From owner-in_nomine-digest@lists.io.com Tue Feb 20 04:12:34 2001 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 EAA13208 for ; Tue, 20 Feb 2001 04:12:34 -0600 Received: (from majordom@localhost) by lists.io.com (8.9.3/8.9.1a) id EAA22094 for in_nomine-digest-outgoing; Tue, 20 Feb 2001 04:15:42 -0600 Date: Tue, 20 Feb 2001 04:15:42 -0600 Message-Id: <200102201015.EAA22094@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 #2069 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 Tuesday, February 20 2001 Volume 01 : Number 2069 In this digest: Re: IN> February 16, 2001 (ML) Re: IN> I wonder what Saint Lewis thinks of this ethereal... Re: IN> I wonder what Saint Lewis thinks of this ethereal...(shouldn't be HTML) Re: IN> February 16, 2001 (ML) Re: IN> February 16, 2001 (ML) Re: IN> February 16, 2001 (ML) IN> February 18, 2001 (ML) Re: IN> February 16, 2001 (ML) Re; IN> Netanya seed; A Week in the Life, Part one. IN> Magog and Gabriel or Gabriel and her zany zany ways IN> February 19, 2001 (ML) IN> New Name for Website IN> Gabriel, v1.1 IN> A Week in the Life, Part Two Re: IN> A Week in the Life, Part Two Re: IN> Gabriel, v1.1 IN> The Choir Words: Contrarilus ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 19 Feb 2001 18:13:45 -0600 From: "Charles Glasgow" Subject: Re: IN> February 16, 2001 (ML) - ----- Original Message ----- From: "Maurice Lane" To: Sent: Monday, February 19, 2001 4:11 PM Subject: IN> February 16, 2001 (ML) [snip one-time pad description] > All that's assuming that the keys are a), only used > once, and b), truly random. It would seem that > neither is true, in this case. The Soldiers have > gotten sloppy and reused pads (always a problem with > this form of encryption): Not unless the training of the agents in question was *truly* lax. You've got to be a congenital brain defective to reuse a one-time pad. > worse, they haven't destroyed them. WHAT? Saminga's zombies aren't this stupid! > Careful gleaning of the area (read: > "dumpster diving") has revealed just enough of the > sheets to make decoding practical - and, better and > better, the idiots weren't using truly random > groupings. Please tell me this is really a disinformation operation. Please tell me that they're only *pretending* to be that stupid. > They were using the names of Saints on the > Catholic calendar, coupled with enough null letters to > make the code groups come out to ten characters (ex: > 'ONESIMUSX'). OK, so far that's a deliberate violation of every single element of basic tradecraft I can think of. Who *hired* these blithering morons? [snip] > Did I mention that the Soldiers of Laurence were all > career military, OK, my suspension of disbelief, already wavering, just dropped dead. Not even the National Guard hires people *this* dumb. You simply do not graduate OCS (cripes, you don't graduate *squad leader training*) without having stayed awake for at least five minutes of class time re: Operational Security 101, which is all it would take to have avoided these errors. I know Marine grunts straight from the fire-support company (IOW, the heavy machine-gunners, not the more intellectual types) who can give me *lectures* on basic communications security, word-for-word for how they heard the lectures in training. Moe, some time around my first season of "Voyager" I found plots that relied upon the enormous stupidity of the good guys as their key setup and driving force to be less than ideally entertaining. Sometime around my first year of Navy time, I found said plots that used military personnel as said goats to be even less entertaining. And less believable. I mean, you're describing a level of intellectual performance so low that I have never seen anybody in US military service match it -- at least not while sober. And given that Soldiers of God, being 6-Force humans, are innately superior to most of the Symphonically Unaware, this scenario makes even *less* sense. *ESPECIALLY* given that in addition to their military training, the Sword also has formalized and rigorous training for its own people -- and I simply don't believe that Laurence hires either idiots or slackers to give his basic recruit indoctrination. - -- Chuckg ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 19 Feb 2001 16:35:13 -0800 (PST) From: Maurice Lane Subject: Re: IN> I wonder what Saint Lewis thinks of this ethereal... Date: Mon, 19 Feb 2001 18:22:41 -0500From: "Charles Phipps" Subject: IN> I wonder what Saint Lewis thinks of this ethereal... >Aslan >Ethereal Spirit Heh. I can just see it now: Christopher: "Ah, Laurence, may I ask why you're going out into the Marches with that very long spear?" Laurence: "I'm off to kill that very annoying lion." Christopher: "Oh." (whoosh) (click-click) (Laurence tries to focus his eyes on the twin shotgun barrels that have just materialized underneath his chin. Christopher continues to look worried but resolute. Michael looks over, swears, and starts running.) Christopher: "Umm... can we talk about this?"* :) Moe *Hey, it isn't a sword fight. It wouldn't work on Mike, but then Mike isn't dumb enough to try to piss Chris off for no good reason. Chris holds grudges until they die of old age, then has them stuffed as a reminder that he hasn't soul-killed taht particular whoever it was that's MADE ONE OF HIS KIDS CRY... YMMV. ;) ===== 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!? Get personalized email addresses from Yahoo! Mail - only $35 a year! http://personal.mail.yahoo.com/ ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 19 Feb 2001 19:36:05 EST From: CalarUhes@aol.com Subject: Re: IN> I wonder what Saint Lewis thinks of this ethereal...