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**Raistlin** · 07-17-2015, 08:43 AM

Not bad. Still, I would add some mechanic benefit to each demon, like a +2 to Persuasion or the merit Striking Looks from Beleth. Also, I feel weird that each demon offer pretty much the same amount of power to the binder, regardless their infernal rank.
Most important, the Conspiracy needs a long term goal, plus a particular, supernatural type of enemy (Indebteds and Possesed ftom Inferno?).

**LostLight** · 07-17-2015, 09:54 AM

Originally posted by Raistlin View Post

Not bad. Still, I would add some mechanic benefit to each demon, like a +2 to Persuasion or the merit Striking Looks from Beleth. Also, I feel weird that each demon offer pretty much the same amount of power to the binder, regardless their infernal rank.
Most important, the Conspiracy needs a long term goal, plus a particular, supernatural type of enemy (Indebteds and Possesed ftom Inferno?).

First- like the usual, the Endowments are a quick and dirty style, because I don't have a lot of time to invest in them (the fact that I took the time and gave each demon a special Dread Power is more than I usually do). Second, the power level of the Dread Power is decided by the Demon's rank, not the hunter's Mantle. A Count is always a Count, and would only give a 1 dot benefit of its Dread Power because that is all I could do- the fact that the hunter can summon Kings doesn't make the Count stronger. Third, they do have a special enemy- demons, all kinds of demons. I am going to write a sidebar about the subject later- but let's say that if it steals souls, makes bargains and/or feeds upon sins, the Heirs would take it down.

**LostLight** · 07-20-2015, 02:16 PM

And What About the Vigil?
When one looks on the history, faith and acts of the Heirs, he may wonder how those people could be called as "hunters". Sure, they are interested in the occult world, but the fact is that they traffic with demons and seek personal gain. What do they do to justify themselves as the protectors of humanity? How do they carry the Vigil?

The answer is that they don't see themselves as hunters- yet, they are.

During the Inquisition, being an hunter is more than killing monsters- it's about choosing sides. There are those who work for the Faith, and those who act against it. No gray in the middle. The Innocents, with all of their terrible flaws, are the ones who carry the Faith- they burn witches and hang heretics. Anyone they claim to be guilty is guilty, and all should bow their head before them and serve the Faith. The Heirs of the Crown, however, are heretics- they are agents of corruption who works against the Faith. If Salem is about blurring the lines, the Inquisition is about harsh separations, and as such they stand on the side of darkness. They work with monsters, and are hunted down together with them.

However, by their very nature, the Heirs are hunters. The very core of their belief is that in order to become "greater" than who they are, they must transcend their sins and take their soul back from Hell. This is a daily struggle- for there are temptations everywhere, with demons whispering in the ears of others to make them fall to the Great Below. In order to purify themselves, they must sin- until eventually, they could remove that temptation once and for all.

For that reason, the Heirs find themselves fighting demons- mostly Lesser Demons, but they have met with the other types once in a while. Demons try to corrupt humanity, and they feed upon sin. By committing sins, they draw those demons toward them- who then try to corrupt them. As a test for their skills, the Heirs bind, banish or destroy those demons. Doing so is a sign that they are in the path toward enlightenment, and so they sin again, only to draw more demons, banish them, and so on and so on.

In short, the way the Heirs act is like a magnet for demons- which forces them to fight not only their inner demons, but external ones. Even if an Heir doesn't actively search for Possessed people or infernalists just to show their skill and power over the Infernal Legions (which they do- after all, this is the quickest level to gain the respect of both their fellow hunters and their demons), those demons would eventually come to them. Besides, demon cults have the tendency to hunt down each other- and considering the secret knowledge the group has gathered, they are a prime target to many corrupted organizations who seek after demonic rites and dark rituals.. like the Black Cabal.

Never judge a book by its cover- that's the truth of the Heirs.

And the Innocents

Demons of Our Own Creation
So- who are the 72 demons of Goetia?

After all, there are many demons in the big World of Darkness. Some demons come from Hell, possess the living and lure them toward eternal damnation of sin and vice. Other demons seek after Hell, wishing escape from the divine mechanism to which they were enslaved. There are also demons created from the dreams and lusts of mankind who are even called as "Goetia" by arcane scholars, or demons who hunt the Shadow of the world and wish to wound its very flesh, or demons who descend from the darkness between the stars and disrupt the very nature of reality. Many of those demons carry the names of the 72, and some may even claim to be bound by Solomon and serve and his Temple.

Because of that, people may feel themselves compelled to ask who are those "demons"? Are they 72 Archdemons from Inferno who were bound by one of the strongest mages who ever lived in this world? Maybe they are 72 Covers created by the Machine, pieces of data to which the Heirs has hacked using a weird occult matrix? Maybe they are the human manifestation of sin, found deep in the Astral? Incarnations of the Maeljin? Abyssal horrors who turn the concept of Sin upon itself?

Any of those explanations could work- after all, while the Heirs seem to have a big focus on the Infernal, their targets and powers could come from everywhere. No one likes Hell, after all- even its own demons.

In short, there is no one among the Heirs who even knows for sure to which "infernal legion" the 72 belong, or if they even exist and not just the interpenetration of the human mind to its own sins...

of course, there is a worse option.

Maybe those 72 Faceless beings are not demons at all.

They could always be angels.

