V
Veavitdpoh
Guest
In a Seattle coffeeshop, in the dark of night, a lonely man sits - until an explosion rocks the sleepy city, catapulting him into a nightmarish vision of hell on earth, of demons among men and unholy destruction... into a past he's done everything in his power to avoid.
"Sinner!"
"Nice to meet you too."
"What are you doing here?"
"I wish I knew."
"Ineffable?"
"Too f--king right."
"D--n! I hate it when She does this! -all right, listen up. Gabriel's sword is in there."
"W-what? How did a seraphim's instrument fall into mortal hands?"
"I don't know. Someone's pulling some sort of Prometheus bulls--t. The Lightbearer pulled a raid, our guardians retaliated, it's a slaughterhouse in there... we've got a cruciform barrier around the site now, they can't get out. Are you holding? Secular, of course."
"Yes, I'm holding, Raziel- I came through the monorail. The tunnel is breached, you understand? They've got an exit route."
"Oh, no. Did you close it off?"
"Secular, of course."
"You really piss me off, you know that? Go. Get in there, get the sword and punch through to the monorail - they have to have it cleared if that's where they're headed. I'll drop in at the terminal and close off their path for good. Walk with God, Sinner... try real hard."
But the past is a shadow, one inseperable even by the harshest light. And that shadow plagues him, haunts him, drives him back into a deadly chain of events that threatens to destroy not only him, and not merely this world - but the next as well.
"Nicholas... sinner among saints..."
"Don't start with that s--t, just... just relax, try not to move, I'll get some help..."
"It's done, apostle. You know well the power of the disciples... they match us in strength and conviction. Without your faith, you can't match their poison. And I'm afraid my temperance is no match for his wrath. It's time to reach for Her light again."
"Don't talk like that, dammit! They need you! Adriel, I need you. I can't do this alone, I need help!"
"Reach within yourself, Nicholas."
"Real help, okay? She's not here, She never was. You are."
"We are far from home, you and I. Our mother, She is one source of faith. You are another. Reach within yourself, find... the peace that you so desperately need..."
"Adriel- no! Stay with me! Don't- oh, hell. ...no. Oh, no f--king way. You will not give me your power, you hear me? Take it back! I put my wings aside, Adriel! Take it back!"
Become a force of divine retribution, struggling not for righteousness but for survival. Wield dozens of angelic powers and secular weapons, walking between the gates of heaven and the fires of hell. Seek your bretheren, challenge your enemies, and confront your past... because the future of all that is rests in your hands.
"So there's the Trinity, right?"
"Father, son, holy ghost."
"By literal interpretation that represents god, Jesus and spirituality, which is well and good. But by another interpretation, by one that just happens to be accurate... father represents god, She who is called I am. Son represents the heavenly host, the angels and the enlightened."
"And holy ghost?"
"There's the kicker. Spirituality, yeah. You know the seven virtues, before you strayed from the fold you were one of them."
"Wait, you're telling me the apostles are a part of the trinity?!"
"Prudence. Temperance. Fortitude. Justice, Faith, Hope and Charity. These apostles, and like it or not you're one of them - we comprise the third leg of the trinity. If someone knocks that leg down, the foundation of Her power will be shaken to the core. We're talking about a fundamental change that will tip the balance of power."
"Why isn't this in scripture? Dammit, Azrael, why weren't we informed? We walked the earth in mortal guise!"
"Because we have to walk the earth in mortal guise or humanity gains no benefit! And what happens if it's common knowledge? Every zealot that thinks armageddon is a good idea would be out to ice the apostles. The mortals came up with a very good phrase for it - Mutually Assured Destruction. With the trinity threatened, someone could panic, and the mortal coil would become a golgotha, a place of stones and bone."
"Well, someone does know, don't they?"
"...yes. We've got a Judas."
"And I'm the first suspect, aren't I."
"None of us turned from Her eyes, Nicholas. But we'll sort that out later. We need sanctuary, we need it fast. Understand this, child of heaven... the trinity cannot be sundered. No matter what happens, no matter what the cost, one of us must survive."
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Okay, so back in 1999, there was this little game called Requiem: Avenging Angel. It didn't exactly set the bar, but it was a piece of work, merging traditional FPS gameplay with angelic powers like fire, locusts, flying around, so on and so forth; unlike other religion-themed games, it didn't preach or teach, it merely provided a setting that allowed the player to kick some demon arse. It had beautiful animations, some truly clever touches... unfortunately, between the inability to mod and a little game called Half-Life, it's fallen by the wayside. Still a personal favorite of mine.
I would love to see a Requiem-themed mod. Note the "themed" part of that sentence - I don't want to recreate Requiem. For the folks at home, R:AA involved an angel travelling to earth to kick some fallen angel arse, plus a bunch of demon arses. I think we can do better than that. As you may have gathered, I'm restructuring scripture to suit my needs, casting the player as a fallen member of a very exclusive club. S--t goes down, they're dragged back in, and guess who ends up on the edge of armageddon?
There are other things I'm not going to get into on a public thread, just in case this garners enough interest to actually take off, but I will say this - it won't involve merely kicking satanic butt. Things go deeper than just simply Good vs. Evil. For now, if you're interested, http://www.firingsquad.com/games/requiem/page4.asp (and onwards) has a pretty good breakdown of the sort of weapons and powers to be implemented - though some powers will be adapted or removed entirely, depending on engine limitations. Mappers are going to have to deal with urban and indoors environments, as well as (eventually) the warzone Golgotha and Purgatory, the divide between heaven and hell.
Finally, I'd also like to say that this is intended to be entertainment, not a religious pamphlet. While I invite constructive criticism and suggestions on how to further implement the Judeo-Christian setting, please - leave your baggage at the forum login. This is just a mod. And, because I have no skills of my own, I need everybody.
First on the list are concept artists and writers, I need someone who can take both ideas from Requiem and my descriptions and create cohesive visuals for a team to refer to... but the list is long - if you have other talents, by all means, get in touch!
