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Old 04-20-2018, 05:27 AM   #1
woweed
 
Join Date: Aug 2016
Default A game premise i'm thinking of

As anyone who has looked through my post history can tell you, i'm a big fan of game ideas sprung form the Redemption and/poor Fall of a particular Superior. This one come straight form the core books, but with a little twist:

We open with Kobal. Former Angel of Laughter, current Demon Prince of Dark Humor, he who has personally conversed with God more time then any being not an Archangel. As our story opens, it's 2001, and it's been over a century since Kobal started to retreat into seclusion. He's been increasingly less active over the century. He's engineered some major disasters, of course: The Titanic, The Boston Molasses Disaster, The Wales Mining Mudslide, and The Texaco whirlpool, among others, but it all felt passe. He was bored, above all else. And when Kobal's bored, he thinks. So he'd been thinking, for over a century. Kobal was a comedian, but he hated being the butt of the joke, and he wondered: Was he? He'd watched as he became less and less prominent since being one of the original Fallen, as his old job was given to Kronos and The War spiraled into a completely droll stalemate. Service to Hell was starting to lose its charms. He just wished there was something more interesting to do then play pranks and bicker. It was at this point Kobal started poking through his desk, looking for old ideas he could use, something to really knock the others off their feet, and he found an old note. The oldest. One signed by Yves himself, from eons ago. A message Kobal himself had forgotten. A mission from God. Kobal read it. And then, after putting it down for a few minutes, he chuckled. He guffawed. He roared. He screamed. He Laughed. He laughed harder than he'd laughed since Humanity first evolved. Here, at last, was the Ultimate Joke. His laughter was heard echoing throughout all of Hell. Even on Earth, people started inexplicably giggling as Kobal's laughter resounded through the Earth. Then, as he yelled the joke into the minds of all his Servitors, a great many of whom would follow him out of Hell as a result, Kobal's tower burst into pieces. He immediately went down to the basement, where he smashed the Hearts of as many Servitors as he could, then, screamed out "SO LONG, SUCKERS!" as he hightailed it to Heaven. Haagenti caught up to him on the way, but Kobal always had a silver tongue, and Haagenti had the best sense of humor of any of the others. He could appreciate a good joke, and Kobal had one heck of a whooper. He whispered it to him, and Haagenti laughed. And he followed his brother out of Hell.

Dominic was immensely confused. He had just been checking in with one of his Tribunal for the weekly visit, and now, there were two Demon Princes, standing before him begging forgiveness. He was one second away from slashing them both to pieces, when his Resonance kicked in. No lies. How was this possible? If they were being sincere...Even Dominic, younger than Eli but seeming much older, bitter and paranoid, wasn't about to kill the first two Demon Princes to ask for Redemption. They were brought before the Seraphim Council, to answer for their crimes, Haagenti quiet and subdued, Kobal's smirk finally missing from his face. Neither of them made excuses. They admitted to their crimes. They stated only a wish to Redeem, or, if God should deem them unworthy, die trying. Every possessor of the Seraphim Resonance in the room backed them up. After a vote by the Seraphim Council, Haagenti stepped in first. After 25 minutes of waiting, and a prolonging retching sound, Haagenti walked out, surrounded by every Angel he'd ever eaten. a bright, shining, Ofanitie. The Angel of Prosperity cheered as his brother stepped into the embrace of God. It took over an hour, but, eventually, Kobal stepped out, a white-winged Mercurian, whistling gleefully, and, most importantly, not just an Angel. An Archangel. Kobal, Archangel of Joy, laughed long and hard. Haagenti immediately requested permission to serve under his brother. Janus grinned broadly. Novalivis's eyes had the gleam of someone vindicated. Yves...Just chuckled. Things were changing.

Elsewhere, Hell was in chaos. Asmodeus fumed, as he sat in his private Sanctum. Not only were two major Demon Princes gone from Hell, but so were a large portion of Kobal's Servitors, and a not-insignificant number of Haggenti's. He had to verify each of their Servitor's allegiances, make sure said Servitors found new masters, and hunt down all those who had fled, in the time following the laugh. As he sat there, fuming and wondering how Hell could get God back for this, a plan burst into his mind. He could have it done in under a decade. For a being like him, used to thinking in terms of centuries, that felt like a nanosecond. He, carefully and clearly, began composing a message to Vapula...

