By Manny Neps
Nybbas, Prince of the Media, is in a bad mood. Two of his Word-bound have
been squabbling for the past three years -- and it's finally gotten on his
nerves. Their arguments aren't even interesting, let alone newsworthy.
Sitting down with the two (Drogas, Balseraph of Slang and Myrrhon, Habbalite
of Teen TV Shows), Nybbas proposes a contest between the two. The winner
takes control of the loser's organization and gains a Baron Distinction,
catapulting him into Hell's upper crust. The loser is outright destroyed.
Nybbas wants Media teams following the two, with an eye to making some kind
of game show out of the contest.
The terms of the contest are simple: each demon is given a list of 5 words
which they must introduce into pop culture in the next six months. At the
end of the six-month period, Nybbas himself will decide which of the two has
done a better job.
The players do not represent Drogas and Myrrhon; instead, they represent
demons serving the two Wordbound. As such, they receive their appropriate
Rites: Drogas's team gains 1 Essence for each successful use of a slang term
in a conversation (only once a day) and Myrrhon's team gains 1 Essence for
watching a TV show about teen-agers (ditto).
The players are free to associate meanings with the words they are given.
The 5 words for Drogas are:
Slappish
Winona (adjective)
Saint Peter
Cinderable
Munchausen
The 5 words for Myrrhon are:
Blargy
Yoghurt (adjective)
Star Trek
Phantasmal
Frenchy
The GM is free to impose whatever limits he feels are best. Narrow down
the
list to three words each? Ok. One year instead of six months?
Sure. This
much is non-negotiable: at the end of the contest, only one of the two
Wordbound will remain in Hell. As for the other...well, them's the
breaks.
The tone of this story is, of course, farcical; the GM is encouraged to come
up with TV shows for Myrrhon's team to introduce terms to and for other
opportunities for Drogas's team.
Take note that assassination is still a viable means to winning the
contest...
"Belle of the Ball."
There are many battles across many Words in Heaven and in Hell -- the
most celebrated hardly need mention. One can envision David and
Malphas at one another's throats, or the searing flames between
Gabriel and Belial, all backdropped between the ultimate conflict,
between Destiny and Fate.
Compared to this, the quiet hostilities between the Mercurian Angel
of Manners and the Balseraph Demon of Decorum seem almost quaint.
They seem that way, but the out and out hostility between the pair is
huge. Graham, the Angel of Manners and Servitor of Trade, has always
promoted Manners as the social lubricant that smooths out rough edges
in human relations. Sumtor, the Demon of Decorum and Servitor of
Factions, uses the unwritten (and written) rules of society, business
and interpersonal relations to separate and distance humanity. The
pair have fought a very bitter... but very gracious war over the
centuries.
Today the battlefield is rife -- a Debutante Ball, where the archaic
notion of 'Coming Out' can serve as a genteel reminder of the mores
of another generation and celebrate both the old and the new... or an
outdated social strata can force the wrong ideals onto another
generation of young girls, reinforces class barriers, and kills off
individuality in the name of 'how it's always been done.' At this
particular Debutante Ball, both "Graham Willis" and "Samantha
Haight-Torres" are working their wiles on the crowd, eyeing one
another and trying to figure out how to eliminate the other without
causing a scene.
It is tailor made for Kobal, naturally. Or Kobalites, at least. Four
'up-and-comers' have infiltrated the Debutante Ball, and are actively
trying to cause social disasters (and blame the two Celestials
*least* likely to profit from them in the process). They have decided
the best way to really get the party hopping is the old fashioned way
-- spiking the food and drink. There's rum in the punch, Rohypnol in
the soda, crystal meth in the yogurt-cheese salad dressing and LSD in
the cream brulee. The hopes are that as the night progresses, the
ball will degenerate further and further into chaos, while the
'stodgy' Word-bound in the room desperately fight to preserve order.
