Stanley’s Bucket [in progress]

Tags

Elemental Spirit, In Nomine, NPC, The Stanley Parable

blah

Zmiinyi Island

Tags

Achilles, In Nomine, Lawrence, Michael, Olympians, Tethers

“Russian warship, go fuck yourself”

Zmiinyi Island, which has also been known as Snake Island and White Island slingshot into international prominence as a symbol of Ukranian defiance when the island’s small military garrison refused to surrender to a pair of Russian warships during the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Happy New Year

Tags

IN 2022, Liber Neglecta

Phew! I made it.

At this point, I think I just have to admit that a mid-year burnout is part of my process. However, for all that I did finish the bulk of my 25th Anniversary ode to In Nomine.

It may not have had all the posts or quality control that I’d originally hope for, but I have revisited almost every Archangel and Demon Prince, introduced some new songs, and also checked in on a number of the Ethereal Pantheons.

It is also likely my last major In Nomine project for awhile.

25 Years of Vapula

Tags

Android, IN 2022, In Nomine, Upgrades, Vapula

“Vapula” by Trows

While Vapula sometimes comes across as one of the older Superiors, he is actually one of the younger ones, which perhaps explains how he is able to keep up with the ever increasing pace of technological innovation. For him the past 25 years have passed more like 4.

Governance

Technocracy

Esential Songs:

Suite of Machines – March of Technology

25 Years Later

Vapula is far an away one of the most productive Demon Princes in Hell. However, while he has done a remarkable job of yoking mankind to his engines, many of his fellow princes sometimes find themselves wondering if he’s truly dedicated to the overthrow of heaven. Many of his demons are so good at arguing the advantages of technology that there are large swaths of hell who legitimately believe that the prince is bettering humanity’s lot.

Words

There are a ton of new technological Words that Vapula and his servitors have snatched up, often because the other powers in Hell didn’t even realize there was power in the Word. These include Bit Rot, Blockchain, Graphene, Intelligent Apps, Lithium-Ion Batteries, Microplastics, Nanobots, Non Fungible Tokens, Perovskite, Smart Homes, Smart Cities, 3D Printing, and 5G.

Upgrades: Updating Technology

Vapula’s upgrades are unique in that they are not intended to adjust for underpowered attunements, rather they are intended to reflect the development of new tools and obsolescence of the old. As a result, I will be doing my best to list all the band attunements that have come up for Vapula, including my suggestions for new options.

BALSERAPHS

Recent

Determine the true capabilities of an actual or theoretical device and gain advantage when lying about them (In Nomine p182)

Modern

These demons can instinctively find websites that support and expand upon their current position.

DJINN

Archaic

Granted infernal chalk that enhanced the capabilities of a marked and attuned object. (Superiors 4 p105)

Recent

Granted a palmtop computer that increases the number of people the demon can attune to. (In Nomine p182)

Modern

Smartphone that allows the demon to attune to anyone who responds to them in real-time, whether by answering the phone or responding to an IM or text (at GM discretion this may be in addition to the ability to store attunements like the Recent attunement)

CALABIM

I have never been especially happy with the exclusion of the Destroyers from the Court of Technology, and have considered the following as perhaps a reason for their exclusion and a way to eventually integrate them into the court.

Archaic

Vapula does not use Destroyers of his own, but he does borrowing Calabim from Alaemon, Baal, Belial, and Haagenti upon need and some of those have proven dedicated enough to gain the attunement that the Prince of Technology developed for the band
[10 CP cost].

These demons are given a wrist dynamo that can turn their resonance into Essence when powering a Relic (the amount of Essence equals the CD of the resonance roll). However, if there is not enough Essence to power the Relic, or if there is excess Essence beyond the activation requirement the “free” essence will rebound, damaging and perhaps destroying the Relic.

Modern

Although Vapula has not yet ironed out all the bugs (Destroyers remain a low priority for the Prince), he has developed a newer version of the dynamo that targets the demon wearing the device with the rebound rather than the artifact they are powering.

