From owner-in_nomine-digest@lists.io.com Thu Aug 2 23:09:05 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 XAA27122 for ; Thu, 2 Aug 2001 23:09:05 -0500 Received: (from majordom@localhost) by lists.io.com (8.9.3/8.9.1a) id XAA29123 for in_nomine-digest-outgoing; Thu, 2 Aug 2001 23:08:10 -0500 Date: Thu, 2 Aug 2001 23:08:10 -0500 Message-Id: <200108030408.XAA29123@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 #2325 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 Thursday, August 2 2001 Volume 01 : Number 2325 In this digest: Re: IN> San Diego Tethers for my game - help? IN> Re:Fantasy Month Re: New Group (Was Re: IN> Iron Rev III: The Demon of Yogurt) Re: IN> Re:Fantasy Month Re: IN> Alternate Undead Quirks... Re: IN> Re: Gaiman & the EPG Re: IN> Re: Gaiman & the EPG IN> Brief OT inquiry Re: IN> Cadre. IN> Re Narnia IN> "And I Feel Fine" - Part 14: Plagues, Frogs, and Video Tape Re: IN> "And I Feel Fine" RE: IN> "And I Feel Fine" IN> Superhuman RPing Re: IN> Superhuman RPing Re: IN> "And I Feel Fine" - Part 14: Plagues, Frogs, and Video Tape Re: IN> August is FANTASY MONTH! Re: IN> August is FANTASY MONTH! IN> Proto-Superior for Fantasy Month IN> Fantasy Month - The Demon of Being Eaten by Dragons Re: IN> Cadre. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 01 Aug 2001 23:41:36 -0400 From: Cameron McCurry Subject: Re: IN> San Diego Tethers for my game - help? > San Diego Zoo > Major Tether to Jordi Another ideal one for him would be the Wild Animal Park. The animals basically roam loose and the people get to see them in a more natural state. Marine Corps Recruit Depot Major Tether to Michael This would be one of the strongest War Tethers on the West Coast, although I can imagine Laurence and David taking an interest as well. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 01 Aug 2001 16:55:55 +1100 From: "james walker" Subject: IN> Re:Fantasy Month > - --- Daniel Sauve wrote: >> By the power invested in me by my own penial glad, I >> declare August IN/ Fantasy >> cross over month! >> Hopefully this fits, at least vaguely - it's a beginning, anyway: Heaven doesn't have many internal problems, but having Christopher's House directly beside the Savannah can occasionally cause problems. True, Jordi is understanding of 'the cubs' and goes out of his way to protect those who wander into his Cathedral; nonetheless being hunted by a pride of lions tends to destroy the equilibrium of most young children, even if the lions are only playing. Which is why the Seraphim Council approved the creation of a 'mini-cathedral' to cover the border between the realms, and handle interactions between the souls of animals and of children. The form the realm needed to take was fairly obvious; the children had been been searching the House for wardrobes anyway, and the Inner Narnia described in The Last Battle could be slotted into Heaven very easily, with the mountain trails connecting it to the other Cathedrals. The realm is minded by Cherubim, as they make the best talking animals; additionally the souls of animals who have progressed to the point where they can talk (rare, but Jordi has every species that has ever existed to play with) dwell here. Dominic & Khalid were a little concerned about the creation of the realm; 'Aslan' was a fictional creation, after all and they weren't completely sure that God would approve of His Heaven being run in the name of a fictional variant. That concern disappeared when a new Variant of Trisagion appeared within the realm, employed by the children there: one that modified Divine Interventions to fit the style of Narnia & Aslan. When questioned, the children could only say that they had been taught the Song by other children who had since travelled up Jacob's Ladder. The Song only works within the realm of Narnia, and appears to have divine blessing. Dominic has forbidden anyone to pass themselves off as Aslan, but has otherwise decided that the realm is not his concern. Although the new cathedral has broad support from most Archangels, it's supporters can have diametrically opposed views of WHY it's a good idea. The War faction has been watching in pleasure as child-souls slowly mature, trained as honourable knights - and potential Saints. This is, of course, attracting the ire of Novalis, Christopher & Jordi, none of whom are prepared to have the realm become a recruiting ground. The squabbling between the Archangels over this