LIL: Luciferian Opinions

By Eric Burns

**Flaming
Feather**

It comes as no surprise that the Luciferian Princes are deeply upset. First off, their entire worldview has been smashed. As the Infernal Player's Guide notes, much of their entire being was based on the idea that Lucifer was right, God was wrong, and eventual victory was inevitable. Lucifer dying hurts. Secondly, the degredation of one's Word is actively painful -- like having a slow wound that's causing an agonizingly slow bleeding to death. The Princes are not immediately overly affected in power level (though they do feel an effect after the first month) and not all Princes are degrading at the same rate or the same way that Word-bound did, but all feel it, and it's nothing they can ignore. At all times it is close to the top of their thoughts, and as a result is more important than Lilith on the Granite Throne or control of Hell. Third, however, is Lilith.

Had Lilith assumed the Granite Throne, stabilized Words, and moved into Lucifer's role, there would be little dissention over her reign. Oh, the usual schemers would scheme, and it's safe to say every Prince would be trying to find a way to reverse the relationship and assume Hell for his or herself, but there wouldn't be much consternation beyond the usual grumbling about semievolved baboons with delusions of grandeur.

However, Lilith is not taking on Lucifer's Role. She is actively ruling, parceling out Words with a strategy in mind that she isn't telling others, at least not yet. Those who serve her obey her, and the autonomy known since the Dawn of Hell among the Princes is not shared between her Seven.

This keeps the Luciferians at bay. While she could likely recruit any of them if she tried (and held out the Word like a carrot, clouding their judgement with their need for wholeness), she has stopped her recruitment, instead waiting to see what her Seven and the Luciferians do. So, without inducements, the Luciferians chafe and resist, certain that if they make enough trouble, the Queen will have to come to terms.

If they can remain unified.

At this time, all relations between Luciferian Princes should improve one level. Enemies become Hostile Princes. Hostile Princes become Neutral. Neutral Princes become Associated. Associated Princes become Allied. Further, relations between Luciferian and Lilithian Princes fall one level. Allies become Associated. Associated Princes become Neutral. Neutral Princes become Hostile. Hostile Princes become Enemies. You don't want to know what Enemies become.

Specific reactions and agendas are as follows:

Asmodeus: You cannot play the same game with different players, and Lucifer was always a player in the game. He believed himself more, but he learned differently. Now, Lilith plays her own game, and Kronos plays his, and Baal plays his, and I of course play mine. I will not mourn Lucifer -- he played and lost, but the Game continues. Now my strategies must weave together. The Game between Heaven and Hell must be secondary to Hell's own gambits, and I must consolodate my position before I can procede. As for little Alaemon... he has been given a good opening position in Lilith's strategem. Let us see if he can play it. (Asmodeus's Servitors are concentrating almost exclusively on Word bolstering -- Asmodeus has a Word that is easier to bolster without inviting the Wrath of Stone than others -- and entrenching their position on Earth. Asmodeus has elected to neglect the huge number of refugee demons fleeing to Heaven for now -- after all, Lilith has her own Spymaster for such things, and she has declared herself the Queen of Hell, hasn't she? This seeming unconcern over treason has led to more Gamester Renegades -- hidden away with their Humanity attunements -- than at any known time in history.)

Baal: In case you have forgotten -- and why should I expect otherwise -- there was a purpose to our Revolution. Lucifer, the shining Morning Star, strove and ultimately died in the name of the Heavenly Host -- those who followed him and those who did not. He swore that we were better than these barely sentient, barely evolved simians. We were the natural inheritors of Divine Grace and Favor, not these sin-infested, lazy, crass sacks of meat. And now Lucifer lies dead, his soul itself sacrificed in the name of our holy cause, and a human has the audacity to sit upon the Granite Throne? I would laugh but I am too busy weeping. This human has been suffered for millenia as Lucifer's pet and in the name of her useful demons. But to actually have this tiny little woman claim the right of rule over me? Absurd! The very thought is offensive. She must be crushed and eliminated -- as soon as we have brought our Words and Forces into stability once more. In the meantime, the War continues. The War always continues. And in Lucifer's martyred name we will pursue it and win it. Now, if only I knew what Kronos was up to.... (If the Game has more Renegades then ever before, then the War has fewer deserters than any other Luciferian Prince's organization. The Servitors of the War have intensely powerful Esprit de Corps as they fight to establish the Word of the War more securely. This is in part because of the speedy promotion track as the Generals and other Word-bound of the War falter and die, and even the powerful unWord-bound lead suicide missions to bolster the Word of War.)

