Where do humans live? There are a couple mostly residential neighborhoods mentioned on the Setting page but those seem geared more towards demons. Do humans just squeeze themselves in wherever they find space, or are there districts where the homes of the human population is concentrated?
Amabilis Sanctum is inhabited by only humans. Viath Docks are mostly demons, occasional human stragglers. Silverside: almost all humans. a demon would be an extreme rarity. Pandaemonium: About equal, though the demons typically have more prestige. Scrag End: equal population, though it's usually demons calling the shots. Judecca Heights: Demons, sometimes they keep human servants on premises but that's it. Downtown: about equal, slightly in favor of humans. Antenora: 70 percent to 30 percent split of demons to humans Fell's Limits: not very populated.
At a casual glance, are humans with pacts distinguishable from humans without pacts in any way?
And, kinda hand-in-hand with the above, are there any restrictions on what human characters can look like? Barring any modifications due to powers, that is.
Pacting usually leaves a mark on the contractor, but different demons have different "calling cards" per say, so it's not super consistent. Some of them do things like give slit pupils, some have sigils, ect.
Also I'm not quite sure I understand this question. If you wanna do super anime hair colors or something that's fine?? Just have humans look like humans.
A) What sort of "holy powers" are there? Or if it is especially wide open, what CAN"T they do?
B) There are "demons" from "Hell"; does it stand to reason that there are also "angels" from "Heaven"? Has there been any success in contacting them (since I'd assume that would be one of the first things anyone would try to do)?
No attack magic. Healing doesn't work on those with pacts or demons, and healing isn't great typically. Best at purification, and barriers. If you're really quite good, probably able to discorperate/banish a demon, but it can't kill or harm.
There's been no success at contacting angels, heaven, or God. But we do have the word of Fallen that there is such a thing, and the continued effectiveness of holy barriers to show.
Are these the sorts of things that any 'man of God' should be able to do? Can it manifest or be taught to anyone? Or does it take a special quality or bloodline, training, etc? Would the Church be seeking/tracking humans with any sort of holy power?
Basically I'm kinda wondering a ballpark on "holy warrior" (ha ha) numbers, and relatedly the power of the Church (like say, of the 800k in the city, maybe 1 in 10 have some sort of weakish power? or is it more like there are only 500 guys with any power at all, etc...)
Hmm. I'd say it manifests to those specifically with very concrete beliefs-- if you don't truly have faith, it will waver or not work at all. It doesn't work if you're pacted, though the pacted can enter holy grounds while demons can't. It doesn't take training, but training can help for versatility and better applying it. The Church is actively looking for people with holy power, but a lot of time they go to the Church first.
I'mmm not sure on a numerical figure though, but those are the basic mechanics of it.
Okay. Soooo it would imply that the Church would always be looking to spread its teachings and get people to join--if you can't help without faith, means you've gotta get more people to have faith, so that the Church can grow in power...right?
Just trying to get a feel for what sorts of motivations you are working with if you choose to play a man of God... (or if you just happen to be nearby; is someone gonna try to turn you all the time)
Evangelism is, in fact, a really big thing. For exactly those reasons. But, in some other ways, the church has loosened up because they're just not going to get new believers when YEAH YOU'LL BURN IN HELL FOR ETERNITY FOR BEING GAY. Not when demons are offering power as a way to survive for the easy, low, low price of your soul and eternal servitude. They don't want to make the faith hard to get into. Lots of shit about forgiveness but very anti-demon.
What have demons done about the government? Does city/state(?)/whatever governance continue as usual (well, as 'usual' given the extent that laws can be enforced without internet/phone/other instant things, so more of a localized, frontier feel is gonna happen either way I'd imagine), just with demons taking the taxes? Have demons scuttled the congress and replaced the human governing bodies with demonic ones instead?
Where I'm getting at here is the various public services we often take for granted--schools, police, fire department, power, water/sewer/gas--do those still exist? Who runs them?