HABBALAH

Recent

Granted a mood ring that visibly display emotion of nearest other person and can be used to create feedback loop against those experiencing strong emotions to paralyze them (In Nomine p183)

Modern

Granted a smartphone with an app that uses biometric data captured by radio wave to determine the emotional state of anyone it is pointed at and overlays the results using a camera filter. (MIT News)

LILIM

Archaic

Bonus to tempt those with a technical bent and to use of one (now archaic) technology. (Superiors 4 p105)

Recent

Bonus to tempt those with a technical bent and with the Computer Use skill. (In Nomine p183)

Modern

When using their own smart phone these demons may “swipe down” to ensure that their profile shows up next on the dating or job placement app of someone else connected to the same wireless hotspot or whose smartphone touches their own. They may add their Celestial Forces to the TN of any resonance roll against such an individual.

SHEDIM

Archaic

Granted one mechanical artifact (by the standards of the age) that the demon can possess at will, while in the object they gain a bonus to possess anyone using the artifact. (Superiors 4 p105)

Recent

As above, but the artifact is always a computer (or laptop, or mobile phone) with a limitless power supply and flawless cellular connection. (In Nomine p183)

Modern

Contemporary corruptors may bound into a ground station control roughly the size of a briefcase. They may only possess humans while the person in in contact with their ground station, but they may also attempt to possess any drone within their broadcast range of 1 mile + 1 mile per Celestial Force. This operates exactly like Kyriotate possession except for it’s limitation to mechanical drones. That said, if the demon is ever forced out of the ground station control (either by destruction or exorcism), they will be immediately evicted from all drones as well.

Experimental

Granted an android that can function as either host or servant/3 (non-shedu may take this attunement to be granted a robot vessel). See below for details.

IMPUDITES

Recent

Store twice the normal essence and receive glasses that allow demon to see current essence.

Modern

As above, but with addition 1st page google results for the person or place being observed (treat as +1 to Area Knowledge).

Robot Bodies

Although it is still in the experimental stages, Vapula is working on developing android vessels. Most of the prototypes are being issued to shedu to confirm both their autonomous operations and functionality in hosting a Celestial beings.

Vapula’s current generation of androids require 7 Forces to possess properly. Like Undead, they do not need to eat, drink, or sleep, though they can mimic these functions. Each android also starts with Oozing/3 (to represent processing lags and other aspects of the uncanny valley) and Need/3 (Charge for 1 hour). Shedim possessing one of these robots will temporarily take on these disadvantages (and in the case of the Need, it will remain until sunset, even if the demon abandons the mechanical host). Also like undead, each Android gets 10 CP of infernal abilities: often a numinous corpus, but songs of opening or machines are not unheard of.

As with most Undead, androids are a level 6 servant. A hacker can potentially take one over, but the level 3 loyalty that Vapula’s Corruptors receive when granted such a servant will act as a bonus to their own rolls to retain or re-assert control.

25 Years of Valefor

Tags

IN 2022, In Nomine, Valefor

“Valefor” by Trows

When he was a perennial grifter, Valefor couldn’t help but live in the now (and retain a fairly mortal concept of time as a result). However, as the Hell’s own mob boss, it has grown increasingly difficult to tell 25 years apart from 10 minutes.

Governance

Criminal Mob

Essential Songs

Suite of Draining – Suite of Opening – Suite of Rapine – Suite of Theft

25 Years Later

Digital theft and hacking were among the first things people learned to do with the internet, so there’s not really all that much “new” to be added to the Court of Theft. That said, there have been a number of prominent heists which may have created tethers or been inspired by demons.

