From owner-in_nomine-digest@lists.io.com Fri Mar 30 02:09:33 2001 Return-Path: Received: from lists.io.com (lists.io.com [199.170.88.15]) by pyramid.sjgames.com (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id CAA04270 for ; Fri, 30 Mar 2001 02:09:33 -0600 Received: (from majordom@localhost) by lists.io.com (8.9.3/8.9.1a) id CAA16880 for in_nomine-digest-outgoing; Fri, 30 Mar 2001 02:15:29 -0600 Date: Fri, 30 Mar 2001 02:15:29 -0600 Message-Id: <200103300815.CAA16880@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 #2131 Reply-To: in_nomine-l@lists.io.com Sender: owner-in_nomine-digest@lists.io.com Errors-To: owner-in_nomine-digest@lists.io.com Precedence: bulk in_nomine-digest Friday, March 30 2001 Volume 01 : Number 2131 In this digest: Re: IN> Limbo. Re: IN> Limbo. Re: IN> Eli Re: IN> Limbo. Re: IN> Eli Re: IN> Limbo. Re: IN> Limbo. Re: IN> Limbo. Re: IN> Limbo. Re: IN> Limbo. Re: IN> Limbo. IN> Yet another adventure idea Re: IN> March 30, 2001 (PK) Re: IN> Limbo. Slight Tangent [Re: IN> Limbo.] Re: IN> Limbo. Re: IN> March 30, 2001 (PK) Re: IN> Eli Re: IN> March 30, 2001 (PK) Re: Slight Tangent [Re: IN> Limbo.] Re: IN> Yet another adventure idea Re: IN> Yet another adventure idea IN> Bang. IN> Mrw. Re: IN> Another new angel ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 29 Mar 2001 10:42:10 -0600 From: "Prodigal" Subject: Re: IN> Limbo. From: "Earl Wajenberg" > > In "A Dark Dream," in the > main book, doesn't the demon Marcus appropriate the spare > vessel (in a body bag) of another demon? Not exactly. What Marcus did was posess the vessel of another demon, and place his own vessel in the body bag. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 29 Mar 2001 11:58:16 -0500 From: Earl Wajenberg Subject: Re: IN> Limbo. Prodigal wrote: > Not exactly. What Marcus did was posess the vessel of another demon, > and place his own vessel in the body bag. Ah, okay, my memory failed. Does the Song of Possession give the possessor a full and standard connection to the vessel? So that it would go into potentiality when the celestial ascended, come back and be their vessel when they descended, etc., no matter what the original owner did (short of another round with the Song of Possession)? Or does the owner come back as soon as the possessor lets go? Earl ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 29 Mar 2001 17:01:48 GMT From: daiv@cruzio.com Subject: Re: IN> Eli > > Well, because then Eli's word covers all the other words. In fact, then > his > > word is more powerful then Yves', because it covers Destinity AND Fate and > > everything in between. At least in canon, that makes Eli a little more > > powerful then he actually is (though he is still one of the most powerful > > Archangels). > > He's already hugely powerful.... And also hugely limited, by the very Nature of his word. Or, at least, one take on his word. Creation means that he can produce anything of any size or nature, once. But only once; Everything he does has to be original, one of a kind, new and unique. He is Creation, he is not Manufacturing (If he fell, maybe he would become the Demon Prince of Uniformity... All his servitors look alike, get the Same attunement, etc... this may get a write up when I wake up a little more). He is compelled, by his word, to be Creative. an after many millions of years doing that, maybe he reached a point where he got up one morning (or, mor likely, one afternoon... He does not strike me as a morning Archangel (though according to one interpertation of the Biblical creation story that i have read, the earth was created at 9am on october 22, 4004 BC (i think, not having the book with me), so there you go (this was in Good Omens, however, and it served largely to prove that Earth was a Libra (an that God has an altogether Odd sense of humor)))) looked around, checked his list of things to do, and realized... Its all been done. He has done, literally, everything he could think of; Eli had run out of ideas. So, the only thing left for him to do was to forget everything he knows, and go on a walkabout. To inspire creativity, as well as find it. I have long been a fan of the idea, also from Good Omens, that while angels and Demons are very powerful beings capable of incredible feats, they lack creativity. I would suggest that creativity is an aspect of Unfettered Free Will. This may be why Creation has no Dissonance Conditions. This may also be why Eli makes Dominic Twitch; without rules, how can there be Judgement? All this, from a Quad esspresso and a large cup of coffee (all at once, or not at all (wondering if anyone is going to get that ref?)) - -daiv haiku comes from zen clarity in the moment zen comes from coffee ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 29 Mar 2001 11:06:48 -0600 From: "Prodigal" Subject: Re: IN> Limbo. From: "Earl Wajenberg" > > Ah, okay, my memory failed. Does the Song of Possession give the > possessor a full and standard connection to the vessel? As far as I can remember, no. Which is, I think, why Marcus arranged to have himself shot while posessing Adam's vessel (aside from the possibility of Adam being forced into Trauma. > Or does the owner come back as soon as the possessor lets go? That's how I remember it working. