From owner-in_nomine-digest@lists.io.com Sat Jan 17 19:30:46 1998 Return-Path: Received: from lists.io.com (lists.io.com [199.170.88.15]) by pyramid.sjgames.com (8.8.5/8.8.5) with ESMTP id TAA21724 for ; Sat, 17 Jan 1998 19:30:46 -0600 Received: (from majordom@localhost) by lists.io.com (8.8.7/8.8.5) id TAA27068 for in_nomine-digest-outgoing; Sat, 17 Jan 1998 19:26:58 -0600 Date: Sat, 17 Jan 1998 19:26:58 -0600 Message-Id: <199801180126.TAA27068@lists.io.com> From: owner-in_nomine-digest@lists.io.com (in_nomine-digest) To: in_nomine-digest@lists.io.com Subject: in_nomine-digest V1 #572 Reply-To: in_nomine-l@lists.io.com Sender: owner-in_nomine-digest@lists.io.com Errors-To: owner-in_nomine-digest@lists.io.com Precedence: bulk in_nomine-digest Saturday, January 17 1998 Volume 01 : Number 572 In this digest: IN> New Archangel IN> [DV] Places: Lake Madrid IN> Re: Last nights Quotes Re: IN> Uriel RE: IN> Who are you, anyway? Re: IN> Last Night's Quotes, or who plays this game? Re: IN> Last Night's Quotes RE: IN> Last Night's Quotes Re: IN> [FLUFF] It finally happened, damnit... RE: IN> Who are you, anyway? IN> [Fwd: something i wrote... opinions?] Re: IN> Last Night's Quotes Re: IN>Heavenly Judgement attunement IN> Superiors: Old Testement or New Testement ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 17 Jan 1998 02:22:15 -0500 From: Ni Ke Hsin Subject: IN> New Archangel Below is a draft for an archangel I'm working on, and I'd appreciate any comments you can give me. I'm especially in need of help thinking up attunements. I'd be reluctant to change the background, but I'm not very happy with any of the attunements I've drafted. Some I've even left blank. Thanks in advance. Ni Ke Hsin ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Sophia, Archangel of Love The Greatest of these is Love Sophia has been the angel of love since the beginning of time. She is almost as old as Yves, and some say she is as old. But she didn't begin as an Archangel. In the beginning, she performed her labours as a cherub under the guidance of Yves. Some say that if she'd been given more scope, the Fall wouldn't have happened. If you ask her, she'll merely shrug modestly. "It's too late to change things now." She was elevated to Archangel status on the creation of Eve. Humans were becoming more important to God, and no one wanted another Lilith fiasco. She barely noticed her elevation, though she was releaved to have more angels at her service. Building and maintaining love in a fallen world is hard work. Only once has she suffered Dominic's inquisition, and that under the instigation of Uriel. An early gnostic sect of Christianity declared her identical with the Holy Spirit, and therefore a part of the Holy Trinity. When questioned about it, Sophia merely stated, "It isn't causing them any harm to hold these beliefs. Why should we make trouble for them?" This enraged Uriel, for whom doctrinal purity was as important as any other kind. But even the penetrating mind of Dominic could find no fault in anything she'd done, and so her name was completely cleared. Sophia's response to the acquittal: "That's nice. When did you say this happened?" Sophia is the most maternal of all the angels. In the political struggles of the angels, she seeks to bring about reconciliation, forgiveness, understanding. She is calm, observant, an excellent listener, but she is also stern and unflinching. She is deeply wounded whenever one in her service suffers, even if they brought that suffering on themselves. Oddly enough, her worst foe is not Andrealphus. She sees a place for lust in the context of certain types of love. Her arch-foe is Malphas, because she hates all divisiveness. She can tolerate any of the Demon Princes except Malphas, Baal, and Saminga, and is even cordial towards Lilith. Sophia is, of all the archangels, the most involved in the day to day works of humans. However, she rarely accepts credit for what she does. Many of the Archangels forget that she is among the oldest of their kind. Sophia, is of course, the Greek word for Wisdom. It may not be entirely coincidence that she has always been called by that name. Dissonance The angels of Sophia are charged with fostering and protecting love among humans and celestials. They may not take action which will weaken friendships, family bonds, or any other love. Even if the love is clearly pernicious, an angel of Sophia must find a way to protect the lover without damaging the love. Choir Attunements Seraphim The seraphim can discern the loves of any person whom they are in contact. Cherubim When a cherub is attuned to a person, she can automatically become attuned (if she wishes) with anything that person loves, though this attunement cannot exceed her limit. Ofanim To protect love or friendship, an Ofanim may move an extra 2x Agility in yards in Corporeal form, and an extra 2x Perception in yards in Celestial form. Elohim Despite the fact that the Elohim's objectivity is at odds with the inherent