(shouldn't be HTML) - --part1_4e.11afcebe.27c315f5_boundary Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit I'm definitely going to weave a plot with Aslan through my two post-apocalyptic settings now! Thank you ever so very much! Hmmmm, perhaps he and Christopher arranged the Pagan-Preserver alliance and were then betrayed by the other "Archangels", causing Aslan to become very angry with Christopher (ignoring the fact that his Archangel has disappeared). Perhaps even Aslan approaches the insane Jordi and brings him into the Pagan fold in order to strengthen them after their devastation by the forces of the Destroyers and Dis. Oooohhhh, ideas are exploding out the top of my head! So, in case you didn't already get it, THANK YOU! Gold Dust Woman Grey Lilim - --part1_4e.11afcebe.27c315f5_boundary Content-Type: text/html; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit I'm definitely going to weave a plot with Aslan through my two
post-apocalyptic settings now!  Thank you ever so very much!  Hmmmm, perhaps
he and Christopher arranged the Pagan-Preserver alliance and were then
betrayed by the other "Archangels", causing Aslan to become very angry with
Christopher (ignoring the fact that his Archangel has disappeared).  Perhaps
even Aslan approaches the insane Jordi and brings him into the Pagan fold in
order to strengthen them after their devastation by the forces of the
Destroyers and Dis.  Oooohhhh, ideas are exploding out the top of my head!  
So, in case you didn't already get it,


THANK YOU!

Gold Dust Woman
Grey Lilim - --part1_4e.11afcebe.27c315f5_boundary-- ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 20 Jan 2001 21:58:49 -0500 From: "John Walter Biles" Subject: Re: IN> February 16, 2001 (ML) On 19 Feb 01, at 18:13, Charles Glasgow wrote: [snip various comments] > > OK, my suspension of disbelief, already wavering, just dropped dead. Not > even the National Guard hires people *this* dumb. You simply do not > graduate OCS (cripes, you don't graduate *squad leader training*) without > having stayed awake for at least five minutes of class time re: > Operational Security 101, which is all it would take to have avoided these > errors. I know Marine grunts straight from the fire-support company > (IOW, the heavy machine-gunners, not the more intellectual types) who can > give me *lectures* on basic communications security, word-for-word for how > they heard the lectures in training. > I take it they didn't train you to read things all the way through before commenting on them, given that if you'd read the entire post, you'd have seen that this whole thing is in fact a sting by the Soldiers of Laurence... They deliberately made those mistakes to lure the Demons into a trap. John Walter Biles : MA-History, ABD, Ph.D Candidate at U. Kansas ranma@falcon.cc.ukans.edu http://www.dkcomm.net/rhea/falcon.html rhea@maison-otaku.net http://maison-otaku.net/~rhea/ "That all princes shall kiss the foot of the Pope alone."--Dictatus Papae, 11th century ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 19 Feb 2001 18:59:46 -0600 From: "Charles Glasgow" Subject: Re: IN> February 16, 2001 (ML) - ----- Original Message ----- From: "John Walter Biles" To: Sent: Saturday, January 20, 2001 8:58 PM Subject: Re: IN> February 16, 2001 (ML) > On 19 Feb 01, at 18:13, Charles Glasgow wrote: > [snip various comments] > I take it they didn't train you to read things all the way through before > commenting on them, *ahem* Correct me if you wish, but restrain the snide. > given that if you'd read the entire post, you'd have > seen that this whole thing is in fact a sting by the Soldiers of > Laurence... Actually, I make a comment praying for precisely this outcome halfway through the post. > They deliberately made those mistakes to lure the Demons into a trap. Fine. I abase myself, for having looked at the last paragraphs and still somehow missed the point. However, the scenario still has some severe knocks -- i.e., it would take some really stupid *demons* to fall for this blatant a disinformation ploy. The best disinformation shows the enemy what he expects to see... and in most games, they don't usually expect to see lobotomized idiots as Sword soldiers. Who were they trying to sting here, Saminga's crew or Nybbas'? Lord knows that Baal's people *understand* this stuff... - -- Chuckg ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 19 Feb 2001 20:09:35 -0500 From: "William J. Keith" Subject: Re: IN> February 16, 2001 (ML) >Please tell me this is really a disinformation operation. Please tell me >that they're only *pretending* to be that stupid. Yes. Read the last two paragraphs. >-- >Chuckg William ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 19 Feb 2001 17:46:22 -0800 (PST) From: Maurice Lane Subject: IN> February 18, 2001 (ML) Heh. Now _this_ set of Songs, if I do say so myself, would make a very amusing reward for the AA of Flowers to give out to a bunch of Warriors or Swordies or Stoners that somehow screwed up and did her a favor. _You_ try telling Novalis no. :) Moe Songs of Nurturing (Secret: Christopher, Novalis) These Songs are useful enough, yes, but it takes a certain type of mindset to want to have