I can see demons being like 'so long as you follow us/pay us 'protection' i don't care what you do'; I can see a puppet government run by a few demon sympathizers and a few demons that serves to keep shit running smoothly for Judecca Heights and less smoothly for the human enclaves; I can see anarchy having been supplanted by the majority of people flocking to strong organizations for protection and services (the mob, the church, maybe the 'bill gates' of Gehenna) in a knight/serf sort of set-up... How is human life now that we're six years in? How do humans and demons interact on the macro level?
From the sound of the Amabilis Sanctum, it seems like anarchy - with people flocking to organizations for protection/services - would be the likeliest bet. I can see some demons taking over the running of power and water/sewer/gas at the very least because it's an easy way to get money/power (if we go that route, since it's the easiest explanation for why that stuff continues to exist), but I would think that schools, police, fire department, and similar services are pretty much nonexistent except for what citizens organize for themselves.
Thinking about it more, I don't see how a city population can be 800K if it is only relying on what resources can be found within city limits. There's a reason cities of antiquity weren't all that populous. There needs to be a system for bringing water and food (and medicine and fuel and clothing) in, and taking trash and poop out. But--thinking of reasons for this--if the demons need to keep humans alive for their prophecy or whatever, there's no reason to break down the country's infrastructure if it'll make them all starve or poison each other. So I don't see the whole serfdom thing working (on a macro scale). I'm gonna talk this out and correct me if there seem to be too many weird jumps:
+ There's gotta be some 'government,' in charge of maintaining major services for the city (sewer, water, electricity (such as it is), health???), and maintaining transport/communications with the rest of the country (mail, telegraph? phone?). We know this has happened because the city still has a population too large to be organized on a community level. (Question: was this a large city that's lost much of its population? or a smaller one that's swelled as the strength of the church/destruction of other urban areas has drawn many refugees from other locations?)
+ Personally, I like the idea of Vichy France-type puppet government that in theory gives humans all the power they ever had!! but in practice can only do what the demon leadership allows. They do stuff like provide food rations (grain/meat/beans grown outside of Gehenna--it is never quite enough), manage trash collection and sewers (collection days are spotty and certain areas always smell bad), and keep a police force (ineffective when not corrupt). Oh, and like, providing job licenses or travel permissions, maybe? Distributing some required medicines? (blood pressure, insulin, etc) Schools for reeducation??? Either way, they are understaffed and underpaid and disrespected by demons and humans alike. Some government staff just wants! to make a difference! even if it's this small!! but corruption is rampant. But they are helpful enough (and supported by demons enough) that generally no one is trying to overthrow them.
+ As electricity seems to have been supplanted by technomancy provided by the demons (Pandaemonium), it would stand to reason that demons are in charge of these services. Uncertain what else is done in Pandaemonium (is there an Internet analogue? Do they have something like cellular networks for communicating with others? Do they sell these technologies to rich humans or just to other demons?) -> (Related: do demons need clean water or air? Food? What is their main way of communication with other cities? Do they need anything 'human'? If so they would probably be in charge of its distribution to ensure they had most of it)
+ Whatever humans WANT but demons don't judge they absolutely NEED will be provided by other human groups. Just throwing out some world-building nuggets, I'd say the Church, the mob (have all gangs banded together? or are there a few? uneasy alliance?), a few rich human dynasties have probably maintained enough power to have other humans affiliate with them. This is probably on a more neighborhood basis--local urban farms to supplement the rations, local schools? Childcare? Help with clothing & shelter? Free or cheap transportation options? Neighborhood watch/protection and probably volunteer fire brigade would go here. Regular folk would flock to these more powerful groups to protect themselves from demon raids and disease. --> (Perhaps there are demonic 'Save the Human' interest groups that are attempting to help place humans into their 'native habitats', etc???)
