History TabletopGame / InNomine

* OurGorgonsAreDifferent: Gorgons are children of humans and ethereal spirits -- which can include anything from animate dreams to efreet and valkyries to the surviving pagan gods -- who changed to be born as warped, terrifying monsters. In essence, they're the ethereal equivalent of the celestial-born [[OurNephilimAreDifferent Nephallim]]. Like the Nephallim, most live in isolation, hunted by angels, demons, and humans, but they're not more inherently evil than any other mortal.

** More [[BenevolentAbomination positively]], the Angels of the Higher Heavens are barely comprehensible even to lesser angels- they're [[AlternateCharacterInterpretation (probably)]] on the side of Good, but beyond that, even heaven's not entirely sure what exactly they are or can do.

* FlatEarthAtheist: A decent proportion of Hell are athiests, despite being, you know, fallen angels cast to hell for going against the Lord. Of course, if there's one thing demons are good at, it's lying to themselves...

* TheFogOfAges: In the Angelic Player's Guide, it's mentioned that despite being in some cases ''billions'' of years old, Celestials can only clearly recall back a few millenia at most, and often only a few centuries, with anything older then that recalled as only blurry fragements. Apparently, this is so they can interact with humans in at least a vaugely comprehensible manner.

** More [[BenevolentAbomination postively]], the Angels of the Higher Heavens are barely comprehensible even to lesser angels- they're [[AlternateCharacterInterpreation (probably)]] on the side of Good, but beyond that, even heaven's not entierly sure what exactly they are or can do.

* FlatEarthAthiest: A decent proportion of Hell are athiests, despite being, you know, fallen angels cast to hell for going against the Lord. Of course, if there's one thing demons are good at, it's lying to themselves...

* BeneathTheEarth: The Catacombs, the domain of David, the Archangel of Stone, are a version of this running beneath Heaven itself. They begin as worked chambers and tunnels, before giving way to natural caves as one heads deeper, and lack the otherwise all-pervasive light that fills Heaven; they remain Heavenly, however, and the darkness promotes calm and contemplation. The deepest reaches are home to beings that rarely if ever come up to Heaven's surface; these include angels, shaped with long limbs, large eyes and pale colors to fit their home, alongside strange insects, blind fish, and bizarre grotesqueries -- most of these creatures are the souls of subterranean animals, while a few are prototype animals from the early days of creation or lesser spirits who tend to the caves; some are also angels punished for some transgression, or unique creatures made by David for a specific purpose.

* CrazyCatLady'': The ''Liber Servitorum'' includes an old woman who seems to be a crazy cat lady. She is, in fact, a servant of an angel who inhabits her cats.

* AmmunitionBackpack: Belial, the Demon Prince of Fire, often appears wearing a flame thrower with a fuel tank backpack.

* CooperationGambit: Lilith and Marc are both sharp negotiators who can be trusted to keep a deal, and ''Superiors: Lilith'' makes it explicit that the Princess of Freedom and the Archangel of Trade have dealt with each other from time to time.%%In ''The Final Trumpet'', [[spoiler:it might even save the world]].

* EnergyDonation: Celestial can freely give Essence to each other, and often use it as a form of currency.

* {{Hell}}: Hell, the infernal half of the Celestial realm, is the dark shadow cast by Heaven since the Fall and the home of the demon and of damned souls. It consists of a tangled system of caverns and realms that serve as the Princes' realms, connected by a labyrinth of tunnels, paths and gates. It is, like Heaven, spatially infinite, and always have some extra room to accommodate the inflow of the damned or a new Principality. The demons whisper rumors about the terrible things that one can find in the hinterlands outside of claimed Principalities or in the dark depths of the Lower Hells beneath it all, but only Lucifer truly knows the full nature and extent of the realm.

* HereThereWereDragons: Uriel's Purity Crusade resulted in the near-total extermination of Earth's mythical creatures. Some managed to survive by fleeing into the Deep Marches, but others were utterly wiped out. Dragons are a particularly notable examples; Uriel and his servants were very thorough in eradicating all the ones they found on Earth and then destroying all the ones in the Marches, and something seems to be preventing any new dragons from arising -- any spirit that embodies or comes to resemble a draconic Image will quickly fade away.

* JesusTaboo: Uniquely, nobody in Heaven, Hell or on Earth knows precisely what happened regarding Jesus Christ (though the development of the religion post-Jesus was strongly driven by Dominic and Laurence), and the whole thing is left in permanent Canonical Doubt and Uncertainty. This is in contrast to other Divine religions that were clearly angel-driven, such as Islam (created by Gabriel talking to Mohammed) and Zoroastrianism (inspired by Eli speaking to Zoroaster).

* MonstrousCannibalism: One of the most straightforward ways for ethereal spirits to grow in power is to kill and consume other spirits whose Image resembles their own. The closer the resemblance, the greater the benefit -- a spirit in the form of Jack the Ripper would have to go through thousands of humanoid killers to get the same power boost as he'd get from consuming another Whitechapel Murderer. As a result, ethereal society is often ruled by paranoia and a ruthless food chain, although most established Domain enforce strict rules about dueling and feuds in order to avoid degenerating into cannibalistic free-for-alls.

