From owner-in_nomine-digest@lists.io.com Fri Dec 8 11:13:09 2000 Return-Path: Received: from lists.io.com (majordom@lists.io.com [199.170.88.15]) by pyramid.sjgames.com (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id LAA04979 for ; Fri, 8 Dec 2000 11:13:08 -0600 Received: (from majordom@localhost) by lists.io.com (8.9.3/8.9.1a) id LAA20567 for in_nomine-digest-outgoing; Fri, 8 Dec 2000 11:15:00 -0600 Date: Fri, 8 Dec 2000 11:15:00 -0600 Message-Id: <200012081715.LAA20567@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 #1962 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 Friday, December 8 2000 Volume 01 : Number 1962 In this digest: Re: IN> LIL1: Luciferian Opinions Part 2 of 2 Re: IN> relic question Re: IN> Going to Ground -- Report on Aberrant Lilim Behavior IN> Me head hurt. Re: IN> relic question IN> LIL1: Andrealphus Re: IN> Me head hurt. IN> The Demon Prince of Corruption part 2 IN> Neat Pyramid Article, Beth... IN> A Tether to Fate IN> Weird Wally's Gaming Dungeon IN> Re: Beast Re: IN> Adventure Re: IN> Going to Ground -- Report on Aberrant Lilim Behavior Re: IN> The Demon Prince of Corruption Re: IN> Going to Ground -- Report on Aberrant Lilim Behavior ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 7 Dec 2000 21:29:35 -0500 From: Whistling in the Dark Subject: Re: IN> LIL1: Luciferian Opinions Part 2 of 2 At 9:07 PM -0500 12/7/00, Whistling in the Dark wrote: Apologies for the accidental double-post. - -- Eric Alfred Burns - Habbalite of Belaboring the Point ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 7 Dec 2000 20:48:24 -0600 From: Santiago Subject: Re: IN> relic question > Well, hunt down the collection and read it; Kingdom Come >is a rather spiffy piece of work. (And it's a *painted* >comic. I love those.) Try reading anything by Joseph Michael Linsner, especially the various Dawn series. They're absolutely gorgeous. To keep things on topic, Dawn is one of the two most powerful ethereals, along with her lover Kernunos, aka Death. Ahura Mazda (the Zoroastrian name for God) and Lucifer are around, but they just sorta get in the way. Great imagery for IN to be found in there. (He's got a site up at linsner.com, but there isn't much there yet. - -- Santiago ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 7 Dec 2000 22:36:50 -0500 From: Whistling in the Dark Subject: Re: IN> Going to Ground -- Report on Aberrant Lilim Behavior This is fantastic, in the way it builds details of operations and "daily life" in Hell and among Hell's organizations and bureaucracy. I also like how the oft-mentioned Lilith Force is being invoked, and the implication that it can be removed without unLilimizing the Lilim (the interpretation I've always believed as well.) I guess the major unanswered question is whether the report is right - -- whether Lilith's Ethereal Force, contributed to the Lilim's creation, possesses a longing to return to humanity. And if that says anything about Lilith herself.... - -- Eric Alfred Burns - Habbalite of Belaboring the Point ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 7 Dec 2000 23:31:52 -0500 From: damienw@juno.com Subject: IN> Me head hurt. Dunno if this has ever been brought up before, and it likely has, but I just came back from Anime Club and my head is STILL all !@#$ed up. Anyway: In Nomine Evangelion. Discuss. O_O - --- damienw[et]juno.com "To kill a man between panels is to condemn him to a thousand deaths." - Scott McCloud ________________________________________________________________ GET INTERNET ACCESS FROM JUNO! Juno offers FREE or PREMIUM Internet access for less! Join Juno today! For your FREE software, visit: http://dl.www.juno.com/get/tagj. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 7 Dec 2000 23:29:20 -0500 From: damienw@juno.com Subject: Re: IN> relic question On Thu, 7 Dec 2000 20:48:24 -0600 Santiago writes: > > Well, hunt down the collection and read it; Kingdom Come > >is a rather spiffy piece of work. (And it's a *painted* > >comic. I love those.) > > Try reading anything by Joseph Michael Linsner, especially > the various Dawn series. They're absolutely gorgeous. To keep > things on topic, Dawn is one of the two most powerful ethereals, > along with her lover Kernunos, aka Death. Ahura Mazda (the > Zoroastrian name for God) and Lucifer are around, but they just > sorta get in the way. Great imagery for IN to be found in there. > (He's got a site up at linsner.com, but there isn't much there yet. While it's good advice for the list, I of course made sure to grab Dawn from day there. Great stuff. - --- damienw[et]juno.com "To kill a man between panels is to condemn him to a thousand deaths." - Scott McCloud ________________________________________________________________ GET INTERNET ACCESS FROM JUNO! Juno offers FREE or PREMIUM Internet access for less! Join Juno today! For your FREE software, visit: http://dl.www.juno.com/get/tagj. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 7 Dec 2000 23:45:29 -0500 From: Whistling in the Dark Subject: IN> LIL1: Andrealphus (Please note -- on these writeups, only actual *changes* to a Prince's writeup will be listed unless there is a significant change - -- such as reWording -- which will list page number references for the reader's convenience. Please refer to In Nomine's core rules for Andrealphus's mechanics, attunements and standard rites, as adapted below.) ANDREALPHUS Lilithian Prince of Lust "The world is there to be used, to be taken, to be enjoyed, and then to be ignored. It is the way of things." My Dark Lady proved me right. She clutched me closer than any Geas and showed me glories that I can never posses -- I can merely *hunger* for them, hunger to slacken my desires and release my passions upon them. My Dark Lady forced me to see, and I love her for it. Love her as totally and completely as any sentient loves another. And she hates me for my love and punishes me for my devotion, and I accept it, because I love her and I will always serve her. Since the Fall I have known that love is weak. Love is false. Love is a *lie.* I have avoided love since that day, kept it at bay with pure, honest sensuality. But now that is torn away, and I am pierced through with the spike of love for my Dark Lady. I hurt and yearn and beg and *serve* my Dark Lady, who uses to satisfy herself -- her lusts, her desires, her plans, her goals, her *world.* My Servitors - -- who revere and trust me -- I throw into the blades of Malakim at her whim. She uses me, and then she casts me aside until she wants to use me again. I am the tool of her lusts. Her lust for power. Her lust for the world. And her lust for the passions of humanity. My love makes me powerless to do anything but obey her. Such is the nature of love. Such is the nature of Lust. Such am I, and so are you. *** *** Andrealphus and Lilith had always been lovers and allies. With the death of Lucifer, Andrealphus had been worried about Lilith's apparent disappearance. (He had even thought for one terrible moment that Lilith had never existed -- that she had grown old and died as a human, but Lucifer's power as a Balseraph was such that he could lie to the Symphony and create Lilith the Princess of Hell out of nothingness. That, of course, was wrong.) With Lilith and Valefor gone, two of Andrealphus's strongest supporters were gone, leaving the Prince of Lust to bolster his Word with only Nybbas strongly supporting his efforts. All of that changed when he felt the Geases clutch around his heart. The thousand chains held from favors over thousands of years. They combined into a call... a yearning... a *lust* to go to Lilith. When he arrived, Lilith offered her strongest supporter a place of honor with her new Princes. Andrealphus agreed, but tentatively -- trying to jockey for power. Lilith had none of that, and proved once and for all that the Princess of Freedom was dead when she grabbed Andrealphus up into her embrace. Over the next many hours (days? weeks? Who can tell in Celestial time?) Andrealphus was exposed to sights, sounds and touches that maddened him with lust, horror and glory. In the end, he was hopelessly in love with the Queen, and Lilith forged that love into chains. Andrealphus always wears an iron collar and iron bracers now, often set with chains (clearly too flimsy to really hold them... clearly). He bows his head. He is often led leashed by Lilith as she walks through her domains -- she clearly doesn't care if she humiliates him or not. But Andrealphus cares -- her callousness towards his utter devotion is a hot, festering sore, and he desperately tries to evoke feelings from her in return by doing whatever -- *whatever* -- she says. In day to day dealings with Andrealphus, his Servitors can see the difference. Still, his dealings with *them* haven't changed much. He is, if anything, more demanding and passionate now, desperate to find surcease for his wounded heart in the arms of any twelve of his Servitors. And his hatred of love has only gotten worse. He *knows* how painful it is, now. He lives that pain -- the pain of the lie that is love. And that fuels him to wipe it from the face of the Earth in a mass of sweaty, hungry, passionate distractions, until all that remains is stimulus and response, desire and gratification. Same as it ever was.... ****** Andrealphus's Servitors have the Dissonance Conditions, Attunements, Basic Rites, Chance of Invocation and Invocation Modifiers listed in In Nomine, pp. 158-9. Note that as of this time, Andrealphus's Servitors may purchase Beleth's Dream Walking attunement (IN p.165). Andrealphus doesn't give the attunement directly, but Lilith has instructed the Princess of Horror to grant the attunement to certain Servitors Andrealphus designates. RELATIONS Relations with Luciferian Princes are as per IN p.159, save that each is worsened by one step. For example, Nybbas was an Ally before Lucifer's death. He is now Associated with Andrealphus. Enemies, who can get no worse in ranking, become somehow even more intensely loathed. (Andrealphus would consider the destruction of Saminga an active goal at this point, and likely has committed resources to such.) Lilithian Prince Relations: (Note that Hostility between