Most of Hell weren't concerned about revenge. They were concerned about divvying up the spoils. Kronos and Malphas, the second grinning all the while, took most of Kobal's former Servitors. Samniga and Furfur took a few of the less-ambitious. Truth be told, however, Kobal hadn't left many behind. Most of his Servitors had either Redeemed alongside him, or were trapped in Trauma. Haagenti's Servitors were mostly still in Hell, and it was with them that the dividing got interesting. Mammon took most of them, Fleurity took a large share, Andrealphus got quite a few, and the newly-promoted Demon Prince of Pollution also took some. Mammon was now a Major Superior, Fleurity was getting close. Andre gained a lot of power from his sudden sole ownership of Shal-Mari. Schadenfreude stepped into Kobal's place as Prince. Many Demons who hadn't served the Redeemed left regardless, fearing that The Trumpet might sound again any day now.

Meanwhile, back in Heaven, growing pains were the name of the game. Eli had returned at last, to the immense relief of Dominic, who had quite enough to deal with thanks to all the recent upheaval and the new-found steady trickle of Redeemed. Most of Kobal's Servitors who hadn't continued to serve him fell in with Eli or Janus. The few of Haggenti's Servitors who had gone with him went to Janus or, on rare occasions, Jordi. Things seemed to be proceeding quite happily. Heaven's ranks swelled day after day, and there was a pervasive feeling that Hell might be capitulating any day now. It was not to stay that way. There was no way it could. Dominic watched and waited, knowing the other shoe would drop any day now. And that day would come...

It's a few years later. 2006, to be precise. Heaven has been chugging along. The new Archangel is established, over 3000 demons have Redeemed since 2001, and things have been going well. However, on his Savannah, Jordi broods. He's always been somewhat apart from the other Archangels. He's the only one of them who outright shuns humanity. He's grazing on his Savannah, thinking. He's spent decades being seemingly the only advocate for his furry friends. The rest seem so enamored of those hairless apes. And now, Jordi had his hands full fighting that thrice-damned Demon Prince of Pollution, and no one seems to care. Novalis was helping, sure, and so was Janus, but the rest seemed to be focusing on other matters. Couldn't they see how important this was? The Demon Prince of Pollution was cunning, intelligent, smart even by Superior standards, and had risen meteorically fast. He was given his Word following the Exxon Valdez disaster he was behind, and he had risen quicker then any Demon Prince. He knew his "arch-enemy", and he knew how to manipulate him. He spent years, subtly feeding Jordi's anger, getting him more and more enraged. He drove humans to acts of brutality, drove Jordi to his own in retaliation. Jordi found his focus narrowing, his eyes growing red. He started becoming less and less concerned with collateral damage, and soon, he had left Heaven. The Demon Prince of Beasts had come.

It is now 2008. It's been 2 years since The Savannah burst into flames. Heaven has been massively destabilized. The animal souls have had to be re-housed, new housing set up. Things have been chaos.


Your thoughts?

Last edited by woweed; 04-26-2018 at 07:53 PM.
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Old 04-21-2018, 08:53 AM   #2
Whitelaughter
 
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Default Jordi

The most important enemy of Pollution would be Jean, constantly replacing demonic Technology with cleaner machines: so relations between Jordi and Jean should have improved if you go this route. Remember though that many animals thrive in pollution, they just tend to be the sort of critter that humans aren't fond of; Jordi might well regard humanity dying in our own refuse to be poetic justice.

A Demon Prince of Beasts runs smack into the problem that animals don't go to Hell; he'll be lucky to maintain any Word much less be of Superior power. The only strong point for working with beasts in in The Marches; the Domains of Animal Dreams could be corrupted to create an Ethereal powerbase.

Better yet a Demon Prince of The Bestial, of humans who decay into something subhuman, would have potential, especially given the 'animals' created by Saminga. This could range from the horror of the most depraved crimes to the pathos of Toxoplasmosis causing crazy cat ladies(assuming this happens - eh, it's just a game).
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Old 04-21-2018, 01:41 PM   #3
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Default Re: Jordi

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The most important enemy of Pollution would be Jean, constantly replacing demonic Technology with cleaner machines: so relations between Jordi and Jean should have improved if you go this route. Remember though that many animals thrive in pollution, they just tend to be the sort of critter that humans aren't fond of; Jordi might well regard humanity dying in our own refuse to be poetic justice.

A Demon Prince of Beasts runs smack into the problem that animals don't go to Hell; he'll be lucky to maintain any Word much less be of Superior power. The only strong point for working with beasts in in The Marches; the Domains of Animal Dreams could be corrupted to create an Ethereal powerbase.