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 29 Mar 2001 12:41:45 -0500 From: Elizabeth McCoy Subject: Re: IN> Eli At 1:14 AM -0500 3/29/01, Eric Bertish wrote: >From: "Charles Glasgow" > >> I think that what he meant was that Eli was the Archangel of Creation >> (verb), not the Archangel of Creation (noun). > >Why can't he be both? Floor wax AND a des... At 1:32 AM -0500 3/29/01, Eric Bertish wrote: >Or you could be really heretical and say he's Jesus. Then, if God is the >universe, and Jesus is God, then Eli is the Universe and therefore All >Creation. Truth be told, I think Eli draws a _lot_ from the INS/MV version of Jesus. So that's not as heretical, in some ways, as it might be... (But the INS/MV version of Jesus is Son of God and not God, as the INS/MV Superiors LARP game, which goes something like "Deus Est Mort," implicitly proves.) - --Beth, typing w/a uncoopertive baby (iolanthe) causing typos. arcangel is nursing a trout with ARMS! ARMS that reach out and try to pound the keyboard! You say "And teeth. Ow." ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 29 Mar 2001 12:54:26 -0500 From: Elizabeth McCoy Subject: Re: IN> Limbo. At 10:48 AM -0500 3/29/01, Earl Wajenberg wrote: >Okay. Interesting. Can you make MORE than one vessel while >in Limbo? Nope. Once you form your vessel, you are dumped out into it, in the corporeal realm. [Having someone discover a Song that works in Limbo that allows one to make vessels only in potentiality would be a campaign McGuffin, probably.] (If you have a Body Bag, I see no reason not to let that vessel be unaffected. I don't belive there are mechanics for _permanent_ vessel swapping; Dark Dream used a (non-canon) Song of Possession. Kyriotates can also potentially "steal" a body-bagged vessel, but said vessel will vanish back into potentiality for the owner when the Kyrio leaves.) (As a note, while canon says Kyrios (at least, those who don't have an attunement to have vessels) and Shedim don't go to Limbo -- IMC they do. But if they don't have a vessel-granting attunement, they cannot ever, EVER, form the vessel required to escape. Same game effect, more horror. O:> ) At 11:58 AM -0500 3/29/01, Earl Wajenberg wrote: >Prodigal wrote: > >> Not exactly. What Marcus did was posess the vessel of another demon, >> and place his own vessel in the body bag. No, he stuck his vessel in the trunk of the car for a little while, then set it up in his apartment. No Body Bags at all in that story. >Does the Song of Possession give the >possessor a full and standard connection to the vessel? Nope. >So that >it would go into potentiality when the celestial ascended, If the celestial ascended... Ooo, nice bit of evil mechanics there. It's easier with a Kyriotate, because they leave vessels/hosts behind if they don't own said vessel. One could either work it like that (the simplest one, and therefore the one I'd pick if I had to have canon), or one could rule that the vessel did indeed go into potentiality (the _real_ owner's potentiality, not the Possessing thief's), but until the owner got to a Tether to get to the celestial realm, it left the owner stranded in the Marches... The other way is too complex, not likely at all to be canon, but it could make for some interesting plots as a house rule. > come >back and be their vessel when they descended, etc., no matter what >the original owner did (short of another round with the Song of >Possession)? Or does the owner come back as soon as the possessor >lets go? That's the one, yup. Marcus presumably either vacated the vessel _just_ before it died, or else having his own vessel was acting _like_ a Body Bag, to draw him back to it instead of Trauma. (I would say that if the latter, Adam the Balseraph (whose vessel it was) did not hit Trauma, as he did not die in the vessel. He just was stuck in the Marches or Hell (if he'd managed to talk his way through Beleth's Tower). If the former, the poor Bal was stuck in Trauma for a while -- snarfed back to his vessel when the Song was ended, just as this weird angel put a bullet between his eyes.) - --emccoy@nh.ultranet.com // arcangel@io.com In Nomine Line Editor RPG links; Random name list, Art: http://www.io.com/~arcangel/ ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 29 Mar 2001 18:01:16 +0100 From: Pak Chan Subject: Re: IN> Limbo. At 22:08 28/03/2001 -0500, you wrote: >At 2:14 AM +0100 3/29/01, Pak Chan wrote: > >At 17:41 28/03/2001 -0500, Elizabeth McCoy wrote: > >>[...] at the point of your last corporeal location or its closest point > >>which is not occupied by matter. >[...] > >I don't suppose you meant _solid_ matter, by any chance? > >O:pbpbpbpbpbpbpbpbpbpbpttttt! > >Matter _is_ solid. It's just that some of it is easier to displace >than the rest. That's not strictly true. Matter can be in solid, liquid, gaseous or plasma