Demon: The Descent - Chronicles of the Middle East [semi-closed]

[Dakkon]

Abu Dhabi. Capital of the United Arab Emirates, one of the most rapidly expanding countries in the Middle East and one of the richest countries in the World. It's also one of the fastest developing Infrastructure complexes on the occult matrix and home to countless of the God-Machine's Fallen angels. Very early one morning, after the first call to prayer, but before the sun rises you receive a text from Abdul Al Bis, the cover of one of the more active Inquisitors in Abu Dhabi and Dubai. It is short and terse.

Danger to the entire city. Need the help from other Demons. 666 7th street. Khalifa A. Please.

[/i]



Characters should be designed using the rules listed in Demon: The Descent. Both the core rulebook and Flowers of Hell may be used. All characters must be and appear over 21 years of age in all covers. It is advised that at least one character have a free cover open to be filled. Please include the following in your character sheet:
-Background
-Photo of primary cover
-Personality of all covers
-Personality of the demon
-Two possible themes you would like the storyline to address
-Two to Four (or more) possible Ciphers for your character. These may be subject to slight modification
-Three short-term and one long term aspirations. The increased number is to compensate for the slow pace of PbP games.
-If you have access to Flowers of Hell.



Some points of note in background creation:
- The work week in Abu Dhabi is Sunday to Thursday.
- Any company operating in UAE must be 51% owned by an Emirati or group of Emiraties. 
- Anyone who is not born a national and plans on staying long term must be employed. Consequently there is no homelessness or unemployment.
- All telecoms in the country is run by one company, Etisalat.
- The official religion of UAE is Sunni, but it is tolerant of other religions so long as they do not attempt to actively proselytize. 
- While extra-marital sex is illegal, and semi-conservative dress is required in public, most other religious prohibitions do not apply to non-Muslims (ie. You can drink, but you can't be obviously drunk in public). Alcohol can only be sold at hotels with liquor licences, so most bar/clubs/liquor stores are built into the same building as one, but with a separate entrance.
- The speed limit on the highways is 120 kph. You don't get tickets until you are going 20 over the speed limit. Can you say car chases?

[Dakkon]

Archived original post

I've been kicking around a couple of ideas of the last couple of years about a nWoD chronicle centred around Abu Dhabi and Dubai. Most World of Darkness materials are centred around the Western Hemisphere, but having lived in both cities, I can tell you from personal experience that they are a gateway to Asia like none you've ever seen. I think it could make an incredible backdrop for world of darkness.



Possible Gamelines - Mummy: The Curse; Demon: The Decent; Genius: The Transgression; Leviathan: The Tempest
Rating - NC: Exotic
Roleplay vs Rollplay - Roleplay. I'm still relatively new to WoD, so I'm inclined to ask for as few rolls as possible and play in almost a freeform manner unless its really hit or miss as to how something would play out.
Rules versions - Mummy would stick with the original rules, all the others would use the God-Machine Chronicles updates.
Age: 21+; both for my own comfort, and that is the minimum age for drinking in UAE. 
Sexuality: This game is open to any gender, sexuality and orientation. My personal preference is hetero, but as GM, I'm more than will to help others play out their preferences. I'd classify the game as exotic While non-con may be present in the game (this is world of darkness after all and bad things happen), I reserve that for NPCs of a decidedly evil persuasion.



Why Abu Dhabi and Dubai?
Like I said before, these two cities are unique and unlike anywhere else in the world. Both combine many aspects that would seem familiar to North Americans or Europeans, while still being distinctly Middle Eastern. Case and point: A regular sight for me when I go to the mall is woman dressed in full abayas or burkas with their faces covered, shopping almost gleefully at La Senza or Victoria's Secret. While drinking is illegal for Muslims living in the country, there are regularly brunches in hotels that are all you can drink. In the higher end brunches, people will be dressed to the nines and completely hammered. In the clubs, provocative dress is just as common as conservative dress is in public. Abu Dhabi and Duabi are worlds of contrast and contradiction that manifest in some of the most fascinating and incredible ways on the face of the earth. Anyone, and anything can be found there, and likewise, from their, you can travel anywhere. It is the perfect backdrop for an urban fantasy.



Demon: Simply put, Abu Dhabi and Dubai are home to some of the ballsiest construction projects on the planet. The potential for infrastructure developments is fantastic. Likewise, there are a wide range of covers available to demons from all over the world.



Mummy: UAE is very close to the centre of the Nameless Empire and also a modern trade and tourism mecca. Interesting geometry and monuments are found all over the two man cities, and as they have continued to develop they spring up with ever increasing frequency. Sounds like Mummies.



Genius: Genius is perhaps the most well done of the nWoD fan creations, and its themes work with Abu Dhabi and Dubai. Technology is ever prevalent within the cities. The richest of the rich have access to anything they want. Mad Science is just a hop, skip and a jump away.



