From owner-in_nomine-digest@lists.io.com Mon May 14 01:24:38 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 BAA02110 for ; Mon, 14 May 2001 01:24:38 -0500 Received: (from majordom@localhost) by lists.io.com (8.9.3/8.9.1a) id BAA28341 for in_nomine-digest-outgoing; Mon, 14 May 2001 01:23:52 -0500 Date: Mon, 14 May 2001 01:23:52 -0500 Message-Id: <200105140623.BAA28341@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 #2222 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, May 14 2001 Volume 01 : Number 2222 In this digest: Re: IN> May 6, 2001 (ML) Re: IN> The Angel of Relaxation Re: IN> Weird , noncanonical and bright, Bright, BRIGHT Swordy Thought. IN> The Angel of Peace. Re: IN> Weird , noncanonical and bright, Bright, BRIGHT Swordy Thought. Re: IN> Weird , noncanonical and bright, Bright, BRIGHT Swordy Thought. Re: IN> Weird , noncanonical and bright, Bright, BRIGHT Swordy Thought. Re: IN> Re: Swords of Laurence IN> Re:Swords & Musashi Re: IN> Iron Rev:: The Wrap Re: IN> Weird , noncanonical and bright, Bright, BRIGHT Swordy Thought. IN> "All your soul are belong to us!" Re: IN> "All your soul are belong to us!" IN> Re: Tactics of Armageddon ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 13 May 2001 11:21:45 -0700 (PDT) From: Michael Walton Subject: Re: IN> May 6, 2001 (ML) - --- Maurice Lane wrote: > Crown of St. Edbert Actually, I can see a Sorcerer using this thing to set himself up as a cult leader. ===== Michael Walton, #9805-068 None of your plans for success will work unless you do. __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! Auctions - buy the things you want at great prices http://auctions.yahoo.com/ ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 13 May 2001 11:28:40 -0700 (PDT) From: Michael Walton Subject: Re: IN> The Angel of Relaxation - --- Cameron McCurry wrote: > Maguel, The Angel of Relaxation > Mercurian of Creation This gets my vote for "Unusual Words that Actually Serve the War" for the month. And I really liked the irony of the last sentence. ===== Michael Walton, #9805-068 None of your plans for success will work unless you do. __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! Auctions - buy the things you want at great prices http://auctions.yahoo.com/ ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 13 May 2001 11:31:47 -0700 (PDT) From: Michael Walton Subject: Re: IN> Weird , noncanonical and bright, Bright, BRIGHT Swordy Thought. - --- Maurice Lane wrote: > You have to ask yourself, "Which is a more pleasing > mental image: Laurence using this ability to reward > only his most dutiful and potent of Servitors, or > Laurence using this ability to arm a hundred scared > humans trapped in a toy store so that they may go out > and give a bunch of Calabim the surprise of their > miserable lives?" More likely is the the Blade Blessing on a bunch of cheap plastic swords. Which, when the demonic investigators show up later to check them out, read as nothing but cheap plastic swords. ===== Michael Walton, #9805-068 None of your plans for success will work unless you do. __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! Auctions - buy the things you want at great prices http://auctions.yahoo.com/ ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 13 May 2001 15:07:31 -0400 From: "Charles Phipps" Subject: IN> The Angel of Peace. Awesome and I do mean Awesome character Alex. however I think the word of Peace is enough for a minor Archangel in and by itself. Peace after all is the end of War just like war is the cause to it in Calm's sake. It's connotations alone for inner tranquility would make it a heavy work especially in eastern realms that are so underused. It would be amusing truly if this Archangel Calm was actually a go betweener between novalis and Michael. - -Charlemagne ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 13 May 2001 15:25:15 -0400 From: "Charles Phipps" Subject: Re: IN> Weird , noncanonical and bright, Bright, BRIGHT Swordy Thought. >That's like giving AK-47's to children so they can fight the drug dealers in >their neighborhood. It's ethically irresponsible and will kill more humans >than demons. >Sure, one human might get lucky and kill a demon. Then all the other Calabim >cut loose with Songs and/or lethal uses of Resonance. I disagree a great deal. Oh not with the idea giving AK-47s to children isn't very responsible...though a Malakite of Christopher who doesn't quite understand that children can be tried for it.... Angels are funny that way :-) The humans after all are toast anyway, and the Calabim in question are going to kill many more.... I could see Laurence arming them (no not really because a far better solution is to send a bunch of Sword nights to to do it) However allow me to show you THIS GUY! Peter Malakim of Children in the Service to the Sword Member of the Gaurdians of the Marches Angel of Toy Swords Peter isn't one to quibble where his loyalties lie. He loves children more than weapons and if he could he'd gladly turn all the swords in the world into toys and reduce all