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Balseraph of Technology (for now)

Titivillus

Titivillus was forged by Meserach, the Demon Prince of Sloth. He began as a simple Gremlin, tasked with introducing small errors into the written word of God, thereby corrupting the lord’s message to mankind.

Even as a demonling, Titivillus was particularly industrious. Of course, in the Courts of Sloth that practically guaranteed that he would never see a promotion. When Haagenti devoured Meserach near the beginning of the Second Millenium, Titivillus was one of the few demons who jumped ship to join with Kobal.

Under the Prince of Dark Humor’s guidance, Titivillus’ pranks finally managed to earn him a degree of notoriety, and in the late 13th Century he was granted his Word. A century later Titivillus left Kobal’s service to Mammon’s, and a few centuries after that he left Mammon for Vapula (where he helps program automatic spell-checkers).

No one is quite sure how the Demon of Typos has managed to flit from one superior to another without provoking their ire, but it means that he has amassed an array of Rites and Attunements well in excess of what one would normally expect from a demon of his relatively low standing and power.

Titivillus (2015)

Corp Forces: 1 [Str 2, Agi 2]
Eth Forces: 3 [Int 9, Pre 3]
Cel Forces: 5 [Will 9, Per 11]
Word Forces (Typos): 5

Vessel: Human/6, Charisma +3
Role: None

Skills: Artistry/5, Computer Operation/2, Detect Lies/5, Dodge/5, Engineering/2, Escape/6, Fast-Talk/6, Fighting/5, Knowledge/2 (all specialties), Move Silently/6, Ranged Weapon/2, Savoir-Faire/5, Seduction/4, Small Weapon/4, Survival/5

Songs: Charm, Forbidding, Machines, Might (Celestial Only), Opening, Plagues, Posession, Tongues (Corporeal Only), Oblivion (all /2)

Attunements: Balseraph of Sloth, Dark Humor, Greed, and Technology; Calabite of Dark Humor; Humanity (the Game); Imbroglio (Factions); All Media Servitor Attunements

Titivillus (2020)

Corp Forces: 1 [Str 2, Agi 2]
Eth Forces: 3 [Int 9, Pre 3]
Cel Forces: 5 [Will 9, Per 11]
Word Forces (Typos): 7

Vessel: Human/6, Charisma +3
Role: Programmer 4/4

Skills: Artistry/5, Computer Operation/4, Detect Lies/5, Dodge/5, Engineering/2, Escape/6, Fast-Talk/6, Fighting/5, Knowledge/2 (all specialties), Move Silently/6, Ranged Weapon/2, Savoir-Faire/5, Seduction/4, Small Weapon/4, Survival/5

Songs: Charm, Forbidding, Machines, Might (Celestial Only), Opening, Plagues, Posession, Tongues (Corporeal Only), Oblivion (all/3)

Attunements: Balseraph of Sloth, Dark Humor, Greed, and Technology; Calabite of Dark Humor; Imbroglio (Factions)

Special Attunement (Typos): By looking at a piece of text and spending 1 Essence, Titivillus may introduce one common typographical or autocorrect error to the local copies of the text – for each 1 essence, Titivillus can change up to 100,000 additional copies in the same print run (the NYT has a print run of about 440,000 copies).

Including Titivillus in a Game

Titivillus is quite clever but very laid back. He “knows a guy” in almost every infernal court, and is owed a minor favor by just about everyone. As such, he’s a Lilim’s best friend, and a particularly good “low level superior” for an open-ended Infernal game.

Titivillus is constantly looking for ways to “be useful.” He is also probably shopping around for a new superior. Vapula views Titivillus with the same level of suspicion and distrust he usually shows the Calabim.

Playing for Laughs

Titivillus is a particularly easy demon to play for laughs. All you need to do is load his dialog with spoonerisms and you’ll be well on your way to a memorable, if silly, set of encounters.

When handled this way, be sure to insert spelling and grammar mistakes into any written correspondence from the Titivillus to the Player Characters.

Below the Radar

No one really knows how powerful Titivillus is, and he’s just as happy to keep things that way. He’s a hard worker, but as the embodiment of Typo’s he’s most productive when unobserved. As such he’s not likely to be happy with PCs who draw a lot of attention to him, even if it’s as a result of some grand success.

Players meeting him for the first time may be surprised when he lets them take credit for some joint venture (or even something that he handled for them when they were distracted or showed up late), but will find him unforgiving towards anyone who draws a spotlight to him.

Hatchet Man

Given Titivillus’ weak Corporeal Domain and negligible Body Hits, he doesn’t really seem like mutch of a fighter – but move into the Celestial realm and he is actually one of the best combatants that Hell will actually trust to independent corporeal work.

As such, Titivillus can also be integrated into your campaign as the head of a strike team seeking to take out a Wordbound Celestial. He usually starts by discrediting the role of his intended victim and cutting it off from corporeal resources, then attacking the reputation of the word, before going in for direct Celestial combat.

In this guise, Titivillus probably also has access to the Songs of Silence, and will use them to engage directly in Celestial Combat without sending off huge disturbances in the Symphony.

Trading in Favors

Even though Titivillus is no daughter of Lilith, he might as well be. He remembers every favor he’s ever given, and is more than willing to call in neglected favors in order to get his revenge on someone who has welched.

Not that he even really needs to. The bureaucracies of hell run on paperwork. A typo here, a misrouted document there, and many of his enemies find themselves reassigned to places like Quality Assurance for Vapula Tech R&D without their Superiors ever being the wiser.

Getting out of Titivillus’ bad graces typically requires the services of one of the Lilim, and a favor even bigger than what you originally owed the Demon of Typos. It’s not uncommon to find a handful of tempters in his presence, seeing if they can earn a favor off him, or perhaps off of someone he is upset with.

Proof Reading

Titivillus also makes for a good antagonist to one or more members of the party. With his knack for confounding contracts, records, and orders Titivillus has a number of enemies (especially among his erstwhile allies). It is entirely possible that one or more of the PCs will be called upon to aprehend the trickster and turn him over to Asmodeus (or one of the other Princes).

The Essense Stash

Part of what makes Titivillus so popular (and also so hard to pin down) is that he has a nearly limitless supply of Essence. It’s not quite as accessible as a Superior’s essence, but all he has to do is handle a religious text with a typographical error or a mistranslation and he can regain a portion of what he’s lost.

Just one night in a cheap hotel, and Titivillus can be ready to go again at almost full steam.

Media and Typos

Nybbas does not like Titivillus at all. Which does raise the question, if they dislike each other so much, how did Titivillus end up with so many of Nybbas’ Servitor Attunements (and how is he able to keep them)?

For More on Titivillus

Post Updated 8/9/2020