From owner-in_nomine-digest@lists.io.com Tue Jun 19 16:38:46 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 QAA14190 for ; Tue, 19 Jun 2001 16:38:45 -0500 Received: (from majordom@localhost) by lists.io.com (8.9.3/8.9.1a) id QAA25263 for in_nomine-digest-outgoing; Tue, 19 Jun 2001 16:38:00 -0500 Date: Tue, 19 Jun 2001 16:38:00 -0500 Message-Id: <200106192138.QAA25263@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 #2269 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, June 19 2001 Volume 01 : Number 2269 In this digest: Re: IN> While we're (sort of) on the subject of destiny/fate... Re: IN> Greetings... and a challenge Re: IN> Swiss They Ain't... IN> Re: After MarcFest IN> Novalis Stuffing Up. IN> Re: Papal Guard IN> Re: Mothers Day Re: IN> Novalis Stuffing Up. Re: IN> Re: Papal Guard IN> A Balseraph's Perspective on God and the Universe Re: IN> Iron Rev: Nipping One in the Bud Re: IN> Greetings... and a challenge Re: IN> Greetings... and a challenge Re: IN> Iron Rev 2: Cardinal Sin IN> Iron Rev 2: Just Do It. Re: IN> While we're (sort of) on the subject of destiny/fate... Re: IN> Dark Humour Attunement Re: IN> Dark Humour Attunement Re: IN> Dark Humour Attunement Re: IN> Iron Rev 2: Just Do It. IN> Iron Rev 2: The Fourth Realm ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 19 Jun 2001 06:05:03 -0700 (PDT) From: Michael Walton Subject: Re: IN> While we're (sort of) on the subject of destiny/fate... - --- Charles Phipps wrote: > AoFJ2#: He'll do right next time I swear...anyman who can > come up with such > a symphonic ballad as "Hunka Hunka burning love can't be > all bad" Charles... you ain't nothin' but a hound dog. };> ===== Michael Walton, #9805-068 The Aztecs had chocolate and human sacrifice. That's got to balance out on the karmic scale. __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Spot the hottest trends in music, movies, and more. http://buzz.yahoo.com/ ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 19 Jun 2001 06:09:25 -0700 (PDT) From: Michael Walton Subject: Re: IN> Greetings... and a challenge - --- Peter Player wrote: > Well, that's the challenge. Any takers? Show us yours, we'll show you ours. ===== Michael Walton, #9805-068 The Aztecs had chocolate and human sacrifice. That's got to balance out on the karmic scale. __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Spot the hottest trends in music, movies, and more. http://buzz.yahoo.com/ ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 19 Jun 2001 06:16:17 -0700 (PDT) From: Michael Walton Subject: Re: IN> Swiss They Ain't... - --- "William J. Keith" wrote: > Was pondering an attempt to assassinate the Pope. And > frankly, I don't > think it'd work, by reason of about 20 or so of these > guys: > > Papal Guard > Reliever Sheesh! I'd have to agree. Nothing short of overwhelming force is going to get past these guys -- and Hell would need a _really_ good reason for that. ===== Michael Walton, #9805-068 The Aztecs had chocolate and human sacrifice. That's got to balance out on the karmic scale. __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Spot the hottest trends in music, movies, and more. http://buzz.yahoo.com/ ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 19 Jun 2001 23:08:42 +1100 From: "james walker" Subject: IN> Re: After MarcFest > Now that MarcFest is over, what Superior do we pick on > next? Dare I suggest -- Lilith Fair? Owww. It's an option. However, Lilith has a basic write-up in RevIV, and various other stuff - it'd be nice to work on someone who hasn't been covered at all. Say: Eli Janus Jean Jordi Novalis or Christopher, Furfur, Zadkiel from the Minors. Maybe even 'A day with Magog'? James. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 20 Jun 2001 00:02:30 +1100 From: "james walker" Subject: IN> Novalis Stuffing Up. > I've noticed, particularly recently, that there seem to be a number of posts > and topics dealing with Novalis' triumphs and viewpoint, and that these are > occasionally presented at the expense of some of the other more militant > Archangels, such as Michael or Dominic. It sometimes seems as if Novalis > puts a lot of effort into "showing up" some of her more violent peers > (noncanonically, of course), and even when she loses (such as she did in > "The Trials of Michael"), it seems that the more violent party involved (in > this case, Michael) ends up learning a valuable lesson that his is not the > only viewpoint, that peace should be given a chance, and so on and so forth. Well, for the Trials, Michael's primary reason for making the challenge was to learn stuff - which he does off nearly everybody, including a reliever. It's one of the knacks of a good soldier. More recently, Another Take On Novalis was necessary to deal with the assumption that she'll just fall over and die the moment Hell uses anything even vaguely violent against her. I'm sure she stuffs up; I'm sure they all do; but not that easily. Were does she come from? Novalis & Marc become AA's directly after the Fall. My theory is that the titles were granted as 'Ambassadorial Rank' - we know that a diplomatic solution was attempted to stop the War (APG p61) and they were the logical angels for Heaven to send. This would mean that they were the angels who first encountered the joys of the new demonic resonances - of all the hordes of Hell - and they survived. That's impressive. And while 22,000 years experience is minor compared to the senior AA's, it means they've seen the entire War. Also, remember that Novalis, as Flowers, would have an excellent understanding of logistics. Her understanding of the movement of food supplies would allow her to predict the movements of human armies, and to understand the advantages of cutting enemy supply lines. Ulm during the Napoleonic Wars & Tannenburg during WWI are examples of 'battles' where Novalis' Word