conflict to backyard playing with children dreaming of backyard adventure than actually living the horrible disgusting reality. However he knows that demons because of that don't make it so, so he does something that has made him an absolute dire foe of Blandine who despises what he does in a way few angels can understand. The best way to describe it is Peter is your child's invisible friend who takes him on grand adventures in his dreams, in celestial terms he recruits children as soldiers. Peter believes that children need protectors less if they know how to protect themselves and while he realizes that he can't be everywhere he starts young by seeking out children tormented by Beleth and nightmare ethereals where he presents them with a toy sword that has a real world counterpart, these talisman's bestow a +6 to sword fighting ability and take Peter a great deal of time to prepare but the blessed weapon he uses to help the child overcome his own personal terror as Peter instructs them in "squirage" about the songs of dreams and lucid dreaming. After the children grow up the Malakim then proceeds to have them promote his word further as better soldiers of heaven who promote the word of toy swords as toy makers, children's book writers (you should read that nice British lady and her group of squires writings of fighting the threat), and occasionally some of the finest soldiers of heaven. There is of course the dark side in children dying in their sleep but the alternative is much worse...so he says...and better to have lived a life of grand adventure than grow up dull. - -Charlemagne ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 13 May 2001 19:34:52 -0000 From: "cassandra benner" Subject: Re: IN> Weird , noncanonical and bright, Bright, BRIGHT Swordy Thought. Hmm peter pan the angel. It would work better if peter pan _was_ a kid, with say, 6 forces, and when the body died he stayed as a dream shade... And what would his reaction to the Ethereal version of Peter Pan be like? *chuckle* >There is of course the dark side in children dying in their sleep but > the >alternative is much worse...so he says...and better to have lived > a life >of grand adventure than grow up dull. >-Charlemagne Cass - -There is no such thing as an atheist in a foxhole- Murphy's Law, Combatants Edition. _________________________________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com. ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 13 May 2001 17:40:41 -0700 (PDT) From: Maurice Lane Subject: Re: IN> Weird , noncanonical and bright, Bright, BRIGHT Swordy Thought. Date: Sun, 13 May 2001 00:23:47 -0400From: "Eric Bertish" Subject: Re: IN> Weird , noncanonical and bright, Bright, BRIGHT Swordy Thought. >That's like giving AK-47's to children so they can >fight the drug dealers in their neighborhood. It's >ethically irresponsible and will kill more humans >than demons. >Sure, one human might get lucky and kill a demon. Good Lord, Eric, what's the default Body Hit total in your campaign? These things do a MINIMUM of 12, maximum of 22, and average of 18 points of Body Hits on demons!* On the average, one hit will knock the average demon silly, and three or so will kill him.** Give me that, and good enough odds (20 Calabim could easily kill 5 times their number in unenhanced humans, I would say, so drawing up the scenario that way seems about right. >Then all the other Calabim cut loose with Songs >and/or lethal uses of Resonance. Well, that's why Larry's sticking around. Keeps the fight nice and fair, so to speak. :) Moe *5 Power. Add the CD, giving a minimum of 6 points, a maximum of 11 points, an average of 8 (assuming a CD of 3). Plus, 'all of Laurence's Swords inflict /double/ damage against diabolicals!' (Liber Reliquarum, page 96). So, range from 12 to 22, average 16. Let us presume a demon with 3 Corporeal Forces (frankly, most Calabim would boost Celestial Forces, rather than Corporeal, so an CorF 3 EthF 2 CelF 4 Calabite isn't so unreasonable) with a vessel/3 (again, sounds about right) and a Strength of 6 (Dodge is too useful a skill to gut Agility in favor of Strength). That gives a Body Hit total of (3+3) x 6 = 36 hits. An average blast from the above sword will do 16 Body Hits, which is more than 25% of the demon's current total. He gets stunned - actually, he probably gets dead, because the human wave has flowed over him and he's gotten whacked by at least 3 UberPlasticSwords. I haven't factored in Dodge, because a success with an average CD of 3 will still result in 10 Body Hits (average Power+CD of 8 - 3 Dodge CD = 5 Power X 2 = 10), which will _still_ stun the demon. And if the demon lucks out with one roll, well, there's two more attacks (at least) that he has to worry about. Protection ... well, assuming that they have any (leather, probably), that'll knock down the damage to 8 (using the above calculation). Not enough to stun, yes, but then they've got several more attacks to worry about. We come now to to-hit rolls. Average human has a Precision of 4: Large Weapon defaults to that at -3. Skill of 1, minus 2 for demon's leather Protection (assuming that there is any). Hopeless, no? No. If this isn't a 'life-threatening situation', then I don't know what is: people blast their Essence (this is why Laurence led the counterattack at noon). Now, not everybody is full up - no, wait, they are: Larry took care of that. So, they dump 5 Essence into their first attack, giving a skill roll of 6/4. 