Weblog Licentiae Moeticae

The Bad Day

The Bad Day

The concept of "leap year" does odd things to the Symphony. It all apparently stems back to a particularly acrimonious debate - at least, by the standards of the time - where certain Archangels had arguments with certain other Archangels over the need to completely synchronize the various likely methods of keeping time. One set argued that making everything align was aesthetically pleasing, and was thus obviously the superior solution; the other made the counterpoint that it was going to be hard enough to encourage belief in the illusion that the universe was unplanned. Giving supporters of the teleological argument more justification for their stance was eventually decided to be ultimately counterproductive, which is why humanity has a circadian rhythm that is somewhat "off" from Earth's 24 hour cycle... and why the full year is just a little bit over 365 days.

While this is no doubt good for the development of secular thinking, it's a metaphysical pain in the nether regions for celestials. The periodic need to reconcile the calendar creates odd eddies in the Symphony on the days that said reconciliation takes place - eddies that hamper. In game terms, all invocations on leap year days are at -3, and Essence use generates one extra note of disturbance. Those with Celestial Discord get a -1 to their CD to determine Essence generation. Finally, celestials simply feel rotten on days like this. This can have more significant effects on the War than all of the above put together. Oddly enough, Symphonically Aware human beings get an extra note of Essence on leap year days, and are often infuriatingly chipper. If injured, they also get one extra hit healed at noon.

The contrast is notable, but not often noted. By either side.

A Thousand Years of Hunger

A Thousand Years of Hunger

Next year will be the thousandth anniversary of the ascension of Haagenti to Princedom.

Most of the older Princes do not really understand the enthusiasm that the younger ones have towards recognizing their first millennium of apotheosis, but then, most of the older Princes spent their first ten thousand years trapped in Hell. To the younger Princes, being able to commemorate your first thousand years is proof of your ability to impose your Will upon the universe. You have survived everything that a hostile Symphony can and did throw at you. Revel in that.

Songs of Steam

Songs of Steam

These Songs have been introduced fairly suddenly; Gabriel appeared to a wide variety of angels and abruptly gifted them with the Songs (usually all three, and at level/1). The reasons for her doing so appeared to be no more unclear than usual, but the assumption is that she thinks that these Songs need to be widely distributed among the Host. Many have noted that "Steam," conceptually, is somewhere between "Fire" and "Water," and have made their own conclusion.

Nursery Gators (Cryptozoology)

Name: Nursery Gators
Also Known As:

Type: Ethereal taken Corporeal Form

Corporeal Forces: 3 Strength: 6 Agility: 6 Body Hits: 18
Ethereal Forces: 2 Intelligence: 5 Precision: 3 Mind Hits: 10
Celestial Forces: 2 Will: 6 Perception: 2 Soul Hits: 12
Charisma +2 (children only)

Skills: Dodge/6, Fighting/6, Move Silently/6
Songs: Might (Corporeal/6), Tongues (Ethereal/3)
Esoteric Abilities: Nursery Gators are invisible to anyone under the age of two. They are not likewise intangible.

Primary Attack: Bite/15/Power 2/Acc +1]
Secondary Attack: [Tail Strike/13/Power 4/Accuracy 0]

Appearance: [Insert short description - no more than 25 (twenty-five) words]

Favored Habitat: Urban, Nurseries
Number Typically Encountered: 1

General Classification: Ethereals: Neutral; Heaven: Friendly; Hell: Hostile; Humanity: Friendly

The Golden Heart of Quetzalcoatl

The Golden Heart of Quetzalcoatl

Well, not really. It is golden, it is shaped like a human heart, and it is Aztec in origins, but Quetzalcoatl didn't make this particular reliquary/3. It's not particularly a fancy reliquary/3, either; the gold is of fairly impure quality and the workmanship is mildly crude. It is an only mildly useful item: it can only be recharged while smeared with the blood of a willing donor, and offers no particular benefits otherwise. And yet, Heaven and Hell have been fighting over it for the last thousand years.