forms. However, you're right about the non-solid forms being easier to displace. That brings a thought; if a celestial loses his vessel in mid-ocean, say about a mile below the surface, but still well above the sea floor, when it reappears, he'd probably choose to go celestial in order to avoid dying from drowning and crushing. Would it be able to tell which direction was up, or would it just have to head off in one direction to see where it gets to? After all, there would be few, if any, clues as to what up was. >They don't arrive in the middle of a statue that someone left there >inconsiderately, is what I mean. Nyah. :) Pak ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 29 Mar 2001 13:14:14 -0500 From: Elizabeth McCoy Subject: Re: IN> Limbo. At 6:01 PM +0100 3/29/01, Pak Chan wrote: >That brings a thought; if a celestial loses his vessel in mid-ocean, say >about a mile below the surface, but still well above the sea floor, when it >reappears, he'd probably choose to go celestial in order to avoid dying >from drowning and crushing. Would it be able to tell which direction was >up, or would it just have to head off in one direction to see where it gets >to? After all, there would be few, if any, clues as to what up was. Hrm. He'd probably take some hits if he came out of Limbo that way, from preliminary crushing... I'd say that direction-sensing is up to the GM to decide. If it's a whole mile... Can a celestial stay non- corporeal long enough? (Well, with a high enough speed and a good roll to go celestial...) Frankly, in such a situation, I'd probably figure it's time to work on the aquatic vessel... (And whether a mer-vessel could be done is up to the GM to decide!) >>They don't arrive in the middle of a statue that someone left there >>inconsiderately, is what I mean. Nyah. > >:) You'd be surprised how often Kobalites do weird things like find one of their Heart-shattered Renegades and vessel-kill him and then make sure that some kind of interpretive modern art thing gets put right where he died! Hollow spheres of metal that have been enchanted with the Song of Seals, for instance, so that anyone appearing in them can't get out and is reduced to calling for help... [Whether or not air holes are put in depends on if the creator thinks it's funnier to have to have the guy freed by cutting him out, or if it would be hysterical for people to find a body in there someday...] - --emccoy@nh.ultranet.com // arcangel@io.com In Nomine Line Editor RPG links; Random name list, Art: http://www.io.com/~arcangel/ ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 29 Mar 2001 12:00:53 -0600 From: "Prodigal" Subject: Re: IN> Limbo. From: "Elizabeth McCoy" > > [Whether or not > air holes are put in depends on if the creator thinks it's funnier to > have to have the guy freed by cutting him out, or if it would be hysterical > for people to find a body in there someday...] Yet again, I am in awe. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 29 Mar 2001 12:55:57 -0500 From: EDG Subject: Re: IN> Limbo. At 01:14 PM 3/29/01 -0500, you wrote: >You'd be surprised how often Kobalites do weird things like find one >of their Heart-shattered Renegades and vessel-kill him and then make >sure that some kind of interpretive modern art thing gets put right >where he died! Hollow spheres of metal that have been enchanted with >the Song of Seals, for instance, so that anyone appearing in them >can't get out and is reduced to calling for help... [Whether or not >air holes are put in depends on if the creator thinks it's funnier to >have to have the guy freed by cutting him out, or if it would be hysterical >for people to find a body in there someday...] Or three, or four, as the poor benighted Renegade keeps on coming back out of Limbo in -exactly- the same spot... One wonders how long it would take said renegade to come up with a Terminator vessel. - -EDG ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 29 Mar 2001 12:09:03 -0600 From: "Prodigal" Subject: Re: IN> Limbo. From: "EDG" > > Or three, or four, as the poor benighted Renegade keeps on coming back out > of Limbo in -exactly- the same spot... Until they manage to fill the thing with bodies, at which point they FINALLY manage to emerge somewhere outside of it, no doubt almost totally torn apart by discord. I hope I'm not the only one that this is screaming "adventure seed" to, since I don't have the time to write up anything that would do this justice at the moment... ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 29 Mar 2001 13:56:56 -0500 From: Cameron McCurry Subject: IN> Yet another adventure idea Lewis Medical is a clinic that offers medical services in a town that is well known for it's awful living conditions. They provide everything from physicals and immunizations for school kids to low cost prenatal care for people that can't afford anything else. It's a bit of hope in a neighborhood that is little more than a war zone. So why are the angels being sent in to shut it down? No way to tell at the moment, but they are being ordered to do just that. From stopping shipments of medical supplies to vandalizing the cars in the parking lot, the characters are being told to make sure that the building is gone within a month. As for the Infernals, they are doing what they can to make sure that the clinic stays open. They are to protect the people going into the clinic as well as the staff. Overt violence is frowned on (for a change) but is allowed if absolutely necessary. Confused? Imagine how the Celestials feel. Neither the angels or the demons are going to be clued in to what is going on until months after this gets resolved. Their Superiors are not going to answer; even Servitors of Yves are going to have a tough time learning anything. It's going to be a stressful time for angels as they work to destroy something that is doing a lot of good and demons are having to fight their selfish urges to save this place. So what *is* happening? There is a young medical student by the name of Elizabeth Harrison working in that clinic who is watching what happens to Lewis Medical. Both sides have been keeping tabs on her for the past few years. If the clinic is shut down, the anger she feels about it is going to rekindle her love of medicine and her idealism. Her grades will improve dramatically and when she graduates, she will open up her own low cost medical center and her passion for helping people will inspire ten children in the neighborhood to pursue medicine. If the clinic stays open, she will still be a doctor but will have move on to a high paying position at another hospital upon graduation. The doctor that will take over the clinic in a few years is going to be a Soldier of Fleurity that plans to make his own little Hell on Earth. Have fun baffling your players. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 29 Mar 2001 13:57:46 -0500 From: "William J. Keith" Subject: Re: IN> March 30, 2001 (PK) >Scala Paradisi >Unique Artifact Nice; it resonates well with my ideas of good, which are probably a decent approximation (for a human) of Jean's: attainable, explainable, reasonable logical. >Demons reading the book will realize its danger quickly enough; those >foolish enough to read a full chapter or more will take 1d6 Soul Hits >and a point of Dissonance. How many chapters are there? I'd guess 30.... I got the picture of a demon (maybe a Seneschal, who has a Tether conveniently available) sincerely trying to understand the book's contents -- reading a chapter("*Ow*."), waiting to heal, ridding themself of the Dissonance, reading the next chapter("*Ow*."), etc. Naturally, he'd better be able to store it in a place unlikely to get located by anyone short of an Archangel. But if he could manage... I wonder if there would be any effects. Some form of connection to the Symphony, perhaps, beyond the usual run of demon. >Rev. Pee Kitty, of the order Malkavian-Dobbsian, Q4B4L! William ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 29 Mar 2001 14:47:24 -0500 From: Elizabeth McCoy Subject: Re: IN> Limbo. At 12:09 PM -0600 3/29/01, Prodigal wrote: (that he was in awe, earlier, to which I beam happily) >From: "EDG" >> >> Or three, or four, as the poor benighted Renegade keeps on coming back out >> of Limbo in -exactly- the same spot... > >Until they manage to fill the thing with bodies, at which point they FINALLY >manage to emerge somewhere outside of it, no doubt almost totally torn apart >by discord. Clearly, the first time it happens, and they realize what's going on, they need to have a hippo as their next vessel, or something else which will be too big to emerge _in_ the Trap. These are Renegade Kobalites we were talking here (at least to start with). Can you say: Rubber Godzilla? O:> >I hope I'm not the only one that this is screaming "adventure seed" to, >since I don't have the time to write up anything that would do this justice >at the moment... Me either, really. There are any number of weird things that could happen... - --Beth, typing w/a uncoopertive baby (iolanthe) causing typos. arcangel is nursing a trout with ARMS! ARMS that reach out and try to pound the keyboard! You say "And teeth. Ow." ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 29 Mar 2001 14:27:01 -0500 From: "Rolland Therrien" Subject: Slight Tangent [Re: IN> Limbo.] - -----Original Message----- From: Pak Chan To: in_nomine-l@lists.io.com Date: Thursday, March 29, 2001 1:19 PM Subject: Re: IN> Limbo. >That's not strictly true. Matter can be in solid, liquid, gaseous or plasma >forms. However, you're right about the non-solid forms being easier to >displace. Have you noticed that all four Matter forms match up with the classical elements of Earth, Water, Wind and Fire? Just something I noticed... I guess the Elemental Quartet is prevalent in Human Imagination... - -Exit the LoneWolf ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 29 Mar 2001 15:03:20 -0500 From: EDG Subject: Re: IN> Limbo. At 02:47 PM 3/29/01 -0500, you wrote: >Clearly, the first time it happens, and they realize what's going on, >they need to