access to them. Especially the Corporeal Song - and, as Novalis and Christopher won't give out the Ethereal or Celestial Songs of Nurturing unless the petitioner already has and has used the Corporeal version, well, they're probably going to stay 'Secret' for a while longer. Corporeal This Song allows an angel to produce milk from her body. This milk will feed one baby per day per Essence spent, and also cure any and all diseases the baby might have on the spot. Also, for the next day all attempts to harm, resonate or attack the baby will be at a minus equal to the Song's check digit. "Baby" is defined as "human child under the age of three" for the purposes of this discussion. Note that an angel with a male vessel may indeed use this Song (and that any Servitors with female animal vessels may likewise use it to suckle young). After all, most human males have vestigial nipples... Ethereal This Song allows the angel to provide another with comforting and protection. The target receives a bonus to resist either the Balseraph or Habbalite resonance (chosen at time of performance) equal to the check digit of the Song. Duration is one hour for each Essence spent. Celestial This Song is the prize for the War Faction: singers of it reduce drastically how long it takes for someone to come out of Trauma. Once performed, the target subtracts one half of the amount of Essence spent, rounded down, from his or her Corporeal Forces (to determine how often that they may roll) and adds the check digit of the Song to Will Rolls to snap out of Trauma. This bonus lasts until the target finally recovers. If the target's Corporeal Forces are lowered to 0 or below (for the purposes of recovery from Trauma only), then the target may roll every 6 hours to recover. Bonus: Flowers, Children, Mercurians, Grigori Available: Christopher, Novalis Essence Cost: 2 Maximum Essence: 6 Degree of Disturbance: For the Corporeal Song, -2; the others, 1 ===== 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!? Get personalized email addresses from Yahoo! Mail - only $35 a year! http://personal.mail.yahoo.com/ ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 19 Feb 2001 20:53:39 -0500 From: "Rolland Therrien" Subject: Re: IN> February 16, 2001 (ML) - -----Original Message----- From: Charles Glasgow To: in_nomine-l@lists.io.com Date: Monday, February 19, 2001 8:09 PM Subject: Re: IN> February 16, 2001 (ML) >----- Original Message ----- >From: "John Walter Biles" >To: >Sent: Saturday, January 20, 2001 8:58 PM >Subject: Re: IN> February 16, 2001 (ML) >However, the scenario still has some severe knocks -- i.e., it would take >some really stupid *demons* to fall for this blatant a disinformation ploy. >The best disinformation shows the enemy what he expects to see... and in >most games, they don't usually expect to see lobotomized idiots as Sword >soldiers. Who were they trying to sting here, Saminga's crew or Nybbas'? >Lord knows that Baal's people *understand* this stuff... Hey, nobody ever said all of Hell's forces are all smart strategists. There's bound to be a bunch of idiots who think they've spotted "Heavenly Stupidity", from Calabim too dumb to look past the "Open Season" thought to Balseraphs who don't consider Humans smart enough to tie their shoe-laces together. Baal and most other Princes and their staffs would see through that Angelic scheme in a pico-second, of course. But they'd probably not bother to correct any Demon stupid enough to actually fall for it. Down in Hell, they tend to believe in Social Darwinism. - -Exit the LoneWolf ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 19 Feb 2001 18:05:11 -0800 (PST) From: Maurice Lane Subject: Re; IN> Netanya seed; A Week in the Life, Part one. Date: Mon, 19 Feb 2001 01:52:44 +0000 From: Eric Hallstrom Subject: IN> Netanya seed; A Week in the Life, Part one. >Once upon a time, there was an Angel named Netanya. OK, this one looks like it's going to be seriously strange. I look forward to the rest with bated breath. No, really. :) Moe ===== 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!? Get personalized email addresses from Yahoo! Mail - only $35 a year! http://personal.mail.yahoo.com/ ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 19 Feb 2001 21:08:37 -0500 From: "Charles Phipps" Subject: IN> Magog and Gabriel or Gabriel and her zany zany ways Now this is an interesting question but just exactly how much pain was Magog the Demon Prince of Cruelty causing the Wrath of God? I was re-reading "The Final Trumpet" with the intentions of using some of it for my Seraph of Light PC (read Tothiel's write up on the In Nomine collection for his archangel) as Gabriel plays an important part in his life and I was wondering about wrath denied. Magog was the Demon Prince of Cruelty and more than Belial isn't Cruelty Gabriel's foe? Do you think over those 3000 years Magog was imprisoned that his imprisonment caused her a similar dissonance because he/she was unable to punish him properly because her reaction to his freedom.... well needless to say it was quite extreme, perhaps even for her. Magog when destroyed also let loose quite a bit of those 25,000 years of building word conflict as she annhilated a Demon Prince and all his servitors with her divine justice. Just how lucid do you think this has made her for the time being? Superiors 3 by any indication paints a lot of different pictures for the comming years of