in_nomine-digest Thursday, December 19 2002 Volume 01 : Number 2908 In this digest: Re: IN> Cost for Michail's Dominion's vessel Re: IN> The Song of Songs Re: IN> The Song of Songs IN> And The Other Realms... Re: IN> Fwd: More IN Africa (Demon of Diamonds) from Mark Pearson Re: IN> More IN Africa. (Demon of Diamonds) Re: IN> More IN Africa. (Demon of Diamonds) Re: IN> The Song of Songs RE: IN> Atheists and Soldiers IN> Middle East Tethers... Re: IN> Middle East Tethers... IN> Question on Corporeal Song of Tongues Re: IN> Middle East Tethers... Re: IN> Question on Corporeal Song of Tongues RE: IN> Middle East Tethers... RE: IN> Middle East Tethers... RE: IN> Middle East Tethers... Re: IN> Middle East Tethers... RE: IN> Middle East Tethers... IN> Angels of Revolution (The Precession Campaign) RE: IN> Middle East Tethers... IN> More IN Africa. (Demon of Diamonds) IN> Vaputech plasma batteries Re: IN> More IN Africa. (Demon of Diamonds) Re: IN> Fighting the good fight Re: IN> More IN Africa. (Demon of Diamonds) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 18 Dec 2002 16:21:07 -0600 From: MasonK Subject: Re: IN> Cost for Michail's Dominion's vessel >May I ask should Michail's Dominion have to pay for vessel he is >allowed to create. And when is he supposed to pay for it? Mike's Dominions get that vessel free as it's a part of their 'package', so to speak. So they essentially pay for it at their creation, or when Mike grants the attunement. >Thanks Jan - -- Free cash! Check it out! http://kevan.org/brain.cgi?Acacia ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 18 Dec 2002 14:58:46 -0800 (PST) From: Michael Walton Subject: Re: IN> The Song of Songs - --- EDG wrote: > it does > something that surprises even celestials: it distills the > Symphony, > bringing a single theme, a single note, into pure euphony > with the human's > soul. For a moment, a single celestial resonance, > related to the passion > or achievement at hand, becomes available to the > performer of the Song of Songs Like I said, y'all set the bar pretty high. =====

Michael Walton, #US2002023848

"Bones! You've got to save Ensign Pillsburry!."

"There's nothing I can do -- he's _bread_, Jim." __________________________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Mail Plus - Powerful. Affordable. Sign up now. http://mailplus.yahoo.com ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 18 Dec 2002 18:39:51 -0500 From: "William J. Keith" Subject: Re: IN> The Song of Songs > I ran down the hill, my heart pounding in my ears, sword in hand, my >armor clanking and the feet of my legion stamping together in even time. >The sounds echoed through the small valley forming a rhythm that could not >be anything but impending battle. Death and glory waited below, and I was >eager to embrace either. In the middle of the tight discipline of the >legion, I could not help it. I opened my mouth to shout a war cry, and out >came a sudden song. > >----- > > I stared at the pinwheel as it whirred. Red, blue, green, yellow, >one, two, three, four, repeat. The folds from the points to the center >were -- angled! Angled, of course! That was how the attractor managed to >do it, and yet remain... of course! Ten years of work alone and with >co-authors, pondering and publishing, and I had found the crowning theorem >of my life's work in a child's pinwheel! Sitting on a bench in the middle >of the park, I could not help it. I opened my mouth to laugh for sheer >joy, and out bubbled a strange happy song. > >----- > > I called out my husband's name, my daughter's. My shoes scraped red >coals from underneath the coating of ash that had painted everything in the >town after the... beasts, not people... had come through, stealing and >burning. Our house, poor as it was, had not escaped. I called out again. >As if in answer, the wind blew hot black powder off of a callused hand. I >stumbled to where the body lay half-buried under a blackened timber. It >was motionless. In the middle of wafting smoke and smoldering flames of >the town sent crazy by tears welling up in my eyes, no one could have >helped it. I opened my mouth to wail, and among the cracking of weakened >walls the sobs made a terrible song. > >----- > > The Song of Songs is half-mythical, half-theoretical. Demons might >not even believe in it. It can be sung only by humans(even those without >Essence Control or Symphonic Awareness), and only at some height of passion >or achievement in their lives (perhaps only at *one* peak). And it does >something that surprises even celestials... ...it seems to add notes to the Symphony. Now, a skeptical celestial can simply say that no one had heard some particular chord before. But to the oldest angels, there's a little something about this that doesn't hold water. Oh, to be sure, it's entirely possible that God had set all those chords in place from when the Universe was created; but it would have been a bit inefficient, wouldn't it? Even the