realm has distracted attention from the many goings on within it. Firstly, of course, is the talking Animals themselves. Most angels assume that the reason that the animals can talk is that Jordi has been taking steps; besides, the Souls have centuries of experience and are no longer bound by their potential Forces. In fact, Jordi hasn't done anything; sure he could create an attunement based on his existing choir attunements which would grant the animals speech, but it didn't occur to him to do so. The animals do have above average Ethereal Forces, but not sufficient to explain how they have acquired abilities so markedly different from normal. Also, the animals should have wildly different personalities - they duplicate the personalities expected of them in fairy tales, rather than the ones their species acquire by instinct. the difference in size is most obvious with the Mice and Owls, and again is not due to Superior involvement. Secondly, the realm has villains - bandits roam Lantern Waste, pirates roam the Western Sea, and so on. A casual visitor to the realm will not discover this, as the (many) heroes who dwell here hunt them down and soul-kill them - - without any apparent violation of the Pax Dei. A determined investigator can learn that the realm is rife with micro-tethers, which drag ghosts from Earth, Shades from the Marches & the Damned from Hell. This very much their last chance to redeem themselves - although a small handful have taken advantage of this most are destroyed. The Damned in Narnia lose Soul-hits (painlessly) at a rate of one an hour; this will not cost them the last hit necessary to lose a force - their first battle with the Narnians does that. Thirdly, the mythical creatures of legend are here. Angels tend to assume that they're looking at a cherub when they see a winged horse, so the fact that so many creatures appear to be animal souls hasn't been commented on. Also, a number of creatures & monsters - dwarfs, hags, trolls etc are from tales based on humans with specific deformities, so they don't attract a second glance especially as their deformities are expected to be caused by Disadvantages which will fade in the near future. Other creatures clearly are not, and the only reason that this hasn't been reported is that visiting angels assume that Jordi & Christopher have been pulling out all the stops to make the realm accurate. Whether they are ethereals who have been pulled into the realm by the micro-tethers, or the souls of creatures from different worlds remains for the PC's to discover. Finally, and most seriously, this is an accurate copy of the Narnian world - and includes everything, including the temple of Tash in Tashbaan. The glittering temple, studded with gems, is vaguely reminiscent of the Cathedral of Light... James. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 02 Aug 2001 02:05:40 -0400 From: Matthew Gerber Subject: Re: New Group (Was Re: IN> Iron Rev III: The Demon of Yogurt) Maurice Lane wrote: >The default is that it must be a sincerely voluntary >decision to make (otherwise, the entire notion is >pitch-Dark), but this is still a problem - because the >angel can still /interpret/ his or her orders, so long >as he or she obeys the letter and spirit of them. So, >they're not quite off the ethical hook. > That's the piece that I didn't glean from the original post, and it vacates my point completely. He's Soul-toast. No further questions, your honor, and thank you for the clarification. :) Matt ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 2 Aug 2001 05:49:43 -0700 (PDT) From: Michael Walton Subject: Re: IN> Re:Fantasy Month - --- james walker wrote: > Inner Narnia On behalf of C.S. Lewis fans everywhere, I thank you. ===== Michael Walton, #9805-068 The trouble with doing something right the first time is that nobody appreciates how difficult it was. __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Make international calls for as low as $.04/minute with Yahoo! Messenger http://phonecard.yahoo.com/ ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 2 Aug 2001 05:53:35 -0700 (PDT) From: Michael Walton Subject: Re: IN> Alternate Undead Quirks... - --- Rolland Therrien wrote: > ...Can't think of any other Demon-altered Undead right > now... but hopefully, I've planted some good seeds. ^^ Indeed. Lilim-Undead: bonuses to Emote and seduction rolls; their physical form gains a blush of health that's almost