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leticiaA couple of things, and just one economic post! First, the content.
I'm not done with this yet, but I wanted to post it, because I think I've hit the point where I might not come back to it. Both the sheet and the special attunements (particularly the mechanics, eww, crunchy bits) need some fine tuning. I'm torn between cheesing her out - after all, she's got a dangerous, dangerous task in life - and trying to keep things balanced, and at the moment, I'm succeeding at neither. I think she'd get her ass kicked, AND she's all combat twinked. As far as the attunments go, I've thrown out three things, but I'm not sure I want to keep them all because they have slightly different focuses. But the background and the characterization is pretty much what I want save for organizational and stylistic changes. Comments are welcome, particularly on the crunchy bits, and I haven't come up with many rites yet. Therefore...
Edit: Belah has gained some nasty Artifacts.
Belah
Malakite of Creation IST Fire
Angel of Hardcore (7 Word Forces)
"That Calabite doesn't begin to know Hardcore. I'm going to show him what it really means."
Corporeal Forces - 5 Strength 12 Agility 8
Ethereal Forces - 5 Intelligence 8 Precision 12
Celestial Forces - 6 Will 12 Perception 12
Vessels: Human Female/6, Human Female/6, Human Female/6
Skills: Acrobatics/6, Artistry (Drums/3, Guitar/3), Dodge/6, Driving/3, Fighting/6, Large Weapon/6 (Maces), Singing/4, Small Weapon/6 (Knife), Throwing/4
Songs: Corporeal Form/4, Healing (Corporeal/5 Ethereal/4 Celestial/6), Corporeal Motion/3, Shields (Corporeal/5 Ethereal/2, Celestial/3) NC Claws/6.
Attunements: Malakite of Creation, Abracadabra, Malakite of Fire, Dance of the Atoms, Smite, Master of the Flame of Heaven, Angel of Hardcore.
Malakite Oaths: (i) never suffer evil to live by her choice; (ii) never surrender or allow herself to be captured by Lucifer's armies; (iii) never make a compromise that lets evil flourish; (iv) never give less than her utmost.
Artifacts:
Talisman(Dodge)/6 with Reliquary/6 with Convenience:wearable which takes the form of a small silver stud earring
Talisman(Fighting)/6 with Reliquary/6 with Concealed Weapon, which takes the form of a set of brass knuckles
Talisman(Large Weapon/Club)/6 with Reliquary/6 with Concealed Weapon, which takes the form of a two-by-four with nails in it, and adds 2 power when used as a weapon.
Talisman(Small Weapon/Knives)/6 with Reliquary/6 with Concealed Weapon, which takes the form of a large knife, which adds 2 power and 3 accuracy when used as a weapon.
Angel of Hardcore: As Angel of Hardcore, Belah has three special attunements.
1) She can sacrifice hits in the realm she is fighting in to increase the damage done. The CD of a successful roll for any combat skill to which Forces are added (Fighting, Large Weapon, Small Weapon) is multiplied by half the number of hits so sacrificed. It is possible for this attunement to strip a Force from the user.
2) She can recover hits by causing permanent damage to demons. Mechanically, this is noted by things that take character points to recover - lost vessels from corporeal combat, Ethereal Discord from ethereal combat, lost Forces from celestial combat, etc. For every character point she costs a demon, she gets back five hits in the realm of the combat.
3) She can borrow hits from another realm, one for the price of two. If she would run out of hits in any realm, she can burn her hits in other realms (in ethereal or celestial combat, this lets her access the hits of only one vessel; in corporeal combat, she can not access the hits of any vessel but the one she is in). These hits burn twice as fast; in other words, if she takes 5 Mind Hits, and she is otherwise out of Mind Hits, she can lose 10 Body Hits or Soul Hits instead. This attunement can not remove a Force - if she has less than 3 Soul Hits left, she can not use them to replace either Body or Mind Hits.
Special Rites:
Kill a demon serving Hardcore (+5 for Furfur).
?
