From owner-in_nomine-digest@lists.io.com Fri Oct 24 03:34:12 1997 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 DAA26765 for ; Fri, 24 Oct 1997 03:34:12 -0500 Received: (from majordom@localhost) by lists.io.com (8.8.7/8.8.5) id DAA02631 for in_nomine-digest-outgoing; Fri, 24 Oct 1997 03:08:57 -0500 Date: Fri, 24 Oct 1997 03:08:57 -0500 Message-Id: <199710240808.DAA02631@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 #430 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 Friday, October 24 1997 Volume 01 : Number 430 In this digest: Re: IN> [DARK VICTORY] Places - the Northeast States of America Re: IN> [DARK VICTORY] Dominic, Demon Prince of Cleansing [BUFF] IN> The Slayer Project Re: IN> B5 Victory IN> Heaven and Hell (brief review) IN> Seraphim Check Digits IN> Numinous Corpus Question Re: IN> IN5 [Fluff] Re: IN> IN5 [Fluff] Re: IN> Seraphim Check Digits Re: IN> When words collide Re: IN> [DARK VICTORY] Dominic, Demon Prince of Cleansing Re: Escaping dissonance (Was: Re: IN> Re: Redeeming Shedim: it c Re: IN> [DARK VICTORY] Return of Uriel? IN> [DARK VICTORY] Nybbas, Archangel of the Media (Communications!) Re: IN> [DARK VICTORY] Dominic, Demon Prince of Cleansing Re: IN> [DARK VICTORY] General Observation Re: Escaping dissonance (Was: Re: IN> Re: Redeeming Shedim: it c Re: IN> [DARK VICTORY] Bright Victory? Re: IN> [DARK VICTORY] Bright Victory? ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 23 Oct 1997 21:09:41 -0500 (CDT) From: redneck@txdirect.net (Redneck Gaijin) Subject: Re: IN> [DARK VICTORY] Places - the Northeast States of America >>>>ROBERT JOHNSTON > >alias ROSHTANDARIEL, Balseraph Baron of Factions, Demon of Republican >Democracy<<< > >At his power level, Roshtandariel would more likely be a Duke, rather than >a mere Baron. True. Beth, could you be so kind as to pick that nit when you post? }:-{D Redneck Kris Overstreet, will write for food... | Do not taunt Happy Fun Belial. http://www.txdirect.net/users/redneck | * * * c/o White Lightning Productions | "I love the sweet smell of http://www.jurai.net/~redneck/wlp/ | humiliation in the morning!" Webmaster for Antarctic Press | --- Kobal reaffirms himself http://www.antarctic-press.com/ | ***QUESTION EVERYTHING*** ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 23 Oct 1997 21:22:48 -0500 (CDT) From: redneck@txdirect.net (Redneck Gaijin) Subject: Re: IN> [DARK VICTORY] Dominic, Demon Prince of Cleansing >On Thu, 23 Oct 1997 19:57:52 -0500 (CDT), redneck@txdirect.net (Redneck >Gaijin) wrote: > >>>Ok, but with Saminga's neglect of demonic politics, would a secret >>>Balseraph Council be possible? DPs can grant Forces by themselves, and they >>>might find it advantageous to have some Demon Princelings to help fight >>>Saminga--i.e., to stand between them and Saminga. :) >... >>And -maybe- a large gathering of very powerful Princes could do it... but >>it's almost impossible to get the requisite number of Princes to -agree- on it. > >All DP's nervous about Saminga raise your hands... :) > Haagenti mildly supports Saminga (more to eat for him!), Kronos will not raise a hand against him, and Vapula won't care unless/until Saminga meddles in his work in Tartarus. That's half the remaining DPs right there. Redneck Kris Overstreet, will write for food... | Do not taunt Happy Fun Belial. http://www.txdirect.net/users/redneck | * * * c/o White Lightning Productions | "I love the sweet smell of http://www.jurai.net/~redneck/wlp/ | humiliation in the morning!" Webmaster for Antarctic Press | --- Kobal reaffirms himself http://www.antarctic-press.com/ | ***QUESTION EVERYTHING*** ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 23 Oct 1997 22:40:22 -0400 From: "bruce dykes" Subject: [BUFF] IN> The Slayer Project Okay, once again, I'm not going into character details for the Infernal Opposition, this is due to the fact that in sixteen episodes, we've had all of the villains from the first 12 episodes killed, and we've only had our new villains for one or two episodes now. Here's a new Distinction for Nybbas: Captain of Focus Groups. ************************************************************************* The Infernal Opposition consists primarily of vampires. But there's plenty of variety. The first vampire we're introduced to is The Master. A vampire/sorceror in service to Saminga, he had attempted to build a tether to Abbadon from a cavern beneath Sunnydale in the late thirties. This attempt was thwrted by an earthquake induced by a servitor of David, but the tether remains on the brink of completion. His overriding goal is to complete the tether, but Buffy slew him before he could complete it. Eventually, he creates a new vampire from a Rite involving the sacrifice of five humans. This new vampire is called The Anointed One, and he appears as a 9 year old boy. He's also believed dead at this point in the storyline. The two new vampires on the block are Spike and Druscilla. Spike lokks and sounds