the Lilithian Princes is considered secondary to the Lilithian goal of fully taking over Hell and repelling Heaven) No one would dare seriously hurt Lilith's little toy, but respect for the Prince of Lust isn't high among the Lilithian Princes. Andrealphus couldn't care less about how well respected he is. He has instructed his Servitors to help Rebekah as much as possible, given Rebekah's role as the Chamberlain of Hell (and therefore her favor from Andrealphus's beloved Lilith). Andrealphus also appreciates Alaemon's presence among the Lilithian Seven -- two Impudites can understand each other, and Alaemon's paranoia keeps him from mocking Andrealphus's captivity. On the other hand, Andrealphus can't stand Beleth and her constant destruction of the right conditions for lust to live -- and the two Princes are further tested by Lilith's command that both work to repel the Heavenly assault on the Nightmare side of the Marches, and the standing order for Beleth to grant her Dream Walking attunement to Andrealphus's Servitors as he sees fit. And the Impudite in Andrealphus can't stand Furfur's driving need to *destroy* humanity instead of using it. ALLIED: Rebekah (No one considers themselves allied to Andrealphus) ASSOCIATED: Alaemon (Alaemon and Rebekah are associated with Andrealphus) HOSTILE: Beleth, Furfur (Beleth and Furfur are hostile to Andrealphus) - -- Eric Alfred Burns - Habbalite of Belaboring the Point ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 07 Dec 2000 23:56:48 -0500 From: EDG Subject: Re: IN> Me head hurt. At 11:31 PM 12/7/00, you wrote: > Dunno if this has ever been brought up before, and it likely >has, but I just came back from Anime Club and my head is STILL >all !@#$ed up. Anyway: > In Nomine Evangelion. Discuss. O_O It has. Check out http://www.eyrie-productions.com/NXE/ for one take on it. (One which, TMK, didn't start on the list. It's still an interesting take on it.) Due to time and creativity constraints, I won't comment on my take... yet. :) - -EDG ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 8 Dec 2000 00:22:18 -0500 From: "Charles Phipps" Subject: IN> The Demon Prince of Corruption part 2 Demon Princes Hell upon the arrivel of the Demon Prince of Corruption has stepped up activity on Earth and a number of Princes have allowed the Demon Prince use of their tools with a extreme ammount of ease...perhaps in hopes of currying future favor or unwillingness to test his power. Angels are having a difficult time trying to cope with the demonic outpouring of reknewed vigor truth be told and the religeous like awe in the den of depression the Beast fosters is infectious like a disease. A number of Princes however like Haagenti and Belial are unwilling to commit to the New Prince's New World Order as of yet because of memories of Legion or their own personal biases. The Beast is aware of this though and it is possible that the Calabim Prince of Corruption is preparing to annhilate his foes first....a move that if it suceeds could vastly increase his power. Alameon: Secrets are something he barters for...and barters for continually. A good customer, I do not like his hunger for knowledge....he needs to learn to be content. "I will know everything because I desire it. You are a excellent prince of spies Alameon but realizes that ultimately you serve ME and that I will tear every last ill gotton thought from you if you keep things from me." Anderphalus: Lust is corrupting and desire is a powerful tool but I do not like this handsome new Prince very much...like Baal focused on his silly little war which would wipe out everything that I love? No.....I'll have a talk with him in a bit and see if I can't...persuade him to my point of view. "Lust is one of the more powerful words in Hell and while I cannot fault him for so infecting the human conciousness with the desire to debase what the Great Enemy intended for mankind...and enjoy it myself. I must take note of the fact that he forgets to focus on the other areas of his power....Lust for Power. Lust for Riches. Lust for sooo many things. I do not like that he is so slacking off." Asmodeus: I am wary of unleashing another Legion on the world. The word of Corruption is one that I gladly was taking well into my own but I must suggest I am extremely pleased with the tight way he runs his servitors and thus far I can find not a single trace or hint of redemption or going renegade upon them...most likely because he has slain every one of them with the slightest impulse than this "messiah" myth his servitors seem to perpetuate. "Asmodeus is the linchpin that keeps Hell from sliding off into the wallowing abysses of anarchy and chaos. Such tools are useful for shattering the false nightmarish dream that the Great enemy has fostered for us but it is ultimately a stable perverse dream that I seek...the world of no consequences....ah forgive me. Aid him in his endeavors but I shall look after my own in the meantime. I intend to play his game...and win it." Baal: Beezlebud was the childe of Lucifer and the most intelligent of all Princes, Legion was the strongest