LIL: Alaemon, Lilithian Prince of Intelligence
By Eric Burns
The world is information; he who controls the flow of information
controls the flow of the world.
You ask me why I agreed to Lilith's price? How could I not agree? I
could feel myself dying, no matter what I did. I could feel the Word
within me ebbing away. Lilith came to me, under the pretext of
spending one of the Geases we have established between us. But once
together, we talked, and she made some interesting propositions.
We had never been close before, and I'll admit I didn't trust her. I
don't trust her. But she knew things... things that were close and
precious, and she told me. And told me she needed someone. Someone to
be her eyes and ears, and her whisper in the night. And how could I
not agree, with the only possible alternative being death. No, I did
not trust her, but I accepted what she offered.
And now? Now I am stronger than I have ever been before. At last, I
am completely beyond the accursed Litheroy's power, with a Word he
cannot touch lest he damage his own. My strength is growing, my
organization is waxing, and the implications of my Word are
staggering.
What could she possibly be playing at? And how am I supposed to repay
such a debt? Servitude? That is simple, and Lilith is not simple. But
for now I serve, and we shall see.
Alaemon hasn't merely been stabilized -- he has been drastically Word
promoted. Intelligence is more than espionage, even if that's the
reason he was given the Word. Intelligence is more than data -- than
Secrets -- even if that's the original source of his strength.
Intelligence is the power of the mind, and the capacity of the mind
to know things, and the things a mind might know, and the trading of
that information between those minds... Intelligence can be so many
things, and he has been given dominion over them all.
It is worth noting the old D&Dism. Intelligence is not Wisdom.
And Alaemon has not become wise. His paranoia has grown, seeing the
Game, Judgement and War in every contact. He now fights his cold war
on many fronts, and never trusts anyone at all. Not even Lilith or
his allies among the Lilithian Princes. Especially not Lilith and
his allies among the Lilithian Princes.
The Conspiracy itself has flourished under his swelling power,
especially as defectors from the War, the Game and even Fate (which
Kronos has no comment about) swell his ranks and accept his fealty.
The Black Crescent, long his secret police, have grown into the
public face of the Conspiracy, building headquarters in both Stygia
and a black ediface in Hades. This is useful, naturally, but also
marks the end of the Black Crescent's power base in his organization
-- even as his old Dukes and Marquises were nothing more than a
dodge, so the Black Crescent is the public address of a secret
institution. Otherwise, the Secret Societies continue to play their
games, with only the Lodge of Gebbeleth fading to next to nothing
(Alaemon was pleased that Gebbeleth's last remaining Word-bound are
dying or have died out with Lucifer's death, and the Lodge could not
survive Gebbeleth not returning in the wake of the Morningstar's
destruction.) New Societies are growing as well. The more things
change....
Alaemon is most pleased to accept Gamesters, even though his normal
paranoia is magnified around them. Still, he recognizes that he is
replacing the Game, and so powerful (or more valuably, well
informed) Game Servitors are an invaluable part of that process. As
with all Servitors he accepts, he wipes them clean of Attunements and
Distinctions before giving them some of his own -- though it has
become clear he covets the Humanity attunement, and while he won't
let a Gamester keep it (too hard to track, to easy to have the
Servitor's loyalties stay divided) he has captured a few Game demons
for experimentation. It is likely that Alaemon's association with
Vapula is connected to this work.
(Please note that the following only applies to Alaemish who have
been 'adapted' by Alaemon to the Lilithian Word of Intelligence.
There are still Alaemish with attunements from the Luciferian Word of
Secrets. Also, Alaemon does not completely eliminate his old
Luciferian attunements among his Servitors (certain favored Servitors
might have both his Band Attunements -- the old and the new. As
always, Servitors of the Luciferian Word of Secrets have their old
attunements and dissonance conditions, and no access to Rites unless
otherwise specified.)
Dissonance
The half-truth remains the most powerful weapon in the spy's arsenal,
but it is no longer the most important principle to Alaemon. Alaemish
are now required to facilitate the flow of information up the chain
to their superiors and to Alaemon himself, and to restrict the flow
of information outside the organization. Demons of Intelligence
become dissonant if they do not report information gathered on their
missions as completely as possible (though note that they only must
report information that pertains directly to their mission.