radiant. Shedite-Undead: bonus to stealth-related rolls (Move Silently, hiding); their bodies became gaunt with papery skin -- almost to the point of being fleshless... ===== Michael Walton, #9805-068 The trouble with doing something right the first time is that nobody appreciates how difficult it was. __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Make international calls for as low as $.04/minute with Yahoo! Messenger http://phonecard.yahoo.com/ ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 2 Aug 2001 05:55:33 -0700 (PDT) From: Michael Walton Subject: Re: IN> Re: Gaiman & the EPG - --- Cameron McCurry wrote: > Haev to agree with that. And let's not forget the > fuss raised by > certain religious zealots about the story line. *rolls > eyes* Hey, I _am_ a religious zealot, and I liked it. Of course, I like IN, too. Either I'm damned and don't know it, or God really does have a sense of humor. 0:> ===== Michael Walton, #9805-068 The trouble with doing something right the first time is that nobody appreciates how difficult it was. __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Make international calls for as low as $.04/minute with Yahoo! Messenger http://phonecard.yahoo.com/ ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 2 Aug 2001 05:57:10 -0700 (PDT) From: Michael Walton Subject: Re: IN> Re: Gaiman & the EPG - --- daiv wrote: > IMG, Jordi > has put out a contract on Kevin Smith for that (then > again, IMG, > Duckbill Platypi figure heavily into his long term > plans). Daiv, you are one strange individual. 0:> ===== Michael Walton, #9805-068 The trouble with doing something right the first time is that nobody appreciates how difficult it was. __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Make international calls for as low as $.04/minute with Yahoo! Messenger http://phonecard.yahoo.com/ ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 02 Aug 2001 14:05:04 +0000 From: "Janet Anderson" Subject: IN> Brief OT inquiry Is anyone on this list going to the Pennsic War this week (or next week)? Anyone who would like to meet there, please answer by private e-mail. Janet Anderson (leaving next week) * * * * Beware the anger of a patient bard. _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 02 Aug 2001 10:18:58 -0500 From: Earl Wajenberg Subject: Re: IN> Cadre. Damn. He was one of my favorite SF writers. He did more plausible aliens than anyone else. He spun up whole civilizations that were interesting and believable. He wrote heroes and villains who were human (even the ones who weren't strictly human, but they were human enough to care about). Sometimes, his prose sort of thudded, but sometimes it sang. And he seems to have been a really nice guy. - --- Nice welcoming scene, and rather Andersonian in feel, too. Some questions: I assume the Archangel offering the nice sword was Laurence, but what was the book he brought to be signed? Who was the second Archangel? Michael? And what was his book? It seems likely that at least one of them would be bringing "Three Hearts and Three Lions." "Star Fox" or a Flandry novel would be a likely choice for the other. Earl ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 02 Aug 2001 10:21:24 -0500 From: Earl Wajenberg Subject: IN> Re Narnia A very good way to work Narnia into IN. I'd much rather that than reducing it to an Ethereal realm. But if the place contains things like the temple of Tash, surely it isn't modeled after Inner Narnia *alone*? Earl ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 02 Aug 2001 12:30:30 -0500 From: Earl Wajenberg Subject: IN> "And I Feel Fine" - Part 14: Plagues, Frogs, and Video Tape By now, the world population -- what's left of it -- is divided about evenly into Heaven's faction and Hell's, consciously and deliberately. They occupy various territories all over the globe, intermixed with a lot of howling wilderness. Heaven's biggest territory is the Holy Lands, centered on Jerusalem, and including all of the ancient Fertile Crescent areas and the northern half of the Nile valley. Hell's biggest territory is Mediterranean basin, centered on Rome. In between, the wastes and no-soul's-lands are stalked by opposing forces equipped with every conceivable mixture of supernatural powers and ultratech. Aircraft, giant locusts, dragons, chimerae, various Ethereal grotesques, and just plain angels and demons whirl through the skies, attacking and counter-attacking. * * * * * * * Roleplaying