of our princes and evil incarnate, The Beast is the summation of their best attributes given life. His appearence is foretold in Revelations and at last I know that Armageddon is almost upon us....yes my patience is rewarded at last! "Baal is the summation of Michael to Lucifer's God. A proud position he is to remain the hallmark of Armageddon and his followers aided whenever possible in purging the scourge of the Lord of Mediocrity from the face of the Earth. Ultimately mankind needs only a push to realize that fighting for one another is unnatural...the true fighting is for oneself and because one chooses because it merely pleases...and only because it pleases." Beleth: The Nightmare of the Apcolypse is something that fills many but forgive me if I do not believe that he is the one yet who will bring it. "Keep torturing Beleth. You will find that eventually the entirety of the Earth will embrace your nightmares as bliss and then....I do not know what you will do." Belial: There is NO DESTINY BUT MY OWN! I watched Legion die and I watched Beezlebub die as Rome burned....I don't think this guy is nearly as tough as those two. If he tries to take my loyalty we'll see who burns. "I can crush your resolve and then your body with a thought. You are irrelevant." Fleurity: Corruption, now that's a halfway decent word. Drugs are powerful tools when you want to corrupt someone. They have their own uses aside from it truly but I wish he and my people could do some more business than we were, you know what I'm saying? "Mankind must embrace the corruption of itself knowingly and willingly...not in a induced stupor. They are useful tools of pleasure but he exceeds his word's reach." Fufur: Allright! The Anti-Christ! Now *THIS* IS HARDCORE! "A mindless slavering lunatic...and he chooses to be. Let him have his fun." Haagenti: Whaaaa? A Prince of Corruption? I just practically got done digesting what I took out of the last one! It's too big of a mouthful for any one demon and I say it stinks! Still best not *burp* off Lucifer until the time I have to eat him. "What a disgusting creature. A useful soldier and corruptor base too...but ultimately too stupid for lasting value. I'll squeeze what I can from him before crushing my brother Calabim like a bug." Kobal: It's a joke that Baal and Asmodeus are the first Superiors to welcome our new boy back. Like all Damien Thorne wannabees this boy believes he can start the Apoclypse all by himself...well Mesearch, Mariel, Legion, and Beezlebub thought the same and where areeeee they now? I'll watch and see what develops though until the joke comes to mind. "Our Lord's court jester is witty indeed and blessed with a keen mind but has fallen again into the base malaise that seems to plague Hell. He will learn to appreciate what he has or I fear we fill find someone to master the humor of the mad mind." Kronos: He is Corruption and thus the gateway to my realm. His fate is truly awesome and even now fills the halls of my archives with it's malignancy. Together we shall break the power of Destiny and at last lead the Symphony it's final fate...one even Lucifer might tremble at. "Without fate there is no end to explore. It is the first sign our Lord is working to bring about the end of the Great Enemies design...and is suceeding." Lilith: This *creature* is an abomination to everything Hell stands for. The number of my servitors he has destroyed is legion and worse is the fact those he has not love him more than they do me and seek not to gain geas freedom but serve him more! He openly courts me but I know he will turn this place into another Heaven....free of freedom. "Freedom is a word more powerful than she comprehends, it is not the freedom of self but freedom from GOD she embodies. The complete divorce of what is Holy, "Pure", and JUST from one's spirit. I want her to realize this and court her servitors in the meantime but if she would just take up the mantle by my side, this would not be necessary." Lucifer: His time has come. "Our Lord and Master alone divined the truth that the Father and Great Enemy was mad. Taking up the brave mantle of rebel and lord he has begun to set right the universe from the path of weakness, inferiority, suicide, and extinction that the Angelic Race...and eventually mortality was headed for. With every soul corruped and every piece of strength severed from God, we draw further to the time when darkness shall devour the light....and at last we shall be one." Malphas: A most wonderful ally in the enlightment of one's fellow man. He divides Hell by creating a powerful front and changing the way we operate, he also knowingly turns mortals constantly against each other, and encourages those in his service to do more so. He is not enlightened and likely never will be...sad...but useful until the time he no longer is. "It is our way to weed the helplessly corrupt from the hopelessly benign. I take unto me those who are too hendonistic and debased to be of service...and we live together in the paradise of Evil. Those who are benign though are lost and their forces must be stripped to