reigns supreme. A Dark Novalis might also be the driving force behind scorched earth campaigns, defeating enemies by destroying resources. In the Celestial realm, this would translate well, as she find non-violent ways to erase demonic Words; 'torching' a Word the way she would a barn. > is can learn from those of her peers who choose more direct > methods? Just because Michael is the Archangel of War doesn't necessarily > mean he solves all his problems with his axe. I'm sure he's as delighted as > the next person to engage in diplomacy -- it's just another battleground, > after all, and a converted opponent is still one less to worry about, right? > Is it not fair to say that the War faction of Heaven's political hierarchy > can embrace peaceful solutions, at least some of the time? Yep. This was discussed some time ago - Michael always knows what it would take to make peace, courtesy of his Mercurian attunement. I'll probably take up your challenge - if I can think of a stuff up which I'd find believable. Other people may find it easier. James. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 19 Jun 2001 23:27:41 +1100 From: "james walker" Subject: IN> Re: Papal Guard > Was pondering an attempt to assassinate the Pope. And frankly, I don't > think it'd work, by reason of about 20 or so of these guys: > > Papal Guard > Reliever When did Cherubim go out of fashion? Sending relievers into the front line is just asking for Trauma. [shrugs] Defending Popes is not likely to carry a lot of respect in Heaven, given the current one's been shot and the previous one was probably assassinated. These failures would do nasty things to the units morale. James. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 19 Jun 2001 23:20:29 +1100 From: "james walker" Subject: IN> Re: Mothers Day > ("What do you ghet for the ghirl who ghas everything?") A Free Pass to something? james. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 19 Jun 2001 10:18:36 -0500 From: Earl Wajenberg Subject: Re: IN> Novalis Stuffing Up. What does "stuffing up" mean? Earl ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 19 Jun 2001 10:22:43 -0500 From: Earl Wajenberg Subject: Re: IN> Re: Papal Guard james walker wrote: > When did Cherubim go out of fashion? Sending relievers into the > front line is just asking for Trauma. If I recall correctly, relievers can stay in celestial form on Earth indefinitely, as long as they are on a mission from an Archangel or other Superior, unlike full-fledged angels. I assumed this was the reason. > Defending Popes is not likely to carry a lot of respect in Heaven, > given the current one's been shot and the previous one was > probably assassinated. Assassinated? That's a new one to me. Who is supposed to have assassinated John Paul I? As to defending Popes -- you have a point, but Heaven might have different priorities for defending the Pope from human attack and for defending him from demonic attack. Earl ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 19 Jun 2001 08:19:30 -0700 From: Charles E Smith Subject: IN> A Balseraph's Perspective on God and the Universe A letter posted near Tethers of Lightning, Faith, Judgement, and Destiny. - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Azah, Balseraph of Technology To: Concerned Celestials everywhere Re: God and the Universe. Greetings. I am Azah and I write to you concerning my findings on the true nature of God, in keeping with the research of the Genius Prince in this matter. Hard as it may be to believe, I am writing this in your own best interest, to explain why exactly we in Hell are conducting our just war for freedom and why it is imperative that you of Heaven understand us demons and join us, for your own sake as well as our own. Rest assured, my writings come from a scientific perspective and do not contain the blind fanaticism of less informed demons. To begin, we should clarify what God is and isn't. Firstly, there is no question that God is a Superior-level being. What is in question is whether or not He transcends all other Superiors. That He has access to tremendous stores of Essence, a great many Songs and the power to grant Words is not in doubt. However, considering that the Lightbringer has similar attributes, it is a question of whether or not God is the only being that can claim supremacy. I will inform you of one popular theory in Hell. We theorize that, just as the Archangel Janus of the Wind and our own Prince Valefor of Theft may well be linked (in that they have similar attunements, gifts to their Servitors, operating procedures, etc.), so too may God and Lucifer be. Leaving that be for the time, I focus on the theorized origins of God. We well know that ethereals beings have been worshipped as gods. Indeed, this was part of the moral justification of your Purification Crusade some centuries ago. It is common belief today that ethereals rise from the thoughts, dreams, nightmares, fears, and desires of mortal beings, growing in power in an inverse proportional to the level of belief and/or worship in their existence by mortals. However, serious scientists on both sides of the War well know that ethereal beings well predated the rise of humanity. Your Archangel of Dreams was tending to the Marches before even the Eden Experiment and the Fall. Where did the Ethereals gain their power before mortals came along to fuel it? Tests done on ethereals captured in the Marches would indicate that they have their own stores of Essence, which is why an ethereal creature might survive as the ghost or remnant of what it was until sufficient mortal belief re-energizes them. This, I believe, marks an evolutionary development in the Ethereals, but more important, it would indicate a great deal of the origins of God. We know that nothing arises spontaneously. Even the universe has some prime