seed: Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang... How much surreal warfare do your PCs want? Give them that much. Although the centers of power around Rome and Jerusalem should remain relatively stable, PCs can be involved in as much military/political drama as they like, anywhere else. They can be at the final seige of Ulaan Baator, the taking of Chicago, the conquest of Australia, among the troops when Joan of Arc marches into Paris to re-take the Notre Dame Tether. They can stand on the smoking ruins of Iceland and watch the Vapulan (or Jeanite) space station come crashing down into the Atlantic. Whatever. Just salt in plenty of fast-forward skips, to keep them and yourself from going numb. * * * * * * * Things rumble along this way for over three years. As time wears, there is less and less Earth to fight over, or on. One military note: Hell's forces manage to re-take part of the Fertile Crescent and destroy the Tether of Babel, where the chimerae broke through. They then set up a command center there. About two years after the Rapture, the Metatron issues an interesting invitation: Novalis and Jordi are called to Upper Heaven (or, since they are already and always standing before the Throne there, they are invited to limit themselves to Upper Heaven). All their Wordbound angels are invited to ascend. This is to protect them from what's coming next, which will involve mass extinctions. Non-Wordbound angels of these two may also ascend. * * * * * * * Roleplaying seed: Honorable Discharge PCs of Animals and Flowers now get to decide if they want to sit on the sidelines or continue serving in the War. One would expect a PC to stay and fight, but there is roleplaying potential in acting out the decision-making, or you could take the opportunity to roll up a new character. Also, NPC friends of the PCs might want help deciding their next move. * * * * * * * Heaven proceeds to pound Therrian's territories, and the Earth in general, with a series of seven plagues. See Revelation 16, and compare to the Plagues of Egypt in Exodus. First, Jean releases a series of plagues. The first causes disabling boils all through Therrianic territories (immunizations being spread just as fast in Heaven's territories). Next, Jean releases a transgenically modified version of the Red Tide organism, causing all the oceans to turn blood red and exterminating *all* ocean life. The next rev, plague three, invades the river systems. (You see why Jordi and Novalis were withdrawn.) Fourth and fifth, Janus and Oannes treat Therrian's territories, first, to droughts and no ozone layer, then, to months of total overcast, carefully timed to screw up agriculture. Sixth, David makes an earthquake that causes the Euphrates river to dry up, allowing Heaven's troops to re-take Babylon. * * * * * * * Roleplaying seed: Plague Duty Is it getting hard to tell the angels from the demons without a score card? Is Jean acting a lot like Vapula? Are Janus and Oannes acting like low-temperature versions of Belial? Yeah, yeah, the targets of all this are demons and hellsworn, but... If the PCs are feeling queasy about this, they'll feel even queasier if they're invited or ordered to take part. Someone has to spread the germs; Jean can't do it all in person. (Ditto the innoculations in God's Countries) Janus and Oannes will make starring cameo appearances in their distasters, but they'll need all their angels to do all the fiddly bits of weather-work. Here's a chance for PCs to get angsty, or to tear loose and smite. * * * * * * * Roleplaying seed: The Apocalypso The War is happening everywhere, but far from the monotheistic lands, Ethereals play a more prominent part. Shiva is dancing in the Kali Yuga, in an avatar of a horse-headed giant. Do PCs want to join with him and Heaven's other Ethereal allies on their front of the War? Here's a chance to vary the special effects. * * * * * * * "Then I saw three evil spirits that looked like frogs; they came out of the mouth of the dragon, out of the mouth of the beast and out of the mouth of the false prophet. They are spirits of demons performing miraculous signs, and they go out to the kings of the whole world, to gather them for the battle on the great day of God Almighty. [...] Then they gathered the kings together to the place that in Hebrew is called Armageddon. - -- Revelation 16:13-16 * * * * * * * The bits about frog shapes is visionary