From owner-in_nomine-digest@lists.io.com Sat Apr 8 15:14:46 2000 Return-Path: Received: from lists.io.com (majordom@lists.io.com [199.170.88.15]) by pyramid.sjgames.com (8.8.7/8.8.7) with ESMTP id PAA09830 for ; Sat, 8 Apr 2000 15:14:46 -0500 Received: (from majordom@localhost) by lists.io.com (8.9.3/8.9.1a) id PAA28969 for in_nomine-digest-outgoing; Sat, 8 Apr 2000 15:13:11 -0500 Date: Sat, 8 Apr 2000 15:13:11 -0500 Message-Id: <200004082013.PAA28969@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 #1577 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, April 8 2000 Volume 01 : Number 1577 In this digest: IN> IN: Atomic bombs and Forces Re: IN> IN: Atomic bombs and Forces Re: IN> IN: Atomic bombs and Forces Re: IN> IN: Atomic bombs and Forces Re: IN> IN: Atomic bombs and Forces IN> Fwd: BOUNCE in_nomine-l@lists.io.com: Non-member submission from [Garrett Taylor ] IN> Fwd: Angel of the Dawn??? Fwd: Re: IN> Real weird speculation (Was: Newbie, or something likethat) Re: IN> IN: Atomic bombs and Forces Re: Character Sheets & Malakite Oaths (WAS: Re: IN> G:IN Release date& Funky Mushrooms 3) Re: IN> IN: Atomic bombs and Forces RE: IN> IN: Atomic bombs and Forces RE: IN> IN: Atomic bombs and Forces RE: IN> IN: Atomic bombs and Forces Re: IN> IN: Atomic bombs and Forces Re: IN> IN: Atomic bombs and Forces Re: IN> IN: Atomic bombs and Forces Re: IN> IN: Atomic bombs and Forces Re: IN> Fwd: Angel of the Dawn??? IN> Angel of the Dawn (part 2) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 07 Apr 2000 18:35:58 CDT From: "Wade Hursman" Subject: IN> IN: Atomic bombs and Forces I've been reading the Corporeal Player's Guide in depth lately, and have some questions concerning the "flavor text" concerning Johnny and the demon Rawmeat. Now, in the story, Rawmeat (a Calabim of Fire) recruits Johnny, and they end up building a small atomic bomb. Johnny rebels against his Fate, and chooses his Destiny instead. He uses the Corporeal Song of Shields to prevent the blast from obliterating most of the city. He and Rawmeat are withing the area of the blast however. It's implied that Johnny went to heaven and spoke briefly with Yves before going on to the Higher Heavens, or remaining as a Bodhittsava. So, here are my questions: 1: Can the Corporeal Song of Shields really contain a nuclear blast? What are the limits to this song, In Canon, anyway? 2: Since Johnny's soul made it to heaven, what about Rawmeat? Would a nuke have the potential to remove Forces from a celestial caught in it's blast? 3: If Rawmeat made it out of Trauma in any recognizable shape, he'd have gained at least 2 points of dissonance right? One for getting burned by his own scheme, and another for just getting burned? Or am I wrong on that? Wade Habbalite of Technology, Demon of Telemarketing ______________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 7 Apr 2000 20:11:39 -0400 From: Elizabeth McCoy Subject: Re: IN> IN: Atomic bombs and Forces At 6:35 PM -0500 4/7/00, Wade Hursman wrote: > So, here are my questions: > >1: Can the Corporeal Song of Shields really contain a nuclear blast? Yes. >What are the limits to this song, In Canon, anyway? It's a miracle; if it's a physical force, Corporeal Shields stops it. >2: Since Johnny's soul made it to heaven, what about Rawmeat? He wound up in Trauma. > Would a nuke >have the potential to remove Forces from a celestial caught in its blast? Only if the GM rules that nukes are part-celestial damage (in which case the non-corporeal damage would _not_ be stopped by Celestial Shields). >3: If Rawmeat made it out of Trauma in any recognizable shape, he'd have >gained at least 2 points of dissonance right? One for getting burned by his >own scheme, and another for just getting burned? Or am I wrong on that? I could see it either way, actually. He certainly has at least 1! - --Beth, catching up as she can, while taking care of her little preemie, the Impudite Princess of Cute, aka Iolanthe, _&_ running back & forth between the condo and the new house. Augh. Moving. (At least we got the phone, by virtue of explaining that we _have_ a preemie...) ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 07 Apr 2000 19:07:51 -0500 From: David Edelstein Subject: Re: IN> IN: Atomic bombs and Forces Wade Hursman wrote: > > I've been reading the Corporeal Player's Guide in depth lately, and have > some questions concerning the "flavor text" concerning Johnny and the demon > Rawmeat. Now, in the story, Rawmeat (a Calabim of Fire) recruits Johnny, > and they end up building a small atomic bomb. Actually, Rawmeat is a Calabite of Hardcore. Though Fire would work in the story too. > 1: Can the Corporeal Song of Shields really contain a nuclear blast? Yes. >>>What> are the limits to this song, In Canon, anyway? Theoretically, any physical force. Of course there are certain paradoxes that arise if you think about it too hard (gravity? photons? electromagnetics? sound?), but it's intended to be a miracle, not a force field that obeys the laws of physics. For game purposes, just assume it stops all Bad Stuff (or