very first angels had seen Light, Stone, Fire, Storms. Among themselves they saw Truth, Loyalty, Balance. The very first Animals had Dreams, Fears. Perhaps claws could have been Blades, and surely the angels were making metal tools before hominids had gotten past stone knives. But was there a Song of Daydreams while the Earth was cooling? Even Blandine claims her angels learned this Song from humanity. A bacterium can, in some strange sense, know Hunger; who but humans make War? It is said that "some long-forgotten servant" of Michael's discovered this Song... perhaps from the Song of Songs sung by a human in the first battle of men against men, or the battle that cemented this kind of event as a part of the Symphony. Demons don't like this notion. It's one thing to think of humans focusing their collective energy to create Infernal Tethers -- it's another to think that something truly new could be added to the Symphony by the despised species. Angels can find the idea vaguely heretical -- God is the Creator, not humans. Still, humans have already shown a tendency to affect the Symphony in unexpected ways; and perhaps, if God wants humans to create certain chords, this could explain why He doesn't want angels trying to force humanity into their own image. Perhaps humans acting like angels would be limited to the chords angels already know. And just imagine the Destiny of a race actually capable of enhancing the Symphony itself. No, wait, we're back to heresy again, aren't we, so maybe this isn't it. Still... oh, look out, here come the Elohim in theology mode.... - ----- Game Effect: If the GM wants to introduce a new Song to the campaign, this is a way to do it. The Song of Songs basically makes new Songs. Two things happen when sung: first, the Song acts as a short-lived Theme, bringing the new note into the Symphony at large around the human; second, it causes any effects of the new Song the GM (and, probably, players) has decided on. Any choices that need to be made by the singer (target, choice of effect, etc.) are almost certainly being made subconsciously by the singing human. Any celestial hearing the Song of Songs gets an instant roll vs. Perception to learn the new Song being sung. Example: The Song of Daydreams does not exist yet. A Servitor of Dreams is doing his best to protect a human for a life-threatening problem. As events reach their climax, the human seizes his cherished daydreams, and in doing so sings the Song of Songs. As the Theme takes effect, everyone nearby is strongly reminded of their own daydreams. The Song of Daydreams itself also takes effect, boosting the human's statistics as the usual Song does. The astonished Servitor hears and understands the new Theme(he successfully rolled under Perception). He now knows Daydreams/1. After the human saves the day, the Servitor reports back to a very pleased Blandine. William ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 18 Dec 2002 18:39:54 -0500 From: "William J. Keith" Subject: IN> And The Other Realms... Loved reading all the versions other people posted. In addition to the human-restricted (essentially, "Corporeal-realm") version the challenge was about, here are two which might find more use in a celestial campaign. They are "meta-Songs," Songs which affect other Songs. Both can be powerful if used correctly, and both are Secret (guess...). Song of Songs (Ethereal) (a.k.a. "phase-jamming") A single Song of the performer's choosing (which the performer must know) is rendered ineffective if sung within a volume about the performer with a radius equal to the performer's Ethereal Forces, for a duration equal to the check digit in minutes. Available: Archangel of Song Essence Requirement: 2 Degree of Disturbance: as much Disturbance as would have been made by the Song thus targeted Song of Songs (Celestial) (a.k.a. "the Amp") The next Song used by the performer has some characteristic -- its range, its number of targets, or its duration (not all three) -- multiplied by the CD of the performance of the Celestial Song of Songs. If multiple Celestial Songs of Songs affect a single performer, use the highest check digit. It is up to the GM if other quantities (*cough*damageinflicted*cough*) can be thus affected, but it is recommended, to avoid using this Song repeatedly for "exponential growth," that this Song never be able to affect itself. Available: Archangel of Song Essence Requirement: 1 Degree of Disturbance: the check digit Instant adventure seed: want this Song? Find the only Archangel that knows it. Oh, and manage to convince her you deserve it. :^) William P.S.: and I'm outta here for the winter break. I'll still be able to receive mail, just not post. I'll talk to y'all again next year -- happy holidays! ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 18 Dec 2002 19:16:22 -0500 From: "C. Mark Pearson" Subject: Re: IN> Fwd: More IN Africa (Demon of Diamonds) from Mark Pearson - ----- Original Message ----- From: "Michael Walton" To: Sent: Tuesday, December 17, 2002 10:07 PM Subject: Re: IN> Fwd: More IN Africa (Demon of Diamonds) from Mark Pearson > > >Punon > > >Balseraph Captain of the Motherlode > > >Demon of Diamonds > > This is an evil, evil demon and I'd love to see him get > his comeuppance. As to the technical help: Thank you. Though from the news, he's apparently had a minor setback in Congo, so perhaps his comeuppance is on his way. > > >Diamonds Are Forever: Punon can invest Essence into a > > diamond and give it as > > >a gift. While the diamond is in possession of the > > recepient, they are > > >effectively a servant of a level equal to half the > > Essence invested. > > I suggest rewording this to, "The demon can invest Essenc > (up to his Celestial Forces) into a diamond and give it as > a gift. A willing recipient immediately becomes enthralled > with the giver. While the gem is on the recipient's person > that individual is a Servant of the giver at a level equal > to the amount of Essence invested. The recipient can > resist the initial entrancement with a Will roll." I like this much better then my version. This is what I was attempting to capture with it. And it at least gives the target a chance to resist. Thank you. C. Mark Pearson ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 18 Dec 2002 19:27:17 -0500 From: "C. Mark Pearson" Subject: Re: IN> More IN Africa. (Demon of Diamonds) - ----- Original Message ----- From: "EDG" To: Sent: Wednesday, December 18, 2002 8:58 AM Subject: Re: IN> More IN Africa. (Demon of Diamonds) > At 06:07 PM 12/17/2002 -0500, C. Mark Pearson wrote: > > >Corporeal Forces: 2 Strength: 4 Agility: 4 > >Ethereal Forces: 4 Intelligence: 9 Precision 7 > >Celestial Forces: 6 Will: 12 Perception: 12 > >Word Forces: 13 > > This is a *lot* of Word-Forces. IIRC, this means that Diamonds is almost a > Superior-class Word. > > It's also a rare Celestial who has more Word-Forces than personal Forces. The number of Word-Forces is something I waffled on back and forth. Even discussed it with a few folks at the online game I play on. I went with 13 ultimately because I felt it better fit the category of Important from the GMG which are described as "Important throughout the world. Not everyone encounters them almost all the time but almost every human's life will be touched by them, at least indirectly." . Considering the number of people that devote their lives to diamonds, and the impact they have on most of the world, I felt it should fall in the 11-15 range. I can certainly see the case for it being only a Significant Word, so perhaps 10 or 11 Word Forces would be better? And, of course, that solves the issue of him having more Word then Personal Forces. > >Role: "Willem DeBeers" Diamond Baron/6 Status/6 > > As a note to readers, although the deBeers family is in fact the largest > diamond magnate in the world, Willem deBeers does not appear to actually > exist. :) I should have mentioned that in the write-up. While I generally regard the deBeers family as reprehensible, I didn't feel comfortable actually marking one of them as an actual demon. So Willem is a fictional personification of all that's wrong with the family. > >Diamonds Are Forever: Punon can invest essence into a diamond and give it as > >a gift. While the diamond is in possession of the recepient, they are > >effectively a servant of a level equal to half the essence invested. > > I like Michael's revision of this attunement. So do I. > The rest of this seems reasonable. I am, however, amused by this line: > > >Currently, Punon is most active in Africa. From the six way conflict in the > >Congo that has drenched the glittering diamonds in blood,... > > Apparently, the conflict in the Congo has come to an end. Perhaps Stone > and Trade finally figuring out a decent way to strike back at Punon? Imagine my changrin this morning when reading the news and I saw the article on this peace treaty. I can't say I am disappointed to be wrong about this though, and hopefully it will last. I'd also throw Flowers in there as well. A good adventure seed might be for the PCs to either be trying to see that the peace treaty is a strong and lasting one that moves forward, for Angelic types. Or attempting to stir things back up for Demonic folks. Thank you for the feedback. C. Mark Pearson ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 18 Dec 2002 19:29:11 -0500 From: "C. Mark Pearson" Subject: Re: IN> More IN Africa. (Demon of Diamonds) - ----- Original Message ----- From: "Wajenberg, Earl" To: Sent: Wednesday, December 18, 2002 11:04 AM Subject: RE: IN> More IN Africa. (Demon of Diamonds) > Punon is a well-written character with a well-deserved real-world bite to > him, but he raises a question in my mind: He's a balseraph. They have to > BELIEVE their lies, right? So does Punon believe that diamonds are truly > valuable; or does he believe it while he's actively resonnating someone to > make them think