Gabriel... David is protecting Gaby because her understands her... Michael's started commendering her servitors for his war and to protect them.. Jean apparently has a plan to cure her insanity... Khalid apparently has a plan to cure her insanity and may enlist Laurence's help... Dominic wants something done but that's for after he's set up Eli for the Prince of Slothship to be...err tried him yeah. Will the above efforts convince her to return to Heaven or only make things worse? Will she now take a more pro-active stance and less shame in say...Divinely smiting yonder Demon Prince Belial rather than denying that aspect of her job? Or will she be horrofied and back away for an even worse time? Also in an alternate campaign where Magog survives does anyone have any idea what sort of changes should be done for a long term surviving Magog in hell? What sort of reaction Heaven and Hell will have to him and most of all Gabriel and her servitors...perhaps Belial and him when they learn they have a mutual foe...presumably a similar reaction that he has when he learns Malphas freed him and is David's pain in the neck? - -Charlemagne ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 19 Feb 2001 21:56:14 -0800 (PST) From: Maurice Lane Subject: IN> February 19, 2001 (ML) Why do I have the feeling that I'll be playing catchup on this for the rest of the year? :) Moe Discord: Flux (Corporeal) This Discord is very new: the first reported case of it was in 1938 AD, as part of one of the most drastic incidents of Word-shift in the history of the War (Eugenics, a Trivial Word formerly held by a Mercurian of Stone as a way to encourage the voluntary improvement of the species by selective breeding, a la Robert Heinlein's Howard Families. The sudden shift of said Word to a euphemism for genocide was unexpected, and very painful: you can still see the crack in the Council floor where the poor bastard pounded his head while begging them to make the agony _stop_). It's cropped up from time to time since. Those with the Discord find their physical form to be very plastic: too plastic, in fact. Facial features in particular will shift and adapt to fit whatever long-term mood the unfortunate individual is experiencing - and, seeing as the condition is painful, this usually means that the person's expression will end up being unpleasant. At level/1, this shift can't really be seen with the naked eye, unless one wishes to watch unblinking for an hour or so: at level/6, anyone afflicted by this had better wear a mask and very loose clothing. Total mass remains unchanged. Also, at level/3 and above anyone afflicted with this Discord will take 1 hit of damage per day. Reaction modifier: -2 per level, for levels 1 through 3; -3 for each level above 3. ===== 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!? Get personalized email addresses from Yahoo! Mail - only $35 a year! http://personal.mail.yahoo.com/ ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 19 Feb 2001 22:08:14 -0800 (PST) From: Maurice Lane Subject: IN> New Name for Website I've renamed my site to Liber Licentiae Moeticae ('translation': the Book of Moetic License*). Those with links to my site may now breath a sigh of relief that I've finally come up with something less lame than "In Nomine Material" and update accordingly. Now all I have to do is correct my .sig files. Thanks to Ben Acosta for the original idea and to Genevieve Cogman for the Latin spellcheck. Don't blame either one for the pun. :) Moe *"Bad" pun? Are there "good" ones? ===== 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!? Get personalized email addresses from Yahoo! Mail - only $35 a year! http://personal.mail.yahoo.com/ ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 20 Feb 2001 01:03:16 -0600 From: "Prodigal" Subject: IN> Gabriel, v1.1 Added Choir attunements in this version... ================ “The world is a flame in danger of being extinguished. It is our role to prevent this.” Gabriel Ofanite Archangel of Fire DISSONANCE Gabriel not only punishes the cruel, but also inspires humanity toward faith in God’s glory. An angel of Fire who damages a human’s faith will suffer dissonance, unless they manage to either restore it, or inspire an equal or greater faith within a number of days equal to the angel’s Celestial forces. CHOIR ATTUNEMENTS Seraphim: (Restricted) Gabriel's Seraphim can tell with a resonance roll what a being belives to be True about their faith. On a check digit of 6, this will reveal a Malakite for what it is, as well as whether its loyalties lie toward the Host or the Exiles. Cherubim: (Restricted) Gabriel's Cherubim are charged with punishing those who have betrayed someone devoted to them. Cherubim of Fire can identify those guilty of this type of cruelty on sight, and may attune to them without having to touch them. Once the attunement has been made, the cherub may engage hre attuned in a contest of Wills. If successful, the cherub inflicts a sense of guilt so powerful that it inflicts Mind hits equal to the check digit + the cherub's Ethereal forces. Malakim: At will, these Malakim can encircle their hands with green celestial flames, burning everything they touch. As a weapon, this is a hand-to-hand attack with Power equal to the angel's Celestial forces, and Accuracy of -1. When used against angels serving the Host, the Power is at +2. Ofanim: Charged both with pursuing the guilty and with delivering