+ probably also some 'freedom-fighter' guerrilla groups who want to take back our planet!! from demons and don't believe the Church's defensive-only stance is good enough!! So, terrorists who may steal from the rich and give to the poor, or may just attack demons because they're there
okay that's probably enough for one comment; ugh i just like working out this sort of thing
You're correct, there is some infastructure, because the demons don't want or need everyone dead, and if the city stops working it makes life harder on them. Not to mention hell has a really fairly strict government, because that's the only way to make Hell work, and they brought over a lot of that with them, and they don't really care about some human concerns, so humans are allowed to deal with certain matters on their own, but basically have no choice but to bow to demonic interests, when the demons take an interest. So the sewer system continues to be maintained, because fucking no one wants that to be disrupted. Even the plague-bringers, that shit is nasty. Electricity has been covered, it's provided by Pandaemonium, but spotty in areas the demons don't care about or aren't really on the grid: so downtown, Pandaemonium, Judecca all are firmly on the grid. Silverside is iffy, the lines go down there a lot, think like. California during Enron. Same for Antenora, though there it's because of the confusion of battle royale versus paying for utilities. Viath and Fell's do not have electricity, Viath being basically a bunch of squatters, and Fell being wild. Amabilis does not due to demonic power not working there, so they're reliant on doing things like artificial distillation the old fashioned way. The church is really heavy on the virtues of self-reliance right now, to try and promote this. Amabilis and Silverside have a lot of urban/vertical farming efforts, due to the fact they're sort of on the edge of the social safety net. Some people still go to Viath and Fell's to hunt or fish, but that's considered risky for. obvious. reasons... uh, pets are rare because yes, people will eat them. Still, the situation is not nearly as dire as it was, since Gehenna's had six years to work its shit out. The fact demon presence is strong enough to crush any rebellion easily honestly helped, some areas with lesser presence still have yet to organize because they're too busy trying to push the invaders out.
Gehenna is a large city that has lost a sizable chunk of it's population, and had the old population supplanted with demonic inhabitants.
There is no internet analogue and nothing like a celluar network, since digital technology doesn't work, and there's no real advantage to transgressors to go make CELLPHONES FOR EVERYONE!! also this OOCly spares me the pain of figuring out an internet or cellphone system. so yes, no. But Pandaemonium is more or less the center of services-- I won't say center of power, since Gehenna is still very steeped in Hell's hierarchy and politics, and transgressors aren't going to do anything that goes against the wishes of Judecca's finest. But generally, the demonic Princes don't really care about the day to day running of the city, so they leave them to it.
uh I know I missed stuff, ask things I missed clarification on.
So wait, I'm kind of confused: what does Pandaemonium do other than demon electricity?
How do they communicate with other parts of Earth? With Hell?
(I assume humans have gone back to telegraphs(?) and hand-written correspondence--personal couriers, carrier pigeons/hawks/whatever bird, pony express...etc. lots of stolen packages. lots of people writing in code to keep their personal letters from being read. Reliable and quick couriers can probably command a sizable fee...)
Pandaemonium is taking care of maintainence of clean water, sewer system, burnable trash, medicine (since like, medicines do need to be synthesized and I assume it's. difficult to make and store some of the more modern medicines without modern technology). That it's a central area for all those things makes it convenient for the seat of human power to be relocated there, so all these things can be administrated from the same area, and still be under demon surveillance. So not all of it is a direct result of Pandaemonium technology, but it is just the general seat of governance.
Also yeah that sounds right for the humans. WORKS FOR ME.
DEPENDING ON WHERE ON EARTH?? Demons probably can discorporate and go to hell directly to communicate. There's probably messenger demons that do that, taking letters or whatever. Failing that, possibly they have cursed objects that have a direct line to hell open, mirrors that reflect what another mirror in hell shows, ect.
Since hunting and I are double-apping characters who are Amabilis Sanctum-aligned, we did a bit of world-building over chat. A lot of what we came up with was in relation to AU-ing the part of Vampire Knight cast as is relevant to our characters, but here are some of the general elements we came up with along the way that we wanted to share with everyone for review and discussion.
One thing to keep in mind is that all of this assumes the Amabilis Sanctum existed in some form pre-demon arrival but really only became prominent and assumed its current protector/leader role among humans after the demons arrived.