Belial: It hurts. It hurts! Damn it, don't you understand? I can't get away from her! I can't get away from her! I've got to make the fire hotter! I've got to make the destruction louder! Destruction -- damn that monkey woman for making Furfur Destruction! Damn her! He was mine! And then he was mine to kill! How dare she? How dare she? Don't you see? It hurts, damn it! Damn Lilith! Damn Gabriel! I can't get away! We have to burn them all away! Burn Lilith! Burn Gabriel! Burn Earth and Heaven and Hell until only the ash remains! (Belial and Gabriel have been in balance for a long time -- and so long as his Word at least approached hers in Power, he could revel in the pain his Word caused the Archangel of Fire more than be torn by it. However, as his Word falters and hers becomes ascendent, Divine Fire now surrounds his being, forcing his selfish Symphony to acknowledge it and literally making him Dissonant and Discordant (especially since he is literally being 'burnt' by his own scheme now.. Note that while he is Dissonant, he is *not* a candidate for Redemption, as he flees the enlightenment in pain and selfishness. His Word is failing much faster than others because of the conflict, and as a result he has begun to feel the pain and loss of sanity that has plagued Gabriel for so long. His Servitors are similarly panicked and crazed, and are desperately trading their time between setting obvious, catastrophic fires on Earth (to fuel his Word -- especially since they can't merely be destructive now, as that fuels Furfur's Word) and fighting Furfur's forces off in Sheol, where their conflict is anything but hidden.)

Fleurity: Mm. Well, I've always had a good working relationship with Lilith even though she never cared for me personally. I had thought her humanity would draw her into my way of thinking -- the right sniff or snort or needle and all, liberating her senses -- but it didn't happen that way. She proved herself strong after all. I can respect that, and intend to contact her and make my services available. After all, it doesn't take a genius to see this revolt will never last. Too many weak links, after all. And I could be of great use to her. In the meantime, my Word slowly diminishes and that must be dealt with, and I cannot afford to commit resources to battle. The important thing is to ensure that operations continue to rejuvenate me until Lilith and I come to an appropriate arrangement. As for Lucifer's demise... well, ultimately the strong must be tested against the strong. One will emerge as stronger, and the other does not deserve our mourning. (Fleurity is calm in the face of destruction -- panic or anger would be a sign of weakness, after all. He has stepped up operations on Earth, in hopes that the more demonstrative Luciferian assaults will distract Heaven away from him. His Servitors are mostly employed in those endeavors, save for his most expendable Servitors, who he has loaned to his 'allies' among the Luciferians, as a sign of good faith. Fleuritians were quite likely to go Renegade in the beginning of the chaos, but at this point most of the potentially redemptive have left, leaving Fleurity's organization diminished but not destroyed. Fleurity's relative lack of Word-bound before the death of Lucifer means his upper organization is remarkably untouched, however.)

Haagenti: I don't understand how Lucifer -- Lucifer -- died. I mean, Michael's big and tough, but Lucifer wasn't a Demon Prince. He was the Devil. Big D followed by evil, you know? He intervened in the world, pushing it just like God does. Are you seriously tellin' me Michael was in God's league all this time? Makes me sick... and I am sick. Sick to my stomach. I haven't been sick since I was a damn demonling. I hate this. Hate it. I'm tellin' you, I don't relish the idea of following Lilith, but anything'd be better than this. Well, food will help. Food always helps. And Gluttony's been strong for a real long time. (Haagenti is worried -- like Belial, his Word seems to be failing faster than others among the Luciferians. Haagenti's followers live in terror that their lord will start eating them for their Forces, to help slow his decline. They also know he's been agitating to join up with Lilith (under the theory that it's better to be alive than dead, so he can go back to Shal Mari and the way life used to be -- food and lots of it) and that some of the more militant Luciferian Princes don't care for it. Many who've reached Earth have fled to the Angels out of those fears. The remainder are running Gluttony operations, but it's hard to dramatically bolster a Word like Gluttony and keep it up.)

Kobal: This is the way the world ends, this is the way the world ends, this is the way the world ends, not with a bang but a whimper. Y'know, it's funny. I could have guessed Lucifer'd get spacked sooner or later. It's been literally twenty thousand years since anyone'd given him a fight. Michael's been training all that time, waiting for the golden moment. Lucifer's lucky he even hurt Mikey. I could have guessed, and you know the others could have. But it caught us all off guard, and now here we're fading away. Funny. Heh. So, the question is, do we fight on two fronts, trying to keep our Words alive while our Word-bound turn into tapioca and the Host slaughters us on every excursion and fight a Civil War for Hell, hot or cold doesn't matter... or do we swallow our collective pride and suck up to Lilith in the hopes she doesn't let us die. Gee, they both sound so good.... Still, I'll tell you something. When Lucifer died, there weren't any more Infernal Interventions. They just stopped happening. I always kept track of them where I could when I was responsible for Fate, before Telly Savalas showed up. Now? Lilith's taken the throne and the Interventions are back, helping Hell. Even our demons. But we're still fighting against her even though she's clearly taken over. Funny, isn't it? Huh? Aren't you laughing? (Kobal had fallen into a kind of ennui before Lucifer died. After Lucifer's death, he's clearly fallen into true depression. His world view has been proven wrong and he's going to fade into nonexistance -- so why not laugh? He barely directs his Servitors now, but his surviving Distincted have taken it on themselves to promote his Word wherever possible. It is not a good time to be a Servitor of Dark Humor.)

