From owner-in_nomine-digest@lists.io.com Mon Aug 28 13:53:34 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 NAA14365 for ; Mon, 28 Aug 2000 13:53:33 -0500 Received: (from majordom@localhost) by lists.io.com (8.9.3/8.9.1a) id NAA07502 for in_nomine-digest-outgoing; Mon, 28 Aug 2000 13:51:51 -0500 Date: Mon, 28 Aug 2000 13:51:51 -0500 Message-Id: <200008281851.NAA07502@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 #1795 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 Monday, August 28 2000 Volume 01 : Number 1795 In this digest: IN> New discord: Celestial Degeneration IN> Degeneration addendum Re: IN> Useful or Bizarre? You make the call... Re: IN> New discord: Celestial Degeneration IN> The Demon of Pseudo Science Re: IN> The Demon of Pseudo Science IN> Demon of Pseudo Science part II Re: IN> Website Update (With Never Before Seen Content) IN> Malakim vows IN> Magog for 2000#! Re: IN> Angel of Beer Re: IN> Minor Choir Contest III: Asmodeus! IN> It's only a model... Re: IN> Magog for 2000#! Re: IN> It's only a model... IN> Fwd: RE: in_nomine-digest V1 #1794 Re: IN> It's only a model... Re: IN> Minor Choir Contest III: Asmodeus! IN> Arthurian In Nomine (was: It's...) Re: IN> Arthurian In Nomine (was: It's...) Re: IN> Arthurian In Nomine (was: It's...) IN>The Demon of Esthetics ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 28 Aug 2000 22:35:24 +0930 From: Gnezda Subject: IN> New discord: Celestial Degeneration Howdy folks! :) Okay, I had an idea for a new type of discord restricted *exclusively* to malakim, just want all your opinions on it. It's the celestial equivelant of cancer. I had the idea last night and began writing it up but, after watching Phenomenon this morning, I changed it a little. Thinking of angels and their personalities as being almost like self-aware, learning computers (since they keep talking of them as being 'constructed' and with 'pre-programmed personalities', ie by Choir) helps understand how I came to create this disability. Note: Since this is a *very* dangerous discord in the long term, it is crucial that you discuss it first with the GM, as this *will* kill the PC if the campaign lasts long enough, even if it doesn't seem that dangerous in the lower levels. Also, logically a character with this would be forbidden from getting any other discord, but that's open to players and GMs. If, for some reason, the player really wants to be 'Merciful' or something as well, then fine. Okay, it's quite a long post, but here it is: ************************************************************************* CELESTIAL DEGENERATION 'Celestial Degeneration (for lack of a better word), found only among Malakim, is an incredibly rare and almost totally unheard of illness with only about half a dozen known cases reported, but is nevertheless terrifying to any angels who know about it. When the Malakite receives enough dissonance to make other angels fall, an 'Override system' of sorts kicks in, preventing them from falling by subtly re-writing minor aspects of their personality either giving them justification as to why they almost fell, or adding in further blocks to falling. This manifests as Discord. However, malakim with Celestial Degenration have a fault in their Override system and instead of attempting to correct the problem, it causes the problem Forces to attack themselves in an attempt to remove the problem: thus attacking the malakite's Celestial Forces, destroying the angel's very soul. Eventually the angel's soul *will* die, given enough time. 'All attempts to cure it in the past have resulted in failures. Angels who have gained Celestial Forces through their own experience (ie spent 10XP to gain one celestial force) have found that the condition has rapidly spread to those new forces as well. Conceivably, it would be possible to cure the celestial of the disease by purging all contaminated Forces (ie *all* Celestial Forces), then replacing them with brand new ones, but this would result in the angel's soul being purged anyway. The end result would be an angel who may be physically the same, but with a brand new soul (and personality), which is hardly a cure; it's no different to stripping a servitor of all his Forces, then using those Forces to create a new servitor. 'There appears to be only two symptoms of Celestial Degeneration, making it very difficult to identify in the early stages. The first symptom is a terrible migraine, getting progressively more painful and frequent as the condition worsens, especially when doing something dissonant. The second symptom is more of a sideline issue: malakim who have acquired Celestial Degeneration appear to have greatly enhanced abilities in the Marches and greater intelligence than other angels, so malakim with Celestial Degeneration in its final stages seem very weak celestially, but are nigh unbeatable in the Marches. Why this should be the case no-one knows, and it is little consolation to the soon to be soul-dead.' - --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- GAME MECHANICS Celestial Degeneration has six levels and six stages. It always begins at stage 1/ level 1 and as soon as the level progresses beyond level 6 it goes up a stage and the level goes back to 1. ie CD 1/1, 1/2, 1/3, 1/4, 1/5, 1/6, 2/1, etc. There are six stages as well. Effectively, there are 36 different degrees. The level simply determines how soon the illness will worsen and, unless stated