like a cross between David Bowie and Billy Idol, and, coincedentally, was sired by Angel (see the Divine Players). Druscilla is your stereotypical angst-ridden vampire goth chick. Spike came up with a scheme to attack the School during Parent Teacher night. Principal Snyder assigned Buffy and a second problem student to the decorating commitee with the promise of a favorable report to their parents if all goes well. When the attack occurs, Buffy, Giles, and Miss Calendar snap into action, and Principal Snyder hollers something about a gang hopped up on PCP. Groups are isolated, and Buffy leaves her mother, Principal Snyder, and another teacher in a bolthole, while she goes out to execute some major kickbutt. With some help from Angel, Xander, and the angels, the attack is thwarted, and the police chief asks Principal Snyder if they're going to use the usual cover story, a gang on PCP. Buffy's mother is a lot less concerned about her grades and her school discipline after seeing her perform under fire. She still doesn't know of Buffy's Role. Spike slew the Anointed One, and now they're the new gang in charge of the undead scene in Sunnydale. Aside from the undead, there are plenty of other supernatural enmies. My personal favorite involves a relic that was used by monks in the twelfth century to bind a demon. As the monks chanted, the Demon was bound to the leaves of the tome as text (how's that for being word-bound). The Demon will remain in the tome until the words are read aloud, and the Demon will be freed. What happened in this case was that the book was scanned into a computer, at which the Demon gianed existence *inside* the computer. By communicating with the computer students, he convinced some of them to break into an abndoned industrial computer lab and create a robotic vessel for him to be downloaded into. In another story, during a field trip to the zoo, Xander gets caught up with the bully clique while they accidentally trigger a Rite that summoned either Shedim or Ethereal Spirits, and caused the group of five kids to behave like a pack of hyaenas., with Xander as the leader. Eventually, the pack is called to the Principal's office after they're suspected of eating the school mascot, a piglet. Their discussion with the Principal doesn't go well, and they eat him. The Rite was originally due to be performed by the caretaker of the hyaenas, but the kids got there first. After this, Principal Snyder was brought on the scene. In a Marches story, we had a child in a coma who was able to open the Marches into Sunnydale. Consequently, evrybody's nightmares started manifesting in real life. As you can see, there's plenty of room for the full scope of IN plots in Sunnydale. For the rest of the plot synopses go to http://www.buffyslayer.com ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 23 Oct 1997 22:25:52 -0500 (CDT) From: redneck@txdirect.net (Redneck Gaijin) Subject: Re: IN> B5 Victory > >Canon for somebody without a heart is a Trauma measured in weeks, and >the chance of loosing a Force. I didn't mean to imply that the Angels would not be in Trauma... You didn't make it clear whether >Yve's Hearts were taken (you said something about the Library >being unburnable and sealed - could it even be breached, or not? The -demons- sealed it up after looting it of Hearts (and losing a number of demons in its depths). Redneck Kris Overstreet, will write for food... | Do not taunt Happy Fun Belial. http://www.txdirect.net/users/redneck | * * * c/o White Lightning Productions | "I love the sweet smell of http://www.jurai.net/~redneck/wlp/ | humiliation in the morning!" Webmaster for Antarctic Press | --- Kobal reaffirms himself http://www.antarctic-press.com/ | ***QUESTION EVERYTHING*** ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 23 Oct 1997 20:14:47 -0700 (PDT) From: nightgaunt@earthlink.net (Alexander Shearer) Subject: IN> Heaven and Hell (brief review) Ah, to think I almost didn't bother walking into Games of Berkeley today. I've just finished a preliminary read-through of Heaven and Hell. Fun stuff once again, though I'd still like to see a bit more editorial coherence in the In Nomine books. Especially glaring is the difference in approach between the descriptions of Heaven and Hell (the former being a general description, the latter laden with example characters and adventure seeds). I preferred the section on Heaven, as I rarely need or use sample characters (I'm undecided on adventure seeds). Kudos to SJohn on Yves and Kronos. It's a nice bit of mirroring work. Of course, it's also nice to know that Yves' library contains the following works: Really Old Book; Ill Met in Lankhmar; Blah, Blah; Greek Myth; Roswell...; In Nomine; The Star Wars Trilogy; How I Lost My Eyesight (by Ramon Perez); An In Depth Study In The Mating Habits of Tauntauns; Hurricanes - How To Stay Aloft; Scandals; ?!