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Mors Rattus posted:I'd go with The Waters, rather than the Sea, since that's a Word with a solid history. (Formerly held by the Ofanite Oannes, sister to Gabriel and Janus, but slain by Belial in the middle ages.) I've noticed that Words belonging to slain Archangels and Demon Princes don't seem to ever be reused directly, but rather incorporated into other Words. My outline for Aurora, Cherub Archangel of the Sea, is that she'd been around for a long time as a potent Servitor of Jean and was chosen by Yves and Gabriel as Oannes' replacement. Her elevation shortly before the dawn of the Age of Exploration began in Europe was probably not a coincidence, though she has a great fondness for seafaring cultures throughout human history, particularly the 18th century British Empire and the ancient islanders of the Pacific who spread across that ocean and may have been the ones who colonized Australia and South America.
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 The Statosphere part 4: The Scholar, Trickster and Two-Faced Man We'll be finishing off with the Avatars here, next I should be able to put together something interesting with their expanded take on the Rooms of Renunciation. The Scholar The Statosphere has a fair amount of Avatars that follow the "Like the [Other Avatar] but...". The Confessor is like the Healer but for the mind instead of the body, the Rebel is like the Martyr but focused more on leadership than sacrifice. The Hunter is like the Executioner but doesn't need orders. That's probably why only 3 of the 15 Avatars show up in the 2nd edition of UA. It's not that there aren't valid distinctions between these Archetypes, it's just that a lot of them are standing fairly close together so some toes get trodden on thematically speaking. Well, here we have the Scholar who is like the Chronicler but... Specifically, the Chronicler represents a journalist or researcher, someone who goes out and digs up information and is obligated to add to humanity's collective knowledge. The Scholar is just in it for themselves and they are not, generally speaking, interested in new knowledge. All of their abilities focus on allowing themselves to more easily get information from the work of others or recover information that has been lost. Academics, historians and bibliophiles are good examples of Scholars. It does mention that scholars make excellent analysts, being able to intuit connections between apparently unrelated information but this ability doesn't actually come into play until their final Channel. Taboo: Turning down any kind of new knowledge is Taboo and even more so if you destroy any unique source of knowledge. One big problem: Knowledge is not defined or quantified at all. That means that anyone who knows that you are a Scholar (and knows enough to know what that means) has incredible leverage over you. Although the penalties for minor breaks of taboo are small, 1% in a skill is still 1% in a skill. It'd be even worse for the Godwalker, since that 1% completely negates their Godwalker status and even for lesser Avatars "Tell me what I want to know or I won't tell you my favorite color!" Suspected Avatars: Jean Francios Champollion, who deciphered the Rossetta Stone and Marsilio Ficino who translated the Hermetic Corpus is another. Channels 1-50%: The first channel is pretty lame. You can flip-flop a failed Academics-based skill roll if the result is under your Avatar skill. Normally this is about par for the course for a 1st Avatar Channel...it's not a dramatic power certainly but usually is useful. Except in this case it specifically excludes practical skills that would normally fall under the academic umbrella such as Medicine or Law (and not mentioned but presumably including potentially useful scientific skills such as Chemistry or Engineering). Skills mentioned as being available for this bonus are Research, Academic Learning, History and General Education. It's not crippling for a first channel (Research and General Education at least will be useful) but it is on the weak side and as you'll see it's the start of a pattern. 51-70% The 2nd Channel is when most Avatars get their defining ability, which often becomes their "thing". Which makes sense, getting a skill above 50% is a heft investment in UA. The Chronicler can sift the future for useful information, the Confessor can heal damaged sanity, the Necessary Servant can find the cracks in any organization and the Merchant can make his Faustian bargains. The Scholar can recall any information they've read with a successful Avatar skill roll. Even on the surface this is pretty lame but there's two big things: First, it only applies to reading. You can recall only texts, charts or diagrams (by a literal reading this means you can't even absolutely recall the things that would be really useful like maps). Second, each successful Avatar check only recalls one or two pages worth of text or gives you a general gist of the whole book (which is pretty much what normal memory does already). As far as I can tell there's no reason you can't just keep rolling over and over again but I can't understand why they felt the need to include this limitation. And frankly isn't this the sort of thing that should just be handled by a Mind roll? The only real use is allowing you to "store" information you've got only a brief amount of time to skim or speed-read such as memorizing what someone scrawled on a note that you were only able to catch a brief glimpse of before you were hauled away...but that's also just a thing people do, that's not magic. And as far as recalling entire tomes of information, that's really not useful unless you know every single book you've ever read, otherwise you're just better off making an appropriate normal skill roll. 71-90%: With a successful Avatar roll you can read in any language. Reading only. You couldn't speak it to someone else or understand it if it was spoken out loud. You can't even write it yourself. Only reading. And remember, UA is not like Call of Cthulhu where everything useful and powerful is written in some ancient heathen greek dialect or ancient arabic or whatever...in UA the really important magical stuff is being written and worked on right now, it's postmodern, not ancient. Also, it doesn't "stick". You've got to roll again for every document and you only retain the raw information, not the language itself. The third channel does have one significant use: you can use it to read codes and ciphers (it won't work on computer codes, punch-cards or similar encoding, only things intended for communication between sentient beings). Depending on your reading of that the existence of things like the old Enigma Machines and their modern-day descendants may be a significant hitch. 91+% You can now read between the lines with a successful Avatar roll. This means that you not only understand what you're reading in literal terms but you can analyze it thoroughly enough to understand the intent behind it: you know exactly what's going on in House of Leaves and reading a newspaper headline will tell you if the author is really attempting to sow economic disorder (and fears for their life if they don't) and you know if that response to your OKCupid profile is actually a lure set by a hired killer. You can even tell when someone using sarcasm on the internet. You can also correlate information with anything else you've ever read...just remember that this is purely a matter of sorting information, not leaps of magickal intuition. You may be able to tell at a glance that the assassin was hired exactly 7 days after you started that forum thread about the suspicious headline, which is also the number of books published by Mark Z. Danielewski. And that the stocks which rose after the panic caused by the article would funnel a lot of wealth towards the Bilderberg group. This does necessarily mean that MZD is an unwilling pawn and newspaper ghost-writer for the Bilderberg Group...maybe its all just a big coincidence. And here's my problem with the Scholar...that last channel is really good. It's not only a great representation of the Scholar's focus but it also goes deeper with its ability to determine and make connections in the conspiracy-horror world of UA. A high level Scholar can know which bloggers are being threatened to force them to writ clickbait and that this number is growing daily, and they can decipher the hidden meaning behind a message intended to signal a meeting of high level conspirators. It's great...if only you didn't have to go through 3 extremely bland and weak Channels to get to it on top of being saddled with a crippling taboo. The Trickster  Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd play out the secret hatreds of the Trickster and Hunter The flip-side of the Fool, who bumbles blissfully through life while those around him are caught up in the chaos he creates, is the Trickster who actively seeks to tweak noses or scam others (whether maliciously or not). They're clever and cunning and usually care more about being funny or witty than being successful. This is one of those Archetypes that doesn't need much explanation. Basically, you're channeling Bugs Bunny. Taboo: Tricksters must always take the deceitful or sneaky path and can never do things in the most straightforward and honest manner when there's an opportunity to do otherwise. It notes that you don't have to be successful, getting caught or getting egg on your face is fine, you just have to try. This truly wins the reward for the most annoying and crippling taboo of any Avatar. Sure, the Peacemaker can't join in on the shootout and the Healer has to patch up the wounded guy begging for help...but the Trickster can't buy gum. So long as there's even the possibility of getting what you want through normal honest means you can't take it. You've got to try and steal it, or convince the cashier to give you a discount because your dying dad wanted this flavor of gum and you don't have the extra nickel. This is going to come up constantly and it's going to be an immense pain in the rear end for you and the rest of your group. Obviously it's completely appropriate behavior for a Trickster archetype...but that doesn't make it any less of a pain and it compares especially badly with the relatively lenient taboos other Avatars face. This is more like the poo poo Adepts have to deal with, but without their bigger bag of tricks to compensate. Adding to the problem is this sidebar:  Now, it's not clear if this is actually mandatory or not...but it's a pretty drat awful thing to do to an Avatar that's already got way more on his plate than any other. Suspected Avatars: Mythical Tricksters such as Coyote, Hermes, etc all get a mention. Andy Kaufman is suspected to be the current Archetype for the Trickster. Channels: 1-50%: If a person's Soul score is lower than your Avatar skill then they will respond positively to you despite any past behavior or anything they know about your future plans. A cop may know that you're The Skinner serial killer who cuts up prostitutes and then posts Youtube videos with little sock puppets made from their faces and that you escaped from jail by butchering 12 people with the shinbones of your cellmate...but shucks you're a swell guy. He knows you did all those things (and that your latest video is a teaser for something you call Skinpocolypse 2016) and even that he's expected to arrest you, but there's no reason to be rough about it and sure if you need to nip off to the bathroom or you two could grab a cup of coffee before you go to the station. They get a Soul check to break free of the power if you ask them to do anything blatantly against their own interest (such as letting you go free or "see there gun for just a second"), but there's a lot of wiggle room. The power also only works in your presence...once you pop into the bathroom the cop will suddenly remember that you're a murderous psychopath and he'll pull his gun out and rush after you. This Channel is a little weird, because for the first half or so of a Trickster's career it's practically worthless. Average Soul score is 50 and by way of comparison there isn't a single person in the UA sourcebook with a Soul score lower than 30. So for a good while your fancy trick is totally useless, but once you exceed 50% in Trickster it becomes possibly the best channel out there, other than the Merchant's second Channel. The Trickster Godwalker would wrap practically everyone except other Godwalkers around their finger without any effort at all. 51-70% You can, with an Avatar roll, tell a Perfect Lie which the subject will believe no matter how ridiculous or outlandish it is, until it is proven to be false. Some lies ("there's no gravity" or "your hands are made of spiders") are verifiable within an instant simply by the target's own senses. Okay, now I may have to revise my previous statement. I don't know if the first channel or the second channel is "the best" channel, but I will say that in conjunction the two are amazing. Once your Trickster level is high enough to reliably make Avatar checks you are practically unstoppable. This is some loving Exalted-level mental manipulation, except without any of the "outs" Exalted tends to give. Does the Count De Saint Germain just have to constantly personally assassinate every Trickster Godwalker to avoid them ruling the world atop a golden throne? Because that might explain why he's so busy. I hereby revise my estimate of the Merchant as "most absurdly powerful" Avatar...a powerful Trickster could eat Merchant's for breakfast. They could con the Merchant into selling them every single buff they've ever bought, but can crash the Merchant's Avatar skill in the process by getting him to take one terrible deal after another. 71-90%: You are exceptionally good at understanding others and how to deceive others, flip-flopping any skill roll to fast-talk, trick or deceive. And yes, that's any skill, not just Lying or Charm. That includes your Avatar skill for the purposes of the Perfect Lie. There aren't even words. 