otherwise, all references are made to the illness' *stage* (referred to by $ in the document), not level (unlike most other discords). It can be purchased as a discord at character creation (and isn't perceived by *anyone* who can perceive discord, as it isn't strictly a discord in itself). It provides the standard 3 character points per *level* (not stage). So, Celestial Degeneration at stage 1, level 3 would provide 9 character points. It may seem quite cheap compared to other discords considering its effects aren't that bad initially but, considering that everyone who has taken it has a *definite* death sentence, it's not that cheap. MIGRAINES The character will suffer from $ migraines per adventure, occurring whenever the GM decides, although they should be random (not always timed specifically in major fights for example... :)). Make a Will roll minus $ to carry on normally. If failed, the character will receive a penalty equal to $ for all agility, precision and concentration based rolls, including songs. Effectively subtract $ from the target number, subtract $ from a successful check digit, but *add* $ to a failed check digit (so make sure you never have migraines while setting the dynamite! :)). The effects last for the CD of the failed Will roll plus $ minutes. UNCONSCIOUSNESS If the character fails the roll, there is a chance he may collapse or faint from the pain, effectively preventing him from doing any actions whatsoever (except for very slow crawling perhaps) for the duration of the migraine. The chance of unconsciousness is equal to the stage of the ability (so, at stage 1 the CD of a failed roll must be a 6, at level 2 it must be a 5 or 6, level 4 is a 4, 5 or 6, etc). This may have additional effects determined by the GM (such as falling over the edge of a ledge, dropping valuable items, etc). NOTICING ITS EFFECTS The GM should let the player know when he has to make a roll, but conceal it from the other players unless they've been specifically informed (it adds to the RP in my opinion to have a character silently fighting the illness for a while until he suffers from a massive migraine one adventure... :)). All characters within $ yards make a perception roll at -3 (but plus $) to detect it. Stage 1 would be a -2 penalty to notice, while stage 6 would be a +3 bonus to notice). DEGENERATION The player may convert dissonance to discord as normal, but malakim with Celestial Degeneration do not go through the usual discord programming, rather instead of getting discord the disease ravages their soul. For this reason, unless the player and GM have a good reason for it, any time the player gains discord (except for *maybe* when they 'die' in the Marches and get ethereal discord, but that's open for debate) the condition will worsen by one level. The condition will be affected in the following situations: 1) When making a migraine Will roll, a result of 666 will cause the illness to gain a level. (if the player rolls 111 I had nothing unusual happen, but the GM *may* allow it to go down a level if he's really kind, or perhaps make a second will roll and, if passed, it gets to go down one level, so it will worsen on average, but not worsen too quickly). 2) If the malakite passes a dissonance/falling roll nothing unusual happens. 3) A 111 on a dissonance/falling roll will always reduce the level by 1. 4) A failed dissonance/falling roll will cause it to gain a level. 5) A 666 on a dissonance/falling roll will cause it to progress 2 levels (one for failing, one for getting an intervention). 6) OPTIONAL: However, if the character only possessed a single point of dissonance, then a 666 gains one level and a failed roll also only gains one level. (this means if the character's forced into a dissonant situation, it won't be so bad) These rules can be changed, depending upon how quickly the GM wants the condition to worsen. If a character has it at stage 6 in the first adventure, you should probably consider slowing its advance down... :) Note also that, since dissonance rolls cause it to potentially worsen (okay, it can improve but that's highly unlikely), it's in the characters best interests to avoid ever getting into that situation. Also note that, while the chance of Divine Interventions *can* cause the disease to improve (and, yes, if you're at level 1 in any stage, it *does* allow you to reduce it to the lower stage, but at level 6, so stage 3/level 1 will go to stage 2/level 6) the disease will *never* improve beyond stage 1/level 1. You cannot lose the illness by getting 111 at 1/1. DAMAGE Every time Celestial Degeneration goes to the next stage, make a normal will roll (no penalties). If passed, all's fine. If failed, then the character loses a celestial force. If the character loses a celestial force make a further will roll. If failed nothing happens, if passed the character gains an ethereal force. (so you can never gain more ethereal forces than you've lost in celestial forces). This *does* allow a character to go beyond 6 Ethereal Forces. Note a 111 and 666 have no additional effects. If it ever improves by a stage, you may choose to add that CF and remove that EF, but it's probably easier on the memory if you just leave it the way it is (perhaps don't make the character roll again to retain the CF if it improves one stage then worsens one stage, otherwise they could lose 2 CFs *very* fast). CURE So far there is *no* known cure, aside from what I mentioned