5/12 to 1/12 of the attacks strike home (42 to 50). Every demon gets 2 successful attacks, on the average. Every demon gets stunned, assuming average damage. Every demon dies next turn as the enrage mob simply whales on the stunned form. Laurence laughs at the thought of the demons trying to explain to their Prince how they let themselves get sent into Trauma by a bunch of humans with plastic swords. The next batch may be a little more careful in their depredations, which was the whole point of the exercise ... and, hey, maybe he'll get a couple of 6 Force Soldiers out of the deal. Sure, if they're prepared for it (right Songs), they'll be able to weather it all. However, now we go to the question of Diabolical psychology. Demons don't think humans are worth any more than the minimum effort: the stupider ones (remember, 2 Ethereal Forces) aren't more intelligent than the average human, so they might not twig to the fact that there's something wrong. Hmmm... Calabim of War would be especially vulnerable to this ploy, thanks to that handy-dandy Rite about killing those that put up a fight. 2 Essence _would_ be useful: the idiots would feel obligated to stand still and let their humans make the first blow. Hell, it's only a plastic sword: you get the Essence without really working at it. Michael isn't the only one allowed to let an opponent's idiocy work against him, you know. :) However (because this footnote has mutated - badly), I reiterate: YMMV, big time. It was only a throwaway suggestion in the first place. _Soldiers_ with these things, though (cue evil laughter...) ===== Liber Licentiae Moeticae: http://www.stormloader.com/users/moelane/innomine.html Last updated 04/29/01(this is usually way out of date) __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! Auctions - buy the things you want at great prices http://auctions.yahoo.com/ ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 13 May 2001 17:53:03 -0700 (PDT) From: Maurice Lane Subject: Re: IN> Re: Swords of Laurence Date: Sun, 13 May 2001 20:13:30 +1100 From: "james walker" Subject: IN> Re: Swords of Laurence >1) Misusing an attunement can cost a Word-bound >Forces. Although it takes more to hurt Superiors, >pouring his power into hollow plastic is going to >really hurt Laurence, making the tactic >counterproductive. Depends on whether how strictly you're defining the Word in your campaign. _My_ Laurence is the Archangel of "Chivalric beliefs of honor, courtesy and decisive blows against the forces of Evil, as commonly symbolized in corporeal languages by the word 'sword'", not the AA of "A Big Sharp Piece of Pointy Metal": yours, of course, may differ. Mine isn't going to care what a 'sword' looks like, as long as it does the job. YMMV :) >2) Word-shift. A swords become 'toys', and dangerous >toys at that (you can cut someone in half with a toy >'safe for children above 6 years'? Think of the >screams if (sorry -when. The Media..) that gets >caught on film. >Laurence's Word would get mangled. Only if he lets them _keep_ them - but that's a fair enough point. It can be worked around, though. >SO it's not really a good idea; the Word of The Sword >doesn't fit. Depends on campaign. :) >If it had been one of Michaels' abilities...oh well. Nope. Michael has real problems with playing with others: he'd go kill all the attacking Calabim, and the people he's protecting will just cower in a corner. Nice for Michael, bad for encouraging others to fight the Forces of Evil on their own - and bad for the War. Michael is a warrior ... and Laurence is a soldier, which is why Larry runs the War and Mike is just essentially wasting Baal's time until Armageddon.* I'll concede David, though. Moe *Sorry, Chuck. I know that you see Mike as more of a soldier-type yourself. Depends on campaign, though. :) ===== Liber Licentiae Moeticae: http://www.stormloader.com/users/moelane/innomine.html Last updated 04/29/01(this is usually way out of date) __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! Auctions - buy the things you want at great prices http://auctions.yahoo.com/ ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 14 May 2001 13:15:15 +1100 From: "james walker" Subject: IN> Re:Swords & Musashi >> Well, what about bokken? Made out of wood, used for >> training purposes, but Miyamoto Musashi apparently >> swore by them as superior to katanas - and if he isn't >> a Sword Saint* in every sense of the term, he ought to >> be. > > If it hasn't passed onto the Higher Heavens by now, which seems pretty > likely given his degree of enlightenment - in a Swordy kind of way. But I > always reckoned he claimed Bokken were superior to avoid hurting people's > feelings too much. Musashi is one of the Seconds avaialbe at the Duelling Grounds in Heaven [H&H, p.73] - something that must cause Laurence more than a little annoyance, given that Mushashi's greatest achievement was leading an army to exterminate Roman catholicism in Japan. Given that Kendo has gone over from Bokken to Shinai because of the fatalities caused by training with Bokken, I suspect he wasn't joking about the Bokken being deadlier! James. ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 13 May 2001 20:56:58 -0700 (PDT) From: Maurice Lane Subject: Re: IN> Iron Rev:: The Wrap Date: Sat, 12 May 2001 20:26:00 From: "Janet Anderson" Subject: Re: IN> Iron Rev:: The Wrap >>The top two have less than 0.01 between their >>averages, and they are: >>The Flea Rider & >>The Worm that Dieth Not >*speechless with astonishment* You shouldn't be: it was quite a good adventure. Nicely evocative of the time period. So, do you know what the reward is for good work? That's right, more work. You've given us James and Sherlock: why go back to that historical era and take a stab at, oh, I don't know ... ... Jack? :) Moe PS: On a general note, it occurs to me that my previous Laurencian posts may have been a tad, shall we say, _vehement_? I apologize for any overly brash statements and plead in my defense enhanced stress levels (I, too, am trying to relocate to Virginia in the near future). :) ===== Liber Licentiae Moeticae: http://www.stormloader.com/users/moelane/innomine.html Last updated 04/29/01(this is usually way out of date) __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! Auctions - buy the things you want at great prices http://auctions.yahoo.com/ ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 14 May 2001 00:07:24 -0400 From: "Eric Bertish" Subject: Re: IN> Weird , noncanonical and bright, Bright, BRIGHT Swordy Thought. >From: Maurice Lane >Good Lord, Eric, what's the default Body Hit total in >your campaign? Hah. There is no such animal. I've converted the game over to White Wolf mechanics. >These things do a MINIMUM of 12, >maximum of 22, and average of 18 points of Body Hits >on demons!* On the average, one hit will knock the >average demon silly, and three or so will kill him.** Right. And the moment, I mean the very SECOND, the Calabim realize that the monkeys are using things that do far more damage than they should, they they will utilize options that humans simply do not have. To whit: * Songs of Thunder * Celestial Songs of Light * Calabite Resonance And by either singing NC: Wings or going Celestial, they are *well* out of range of melee weapons. >Give me that, and good enough odds (20 Calabim could >easily kill 5 times their number in unenhanced humans, >I would say, so drawing up the scenario that way seems >about right. Then apparently we are assuming the Calabim are utter morons. > >Then all the other Calabim cut loose with Songs > >and/or lethal uses of Resonance. > >Well, that's why Larry's sticking around. Keeps the >fight nice and fair, so to speak. :) In which case, *why bother*? All Larry has to do is *show up* and the demons either run away, invoke their Superior, or do both if they're smart. At which point, the humans are basically scenery anyway... >No. If this isn't a 'life-threatening situation', >then I don't know what is: people blast their Essence >(this is why Laurence led the counterattack at noon). He led it noon? How convenient. I do believe you forgot to mention the artillery battallion he has standing by on alert as well. :/ You're stacking the situation ad absurdum. >Now, not everybody is full up - no, wait, they are: >Larry took care of that. *sigh* Why doesn't he just give them anotehr Force while he's at it? >Laurence laughs at the thought of the demons trying to >explain to their Prince how they let themselves get >sent into Trauma by a bunch of humans with plastic >swords. The next batch may be a little more careful >in their depredations, which was the whole point of >the exercise ... and, hey, maybe he'll get a couple of >6 Force Soldiers out of the deal. Moe, there's a difference between Fluffy Bright and Ridiculously Absurd. See that line? You crossed it several paragraphs back. >_Soldiers_ with these things, though (cue evil laughter...) That's the only way I could ever see this working, frankly. Funny, but I don't see Laurence as the type to needlessly endanger noncombatants. - -- Casca _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 14 May 2001 01:21:28 -0400 From: Mike Bruner Subject: IN> "All your soul are belong to us!" Here's something that's been bouncing around in my head for a little while now; hopefully I've got all the kinks out of the write-up... Glitzblkna ("Bob Smith") Balseraph Baron of Inner Torment Demon of Bad Translations Corporeal Forces: 3 Strength: 5 Agility: 7 Ethereal Forces: 5 Intelligence: 12 Precision: 8 Celestial Forces: 5 Will: 12 Perception: 8 Word-Forces: 6 Vessel: "Some Foreigner"/3, Charisma +1 Skills: Artistry (Cinematography)/3, (Painting)/1, Computer Operation/1, Dodge/3, Driving/2, Emote/5, Fast-Talk/6, Knowledge (Cultures)/1, Area Knowledge (New York)/5, Languages (All)/1, Lying/3, Ranged Weapon (Pistol)/3, Savoir-Faire/6 Songs: Cacophony (Ethereal/6), Charm (All/4), Form (Ethereal/3, Celestial/3), Harmony (Ethereal/3), Light (Ethereal/3, Celestial/2), NC:Tongue/6, Plagues (Ethereal/2), Shields (All/3) Attunements: Balseraph of Factions, Balseraph of the Media, Baron of Inner Torment, Imbroglio, Polarize, Now THAT'S a Punch Line, Demon of Bad Translations. Due to Kobal's generosity, the Punch Line attunement need not involve telling a joke; merely speaking in his usual manner causes the victim to pause to attempt to figure out just what the HELL that guy just said. Demon of Bad Translations: Bob can use his Balseraph to make the same statement sound different to multiple individuals; while one person might hear him say he surrenders, another might hear a defiant statement and still another individual might hear him call out to reinforcements... basically, he is heard to say whatever he wants the person within earshot to think he said. This may be resisted as standard Balseraph resonance, but individuals except for Kyriotates and those with Corporeal Song of Tongues/6 do so at a penalty equal to his Celestial Forces (Kyrios and Tongues/6 individuals do so at 1/2 his Celestial Forces). Successful resistance will enable the target to know precisely what was said to each other target, although of course which statement is "true" (if any) is not necessarily revealed (except for Seraphs with appropriate resonance, of course). He may also use this ability to use his various Attunements and standard resonance on different people/things simultaneously (so he might tell a different Balseraph-resonated lie to two people while simultaneously enraging another with Imbroglio). He cannot use multiple attunements on one target, but each target may receive the effects of any one attunement or resonance. This ability does have some drawbacks; should he be in a position to earn Dissonance from any of these activities, he will earn it all simultaneously (so if in the example above both of the Balseraph resonance targets disbelieved him, he would be hit by 2 points of Dissonance). In addition, should his use of his Balseraph resonance with this ability cause him to tell more than two mutually contradictory lies, he gains one point of Dissonance for each lie past the first two; Balseraphs may be able to deal with several inconvenient facts simultaneously, but balancing too many contradictory viewpoints in his head threatens Bob's innate demon selfish perspective. Note however this only applies to lies that mutually contradict each other; multiple resonance-assisted lies on unrelated subjects don't cause problems. Finally, resistance of any of the attunements he uses by a victim will carry the same understanding of what he said to the other victims, complete with knowledge of the attunements used, and there is NO penalty to resistance. Thus, he is somewhat careful in utilizing this feature of his Word. Rites: Cause conflict between two people due to significant misunderstanding of something said. Ensure a poor translation is permanently enshrined in a language-to-language dictionary. (+3 Essence) Role: "Fazheel Nehvalhala", New York taxi driver/3, Status 2 Glbzch... Glika... "Bob Smith" has always taken the Balseraph tradition for obfuscation to unusual levels. While most demons are always uncertain whether a Balseraph is telling the truth or lying, with Bob it's generally a question of knowing WHAT he said at all. Bob's spouting of nearly impenetrable gibberish has perplexed those elements of Hell he's come in contact with for centuries, yet despite this apparent handicap his superiors always seemed to hear the things they wanted to hear from him at the right time. His own brand of chaos (or as he puts it, "mixing the speakeasy glee") amazingly enough also managed to do a fine job of causing disarray and distrust among others, leading him high enough in Malphas's service to eventually be sponsered for a Word by Malphas (at least Malphas THINKS that was the boon Bob asked for after sparking that wonderful riot at the book reading...). No one is quite sure what Word Bob asked for; unfortunately this included Lucifer as well, who nonetheless granted Bob the Word of Bad Translations as well as the cup of coffee the demon apparently wanted so badly. Whether or not this was his desire, Bob seemed content enough with things and settled into promoting his new Word with remarkable ease. He received welcome aid from Nybbas, who was delighted to have somebody handle all that anime dubbing and foreign film subtitling that was backing up on his people. The results may have put Bob on the hitlists of some Ethereals unamused with the effects from people's views of their incarnations shifting, but resulted in quite a strong boost to his Word from trivial to minor status. In addition to his good working relationship with Nybbas (who stuck Bob's working name on him after getting tired of trying to say his real name all the time), Bob also