 111, they'll lose the force but the demon will become an angel. They already used the Song of Memory to talk to the creature, which is iffy since the Song doesn't restore memories lost to Celestial intervention, but I allowed it. Thoughts? Ben "I wasn't walking on water, I was standing on a reef when the tide came in." -- Rush ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 27 Feb 2003 14:11:12 -0500 From: "Finder, Randolph J Mr NGB-ARNG" Subject: IN> Angel of Madness - comments please One of my wife's friends from church had a breakdown yesterday and I ended up visiting her in the psychiatric center. This isn't finished (Skills and such) and assumes that Aballam, Demon Prince of Madness (http://www.geocities.com/archangel_nine/Aballam.txt) is in your universe, but let me know what you think... Zalmen Kyriotate of Creation Angel of Madness Corporeal Forces 4 Strength: 12 Agility:4 Ethereal Forces 6 Intelligence:12 Precision:12 Celestial Forces 5 Will:12 Perception:8 Word Forces: 15 Skills(?) Songs: Dreams(Celestial/6,Corporeal/6,Ethereal/3), Empathy(Corporeal/3,Ethereal/6), Harmony(Celestial/6,Ethereal/6), Healing (All/6) Attunements:Kyriotate of Creation, Bright Lilim of Creation, Seraph of Creation, Kyriotate of Dreams, Kyriotate of Judgement, Kyriotate of Fire, Kyriotate of Destiny, Friend of Sleepers, Divine Destiny, Angel of Madness Angel of Madness: Roll to Possess is improved by one for each two levels of Celestial Discord. Immune to Balseraph Resonance. Rites: Comfort the insane (note this is not necessarily the same as cure) Help someone understand that Insanity isn't necessarily evil... (usable twice per day) When most other choirs state that they don't understand Kyriotates, often times another angel will point out that at least the Kyriotate in Question isn't Zalmen.... Zalmen fledged not long after the fall and enthusiastically joined Eli's service. She helped create great masterpieces and ideas but was careless when it came to her choir's dissonance conditions often leaving her hosts confused by their time that they were possessed and leaving family and friends wondering about their sanity. By 2800 BC, Eli recalled her back to heaven becuase of her discord. As much as the Angel of creation believes in being cool, even he can't ignore an angel with a significant number of discords. Eli however was fascinated by the fact that generally as Kyriotates become in danger of falling, their focus narrows and they can not maintain the multiplicity that is at the heart of their Choir. Zalmen was showing no such tendencies though. The council soon after that was getting concerned by Aballam's rise as a prince and were prepared to grant the word of Sanity to a Lortriel, a Seraph of Uriel to help combat Aballam's forces. Eli attended to help grant the word and took Zalmen with him to consult with Novalis on suggestions for dealing with Zalmen. At the height of the Granting of the word. Zalmen flew into the center of the room and covered Lortiel just as the word was being granted. Ordinarily this would have destroyed Zalmen, but when things settled down, it was apparent that Zalmen had been granted the word instead of Lortriel and that Zalmen's Discords had been removed. When asked what word he had received, the response came not in the melodious chorus of a Kyriotate, but in voices that seemed to argue, one with another.... *MADNESS*. Zalmen spent many weeks after that in the care of Dominic before the Archangel of Justice reported back to the Council that she could only have been given her word to fulfill the Council's desires and as such should not be punished. Given in service to Blandine, he first came in direct contact with the servitors of Aballam, sending many back to their hearts. While rewarded for her service, most servitors of Blandine could not stand continued work with the Kyriotate, her internal contraditions and her actions in the name of Madness. Returning to earth duty, she has become as alone as a Kyriotate can be. She welcomes the attentions of the Triads of Dominic, trusting their judgement of her and her word. She feels the Word Friction with Aballam but knows that that Word Friction builds their words at the same time. She understands more than any angel the heights to which the mad can rise, but knows the depths are much more common. She has walked with Dominic and Gabriel at the same time, understanding both and yet not able to explain each to the other... In the modern day, the