21 Saturday Apr 2018
The world is all alone in a vast void, give it what light and warmth you can.
Although he is billions of years old, Galgaliel remains a child. He has never really had the sorts of interactions which might cause him to mature – his corona is too dangerous for prolonged trips to earth, and most angels have little cause to visit him. Continue reading
07 Saturday Apr 2018
African Ogre Faced Spider aka Net Casting Spider
Anansi the Spider comes from the Akan. He is the spirit of knowledge and stories and remains one of the more important characters in West African and Caribbean folklore.
The Akan people come from what is now Ghana, but the Atlantic slave trade spread his stories to the West Indies, Suraname, Sierra Leon, and the Netherland Antilles. From there they spread even further through the Americas – sometimes remaining distinct, and sometimes merging with Bantu and indigenous American stories of similar nature.
Anansi himself is a trickster who uses pranks, cunning, and confidence games to get his way rather than brute strength.
It should be noted that this version of Anansi is based on the Anansi tales that have been popularized in America, and should not be considered an accurate reflection of the character from Akan religion.
31 Saturday Mar 2018
Gabriel holds a special place in the pantheon of In Nomine’s Princes and Archangels: she is the only one to have explicitly changed from male to female. The transgender archangel.
However, there are some problems with using Gabriel as the spokesangel for being transgender. Continue reading
22 Thursday Mar 2018
Novalis is heaven’s peacenik. In every conflict, she is the one advocating non-violence; a position which tends to put her more martial choirs in somewhat of a bind. Here are some of the vows that her Malakim use to balance their impulses and obligations:
17 Saturday Mar 2018
The world is defined by want. Heaven and man both want it but neither can have it, for there is not enough.
During the war in heaven Thamiel did not fight beside Lucifer, nor did he fight beside Michael. He sat out the war and used the chaos to visit parts of Yves‘ and Eli’s Cathedrals that had previously been barred to him. Like many angels, Thamiel was interested in God’s Grace – but his passion was its excess and absence.
While the other angels were locked in mortal combat, Thamiel was studying the various sights furthest from god’s sight. As the war in heaven drew to a close, Thamiel bought himself amnesty by presenting his findings to Raphael (who was looking for a place to put the rebels).
Continue reading
10 Saturday Mar 2018
Tags
AD&D, Bernard Silvestris, C. S. Lewis, Celestial Spheres, Gary Gygax, In Nomine, Madeleine L'Engle, Planetar, Solar
AD&D has its own hierarchy of angels, starting with Daevas (and occasionally Archons) and moving up to Planetars and Solars. The Solars of D&D are roughly equivalent to the Archangels of In Nomine, powerful Word-bound generals of good.
But the idea of Solars and Planetars predates Gary Gygax. Planetars also exist in the C. S. Lewis Space Trilogy as the Oyeresu; powerful eldila (angels) that serve as planetary intelligences and protectors. Lewis in turn took the idea from Bernard Silvestris, who proposed them as governors of the Celestial Spheres (planetary orbits). Continue reading
08 Thursday Mar 2018
Marc’s Virtues tend to be idealists who believe that there are always terms under which an agreement can be reached and the only real question is whether or not someone is willing to meet or honor those terms. For example, a Malakite of Trade really will spare a demon’s life… if it’s willing to redeem.
Different cultures place different values on human life. A 2008 Stanford study claimed that each year year of quality was worth approximately $129k (about $148k/yr in today’s dollars) – but other measures or other forms of compensation might possibly be used instead.
03 Saturday Mar 2018
Posted in Hell, Superiors, Variations
There is a strange story that circulates among those who have seen either the Book of Names or the Book of Death. They claim that Lucifer never survived the War in Heaven; instead he was struck down by Metatron who was so stricken with grief that he perjured himself before all creation to claim that it was he who died. Unfortunately, his saying it “made it so” and “made it good,” and from that point forward Metatron “became” Lucifer, Prince of Lies. Continue reading
22 Thursday Feb 2018
Officially, Jordi’s Virtues are associated with canines such as dogs, wolves, jackals, and coyotes. I tend to take a more expanded view, allowing them to primarily associate with any “beasts of the earth.”
Either way, the following vows would be fairly common:
17 Saturday Feb 2018
Tags
Content Note: As the title implies, the following post deals with the topic of slavery.
One of the tricks to running a low-contrast In Nomine game is to pick a lens through which the actions of heaven are not much better than those of hell. For a lark, I decided to take a look at slavery – once widely accepted, it is now acknowledged as one of the great evils of the world, and yet it still is practiced on a regular basis all over the world.