subjectivity of love, Sophia has many Elohim in her choir. They miss out on the passionate side of love, but the unifying aspect appeals to their rationality. The Elohim may cause any two people who love each other to set aside selfish desires in order to work better together. Malakim Malakites in the service of Sophia take vows of love very seriously. When a Malakite punishes a betrayed or false promise of love, he does not disrupt the symphony. Kyriotates Kyriotates can possess twice their forces among hosts who love each other. This can be family members, dog and master, lovers, teacher and pupil, etc. Mercurians Mercurians in Sophia's service can discern any impediments to love that a person is feeling towards the people in her life (jealosy, insecurity, rivalry, etc.) Mercurians are charged with resolving these difficulties at least once a day. Servitor Attunements Distinctions Vassal of Loyalty Friend of the Family Master of Harmony Relations Not surprisingly, Sophia has no enemies among celestials. Even Michael, who has no patience for her conciliatory moods, understands that many of his greatest warriors are motivated from love of one kind or another. He and Sophia will never be friends, but there is a mutual respect. Allies: Blandine, Christopher, Eli, Novalis Associates: Gabriel, Jordi, Yves Basic Rites *Spend an hour with a dear friend *Enjoy a night with your lover *Spend all day with close family Chance of Invocation: 3 Invocation Modifiers: +1 Perform an act of courtesy (ie, giving up a seat on the subway) +2 A love poem +3 An engagement ring +4 Attending a wedding +5 Attending the birth of a child wanted by both parents, with both parents present. +6 A peace treaty between two beligerant nations Love, Sex, and Morality Sophia regards her word as covering all aspects of love. This includes erotic love. She is not embarrassed by sexual desire or union, so long as it is unifying rather than divisive. In other words, as long as sex is love-making, she has no problems with it. About auto-eroticism, she has no opinion at all. Some of the other angels do, however. Most conventional religions have pretty narrowly defined avenues of sexual expression. Didn't God himself wipe out Sodom and Gomorrah for homosexuality? No, Sophia replies. The citizens of those cities tried to force their way into Lot's house with the intention of raping his guests, who happened to be Malakites in the service of Dominic. Not wise. The cities were destroyed because they were evil--Infernal Tethers to the demesne of Andrealphus. Sophia understands that there is more to the Symphony than love. But that isn't where she offers guidance. She condones loving activities and disapproves of hateful ones. If you want guidance on following rules, she'll direct you to Dominic. POLITICS Blandine: "How many dreams are dreams of love? Without Sophia much of the Marches would be desert." Christopher: "Whenever I get in a jam, I think, what would Sophia do." David: "I didn't like her at first. Too yielding. Too soft. It took me a century or two to realise that there was a constancy in her more enduring than granite. Strike a marble statue with a hammer, and it'll crack. If there's something that can break Sophia's love for someone, I haven't seen it." Dominic: "She forgives far too readily, but she doesn't stand in my way when I'm doing my work. I've looked into her: she's doing nothing wrong." Eli: "We go way, way back. Maybe I'll look her up again." Gabriel: "She has a feel for the heat of passion. I find her tiresome at times, but I'll always respect her." Janus: "I don't know, but she's seems to tie people down too much. Do we really need to be burdened down with a lot of emotional baggage in order to get things done?" Jean: "We're two different sides of the equation. She handles the emotional end. I handle the technological. She provides the motivation, I provide the energy. I don't understand her ways, but they seem to work." Jordi: "She feels towards humans like I feel towards animals. When she talks about the humans she loves, I can almost like them. In addition, she works hard to encourage humans to respect animals for what they are. If nothing else about her won my respect, that does." Laurence: "I can't imagine trying to run this city without her working to keep tempers down. I don't want to imagine it. She doesn't like me. I understand why. But she always forgives me. We need her." Marc: "I've got nothing against her or her word. Really. But as an archangel? Come on. We don't need more love. We need better contracts." Michael: "She's always trying to limit me, and I don't like it. If it weren't for my war, all her nice pretty notions would be deflowered pretty harshly. Without her work, the war wouldn't be worth fighting. I can accept that. But she needs to accept that my work is needed too. And get the hell out of the way." Novalis: "She's like my role model. If you've got anything bad to say about her, don't say it around me." Yves: "Ah, Sweet Sophia..." ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 17 Jan 1998 01:45:33 -0600 (CST) From: redneck@txdirect.net (Redneck Gaijin) Subject: IN> [DV] Places: Lake Madrid Scientists have been warning that the fault line near New Madrid, Missouri was ready to go, but nobody ever imagined this... Under the surface in the lowlands of southeastern Missouri and northeastern Arkansas, the tetonic plate of North America is attempting to tear itself apart. The result is the New Madrid fault, a series of stretch marks in the continental plate which, about once every 200 years, produces a series of massive earthquakes as the cracks work just a little bit wider... ... or, in the tumults of Armageddeon, a -lot- wider. Earthquakes racked most of the planet during the Last Battle, destroying most of the Mediterranean cities, washing life from most of the Pacific islands, sinking much of southern and central California under a new ocean inlet... and in the American heartland, ripping a great ditch in the earth where the Mississippi flowed. For over a week after the earthquake, the river flowed -upstream- between Baton Rouge, LA and what once was Memphis, TN. The St. Louis Arch, toppled in the great earthquake, now lies under a thick layer of sludge at the northern end of the newest Great Lake, which the survivors are calling 'Lake Madrid' after the fault line. The lake tends to be very narrow- the eastern suburbs of Memphis overlook the eastern shore, while some twenty or thirty miles westward, the Arkansas landscape peeks out in a series of boggy, pine-ridden sandbars forming a doubtful, marshy west shore. At its widest point, where the Ohio, Tennessee, and Cumberland Rivers flow into the lake, the shores run from Paducah (most of which remains above water) in the east to the Mark Twain Islands which separate the main lake from the St. Francis River branch, some 100 miles to the west. Some fifty miles south of Memphis, at Helena, AR, the earthquake has thrown up a thick wall of sludge and rock, damming the great river and putting an end to cargo traffic north of Greenville, MS. For the moment, the river seems through and over the muck only fitfully, slowly carving out new exits as the water building up in the new basin. The northern end of the lake lies just north of what was St. Louis, where the Illinois River and Mississippi River meet. Most of the people who lived in the basin survived the earthquakes and escaped the flooding. Most of the Missouri residents who could not afford river transportation have moved westward and southward, as far as Kansas City (a walled outpost on the hostile Plains), Springfield (a city divided between a US-loyal government, a radical conservative freedom movement, and thousands of refugees) and Little Rock, Arkansas (currently debating US loyalty, independence, joining Montgomery, AL's Confederacy, or joining Texas). MAJOR CITIES AROUND LAKE MADRID MISSOURI KANSAS CITY- independency, relatively isolated; suffering from velociraptor depradations and steadily dwindling supplies SPRINGFIELD- divided between uneasy peace and guerilla warfare, as a 'militia' movement tries to take over from the USA-loyal county and city government JEFFERSON CITY & COLUMBIA - virtually the only region still controlled by the old Missouri state government, weakly held by remnants of the Missouri National Guard; supplies very low due to destruction of transportation and huge numbers of refugees ST. LOUIS - Disastered, more than 80% submerged due to subsidence and backing up of the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers ILLINOIS CAIRO - Disastered, totally submerged KENTUCKY PADUCAH - Only partially submerged, but badly damaged by earthquake; rebuilding as a river-port TENNESSEE MEMPHIS - Disastered, 70% submerged due to flooding and collapse of much of the limestone bluffs ARKANSAS JONESBORO - Growing as a terminus for refugees trying to salvage things from the submerged countryside and move on towards Little Rock HELENA - Also growing as trucks and wagons use remaining roads to make the portage from the lake down to the Arkansas River LITTLE ROCK - Torn between factions, unable to decide which way to go, but peaceful for the moment - --- Redneck (had to figure this out anyway, in case the DVPBEM group heads in that direction) Kris Overstreet, web pages beyond belief http://www.txdirect.net/users/redneck - Redneck Gaijin Online http://www.jurai.net/~redneck/wlp/ - White Lightning Productions http://www.antarctic-press.com/ - Antarctic Press Web Site http://www.jurai.net/~redneck/acupunct/ - Anatomical Acupuncture http://www.jurai.net/~redneck/dvpbem/ - In Nomine: Dark Victory PBEM ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 17 Jan 1998 02:04:25 -0600 From: ehp Subject: IN> Re: Last nights Quotes > So, how many of us on this mailing list actually play in a > campaign, either as a GM or a PC? Well, I am GMing a Pbem game, Fade To Gray which has been running for about 5 months with