nothingness. Malphas promotes the competition needed for such weeding out to occur....someday all will rejoice in the glories of horror but until that time, he promotes my word." Mammon: Can you hear that? That my friend is the sound of POWER. Power that was once believed to be slipping from my grasp but now is growing because Corruption once again is spreading it's dark tendril coils through humanity's conciousness again. He has yet to even acknowledge me yet but I intend to fully take advantage of this rise in evil as I used to with Beezlebub and make myself a king unto the Earth again. Yes! "There is nothing to say about Mammon." Nybbas: Lights, Camera, action! This guy has got it all! Photogenic, cordial, charismatic, and runs a tight bureau! His guys constantly are auditioning for camera space on every issue from tooth decay to World Hunger and YOU NEVER know which way they're going to side...I love this guy! "Education is a powerful tool and Nybbas is the great teacher among us. Those who do not take what they want, enjoy their lives, and ignore or eradicate the imperfect prosper in life. Violence, Sex purely out of Satiation, Arrogance, and Selfishness are all things that are hallmarks of my New Order. He makes them as pretty as they are in real life." Saminga: Corruption is useless to the dead because we all die anyway. Just one more victem to be....like Lucifer. "A useless fool who needs to pointed at the purveyors of destruction but the idea of forcing to destroy the good instead of corrupt them sickens me...it is the ultimate failure that marks thousands as matyrs...emobodiments that they're are those who go to death with the lie on their lips." Valefor: I steal alot of stuff from Hope to Grand Pianos but this guy...ehhh he just doesn't seem that interested in my extracurrocular activities. Eh no accounting for taste in Hell anyways. "If one is not strong enough to hold onto it....so be it. However theft is a concept that is far away from fruitation and he wields it like a knife when it should be used as a club....leaving maximum damage over a great area instead of a little here and alittle there..it annoys me." Vapula: The Beast has expressed a great deal of interest in a number of my designs and his aid in getting them...and the measures used to achieve them, are distinctly refreshing from the usual claptrap and difficulty I recieve from the other Princes. There is little else to him I find noteworthy other than he runs an impressively ordered group (of which some enforcement ideas I must copy). Hmmm do you like having five appendages? "Knowledge of the Symphony is a great tool and for the price of a few gadgets or weapons, any man can help bring about the Apcolypse or give up his soul. Heaven is ultimately too traditionalist and static to continue to keep the pace with the heat of inspiration that come from the coldness of extremes. Give Vapula roap and he will make Hell great." Comments? - -Charlemagne ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 7 Dec 2000 22:21:03 -0800 (PST) From: Maurice Lane Subject: IN> Neat Pyramid Article, Beth... ... especially when you combine it with this week's ST about the Empire State Building.* I must ponder this further. ;) Moe *Are you SURE that you don't want it to become canon? Just think of all the _fun_ we can all have, if it becomes canon... :) ===== In Nomine stuff: http://www.stormloader.com/users/moelane/innomine.html Last updated 11/25/00 (this is usually way out of date) __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! Shopping - Thousands of Stores. Millions of Products. http://shopping.yahoo.com/ ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 8 Dec 2000 02:29:19 -0400 From: Douglas Muir Subject: IN> A Tether to Fate This is a Tether that has appeared a couple of times IMC. I was thinking about the Djinn one day, you see, and how they're typically brooding, surly obsessives. And then it occurred to me that there's one sort of obsessive we're all familiar with... This was a big hit with my players; YMMV. Doug M. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 8 Dec 2000 02:37:18 -0400 From: Douglas Muir Subject: IN> Weird Wally's Gaming Dungeon Weird Wally's used to be an ordinary gaming store... a little grubbier than most, perhaps, but otherwise nothing special. And then the tradable card game craze came to town. For a year or two, the cards were everywhere... but they hit some places harder than others, and (by pure random chance) they hit Weird Wally's clientele very hard indeed. Local gamers still talk in hushed tones about that final marathon championship game in Wally's back room. It lasted for four days straight, as a dozen fanatic gamers put down more than $50,000 worth of cards. The losing players, high school and college students mostly, saw months of obsessive effort and thousands of dollars disappear in a single long weekend. Two tried to kill themselves afterwards; one succeeded, while the other suffered permanent brain damage. A boy who'd been smoking the occasional bit of dope turned to peddling drugs full time in an attempt to recoup