Belah is an ancient Malakite, one of the first fledged after the Fall. Creation embodies destruction, and though in modern times the Archangel Eli has joined the peace faction, there was no peace faction at the time. Heaven had hopes of a quick end to the War and fought with all their might. Belah was one of the warriors of Creation, before there was a peace faction, before the War had cooled. When the demons broke from their prison, she was there, and hounded any should find across the Corporeal to drive them back to Hell - or destroy them permanently, if she could. She had no mercy. Indeed, it was only under orders from Eli that she learned to tolerate would-be redemptives and call Eli to judge them.
As Heaven divided into the two camps known as the War and Peace factions, Belah felt more and more restless serving Creation. Though Eli never forbade his servitors to fight evil, they were increasingly encouraged to talk first and avoid unnecessary smiting. Shortly after the Purity Crusade, Belah asked Eli for permission to serve Gabriel for a period of time. Since then, Belah has been in service to Divine Fire, though her Heart is still Eli's.
She is well accepted by Servitors of Fire; she has been with them through their separation from the rest of Heaven, and, as she clings to older ways of Creation, understands their mission to purge the world of cruelty. Belah takes a particular delight in destroying Calabim. They are agents of destruction and so is she; there is not room for both.
When the infernal word of Hardcore was assigned - and to a Calabite, Belah took great offense. She requested permission to attempt to find the new Wordbound and destroy him, but Soldekai was reluctant to allow her to chase a demon who had proven to have Lucifer's recent attention without more support. Accordingly, Belah petitioned the Seraphim Council for the Divine Word of Hardcore. They were reluctant, but she was persistent, and they did not want to let Furfur's rise to power go entirely unchallenged.
Belah moves through underground music scenes like a whirlwind, always looking for her prey - any demon serving Hardcore, or, ideally, Furfur himself. As Angel of Hardcore, Belah tries to turn metal and hardcore music scenes towards Divine Fire and Creation by encouraging passion and inspiration. Though the bands she influences are no less, well, hardcore, they are doing what they do for the sake of the music, and they burn with the same fire she does. She inspires a sense of honor in bands and fans alike, wherever possible.
But Belah's main focus is always and ever to destroy Furfur. She lives to fight Furfur. She might not win in such a fight, as he's a Superior, but she'd burn herself to ash trying to take him down and she's older and more experienced. She's sent enough Servitors of Hardcore back to their Hearts with knowing who she is that surely Furfur knows about her now... but he's yet to take up her challenge.
She is pure Malakite, tough and brutal. She destroys demons with extreme prejudice, and though she tries to avoid collateral damage, she won't do so without direct orders from a superior if it means letting a demon get away. Since she became the Angel of Hardcore, that group has become very select, limited to Eli, Gabriel, Soldekai, or another Archangel (though only with reluctance).
Judgment tends to keep a wary eye on her. She is both Creationer and IST Fire, two danger signs - but she displays commendable fanaticism and doesn't bother with corporeality much -- at least, any place where Judges are likely to be. Dominic has set several Judges to following her and observing, worried about the dangers of Word-friction, but so far, there as been no change in her behavior. Given that she's already savage and destructive (if with a heavenly focus), it might be hard to tell if she starts slipping...
Belah will smite a dishonorable, selfish, cruel, or evil ethereal, should she meet one. However, she has little interest in the letter of the law of Heaven, and thus is unlikely to bother an ethereal with beneficent intentions towards humans and no demonic ties. Indeed, she will treat them with about the same distant cooperation she would give most non-allied or associated angels, and might even aid a 'good' ethereal who was having demon problems. Of course, she'd go after the demons anyhow...
Belah and PCs:
Belah is a powerful Servitor, and should probably be used sparingly in most campaigns. In a demonic campaign, she is either dangerous opponent or a threat to be avoided and worked around. In an angelic campaign, she could be a useful ally - though there is danger of overshadowing the PCs in a combat heavy campaign. She will reward PCs well for information about the presence of Hardcore Servitors, and even better for reliable information about Furfur's movements (possibly with her own Rites and attunements).
