Litherites are the Paladins of the In Nomine universe. Not only can’t they lie (common to any Seraph), but they cannot allow deceptions of any sort to stand. They present problems for both party and setting while simultaneously getting to play the part of sanctimonious goody two shoes.
RPG Paladins are usually powerful, moralistic busy- bodies with narrow ideas of acceptable behavior . They are known for making their allies lives difficult. They are not the Peers of Charlemagne.
Parties must work around a Litherite in their midst so that it wont reveal their activities. They also need to actively constrain the Litherite against betraying the truth about heaven and hell. And in exchange for making everyone else’s life harder, the Litherite gets play a character who doesn’t care about blending in (which often includes blatant disregard for consequences).
Litherites have no role in the Symphony. They are barred from taking one. That means no ID, no job, not even someone who can vouch for or interact with the character on a daily basis. If they were all 1-job demon killers, this might make sense – but as a whole they’re supposed to be patrons of researchers, journalists, and archaeologists (three groups that are especially unlikely to listen or report back to someone with no bona fides).
It is true that this lack of role makes it easier to detect when a Litherite is up to something, but they don’t care. Either there are no drawbacks to being a Litherite, or they are so flawed in practice and design that they should never be able to succeed at their main objectives. Neither approach makes for a particularly playable character.
My personal suggestion is that Litherites should be reserved for antagonists or for parties where all the players are eager to deal with having a Litherite in their midst. I would not casually allow one into a game.
So how hard would it be to run a campaign where Lithroy is imprisoned at Patamos and the uses Gabriel’s purgatory variant?
I’m not sure the two are related.
Imprisoning Lithroy at Patamos doesn’t really address the concerns raised in this post unless *all* his Servitors are imprisoned alongside him (kind of like what was done with Magog), nor would the Purgatory Project in any way impact his motivations.
Likewise, the Purgators really don’t care what Lithroy’s up to, their concern is with cruel souls whom have found a way into heaven. It’s the Vigilance Committee that Lithroy would need to be worried about. And yes, I could definitely see a campaign in which the Vigilance Committee keeps Lithroy confined and actively hunts down any of his servitors who blab about the truth of heaven and hell (citing ‘crimes against the will of heaven’).
You’d need to have an explanation for why it is Gabrillites and not the Dominicans who are overseeing the confinement and punishment, but that is certainly doable.
It still wouldn’t address the problems of having a Litherite in the party, but it would make for a fun setting.
I’ve always been more interested in lithroy as an archangel that gets used by others then as an active superior in his own right, i’m just not quite sure how i’d handle it without inevitably playing the “lithroy is an idiot” card.
I’m not a big fan of any Superior being an idiot.
That said, by building him so severely at odds with the “party line” of heaven the developers have more or less guaranteed that he will always be a problem.
I have some thoughts on how to address that, but they really need a whole additional post, not just a comment.
This is probably why he’s considered a “minor” superior. If his servitors absolutely need to go earthside, they should be supervised by a Bright Lilim who can gaes them into silence as needed. That said, I think it adds something to the verisimilitude to have some Superiors whose servants are considerably less useful than others, at least to our mortal reasoning.
It’s a good point. I’m not sure Bright Lilim are the right call (considering how rare they are), but some sort of baby sitter would be reasonable.
If Khalid was not also typically considered a Minor Superior, I’d think that a Cherub of Faith would be the perfect fit. They’d be bound to keep the Litherite safe, but would also feel a strong inclination to counter any actions which might create certitude in the existence of heaven.