has had warm dealings with Kobal, who just gets a kick out of this guy. After the loss of Bob's previous Role as a UN translator recently (the minor war he sparked did earn him his barony, but Heaven's resulting response came in loud and clear (VERY loudly and QUITE easy to understand)), Kobal thoughtfully offered the use of a Role his people had developed as a New York cab driver, provided of course Bob would consent to transport any of Kobal's people in New York as needed. Granted, since Bob was created back when the horse was king of transportation, his driving skills aren't so great, and he never seems to understand your desired destination, but hey, it's not like that makes him stand out that much among other New York cabbies, does it? Bob currently makes use of his new Role for spying purposes; it's amazing what those UN staff and other people let slip in a cab sometimes, not to mention what can be done to folks with a little creative use of the Balseraph of Media attunement and their cell phones. He's also managed to pick up on the Roles of some of the local angels, and monitors them as best as he can (the Janus angels always tip well after a ride with him anyway). In addition per his deal with Kobal, he is often in charge of picking up and briefing new demonic arrivals to New York on the local situation; he does this for his other two patrons occasionally, although both Nybbas and Malphas generally ask him to do so only for their less favored servitors. On the side, he continues his translational assistance for Nybbas, as well as pursuing various hobby activities such as spreading a certain meme derived from an old game called Zero Wing and watching Monty Python (he's been a fan ever since watching a certain Hungarian skit of theirs). Despite several covert efforts by Kobal to recruit him away from Malphas's service (Dark Humor can always use somebody to instruct new Earthbound demons in the proper speech of their areas), Bob's current goals lean more towards working to gradually supplant the Demon of Xenophobia (for when people misunderstand one another, what is left but fear of the other?). More privately, he is pondering one thought which occured to him one day; if his power contains the ability to cause misunderstanding of words, how might this apply to Words?... - -- Mike Bruner-- bruner@delaware.infi.net It takes all kinds of people to make a world, but did you ever think the percentages were wrong? ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 13 May 2001 22:33:14 -0700 From: "Phillip" Subject: Re: IN> "All your soul are belong to us!" Okay, I'm going out to soul-kill this one myself. Seriously, this is beautiful. Of course, now I need to work even more on my idea for the Archangel fo Communication, do give him someone to be running for his life from. Phillip, Angel of Reinventing The Wheel ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 14 May 2001 16:12:32 +1100 From: "james walker" Subject: IN> Re: Tactics of Armageddon Ever since Final Trumpet, I've been wondering HOW Heaven would go about fighting Armageddon. these are my thoughts so far; I'd appreciate people's comments. As GotH, Laurence's opinions are the ones which matter most. (Fortunately, one of those opinions is that listening to Michael is a good idea). Laurence has a reputation for plans which require clockwork precision and fall apart if that's missing - so how did he get that rep? Well, imagine Laurence when he first becomes GotH. He knows that any normal tactics he develops can be duplicated by the enemy. So he wants to design tactics which rely on strengths which hell cannot duplicate. Ideally, ones which will prove that Heaven will win because God is on their side. That means building on: the Light of Heaven/Trisagion - the inabilty of Lucifer to cause interventions when either is active; the greater willingness of the Archangels to cooperate, and trust one another (okay, they don't trust each other a lot, but they at least don't have to worry about assassination attempts), the angelic resonances (although Kronos can duplicate them) especially the Malakite immunity to Trauma (which Kronos can't duplicate). The immunity to Infernal Interventions in Heaven is most useful for Choruses. When more than a dozen or so angels are Singing in Chorus, the chances of an Intervention are considerable; once you have a few hundred, an intervention is almost certain. (Given the disturbance involved, the main effect of the Intervention would probably be to cancel the disturbance - although if it doesn't, and on the rare occasions when God doesn't lend a hand, the Disturbance can be used, as I'll explain later). So a Chorus in Heaven would be Laurence's primary military unit. If Seraphim are involved, they're adding their CelForces to the CD, so the 'routine' Numinous Corpus performed by the Chorus will have a duration of 12 hours, plus the 'extra time spent' bonus. This means they'll have time to perform a number of NC, and travel to the Corporeal, and fight a major engagement. Of course, they need to get to the fight; so