As everyone knows - well, everyone who is aware of the
War, at least - Vapula refuses to tolerate Calabim in
his ranks. In the Genius 'Archangel's' opinion, their
mere presence can be a catastrophe: the combination of
their resonance, habits and general outlook on
existence makes them an unacceptable risk.
Considering the delicate nature of many Technological
experiments and prototypes, simply having one in the
same room is a short and sure recipe for disaster.
Jean is perfectly willing to acknowledge that, in this
one case at least, his opposite number has a definite
point.
Calabite of Lightning
Calling the procedure by the above name is discouraged
among Servitors of Lightning: suggesting that the
procedure by which captured, incorrigible Calabim are
put to at least some use is even superficially
equivalent to the solemn granting of a boon to a loyal
servant of God is vaguely insulting to the latter.
Much worse, it is sloppy thinking. Regrettably, the
practice persists - even among angels that should
really know better.
At any rate, the ... procedure ... itself is fairly
straightforward. A team is sent out to locate,
acquire and subdue a suitable Calabite (preferably one
that is not Renegade, and certainly not one that is a
potential Redemption candidate): once this is
accomplished, the demon is brought to the attention of
Jean himself for the adaptation process. Various
low-level specialized artifacts are implanted into the
Calabite's celestial form (under anesthesia, of
course: this isn't about sadism). After this is done,
all that remains is to excise and replace the demon's
short-term memory. The Calabite will 'wake up' in a
suitable place, with suitable evidence for explaining
away his or her hazy recollections. Other than that,
there is very little evidence that anything has
actually happened: given the amount of Discord
manifested by most Calabim, Jean finds that hiding the
celestial scars to actually be quite easy.
However, a Calabite that has undergone this procedure
will eventually discover that he or she has become
extraordinarily sensitive to that class of items
colloquially designated as 'Vaputech': so much so, in
fact, that the demon will be able to somehow recognize
said items on sight. As a side note, Jean would not
be averse to gifting his Servitors with the same
ability, but every method that has been worked out at
this time would necessitate the grafting of an
Infernally-tainted Force. Further research continues
along these lines.
At any rate, the Calabite is now able to detect
'Vaputech' - and, as most sentient entities exhibit
curiosity as part of their makeup, will eventually be
drawn to actually handle one of the Infernal Devices.
At this point the other feature of the implants
activates: the Calabite must make a Will Roll at -3 to
avoid immediately using his or her resonance on the
device. An interesting quirk of the implants is that
short-circuiting the demon's resonance in this way
actually makes it easier to activate (in game terms,
add the CD of a failed Will Roll to the resonance
check number: if the Calabite chooses not to resist,
simply add +3).
The fact that the sensation is intensely pleasurable
(treat as a Highly Addictive, Tough Withdrawal drug)
was at first merely a serendipitous effect - but one
that was carefully enhanced, once discovered.
From there, it is merely a case of standing back and
watching the steadily increasing (in every sense of
the term) explosions. The combination of typical
Calabite psychology and a severe positive-feedback
loop almost invariably results in a severely-addicted
demon personally destroying every piece of 'Vaputech'
that he or she can detect ... and, sooner or later,
the realization that there is an entire Principality
where such items can be encountered. Often sooner.
Jean has not yet received reliable intelligence about
what happens when a treated Calabite appears in
Tartarus, but a simple extrapolation of the corporeal
evidence would suggest that the results are
satisfactorily detrimental to Vapula's normal working
environment, such as it is.
Also, a side effect of this procedure is that there
has lately been a slight but increasing tendency for
most Calabim to be more cautious around suspected
Servitors of Lightning - or even avoid them
altogether.
Which is as it should be.
Back to the INC Mainpage.
Back to the Resources page.
Send mail to the Curator