anything else actively trying to cross the barrier). > 2: Since Johnny's soul made it to heaven, what about Rawmeat? Would a nuke > have the potential to remove Forces from a celestial caught in it's blast? Not in canon; physical destruction has no effect on Forces. You have to do celestial damage. > 3: If Rawmeat made it out of Trauma in any recognizable shape, he'd have > gained at least 2 points of dissonance right? One for getting burned by his > own scheme, and another for just getting burned? Or am I wrong on that? IF he was a Calabite of Fire, getting obliterated by his own scheme would probably just count as 1 point of dissonance. - -David ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 07 Apr 2000 20:03:02 -0400 From: John Karakash Subject: Re: IN> IN: Atomic bombs and Forces Wade Hursman wrote: > 1: Can the Corporeal Song of Shields really contain a nuclear blast? What > are the limits to this song, In Canon, anyway? ANY purely corporeal force will be stopped by the Shield. Anything. Asteroid about to hit the Earth? You can get a short reprieve with the Shield. Falling into the Sun? Ditto. It's a miracle, don't sweat the details. =) [Hyper-atomic mega-laser that can literally wipe out entire planets? Boooooooring. You get the drift, though!] > > 2: Since Johnny's soul made it to heaven, what about Rawmeat? Would a nuke > have the potential to remove Forces from a celestial caught in it's blast? Nope. Corporeal damage doesn't affect the celestial side of a being. > > 3: If Rawmeat made it out of Trauma in any recognizable shape, he'd have > gained at least 2 points of dissonance right? One for getting burned by his > own scheme, and another for just getting burned? Or am I wrong on that? Rawmeat is a servitor of Furfur... I forget what his dissonance conditions are. - -- +============================================= + John Karakash - geek, writer, cook + Code mangler for EMC CLARiiON + mib2300 +============================================= ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 7 Apr 2000 20:03:51 -0400 From: Whistling in the Dark Subject: Re: IN> IN: Atomic bombs and Forces At 6:35 PM -0500 4/7/00, Wade Hursman wrote: > >1: Can the Corporeal Song of Shields really contain a nuclear blast? >What are the limits to this song, In Canon, anyway? Yes. It can. There are no limits. It's a miracle. On other hand, it works both ways, so someone is safe from anything outside the Shields, but everyone outside the Shields is safe from everything in the Shields. >2: Since Johnny's soul made it to heaven, what about Rawmeat? Would >a nuke have the potential to remove Forces from a celestial caught >in it's blast? Nope. *Really* fast corporeal death, but no celestial death. Unless Furfur turned around and Force stripped him while in Trauma for such a colossal failure. >3: If Rawmeat made it out of Trauma in any recognizable shape, he'd >have gained at least 2 points of dissonance right? One for getting >burned by his own scheme, and another for just getting burned? Or >am I wrong on that? According to the writer, Rawmeat was a Calabite of Hardcore, not Fire. So, no dissonance there. If he were a Calabite of Fire, he'd receive one point of dissonance, IMC. - -- Eric Alfred Burns It was then I felt my heart break like a in-sabre@annotations.com fragile Scooby Snack upon the harsh teeth of http://www.annotations.com Reality -- and it's been broken ever since. http://www.annotations.com/~journal --Johnny Bravo ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 7 Apr 2000 20:16:19 -0400 From: Elizabeth McCoy Subject: IN> Fwd: BOUNCE in_nomine-l@lists.io.com: Non-member submission from [Garrett Taylor ] >Subject: BOUNCE in_nomine-l@lists.io.com: Non-member submission from [Garrett Taylor ] >Date: Fri, 7 Apr 2000 10:33:49 -0400 >From: Garrett Taylor >Subject: Kate Monk's Onomastikon is back . . . sort of > >>From his usenet post it sounds like this guy had downloaded it a while ago and finally put it back up. > >I found the link in news:uk.culture.arts.writing. While deja.com re-invents itself as something else (with an 'e-commerce' in it, I think), I still find it to be a usefull news search engine. > > > >If you're like me and found it a neat resource, by all means point your favorite web siphon at it and suck down the site while it's still there. > >-Garrett Taylor >Macintosh Specialist / Perl Pounder / Web Wrangler / CGI Stooge >Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University Daytona Beach, FL USA >Information Technology - Office of Internet & Intranet Services >bigcheez@bellsouth.net http://ithdor.db.erau.edu/taylorg/in-nomine/ > >"If brute force doesn't work, you ain't using enough!" > ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 7 Apr 2000 20:15:01 -0400 From: Elizabeth McCoy Subject: IN> Fwd: Angel of the Dawn??? >From: "David Rodemaker" >Subject: Angel of the Dawn??? >Date: Fri, 7 Apr 2000 00:24:34 -0500 > >Ok, I need some help. I remember seeing a write-up of an Angel (Enos??) as >the Angel of the Dawn. As in the first Dawn onj the planet, first rush of >Essence