LLEGADA DEL ANTICRISTO Y FALSO PROFETA; ABOMINACIÓN DE LA DESOLACIÓN

A postal employee drives to work with an automatic weapon and opens fire. A teenager assaults a homeless woman, calmly cutting out her eyes and tongue so she can’t identify him. A dentist bandages his bitten finger- and then smiles, sedates the screaming child, and fills the cup next to the chair with teeth.

Somewhere, a fleshless demon smiles and moves on to his next host.

The human race holds as much potential for evil as it does for glory, but sometimes it needs some help. And no Band of demon contributes more to the day-to-day cor- ruption of humanity than the perverse, bodiless Shedim.

RESONANCE

Like their heavenly counterparts, the Kyriotates, the Shedim cannot generate their own vessels on Earth, and manifest by possessing the bodies of living humans. But the fallen Shedim don’t have – or cannot hear – the self- lessness that comes of controlling multiple hosts at the same time. The Shedim resonance is much more treach- erous than that.

While possessed, the host consciousness floats in a serene, dreamlike state. Unlike Kyriotates, Shedim have full knowledge of their hosts’ thoughts, feelings and memories. Although fully aware of what its body does, it believes that it’s still in complete control of itself- and, in a way, it is. A Shedite desensitizes his hosts to obscenity by bending their minds to his celestial will, convincing them that such perversion was their idea.

These body-hoppers cannot pass a day without incit- ing someone to do something despicable (see Dissonance, below). They aim not only to keep people from doing things that generate benevolent Essence, giving power to the side of good, but also to further the cause of evil.

Every Prince instructs his Shedim very carefully, for next to the Calabim these demons are the most danger- ous to loose upon the Earth.

DISSONANCE

A Shedite cannot falter in his constant drive for cor- ruption. The demon generates dissonance every day in which he does not force his host to further corrupt its nature. This needn’t be anything big; some of the greatest evils start out with the tiniest of indiscretions. It must, however, he an act of selfishness that indisputably harms someone: stealing or destroying property, infringing

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upon the rights of others on purpose or through carelessness – the usual.

Each time a host crosses a moral line, a new standard is set. The next day must bring worse corruption. If not, the Shedite must either leave or gain dissonance. For this reason, Shedim often pick the quiet ones – normal- looking folk full of inhibitions and hang-ups. A Shedite who’s on a roll can start a host out by blowing his nose on a restaurant napkin, and raise the ante a day at a time until he’s sniping from a tower. At that point the Shedite abandons the wretch to face the aftermath alone. Many hosts who are driven this for kill themselves, advancing the cause of evil even farther by robbing humans of justice.

If a Shedite’s victim is reduced to unconsciousness, the demon is expelled 30 minutes later. But if he dies while the demon is still inside, the dark soul gains a note of dis- sonance from being drawn so close to oblivion. However, it avoids the agony of “Trauma (p. 67) if it finds another host before being pulled back to Hell. It has (10 × Celes- tial Forces) minutes to do so.

MANNER AND APPEARANCE

If any demons among the throngs of Hell can be called genuine “devil worshippers” – demons who genuinely and devoutly owe their ultimate loyalty to Lucifer – it’s the Shedim. They’re the ones who spray- paint pentagrams in alleys, the ones with the tattoos of horned heads and blazing pitchforks. They stand at concerts with thumb, index and pinky fingers outstretched, sticking out their tongues and screaming, “Hellfire, I serve . . . YOU!”

The twisted Shedim rev the engine of evil which idles in every human’s mind. They’re the Band most generally despised by die angels, and some demons don’t care for them either. Shedim don’t get along with die Djinn – the Stalkers are disgusted with how hard it is to keep track of the Fleshless – and the Lilim absolutely despise them.

The Djinn and the Shedim share an utter disregard for the state of their bodies, but the Shedim are much worse about it. A Shedite treats his body as though he were an indestructible drunk with an endless supply of rental cars. He’ll run a corporeal vessel into the ground, leaving just before its death to avoid dissonance.

You can’t compare them to any instrument crafted by human hands. In celestial form, Shedim are shimmering black clouds of limbs, wings, eyes and other (mercifully) unidentifiable organs, pulsing to a mad, infernal beat.

GAME MECHANICS

To possess a victim, a Shedite must make a successful Will roll to invoke his resonance and enter the victim’s body. If for some reason the host doesn’t want to he pos-

sessed by a demon, he may make a Will roll to resist. The check digit of the Shedite’s successful roll adds to his Mill when he tries to control his host for the remain- der of that possession. The check digit of an unsuccessful resonance roll (or of the intended victim’s successful Will roll, whichever is higher) dictates the number of days he must wait before attempting again to possess that victim.

While a Shedite inhabits a body, die host conscious- ness goes along with most actions the demon tries to take – talking to people, walking around, etc. In a fog of dream-logic, seeing angels and demons won’t disturb the fiend’s host any more than it disturbs the possessor. In a situation which is odd but not against the host’s nature, the chances are that if the demon is comfortable, then the victim will be too.

At least once a day, the Shedite must win a Contest of Wills with his victim, and make his host do something evil – something that harms someone, whether or not that person is aware of it. Each action must be just a little worse than anything the victim has yet done, worsening the person’s corruption. Whether possessing an accountant or butcher, a teacher or a pedophile, Shedim know things that even the most cruel and abusive hosts find repulsive. If a day goes by without this happening, a Shedite gains a note of dissonance. This dissonance goes away if the demon “makes it up later.”

The demon must win a contest of Wills for each evil act that it suggests. Because of this, most Shedim avoid multi-part crimes (such as planning and executing a kid- napping or bank heist), unless they utterly dominate their hosts. They prefer quick and easy evil.

Once a day, at any time that the Shedite attempts to sway his victim, the host consciousness may make a Per- ception roll to realize lie’s not really in control. Give the hapless human a +1 bonus to the target number for every full day lie’s been possessed this time around.

A successful Perception roll while possessed modifies the host’s Will by that roll’s check digit when he is fight- ing off the demons dark urgings. This advantage lasts until he gets a good night’s sleep. Once rested, the host is just as vulnerable to the Shedite’s powerful will as before.

A Shedite may stay as long as he likes, but his victim grows more and more difficult to handle as the days pass. The demon can leave his host at any time, manifesting in his celestial form, but must make a successful resonance roll to enter another vessel.

The demon automatically returns to celestial font and can look for a new host. Like a Kyriotate, a Shedim stuns mortals who see his celestial form – see p. 103. Of course, he’s vulnerable to celestial attacks in this form – and he must find a new host soon. The demon has 10 minutes times his Celestial Forces to find a new host before his diabolical soul will plummet back to the Hell he came from – to face his Superior.

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