Lava Rock

Moe Lane · 08-23-2008, 03:42 AM

http://moeticae.typepad.com/weblog_l...lava-rock.html

Lava Rock

It is, of course, incorrect to suggest that taking lava rock from Hawaii is somehow mystically bad luck. It's rock: it has all of the supernatural capacity of holding a charge of misfortune as any other piece of rock - in other words, none. This has been tested, many times, by some of the best esoteric engineers on both sides of the War. The results are always the same: lava rock does not cause bad luck. Unfortunately, having more than an ounce of it within ten feet does double the amount of disturbance generated (one reason why Hawaii and Iceland have relatively few Tethers, by the way), so you might understand why that legend got started.

Generally speaking, the celestials most likely to do something about a lava rock possessor are Servitors of Divine Fire, Dark Humor, Judgment, and Factions - but anybody can play, really. It all depends on who notices the human carrying around the disturbance bomb, and whether or not that person is naughty or nice. If they're on the wrong metaphysical side, the celestial pretty much enjoys the option of being able to go out and make that person's life miserable until the human finally mails the lava rock back to Hawaii. Traditionally, that ends the game with that particular human - most demons will actually go along with that, in any but the most high-contrast campaigns; it keeps the angels from getting too worked up on the subject - and the subsequent boost in superstition helps keep disturbance bombs rare, which is nice.

As for whether this somehow boosts the Hawaiian goddess Pele... well, both Jean and Vapula find the question of some interest as a research problem.

tHEhERETIC · 08-23-2008, 01:13 PM

Most curious--seeing as Hawaii and Pele figure into my PbP I'm going to stealth-lock the following as spoilers. Still, I'd like to compare notes.

How do you figure lava rock magnifies disturbance? Really, we might be closer in concept than I think, and the more my backstory matches the collective fandom/canon, the happier the players seem to be.

For Mile Higher Club, I've held that Hawaii itself is a celestial quiet zone since the deaths of Oannes and Vephar--an island in the middle of the unoccupied ocean, de facto ruled by Pele and her family who very diligently keep celestials out. No sense of humor about Uriel's genocide, I suppose. ;) There's still Gabriel's tether on Kilauea, but if Pele wants to boot an angel off 'her' island she's not going to be too careful about whether the tether is opened. Simply exited, or vessel-crisped trauma'd and gone to Heaven, it's all the same to her.

This is why Ryuki goes there all the time--to get away from the noise! Well, there are other reasons...it's also why he was able to hear a large Los Angeles disturbance from Oahu (though I was stretching that a bit for dramatic effect). Oahu is a quiet zone, and the ocean between is quiet and possibly magnified the disturbance--again, I fudged for dramatic effect. Intuitively I think water would magnify sound, even celestial sound.

Lava rock does in fact (and in MHC) cause bad luck, because it's Pele's hair and she's an angry, jealous, possessive goddess with enough Essence from all those tourists to create de facto artifacts of all those lava rocks. Well, not all of them, but enough to keep the legend going.

Moe Lane · 08-24-2008, 02:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tHEhERETIC

How do you figure lava rock magnifies disturbance?

I don't have the slightest clue. I also decline to speculate on the Hawaiian pantheon until I am back on the Eastern seaboard. To quote my wife, Lava is Pele's Skill List. :)

08-23-2008, 03:42 AM	#1
Moe Lane Join Date: Apr 2005	Lava Rock http://moeticae.typepad.com/weblog_l...lava-rock.html Lava Rock It is, of course, incorrect to suggest that taking lava rock from Hawaii is somehow mystically bad luck. It's rock: it has all of the supernatural capacity of holding a charge of misfortune as any other piece of rock - in other words, none. This has been tested, many times, by some of the best esoteric engineers on both sides of the War. The results are always the same: lava rock does not cause bad luck. Unfortunately, having more than an ounce of it within ten feet does double the amount of disturbance generated (one reason why Hawaii and Iceland have relatively few Tethers, by the way), so you might understand why that legend got started. Generally speaking, the celestials most likely to do something about a lava rock possessor are Servitors of Divine Fire, Dark Humor, Judgment, and Factions - but anybody can play, really. It all depends on who notices the human carrying around the disturbance bomb, and whether or not that person is naughty or nice. If they're on the wrong metaphysical side, the celestial pretty much enjoys the option of being able to go out and make that person's life miserable until the human finally mails the lava rock back to Hawaii. Traditionally, that ends the game with that particular human - most demons will actually go along with that, in any but the most high-contrast campaigns; it keeps the angels from getting too worked up on the subject - and the subsequent boost in superstition helps keep disturbance bombs rare, which is nice. As for whether this somehow boosts the Hawaiian goddess Pele... well, both Jean and Vapula find the question of some interest as a research problem. __________________ Moe Lane Moe Lane.com

08-23-2008, 01:13 PM	#2
tHEhERETIC MIB Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Life imitates art--I'm in Pohang	Re: Lava Rock Most curious--seeing as Hawaii and Pele figure into my PbP I'm going to stealth-lock the following as spoilers. Still, I'd like to compare notes. How do you figure lava rock magnifies disturbance? Really, we might be closer in concept than I think, and the more my backstory matches the collective fandom/canon, the happier the players seem to be. For Mile Higher Club, I've held that Hawaii itself is a celestial quiet zone since the deaths of Oannes and Vephar--an island in the middle of the unoccupied ocean, de facto ruled by Pele and her family who very diligently keep celestials out. No sense of humor about Uriel's genocide, I suppose. ;) There's still Gabriel's tether on Kilauea, but if Pele wants to boot an angel off 'her' island she's not going to be too careful about whether the tether is opened. Simply exited, or vessel-crisped trauma'd and gone to Heaven, it's all the same to her. This is why Ryuki goes there all the time--to get away from the noise! Well, there are other reasons...it's also why he was able to hear a large Los Angeles disturbance from Oahu (though I was stretching that a bit for dramatic effect). Oahu is a quiet zone, and the ocean between is quiet and possibly magnified the disturbance--again, I fudged for dramatic effect. Intuitively I think water would magnify sound, even celestial sound. Lava rock does in fact (and in MHC) cause bad luck, because it's Pele's hair and she's an angry, jealous, possessive goddess with enough Essence from all those tourists to create de facto artifacts of all those lava rocks. Well, not all of them, but enough to keep the legend going. __________________ Criminy...these two have enough issues, they can sell subscriptions! (ladyarcana55, in a PM) Last edited by tHEhERETIC; 08-23-2008 at 01:23 PM.