Leviathan: Leviathan is another well developed fan-line, and one that plays into the mythos of the Middle East. UAE is balanced between Arabia's Empty Quarter and the Arabian/Persian Gulf. The tension between the wet and dry reflects both the pulls of tradition vs modernization within the country and the humanity vs monstrosity within the Leviathan.



So I'm looking for about four PC parts. Is there anyone interested. If so, which of the four games would you like to play?

[Rook Seidhr]

Interested in Demon only.

[Rajah]

Interested in everything excepting Mummy, which doesn't play terribly well with others anyway. I'm most piqued and enthusiastic about the possibility of a Genius or Leviathan game, exploring the wonder and frustration of mad science in a world where tradition and innovation make active war on each other - where embracing the future may mean killing the past, and its guardians - and/or the human (and inhuman) legends of the Middle East and their terrible sources, as well as the impact the religion-fomenting Leviathans will have in a cultural civil war where faith and freedom are each tainted by what they're willing to do to survive.

Demon's cool because it's new and shiny, mostly. Genius and Leviathan don't have official GMC updates, but like the rest of the WoD they work fine with the GMC rules grafted on, so that's alright.

[Dakkon]

Interested in everything excepting Mummy, which doesn't play terribly well with others anyway. I'm most piqued and enthusiastic about the possibility of a Genius or Leviathan game, exploring the wonder and frustration of mad science in a world where tradition and innovation make active war on each other - where embracing the future may mean killing the past, and its guardians - and/or the human (and inhuman) legends of the Middle East and their terrible sources, as well as the impact the religion-fomenting Leviathans will have in a cultural civil war where faith and freedom are each tainted by what they're willing to do to survive.

Demon's cool because it's new and shiny, mostly. Genius and Leviathan don't have official GMC updates, but like the rest of the WoD they work fine with the GMC rules grafted on, so that's alright.

I'm willing to do a cross-over story between the three lines (Mummy excluded for aforementioned reasons), or run a game with just one type of supernatural. Whatever people seem interested in. I've got my own head-canon with regards to how it all fits together which I think it fun and leaves questions open about the RL religions too. As far as I see, their is nothing stopping a Leviathan, Genius, or Demon from having faith in a modern (or ancient) religion... but like all supernaturals in WoD, they each posses their own challenges with their chosen faith.

[Ghostwheel]

Color me interested, I have more experience with oWoD than nWoD (except for reading the GMC update, LOVED the new Integrity system there), but I'd be willing to learn the specifics of whichever system was decided on.

[Dakkon]

Ghost, I'm not surprised in the  slightest to see you again.  :P

Here are some possible themes of a story for each game line. It sounds like there is some interest, but I'd still like to see a few more solid responses, so if any of this is piquing your interest, please let me know! Likewise, if you have a theme you'd like to explore, feel free to suggest it!

Demon: How do knowledge and responsibility overlap? Must a person act if they know something another does not? Can responsibility be avoided, and for how long?

Mummy: What is a person's responsibility to own mistakes made when they didn't know any better? Should people bear the weight of the sins of the previous generation, or just reap the benefits?

Genius: When should a tradition or belief be allowed to die? Should it just fade away or be forcefully brought to an end? Does the world lose something when it passes on?

Leviathan: Is there such a thing as growing up with grace? Or growing elderly with grace? How should the great potential to make decisions as a youth be balanced with the need for security and health when you are older?

[Ghostwheel]

Would you be open to Hunchback: The Lurching? None of the above topics really draw me in, but I think examining and playing out the distance between people (loneliness vs. belonging and opening yourself up to be hurt by others, conformity vs. individuality, etc) could be fascinating and make for a ton of great RP and lovely, lovely angst (I love me some good, well-written angst).

That said, if we could focus on that with one of the other systems I'd be just as happy, but after reading a bit about Hunchback, it seems to be the system made specifically to promote the kind of roleplaying that brings up those kinds of ideas.

[Dakkon]

Would you be open to Hunchback: The Lurching? None of the above topics really draw me in, but I think examining and playing out the distance between people (loneliness vs. belonging and opening yourself up to be hurt by others, conformity vs. individuality, etc) could be fascinating and make for a ton of great RP and lovely, lovely angst (I love me some good, well-written angst).

That said, if we could focus on that with one of the other systems I'd be just as happy, but after reading a bit about Hunchback, it seems to be the system made specifically to promote the kind of roleplaying that brings up those kinds of ideas.

If others are interested in Hunchback, perhaps. I am absolutely certain that the theme of alienation can be incorporated into the other game lines too though, and the themes I suggested are not set in stone.

[Dakkon]

Okay, given that its where the most interest has been, and I don't want this to fade before it even gets going, I'm going to make the executive decision to run this game as a Demon game. If you are interested, please post a character sheet!