#@!; Running Out Of Titles; and everything Randolph is holding as well. Dominic comes off as a pathetic, haunted paranoid (and I should note that I don't like Perez's drawings of him - "My God - it's full of stars!"). I enjoyed the Asmodeus description. Zadkiel and Mammon - okay. I did enjoy Mammon's idea of owning everything by proxy. For the moment, my favorite section is the Celestial Realms one. I'm not sure how much that's due to the lack of sample characters and adventure seeds, though (not that anything without them is automatically good, but it makes it better than similar writing elsewhere). Any thoughts out there on pros or cons of sample characters and the like? Alexander Shearer nightgaunt@earthlink.net gaunt@uclink4.berkeley.edu ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 23 Oct 1997 22:54:40 -0500 (CDT) From: Donald G Bixler Subject: IN> Seraphim Check Digits Sorry about not responding directly to the email, but I hit the wrong button, deleting it... Elizabeth, I don't think that a CD of 4 would be sufficient. They said that they fell in battle. That's true. Dominic wouldn't be able to pick up anything else because it wasn't part of the question. Say that I'd bought a stereo off of a pawn shop ran by a thief. If a Seraph asked me if I stole that stereo, a high CD would not contradict my answer of "No." the person i bought it from stoel it, but I did not. You can only get caught lying for what you said, not what you left out. Even if I knew that the stereo in the example above was probably hot, _I_ bought it and, barring odd abilities granted to servants of creation or wind, nothing will enable a seraph to find out more about the situation from that answer, except perhaps at a high level the image of the person I bought it from. The seraph could investigate further and get what she's looking for from the person who sold me the stereo or maybe by asking me if I thought that the stereo was hot, but you only get answers to questions you ask. Dominic may have gotten a vision of Michael failing on the field, but not the body count he achieved prior to losing, since that was not part of thestatement the demons gave, if I understand correctly. Oops da Ogre, if Redneck cares to correct me, fine, but otherwise I don't think that that interpretation of seraphim is correct mudgb4@uxa.ecn.bgu.edu ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 24 Oct 1997 00:01:08 -0400 (EDT) From: Kim Foster Subject: IN> Numinous Corpus Question Can a character willingly use a NC at a lower level than what they know it? I am mainly asking due to those powers that either trade accuaracy for power as the level increases or hamper to character in some way at higher levels. I know violence doesn't solve all problems... But it sure feels good! Felicia:DS3:Vampire Savior ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 24 Oct 1997 05:02:05 +0200 From: Jo Hart Subject: Re: IN> IN5 [Fluff] At 21:23 23/10/97 -0500, you wrote: >Date: Thu, 23 Oct 1997 18:27:49 -0500 (CDT) >From: Martin Leslie Leuschen >Subject: IN> IN5 [Fluff] > >Note: B5 spoilers below, for any who care. > > >Clearly, this works more a a humanocentric adventure, than as a setting. >Running it straight wouldn't be much fun - but setting it in IN and adding >a few of your own twists might make it a lot of fun for Kosh(B5 fans). > >However, I wasn't going to let Redneck's boring sounding conversion stand >unchallenged. Not on B5 night, which I now depart to enjoy... > I think Redneck had a good point actually. The B5 resolution was one of the most dramatically disappointing anti-climaxes I have ever seen -- the build up was great, don't get me wrong but... after all that the two elder races just get together, say 'Oh gosh, you mortals are right, darn it', shake claws and sail off into the sunset never to be heard of again? Well how.. thrilling. I really liked Bab5 but after that I gave up watching it in disgust. The only real reason I can see to replay it in IN is to give the players a chance to torture Delenn which is something we all wanted to do for a long time because she was so irritating! Although Cartagia has some conversaion prospects ;) Anyway, what would be interesting about playing IN if you assumed all the celestials had just done a runner and were never to be heard of again? jo ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 24 Oct 1997 00:59:19 -0400 (EDT) From: Casca Subject: Re: IN> IN5 [Fluff] On Thu, 23 Oct 1997, Martin Leslie Leuschen wrote: [snip very good summary of B5 in IN terms] > God says, 'Come along, I said.' > > Angels and Demons ask - 'Will you come with us? We don't want to be > alone.' > > God says, 'I will.' > > Our Heros are left to sort out their other problems in the midst of a > ravaged Earth. Am I the only one who finds this ending positively terrifying? Armageddon comes, with all attendant bells and whistles. Practically everyone in creation -knows-, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that God is Real. Scary enough, right? Then, after all