that, but then gets over it; or what? Punon certainly believes diamonds are valuable. Valuable to him at any rate, as the way the poor monkeys will kill their grandmother over what are essentially worthless, if shiney, rocks. Which has given him a great deal of power. So yes, they are valuable to him. Just not in the way humans /think/ they are valuable. This seems a Balseraphic mindset to me anyway. C. Mark Pearson ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 18 Dec 2002 19:38:05 -0500 From: "C. Mark Pearson" Subject: Re: IN> The Song of Songs - ----- Original Message ----- From: "EDG" To: Sent: Wednesday, December 18, 2002 2:42 PM Subject: Re: IN> The Song of Songs > The Song of Songs is half-mythical, half-theoretical. Demons might not > even believe in it. It can be sung only by humans (even those without > Essence Control or Symphonic Awareness), and only at some height of passion > or achievement in their lives (perhaps only at *one* peak). And it does > something that surprises even celestials: it distills the Symphony, > bringing a single theme, a single note, into pure euphony with the human's > soul. For a moment, a single celestial resonance, related to the passion > or achievement at hand, becomes available to the performer of the Song of > Songs; it lasts only seconds, but grants the mortal pure divine glory - or > absolute infernal power - while it lasts. > ----- > > The other is the cost of failure. While normally, failure on the Song of > Songs has no effect, a check digit of 6 means that the Song *worked* - and > then rebounded upon the user, as though the resonance had failed to take > hold. This often still has no effect - most angelic resonances, for > example, inflict no penalty other than to remove the use of the resonance > for a time - but the human may not resist the effects of the Song if it > rebounds. I like this. It has a majesty about it, while also being somewhat frightening. An epiphany of this sort, even a successful one, could haunt a person for the rest of their life. Who knows what heights or depths a human might aspire towards in a futile attempt to make it happen again. Very nice. C. Mark Pearson ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 18 Dec 2002 19:47:59 -0500 From: "Chris Bergstresser" Subject: RE: IN> Atheists and Soldiers Hi all -- The recent discussion of atheists in In Nomine has had some immediate interest for me, as the latest campaign I'm running is largely composed of members of the local Freethought group. I didn't really have anything solid to add to the discussion, until the following came across their discussion list: http://www.inclusivescouting.net/bsa/cases/lambert/letters/mhiggins.html It's a defense of the atheist recently thrown out of the scouts, written by a Catholic theologian. It's also worth noting there's a lot of different varieties of atheism; many atheists consider themselves "soft" atheists, meaning agnostics, meaning there is no evidence that God exists. Only the most pedantic of Seraphim should wince whenever *any* atheist declares there is no God -- atheists truly believe it, after all -- and I don't know if the Symphony would disagree with the statement that it cannot be ascertained whether God exists or not. Certainly celestials themselves have been known to speculate there's a good reason God hasn't popped down from the Higher Heavens in a long, long time. - -- Chris ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 18 Dec 2002 20:12:13 -0500 From: "Chris Bergstresser" Subject: IN> Middle East Tethers... Hi all -- One of the angels in my campaign is planning on petitioning for the Word of Revolutions; at the moment she's in Israel stirring up trouble, and so I was wondering what canonical tethers are near there, particularly in Palestine and Israel, although any in the area are worth knowing. I'm particularly interested in Creation, Wind, and Flower tethers. If anyone's got suggestions beyond canon, of course, they're always welcome. - -- Chris ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 19 Dec 2002 01:22:20 -0000 From: "Genevieve Cogman" Subject: Re: IN> Middle East Tethers... According to canon (my canon, whee! as in the Gabriel writeup) Temple Mount is a Tether to Malphas. It _used_ to be a Tether to Divine Fire, but when the Crusaders stormed Jerusalem in 1099 and put every living being within the walls to the sword, and Belial's Servitors slew the Seneschal, the Tether fell to Factions. Not nice, no. Genevieve - -----Original Message----- From: Chris Bergstresser To: in_nomine-l@lists.io.com > One of the angels in my campaign is planning on petitioning for the Word >of Revolutions; at the moment she's in Israel stirring up trouble, and so I >was wondering what canonical tethers are near there, particularly in >Palestine and Israel, although any in the area are worth knowing. I'm >particularly interested in Creation, Wind, and Flower tethers. If >anyone's got suggestions beyond