Plot seeds:
For Creation/Divine Fire and allied Words: Belah knows that she is not very subtle. A Tether to Hardcore that she has identified has the potential to become a Tether to Divine Fire or Creation, if properly undermined. The Tether is a nightclub where a brawl got out of hand; when the police arrived, they were drawn into it, and before the smoke settled, six people died. However, the crowd likes their live music and they like /good/ live music. Enter the PCs. Belah will ask them to help her refocus the Tether. She suggests forming a band to perform there, and encouraging the audience to think about the club as a spot for good music and to while discouraging problematic 'hardcore' behaviors. Belah's own technique would be to head in and smash it up; if the PCs are identified by the demonic staff, or run into more trouble than they can handle, Belah may come to their rescue and do just that - in which case, there's going to be a lot of uninvolved humans at risk...
For Infernal Hardcore: Furfur would like to see the Angel of Hardcore dead or Fallen... and the PCs are the bait. Furfur wants them to lure Belah into a Tether or goad her into following them to Hell elsewhere. She's currently working with a band in a local dive, taking the place of the missing, presumed dead drummer - who /was/ a demon of Hardcore before she got to him. Belah will probably attempt to protect the other (human) members. Killing them creatively could inspire the kind of rage necessary to get her to give chase all the way down to Hell...
For Judgment/the Sword and allied Words: The PCs are under orders to follow Belah and stop her if she is exhibiting danger signs. Belah doesn't particularly want them around, and will attempt to evade them where possible. Following her will require going into some places where your usual straight-laced Judge or Swordie will stick out like a sore thumb... and any demons of Hardcore around will be glad to complicate matters. If you want to make matters worse, the previous investigation team vanished and their hearts are shattered... PCs are expected to find out whether they died or Fell, and whether Belah was involved.
For other demons: Furfur has a lot of enemies, and some of them might like to see Belah succeed - at least, up until she fights him. Demonic PCs serving any of Furfur's enemies are likely to have orders to help Belah... but they have to do so without drawing her attention; she won't spare them. And of course, should it come to a fight between her and Furfur, their Prince will want the victor cleaned up... if it's Belah, definitely the underdog, the PCs will be expected to take her out themselves, and if it's Furfur, they'll be expected to call their Prince.
Belah's Forces tend to go up and down fairly often; though she doesn't lose fights, she's prone to diving right in to a fight, no matter what the odds are, and on occasion, she loses a Force or two.
Ok, so that's content. Now I'm going to throw a meme at you. You all remember the question/interview/whatever meme?
Yeah, I know, it just won't die. Someone asked me some questions, way back when. I'm going to answer them finally. You all know the rules, right? I'm answering questions someone asked me back when. If you want to participate, comment as such, and I'll ask you questions, which you can answer in your own LJ with some version of these rules.
So! Questions, from![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
edg!
1. What food do you most enjoy cooking?
Lately, it's definitely been bread. Bread is fun to make. There's something terribly wholesome about pulling a loaf of fresh baked bread out of the oven.
2. When you think of the things that make you happiest in life, what's the first image that comes to mind?
I'm getting trees, mountains, a river, the sea. I like the out of doors. I like nature. I like scenic vistas.
3. Which Linux distribution do you prefer?
Mmm, well, I grew up with Slack, but lately I've been using Redhat. I really haven't played with enough of them to get a real opinion, but I think my preference would still be Slack, of the two I've used the most.
4. What do you think of swimming in the ocean?
See note about out of doors. Though to be honest, sometimes my imagination gets carried away with me and I get a little creeped out about swimming in the ocean. Who knows what could be out there? :)
5. What made you decide to play the cello?
My elementary school started the string orchestra program in fourth grade. In third grade, they made us all go listen to a performance by the middle school orchestra to see if we were interested in being in the Strings program, and which instrument we wanted to play. I grew up in a home filled with music and it was just always assumed I would play an instrument - not so much by my parents as by myself. So, when I went home, Mom asked me what instrument I wanted to play. I had absolutely no idea - they all seemed so cool. So, being young and bratty, I said "Bass!" Basses are big and awkward and in the way. My mom told me "No" because the car was too small. "Fine," I said, "Cello."