91+%: Your Perfect Lie ability expands to allow you to turn even the flimsiest of disguises into a perfect impersonation. Talk in a growly voice and puff up your chest and you're Arnold Schwarzenegger, put on a plastic presidential party mask and people will see and hear you as Barack Obama. And yes, this is deceit so in the rare event that your 91+ skill roll fails you can flip flop it through the third channel. This even includes magickal detection and (while not mentioned specifically) presumably includes being seen on camera (although recordings after the fact might show the truth). So yes, you could (with ease) disguise yourself as the president of the United States, walk up to the secret service at the white house and tell them the man in the oval office is an imposter and then watch them mow him down. Wow... I write these kind of "stream of consciousness" and while I skim a bit I tend not to read the whole entry ahead of time. I just provide my first impressions as I go on and occasionally go back and revise things as new information comes up. So, when I started this I was (as you can see around the Taboo section) convinced the Trickster was probably one of the worst Avatars because of its crippling Taboo. Little did I realize that the Taboo was just the writers desperately trying to reign in the monster they had created with the Trickster's channels. The Trickster's power increases exponentially with each new channel and by the time you hit the second Channel the Trickster's greatest enemy really is just themselves as their taboo compels them to "double down" constantly with more and more lies until, inevitably, they blow a Perfect Lie roll and/or run into someone whose Soul stat is just a tad too high...something that becomes increasingly less likely the more your Avatar skill grows. I will say this about the Trickster it is extremely...unbalanced. I don't mean in the sense of game mechanics (because in that sense they're balanced like neutron star on a see-saw), but in terms of play style. Assuming you don't start right out of the gate at Cosmic level with a Trickster skill of 60+% but instead start with a more reasonable 20-40%. A low-level trickster can pull of almost nothing...practically no one is weak enough for your first channel at this point and you're actively discouraged from investing much in Lying or Charm because as you gain Power your Trickster skill dominates those into nothing, meaning that while your Taboo compels you to try and scam or flim-flam people constantly you can't pull it off without a bunch of luck. You're even discouraged from making your Avatar, Lying or Charm skills your obsession since the 3rd channel would make them redundant. Then you hit 51%. At 51% your first channel works on more people than it doesn't and you can basically "win" any situation where you're allowed to talk (and most people think you're great so why not talk to you?) about 50% of the time with the Perfect Lie. Then once you hit 71% even a good deal of Avatars and Adepts are your friend the moment they meet you and your ability to Flip-Flop the perfect lie means that your success rate is now closer to 90%. Once you actually hit 91% you never fail any Avatar roll on anything but a 99 or 00 and you have the ability to shape not just the Underground but the world in ways that are limited only be your imagination, it'd be like the Invention of Lying but without the religious allegory. I would hate being a part of a group with a Trickster. Like a black hole they warp all of the game around themselves: at low levels their constantly failed cons get them and you into "hilarious" screwups and at higher levels whatever they say almost literally goes and you are forced to pal around with someone who can wreck conspiracies and whole governments like matchsticks. However, I would want to play the Trickster in that game. The Two Faced Man I'm not sure how anything is going to compare after the Trickster write-up. Even more so because first impressions of the Two-Faced Man are "like the Trickster but..." and after reading through the last Avatar I don't think anyone else will come off looking impressive. But we shall see. So, basically the Two-Faced Man is the "Traitor" Archetype, the wicked Judas to the Trickster's omnipotent Bugs Bunny. They pretend to be the thing that hate and work against and win the trust of others in order to betray them. Taboo: Working towards anything you believe in publicly. You can work towards your personal goals but you can't allow your true agenda to become public knowledge outside of your allies or allow your deception to be recorded in any way without breaking taboo. You can't work as a cop unless you secretly want to undermine law and order, you can't work for a bank unless you hate the financial system or are plotting to steal from them, etc. Well, it's not as bad as the Trickster's but this is a pretty tough Taboo, especially considering it's very broadly defined, words like "Openly" or "publicly" or "might have access to" are thrown around with very little definition. It also does something that I find personally wrong and that is it makes the Avatar's personal belief's and feelings a part of the Taboo. One of the major things that separate Avatars and Adepts is that Avatars are playing a role and don't have to commit to it deep down. That's practically the point of the Ascension struggle going on...how would a Two-Faced Man Godwalker even try and oust the Archetype, what counts as "public" or "open" when dealing with a semi-omnipresent cosmic force? Suspected Avatars: Somehow neither Judas nor Benedict Arnold get a mention but Loki and Boris Yeltsin do. Even Iago (from Othello) despite being fictional. Channels: 1-50%: You can appear to fit in to any group other than those that you would "naturally" fit in with. To use this ability pick a social stereotype that you don't match ("rich new yorker", "down to earth everyman" "put upon drone") and make an Avatar roll. A success means that you "emit" the right vibes to fulfill that stereotype and any inappropriate elements such as clothing, accent, odor, etc are ignored. This lasts until you pick a new stereotype. If you fail your roll you remain in your current stereotype and can't change it for a week. Suspicious observers can attempt to roll something (no skill is given, presumably Notice) which must be higher than your Avatar skill to succeed. They get a +30% shift if you do something that blatantly clashes with your current stereotype. One big thing...you can't "drop" the power. Once it's activated you can only change to a new stereotype and never to one that you are naturally fit for. 51-70%: You can "fake it" better. If something comes up where you don't have the knowledge or skill to fit the role you're playing you can make an Avatar roll and some vague assurances or claims and everyone will accept it as though you said something correct and relevant to the situation. This won't give you the keycode to a bank vault or actually let you use a skill, you can just give everyone else the vague impression you know what you're doing. 71-90%: With a successful Avatar roll you can make any suspicious activity seem reasonable with the slightest reason ("I wasn't about to throw a brick through your car window, it's a new form of aerobic stretching. Brickersize"). However, extremely weak or out-of-character explanations require a successful Lie roll as well (which seems odd, we wouldn't need the Avatar channel if the explanation weren't weak or out of character). Biggest problem is that this doesn't address how blame-shifting is handled ("I'm not trying to sleep with your wife, she drugged me and took my clothes off!") and that the Trickster is laughing so loud it's giving me a headache. 91+% You can feed anyone a lie so long as no immediate proof that you're lying is available and so long as it isn't blatantly self destructive. So the Two-Faced Man's final channel is the Trickster's second channel...just not quite as good. So yeah, not a bad Avatar or anything, if you don't mind that literally every power you have is something the Trickster can do, but an order of magnitude weaker.
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Jan 30, 2016 13:59
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Doresh posted:
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Jan 30, 2016 14:44
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AmiYumi posted:Isn't that whole "Slendergjaum" thing more of an overt reference to Bleach? Yeah, it always struck me as a reference to Bleach's Hollows and Ichigo's Hollow form.
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Jan 30, 2016 14:57
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Truly Bugs Bunny is the greatest power in the world
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Jan 30, 2016 17:51
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Superiors 3: Faith in God Khalid is militant and as merciless as he has ever been towards demons and ethereals, but he is this way out of sense of duty to God, not because he feels it is required. Indeed, everything is preordained, so Lucifer cannot win. The entire War is an exercise in futility for Hell, and for the faithful it is a chance to prove their worthiness and for God to show His righteousness, mercy and glory. This can be infuriating for the other Archangels to deal with. While Khalid is a diligent and effective fighter, he acts as if Heaven's strategies are unimportant, and he still doesn't believe he hurt the War by isolating himself from the Host, as God will clearly win with or without his help. If God wills the War be won under Laurence, it will be. If not, it won't. Khalid has no desire to hasten the end times. They will come when God wills and not before. When they do come, though, Khalid and his angels will stand at the fore. Khalid is a Muslim. He believes that Gabriel gave authentic divine revelation to Muhammad, and he also believes the Quran is the literal word of God. He will not take positions on doctrinal issues, however. He considers his strategies, the needs of justice and does nothing contrary to the Quran. Then he makes his decisions on faith. As a result, he can be shockingly casual towards theological issues that perplex mortals and divide Muslims. Islam is a religion for all, and while Khalid is most comfortable around Arabs, he is neither Sunni, Shia nor any other specific division. He often follows local traditions when among mortals and especially when pretending to be an Arab, but the Quran does not actually prescribe many of the cultural practices associated with Islam, and so Khalid does not feel bound by them. Many of God's instructions, too, such as the ban on shaving, are understood to be rules for mortals. While faith and morality apply equally to all, dietary laws and cultural practices are not binding on angels, though it's good for an angel in corporeal form to follow Muslim practices in order to be an example to others. Khalid has been an outsider to Heaven for much of the last thousand years. He rarely worked with the other Archangels, focusing on the Muslim world alone, and most of the Host allowed him to take over that responsibility entirely. As he got more and more dogmatic, other angels avoided him more and more. Now, however, he has returned from the brink. He is quiet and humble, less fervent in politics. Laurence has never hated Khalid, though they disagreed on religion. Khalid's feud was one-sided, and his resentment festered for a long time. He used to publically support Laurence but quietly disdain him. Now, however, he is more genuinely cooperative and has even allowed Laurence to ask for help in operations in the Middle East and Southeast Asia. Khalid no longer hates Laurence's Catholicism, though he still believes Islam is the superior faith, and he has accepted Laurence's right to command. To Khalid, Gabriel holds a status among angels similar to Muhammad among humans. She is God's messenger and was essential to bringing Islam to humanity. She inspires humans in their darkest hour and brings the light of God to the otherwise faithless. Her passion and inspiration were required for both Christianity and Islam to thrive. Khalid, however, has now realized that Gabriel's exile and instability means she's no longer kindling the fire of religious fervor in humanity. He blames much of Islam's stagnation and the corruption and secularization of Christianity on a lack of divine Fire. Khaid does not blame Gabriel for this - he blames Dominic. He'd love to help Gabriel regain her senses and turn once more to religion. He has been quietly talking to Soldekai and asking for help from some angels of Fire. If Gabriel herself no longer supports Islam, some of her angels will, and they're happy to find another Archangel that will support Gabriel in an unqualified way. Khalid, however, does refuse to stop referring to Gabriel as male. He hasn't forbidden his angels to a cknowledge her feminine persona, but he gets colder when they do. Since he doesn't seem to have a problem with other feminine Archangels, some believe he regards Gabriel's female manifestation as part of her madness, while others think he secretly does disdain angels that take on feminine form. Once, Khalid had only respect for Dominic, until Dominic openly supported Christianity. He believes Laurence's ascension and Gabriel's exile were due to Judgment's manipulations. Dominic, ironically, has come to respect Islam, though Khalid will not trust him until he stops persecuting Gabriel. Khalid believes Judgment is blind and suspects Dominic of faithlessness. For his part, Dominic long saw Khalid as a dangerous near-Outcast, close to heresy. Because he had little leverage, he could only watch and hope to contain the angels of Faith if it got out of control. Now that Khalid has overcome his dissonance and begun to cooperate with the Council, Dominic is cautiously optimistic, but he doesn't plan to stop watching any time soon. Yves is a mystery to Khalid. He had a hand in promoting all three Abrahamic faiths, and he has a celestial copy of the Quran which he gave to Gabriel. Yves could only have been serving God. But he's done nothing to promote religion ever since. Khalid regards this as a sign that the faithful must succeed or fail on their own. He originally considered Yves to be a perfect example of submission to God and the ideal Muslim, without theology or dogma. Now, though, he suspects Yves may be something greater - perhaps the only being with true free will in the entire Symphony. Khalid keeps his theory and its implications to himself. Khalid is a militant angel, even now. He does not believe in mercy towards the foe, as they have already chosen not to serve God, and the faithful must be protected from Hell at all costs. He is a brilliant tactician, and now he's ready to work with the others. He doesn't know them very well, and they don't know him. He's polite and hospitable, but he's practically a newcomer, so everyone's a bit wary. Superior Opinions posted:Blandine: Without faith, how can there be hope? When he attends to the broader aspects of his Word, he makes my job easier. When he turns narrow-minded and reactionary, he creates more nightmares than dreams. Khalid believes humans are superior to angels. Angels are more virtuous, wiser and mightier, but humans were made in God's image. They have a special quality of faith, a stronger faith than any angel can ever have, for they do not hear the Symphony and have no proof of God, as angels do. Human faith makes Tethers and sustains Words. As far as Khalid