have a hippo as their next vessel, or something else which >will be too big to emerge _in_ the Trap. Yes, but I'm a Cruel GM, and I like this trick. I'd have them materialize - -around- the trap. (What is it that determines where you reappear? I'd go with aligning the geometric center of the previous body with the geometric center of the new body. And since the geometric center is in a clear space, and the mass of the new vessel far outweighs the mass of the thing that should be displaced...) So now we have a hippo with a good part of itself inside the trap and the rest outside... ...so the -next- time they try it, they'll get displaced by the trap and the hippo meat. :) >These are Renegade Kobalites we were talking here (at least to start with). >Can you say: Rubber Godzilla? O:> Oh, I'd squish a Rubber Godzilla so it fit inside. ;) >Me either, really. There are any number of weird things that could happen... *evil grin* - -EDG ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 29 Mar 2001 23:16:43 From: "Janet Anderson" Subject: Re: IN> March 30, 2001 (PK) >How many chapters are there? I'd guess 30.... I got the picture of a >demon (maybe a Seneschal, who has a Tether conveniently available) >sincerely trying to understand the book's contents -- reading a >chapter("*Ow*."), waiting to heal, ridding themself of the Dissonance, >reading the next chapter("*Ow*."), etc. Naturally, he'd better be able to >store it in a place unlikely to get located by anyone short of an >Archangel. But if he could manage... I wonder if there would be any >effects. Redemption. Janet Anderson _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 30 Mar 2001 01:13:28 +0100 From: Omentide Subject: Re: IN> Eli >Well, because then Eli's word covers all the other words. In fact, then >his word is more powerful then Yves', because it covers Destinity AND Fate >and everything in between. At least in canon, that makes Eli a little more >powerful then he actually is (though he is still one of the most powerful >Archangels). Not really. Creation does not cover fate or destiny. Since when does fate or destiny have anything to do with creation, other than I suppose in the "create your own destiny" dogma of this and the last century. Fate and/or destiny are to many something that cannot be driven or created, they simply are what is. They cannot be altered, avoided, recreated or changed God created, God is all. God has all Words. Creation, destiny, fate, love, lust, war, greed..... I interpret this as God handed over those parts (words) of himself to various archangles some of whom became demon princes, others grew from Words not taken up or granted, and others fight over words such as fire. Creation in an Eli sense cannot create Fate or Destiny any more than he can recreate the universe. He cannot recreate War or Heaven or Hell. Eli simply takes what is there and fashions it. And yet he still remains immensely powerful, possibly more so by being outside of the establishment. Ashley. Ashley and Hilary omentide.omentide@virgin.net http://freespace.virgin.net/omentide.omentide ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 29 Mar 2001 22:41:33 -0500 (EST) From: "Rev. Pee Kitty" Subject: Re: IN> March 30, 2001 (PK) On Thu, 29 Mar 2001, William J. Keith wrote: > >Demons reading the book will realize its danger quickly enough; those > >foolish enough to read a full chapter or more will take 1d6 Soul Hits > >and a point of Dissonance. > > How many chapters are there? I'd guess 30.... Yeah, I thought that was obvious, but now realize that I only implied it. :) Ah well, it doesn't matter much, anyways... one dozen or three dozen, it's all the same. > I got the picture of a > demon (maybe a Seneschal, who has a Tether conveniently available) > sincerely trying to understand the book's contents -- reading a > chapter("*Ow*."), waiting to heal, ridding themself of the Dissonance, > reading the next chapter("*Ow*."), etc. Naturally, he'd better be able to > store it in a place unlikely to get located by anyone short of an > Archangel. Note that, as written, a demon COULD read it all the way through and only suffer the Soul Hits and Dissonance *once*. That's intentional - if the demons braces himself and takes the pain, he CAN get through it. But the way you suggest is far more appropriate... since it involves preparing oneself for every chapter, properly. > But if he could manage... I wonder if there would be any > effects. Some form of connection to the Symphony, perhaps, beyond the > usual run of demon. Personally, I'd allow him to redeem if he so wished. I can't imagine anything else - this book would NOT make the demon a BETTER demon. :) - -- Rev. Pee Kitty, of the order Malkavian-Dobbsian, Q4B4L! Meow! "Ninety-nine percent of life is what you make of it, so if your life sucks, you suck." -- Mike Muir ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 30 Mar 2001 03:59:05 +0100 From: Pak Chan Subject: Re: Slight Tangent [Re: IN> Limbo.] At 19:48 29/03/2001 +0000, daiv@cruzio.com wrote: > > >That's not