the group would include Cherubim, attuned to Ofanim who would be circling a Demonic Tether (or include angels who've gone Celestial from near the Tether). Ideally, the Ofanite performs CelShields directly before the Chorus turns up, so that their disturbance is hidden from the demons until too late; the angels sweep out from the protection of the Song, slaughtering anything they find Celestial, before going Corporeal and finishing the job. looks good, but has a major problem - the Ofanite. If the Ofanite can be detected by the demons, they have lots of options. Killing him isn't an attractive one, as the Cherubim will be warned of the intention and bring the Chorus down early. However, distracting him, or better yet using the Song of Possession while he's performing CelShields will work. Possession is ideal; the Cherubim who are heading towards the Ofanite will end up leading the Chorus back to the Ofanite's Heart, wasting thousands of angelhours of work and similar quantities of essence. (of course, they have to be careful not to hurt the Ofanite's vessel or the Cherubim will acquire Nemesis attunements and be able to continue the attack). This has probably happened repeatedly, causing a great deal of laughter at Laurence's expense. No matter, once refined, the technique will be useful for Tether destruction, and Armageddon. The other two main advantages, a willingness to cooperate and the Malakite immunity to Trauma, make an interesting combination. If the Archangels are prepared to empty their reserves of essence constructing vessels for their Malakim,(with a couple of the warrior archangels keeping sufficient reserves to be able to hold defend their fellows from an attack by a Demon Prince) two things are achieved. Firstly, the Malakim will have tactical numerical superiority, helping them to inflict heavy casualties, and overrun a number of demonic positions (incuding tethers. Probably a number of Demon Princes will abandon weak Tethers as indefensible against this sort of attack. Lilith might abandon[or sell] them all, counting on replacing them once the assault was over). Secondly, once Heaven and Hell have both emptied their supplies of essence & vessels, Heaven has a large force of experienced, dissonance free Malakim whose opposite numbers are in Trauma [the plan would probably be sold to Novalis by pointing out that any demons Traumatised during the attack will not be able to be Soul-killed during Armageddon, and she would be offered to have them for potential redemption after Armageddon if she agreed to join in the plan]. Although they don't have vessels, this force can easily be thrown across the Marches at Beleth. As EVERYONES' Malakim come charging across the Border Marches, guided by the angels of dream, Beleth's demons will simply be overwhelmed, their superior knowledge of the Marches insufficient against such vast numbers of powerful angels. Beleth either stands and fights, and is destroyed by Michael and friends; or, more likely flees to Hell. The angels begin to pour through the Tether in the Tower. Meanwhile, control of the Beleth's realm changes the War in the Corporeal realm. Any demon who enters the Marches appears at the base of Beleth's Tower, and is swiftly cut down by milling Malakim. So they avoid it. Unfortunately, the Kyriotates now take the lead in Corporeal warfare. They roam Demonic tethers at will, possessing demon(ling)s who are Soul-killed in the Marches - but the Kyriotates take no dissonance as their hosts, (the Remnants) are unhurt. in fact, the Kyriotates take the Remnants to Divine Tethers where they are taught to use their Demonic attunements to serve Heaven. Soon Heaven has thousands of Remnants, bleeding off power from Demonic Words by misusing attunements. And the loss of Servitors means that demonic Tethers fall like dominoes - helped by Blandine's angels concentrating on healing the dreams of any human whose been in a demonic Tether. Meanwhile, back in Hell, angels are pouring out of Beleth's Tower (which will be able to cope, as an angelic army is any demon's Nightmare) to the Styx. The higher Perception of angels plus the Ofanite resonance means that Ofanim should be able cross the river through the Mists, and race down between the Walls of Hell and the Styx to the Gates of Hell. Here they link up with the Angels of Final Judgement, slaughter the Habbalah responsible for the Damned and/or raid the Soul Yards. Meanwhile Jean is sailing pontoon/pre-fab bridges down the Styx from Olympus, while the bulk of the Host marches down the other side of the river. (Not a good idea to anchor the armies' flank on the Walls of Hell!) The Gates of Hell are the best place to destroy the armies of Hell. For starters, the angels have linked up with angels of Final Judgement, who are normally a match for a Superior and during Armageddon will be waxing stronger as their Word is enhanced. Secondly, they know the terrain; Dominic has been coming here twice a week for 22,000 years, and the other angels are summoned whenever the Angels of Final judgement find a human who