Cossack Mamay

Tags

9 Force, Genius Loci, In Nomine, National Personification, NPC, Ukraine

The national personification of Ukraine is Cossack Mamay, an wandering cavalier who is never without a long arm, side arm, or kobza (a stringed instrument related to the lute).

Like “Quidam,” “Mamay” can be used interchangeably for a person of no consequence and an everyman. His lack of a true name protects Mamay from curses, enchantments, and obligations.

In total, this has made Mamay an embodiment of freedom, indominable spirit, and prowess (both martial and cultural).

Anastasia, City of Concentric Canals

Tags

9 Force, Awakened, City, Figment, In Nomine, Invisible Cities, Italo Calvino, NPC

Anastasia is another of Italo Calvio’s Invisible Cities supposedly shared by Marco Polo with Kublai Khan.

It’s is a city full of jewels, and canals, and smoked pheasant, and evening trysts under sparkling fountains – but the dream can only ever be experienced from the perspective of someone maintaining the illusion, not one of the revelers. Kind of like dreaming of Disneyland, but having to spend the whole dream staffing a concession stand.

Isadora, City of Missed Youth

Tags

9 Force, Awakened, City, Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows, Figment, In Nomine, Invisible Cities, Italo Calvino, NPC

Isadora is another of Italo Calvino’s Invisible Cities.

It can only be reached by those who have wandered a long time, or at least who dream they have been traveling a long time. Within the dream of the city, people remember wanting to live in such a place as a youth while perceiving themselves as past their prime.

The city will oppose any attempt to dream shape into a youth, though this is actually for the protection of it’s visitors. The young tend to lose themselves within the streets of Isadora, becoming part of the dream itself.

Note: this post also makes use of the Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows

Catherine (Kate) Lori

Tags

9 Force, David, In Nomine, Mercurian

Kate sees herself as a protector of the delicate, cracked, or broken; providing them a safe place to stay until they’re strong enough to stand on their own. In order to protect her charges, she maintains two vessels and two roles in spite of the strain on her time.

Kate splits herself in this way so that if anyone should track the body she uses to aid her angelic allies, they will not be led back to the people whom she considers her true charges.

Niuker, Demon of Gender Reveal Parties

Tags

9 Force, Belial, Calabite, Gender, Gender Reveal, Gender Reveal Party, In Nomine, NPC, Wordbound

Niuker is something of a party crasher – no one expects to spark a forest fire, or blow up a car, or crash a plane, or maim an expectant parent, guest, bystander when celebrating the secondary sexual characteristics of a fetus, but it has happened so frequently now that the highly gendered alternative to baby showers have become almost synonymous with disaster – and yet they are still thoroughly popular and fiercely defended (even as it comes to light that one of the originators of the practice got the gender of their child wrong).

Although their Words are not in direct opposition, Niuker has been trying to weaken and constrain the Angel of Baby Showers (a Wheel of Children).

Diomira, The First Invisible City

Tags

1001 Arabian Nights, 9 Force, City, Figment, In Nomine, Invisible Cities, Italo Calvino, Kublai Khan, Marco Polo, NPC

In 1972 Italo Calvino composed a collection of some 55 poems that were also 55 urban descriptions, 55 ways of thinking about cities, and 55 miniature works of magical realism. Each vignette was then ascribed to Marco Polo and an ongoing conversation with the Kublai Khan that evoked the framing story of One Thousand Arabian Nights and a Night.

Diomira, the first city of that collection, is a familiar city; a place like any other – but on a September evening it can make a weary traveler envious of those who believe they have experienced an identical evening when they were happy.

Vokule, the Great and Terrible

Tags

9 Force, In Nomine, Lilim, Malphas, NPC, Squire, Valefor

A vokule is that unwritten, nearly silent assonance that shows up after the final letter of certain words. It is also the name of a demon who recently gain internet notoriety due to her love of girls’ nights.

Her first real break came when she distracted one of Valefor’s Djinn, spoiling a heist that had been centuries in the making. Malphas gave her a promotion to data analyst in support of Faction’s earthly agents, a couple decades later she also hooked up with the Djinn, who apparently couldn’t get her out of their mind.

Yolo, New Demon of Impetuous Decisions

Tags

9 Force, Furfur, Impetuous Decision, In Nomine, Kobal, Lilim, NPC, Wordbound, Yolo

Yolo is only the latest in a long line of demons to be granted the Word of Impetuous Decisions.

It was her “graduation gift” from Kobal for accepting a post as a court jester in the newly created Court of Hardcore. While the young demoness still hasn’t decided if it’s a reward or a punishment, she suspects the later and hopes to prove her old master wrong by turning Impetuous Decisions and a “You Only Live Once” attitude into a way of life.

Ana Calypsis

Tags

9 Force, In Nomine, Lithroy, Ofanite, Playable Character

Ana Calypsis is an Angel of Revelation and a Deist. She believes that the existence of the almighty is self-evident through creation and that religion has only served to obscure that truth and hide the intervention of the fallen. She wanders through the world appreciating the works of Eli and the other founding Archangels with no role or mask to hide her own divine nature.

That said, like all Litherites, Ana is under strict orders to not tell anyone she is an angel. When asked outright, her preferred answer is, “that would be telling.”

Ana Calypsis is on a quest to see all the natural wonders of the world (even, or perhaps, especially the ones humanity does not yet know about). If you’re looking for an NPC who’s “just passing through,” you might consider Ana and her impressive collection of sun dresses.

Dioscorea, Angel of the Mexican Yam

Tags

9 Force, Cherub, Novalis, Outcast

With all the different plants and animals that have been cropping up as part of my hunt to build a new list of Dukes for the Prince of Gluttony, I thought it would be interesting to build one of the corresponding angels who stands opposed to Haagenti’s court. The Mexican Yam has previously showed up on the list of crops that changed geopolitics through their consumption.

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Dioscorea is an durable, earthy cherub who has built a life for herself outside of heaven. Though some angels consider her a hero (after all, she defeated her infernal counterpart in celestial combat and reclaimed sole control of her Word), most prefer to neither think nor speak of her.