is concerned, angels exist to serve humans. God has appointed a Day of Resurrection on which all believers will be sabed and angels are to work with that day in sight. Khalid promotes religion more vigorously than he fights in the War, and some Archangels would say he puts his Word above the interests of Heaven, but Khalid believes he is putting emphasis on what God has said is most important. Celestials can't really affect the War's outcome, but they can sanctify God's name by exalted humanity and caring for the faithful. In any variation, Khalid is always a deeply religious Muslim who si open and passionate about his beliefs. This can cause friction between his Word and Choir nature. He can be biased as long as he sincerely believes he's following the most divine course, but when he lacks faith in that, he enters a vicious cycle of dissonance. In the official canon, Khalid was once a fanatical fundamentalist and is now becoming more moderate, but there's other takes. The Peaceful Khalid seems the best option - it acknowledges that a devout Muslim doesn't have to be a harsh zealot, and is meant to portray both Khalid and Islam more sympathetically. Literally there in the text. Khalid might perhaps have had a change of heart in Muhammad's peaceful messages, becoming a Muslim for the potential to bring peace and justice to the world. He disdained Laurence more for Laurence's militant nature. A more peaceful Khalid is like to be more like a Sufi mystic than a Shiite fundamentalist, and would be more allied to Novalis than David or Michael. He would no longer have the Wrath of God or Jihad attunements, or any Rites involving killing people. Khalid as the Guardian of All Faiths is not a Muslim extemist, seeing Islam as only one of many worthy religions. He might still be a violent fanatic that encourages reactionary fundamentalism in all faiths rather than allow demons in, or he might seek to bring all faiths together in a single divine religion. Any Islam-specific Rites or attunements would now apply to any religion. Khalid as the Jihadi is a villain or deeply unsympathetic Archangel. The Final Trumpet never happened, Khalid remains a fanatic and his original Rites and attunements still apply. Perhaps he isn't quite so unbalanced, but he is still a militant and intolerant Muslim. If he isn't dissonant and heading for a Fall, he'd probably do better as a Malakite. The most extreme variation is the Fallen Khalid, the Demon Prince of Fanaticism, described in The Final Trumpet. Khalid's Cathedral is a grand mosque in the Eternal City, just opposite the Halls of Worship and out of sight of the Church of the Sword. IT is a larger and more perfect version of the Masjid in Mecca that holds the Kaaba. Like the Masjid, Khalid's Mosque has an immense courtyard at the center. Muslim Saints and other holy men gather there and in its garden. Great scholars like Abu Hamid al-Ghazali or Jalad al-Dun Rumi can be found there conversing with other religions leaders and Saints like the Sufi Abd al-Qadir al-Jilani. The Hearts of the angels of Gaith are stored in recesses along the perimeter. Angels are rarely found here, as most angels of Faith stayo n Earth and few other angels are Muslims. Not all the blessed or angels in the Mosque are Muslims, of course, and all are welcome, but non-Muslims tend to prefer the subjectivity of the Halls of Worship. Impossibly tall minarets rise from the Mosque, and angels of Faith lead calls to prayer five times daily. All Muslim souls in Heaven, wherever they are, can hear these calls and take part in the salat. While the Eternal City is considered analogous to Jerusalem, blessed Muslims traditionally regard Khalid's Cathedral as corresponding to the Kaaba and face it when praying. Khalid built his Mosque shortly after becoming an Archangel, but he never lived there. In fact, he's rarely visited it at all, particularly once he began to become dissonant. Since mending his soul, he has returned several times to appreciate the loyal angels that still had faith in him there and to encourage other angels and blessed souls to visit. He spendsm ost of his time on Earth still, so those hoping for an audience are best off looking there.  Next time: Houses of the Holy
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Jan 30, 2016 18:02
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An interesting fact about Bugs Bunny, which the cartoon writers always made sure to keep in mind: he can't hit first. Bugs Bunny cannot be the one to start the fight. Once it's begun, he applies his full and terrible powers of trickery, deception and jokes to it, sure, but he can't start it, because they wanted Bugs Bunny to be the Good Guy looney tune. Daffy, on the other hand, can, because Daffy's an rear end in a top hat.
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Jan 30, 2016 18:03
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Yeah, the peaceful version of Khalid is the only sane way to handle him. As in being scared by what the Crusades unleashed he has constantly struggled to help guide Islam away from the same type of dogma and faith that led to the corruption of the Crusades, but due to having all but cut off the other Archangels from interfering with Islam he has had to contend with a lot of infernal intention all by himself.
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Jan 30, 2016 18:31
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That angels subscribe to earthly faiths at all always strikes me as really weird. What would an angel need Christ's sacrifice for, they already have a place in heaven and it's just a code of conduct and ethics at that point. Sure, story wise it makes sense for the angels to support religions and maybe even have favorites for people to follow. Maybe the authors thought it would have been just too cynical if the celestial patrons of the faiths didn't actually buy into them.
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Jan 30, 2016 19:56
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Superiors 3: I have Faith Angels of Faith have a reputation for being fanatically devoted to Khalid. His degeneration led some to lose faith in him, causing many Outcasts and a few Fallen, those who did not have been rewarded for it. Khalid has fewer servitors than the other Archangels, but they are on average older and more powerful. Khalid has made very few new angels over the years. Thus, a high proprotion have Distinctions, extra Rites or extra attunements. In Heaven, they have a reputation for age, wisdom and power. His younger angels try to live up to it, tending towards being very serious and very militant. Most of them work in the Muslim world (that is the Middle East, North Africa, Pakistan, Indonesia, Malaysia and parts of India and Southeast Asia). Most use male vessels and all have either male or gender-neutral celestial names. The Quran forbids female names for angels, in an effort to prevent the preservation of pagan goddesses as angels. This means that Khalid's organization tends to come off as rather patiarchal. However, they do use female vessels and Roles as needed, though they will of course never present htemselves to Muslims as angels in this form. Almost all of Khalid's angels speak fluent Arabic, as Arabic is the language of the Quran. All are well-versed in Islam and often other religions as well, regardless of their personal opinions, and they are less likely to use Songs than most angels, as Khalid prefers subtle miracles. In Islam, all are equal before God. Khalid accepts Archangel as a title, but dislikes the word Superior. He commands his angels in God's name, and when they serve him, they do so in recognition of his service to God and the fact that God has seen fit to elevate him. He is not better, only mightier and possibly wiser. By the same token, Khalid does not use ranks. He grants Distinctions for good service, and angels who have them are to be respected, but Khalid puts whatever angel he feels most suitable in charge of operaitons at any given time. It's even possible for an angel to be giving instructions to an angel with a higher Distinction.  Khalid frowns on his angels subdividing themselves. Sectarianism is condemned in the Quran, and while that hasn't stopped Islamic sects from appearing, Khalid will not allow it in his angels. There are no permanent or organized divisions of the Faithful. Some work together for long periods due to overlapping interests or territories, and certainly there are circles of friends, but if a group seems to be forming around an ideology, Khalid reprimands them. He will not endorse any one Islamic sect, though he will permit his angels to follow the practices of whichever suits them best. He is, however, very watchful for sectarian differences causing problems among his angels. They are expected to work together regardless - a Shiite Malakite, Sunni Seraph and Sufi Mercurian may have theological disagreements, but they can't let them get in the way of their duties. Similarly, they may not form associations based on shared doctrines - Khalid will step in to break up these cliques. Despite the lack of hierarchy, the Faithful are disciplined. If Khalid puts one of them in charge of another, the subordinates are to obey without question. While Distinctions do not carry rank, they do bestow respect as signs of Khalid's trust, and respect is deeply important to the Faithful. Angels of Faith that respect someone will follow them to Hell and back. They see the segmentation of the Sword's angels as impersonal and uninspiring arrangements. They may obey others, but will not automatically show respect to outsiders until it is earned. Khalid is both very harsh and very generous. He shows favoritism among his angels, and favored servants will get more allowances made and more generous rewards. To earn and keep his faith, though, they must serve well. They must uphold the ideals of Islam, even if they aren't vocal Muslims (which does help) and they must do good works for faithful humans. Angels that lack faith, zeal and initiative will not be favored. Khalid is exceptionally generous with his favored, ignoring minor transgressions or just scolding them briefly. He especially loves when his angels further the cause of Islam or protect Muslims, when they make a positive image for a religion or discredit secularism or anti-religious movements, or, before his return to Heaven, if they were to embarrass angels of the Sword, though he never explicitly encouraged it. Now, this is likely no longer true, though he still won't get upset over it. Khalid is especially generous with handing out Rites, and is fairly tolerant about losing vessels, as long as they were lost in good faith. Sacrificing your vessel to kill demons or Hellsworn is not only allowed but encouraged. In the past, Khalid only gave Distinctions and Words to Muslim angels, and while he's not quite so prejudiced any more, his ranking angels tend to be. Being a devout Muslim definitely makes life easier among hte Faihtful, and non-Muslims will need to work extra hard to prove themselves. For as generous as he is to those he favors, Khalid is equally harsh to those who displease him. He is free with dissonance as a punishment, far too much for Dominic's tastes. He'll inflict it at the slightest hint of doubt or disobedience. However, he is just as quick to remove it from an angel that is humble and repentant. More disturbing to Dominic is Khalid's habit of Outcasting those that disappoint him. Most Archangels only Outcast their servants when greatly angered or as a last resort. Dominic doesn't like making Outcasts, as they are closer to falling and hard for him to track. Khalid, however, will cast out anyone that openly defies him, seriously damages Islam or who earns dissonance and fails to try to mend their ways. He will take back repentant Outcasts, but regaining his trust is a long, strenuous process of absolute obedience. As a lesser punishment, Khalid is quiock to take artifacts, or even servants and Roles. Gross stupidity or poor judgment that doesn't come with immorality may instead see stripped attunements. Khalid will only kill angels who are openly rebellious and who seem to be inevitably moving towards the Fall, however. Khalid isn't the easiest Archangel to work for. Most of his angels are deeply loyal, but some do lose faith, particularly those that aren't as fervently Muslim. Some are found not good enough even if they are and are cast aside. Other Archangels, even Dominic, tend to be sympathetic to Outcasts of Faith and will often take them back to Heaven if they had minor transgressions only and are sincere in their desire to return to the Host. Many are only satisfied if Khalid will take them back, however, and are treated as any Outcast would be. Other than becoming Outcast and seeking refuge elsewhere, angels of Faith tend to find it easiest to talk to another Archangel about transfer before going to Khalid. Most are sympathetic, and if they ask Khalid for the angel's Heart, Khalid will hand it over easily - he doesn't want faithless servants - but the angel will never again be welcome among his Faithful or in his presence, and all attunements and Rites will be stripped. More rarely, an angel will truly believe they are called to another Word. If they approach Khalid and confess this, he may be angry, disappointed or accepting. Sometimes, he believes, God does in fact direct angels to new purposes, and if he believes this is so, he will transfer the angel without any hard feelings, and even allow them to keep non-Distinction attunements and Rites. Khalid is most likely to react this way to transfers to Fire, and also to angels who remain devoutly Muslim. Khalid is one of the scariest Archangels to go to for Redemption. It'd be suicidal for any demon who lacked unshakeable faith in God, and even then, the old Khalid wouldn't hear them out unless they were willing to become Muslims. Even now, Khalid will react more positively to that. A very, very small amount of demons have been redeemed by Khalid, however, and the survivors are said to have never Fallen back to Hell. It's also said, of course, that no non-Muslim demon has ever survived his redemptions. Khalid is rare - he treats the Redeemed as newborn angels, with no bias. The act of surviving Redemption is proof of their sincerity - to make them prove themselves again would be a lack of faith. Not all of his angels share this view, but they will not openly discriminate against the former Fallen anywhere he might notice. Khalid has many Soldiers, and many more mundane humans that serve him, knowingly or unknowingly. Almost all of them are Muslims. Historically, he has recruited heavily from militant Muslim groups, and he keeps an eye on all Muslim Soldiers, even those serving other Archangels. He has counted terrorists as followers, and now