the havoc and destruction has been wrought, God -leaves-. Right when faith is at its highest, when people need God the most, He abandons them to their own devices. No Heaven, no Hell, no afterlife...when you're dead, you're dead. And whatever happens, it's all because humanity brought it upon itself. Victory? I dunno. It seems very much like a case of getting -exactly- what we deserve as punishment for not siding with Good. To reason to the universe, just randomness....no assurace of a Greater Good in effect, no Faith to lessen the pain of daily existence. Man, if that isn't Hell, I don't know what it. - -- Casca (bertishg@db.erau.edu) "...I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of His robe filled the temple. Above Him were seraphs, each with six wings: with two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying...At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook, and the temple was filled with smoke." -- Isaiah 6:2,4 ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 24 Oct 1997 00:27:48 -0500 (CDT) From: redneck@txdirect.net (Redneck Gaijin) Subject: Re: IN> Seraphim Check Digits > >Elizabeth, I don't think that a CD of 4 would be sufficient. They said >that they fell in battle. That's true. Dominic wouldn't be able to >pick up anything else because it wasn't part of the question. > Dominic may have gotten a vision of >Michael failing on the field, but not the body count he achieved prior >to losing, since that was not part of thestatement the demons gave, if I >understand correctly. > >Oops da Ogre, if Redneck cares to correct me, fine, but otherwise I > don't think that that interpretation of seraphim is correct No, by my reread just now, I gotta agree. Seraphim check digits only refer to the truth, or Truth, of the particular statement, no farther. To render down the situation: "Yeah, and then our guys killed Michael and Laurence- they were together at the end, you know..." Check digit of Result 1 They think Michael and Laurence fell in battle. 2 They think Michael and Laurence fell in battle. 3 They think Michael and Laurence fell in battle, and are taunting me with the knowledge. 4 They think Michael and Laurence fell in battle, and are taunting me with the knowledge. 5 They know Michael and Laurence fell in battle, and are taunting me with the knowledge. 6 Michael and Laurence fell in battle. These demons know this and are taunting me with the knowledge. Nowhere in here does it mention the body count, because the demons don't mention it. A straight Seraphic Resonance cannot work against unspoken lies or lies of omission. Redneck Kris Overstreet, will write for food... | Do not taunt Happy Fun Belial. http://www.txdirect.net/users/redneck | * * * c/o White Lightning Productions | "I love the sweet smell of http://www.jurai.net/~redneck/wlp/ | humiliation in the morning!" Webmaster for Antarctic Press | --- Kobal reaffirms himself http://www.antarctic-press.com/ | ***QUESTION EVERYTHING*** ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 24 Oct 1997 06:19:25 +0200 From: Jo Hart Subject: Re: IN> When words collide At 03:56 23/10/97 -0500, you wrote: > >Date: Thu, 23 Oct 1997 01:06:02 -0500 (CDT) >From: redneck@txdirect.net (Redneck Gaijin) > >>Does anyone have any thoughts about how celestials manage to coexist on the >>sade 'sides' when they have words that naturally conflict with each other? >> >>For example, I'm sure there is an angel who has the word 'Peace', how >>could it co-exist when there was an AA who claimed the absolute opposite of >>their word? > >Technically, there is one; as I understand it, Novalis' word of Flowers >includes Peace. She and Michael would have a bit of friction, but they >manage to get along. > >By a similar token, Baal's word, 'The War,' includes unity among demons, >sometimes enforced. (Alternately, you could attribute 'Unity' to 'The Game' >and Asmodeus.) Malphas, OTOH, works to set demons against each other. >Asmodeus and Malphas' relations are pretty professional; Baal and Malphas, >on the other hand, is a mini-War just waiting to happen. NB. I am trying to keep up with the digests, honest ;-) Cheers, I hadn't really thought about that. I can actually imagine that the concept of War includes the possibility for peace (ie. when the war is won), and presumably Laurence's word includes the possibility of 'peace with honour' so you'd tend to hope that angels would never end up having to seriously work against each other -- there would always be the possibility of finding a win-win solution, even if the individuals involved bickered about it. ie. They should generally be able to agree on some level that the other angel's Word is a valid way to further the wishes of the Seraphim Council (unlike demons who only have the guarantee that Lucifer thought it was amusing at the time). As far as the Unity thing goes, I think I'd be provocative (what else?) and suggest that actually Malphas holds that one. 2 main reasons for that thinking: 1) Factions are a lot more effective if they have some unity within them (and also, unity causes & promotes factionalism) 2) I don't figure him as the kind of DP who really cares if his minions spend a lot of time fighting each other, or even himself. He probably lobbies Lucifer every time a new word-bound demon is created to get the opposite of the new word, even if he doesn't really want it(!) Presumably some poor sap under Baal has the word of 'Demonic Unity' though! Good luck with that one ;) jo Now.. would Passive resistance (a la Gandhi) be assigned to Michael or David? ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 24 Oct 1997 00:53:01 -0600 (MDT) From: Kingsley Lintz Subject: Re: IN> [DARK VICTORY] Dominic, Demon Prince of Cleansing > >>Saminga doesn't care about other people's words, so once he takes over, no > >>more Worded demons until he's deposed, -if- he is. > >So how did Dommie get his Word-swap, then? (Asked the Demon Princess > >of Nitpicking.) > Oooh, good nit, too. > Um, okay, how's this? Saminga heard about this new demon, saw he was Might I suggest that, being that Saminga, all told, honestly doesn't CARE...Kronos'll handle it just like he always has? {I know, Lucifer approved most of them, but it's Kronos who notes them down.} [It's similar to the comments I've made regarding Vapula. Saminga isn't AGAINST other demons getting Words, necessarily, it's just not something he wants to trouble himself with.] ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 24 Oct 1997 00:55:34 -0600 (MDT) From: Kingsley Lintz Subject: Re: Escaping dissonance (Was: Re: IN> Re: Redeeming Shedim: it c > >Walt Mazur wrote: > I don't see anything in IN that says you get warned when you're in a > situation where you *might* become dissonant. You either take dissonance or > not. Otherwise, every Mercurian attacking what he thought was a demon would > get warned away if he was wrong. That would be an instant demon detector, I'd hold with the note of Dissonance having as much to do with the choice as the action. If a Mercurian attacks what turns out to be a human that he was -sure- was a demon, he can clear up the Dissonance from it real fast if he stops and apologizes the instant he hears that disturbance. Similarly, if he decides to wail on what he believes to be human, I'm not at all sure the technicality that it turns out, by sheer luck, to actually be a demon, should save him the Dissonance of having violated his Mercurian nature... ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 24 Oct 1997 01:12:27 -0600 (MDT) From: Kingsley Lintz Subject: Re: IN> [DARK VICTORY] Return of Uriel? Archangel Beth suggested; > (I, myself, have been having mild amused notions of a little > sneak-team composed *mostly* of demons, sneaking into Tartarus > commando style, with one high-ranking angel along to talk to > the Malakim and say, "Yves and Eli say don't kill the demons > that I'm here to rescue you with. Got that? Yeah, they're running > things pretty much now. Promise, no mayhem unless somebody hits > first? Okay, I can let you out now.") Heh...*clink clink* "There, you're free. Waah! What're you doing?" "I never swore any Oath to keep promises, sucker." ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 24 Oct 1997 02:19:46 -0500 (CDT) From: redneck@txdirect.net (Redneck Gaijin) Subject: IN> [DARK VICTORY] Nybbas, Archangel of the Media (Communications!) Nybbas looked over the stinking charnel pit of Budapest, gazing in mute horror at the corpses of all sorts of life, humans, pets, predators, scavengers, plants- even millions upon millions of flies lay still on the earth where the smell of decay had drawn them into the slaughter. The only life remaining in the river valley for ten miles in either direction was the bacteria which had crawled up from the earth to claim the bodies lying in the street, filling the once great city with the horrible stench of decay. Congratulations, -chump,- he thought to himself, you controlled their minds, they followed you blindly, and now here they are. What's your first order, o Lord of the Media? Disgusted with the waste, disgusted with Saminga, disgusted with Lucifer and most of all disgusted with himself for having been such a perfect patsy, Nybbas almost turned to leave... ...no, he thought, I'm here for a reason. Slowly, carefully, he picked up his camcorder from where it had dropped and aimed it at the gore, zooming in on the reeking bodies, getting a good shot of one corpse, a beautiful woman without a mark, face not yet distorted by the bacteria's work, staring into the sky with a permanent look of shock frozen into her face. The world must know... The world is what I tell you what it is... and could be what I tell you it could be, if you take a stand, reach out, and stay tuned for updates as they develop... Nybbas feels guilty... but just a little. It's not that he's been sold down the river, but good, by Hell in