five players, only three of whose characters have yet met. No web page, for I am page illiterate. And I cannot reveal too much about what is going on because at least one of my players is a regular reader / poster on this list... Hiya jo! :) Suffice it to say, that the characters are mixed, including one who is not exactly from any explicity existant band/choir, and the game events are occuring after a rather sudden and as yet unexplained Silence in the Symphony, and pause in time, and world wide loss of Essence, that at least one player has speculated might have been the out of order breaking of the Seventh Seal... The characters I can speak about are: Karathiel: Cherub of Jean with a serious problem of Aura after having failed a protection mission, currently in New York, but usually operating out of Washinton DC. Jason: Cherub of Yves, native of new york and healer, who has reccently discovered that Yves isn't talking to anyone anymore, and has been involved in Raphael being taken to hell (unintentionally) Orli: Mercurian of Domenic, who has been set free, because Domenic apparently has fallen(?!) + two unnamed others, at least for now... All the best, Evan ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 17 Jan 1998 03:12:05 -0500 (EST) From: Pee Kitty Subject: Re: IN> Uriel On Fri, 16 Jan 1998, Chris Piekarski wrote: > Querent wrote: > > > > Ok David, that's one theory, but I think you're overlooking the obvious. > > > > 745 can also be written as 7:45 > > > > 7:45 is sometimes referred to as "A quarter to Eight", but > > occasionally you'll find those people that use "a quarter of" instead > > of "a quarter to". > > > > A quarter of 8 is 2. 2 represents the divine duality. Light and > > darkness, good and evil, coke and pepsi, ... > > > > Thus, prior to the year 745 there were many pagan forces at work, but > > in that year, cosmicly the universe was drawn into a duality and the > > pagan spirits were negligible at best. Uriel's job was done. So, he > > got invited upstairs for a darn good game of bowling. > > > > Your whole catholic church idea was cute too, but too much of a stretch. > > And _that_ was obvious? Seems perfectly obvious to me! You've gotta look for the simple answers first before trying the hard ones, ya knw... Rev. Pee Kitty, of the order Malkavian-Dobbsian (Married to Rev. Unibomber on 11/15/96 - be jealous ;) Meow! And finally, a special message to anyone who thinks I give a damn... \|/ ____ \|/ ~@-/ oO \-@~ /_( \__/ )_\ \__U_/ ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 17 Jan 1998 08:29:26 +0000 From: Jo Hart Subject: RE: IN> Who are you, anyway? At 01:03 17/01/98 +0000, you wrote: >> > goes by Goombert, and is now the Angel of Pun-ishment, one of >> > Eli's folks (though Kobal would *love* to get his hands on him). >> >> Yes, but then he would not last long. Do you know how 10,000 >> demons who all think they're very funny act around someone who >> puns all the time? > >Note - I never said that Kobal wanted him to fall, just that he'd >love to get his hands on him. Any angel who can make puns work for >Heaven is a definate problem for Kobal. > > On reflection, its probably more amusing if he doesn't fall ;-) Picture it. A manically punning angel, in a host of seraphim who want to take everything literally. Its beautiful. jo - ---------- "I like getting into hot water, it keeps me clean." G. K. Chesterton jhart@btinternet.com -- http://www.tardis.ed.ac.uk/~jhart/ ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 17 Jan 1998 08:05:50 -0500 From: Nana Yaw Ofori Subject: Re: IN> Last Night's Quotes, or who plays this game? >In a message dated 1/16/98 7:49:41 AM, d.ranzato@bpa.vnu.com writes: > >>So, how many of us on this mailing list actually play in a campaign, either >>as a GM or a PC? I've never played face-to-face. I'm playing in one E-mail game, set in Seattle, and /still/ in the midst of the GM screen Adventure. In that one, I'm playing a Mercurian of Destiny. I'm running an E-mail game, set in Toledo, Ohio (of all places.) That's going interminably slow right now, but I'm hoping to speed it up... And, intermittently, I both run and play in mostly diceless games that aggregate on EFnet's #innomine from time to time. Sometimes they're serious (Like the one in which two of the three Angels attempted to blame one another for a murder), and sometimes they're bizzare (Like the one in which Eli went insane and killed everyone in Heaven, allowing Vengeful Ethereal Spirits to take over and hunt down all the Earth Angels), and sometimes they're just silly = http://www.io.com/~beholder ===================== nofori@pop3.utoled.edu === Nana-Yaw "The Fish" Ofori, Freelance Soldier of Heck, presenty serving Spiner, Djinn Knight of Dark Humor, the Demon of Straight Men ===== ><{{"> ============ "Life's a Fish, then you Fry." ======= <"}}>< ====== ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 17 Jan 1998 09:20:22 -0500 From: Brandon Quina Subject: Re: IN> Last Night's Quotes > So, how many of us on this mailing list actually play in a > campaign, either as a GM or a PC? GM: Im currently running a In Nomine Miami game, which even has the beginnings of some archives up ( http://www.tmgbbs.com/lore/nomine.htm ) still not completly archived, but has the first couple of turns up. Ill be adding more today so feel free to take a look. (I do all the updating when a. I have free time, b. I send off all the PBEM turns ) also, I play a elven elemental-magi in a GURPs game :) - -- (lore@tmgbbs.com) \\/// Brandon Lance Quina (x x) ICQ Number: 6809944 ---ooO(_)Ooo--- ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 17 Jan 1998 04:30:17 -0600 From: rbeall@fdldotnet.com (Grim88) Subject: RE: IN> Last Night's Quotes > So, how many of us on this mailing list actually play in a campaign, >either as a GM or a PC? Where to begin...where to begin... I'm running a PBeM game, TwIn Nomine , playing in another PBeM run by Nana Yaw Ofori called City of Glass, and have both played in, and run, various games on #innomine on Efnet. Great game, that In Nomine. Ryan Beall aka: Grim88 Look for me in #innomine on Efnet rbeall@fdldotnet.com grim88@hotmail.com http://members.tripod.com/~Grim88/index.html <---Follow the link the the "Tragedy is when I cut my finger. #innomine web page. Comedy is when you fall through an open sewer and die." - Mel Brooks ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 17 Jan 1998 11:28:12 -0500 (EST) From: Thomas Davidson Subject: Re: IN> [FLUFF] It finally happened, damnit... On Thu, 15 Jan 1998, Kirt A. Dankmyer -- aka Loki wrote: > At 03:27 PM 1/15/98 -0500, you wrote: > > > >> Em...it strongly implies in the Marches that Malakim are the way they are > >> because they're still protected by the Word of Purity. > > > >Huh? I didn't have anything to do with this thread. I'm confused. > > Okay, this is the second time I've been mistaken for a prominent female > list-member. I guess I'll just nip off and give birth to an eight-legged > horse, then. > -Loki (anyone remember that myth?) > Hmmm... let me guess... Sleipnir? :) That's all right. It's the odd thing with Loki. He was said to bear children as often as begetting them, so it's no wonder people are thinking that you are female. (By the way, you showed up in my game a couple of weeks ago, and ran away just when Thor showed up. Or was it an imposter? ) :) > -- > Kirt A. Dankmyer --- Academic Computing Specialist > http://www.wfu.edu/~dankmyka/ -- (910) 759-4202 -- PGP public key available. > For the Snark _was_ a Boojum, you see. --Lewis Carroll > Thomas Davidson tdavidso@suffolk.lib.ny.us MUSIC: Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Rolling Stones, Rush, Jimi Hendrix GAMES: Champions (old and new), In Nomine, Nephilim TV: The X-Files, the Simpsons, Superman, The Tick, the Animaniacs OTHER: Religion, Philosophy, mysticism, the runes, the Tarot, writing. ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 17 Jan 1998 11:46:28 -0500 (EST) From: Emily Dresner Subject: RE: IN> Who are you, anyway? > > > goes by Goombert, and is now the Angel of Pun-ishment, one of > > > Eli's folks (though Kobal would *love* to get his hands on him). > > > > Yes, but then he would not last long. Do you know how 10,000 > > demons who all think they're very funny act around someone who > > puns all the time? > > Note - I never said that Kobal wanted him to fall, just that he'd > love to get his hands on him. Any angel who can make puns work for > Heaven is a definate problem for Kobal. > Oh. *ponder* Point. And in my little brain, I can see this as a demonic quest for newbie Kobalite servitors. The fear! The fear! - - Em ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 18 Jan 1998 07:11:14 +1100 From: "Patrick O'Duffy" Subject: IN> [Fwd: something i wrote... opinions?] This is a multi-part message in MIME format. - --------------4A25ED92D3B2991D8B0C9B1C Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit G'day. This got passed along to me by a friend of mine, who never actually _plays_ V:tM or IN (love those abbreviations), but is still interested in the concepts. I thought I'd pass it along to the list. Send any feedback to him. - --------------4A25ED92D3B2991D8B0C9B1C Content-Type: message/rfc822 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Content-Disposition: inline Return-Path: turner23@thehub.com.au Received: from the-fiend (an148.thehub.com.au [203.17.162.178]) by smople.thehub.com.au (8.8.5/8.6.9) with SMTP id NAA15550 for ; Wed, 7 Jan 1998 13:55:57 +1000 (EST) Message-ID: <34B2FD97.1885@thehub.com.au> Date: Wed, 07 Jan 1998 13:59:19 +1000 From: the fiend X-Mailer: Mozilla 3.03 (Win95; I) MIME-Version: 1.0 To: redfern@thehub.com.au Subject: something i wrote... opinions? Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit from the desk of "i should never be allowed near a keyboard again" studios, the fiend is dubious to present.... a in nomine/world of darkness crossover story. one malks take on a few different concepts. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ To The Beat Of A Different Drummer As he walked he started to hum that tune that always played in his head. Ever since that night when Jeff's sire had put the big bite on him he'd been able to hear that tune playing in his head. It had annoyed her to no end that he'd be staring off somewhere and humming rather than listening to her tell him the rules that he had to live by. Life as a vampire is bad enough but when you have a malkavian with a matyr complex and a disciplinarian streak for a sire, unlife can be rough. His humming began to increase in volume in an unconcious attempt to keep with the volume of the music inside his head. He winced as he heard a cymbal clang inside his head, and turned thinking is was some idiot mugger hitting him over the head with a pipe. Seeing nothing but hearing what now seemed unto an entire orchestral movement in his head he clasped his hands over his ears and ducked into an alley way. There he saw a sight that he never thought possible. A human form of light stood ten feet up in the alley way, while below a human was surrounded by some baelful cloud of darkness from which sounds of an entire menagerie and human voices seemed to echo. The music in his head was now so loud he thougth at any moment a trumpet was going to bash it's way out of his forehead. In great anger the Elohim burst light out from it's hands, a gift from Laurence for strategic combat reasons. The Elohim had been trying to keep a level head for the last week while in her city the killings had become more and more profane. The police had kept things quiet, so quiet in fact, only a single nosferatu knew in all of the kindred and he wasn't telling anyone. But the Elohim knew. And by damnation, she was going to make them pay for what they had done to those children. The Shedim was usure of itself. When it had entered the mind of this mortal it had found a kindred spirit at last. It had required very little prompting to be corrupted, and at times had made the Shedim itself writher within his head at the ideas of pain and hurt that this mortal mind came up with. It tried to leave thinking that it was just too easy but for the fact that the human didn't want it to. He liked the ideas that the Shedim provided and opened his mind to. He wanted the angels to reign death upon him. Just to prove that one mortal could shake the gates of heaven. He had trapped the Shedim within him and now that he had gained the attention of holy retribution, he had released it and it billowed around him. It was just as the rays of light where about the strike its former host down that the Shedim did something it would never had considered. Throwing itself around the mortal it protected him from the blast. It could not bear to see such a talent destroyed. Lord love a duck, he cared for this mortal. Jeff saw the light strike the dark and was deafend by the noise in his head. The Burst was not like fire. Not any fire he had ever known. Purifying, sulphurous and oh so dissapointed. He could feel the heat as it moved down the alley to engulf all including him and paniced. He wanted to be away from everything. He wanted to be away from the reality of the fire and away from the cacophany in his head. He screamed as he felt the first lick of fire touch him and it was a scream of great magnitude (and pitch). When he stopped screaming he found himself in a large room. People looked over desks and consoles monitoring things and moving papers from one to another. "What the hell was that?"one of the beings said. "Massive discordant bar. Haven't seen anything like this since that whole Roswell do." The people moved around the room twisting knobs and moving sliders up and down. One of them was walking towards a row of lights but encountered jeff standing in his road, looking dumfounded. "Who are you? The delivery boy? Where's the coffee?" He paused to look at Jeff. "Dammit, I warned him that that whole Caine thing would have repercusions at a later date. But no, He feels the peice needs some tradgedy and angst early in. Damn. 'Little discordancies are neccesary.' Over reacted at Lucifer still didn't he....." "Where the hell am i?" Jeff interrupted "Oh, isn't that a leading question," the man said as he moved around Jeff to the lights and continued talking while taking notes about the lights, "The obvious answer of course is not hell. Or heaven before you start getting all uppity. To put it simply you're in the booth." "The booth?" "The booth." Jeff looked around the room seeing nothing to deny the previous statement. The man stopped taking notes, looked at Jeff and clucked in the way that people do when they realise that they are going to have to go through the long explanation. "Let me put it this way. We are the engineers of the universe. Not actually in there as part of it, cause we'd just make extra noise that really isn't neccesary let me tell you...." "You mean you built the universe?" "Oh hell