And that was that. By pure bratty obstinance I picked the right instrument. ;)
I'm not done with this yet, but I wanted to post it, because I think I've hit the point where I might not come back to it. Both the sheet and the special attunements (particularly the mechanics, eww, crunchy bits) need some fine tuning. I'm torn between cheesing her out - after all, she's got a dangerous, dangerous task in life - and trying to keep things balanced, and at the moment, I'm succeeding at neither. I think she'd get her ass kicked, AND she's all combat twinked. As far as the attunments go, I've thrown out three things, but I'm not sure I want to keep them all because they have slightly different focuses. But the background and the characterization is pretty much what I want save for organizational and stylistic changes. Comments are welcome, particularly on the crunchy bits, and I haven't come up with many rites yet. Therefore...
Edit: Belah has gained some nasty Artifacts.
Belah
Malakite of Creation IST Fire
Angel of Hardcore (7 Word Forces)
"That Calabite doesn't begin to know Hardcore. I'm going to show him what it really means."
Corporeal Forces - 5 Strength 12 Agility 8
Ethereal Forces - 5 Intelligence 8 Precision 12
Celestial Forces - 6 Will 12 Perception 12
Vessels: Human Female/6, Human Female/6, Human Female/6
Skills: Acrobatics/6, Artistry (Drums/3, Guitar/3), Dodge/6, Driving/3, Fighting/6, Large Weapon/6 (Maces), Singing/4, Small Weapon/6 (Knife), Throwing/4
Songs: Corporeal Form/4, Healing (Corporeal/5 Ethereal/4 Celestial/6), Corporeal Motion/3, Shields (Corporeal/5 Ethereal/2, Celestial/3) NC Claws/6.
Attunements: Malakite of Creation, Abracadabra, Malakite of Fire, Dance of the Atoms, Smite, Master of the Flame of Heaven, Angel of Hardcore.
Malakite Oaths: (i) never suffer evil to live by her choice; (ii) never surrender or allow herself to be captured by Lucifer's armies; (iii) never make a compromise that lets evil flourish; (iv) never give less than her utmost.
Artifacts:
Talisman(Dodge)/6 with Reliquary/6 with Convenience:wearable which takes the form of a small silver stud earring
Talisman(Fighting)/6 with Reliquary/6 with Concealed Weapon, which takes the form of a set of brass knuckles
Talisman(Large Weapon/Club)/6 with Reliquary/6 with Concealed Weapon, which takes the form of a two-by-four with nails in it, and adds 2 power when used as a weapon.
Talisman(Small Weapon/Knives)/6 with Reliquary/6 with Concealed Weapon, which takes the form of a large knife, which adds 2 power and 3 accuracy when used as a weapon.
Angel of Hardcore: As Angel of Hardcore, Belah has three special attunements.
1) She can sacrifice hits in the realm she is fighting in to increase the damage done. The CD of a successful roll for any combat skill to which Forces are added (Fighting, Large Weapon, Small Weapon) is multiplied by half the number of hits so sacrificed. It is possible for this attunement to strip a Force from the user.
2) She can recover hits by causing permanent damage to demons. Mechanically, this is noted by things that take character points to recover - lost vessels from corporeal combat, Ethereal Discord from ethereal combat, lost Forces from celestial combat, etc. For every character point she costs a demon, she gets back five hits in the realm of the combat.
3) She can borrow hits from another realm, one for the price of two. If she would run out of hits in any realm, she can burn her hits in other realms (in ethereal or celestial combat, this lets her access the hits of only one vessel; in corporeal combat, she can not access the hits of any vessel but the one she is in). These hits burn twice as fast; in other words, if she takes 5 Mind Hits, and she is otherwise out of Mind Hits, she can lose 10 Body Hits or Soul Hits instead. This attunement can not remove a Force - if she has less than 3 Soul Hits left, she can not use them to replace either Body or Mind Hits.
Special Rites:
Kill a demon serving Hardcore (+5 for Furfur).
?
