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Old 02-26-2023, 05:00 AM   #1
Whitelaughter
 
Join Date: Jun 2011
Default THE VANAYAKAS

While following a series of links, I came across this set of demons, and realised that they really belong in In Nomine.
Note that I am not making any of the following up:

The Vanayakas are a set of 4 demons in Hindu mythology who are responsible for putting obstacles in peoples' way but who have a reputation of being easily bought off, and so have been receiving sacrifices for thousands of years throughout India.
About the 2nd century AD, they decided to rebrand themselves as a god, to simplify the whole getting worship and sacrifices business. This worked spectacularly well, with the cult of their new god – Ganesh – spreading not only across India but also jumped religions to be worshipped by Buddhists throughout South East Asia, and by some Jains. Tibetan Buddhism is ambivalent, with some worship, but tales of one their gods smiting the upstart as well.
On the subject of smiting, about the time of In Nomine's Purity Crusade, 'somebody' – tales disagree on who – chopped Ganesh's head off, requiring that it be replaced by the head of an elephant.

Then, just to make things even more bizarre – in the modern era scholars have noted simularities between Ganesh and Janus! Much ink has been spilt on whether the cults are related.

OKAY – now I am making stuff up:
A major problem for Servitors of Beleth is that the Dream Drain attunement would be more useful for Servitors of Dreams than of Nightmares – yes, the Dreamer gives you all their essence, but they are sent to Blandine's realm and have a major bonus to resist demonic influence for the rest of the evening. Using this without incuring Beleth's displeasure is going to be tricky. However, a set of demons responsible for feeding essence into an ongoing project, say the creation of a Domain, could do so for centuries, and would need to establish a cult to ensure effective use of the attunement. When the cult got too large for them to administer themselves, creating an ethereal god and getting Beleth to grant the ethereal the Dream Drain attunement would ease the workload, and grant access to mortals not willing to serve demons.
After Uriul knocks Ganeth's head off, the need to repair their pet god will turn the demons to the Assumption rules (EPG p134 and on). While normally crazy, with an established cult and 4 demons backing him, Ganesh could easily devour a minor elephant god.
Note that Ganesh is now one of the most powerful ethereal gods around – definitely a major god, at the 16-18 Force range if still describable using game mechanics – with Primal Affinities of Animals, Luck and Motherhood. Djinn assigned to work with Ganesh will be inflicted with Soul Links, allowing them to enter the dreams of the chosen mortals and receive their essence: but need to fulfill the mortals' wishes.

And that's without considering what Janus is up to.....
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