struggles over whether he can still use them to legitimate ends, change their focus without making them feel betrayed or if he must entirely dissociate from them. He has told his angels to increase their recruitment efforts, particularly outside the Middle East and among other religions. Khalid considers humans the most important part of the War and superior to angels, so he will rarely bind them to service to an angel and will expect angels not to impose their will on their servants unless truly required. Likewise, Khalid believes that all are equal before God and does not allow his angels to segregate by Choir. He views inter-Choir rivalries as similar to racial disharmony and does not tolerate it in his presence. Seraphim of Faith are masters of the understated truth. They can't lie, but can wilfully omit or imply things, and they tend to be better at it than other Seraphim. They have a reputation for wisdom and being enigmatic, diverting mortals with crypticness and riddles. Many adopt Sufi Roles, as Sufi sects tend to be more flexible theologically, allowing them to speak Truthfully about their thoughts on religion. They also like Sunni Islam, due to its rule by community consensus guided by the sunnah, which they see as a reflection of the Seraphim Council. They test the faithful for sincerity, and those that lack faith will not pass their tests. Nothing outrages them more than those who use religion to deceive or those who pretend to belief. Cherubim of Faith guard individuals chosen by Khalid, including any important Muslim holy men and especially Muslim prophets. They also guard important mosques and holy sites. Besides physical protection, they are also often sent to bolster those with wavering faith. They will know if their attuned is losing faith and will try to prevent it. They work to ensure that mothers, teachers, clergy and others whose faith can influence many never lose sight of God's blessings. Most are Sunni Muslims, it being the religion of the majority, which they find reassuring. Ofanim of Faith look for couples who have met and fallen in love already, then work to bring them together. They do not bring strangers together - Khalid doesn't approve of abrogating God's will that way. Because love respects no social or religious boundary, these Ofanim sometiems conflict with Islamic law. The Quran says that romantic desire outside of marriage is sinful and that Muslim women cannot marry non-Muslims. (Muslim men can but are discouraged from marrying Jews or Christians.) Homosexuality is also prohibited. The Ofanim of Faith don't care - they encourage any true and faithful love. They tend to be the least devout Muslims of Faith, and in fact the majority of non-Muslims serving Khalid are Ofanim. They have a poor reputation with his other angels as a result, but they also have less trouble dealing with non-Muslims. Ofanim who are Muslims tend to be Shiite, as it is dynamic and passionate in worship. Elohim of Faith are relatively rare, thanks to the tightrope they have to walk between faith in the unprovable, adherence to the Quran and objectivity. Most resolve it by blindly obeying Khalid, which makes subjectivity moot. These Elohim tend to be strict Sunnis, favoring Wahhabism (the Saudi fundamentalist brand of Sunni Islam). They serve as Khalid's judges and enforcers of orthodoxy. A smaller group, however, are more philosophical. Most are still Muslims, but tend to be less literal in their reading of the Quran and more tolerant and encouraging of other faiths. They might be Isma'ili or even members of heterodox Muslim faiths like the Ahmadiya or Sikhs. (Are the Sikhs even technically Muslims? I don't think they'd describe themselves that way.) They tend to be viewed with suspicion by their more conservative peers, but are good at working with non-Muslims. They also make excellent proselytizers, thanks to their rational approach to faith, and tend to be better at converting people to Islam than their more fundamentalist brethren.  Malakim of Faith are fervent and uncompromising. Most are fanatical Muslims, though they don't tend to any one sect. Some are Sunni, some Shia, and they've also historically supported the Khawarij, Qarmatians, Isma'ilis, Mutazilites and every other militant splinter group. Khalid's Malakim are his mujaahidun, his holy warriors, eager to wage jihad against unbeleivers, demons and even heretic angels. If a Malakite converts to a specific religion, they take their faith as seriously as any vow, even if they aren't technically oathbound. Malakim of Faith do not need to be intolerant fanatics, but many are allied with terrorist groups. Khalid used to encourage it, and now he's having trouble bringing the more ardent Malakim back into line. Next time: It just keeps fuckin' going
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Jan 30, 2016 20:09
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Well, Islam makes sense for angels - Islam is explicit in that nonhumans can become Muslims, and talks about Muslim angels and djinn. Christian angels, presumably, believe that Christ was divine, even if he didn't die for them. Just because they weren't saved by Christ doesn't mean they might not want to venerate him. (As for whether Christ was actually divine in In Nomine, it is canonically ineffable and cannot be proven either way if he was a Prophet or the Son of God.) Jewish angels...would be difficult because Judaism is defined in part by parentage, but they could theoretically convert. I don't think there's a particular track record of Judaic angel lore saying the angels obeyed the rules of Judaism, but then you get stuff like Ha-Satan, the Accusing Angel, who would make for a particularly good Jew. Overall, I imagine that the angels of Sharia, Talmudic Law and Canon Law are all servants of Judgment that follow a specific religion and probably share service with Khalid or Laurence for the first and third. (There is no specific patron of Judaism, but if I had to pick one it'd probably be David or Michael.)
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Jan 30, 2016 20:12
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I don't know why, but I just really can't imagine Belial calling anyone "raghead", even an archangel. Nybbas, sure, because he's the id of human media, but it seems strange to me to have the demon prince of fire just belt out a human slur out of nowhere, even if it's against someone he absolutely hates. EDIT: I felt the same way when he called Gabriel a bitch. Maybe I'm just too used to archaic-style demons. 
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Jan 30, 2016 21:18
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I really wanted to give Khalid a chance, and I tend to be pretty generous in the goodwill I extend towards supposedly insensitive material in RPGs. But Khalid supporting terrorists, hating Female Gabriel, and almost becoming the Demon Prince of Fanaticism is a little too  even for me. Come on, In Nomine, you can be better than this.
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Jan 30, 2016 21:24
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Was this something preserved or changed from the French version?
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Jan 30, 2016 21:37
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Probably changed, Khalid got introduced in the metaplot adventure cycle which was long after the core was released, and little after the core had anything to do with the French.
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Jan 30, 2016 21:38
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Fossilized Rappy posted:I don't know why, but I just really can't imagine Belial calling anyone "raghead", even an archangel. Nybbas, sure, because he's the id of human media, but it seems strange to me to have the demon prince of fire just belt out a human slur out of nowhere, even if it's against someone he absolutely hates. Despite his penchant for snazzy suits, Belial is the shithead prince. Even Haagenti is classier than he is, and Haagenti's idea of fine dining is a pallet of canned chocolate frosting.
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Jan 30, 2016 22:23
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Superiors 3: Faith Is A Pornstar Name, Isn't It Kyriotates of Fire inspire faith, but the temporary faith they cause must be nurtured. Otherwise, it lasts only a few minutes. They don't just cause it at random, preferring to work longterm with a single group or person. They usually choose those that need faith, then work hard to set things up to help them gain it for real. Their attunement is just lighting a match - they need to prepare fuel to make it last, and protect the flame of faith. They arrange good luck and subtle blessings, possess friend and family, and ruthlessly manipulate people to benefit those they choose to give faith to. They rarely possess the actual subject, because it's hard to instill faith when your target's mind is in the Marches, and also it risks exposing their presence. While most are good and faithful Muslims, they tend not to care too much about doctrine, and most are moderate Sunnis. They actually tend to work quite well with Cherubim of Faith. Mercurians of Faith are peacemakers, working to iron out disputes in the Muslim community, keep families together and identify bad influences. They have trouble becoming fanatically orthodox, but are often very knowledgeable on theology, to help find a happy medium between viewpoints. Many are Sufi, the more humanistic face of Islam, and act as Khalid's ambassadors. They gain Essence by causing 'miracles,' but these miracles must inspire faith in God, not the angel. It'd be easy to use their powers to do parlor tricks, but Khalid punishes that very harshly. Everything should be credited to God. Only a few angels of Faith are long in Heaven, and most of them work in the Mosque. They tend to be Cherubim doing maintenance or watching over those in Trauma. A few also serve as muezzins calling to prayer. They do little else. Recently, though, Khalid has sent a few angels to memorize the copies of the Quran, Bible and other scriptures in Yves' Library, to research the history of religion and Heaven. He has not said what he's looking for or why, and it's rumored that he's also been sending more angels to visit Gabriel's Volcano. Khalid remains intolerant of ethereals, but he doesn't dedicate much time to hunting them. Most paganism has already been purged from Muslim lands, so it's hard for ethereals to attract his attention. Other than hunting these rare intruders, angels of Faith have no real reason to visit the Marches. A few Cherubim and Kyriotates monitor dreams as part of their work, though. 90% of Khalid's angels are on Earth in the Middle East or other Muslim areas. They try to keep Western materialism out, sometimes violently, even if it means keeping these nations undeveloped. Others are more progressive, wanting to modernize but not Westernize. All of them help others and promote selflessness while opposing selfish values and demons. They are unique in being so concentrated in one area and on one religion. Most are teachers, defenders or warriors. The teachers, or ussatithun, are to lead by word and deed, demonstrating the ideals of Islam as a model to humans. They must be doctrinally correct and pure, and may serve as actual teachers, or sometimes mullahs, judges, cops, writers or even housewives. Seraphim and Elohim are often doing this job, as are Kyriotates and Mercurians. Defenders, or Mudaafi'un, are more aggressive in defending Khalid's interests. They are sent where Islam or Faith are threatneed, sometimes physically, as Cherubim to guard holy men or mosques, or to defend the Islamic way of life and screen out corruption and secular influence. They often view themselves as defending Islam from Westernism, atheism and/or secular humanism, but some also specifically hunt out demonic influence, as demons are quite active in the Middle East. (Some are so overzealous that they've been known to treat other angels as threats.) Cherubim are most common, but Seraphim and Elohim also work as social guardians, as do Kyriotates and Mercurians. Malakim are only sent in when their violence won't cause problems. Warriors, or Mujaahidun, go beyond defense. They fight a jihad against the enemies of Faith, and often the enemies of Islam. Some stand ready to respond to calls for help from the defenders, while others go look for trouble. Some teach humans to fight evil and recruit Soldiers, others fight demons and infidels. Angels of Faith fought with the Afghanis against the Soviets and the Palestinians against Israel. Most of them are Malakim and Cherubim, but Ofanim are not uncommon, either.  About 10 percent of Khalid's angels work in the West. Most work with Muslim communities there, but also work as missionaries to convert others. They tend to be the more tolerant of his angels. Others, a smaller amount, work directly with non-Muslims. Some support other religions directly, some are missionaries, and some spread faith of any kind they can. These angels include messengers and ambassadors, often Ofanim and Mercurians, as well as those rare angels temporarily serving another Archangel, most often Michael or David but occasionally Gabriel, Yves or even Laurence. Khalid's angels fight against atheism, commercialism, materialism, humanism and many other common Western values. Not all are fervent Muslims, but all agree that humans need faith in God and that these secular values erode that faith. Most still seep rogress as necessary, though, realizing that blind faith will ultimately weaken the faithful and that Islam must coexist. What makes their job harder, though, is that Khalid more than any other Archangel has adopted one religion as his party line. Even Laurence, who supports Christianity in general and Catholicism in particular, does not confine himself solely to Christian interests. Khalid, though, has historically ignored anything that didn't touch Muslims. It's been hard, for those Faithful that saw merit in other religions, and harder for those who realized how close Khalid came to a Fall. Most passed these trials with their faith in Khalid and now feel vindicated, but some became demoralized Outcasts, Some even Fell, and now work with Muslims for Hell. What has kept the others going is not just loyalty, but faith in God. They know God is watching them, helping htem when needed, and that He is in control. Their destinies lie in His hands. Angels of Faith usually come off as holy and exceptionally devout, even if they aren't Muslims. The cynical and doubting do not last long in Khalid's service. They may be dogmatic, fanatical, intolerant or violent, but all feel fulfilled by their fervor. Even Judges can be unsettled by the genuine feeling that the angels of Faith have for what most angels simple believe.   