IN> IN for dummies

[Elizabeth McCoy]

At 11:37 PM -0700 7/21/07, Barbara Fuentes wrote:
[...]
>Can such an intro be limited to one page?  I don't want to overwhelm the players--they'll already have their door characters to learn.

I think it would be hard to limit it to one page, but let me dig up
what we cooked up. If I can. (I suspect that a quickie overview, such
as Sorcerer's Impediments or GURPS In Nomine has, may be closest, with
lots of encouraging the players to ask things like, "What do I know about
Balseraphs?" and the GM frequently having them roll Int for "You realize
that this is the hallmark of the _Kyriotate_ -- the body-jumping Choir of
angel..."


>Is such an intro in the book somewhere, and I'm just not seeing it?

I wish...


Hmmm. Okay, here are some notes for an early attempt at IN Lite. If you plop a sentence or two down under each of these, you probably have a decent intro?
Ruthlessly cutting out anything that doesn't matter for a given game, of
course.


Key Concepts

The Symphony
Realms
Words
Organization of Heaven and Hell [feudal...]
Tethers
Choirs and Bands
Celestial Form
Vessels and Roles
Essence
Resonances
Attunements
Dissonance and Discord
Interventions
Songs (and Artifacts)

Superiors
Name	Word	Dissonance	Domain	Likes/Dislikes

Choirs of Angels

There are many different ways the Symphony expresses itself -- and some parts are more self-aware than others. Each Choir of angel represents a facet of the Whole, resonating with a particular theme in the Symphony. A Choir's resonance is both an ability it has, to listen to that theme, and a lens through which it views the world. (Angelic resonances require a Perception roll, except for Kyriotates, who use Will.)

Listed in order of most divine (and most un-human) to most worldly, they are:

Seraphim: These six-eyed, serpentine beings know truth from lies, and must never speak falsehoods.

Cherubim: These are literally guardian angels, who cannot let their attuned charges come to harm. They know the location and status of their charges, and can sometimes sense future danger to them. In their natural form, they are winged animals.

Ofanim: Burning wheels of fire, they are creatures of motion; they know where they need to go, and how to get there most quickly. To stop moving is unthinkable.

Elohim: These shining, androgynous angels are agents of balance. They put aside their own subjective whims, and perceive the emotions of others.

Malakim: See the honor of others, and are bound by oaths of their own. These black-feathered angels were created to defend Heaven's honor during the Fall, and cannot Fall themselves.

Kyriotates: These angels possess living mortals to interact with the corporeal realm. But though their appearance is chaotic and horrific, they must protect their hosts above anything else.

Mercurians: Appearing as winged humans with golden halos, they understand the web of human relationships, and love humanity so much that they cannot lift their hands against any mortal, no matter how far from the light.

Grigori: This is an Outcast Choir; they loved humanity too much, bearing and siring children among the mortals, and were exiled from Heaven. None speak their name.

Choir/Plural	Resonance	Dissonance	Appearance
Seraph/Seraphim	Truth	Lying	6-eyed, feather-winged snakes
Cherub/Cherubim	Charges' location/safety	Failure to protect	Feather-winged animals
Ofanite/Ofanim	Movement	Failure to move "in sync"	Wheels of fire
Elohite/Elohim	Emotions	Subjective behavior	Androgynous humanoids

Bands of Demons
As with Choirs, there are many Bands of Demons, from the snots, squicks, and frotlings -- demonlings who hope to fledge as demons someday -- to Beleth's Band of Pachadim, demons of fear. However, in an environment that pushes evolution to the limits, seven Bands are most successful. (Note that while the members of a given Band may /understand/ each other, they usually don't like each other at all.) Each demon has his own personal, unique symphony; it's nothing so grand as the Symphony the angels share, but it's much more focused . . .

Demonic resonances require a Will roll to use, except for Lilim, who use Perception. These resonances are normally resisted by Will, and the subject will know /something/ happened if he resisted successfully.

In order of most selfish (and inhuman) to most Earthly, the Bands are:

Balseraphs: These six-eyed, leather-winged serpents live in their own worlds, where every truth is what they say it is; when they want, they can force their internal truths on you, and make you believe them.

Djinn: Nightmarish beasts, these demons can trail their attuned victim for days. They cannot physically harm a target . . . unless that poor fool /asks/ them to do something to them.

Calabim: Fallen Ofanim, these bat-winged, horned demons focus motion outside of themselves, manifesting as destructive entropy.

Habbalah: These claim, one and all, that they are still angels who serve God. They inflict intense emotions on others, from love to apathy, "discovering" the weaklings who are unworthy of Heaven and punishing them for their sins. In their natural form, they are self-mutilated humanoids, proving their own strength.

Lilim: These are the "daughters" of Lilith, the human woman who walked out of Eden. They can see into people's hearts and know their deepest desires -- and will fulfill them, for a price. Their celestial forms are human-seeming, but green, horned, and unnaturally attractive.

Shedim: Clouds of malice, these corruptors possess humans, whispering vile thoughts into their minds, riding them to damnation.

Impudites: These love humanity, using their resonance to /make/ friends of the people they meet, but then they'll steal their energies, and their luck.

-- 
--Beth, arcangel at io.com / archangel at sjgames.com  In Nomine Line Editor 
http://www.io.com/~arcangel/