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1991-07-03
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Path: pitt!cadre!pt.cs.cmu.edu!rochester!bbn!husc6!purdue!i.cc.purdue.edu!ach
From: ach@i.cc.purdue.edu (Joseph Poirier)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp
Subject: Sorcery? No dice. | continuation, part 3
Message-ID: <2758@i.cc.purdue.edu>
Date: 7 May 88 01:10:29 GMT
Reply-To: ach@i.cc.purdue.edu (Joseph Poirier)
Distribution: usa
Organization: Purdue University Computing Center
Lines: 141
More of the Burdick Magic System...
-- Joseph
=-=-=-=
(anatomy of a soul and dealing with demons)
the anatomy of a soul part is to answer questions like "where does
magic come from?" and "How do demons affect people?"
a soul has three big parts: 1) a kernel, which is immortal, which
contains the essence of the person sans personality and experience, 2)
a sort of nucleus, which regenerates the aura, and 3) (yes) the aura.
the aura fuels events. it gets spent when demons (and whatever else)
do magic.
when a demon gives a 'one-shot spell' to a sorceror, he is actually
attatching part of his aura to the sorceror. Mortals don't really
have big enough auras to do much of anything (well, maybe later
someone'll make system where they do, but for now, they don't). They
must depend completely upon demons for magic. auras are not inert
blocks of fuel, though. They have somewhat of a personality (which
you would know about if you could talk to them). Demons can 'ded-
icate' some of their aura to do a particular thing.
If a demon attatches part of its nucleus to a sorceror, it can serve
as a 'reusable spell.' auras grow *much* faster than nuclei, so
demons don't usually do this. I always make this type of power usable
anytime (rather than N times a day...) -- like the spider-form ability
granted by the Black Widow. Some useful powers like this are: flames
(of the match or candle sort), illusions (maybe of a particular thing),
and shape-change (usually of a partcular type).
sorcerors don't usually summon demons to get powers, though. they usually
summon them to request services. a demon is much more willing to perform
a task, than to give a piece of itself away.
-- getting something from a demon --
here are some ideas for what demons want:
pleasure -- they can't feel anything anymore (in the same way), since
they are not flesh. they can only feel pleasure if they pos-
sess someone.
treasure -- if they want to do anything with money on earth, they'd
much rather get it, than create it. if they get a huge amount
of money, they can use this to get things done in the world
without wasting any of their precious power.
names -- other demons' names are useful to them as blackmail tokens..
assasinations -- if a sorceror really bugs a particular demon, the
the demon may demand the death of him from the next summoner
as his price. this makes for interesting adventures; people
may jump out from behind corners and attack a sorceror for no
apparent reason.
tasks -- there may be somethings out of the demon's reach. he'll ask
the summoner to do the task before he gives what the sorceror
wants.
position -- some demons may want earthly power. They may just want to
work with a mortal as his 'advisor,' if the mortal is involved
in politics.
leave-it-alone -- if the sorceror is particularly powerful (ie. he has
lots of demon friends/servants), a demon may demand that the
sorceror vow never to summon it again (and may back him up with
a good geas).
soul -- if you're not a servant of a patron and the demon thinks you'll
go for it, he'll ask you for your soul. Most simple peasant
folk who summon a demon end up giving it their soul in exchange
for a really piddly but flashy power. If they summon it again,
it probably kills them.
can't think of any others, off hand -- maybe other people can...
types of prices:
one-time prices -- like the 'leave-it-alone' price.
periodic prices -- give it X amount of treaure every month, or
let it possess you once every full moon (werewolves come
to mind).
others?
balance of power (why don't demons just kill you anyway?), or The Cosmic Credit
Rating:
if you're a sorceror:
1) it'll make the patron demon mad if you die.
the patron wants you on earth, as its tool. if it wanted you dead,
it'd kill you itself (read Stormbringer for good examples).
2) you may have 'dead-man-switches' to go off in the event of your
death which would cause the demon a great deal of damage. Some
paranoid (maybe) sorcerors spend lots of time setting up deals
with demons for just such leverage/insurance.
3) maybe the demon is a wimp and you have it cornered -- this is a
good time to say "serve me 'till I die, follow my orders, and pro-
tect me, or I'll pound you into Gains Burgers(TM), punk."
4) you gradually build up a reputation in Hell -- a sort of cosmic
credit rating. Demons do talk to each other, you know. If a demon
has heard of you, he's more likely to listen to you.
if you're not a sorceror:
1) maybe the demon thinks you're naive enough to give him your soul
2) maybe you're in a position to be of use to the demon (like if you're
in a key position in politics).
what the guarantees are:
if a demon makes a promise, part of his soul gets dedicated to this.
this is because of the completely 'spiritual' nature of demons. When
they make a promise, it defines part of their reality. If they should
break that promise, that part of their reality ceases to exist because
of the contradiction. Demons keep their words, almost without excep-
tion.
if you know the demon's name, you already have some leverage. it would
really be inconvenient if someone were to, say, paint the name all over
all of the sidewalks in a big city, now wouldn't it.
you're almost guaranteed that the demon will be slightly pissed when he
gets there, because *he* pays the price of opening the gate!
well, that's the whole system, I think. next article is the history of the
comos. if I left anything out, please tell me (like if you have questions
that need answering). also, if you have ideas for demons, etc, why not
post them?
-- Bill
ihnp4!pur-ee!h.cc.purdue.edu!sgj
=-=-=-=
Posted by:
--
Joseph Poirier UUCP : ach@i.cc.purdue.edu pur-ee!i.cc.purdue.edu!ach