- The Amabilis Sanctum has a "defense force" that needs a cooler name. As with the holy powers, they are oriented more towards defense. So, things like: keeping the peace within the Sanctum, patrolling the wards to reinforce them and make sure they stay safe, dealing with any demonic incursions (because you never know when a pacted human will try to make trouble on behalf of some demon), plus some people who track political developments and the movements of demons outside of the Sanctum. They are mostly non-powered humans with lots of weapons training (and/or other specialized training) plus a handful of people with holy powers. At least one is a person who made a pact, so pacted humans among the defense force are probably not unknown but suuuuuper rare because of the Amabilis Sanctum's heavy anti-demon stance.
- There is an ongoing political struggle over whether or not the defense force ought to stay in its defensive/protective role as police-like OR move in the direction of becoming a legitimate army. The previous leaders of the defense force, AU Zero and Yuuki from Vampire Knight, the parents of our characters (and obvs. this is negotiable there can always be more co-leaders or w/e if people want to do that) were in favor of staying in the defensive/protective role and there were some political clashes with more militant members of the Amabilis leadership. However, AU Zero and Yuuki were killed and put into a coma respectively a few months pre-game start, in circumstances that appear to be a demon attack but may be more sinister. So there is currently a power vacuum and the struggle has intensified. However, for now the defense force is keepin' on in its defense-oriented role.
- There is a certain branch of the Amabilis Sanctum that was always devoted to figuring out new uses for holy powers/making holy weapons/weaponizing barriers or whatever. They are probably more powerful now and engaged in increasingly questionable experiments given the current infernal landscape.
I was thinking something involving "shield" or "guardian" for the defense aspect in a nicely symbolic way but a cute acronym would be cool do. ASDC? Amabilis Sanctum Defense Corps!
...Except people would probably look at ASDC and pronounce it "assdick". HMM.
I'd probably go with something more churchy... :|a Paladin Advocates? Though that sounds less guardian-like and more active. Or actually, Paladin Advocates could be the traditional defenders, with Inquisitor Advocates as the newly formed more aggressive arm of the church?
Hmm... Those sound more like political factions.... :|b So maybe something like, they used to be called the Paladin Advocates, but with the recent upheavals in the Amabilis politics the defense force has been renamed the Inquisitor Advocates as the more aggressive arm of the church has gained power and intends to change the nature of the defense force?
Extra thing I wanted to add as a possible twist to the second point: while it's generally accepted that Zero and Yuuki were killed and put into a coma respectively by a demon, and the scene of the attack certainly looked like the scene of a demon attack, part of the mystery around it might be that no demon has stepped up to take credit for it, which - given AU Zero and Yuuki's prominent position as leaders of the Amabilis defense force - seems pretty weird.
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ABOUT HUMANS
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Amabilis Sanctum is inhabited by only humans.
Viath Docks are mostly demons, occasional human stragglers.
Silverside: almost all humans. a demon would be an extreme rarity.
Pandaemonium: About equal, though the demons typically have more prestige.
Scrag End: equal population, though it's usually demons calling the shots.
Judecca Heights: Demons, sometimes they keep human servants on premises but that's it.
Downtown: about equal, slightly in favor of humans.
Antenora: 70 percent to 30 percent split of demons to humans
Fell's Limits: not very populated.
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At a casual glance, are humans with pacts distinguishable from humans without pacts in any way?
And, kinda hand-in-hand with the above, are there any restrictions on what human characters can look like? Barring any modifications due to powers, that is.
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Also I'm not quite sure I understand this question. If you wanna do super anime hair colors or something that's fine?? Just have humans look like humans.
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And yes, that was what I meant! If super anime hair colors were okay. |Db
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A) What sort of "holy powers" are there? Or if it is especially wide open, what CAN"T they do?
B) There are "demons" from "Hell"; does it stand to reason that there are also "angels" from "Heaven"? Has there been any success in contacting them (since I'd assume that would be one of the first things anyone would try to do)?