no... No no no no no. You can't build a universe. A universe is a concept. Like you don't build a word, it just is. Sure you can deconstruct a word but you still come back to nothing in the end. Except for the original conceiver of the word. Even then it's created in his mind as a concept and is given form only the first time he speaks it. Like the Symphony. God created it and began to give it form." "God exists?" "Of course. Where do you think your kind come from?" he said as he moved about the room, taking notes, moving levers and Jeff following him around in a confused daze. "Wait a minute, if God exists, what does he need you for." "Well it's the other way round really. As the creator we need God." "Huh?" "He creates the symphony, the music that flows through all the atoms making them vibrate just right so that you percieve what you call the universe. We sit here and tweak things around, alter little vibrations that aren't really neccesary, and basicly change that which God himself has created. We get a better sound." "Wait a minute. Does God know what you're doing? He's meant to be omniscient and omnipotent." "Oh, He is." "So He knows about this?" "Not entirely." "But if He...." "The problem is that you're still stuck in your small petty view point of 'if not this then that'. It's like the one you idiots love to try and confuse the doorknockers with. 'But if God is powerful enough to make a rock that he can't lift.....' Treating it like a point scoring thing. We love you guys for that shit. It makes it so easy to set things up for later crescendos. God can check up on us but he won't, because it's in his contract." "CONTRACT!?" Jeff shrieked, "What do you mean contract?" "You know your small mindedness is becoming a bore. A contract. A deal between us and God. Think of us as record producers. We provide the studio for God and his musicians or as you would call them angels, although, to tell the truth, most of them get treated like roadies. He walks in, turns on the lights and starts putting all his creative ideas down as a reality. We sit here in the booth and engineer the fine details. In the old days we would be considered patrons of the arts. Like a king financing the latest work of Mozart. Occasionally we need to speak to the other musicians from time to time and tell them to do something different from what they're told. God isn't impressed with them but hey. We get the sound we're after. And that we paid for. Lucifer is still in the studio and playing, he's just been sent to the other side of the hall. Still miked up and plugged in. playing the tunes we want. Needed that extra something to mix in to it." "So you're saying that God and Satan are just following orders?" "Nnnnngh. So close yet so far. What i am saying is that we make suggestions. Damn good suggestions. We suggest to Lucifer that a different sound is needed and God is too busy to consult on this fact. And when I say suggest I mean a little voice in his head. He thought he came up with the idea himself. Mind you, it's not our fault that he tried to make a direct play for lead vocals. That's what got his ass canned. If he'd just gone away and done it in the background somewhere it might have been fine. The subtle change we where looking for. That's the problem with dealing with these artistic types. They all act like they they have their blessed control but they know that if we pull the plug then it's show over. Like a film studio taking away funding when a movie is half way through. sure you cna try to get more money but when people hear that the studio won't touch it, they get antsy. As it is we have to keep them separate now." "Why not take him out of the studio? or why didn't God kick him out?" "We want him there. The initial tune was all good and well but it needed the contrast to become something we could use. That and the union would have caused such a stink." He looked dumfounded at the man before him. "Breach of contract is a terrible thing. You just ask Adam about that." "Something you can use? What are you saying? You're making the universe to be marketable?" "You mean to sell? Don't be absurd. This is art. We just want to make sure it sounds the best it can. Like Michelangelo painting the Mona Lisa's smile fifteen times. It wasn't him who didn't like it. It was the one who commisioned the work." "What if God doesn't like the end prodct?" "First He has to come out of the studio to listen to it. Then He can ask us to change things." "And then?" "Well, God likes to think of Himself as a one take kinda guy. So He'll be in there until the track ends and then He'll come in and hear it. Then it'll brobably go into post-production." Jeff paused momentarily before asking uncertainly, "When the track ends?" "Yes. What? You thought it would go on forever? Well maybe in the final mixing booth we'll set it up on a repeat cycle. Provided God makes the climax of the song something we can mix into the intro that is. But hey, don't worry about it. The track