The angels of Khalid tend to see those not among their ranks as 'infidels.' During Khalid's self-imposed exile, his angels became very insular and somewhat defensive, earning a poor reputaiton with the Host. Most were not so fanatical as Khalid, but still fanatics by Heaven's standards. Their acceptance of Islam as Truth and their hostility to the things other Archangels promoted can make them hard to deal with. Khalid's attitude has tended to view other angels as People of the Book - misguided and wrong, but servants of God that can be virtuous. Now, he is encouraging his angels to be more cooperative, but there's still a culture clash. Angels of Fire tend to be most respected, due to serving God's Divine Prophet. Angels of David, Michael and Yves are shown respect and can even be friendly, though most Faithful are more suspicious of Yves than Khalid is, given his lack of vocal support for Gabriel and Islam, at least to their liking. Angels of the Sword used to be rivals, particularly in the Crusades, and while hostilities were always forbidden and they'd team up against outside threats, there was no real love there. Now, Khalid requires full and wholehearted cooperation with the Sword, and many angels are having trouble with the transition, while many Sword angels are wary. Khalid is particularly hostile to Dominic, as are his angels. The Judges in the Middle East often feel beset by fanatics, and they are much less intimidating to angels who surround and outnumber them massively and have an Archangel that ignores their desires. Khalid has instructed his angels to nominally acknowledge Judgment's authority, but they very clearly don't respect the Inquisition and see Khalid as a higher authority. Some even bait the Judges, especially Christian Judges. At times, Dominic has had to intervene personally, which does not endear the Faithful to him. Dominic and his angels see Khalid as obnoxious and troublesome, though less so now that Khalid has returned. Still, they tend to prepare for the worst, and the more vindictive Judges like to turn the tables on those Faithful that leave Khalid's turf, showing them what it feels like to be surrounded by unfriendly and uncooperative angels.     Next time: Destiny also sounds like a porno name
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Jan 30, 2016 23:03
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AmiYumi posted:Isn't that whole "Slendergjaum" thing more of an overt reference to Bleach? Like, I've only seen three or four scattered episodes, but I remember seeing dudes (evil twins?) that look like Hot Topic barfed up a mime. That sounds like Hollow Ichigo, who in DX terms is the anthropomorphic personification of your Renegade strain telling you how awesome it would be to become a Gjaum. Or something like that. His true nature gets more confusing and contradicting everytime he shows up. Alien Rope Burn posted:Yeah, it always struck me as a reference to Bleach's Hollows and Ichigo's Hollow form. And Ouroboros' shtick of copying/stealing powers is something the villains of the last two arcs have been done in some form or another. Though I'm not sure whether or not the book was originally released before or after the Evil Soul Germans showed up. It probably is a Bleach reference, but calling it Slendergjaum has me avoid thinking about Bleach, because Ichigo plus going Berserk brings me back to that time he went SSJ3 out of nowhere during some weird power-up arms race with an emo who also looked like if Hot Topic barfed up a mime. (Man, how awesome would it be to have a DX Anime that's like the first Bleach Arc, when it was just about highschool students wrecking monsters with weird powers and the plot still gave a poo poo about their normal life?) JesterOfAmerica posted:Truly Bugs Bunny is the greatest power in the world Even Rambo can learn a thing or two about body counts from Bugs. Doresh fucked around with this message at 00:40 on Jan 31, 2016 |
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Jan 30, 2016 23:12
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I think my interpretation of Khalid would be to remove his near-Fall and make him far more empathetic with people - say, make his attitude towards Dominic along the lines of "A difficult Word indeed to bear. Fear not, Dominic, the day will come when you will lay down the burden you have carried for so long." He may not like Dominic, and indeed may hate him personally, but also have faith in Dominic and his part in God's plan.
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Jan 31, 2016 00:24
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Stereotypes sections like this are a great way to make characters/splats look like petty jerks that nobody is going to want to associate with, because they seem to invariably bog down in your snap judgments about random people/groups. Really, the only good ones are the ones that have the sense to only include the relationships that they actually have something intriguing to say something about.
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Jan 31, 2016 00:29
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True, but I was just using that as an example of how I think I'd interpret and portray Khalid: the Archangel of Faith, a being with infinite goodwill towards others and a resolute belief that there is a spark of genuine goodness in everyone. His wrath might be terrible when someone betrays the faith he has freely given them, but even then he doesn't lose hope in the other. Being a grumpy, judgmental person who is liked by almost no one but who is nevertheless a devout and whole-hearted servant of God and good when the chips are down is territory already pretty well covered by the likes of Dominic, Michael, and from the sounds of him, Jean.
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Jan 31, 2016 00:43
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Superiors 3: Destined for Greatness Yves, we will recall, is the Archangel of Destiny, the first created soul and has no Choir at all. He may not even be an angel. He has taken on the duties of Knowledge since the death of Raphael, having held them before her creation. He is quiet, rational and philosophical, and only Michael truly is hostile towards him. Bright Lilim of Destiny know whether fulfilling a resonance-detected Need will lead their subject towards their destiny, fate or neither, though they do not know why. The Akashic Record allows you tp spend 5 Essence to get the answer to any one question about the past or present. The question must be simple, direct and answerable in three words or less, though proper names count as only one word no matter how long they are. You must have a minute to quietly concentrate to use this. Forgetful Words allows you to whisper in someone's ear and make a Will roll. If you succeed, the target forgets utterly ever meeting you for (CD) days, starting the second you leave their vision. After that period, they will remember only vague and fleeting impressions, easily dismissed as dreams or deja vu, so long as they never see you again. If they do, a successful Perception roll reveals all the memories. For 1 Essence, you may also implant a simple message or suggestion in a human psyche, such as 'spend more time with the kids' or 'forgive Dad', resisted by Will. Library Card prevents you from being kept from recorded knowledge. Private stacks, Interpol databases, it doesn't matter. All mundane security effectively does not exist for you. Guards will wave you in, doors are unlocked, any password you try is the correct one and so on. Past Lives is a rare attunement, allowing you to touch someone and see their existence in its totality. If the target has reincarnated, you see a montage of images and memories of their past lives, centering on key moments when they turned from their destiny or fate, binding themselves to Earth. You have no way of knowing which choices led away from which path, but will understand the target better and where their destiny might lie. You may also use this ability on Saints or the undead, but it costs 3 Essence. Right of Passage is an attunement given only to angels that earn it, allowing them to spend 6 Essence to use a Gateway linking the Library to any repository of knowledge. Returning to the point of entrance is free. This ability is otherwise limited to Yves and the pure of heart, and any angel that earns this must be similarly pure. For every additional point of Essence spent, you can bring another person with you, but if they stray from your presence, they become lost. This attunement can only be used to go to the Library and back. Synchronicity allows you to concentrate for a moment and spend 3 Essence to appear where you are most needed. This does not cause any Disturbance despite the Essence cost. You have no control over where you appear, nor do you know why or what you must do. The GM will usually send you to within the same city, however. Yves' library contains every Song ever known, but only Yves can find them. He has been known to teach the Songs of Symphony, Correspondence, Daydreams and Fruition, and certainly knows several lost Songs. Yves grants two higher Distinctions: Scholar and Philosopher. Neither gets any special powers, but both tend to come with unique Rites. They are considered of equal rank and are both equivalent to honored university leaders. Some angels do have both titels. The higher you are in the ranks, though, the less you go to Earth. Expanded Rites: 1. Spend an hour writing in a journal. 2. Spend 6 hours walking a city's streets, witnessing the Symphony unfold. 3. Engage in a game of chance, not for profit, in order to understand randomness and how it impacts destiny. 4. Read the same book in at least five languages. 5. Help a mortal solve an enigma or recover some fragment of recorded knowledge thought lost, entirely via mundane means. Common Destiny Malakim Oaths: 1. Never assume a course of action is the right one until all possibilities are evaluated. Act on reason, not instinct. 2. Never use weapons; they encourage rash actions. 3. Accept the possibility of forgiveness. 4. Never allow someone to reject destiny without confronting them. 5. Judge people for their present actions, not their past. 6. Show others the error of their ways, not through violence but through reason, understanding, and compassion. 7. Never let someone reject destiny because of pride or fear. 8. Fight only if I must, and not for glory or pride. Yves was the namer of God, and of all things. Every creature, celestial or otherwise, comprehends his name intrinsically. Yves is the name that best defines him, and all know it. He manifests as an elderly man with gray hair, blue eyes and wire glasses. He has no other form, but all see him differently. The basics are constant, but the details vary. To some, he's a kindly grandfather, and to others, a regal head of state. Only has clothing has changed with time. In the Roman era, he prefered the robes of philosophers and oracles, and in the Middle Ages, he preferred a monk's habit. Today, he likes slightly wrinkled tweed sports jackets and slacks. He is the definition of a gentleman scholar, his emotions always in check. He never says anything but nice things, and he is reserved and prefers to only drop hints to let others reach their own conclusions. He never forces his opinions on others. Some have accused him of manipulation by his silence and crypticness, but he understands that the Symphony moves in mysterious ways, and even the most enigmatic or dubious motive reveals its purpose eventually, with faith. Yves' Word, in many ways, is the Symphony. He understands that without Destiny and the hope of it and without the fear of Fate, there could not be a Symphony. These two constants are required for its existence, else even God would be in lifeless stasis, forever frozen in potentiality. When Yves saw reality for the first time, he understood that just as it began, it must someday end. That is what gave him the realization of the core of Fate and Destiny. One would end the Symphony in despair, the other make it something more. Without hesitation, he took on the job of shepherding and protecting Destiny, that which is best and brightest for the Symphony. Destiny is universal. Each aspect of the world has a part to play, and Yves' job is to make sure that potential happens. Destiny is not a thing or an idea, but both, and more. It is at the root of the Symphony, that which set it all in motion, the divine spark. More conretely, the Word is about guiding the Symphony and ensuring that Light wins over Darkness. Unlike other Archangels, Yves knows that the actions of mortals define Destiny. It is fragile and delicate, unable to be forced or manipulated. Destiny can only be chosen. Angels with the best intentions have turned others from their destiny to their fate by interfering with free will. Destiny must blossom on its own. It can be sheltered and protected, but cannot grow except by its own power. Everyone must choose their own path. Destiny is more than letting what is meant to be happen, though. Choices can't be forced, but they can be made out of education. Without awareness of all possibilities, there is no Destiny. That is why Yves is the Giver of Names and why his angels are Heaven's scholars. It's not enough to follow the less-traveled path - they must know where both paths lead and why. More important than even knowledge, though, is faith. Without it, Yves would not have the confidence to allow events to unfold as they should, knowing that God's will will be done. The Symphony is both aware and self-aware. Everything is part of it, and it dances, it lives. When Yves was given the task of naming the Symphony's awareness, he named it God. From time to time, God manifests as a single perspective and single Voice, resonating with truth. This is enough to send even an Archangel weeping with joy, an overwhelming ecstasy of experience, and Yves holds that this is what it is constantly like in the Higher Heavens, where God is always visible. Why God first manifested is a mystery. Some demons say the Symphony was lonely so it fragmented itself. They point out that until the Fall, it was still lonely, and is probably happier now that the War has two sides. But they are demons. For whatever reason, God did manifest, creating within Himself a consciousness to look upon Himself, and that was Yves. Yves named God in turn and looked God in the eye. What came was less the story of Destiny and more the birth of the cosmos. Yves was there to name Heaven as it was made, and each layer of reality above and below. He named Michael, the first angel, and each Choir. He named Man and gave the first Words. Yves is part of God. Everything is part of God, as God is the Symphony, but in another sense, Yves is more than just the Archangel that speaks to God - he is God manifest. It's not quite so simple - in the Higher Heavens, all have greater oneness with the Symphony. Yves, however, was the first to have such a place, and he chose to come down and stay with the angels. They don't understand why, but that's fine - their understanding of Yves is no more complete than man's understand of angels.   