general- that's bad enough. It's the thoroughness that galls him, how eager and enthusiastic he was to push the humans towards the Abyss, setting them up to slaughter each other and the Angels in the Last Battle. Hey, he'd control even more humans after the Battle, without Angels to work against his controlled misinformation and selective service, right? Wrong. It was blatantly obvious, the more he looked, that Hell didn't give a damn about ruling the living- and some didn't even care about ruling the dead. As an Impudite, he loved humans, not just as a source of Essence but because of their vibrant, chaotic, -living- quality. He loved rubbing elbows with them, charming them out of their Essence, toying with them like a human plays with a favored pet. It came as a marked slap to the face just how deluded he'd been about Hell's goals in the War. Obviously, very obviously, he'd been working for the wrong side... ... and who says it's too late to switch? Nybbas is a little bit repentant, but just a little. He still sees no reason why controlling humans through the Media is evil in and of itself, but he knows that the things he used that control to achieve were just plain wrong. He eagerly points out some good things he created- family television, televangelism (not televised church services, but religious events specially designed for a television audience)... by and large, the other Archangels ignore his claims, with Eli giving him the benefit of the doubt and Andrealphus openly disparaging him for playing up to the Angelics. Nybbas has taken to calling himself the Archangel of Communication. Nobody protests, but nobody else but himself and his Servitors actually - -uses- it either. Nybbas' Demonic Word is still 'the Media,' which has nothing to do with the message (as Communication might) and everything to do with the tools for that message. Still, despite this, Nybbas is actually making a good-faith effort to bring the message as well as the medium. You can find his claws in editorials urging the survivors of Armageddeon to join together for a new world, in the new Texas Television Network sitcom about a family bravely facing down the post-Apocalyptic world around them, with help from their friendly neighborhood tank-driving postman. Nybbas is still trying to control people through information, but the control is no longer to veg out or to destroy; it's to stand up and work for a new tomorrow. Perhaps Nybbas' biggest strike against him is his -overeagerness- to play nice with the Archangels. The people used to dealing with his false front don't know whether or not to take the new Nybbas at face value. It's actually genuine, though- even if he isn't ready to Redeem, Nybbas genuinely wants to serve the side of good- he wants to be on the side that's going to totally wax those bastards who used him like a scented Kleenex all his life. Besides, as he's finding out, being Bright in a Dark universe plays well with the test markets. (Stats included only as they are changed from the IN rulebook writeup.) CHOIR/BAND ATTUNEMENTS SERAPHIM - Seraphim are Nybbas' censors, filtering out lies- and sensitive information- from any media outlet they infiltrate or control. They may also use their Resonance to alter an individual viewer/reader's perceptions (Perception roll to resist) so that whatever media they are reading is stripped of any falsehoods. Seraphim of Nybbas generally have editors, publishers, station managers, and of course censors as servants- or they take those roles themselves. BALSERAPHS - as in the IN rulebook. CHERUBIM - Cherubim of Communications organize public events which inspire humans to greater hope, faith, and goodwill towards each other. Usually this means they are attuned to one of two kinds of people- religious figures or popular musicians. (The two, thanks to Furfur on Hell's side and Nybbas on New Heaven's side, have been known to overlap.) To aid in the euphoric athmosphere of the event, they may inspire good feelings in the object of their attunment for a number of hours equal to their Celestial Forces; the attuned may resist with a Will roll. DJINN - same as the IN rulebook OFANIM - Ofanim of Nybbas are New Heaven's swiftest messengers. On a successful Precision roll, they may translate their Corporeal forms to or from a stream of electronic data, traveling at near lightspeed through phone lines or television cable or some other enclosed form of electronic data transfer. (Failed Precision rolls will leave them in normal Corporeal form, or else trap them in the mode of data transfer, doing 1D damage per round for every failure to translate back to matter outside the transfer mode.) One unfortunate Ofanim of Nybbas decided to play with his new attunement by sending himself through a television transmitter. His last known words were: "My stars, it's full of God!" * Ofanim of Nybbas usually have Netheads, receptionists or telephone workers as Servants. CALABIM - as in the