from that source. Wnaders around now telling stories to other >Angels. Ofanute of Fire I think... > >I have searched through the archives and my stigmatism is now worse, does >anyone either have the write-up or point me at least at a month and year >that he was posted. Heck a couple of month window would make things >easier... > >Thanks, > >David > ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 7 Apr 2000 20:14:14 -0400 From: Elizabeth McCoy Subject: Fwd: Re: IN> Real weird speculation (Was: Newbie, or something likethat) >Subject: BOUNCE in_nomine-l@lists.io.com: Non-member submission from ["David Rodemaker" ] > >From: "David Rodemaker" >Subject: Re: IN> Real weird speculation (Was: Newbie, or something likethat) >Date: Thu, 6 Apr 2000 23:17:37 -0500 > >> IMC, I take a page from JRR Tolkein's Silmarilion, changing the slope of >> the earth, so that Eden is still there, but on a plane tangent to the >> earth's surface, [...] > > >Ohhhh, I like... But I do have a bit of a soft spot for the whole industrial >scene from Proph. 2. > >David > ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 7 Apr 2000 19:28:39 -0500 From: "Amo Nympham" Subject: Re: IN> IN: Atomic bombs and Forces - -Dennis H. Groome V "Amo Nympham" ICQ: 11340261 http://evm-gamers.freeservers.com "I think I woke up screaming, 'cause I had a dream that you still loved me" -Stabbing Westward, ACF - ----- Original Message ----- From: Wade Hursman To: Sent: Friday, April 07, 2000 6:35 PM Subject: IN> IN: Atomic bombs and Forces > Rawmeat. Now, in the story, Rawmeat (a Calabim of Fire) recruits just a minor note, Rawmeat is a Calabim of Hardcore. Destroying the tether will make Mr. Chicken (Haagenti) pissed at Belial. > 1: Can the Corporeal Song of Shields really contain a nuclear blast? What > are the limits to this song, In Canon, anyway? depends on the GM. due to the mystic nature of the Song, it could probably stop a nuclear blast, as long as it is within the radius. > 2: Since Johnny's soul made it to heaven, what about Rawmeat? Would a nuke > have the potential to remove Forces from a celestial caught in it's blast? nope, it's strictly Corporeal, so it'll just strip a vessel. now if it were come kind of Vapulan relic that caused Sould Hits... > 3: If Rawmeat made it out of Trauma in any recognizable shape, he'd have > gained at least 2 points of dissonance right? One for getting burned by his > own scheme, and another for just getting burned? Or am I wrong on that? If he were a Calabite of Fire, he would have taken one for getting burned by his own plans. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 6 Apr 2000 23:49:50 -0400 From: "Aaron Medwin" Subject: Re: Character Sheets & Malakite Oaths (WAS: Re: IN> G:IN Release date& Funky Mushrooms 3) From: Tafka J. > At 10:01 AM -0400 04/06/00, John Karakash wrote: > > Hey, if you're picking nits, why not have the standard > >oaths already printed on the sheet? =) > > But then they turn into gender neutral Oaths. > > "1) Suffer not an evil to live, when it is their choice. 2) Never > surrender to, or be captured by, the forces of Lucifer." > > They just sound a little too impersonal to me. An Oath should be said > with all conviction, in the _character's_ voice. Not as something said in > the third person. So they should read "I shall not suffer an evil to live, while it is my choice." and "I shall never surrender to, nor allow myself to be captured by the forces of Lucifer." Read it in a deep baritone voice, and it's very in-character. IMO, of course. > - Tafka J. > = tafkaj@thrifty.net > # Balseraph of Fate, Marquis of Delusions of Grandeur - -Aaron Medwin Malakite of Creation ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 07 Apr 2000 23:01:17 CDT From: "Wade Hursman" Subject: Re: IN> IN: Atomic bombs and Forces My apologies to David Edelstein for mis-stating who Rawmeat served. And my sincere thanks to everyone who answered those questions for me. Just one last question, however. 1: Since the Song of Shields >can< stop the force of a nuke going off, what about the ground inside the radius of the Song. It still takes the full brunt of the blast yes? So, somewhere in the city of Chicago (I think) there's a 3 foot circle of nuclear glass that's highly radioactive, right? ______________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 7 Apr 2000 21:16:58 -0700 From: "Robert Veneman-Hughes" Subject: RE: IN> IN: Atomic bombs and Forces > So, somewhere in the city of Chicago > (I think) > there's a 3 foot circle of nuclear glass that's highly > radioactive, right? Yeah, this raises some bigger questions. So you stop a nuke with CorpShields... What happens to the radiation and the material? I mean, anyone coming near that building is going to get a hefty dose of radiation poisoning... In addition, that radioactive material may seep into the water supply, bringing with it its own fun results... In addition, what sort of emanations does CorpShields stop? Would the USGS register (seismologically) a nuclear blast going off there because of vibrations? I understand this starts to