From owner-in_nomine-digest@lists.io.com Mon Jan 26 00:05:32 1998 Return-Path: Received: from lists.io.com (lists.io.com [199.170.88.15]) by pyramid.sjgames.com (8.8.5/8.8.5) with ESMTP id AAA11743 for ; Mon, 26 Jan 1998 00:05:32 -0600 Received: (from majordom@localhost) by lists.io.com (8.8.7/8.8.5) id AAA12607 for in_nomine-digest-outgoing; Mon, 26 Jan 1998 00:07:03 -0600 Date: Mon, 26 Jan 1998 00:07:03 -0600 Message-Id: <199801260607.AAA12607@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 #591 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, January 26 1998 Volume 01 : Number 591 In this digest: Re: IN> Kobal's Last Prank (was Re: IN> By Any Other Name) Re: IN> Upside Down Re: GURPS In Nomine? (was Re: IN> Yrth) Re: IN> Sorcerors Ring IN> Sorcerors Ring IN> Egypt and History IN> Munchkin-stopping Re: IN> New to In Nomine Re: IN>Lying Re: IN>White Hardback...and other hard to find books Re: IN> My own private Hell Re: IN> Furfur? Re: IN> Kobal's Last Prank (was Re: IN> By Any Other Name) Re: IN> Interventions Re: IN> Interventions SV: IN> IN PBeM Re: GURPS In Nomine? (was Re: IN> Yrth) Re: IN> Kobal's Last Prank (was Re: IN> By Any Other Name) IN> Angel (Demon?)of Teenage Death Re: IN> Some questions Re: IN> Upside Down IN> Angelic Words IN> Angels and the Salvation of Man IN> The Rainmaker IN> Persis, Impudite of Fate Re: GURPS In Nomine? (was Re: IN> Yrth) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 25 Jan 1998 00:21:45 +0000 From: Nathaniel Eliot Subject: Re: IN> Kobal's Last Prank (was Re: IN> By Any Other Name) > > >That this is one of Kobal's ideas is obvious. However, I don't > > >think it's necessarily the final one. (Why is everyone so hung > > >up on the Year 2000? It isn't even part of the new millenium. > > >Learn your numbers people.) > > > > Ah, but wouldn't the joke be on us if Armageedon/the millenium came *a > > year early*...? > > No, because people are stupid and expect it to come then. But Celestials don't. Wouldn't it be funny if the stupid humans were *right*? What if Armageedon wasn't intended to fall on a Millenium, but Kobal pulled it off? Nathaniel Eliot temujin9@ix.netcom.com "It's the eternal question, really; to be a slave in Heaven, or a star in Hell. But sometimes Hell doesn't look like Hell. On a good day, it can look like LA." - Playing God ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 25 Jan 1998 00:21:45 +0000 From: Nathaniel Eliot Subject: Re: IN> Upside Down > WOTIF: > > When Lucifer rebelled, a different set of Superiors followed him > down? > > > (I have no intention of doing anything more with this; it just > seemed like a cute idea at the time.) First DV, now this. You really are twisted, you know? I like it. I don't know that I can use it...but it's still good... Nathaniel Eliot temujin9@ix.netcom.com "It's the eternal question, really; to be a slave in Heaven, or a star in Hell. But sometimes Hell doesn't look like Hell. On a good day, it can look like LA." - Playing God ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 25 Jan 1998 00:21:45 +0000 From: Nathaniel Eliot Subject: Re: GURPS In Nomine? (was Re: IN> Yrth) > I am also a GURPS / In Nomine player, and the boat sails both ways. > There are a few GURPS books (or playtest files) that work BETTER > with the In Nomine engine, then the basic GURPS system. Goblins and IOU both sound like candidates - good settings, but not quite right for GURPS. Any others? Nathaniel Eliot temujin9@ix.netcom.com "It's the eternal question, really; to be a slave in Heaven, or a star in Hell. But sometimes Hell doesn't look like Hell. On a good day, it can look like LA." - Playing God ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 25 Jan 1998 00:21:45 +0000 From: Nathaniel Eliot Subject: Re: IN> Sorcerors Ring > Unless I am mistake, an Artifact can transfer Skills to the > possessor. Relic can do that, and hold essence, which may be spent > by the user. Not quite. A Talisman can give skills. A Relic can hold essence equal to it's level, but only with a Song already in it. The combined cost would be pretty mucking high... > Unless I am mistaken, Sorcery is a skill. It's obscure and arcane, > but anyone with the right resources can learn it. (there are a lot > more details to it, such as what a sorcerer can do at any given > level of skill, but that the fact that it is a skill is the > important point I am checking.) No - you need the Sorcery attunement. But it's not against canon