Re: ABOUT HUMANS
There's been no success at contacting angels, heaven, or God. But we do have the word of Fallen that there is such a thing, and the continued effectiveness of holy barriers to show.
Re: ABOUT HUMANS
Basically I'm kinda wondering a ballpark on "holy warrior" (ha ha) numbers, and relatedly the power of the Church (like say, of the 800k in the city, maybe 1 in 10 have some sort of weakish power? or is it more like there are only 500 guys with any power at all, etc...)
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I'mmm not sure on a numerical figure though, but those are the basic mechanics of it.
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Just trying to get a feel for what sorts of motivations you are working with if you choose to play a man of God... (or if you just happen to be nearby; is someone gonna try to turn you all the time)
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What have demons done about the government? Does city/state(?)/whatever governance continue as usual (well, as 'usual' given the extent that laws can be enforced without internet/phone/other instant things, so more of a localized, frontier feel is gonna happen either way I'd imagine), just with demons taking the taxes? Have demons scuttled the congress and replaced the human governing bodies with demonic ones instead?
Where I'm getting at here is the various public services we often take for granted--schools, police, fire department, power, water/sewer/gas--do those still exist? Who runs them?
I can see demons being like 'so long as you follow us/pay us 'protection' i don't care what you do'; I can see a puppet government run by a few demon sympathizers and a few demons that serves to keep shit running smoothly for Judecca Heights and less smoothly for the human enclaves; I can see anarchy having been supplanted by the majority of people flocking to strong organizations for protection and services (the mob, the church, maybe the 'bill gates' of Gehenna) in a knight/serf sort of set-up... How is human life now that we're six years in? How do humans and demons interact on the macro level?
Re: ABOUT HUMANS
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+ There's gotta be some 'government,' in charge of maintaining major services for the city (sewer, water, electricity (such as it is), health???), and maintaining transport/communications with the rest of the country (mail, telegraph? phone?). We know this has happened because the city still has a population too large to be organized on a community level. (Question: was this a large city that's lost much of its population? or a smaller one that's swelled as the strength of the church/destruction of other urban areas has drawn many refugees from other locations?)
+ Personally, I like the idea of Vichy France-type puppet government that in theory gives humans all the power they ever had!! but in practice can only do what the demon leadership allows. They do stuff like provide food rations (grain/meat/beans grown outside of Gehenna--it is never quite enough), manage trash collection and sewers (collection days are spotty and certain areas always smell bad), and keep a police force (ineffective when not corrupt). Oh, and like, providing job licenses or travel permissions, maybe? Distributing some required medicines? (blood pressure, insulin, etc) Schools for reeducation??? Either way, they are understaffed and underpaid and disrespected by demons and humans alike. Some government staff just wants! to make a difference! even if it's this small!! but corruption is rampant. But they are helpful enough (and supported by demons enough) that generally no one is trying to overthrow them.
+ As electricity seems to have been supplanted by technomancy provided by the demons (Pandaemonium), it would stand to reason that demons are in charge of these services. Uncertain what else is done in Pandaemonium (is there an Internet analogue? Do they have something like cellular networks for communicating with others? Do they sell these technologies to rich humans or just to other demons?)
-> (Related: do demons need clean water or air? Food? What is their main way of communication with other cities? Do they need anything 'human'? If so they would probably be in charge of its distribution to ensure they had most of it)
+ Whatever humans WANT but demons don't judge they absolutely NEED will be provided by other human groups. Just throwing out some world-building nuggets, I'd say the Church, the mob (have all gangs banded together? or are there a few? uneasy alliance?), a few rich human dynasties have probably maintained enough power to have other humans affiliate with them. This is probably on a more neighborhood basis--local urban farms to supplement the rations, local schools? Childcare? Help with clothing & shelter? Free or cheap transportation options? Neighborhood watch/protection and probably volunteer fire brigade would go here. Regular folk would flock to these more powerful groups to protect themselves from demon raids and disease.