strictly true. Matter can be in solid, liquid, gaseous or > plasma > > >forms. However, you're right about the non-solid forms being easier to > > >displace. > > > > Have you noticed that all four Matter forms match up with the classical > > elements > > of Earth, Water, Wind and Fire? > > >Thats Cool. Except, of course, its wrong. >There are actually (according to some physicists, any way, which I am not one >of (I am not a physicist, i just read a lot)) Six states of matter; The >classic >three, of course, and then there is Superfluid, Plasma, and a name for the >truly wierd properties that solid matter takes on when its near absolute >zero. >As science progresses, new states will no doubt emerge, and be argued >over. Go >fig. And feel free to not take my word for any of this, of course. I could be >wrong or lying. Well, from what I gather, the status of plasma as the fourth state of matter is somewhat controversial, so I can imagine that the other two (superfluidity and superconductivity?) are even more so. OnIN: Perhaps becoming celestial is simply another form of matter that we've not discovered yet...imagine the potential of someone discovering a process that can turn matter from its normal state into its celestial state (and vice versa) and building a machine to do so... Pak ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 29 Mar 2001 22:07:44 -0600 From: Uncle Wolf Subject: Re: IN> Yet another adventure idea And here I thought it was a "tether" for Aesculapius, the primary Greek Ethereal of Healing, who was tithing to Hell, hence the Hellborn/sworn defending the center while the Heavenly Host tries to shut it down. Still, a good idea, but it will never go in my campaign -- doesn't fit the MO of Heaven - -- something that so obviously is a benefit to folks will never be destroyed by my Heavenly Host; now a hostile takeover [hostile to Aesculapius, anyway] is another story altogether. *beGMg* Tom Timberlake, Cadre Cherub of Heaven and official evil GM for IN - -- "Have you ever heard Uncle Wolf cry to the Blue Corn Moon, Or asked the smiling werejaguar why he grins?..." -- me, with apologies to Disney Studios for the paraphrase ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 29 Mar 2001 22:18:57 -0600 From: "Charles Glasgow" Subject: Re: IN> Yet another adventure idea - ----- Original Message ----- From: "Uncle Wolf" To: Sent: Thursday, March 29, 2001 10:07 PM Subject: Re: IN> Yet another adventure idea [snip] > Still, a good idea, but it will never go in my campaign -- doesn't fit the > MO of Heaven At a High Brightness setting, no, it doesn't. At lower settings, it can. > -- something that so obviously is a benefit to folks will never be destroyed > by my Heavenly Host; Remember that benefit is measured in long as well as short terms. If Divine Destiny tells you for certain, checked and double-checked beyond any likelihood of error, that more people will reach their Destinies in the long run if the clinic blows up than if it stays in operation... ... then many versions of Heaven currently in In Nomine play would be standing in line for the chance to blow it up. - -- Chuckg ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 29 Mar 2001 22:50:20 -0800 (PST) From: Maurice Lane Subject: IN> Bang. Time to get weird again, I guess. :) Moe The view from the abandoned office was pretty good: it showed the park opposite, and the desultory carnival going on inside it. The weather was too hot, too sticky for anyone down there to be having too much fun, but the fights were so far being kept at a minimum. Not bad for a sweltering August afternoon. However, Ummah was pretty much ignoring the heat: he was adjusting the telescopic sight on his rifle as he tracked his attuned through the crowd. Whenever she turned, Ummah could see the faint swelling on her face: he didn't need the telescope to know about the bruises, burns and scrapes. His mouth tightened with disgust at the abuse, perpetrated by the poor woman's husband (standing beside her in a way that could almost seem carefree). *Not quite yet... ah. That's right, buddy: turn and look around at the ice cream vendor. Just walk two steps away...* As always, the crack of the rifle was a surprise: that usually meant a clean shot. It did, this time: 300 yards away, the wife-abuser snapped back, his neck half torn off from the bullet. Ummah couldn't hear the soft sound of the corpse hitting the gravel from where he crouched, but he didn't have to. The other individual in the office remained crouched at the other window, his binoculars assessing the scene. Predictably, someone jumped to conclusions and pulled out an illegal weapon. Several others followed suit. From there, it wasn't too surprising to see someone overreact and fire. By the time the cops showed up, several people were already down. The other winced at the waste of human lives. It was clear that there was going to be trouble in the streets tonight: the various gangs had been looking for an excuse for a turf war, and now they had one, thanks to Ummah. "Great," muttered