shouldn't go to Hell. Thirdly, it isn't part of any Principality so none of the Demon Princes can modify the terrain at will. Also, it is quite easy for angels to get to the Gates from the Corporeal Realm; all they need do is kill a evil human and then follow the soul down. (This option is available to demons as well, of course, but if demons want to kill their own Soldiers Laurence won't mind). Finally, and most importantly, it grants Heaven control of the supply of Damned Souls, denying Hell access to their main source of Forces and essence. What happens next depends on what Heaven does with the Damned Souls. Marc would suggest a prisoner exchange; any captured angels or demons who want to redeem could be exchanged for Damned Souls. Yves may be interested in giving the Damned a last chance at achieving their Destiny. David would probably suggest using them as labour gangs to dig entrenchments on the battlefield. The darkest option, however, is to simply massacre them. The angels are at a severe disturbance disadvantage in Hell; nearly everything they do will cause Disturbance. 'Masking' that by creating a huge Disturbance has a number of other advantages. If the Disturbance is started using numerous uses of the Celestial Song of Cacophony, then Song use will be impossible where-ever the disturbance can be heard - an important factor given that angels cannot regenerate essence in Hell. The slaughter of humans commits the Impudites to driving off the angels - they'll be destroyed by dissonance unless they do everything they can to end the massacre. More importantly, if the disturbance is loud enough, it will interfere with Tether formation by disrupting the Upper Foci. Doing so will prevent Hell from ever having Tethers again! Of course, the Disturbance would have to be HUGE to cover all of Hell, but between soul-deaths, essence expenditure, construction work and angels entering and leaving Hell, it would be huge. {Additionally, Hell is built on the rubble of Gabriels' mountain, so material can be moved from Heaven to Hell. If the locations where the Choruses performed their Songs was taken to Hell, the Disturbance becomes an asset not a liability}. The final point is that Laurence has sworn an oath not to let an Evil live if it is his choice. Although he could see the tactical advantages of other suggestions, and will follow them up, unless a Damned Soul is somehow needed, it will die. At some point, Hell is going to have to attack the angels' fortifications. Although the demons could fly in, they are more likely to try to use the ground for cover. At this point things get ugly. There aren't many ways of inflicting ranged damage in Celestial combat, but those that do exist are pretty gross. The ideal, from Laurence's POV, would be the Heavenly Judgement attunement. Units would be built around those Judges with the attunement, with orders to feed the Judge essence and to prevent the Judge's death. Waves of blazing swords flying into the ranks of the demons will slaughter the most evil demons. Meanwhile, the Gabrielites are Smiting cruel demons, while being feed essence by Michelines, Windies and Creationers (none of whom really belong in a unit with a Judge). The handful of demons who make it to the angelic lines will be those who aren't cruel enough to attract the attention of Fire and haven't done anything to do serve Judgement; as such they'd be captured and handed over to Yves and Novalis for potential redemption. And, of course, the angels are being 'fed' essence by their fellows elsewhere, using the Celestial Song of Tongues. Hell might manage to get significant numbers to the lines, and even if they don't Vapula will be shelling the fortifications, so Heaven is going to take heavy casualties. However, control of the battle field means that they'll be able to loot it for the artifacts used by the demons. Hell has just lost a sizable force of troops; cannot gain new Tethers; cannot use or teach Songs; all of their Superiors (except Lucifer) are meaning diminished (and eventually destroyed) by the armies of Remnants in the Corporeal... At this point, they've lost. Meanwhile not only does Heaven have the masses of artifacts taken from the battlefield, they're also gaining Tethers, as any Tether which would have been contested becomes theirs by default. The only Tethers which Hell can create are those rare ones which connect to the Lower Hells. Of course, many Tethers which would normally have become demonic are now linking to the Far Marches; this increase in the power of evil in the Far Marches is likely to trigger Ragnarok. This won't help Hell, however. At this point, Heaven doesn't need to continue. Simply blockading Hell will destroy the place, as they're no longer gaining Forces but will still be losing them to internal bickering and other attrition. So, sorry about the length of this post. Any obvious flaws? James. ------------------------------ End of in_nomine-digest V1 #2222 ******************************** The material here is (C) 2001 Steve Jackson Games, Incorporated. All rights reserved.