his losses; a year later, he had a full-blown heroin addiction and a goodly dose of HIV. A girl who'd been planning to use her collection to pay for graduate school went back to waiting tables, while the player who lost the most money tried to drown his sorrows in tequila, and ran his car onto a sidewalk (he spent the next six months in jail, from which he would emerge with a new set of friends and a whole new direction in life). And the winner, Albert P. Gottfried? Well, Albert had won by careful and meticulous cheating. Elated, he'd headed for Vegas the next day, where he'd tried to use these same skills to parlay his winnings into real money. Unfortunately, in his very first game Albert found some people who were much better at detecting a cheat than even the most avid "Magic" player... and who took a very, very dim view of it. By the next morning, Albert was dead. And his car, with $50,000 of collectable trading cards still in the trunk, was rolled off of a cliff into one of the deeper corners of Lake Meade. It was right about that time that the Tether to Hell formed in the back room of Weird Wally's. It oscillated, at first, between the realms of Fate, Dark Humor, and The Game. But Asmodeus and Kronos quickly came to an arrangment, and the new Tether was stabilized in the Archives. Kobal, who found out about the whole thing just a little too late, was /not/ pleased... It's not a very big Tether; in LC terms, it has 3 Tether Forces, a flow of 1 Essence every 2 hours, and the Quiet feature. So Kronos hasn't Word-Bound a Seneschal to it. Instead, he's attuned a Djinn, one Sior by name, and told him to keep a sharp eye out for Servitors of Dark Humor. The store itself is small, dark, crowded, and dirty. Games are piled haphazardly, dust is thick everywhere, and the sole of your shoe sticks oddly to the floor. The back rooms are full of gamers more or less continuously, and no one ever seems to clean up the pizza boxes and pop cans. Sior, Djinn of Fate 4 Corporeal Strength 10 Agility 6 (4) 3 Ethereal Intel 5 Precision 7 4 Celestial Perception 7 Will 9 Role ("Weird Wally", game store owner - 3 Vessel - 4, ugly human male (charisma -2) Status - 1 Vessel - 1, rat Knowledge (gaming) - 6 Fighting - 3 Lying - 2 Large weapon (mace) - 5 Knowledge (cheating) - 4 Songs Corporeal Charm - 4 Numinous Corpus (barbs) - 4 Celestial Charm - 4 Corporeal Form - 2 Corporeal Shields - 4 Ethereal Form - 3 Celestial Shields - 3 Attunements: Djinn of Fate, Fated Future, Seneschal of the WWGD Tether Discords: Obese - 2 Pallid - 2 Sior is an old Djinn, and, until recently, not a particularly successful one. He'd picked up several levels of Discord over the centuries, without accomplishing much of note. But he did have one trait that made him a natural choice for the new Tether: he loved games. Board games, card games, RPGs... whatever, he was into them all, with the obsessive attention to detail so typical of his Band. As a result, Sior *loves* his new job, and will fight to protect it with the terrifying fury of a gamer protecting his jones. Sior appears as an extremely fat, badly dressed human male, of indeterminate age. Notable features include sideburns, a sour expression, and a really ugly purplish skin rash. During working hours (noon to ten pm weekdays, 10 am to 2 am weekends) he will always be found behind the counter, usually reading a back issue of _Strategy and Tactics_ or staring at a play-by-mail position in "Third Reich". At night, he'll be in the back room, where he invites a few select gamers in for late-night sessions. He has a small apartment upstairs, but he almost never goes up there except to (_very_ occasionally) change clothes and bathe. Since he's a gamer, no one has yet noticed that he never sleeps. Sior is surly, sarcastic, unpleasant and rude at all times; he's never in a hurry to serve a customer, or anyone else, and all purchases will be accompanied by an impromptu, gratis, review ("Oh, another piece of White Wolf crap. I see they still haven't found anyone who can write flavor text worth a damn.") Demons, even powerful ones, will get much the same treatment. Threatening Sior just makes him curl his lip, and nothing makes him move any faster than he wants to. His fellow Djinn have occasionally been moved to murmurs of admiration; Sior is _so_ surly, morose and uncaring, he's really a credit to his Band. The only exception to this is when he's into, really _into_ a game. Then he can get so distracted that he forgets to be rude. In extreme cases he may actually show enthusiasm ("Hey... new miniatures rules for OGRE!"). Sior's priorities are (1) protecting his Store, and (2) gaming as much as possible. That's pretty much it. He does do some other things -- run the Tether, help other Fate-demons, nudge humans towards their Fates when possible -- but only grudgingly and because he has to. Protecting the store, though... he CARES about protecting the store. At any given time, he's attuned to various games and items in the store and to the structure of the store itself. His Fate attunement means he knows if they're going to be threatened (opening a shrinkwrapped game counts as "destruction" in his world), and at least one would-be shoplifter has met a very ugly Fate indeed. Sior also occasionally attunes to gamers who attract his attention... either by annoying him, or by showing some evidence of having a really interesting Fate. He'll use his Fated Future attunement to investigate promising candidates. If he finds a good one, he may go out of his way to push the human towards his Fate... or maybe not; he doesn't really give a damn about humans and their Fates, he'd rather be playing "World in Flames" or "PanzerBlitz 2000". It's this sort of attitude that got him all that Discord in the first place, of course... Demons familiar with Sior and his past suspect that Kronos is using him as bait. Kobal is sure to attack this Tether sooner or later (it *should* have belonged to Dark Humor), and when he does, Sior is unlikely to survive the experience. If this theory is correct, then there's at least one much more powerful Servitor of Fate lurking around somewhere, waiting for Kobal to make his move. Sior, meanwhile, has been looking to his own defenses. He's equipped the Store with some startlingly good, state-of-the-art security systems. He's hung a big damn mace above the counter (STR 10 needed to swing, hits with a power of +6... everyone thinks it's a prop; it isn't). He makes regular patrols around the area in his rat vessel, looking for anything out of place (there are plenty of real rats around, so one more isn't going to get noticed). And he interrogates strangers ruthlessly; anyone who doesn't display a knowledge of gaming is going to be the target of his very intense attention. Sior can also make some use of his clients. He's got several "regulars" who are distinctly creepy, the sorts of people who could and would slice your brake line in return for a complete 1980-vintage set of Ral Partha "Traveller" miniatures. And he's organized several gamers into playing some very strange LARP games... the real purpose of which, of course, is to throw innocent humans into the path of any attacking Celestials. In a pinch, Sior might also be able to call on visiting demons. Although his Tether is small, its Quiet feature has made it popular, as demons can conduct all sorts of business there without causing Disturbance. At any given time, there'll be (d6-3) other demons in the store or nearby -- Faters most likely, but demons of the War and the Game are also possible. The actual tether-locus is in the back three rooms of the store. Two of the rooms are used for gamers, while the third, a storeroom, is used by the minions of Fate to ascend, descend, and conduct their private business. More than one diabolical scheme has been hatched by demons squatting on piles of "World of Darkness" supplements, with the rattle of dice coming faintly through the walls from the room next door. Local gamers haven't noticed anything particularly odd about Weird Wally or his store. I mean, a fat, ugly, surly guy running a dirty, creepy little store where weird people come and go... what's to notice? A few of the more perceptive ones, though, occasionally comment that time is *strange* in Wally's back rooms; you may be in there for what seems like an hour or two after dinner, and leave to find the sun rising. Weird Wally's can be worked into a campaign in a variety of ways. If the players are demons, it can be a base of operations, in which case the PCs are going to have to come to terms with the ill-tempered Seneschal. One way to do this is to engage him in gaming... but be careful; he cheats, and he's good at it. Angels, or PCs serving a Prince hostile to Fate (especially Kobal), might be assigned to attack the store. In this case, the GM might want to add a lurking Fate-demon or two to spice things up. A 12-Force Shedite with some nasty Songs, for instance, might be keeping watch around the gaming table, drifting from gamer to gamer unbeknownst to Sior or anyone else. Or some of the gamers may be Hellsworn; you *know* there are people who'd sell their soul in return for an unbeatable Drow fighter-mage-thief. Gamer-geek Hellsworn would be amusing, but they could also be quite dangerous. Doug M. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 08 Dec 2000 13:06:42 -0000 From: "nick sands" Subject: IN> Re: Beast Tremendous work on this one. Any chance of some Princely and Arch-Angelic oppinions??? When i read it i had a vision of The Beast and Khalid on a battle feild, khalid broken and bruised on the ground before the beast, and the beast leaning down and whispering "you fed me, your word fed mine, you caused me to be and now i will show you that hate is more potent than faith ever was" and then a box of fingers and feathers sent to heaven with a little note saying 'with love, beast'. Is the Beast gonna be put on to a web page? if so can i put a link to it? Also, to semi raise a dead topic, this guy gets my votes for the most squicky demon. Nick Sands www.angelfire.com/goth/psyber icq: 60645575 *when you kill a man, your a murderer, kill many and your a conquerer, kill them all and your a