by Neel Krishnaswami <neelk@MIT.EDU>
Corporeal Forces 3 -- Strength 7 Agility 5 Ethereal Forces 4 -- Intelligence 9 Precision 7 Celestial Forces 6 -- Will 12 Perception 12
Vessel/4 +1 Charisma (Buoyant Good Cheer)
Fighting/3, Dodge/3, Fast-Talk/6, Detect Lies/4, Emote/4
Corporeal Light/3, Ethereal Light/3, Celestial Light/3, Celestial Tongues/1, Celestial Charm/6
Fated Future, Balseraph of Fate (Mercurian Resonance)
Aura/2, Stigmata/1, Twitchy/2
Dalmatia is the latest in the long line of holders of the Infernal word of Hope; few have survived for very long. Partly, this is because the Prince of Fate holds any demon who seeks to corrupt the holiest words to a very stringent standard. But the larger part of the reason is that it amuses Kronos that none of the demons of Hope have very much of it themselves.
Dalmatia is not at all happy at having received the word of Hope. She was an up and coming demon, rising quickly through the Descending Hierarchy, when she caught Kronos's attention. Amused by her ambition, he offered her a Word. Foolishly, she accepted, and was horrified when Kronos twisted her personal symphony to resonate with Hope.
She is supposed to twist the good intentions and bright aspirations of mankind into a willful blindness of reality that causes more harm than good. And indeed, she is very, very good at that.
But hope is a dangerous weapon for the forces of Hell. For every soul she has led down the path to Hell, there is another soul thought securely damned that finds the hope to return to a state of grace. She has become severely discordant, since Kronos's dissonance condition is to never lead a human to its Destiny.
Thanks to her ability to imitate the Mercurian resonance, she so far been able to give the slip to the Servitors of the Game that have come sniffing after her. She is quite aware of the danger she is in, and considering going Renegade. For the moment, however, her fear of Kronos outweighs her fear of the Game, and she is staying in line. It is not enough, however, for her to keep her from preparing for a break with the Pit.
Dalmatia makes a good immediate boss for a group of demonic PCs. She's designed so that she can probably overwhelm any demon that tries to challenge her directly, but she has enough political problems that she can probably be sold out to the Game. But her ability to imitate the Mercurian resonance means that any would-be traitor needs to tread carefully indeed.
For angelic PCs, Dalmatia makes a good contact -- she's desperate enough that she's willing to talk to the Host, and even sell them valuable info if they can help her out. Of course, she's a Balseraph, so are you going to trust her? And the Divine Inquisition is definitely not going to be pleased with Infernal wheeling-dealing. Since she's a servitor of Fate, it's a good bet that even Yves will un-mellow enough to demand a highly violent solution. But then, she's a Word-bound servitor of Fate, so she's got to know all sorts of good stuff, right?
Send comments to Neel Krishnaswami <neelk@alum.mit.edu>.