Notre Dame is Burning

[Rocket Man]

In the world of In Nomine, the cathedral of Notre Dame is the Earthly headquarters of The Heavenly Host. If we assume that the IN world parallels our own, how would the various Archangels react to the devastation or loss of perhaps their mightiest Tether?

[Andrew Hackard]

This is a horrible, tragic event, and there are lots of places to discuss its real-world effects . . . but these forums aren't one of them. Please be sure to keep THIS thread focused on what might happen in the IN setting.

[finn]

I think the Tether would be weakened for a while, but come back strong. The donations and goodwill from across the globe would be astronomical. If it was meant to be a demonic ploy to permanently weaken the Tether, I say it would fail, or even backfire.

However, if the purpose was to temporarily weaken the Tether and distract Heaven, it would be very effective. Hell must be planning something very nefarious if they pulled off the burning of Notre Dame as a temporary distraction.

[Rocket Man]

Originally Posted by Andrew Hackard

This is a horrible, tragic event, and there are lots of places to discuss its real-world effects . . . but these forums aren't one of them. Please be sure to keep THIS thread focused on what might happen in the IN setting.

Agreed, Andrew. The game effects are what I was interested in discussing here. Thanks for keeping us focused. I've also taken the liberty of editing my initial post to remove the (minimal) real-world commentary.

[Rocket Man]

Originally Posted by finn

I think the Tether would be weakened for a while, but come back strong. The donations and goodwill from across the globe would be astronomical. If it was meant to be a demonic ploy to permanently weaken the Tether, I say it would fail, or even backfire.

However, if the purpose was to temporarily weaken the Tether and distract Heaven, it would be very effective. Hell must be planning something very nefarious if they pulled off the burning of Notre Dame as a temporary distraction.

Both points are well-made. I think the second becomes especially sinister if we assume this was inspired not by Belial, but by Kobal. (A destructive accident caused by a renovation crew is just the sort of irony the Prince of Dark Humor would appreciate.)

[ak_aramis]

There is also the issue of "Was it a supernatural plot or a mortal one?"

I see several possible answers to that...

• Purely mortal
• Mortals inspired by demons
• Demons
• Mortals inspired by Fey
• Fey/pagan entities
• Gabriel (or his subordinates) firing up the French¹ to some Angelic plan

The first thing is going to be the host trying real hard to figure out which. Which may be especially hard if it was Angelic in origin.

If purely mortal, a large part of the host then goes to work on the mortals to get the repair funding going and the redesign into full "Imposing Inspirational Art" mode.

Mortals put up to it by demons? longer tie-up, and more work, because the demonic

If demonic in whole or part, a reckoning of some form. The why could be to tie up a portion of the host, or simply to test how faithful Paris is...

If Fey/Pagan, it's a direct attack on religion - weakening the tether so that they can reach their followers.

If it's Angelic, it's either a test, or a means of rebuilding so the tether is more appropriate than the renovations. Those mortal folk can be so stolid at times...


¹ the pun wasn't intentional, but was left in after noticing it.

[Whitelaughter]

Within In Nomine, there is no chance of this being accidental; while an accident is possible real world, within the game the Cherubim attuned to the building would have detected the fire with their resonance.

Nor would the assault on Notre Dame have been unexpected; the 2016 planned attack and the 875 French churches attacked last year would make it clear that an assault on Notre Dame was inevitable.

For Hell to be able to launch such an attack would indicate that they are winning the war, and have been for years. Heaven is clearly on the backfoot.

Dominic is probably planning to put Zadkiel on trial - given the most generous assessment of her work recently would be "incompetent"; while "treasonous" would be running through the minds of many angels.

Zadkiel Falling works well for a future campaign set, becoming the DP of Protection Payments, including blackmail and Jizya.

[malloyd]

Hah, this is our big chance to show those fools over in Sculptural Factions who've been bragging about Civil War monuments and saying Architectural Factions hasn't been pulling their weight in the war....

You guys get out there and make sure blood runs in the streets over the proper style in which to rebuild the Opposition's biggest tether.

[Whitelaughter]

Originally Posted by malloyd

Hah, this is our big chance to show those fools over in Sculptural Factions who've been bragging about Civil War monuments and saying Architectural Factions hasn't been pulling their weight in the war....

You guys get out there and make sure blood runs in the streets over the proper style in which to rebuild the Opposition's biggest tether.

That's a really good campaign concept, I like it.

Given Malphas has already revived one DP, he might be going for a revived DP of Oblivion.

(Oh, given the rose window survived, probably indicates that is the actual Locus? You fly into or out of the window to get to Heaven?)

[Rocket Man]

Originally Posted by Whitelaughter

(Oh, given the rose window survived, probably indicates that is the actual Locus? You fly into or out of the window to get to Heaven?)

Oh, I like that; that's a wonderful mental image. Talk about stepping into the light!

That would also suggest that the demons who get burned by the Light of Heaven might see it spear them from the center of the rose window, no matter where they are in the church, beaming out like Goldfinger's laser.