Input on Seattle Tethers

[Acolyte]

Originally Posted by Valadrim

One of my central premises that I will not move from is, "Not everyone gets a Tether." <snip>.

No need to feel pressured to include everyone/thing, I'm just tossing out ideas here. And L. Castorellum does say that Tethers by their very nature seem to discourage nearby Tethers, so you are justified in saying that what otherwise would be a Tether to X is instead just an area of potential because of the nearby Tethers to Y and Z. This also could introduce a pretty hectic mess if a Tether (like Pike Place) goes byebye, when enough Tetherness is released for the formation of a half-dozen protoTethers nearby. After wild hijinx, only one or two weak new Tethers would be left, with one or both probably finished off by the opposition relatively quickly. But it would be a wacky time in the middle. Speaking of tossing out ideas, Gasworks Park just north of Lake Union is a very special place with definite Tether potential, Flowers probably but there are others.

I love it, I pictured Pike Place Tether as having formed early this century, eeking out an existence based upon its presence is Seattle (which, even if superficial, cannot be denied). But I agree it lacks a lot of what I would expect from a powerful and secure Tether.<snip> Anyone who has ideas for hilarious tragedies please submit them!

Well, since Pike Place is so famous for its tossed fish, one very Kobal thing that springs to mind is a photograph, taken by a tourist at the time of the blast, with a half-smiling, half-"was that just a bomb?"-faced family in the foreground, and in the background, a few (dying? dead? bleeding, at least) people being tossed through the air past a sign advertising the fish-tossing place. Assuming that photograph made it into a newspaper or two (or on TV) instead of being pulled because of its graphic nature and insensitivity to the victims, I can see a Tether to Kobal forming there. If the bomb was initially the work of a Mummy hoping for a Saminga Tether, that just makes it even better.

Another moment of hilarity (in the Kobal sense) would be to have something like the cliche Seattle rains undermine the foundation of the place and have the entire thing slide down a few stories to the road/parking below (it's perched at the top of a small cliff).

Time either of those--or another Kobal catastrophe--at some important date for Pike Place or the surrounding area, and you've sweetened the pie further.

It is true, I haven't really looked at specific neighborhoods at all, and that is something I should fix, even though I don't believe I will plant any more Tethers anywhere (not until in game action makes them at least). What I really need is a good Seattle map.

You've also not mentioned anything (I think) in West Seattle, which despite its name is much more SW of the city, and is pretty sketchy sometimes. I'd say that with the current setup there's not a Tether there but it's pretty much a playground for the demons of Tacoma.

Try this for a map--it's not pretty, but it delineates major neighborhoods (useful if you're preparing a writeup similar to that of Austin in Night Music) and major roads. Clicking on one area will bring you to a blow up of that area. http://clerk.ci.seattle.wa.us/~publi...s/fullcity.htm

Additionally, this one shows a lot of other neighborhoods you can google for more information: http://www.seattlerentals.com/searent_phase4/map1.gif

Lastly, this one looks pretty but it's tiiiiiny: http://www.bigstickinc.com/seattle_map_large.html

Again, due to my desire to not fill the city up to its eyes with Tethers, I avoided sticking more than one Tether at UW. <snip> I feel like In Nomine is rich enough of a setting without me trying to include everything on my first run.

Of course not! Especially with minor Superiors, who are still so young by celestial standards and still getting established in many places.

Thanks, the Seneschal (I don't have his name in-front of me) is an Ofanite of the Mountain. <snip>.

I like it. Tacoma needs some Elohim of Stone. And since you can see Rainier on a good day, it is very iconic in the city as well.

I guess I just don't know where to stick it then. I know I want to have one. <snip> I am forced to admit complete ignorance to how St. James impacts Seattle in real life, but as I doubt it is full of Angels in real life I feel justified in making it "better" in my game than might be the case.

*shrug* There are a lot of other Catholic churches...one in particular (the name escapes me atm) has an AMAZING stained glass display that could be a Tether or potential one to Creation. If you wanted to be really funky, there could be a very, very old one to Creation there, staffed by Angels of the Sword to make sure it isn't destroyed. But both the religious devotion and code of honor that make good Sword Tether potential spots are mostly defunct in Seattle now. If there's a Tether there, it's old and flagging. Possibly there isn't one and there are just a LOT of Sword angels trying to fight for spiritual ground and the making of one. Another thought is to have the Sword Tether you want be a converted Purity Tether, which does expand your options a little.

Thanks, hey I am glad you are here because I can't remember the exact location I am thinking of. <snip> Do you remember what exit this is?

There are a lot of places on I-5 where that could be. The place that comes to mind when you say "large wooded hill on left with medical facilities" is much further north than Boeing--near the exits you take for downtown, like Yesler Way. But the area is much grimmer closer to Boeing, past the stadiums, around the Swift Ave exit. You could place it wherever you wish--but note the description of Michael in L. Cast. where it suggests that he prefers to have Tethers far apart from other Heavenly ones and close to demonic ones, so that fewer angels are wasted on guard duty in similar places and more are out fighting demons where they belong.

Actually you hit it on the head; during the course of the game there will be a push from Vapula to capture the Microsoft Tether. <snip> They will, however, be at a loss of how to take the Tether considering that Marc has a Tether in the same building. This confusion will quickly turn into action when the Seneschal (or non-word bound leader) Falls.

Good luck with that. Sounds great. I'd love to get in on that kind of action.

