Being attuned to a Cherub

[The Bearded One]

I'm running a all-demon In Nomine campaign and I just had a situation come up that doesn't seem to be addressed in the books.

A high-ranking NPC Cherub just stealthily attuned to two of the PC demons. Now the attunement itself is a Resonance, so it causes no Symphonic disturbance for the demons to detect, right? Is there any way for the demons to know that they have been the subject of attunement by this Cherub? And if they can discover that fact, is there anything they can do to break that attunement?

-- A genuinely mystified GM.

[Jason]

If I remember correctly, angelic resonances (save for the Kyriotate's) are all perfectly silent and undetectable to other celestials, and cannot be resisted naturally. If you do somehow figure out a Cherub is attuned to you, however, there are indeed at least two ways to get back at the angel:

1. The Song of Revulsion (in Liber Canticorum) can sever the Cherub's attunement. You don't even have to know the attunement is there; using it successfully will sever an attunement if one does happen to be there, though.

2. Allow your vessel to be destroyed. This will cause the Cherub to suffer dissonance. (This is probably only really worth it if you have a spare vessel stowed in a Body Bag and REALLY want to mess with an angel, though.)

[William]

Knowing it's there:

Very tricky. Angels are subtle in the Symphony. Probably only deducible when you realize what the Cherub is doing following you around.

Do note: A Cherub isn't just allowed to attune to you and use it to track you. He is now responsible for your well-being. He may interpret that as Redemption attempts in the long run, and hampering your goals now, but for outright combat, he may feel obliged to help you out -- especially if it goes celestial! He may lie about his motives, though.

Breakage:

Get a Djinn of Fate to attune to you, then have him break it. Or just let it wear off.

Get some Djinn Fuzz.

Note: destroying your Vessel may or may not work. If the Cherub knew he was attuned to a celestial, the celestial, rather than the body, may be the attuned, in which case Vessel death is insufficient to shake it off.

[Methariel]

And to make things complicated: If it was a Cherub of Judgment, does he really need to defend you? I'm currently unable to look into Superiors 1, but I believe they may attune to you and don't suffer dissonance if you get harmed and this could be considered a fitting punishment for your crime (which, by being a demon, is punishable by death).

M.

[Omegonthesane]

Originally Posted by William

Note: destroying your Vessel may or may not work. If the Cherub knew he was attuned to a celestial, the celestial, rather than the body, may be the attuned, in which case Vessel death is insufficient to shake it off.

I've seen the opposite ruled by each of the three people who've slotted in as my group's GM, simply to avoid Cherubim being able to attune the cel-forms of the whole player party for no cost other than the reduced number of targets. As far as I know there's no question that letting a Saint's vessel be destroyed is dissonant for his Cherub minio^H^H^H^H^Hguardian.

Also, offhand Song of Affinity can probably do something to track the connection back to source, similar to how it can hunt down Geas-hooks.

[The Bearded One]

None of the PC demons have access to the Song of Revulsion, and since they haven't figured out that they're being tracked at all, it may be a long, long time before they figure out that something fishy is up.

Thanks for all your suggestions and knowledge.

If folks here would like, I can try to keep you up to date on news from my campaign (simply called "The Word").

[robkelk]

Originally Posted by The Bearded One

If folks here would like, I can try to keep you up to date on news from my campaign (simply called "The Word").

Sure, why not? It isn't as if we're overloaded with posts here at the moment...

[Rocket Man]

Originally Posted by The Bearded One

If folks here would like, I can try to keep you up to date on news from my campaign (simply called "The Word").

I'd love to see it!

[Whitelaughter]

Most demons won't have the resources to find out, and even if they do, what are the odds of them using it when they need it?

The solution, from Hell's perspective, is simple: self-destructive acts. You don't need death to give the Cherub dissonance! Take a drug, cut yourself, hurt your reputation, listen to a Balseraph, lose a friend - in short, be a demon. Pick acts that further Allied words and you'll even end up ahead!

[tHEhERETIC]

Originally Posted by Methariel

And to make things complicated: If it was a Cherub of Judgment, does he really need to defend you? I'm currently unable to look into Superiors 1, but I believe they may attune to you and don't suffer dissonance if you get harmed and this could be considered a fitting punishment for your crime (which, by being a demon, is punishable by death).

M.

I do have it handy--it's one of my favorites. You are correct, the Cherub suffers no dissonance if his attuned is hurt, and may in fact do the hurting. However, they're still attuned and still want to protect their charge. If they're attuned to a bad guy, they won't hand him over to anyone who isn't Judgement, and I would rule that vessel-killing him constitutes 'handing him over' to Hell.