Stereotypes:
Lucifuge-"oh, we fought them for many years. They claim us to be evil infernalists who spread corruption and strength hell. Now, they beg for our help as the Innocents knock on their door. If our situation wasn't so dear, I may have found that situation amusing"
Cheiron Group-"The Black Cabal calls us heretics, while they work with those monsters! Like that calling themselves "Innocents" wasn't hypocritical enough, they have joined hands with those freaks. That shows you that if you have enough money, even Mother Church would become a prostituted"
Scarlet Watch-"While we have usually kept walking on separate paths, our ways has crossed from time to time our ways met- especially when we dealt the birds of Hell and devil worshiping bloodsuckers. I hope they would remember those times when the Inquisition would come here"
Ascending Ones-"they are full of sins, just like us, and they are hunted like heretics, like us. Yet, they dare to call us "Iblis worshipers" and spit where we walk. Some may help you escape, other would lock their doors and let you burn. Judge on individual basis"

We all have our demons- but I command mine to do as I wish. Can you say the same?

**wyrdhamster** · 07-20-2015, 10:30 PM

I love this Conspiracy idea - I think it's one of best of yours. LostLight. I was going what a 72 Goetia Seals are, but you made it clear in the last post it's demons in World of Darkness way - "ST is deciding". Myself, I would still go with Inferno corrupted Astral Goetia - to make it even more thematically connected to King Solomon and it's roots in Mastigos Path.

Also, question - what are Innocents? They are not children in the WoD as the mini-gameline called, yes?

And last thing - I plan to run maybe a Salem Witch Trials with Dark Eras. How could you put the Heirs of the Crown in this setting, with the Scarlet Watch and vampires? I was thinking about only slight subversion - that vampires are part, not whole, of Salem's problems. Maybe demons are other part of equation? Maybe demons made thing so intereting to vampires in the first place?

**LostLight** · 07-21-2015, 04:30 AM

The Innocents are a future Slashing Conspiracy I'm going to make- a dark mirror to the MM, who represent the Inquisition and claim to serve God by killing heretics- although actually they have a much darker agenda, and most have no faith in God (inspired by the fiction from Slashers). They are meant to show the other side of the coin in the Era, where the heretics who deal with demons are actually the nice guys while those who look like good guys are monsters in human skin.

About the Scarlet Watch- the fact is that the group is old, older than Salem. Because of that, I see no problem with them operating during the Spanish Inquisition and before it. Maybe during that time, they are even still a Conspiracy (need to check the dates). Anyway, if the Heirs survive until Salem is for the ST to decide- and if they do, you can be sure demons would crawl in the streets of the city. Not only that witches and vampires draw them (the first from Witch Finders, the second the strixs and Wicked Dead), but all the paranoia would feed those creatures, allowing them to bloat on fear and hate. Plus, during that time, the Heirs would again be seen on the side of witches- although they may have a different angle in the situation.

EDIT- also, if you use them in Salem, you need to take to account the fact that the Heirs would interact with the Knights of St George, who also have Goetic powers and theme, who may or may not come from the same source. While you don't have to make the 72 Demons the same as the 72 Angels, the fact is that some Knights may feel uncomfortable around the Heirs, or see them as a threat. Add to that the fact that the Knights hide their true nature while the Heirs show it with pride, and the later would have to wonder why does the Court hunts them more fiercely then even the Inquisition did.

**wyrdhamster** · 07-21-2015, 08:41 AM

Originally posted by LostLight View Post

About the Scarlet Watch- the fact is that the group is old, older than Salem. Because of that, I see no problem with them operating during the Spanish Inquisition and before it. Maybe during that time, they are even still a Conspiracy (need to check the dates). Anyway, if the Heirs survive until Salem is for the ST to decide- and if they do, you can be sure demons would crawl in the streets of the city. Not only that witches and vampires draw them (the first from Witch Finders, the second the strixs and Wicked Dead), but all the paranoia would feed those creatures, allowing them to bloat on fear and hate. Plus, during that time, the Heirs would again be seen on the side of witches- although they may have a different angle in the situation.

How would you put Awakened in this setting then? Maybe Salem is place of fight of vampires versus mages over influences, with hungry dead and power obsession man clash over the village? Or just they are entwined in neighbor territory and "Witch Trials" made their influences exposed and killed people with them. And then Heirs just want to make this mess in to order and not let demon to feed on all this hate and paranoia of Witch Trials.

**LostLight** · 07-21-2015, 12:25 PM

well, I'm not sure how the Awakened would react in Salem- most of the Dark Era as written is focused around the hunters, after all. The Heirs, however, don't really care about the paranoia itself- they don't hunt demons out of desire to protect humanity. They are selfish people, who are usually forsaken by society. They hunt demons because they draw demons, and they are drawn to demons because they hunt demons. It is an endless cycle. While you could see an Heir who seeks to stop the Witch Trails, either out of fear of the stake or out of desire to take over this hell, you will also see Heirs who try to spread the paranoia in order to live in their sins (and use that paranoia against their enemies). Purity out of corruption is their motto, after all- and I think that unlike the time of the Inquisition, in which they were seen as heretics and defilers, in Salem they would play in the gray lines and become a real conspiracy which frame others for the crimes they did. They have learned from their experience in Spain, after all.

**Hackthulhu** · 07-21-2015, 07:21 PM

I did not expect this conspiracy...

**Mangle77** · 07-22-2015, 03:47 AM

Originally posted by Hackthulhu View Post

I did not expect this conspiracy...

No one ever does.

**Uxas** · 07-22-2015, 02:10 PM

Very interesting, if someday I decide to write Hunter Spain, with your permission, ¿could I use them in the setting? (you'll be credited, of course).

**LostLight** · 07-22-2015, 02:54 PM

of course! I post them in order to be used

(I'm also planning one writing the Innocents one day, which you may also find useful)

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Heirs of the Crown [Spanish Inquisition]

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