I almost want to say I have enough unpleasant surprises, but if my players are doing well and their characters get entrusted with more responsibility and resources a Tether on Bainbridge might not be out of place.

Just a thought. Might be a good thing to spring on them if they decide to travel over to the Olympia Peninsula for some "quiet" time or to deal with a situation they know will cause disturbance further from the city and all its nascent Tethers.

If you have any Seattle-centric adventure seeds I would love to hear them.

I think you've got most of the bases covered. There are gonna be big north/south class issues, the fight for Microsoft, and the potential siege of a formerly very angelic city. The music scene (with indie being so popular and there being so many venues) is something you haven't mentioned, and bands are great ways to introduce a group of traveling celestials/aware humans in such a way that they'll leave (or be dead...) in a few weeks and so don't become recurring characters you have to remember about. Also with Seattle being so anti-reproduction and pro-pot, I have got to say that the Children/Drugs fight there is definitely swinging in favor of Hell (though if you choose to omit that while not having the books, I definitely understand).

You know, that is a good idea. I was planning on having Jordi's servitors be essentially irrelevant to the story at hand, but having them spend all of their time attempting to get a Tether started is a great thing for them to be up to as my PCs ignore them and vice versa.

One interesting possibility is at the locks in between Magnolia and Ballard. While an impressive engineering feat, they also include a complicated system so that fishes can get up and downstream to mate/feed, one the builder added himself half a century before most people even thought about the ecologic consequences of public works projects. Medical research on animals is another angle.

I have always found it deeply ironic that the amount of resources expended in the recycling process exceeds the amount reclaimed.<snip>

Indeed. Great strides have been made in many areas, but the only regularly recycled product for which there is a big saving in energy is in fact aluminum. Saving in materials is a little more nebulous, and it is becoming increasingly expensive to operate new landfills in out of the way places and to ship trash there...so I'm not on the whole anti-recycling. But recycle smart, everyone--wash out food or other contaminants, sort where it's asked of you, don't put trash in with your recycling so that the whole lot is thrown out because it's easier to do that then separate it at the recycling facility, and always recycle aluminum. Okay, that's enough PSAing from Acolyte.

I will keep everyone posted about my game as it goes.

We'd sure love to hear about it!

[Jason]

Another take on turning Pike Place into a Tether to Dark Humor: PETA's real-life "dead kitten" protest takes place not just as an analogy and a protest, but as someone actually getting tricked into tossing a dead kitten (with children looking on, film at 11:00). Not every event that spawns a Tether needs to be engineered by demons; Kobal would certainly be amused to see moralistic humans serving his Word so effectively.

[robkelk]

Originally Posted by Jason

Not every event that spawns a Tether needs to be engineered by demons;

And Liber Castellorum indicates that too much Celestial meddling will kill a protoTether. Better to let the humans do things and take what Tethers you can get, than try to force a Tether and lose it altogether.

[Valadrim]

My game now has a Google Map!

http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?hl=en...3fef803a81&z=9

In case you can't tell, blue markers are Angelic Tethers, red are Infernal, and purple thumbtacks are adventure seed locations.

I have made a few changes to my original vision. The Game and Factions share a forked Tether. Lust's Tether is not the historical brothel (although it is quite close to it) but rather an underground (literally) club called Heaven. I originally (and foolishly) imagined Microsoft's monetary exchange being in the same building as the Tether for Jean. I quickly decided to change this when I sat down with a map and looked at the dozens of readily noticeable Microsoft buildings. I also quickly realized that I could find no evidence of the existence of a monetary exchange (other than from my personal memory from a political economics lecture). This did not stop me from going forth, and I placed it in their district office in Bellevue, which spreads things out a bit.

My previously ill defined Tether to Jean now has a location. It is in the break room of one of the Microsoft buildings. The Tether is the location of a local robotics club populated by Microsoft employees who spend their freetime there. There are always a number of interesting projects in the works by the clubs members, the most anticipated robot at the moment is a robotic duck designed to startle people who enjoy the organic ducks at the pond in the middle of the campus. The last project of great interest was a robot named Gary who would (theoretically) run documents down the the photocopier and copy them himself, that project was terminated when a department head declared that robots are not to be used to complete employee's work.

It looks like this game will revolve around the Sword, and so I am putting some finishing touches up on St. James Cathedral, and its Seneschal. I will post them later.

[Acolyte]

Well, that is an intense Tether density (as we discussed above), but looking at the map itself brings up another point: how does the Lust Tether, virtually ringed by warlike angelic Tethers and a Tether to a Hostile Prince, survive? Do the angels just not know about it? Does it have some weird extra Tether property that lets it survive?

Also, I like that the Tether to Stone is alone, off by itself, and with only demonic Tethers closeby. Probably just how David likes it.

Nice thought, though, on the GoogleMap.

[Valadrim]

Originally Posted by Acolyte

Well, that is an intense Tether density (as we discussed above), but looking at the map itself brings up another point: how does the Lust Tether, virtually ringed by warlike angelic Tethers and a Tether to a Hostile Prince, survive? Do the angels just not know about it? Does it have some weird extra Tether property that lets it survive?

Yeah, I need to make sure I have a really good story about what is going on at each of the three infernal Tethers in Seattle. I already know this story is going to be one where the war escalates, and as it does so, Lust might be an ideal location for the PC to shut down. I already have some ground work laid for three separate assaults on divine Tethers, I should probably be prepared for the players to return (or initiate) in kind.