--> (Perhaps there are demonic 'Save the Human' interest groups that are attempting to help place humans into their 'native habitats', etc???)
+ probably also some 'freedom-fighter' guerrilla groups who want to take back our planet!! from demons and don't believe the Church's defensive-only stance is good enough!! So, terrorists who may steal from the rich and give to the poor, or may just attack demons because they're there
okay that's probably enough for one comment; ugh i just like working out this sort of thing
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Gehenna is a large city that has lost a sizable chunk of it's population, and had the old population supplanted with demonic inhabitants.
There is no internet analogue and nothing like a celluar network, since digital technology doesn't work, and there's no real advantage to transgressors to go make CELLPHONES FOR EVERYONE!! also this OOCly spares me the pain of figuring out an internet or cellphone system. so yes, no. But Pandaemonium is more or less the center of services-- I won't say center of power, since Gehenna is still very steeped in Hell's hierarchy and politics, and transgressors aren't going to do anything that goes against the wishes of Judecca's finest. But generally, the demonic Princes don't really care about the day to day running of the city, so they leave them to it.
uh I know I missed stuff, ask things I missed clarification on.
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How do they communicate with other parts of Earth? With Hell?
(I assume humans have gone back to telegraphs(?) and hand-written correspondence--personal couriers, carrier pigeons/hawks/whatever bird, pony express...etc. lots of stolen packages. lots of people writing in code to keep their personal letters from being read. Reliable and quick couriers can probably command a sizable fee...)
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Also yeah that sounds right for the humans. WORKS FOR ME.
DEPENDING ON WHERE ON EARTH?? Demons probably can discorporate and go to hell directly to communicate. There's probably messenger demons that do that, taking letters or whatever. Failing that, possibly they have cursed objects that have a direct line to hell open, mirrors that reflect what another mirror in hell shows, ect.
Re: ABOUT HUMANS
One thing to keep in mind is that all of this assumes the Amabilis Sanctum existed in some form pre-demon arrival but really only became prominent and assumed its current protector/leader role among humans after the demons arrived.
- The Amabilis Sanctum has a "defense force" that needs a cooler name. As with the holy powers, they are oriented more towards defense. So, things like: keeping the peace within the Sanctum, patrolling the wards to reinforce them and make sure they stay safe, dealing with any demonic incursions (because you never know when a pacted human will try to make trouble on behalf of some demon), plus some people who track political developments and the movements of demons outside of the Sanctum. They are mostly non-powered humans with lots of weapons training (and/or other specialized training) plus a handful of people with holy powers. At least one is a person who made a pact, so pacted humans among the defense force are probably not unknown but suuuuuper rare because of the Amabilis Sanctum's heavy anti-demon stance.
- There is an ongoing political struggle over whether or not the defense force ought to stay in its defensive/protective role as police-like OR move in the direction of becoming a legitimate army. The previous leaders of the defense force, AU Zero and Yuuki from Vampire Knight, the parents of our characters (and obvs. this is negotiable there can always be more co-leaders or w/e if people want to do that) were in favor of staying in the defensive/protective role and there were some political clashes with more militant members of the Amabilis leadership. However, AU Zero and Yuuki were killed and put into a coma respectively a few months pre-game start, in circumstances that appear to be a demon attack but may be more sinister. So there is currently a power vacuum and the struggle has intensified. However, for now the defense force is keepin' on in its defense-oriented role.
- There is a certain branch of the Amabilis Sanctum that was always devoted to figuring out new uses for holy powers/making holy weapons/weaponizing barriers or whatever. They are probably more powerful now and engaged in increasingly questionable experiments given the current infernal landscape.
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and if I come up with a cool name for defense force, I'll say. Unless you guys have figured out a cooler one first, then have at it |D
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I was thinking something involving "shield" or "guardian" for the defense aspect in a nicely symbolic way but a cute acronym would be cool do. ASDC? Amabilis Sanctum Defense Corps!
...Except people would probably look at ASDC and pronounce it "assdick". HMM.
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