in nomine – Page 15

In Nomine Revisited: The Bone Smiths.

The Bone Smiths

People are always surprised when they discover that Saminga, the Demon Prince of Death, has quite a few competent artificers working for him. They probably shouldn’t be: the practice of necromancy is Death’s major operational priority, so it’s not unreasonable to expect his Servitors to be good at it. That implies a certain institutional knowledge and acceptance of Enchantment among Samingans. As necromancy is not the only thing that uses the Enchantment skill, it follows then that various Servitors of Death would have branched out into other fields of artifact creation.

In their own particular way. Continue reading In Nomine Revisited: The Bone Smiths.

In Nomine Revisited: Project SHIVA.

Been thinking about this one lately.

Project SHIVA – Google Docs

Project SHIVA

This secret governmental group is a notable example of why Dominic allows Asmodeus to conduct Renegade hunts without real interference. Simply put, it’s a cult of genocidal nihilists — and the brainchild of two Renegade demons: one of Death, and one of Infernal Fire. And yes, that’s meant to be alarming.

Project SHIVA was, at the start, just another deniable black project started in the middle of the 1950s. Its purpose was macabre, but legitimate enough, in a horrid sort of way: as both the USA and USSR had begun stockpiling nuclear weapons, with the intent to use them if pushed to the brink, it would be advisable to work out how to use them best. After all, if one were forced to destroy the planet, the entire point of the exercise would be moot if said attempted destruction was incomplete. The project members were thus charged to analyze intelligence reports, geographical studies, statistical analyses — in short, look through all the data on Russia (and later, China), the better to find an optimal way to blow the two countries to Hell.

Unfortunately, this sort of job is fairly rough on the average person’s long-term sanity. Trying to find people who wouldn’t crack under the strain was difficult, but eventually the government was able to refine their selection procedure. Alas, they ended up looking for well-adjusted but callous entities, and they succeeded beyond their wildest dreams: one of their analysts turned out to be Gregory, Renegade Balseraph of Death.

Continue reading In Nomine Revisited: Project SHIVA.

In Nomine Revisited: Dunkirk, Tether to Trade.

Dunkirk, Tether to Trade – Google Docs

I actually wrote this one up long before the movie (which was excellent). It also needed a little more revision work than usual. A little In Nomine context: battlefields are not usually considered to be prime candidates for generating direct links between Earth and that part of Heaven that typically deals with economics. Which is, of course, precisely why I had to write this one up this way.

And I’m right, too. …Sorry. God, but do I miss this game.

Dunkirk, Tether to Trade

Yes, Trade, damn your eyes.

Continue reading In Nomine Revisited: Dunkirk, Tether to Trade.

In Nomine Revisited: Calcified Oracles of Demagogic Sagacity.

I was reminded of this one by this. Such a shame, really. It was an amazingly bizarre roadside attraction.

Calcified Oracles of Demagogic Sagacity – Google Docs

Calcified Oracles of Demagogic Sagacity

Down by the border of — never mind the state, just for the moment — there is what claims to be a historical park. It is unusual, even by the somewhat jaundiced standards of American roadside attractions: the centerpieces of the park are 12 to 18 foot high concrete heads of each President of the United States, arranged in chronological order (with a special note regarding Grover Cleveland). There is, of course, also a gift shop, a fountain and a banquet hall that intriguingly overlooks the park — but the obvious tourist draw is the heads, for a given value of ‘obvious.’ The park is not renowned, in any sense of the term. Its location near a much more mainstream tourist attraction powerhouse obscures it from even those interested in Americana; the site does not appear in the standard guidebooks, and is not widely advertised. The visitors at any given time are few, and seem mostly from the adjacent hotel.

And yet, the building is well-appointed, the parking lot a good deal larger than necessary, there is that banquet hall — and the site remains in business. Clearly, someone is visiting the park.

Someone is. Continue reading In Nomine Revisited: Calcified Oracles of Demagogic Sagacity.

In Nomine Revisited: The Book of Recalling One’s Love.

I swear to God, not everything I wrote for In Nomine was grimdark. It’s just October Country right now, OK?