for a relic to grant that attunement... > So, is there any canonical reason that a demon could not mass > produce and distribute rings that conferred the skill of Sorcery to > mortal society? Take it one step farther, and inscribed the NAME a > demon on the inside of the ring? Well, mass-production may not work on a Celestial level. Each artifact probably requires lots of essence. But it would be a nasty trick to do to somebody... Nathaniel Eliot temujin9@ix.netcom.com "It's the eternal question, really; to be a slave in Heaven, or a star in Hell. But sometimes Hell doesn't look like Hell. On a good day, it can look like LA." - Playing God ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 25 Jan 1998 01:16:50 -0500 From: David Edelstein Subject: IN> Sorcerors Ring >>>IIRC, the Sorcery skills have no default level. You either have them or you don't. And it's specified somewhere that if you don't have a skill, but you have a talisman, you add the talisman level to the appropriate characteristic, minus the default. So methinks you can only have a ring of Focus +2, and that if you don't have Focus, you're out of luck.<<< A talisman *can* grant a skill rather than add to it. (This must be chosen when the artifact is created.) So a Language (German)/3 talisman could either grant German at level 3 (regardless of what level you possess it on your own, so it's useless if you already know German at level 3 or higher), OR it can raise your German by +3...which means if you don't know any German, it will give you that language at -1 (the default of -4 plus 3). But no talisman can do both -- they are all either skill granters or skill enhancers. - -David ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 25 Jan 1998 01:16:53 -0500 From: David Edelstein Subject: IN> Egypt and History >>>That almost always happens to me when I get involved in a new setting. My book collection balloons, and runs all over the floor. It gets annoying, yet entertaining. I figure, it's putting the more entertaining bits of my college education to work.<<< Ayup....and I thought the Japanese and Irish history classes I took as an undergrad would be entirely useless. - -David ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 25 Jan 1998 01:16:52 -0500 From: David Edelstein Subject: IN> Munchkin-stopping >>>Me, I'd let the player/character take it. Of course, I'd screw 'em over if they abused it too much. If the character was, say, a pacifist, they'd avoid most of my wrath.<<< C'est cool. The vast majority of recommended restrictions in the Liber Reliquarum are just that -- recommendations. If the GM chooses to let munchkin PCs squeeze the system for all it's worth, let them suffer the consequences. In Nomine is not mini-maxed, and it was decided that it was better to leave a lot of rules open-ended, and trust GMs to exercise the Rule of No to prevent abuses, than to try to close every loophole with more rules. - -David ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 25 Jan 1998 01:23:55 EST From: Heretic103 Subject: Re: IN> New to In Nomine In a message dated 98-01-21 16:36:21 EST, you write: << Grrr, Wish I coulda found the White Hardback. Im stuck with the demonic black hardback.. Angels are /much/ cooler than demons :) >> hye watch it bucko angels aint nothin' I couldn' find the demon hard bad demons are much cooler because they are sooooo evil and am tired of these good guy games its about time there was a game like this where the is a most infernal outlet for our violent tendoncies ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 25 Jan 1998 01:35:45 EST From: Heretic103 Subject: Re: IN>Lying In a message dated 98-01-21 15:19:42 EST, you write: << A Balseraph totally believes his lies, correct? A > balseraph doesn't consider his lies lying. Also, unlike the > Habbalah, a balseraph doesn't maintain delusions of being an > angel - so CONSCIENTIOUS lying shouldn't offend it as it would > a seraph >> That is why a balseraph is a blaseraph and not a seraph if a seraph were to lie it would be against his entire being and cause him discord even if he didn't even know he was lying because truthfulness is his entire being ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 25 Jan 1998 01:38:15 EST From: Heretic103 Subject: Re: IN>White Hardback...and other hard to find books In a message dated 98-01-21 21:03:49 EST, you write: << I currently live in Portland, but go to Seattle every so often to buy books from them. I felt bad when I bough the APG somewhere else... Anyway, they have a few of each hardback edition of In Nomine on their shelves, as well as a few other books. If you're looking for those hard to find items, please e-mail me, and I'll see if they have them. They'll ship them anywhere in the U.S. >> any infernal hardbacks? ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 25 Jan 1998 01:42:20 EST From: Heretic103 Subject: Re: IN> My own private Hell In a message dated 98-01-22 00:18:27 EST, you write: << ee my view of them, you have to have seen the Kids in the Hall's "Brain Candy". After viewing it, you might share my epiphany that Don is Lucifer. Dave Foley's Marv lend itself well to Asmodeus, and Cisco would be great for Nybbas. If you felt the need to include Beleth, Natalie would fit in well (not a lot of air time, but some great lines). >> and cancer boy is Laurance himself before uriel was called to the higher heavens ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 25 Jan 1998 01:46:27 EST From: Heretic103 Subject: Re: IN> Furfur? In a message dated 98-01-22 10:57:17 EST, you write: << I have to ask at this point: how many people actually *use* Furfur as a Demon Prince? If you do, why? Was it because your players failed in Night Music, or was it because you actually *like* the gimp for some reason? >> The Idea was great but the powers suck and the name is horrible I mean "furfur"? that sounds like the name of a kids show puppet not the demon prince of rock and roll ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 25 Jan 1998 01:54:07 EST From: Heretic103 Subject: Re: IN> Kobal's Last Prank (was Re: IN> By Any Other Name) In a message dated 98-01-23 13:03:00 EST, you write: << in canon >> I may be asking an ignorent question but what is canon? ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 25 Jan 1998 02:01:28 EST From: Heretic103 Subject: Re: IN> Interventions In a message dated 98-01-24 09:30:43 EST, you write: << Just wait for this one until I run the Live Action In Nomine at Dreamation 1998 in New Jersey USA. I'll have some good ones then... >> great so I can roleplay with the same idiots who ruined vampire in the naperville area sounds like a blast ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 25 Jan 1998 04:32:59 -0500 From: eswhanu@juno.com Subject: Re: IN> Interventions Please confine you angst to the Vampire List. Sorry to hear about your bad experience. However, people want it, you can choose not to play, and besides, you live in Illinois, so you don't have to worry about the game in Jersey. Brian On Sun, 25 Jan 1998 02:01:28 EST Heretic103 writes: >In a message dated 98-01-24 09:30:43 EST, you write: > ><< Just wait for this one until I run the Live Action In Nomine at > Dreamation 1998 in New Jersey USA. I'll have some good ones then... > > >> >great so I can roleplay with the same idiots who ruined vampire in the >naperville area sounds like a blast > ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 25 Jan 1998 14:55:22 +0100 From: " Daniel Jacobsson" Subject: SV: IN> IN PBeM >hey kids! > >being the glutton for punishment that i am, it appears that i'll be >running a second In Nomine PBeM. Tentatively entitled 'CrossWinds', >it's a tale of virtuous angels and scurrilous demons running rampant in >1670s Caribbean. Expect high swashbuckling adventure, high drama, high >cinema! The game is open-ended and there's plenty of work for the >Host. And, yes, there will be pirates. > >looking for a few good angels/soldiers/saints of starting level. > >for additional info, you need but ask. All right then IŽll ask. I am really interested in joining an In nomine PBEM (since that looks like the only way for me to ever get to play the game). Daniel > >aaron >daw704@mail.usask.ca > > > ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 25 Jan 1998 11:32:10 -0500 From: Jesse Subject: Re: GURPS In Nomine? (was Re: IN> Yrth) >> I am also a GURPS / In Nomine player, and the boat sails both ways. >> There are a few GURPS books (or playtest files) that work BETTER >> with the In Nomine engine, then the basic GURPS system. > >Goblins and IOU both sound like candidates - good settings, but not >quite right for GURPS. Any others? Bunnys and Burrows? - -Jesse, sometime Soul of Tounge-Planted-So-Far-in-Cheek-I-Have-a-Second-Set-of-Lips remember that, folks: trust your government, or skinheads will find you and kill you... ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 25 Jan 1998 13:47:47 +0000 From: "Patrick Chester" Subject: Re: IN> Kobal's Last Prank (was Re: IN> By Any Other Name) > In a message dated 98-01-23 13:03:00 EST, you write: > > << in canon >> > > I may be asking an ignorent question but what is canon? It's a big gun that blows up things. :-) (oy... wHeRE diD aLL thE nArnS cOme FROm?!) - -- Patrick Chester (aka: claypigeon, Sinapus) wolfone@io.com "Well Jim, that proves it. The Universe not made up of an endless vacuum of eternal nothingness like we once believed. The Universe is in fact made up of Fabio." -Cape Carbunkle bunch at work. :-) ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 25 Jan 1998 17:19:04 -0500 From: eswhanu@juno.com Subject: IN> Angel (Demon?)of Teenage Death Just watched "Heathers" on TV. Christian Slater's character is what happens when Druiel from Night Music Falls and takes a Role of 6. Winona Rider is a Soldier of Hell who Redeems herself. Could you imagine the disturbance in the Symphony if he successed in blowing up the school? Brian Ward t-minus 7 days until I run Live Action in Nomine and melt my brain... ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 25 Jan 1998 15:17:04 -0800 (PST) From: Michael Bowman Subject: Re: IN> Some questions Thanks for the answers. Sorry it's taken me so long to respond, but I have some more questions! On Fri, 2 Jan 1998, Elizabeth McCoy wrote: > At 9:52 AM -0800 12/30/97, Michael Bowman wrote: > >1. This is a followup to John's answer about resonances and servitor > >attunements of last week. The Elohim of Destiny attunement lets them > >succeed automatically at the resonance when touching the subject. Can > >other Choirs buy this attunement or only angels who have the Elohim > >resonance? > > Oh, you would ask that... I'm going wafflewafflewaffle... (And > it's another Luciblessed "roll the CD only" effect, too.) Okay, > from the wording, I'm inclined to let it be bought by other Choirs. > *However*! I would like some feedback to see how that playtests -- > does it make Seraphim/Malakim/Mercurians/Cherubim/Kyrios Way Too > Powerful? As someone else mentioned, it would really only stand out for Kyriotates, but I don't think it would be a major problem. And it would follow from a common sense reading of the attunement. > >2. In Feast of Blades, Hamet has all Band attunements for Alaemon. But > >looking at them I see most of them are pretty resonance-specific. As a > >Duke does he have access to other Bands' resonances like Demon Princes do? > > No. It should read "all applicable Band attunements." But that's too > hard to do. Maybe he has them but can't use them. The main reason I asked is that *all* of the Band attunements look pretty Band-resonance specific to me. Here's another question: How exactly does one resist something? Some songs/attunements/resonances mention resisting where the target only needs to succeed at a roll, normally a Will roll. Most other occurrences of the term don't say anything beyond that it can be resisted. I've been assuming that resistance is done as a Contest, is that correct? If so, I'd recommend adding something to that effect to the glossary, or the section on Contests. Michael Bowman bvmi@odin.cc.pdx.edu ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 25 Jan 1998 18:45:39 -0400 (EDT) From: gantr@NKU.EDU Subject: Re: IN> Upside Down On Fri, 23 Jan 1998, Redneck Gaijin wrote: > When Lucifer rebelled, a different set of Superiors followed him down? > > (I have no intention of doing anything more with this; it just seemed like a > cute idea at the time.) Here's an oddball idea I had for it: There's this servitor of dark humor who has a role in the gaming industry as a game designer. Together with his (or her, it doesn't really matter) unsuspecting human coworkers, he has designed a new role-playing game called "In Nomine". It is a role-playing game in which humans may pretend to be angels or demons. Of course, he isn't going to set it up so that the real Celestial and Infernal structure is used. Instead, he sets things up the way Redneck described. This way, people start thinking of the forces of Hell as the good guys (since they are portrayed as the forces of Heaven) and the forces of Heaven as the bad guys (since they are portrayed as the bad guys). As the game grows in popularity, the demonic game designer will slowly change the canon of In Nomine to represent things in the game the way they really are, but still arrange for them to