goes for eternity now as it is." "I thought an eternity was forever?" "No, it only feels like it. Trust me. It only feels like it,"he muttered to himself in a despondant sort of way before one of the other people put a print out page into his hands. " Ah good good. Everythings back as it should be. Now, if you don't mind, we need to get you back into your track." "You're sending me back to Earth?" "Yep. We've managed to iron out the kinks cause by that massive discordant burst caused by that encounter you came upon and got the universe back on track. That scream of your's knocek you out of the symphony for a bit. It's become clearer to listen to now that we've lost your resonant humming noise but we think that it's still missing that certain something Sorry bucko, but you're sort of the 57th triangle player. And we like your sound." "But, what, I, when are you, that is...." "No debate. Byebye. Oh and don't worry about telling people about this. Not even the Prince of Lies will believe you." And he was standing there in the alley. He looked around and saw no sign of destruction or death. He shrugged and moved out into the street. As he walked he started to hum that tune that was always playing in his head. He wandered back to his haven and laid his head down on his pillow. The tune played on. He turned over onto his side. The tune played on. The sun rose over the city and somewhere, hidden in the dark, a vampire called Jeff could not sleep. ******************************************************************** wordsmith the fiend - - symphony for the devil? - --------------4A25ED92D3B2991D8B0C9B1C-- ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 17 Jan 1998 16:33:57 EST From: Heretic103 Subject: Re: IN> Last Night's Quotes In a message dated 98-01-17 09:25:47 EST, you write: << > So, how many of us on this mailing list actually play in a > campaign, either as a GM or a PC? >> GM: I wrote and ran a demon mission in Chicago based on the Savatage's story of D.T. Jeseus. I found the demon missions to be the most refreshing coming from a background of fickle and less than great Vampire LARP. The demons let you be EVIL , not the vampire kinda "evil" but the kinda evil with no beast traits, no paths, no humanity points, and no good or evil alignments. When I run a game your goal is to be as bad as possible I feels sooooo good to be so bad ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 18 Jan 1998 12:04:05 +1100 (EST) From: Peter Frederick Subject: Re: IN>Heavenly Judgement attunement Dear Querent **Snipped** >Then, I had a thought: Upon the destruction of the Celestial's >vessel, might the sword start doing Celestial damage to the guilty >party? It does not seem apparent that it would. At the same time, it >is not expressly denied either. It *would* be in keeping with >Dominic's "punish the guilty" philosophy on interacting with fallen >Celestials. For a 7 essence expenditure, I think this is a pretty >darn good interpretation of a vaguely worded attunement. I think that you have one good interpretation of the Attunement there, but as a Ref who has a Player with the Attunement I went for a slightly less powerful interpretation. The "Sword" does the type of damage appropriate to the Plane on which the Attunement is used. Therefore it does Coproreal damage on the Corpreal Plane, Ethereal damage on the Ethereal Plane and Celestial damage on the Celestial Plane. And it stops when it has done all the damage it can to the target on that Plane. The question hasn't been asked yet, but I think I would rule that if the target fled from one Plane to another that the Sword followed him doing the appropriate damage for the new Plane. Also that if called by a Celestial in Celestial form on the Corporeal Plane targeting another Celestial in Celestial form then it would do Celestial damage. Thanking you for your indulgence. Regards, Peter, Reply to peterf@wr.com.au What does the Lord require of you, but to do justice and to love kindness and to walk humbly with your God ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 18 Jan 1998 12:13:36 +1100 (EST) From: Peter Frederick Subject: IN> Superiors: Old Testement or New Testement Dear List I know it is a bit of a useless question, as the Bible as we have it isn't a true guide to IN Heaven, but the thought came up in play yesterday that some AA's seem more Old Testement and other New Testement. Our breakdown, as far as we went, was Old - Michael, Gabriel, Dominic and David and New - Novalis, Marc and Lawrence. Opinion was divided on Eli and someone put a vote in for Gabriel being a more "Koran" angel that either Testement. Thanking you for your indulgence. Regards, Peter. Reply to peterf@wr.com.au What does the Lord require of you, but to do justice and to love kindness and to walk humbly with your God ------------------------------ End of in_nomine-digest V1 #572 ******************************* The material here is (C) 1997 Steve Jackson Games, Incorporated. All rights reserved.