Anyhoo, back on something vaguely resembling
In Nomine... =)
I had a thought (perhaps even a revelation)
about a possible In Nomine campaign. The base idea was to
come up with something that had a totally different feel to
current In Nomine, yet be completely plausible and (mostly)
canonical to the rules, if not to the current universe.
Premise: A large, LARGE amount of disturbance will really
Screw Things Up.
Background: Whether through insanity, a scheme gone awry or
just a terrible accident, a lot of people died very quickly,
in the same place, at the hands of one person. Unfortunately,
that person was a Celestial.
The amount of Disturbance was staggering: between 10 and 20
thousand people died plus an enormous amount of property.
The day every Superior had feared had come to pass. Not
Armageddon, which was actively courted by some, but a
tearing of the Symphony that would be more than just a
bit of trouble for a few proto-tethers.
Status:
Heaven and Hell: Cannot be accessed at all due to the rending
of the Corporeal plane.
Tethers to the Celestial: Most were destroyed as the Essence
that would normally funnel to their owners had no place to go.
The extra Essence spilled into the surrounding area and the
local increase in Disturbance combined with the disconnection
with the Celestial was enough to ruin almost all of them.
A very few small ones survived due to their very minor nature
(low Essence flow) and quick thinking by their Seneschals.
The Light of Heaven no longer shines in the angelic ones,
however. Larger ones were not so lucky... Notre Dame literally
exploded, taking out over a city block...
The Marches: The Disturbance awoke ancient Things in the Farthest
Marches. Fuelled by the death-screams of thousands of people, they
began stalking the standard denizens of the ethereal realm. They
apparently find the 'brighter lights' of ethereals and celestials
tastier than those of mere dreamers... although few people sleep
well these days. The ongoing nightly war has become a battle of
survival.
Tethers to the Ethereal: The few that existed have become twisted,
HUNGRY places, inhabited by horrors the like of which the world
should never have had to see.
Limbo: For the first time since the beginning of Creation a
sound was heard in Limbo. Many who were trapped have escaped,
and many of those are insane from decades to millenia of
self-contemplation. Usually their vessels are . . . not pretty.
Superiors: Almost all Superiors kept their primary
'core' in Heaven or Hell. A few manifestations were trapped
on Earth during the sundering and barely survive separated from
their main core of Forces. If anything, they are like Superior
Remnants, confused and unpredictable. Exceptions are:
Jordi: In the absence of a mollifying force, he has started a
major campaign to reclaim the Earth for the animals.
Gabriel: Alternates between a deathly stillness and ever-increasing
and obsessive desire for speed. The skies of earth house many
strange lights, now.
Belial: Though only a manifestation, the conflagaration strengthened
it to the point of near-normalcy. Treat as a very powerful Word-bound.
Beleth/Blandine: Not for a single instant do they leave the Marches.
They spare no time for each other or 'The War'. The battles rage
constantly, but quietly, as death slithers in on subtle feet.
Those in Heaven/Hell: unreachable.
The dead: There are more ghosts and hauntings than ever as those
who reach their fate or destiny have no place to go. Use standard
rules for spirits in CPG except that each person MUST try to hold
on or are destroyed.
Celestials in Space: One or two of the more powerful servitors
spent a lot of time in space (the angels of spaceflight and
storms) and were spared the brunt.
Celestials on Earth: Most were destroyed by the massive amount of
distubance. Even a 1 Perception reliever could not handle the
entire corporeal plane being shredded with Disturbance. Specific
cases and examples include:
* The Grigori, more in tune to Disturbance and its effects, rode
the wave and survived
* Those with Celestial Deafness (especially high levels) had
a chance at survival
* Surviving servitors of Oblivion (the few of them) were able to
swallow the Disturbance
* Those lucky enough to be shielded by varions Songs and Attunements
at precisely the right moment were spared the shockwave.
The Humanity attunement and the Celestial Song of Shields are the
two main examples. Some others were protected by various special
locations on Earth (shielded hiding places or prisons)
or artifacts (Body Bags--in use!--among others).
Saints: Any that were sleeping or got lucky (see the above cases)
survived.
Their celestial ties were a path to destruction for the rest.
Undead: Tied tightly to the Corporeal, they generally survived.
Soldiers: As Corporeal beings, they tended to weather the storm well.
The Earth:
It's obvious to all humanity that _something_ has happened. Mysterious
lights, explosions, deaths and disappearances are the norm. Dreams are
strange and sometimes people wake up screaming... if they wake up at
all. The infrastructure of the most powerful nations is still in place
and they are looking carefully for the cause of the problems... they
lack a lot of tolerance.
Echoes:
All resonances are severely limited. Perception-based ones are at
-6 (out of self defense). Will-based ones are adjudicated normally,
but any failure causes a backlash that does the CD in mind hits AND soul
hits.
Additional Disturbance:
Anything that causes disturbance automatically does soul hits equal
to the CD to the being that causes the disturbance. Tracking someone
who causes disturbance is impossible: the echoes from the sundering
drowned out any new disturbance. The exceptions are the Watchers.
For some reason, they can spot new Disturbance normally and will
usually deal harshly with it.
The Situation:
Due to the enormous shift in power toward the Corporeal, Celestials
have to be more secretive than ever. Though not 'aware', most world
governments are actively hunting.
The use of Essence is strictly limited by circumstances. When absolutely
necessary, some go to the Ethereal Plane to do what needs to be done.
Of course, this seems to act like a beacon to the Things...
Rough organizations have formed. Both sides blame the other for the
current state of affairs and if this isn't strictly 'armageddon',
it's close enough for them. Soldiers are MUCH more active while
celestials have to keep as low a profile as possible.
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EDG <edg@sjgames.com>
In Nomine Collection Curator