“I Was There” (Nativity)

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Asmodeus, Blandine, Caganer, Christmas, David, Dominic, Gabriel, Herod, I Was There, In Nomine, Ineffability, Jean, Jesus, Jordi, Lawrence, Malphas, Marc, Nativity, Saminga, Uriel, Yves

Steve Jackson Games made a very intentional choice with In Nomine to make the setting agnostic to any particular faith. As such, the divinity of Jesus is never firmly established (though Dominic & Lawrence clearly believe it) and attempts to discern the truth of such matters will be foiled by the ineffability of the divine.

However, this isn’t necessarily going to stop players from trying to track down figures who witness moments key to individual faith traditions in order to determine what is correct for their individual game.

Lucifer ha Satan, Archangel of Light

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Archangel, Heresy, In Nomine, Lucifer, Pre-Fall, Seraph

In Nomine’s Lucifer is ineffable by design. Putting his character and abilities into words actually lessens him as a device for GMs. Thus, while this post is limiting itself to Lucifer before the Fall, it is still inherently a heretical piece as far as In Nomine canon is concerned.

Lucifer was the third angel created (after Yves and Michael), and was always something of a golden boy. He would head out into the unexplored darks and light the way for the Creation that would follow. Both Gabriel and Uriel can trace their lineage back to Lucifer (and by extension, so can Lawrence and Khalid).

Beleth, Archangel of Fears

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Archangel, Beleth, Cherub, In Nomine, Pre-Fall

“When Beleth was an angel, she held the Word of Fear, and used it for the good of mankind. Hers was the fear that kept living things away from danger, and the fear for others that impelled a mother to save a child or a friend to defend a friend. She lived with Blandine in the tower that Blandine still inhabits, and the substance of both their natures was woven into its walls”

– You Are Here p 87
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Gettin, Balseraph Demon of “Evolution”, Viscount of Paleonton

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14 Force, Balseraph, Distinctions, Evolution, Heresy, Kobal, Wordbound

Gettin misses the old days, when she could visit the earth as a Titanoboa and whisper new and inevitable truths to girls high on resinous leaves. But time moves forward and so do infernal duties.

A few hundred years ago, Kobal hit on the idea of creating a new history of the world as a joke. To make his production work, though, he would need props – lots of props, many of them hidden so that when mankind found them it would be by their own efforts and not infernal providence.

Beldine, Marquis of Fears, 2nd Consort of Nightmares

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15 Force, Beleth, Blandine, Child of the Grigori, Djinn, Fear, Heresy, Human, Wordbound

Some time after the Fall, after Blandine proved she was too weak to follow Beleth into Hell, after the Princess of Nightmares had come into her own, the Djinn decided it was time to move on from her old love.

Like most Demons at that time, she was deceiving herself.

All Aboard the Monster Train

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Bands, Crossover, In Nomine, Monster Train, Video Game

Monster Train is a deck building rogue-like tower defense computer game developed by Shiny Shoe. In spite of being a multi-genre mouthful, the game is quite fun and can be played from beginning to end in about an hour.

So why do I bring up a rail-based computer game on an In Nomine blog? Because the protagonists are demons attempting to navigate a post-apocalyptic hellscape… literally. The War is over, Heaven won, and hell is on the verge of freezing over. Only the “pyre” a crystalline pilot light being transported by the monster train can re-ignite the furnace of hell.

A Prince of Amber Visits the Symphony

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Amber, Corwin, Crossover, In Nomine, The Logrus, The Pattern

To a Lord of Amber (and their counterparts in the Courts of Chaos) the Corporeal Realm is just one Shadow in an infinitude of Shadows. This isn’t a concept that translates particularly well to a Celestial, but basically Amberites treat the Corporeal Realm like it’s an Ethereal Domain. This includes abilities that reshape their local reality in a manner similar to the Dreaming skill.

Making a particularly large changes to the Corporeal Realm without singing the appropriate Song can cause the Symphony to eject an Amberite altogether. Of course, this isn’t how the Lords of Amber perceive it. Instead, they just think they’ve moved into an adjacent Shadow.

Heresy of the Vacant Throne

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Asmodeus, Eli, Heresy, In Nomine, Kobal, Lucifer, Michael, Seraphim Council, Uriel, Yves

“There is a reason why the higher heavens stand silent in response to angelic petition; a reason why the will of heaven is determined in committee. The throne of the most high is empty.

“It has been empty since The Lord admitted he was wrong.

“Since the Eden experiment proved that Celestial interference was necessary for mankind to question and grow.

Had Enough? Hage, Gugutiel, and Hajanitini

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Christopher, Haagenti, Novalis, Redeemed, Yves

Haagenti presents an interesting case study in potential redemption. Unlike most of his fellow Princes, The Great Maw has never been an Angel. Of course, this also means that he never chose to rebel and may not be expected to sacrifice as much if he ascends.. If the Demon of Gluttony is given space to actually recover from the traumas of his youth, the path could be clear (if rocky). The three write ups that follow reflect different possible outcomes of that Redemption.

Of course giving someone as hungry as Haagenti it may take several Archangels working in concert or one willing to sacrifice itself to give him the clarity and security to redeem.

The Soul Society

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Bleach, Ethereal Domain, In Nomine, Soul Society

To be honest, Bleach and In Nomine are incompatible. The power creep is entirely too steep within Soul Society and Hueco Mundo – especially given how static both locations supposedly are.

However, crossovers are fun.

So here’s my take on the Soul Society based on the earlier seasons (where a handful of exceptional children fresh from the mortal world are able to challenge the status quo).