Belah is an ancient Malakite, one of the first fledged after the Fall. Creation embodies destruction, and though in modern times the Archangel Eli has joined the peace faction, there was no peace faction at the time. Heaven had hopes of a quick end to the War and fought with all their might. Belah was one of the warriors of Creation, before there was a peace faction, before the War had cooled. When the demons broke from their prison, she was there, and hounded any should find across the Corporeal to drive them back to Hell - or destroy them permanently, if she could. She had no mercy. Indeed, it was only under orders from Eli that she learned to tolerate would-be redemptives and call Eli to judge them.
As Heaven divided into the two camps known as the War and Peace factions, Belah felt more and more restless serving Creation. Though Eli never forbade his servitors to fight evil, they were increasingly encouraged to talk first and avoid unnecessary smiting. Shortly after the Purity Crusade, Belah asked Eli for permission to serve Gabriel for a period of time. Since then, Belah has been in service to Divine Fire, though her Heart is still Eli's.
She is well accepted by Servitors of Fire; she has been with them through their separation from the rest of Heaven, and, as she clings to older ways of Creation, understands their mission to purge the world of cruelty. Belah takes a particular delight in destroying Calabim. They are agents of destruction and so is she; there is not room for both.
When the infernal word of Hardcore was assigned - and to a Calabite, Belah took great offense. She requested permission to attempt to find the new Wordbound and destroy him, but Soldekai was reluctant to allow her to chase a demon who had proven to have Lucifer's recent attention without more support. Accordingly, Belah petitioned the Seraphim Council for the Divine Word of Hardcore. They were reluctant, but she was persistent, and they did not want to let Furfur's rise to power go entirely unchallenged.
Belah moves through underground music scenes like a whirlwind, always looking for her prey - any demon serving Hardcore, or, ideally, Furfur himself. As Angel of Hardcore, Belah tries to turn metal and hardcore music scenes towards Divine Fire and Creation by encouraging passion and inspiration. Though the bands she influences are no less, well, hardcore, they are doing what they do for the sake of the music, and they burn with the same fire she does. She inspires a sense of honor in bands and fans alike, wherever possible.
But Belah's main focus is always and ever to destroy Furfur. She lives to fight Furfur. She might not win in such a fight, as he's a Superior, but she'd burn herself to ash trying to take him down and she's older and more experienced. She's sent enough Servitors of Hardcore back to their Hearts with knowing who she is that surely Furfur knows about her now... but he's yet to take up her challenge.
She is pure Malakite, tough and brutal. She destroys demons with extreme prejudice, and though she tries to avoid collateral damage, she won't do so without direct orders from a superior if it means letting a demon get away. Since she became the Angel of Hardcore, that group has become very select, limited to Eli, Gabriel, Soldekai, or another Archangel (though only with reluctance).
Judgment tends to keep a wary eye on her. She is both Creationer and IST Fire, two danger signs - but she displays commendable fanaticism and doesn't bother with corporeality much -- at least, any place where Judges are likely to be. Dominic has set several Judges to following her and observing, worried about the dangers of Word-friction, but so far, there as been no change in her behavior. Given that she's already savage and destructive (if with a heavenly focus), it might be hard to tell if she starts slipping...
Belah will smite a dishonorable, selfish, cruel, or evil ethereal, should she meet one. However, she has little interest in the letter of the law of Heaven, and thus is unlikely to bother an ethereal with beneficent intentions towards humans and no demonic ties. Indeed, she will treat them with about the same distant cooperation she would give most non-allied or associated angels, and might even aid a 'good' ethereal who was having demon problems. Of course, she'd go after the demons anyhow...
Belah and PCs:
Belah is a powerful Servitor, and should probably be used sparingly in most campaigns. In a demonic campaign, she is either dangerous opponent or a threat to be avoided and worked around. In an angelic campaign, she could be a useful ally - though there is danger of overshadowing the PCs in a combat heavy campaign. She will reward PCs well for information about the presence of Hardcore Servitors, and even better for reliable information about Furfur's movements (possibly with her own Rites and attunements).