• 21st Century Bank Heist
  ($48M, Global)
• Agricultural Bank of China
  ($9.5M, China)
• Annexation of Crimea
  (Crimean Peninsula, Ukraine/Russia)
• Antwerp Diamond Heist
  ($138M, Belgium)
• Banco Central Burglary
  ($55M, Brasil)
• Bank of Ireland Heist
  ($11M, Ireland)
• Bitcoin Heist
  ($2M, Iceland)
• Bush v. Gore
  (Presidency, USA)
• Coincheck Cryptocurrency Exchange Hack
  ($500M, Japan)
• Dar Es Salaam Bank Heist
  ($374M, Iraq)
• Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health
  (Women’s Rights, USA)
• Dunbar Armored Robbery
  ($29M, USA)

• French Riviera Jewel Heist
  ($136M, France)
• Graff Diamonds Robbery
  ($78M, UK)
• Hatton Garden Safe Deposit Raid
  ($260M, UK)
• Heist at Harry’s
  ($108M, France)
• Loomis Fargo Heist
  ($25.9M, USA)
• Mt. Gox Cryptocurrency Hack
  ($509M, Japan)
• Nigerian Prince Scam
  ($2.6M, Nigeria)
• NOKAS Robbery
  ($13.5M, Norway)
• Paris MOMA Theft
  ($133 M, France)
• Securitas Desposit Robbery
  ($83M, UK)
• Swiss Post Heist
  ($55M, Switzerland)

Bifronsed: Rebalancing Valefor

Balseraphs (restricted)

Like all Balseraphs, Valefor’s most unholy cannot knowingly lie, but they are even more skilled than most at convincing themselves and others to accept the most convenient “truths.” These liars may add their Ethereal Forces to the TN of the resonance roll, and anyone with a positive reaction to the demon must subtract their reaction level from their Will roll to resist the lie.

Habbalah

Barring the intervention of celestial (or ethereal) forces, Habbalah serving Valefor can look at the sky and accurately predict the weather down to the minute for a number of days into the future equal to their Ethereal Forces (this also means that if they have been outside or otherwise looked at the sky up to Ethereal Force days prior, they can immediately tell if the weather is unnatural). In addition, they may ignore difficulty modifiers resulting from natural weather.

Persephone, Queen of the Underworld

Tags

Chthonic, In Nomine, Olympians, Persephone

Within the core In Nomine setting Persephone in chief among the Greek Chthonic gods, having taken over the responsibilities of her husband Hades who was lost during the Purity Crusades. As the de facto leader of a major Ethereal faction, she can be considered a Superior for most purposes.

Persephone is not happy about trading Hades’ to Asmodeus, but the Prince of The Game has, surprisingly, kept his word to the underworld goddess and had not allowed Beleth to force any of the Chthonic gods into her service. That said, many choose such patronage willingly. Hekate and the Furies are well known for working with the Princess of Nightmares, on the other hand Thanatos and Charon generally throw their lot in with the Prince of Death.

Classically Persephone is the goddess of spring and child of the harvest. She is associated with the pomegranate as it is the seeds of that fruit which bound her to spend 4 months of each year in Hades’ domain.

As a goddess of both new growth she is also associated with fertility and rebirth.

Elements

• Information: Knowledge

• Life: Plants

• Season Spring

Suggested Attunements

Blood Seed

Persephone will occasionally be convinced to allow one of her servants a seed from the pomegranates of Erebus. Consuming the seed will rob the servant of 1/12th of their life, but shall also grant them the ability to see specters freely (including those using songs, possessing mortals or objects, and those using other supernatural powers).

Cost: 4 CP; Gain Need (Spend 1 hour in Erebus)/2

^{With GM permission, a PC may negotiate to redistribute when they give their time to Erebus. For example 2.5 days/month or 1 month/year might also be acceptable. However, until the Need is met the PC will gain no essence from the passage of time nor from any rite.}

Breath of Verdure

Servants of Persephone often have an especially green thumb. This is one of her oldest and most frequently granted attunements. Those with the Breath of Verdure may cause any plant to sprout or blossom just by breathing upon it. If this is done out of season the plant will return to its normal state after 1 day.