get into the taboo area of miracle physics, but if the blast doesn't register, there's a good way to cause a lot of long-lasting damage to a major population source. Imagine a Samingan suicide-bomber with CorpShields and a nuke, detonating it in such a fashion as to contaminate the fishing industry off Cape Cod or the ground water round D.C... No one will know to evacuate or stop fishing until people start dying of radiation poisoning, and by then it will be too late... - -Robert ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 8 Apr 2000 00:34:20 -0400 From: Whistling in the Dark Subject: RE: IN> IN: Atomic bombs and Forces At 9:16 PM -0700 4/7/00, Robert Veneman-Hughes wrote: > > So, somewhere in the city of Chicago > > (I think) > > there's a 3 foot circle of nuclear glass that's highly > > radioactive, right? > >Yeah, this raises some bigger questions. So you stop a nuke with >CorpShields... What happens to the radiation and the material? I mean, >anyone coming near that building is going to get a hefty dose of radiation >poisoning... In addition, that radioactive material may seep into the water >supply, bringing with it its own fun results... In addition, what sort of >emanations does CorpShields stop? Would the USGS register (seismologically) >a nuclear blast going off there because of vibrations? I understand this >starts to get into the taboo area of miracle physics, but if the blast >doesn't register, there's a good way to cause a lot of long-lasting damage >to a major population source. It's fortunate Yves is aware of what happened, and could refer that to different damage control types, then. I expect the time between his meeting the newly dead lad and his meeting with the girlfriend was spent taking necessary steps to prevent ecological disaster. - -- Eric Alfred Burns It was then I felt my heart break like a in-sabre@annotations.com fragile Scooby Snack upon the harsh teeth of http://www.annotations.com Reality -- and it's been broken ever since. http://www.annotations.com/~journal --Johnny Bravo ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 7 Apr 2000 21:47:53 -0700 From: "Robert Veneman-Hughes" Subject: RE: IN> IN: Atomic bombs and Forces > It's fortunate Yves is aware of what happened, and could refer that > to different damage control types, then. I expect the time between > his meeting the newly dead lad and his meeting with the girlfriend > was spent taking necessary steps to prevent ecological disaster. Hey! We don't *know* it was Yves... It could have just been some kindly old man... You're making the same mistake so many PCs do... Whenever a kindly old man who has no business being where is or knowing what he does walks up, they assume its Yves and not just some crazy who got lucky with his guesses this time... - -Robert ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 08 Apr 2000 10:03:23 -0500 From: David Edelstein Subject: Re: IN> IN: Atomic bombs and Forces Robert Veneman-Hughes wrote: > Imagine a Samingan suicide-bomber with CorpShields and a nuke, detonating it > in such a fashion as to contaminate the fishing industry off Cape Cod or the > ground water round D.C... No one will know to evacuate or stop fishing until > people start dying of radiation poisoning, and by then it will be too > late... It would be much simpler and more efficient to just dump poison into the water supply than acquire a nuke and set it off inside a Song of Shields, destroying your vessel in the process. - -David ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 09 Apr 2000 01:29:19 +1000 From: Brent McCartney Subject: Re: IN> IN: Atomic bombs and Forces At 10:03 AM 8/04/00 -0500, you wrote: >Robert Veneman-Hughes wrote: > > Imagine a Samingan suicide-bomber with CorpShields and a nuke, > detonating it > > in such a fashion as to contaminate the fishing industry off Cape Cod > or the > > ground water round D.C... No one will know to evacuate or stop fishing > until > > people start dying of radiation poisoning, and by then it will be too > > late... > >It would be much simpler and more efficient to just dump poison into the >water supply than acquire a nuke and set it off inside a Song of >Shields, destroying your vessel in the process. > >-David Yeah, it would be much more efficient, but when people start to get sick people start to look for poisons and stuff like that. Imagine their puzzlement when they find out it is radiation and cannot find a concrete source, or even if they do find the source of radiation, how are they going to explain a ten metre diameter of glass that has phenomenal amounts of radiation pouring out of it. I think this idea has merit mainly for the confusion element that it could use. Brent ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 8 Apr 2000 13:45:45 -0400 From: Elizabeth McCoy Subject: Re: IN> IN: Atomic bombs and Forces At 11:01 PM -0500 4/7/00, Wade Hursman wrote: >1: Since the Song of Shields >can< stop the force of a nuke going off, what >about the ground inside the radius of the Song. It still takes the full >brunt of the blast yes? Yah, > So, somewhere in the city of Chicago (I think) >there's a 3 foot circle of nuclear glass that's highly radioactive, right? That'd be my ruling as GM, at a minimum... O;> - --Beth, catching up as she can, while taking care of her little preemie, the Impudite Princess of Cute, aka Iolanthe, _&_ running back & forth between the condo and the new house. Augh. Moving. (At least we got the phone, by virtue of explaining that we _have_ a preemie...) ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 08 Apr 2000 12:39:54 -0500 From: David Edelstein Subject: Re: IN> IN: Atomic bombs and Forces Brent McCartney wrote: > Yeah, it would be much more efficient, but when people start to get sick > people start to look for poisons and stuff like that. Imagine their > puzzlement when they find out it is radiation and cannot find a concrete > source, or even if they do find the source of radiation, how are they going > to explain a ten metre diameter of glass that has phenomenal amounts of > radiation pouring out of it. I think this idea has merit mainly for the > confusion element that it could use. First, there are still easier ways to irradiate a water supply than by setting off a nuke -- just acquire some raw plutonium. Secondly, I'm no nuclear physicist, but I'm not sure that ten meter glass sphere *would* carry that much radiation. I don't think the half-life from a single small nuclear blast is that long. - -David ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 8 Apr 2000 14:41:58 -0400 From: Douglas Muir Subject: Re: IN> Fwd: Angel of the Dawn??? >>Ok, I need some help. I remember seeing a write-up of an Angel (Enos??) as >>the Angel of the Dawn. As in the first Dawn onj the planet, first rush of >>Essence from that source. Wnaders around now telling stories to other >>Angels. Ofanute of Fire I think... David... here you go. It's longish, so I've chopped it into two posts. * * * * * What... the sunrise story? You want to hear that old thing again? Well... all right. Walk along with me, then. See, this was back near the Beginning. Not _at_ it, but near. "Darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God moved over the face of the waters". Yes. Then God said, "Let there be light --" I remember that, watching the sun turn on. No Fall yet, then. No Fallen. Lucifer and Gabriel were God's lamplighters. She moved across the void, across spaces too vast for even an angel to easily imagine, herding the stuff of creation into the first stars. And then he touched their cores, here, there, getting the tiniest pieces of being to fall into place just right to bring the light out. Sometimes he'd try to talk to us about it. Telling the little pieces where to go, I mean. Wild stuff, about tiny holes in the Symphony, and things that were and weren't there. Nobody was too interested, though... it was all math, hard math, and even the ones who liked that sort of thing got lost pretty quickly. Even Raphael, even Jean... well, we are all pretty young then. I guess we figured he could talk to Yves, or to God. But sometimes I think back, and I remember him, Lucifer I mean, talking about how, when things got small enough and fast enough, the truth just seemed to leak away. And someone asked him, no truth? None at all, like the Symphony going silent? And he got the strangest look on his face and said, no, there was always _some_ truth, but only if someone was there to make it be true... and then he said, maybe the truth is waiting to be made. Well, even then, that seemed like a funny thing for one of the Seraphim to be saying. I suppose people thought it was a joke or something. Yah, we had jokes back then. I think the first joke was very close to the start. I suppose some would say it was right *at* the -- Oh, the sunrise. Yes, yes. Well, the sun had been burning properly for a few million years -- you have to understand, time was a little different then, and a million years didn't seem very long at all -- funny how full the days seem now, like everything is moving faster. Or maybe we're the ones who... yes, well, anyhow Lucifer had retired for a bit to meditate on the Symphony, the way Seraphs always have and still do -- we figured he was making up a new Song or something, if we thought about it, which we didn't. So, then, Gabriel and David were hard at work shaping the new Earth. That was fun. Collisions, you know? And comets, lots of comets. Gabriel could be very picky about the comets. You'd think she wouldn't have anything to do with a comet, after all it's a big ball of ice basically, but, you know, it glows and it turns into gas and it moves really fast and it makes one great huge bang when it hits something, so I suppose it comes close enough. And they're full of complicated chemicals, too, and Gabriel was always quite the chemist. What, didn't you know that? Yah, just like Lucifer with the math. Anything reacting with anything is fire, right? Sure. That's why a lot of us were surprised by the whole business with the Koran. We were thinking that if she ever dictated anything, it would be, well, the periodic