God is concerned with destiny on all leevels, including the Divbine. It is a mistake to hold that Good or Evil apply to Him, or that He is one or the other. Yves created this words to simplify the initial understanding of how things work, and these terms outlive their usefulness when you move to the next step. The truth is that the entire Symphony has a destiny and a fate, and they depend on the destiny and fate of every smaller thing within it. That's where Yves comes in. He is God's destiny, working to complete himself, while Kronos is a warped and damaged manifestation of God's fate, trying to drag himself down. Yves turned to religion in the earliest days to try and keep everyone's destinies safe. As the Host grew and learned about humans, they did so via the channels made by religion, a natural interface between divine and mundane. Some of the wilder spirits reveled in the idea, and cults and faiths of all kinds flourished and fought. What was meant to be a teaching tool was twisted by selfishness and ignorance to justify hatred, war and atrocity, and each new attempt just complicated things. Islam was Yves' last major attempt to teach humanity via religion. Not only did humans use it to fight each other, but the Archangels themselves were torn apart by it. Most of this took place in the younger days of the Council, and while young angels see those periods as errors of Yves, Archangels and humanity. The trouble is, many angels like to talk about how everything's a reflection of God, but forget how true that really is. The Symphony learns, and it was learning then, just as it is now. Yves is an island of pleasance in the strained relations of the Seraphim Council. He treats all angels as friends, and all angels but Michael see him as a benevolent mentor. Meeting him is an experience in casual awe. He is easy to like. Unlike Kronos, who cares only for the powerful and significant, Yves cares about everyone. iterally everyone. Anyone talking to them gets a sense of it, but also a tiny hint of distraction. Yves' mind is busy at all times. He is the greatest of optimists, seeing the best in everyone, even seeing things they do not see themselves. He always uses the names people are most comfortable being addressed by, and he loves talking about any subject. He knows everything that is written down, but also knows that every living memory has unique experiences and valuable lessons, and he adores learning more. Yves works mysteriously. He does not expend resources on key humans or conflicts, but works across a broad spectrum of thought and learning, to help humans better htemselves. He does the same with angels, every bit as subtly. He understands that destiny can't be forced. It is gradual, a process of learning and maturation. Yves tries to nurture, not drive, and his tools are insight and inspiration. His priorities and methods have shifted over time. Before Islam, he was equally ocncerned with knowledge and names, but acted more overtly, trying to inspire by awareness of the Divine. Now, he is focused more on human self-awareness and awareness of each other. Before the Fall, there was only destiny. Fate existed only as dark potential, actualized by Lucifer's selfish act. The Fall was both a surprise and not a surprise to Yves. He know it had the potential to exist, but he never expected the Symphony to truly shcism into fate and rebellion. It was incomprehensible. To Yves, the War is all about destiny and that final choice that wil end the universe as it is now. Regardless of what Laurence or Michael thing, Yves is deeply involved in the War, tending to the Symphony via the actions of individuals and their choices. He is now focused on preparing his angels and all of humanity for the next millenium. Lucifer's forces seem to be winning, and even Yves is nervous. He knows, however, that all beginnings spring from the ashes of the old. The Symphony is changing and adapting, and what is needed are patience and understanding. Yves knows that rash action harms, denying wisdom and judgment and blinding faith with hubris. These may not be the end times, but they are difficult ones, and Yves wants others to be understanding and patient. Destiny can take pain and sacrifice, and events must unfold even if they seem harmful. No one can judge God's plan. Yves sees God in all things. He knows God exists. He sees himself as a messenger, a manifestation of God's abstract Divinity. He understands that he's more the medium for the message - he is the message. He is also the messenger to God, who sees and hears all that Yves does and sees. Did Yves make God by naming Him? Some would say yes, and it's rather a chicken-egg argument. The issue is debated hotly in Heaven and Hell, and it's clear to everyone that there is a God, beyond even Yves' comprehension. Perhaps at the moment of creation, Yves lost the ability to understand God and became a separate entity, a part of God rather than the whole, unable to exist outside itself. Perhaps these questions are meant to make people aware they are part of a larger reality. Yves refuses to comment. It is wrong to say that Yves doesn't play politics, but he plays them differently. It is not widely understood that Yves is, in a sense, God manifest, but it is understood that he talks to God. If you want to talk to God, you tell Yves. Since hte Islam incident, however, Yves is careful not to get too involved in angelic politics, trying to be detached. The truth is, though, he still profoundly affects the Archangels, who see him as a mentor and companion. They don't understand his motives, and while he is approachable, he is vexing. The militant Archangels especialyl worry over his motives, though only Michael openly criticizes Yves. The wounds over the perseuction of Gabriel still run deep there. Even Dominic, who sees Yves as the epitome of wisdom, worries about Destiny's laissez-faire attitude toward the Fallen and Redeemed. Still, Dominic does not question Yves. He has faith. As for Hell, Yves is confusing, and many demons fear him deeply because they cannot even begin to understand him. Next time: Opinions, like assholes.
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Jan 31, 2016 01:31
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Cythereal posted:True, but I was just using that as an example of how I think I'd interpret and portray Khalid: the Archangel of Faith, a being with infinite goodwill towards others and a resolute belief that there is a spark of genuine goodness in everyone. His wrath might be terrible when someone betrays the faith he has freely given them, but even then he doesn't lose hope in the other. Yeah, it would also probably help if they didn't use the worst possible definition of "faith."
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Jan 31, 2016 01:41
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JesterOfAmerica posted:Truly Bugs Bunny is the greatest power in the world Well... yeah, he is. Even Wil E Coyote got the Jesus treatment in the Animal Man issue The Coyote Gospels. The modern Trickster - Bugs Bunny, The Mask, your average comedy hero - is that powerful since most stories about them have them constantly winning. Which is fine and awesome in media centered around them, but when you put them in a shared RPG universe you get... Kobal, or FishMalks. I feel like the Trickster both needs to exist by UA's internal logic - it's one of the most obvious Archtypes - and should be kept at arm's length from the setting. Unless you've got Bill Murray or somebody that good in your group, make it NPC only... hell even then use it sparingly, if it all. If you really, truly need to shake up a campaign toss a Trickster in. Otherwise, nobody knows who they are or if they even exist. Maybe they're the Comte or something. In Nomine... man, I want to make a DJ Khalid joke but going from Demonic Media Mogul to bad views on Islam is such whiplash. Khalid has a point that every angel has supported dodgy things, but the game doesn't seem to view it that way.
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Jan 31, 2016 01:47
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On the other hand, I quite like Yves' first outing.
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Jan 31, 2016 01:52
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Yves seems nice, but I have little patience for people being cryptic at me in games. Also, I'm looking foreward to the section where it describes what Angels of Destiny actually do in a game.
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Jan 31, 2016 02:01
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quote:Almost all of Khalid's angels speak fluent Arabic, as Arabic is the language of the Quran. Does this mean that Angels (and Demons) can't speak all human languages by default? That seems odd, since in the Bible they could speak and everybody listening would hear them in their own language. I get that Biblical Rome and the Middle East were more multilingual than modern America, but restricting Angels to one language just seems odd. Like how in oWoD you needed a bunch of dots in Linguistics to learn a few languages.
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Jan 31, 2016 02:08
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Angels only get one human language free. Other than that, they have to take them as skills or learn the Corporeal Song of Tongues.
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Jan 31, 2016 02:10
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Ratoslov posted:Yves seems nice, but I have little patience for people being cryptic at me in games. Also, I'm looking foreward to the section where it describes what Angels of Destiny actually do in a game. Keep poo poo Together. Yves dirty secret is that his supernatural calm and contentment is an illusion; he's seen the signs (at least the part that God lets him see) and the ultimate destiny of the universe, and it all tells him that Everything is hosed and We're All Going to Die. But he holds out hope that, if he stays positive, if he remains an ocean of calm amongst other the maelstrom of the War, that maybe at least *something* will work out. So he and his angels do what they can to maintain that calm. Reduce infighting between the Archangels. Make sure that signs of prophecy are fulfilled and that people think everything's ok, even when it's not. Power of Positive Thinking. Keep poo poo Together.
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Jan 31, 2016 02:11
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Or when people talk about God working in Mysterious Ways, the Angels of Destiny are the Ways in question. Or play Paul Atreides. See and comprehend all possible futures, do whatever is necessary to guide the universe towards the best possible future.
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Jan 31, 2016 02:18
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Mors Rattus posted:Angels only get one human language free. Other than that, they have to take them as skills or learn the Corporeal Song of Tongues. I'd give them all the Song of Tongues for free, but that just reflects my personal religious upbringing.
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Jan 31, 2016 02:22
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  Chapter 2: Organic Rule Components Hoodoo Blues posted:In traditional (what some would call ‘simulationist’) role playing, which is what ORC was designed for, players each take the role of a character and the GM takes the role of the rest of the universe. When a player says his or her character does something, the GM decides what the logical result of that action would be. (E.g. “I throw a rock at the window.” “The window shatters.”) This chapter is mostly a rundown of things that we already know, just in more detail. What rolls are connected to an attribute rather than a skill, how health attributes and damage to them works, etc. Other parts, like combat, are so similar to actual d20 system mechanics that it almost seems pointless to cover them just because ORC has slightly different terms. To avoid just skimming over the content of chapter 2 entirely, I will at least briefly go over noteworthy rules first covered by it rather than somewhere in chapter 1. Shocking and Distracting Pain Effectively two specific forms of Willpower roll, but worthy of going over at least briefly given that they are mentioned but not covered a lot during chapter 1. Shocking Pain is a sudden, unexpected pain, like being stabbed or touching an open flame. If you fail your Willpower roll against Shocking Pain by 1 to 9, you lose your next offensive action, while failing it by 10 or more means you lose both your next offensive and defensive action (effectively losing a turn). Distracting Pain is instead a pain that lingers after it first appears, like a headache. You make a roll at the onset of the pain that affects your reaction for however long the pain lasts. However much you fail your Willpower roll by is how much you get a penalty to skill rolls and conscious actions. So a failure by 2 is a -2 penalty, by 3 a -3 penalty, etc. Armor Rules Long has the debate raged over whether armor as damage avoidance or armor as damage reduction should be used in specific roleplaying games. Everybody wins in Hoodoo Blues, though, as you get both! Armor Rating reflects how much coverage your defenses have, with an attack roll (either a combat action, which we'll cover in a moment, or d20 + relevant combat skill + relevant attribute for combat directly related to a skill) that bypasses the AR meaning that you avoid the armor entirely and make it irrelevant for the attack. AR goes from 3 for torso-only armor up to 20 for bomb suits and other full coverage materials. Assuming you don't bypass the AR, Protection Rating comes in. PR is damage reduction, meaning that your attack damage is reduced accordingly. Non-Standard Damage and Symptoms Bladed and blunt damage aren't the only ways to be hurt, of course. Some are merely alterations of those two primary forms of damage, such as skid damage being both bladed and blunt damage that increases by one point for each 20 Speed a character is moving as they slide down rough terrain or ragged damage being bladed damage that also also forces a cumulative -5 to saves to avoid contracting disease with each point of damage, while others follow their own rules. The following are some of the more unique ones.