changes in the treatment of the insane both delight and trouble her. She is thankful for the drugs which allow some to be cured and yet knows that for some the madness was necessary for their destiny. She remains true to her Archangel and yet in her heart of hearts wonders, if Eli can lose himself to Madness, can she be far behind? Randy Finder randolph.finder@ngb.army.mil ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 27 Feb 2003 19:14 +0000 (GMT Standard Time) From: jgd@cix.co.uk (John Dallman) Subject: Re: IN> Big Bad Mike > Lucifer muttered to himself ... Eee-Oook! - --- John Dallman jgd@cix.co.uk ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 27 Feb 2003 14:50:03 -0500 (EST) From: Diane J Donaldson Subject: Re: IN> My players are *so* short-sighted. SPOILERS!!! SPOILERS!!!!! SPOILERS!!!! On Thu, 27 Feb 2003, Chris Bergstresser wrote: > The GM having had enough of this already, Eli strolls > casually into the burning mansion, hops downstairs, fixes a ham sandwich > while watching the final showdown unfold, picks up the relic, and with a > wave of his hand transports the Malakite and the half-dead Cherub back out > to the car. > > Was this as much work for other people? > My players ended up calling in a strike force of Malakim on the demons outside the tether. Then they went inside and were heading down to the secret room when they heard demon Wossname & Gebbeleth arguing, and Wossname getting the worst of it. Gebbeleth started coming up the stairs in Wossname's vessel, and they decided to leave. They didn't know who or what was down there, but they were pretty sure it was going to make mincemeat of them. After I calmed down a bit ("what do you MEAN you're leaving???") I realized this could get ... interesting. So. Gebbeleth escaped into the Big Apple. Insane, confused, very low on power, but still a Prince. I wrote a whole new adventure around what he was doing so they could then hunt him down and kill him. (He eventually ended up at the African Burial Ground in Manhattan (http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A64887-2002Aug26?language=printer) looking for a box of memory pearls that were buried there, sacrifices to him that were made by a tribe several thousand years ago, long before it was used as a burial place for Africans. The PCs eventually defeated him, but not before the Malakite of War was handed a new discord: Cowardly. Ouch. That'll teach him to go up against a Demon Prince alone, no matter how weak.) If you count that extra adventure as part of the run, it took about four sessions and 20 hours. But it was definitely interesting! djd ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 27 Feb 2003 14:54:00 -0500 From: "Cameron McCurry" Subject: Re: IN> Angel of Madness - comments please >> but let me know what you think... A few nitpicks.... Zalmen seems to have an obscene amount of Attunments as well as Word Forces for someone who isn't a Superior. I don't see how being immune to the Balseraphic Resonance furthers the Word of Madness. Dominic is the Archangel of Judgment, not Justice. Madness seems like an odd Word to have on Heaven's side. I don't see how she's furthering Heaven with it other than providing Word Friction. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 27 Feb 2003 15:04:14 -0500 From: EDG Subject: Re: IN> Angel of Madness - comments please At 02:11 PM 2/27/2003 -0500, you wrote: >Zalmen >Kyriotate of Creation >Angel of Madness My first comment, before I proceed to the rest of the writeup, is that Madness is an inherently difficult Word to give to any angel. Not only does it have a huge compass - in some circles, even mild phobias are indicative of insanity - but one of its key components, that of schizophrenia, could be considered selfish in much the same way that a demon's personal Symphony is. Although a large percentage of the population persists in believing that the term "schizophrenia" refers to the condition known variously as multiple personality disorder, disassociative personality disorder, and disassociative identity disorder (probably among others), the term simply indicates a fundamental division (a schizm, hence the name) between the victim's viewpoint and what most of the rest of us consider reality. This can range from the mild ("calico cats are servants of the Devil", "the Azerbaijani Mafia will kill me if I ever set foot in Azerbaijan") to the dangerous ("I can fly", or "cars will pass right through me if I step in