in the description. But the GM should feel free to always keep that option open if it'll make RPing better. Perhaps even write an adventure to gain a cure, if you feel it warranted, but *always* retain *some* hope, but also make sure the player knows not to count on it (Everyone knows there's no cure for cancer now, but we're always hoping, 'just in case'; have this the same). OUTCOME No-one knows what happens to celestials who lose all their celestial forces by this disease. Some believe it's the same as any other celestial who loses their CFs (ie become a remnant or else vanish), while others believe that the angel re-appears in the Marches (pointing to the Ethereal enhancements as proof), but most believe that you simply vanish from existence, soul-dead, never to be seen again. *************************************************************************** So, what do y'all think? It's really long, I know, and I'm sorry. :) Milan ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 28 Aug 2000 22:44:24 +0930 From: Gnezda Subject: IN> Degeneration addendum Oh yeah, if the condition ever increases a level/stage when it's already at stage 6, level 6, the character will die, in the most RP-inspiring way possible... :) ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 28 Aug 2000 11:01:13 EDT From: MarkDEddy@aol.com Subject: Re: IN> Useful or Bizarre? You make the call... In a message dated 8/27/00 12:16:15 AM, moelane_1999@yahoo.com writes: >Date: Sat, 26 Aug 2000 17:08:49 EDT From: MarkDEddy@aol.com >In a message dated 8/26/00 6:25:56 PM, >moelane_1999@yahoo.com writes: >>>This got inspired by a throwaway comment in >>>.innomine. Make of it what you will. :) >>>As always, feedback is a painfully loud need. :) >> >>pppbhhh.... :P Aes Sedai in In Nomine? That sounds >>vile. >>Mark > >Huh? > >Sorry, Mark. That reference went completely over my >head. > >:) > >Moe > The smiley makes me suspicious. Have your read/heard about the _Wheel_of_Time_ series of novels by Robert Jordan? If not, there is a group of (exclusively) female magic users called Aes Sedai, which bond men to them as Warders. The parallel to the Lilim/Malakite bond you proposed was striking. Mark ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 28 Aug 2000 09:39:40 -0600 From: Tim Groth Subject: Re: IN> New discord: Celestial Degeneration Interesting. I dunno if I like treating Celestial diseases as Discord, but the write up was pretty good. My biggest problem was not letting a Divine Intervention remove it. It automatically makes the campaign rather dark if the Almighty (or even the Most Mighty) can't cure the disease. Its sparked some ideas, like Vapula finding out about it and doing some tests like transplanting infected Forces and attempting to infect other typs of Forces. And if he accidently created a cure during his sick experements, well good luck getting it out of his private lab. Timothy, Angel of Rambling Ofanite of Creation ArchRival of Mathus ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 28 Aug 2000 13:01:26 -0400 From: "Charles Phipps" Subject: IN> The Demon of Pseudo Science Something I thought up while listening to my Biology teacher rattle on today in college.... Physter Balseraph Baron of Gremlins The Demon of Pseudo Science Corporeal Forces- 2 Strength 4 Agility 4 Ethereal Forces- 5 Intelligence 8 Precision 12 Celestial Forces- 6 Willpower 12 Perception 12 Vessel: Human 1/ (overweight elderly gentleman) Role: Scientist (4/) Songs: Charm (Ethereal 6/), Harmony (Ethereal 5/), Healing (Corporeal 3/, Celestial 3/) Possesion (4/), Tongues (Corporeal 4/) Skills: Artistry (Scientiffic Gobblydegook 4/), Chemistry (4/), Biology (3/), Computer Operation (2/), Dodge (5/), Fast Talking (6/), Genetics (5/), Medicine (3/), Physics (2/), Savoir Faire (4/), Sociology (5/) Artifacts: Penmanship Facilitator (Ethereal 4/), 3-6 Lecturer Pills (Ethereal 1/) Attunements: Balseraph of Vapula, Baron of Gremlins, Invention, Lilim of Vapula Subliminal, Polarize Word Forces: 10-13 If ever there was a demon who had an exaggerated sense of his own self importance it would be Physter. The Demon of Pseudo Science, if talked to who on any given day of the week, will take credit for the Holocost, Communism, Evolution (even though it's true), and the declining test scores of any given minority/majority in the world. Thankfully few demons take him seriously or word would have been passed onto Saminga that someone other than him was responsible for the world's largest incidents of death/murder and Physter would become an untimely splatter on Hell's surface. Physter's word actually means "scientiffic facts used to come to wrong conclusions" which is admittadly a pretty important force in the world today but one that Physter unfortunately does not possess the genius to implement properly. Truth be told he's not even that smart of a demon. Starting as a snake-oil, medicinal remedy, and indian secret peddler in the 18th century, Physter admittadly possesed the ability to convince an audience that for once what they were buying wasn't out and out poisoneous (which it often was). During the Enlightment Vapula inserted the Balseraph (who was one of many simarilty talented canidates but got the luck of the draw) into the upper crust scientiffic men's clubs of Europe during the Enlightment. Physter's mission was to sow that technology was the future of the world and not outdated ethical philosophical structures. Physter