Prerequisite: Servant must never have committed a blood sin (murder or manslaughter)

Cost: 2 CP; foreswear all murder and manslaughter

^{There is no specific mechanical effect created by the vow to Persephone, but willingly breaking the vow causes a permanent loss of the attunement, and violating it while under a supernatural compulsion still requires an act of atonement before it can be used again (typically some form of mythic feat).}

Death Walking/Chthonic Torch

A servant of Persephone may enter the Marches through the mind of a dying human. The servant must themselves be asleep or in a meditative state before succeeding on a Precision roll. The servant must have seen the dying individual in life, but the two may be anywhere in the world. The servant gains a +2 bonus to the TN if they are physically touching the subject. In order to succeed the subject must be unconscious and on their way to either Hades (the gate to Hell) or Erebus. The Check digit indicates the number of minutes the servant may stay in the subject’s dreams (if successful) or how long must be waited before trying again (if not).

Cost: 4 CP; Half the Servant’s Warmth
(Servant must gain either Vulnerable [Cold]/3 or Cold Blooded/2)

Stygian Compact

Not all servants of Persephone began that way. Those with a Stygian Compact sunder their ties with another Superior in order to gain the ability to perfectly mimic death. Only the Barons of Saminga or the resonance of a Seraph can pierce the disguise.

Cost: Surrender an Attunement from another Superior.

Fighting Persephone

As a Superior, Persephone should probably be well beyond the ability of any PC to defeat in any long term and meaningful way. However, if you want to make a principle goddess capable of being overcome, I would suggest putting her at about 16 Forces.

Also, should she be defeated entirely, some other aspect of her will undergo apotheosis so long as she still has worshipers anywhere in the world.

If your intent is to make her a big bad, you can always treat her like any other Superior and have most of the week-to-week conflicts involve one of her subordinates (such as Moros the God of Doom or Hekate Goddess of Witchcraft and Poison).

25 Years in Erebus

Tags

Chthonic, Erebus, Hades, IN 2022, In Nomine, Olympians, Zagreus

Much like the Olympians, the Greek Chthonic gods were hurting a quarter century ago. The Gods were effectively dead, and Persephone had to rely upon modern goddess worship to garner any essence at all, and Hecate (who was the real breadwinner of Erebus) had reached an agreement with both Beleth and Kronos to spread nightmares and teach magic (respectively).

This has, of course, changed with both the increasing acceptance (and disregard) of wicca and the the emergence of modern Helenism.

Napre Tep

Tags

6 Force, Nightmare, Pan's Shadow, Peter Pan

One of the first Wordbound that In Nomine ever introduced was Lynoure, the Demoness of Shadow Shapes. Nap Retep is one of those shadow shapes, and he isn’t just any shadow shape either, he’s from the tribe of Pan.

Many of the shadows of Peter Pan are headstrong pranksters, but Tep is an outright predator. He hunts by attaching himself (quite literally) to humans who are themselves predators, observes their actions and their darkest fantasies, and then targeting children with those same actions in the dead of night: stealing their childhoods before a Pan can abscond with them.

Monstrous as he is, Napre believes he is helping children by teaching them the horrors of he world (though he also takes great joy in being the one to teach them).

Shimei Gerason

Tags

12 Force, In Nomine, NPC, Sorcery, Vampire

All is Vanity, C Allan Gilbert

Shimei Gerason is an ancient sorcerer who has been walking this earth in one form or another for around 3000 years. Towards the end of his first lifetime, Shimei lost the faith of his king and star pupil, and was to be put to death. Knowing that his consorting with demons made an eternity in God’s presence unlikely, the Sorcerer made a desperate gamble, convincing his liege to execute him with a ritual that would abolish his spirit entirely (and unknown to his lord, bind it forever to his body).

25 Years of Saminga

Tags

IN 2022, In Nomine, Saminga

“Saminga” by Trows

Saminga is one of those demon princes who is so young they perceive time like mortals, nor own so old that time is essentially meaningless. For the Prince of Death the last 25 years have passed like a quarter hour. He’s noticed the passage of time, but it’s hardly meaningful.

Governance

Feudal

Essential Songs

Suite of Blood – Suite of Life – Suite of Pestilence