be perceived favorably. In theory, this will cause more and more humans to side with Hell. After all, the demon plans to warp things so that humans will think Hell is good. And even if it fails, it should still be good for a laugh... Rich Gant ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 25 Jan 1998 19:04:13 -0500 From: Neel Krishnaswami Subject: IN> Angelic Words Words and how to get them, part I. (Part II is demonic words, and will be coming up in the next few days.) I decided that for my campaign, I needed some definite idea of how an angel or demon would go about getting words and distinctions, so that players would have some idea of what their PCs would need to go through in order to get ahead in the world. As it happens, what I produced doesn't fit canon exactly, but hopefully there should be some ideas useful for most people. (Yes, eventually I'll do a writeup on what my PCs need to do to get distinctions, but that's way down the road.) - ---- THE NATURE OF ANGELIC WORDS When the Seraphim Council gifts an angel with a word, what the angel receives is a particular sensitivity to -- a resonance for -- a distinct theme in the Symphony. The angel is then expected to keep that theme in harmony with the rest of the Symphony. This means that angels are required to both prevent their words from fading, and to keep their words from overwhelming other, more subtle themes. A good example of these requirements would be Michael, the archangel of War. He has set all his Mercurians to the task of ending wars and bringing peace, in order to keep wars from spiralling out of control and drowning out all the other harmonies of the Symphony. Few other angels need to go quite as far as Michael in restraining their words, but the possibility is always there. Human beings, whether in life or in Heaven, seem incapable of gaining words; the reasons for this remain obscure to the angels. Possibly only Michael and Yves know for certain, and they aren't talking. HOW AN ANGEL GETS A WORD While it is in principle possible for an archangel to grant a word under his (or her) dominion, they nearly always throw the matter up to the Seraphim Council. The Seraphim Council tries to choose angels for words based on their affinity for and understanding of the concept in question, as well as trying to choose angels with a large enough sense of proportion that they can understand how their theme fits into the larger Symphony. How this works in practice: 1) Almost all word-bound are volunteers, since the Council regards this as a useful first pass for eliminating angels who lack the commitment or interest to serve the word in question. 2) Of these volunteers, the Council prefers mature angels with significant amounts of experience. This means, in game terms, that the Council will reject angels with fewer than 11 Forces, those who haven't been on Earth for extended periods of time, or who have accumulated significant amounts of Discord or dissonance. (This last is seen as a sign that the angel doesn't know how to balance competing responsibilities.) 3) Further, angels petitioning for a Word must demonstrate an ability to get along with other angels. At the very least, the angel's Superior must support the petition for the word. It is considered helpful if other archangels -- particularly archangels of greatly varying viewpoint -- also support the petition. (For example, if Blandine and Michael both support a candidate, it is considered a very good sign.) Extended dealings with angels of other choirs and who serve differing Superiors is also looked on as an asset. Some archangels deliberately encourage their Servitors to mix -- Dominic even assigns his favored servants to multi-Superior groups (e.g., PC groups) precisely because he wants them to gain seasoning. 4) The Council also takes some pains to collect the opinions of humans, as well. Since the ultimate aim of Heaven is the salvation of mankind, it is considered only right to give them a voice. Saints have the greatest say in whether or not an angel will get a word or not. These holy humans are beloved of God and have demonstrated a great love of their fellow men, and their opinions are consequently given great weight. A Saint who merely expresses a "bad feeling" about a candidate can often scuttle a nomination. Other souls in Heaven are often consulted as well. Usually, the Council makes an effort to find humans whose lives on Earth were bound up in that word, and