managed through his insestant babbling and incredible will (more properly the inability to see himself as wrong) to spread massive ammounts of mis-quoted information, inflated egoes about any mischellenious facts, and a general consensus that everyone he was meeting with was superior to whoever else existed outside the room. When a few years later some of those whom he talked to went on to point out women's brains were smaller then men, african/chinese/irish born descent had innately lesser scholastic ability, and if rumors are to believe-the poor should be sterilized. Vapula took notice and sponsored him for the word of "Advanced Sociology." Lucifer had a better word for him. Since then Physter has more or less remained on Earth attending lectures, sponsoring enquiring young minds (who he inevitably ruins), and generally making a nusiance of himself to anyone who wants to advance science based on pratical common sense (and those who use amazingly high tech quantifications that he debunks). His respect in scientiffic fields is not exactly much higher truth be told than in Hell but he's usually included because he represents what many forward thinking scientists term "the opposition". This is sad because by their attempts to debunk of a nonsense sprouting mortal, they unknowingly expose the weak willed to having their brains rewritten with sexist, racist, often nonsensical tripe by a supernaturally endowed hypnotist. Physter if he ever stayed on one prodject for more than once (his work on making sin a purely genetic concern was disturbingly promising) might prove extremely dangerous but in the meantime he's still on the low totem pole of hits for Heaven. - -Charlemagne ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 28 Aug 2000 13:21:43 -0500 From: Earl Wajenberg Subject: Re: IN> The Demon of Pseudo Science Cute. One of the better Vapulan servitors I've seen. As a Balseraph, doesn't Physter have to *believe* the various forms of nonsense he peddles, at least while he peddles them? How about a Habbalite, instead, inflicting gullibility on his victims? By the way, why did you name him after sperm whales (genus name Physter)? Earl ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 28 Aug 2000 13:15:29 -0400 From: "Charles Phipps" Subject: IN> Demon of Pseudo Science part II *whoops* Forgot these Physter's own private attunement: 2+2=5 This aptly named servitor attunement is something which enchants any given paper or object to *appear* to work for a number of days equal to the essence which is spent upon it (and can be rechaged by anyone who is present for it). People do not necessarily have to believe that the object in question is correct depending on their beliefs (after all people still don't believe in God) but they cannot for the time being find anything which will prove it positively inncorrect. Note that this does not necessarily have to work (and outlandish effects will require an appropriate song) but it allows in small communities and for brief periods of time for someone to be a star. ST's should be appropriately cautious on how the human mind will rationalize and what will give bonuses to resistance rolls (convincing an audience via mathmatics the world is flat is more difficult than comvincing them that the ozone layer is fine for instance while easier than convincing someone that the world is actually only one day old and we're all jelly fish men hypnotized by Luke Skywalker) whatever they have been convinced of but recognize the human brain has been proven remarkably versatile by this point in our history. Rites: The Demon of Pseudo Science is a remarkably selfish demon and his two rites he gladly gives to anyone who is willing to butter up his ego for a few minutes. * Convince someone in the face of overwhelming reason that you are correct * "Prove" something previously thought innacurate (and is). - -Charlemagne ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 28 Aug 2000 10:29:34 +0000 From: Charles E Smith Subject: Re: IN> Website Update (With Never Before Seen Content) VERY well done... I can't see shaking up my campaign enough to use him, but I liked him a lot.<<< LOL! I agree! :) Great job there. Galahad's opinions on some of the other Archangels cracked me up. One question though, what are his opinions on Archangels like Christopher, Litheroy, and Zadkiel? :) ________________________________________________________________ YOU'RE PAYING TOO MUCH FOR THE INTERNET! Juno now offers FREE Internet Access! Try it today - there's no risk! For your FREE software, visit: http://dl.www.juno.com/get/tagj. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 28 Aug 2000 13:26:48 -0400 From: "Charles Phipps" Subject: IN> Malakim vows I think this is basically a Malakim's call truly. and explains that they are not nearly as uniform as portrayed 1:) A Malakim of Laurence, Khalid, Michael, and Dominic These Archangels view Demons as innately evil creatures by their very existence and affrontcy to God. Their "Evil" is in their disruption of the symphony by their very exisence. It falls to reason thus that any of these fours's Malakim will view the only type of good demon is a dead one. After all demons are nothing more than discordant angels and not a species but a rebelling group within a species much like Nazis are to humanity. 