canon, of course, they're always welcome. > >-- Chris > > ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 18 Dec 2002 20:35:24 -0500 From: "Chris Bergstresser" Subject: IN> Question on Corporeal Song of Tongues Hi all -- Question about the Corporeal Song of Tongues: how does it apply to email or web pages the celestial creates? I'm sure this has been discussed, but a quick stroll through the FAQ didn't turn anything up. My off-the-cuff ruling was that email written while under its effects would be read in the reader's language until the effects wore off, then would revert to whatever corporeal language the celestial was most comfortable with. How have other people handled this situation? - -- Chris ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 18 Dec 2002 21:16:53 -0500 From: Elizabeth McCoy Subject: Re: IN> Middle East Tethers... At 8:12 PM -0500 12/18/02, Chris Bergstresser wrote: > One of the angels in my campaign is planning on petitioning for the Word >of Revolutions; You know, considering some Freedom Rites, this angel may get some unwanted cheerleaders. (Actual aid would cost, of course.) O:> For Tethers, I'd need the Liber Castellorum (someone can check the back, since you can do things like look up "London" and get the Tethers there...), and can't get it -- we're having toddler Time Out right now... - -- - --Beth, arcangel@io.com / archangel@sjgames.com In Nomine Line Editor http://www.io.com/~arcangel/ ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 18 Dec 2002 21:19:51 -0500 From: Elizabeth McCoy Subject: Re: IN> Question on Corporeal Song of Tongues At 8:35 PM -0500 12/18/02, Chris Bergstresser wrote: > Question about the Corporeal Song of Tongues: how does it apply to email >or web pages the celestial creates? Till the effects wear off, it can be read normally, I'd say (without looking at the Liber Canticorum, which might say something more precise) that it's being written in whatever _known_ language the celestial wants, and that's the language it's in when the Song ends. I.e., if a celestial has Spanish/3, German/1, and English/6, the celestial can choose which one to write it in. It'll be read in the reader's language till the Song wears off, but once it's off, it's in whichever language was chosen. - -- - --Beth, arcangel@io.com / archangel@sjgames.com In Nomine Line Editor http://www.io.com/~arcangel/ ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 18 Dec 2002 21:47:25 -0500 From: "Chris Bergstresser" Subject: RE: IN> Middle East Tethers... > -----Original Message----- > From: Genevieve Cogman > Sent: Wednesday, December 18, 2002 8:22 PM > > According to canon (my canon, whee! as in the Gabriel writeup) > Temple Mount is a Tether to Malphas. Ah, yes. Missed this in the index, as it was under Jerusalem, not Israel. Should have checked them both. This is where my crappy grasp of Holy Land geography gets me in trouble. All right, I've already had her meet Janus at the Wailing Wall -- I'm assuming this is on the border of the Temple Mount, and not part of the site proper? Otherwise I'm going to have to alter canon or come up with a good reason why she met her Superior on an enemy tether. - -- Chris ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 18 Dec 2002 22:04:36 -0500 From: "Chris Bergstresser" Subject: RE: IN> Middle East Tethers... > -----Original Message----- > From: Elizabeth McCoy > Sent: Wednesday, December 18, 2002 9:17 PM > > For Tethers, I'd need the Liber Castellorum (someone can check the back, > since you can do things like look up "London" and get the Tethers > there...), > and can't get it -- we're having toddler Time Out right now... Ok -- having done that, I've discovered (barring the Temple Mount) the only tether listed is Masada. As a tether to Dominic. I'm assuming this is from the dramatic suicide of the Jews in 72AD. I'll agree the act is dramatic enough for a tether, but why Dominic? - -- Chris ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 18 Dec 2002 22:09:29 -0500 From: Elizabeth McCoy Subject: RE: IN> Middle East Tethers... At 10:04 PM -0500 12/18/02, Chris Bergstresser wrote: >> From: Elizabeth McCoy >> For Tethers, I'd need the Liber Castellorum > Ok -- having done that, I've discovered (barring the Temple Mount) the >only tether listed is Masada. As a tether to Dominic. I'm assuming this is >from the dramatic suicide of the Jews in 72AD. I'll agree the act is >dramatic enough for a tether, but why Dominic? Beats me -- I'd have to look up the reference, and still don't have my books down here... (I moved all my email to my iBook -- and the books are up by the G3.) I didn't write the Liber Castellorum Judgment Tethers, sooooo... O:/ The information on it ought to be in either the LCast itself, or in Heaven&Hell/Superiors 1. - -- - --Beth, arcangel@io.com / archangel@sjgames.com In Nomine Line Editor http://www.io.com/~arcangel/ ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 19 Dec 2002 00:05:06 -0400 From: pbarkow@hfx.eastlink.ca Subject: Re: IN> Middle East Tethers... On 18 Dec 2002 at 21:16, Elizabeth McCoy wrote: > For Tethers, I'd need the Liber Castellorum (someone can check the > back, since you can do things like look up "London" and get the > Tethers there...), and can't get it -- we're having toddler Time Out > right now... In Jerusalem the Church of the Holy Sepulchre is a a Tether to Laurence and the headquarters of the Templars is a Tether ot Marc. Masada is a Tether to David. Gabriel has a lost Tether in a field near Bethlehem. - -Philip "Cthulhu Matata! It means no worry, til the end of days!!!!" ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 19 Dec 2002 00:24:39 -0400 From: pbarkow@hfx.eastlink.ca Subject: RE: IN> Middle East Tethers... On 18 Dec 2002 at 22:04, Chris Bergstresser wrote: > > -----Original Message----- > > From: Elizabeth McCoy > > Sent: Wednesday, December 18, 2002 9:17 PM > > > > For Tethers, I'd need the Liber Castellorum (someone can check the > > back, since you can do things like look up "London" and get the > > Tethers there...), and can't get it -- we're having toddler Time Out > > right now... > > Ok -- having done that, I've discovered (barring the Temple Mount) > the > only tether listed is Masada. As a tether to Dominic. I'm assuming > this is from the dramatic suicide of the Jews in 72AD. I'll agree the > act is dramatic enough for a tether, but why Dominic? It's David. Dominic starts after Masada is listed. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 18 Dec 2002 23:57:56 -0500 From: "Chris Bergstresser" Subject: IN> Angels of Revolution (The Precession Campaign) > -----Original Message----- > From: Elizabeth McCoy > Sent: Wednesday, December 18, 2002 9:17 PM > > > One of the angels in my campaign is planning on petitioning > for the Word > >of Revolutions; > > You know, considering some Freedom Rites, this angel may get some > unwanted cheerleaders. (Actual aid would cost, of course.) Oh, it gets worse. The following is the setup for the campaign; I doubt any of the players have found this list, but if you have, please avoid any posts with my campaign title in them? And tell me? For all others, comments and suggestions more than welcome. Ahem. In my continuity there were two previous angels of Revolution. The first, a Seraph of Creation, got her word during the American Revolution, and was soul-killed soon after during the French Revolution. The second, an Elohim of Wind, got his word during the late 1800's during some of the agrarian uprisings in Europe and fell around the time of the Russian Revolution. He now serves Malphas, although she hasn't quite reearned the word on the demonic side. Golan (the PC) was a reliever of Creation, created in the 1750's, and fledged as a Kyriotate sometime in the early 1800's. She worked closely with the first angel of Revolution, and was transferred to Janus when Eli took off. She's also worked with the second angel of Revolution, although not quite as closely. Now that the word's been open for a while, she's preparing to ask for it. She spreads the word of Revolution through a role she has -- posting revolutionary screeds on websites and through email. She also specializes in taking over people and directing them to momentous events, such as walking a professor with contacts to underground resistance cells across campus where he trips over a student writing a manifesto. Unfortunately, she takes a very broad view of the value of revolutions: having no dissonance conditions and serving an archangel who values change above all else will do that. She supports any revolution, anywhere, and gives precious little thought as to the sides. She's not dissonant -- she works too far back from the front lines to be in much danger of that -- but many angels wouldn't be too pleased if they looked closely at her actions. And Dominic's noticed. Dominic's always been suspicious of Revolutions, going back to the Very First One, and the history of holders of the word hasn't done much to raise his opinion. He also feels that *his* word encompasses revolutions better than Wind or Creation. He did the only sensible thing. He had Golan transferred to his service. It took a favor from Janus to do it, but look what he gets: a Creationer under his direct supervision, someone with contacts through Janus' organization, and someone in a good position to petition for a word *he* wants. If she's guilty of any crimes, or in danger of falling, he's in a much better position to tell. He's got personal, weekly, question-and-answer sessions without interference. He can try and correct any misunderstandings of the proper nature of revolutions, and if she won't listen there's always time for a trial. He hasn't gotten her heart from Janus yet, preferring the gentle touch for once, but has already held out the threat of binding his dissonance conditions into it if it should prove necessary. Golan is *not* happy about this turn of events. What's