table or something like that. But maybe she's lost interest, over the years. That can happen. Marc used to juggle -- no, really; I guess he puts it into the markets now, or something. But he used to. Said it helped him relax. On the other hand, sometimes they keep their hand in, like Jordi with the beetles. They say that Jordi and Novalis were walking along one day, talking shop, when -- What? Oh, the sunrise, yes. Well, Gabriel and David had some sort of arrangement. She was going to turn things over to him once the Earth had reached a certain point. We figured it was once the crust had cooled completely, but she said no, there'd be big volcanoes for a long time, it was something else. Then she said she'd show us all when it was time. She was like that... always liked a good surprise, even then. She was a lot calmer then, though, yes. So a few thousand years later, some of us were running through the clouds, getting some good storms going... oh, did I tell you about the clouds? No? Well, you see, the Earth had a lot more air then, and it was hotter and denser and darker than today. Different mix than now, you know. Carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide, all sorts of things. And murky? Well, the big impacts kept kicking up dust, and then the volcanoes were constantly pumping out smoke and ash and all sorts of stuff. Most of the time you couldn't have seen your hand. I mean, if you'd been there and had a hand. Which nobody did, because there wasn't even life yet. Corporeal life, I mean. Well, things stayed that way, dusty and murky, no worse, black like the bottom of the ocean most of the time really, until the Earth cooled down below the boiling point of water. Or a bit longer... things got muggy, but it took years for the first rain to fall. But once it started, oh, well, it just went on and on. Most of the oceans were in the air, if you get what I mean, and they had to come out. It took years. And all that time, we were rushing around following Gabriel's orders, making more rain here, parting the clouds over there... oh, busy, busy. So Belial and I -- oh, Belial was just a baby then. But he already knew he didn't like anything about storms except the lightning part. He could get some really good lightning going, and he liked hitting rocks and blowing them into tiny pieces. He didn't like the rest of it, though, the winds and rain and clouds parts. Well, a lot of angels didn't; you had to really enjoy just rushing back and forth, year after year. It got tiring, too. You could use up a lot of essence, herding storms. I think that's why God made Janus -- Janus came just a little bit later, he wasn't around yet, quite. He showed us a thing or two when he did get here, though! Sure. Would you believe, back then none of us had ever seen a -- The sunrise? I'm getting to that. See, Belial and I are running through the clouds over a continent that was going to be Gondwanaland one day, when an angel comes rushing up to us and says that Gabriel wanted us. So we hurry off to meet her but she's not there. Only there's a beach, with about a hundred angels lined up along it, looking out over the ocean. Not with corporeal vision, of course -- we didn't have Vessels back then. Didn't need them. The corporeal and celestial were closer then. Or, mmmm, not exactly closer. But things were easier then. Anyway, no Vessels. So the angels are just looking out over the ocean, and Belial and I arrive and ask, well, what is it? And Gabriel's still not there, but Raphael -- oh, yes, Raphael was there, so we knew it wasn't a prank. Gabriel always had a great deal of respect for Raphael -- I think that's part of the reason... well, anyhow, Raphael says, Gabriel told us to look this way and we'll see something no angel has ever seen before. So we look too. And, do you know, the air was very clear at that hour. The rains had been washing stuff out of the atmosphere for years, and no volcanoes had erupted in the last few days, and there was a cold front moving across that particular continent just than, and, well, you could see a long way. All the way to the horizon, actually. We'd never seen that far before, from the ground. So we were thinking, is this the new thing? It's interesting, but not really... And then the sky began to change color. It turned grey on one end, out across the ocean. Then pink, and the clouds - -- there were still plenty of clouds around, things weren't *completely* clear, that wouldn't happen for a long time yet -- the clouds around that end of the sky started to turn pink too, and gold. And right about then we start to notice an undertone to the Symphony that we'd never heard before, a low sustained note, like - aaaaaaaaah. So we were thinking, say, its a volcano... a really big one, look how it's lighting up all the clouds. But then, I think we all realized at once, it was _silent_. A silent volcano? We were looking at each other, completely baffled, and then this red dome peeked over the horizon, with these long rays and curtains of light shooting up off of it, and all the clouds turned