Plot seeds:
For Creation/Divine Fire and allied Words: Belah knows that she is not very subtle. A Tether to Hardcore that she has identified has the potential to become a Tether to Divine Fire or Creation, if properly undermined. The Tether is a nightclub where a brawl got out of hand; when the police arrived, they were drawn into it, and before the smoke settled, six people died. However, the crowd likes their live music and they like /good/ live music. Enter the PCs. Belah will ask them to help her refocus the Tether. She suggests forming a band to perform there, and encouraging the audience to think about the club as a spot for good music and to while discouraging problematic 'hardcore' behaviors. Belah's own technique would be to head in and smash it up; if the PCs are identified by the demonic staff, or run into more trouble than they can handle, Belah may come to their rescue and do just that - in which case, there's going to be a lot of uninvolved humans at risk...
For Infernal Hardcore: Furfur would like to see the Angel of Hardcore dead or Fallen... and the PCs are the bait. Furfur wants them to lure Belah into a Tether or goad her into following them to Hell elsewhere. She's currently working with a band in a local dive, taking the place of the missing, presumed dead drummer - who /was/ a demon of Hardcore before she got to him. Belah will probably attempt to protect the other (human) members. Killing them creatively could inspire the kind of rage necessary to get her to give chase all the way down to Hell...
For Judgment/the Sword and allied Words: The PCs are under orders to follow Belah and stop her if she is exhibiting danger signs. Belah doesn't particularly want them around, and will attempt to evade them where possible. Following her will require going into some places where your usual straight-laced Judge or Swordie will stick out like a sore thumb... and any demons of Hardcore around will be glad to complicate matters. If you want to make matters worse, the previous investigation team vanished and their hearts are shattered... PCs are expected to find out whether they died or Fell, and whether Belah was involved.
For other demons: Furfur has a lot of enemies, and some of them might like to see Belah succeed - at least, up until she fights him. Demonic PCs serving any of Furfur's enemies are likely to have orders to help Belah... but they have to do so without drawing her attention; she won't spare them. And of course, should it come to a fight between her and Furfur, their Prince will want the victor cleaned up... if it's Belah, definitely the underdog, the PCs will be expected to take her out themselves, and if it's Furfur, they'll be expected to call their Prince.
Belah's Forces tend to go up and down fairly often; though she doesn't lose fights, she's prone to diving right in to a fight, no matter what the odds are, and on occasion, she loses a Force or two.
Ok, so that's content. Now I'm going to throw a meme at you. You all remember the question/interview/whatever meme?
Yeah, I know, it just won't die. Someone asked me some questions, way back when. I'm going to answer them finally. You all know the rules, right? I'm answering questions someone asked me back when. If you want to participate, comment as such, and I'll ask you questions, which you can answer in your own LJ with some version of these rules.
So! Questions, from
edg!1. What food do you most enjoy cooking?
Lately, it's definitely been bread. Bread is fun to make. There's something terribly wholesome about pulling a loaf of fresh baked bread out of the oven.
2. When you think of the things that make you happiest in life, what's the first image that comes to mind?
I'm getting trees, mountains, a river, the sea. I like the out of doors. I like nature. I like scenic vistas.
3. Which Linux distribution do you prefer?
Mmm, well, I grew up with Slack, but lately I've been using Redhat. I really haven't played with enough of them to get a real opinion, but I think my preference would still be Slack, of the two I've used the most.
4. What do you think of swimming in the ocean?
See note about out of doors. Though to be honest, sometimes my imagination gets carried away with me and I get a little creeped out about swimming in the ocean. Who knows what could be out there? :)
5. What made you decide to play the cello?
My elementary school started the string orchestra program in fourth grade. In third grade, they made us all go listen to a performance by the middle school orchestra to see if we were interested in being in the Strings program, and which instrument we wanted to play. I grew up in a home filled with music and it was just always assumed I would play an instrument - not so much by my parents as by myself. So, when I went home, Mom asked me what instrument I wanted to play. I had absolutely no idea - they all seemed so cool. So, being young and bratty, I said "Bass!" Basses are big and awkward and in the way. My mom told me "No" because the car was too small. "Fine," I said, "Cello."
And that was that. By pure bratty obstinance I picked the right instrument. ;)