revelation (no matter the location of those for whom their message is intended,) Gabriel's Ofanim are immune to all corporeal damage from heat, radiation and electricity. Their vessels' bodies balance automatically, with any excess being distributed across the rest of the Symphony, and any deficit being drawn from it. Lilim: (Restricted) Lilim of Fire can, by making eye contact, tell either exactly what punishment an offender Needs to repent of his cruelty, or what he Needs to restore his faith. The Lilim must decide which of the two she is trying to detect before attempting this. Elohim: Gabriel's Elohim can sense those who delight on inflicting psychological or emotional pain on others. Kyriodim: If a Kyriodim of Fire possesses someone who enjoys inflicting physical pain on others, it gains no dissonance for leaving its host in worse shape than when it took control, as long as the harm came as a result of the Kyriodim taking steps to make amends for its host's cruelty. Mercurians: (Semi-restricted) Gabriel's Mercurians can sense those who delight in cruelty to themselves. Rather than punish these, if the Mercurian can prevent him from harming himself for a full day, it gains 3 essence. SERVITOR ATTUNEMENTS Dance of the Atoms: As written in Superiors 3 Eyes of Flae: By staring into a flame, those angels of Fire who are able to detect the cruel have the ability to sense the location of the nearest being who is guilty of the type of cruelty they are attuned to. If the angel using this attunement is able to sense more than one type of cruelty, they can also tell which type of cruelty the one they sense is guilty of. This does not convey either sound or the exact distance to the attuned, just general direction. All this attunement requires is an open flame and one turn's concentration. The Last Spark: As written in Superiors 3, with the following addendum: If this is used to restore a human’s faith in order to avoid dissonance, but the subject’s faith is lost once more after the hour expires, the angel of Fire takes two points of dissonance! Smite: As written in Superiors 3. The True Shape of Flame: As written in Superiors 3. Whispers of Inspiration: As written in Superiors 3. DISTINCTIONS All as written in Superiors 3. HIGHER DISTINCTIONS The only higher distinction Gabriel has granted was General of the Armies of Fire, to Soldekai, Angel of Hope, as her reward for his faithful defense of the entrances to Heaven from her Volcano. RELATIONS Allied: Khalid, Soldekai Associated: Blandine, Lilith, Raphael Hostile: Laurence, Lucifer BASIC RITES Spend three hours near an intense heat source. Spend an hour in intense conflict, mental or physical. Kill a member of the Host with Fire (+3 essence) EXPANDED RITES Inspire a human to a selfless action. Inspire faith in God, rather than in the lies spread by the Host (+2 essence). Protect someone who is the recipient of genuine inspiration (creative or divine, +2 if both). Purify a source of flame that has been corrupted by the Host. CHANCE OF INVOCATION: 2 INVOCATION MODIFIERS +1 Praying before a fight. +2 Cleaning a piece of metal in flames. +3 The life’s blood from the vessel of a member of the Host. +4 The tomb or grave of one who died to protect others, or as a martyr to an uncorrupted faction of one of the divine religions. +5 In, or surrounded by, flames. +6 While engaged in mortal battle (+7 if Laurence’s or Lucifer’s personal troops are involved). GABRIEL IN DETAIL: Where once Gabriel was equal parts divine messenger and punisher of the cruel, the continuing degradation of the Symphony has forced her to increasingly leave punishment in the hands of others – although if a being manages to be guilty of sufficient cruelty to demand her personal attention, in her masculine form Gabriel will spare little effort to eradicate him. HISTORY Gabriel stood alongside Lucifer when Metatron spoke “Let there be light” on God’s behalf, his Fire mingling with Lucifer’s Light to form the first star. As the universe was formed, the two of them worked most closely with Eli, taking great joy in building each star, and in some cases shepherding them through their destruction to form the nebulae that, while not mandated by divine plan, made the physical Heavens mirror the beauty of their celestial counterparts. When the angels were given the task of forming the Earth, Gabriel formed Belial and Soldekai from his own forces, and set them to the task of furthering his Word on the fledgling planet. Where Soldekai was tasked with creating and guiding the fires aboveground (which Lucifer in turn used to further his own Word among the humans,) Belial was charged with guiding the molten fires that raged below. It was when Gabriel noticed that the humans were using their fires for more than mere food and protection against the night that he created Khalid, and assigned him the duty of spreading stories which stressed the glories of God. It was also during this time that Gabriel first felt the burning touch of prophecy upon his mind, and so Gabriel himself would also appear to the humans periodically to deliver a message (or herself, depending upon the culture to which the Archangel of Fire was sent.) This is when Gabriel and Yves worked most closely together. Eventually, however, the day came when the voice of God that channeled itself through Gabriel did so not as the heat of inspiration, but rather the chill of fearful warning. “TAKE