the most amazing colors. And that note in the Symphony? It started to swell, louder and stronger, and suddenly it was adding on all sorts of complicated harmonics, now it was a rising chord, like -- *Aaaaaaahhhh*. And we were just staring at it, dumbfounded, flabbergasted, and this dome rose higher and higher -- we thought it was some sort of shockwave, or maybe ball lightning -- the music getting louder -- and then someone, Raphael maybe, yells out, it's the sun! The sun! Who could imagine it? We'd seen the sun from above the world, sure, but up there it's, you know, separate. But here it was like a big red-gold circle, *rising*, moving up into the sky over the world, and filling the sky with all these impossible colors. Now, we'd all been busy running around building the Earth -- herding storms, tending volcanoes, getting the continents lined up properly -- and, you know, it was pretty tiring work. So you can imagine how we felt when, just as the sun lifted over the horizon, the new sound in the sympony peaked into a single, triumphant chord, for an instant filling the entire world -- **AAAAAAAHHHHH!!** -- and then, _whack_, suddenly each of us felt a jolt of pure delight at the center of our beings, and we realized that we had all gained Essence just from being there. See, that was the very first sunrise, ever! So we had no idea that it was going to work that way. But that was Gabriel's surprise. Pretty clever, hey? So that day she gave up her viceregency of the Earth, handed it over to David and Oannes, and we all had a big party right there on the beach, singing and dancing -- my, we had some parties in those days -- and then Gabriel got to work on her next job, which was preparing all the little fires that would go into the new life on Earth, the corporeal life, something called the Krebs cycle, and then we -- Hm? How did we gain Essence before that? Oh, well. Now that's a _really_ long story. Kind of interesting, though, actually. See, it all goes back to when -- What? Oh. Well. Next time, then. Have a nice trip. Doug M. ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 8 Apr 2000 16:09:24 -0400 From: Douglas Muir Subject: IN> Angel of the Dawn (part 2) Eos, Angel of the Dawn Ofanite of Gabriel(?) Str 4 Int 7 Per 8 Agil 8 Prec 5 Will 8 Eos, an Ofanite, is one of the oldest of the angelic host... and as far as anyone can tell, he is *the* oldest angel without a Word or a high rank in the Host. The angels' first generation has been thinned out considerably over the last five billion years. Few of those born before the Earth remain in this universe. Many have died; many more have ascended to the Higher Heavens. Those that remain are almost all very powerful -- archangels, demon princes, or very high ranking Servitors and Vassals. Except for Eos. This modest Ofanite has managed to live through almost the whole history of Creation without rising in rank... or acquiring a Word... or even developing more than ten measly Forces. No other angel his age has managed this. Why? Well, the best explanation seems to be that Eos just lacks ambition. He doesn't _want_ a Word... he has actually REFUSED Words. And while he's a loyal Servant of God, he's not all that interested in fighting the War, either. He likes wandering around, and looking at new things, and telling stories... and that's about it. Think of him as an eternal enlisted man. Eos is called "Angel of the Dawn", but this seems to be a title (a very old one) rather than a Word (although there's a minority opinion that says it *is* a Word, and it's the Word of *the* Dawn, the first one, and he serves his word just by telling that story over and over again... but no one knows for sure). So why doesn't his Superior whip him into shape? Well... it gets stranger. It's not clear that Eos _has_ a Superior, or if so, whom. It's the seniority thing again. The Superior system predated the Fall, but it wasn't really formalized until after Lucifer's rebellion. Eos spent most of his time in Gabriel's retinue, so it was assumed that he was one of hers... but while he's very respectful of Gabriel, he's never called on her, and he doesn't seem to feel bound to her service. Gabriel has neither claimed nor disowned him. Eos himself answers questions on the topic with a smile and a shrug; talkative about most things, this is one topic he simply doesn't discuss. This annoys Dominic intensely, of course. But as long as Eos doesn't break any of Heaven's rules otherwise, there's nothing to be done about it. Like an old soldier who has managed to finagle an indefinite leave, Eos seems very happy with the way things are. There are several other odd things about Eos. First, he _doesn't hurry_. He's always moving, yes, but *slowly*. He strolls, he saunters, he puts his hands in his pockets and he smells the roses. Nobody's quite sure what to make of this. An ordinary Ofanite would be exploding with Dissonance if he lived like that, but Eos seems to be just fine. He shows no signs of Dissonance, Discord, or even dissatisfaction. Some think that he might actually be a "different