components to it, else it would not be. Have you ever stopped to think as to how and why God could claim otherwise, in spite of all physical evidence to the contrary? Based on this information, it is safe to hypothesize that the being called God is really no more than a super-charged version of Odin or Zeus or any of the ethereal gods. That being the case, we must look at how He came to His current prominence. Given the nature of the Marches and the competiveness between pantheons, I think it is scientifically feasible to assume that the God-entity accumulated power until He was able to create a domain for himself. It is not uncommon for powerful Ethereals to claim portions of the Marches as their own. Having accomplished this, He, much like the unlamented Legion, grew in power to such a point that He was able to claim a far vaster dominion for His own. To wit, the Celestial Plane. It is of note that, having once seized the power to grant Words, the first two He granted were Destiny and War. Let us look at this fact in greater detail. It has been my observation, based on careful research in the Archives of Fate, that human tyrants often set into place social and philosophical codes and ideals to justify their tyranny. What better form of this could there be than to claim that the Tyrant's rule is truly the best and brightest future for the universe. Like any tyrant, God placed a good PR man up front to justify His reign. If one thinks of it, that makes Yves nothing more than an ancient and degraded version of our own Prince Nybbas of The Media. Next of course, a good tyrant needs a violent thug to enforce his decrees, and who better for that task than Michael? It is no coincidence that War was the first-born angel. But you ask, what of the other Words? Surely if God was simply another Ethereal, He could not grant Words? No, but we know that he created the Symphony, a suspect creation in and of itself. Surely in His version of reality He could grant the powers he deemed fit. Hence Destiny and War, Stone, Creation, Fire, The Waters, and Light. It was with Light that God made His mistake. The original Archangels, and those who came later (Dreams, Love, Laughter, Purity, Knowledge, The Wind, and Animals) were mindless sheep, guided by the sadly deluded Metatron who served as mouthpiece for the Tyrant. The idyllic times some of the older angels claim is, by my research, simply the time when everyone accepted the Tyrant's whims without thought or question. Then Lucifer, first of my Band, whose word is Light, exercised a portion of his Word that God had not anticipated. Is not Light that which illuminates, which drives back the Darkness of ignorance and folly? The Lightbringer exercised his Word and saw through the Divine Tyranny. He tried to guide the humans away from mindless obedience, but that effort sadly failed, save with Princess Lilith. So began the so-called Fall, when wise angels and Archangels, save as Andrealphus and Kobal, turned from the pretender and tried to enlighten Heaven. Based on my analysis of the situation, Lucifer actually did you a favor in removing Metatron from your midst. By silencing the Voice of God, the Lightbringer was attempting to show you the weakness and folly of His position. Although we were cast into Hell as political exiles, the Truth would out. Princess Lilith freed us and the War against your willful blindness began. The setback in the initial uprising in Heaven proved that we must employ tough love to educate you. Rapine, Fate, Corruption, Secrets, The War, The Game, Cruelty, Greed, and the other words, ancient and modern, may have seemed harsh, but it did get your attention and thus we can reason with you now. Unfortunately, the Tyrant appointed Judgement to kill those who would listen to reason, just like the most savage human bully, punching out those who dare question him. We do hold hope since more intelligent Words like Flowers and Revelation have been cultured by your side. Some who read my words will argue that I do not speak Truth. But we must consider, if God created this universe and the angels, then he created the fixed and rigid Truth by which they live. Just as the Seraphim of Flowers cannot help but to project an aura of peace about them, then, by this premise, the Seraphim have been made incapable of thinking outside the box. Further, look at the position of the Seraphim. The Most Holy Choir, above all else, the Choir of Michael. Is it any wonder then, that War and Judgement both are Seraphim? Who better to prosecute the War than those incapable of recognizing any "Truth" but that of the Tyrant's will? Note also Dominic's association with Yves, the justifier of the absent Tyrant's will. Judgement draws strength from the fact that Destiny sanctions his actions. War shows glimmers of intelligence in severing his association with Destiny, but until he realizes that all truths are subjective, he will forever be stuck in his rut. I turn my attention to other Archangels now. The Waters and Knowledge are dead, Song and Death in exile (perhaps because they stumbled upon the nature of God?), Purity is in absentia, and Love and Laughter have seen the Light and accepted their places as Lust and Dark Humor. But what of the rest of you? Flowers, Revelation, and Children, the most peaceful and reasonable amongst you, are stifled by those who will not see the Light. Creation is gone, and hopefully will be wiser when he returns. Faith carries out his appointed task, making sure that all human essence flows to the Tyrant to keep him fueled in Essence. The Sword, young and naive as he is, smites those of us who are the free-thinkers of the universe. He cannot help it. His Word makes him a living weapon, and he is guided by such bad influences as War and Judgement. Stone is obtuse by his very nature. Lightning comes close to the reality of things, but is too hidebound to really think outside the box, which is unfortunate. The Wind promotes his change, but in forever playing the role of revolutionary, he himself stagnates. Protection adheres to a system of protecting those in God's favor only, never realizing that she is serving the same type of sadistic bully that she fights so fervently against. Animals and Dreams are isolationists and render themselves futile for the present. Thus, by clear scientific evidence, I present to you that we of Hell are in the right in our struggle for freedom and call upon all right-thinking angels to join us in our noble quest. Azah of Technology. ________________________________________________________________ GET INTERNET ACCESS FROM JUNO! Juno offers FREE or PREMIUM Internet access for less! Join Juno today! For your FREE software, visit: http://dl.www.juno.com/get/tagj. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 19 Jun 2001 12:56:39 -0400 (EDT) From: "Rev. Pee Kitty" Subject: Re: IN> Iron Rev: Nipping One in the Bud On Tue, 19 Jun 2001, Matthew Gerber wrote: > > Okay, someone want to clue me in? Moe "gets it" and Beth "gets it"... I > > feel ungotten. > > As the perpetrator, I suppose it's my job... > > The seed is full of Bloom County references and horrible puns involving > them. Ahhhhhhhhhh... I see now. William the cat and all that... very nice. > I'm sorry. I'm so, *so* sorry. No you're not. :) - -- Rev. Pee Kitty, of the order Malkavian-Dobbsian, Q4B4L! Meow! "Human germ!" -- Shrapnel (Decepticon), _Transformers: The Movie_ ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 19 Jun 2001 16:48:26 -0000 From: "Janet Anderson" Subject: Re: IN> Greetings... and a challenge Funny you should mention this ... in a Pyramid posting recently I described why I thought Novalis was such a Drip as she was written. One of the things I didn't mention was the theory that she knows more about other Archangels' Words than they do. Although this theory seems to be widely held, including by people whose writing I respect (yes, Moe, I mean you, why do you think I never commented on those Novalis stories?), I don't believe it and I don't see why others do. No one (as far as I know) believes that Michael or David or Laurence know more about Flowers than Novalis ... so why should the opposite be feasible? I hope there's no time limit on your challenge. I have two IN projects in the queue already and then there's my PBEM, whose players are giving me gray hair and writer's cramp ... Janet Anderson _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 19 Jun 2001 12:09:30 -0500 From: "Prodigal" Subject: Re: IN> Greetings... and a challenge From: "Janet Anderson" > Funny you should mention this ... in a Pyramid posting recently I described > why I thought Novalis was such a Drip as she was written. I still maintain that your opinion of Novalis is based more on personal bias than on the actual text, however. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 19 Jun 2001 16:40:20 -0400 From: "Joseph Rocchi/Toronto/IBM" Subject: Re: IN> Iron Rev 2: Cardinal Sin "Rev. Pee Kitty" wrote: Nice seed, definitely. An assassination attempt on the Pope is always a good excuse for a night of fun... :) But... where's the footwear? I saw the other two ingredients... Entirely symbolic in this case.. The demon in question is attempting to fill "The Shoes of the Fisherman" - said quoted prhase being a reference to the office of the Papacy Joseph Paul Rocchi IBM Global Services ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 19 Jun 2001 16:43:57 -0700 From: Anthony Damiani Subject: IN> Iron Rev 2: Just Do It. I'd like to repeat my motion that future Iron Revs give us a full week and a 1500 word cap, as I've run into the same difficulties as last time... Heck, I've got a 200 word vignette, a campaign hook and a scenario seed in here, I need more space, and with a final this week, I could use the extra time, too. Iron Rev II: Just Do It - -------------------- "You understand, of course, that what you are about to see is of vital importance to the War Effort, and you are, under no circumstances, to repeat this to anyone?" "Yes sir," the angel nodded to Lightning, "not even Litheroy or Janus?" As the Angel of Hackers, Jean's servitor had cause to coordinate tightly with both Wind and Revelations. "/Especially/ Litheroy and Janus," warned his superior, sternly, as he waved a hand, willing electromotive force into being, turning servomotors and sliding aside a massive steel door. Within lay a typically high-tech Lightning facility, filled with whirring devices and blinking terminals. At the center of the room, perhaps half a dozen celestials clustered around a set of computer kiosks-- an elohim, a mercurian, two seraphim, and a habbalah. Hackers' eyes went wide. "I believe you are already familiar with the renegade /Angel/ of encryption?" said Jean, his voiced laced with unaccustomed irony. "Angel!?" Hackers whispered hoarsely "But he's a Habbal...." "Did you know, by chance, that the Habbalah are the only choir of 'Angel' capable of naturally understanding the Infernal Tongue?" The archangel grinned mercilessly "Welcome to Project Babel -- Heaven's premiere code-breaking initiative." - --------------------- Consider the Library. It contains every word ever printed, or fully imagined-- everywhere. Except, of course, the True Prophecies of Nostradamus, but that's another story. Though Hell may metaphorically represent a state of complete absence from God, it is substantially more difficult to get away from Yves. Every order written by Baal's lieutenants, every script turned out by Nybbas, every arrest warrant issued by Asmodeus-- each and every last document Hell uses to prosecute the war invariably finds its way into Heaven, where it is neatly filed away. Kronos' archives are a dark mirror, of