IN rulebook ELOHIM - Elohim of Nybbas are the perfect copywriters for news shows and papers, totally without bias, and generally act as such directly or through reporter Servants. They may use their Resonance to detect emotion on a broadcast or written work, focusing on bias, the reasons for that bias, and how that bias would effect any other work by the reporter. HABBALAH - Nybbas' Habbalah have gone from the fringe to the mainstream of faith, supporting inspirational religious figures with apparent miracles. Again, these Habbalah do not disturb the Symphony so long as it -seems- that their Servant the religious figure is performing the miracles. MALAKIM - Malakim do not work for Nybbas. Despite his goodwill, most Malakim feel his less-than-repentant feelings towards his work in Hell make him dishonorable at best, still evil at worst. Only the very specific orders of their Superiors keeps a handful of the elder Malakim from making a suicide run at Nybbas -right now.- LILIM - Lilim aren't just stars anymore- they're star-makers. A Lilim may choose either to take a Role free at character creation with level and Status equal to their Corporeal Forces, OR they choose to be able to add their Corporeal Forces to Geas someone whom they have made a celebrity. A Lilim with one may NOT ever recieve the other, nor may any Servitor of Nybbas buy the Lilim Attunement twice to get both Attunements. Lilim's servants tend to be fans, agents, critics, and occasionally producers. KYROTIATES - Nybbas may anchor some of a Kyrotiate's forces in a single Host, allowing them to remain in that host indefinitely. However, Nybbas will only do this -personally,- and -not- on request, and -only- for the most sensitive or vital long-term missions. SHEDIM - Like all of the other Superiors of New Heaven, Nybbas does not use Shedim. MERCURIANS - Nybbas loves Mercurians, now that he can use them- they control a means of communication he couldn't touch before, scuttlebutt. A Mercurian may use their Resonance to see which person in a group is considered the most reliable source of information by the others. A Mercurian-Impudite team can plant, squash, or spin-doctor the rumor mill to generate the innuendoes Nybbas wants generated, and to squash the rumors which hurt New Heaven's plans. IMPUDITES - Impudites of Communications have shifted their goals slightly- whereas they leeched the Essence from the most successful stars before, now they charm those who have talent and dreams, but are too shy to take a chance on their own. They gain +1 Essence everytime they Charm a performer into an audition, or a writer into submitting a work- but they gain Dissonance if they feed while doing it! DISTINCTIONS Essentially the same, except renamed Vassal of Information, Friend of Integrity, and Master of the Fourth Estate. RELATIONS Andrealphus' callous, mocking attitude towards the 'eager beaver wannabe Mercurian' has cost him his former ally- Nybbas regards Andre as one of the old guard in Hell who used him for their own ends, and now is showing his true colors. Almost petulantly, he's thrown himself in with Eli, going so far as giving him his proxy vote in council whenever he cannot attend. (Eli is a bit confused by this development, but it's one of his more minor worries.) Nybbas loves to work with Lucifer ("Hey, I mean, Light is the new thing, it's hip, it's happening, it's what the people are hungry for!"), reading more into the Seraph's reserved cooperation than might be there. He'd love to get some of the same help and ideas from Gabriel, but she's having none of it... on more than one occasion, Nybbas has spent -hours- trying to con her out of her shell just long enough to give his writers that extra inspiration to more faith-inspiring work, with nothing to show for it than the silent, hateful glare of holy Fire. ALLIED: Eli ASSOCIATED: Lucifer HOSTILE: Andrealphus BASIC RITES Add: Read five different newspapers, excluding want ads and color supplement ads. --- Redneck * Thanks to Ben 'Gryphon' Hutchins for the stolen line. ^_- Kris Overstreet, will write for food... | Do not taunt Happy Fun Belial. http://www.txdirect.net/users/redneck | * * * c/o White Lightning Productions | "I love the sweet smell of http://www.jurai.net/~redneck/wlp/ | humiliation in the morning!" Webmaster for Antarctic Press | --- Kobal reaffirms himself http://www.antarctic-press.com/ | ***QUESTION EVERYTHING*** ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 24 Oct 1997 01:17:53 -0600 (MDT) From: Kingsley Lintz Subject: Re: IN> [DARK VICTORY] Dominic, Demon Prince of Cleansing Earl queried; > Which raises the converse question -- where did Dominic's surviving > angels go when their Archangel fell? The new Powers That Be in Many of them may well have gone with him... > Are there angels milling about without Superiors now? And, yes, that, too. > (Hm. Some surviving Ethereals might find this a good occasion to >pick up some celestial