everyone think? - -- Chris ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 19 Dec 2002 01:30:44 -0500 From: "Chris Bergstresser" Subject: RE: IN> Middle East Tethers... > -----Original Message----- > From: pbarkow@hfx.eastlink.ca > Sent: Wednesday, December 18, 2002 11:25 PM > > > Ok -- having done that, I've discovered (barring the Temple Mount) > > the > > only tether listed is Masada. As a tether to Dominic. I'm assuming > > this is from the dramatic suicide of the Jews in 72AD. I'll agree the > > act is dramatic enough for a tether, but why Dominic? > > It's David. Dominic starts after Masada is listed. That makes significantly more sense. The typography is significantly misleading in this book, I notice -- the subheads are darker than the heads. - -- Chris ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 19 Dec 2002 07:32:27 -0500 From: BC Petery Subject: IN> More IN Africa. (Demon of Diamonds) > DeBeers DeBeers is the name of the company, not the owners. THe name was aquired during a merger. The current owners name escapes me at the moment. This is a very minor point, and may actually be a good thing. Fictionalizing DeBeers ownership may make for a more dramatic story. By completely fictionalizing ownership you will avoid having to deal with the player who knows everything. (And lawyers who whine about slander.) "It's In Nomine, not the real world." =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Michael Walton wrote: > I suggest rewording this to, "The demon can invest Essenc > (up to his Celestial Forces) into a diamond and give it as > a gift. A willing recipient immediately becomes enthralled > with the giver. While the gem is on the recipient's person > that individual is a Servant of the giver at a level equal > to the amount of Essence invested. The recipient can > resist the initial entrancement with a Will roll." Questions: Does it only work when given as a gift or can it be sold? Can this have a chain effect? Husband gives engagement ring to wife, who later gives it to daughter/granddaughter, each becoming servant of the other in turn? ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 19 Dec 2002 07:32:28 -0500 From: BC Petery Subject: IN> Vaputech plasma batteries > the prototype used Vaputech > plasma batteries, and I hope that I don't have to > remind any of you about just how dangerous, leaky, > carcinogenic, fattening, temperamental and downright > malicious those things can be. That's because the anodes are made from kitten Forces and the cathodes are made from puppy Forces. You've got to remember to feed them milk if you want good results. Whole milk, none of that watery 2%. There are experiments underway to add cow Forces, thereby providing a constant supply, but the cow Forces want grass Essence. And Novalis isn't partin with any of her secrets. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 19 Dec 2002 08:00:55 -0500 From: EDG Subject: Re: IN> More IN Africa. (Demon of Diamonds) At 07:32 AM 12/19/2002 -0500, BC Petery wrote: >DeBeers is the name of the company, not the owners. THe name was aquired >during a merger. The current owners name escapes me at the moment. You're entirely correct. In fact, De Beers Consolidated Mine Ltd. was named after the owners of the farm on which the first lode was discovered (Nicolas and Diedrick de Beer), and AFAICT neither of the de Beers had anything at all to do with the company; its founding chairman was Cecil Rhodes. Again as far as I can tell, the Oppenheimer family took over De Beers in the middle of the 20th century and controlled De Beers until Harry Oppenheimer's death. The company merged recently with LVMH Moet Hennessy - Louis Vuitton to create De Beers LV (thereby expanding into clothing and jewelry). In the In Nomine world, of course, the de Beers might have been influenced (by Punon, perhaps in the guise of a family patriarch or perhaps in the Role of Cecil Rhodes) into starting their own company, and the family might still own the company in the modern day (having successfully avoided the Depression-era takeover by Ernest Oppenheimer). >Does it only work when given as a gift or can it be sold? I'd say only as a gift; otherwise, Punon gets Essence for using this attunement (see his Rite). >Can this have a chain effect? Husband gives engagement ring to wife, who >later gives it to daughter/granddaughter, each becoming servant of the other >in turn? I doubt it. Attunements rarely work like that. (In fact, I'd say that if the recipient passed the stone on to someone else, the link would be permanently broken.) - -EDG ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 19 Dec 2002 14:15:16 +0100 From: shadur@systemec.nl (Rens Houben) Subject: Re: IN> Fighting the good fight In other news for Sat, Dec 07, 2002 at 12:56:56PM -0500, William J. Keith has been seen typing: > The main reason I figure is as you, Beth, and possibly others have said -- > it's destroying Roles and their associated plots. That and