Better yet a Demon Prince of The Bestial, of humans who decay into something subhuman, would have potential, especially given the 'animals' created by Saminga. This could range from the horror of the most depraved crimes to the pathos of Toxoplasmosis causing crazy cat ladies(assuming this happens - eh, it's just a game).
That's kinda what I was going for. Jordi as the Demon of savagery, brutality, and all the other bad things humanity associates with nature, "Red in Tooth And Claw."
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Old 04-22-2018, 11:25 PM   #4
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Default Re: Jordi

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That's kinda what I was going for. Jordi as the Demon of savagery, brutality, and all the other bad things humanity associates with nature, "Red in Tooth And Claw."
Demon Prince of Predators?
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Old 04-23-2018, 02:21 PM   #5
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Demon Prince of Predators?
That would work.
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Old 04-25-2018, 07:53 AM   #6
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Default Re: A game premise i'm thinking of

For the savagery that's associated with animals, you might consider the Word of Beasts. I did something similar with a minor prince write-up: https://www.attercap.net/in-nomine/s...rs/hashmal.php
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Old 04-25-2018, 02:13 PM   #7
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Default Re: A game premise i'm thinking of

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For the savagery that's associated with animals, you might consider the Word of Beasts. I did something similar with a minor prince write-up: https://www.attercap.net/in-nomine/s...rs/hashmal.php
Yes, exactly. That was actually a major inspiration for this idea.
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Old 04-26-2018, 09:35 PM   #8
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Default Re: A game premise i'm thinking of

OK, I think i've thought of a good plot hook for the game i'm planning. Namely, Kobal's joke isn't over. Far from it. His and Hag's Redemption was just the first step. The set-up. The punchline is coming soon. It's been two years since Jordi Fell, something which throws quite a monkey wrench in Kobal's plans, but also, in many ways, makes it easier. Jordi had been tethering on the edge of the chasm for years, and everyone knows that. Kobal may have been an Angel now,but he was comedian at heart, and one talent that gave him was the ability to read a person, analyze their weaknesses, their insecurities, just the right thread to pull and unravel their sanity, or reassure them that things weren't that bad. In retrospect, Kobal could see Hell's weakness: Denial. That was their whole thing. Denying the truth, rejecting God and continuing to reject him no matter what the facts said. To get a Demon to Redeem, Prince or not, you had to force them to accept The Truth. Accept that they had made a mistake in rejecting God. Kobal wasn't one much for revenge, but he still had a bigger plan and, whit Hell having converted a major Archangel to their side, that plan was bets put into place now sooner then later. Time to go for the Hat Trick. One Demon Prince Redeemed was a miracle, two was an encore, but three would be a tipping point. if his plan worked, it might tip the scales over to Heaven permanently. All he had to do was find the right Prince to redeem. He needed a major one, someone who he'd interacted with a lot, and someone whose doubts could be easily played on. Someone whose sphere of influence was needed in Heaven. He looked at Dominic's Inquisition-like brutality, Micheal and Yves' infighting. This place needed some Love, Then it hit him. Love. Yet another Shal-Mari Prince, Kobal had interacted with Andrealphus, and he had learned of the Prince's sorrow. He threw himself into carnal pleasure to ignore the pain he felt, the shame at abandoning the word of Love. Kobal picked through Yves' archives, searching for something to bring Andrealphus back, and found, hidden deep: Eroites, Angel of Love-At-First-Sight. He had been Andre's most treasured son, one of the greatest Servitors of Love. However, shortly after Beladine and Beleth's love fell apart, one of Lucifer's servants, one who would, in another world, have become his most trusted general, forged a weapon, a weapon so powerful it could not only kill Angels, but kill them at the core, eliminating their Word from reality. The demon took aim and fired. Love At First Sight not only died, he had never existed. No one, not even his maker, could remember him, and, torn apart by yearning emptiness, Andre, for reasons he would never know, killed the Demon who killed his son, destroyed his spear...and Fell. Andre rejected love, out of fear of getting hurt once more. Now, Kobal would have to convince him to face love again. No Angel could pull this off. Kobal would need a mortal...

Last edited by woweed; 04-27-2018 at 01:56 PM.
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Old 04-27-2018, 02:18 AM   #9
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Default Re: A game premise i'm thinking of

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No Angel could pull this off. Kobal would need a mortal...
A recommended story to steal stuff for this from: San Diego Lightfoot Sue, by Tom Reamy, published in the collection San Diego Lightfoot Sue and Other Stories. Out of print, but available used.
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Old 05-10-2018, 12:26 PM   #10
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Default Re: A game premise i'm thinking of

Some of the stuff in the beginning reminds me of stuff from Moetica (I think it was). It was a site of fan fic pertaining to 'new' Superiors. I personally miss it and am still mourning its loss.

I totally love the premise, the backstory, et al. If you do run the game, please let us know what's going on with it. I would dearly love to know.
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