2:) A Malakim of David, Jean, Marc, Jordi, Zadkiel, and Christopher These are Angels that personally believe IMHO that demons and humans are basically races that are to be judged on their actions. While most demons you'll find on Earth are corrupting humanity and guilty of crimes, if a renegade Impudite is sitting down having a girlfriend and hoping to lie low. It's relatively low priority to these people. Humans who are guilty of mass murder, rape, drug dealing, etc are in these archangel's opinion every bit as guilty and dangerous as a demon working to forward these things and should be dealt with instead. A Malakim may ignore a demon not seeking redemption but harming none in hopes he may turn from that way. 3:) A Malakim of Blandine, Novalis, Yves, and Litheroy These folk are the types that tend to stick with the fact that demons are not evil (for the most part) but ignorant, deluded, or despairing. These Malakim while they may turn to ripping your soul forces from your body if they believe their no other alternative more or less view suffering not an evil to live as more working to end the root cause of it and bringing about redemption (there are exceptions to all rules but this holds constant in a general way). They may ignore completely human evils seeing demons as the root cause. Trauma is the most severe punishment as many Malakim see "Suffering not an evil to live" (especially among Blandine) as applying specifically to Earth. Thus as usual it depends greatly on your own perspective. - -Obi Wan Kenobi, Balseraph of Kronos. - -Charlemagne ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 28 Aug 2000 13:34:46 -0400 From: "Charles Phipps" Subject: IN> Magog for 2000#! And replace Eli for Bush and we have a REAALLLY good election. Seriously Magog is one of my favorite Superiors and I hope we see more of him in IN cannon because he's so utterly unrepentadly high contrast. He's indescribably alien and horrendously maleveolent (he'd fit right in with Cthulhu and company). He's been imprisoned for two thousand or so years so when he emerges he'll have to cope with some infamilarity with the modern world... (thus in a humorous campaign you can have fun with new servitors of cruelty explaining to their lord to arrange "the Murder, Rape, Pillage, Loot, Burn" approach to subdoing New York is not exactly feasible right now) Also he proves even more trouble for Gabrielle as she must choose exactly who she hates more...Belial who is the anthesis of her word or the very opposition to it incarnated. Not to mention Magog's servitude to David which is so far the biggest evidence that a Malakim will and can be corrupted thus far. VOTE MAGOG! - -Charlemagne ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 28 Aug 2000 10:44:47 -0700 (PDT) From: Maurice Lane Subject: Re: IN> Angel of Beer Date: Sun, 27 Aug 2000 11:00:22 -0600 From: shadowcat Subject: Re: IN> Angel of Beer >Greetings: > Have you heard the song "Drunken Angel" by >Michael Longcore / Moonwolf? Nope. That one was inspired by quite a bit of verrry good microbrew. >Thanks. It gives me an idea for a underling of >his. Good. That's why I post this stuff, after all. be sure to share when he's all done. :) Moe ===== In Nomine stuff: http://www.stormloader.com/users/moelane/innomine.html Everything else (not that there is, right now): http://www.stormloader.com/users/moelane/main.html Last updated 8/7/00 (this is a guess) __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! Mail - Free email you can access from anywhere! http://mail.yahoo.com/ ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 28 Aug 2000 10:46:09 -0700 (PDT) From: Maurice Lane Subject: Re: IN> Minor Choir Contest III: Asmodeus! Date: Sun, 27 Aug 2000 13:36:09 -0600 From: "ben" Subject: IN> Minor Choir Contest III: Asmodeus! >The minor choirs have been compiled at >www.phargle.com (click on the phargle). Janus is up, >and David will be up sometime today. > >The next boy we have is Asmodeus! Let's everyone try >this one out. Cool. I've got an idea already. Deadline? Moe ===== In Nomine stuff: http://www.stormloader.com/users/moelane/innomine.html Everything else (not that there is, right now): http://www.stormloader.com/users/moelane/main.html Last updated 8/7/00 (this is a guess) __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! Mail - Free email you can access from anywhere! http://mail.yahoo.com/ ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 28 Aug 2000 10:56:05 -0700 (PDT) From: Maurice Lane Subject: IN> It's only a model... From: Maurice Lane To: in_nomine-l@lists.io.com Date: Sunday, August 27, 2000 11:35 AM Subject: IN> Website update (With Never Seen Before >Say, that sounds like an interesting In Nomine >campaign setting. King Arthur, Galahad, and Merlin >gather after a thousand years, and start building a >new Camelot with the aid of Heaven. Or how about a >"Historical" campaign about ancient Camelot? >- -Exit the LoneWolf Funny: Jamie (my girlfriend) suggested something similiar.