'Extracurricular' information may be kept secret) or if they lie
about or refuse to answer any question put to them by legitimate
superiors (though certain Balseraphs get creative on such things -- a
Balseraph's successful Resonance use does not make him dissonant
unless his lie is discovered. If it is, the Balseraph will
automatically become dissonant from their Word and may potentially be
dissonant from their Band as well.) Any information that a legitimate
superior designates as classified must not be revealed to any
person other than that superior's superiors, however -- to do so is
dissonant. Note that for these purposes, a 'superior' may be a higher
ranking Servitor of Alaemon, a higher ranking member of the
Conspirator's Secret Society (or one of them), or even a Distincted
Demon of another Superior who has been given command of a mission.
Yes, this means it is possible to get locked between a driving need
to report and a driving need to protect classified information,
leading potentially to dissonance either way. Sometimes, it sucks to
be Alaemish.
Band Attunements
Alaemon uses his Servitors -- generally -- as examples of different
covert operatives and intelligence agents.
Balseraph (restricted): Alaemon's Balseraphs are his general field
operatives, buried within the ranks of his enemies. When confronted
by authorities (Celestial or otherwise), they may add their Ethereal
Forces to any attempt to Resonate their confronters and convince them
they have perfect access to where they're going. When on Earth, if
they are successful, they are considered to have a Role in what they
claim to be, at CD level, for CD hours. If they do have such a
Role, they may add the effective CD to their Role's level, for CD
hours. (This can exceed 6.)
Djinn (restricted): Alaemon's Djinn are his couriers and his
counterintelligence operatives. They may attune themselves to a given
piece of evidence. (Note that said evidence can be an entry in a
database, as well as a physical thing, but must be something more
than knowledge in someone's head.) Should anyone access that evidence
by any means, without the Djinn's knowledge, the Djinn will instantly
know it has been compromised, and will further get an automatic
Resonance Roll to attune to the intruder, regardless of distance. If
successful, they may track the intruder as normal.
Calabim (restricted): Alaemon's Calabim are his assassins. Their
attunement is the same as per Superiors 4 p.6.
Habbalah (partially restricted): The Habbalah of Intelligence are his
expert interrogators, charged with breaking the opposition's will,
breaking their spirit, breaking their information and then breaking
them entirely. They may add their Ethereal Forces to any attempt to
use any skill on a prisoner they're interrogating (Detect Lies,
Fast-Talk, even Seduction, as an example.) They may also use their
Ethereal Forces to modify their Resonance Rolls when Resonating an
Interrogation subject as a part of the process. (Habbalah like to
alternate between Sadness and Fury at the target's predicament, Love
for the Habbalite, and Emptiness when they try to muster their
emotional reserves to fight the interrogation.)
Lilim (restricted): Alaemon's Lilim are his Moles. This is the same
as per Superiors 4 p.7.
Shedim (restricted): The Shedim of Intelligence are the perfect Deep
Cover operatives. When using their Resonance to possess a victim,
they may choose to either possess them as normal, or to enter Deep
Cover. With a successful use of this attunement, a Shedite may slip
into their target's brain and sit, completely undetectable, with
access to everything the target senses and to the target's thoughts.
While in Deep Cover, the Shedite cannot communicate with his host,
and therefore can neither influence nor control his host. However, he
is exempt from his Band Dissonance Conditions, and rather than his
host gaining bonuses to detect his guest, the host has a penalty of
the Shedite's Celestial Forces to ever detect the Shedite. While in
Deep Cover, the Shedite can do nothing to affect the outside world,
including using other attunements or Songs, though he could still use
the Snapshot attunement to record. (And the Disturbance for the
Essence expenditure can be detected, which could lead to unwelcome
investigation.) Note that while the Deep Cover Shedite cannot be
detected, an attempt to possess the host (either through the
Kyriotate Resonance, Shedite Resonance or the Song of Possession)
will treat the host as already possessed.
Impudites (partially restricted): Alaemon's Impudites are his Agent
Provocateurs. From Mata Hari to James Bond, the image of the
seductive secret agent is ingrained in popular consciousness. These
agents may add their Ethereal Forces to any skill use that
ingratiates them with others, such as Seduction or Fast-Talk. They
may also add their Ethereal Forces to any attempt to use their
Resonance to Charm a target.