front of them"). Schizophrenia can also take relatively unexpected forms, such as disassociative identity disorder or (some would argue) phantom limb syndrome. The point I'm getting at is that an angel who embodies the Word of Madness needs to encompass schizophrenia as well as the affective disorders (depression, bipolar disorder, et cetera), which is an extremely dangerous thing for an angel to do, as it encourages the split from reality that might engender a personal Symphony. >Corporeal Forces 4 Strength: 12 Agility:4 >Ethereal Forces 6 Intelligence:12 Precision:12 >Celestial Forces 5 Will:12 Perception:8 >Word Forces: 15 Just a note: Word-bound celestials, IMX, usually have a range of Suggested Word-Forces, rather than a set number. This accomodates not only shifting power levels but individual GM preferences. >Angel of Madness: Roll to Possess is improved by one for each two levels of >Celestial Discord. Immune to Balseraph Resonance. Whose Celestial Discord - Zalmen's or the target's? Being immune to the Balseraph resonance is a powerful ability. I would suggest you choose one of the two listed abilities and eliminate the other. > Help someone understand that Insanity isn't necessarily evil... >(usable twice per day) I don't think most people think that insanity is evil. Suggest: Help someone understand the true nature of another's insanity. >Zalmen fledged not long after the fall and enthusiastically joined Eli's >service. She helped create great masterpieces and ideas but was careless >when it came to her choir's dissonance conditions often leaving her hosts >confused by their time that they were possessed and leaving family and >friends wondering about their sanity. Zalmen must have been very, very lucky, then; otherwise, eventually she would have missed a dissonance roll (or received an II on one) and become Outcast. >By 2800 BC, Eli recalled her back to heaven becuase of her discord. As much >as the Angel of creation believes in being cool, even he can't ignore an >angel with a significant number of discords. Eli however was fascinated by Edit: "number of discords" > "amount of Discord", unless you're emphasizing that she had a lot of different kinds instead of just a lot of accumulated levels. Discord is singular unless you are talking about specific separate Discords ("four levels of Discord" (but "four levels of assorted Discords"), "the Angry and Berserk Discords"). >At the height of the Granting of the word. Zalmen flew >into the center of the room and covered Lortiel just as the word was being >granted. Ordinarily this would have destroyed Zalmen, but when things >settled down, it was apparent that Zalmen had been granted the word instead >of Lortriel and that Zalmen's Discords had been removed. Careful with your implications here. This seems to mean that the Seraphim Council don't have full control over the Word-binding process - not only did the wrong angel get the Word, but the wrong Word was assigned. We also are given no reason *why* this happened. (Did Zalmen and Lortiel have a personal connection that Zalmen was afraid of losing if Lortiel became caught up in his Word? Did Zalmen believe that Word-binding was dangerous and perhaps deadly, and want to interrupt the process before it could kill an angel? Did Zalmen herself want to cure herself by receiving the Word of Sanity?) If nothing else, Zalmen would have had a rationale, even if she didn't tell anybody about it. >Zalmen spent many weeks after that in the care of Dominic before the >Archangel of Justice reported back to the Council that she could only have Edit: Dominic is the Archangel of Judgment. >been given her word to fulfill the Council's desires and as such should not >be punished. This, too, needs a rationale. Otherwise, it comes off vaguely sounding like "because I said so". >In the modern day, the changes in the treatment of the insane both delight >and trouble her. She is thankful for the drugs which allow some to be >cured and yet knows that for some the madness was necessary for their >destiny. She remains true to her Archangel and yet in her heart of hearts >wonders, if Eli can lose himself to Madness, can she be far behind? This paragraph seems to imply that Zalmen is the Angel of the Mad rather than the Angel of Madness. Treating and curing madness weakens her Word, which is a suicidal path for Zalmen to walk. - -EDG ------------------------------ End of in_nomine-digest V1 #2976 ********************************