the other. "The Boss is going to _love_ this." Ummah shrugged and began to disassemble his rifle. The other continued, "So, why _did_ you want to shoot him, sir?" "Until quite recently, the target only slapped his wife around. Last week, he discovered the joys of lit cigarettes and kidney punches. At the rate he was going, he would have killed her within three years." Ummah straightened up. "I can't stand humans who abuse their partners." The other thought about this, then shook his head in disbelief. "With all due respect, sir," said the Impudite of the War, "you are the _strangest_ Djinn that I have ever met." Ummah shrugged again. "Legacy of a misspent youth." Ummah Djinn Knight of the Black Order Corporeal Forces: 3 Strength: 6 Agility: 6 Ethereal Forces: 5 Intelligence: 8 Precision: 12 Celestial Forces: 4 Will: 9 Perception: 7 Vessel: human male/3 Skills: Dodge/2, Emote/1, Fighting/3, Move Silently/3, Ranged Weapon (rifle/6, shotgun/3), Small Weapon/1 (knife), Tactics/2, Tracking/3 Songs: Affinity (All/1), Entropy (Ethereal/2), Fire (Corporeal/3), Light (Celestial/3), Might (Corporeal/3, Ethereal/1, Celestial/2), Motion (Ethereal/1), Shields (Corporeal/3, Ethereal/1, Celestial/2) Role: "Bobby Gallant" (Contract hitter/3, Status/2) Attunements: Djinn of the War, Balseraph of the War, Knight of the Black Order Artifacts: sniper rifle/6 (Power +4, Accuracy +1, Range 150, Shots 1) Yes, Ummah is confusing. He does that to everybody. It might be because of his background: he used to be a Cherub of Divine Fire, after all. Unfortunately, very bad things happened to one of the former angel's attuned: the resulting dissonance, plus some incredibly bad luck, resulted in Ummah's Fall. More or less. Ummah's never quite gotten as bad as other Djinn: he can still muster up sufficient emotional energy to dislike those humans who betray others. He can even manage to hate - in a very chilly way - those who like to take out their frustrations on their sexual or romantic partners. Possibly it reminds him of his own current condition - or possibly he's linked it, in some strange way, with the endless tug of war between Belial and Gabriel. Not even Falling could make Ummah like the Prince of Infernal Fire, which is why he serves Baal instead. The Prince of the War has uses for soldiers that can shoot like Ummah. Ummah is a _good_ sniper and assassin: natural talent and better training. Ironically, Falling has made it easier to kill those who betray their partners: there's less time pressure, he doesn't have to concern himself with avoiding the infliction of emotional pain on the 'loved' ones of his victims, and he can play now, if he feels like it. Baal often uses him to start up trouble in urban areas via the use of senseless violence: usually, these assignments give him suitable time to pick out people that he wants to shoot. He'll shoot the innocent, of course (Ummah is a demon, with all that it entails), but killing the Cru... spouse or child abusers ... is much more pleasurable. Needless to say, other Djinn find Ummah ... annoying. None of them believe that he really cares about anything: the very idea is vaguely obscene. Of course, former angels can have odd hang-ups sometimes. Ummah, for his part, could care less: his Prince only cares about whether this particular Djinn can (and will), upon command, put a bullet into someone's brain from 400 yards away. This particular Djinn can (and will), so Baal deigns to ignore Ummah's peculiarities. One _does_ expect snipers to be different, after all. ===== Liber Licentiae Moeticae: http://www.stormloader.com/users/moelane/innomine.html Last updated 03/04/01(this is usually way out of date) __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Get email at your own domain with Yahoo! Mail. http://personal.mail.yahoo.com/?.refer=text ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 29 Mar 2001 23:43:33 -0800 (PST) From: Maurice Lane Subject: IN> Mrw. That blipping kitten of Eric's. It won't go away. Oh, yeah, put on the sunglasses for this one. Serious and high-concept, it ain't. :) Moe (I'm calling the kitten 'Justinian', BTW. Not that I think that 'Solomon' isn't a _good_ name...) It wasn't one of the better Council meetings. Dominic was bored, bored, bored: aside from the fact that, for once, there wasn't anything specifically important to his Word on the agenda, there was the fact that Laurence had gotten a bee in his bonnet again about the lack of civil defense. The Archangel of the Sword had many laudable qualities: brevity was not one of them. It was about then that the Archangel of Judgement felt the now-familiar weight on his shoulder disappear. He swiftly turned, but it was too late. Justinian had wandered off. In the aide's gallery, Bronwen winced and began heading to the 'floor'. This wasn't the first time, of course, that Dominic's kitten had gone off exploring. Normally, it wasn't a problem: Justinian always stayed in Heaven, and people that like hurting kittens are pretty much on Hell's reservation list anyway. The absolute