Servitor Attunements
Lilith's Document Shredder: This attunement works the same as
Lucifer's Document Shredder, Superiors 4 p.8.
Snapshot: This attunement is the ultimate concealed recorder. Within
thirty seconds of seeing an event, hearing a sound, or otherwise
sensing a moment, the Servitor may record the sights and sounds of
that moment exactly at a cost of 2 Essence. The event may take no
longer than thirty seconds total, but that thirty second block is
perfectly preserved in the Demon's memory. The Servitor may glance at
documents in a file, scanning over them very swiftly, and record
large sections of information with this attunement. After storing,
the Servitor may retrieve the information and place it on appropriate
media (paper for written materials, videotape or DVD for footage,
audio tape or a CD for a sound, and so forth) at a cost of 1 Essence.
This does not erase the stored snapshot. A demon may have as many
snapshots in his head as he has Ethereal Forces. If he needs to
connect more than one (in thirty second blocks), he may create one
contiguous memory for 2 Essence per thirty second block used, plus a
successful Precision Roll, at -1 for each additional block after the
first. A Servitor may 'empty' a snapshot's slot at will, without
Essence cost.
Distinctions
Knight of Espionage: Alaemon's Knights have the ability to see in
complete darkness, allowing them to read files under cover of
darkness or otherwise perform their duties without running the risk
of using lights. Printed materials they gather with the Snapshot
attunement will be reproduced properly, though video recordings
produced will be dark.
Captain of the Bureau: This is the same as Alaemon's Luciferian
Captain of Private Chambers Distinction, Superiors 4 p.8.
Baron of Her Majesty's Secret Service: (Her Majesty of course
referring to Lilith.) This is the same as Alaemon's Luciferian Baron
of the Vault Distinction, Superiors 4 p.8.
Relations
With the change of his Word, Alaemon has been forced to interact with
his fellow Lilithian Princes more than was his wont before. In
particular, Kronos and his Archives are invaluable to Alaemon, and
the Prince of Intelligence was swift to curry favor with the
enigmatic Prince of Fate. Kronos himself finds Alaemon useful.
Rebekah and Vapula, both strongly bolstered by the information
Alaemon's spies can bring to them, have strongly supported Alaemon,
and he in turn has instructed his Servitors to support them -- but
always gathering information on them. Similarly, Alaemon and
Andrealphus have cultivated an understanding -- the two Impudite
Princes can see good benefit to staying close to one another. Alaemon
resents the destructive Furfur, who decimates without warning, and
works against him as much as any Lilithian Prince will oppose
another. Furfur barely notices Alaemon, in response.
One item of note is Alaemon and Beleth's lack of association or
camaradrie, when both had been Associated before Lucifer's death.
Alaemon still can see the value of the Princess of Horror, but with
the exchange of covert information now more important than the
driving need for paranoia (beyond Paranoia's role in driving mankind
to spy on one another), Alaemon has stepped away from the Princess.
In return, Beleth -- herself unhappy with her Word 'promotion,' sees
no value in cultivating such a relationship.
The Luciferian Princes, as in other cases, should be considered one
step worse than their listing in Superiors 4 -- excepting Asmodeus.
Alaemon is hostile to Asmodeus as he works to displace him.
Allied: Kronos (Rebekah and Vapula are Allied with Alaemon)
Associated: Andrealphus, Rebekah, Vapula (Andrealphus and Kronos are
associated with Alaemon)
Hostile: Furfur (No one is Hostile to Alaemon)
Rites
- Convince a person to inform on their own family (parents, children, spouse).
- Spend six hours in a classified area the demon has no right to
access without getting caught.
Chance of Invocation: 1
Invocation Modifiers
Alaemon is consciously emulating his Luciferian opposite number (and
enemy) by checking in with each of his Servitors personally on a
regular basis -- about once every two weeks, for now.
+1 A human with more than 170 I.Q.
+2 A currently active codebook
+3 A working Enigma machine
+4 The only eyewitness to an atrocity
+5 The complete proof explaining a global conspiracy
+6 The complete nuclear codes of a superpower
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