[RubySlippers]

Some questions there is the God-Machine I get that, I was thinking of a character who assumes Demons are just another cog to study that part the God-Machine doesn't understand to eventually control. So my character would be looking outside the God-Machine for its rival there are hints in the world like the Great Old Ones or alien super intelligences far over creation in the minds of some mortals and the insane who may have looked upon them. The Anti God-Machine as it were.

So my goal is to open up the gate and unleash this to give the God-Machine a true rival and bring about freedom where Angels face beings far older and far more destructive than existed before even if it means the end of Demons and all life.

Naturally she would not admit this even to Demons but rather be a wealthy mortal funding various archeological digs and scholarship in odd areas, hoping to find the tools to do this. And be Paranoid knowing if the God-Machine figures this out it means serious problems especially of other Demons do to. Not to mention others in the World of Darkness.

But I'm not sure of the Cosmology in the game enough to see if this make sense enough as her big goal.

[Dakkon]

Don't worry about your knowledge of Cosmology. I've learnt that the World of Darkness has a very complex yet flexible metaphysical framework. Your idea definitely works and would be very, very cool  :-)

[JohnTheGreat]

Holy crap I have been waiting to play demon for ages, you're not full are you?

I'm stuck posting from my phone at the moment but I can get you character stuff later tonight.

[Dakkon]

Nope, no rush, no one's even posted a character sheet yet.

[RubySlippers]

But I just want to demon out, savage up a bunch of innocent nuns laughing and then rape an angel. j/k

I'm thinking as a cover a wealthy pious woman and Imam writing in support of women's rights under Sharia and other things that no one would look at her and go ,damned, she is really some evil bitch. Maybe even a judge can women hold such roles in that nation?

[Dakkon]

But I just want to demon out, savage up a bunch of innocent nuns laughing and then rape an angel. j/k

I'm thinking as a cover a wealthy pious woman and Imam writing in support of women's rights under Sharia and other things that no one would look at her and go ,damned, she is really some evil bitch. Maybe even a judge can women hold such roles in that nation?

Judge, yes, there has been at least one. Imam though I don't think they can. If I may intercede with that idea slightly, the idea of a female Imam may work if the woman were not Emirati. She could be Middle Eastern but grew up in a more liberal environment (or at least that's the cover story), and has gotten special permission from the government to set up a very liberal-style mosque. That seed would have a grain of realism in it, at least from my point of view.

[RubySlippers]

I can go conservative Muslim judge she would need to know Sharia and likely general law, she will be past child bearing age also to give her a reason to have a profession like that likely taking legal studies when younger and at a good Islamic School there are quite a few ones. And by women's rights I didn't men nutty more a right to a career, rights to not be beaten and so forth but in other areas would be quite conservative like abortion is evil except maybe to save the life of the mother and upholding Sharia law if one preaches another faith in public.

[Dakkon]

I can go conservative Muslim judge she would need to know Sharia and likely general law, she will be past child bearing age also to give her a reason to have a profession like that likely taking legal studies when younger and at a good Islamic School there are quite a few ones. And by women's rights I didn't men nutty more a right to a career, rights to not be beaten and so forth but in other areas would be quite conservative like abortion is evil except maybe to save the life of the mother and upholding Sharia law if one preaches another faith in public.

Actually, all of those rights are already written into law into UAE. You'd be looking at more of a women's rights advocate.

[RubySlippers]

Not outside it, she would advocate this in areas not so mature in the Islamic faith and of course oppose terrorism tactics, for example female genital mutilation is nowhere in the Koran and is offensive to the girls rights to her sexuality blessed by Allah so she and her husband someday can enjoy the beauty of union. So she would oppose that in Muslim nations that do it.

[Dakkon]

Hmm... We'll PM about it and hash it out.

[RubySlippers]

I like the rules but won't play, its kind of complicated to use new rules and in a culture unlike the West.

[Dakkon]

I like the rules but won't play, its kind of complicated to use new rules and in a culture unlike the West.

If that's how you feel, okay, I can understand that. I may suggest that you could try to create a demon with a cover as a Westerner that's a fish out of water in the city, but it's totally your call. Hopefully you will get a chance to read and enjoy when the story begins!

[JohnTheGreat]

I was thinking of doing that, grabbing a local for a cover but having a demon who is new to the area.

[Dakkon]

I was thinking of doing that, grabbing a local for a cover but having a demon who is new to the area.

Go for it! PM me your thoughts and we can work through the details of the concept and iron things out for the local cover.

[Rook Seidhr]

Character concept: a Psychopomp Tempter, social-primary. His Cover is an American expat who works for a Greek import/export firm. Fell when ordered to create obstacles for a shipment and expedite it at the same time. Contacts, Resources, Cultists.