worst thing that had ever happened to him was the time that a still-not-identified person or persons dressed him up in a miniature copy of Dominic's cloak, placed him on the front steps of the Tribunal, rang the doorbell and then ran away (very) quickly. Predictably, the kitten refused to go anywhere without the blessed thing, now. Anyway, the kitten was safe ... but Dominic's dignity was not. Thankfully, Bronwen had adjusted to kitten-catching as quickly as she did everything else, but expecting her to sort this out by herself would be unJust. Dominic got up and started looking, himself. This was not actually a breach of protocol. The nature of the Council Chambers was such that the concepts of "moving" and "standing still" were meaningless, anyway: the Archangel of Judgement could get away with searching, as long as he was discreet about it and nodded in all the right places (Laurence never varied this particular speech, so doing that wasn't too difficult). Locating one kitten couldn't be _that_ hard, surely. Twenty 'minutes' later, Dominic wasn't so sure - and he was starting to get mildly worried. Justinian wasn't sleeping in Novalis' arms, cadging treats from Marc or even purring at Jordi (three of the kitten's favorite activities). It was starting to look like Dominic would have to start checking outside. That wouldn't look good: among other things, the second the Archangel of Judgement left, every other Superior would take the opportunity to run off as well, leaving an annoyed Laurence to finish his speech in an empty chamber. It had happened before. The Archangel of the Sword's perennial speeches were often endurance contests. All in all, it was a bit of a relief when Bronwen covertly waved her Superior over. Dominic breathed a sigh of relief, moved to join her - and swallowed an oath. Justinian had discovered Michael. More specifically, Michael's Axe. It was _big_, and _shiny_, and had lots of wood to sharpen one's claws on, and - best of all - there were these strips of leather on the ends to bat around. So Justinian had started batting. Needless to say, the Archangel of War was perfectly aware of this, and was covertly jiggling the strips around. He was good at it, giving the kitten enough of a challenge to keep him occupied while avoiding accidentially flipping Justinian into a wall. Dominic cleared his throat. Michael looked up guiltily: when he saw Dominic, he gave him a Gee-can't-you-even-keep-track-of-a-_kitten_? smile. Dominic let his cloak fade back far enough to give Michael an equally-nasty My-my-look-at-the-big-bad-warrior-play-with-the-Hyena's-kitten smile. Both smiles suddenly snapped shut as the Truths behind both sunk in. The two Seraphs tried to glare at each other further, but neither's Heart was really in it. Justinian broke the deadlock by giving the leather one last bat and jumping up into Bronwen's arms. Her face was carefully neutral as she settled the kitten back on her Archangel's shoulder. Laurence finished his speech, with the usual mixed gratification and suspicion at the amount of applause. Dominic moved back to his usual spot, lifted Justinian from his shoulder, and shook one finger mock-seriously in the kitten's general direction. "You should be a little more careful about who you play with." Justinian looked at him solemnly (Dominic wondered again about just how much his kitten understood. He really _wanted_ to speak to The Angel of the Selfless Gift), cocked his head, batted Dominic's finger and protested, "Mwr." Dominic reluctantly nodded, conceding the point. *Truth.* ===== Liber Licentiae Moeticae: http://www.stormloader.com/users/moelane/innomine.html Last updated 03/04/01(this is usually way out of date) __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Get email at your own domain with Yahoo! Mail. http://personal.mail.yahoo.com/?.refer=text ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 30 Mar 2001 00:08:16 -0800 (PST) From: Maurice Lane Subject: Re: IN> Another new angel Date: Wed, 28 Mar 2001 21:47:44 +0100 From: "Genevieve Cogman" Subject: Re: IN> Another new angel >Creation is a process and an art: You know, Genevieve, I would have happily conceded that you were a much better poet than I am. Cheerfully, even. There was no need to rub my face in it...* ;) Moe PS Oh, stop scowling because I'm only now saying that I liked your verses too, _Mr._ Walton. I was too busy wincing over your comment about the Slave Revolt. "Not sustaining an insurrection", indeed. I can't _believe_ that I set myself up for that pun... :) *Seriously, it was lovely. More! More! ===== Liber Licentiae Moeticae: http://www.stormloader.com/users/moelane/innomine.html Last updated 03/04/01(this is usually way out of date) __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Get email at your own domain with Yahoo! Mail. http://personal.mail.yahoo.com/?.refer=text ------------------------------ End of in_nomine-digest V1 #2131 ******************************** The material here is (C) 2001 Steve Jackson Games, Incorporated. All rights reserved.