* The only problem is that I don't think I could do it justice. Sure, I've read Mallory and White, and I've even got a copy of GURPS Camelot, but I'm nowhere near conversant enough in Arthurian legend to get away with it. Of course, I'd love to _read_ such a campaign idea (hint, hint...) ;) Moe *After she finished whaling on me for deliberately ignoring the fact that Galahad was never depicted as being all that interested in love stuff in Arthurian legend, of course. I admit that it was an indulgence, but then I feel entitled to have the _occasional_ bit of fun with legends. :) ===== In Nomine stuff: http://www.stormloader.com/users/moelane/innomine.html Everything else (not that there is, right now): http://www.stormloader.com/users/moelane/main.html Last updated 8/7/00 (this is a guess) __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! Mail - Free email you can access from anywhere! http://mail.yahoo.com/ ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 28 Aug 2000 14:02:41 EDT From: Galen Silversmith Subject: Re: IN> Magog for 2000#! > Return-Path: tcp@zoomnet.net > (thus in a humorous campaign you can have fun with new servitors of cruelty > explaining to their lord to arrange "the Murder, Rape, Pillage, Loot, Burn" > approach to subdoing New York is not exactly feasible right now) Tsktsktsk. *ahem* Rape *before* murder, Loot (pillage, plunder) *before* burn. =) > opposition to it incarnated. Not to mention Magog's servitude to David > which is so far the biggest evidence that a Malakim will and can be > corrupted thus far. David wasn't corrupted, and Magog wasn't a Malakim. How exactly is this evidence? David is not Uriel; his servators have fallen before. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 28 Aug 2000 14:06:55 -0400 (EDT) From: Twila Oxley Price Subject: Re: IN> It's only a model... Maurice -- Well... she says... having been an Arthurian enthusiast since she was about five (I was reading Mallory in third grade... Tennyson and some of the more accessible Middle English stuff in sixth... and various novelizations here there and everywhere... Did I mention my son is named Gareth? After the best Orkney brother, of course!)... An Arthurian campaign would be great fun! Hmmm. Historical or mythological or ... oooo. Just wait there. I think I may have something huddling in the back of my head. Twila goes off to coax her muse down from its perch long enough to write something about Arthurian angels. Twila ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 28 Aug 2000 14:27:12 -0400 From: Elizabeth McCoy Subject: IN> Fwd: RE: in_nomine-digest V1 #1794 See http://www.sjgames.com/in-nomine/lists.html for s u b s c r i p t i o n data... (And, as a further list admin note, let's make sure any replies to this focus more on _In Nomine_ and less on *D&D, 'kay? Thanks.) >From: owner-in_nomine-l@lists.io.com >Date: Mon, 28 Aug 2000 05:56:15 -0500 >To: owner-in_nomine-l@lists.io.com >Subject: BOUNCE in_nomine-l@lists.io.com: Non-member submission from ["Adam Benedict Canning" ] >Status: U >From: "Adam Benedict Canning" >Subject: RE: in_nomine-digest V1 #1794 >Date: Mon, 28 Aug 2000 11:54:29 +0100 > >> ben wrote: >> > >>>I was flipping through an old (1982) roleplaying book I have called >>>Dragonquest. The game went out of print when the publisher went out of >>>business in 1983. I think TSR owns it now, and produced a third edition, > >If you see the chat with Peter. He denied that WotC had DQ, but I >don't remember it being sold. > >>> but with watered down demons. > >Actually they removed Greater Summoning [the invite the lords of hell >round for tea and scones school] and replaced it with lesser summoning >[go my loyal rabbit minions] and rune magic [I'll just spend several >decades making a magic item an die of the strain.] > >Otherwise it is identical in content. > >>If they get angry that I posted these In >>>Nomine-related snippets, tell them that they can sue me. > >Never ever even suggest that you would be happy for Hasbro to sue you, >they are quite likely to take you up. > >>> :-) The game is kind of awful, but I did find these snippets from the >>>demon summoning section to be rather interesting: >> >>Ah yes, Dragonquest. I still have the boxed set lying around somewhere. >>Creaky 80s wargame-like mechanics (though the magic system was pretty >>good for the time), and I particularly liked the extensive demonology. >>I've been meaning to dig it out one of these days and write all the >>demons in In Nomine terms; I had forgotten that so many of the names >>came from the same sources Derek Pearcy used. > >What I liked was how much of a bad idea most of the major summoning >were. For example you will never have a better than even chance any >dragon you summon will be willing to put off eating you for long >enough to negotiate. > >What I wish had been published for it was the World Building Book, >supposedly being written by one Steve Jackson just before the 3 day >loan affair made SPI part of TSR. > >The Book of Ebon bindings is of course slightly more worrying than DQ, >since it seems that haggendi manages to get in there as Ru'utlanesh >the hairy-legged mouth. And they summon him just for the emotional >radiation he generates when he feeds. > >Adam > ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 28 Aug 2000 13:26:46 -0500 From: David Edelstein Subject: Re: IN> It's only a model... Twila Oxley Price wrote: > Well... she says... having been an Arthurian enthusiast since she was > about five (I was reading Mallory in third grade... Tennyson and some > of the more accessible Middle English stuff in sixth... and various > novelizations here there and everywhere... Did I mention my son is > named Gareth? After the best Orkney brother, of course!)