UP THY ARMS AND FIGHT, LEST THE SPIRES OF HEAVEN BE TOPPLED LOW,” Gabriel spoke to a gathering of the Seraphim Council, his eyes unseeing. The first reports of Lucifer’s armies assault came moments later. Gabriel fought with the fury of a thousand suns, Belial, Soldekai and Khalid at his heels as they blazed their way through the rebels. But at the wrong moment, Gabriel was once again paralysed by the prophecy that tore through him. He never had the chance to tell another of the vision God granted him, however, as it was at that moment that Lucifer chose to attack. Blazing with both his own Light and that stolen from the shattered corpse of Metatron, Lucifer descended upon Gabriel, battering Khalid and Soldekai aside. Belial stood his ground, his devotion to protecting his master as admirable as it was short-lived. Despite the power Gabriel had invested in him, Lucifer tore him apart almost without noticing that he had been there at all. It was only Michael’s intervention that saved Gabriel’s life, and only at the cost of his own. As the fight ended, Gabriel merely wept as he saw the final moments of the Heavenly Revolution play itself out; cold despair almost succeeding in the destruction that Lucifer had failed in only through Michael’s sacrifice. As Yves fell from Heaven, Gabriel gathered his resolve, then tore his cathedral from Heaven and flung it into the Marches. Turning toward Lucifer, his male form and shredded robes of celebration melting away into a female form wreathed in robes of mourning, Gabriel uttered a final prophecy: “THE SEEDS OF MOST BITTER DEFEAT HAVE BEEN PLANTED IN THE SOIL OF HOLLOW VICTORY.” And with that, Gabriel gathered up the last few fragments of Belial’s flaming sword, and silently joined the Exiles. Gabriel spoke little during the years following the imprisonment of the Exiles in Hades, providing what inspiration she could through her infrequent bursts of prophecy. Then at last the day came when the voice of God thundered through her, seeming to resonate throughout the entirety of Hades: “THE UNEXPECTED KEY TURNS.” The gates of Hades shattered moments later, as Lilith’s plans to free the Exiles knew success. Since then, Gabriel has wandered the planes of existence, rarely staying in one place longer than she can avoid. Unwilling to merely plan, or to wait for Lucifer to take the battle to the Exiles, Gabriel sought out her former companion’s followers wherever she could find them. In her female form she delivered the words of God, and in her male form she delivered His wrath. Few can decide which can be more terrifying. The struggles between Gabriel and Lucifer over divine religion that once were seen as a tool to allow humanity hope of something other than service to angels in the afterlife have become an increasingly bitter private war. Most attribute this as the reason for Gabriel’s ever-increasing isolation and instability. What few know (although it is the subject of some rumors on both sides,) is that the voice of God that once spoke, sang, and at times even screamed in Gabriel’s head has been fading into incomprehensibility: As the Symphony has degraded, so too has the certainty with which Gabriel is capable of delivering even the most simple of prophecies. HOLY MYSTERIES Although it is common knowledge that Gabriel’s Volcano allows access to Heaven through the Marches, it is rumored that Gabriel has other means of entry, as well. Some even whisper (but among the Host, only to the most trusted of their friends) that Gabriel has been granted audiences with Lucifer himself! The reasons for these visits, as well as their results, depend on the one telling the tale. The rumors among the Exiles tend to have Gabriel intervening on behalf of angels (or even humans!) persecuted by the Host. Those among the Host typically range from Gabriel begging to be allowed back into Heaven for good, or to any number of humiliations by Lucifer. It is whispered that a fiery woman can sometimes be seen wandering the more remote and deserted streets of Heaven, sometimes whispering words of comfort, always striking down any who choose to bar her way. Despite brutal suppression by Laurence’s secret police, these rumors keep resurfacing… Some say that, immediately before Laurence joined the battle against Lucifer, Gabriel appeared before him with a prophecy meant for him alone. While none claim to know the exact words of it, all maintain that this was why Laurence knelt to pray when he did. If it had not been for Gabriel’s prophecy, the stories continue, he might have been able to save Michael from Lucifer’s killing stroke. ARCHANGELIC OPINIONS ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 20 Feb 2001 02:06:17 +0000 From: Eric Hallstrom Subject: IN> A Week in the Life, Part Two Well, Moe wants me to make it Weird, so .... It's _his_ fault. :p Once upon a time, there was an Angel called Netanya. Since she was the Angel of the Selfless Gift, and since she always took great care to piss off people who deserved it, she concocted a plan to shake up a fellow Angel's life a bit and, at the same time, blow up the Demon Prince of Gluttony, Haagenti. A little bit. This she promptly did, along the way involving Our Favorite PCs in the part of the plan that got the Angel in question out of the way of the resulting mess. Mostly. Fortunately, the PCs were almost completely uninvolved in the resulting Big Explosion. Almost. Unfortunately, almost