And I Feel Fine - Part 16: Millennium
"I saw thrones on which were seated those who had been given authority
to judge. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of
their testimony for Jesus and because of the word of God. They had not
worshiped the beast or his image and had not received his mark on their
foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ a
thousand years. (The rest of the dead did not come to life until the
thousand years were ended.) This is the first resurrection. Blessed and
holy are those who have part in the first resurrection. The second death
has no power over them, but they will be priests of God and of Christ
and will reign with him for a thousand years."
-- Revelation 20:4-6
So Heaven has won Armageddon, the wrong failed, the right prevailed.
Now time for the ultimate happily-ever-after, right? Well, yeah, but
there's still plenty to keep an angel busy. Here are ideas, not so much
for adventures, as for settings and campaigns.
Roleplaying seed: First Resurrection
There's a new government to set up. Christ rules in Jerusalem over the
whole Earth. Ruling under him are the Saints, each with different
talents. (The rest of the blessed souls remain in Heaven.) Then come
the mortal survivors.
Angelic and Saintly PCs will be given a task and a place to go --
possibly by Christ, less overwhelmingly by the Metatron, an Archangel,
an angel, or a senior Saint. The number of possible tasks is vast.
Many are not glitzy, but they could be good roleplaying fodder from
their human interest. Possibilities include:
- Lots of angels will be sent as assistants to Saints.
- Food, medicine, and shelter and urgently needed all over the world.
It has to be delivered. Heck, it has to be *created*.
- As with any mundane government, lines of communication and supply,
and centers of authority, need to be set up. This time, it's all over
the world. Fortunately, the population is relatively small,
historically speaking, and all on your side ... theoretically.
- The ecology is devastated. Everything that mortal science and
conservation efforts can do, must be done. On top of that, nature
itself has to be guided along. At least, no one has to worry about
Disturbance any more. How many of those ark space stations *did* Jordi
get built?
- Lots and lots of people are either heavily traumatized, or expecting
instant paradise, or both. The new, improved, but still not paradisal,
reality needs to be explained. Sometimes, it needs to be explained to
the violently disappointed.
Roleplaying seed: Return of the Raptured
What about the Raptured? Do they come back now? Do they get a choice?
Do they come back in the bodies they left, or in vessels? They might be
able to help a lot. They might be pressured by the remaining mortals to
pass information back and forth between Heaven and Earth. They might be
very different, after more than three years in Heaven, to the possible
consternation of people who knew them before. This could be very
striking with children.
Roleplaying seed: Divided. Conquered?
Satan was locked up in Hell, but it doesn't follow that all the Demon
Princes were. You can continue the War at a less cataclysmic level by
supposing that some subset of the Princes are still loose. With Lucifer
gone, they're probably not cooperating with each other much.
They might be trying to establish their own realms in the remote
Ethereal Plane, in the astral gap between Heaven and Hell, or in remote
parts of the Corporeal Plane, like other planets.
The surviving Princes may have given up the idea of conquest, but
they're cut off from their Essence-farms of damned souls, now, so the
urge to predation will always be struggling with their sense of caution.
And some Princes -- Saminga, for instance, and Vapula -- are probably
nutty enough to go on fighting. Baal would go on fighting even if he
thought it was totally hopeless. So might Asmodeus.
At the other extreem, some Princes might be trying to cut a peace deal
with Heaven.
Roleplaying seed: Refugees, Renegades, and Outcasts
Some demons are locked in Hell. Some are still following their Princes,
outside Hell. But the number of new Renegades must be huge, especially
if you include the involuntarily abandoneed.
Life for a Renegade must be very different, now. They don't have to
worry (or not nearly so much) about the Game getting them. They are
much likelier to get pressure to Redeem. (Should Novalis set up a
Purgatory in which to incarcerate them while she tries to convert them?)
They are also likely to get caught by the Tsayadim or some other branch
of Heaven and thrown into Hell after Lucifer (whole or in pieces).
Should they seek out one of the remaining Princes, or just run, run,
run?
Roleplaying seed: Mortal Resistance
Heaven rules, but not all mortals are necessarily happy about that. All
the actual hellsworn were killed at Armageddon, but there are some
people who just want to be left alone -- if the universe isn't
indifferent, they wish it would become so. Not all these people are
necessarily evil, either. They may be clinging to goals that have no
place in the Millenial world, or they may be the victims of the less
adroit members of the Heavenly hierarchy. The result can be situations
that require careful spiritual/diplomatic handling.
Roleplaying seed: Shut-Ins and Visiting Hours
Speaking of purgation, what's going on in Hell? Suppose that Apollyon
can let select spirits in and out. There could be regular patrols of
warden angels, keeping an eye on things. They could escort
"missionaries" trying to redeem human and celestial spirits. There
could be attempted prison breaks.
What's life in Hell like, cut off from Earth, minus several Princes, but
NOT minus Lucifer?
What's Lucifer up to? Is he consumed with sheer spite, planning to do
his worst at the end, just for the satisfaction of hurting God as much
as possible? Is he contemplating an apology, in the hopes that someone
else will take over the position of the dragon that gets thrown into the
Lake of Fire? Is he scheming to survive in the Lake somehow?
Roleplaying seed: The Wheel
Some people have been out of the loop during Armageddon -- the ones due
for reincarnation. As the population starts to climb again, they'll
start showing up. Will the angels of Death and Destiny be more
accessible now? Will people be given the options of remembering past
lives?
For that matter, how about all the human souls in the Marches, the ones
who went to pagan afterlives? Does Heaven want them on Earth now? Or
in Heaven? Or can they stay put? Are Blandine and Uriel going to have
another tiff about all this?
Roleplaying seed: Old Words
Shall we have a new Archangel of Light? or Laughter? or Valor? Or at
least angels with those Words? Anyone want to try for one of these?
Roleplaying seed: Utopian Fantasies
The goal of the Millenium is not just to recover from Armageddon, but to
spread the paradisal conditions of Eden all over the Earth.
If you, the GM, have a pet political or social theory, this might be the
time to showcase it and see if you can convince your players. Is Christ
a communist? a libertarian? a monarchist?
Or is Heaven going to cultivate a unique glory in each land? Make
America the Land of the Free and China the holder of the Mandate of
Heave and France the home of the Divine Reason, etc.
Will Jean now open his files to humanity? Will Jordi and Novalis play
lovely games with evolution and ecology? What's life like on paradisal
Earth?
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EDG <edg@sjgames.com>
In Nomine Collection Curator