BASIC RITES
• Spend 1 hour in 80+ mph winds.
• Steal more than $200 worth of material goods.
CHANCE OF INVOCATION:
3
INVOCATION MODIFIERS
+1 Steal a newspaper
+2 Ten $20 bills, finned out
+3 A valuable painting
+4 A Ming vase
+5 An ancient relic
1 8 2
DE M O N PR I N C E S
VaPuLa
PrInCe
oFtEChnoLogy
The world is an experiment gone awry – it stinks, and when it breaks, there’ll be bodies everywhere. I love it.
Vapula is a Habbalah who usually manifests as a bright-eyed elderly man with unkempt hair and clothes. He often wears a lab coat. Think “mad scientist.” He’s usually quiet, and seems to be working on something in the back of his mind – until he bursts forth with a torrent of excited ideas.
Even when angry, he’s soft-spoken. A clumsy Servitor may be invited to donate his vessel for medical experi- mentation . . . but Vapula will smile encouragingly as the victim is strapped to the rack.
Archangel Jean was handed the secrets of the corporeal world by Yves. Without access to the Symphony, Vapula is reduced to experimentation – but he’s gotten pretty damned good at it. The Prince of Technology loves gadgets, and has absolutely no conscience about their side effects. He was never an angel, and Hell suits him far better than Heaven would; he’s free to come up with whatever he wants. He’s especially fascinated by technological relics.
Lucifer and the other Princes want to see devices which humanity will use for destruction and selfishness, such as chemical weapons, automobiles, cement, fast food, and explosives. Actually, humans invented all those things, but Vapula takes credit for helping them along – it earns points with the rest of the Descending Hierarchy.
Vapula’s forges in Hell are the source of most infernal artifacts. Few of the demons who know these secrets are permitted to reach Earth, though! None of the Princes want diabolical artifacts to be too easy to get.
Most recently, he has been recruited by Nybbas to help create a combination computer/television that will draw Essence from those nearby, or accept Essence “broadcast” from some central location, to power the dark invocations of the cathode ray tube. With such a device – tentatively dubbed the NC, or “Nybbas Computer” – the Diabolicals’ control of humanity might be complete.
DISSONANCE
Most Servitors of Vapula have been granted at least one artifact of infernal origin. It’s dissonant for a demon to allow such a boon to fall into human or angelic hands, although this dissonance vanishes if he recovers it.
BAND ATTUNEMENTS
Balseraphs (partially restricted)
Vapula’s Balseraphs can look at a device devised by the minds of humans and precisely comprehend all its possible applications. They can do the same thing if presented only with a spec sheet – they can identify the lies of specifications and intuit a device’s real-world performance.
They are granted no high-tech boons; instead, these liars are Hell’s snake-oil salesmen. They may add their Celestial Forces to any attempt to convince someone that a mundane item has fantastic properties.
Djinn
Djinn working for Vapula are granted feather-light palmtop computers which they can attune to a number
1 8 3
DE M O N PR I N C E S
of objects equal to their users’ Celestial Forces. The palmtop has a thin cable, 6” long, which must touch the object of attunement before being able to track it.
Calabim
Vapula does not allow Calabim within his ranks! Their unpredictably destructive fields of entropy wreak havoc with his experiments.
Habbalah (partially restricted)
Vapula grants his Habbalah mood rings which change colour to reflect the emotional state of the nearest person. These demons can apply their resonance to people experiencing strong feelings, closing the circuit on their target’s emotions and creating a feedback loop, stunning the victim for a number of rounds equal to the resonance’s check digit. Failed attempts have no backlash.
Lilim (partially restricted)
Vapula’s Lilim are the ultimate hackers and social engineers. They add their Celestial Forces to any Computer Operation roll . . . and to any use of their resonance against someone of a scientific or technical bent.
Shedim
Vapula gives each of his Shedim a laptop computer (which requires no power and has a high-speed cellular Net connection) to use as a vessel, entering freely when a host is not readily available. The Shedite may add his Celestial Forces to any attempt to possess someone who uses the laptop while the demon is inside.
Impudites (partially restricted)
Vapula’s Impudites are giant Essence batteries. They can store twice as much Essence as a typical creature of their Forces! An Impudite serving Technology has a pair of glasses which let him see the Essence around him. He can measure the Essence in anyone within a number of feet equal to his Celestial Forces.
SERVITOR ATTUNEMENTS
Invention
This ability temporarily creates a relic imbued with one or two abilities. These must be fuelled by the user’s Essence; if he does not have enough, the cursed relic can instead inflict 5 hits of celestial damage for each Essence needed. If this would take the users last Soul hit, costing him a Force, it will not function.
The object with which the demon is experimenting must already exist in the real world. With a successful Precision roll, the demon can add one or two Songs (or attunements which require Essence) he already knows.
The check digit of the Precision roll indicates how many hours the device keeps its powers.
The powers embedded in the object should reflect its mundane uses. For example, a potato-masher could give its user the Numinous Corpus of Claws and Acid; a pil- low could produce the Corporeal and Ethereal Songs of Dreams; a jar of cold cream could be given the youthful aspect of the Corporeal Song of Entropy; and so on.