Let’s learn about Shedim – The Corruptors a Band of Demons in the tabletop role-playing game In Nomine. In Nomine is a role-playing game designed by Derek Pearcy and published in 1997 by @Steve Jackson Games. You can learn more on the official website here: http://www.sjgames.com/innomine/ or the Wikipedia page here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_Nomine_(role-playing_game). You can buy In Nomine products here: https://www.drivethrurpg.com/browse/pub/12199/Steve-Jackson-Games/subcategory/28908_30775/In-Nomine?affiliate_id=50797
Time Stamps:
About In Nomine
Written by Derek Pearcy + Illustrated by Dan Smith
Edited by Jeff Koke, Steve Jackson, and Susan Pinsonneault
Cover art by John Zeleznik (first printing) and Christopher Shy (second printing)
In Nomine is a modern roleplaying game in which the players take the part of celestial beings – angels and demons – as they struggle for control of humanity and themselves. The celestials, powerful though they may be, are merely pawns in a much larger game being played by their Superiors, the Archangels and Demon Princes. Based on the best-selling French RPG by the wonderfully diabolical Croc!
In Nomine won the Origins Award for Best Graphic Presentation of a Roleplaying Game, Adventure, or Supplement of 1997.
Transcript
Cold Open
No Band of demon contributes more to the day-to-day corruption of humanity than the perverse, bodiless Shedim.
Intro
Welcome to Eviliv3, the live media commentary show that answers the question, if I do a bad, bad thing, was it really me doing it? Subscribe if you’re new to the channel, because today we are continuing our In Nomine series with this episode, Shedim – The Corruptors, A Band of Demons.
Discussion
You would be hard pressed to find a more destructive demon than the Shedim. Sure there are demons which treat their vessels like a trashy gas station bathroom in the middle of war-torn Syria, but the Shedim are unable to manifest a vessel themselves, so they possess humans, and then convince them to act in the most depraved and sickening ways; then hop to another host when they can’t be corrupted any longer! Think The Exorcist on steroids, actually, I would happily watch that movie!
What makes the Shedim so dangerous is that if it weren’t for the inherent capacity of the human race to be evil, they wouldn’t be able to do anything, but because we are, the Shedim are just there to nudge us in the right, or wrong as it were, direction.
Resonance
We know that Resonance is a twofold concept. First, it is the nature of an angel or demon, meaning what they are intended to do after being created, but it is also a supernatural power they manifest that pays off that nature as well. The only way for an angel or demon to manifest in the Corporeal Realm, or Earth, is to generate a vessel, or body. Most celestials do this, but not the Shedim. The resonance of a Shedim is to possess the bodies of living humans. This is not isolated to just the Shedim, their angelic counterparts, the Kyriotates do this as well, but the Shedim take it to a whole other level.
When you are possessed by a Shedim, they don’t just put your consciousness to sleep and take over, oh no, the Shedim maintain your consciousness in a dream-like state. The demon has full knowledge of your thoughts, feelings and memories. So while the Shedim are convincing you to do horrible things, you believe that you are still in control of yourself, and you are choosing to commit the vile acts! You believe it was your idea! And it’s not just once and a while, no no. The Shedim resonance is to convince you to commit vile acts every day that grow worse exponentially. They will not just prevent you from generating Essence, they convince you to further the cause of evil. This is why the Shedim are the most dangerous demons to loose upon the Earth.
Dissonance
Because there is a resonance that all celestials must follow, there is a dissonance when they do not follow their resonance. This is the symphonic repercussion for acting against your nature, or your superior. So naturally, as the Shedim’s resonance is to possess humans and convince them to commit vile acts daily that are worse and worse, failure to continue that inertia will result in dissonance. Every day the Shedim fail to further corrupt their host, generates notes of dissonance. A bit of strategy must be involved here. You can’t start with a genocide, one day and steal a stick of bubble gum the next. Moreso, you want to slowly corrupt the human so the next day is a believable escalation of evil, rather than an unbelievable leap that they will resist.
Start small, acts of selfishness, then move on to stealing or destroying property, and so on. Each time a host crosses a moral line, a new standard is set. Each new day must bring about worse corruption, or the Shedim must leave its host, or gain dissonance. Luring humans to their fates is the goal with the Shedim, and many of their hosts end in suicide. If a Shedim’s host is unconscious, the demon is expelled after 30 minutes. And if the host dies while possessed, the demon gains a note of dissonance from being drawn so close to oblivion. A Shedim has 10x its Celestial Forces in minutes to find a new host, or be pulled back to hell.
Manner and Appearance
No demon is considered closer to true devil worshippers than the Shedim. They are genuinely devoted and owe their loyalty to Lucifer more than any other. You will find the Shedim desecrating churches and rocking out with the sign of the horns at concerts. In fact, no other demonic band is as despised by angels than the Shedim. Point in fact, most demons don’t like them either! Shedim don’t get along with Djinn, who have difficulty keeping track of them, and the Lilim absolutely despise them.
While both the Djinn and Shedim despise their own bodies, the Shedim take it to a whole new level. The Shedim treat their bodies as if they were an indestructible drunk with an endless supply of rental cars. They will run their host to the ground, then jump ship before death to avoid dissonance. In celestial form, Shedim are shimmering black clouds of limbs, wings, eyes and other unidentifiable organs, all pulsing to a mad and infernal beat.
Game Mechanics
So we know what Shedim are, what they do, and what they look like, how do we apply that to the game In Nomine? Well, to possess a victim, a Shedim needs to make a Will roll to invoke his resonance and enter the human body. The Target Number is their Will minus any dissonance or other modifiers the Game Master or GM imposes. If the host doesn’t want to be possessed, they can make a Will roll to resist. If the Shedim enters the host, they add the check digit of entry to their Will contest when they try to control the host for the remainder of their possession. If they failed to enter, the check digit is the number of days they have to wait before attempting to enter that human again.
At least once a day, the Shedite must win a contest of Wills with the victim, to make them do something evil. Each daily action must be just a little worse than anything the victim has done yet. If a day goes by without this happening, the Shedite gains a note of dissonance. That note of dissonance can be removed if the demon makes it up later with even greater corruption. So for each evil act, a contest of wills must be won, so most Shedim focus on single act crimes.
Once a day, when the Shedite attempts to sway the host, the host may make a perception roll to realize that they are not in control. They gain a +1 to their target number each day of possession. A successful Perception roll adds its check digit to the Will contest to fight off the demon’s suggestion. The demon can leave the host at any time, but must make a resonance roll to enter another host. They have 10 minutes times their Celestial Forces to find a new host, or plummet back to hell, and face their Superior.
Any time Shedim is seen in its celestial form, like being forced out of a human body, or looking for one, they stun any mortal who witnesses them. They are also vulnerable to celestial attacks while outside of a host, so stay inside once while on Earth if at all possible!
As you can see, the Shedim are dangerous to face off against, and could be really fun to play. I would highly recommend using them in your game.
Outro
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And as always, remember that evil spelled backwards is live, so get out there and Be Evil!