Book of Recalling One’s Love – Google Docs

The Book of Recalling One’s Love

This charming tome was first crafted by Hastur, a now-deceased Calabite Captain of the Infernal Hourglass and lieutenant of Hatiphas (Demoness of Sorcery). Designed to ease individuals into Sorcery, these relics can lead someone down the path of Fate subtly — and for the best of motives. After all, what could be more selfless than to attempt to bring someone back to life?

Needless to say, there are catches.

Continue reading In Nomine Revisited: The Book of Recalling One’s Love.

In Nomine Revisited: Horse.

I almost put this up last night, but the Hecate writeup intervened. I like to put things like Horse in games; sometimes it’s nice to look the players in the eye and go “I don’t know how it happened, either.” Not everything can be explained, hey?

Horse – Google Docs

Horse

Ghost

Corporeal Forces: 2 Strength: 4 Agility: 4

Ethereal Forces: 1 Intelligence: 1 Precision: 3

Celestial Forces: 3 Will: 8 Perception: 4

Skills: Dodge/6, Fighting/6, Running/6, Tactics/6

Focus: A stone torch-holder

Horse is, frankly, impossible. Horses don’t become ghosts. They also don’t have 7 Forces in life. Unfortunately, nobody seemed to explain this to Horse.

Continue reading In Nomine Revisited: Horse.

In Nomine Revisited: Hecate.

Hecate – Google Docs

Hecate

Lesser Ethereal Goddess

Corporeal Forces: 2 Strength: 4 Agility: 4

Ethereal Forces: 5 Intelligence: 12 Precision: 8

Celestial Forces: 5 Will: 12 Perception: 8

Vessel/6, +2 Charisma

Elements: Life (Beasts); Information (Knowledge)

Affinities: Animals (primal), Divination (primal), Books (moderate) Continue reading In Nomine Revisited: Hecate.

In Nomine Revisited: Glass Armonicas.

Fascinating things.

Glass Armonicas – Google Docs

Glass Armonicas

Strictly speaking, these items are not artifacts, as no truly esoteric knowledge is needed to either create or operate them. Indeed, that is the basic issue that both Heaven and Hell have with the items.

The first Glass Armonica was invented by Benjamin Franklin; he had been fascinated by the practice of ‘tuning’ wine glasses to produce music. The basic idea is to take a set of glasses, fill them with various levels of water and run a moistened finger along the edge. The level of the water dictates the tone produced by the finger, which means that it is a relatively straightforward matter to set up a scale and thus play music. Franklin’s innovation was to replace the glasses with bowls specifically designed to produce the correct tone, then mount the bowls on a spindle; the performer merely had to keep the bowls moving with a foot pedal (and keep his fingers wet, which was almost as trivial). As usual, his invention was wildly popular. Many listeners compared the tones to angelic music (actual celestials agree that it isn’t, but they do generally think that armonicas sound very pretty) and claimed that it had all sorts of healing virtues. That rumor is incorrect; so was the later one that Glass Armonicas were dangerous to one’s health. The major difference between the two rumors was that the former wasn’t deliberately spread, and the latter was. Continue reading In Nomine Revisited: Glass Armonicas.

In Nomine Revisted: Ultima Thule (Domain)

Ultima Thule (Domain) – Google Docs

Ultima Thule (Domain)

I would like to note for the record that I am well aware that there is a lot of pseudo-history enshrined below. To paraphrase Ken Hite, bad scholarship means good gaming.

Features: Common Tongue, Dream Magnet, Fierce Figments, Infinite, Malleable (+3), Hostile (Constant warfare), Oasis, Sticky (only worse: ethereals, once in, can’t leave).

You’ve heard the old saying “Old Nazis never die; they just move to South America?” Well, it’s not true. They die. And then, if they know the trick, they move to Ultima Thule.

Continue reading In Nomine Revisted: Ultima Thule (Domain)

In Nomine Revisited: Basic Celestial conversion (GURPS In Nomine) (4E).

Basic Celestial (GURPS 4E) – Google Docs

I ran across this while looking for something else: back in the day, I went ahead and converted the basic stats for celestials (angels and demons, basically) in GURPS In Nomine from 3rd to 4th edition. I also converted a bunch of Servitor Attunements and whatnot; I should collate them and put them up, too. Something to work on.

Continue reading In Nomine Revisited: Basic Celestial conversion (GURPS In Nomine) (4E).