course, but, though vast, they are limited in scope, operating by the diligence and sheer number of its scribes, rather than through any universal principal. With such an overwhelming informational advantage, one must ask why Heaven has any difficulty combating the forces of Hell at all. The answer, of course, is that they can't read any of it. The blasphemous glyphs that comprise the written equivalent of the Infernal Tongue, are just as incomprehensible to the Angelic mind as the spoken version. So you can imagine Jean's joy when the self-proclaimed Angel of Encryption-- a hell-born Habbalah named Jimyeh attempted to defect, albeit for all the wrong reasons (Vapula wants humanity to have information, so they can provide him with research; Jean wants to control information and keep it out of their hands). Sure, he'd have to be redeemed eventually, but if Jean could just keep him out of trouble long enough to, say, help develop a computer to translate the hell-tongue... Now imagine the crestfallen look on his face when he realized that translating the hell-text wasn't the only problem. It certainly increased information flow, but the Demon Princes had already encrypted their important communications, to protect themselves from each other-- except for Alaemon (who does it on general principle, instead) and Saminga (who, as "The Omega, Anti-Life, The Great Beast, The Reaper of Souls, The End Of All That Is need hide his intentions from no one!"). Nevertheless, the unprecedented ability to decipher the Infernal Script is indeed a decisive step forward. All they need to do now are decipher the codes. And the easiest way to do that, is to get a copy of the codes.... The Scenario: Sure, the Celestial Song of Tongues is convenient-- but the time it takes to reach someone is random, the packet in transit is insecure, and it would represent a major essence drain to personally CST every major servitor scattered throughout an organization every time a superior had to contact them-- so encrypted writing is sometimes used, even for secure or semi-sensitive information. Beleth uses one particular encryption format for messages to her vassal ethereals, encoded on an artifact rod. This is one of the codes Project Babel would very much like to break, as Heaven has relatively little intelligence about activities in Beleth's side of the Marches and the Far Marches where her client-ethereals usually live. The difficulty, of course, is managing to get ahold of a decryption device. Project Babel has little in the way of ethereal resources, so, shy of bringing in Blandine, the only solution is to acquire or duplicate the Decryption Rod from one of the handful of Beleth's Client-Ethereals on Earth, without Beleth knowing that the code has been compromised. Which is why so many celestials are descending on Beaverton, Oregon, home to one of Beleth's most successful client-ethereals on the corporeal plane: The Goddess of Winged Victory, Nike. Now here's the complication: Nike, a 14 force Ethereal Baron of Screams has been working for Beleth since the Purity Crusade, and enjoyed great success through her corporate endeavors-- a shoe company that mounts billion-dollar ad campaigns that have nothing to do with shoes, and everything to do with promoting sportsmanship, competition, and the thrill of victory (in other words, funneling essence directly to her). But she's not happy. She only joined Beleth in turn for protection form Uriel's hordes, and has quietly spent the past several centuries tithing 1/7 of her essence directly to Beleth. Lately, however, as Nike has grown more successful, Beleth has grown more demanding, insisting that Nike further Nightmares more directly. Towards that end, she's been forced to open horrible sweatshops in third-world countries. Nike, naturally, as a reasonably good, if hypercompetitive, goddess, wants nothing to do with such atrocities. For the past decade she's been focusing on marketing over all, and preparing to attempt a defection to the ranks of the Media. She's about ready to make her move, and these Angels are coming at an extremely bad time... The PCs: PCs are either Angels working directly for Jean or Project Babel, those Jean has managed to commandeer from other archangels, the local celestials of Beaverton Oregon (befuddled by the sudden attention), agents of Beleth sent to make sure that Nike stays loyal, agents of Nybbas, who would love to recruit the promising ethereal and her essence, or agents of the Game who could easily be persuaded (or bribed) to back either demonic faction, just so long as she stays with Hell. Have fun! And remember: your superior doesn't care how you get the job done, as long as you just do it! -ALD ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 19 Jun 2001 17:16:24 -0400 From: Elizabeth McCoy Subject: Re: IN> While we're (sort of) on the subject of destiny/fate... At 7:20 AM -0500 6/19/01, David Edelstein wrote: >"S.D." wrote: >> IIRC, Soldiers automatically go to whichever side they served in life after they die. A Hellsworn goes to Hell, a Soldier of God goes to Heaven. > >Nope, not automatically. They just have a fairly good chance of meeting >their Destiny/Fate, respectively, while in the service of Heaven or >Hell. Though a Hellsworn who has accepted an infernal Force will be drawn to Hell. Of course, if he has actually met his _destiny_, despite being Hellsworn (perhaps by a last minute change of heart which is what gets him killed?), the two Angels of Final Judgment will look down at him; one of them will pick him up and shake a finger at him ("Naughty, naughty"); and then he will presumably be shipped Upstairs by whatever means they do that when they find someone in Hell who doesn't belong there... Well, the part about infernal Forces is in the CPG (unless I am totally dimension-slipped here), and the part about the Angels