Malphas: Will I live or will I die? Who can tell? Who can try? Lucifer is dead -- I loved him. I was his best friend. Lilith has his throne. I love her. I am her best friend. Baal wants to destroy Lilith before she can secure her power. I love him. I am his best friend. All around me my fellows are dying -- slaughtered by Heaven, fighting in Hell or having their Words collapse and die. And I? Can but smile at the glorious factions that arise, like a pack of children on a liferaft, arguing over trivialities until the raft flips over and they die. For now I help the Luciferians. Tomorrow, it may be clear their faction cannot win, and I will help the Lilithians. In the meantime, I watch and listen and keep my forces throughout Hell. Let Alaemon have Stygia. I don't need it any longer. (Malphas is as always a faction of one. For now, it serves his needs to work with the Luciferians. As soon as those winds change, so will he. His forces are letting the others take the War to Heaven, offering up only token resistance to Alaemon in Hell. Mostly, they are slipping through the cracks into the realms, watching and learning how the power struggles are progressing and different alliances are forming. He is paying careful attention to how the Lilithian Princes cooperate with one another, looking for patterns and factions among them... all the better to exploit when he makes his move across the Styx.)

Mammon: Damn Lilith! Damn her! I'll kill her! I'll break her bones and rape her body and nail her carcass to my Vault's wall, and lock her away for all time, giving her food in exchange for her daughters, and they will work for me. How dare she take Lucifer's crown as her own? And how dare she set that green-skinned bitch up to take my Word from me? She needs to learn -- Haagenti wasn't enough to take Greed away from me. All the Princes who nailed me on Black Tuesday weren't enough to take Greed away from me. Does she think her damn daughter is enough to take my Word from me? Does she? I'll teach her who's in charge. I'll give her something to rule. Oh Hell yeah! In the meantime, death to the traitors, and vast riches to those who put the Luciferian Princes in the driver's seat again! (Mammon is in trouble and knows it. Rebekah, the Lilithian Lilim Princess of the Deal, is clearly in his territory, taking strength away from his Word and adding it to herself. Lucifer, who Mammon followed passionately (or so he tells himself) is dead. His best and brightest Servitors have proven to be bad investments, as his Word-bound die out and his Servitors desert with dramatic speed -- most of them joining the Princess of the Deal or Alaemon's service. Almost no Demons of Greed have defected to Heaven, not with such attractive rates (and such an attractive Princess) over at the Deal. Even his Tethers -- the ones the thrice-damned Sword haven't blown up -- are being stolen for Rebekah, the Seneschals throwing in with her in exchange for stabilized Words. Those Servitors who remain loyal seek to promote Greed without promoting the Deal and without getting killed by Angels. It's not easy.)

Nybbas: It's a full bore Media frenzy! Hell is agog at the spectacle, NNN's been running full bore reports on the War, on the civil war, on rumors, on Lilith, on the new Princess... all slanted Luciferian, natch, but slant or no it's being eaten up! And on Earth? Pow! Whoosh! Zoom! Belial's setting fires, Mammon's starting corporate takeovers, Baal's invading Hoboken and the Heavenly Host is desperately trying to fight it and keep from revealing themselves! It's a smorgasbord of videotape, and it's running everywhere on the damn planet! My Word's just fine, baby, so I can sit back and make a lot of friends and wait these unfortunate times out, then sign on with the winner. It's a good thing. (Nybbas's organization has had a number of defections to Heaven, but otherwise it's almost business as usual. There's plenty of fodder for the Media to work with, and Heaven is generally (although not entirely) busy with more violent Princes reinforcing their Words. It's a good time to pitch ideas, shape events, get the beauty shot on tape and get quality air time in the Media. And while Nybbas is very positive, thanks to the general Word reinforcement, his Servitors are getting quietly worried. Sooner or later, either the emergencies will quiet down or the public will get tired of them, and Media will wane slightly -- and then Nybbas is doomed.)

Saminga: Lucifer is dead. I told you everyone dies. I told you. Lucifer is dead, so Death is stronger than Lucifer. Lilith better remember that. Baal better remember that. Michael better remember that. Death is stronger than Lucifer. Death is stronger than God. Death is. (Saminga's forces are divided -- divided between fleeing to Furfur and fleeing to Heaven, that is. Saminga himself is sinking into mania and death-worship. Those Servitors who are too loyal (or who aren't bright enough) to leave their Prince are promoting his Word from security, as Saminga's fortress is currently uncontested. Of course, Saminga's undead are loyal, and none of them failed with the Word-bound....)

Valefor: <comment unavailable> (Valefor's forces are in abject chaos, as their Prince hasn't been seen since the Death of Lucifer. While technically Luciferian, any number of Valefor's Servitors have sought shelter with Lilith's Princes -- and Lilith has made it clear she doesn't want Valefor's Servitors hurt. Invocations of Valefor don't work. There is no formal effort to bolster Valefor's Word, as Valefor's Word-bound has mostly died out and his Distincted but un-Word-bound Servitors have adopted an "every demon for himself" attitude. A few of Lilith's closer friends among the Servitors of Theft have had their Words adapted, though a condition of Word-adaption to Lilithian principles is to join with a Lilithian Prince. Alaemon, Beleth and Vapula have been the greatest recipiants of new talent from Theft. And of course, a large number have defected to Heaven.)

**Flaming
Feather**

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