Page 233 - Chronicles of Darkness

and, in their own way, admire humanity as a result. As the Weaponry: It appears, with blinding radiance. It’s
God-Machine hunkers down to force humanity to give up everything the scriptures describe, awesome and terrible
their greatest gift, the Celebrants of Hell are rising to offer and beautiful and heartbreaking. You’re between it and the
humanity another choice. person it must kill, but it seems to be offering you a choice.
Linchpins Pick up the sword it lays at your feet, or step out of the way.
Either roll Dexterity + Weaponry to defend yourself, or let
the angel destroy its target.
Servants of the God-Machine are angels. Their touch, Expression: Your friends are tired, terrified, and over-
and therefore the touch of the God-Machine, is cold and whelmed. They’ve about given up. You know that all of you
passionless. The God-Machine demands order and equality will need renewed energy to get through the coming day — the
to such a point as to be indiscriminate and even cruel. The day of destiny. Roll Presence + Expression to compose the
angels seek to create a clinical equality for all people. Their words they’ll need to hear to get through.
actions are without compassion. The God-Machine and its Persuasion: You want to open the door to Heaven. Yes,
angels see only in terms of right and wrong, ignoring all other it will be passionless, but suffering will end, and perhaps
gradients. Order, chaos, and anything short of perfection humanity can finally ascend. Your companions, however,
need not exist. When they kill, it’s quick and clinical. No are leaning more toward Hell, and you know that’s a sucker’s
one suffers when the angels act, but that’s largely because no bet. Roll Presence + Persuasion to begin convincing them.
one feels anything when the angels act. Striking Looks (p. 54): When you’re the most beautiful
The Celebrants of Hell are wet and messy. They’re no thing on the block, you’re a walking temptation — don’t think
more afraid of gore and the beauty of “sin” than you are afraid the Celebrants don’t notice.
of air. They leave chaos in their wake and, yes, suffering as Iron Will (p. 51): There’s Heaven’s plan, there’s Hell’s
well. They herald pain and with it, a deeper understanding plan, and then there’s your plan. Angels, demons, and even
of self. That understanding may bring agony; that’s what hap- the God-Machine might know what dance steps you’re sup-
pens with knowledge, but for many it’s completely worth it. posed to take, but there’s no force in the universe that’s going
To the Celebrant, the sublime is not a cold, unfeeling light, to make you perform like a monkey.
but the line between pain and pleasure. Ecstasy is being lost
in sensation. Where the angels bring destruction to the imper- Escalation
fect, these demons offer horror with the intent to enlighten.
The God-Machine is taking a risk by sending angels out At the climax of this chronicle, the world — the universe —
to take overt action in the world. Any angel might be use- will be changed forever. It comes down to choice, to free will,
ful to illustrate the point, but no matter which angels the no matter how manipulated and abused. Choose between
characters encounter, they seem detached, removed from the the sympathetic, sensual, and violent demons or the cold,
situation. This is because the God-Machine does not have hard, compassionless angels. Either side is willing to harm
proper Infrastructure in place to send angels to act in its stead. innocents to reach their own ends.
Choose a world of order with no suffering, no sensation,
Methods and no free will or a world of chaos where nothing is perma-
nent and sensation is all, but the highs and lows of suffering
Investigation: The possessing “demon,” or whatever it and pleasure are off the scales.
is, seems to be teasing you. It possesses a body, causes some There’s a third possible option, though. When in posses-
chaos, leaves you a cryptic message, and transfers to a new sion of the keys to Heaven and Hell, maybe the characters lock
victim. Roll Intelligence + Investigation to anticipate its next both doors. Maybe they isolate the Earth and humanity from
possession and cut it off at the pass. interference from either side. For the first time, humanity is
Occult: The angel spoke to you. It told you about the totally on its own for good or for ill; it is entirely in control
keys, how the one holding the keys could choose which door of its own destiny. What does that mean for the world at
to lock and which to open. How the keys were destined for a large? Maybe mind- and emotion-controlling powers just
pure hand and that pure soul alone could lock away the suf- don’t work on people anymore, and they can recognize the
fering of Hell and open the door to Heaven on Earth. What it supernatural for what it is. Maybe the world stays much the
didn’t tell you was how to identify the keys. Roll Intelligence same, except the God-Machine no longer has any influence
+ Occult to finish translating the book the Celebrant gave in it (but neither do the Celebrants). Is that, overall, a good
you to find the “keys to the doors.” thing? Or did the God-Machine fulfill some purpose that the
Larceny: “Let me know you, and show you just a taste characters never really understood?
of the experiences I offer you. The gifts I would give you,” This Tale makes a good end point for a God-Machine
the Celebrant says. Say yes, or roll Dexterity + Larceny to chronicle, but if you want somewhere to go when it ends,
escape your bindings rather than discover and endure the What Is It Good For (p. 233), A Journey Into Time (p. 228),
“pleasures” of Hell. and Sister City (p. 201) are good choices.

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Tales of the God machine