model" of Ofanite... an earlier, slower version; Wheels 1.0, as it were. This gains support from the fact that Eos' appearance, in celestial form, is noticeably different from his brethren... he's somewhat bigger than most of Ofanim, but also redder and dimmer. Others believe that it's a side effect of his being so old (Jean said this once, and added some stuff about "black body radiation" and "the Hubble Constant" that no one could understand). Yet another theory is that he *is* moving fast, on his own time scale; he's just so old that time is different for him. Nobody knows for sure. Second, Eos remembers stuff going (almost) all the way back to the Beginning. It's true that angels have limited memories; Eos has _forgotten_ whole geological eras ("Don't ask me anything about the Mesozoic, folks"). But, as is often the case with the elderly, he remembers episodes from his youth very clearly. If you can sit still through his rambling and discursion, Eos is a treasure trove of history, gossip and trivia from the earliest days of creation. Third, Eos seems to have picked up some tricks in billions of years of existence. Despite his limited Forces, he can use *all* the Songs listed in the IN handbook (plus quite a few more that aren't). And while he seems to lack any Distinctions or Attunements, he's singularly hard to kill. Whether because of his great age, or for some other reason, Eos doesn't suffer Trauma... and he seems to have an unlimited supply of Vessels. Kill him off, and he can pop up the very next day, not a hair out of place. No one quite knows how he does this, and Eos isn't telling. Eos is on good, almost chummy terms with several of his contemporaries. He's friendly with Marc, with Jordi, and -- oddly enough -- with Michael. He's also occasionally seen chatting with Eli ("Oh, yeah, Eos. Him and me, we go back, man."). Somewhat more disturbing is the suggestion that Eos has kept in touch with some of his old companions on the other side... though Dominic has never been able to prove this. Since Eos either has no Superior, or is on permanent leave from Gabriel, he has no fixed assignment. This suits him fine; he wanders around through Heaven and Earth, seeing the sights and telling his rambling stories to anyone who'll listen. This aimlessness is annoying to Dominic and some of the other, more focussed angels... after all, if everyone behaved like that, everything would go straight to Hell. But most angels are tolerant of Eos, and quite a few are very fond of him. If Eos is encountered sauntering through Heaven, he'll always be friendly and willing to chat. He won't be drawn into any sort of job, though (unless directly requested by an Archangel, and maybe not even then). Like most old soldiers, he has learned never to volunteer. If encountered on Earth, Eos appears as a rather rumpled-looking man in late middle age. Again, he'll be cheerful and talkative but rarely more than minimally helpful. If faced with a direct and immediate appeal ("We NEED help, right now, or the demons are going to brutally murder an entire village of innocents"), he might perhaps pitch in, but no one should ever count on this; Eos is always capable of smiling, shrugging, and strolling on. Eos doesn't seem to care for combat much. In a pinch, though, he's a surprisingly shrewd and dangerous opponent. Not only does he have a huge arsenal of Songs, but he's quite cunning; he seems to be able to guess just how to confuse and divide demonic opponents. More than one demon has made the mistake of confusing great age with weakness, and been sent screaming back to Hell for his error. Eos is a pleasant old fellow, but he hasn't survived this long on charm and old stories. Eos is one of the very few angels to spend much time in the empty cathedrals of the Fallen. PCs could interact with Eos in a wide variety of ways. Angels might want to talk to him if they need information about the old days. Or, they might be asked to investigate him... he *is* a somewhat mysterious character. Or Dominic might finally lose patience and order Eos brought in for examination. Demons, too, might seek out Eos for information. He'll be hostile to most demons, but it might be possible to sweet-talk him around... and a Prince might want a message delivered through him, or even to him ("Baal says he's claiming the bet he won on Pangaia, back in the Permian"). Alternately, two Princes might clash over the old angel: Vapula wants to capture him and take him apart, but some other Prince seems to be sentimentally attached to an old friend, and has sent someone to help him... Or Saminga might decide that no one should be allowed to cheat Death for that long. But Eos doesn't have to be a plot seed. He can serve just as well wandering in and out of campaigns, a minor mystery, reminding the PCs that the universe is bigger and older and stranger than they usually imagine. Doug M. ------------------------------ End of in_nomine-digest V1 #1577 ******************************** The material here is (C) 2000 Steve Jackson Games, Incorporated. All rights reserved.