The PCs can have one of many roles in this social disaster in the
making. They could be Servitors of Trade or Factions, assigned to
assist the Word-bound in pursuing their own agendas and trying to
both retake control of the ball from the Kobalites and eliminate the
Servitors of the other side. They could *be* the Kobalites, sent in
to keep the confusion at a maximum and the hijinks ensuing. They
could even be incidental participants -- perhaps one of the
debutantes is the attuned of a Cherub, on hand to see her
introduction into high society.
There's only so far the chaos will reign before Graham and Sumtor
will work together (ugh -- that *word,* thinks Sumtor) to restore a
sense of propriety to the proceedings. Of course, the Kobalites may
be expecting this, and hoping that Graham (or *both* Graham and
Sumtor) will end up using up their Essence purging the drugs from the
debutantes, their dates, and their parents. After all, what better
ironic twist than the Angel of Manners dying during a society event?
Of course, Graham *does* have an ace up his sleeve, should things
become violent (*if* he's managed to hold onto that last bit of
Essence). After all, he does know the Celestial Song of Tongues, and
it's only *proper* to call the Malakite Angel of Ettiquette if
circumstances demand....
The Demon of Yogurt
Once upon a time, there were two demons of Gluttony, and -- rather
surprising for demons -- they loved each other very much. (And not just for
dessert.) Together, they ran a specialty food store, and on their lunch
hours, they would go to the nearby park and buy food from the vendors
there. They loved discussing their favorite topic: what kinds of food were
best.
One day, the Lightbringer happened upon them in that park, as one spoke
passionately of the beauties of health food, and the other declaimed
intensely upon the appeal of junk food. And the First Balseraph listened a
while, being somewhat impressed by their zeal and fervor on their topics,
until he realized that these two demons cared about each other.
So he appeared unto them and granted them each Words. The first should have
Health Food, and the second should have Junk Food (both Words which
Haagenti had been hoping to acquire for some time now, since a Malakite of
Eli had strangled the last Junk Food with a celestial licorice whip). Then
he left them.
And their new Words did cause them friction. No longer could they think
properly about any other kind of foods. They divided their store between
them, and stocked it with foods to support their Words.
Then they found it: health food/junk food. You've seen those black
packages, with sweet potato chips, or chips made from all kinds of tubers?
The two demons realized that they had a meeting of Words after all. And in
their joy, they went to their Prince, Haagenti, and begged that he would
join selected of their Forces together, that they might produce, and raise,
a demon to serve him even as they did. And, because he was pleased at all
the "healthy junk food" that they were promoting the over-consumption
of,
he agreed.
But when Lucifer heard Haagenti bragging about his young Word-bound and
their new imp, the Morning Star was less pleased. These two, who should be
driven apart by their Words, had come together instead? It was . . .
annoying. So he appeared unto them and their new imp (which was in the
vessel of a baby) and gave the "child" a Word that he was sure would
split
Junk and Health apart, as each tried to warp the imp to serve it, and not
it's "mate." That Word was Yogurt.
But even the Lightbringer can have an off day, for little "Yogi" (as
the
imp grew to be called) was a true product of its flexible and clever
parents, and sought ways to serve both spheres of the Word-bound whose
Forces had created it. No-fat soy "yogurt" for the one, chocolate
cheesecake yogurt for the other . . . The possibilities were endless. With
glee, the trio promoted Yogurt.
Now, it will be Yogi's shining moment: not only does the imp (now 6 Forces,
aside from its Word) have control of a small yogurt processing plant, but
it is about to launch a flavor which is a true merger of all the low-fat,
high nutrition of Health Food, and all the taste ecstasy and affordability
of Junk Food. In the honor of the new company, there's been a media event
planned. (The "front owners," ignorant humans, have high society
pretensions which suit the Word-bound trio just fine.)
Naturally, there are enemies who might be waiting to spoil this event
somehow: crash the party, destroy the plant, kill the demons, all of the
above. Why, this little success story is such that even Lucifer himself
might manipulate one last attack to spoil the threesome's happiness. (Are
your player characters, angel or demon, suitably manipulable?)
Of course, if the three Word-bound rise above this last assault, Lucifer
will clearly have no choice. He'll have to make Yogurt a Prince and hope
Haagenti eats him.