symbolism, but after David re-takes Babylon, Lucifer resolves on a major assault on the Holy Lands. He has Baal rally the hell-troops for this. (Baal is Frog One.) Therrian pulls on his big geas-hook into Saminga, and resurrects a carefully chosed corps of damned military leaders, as Anti-Saints (generally dubbed "the Hellrisen"). While he's at it, he steps up zombie production. (Saminga is Frog Two.) Kronos, meanwhile, keeps the home fires burning with a propaganda blitz, engineered by Kobal. Kobal is galled at being Kronos's minion, but at least he gets to see Nybbas reduced to *his* minion in the process. (Kobal is Frog Three.) * * * * * * * "Then I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies gathered together to make war against the rider on the horse and his army." - -- Revelation 19:19 * * * * * * * In a massive assault, Therrian invades the Holy Lands from the north and, by sea, from the west. He re-takes Jerusalem, and captures and executes the Two Witnesses, Maitreya and the Hidden Imam, who were in Jerusalem when it fell. Publicly, the Lords of Hell give out that they beat the 1,260-day deadline, and that the prophecy is broken. Privately, they are unsure about their chronology. So, rationally enough, they were going to cremate the bodies and have Nybbas censor the whole topic into oblivion. Except that, the moment the Two were slain, Litheroy, Archangel of Revelation, shows up with his own private news team, and encloses himself, the team and its cameras, and the bodies within an Archangel-sized Song of Shields, on a blistered battlefield outside Jerusalem. Of course, Alaemon, Prince of Secrets, shows up moments thereafter, with his own minions, and mayhem ensues. * * * * * * * Roleplaying seed: Witness Protection PCs can take part in the three-day skirmish that goes on around Litheroy & Co. as they guard the bodies of the Two Witnesses. They need not be servitors of Revelations or Secrets; allies of either are certainly welcome. They may very well be angels of Lightning or demons of the Media. These need not even be on the battlefield; the angels are just trying to punch Litheroy's feed through to the mortal audience, while the demons try to jam it. And, of course, Media will NOT admit that Heaven is sending a signal they want to jam. Instead, they will pretend it is their propaganda-coup celebration of Therrian's victory over the Two. As long as the signal is not getting jammed (and it usually won't be), Media demons can try distraction -- say, by covering the skirmish itself, or by trying to cook up a fake pair of dead Witnesses (corpses are easy to come by), who *won't* inconveniently rise from the dead. Need I say that, in the end, the Witnesses resurrect and ascend, adding to the demoralization of the Antichrist's followers? Earl ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 02 Aug 2001 12:33:57 -0500 From: Earl Wajenberg Subject: Re: IN> "And I Feel Fine" I apologize for the interruption in the "And I Feel Fine" campaign. What can I say? Work and visiting relatives happen. Earl ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 2 Aug 2001 12:00:48 -0600 From: "Julian Mensch" Subject: RE: IN> "And I Feel Fine" << I apologize for the interruption in the "And I Feel Fine" campaign. What can I say? Work and visiting relatives happen. >> That's just fine. And rest assured, we're enjoying them. - -- Julian ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 02 Aug 2001 15:21:23 -0500 From: Earl Wajenberg Subject: IN> Superhuman RPing It's a little late for me to be mentioning it, but the "Random Thought Table" column in this week's Pyramid ahs some good observations on superhuman characters, with obvious applications to playing angels and demons. The attribute discussed in most detail is superhuman beauty. For such a being, there is no such thing as looking graceless. If they're sullen and in rags, they still look romantic. If they burp, it's cute. If you followed them around with a movie camera, every single frame would show someone looking like a model in an ad. Either they're perfectly coifed or they're dishevled with artless grace. This could be useful in describing Mercurians, Impudites, and stereotypical Lilim. Superhumanly agile characters never bump into chairs or catch their toes on rugs, at least not accidentally. Superhumanly intelligent characters are the ones hardest to roleplay. To represent it, I think the players and GM need to cut some slack. Give the player extra time to think, for instance, if they make the INT roll. Or, on a successful INT roll, the GM might *give* the player an answer that the character could figure out, though the player might not. In any case, it was a pretty good article, if you have a Pyramid subscription but haven't read it yet. Earl ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 02 Aug 2001 16:12:06 -0400 From: "Jeffery Watkins" Subject: Re: IN> Superhuman RPing Those are terrific points Earl. I did skip over that article, but now I will go back and read it. Jeffery _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 02 Aug 2001 16:17:02 -0400 From: "Jeffery Watkins" Subject: Re: IN> "And I Feel Fine" - Part 14: Plagues, Frogs, and Video Tape >About two years after the Rapture, the Metatron issues an interesting >invitation: Novalis and Jordi are called to Upper Heaven (or, since they >are already and always standing before the Throne there, they are invited to limit themselves to Upper Heaven). As always a GREAT series. I liked the above sort-of out-of-time idea of them always standing before the Throne, but manifesting in normal time as well. Very innovative. Jeffery _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 2 Aug 2001 22:27 +0100 (BST) From: jgd@cix.co.uk (John Dallman) Subject: Re: IN> August is FANTASY MONTH! In article , emccoy@nh.ultranet.com (Elizabeth McCoy) wrote: > At 2:55 AM -0700 7/31/01, O. S. Kerr wrote: > >Darn, > > > >I was hoping for a little Lilith on Laurence action... > > > >That's *my* version of IN Fantasy... > > You'd think that should be Lilith-Gabriel action. I mean, that > has all the qualifications to be hentai: Hot Girlz, and Girl-Guy > Shifting Action if you want it with Gaby. > > Get Andre(a) in on it, and it's really out there... Would you like to preemptively declare IN slash fiction (I/N?) off-topic. Before it happens? - --- John Dallman jgd@cix.co.uk ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 03 Aug 2001 01:49:51 +0100 From: Rhodri James Subject: Re: IN> August is FANTASY MONTH! In article , John Dallman wrote: > Would you like to preemptively declare IN slash fiction (I/N?) > off-topic. Before it happens? Thank you John. My head now officially hurts. I'm only going to stop banging it against this wall when the IDEAS GO AWAY! - -- Rhodri James *-* Wildebeeste herder to the masses If you don't know who I work for, you can't misattribute my words to them ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 03 Aug 2001 12:25:47 +1100 From: "james walker" Subject: IN> Proto-Superior for Fantasy Month Varg, Demon of Werewolves Shedite Baron of Victory, Knight of Banquets History and Nature: Varg spent several centuries as one of Baal's frontline combatants, driving his human hosts into battle with the angels. The repeated deaths of his hosts caused him substantial amounts of dissonance, which he began converting into Discord - Discoloured (Wolf-fur), Vestigium (Wolf-ears), Vulnerable (Silver), Angry and so on. Whether by chance or design being possessed by Varg turned his host into a Wolf-man, a rampaging beast who slaughtered those around him. He continued to serve Baal well, and was rewarded with the Word of Werewolves. The public conception of Werewolves suits Varg well; those who believe that they are infected tend to either go with the flow and slaughter those they dislike, or devote themselves to removing the curse - often by suicide. Varg interprets his Word fairly tightly; although he hopes to be the Prince of Lycanthropes, he realises that to survive he must promote his current Word. He has been careful to consider how his Word can benefit other Princes, and works well with Haagenti, who has awarded him a Distinction, and Nybbas, who values the special effects Varg's servitors can provide. Varg continually fears the Game, having attracted their attention repeatedly on the charge of 'revealing the existence of the Supernatural to humans'; only Baal's protection has prevented his destruction. Any servitor of Werewolves who is sufficiently foolish to allow proof of his existence to human authorities will be handed over to the Game. Present Status: Vard is one of Baal's more independent servants, responsible for joint actions with Gluttony. He controls a region in Shal-mari, on the border with Gehenna; his press-gangs roam the streets, drafting demons for his master - although a fair number somehow never make it Gehenna, instead ending up serving Vard directly. Vard has a large number of minor servitors, but no WordBound - this has been restricting his rise to Prince, but has the advantage of encouraging Baal to believe that Vard is not a threat. In his Celestial Form, Vard is even more disgusting than usual, with claws, teeth and fur rippling in and out of his oozing form. > > Plans: Vard's biggest barrier to Prince-hood is his lack of Wordbound; correcting this lack is essential for his plans. Given the lack of obvious Words which fit under his (some like Ferociousness exist, but feel that Vard should be serving him rather than the other way round) Vard has been looking for punishment Words that he can foster. There have over the years been Demons of Unsightly Body Hair, Soiled Sheets, Bad Breath, and Midnight Snacks; any of these would be excellent minor lieutenants. Rites and Attunements: Persuade a human that they are a werewolf (+3 essence if they either commit suicide or turn cannibal due to this belief); drive a human into an animalistic frenzy; cause a human to believe that they have been attacked by a werewolf without leaving evidence which would encourage a mundane investigator to believe in werewolves. > > Attunements: All of Vard's servitors have a number of levels of Numinous Corpus (either Fangs, Claws or a mix of the two) equal to their Corporeal Forces. Lycanthropy This attunement allows the demon to change Vessels without causing disturbance, so long as the shift is from human to animal or visa versa. The Vessel will seem to mutate over the course of the combat round until the change is complete. Regeneration Unless the demon is at full Body Hits, the demon's Mind Hits convert into Body Hits at a rate of one a turn. This effect cannot be turned off. Vard will give this attunement to his Soldiers. Band Attunements (until Vard acquires the ability to create Hearts, he can only give a demon the attunement for his Band): Djinn (partly restricted) Djinn may impose their Lycanthropic Discords on their human Servants or on their attuned as if they were familiars. The maximum amount of Discord which can be transferred is equal to the level of the Servant/CD of the resonance roll. Other bands may take this attunement but can only use it on their human Servants. Calabim Vard's Destroyers have starting Discord equal to their total Forces, all of which is Lycanthropic Discord. They gain extra character points for these Discords. The following Discords are considered Lycanthropic: Crippled (no fingers, Wolf pads)/1 or /2, Discoloured (Wolf Fur)/2, Ugly(Bestial)/1, Vestigium (Wolf ears, wolf tail, Wolf Claws, hackles), Vulnerable (Silver); Addiction (human flesh), Angry, Berserk, Gluttonous, Murderous or Need(Human Flesh) IF other Lycanthropic Discords are possessed; Fear(Lycanthropy or werewolves), Bound (Wolf-hide)/1 - very popular with Shedim. The Calabite of Werewolves attunement can be taken by any character, as it does not require a link to the Word of Werewolves; this includes humans & Ethereals. Lilim (Restricted) When a victim of these Lilim fails to perform a geas, in addition to normal penalties, he suffers one level of Lycanthropic Discord of the Lilim's choice, which worsens by a level each increment of time until the geas is performed. Interestingly, Vard needs Lilith's help to grant this attunement (for now) so it is freely available to Free Lilim who wish to Geas themselves to him. Shedim (Restricted) Vard's Shedim may possess wolves & dogs; if Vard becomes a Prince this will likely become any animal. This reverses some Discords - any reference to 'wolf' becomes 'human'. Impudite (Restricted) Vard's Impudites may use their resonance on dogs & wolves (and presumably other animals if he becomes a Prince). However, they take dissonance for the deaths of any animal they can charm as if that animal was human. Additionally, an Impudite may start the game with any level of the Song of Celestial Tongues; however, they must send Vard an amount of essence equal to the level the Song is known at every day; if you fall behind, catch up before you call on him again or face the consequences! Relations: Possible allies: Baal, Haagenti, Beleth; possibly Fluerity, Saminga or Vapula is he's lucky. Probable enemies: Asmodeus, possibly Andrealphus. Particularly hostile Archangels: Jordi. Vard is attempting to avoid Jordi's wrath, but is unlikely to succeed. James. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 03 Aug 2001 13:10:38 +1100 From: "james walker" Subject: IN> Fantasy Month - The Demon of Being Eaten by Dragons Thanks to Eric Henry, who dreamt up the Word last night and then said I was welcome to write up a demon with the Word: Drache, Demon of Being Eaten by Dragons. Shedite of Nightmares Corporeal Forces - 6 Strength 12 Agility 12 Ethereal Forces - 3 Intelligence 6 Precision 6 celestial forces - 6 Will 12 Perception 12 Word Forces - 1. Skills: Acrobatics/4, Artistry (Dream Crafting)/2, detect Lies/3, Dodge/4, Emote/2, Fast-Talk/6, Fighting/5, Knowledge(History/4, Dragons/3), Languages (most at about/2), Large Weapon (Sword)/3, Lying/4, Move Silently/1. Songs: Dreams (All/6), Nightmares (All/6), Numinous Corpus (Claws/6, Dragon Breath [as Acid]/6, Fangs/4, Scales[as Hide]/4). Attunements: Calabite of Nightmares, Shedite of Nightmares, Dream Drain, Dream Walking, Nightmare Trigger. Special Abilites: Drache gets +2 to the CD when performing NC:Dragon Breath. Special Rite: cause a dreamer to have a nightmare about being eaten by a dragon. Most demons assume that Drache was given his Word as punishment by Lucifer. In fact, he has held the Word for over three thousand years, and was moderately successful util the Purity Crusade. He was particularly fond of possessing a human warrior, demonstrating how much more powerful they were now, and goading them into challenging a dragon. Somehow, he was never in the human when they actually fought the dragon, which tended to skew the odds somewhat. The Purity Crusade nearly killed Drache; he fled into the Marches and swore allegiance to Beleth, and kept himself alive by encouraging Nightmares of being eaten dragon fodder. The humiliation of being so trivial is still burning him up, but there's been nothing he could do about it - until now. The rapid increase in human population means that no one can keep tabs on everything that goes on in the Vale - not even Beleth. So Drache can misuse her Dream Drain attunement for essence without her catching on (for a little while, at last), and feed the essence to demons in Limbo. Drache has been challenging weaker demons to Will-Wars (the old 'challenge me to a Will-War or say hello to trauma' method) and then ordering them to enter Limbo and start constructing dragon Vessels. He figures that having a slew of dragons appear from nowhere and start eating people (and being filmed on TV) will be sufficient to kick his Word from Trivial all the way up to Princely. He's hoping that a promotion to Prince will protect him from Asmodeus, and that Beleth will forgive him when the dragons' actions drive hordes of dreamers into her realm. He's wrong, of course, but that's not the point - the point is that he has to be stopped; and even if he is stopped there are demons in Limbo, saving up for Dragon Vessels, with orders to accept Discords which will make them act like dragons if the essence supply runs out. And, of course, Drache has taught all of them NC:Dragon Breath. Can the PC's help? James. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 2 Aug 2001 21:07:21 -0700 (PDT) From: Maurice Lane Subject: Re: IN> Cadre. - --- Earl Wajenberg wrote: > Nice welcoming scene, and rather Andersonian in > feel, too. Some > questions: I only _wish_ that it was Andersonian: if I could write like him, I *would*. But it's a nice thing to say, anyway. :) > I assume the Archangel offering the nice sword was > Laurence, but what > was the book he brought to be signed? High Crusade. Larry's guilty pleasure. > Who was the second Archangel? Michael? Yup. > And what was > his book? > > It seems likely that at least one of them would be > bringing "Three > Hearts and Three Lions." "Star Fox" or a Flandry > novel would be a > likely choice for the other. > > Earl That was the heck of it: I couldn't decide. "No Truce with Kings" sounded about right for Mike, but then so did any one of the Hoka novels... Moe ===== Liber Licentiae Moeticae: http://www.stormloader.com/users/moelane/innomine.html Last updated 07/29/01(this is usually way out of date) __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Make international calls for as low as $.04/minute with Yahoo! Messenger http://phonecard.yahoo.com/ ------------------------------ End of in_nomine-digest V1 #2325 ******************************** The material here is (C) 2001 Steve Jackson Games, Incorporated. All rights reserved.