Combat While a lot of the terminology Hoodoo Blues uses for combat (Initiative, rounds, etc.) should be familiar to those who know standard d20 systems, the actual implementation in ORC is worth at least a few brief notes. Initiative is based on Awareness plus Intelligence rather than Dexterity, a full round is a half a second rather than six seconds, and a round only consists of a single offensive action and a single defensive reaction/reaction per person. Combat Actions and Reactions These are what other games might call combat maneuvers or combat feats, as well as a few things that are their own stats in d20 systems. There are twenty offensive combat actions and six defensive reactions, each of which is achieved through a specific combination of attributes plus a d20 roll, with a certain difficulty class to bypass. Some specific examples include the following:
 Chapter 3: The South Southern History An in-depth history of the Deep South from 1800 to the 1860s, as well as a few minor paragraphs on the 1970s to today. What is covered is covered very thoroughly: on top of a look at all that history, there are special sections for matters such as French interactions with the South, the daily life of a slave, the daily life of a Civil War soldier, the Underground Railroad, and the Tuskegee Airmen. While it's hard to attempt to sum up a reading of real world history for a thread about roleplaying games, but suffice to say my readthroughs didn't spy anything out of order. A fair warning should be given that the book is very much unflinching and graphic in this section as well, with actual photos of things such as decaying Civil War battlefield corpses and a slave's back that has been whipped so badly it looks like he was repeatedly ripped into by a big cat rather than any human-made device. Subjects including the fact that states' rights were concerned mainly with the right to own slaves, the fact that the Choctaw people and other Native American groups desperately threw in their lot with the Confederacy, and the issues of inner cities suffering economic disruption due to the White Flight of the 70s are also openly discussed rather than excused or ignored. Southern Culture All about a general view of the South as a cultural entity. I'll try to give at least a little note on each smaller segment of this section, even if not all parts are equally interesting to share in a review rather than read because you want to read it. Southern Manners and Southern Accents: This segment covers the honor codes of Antebellum men and women, as well as the accents of various parts of the Deep South. A bit less interesting than the start of the chapter, unless you really like seeing the quirks of Appalachian, Cajun, and New Orleans accents written out. Southern Religion: A discussion of religion, of course. The chapter is divided up into the three main forms of Protestantism in the South (Southern Baptism, black-derived Protestantism, and Appalachian Pentecostalism), Catholicism, and spiritualist churches. While not directly tied to the supernatural, several of these religions intersect with it nonetheless. While black Protestants and spiritualist churches often intersect with hoodoo and Catholicism is involved in Louisiana voodoo, it's also noteworthy that Appalachian Pentecostals believe that the power of God protects them from poisons and venomous serpents. And really, who's to say they're wrong about that in the world of Hoodoo Blues? Southern Food: Fried food, seafood, soul food, and a collection of other eatings. Southern Music: As was probably made obvious in the fact that it was an active part of character creation, music is considered to be a very important part of Southern culture by Hoodoo Blues. Multiple paragraphs are dedicated to gospel music, jazz, the blues, country music, bluegrass, Cajun and Zydeco music, rock and roll, southern rock, and southern rap. Race Relations: Not as overtly bad as in the past, but could be a lot better. Southern Politics: Blue Dog Democrats still exist, but the Southern Strategy worked well enough that most of the South is made up of red states. Crime and Justice: This section starts out with a foot pretty sternly in the past, courtesy of discussing vigilante justice. Colonel Charles Lynch and the favored method of vigilante killing named after him get a spotlight, as well as mob mentality and the nature of prejudiced and flawed vigilante "justice" in the South of yore. Also noted are duels and feuds over honor, complete with an entire seven step guide to the etiquette of a 19th Century pistol duel. Linking the past and the present together are discussions of bygone and contemporary thoughts on gambling, chain gangs and prison labor, moonshiners, and organized crime. Southern Architecture: More about shotgun houses, Greek Revival artistry, and wrought iron than you can shake a protractor at.  Southern Peoples In case you forgot that this is a book about playing Southern Gothic supernatural stories, we suddenly have that come back into the picture, if not to the fore. On top of a generalized history, lifestyle, and local slang of various specific cultural groups, there is a specific paragraph or two for each on what supernatural elements they associate with. Mountain People: Also known as those folks you refer to as rednecks or hillbillies, the mountain people are the descendants of Scotch-Irish immigrants that settled in the Appalachians. They fought against both sides during the Civil War and at least some groups are still isolationist to this day. Mountain people hate Hags with a passion and have long fought against them and other evil spirits, usually with the help of their own Hoodoo Doctors that they refer to as Granny Women or White Witches. Melungeons: An Appalachian group with black, white, and Native American heritage, the Melungeons were often associated with Hags by the White Witches of the mountain people due to their knowledge of African-American conjure that was unfamiliar in the region. In a self-fulfilling prophecy, some Melungeon individuals turned on their Baptist religious upbringing and became Hags out of frustration and vengeance, though just as many are conjure workers. Cajuns: Louisiana's Canadian-descended denizens of the bayous and coastline. Cajun conjure workers are known as Traiteurs and primarily rely on the laying on of hands. The greatest supernatural dangers to Cajun communities are Loup-Garou and letiche, both of which are predatory beasts that can easily hide themselves in the same bayous that the Cajuns use to hunt and fish. Creoles: Like Cajuns, but French rather than French Canadian, and also sometimes having a smattering of Spanish or African-American. They don't get a supernatural notes section. Gullah: An African-American culture that was once found across the Atlantic Coast, but is now mainly restricted to South Carolina's Sea Islands. Their Hoodoo Doctors typically take animal-based nicknames, and Gullah Hags are simultaneously both feared and respected. Southern Gentry: British-descended guys. Like the Creoles, they have no mention of any supernatural elements. Native Americans: This entry actually mostly refers back to the Native American portion of the Southern History segment of the chapter.  Southern Cosmology I'm not sure why the section on the supernatural and the afterlife is before the one about the physical world, but I'm okay with that.. Souls and Other Worlds: Humans have a soul, or possibly two, depending on who you ask. In the latter interpretation, one soul is the immortal soul of consciousness and creative expression while the other is merely the animated force that keeps the body alive. What is known is that there is a Heaven and a Hell, but also several other worlds on top of it. The Spirit World is the land of "pious heathens" and their gods, as well as ghostly entities and the wandering souls of Catholic Purgatory. Spirits also dwell in the Upper and Lower Worlds. The Upper World is the land of the sun, the moon, and great sapient beasts, while the Lower World is an aquatic land of monsters and predatory ghosts. The Devil: The ultimate gambler and trickster, the Devil is a dangerous being to encounter. While nicknames like Old Scratch and Old Hob have been given to him in an attempt to mock him and diffuse some of the fear he holds over the human heart, the fact remains that he is a wicked being, intent on prying a wedge into any kind of peace and comfort. The Devil is also very prideful and keeps his word even if it's disadvantageous in the end, which is what usually ends up allowing mortals to get the upper hand over him. If the Devil has a natural form, it's unknown, as he can take many forms: a huge black constrictor snake, a vicious wild beast, a raging whirlwind, an obsidian giant with burning coals for eyes, or a handsome man. On top of some Hags, Loups-Garoux, and Crossroaders, most of the servants of the Devil are demons, hellhounds, and Diabolists. The first are tempters and harassers, the second retrieve things the Devil wishes to have fetched for him, and the third are weirdos that worship him and use dark Conjure. One particular piece of Southern folklore about the Devil is the tale of Bearskin, which gets retold in the entry. In the tale, the Devil comes to a war veteran who had lost everything and cannot find a home or a job. The Devil offers him a deal: go seven years wearing a bearskin cloak and never washing, grooming, or cutting his hair, and the Devil would give him wealth that would last the rest of his life. Fail, and the soldier's soul would be the Devil's. Unsurprisingly, as he wandered the land, people were typically terrified of this haggard caveman, but the soldier was always generous with the coins that would fill his pockets at the start of every day. One man was so grateful for the soldier's charity that he offered the hand of one of his three lovely daughters. One daughter was terrified like so many others, and another insulted the soldier's appearance, but the youngest daughter saw the soldier's kind heart and agreed to marry him when his sojourn was over in three more years' time. At the end of the seven years, the Devil fulfilled his promise, and even personally cleaned and groomed the soldier in a way that made him even more handsome than he had been before the wager. The soldier went back to the household of the man and his three daughters, the two oldest vying for the attention of this handsome and wealthy gentleman. The third daughter initially rebuked him, stating that she had a commitment to another man, but was overjoyed when the soldier revealed his true identity. In despair, the two older sisters committed suicide, one by noose and one by drowning. The Devil came that night to gloat to the soldier that as suicide is a sin, he received two souls in the end at the cost of losing one. The moral of the story: Satan is a shitlord, seriously. Non-Player Characters Both singular NPCs and organizations go here. Church of the Bayou: A church of Haitian voudou and Louisiana voodoo worship alike. It is run by Genevieve Rochambeau, an Ageless Voodoo who resembles a beautiful mixed race woman in her 30s but is in fact 110. Rochambeau studied under the famous Marie Laveau, but always hungered for more power than even her teacher was capable of. After Laveau's purported death, Rochambeau began to plot, and created the Church of the Bayou in 1950 with the specific plan of gathering powerful magic under her banner. While only a few members of the Church are Ageless, all know how to perform Conjure, and Rochambeau uses them to aid politicians and law enforcement in Louisiana and Mississippi specifically so that she can have them in her debt if she ever happens to need something later. She and her follows begrudgingly tolerate that there are a lot of Voodoo workers who won't follow the Church of the Bayou, but they will never ignore those that actively work against it, going so far as to sometimes engage in kidnapping and murder. Black Cat Club: A group for budding paranormal investigators, the Black Cat Club is mostly a whole bunch of Scooby Doo gangs and wannabee Ghostbusters running around in the dark without any central leadership, since the club's only actual organization is that there is a $20 membership fee paid to its mysterious founder only known by their Internet handle of Mojo Man. Mojo Man's true name is Renee Laroque, and she's a Loup Garou who has never forgiven monster hunters for the murder of her adoptive Hag aunt in 1988. She uses the Black Cat Club to both spread misinformation and – if a group happens to get lucky and stumble across an actual paranormal event – learn more about the movements of other supernatural entities, Ageless, and especially monster hunters. She satisfies the Hunger by killing monster hunters and Black Cat Club members who get too close to the truth. Children of Abaddon: One of the most dangerous forces in existence for Ageless of any stripe, the Children of Abaddon are a secret society of deeply devout Christians who also happen to be assassins that take out Ageless, supernatural beings, and human Conjure user alike. They believe they are in a mission from Abaddon, the angel of destruction and the End of Days, and they happen to be right. The question of just what Abaddon is, though, is a bit harder to define. Neither Heaven nor Hell definitively take claim to him, and his motive for spurring on the destruction of the supernatural is unclear. While some claim he is merely the tough cop on the paranormal block, others have suggested that Abaddon is actually attempting to weed out competition against him for when he attempts to stage a takeover of the Spirit World, or possibly even Hell. Ancients: Not so much an organization as a classification. An Ancient is an Ageless who has lived a truly long life with great Weariness, so much so that they have given up on trying to influence the world around them. That's not say that they are emotionless drones or anything: they can have plenty of personality and all of them have a whole ton of Conjure power, it's just that they really don't give a poo poo about actually exercising said power. Three examples of Ancients are given by the text.