** In-universe, Malakim are forbidden to retreat without orders. All Malakim have standing orders to retreat from any Demon Prince unless they think their deaths will accomplish something -- though, being Malakim, they often decide that they ''can''.

* HeavenAbove: While Heaven and Hell have no particular physical relationship with the Corporeal realm of mortals, Heaven is divided between the Lower Heavens that players can visit and the mysterious Upper Heavens, at the top of Jacob's Ladder, where blessed souls reside with God; at the opposite end, the explorable part of Hell is only its top layers, an certain tunnels and elevators lead to the equally mysterious Lower Hells where Lucifer resides. One of the prompts for divine intervention also describes the hand of God descending from the skies to crush an obstacle in the players' path.

* OurNephilimAreDifferent: When a celestial, whether angel or demon, uses the Songs of Fruition to have children with a mortal, the issue is usually just a human with some extra supernatural power. Sometimes, however, the child is born or becomes a monster, warped in body and mind; these are referred to as Nephallim, and are shunned and hunted by both humanity and celestials. Most were born to the ancient Grigori, giant angels meant to guide humanity directly, and were hunted down when the Grigori were cast out, but some still emerge in the modern day. Despite their reputation, however, Nephallim are free-willed mortals, and are as capable of achieving salvation as regular humans. Ethereal spirits of the Marches are capable of breeding with humans under the same conditions as celestials, and also have a chance of producing warped offspring of their own; these Ethereal counterparts to Nephallim are known as Gorgons, but are otherwise largely the same sort of beings.

* {{Medusa}}: Gorgons are children of humans and ethereal spirits -- which can include anything from animate dreams to efreet and valkyries to the surviving pagan gods -- who changed to be born as warped, terrifying monsters. In essence, they're the ethereal equivalent of the celestial-born [[OurNephilimAreDifferent Nephallim]]. Like the Nephallim, most live in isolation, hunted by angels, demons, and humans, but they're not more inherently evil than any other mortal.

* SignOfTheEndTimes: Seven specific events must happen, in sequence, before Armageddon will begin. The prophecy is fairly well-known to most celestials, although the details are prone to much argument. When each condition is met, the ArchangelGabriel will instantly know it and will be compelled to sound a long, mournful note on her trumpet, which will echo through the Symphony and tell all celestials that the Day of Doom is one step closer. Over the course of ''The Final Trumpet'', these signs start happening one after the other:

* WeirdCoinage:

** Raphael, Archangel of Fire, is unstable and prone to sudden mood swings. Her servants love her with a fierce, mad passion, and she encourages them to be aggressive and to bring battle and judgement to evil wherever it may lurk.

** The Lilim demons, distinguished by their ability to impose {{Geas}}a on other beings, use these are their primary currency among each other. A geas cannot be directly transferred, but Lilim will achieve a functionally similar effect by geasing themselves to only call in a geas owed to them as and when another person specifies. Geasa come in six distinct ranks, each of increasing severity and used to compel tasks that are increasingly dangerous and/or unpleasant for the geased person, which gives the Lilim a convenient scale for trading them amongst themselves.

* SignOfTheApocalypse: Seven specific events must happen, in sequence, before Armageddon will begin. The prophecy is fairly well-known to most celestials, although the details are prone to much argument. When each condition is met, the ArchangelGabriel will instantly know it and will be compelled to sound a long, mournful note on her trumpet, which will echo through the Symphony and tell all celestials that the Day of Doom is one step closer. Over the course of ''The Final Trumpet'', these signs start happening one after the other:

** Pachadim, the Frighteners, are described in ''The Marches''; Fallen Menunim. They like to go undercover as humans for decades at a time, slowly working on manipulating and expanding on their personal fears and insecurities, ruining lives and sending the resulting wrecks out into the world to do the same to others. In celestial form, they resemble obese, diseased, pustule-ridden humans.

* DishingOutDirt: The Corporeal Song of Stone creates localized earthquakes, while the Ethereal Song of Stone allows the singer to shape stone at will.

* CloudcuckoolandersMinder: Owing to her growing mental instability in the past millennium, the ArchangelGabriel is prone to bouts of instability and uncontrollable fury. As such, two Cherubim, Aluriel and Mordekial, are attuned to her at all times, following her from a safe distance and making sure that her worse episodes don't endanger others.

* AlternateCharacterInterpretation:%%Invoked

** The GM's Guide has options for giving ''the entire game'' an AlternateCharacterInterpretation. "Backwards" has the angels all being KnightTemplar fanatics and the demons being heroic rebels. "Dark Low Contrast" is basically doing it Creator/GarthEnnis style, where [[CrapsackWorld both sides just plain suck]]. "''Bright'' Low Contrast" is when you play the game strictly for the sitcom value and neither side's really evil at all. [[invoked]]

* AlternateCharacterInterpretation: