Inspiring Pictures: A Boy and his Demon

[Judd]

http://www.ashesandsnow.org/index2.html

Check out the picture of the boy with the cheetah in the Images and Archives section.  That's the one I saw in the NYT magazine and thought, "Wow, a boy and his Demon."

If anyone has any ideas for the Humanity definition and definition of demons and sorcerous rituals based on any of these pics, let 'em loose.

[sirogit]

WARNING: This idea presents a cosmology that isn't nearly politically incorrect enough, and is considerably more hippy-dippy than my usual ideas. I was talking to one of my hippie friends.

Life is speaking to the spirits of the universe.

Sorcery is asking the spirits of the universe to speak english, or rather, to speak 'in human'. This done so magic powered by belief, usually religious in nature.

Demons are the spirits of the universe that are taught to be more human to converse with humans. The spirit's unkown, vast power that exists outside of human comprehension is parodied in its transference to a more earthly sphere, i.e., throwing fireballs.  

Humanity is keeping your mind open to endless possibilities. At Humanity 0, you see everything in the universe as a person. This leads to yelling at cats really loudly for eating their children.

The Kid's a sorcerer, who used some easterny belief magic to make beleieve that this elephant would be his servent. The elephant's obviously quite bored and is wanting to go express his eternal self, which has been bowlderized by sorcery into "Need: Crush things."

[Selene Tan]

Ooh, I have a spoony one...

Humanity is the innocence of a child and the ability to wonder. Demons are animal spirits who represent primal facets of adulthood. PCs are the children (or possibly teenagers) of a tribe in a country that has been colonized, but retains some areas of the original culture. As children, they still retain some freedom to explore and do what they want; they're not tied down yet. When they reach zero Humanity, the tribal elders determine that they are ready to go through the rite of adulthood, and they are forced to take up their permanent role in life. (And possibly get married as well.) There do exist adult members of the tribe who have non-zero Humanity. Reaching zero Humanity as a child means that you're an adult in all but name, which is why the tribal elders make you go through the rite. You can choose to go through it earlier, although your Humanity will have to be low enough to convince them that you're ready for it.
Sorcerous rituals involve making use of "forbidden knowledge" in some way, and doing things that only adults are supposed to do. Masturbation, imitations of sexual acts, and so on are the prime things. Then probably some trappings of adulthood like ceremonial gear and whatnot.

The PCs don't live in a world of their own. They continually have to deal with adults, both members of the tribe and colonizers. While there are benefits to retaining the freedom and innocence of a child, it's impossible to get along in the world without losing some of it.

[Ben Lehman]

Humanity:  The capacity to be human, as opposed to animal.
Demons: Animals
Lore: Animal-Raised, Tracker, Whisperer, etc.

Contact -- finding a track, a marker, a sign of the animal's passage
Summon -- track it to its source
Bind -- wrestle it to the ground or trap it or trick it or perform some other mastery.

Punish -- smack it.
Banish -- kill it.  Alternatively, turn it back into the wild.

Humanity 0 is running off into the wild to live like an animal.  Alternatively, perhaps it is fleeing into the city to live a soft life away from beasts.

It isn't all crazy and fancy, really.  Just plain ol' Sorcerer.

yrs--
--Ben

[Judd]

Humanity:  The capacity to be human, as opposed to animal.

I'm intrigued enough to ask for some examples of things that would inspire a Humanity Loss roll and things that would inspire a Humanity Gain roll.

Thoughts?

[Ben Lehman]

Humanity:  The capacity to be human, as opposed to animal.

I'm intrigued enough to ask for some examples of things that would inspire a Humanity Loss roll and things that would inspire a Humanity Gain roll.

Thoughts?

BL>

Humanity Loss:
Hunting your own food
Sleeping exposed to the elements
Killing with your bare hands

Humanity Gain:
Dependence on Fire or other technology (Demons *hate* this)
Spending a long time in the company of other humans
Having sex with another human

huh.

Maybe I have it backwards?

I was trying to do "Tarzan."

yrs--
--Ben

[Judd]

Maybe I have it backwards?

I was trying to do "Tarzan."

Hm, I think you've got it.

I'm thinking that kids in the modern day or some kind of post-apocalyptic thingie would be neat for this kind of setting, wherein most animals are mutants and the Demons are the animals who are left-over from the old world and Sorcerers are those who can make their way in the wilderness enough to track 'em down and bind 'em.

Hm.  Neat.

[Ron Edwards]

Hiya,

This thread gave me a big flashback to The evils of civilization.

Best,
Ron

[Judd]

Hiya,

This thread gave me a big flashback to The evils of civilization.

Best,
Ron

Hm, interesting.  I wouldn't have put these two things together.

That game was cursed.  We tried to play it three times.  I don't remember the first disaster that prevented us from gaming but once a water heater broke and the next time a friend of ours had a baby just as the game was to begin and we began to play through kickers.

It was the picture of that boy sitting with the cheetah on that rock that made me think of a sorcerer and a demon.

It might be neat to print out a few of the pictures and make our Humanity definitions and such at the table as a group.  That'd be nifty.