those humans with whom the angel had dealings, with greater weight being given to the testimony of the latter. (For example, if a Servitor of Janus was petitioning for the word of Automobiles, the Seraphim Council might consult humans who were truck drivers and automotive engineers in life.) Living humans are not generally consulted. Mortal men are fallen from divine grace, and are not perfected by God's love until they die. If there is a human whose testimony is judged essential, the Council will often simply defer judgement on the petition until the human dies of old age! 5) *Very* rarely God will intervene in the decision. This trumps every witness and every objection. Normally, the Council won't even bother voting after the Lord makes His will known. (The exception is when Dominic is present; the angel of Judgement is a stickler for procedure. Needless to say, the vote is always unanimous confirmation of the Divine will.) CHANGING WORDS While the members of the Council do their best, they are not perfect. Occasionally, an angel will petition for a change of word. Here are several possible reasons: 1) Obsolescence. This is rare, since the Council is careful to assign words of universal significance. But it has happened, most often to Jordi's Servitors when humans drive some species guarded by an angel extinct. 2) Insufficient power. Sometimes the Council will misjudge the difficulty of the task or the capabilities of the candidate, and the wordbound angel will ask that someone more powerful be allowed to serve in its stead. (This is particularly common when some aspect of reality comes under heavy attack from Hell.) The Council (and the angel's Superior) tend to prefer to increase the current holder's power in preference to placing a new angel in service, but sometimes there are problems only Malakim can solve. 3) Expansion of scope. If the wordbound angel has already taken on several additional fields of responsibility, the Council is likely to acknowledge this by expanding the angel's word. It almost never happens as a specific grant of additional power. - ---- Neel Krishnaswami neelk@alum.mit.edu ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 25 Jan 1998 19:46:38 -0500 From: Jesse Subject: IN> Angels and the Salvation of Man Neel said: >Since the ultimate aim of Heaven is the salvation of mankind, it >is considered only right to give them a voice. Says who? It seems to me that a story line in which angels aim for the downfall of humanity would go over well. Perhaps God is sick and tried of us and decides to arrange for a nuclear war to eliminate us. Of course the angels could not do it, they would have to manipulate humans into nuking themselves. The Legions of Hell would be working against the heroes at every opportunity, if merely on principle. This would be a very interesting campaign as the Archangels plot against each other and ally themselves with Demon Princes. The PCs would be stuck between doing what they are told and saving man. Look for the book _Humans_ for more info. That campaign would be real interesting. I think maybe I will write more about it. - -Jesse, sometime Soul of Tounge-Planted-So-Far-in-Cheek-I-Have-a-Second-Set-of-Lips remember that, folks: trust your government, or skinheads will find you and kill you... ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 26 Jan 1998 12:24:26 From: Peter Frederick Subject: IN> The Rainmaker Dear List got to see The Rainmaker over the w/e. As a film I can give it two thumbs up. Not a lot of IN stuff in it, but had to post to let people who are still looking for guidance on how Elohim act to go see it for the performance by Danny Glover. Mr Glover plays Judge Tyrone Kipler. Now we are told that the Judge hates insurance companies, and on a couple of occassions we see that he enjoys being able to rule against them, but he always plays straight down the line and 100% by the rules. Thanking you for your indulgence. Yours, Peter. Reply to peterf@wr.com.au What does the Lord require of you, but to do justice and to love kindness and to walk humbly with your God ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 25 Jan 1998 22:18:07 -0500 From: Neel Krishnaswami Subject: IN> Persis, Impudite of Fate I had thought that the Impudite of Vapula attunement was the most disgusting ability a Demon Prince could grant, until I saw the Impudite of Kronos attunement. Naturally, this meant I had to create an NPC. (What is it with Mercurians