Joel, Seraph Master of the Machine

Joel
Seraph Master of the Machine

Corporeal Forces: 3 Strength: 4 Agility: 8
Ethereal Forces: 6 Intelligence: 12 Precision: 12
Celestial Forces: 6 Will: 12 Perception: 12
Vessel/1

Skills: Chemistry/6, Computer Operation/6, Dodge/6, Electronics/6, Enchant/6, Engineering/6, Fighting/1, Knowledge (Angelic Lore/6, Celestial Damage/6, Ethereal Lore/6, Infernal Lore/6, Metaphysics/6, Physics/6, Research/6, Song Theory/6, Symphony Theory/6), Languages (English/3, Helltongue/3, Latin/3, Navaho/3, Russian/3), Musical Instrument/6 (harp), Ranged Weapon/1 (energy pistol), Singing/6, Survival (Hell/1, The Marches/1)

Songs: Artifacts (All/6), Blades (Celestial/6), Light (All/6, virtuoso) Lightning (All/6), Machines (All/6), Might (Celestial/6), Poison (Celestial/6), Purity (Celestial/6), Shattering (Celestial/6), Symphony (Celestial/6)

Attunements: Seraph of Lightning, Elohite of Lightning, Malakite of Lightning, Seraph of the Sword, Generator, Remote Control, Master of the Machine

Joel's purpose in life is simple: he is to create the celestial equivalent of an assault rifle.

The US Capitol Rotunda (Random/Wild)

The US Capitol Rotunda (Random/Wild)

You place your bets, and you take your chances.

The problem is that too many people on the corporeal plane have too many opinions on what the US Capitol in Washington DC is actually symbolic of. Normally, that would just ensure that no actual Tether would form at all, but even low probability events will come up sometime. In this case, the solution was to link to all of the evenly marginally likely Superior-level Words, in order: the difficulty is that the locus cycles through the possible endpoints so quickly that any user could end up at any number of Principalities.

Dagonians

Dagonians
Gorgons

Corporeal Forces: 2 Strength: 5* Agility: 4
Ethereal Forces: 2 Intelligence: 5* Precision: 4
Celestial Forces: 2 Will: 5* Perception: 4

*Built up.

Skills: Dodge/3, Fighting/3, Seduction/2, Survival/3 (ocean), Swimming/3, Tracking/2

Songs: Beasts (Corporeal/2), Charm (Ethereal/3), Entropy (Corporeal/1), Healing (Corporeal/1), Light (Ethereal/1), Numinous Corpus (Fangs/1), Shields (Corporeal/2), Tongues (Ethereal/3)

Advantages: Ethereal Connection, Symphonically Aware

Discord: Ugly or Discolored/2, Aura/2, Lustful/2

Also note that all Dagonians are fully amphibious, can survive quite comfortably in deep salt water, and will not heal Body Hits if their skin dries out. They are not immortal.

Yes, and the Saint of Flowers who used a close variant of these monsters for one of his better works of cosmic horror would quite like to know why he came so close to the truth, too. It could be coincidence, which in Angelic is a rather refined swearword, but there are other possibilities.

Chocolate Frogs

Chocolate Frogs

These represent a wide range of talisman/6 (grantors) that are known for three qualities:

1). They are one-use items (well, they come in four-packs);
2). They operate by either being eaten or crushed;
3). They taste exceptionally delicious. Haagenti will happily chomp on them by the truckload (as it is, having one will be worth a +1 to Invocation rolls).

Florida Skunk Ape

Florida Skunk Ape

Corporeal Forces: 3 Strength: 8 Agility: 4
Ethereal Forces: 1 Intelligence: 3 Precision: 1
Celestial Forces: 1 Will: 3 Perception: 1

Skills: Climbing/6, Dodge/2, Fighting/6, Move Silently/6

Songs: None

While the Florida Skunk Ape is technically a cryptozoological entity, it is not well known even to celestial experts in that field. In fact, if the Host could have classified all knowledge of this species, it would have. On first glance, it's hard to see why: the creature is apparently some sort of ape that resembles an orangutan, with only an odd habitat (Florida) and a disturbing stench to make it noteworthy. They're not particularly violent, and are extremely shy, so generally it would be expected that the creatures would be just considered one more oddity in a world full of them.

Unfortunately, it's more complicated than that.