servitors, cheap. Especially considering that Ah, THAT's what happened to the Menunim. "Fast Eddies Used Celestial Lot". While the Pachadim are on "Crazy Eddies Used Celestial Lot". (Eddie, of course, is the same guy in both cases, and everything must Go! Go! Go!) {I'm picturing Eddie as a bit like the tallest short man in the world from _The Phantom Tollbooth_, but that's probably already more effort than this idea needed. } ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 24 Oct 1997 01:24:45 -0600 (MDT) From: Kingsley Lintz Subject: Re: IN> [DARK VICTORY] General Observation > > >If you need a whole fleet of new guys who are trying to oust Saminga, I > > >suggest "Madness", "Oppression" (humans post-war always seem to end up > > >this way), > > Oppression is a good idea. Conquest less so, since in the DV world there's > > only a couple of forces around capable of it. > Well, maybe not Conquest. That requires an army. In time, Conquest will ... > I would think that Pestilance would become a very heavy Word as well, ... > Pollution, from the nuclear blasts and the like, possibly. My first thought on a likely Saminga-usurper from within his own ranks was the Demon of the Holocaust...(hasn't had much to do, really, since the '40s, but wow...THIS is big.) A Demon Prince of Mutation might turn up...[with the Demon of Poison noted as a very strong servitor to Pollution.] Oh, and don't forget Jordi (and Beelzebub) being eaten by Scrunch, the Demon Prince of Cockroaches Who Can Survive Ground Zero So Nyah. {With his faithful sidekick, Archie, the Demon Of That Movie "Mimic".} ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 24 Oct 1997 02:42:00 -0500 (CDT) From: redneck@txdirect.net (Redneck Gaijin) Subject: Re: Escaping dissonance (Was: Re: IN> Re: Redeeming Shedim: it c >> >Walt Mazur wrote: >> I don't see anything in IN that says you get warned when you're in a >> situation where you *might* become dissonant. You either take dissonance or >> not. Otherwise, every Mercurian attacking what he thought was a demon would >> get warned away if he was wrong. That would be an instant demon detector, > I'd hold with the note of Dissonance having as much to do with the >choice as the action. If a Mercurian attacks what turns out to be a human >that he was -sure- was a demon, he can clear up the Dissonance from it >real fast if he stops and apologizes the instant he hears that >disturbance. Uh-uh. There's no out from Dissonance gained from violence by a Mercurian through the forgiveness of the target- unless he just smacked his Superior... (image: Dominic in human guise, with a beauty of a black eye, and a Mercurian looking very sheepish. "...um... would it help if I said I was sorry?") Redneck (it's 2:30, I gotta be up at 8, I almost deleted this, but the image is worth it) Kris Overstreet, will write for food... | Do not taunt Happy Fun Belial. http://www.txdirect.net/users/redneck | * * * c/o White Lightning Productions | "I love the sweet smell of http://www.jurai.net/~redneck/wlp/ | humiliation in the morning!" Webmaster for Antarctic Press | --- Kobal reaffirms himself http://www.antarctic-press.com/ | ***QUESTION EVERYTHING*** ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 24 Oct 1997 02:49:57 -600 From: "John L Veazey" Subject: Re: IN> [DARK VICTORY] Bright Victory? > From: Donald G Bixler > > >The status quo becomes the enemy, with Lilith leading a rebellion against > > >a hellishly terrible tyrant. > > > > How can a prisoner rebel? > > Simple. The prisoners wait until the guards are occupied. > > > That's the -definition- of a Bright Victory- the Rebellion is ended. For good. > > But you're assuming that God is omnipotent. If he's omnipotent, then > Free Will is a joke and the second rebellion is undoable, but don't > believe everything you're told... So far from what I've seen God just likes to sit around and watch what's going to happen and doesn't muck with it. After all, he started the symphony, and he probably wants to let it finish on it's own, just to see what happens (not to say he doesn't already know. Then there is the idea...what if God is the symphony? Comments? Vz ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 24 Oct 1997 03:01:03 -0500 From: tom timberlake Subject: Re: IN> [DARK VICTORY] Bright Victory? > > On Wed, 22 Oct 1997, tom timberlake wrote: > > [blink my baby blues, maybe that will convince her--*blink**blink*] > > [Very evil laughter] Sorry Tom you're not my type. As Archbeth > can tell you I am 6'4" Long hair, Stormy grey eyes with a flash of > lightning,...and a greying beard. I am very male. Sorry dude. > > Lord Shadowcat > [sound effect/] *smack* [/sound effect] "DOH!" tom, whose face is red, timberlake [James is leaving me to face the dissonance on this one on my own] ------------------------------ End of in_nomine-digest V1 #430 ******************************* The material here is (C) 1997 Steve Jackson Games, Incorporated. All rights reserved.