Moe Lane

One of the entertaining things about In Nomine world-building for me was playing with the way that the core game concept could handily scupper the materialist-scientific worldview. As I would sometimes point out: in that campaign universe the most insightful and accurate theorist in the 20th Century when it came to the origins of the human race was Erich von Daniken. You can get some entertaining campaign seeds that way, particularly when your players are trying to make sure that the laws of physics keep ‘working’ properly around the unaware human researchers.

Shackled (Celestial Discord, -3/level)

The Shackled Celestial Discord penalizes celestials (penalty equal to the level of the Discord) for all mundane activities that do not credibly serve their Superior’s Word.  This does include Outcasts or Renegades.  Shackled does not affect dissonance per se, but the celestial will be very uncomfortable in situations that would normally be Word-dissonant: add -1 to the skill penalty.

Attuned (5pt/level)

This general, well, Attunement gives +1 per level (max 6) to any mundane action that can be credibly argued to be in the service of the Superior granting Attuned.  It does not give a similar bonus to Songs, resonances, or any other supernatural activities.  Attuned can be bought after character creation, but mortals may not receive this Attunement unless they have been given a Force from a celestial.

The US Capitol Rotunda 

(Random/Wild)

You place your bets, and you take your chances.

The problem is that too many people on the corporeal plane have too many opinions on what the US Capitol in Washington DC is actually symbolic of. Normally, that would just ensure that no actual Tether would form at all, but even a low probability result can come up sometime. In this case, the Symphony’s solution to the problem was to create a Tether that sequentially links to all of the even marginally-likely Superior-level Words: the Tether is not so much Forked as it is fractal.  The difficulty is that the locus cycles through the possible endpoints so quickly that its hapless users can and do end up at any number of celestial Principalities.  And there is no way to know where you’ll end up before you jump on through.

Ah, what could have been. I wrote this a decade ago with an eye to getting it made part of In Nomine canon. It… was not to be. But I feel that this was ultimately not due to the write-up itself.

Makatiel

Habbalite Prince of Disease

The World is sick, and I am its physick.

They all called him mad, of course.  Such is the price of genius. And make no mistake, Makatiel was one of the smartest Superiors to ever reach apotheosis: it was one of the two things that made him dangerous.  The other thing that made him dangerous was his tendency to obsess, which was noteworthy even among celestials.

Makatiel was from the first generation of demons created (by Beleth, in his case) after Lilith freed Lucifer from Hell.  Very few of his contemporaries have survived to the present day, perhaps unsurprisingly. After all, most of them developed oddly, and were prone to suicidal forms of madness in their later years.  While still alive, Makatiel’s own inner insanity lurked inside his fascinated loathing of humanity; the Prince of Disease had a name for being aware of the most trivial (to demons) corporeal matters.  Very few besides Saminga regretted his passing, and none were foolish enough to display their feelings where Asmodeus could see.

This was originally going to be a bit of the Makatiel, Demon Prince of Disease writeup that I… well. Water under the bridge. Anyway, here it is.

Contagion

This group spawned after the death of Makatiel (Prince of Disease) in 1348 AD, and has grimly held on ever since. Its members were and are former Servitors of Disease who traded most of their freedom and dignity to Saminga (Prince of Death) in exchange for continued existence, and each and every one of them bitterly resents the trade. Seven mortal centuries have not been enough time to integrate them fully into Saminga’s service; even the Orphaned Word-Bound Servitors of Disease are distinctly considered second-class servants in the hierarchy of Death. So it was inevitable that these quasi-Outcasts would eventually form a society dedicated to recovering their former glory.

It is not entirely clear that Saminga is unaware of this group; or that, even if he did know about them, he would particularly care.

I was mildly surprised that this didn’t need a lot more revision, after twenty years or so in the vault. Although I do admit to being surprised at how I made so very sure that Samuel Johnson took it on the chin. Ach, well, I’m sure Past Me had his reasons.

Vasiariah

Seraph Mistress of the Realms of Night

Angel of Patriotism

Corporeal Forces: 3 Strength: 6 Agility: 6

Ethereal Forces: 6 Intelligence: 12 Precision: 12

Celestial Forces: 6 Will: 12 Perception: 12

Word-Forces: 14

Vessel: middle-aged woman/3, middle-aged man/3

Sizouse

Ofanite of the Sword IST the Wind

Angel of Racing

Corporeal Forces: 4 Strength: 6 Agility: 10

Ethereal Forces: 5 Intelligence: 8 Precision: 12

Celestial Forces: 4 Will: 8 Perception: 8

Word Forces: 12

Vessel: human male/3

Skills: Detect Lies/2, Dodge/3, Driving/6, Engineering/3, Fighting/4, Large Weapon (sword/5, lance/2), Mechanic/5 (automobiles), Running/6, Tactics/2

Note: even if a particular campaign normally requires specialization for Driving, it is recommended that this restriction should not apply to Sizouse. Also, that ‘Driving’ in his specific case should include animals.

Songs: Healing (Corporeal/1), Light (Celestial/4), Motion (Corporeal/6, Ethereal/3, Celestial/6), Shields (Corporeal/4, Ethereal/3, Celestial/3)

Role: “Sid Parsons” (stock car mechanic/5, Status/4)

Attunements: Ofanite of the Sword, Mercurian of the Sword, Ofanite of the Wind, Scabbard, Passage, Angel of Racing

Equinox

The equinoxes are special times for celestials.

Normally, a celestial will recover Essence at either sunrise or sunset, depending on whether they’re an angel or a demon. However, on the days of the vernal and autumnal equinoxes, celestials will instead generate Essence at the precise moment of the equinox, and will regenerate two Essence, not one. This is true for all celestials.  Outcasts, the Celestially Discordant, Renegades, Remnants, those in Limbo: everybody.

Jinn

Djinn Demon of Gin

Corporeal Forces: 3 Strength: 6 Agility: 6

Ethereal Forces: 4 Intelligence: 10 Precision: 6

Celestial Forces: 5 Will: 12 Perception: 8

Word-Forces: 5

Vessel/4; Vessel/1, -1 Charisma (for setting up deals)

Role: Bartender-Hipster-Assassin/6, Status/3