of Final Judgment fixing little problems like that is also there (IIRC), but the SFX of the finger-shaking and picking up is purely speculational. >> Here's where I want the canon call. If a Soldier of God meets his Fate, or a Hellsworn meets his Destiny, without personally switching sides and while continuing to do his job for his Superior, which realm does he go to? > >SoG goes to Hell, Hellsworn goes to Heaven. Hellsworn may take a detour through Hell first, but yup. >> And if he meets both, or neither, what happens? > >Same as other humans -- reincarnation or disintegration. Yup. - --emccoy@nh.ultranet.com // arcangel@io.com In Nomine Line Editor RPG links; Random name list, Art: http://www.io.com/~arcangel/ ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 19 Jun 2001 21:19:40 -0000 From: "Fallen Seraph" Subject: Re: IN> Dark Humour Attunement >From: "cassandra benner" >Reply-To: in_nomine-l@lists.io.com >To: in_nomine-l@lists.io.com >Subject: IN> Dark Humour Attunement >Date: Mon, 18 Jun 2001 14:05:01 -0000 > >I sincerely appologise if this has in any way shape or form been done >before. > > >================================ >_Stop me if you've heard this one..._ > >Well thats what folks are calling it these days. >It seems to be some kind of very very changed song of yelping. >You see, what it does is gets -the audience's- attention for a short while >by sending out a note of dissonance which lodges in their brains whether >they are -aware- or not. > >Mechanics. >Willpower roll to activate, -1 tn for each 5 people in the area. >Causes a note of dissonance for each 20 people in the area. >Range is equal to anybody who can see the demon in a 100 meter radius. >Any body in that area has to make a willpower roll or be transfixed by the >demon for minutes equal to the CD of his will roll. >They can take no offensive actions against him, so long as he keeps >-engaging- them. > >Egnaging them however is the tricky part, the reason that the attunement >got >its recent names was beacuse as dark humour the demons tend to fall back on >to a breif bad joke telling session. >But they can be singing, playing a musical instrument or similar. > >It was rumured that a Media operative/spy was given this attunement and >subsequently went back to nybbas to show it off. > >Nybbas smiled and gae him a script, and said to use his -look at me im a >star- attunement (which is what he then called it after he learned how to >recreate it). > >When Kobal heard about this, he went out for a while muttering -im gonna >show that litle snot bucket a thing or to about stardom- > >It was rumoured that for a few weeks after that, nybbas wore some big >shades, to cover a black eye, but its only speculation. > >Kobal does how ever have a new -stretch-o-matic boxing glove filled with >lead- hanging on his wall however these days. >===================== > >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. > _________________________________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 19 Jun 2001 21:23:14 -0000 From: "Fallen Seraph" Subject: Re: IN> Dark Humour Attunement erm.. ooops? a bit too hasty with the old buttons there. anyway. Damn good attunement, (yet another gem from an IN back-bencher), but i think you meant disturbance not dissonance right? - -FallenSeraph _________________________________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 19 Jun 2001 21:29:25 -0000 From: "cassandra benner" Subject: Re: IN> Dark Humour Attunement EEP yes yes yes. Change all dissonance to disturbance. EEP sorry all, my bad, >erm.. ooops? a bit too hasty with the old buttons there. > >anyway. > >Damn good attunement, (yet another gem from an IN back-bencher), but i >think >you meant disturbance not dissonance right? > >-FallenSeraph > > >_________________________________________________________________________ >Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com. > 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: Tue, 19 Jun 2001 14:29:59 -0700 (PDT) From: Michael Walton Subject: Re: IN> Iron Rev 2: Just Do It. - --- Anthony Damiani wrote: > I'd like to repeat my motion that future Iron Revs give > us a full week > and a 1500 word cap, as I've run into the same > difficulties as last time... > Heck, I've got a 200 word vignette, a campaign hook and a > scenario seed in > here, I need more space, and with a final this week, I > could use the extra > time, too. I definitely support having a full week. As for the word count, well... it's inconvenient, but it promotes efficiency. > Iron Rev II: Just Do It I really like the interpretation of Nike here. And I can definitely see her going over to Nybbass (you mean she hadn't already?). ===== Michael Walton, #9805-068 The Aztecs had chocolate and human sacrifice. That's got to balance out on the karmic scale. __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Spot the hottest trends in music, movies, and more. http://buzz.yahoo.com/ ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 19 Jun 2001 14:36:00 -0700 (PDT) From: scott hillman Subject: IN> Iron Rev 2: The Fourth Realm The Fourth Realm Or “the boots of vesphor Or “The roman conspiracy” Or “Reality must be on the blitz again” an angelic adventure for 3 to 5 players of variable power levels and contrasts, Vaelphor has really done it this time. Really done it. One Morning, on an otherwise normal rather mundane day right after the turn of the century, he stole Italy. Italy. The country of italy. The republica of italy, and all 6 million men woman and children in it as well as the partheon, the colesum the leaning tower of pisa(as well as most of the worlds pizza), venice, the gucchi shoe manurfacturing plant… sardina, sicly..gone. From the french swiss,yugoslavian frontier..their exists just space..filled with the blue waters of the medearian that have doubtless filled in to