allows for a little slippage. In this case, for instance, almost allows for being outnumbered two or three to one by big, nasty bruiser Gluttons. _Really_ big and nasty bruiser Gluttons. Fortunately, Netanya took care of them. Eventually. Unfortunately, that means that our PCs now Owe her. More than they started with. Fortunately, Netanya is more than happy to allow them to work it _aaaallll_ off. All they have to do ... ... is get a pair of old lovers back together, with the help of her favorite teddybear. Simple, no? No. A Week in the Life, Part Two: True Love and High Adventure See, it was like this ... Once upon a time, there was this really, really nice girl. Her name was ... well, it doesn't really matter what it _was_. Let's call her Jane. Jane was a nice girl. Jane was a normal girl. Jane had seven forces, naturally, with a will of 10. Unfortunately, this was coupled with a perception of 2. Alright, so that's not particulary normal. Work with me here. Jane grew up, Jane found Love, Jane worked as a Lawyer, Jane fought the good fight. Jane, and her love (let's call him Bart) got mixed up in a court case that bid fair to put a Hell influenced mobster away. Permanently. Jane was attacked by a mixed force of Hellsworn and Calabim, Jane's guardians (Guardian(s)? Hold on, I'll get to it.) fought valiantly, but were taken out. Jane was killed. Jane had achieved her destiny, but not her fate, so Jane went to Heaven. End of story, no? No. See, Jane waited around for a long time, but old Bart, well ... he never showed up. Now Jane just _Knows_ that Bart was a _nice_ guy, so he _couldn't_ have gone to Hell. While she knows about those who don't go to either place, she's still worried. Maybe he's still alive. Maybe she should go back and see? Jane is an 8 force Saint of War. Jane Needs to find Bart. Jane just has this intuition that ... well ... that he Needs her. Know what? He does. Bartholomew _did_ go to Hell. Sort of. Of course, that's where he'd come from to begin with. Bartholomew is a 10 force Djinn of Fate, you see. But you wanna know the really _ironic_ thing? It wasn't just an act. Bartholomew _did_ fall in love with Jane. No, really. So he'd be _glad_ to know she made it to Heaven ... he's intimately familiar with the alternative, after all. And no amount of massaging the records will tell him whether she's ended up in Hell or ... not. Oh yeah, Bart Needs to find out just what happened to Jane. He Needs it bad. And after he finds out? Well, he may have a few ... other ... Needs. A Djinn of Fate in Love with a Saint isn't actually dissonant, but he's fairly miserable anyway. Now, about that Teddybear ... Well, it's like this ... See, when you have a will of 10 and a perception of 2, you tend to cause certain ... weird effects ... in the Marches. And Jane always loved her old Teddybear. Idolized him, in fact. Dreamed about him all the time. Jane really loved her teddybear, and her teddybear loves her right back. Theodore Edwin (of course) is a 7 force ethereal with a brand new combat vessel fresh out of limbo and a _big_ packet of essense he happened across. He's got blood in his eye and he Needs to find out what happened to the Boss, and if gets a chance to get her back together with Bart, well ... he always kind of liked Bart. Bart treated the Boss right. With all this Need going around, the PCs should have an easy time of it, right? Find the Girl, find the Boy, find the Bear, get them together, they'll do the rest. Right? Well ... apart from the roving Tasaydim kill-squad, the Game infiltration team, the Judgement Triad, the 16 force Demon of Irony (who thinks there's material here for a really _killer_ joke), yeah. Broadly. Fortunate that Netty'll be in and out all the time. She'll have everything they Need. Eventually. Sure hope those Gluttons don't show up. That's be just _too_ amusing, don't you think? Yeah. I think so too. yr. vr. hmbl. & obt., &c. &c. Eric Hallstrom - -- www.kawaiikunee.com/in_nomine/index.html hallcon@mindspring.com kawaii@kawaiikunee.com One of the unkindest things about the Universe is that more often than not the bullet doesn't have _your_ name on it; it likes to mass produce ones with "to whom it may concern". ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 20 Feb 2001 01:09:52 -0600 From: "Prodigal" Subject: Re: IN> A Week in the Life, Part Two Eric, you frighten me... ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 21 Feb 2001 17:46:29 +0800 From: Manny Nepomuceno Subject: Re: IN> Gabriel, v1.1 psssst... wrong group...this should be in Tattered methinks... Oh, and okay, this was another Tattered plug. We're doing great stuff there IMO. :) Come on board. We heretics await. - -- :) Manny Neps The Demon of Java, Habbalite of Technology "No, no, no, no. It's really quite simple. 'Public static void main( String[] args).' You can remember that, can't you?" ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 20 Feb 2001 23:09:10 +1300 From: "Alex Liddell" Subject: IN> The Choir Words: Contrarilus Contrarilus Choir Angel The Kyriotate Angel of Control Corporeal: 6 Str: 12 Agi: 12 Ethereal: 6 Int: 12 Pre: 12 Celestial: 6 Will: 12 Per: 12 Vessels: 3 Roles: Sword Attunement: Marty Stevens/6 US Marine Medic/4. War Attunement: None. Stone Attunement: Winged Gargoyle/6 Skills: Singing/3, Medicine/6, Fast Talk/3, Fighting/4, Dodge/6, Ranged Weapon(pistol)/3, Driving/2, Meditation/3, Dancing/2, Survival/5, Knowledge(Army protocol)/3, Language: English/3 Songs: Healing(Corp/6), Motion(Corp/2, Cele/3), Charm(All/3), Memory(Eth/3) Attunements: All Kyriotate Attunements. All Servitor Attunements of Jordi. Angel of Control, Choir Angel, Synergy, Diversity. Angel of Control: Contrarilus already gains the automatic use of his Resonance from Marc. This allows him to choose the CD and override all blocks to his Resonance this includes the Will roll to force him out. Celestials and Ethereals still get a roll but it penalised at -2. As the essence of Control, Humans halve their Forces when calculating Contrarilus's available Forces, round up. Contrarilus can't possess Superiors with his Resonance... he can however resist all attempts for anyone to Force him out of a body against his Will. This means Songs of Banishment, Purity, Possession, Other Kyriotates and Shedim. Only the death of the Vessel or his willfull release can bring him out. Choir Angel: As the Angel of Control, Contrarilus is connected to *all* Kyriotates within the Symphony like a Cherub. With a Perception roll he can divine the location of *all* parts of a any Kyriotate. He will automatically know if a Kyriotate is about to leave a host in worse order than he left it. At that moment he can make a Will roll and burn the Essence needed for Synchronicity. He will instantly use his available Forces to assume control of the body. This doesn't cause the ejected Kyriotate any Dissonance, but Contrarilus will have words with him.... and Contrarilus is not a very compassionate when it comes to wayward Kyriotates. Kyriotates of Judgement are completely and utterly immune to this power if in a host that has been ruled by the GM as "Bad". Synergy: This allows Contrarilus to assume state not unlike a Shedite's style of Possession. Contrarilus and the host become one entity and he doesn't force the host soul out of the body. While in this state the host stays exactly the same. His stats don't change at all. Anything that Contrarilus wants his host to think or do he just implants into his mind. This is always for a benevolent cause. Contrarilus is incapable of implanting a self-destructive thought. This can be perfect to allow a human to do the talking, with a genius Celestial guiding the words. When Contrarilus leaves the host, the host believes that everything he did was of his own design... unless Contrarilus reveals what he is to the host. Diversity: This allows Contrarilus to share experiences with his hosts by drawing on the experiences of his other hosts. Say he was possessing a General who has been preaching the love of battle to his men, he was also possessing a soldier in a different country who was bitterly afraid of war. By sharing the experiences of the General with the soldier, Contrarilus can help to broaden others minds. The soldier gets all of the General's personal feelings about war directly implanted into his soul. He feels the lust for battle and the thrill of victory. This doesn't mean that it overrides the soldiers free will, but it does serve as a pick me up. Distinctions: Choir Angel Dissonance: none Discord: none History: The 3rd to last Choir Angel to grace Heaven. Actually he was created on Earth when the demons were cast into Hell. He was created as a true cloud of God, a mass of limbs and organs circling over the site of the Vatican...at least, what would become the Vatican. He had a thought that whatever it was that was going to be here, was going to be the center for some of the greatest Control ever. He made a point to come back. Since then he has been everywhere and in everyone. It is not a wild statement to say that Contrarilus has been in *every* adult human being in the entire world. Chances are, since the Fall he has possessed most of Humanity at one point or another. His main goal is to bring Humans who have lost Control of their lives back into order. He does this by subtly arranging things so that the human's life is easier, all the time lurking in his consciousness so that he doesn't screw up by saying the wrong thing to the wrong person. Sometimes he takes over an entire family to see that their lot in life is increased. It is amazing to see a family, one day bickering over the stupidest things, the next, to be perfectly at peace with one another. And his methods stick. His "mental conditioning" seems to stick with Humans that he inhabits. They think that it was their idea and that they should continue with their ideas. Contrarilus smiles many a smile and moves on. He is the most proactive of the Choir Angel's in his movements. He always has something to do and someone to guide. He stays away from other Celestials as much as possible, unless it is a Kyriotate in which case he *always* without exception contacts them for a chat. What he talks about is really up to him. His moods change with the tide and his subject matter is sometimes confusing. He sees every living organisim in a state of chaos and control. He is the balancing force of Nature, he is order. This doesn't make him very appealing to Aequalis. Despite his attitude, Contrarilus is very, very good at what he does. And he is selfless to the core. Alex _________________________________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com. ------------------------------ End of in_nomine-digest V1 #2069 ******************************** The material here is (C) 2001 Steve Jackson Games, Incorporated. All rights reserved.