In Utero

[Ron Edwards]

Hey,

Um, no, Gordon, the Passing demon is carrying a human fetus sorcerer. The human woman sorcerer is carrying the Parasite demon fetus.

The definition of "Passing" isn't violated by this idea.

Carry on, carry on.

Best,
Ron

[J B Bell]

Squick Factor Warning:  details from real, life-and-death squickiness are described herein.

Strangely enough, I am reminded of an episode from my home state of New Mexico that could have torn from the middle of a session coming from this thread's basis.

I think it was in the late 70s or early 80s.  A mentally ill woman (to understate the case) kidnapped a pregnant woman, drove her to a remote mountain area, and performed a caesarian section with a car key.

Since the perpetrator was not a medical professional, her victim died.  The child lived, and was placed in foster care, where a followup article found she had grown to a thriving young girl a few years later.

It's a glad thing that someone literally born to such horror can nonetheless develop into a happy, well-adjusted person, and I hope she's continued to be well to this day.

Of course, the thing I wonder is:  where did that car key end up?  From a mythopoeitc, not to say sorcerous standpoint, it would be one hell of a potent object.

A Token like that could lead to a nasty cascade effect of demons-born-to-humans and vice-versa.  Or perhaps it's actually an Object demon that can change its form, whose duty on earth is torment four intertwined souls in this specific way for eternity.

Yick.

--JB

[Gordon C. Landis]

Um, no, Gordon, the Passing demon is carrying a human fetus sorcerer. The human woman sorcerer is carrying the Parasite demon fetus.

Of course.  A pair of pairs.  Obvious.  I'm an idiot.

I think the notion still works - baby escapes to the "shelter" of the Passer womb when the Parasite implant is interpreted as an "attack" and fails.  The birth of sorcerer kid would kill the kid, the birth of Parasite demon would kill mom.

Maybe.  At the moment, I'm not trusting my judgement much :-)

Gordon

[Solomon]

(Inspired by Hyperion by Dan Simmons)

A (male) master sorcerer in search of eternal life has two apprentices, at least one of whom is female.  The master summons a powerful "fountain of youth" demon, which appropriately takes the form of a fetus and must be bound to the female apprentice.

The other apprentice is rejuvenated first (as a test case) when the female apprentice betrays them (to a rival?) and disappears with the youth demon.  The "rejuvenated" sorcerer continues to grow younger -- without end!  The master then summons the demon-mother as a host when the apprentice reaches the pre-natal stage.  The fetus-sorcerer now has nine months or less before death by conception.

(Inspired by the character Alia in Dune and the X-Files episode "Terms of Endearment" from the sixth season and guest starring Bruce Campbell)

A youthful, would-be sorcerer accepts not being able to beget children as part of his initiation.  Who cares about starting a family when they're young?  He assumes that it's just mystical infertility but it turns out that he will father demonic children instead of human ones.  Now he's older and his wife (and apprentice) is pregnant with ... who knows?

In the meantime, perhaps he now wants children of his own, has discovered the true nature of the price, and has found a loophole in impregnating a passer demon.  Or maybe he just keeps a demon mistress on the side.  Either way, his demon lover is carrying his (human) child.

The demon lover is of the parasite->possessor->passer variety.  Its need is to become increasingly closer to fitting in as whatever it passes for.  Therefore its desire is to take the sorcerer's wife's place.  If it hasn't accomplished this by the time the child is born, it will settle for "starting over" by "dying" in childbirth and trying to possess the child instead.

The child is supernaturally precocious but has the price of being more vulnerable to demons, i.e. suffers a penalty to all demon interactions.  The child is linked to the demon-mother's senses and thoughts but the only "commands" the child can issue are to the demon's involuntary bodily processes.  Will the child sabotage the demon's attempts to seduce Dad or encourage them to avoid possession?

[Jake Norwood]

IMO, this is the best one so far. Rock on.

Jake

[Walt Freitag]

Demon A is a fetus, a Parasite hosted in the body of its master - a pregnant woman.

Demon B is a Passer, looks like a pregnant woman; its master is the fetus it carries.

And perchance are they slouching towards Bethlehem to be born?

Supernatural pregnancies seem to me to call out for big stories that hold the future of humanity (not just somebody's humanity) in the balance (though the story itself can be played out in microcosm), like Genesis or Dune or Rosemary's Baby, or perhaps like Bowman and HAL aboard their big-sperm spaceship headed for big-egg Jupiter and symbolically slugging it out to decide whether the next evolutionary step will be taken by man or machine. So:


The male sorcerer is a genetic sport, with a noticeably different appearance from normal humans, and (not so obviously) more intelligence and less physical robustness. He's been cast out of human society for his differences and wants to take revenge by fathering a new race that will replace humanity. Unfortunately, he's not fertile with normal human women.

What's lore for, if not for solving little problems like this? He performs a summoning to create, and demonically animate, a body like his in its distinctive appearance and traits but female and fertile (Demon B). He likewise creates and summons a male counterpart, whose physical form is little more than an animated male reproductive system (Demon A). In these rituals he uses some of his own flesh, and some flesh from a captive human woman (make the specific choice of flesh as squicky as you like), as templates so that the offspring of the pair will be a hybrid carrying his form as dominant traits but cross-fertile with humans.

The two mate as planned, but as an unexpected result of the union, the fetus, magically imbued with so much of the sorcerer's own flesh and spirit, captures away a portion of his awareness and lore. This makes the fetus aware and intelligent, while leaving the sorcerer weakened, and for a short time, incapacitated.

Both demons take the opportunity to betray the sorcerer and escape his control. Demon B tries to kill its fetus, and is prevented only barely when the fetus itself binds it. Meanwhile, Demon A offers the captive woman a bargain: it will set her free if she also allows it to impregnate her, so that she will be the mother of another new race, a race of demi-demons who will oppose the sorcerer or his offspring. Demon A becomes the fetus, and bound to the woman, knowing that by this means (essentially an extended ritual) it can incarnate into a form that will pass on and preserve the demon's spirit in human guise through future generations.

At the start of play, the woman wakes up as if from a dream, escaped from her captivity and pregnant with Demon A. The man discovers that the woman and the demons have escaped. The fetus-sorcerer suspects that the man now wants to destroy it to reclaim the power he accidentally imbued it with. The woman wants neither fetus to survive, so that her own race's future remains secure, but may be dependent on her demon fetus for her own survival. The fetus sorcerer wants to survive, but its host Demon B doesn't care about its survival. Both demons want only the Demon A fetus to survive.

However, these desires and alignments could change, as the situation develops. One likely Premise: What rightful claim does a child/creation have of a parent/creator, and vice versa?

Oh, and set this all about 50,000 years ago, in Africa. The progenitor sorcerer is the first Cro-Magnon. Working title: "Eden: The True Story."

- Walt

[Mike Holmes]

Wow, now that's heretical. Congratulations, Walt!

Mike