... An > Arthurian campaign would be great fun! Hmmm. Historical or > mythological or ... oooo. Just wait there. I think I may have > something huddling in the back of my head. Awhile ago I started to write up an Arthurian In Nomine campaign. Never got past a few notes -- maybe I'll try fleshing them out some. If anyone tries integrating that MZB crap, though, I may unleash "In Nomine Gor" on you. - -David (or maybe "In Nomine Xanth" or something else equally worthy of clawing one's eyes out to avoid reading) ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 28 Aug 2000 12:30:07 -0600 From: "ben" Subject: Re: IN> Minor Choir Contest III: Asmodeus! > >The next boy we have is Asmodeus! Let's everyone try > >this one out. > > Cool. I've got an idea already. Deadline? Of course you have an idea. :-) I invite everyone else to get an idea, too. See your name in white writing with parentheses around it! It doesn't get much better than that. Seeing as how it's Labor Day weekend and I will be out of town for all of it, let's call the deadline September 5th, a Tuesday. > Moe Ben ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 28 Aug 2000 14:37:58 -0400 (EDT) From: Twila Oxley Price Subject: IN> Arthurian In Nomine (was: It's...) David, Believe ME, I don't DO MZB Arthurania. Ick-ptooie. (Which has made me less than popular among those who only know Arthur through the MZB lens.) I prefer Mallory, or even some of the Germanic legends (Parzifal, anyone?), though I'd go with E. B. White in a pinch. (My favourite new re-telling is "The Winter Prince" by Elizabeth Wein; one of the better older novelists dealing with the Matter of Britain was Rosemary Sutcliffe.) And if you threaten me with In Nomine Gor... I'll cry. Twila (who DID read a couple of Gor books, but still can't figure out why they'd sell... did any of his editors READ that crap?!) ObInNomine -- who d'you think would have been Lancelot's patron archangel, after all, the man was (albeit flawed, majorly) a soldier of God! ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 28 Aug 2000 13:51:41 -0500 From: David Edelstein Subject: Re: IN> Arthurian In Nomine (was: It's...) Twila Oxley Price wrote: > Twila (who DID read a couple of Gor books, but still can't figure out > why they'd sell... Vallejo covers. Big-breasted babes on their knees. You're not the target audience. ;) > ObInNomine -- who d'you think would have been Lancelot's patron > archangel, after all, the man was (albeit flawed, majorly) a soldier > of God! Laurence -- except that Arthur predates Laurence's ascension to Archangel. Possibly Uriel, but more likely Michael. - -David ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 28 Aug 2000 18:47:49 GMT From: "Charles Glasgow" Subject: Re: IN> Arthurian In Nomine (was: It's...) >ObInNomine -- who d'you think would have been Lancelot's patron >archangel, after all, the man was (albeit flawed, majorly) a soldier >of God! Michael, probably. Lancelot's honor wasn't always perfect... but he *won*. Oh Lord, did he win. My knowledge of Arthuriana is incomplete, so I have to ask -- did Lancelot *ever* lose in single combat? And if so, to what, and how much magic was the other side chucking? - -- Chuckg _________________________________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com. Share information about yourself, create your own public profile at http://profiles.msn.com. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 28 Aug 2000 14:32:11 -0700 From: Rolland Therrien Subject: IN>The Demon of Esthetics Here's my first attempt at a Servitor write-up. Tell me what you guys think. - -Exit the LoneWolf Mina Shedite of Lust Demon of Esthetics Corporeal Forces: 3 Strength: 4 Agility: 8 Etherial Forces: 4 Intelligence: 8 Precision: 8 Celestial Forces: 4 Will: 9 Perception: 7 Word Forces: 4 Vessels: Human Male/2 Female Human/2 Charisma +2 Skills: Artistry/4 (Beautician), Dodghe/2, Driving/1, Emote/4, Fast-Talk/2, Fighting/1, Knowledge/4 (Beauty Techniques), Languages (French/2, English/2, Italian/1, Chinese/1), Lying/3, Move Silently/2, Savoir-Faire/3, Seduction/2 Roles: Roberto Diniarti (Famous Fashion Designer)/4, Status/5 Vanessa Carmine (Well known Fashion Model)/4, Status/4 Songs: Attraction (Etherial/3), Charm (Etherial/2, Celestial/2), Form (Corpoeral/2), Harmony (Etherial/2), Light (Corporeal/1, Etherial/1), Shields (All/1), Tongues (Corporeal/1, Etherial/2, Celestial/2) Attunements: Shedite of Lust, Shedite of the Media, Dark Desire, Subliminal, Captain of Diabolical Delights. Alcaminaron, or Mina, as Andrealphus calls her, has spent the past few thousand years working hard to earn her Prince's favors and attentions. Not that easy, when you're a shedite, and your Prince is more attracted to Lillim. Aware that Andrealphus might not pay too much attention to her own beauty, she decided to attract his attention in other ways, by promoting lust any way she could. She began taking ordinary female vessels, then used her Resonnance to influence them into becoming more vain and concerned about their appearances, wanting to spend more time improving their appearances. She thus succeeded in turning many women into vain, lustful creatures, in an attempt to gain the Beautiful Prince's favors. She didn't get them. Then, around 900, she had a breakthrough: She'd always worked on an individual basis, so she could only do so much. If she could influence many people in Lust's name, then maybe Andrealphus would pay attention to her. And that's when she came across Footbinding. Footbinding was a bit of a fringe beauty-enhancing technique in China, when Mina came across it. Parents would bandage a daughter's feet around the age of eight or nine, and progressivly