and Impudites? Michael, Eli, Yves, Vapula, Kronos, Malphas all hand out grotesquely powerful attunements to these guys.) - ---- Persis Impudite of Fate Corporeal Forces 2 -- Strength 4 Agility 4 Ethereal Forces 2 -- Intelligence 4 Precision 4 Celestial Forces 4 -- Perception 10 Will 6 Vessel: Vessel/1 (Human male), Role/3, Status/3 (college professor) Skills: Fighting/2, Dodge/3, Knowledge(Philosophy)/4, Lying/5, Fast-Talk/5, Detect Lies/4, Seduction/6 Attunements: Fated Future, Impudite of Fate Discord: Bound/5 Appearance: Persis has taken on the role of Dr. Percy Whitehead, an assistant professor of philosophy. He appears to be white man of average height, beginning to enter early middle age, and beginning to bald. The bald spot on his his head is usually shiny with sweat, and Persis will unconsciously wipe the sweat with a handkerchief every few minutes. Body language: Tense, huddled inward. Looks down at the ground, away from any possible threats. Will always make an effort to reach out and make physical contact at the beginning of any social encounter -- but afterwards resist touching. (Unless seducing one of his students, that is.) Story: Persis is one of Kronos's most efficient servants. While other, more powerful demons, engage in thud-and-blunder conflict with angels, Persis quietly seeks out those with powerful Fates and draws them to it. The key to running Persis is that the only emotions he really feels are fear and the hate fear can inspire. He fears angels, who could destroy him without effort. He fears other demons, since through their careless blundering or casual malice they could expose or kill him. He fears his Demon Prince, who cares nothing for his loyal service and pays attention only to errors. He fears humans who through sheer bloody mindedness expose him to the wrath of Kronos. And he hates them all, for the fear they inflict on him. And he bides his time, nursing his hate and quietly working towards the destruction of his enemies. He is not very powerful -- there are probably relievers that could send him back to Hell -- but the difficulty in dealing with Persis lies not in killing him but in finding him. He cannot assume celestial form (a "gift" from Kronos) and he has no songs; thus most of the temptations to spend Essence are removed. Persis will try to avoid contact with other celestials, though he doesn't try to too conspicuously avoid other demons -- he doesn't have the power to make other demons obey him. Instead, he tries very hard to be as colorless as possible, so that he will be overlooked and ignored. In his philosophy classes, Persis concentrates on 20th century French philosophers, focusing on the most depressing texts written by the postmodernists and existentialists. He spares no pain -- taking quotations out of context is beginner's work for him -- to create the impression that there are convincing reasons to believe that life is a meaningless melange of sensations and that even sensual gratification is pointless and wearisome. His classes are the only time he comes alive; this is as close as he comes to striking back at mankind, and he revels in it. As close as he comes, except for a very few of his brightest students. Those, he studies with his Impudite of Fate and Fated Future attunements, and he works carefully to plant the seeds of destruction within them. - ---- Neel Krishnaswami neelk@alum.mit.edu ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 26 Jan 1998 08:29:34 -0600 (CST) From: Shadowcat Subject: Re: GURPS In Nomine? (was Re: IN> Yrth) On Sun, 25 Jan 1998, Nathaniel Eliot wrote: > > I am also a GURPS / In Nomine player, and the boat sails both ways. > > There are a few GURPS books (or playtest files) that work BETTER > > with the In Nomine engine, then the basic GURPS system. > > Goblins and IOU both sound like candidates - good settings, but not > quite right for GURPS. Any others? > The main one I have been doing of late is "Requiem." it is a world where the elves, Valkery, Djinn, etc. are returning. It is rather WOD, but it is still good. The unfortunate thing though is I thinki that it is now dead. Shadowcat ******************************************************************************** There is no Saint with out a past, and no Sinner with out a future. ------------------------------ End of in_nomine-digest V1 #591 ******************************* The material here is (C) 1997 Steve Jackson Games, Incorporated. All rights reserved.