god* _____________________________________________________________________________________ Get more from the Web. FREE MSN Explorer download : http://explorer.msn.com ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 08 Dec 2000 10:18:32 -0500 From: Earl Wajenberg Subject: Re: IN> Adventure A very cute idea. I like rattling the water-tight Superior system. Only one wrinkle -- I don't think Vapula has been a Prince all that long. But maybe I'm confusing him with Nybbas. Anyway, Vap could have run this little experiment in his pre-royal days, perhaps. Earl ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 8 Dec 2000 10:35:41 -0500 (EST) From: Emily Dresner-Thornber Subject: Re: IN> Going to Ground -- Report on Aberrant Lilim Behavior > I guess the major unanswered question is whether the report is right > -- whether Lilith's Ethereal Force, contributed to the Lilim's > creation, possesses a longing to return to humanity. And if that says > anything about Lilith herself.... I'm not sure if it's Lilith's Ethereal Force, as much as it is just a force of Lilith's that has been tainted with some of her innate humanity. Of course, it might all be a ploy, and these Lilim have no interest in joining humanity at all -- they're interested in some more sinister plot orchestrated by the Lady of Shal-Mari herself. An interesting thought, however: if Lilim, through inaction, survive to a point where they owe only a minimal amount of geases to their Maker and only their Maker, and they do leave, they have lost access to all forward progress to their personal development. They will no longer be able to pick up songs, attunements, or even forces, since those come from, in the most part, Superiors. As a trade off for their ultimate "Freedom," they loose all ability to compete in the future. - -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Emily K. Dresner-Thornber -- http://www.nodonut.com/zenith ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 08 Dec 2000 10:57:47 -0500 From: Marc Bowden Subject: Re: IN> The Demon Prince of Corruption Oh My God. OhmyGodohmyGodohmyGod-! This is my absolute worst nightmare. Priceless! =) Marc. Just Marc. Elohite Angel of Salvation ("Mind if I just lie here for a minute?") ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 8 Dec 2000 12:11:16 -0500 From: Whistling in the Dark Subject: Re: IN> Going to Ground -- Report on Aberrant Lilim Behavior At 10:35 AM -0500 12/8/00, Emily Dresner-Thornber wrote: >An interesting thought, however: if Lilim, through inaction, >survive to a point where they owe only a minimal amount of geases >to their Maker and only their Maker, and they do leave, they >have lost access to all forward progress to their personal >development. They could continue to accrue skills, but compared to attunements and songs those are minor. You're right -- I think it's part of the myth of the Free Lilim. You could (theoretically) become Free or close to it, but the allure of additional power and prestige continues to drive you to seek new and more diverse powers. The one Free Lilim I wrote up (Geneva, at http://www.annotations.com/~innomine/characters/demons/geneva.html) has ten Geases listed ranging from Geas/1's to Geas/5's owed to everyone from Superiors to Sisters to an Angel (which she's not happy about). I'll admit I'm always nonplussed when there's a Lilim writeup that doesn't list Geases -- since what the Lilim owes is such an intrinsic part of the character as written, and I don't buy that most Lilim aren't kind of weighed down by the things. >As a trade off for their ultimate "Freedom," they loose all ability >to compete in the future. I suppose they could do specific contract work -- be recruited to do X, in exchange for Y. Kind of a "pay cash" sort of deal. Certainly, some Princes will be willing to trade abilities for things the Lilim brings to the table with her. Asmodeus or Alaemon might be willing to grant an Attunement or Song or the like in exchange for a particularly juicy secret or the location of an important Renegade, for example. Valefor might be willing to grant his attunement for information about something he really wants to steal. There could also be those who "unofficially" work for Princes -- still perfectly free, but they freelance in ways that promote the Prince's Word and get rewards based on that. Andrealphus or Nybbas might be willing to subsidize a 'Free' Lilim. Now, those who go to ground, as per the report, are stuck. No argument there. Assuming they don't have some kind of training clinic. (And one thing -- I allow characters to build their stats up through training/study/Dragonball Z stuff, and if they get enough for 4 points, I grant them the new Force 'natively.' So it's possible a Lilim gone to ground could slowly increase her Forces IMC... but would she *want* to? More Forces means it's easier to be heard, after all...) - -- Eric Alfred Burns - Habbalite of Belaboring the Point ------------------------------ End of in_nomine-digest V1 #1962 ******************************** The material here is (C) 2000 Steve Jackson Games, Incorporated. All rights reserved.