[The Word] The Bearded One's Campaign Log

[The Bearded One]

I have recently resumed my on-and-off In Nomine campaign called The Word. Several of you have asked me to start this log so that there is a bit more activity in the IN section of the forums, and coincidentally it may serve as adventure seeds for other IN GMs.

The premise of the campaign is simple enough. In October 2002, a mid-rank (11-Force) Lilim of Andrealphus named Selena sponsors a group of young, inexperienced demons to come to Earth for the first time. The demons (the PCs) do not have to all work for Lust since Selena can call in favors from other principalities.

Selena has a simple job for the PCs: She has a list of seven humans (just names, rough physical descriptions, and home addresses) and she wants them to all lose their jobs in the next two weeks.

Quick investigation by the PCs will reveal that the seven humans all work at a specific call center (one manager, one tech support, and five telephone operators). Deeper investigation reveals that the call center is a clearing house for information designed to help battered women.

So far, no problem. Unfortunately, when the PCs start messing with the employees, they'll quickly attract the attention of nearby angels. There is a Cherub Friend of Blandine and a Malakite of Gabriel nearby who will not take kindly to demonic plots. The call center is also funded by a charity based in New York City which is run by an angel of Flowers.

I have run this scenario twice. The first time, the PCs panicked when the Malakite of Fire found them and decided that they were totally willing to defect to Heaven's side of the war. The second time, the PCs embraced the idea of being demons serving the side of evil (for the most part) and eventually committed arson to shut the call center down for good.

The second group asked for that adventure to turn into a campaign, so I figured out what Selena was really up to (she wants a valuable Word and doesn't particularly want to beg Andrealphus to sponsor her), and a couple more missions for her to send the PCs on, and voila! The Word became a campaign.


Questions answered and more info in a couple of days.

[The Bearded One]

The player character demons are a really mixed bag:

1) Balseraph of Lust
2) Lilim of Lust
3) Balseraph of The Game (whose mission is to find out what Selena is really up to)
4) Habbalah of Nightmares
5) Calabite of Fire
6) Lilim of Fate
7) Shedite of The Media
8) Djinn of Technology

That last demon's player (#8) has decided that she wants to defect to Heaven's side of the War and become an angel. She has begun that process and is now secretly a Renegade feeding information to the Cherub Friend of Dreams that I mentioned in the OP. (Because the player is uncomfortable with the idea of playing a demon, I am making the process of Redeeming substantially easier for her than it should be.)


More to come....

[Rocket Man]

Eight PCs? You have my admiration and sympathy, sir. When everyone is in attendance, my own In Nomine Madison group includes:

1. A Bright of Music, now in service to The Sword (and planning to transfer).
2. A Bright of War.
3. A Kyriotate of Creation, in service to Flowers.
4. A Cherub of War.
5. A Seraph of Judgment, heading up the local Triad.
6. A Malakite of Lightning
7. A Malakite of the Divine Word (Gabriel's sphere of influence here), presently off on an atonement assignment.

No, no Powers or Friends of Man. I used to run a Mercurian of Destiny in this campaign before becoming a co-GM, though.

It's also worth noting that -- in part because he came in when the group was smaller and we needed all the help we could get -- numbers 2, 5 and 7 are run by the same player. We've suggested that he's a Kyriotate in disguise. Especially since 2 and 5 argue with each other. :)

[The Bearded One]

The player of the Habbalah of Nightmares missed the first full session of the adventure last week, so I briefed him about the PCs' new missions. While we were talking about that, he said something to the effect that demons are expected to obey their orders without question. Since I'm trying to have the War between Hell & Heaven be more complex than just black vs white, I composed this following email to all of the players:

An issue came up when I was briefing [Player #4] about what happened in the first session of the current In Nomine adventure... an issue of broad philosophy.

Lucifer's Rebellion against God was specifically about the nature of authority. God, the Creator, fancied Himself to be the ultimate authoritarian and looked very dimly upon any hint of disobedience. Lucifer believed in free will for himself and for every other angel. The Fall was about Lucifer refusing to bow down before God just because God said so and was the toughest bully around.

There is a hierarchy in Hell, but for the most part (aside from normal levels of corruption) it is a meritocracy. Individual demons earn rewards and promotions based on how well they promote the Words of their Superiors. (For example, a demon of Death who is able to create a fascination for vampires among a large group of humans will receive promotion faster than one who merely gets a lonely psychopath to murder a hobo.)

The angels of Heaven are much more communistic in their philosophy. They expect lower-ranked angels to follow their orders without question, and promotion among the angelic host is mostly based on time in service rather than actual qualifications.

Bottom line: Demons do not - and are not expected to - follow their orders unquestioningly. Disobeying your orders usually will have consequences (including making your boss very angry), but it is part of life in Hell.

I followed that up with a second email just for the player of the one demon trying to Redeem:

The previous email describes how the demons look at the philosophy of free will. They paint themselves as the heroes of the war and the angels as the villains. The angels tell a very different story.

According to the angels (mostly by way of Harry, Friend of Dreams), Lucifer's Rebellion was not about free will at all, it was about petulance. When God created Humans, Lucifer got jealous, feeling that God was placing Humans above the angels (and above him) in importance.

Lucifer's Rebellion was actually about Lucifer and his demon allies trying to prove that Humans are "nothing special". Demons in all their work on Earth and in the Dreamlands are trying desperately to prove to God that humans are just animals, no more important to the universe than spiders or ferns.

The demons will ultimately fail, of course. But for reasons so mysterious not even the angels understand, God is permitting the forces of Hell to make their argument and try to corrupt the Humans.

*Note: I use the term 'Dreamlands' instead of 'Marches' in my campaign.

Does this seem a reasonable summary of each side's philosophy of the War?

[robkelk]

Originally Posted by The Bearded One

Does this seem a reasonable summary of each side's philosophy of the War?

It looks good to me...

[Rocket Man]

Originally Posted by robkelk

It looks good to me...

To me, too. One side claims it's about the independence or subordination of the spirit, while the other says it's about the exaltation or degradation of Man.

That said, remember that rebels against authority aren't always good at granting others independence. The CSA recognized its right to secede from the USA, but not West Virginia's right to secede from Virginia in turn; Hell may be similarly tunnel-visioned in granting its subordinates the independence it demands of Heaven. ;)