tighten the bindings throughout the adolescence, until the girl's arches were broken and the toes remained permenantly curled. People felt this made such girls more attractive and feminine. Mina simply loved the concept, and felt this would be a great way to promote Lust. She began influencing rich nobles, making them prefer girls with bound feet over girls with normal feet. People caught on to this, and started binding the feets of their own daughters, in hopes of making them more attractive to rich nobles and other well-off men. Over the course of a few decades, Footbinding became a fashion, and Mina was summoned before Andrealphus. Mina was extatic; she'd finally gotten his attention. When she arrived at her Prince's private Boudoir, she was a bit surprised to see Lucifer there as well. "There she is," said Andre, "The little Corrupter that's made Footbinding such a popular fashion amongst the Humans." Lucifer simply smiled and watched as Andrealphus got off his chair and went over to kiss and hug the otherwise unnattractive Shedite, which very much stunned the poor creature. We won't get into the detail of how Andrealphus showed his appreciation to her, as what happened afterwards is what's truly interesting. After she received her reward, a Celestial Force and the title of Knight of Infernal Pleasure, Andrealphus simply asked the afterglowing Shedite: "So, Mina... What are you planning for a follow-up?" Mina, blindsided by that question, could only stay silent: She hadn't really planned anything past the footbinding thing. She had no idea what to do now... And before She could say anything, Lucifer got off the chair her hadn't left during the whole event (She mused he liked to watch), and walked over to her, putting her hand on the closest thing she had to a shoulder, and said, as if to reassure her "Don't worry, Andre... I'm sure your new Demon of Esthetics can think of something else to promote Lust. And her new word should be just the thing to help. Maybe we should just let her work this out on her own." And with that, Andre simply escorted her out of his Private Sanctum, leaving Mina to her own devices. And Mina had a lot to think about. In one short meeting with her Prince, she'd gotten a new Force, a title, and even a Word! Only now she was expected to work on something else to promote Esthetics and Lust... And so Mina has spent the following centuries to promote obsession over physical beauty at any price amongst the Humans. She was awarded the Attunement of Dark Desire around the Victorian era, when sickly paleness became the standard of beauty amongst women. After the dawn of television and the Media, Mina was one of the first servitors of Lust wanting to work in association with the new Prince. She had always had the problem of being unable to quickly promote new fashions, and the Media fixed that problem very well. It now became easy to promote new beautician techniques as they were developped, and she began mass marketing the idea that "Beauty is something you MUST achieve at any cost" through the Media. The commitment she should to her word, and to the Media earned her a few rewards from Nybbas, although she politely refused his invitations to work under her. Nowadays, Mina is on the fast track to getting yet another reward from her beloved Prince, as expensive Fashions and health-damaging beauty enhancing techniques are becoming more and more popular. She encourages young woman to purposly damage their health in order to imitate the impossibly fashion models who's carreers she's made. She enjoys Possessing such young, naturally attractive girls, then uses the Song of Forms to twist their bodies into impossible shapes, then lets the new models suffer the price for their bodies (bad health, eating disorders, etc) Mina is also considered a very valuable asset to Hell by Haagenti, who enjoys seeing people spend so much for something so superficial as Make-Up. Kobal just grins at the irony of unnatural Models being considered "Ideals" of beauty, Nybbas' own "son", the Demon of Cool, has a tendancy to hang out with Mina, as if courting her, and even Vapula has smiled at seeing her so interested in promoting "Elective Surgery". But dispite her popularity, Mina is as insecure and shallow as her word. She's always obsessed with doing "One better" then her last work, and never allows herself a moment's rest. Just as many models fret over every little detail of their appearance, and search for each new beauty enhancing technique, she frets over every detail of her Word's influence, and is constantly on the look-out for the latest esthetic fashion. From Valley Girl to Grunge, from Pop Star Look- Alike to Neo-Goth, she's constantly on the look for the next big "Look" that screams "Lust" to Humans. She's starting to get interested in Vapula's latest attempts in DNA reshaping, and sees her possible ticket to baroness-hood in promoting the idea of reshaping one's own body as the key to physical perfection amongst the mortals. This may be the straw that breaks her back, though. Due to her rather superficial sphere of influence, Mina has managed to remain under Heaven's radar. Promoting a tool likely to affect Humanity in such ways might attract too much of Heaven's attention, though. ------------------------------ End of in_nomine-digest V1 #1795 ******************************** The material here is (C) 2000 Steve Jackson Games, Incorporated. All rights reserved.