it's always hard to implement a plan while the main perpetrator is contemplating his Heart at a crucial part of the timing. Demons aren't all to big on cooperation so he isn't likely to have left his notes for his understudy to use in such an occasion. Another place where angels have a slight advantage if they use some planning... > There's one thing that can be worrisome, especially if your games have a > high body count. What do you do about all the "murdered and missing > people"? Even if your characters are taking out one Role a month, cities > generally consider a 12-murders-per-year drop in the violent crime rate to > be worth cheering over. Having one or two Soldiers (or Aware allied contacts) in the police station would be a useful stopgap measure here, but no more than that -- there's entirely too many newspapers to influence if you'd want to surpress all of them... > And you've got to think that angels will be a lot more worried about this > than demons -- hell, Saminga, Belial, Baal, or Beleth could easily have > demons sent out there whose sole job is to see that the murder, arson, and > kidnapping rates remain high (why Baal? The phrase "war zone", mainly). > Angels presumably want *less* of this running around -- but if you kill off > the demons doing it, that just contributes (granted, briefly) to their own > mission, unless you can do it somehow without people noticing. There's the argument that killing off the demons prevents said demons from killing humans and thereby continuing the cycle. In the long term, that reduces the crime rate in exchange for a short-term increase. Besides, from an Angelic viewpoint, much better demons getting vessel-killed than humans getting shot at... And on the third appendage, while they're in Trauma you can go about derailing their mission without too their interference -- and most Demon Princes dislike sending in reinforcements blindly so they'd either wait until the demon comes out of Trauma or their remaining forces send in a report, so you've bought at least some time... > This is one of the really good uses of Roles, one would think. Demon has > no Role? Off him and hide the Vessel. Has a Role? Well, how are we going > to explain it when he doesn't show up for work, misses his bowling league, > etc.? Discredit the Role, then off. Maurice's Rolebusters come to mind in this case... Alternately, make the death look "natural" somehow. Car accident (kyrio of lightning posessing the brakes? Is there a Song to cause a large patch of road to become nearly frictionless for a short period of time?), > (my players -- shoo. Our game is an excellent example of this as seen from > the human view point, but I'm going to have to talk about plot. ;^) I'll > be obliged if any future repliers keep spoiler space for their benefit. > Thanks!) (Spoiler deleted unseen since I'm one of the players in question.) I think I've communicated to R. once or twice that I'm very much not in favor of having them, ah, "remove" C. outright if he turns out to be an actual demon. This is just the identifying phase, we can think of what to do about him once we know for sure. As to some of the probable others... What happens to a Role when the paper trail "proving" that Role's identity is proven to be so full of baloney Haagenti could feast on it for an hour? Sure, a really skilled Balseraph can fast-talk the fragments back together, but against several humans at once, all of which are suspicious, most of which have a reasonably high Will, and who have a large stack of tangible evidence to the contrary... How lucky does she feel? - -- Shad - -- Rens Houben | opinions are mine Resident linux guru and sysadmin | if my employers have one Systemec Internet Services. |they'll tell you themselves PGP public key at http://swordbreaker.systemec.nl/shadur.key.asc ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 19 Dec 2002 14:20:06 +0100 (CET) From: Unni Solaas Subject: Re: IN> More IN Africa. (Demon of Diamonds) On Thu, 19 Dec 2002, EDG wrote: [Diamond with essence -> gift -> enthrallment -> chain reaction etc..] > I doubt it. Attunements rarely work like that. (In fact, I'd say that if > the recipient passed the stone on to someone else, the link would be > permanently broken.) > On the other hand I like the idea. It's like a family curse / deep dark secret kind of thing, focused on the rock. But then what the rock /should/ do is make the new owner a servant to the demon who originally handed it out. Heirloom with a little extra something.... >:) I am of course way too lazy to check if something like this is described in any of the books, or even possible in IN. I'll leave that to those wonderful people on this list who Knows Stuff about IN mechanics and such. ;P - -- language, n; an intangible artificial construct for obscuring one's meanings and intentions to others. -ppint. Unni Solaas ------------------------------ End of in_nomine-digest V1 #2908 ********************************