[robkelk]

Originally Posted by Moonsight

From my readings so far about In Nomine, I'm getting the impression so far it has a Pro-Heaven slant especially how Heaven and Hell treats souls that the former are able to move freely using Jacob's ladder but of course they also serve God (hence hinting their servitude slaves) but Hell (which supposedly represents the rejection of God's patriarchal power and freedom), treats human souls as cattle, torturing for them essence which makes them irredeemably monstrous at first glance and makes one wonder that "How are demons even supposed to playable?"

In that style of game, demons can be playable the same way that antiheroes or villainous protagonists are playable. (Consider the D&D stereotype of "wandering murder-hobos" - that's the Shedim of Death in a nutshell.)

Originally Posted by Moonsight

I have several questions:

1. Do all damned souls receive eternal torment for their essence or some demons give some damned souls special treatment? I mean is there any Demons that don't treat human souls as cattle? Or I also wonder if pleasure/sex can be used to gain essence?

There are some demons who see the advantages of having human servitors - the Demon Prince Asmodeus has spies everywhere, and the "Demon" Princess Lilith is human herself, just to name two.

As for gaining Essence from sex, there are two Superiors who canonically allow this: the Demon Prince Andrealphus grants Essence for satisfying one's lust (where the one who gains the Essence is the one who gets the pleasure from the sex act), while the Archangel Eli grants Essence for making love (where both or all of the participants gain happiness from the sex act).

Originally Posted by Moonsight

2. Is it possible to portray Heaven and Hell as "morally grey" instead of "Black and White" and "Good vs Evil" which the far latter is highly subjective what you define what "Good" and "Evil" is.

Definitely, and there are rules for how to set the contrast between Heaven and Hell in the Game Master's Guide.

Originally Posted by Moonsight

Thing is I have a personal angle that Yahweh and Angels are the Patriarchal authority and the Status Quo who wants to subject human souls to his absolute rule and Lucifer and Demons are the rebels of that authority and aiming towards where humans are free of Yahweh's tyrannical rule so they have the right to self-determine their own destiny rather than Yahweh's. Of course the only problem is this is how damned souls are treated which I was wondering if it's possible for Demons to recruit damned souls to turn them into Demons for Hell's army and the neutrals...well, maybe depends on the Demon in question and how they treat them since they're used for essence?

Anyways I wonder if there's any Positive portrayals of Demons and Hell that doesn't make them all "Inherently Evil" "Eternal Torment" but rather present them as complex characters?

Anyways I wonder if it's possible to play In Nomine this way?

That's what we call "Backwards", and there are rules for that in the Game Master's Guide as well. In that sort of game, many but not all angels agree with the idea "kill them all, God will sort them out" and many but not all demons want to save humanity from being treated that poorly.

Originally Posted by tHEhERETIC

... Good is selflessness, which I further interpret as collective thinking. Evil is selfishness, which I interpret as every man for himself, in the end. ...

This is a valid and playable position, of course ... but if you apply Fridge Logic to selflessness, you can end up with the souls who reach Heaven and climb Jacob's Ladder becoming completely selfless and indistinguishable with each other. Of course, the idea of losing what makes oneself unique would horrify the demons... and would also horrify many humans, giving them common cause with Hell if they knew. (An aside: This may be why canonical In Nomine has Heaven supporting Buddhism - the concept of Nirvana is similar to what I just described.)