IN> A desperate attempt to get back to IN content...

[James Walker]

> what a person needs to do to get into Heaven
> involves meeting
> standards so severe that nobody can hope to attain
> them. 
Okay, it's possible to drag this back to something
with IN content.

If demons play their cards even moderately
competently, they can pretty much get a clean sweep of
humanity. The trick is to use the Oathtaking
attunement on children. 

Children have yet to reach their full potential
Forces, so adding an Infernal Force is quite safe;
further, beings with <5 Forces can't resist demonic
resonances. So it's child's play for Balseraphs,
Habbalah and Impudites to go through a school,
persuading the vast majority of children to accept a
Force in return for Damnation - and given that Hell is
the demon's home, that cost may be considered a plus
since it means being with this amazing demon forever.
Some children say no? Not a problem, the vast majority
will reincarnate and get the offer again. Assuming
that they don't change their minds when all of their
peers are so much stronger or smarter than they are.

Of course, this costs Forces - but look at the return:
for every Force invested, you get back 4 when the
child dies. Of course, some are lost to Undeath,
Redemption or celestial combat: but others exceed 5
Forces, so are even more profitable. A small handful
may become ghosts, but that requires meeting their
Fate (which they haven't) or Destiny (which loses them
anyway). [Maybe the demon of ghosts serves Kronos
rather than Saminga!]
You don't have to worry about keeping the war secret;
who'll believe children? Besides, belief in magic and
demons has always been common; Hell really doesn't
need to keep the war secret.

What does Heaven do about this? No idea. What Heaven
did about this in the past:
Encourage Pagan gods. 
Becoming a dreamshade postpones going to hell by
centuries, even millennia. This slows the cycle of
Forces, as the dreamshade can't be broken down to use
to Damn other humans, and increases the time available
for the humans to achieve their destinies, increasing
the number of humans who actually make it to Heaven. 

The Uriel decides this has to change. Why? Well, if
baptism overwrote the Oathtaking Force, then the Pagan
gods are no longer useful; on the contray, Uriel would
want the dreamshades baptized and safely in Heaven. Of
course, the Pagan gods are going to resist, especially
as their mortal worshippers are defecting; the
Dreamshades would be increasingly important to them.
Que one Purity Crusade. Of course, with Uriel's trial
and recall, the Crusade fails; humans continue to be
Damned in large numbers. Possibly the trial postponed
the Second Coming?

James.

IN content. IN content. You know you want it...

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