Marie Laveau: The famous Voodoo queen of New Orleans, Marie Laveau was someone who seemed to know everything about everyone. There's a million stories out there about her powerful Conjure working to help those in need and spurn the wicked, and at least some of them are probably true. It's very likely that she would have become an Ancient had she not mysteriously died in 1920, leaving the less than saintly Genevieve Rochambeau as her only heir. Living Saints: Rare individuals whose hearts are so pure that they are able to perform miracles. A living saint is never Ageless, as they do not strive for immortality. They are also never powerful with Conjure, as they have no desire for strength. You aren't likely to know about any living saints, as they also don't desire wealth or status, and are almost inexorably the humblest people: they're the little old church lady, the diligent and selfless aid worker, or the wise uncle who lives in squalor but never seems to ever want anything greater. Due to their rarity and the fact that they are always pacifists, living saints get no game mechanics, making them more of a plot hook than a character in spite of being described with other NPCs. Critters Non-supernatural animals native to the South are given brief discussion. The American alligator, cottonmouth, copperhead, black widow spider, brown recluse/fiddleback spider, and black bear are present with stat blocks at the ready in case you ever need a non-supernatural wild threat or a convenient minion for some Ageless with animal control. Next Time in Hoodoo Blues: We encounter apemen and the Axeman, nahullo and Night Doctors, hate groups and h'aints, and lots more things that are alliterative when placed side by side. The guide to major cities of the South and their supernatural residents, campaign types, adversaries, monsters and spirits, and a pre-made adventure involving a search for the truth about Marie Laveau are all lined up as we finish up this book.
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Jan 31, 2016 03:10
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Simian_Prime posted:Keep poo poo Together. I was starting to wonder if Yves personally was god (or some aspect of god) and part of the reason for this passivity was a desire for his creations to have some free will.
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Jan 31, 2016 04:07
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Superiors 3: Destiny's Child Superior Opinions posted:Blandine: Kind, sweet old Yves... When I was younger and understood less, I once was foolish enough to be angry with him. Never since. He is a mentor and a friend and does as much to bring the bright dreams of mankind to reality as I do.     Variations! Yves as God is...God, or at least a part of God projected to better understand the Symphony and its potential. Yves could easily be an enigmatic divinity watching over the Symphony. From this view, Yves/God sacrificed His universal view for a more detailed, intimate understanding of His creation, and He sees things as His angels do, better understands them and can ultimately guide them down the truest path. Yves as Tyrant, on the other hand, is darker - willing anble to do what must be done to ensure Destiny is all there is. He is the ultimate manipulator and puppet master, using his knowledge to control events such that there is no choice possible between fate and destiny. The ends justify the means. Yves is not heartless, but he will do whatever is needed to get an outcome favoring destiny. He will not hesitate to sacrifice anyone or anything to bring the Symphoyn closer to its destiny, and he will try to ensure people can only make one choice, no matter the cost. He is Heaven's dicator and conspirator, pulling strings and using his knowledge to orchestrate the War. It would take anyone, even the Judges, years to uncover his web of control. He would retain his stoic, calm exterior, but it would be a mask to hide behind. Yves as Madman understands, but that understanding has a price. The moment he saw God and named Him, Yves' mind fractured under the sheer potential. He still remembers parts of the whole, but as time passes, his memory and mind degrade. He is insane, muttering prophecies as Heaven's oracle. His angels catalog his every word, hoping to decode the truth. He sends his servants on random, often pointless missions whose significance is known only to him, if they have any at all. He is watched closely by Judgment, but even Dominic can see the kernel of truth in his rambling. He is confined to his Library, which resembles more an asylum as it mirrors his shattered mind. Michael, honest and pure, distrusts him and fears he distorts God's words. He sees the madness as a virus infecting Gabriel and perhaps Eli, and he wants to keep it from spreading. Yves is a tragic figure, an angel who has seen God's glory but cannot convey it in terms anyone else, even an Archangel, could understand. Yves' angels have a special place in Heaven. They serve the being that named God, but they also maintain the Library, the greatest repository of knowledge anywhere. It is in mayn ways the center of Heaven, less grand than other Cathedrals, perhaps, but the support for all of them. Most angels visit the Library at some point, and even Archangels use it to find information or confer with Yves. It is a nexus, a crossroad of possibility. It is only a place in the loosest sense. Its main entrance is in the Eternal City, a simple and classical building with the inscription 'Eternal Light,' read in whatever language the reader is most comofrtable with. Inside, it molds itself to suit its visitor's needs, though those needs are rarely obvious to the visitor. There are some constants, but other things change moment by moment, nearly invisibly. One minute you are heading down a corridor, the next you are at a dead end or a vast chamber. The Library is alive, a being rather than a place, and some say it is an extension of Yves or even of God. Some wonder if Yves is God's consciousness and the Library is His subconscious. Yves and his older angels allow the Library to take them where it will, but the inexperienced are less wise and easily become lost within its stacks. Most of its paths lead nowhere, heading on infinitely, or to reading rooms of many sizes. Soft, warm light pours in via stained-glass windows, and the high ceiling is cast in shadow. It is not threatening, but rather provokes an awe of infinity and potential. The Library contains all knowledge - everything ever recorded, from graffiti to lost letters to paintings to CDs. Sumerian tablets rest next to photos of the Kennedy assassination, scrolls from the Libraryo f Alexndria are nested between corporate memos and poems. Its contents are not limited to the corporeal, either. Anything written by ethereals or celestials, even Lucifer himself, is somewhere in there. However, that doesn't mean it's easy to find. Only Yves can find any item reliably. Other angels must spend long periods hunting, and the Librarians face the daunting task of cataloging and referencing the contents for visitors, an endless process that must restart whenever the Library shifts itself.  There are a few permanent locations, though they wander around in the building. The Halls of Remembrance are somber and holy, the home of the Tomes of Memory, which are books containing the memories of all who have died and passed on. If they are not read once every few centuries, they seem to vanish, which even Yves can't explain, but they have occasionally resurfaced elsewhere in the Library. The Halls are vast, circular chambers with walls lined in alcoves where the tomes sit, each illuminated by a votive candle. A bridge crosses each circle, containing reading tables where angels and the blessed souls can read the tomes. Talking is forbidden in the Halls, out of respect for the dead. An order of Yves' Cherubim, the Mnemosyne, care for the tomes and fetch them for visitors. Many of them are Masters of Divine Knowledge and have been given the Seraph resonance to better guard the Halls. Yves' Attaci is not found - it chooses its visitors. A simple wooden door is its entrance, and behind it is a winding stairway up to a simple platofrm that offers a spectacular and disorienting view. Stairways and bookshelves defy what little gravity exists in Heaven, jutting from the ceilings, walls and floor. The Attic is filled with unfinished books, failed attempts that have no other place. Here, you can find rare and priceless fragments - Shakespeare's notes on Hamlet's plot, an incomplete alternative to the I Ching, possibly even fragments of the tablets containing some of the commandments never given. Unknown to anyone, Yves has a room in the Attic that views the Marches. Here, Yves comes to contemplate and record his own impressions of the Symphony and the War. This room is full of his personal accounts, from the time he named God to now, written in a language known to no other being.  Next time: even more sidebars
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Jan 31, 2016 05:47
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Count Chocula posted:Well... yeah, he is. Even Wil E Coyote got the Jesus treatment in the Animal Man issue The Coyote Gospels. The modern Trickster - Bugs Bunny, The Mask, your average comedy hero - is that powerful since most stories about them have them constantly winning. Which is fine and awesome in media centered around them, but when you put them in a shared RPG universe you get... Kobal, or FishMalks. I feel like the Trickster both needs to exist by UA's internal logic - it's one of the most obvious Archtypes - and should be kept at arm's length from the setting. Unless you've got Bill Murray or somebody that good in your group, make it NPC only... hell even then use it sparingly, if it all. If you really, truly need to shake up a campaign toss a Trickster in. Otherwise, nobody knows who they are or if they even exist. Maybe they're the Comte or something. I actually quite like the idea now that the Comte just spends his time offing high-level Trickster Avatars so they don't make everything fall apart. If he didn't already have a set role in UA cosmology he'd certainly be a shoe-in as the Trickster Godwalker himself. I think part of the problem with the Trickster is that the Archetype is too "old school". Several old gods or mythological entities can be seen as reflections or masks or conglomerations of the Archetypes: Hermes as the Messenger, Yama is the Judge, Thoth is a combination of Scholar and Chronicler, etc. But these are more like echoes...a high level Avatar of the Trickster practically is a trickster-god, they are Loki or Anansi. We're told that in the early days of humanity you start with the primal, raw Archetypes: Mother, Warrior, Hunter, etc. Then as humanity, globally and as individuals, evolves the more complex archetypes start to show up and the older Archetypes become more nuanced. Mother stops being just "good warmth food feeling" and starts to incorporate more modern ideas and accept the idea that the bond can transcend blood relatives and can exist between adults and not just children. As the Archetypes change they also fragment a bit, new Archetypes get split off and you get something similar but not quite the same, that's why you have both the Warrior and the Executioner. But the Trickster still feels like one of those old, primal archetypes that hasn't been shaken up or diluted since the dawn of time and by becoming one you are quite literally stepping into the shoes of a demi-god.
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Jan 31, 2016 06:35
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Count Chocula posted:I'd give them all the Song of Tongues for free, but that just reflects my personal religious upbringing. I'd do that or obviate the need for it, because being confined to one Corporeal language is probably going to lead to some serious bias along national or cultural lines. And someone with a Word being unable to communicate it fucks with my head.
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Jan 31, 2016 07:35
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JesterOfAmerica posted:Truly Bugs Bunny is the greatest power in the world But he always loses to the turtle.
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Jan 31, 2016 09:00
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Library Card was the best attunement in the game I played.
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Jan 31, 2016 09:09
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Bieeardo posted:I'd do that or obviate the need for it, because being confined to one Corporeal language is probably going to lead to some serious bias along national or cultural lines. And someone with a Word being unable to communicate it fucks with my head.  would probably be seen to be fairly mono-lingual... though that was not true then, and is less true now. Is the Song of Tongues expensive or does anything other than letting you speak all the hew-mon tongues fluently?
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Jan 31, 2016 09:11
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Maybe reducing the power of the Trickster could be a UA campaign, but I can't see how that's possible. You could claim that beloved comedians dying or falling from grace is a potential Trickster being stopped, but that somehow seems too dark even for UA. Maybe there is no Trickster - everybody just assumes there is, so potential avatars make fools of themselves trying to live up to it, but they always fail. Or maybe Andy Kaufman shows up in the person of his 'manager' to give the campaign the little nudge it needs. And what does it mean that Jim Carrey played him, a literal avatar of Loki, and a man who broke through the sky of a false reality? On another note, Yves is the first Archangel I actually like.
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Jan 31, 2016 09:20
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