cover it..on the alps a surgically cut line seems to have formed alone the border reveling pale rocks down to the towering casim…in short italiy has vanished. Gone…stolen. And the nations are angry. Well perplexed..good thing for both sides of the war that this has really …really really complexed the world…and that they have no idea about the war, or anything at all . some have started blaiming each other, others worried that whould happen to next. They have managed to freeze the phone systems, claiming a computer glich, close the borders, as best they can, and show lots of italian travelogs on TV. of course this is not true in the angelic World. Rumors are flying around like furies, reports..is this the sigh of the apoclypse? The ending of all time? or just the latest happening.. All tehters in italy have vnaished...all angels thier instantly find themselves back in heaven to a stunned angel.. the tehter have mysteriously closed, gone vanished..along with the rest of italy. If thier in italy when this happen they vanish back with the others in a split second. if thier not then they hear about it pretty soon. Angelic gossip travels fast..and its pretty much agreeing on one thing: Vesphor has really done it this time in this theft. except he did not really steal it this time...but the characters will soon find out. They are each assinged by their superiors on a special assigment to find italy.....to do this they are sent with almost an eigth of the host to a special assembly by Jean, archangel of lightning who will brief them on the subject. if they ask why jean, they will only say that he knows an expert on the problem and is handling the matter. The assembly takes place in a massive auditiorium in the hall of justice..thier seems to be thousands of angels. each will think he is sitting in a massive greek auditiorium filled with thousands of people and jean on the stage..but each will also feel that jean is mearly a few feet from them. Hevenly geometry is odd. Beside Jean thier looks to be a bookish Elohite with round glasses over his round head wearing stylish boots. After waiting for the crown to simmer down, he speaks "Greeting my friends, you are all here today to receive your assignment to help us restore italy to its nature state. after this briefing you will all receive assignments, on possible leads to help with this. Each group is to fulfil its assignment to the letter, and report every 24 earth hours to one of my 24 sub lubtentants . We shall coordinate the effort as much as possible. Each lead is the result of careful research of everything we know of the problem and should be investigated fully, as every possible lead that it directly produce. You are to continue investigation until ordered . We must coordinate the effort here as the utmost of importantce. I must confess though that I am responsible for this. I was the creator of the grand conspiracy that hid the secret from the world: Thier is no such place as italy. I shall start at the begining. Oh quiet down. 2322 years ago Athens was one of the most powerful empires the world had known....and a threat with their demonically inspired idea of mobocracy. I needed to stop them, end thier stupid idea once and for all..Micheal had worked on creating sparta, but that was a stop gap. Yves, had created The persion empire but never had the heart to send it fully into their midst to destroy thier freedom. I needed to build a nation to stop them , not just influcen them in to greater power..but create them full cloth. I would call this empire syracuse, and I whould set it on an imaginary island off an imaginary pensuinsal in a real sea. I had to give it reality, but even I could not do that….I turned to next best thing..a virtual reality few people, even angels truly understand how reality works .. They think the world is just the world..if something is in the wrold it just is. Nothing can be further then the truth. I speak as some one who helped make the world..it is just a template to mold the divine will threw us. I t is not a solid but a dream realm like the etheral..and it can be changed, or in this case added to. I created a dream scape, f ixed it so that anyone entered the area of italy whould enter this dream scape, made a powerful dream so that no one whould ever realize that their was nothing more then a dream scape, and filled it with people, But I did not do this myself . This virtual reality required the needs of a powerful computer to hold every detail of even a room, every hair where every air molocule, every feel of a chair. However all those years ago, their was nothing except the simpliest of computers...and from this i created a most powerful of them.”( He then introduces the man next to him) "This is Italia... to make him i combined the soul of an incredibly powerful elohite with an even more powerful artifact....a simple computer. Every school child knows the principal of which he works.. One can calculate every multiple of nine by simply looking at your fingers and holding down your second figure if you want nine times to 2 to see your first finger up for the 1 and the second up for the 8….18 and so on and so on . This is the principle on which italia works… it’s a base tirenentan computer….except instead of its fingers it uses its toes…which it moves it 10 quintrillion times a second...and works out the principal of the most powerful dream song ever created It was not quiet the success i had hoped, but combined with the persions and spartas proved successfull enough for the task I created for it. .But then the demonic empire spread from a small city I created for balance in Italy, conquered my Syracuse. Its ironic how it in the end, my great creation became just like any other country in the world, a country I created like god created the earth. I kept a conspiracy of silence with only two other angels ever knowing about it...one of whom my closet associate Darma, Angel of logic fell last year to hell Doubtless she told vesphor about, for he, greatest of all theives came and three nights ago stole nothing. He actually gave. He came into the hall of progress who knows how and in italias room , and forced on him the boots of vesphor. They are a powerful cursed item. They cause who ever wear them, to only move at half speed….. and until they are killed for they can not be removed by normal means. .thier intention is to shorten ones life by cursing thier owner..but italia has suffered a worse fate…as well can be imagined…as he can’t see his feet, he can not do the calculations that he needs to create italy.. You have been assigned in groups of (number of players) to find out a way to remove the shoes. You will find your assignment sheet under your chair. Exit the auditorium in an orderly fashion, and civilly go out to carry your mission..and don’t let the forces of hell find out. Their personal asingment is to try to find a person rumored be thier creator, the etheral spirit of the lepricuan. Finding him is easy enough- blandine has given out a good but vauge location for him, and with some misadventure they might find him . He lives off in a dark far off part of the etheral plane c .and once found he will tell the players that he did create the boots and that he does know how to get them off...but he first needs thier help in payment... For you see someone has stolen his lucky charms. Finding his lucky charms is not that difficult..its happened before a single mother in tulepo Missisipi, shoplifted a pack of one from a small convience store shelf, to feed her little daughter suzy. The lepracuan knows where this is and can give the players a pretty good description of who did it. The store owner an mary janeelderly christian lady knows she ocasionally does it, and knows that she livies in the neighborhood and sees the ocasional theft as an act of charity...but the lepacoun doens't. once found, and brouight back to the spirit he will tell them how. It’s simple really. the shoes must be opened from the inside, by cutting the shoe laces, which by design can only be done from some one inside the shoe.. How do you get in? Well one of the shoe lace holes he made a picometter to big for the lace, for just such an emergency..its less then the size of a pinhead..but they are after all can dance on bigger surfaces them that.. Once they get back and report it to jean will order them in at once. Once they do however they wi they do they will discover themselves in virtual itally,. The dream file has relocated itself inside the shoe of italia and is randomly adding and subtracting elements. They are in rome to be exact .. Its a panicked and bewildered italy, completely and utterly in chaos. Litterally anything can happen now that italia can not control the internal logic of the place.. Dinosours walk the street to fight with cowboys, while statues come alive, and god and adam in the sisitine chapel are not just busy touching fingers .. its a totally chaotic place and all the italian citizens are screaming in bewilderment. play this up as total unexpected, what can happen next chaos, with anything and everything can happen. not all aiganst the players..but agianst everyone and everything...its a sureal landscape that as goes on and on..the more time they spend investigating they investigate further is falling apart at the seams..starting to loose any trace of reality...how this happen is largely left up to the indivicual storyteller. it is imposible to leave the area of italy all the rest of the world just appears a blank wall of shoeleather. No matter how they try they cnan ot find the entrace to the way out. but the players have to find and cut the shoelace.. which is easy to find especially if thier are ophean in thier party..the giant shooe laces are above the caprati coast..the front side of the boot of itally..are roughly from thier presepective 1000 feet across and made of a suprisingly simple substance to cut. unfortunately for them, Vesphor, knows as well how to removed the shoe has placed his most powerful undead agent Robin hood inside the shoe when he came in to make sure they do not do this(any of his regular angels couldn't stay in place the three days at least this would take. He is on the shoe lace himself armed with powerful artifact arrows that do celestial damage to all that hit them..and he has been ordered to shoot anyone who tries it. He has another artifact a hat that lets him teleport anyway around the shoe to stop them, like the celestial song of momenvent(its in the shape of a coin in his pocket). If the angels are soul killed then thats it..if thier not they find themselves..if their vessels just die they find themself in a weird limbo until they can regenerate new ones. Robin hood knows that if can stop them from cutting the laces then his masters plan can come to fruition- To destroy the world in the nuclear war that will inevitably follow when the nations of the world realize that one amoung them can completely and utterly destroy one of the others. This will happen if they don't manage to get the laces open in time...once they do Jean will pull the shoe off and italia can caculate agian. In the minds of man the dream will once agian take everyone will be back to norma and everyone will forget it ever happended ..excpet those told by Jean or vesphar about it It will be a happy ending. Unfortunately for the players Robin Hood is a very good shot. __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Spot the hottest trends in music, movies, and more. http://buzz.yahoo.com/ ------------------------------ End of in_nomine-digest V1 #2269 ******************************** The material here is (C) 2001 Steve Jackson Games, Incorporated. All rights reserved.