My Nephilim Occult RPing Blog

As mentioned in the timeline in the  GM's Companion , there was a 10,000 BC Mediterranean civilization named Tarshish. (A full writeup by Ian Young is  archived here .) As was pointed out to me in a discussion, the name Tarshish here is anachronistic. In real life documents, Tarshish was a port that traded with the Israelites, not any kind of ancient civilization. So if the name doesn't make sense, then what could replace it? Atlantis? While Plato's 9000 year estimate does place it in the same general range, the name Atlantis is Greek and Greek wouldn't have existed at that time. I did some research, and ultimately there really aren't many suitable names that I could find. The best candidate I could find is "Kheheb", a name for a prehistoric Egyptian civilization in the roleplaying game Fireborn . It's a fictitious neologism, so I think it could fit okay. The language spoken by them would probably be completely speculative anyway, since this civiliza...

My campaign changes the nature of Nephilim from elemental spirits possessing human bodies to paredri symbiotically bonding with human bodies to awaken the higher self. This has consequences for how my cosmology handles magic like resurrection, exorcisms, and the link to past lives. I'm not giving concrete game rules since I'm still thinking about what system to use. The incarnation and awakening A paredrus is little more than another elemental beast. It operates purely on instinct. However, it is linked to the stars and can find suitable hosts to merge with. In general, a prospective host fulfills two criteria: 1) they currently sit at an emotional crossroads in their life that makes their Solar-Ka permeable to the Ka-elements, on some level desiring the bond and inviting it into themselves; a paredrus cannot bond with just any human in proximity. 2) the host's personality and life experience is preferably analogically linked to the Dominant Ka-element of the paredrus , but...

As I've mentioned before, Montgomery's blog provided a response to the "possession problem" that seemingly kept players from getting into Nephilim : On the other hand, the core principle of the game is accurate to the Western Mystery Tradition, which has always held that humanity cannot save itself.  Bound to the animal world of matter, only those who form a partnership with a higher spiritual power can become inhuman and ascend to higher reality;   ...The mutation of one’s deepest structure is the only thing that matters for the purposes of higher knowledge. This knowledge, which is at the same time wisdom and power, is essentially nonhuman; it can be achieved by following a way that presupposes the active and effective overcoming of the human condition...  Julius Evola, Introduzione alla Magia   To this end the Tradition has long embraced the principle of uniting with an alien, spiritual being;   (there) is an auxiliary divine, or semi-divine (daimô...

Fifth edition replaces the long list of skills from previous editions with past lives used as skills instead. But this isn’t the first edition to do so.  Nephilim: Initiation , fast-play rules simplified from third edition, did this back in 2006. (For more information on Initiation , you can download the whole thing here , overviews here , web bonuses  here , and a bonus scenario here .) The way Initiation handled this was by introducing Vécus or “Life Experiences”, measured as Characteristics rather than Skills; Skills proper didn't exist in the fast-play rules. These were labeled with the adjective  Doué  or “talented, gifted.” The adverb was determined by the “degree of implication”: Pas  Doué  at Apprentice degree, Assez  Doué  at Companion (Journeyman) degree,  Doué  at Master degree. If a relevant Vécu applied, it would substitute for the Simulacrum’s Characteristic on that action; rather than modifying it like Skills...

In an older post I gave some thoughts on past lives for Ar-Kaïms. I wrote that before I started reading Codex des Ar-Kaïm , which provided some rules in this regard already! The third edition rules suffered from space constraints, so some key parts of character creation had to be placed in the Codex for each magical race. This includes "Past Points", which players used to purchase magic items and spells for their PCs that were acquired over the course of their past and retained into the present era. Ar-Kaïms gained a Lineage parameter that determined how many times they'd previously reincarnated, with each level representing one generation or ~3 decades. This only went back to 1900, the start of the Great Awakening. So they didn't have the ancient past lives like Nephilim and Ex-Nephilim Selenim had. However, the fifth edition rulebook briefly recaps their fluff in one chapter and specifies that they've existed for centuries at least but were concealed by the Rom...

5e revised the skill mechanics to treat past lives as skills in and of themselves. As suggested by “mandrill_one”, here is a house rule for adapting this to BRP rules: in the 5th edition, past or present "lives" (" vécus ") are rated on a 1-10 scale, which is then multiplied by 10 to obtain a percentage to roll under. So, it is quite easy to devise a BRP variant, where each vécu is a "skill group" rated 1-100. Each vécu is a skill group since it includes all knowledges, abilities, skills and aptitudes that are commonly, or conceivably, associated with that vécu : e.g., a "medieval female condottiere" vécu  could include abilities related to diplomacy, financial administration, accounting, sword combat, dodge, shield use, horse riding, communication skills, leadership, Italian geography, catholic religion, strategy and tactics, outdoor survival, encampment life, travel. All these skills have the same rating as the vécu itself.  If you want t...

In many Indo-European cultures, there are ancient myths of dueling groups of deities. The Aesir and Jotun in Norse myth, the Tuatha de Danann and Fomorians in Irish myth, the Asuras and Devas in Vedic myth, the Ahuras and Divs of Persian myth, etc. As confirmed in the quasi-official past life for ancient Ireland , and in the French, the Fomorians of Irish myth were Selenim (as well as a Hydrim metamorphosis inspired by them in Chronicle of the Awakenings ). So it stands to reason these others groups of opposing deities were based on the occult conflicts between Nephilim and Selenim. The Jotuns aka Ettins, the Fomorians, the Asuras, Divs, etc. Even the Titans, Giants and Daemons of Greco-Roman myth, or else involving themselves in socially accepted witch cults, mortuary cults, and cults that practiced human sacrifice. When dealing with past life eras that involve these kinds of dueling pantheons, then Selenim players have the option of selecting that as the identity of their Selenim PC ...

I have a few thoughts on the Jesus Incident in the game lore. For some background to get you up to speed... The US version So in the US rulebook, page 64–5 explains: In this context the Jesus incident took place. Reports of the events are muddy, having been obscured by Templars, the Church, and others in the time since they occurred. Even most Nephilim are not exactly sure what happened, or how.  Human, or perhaps more correctly Humanistic, history has a theory. According to them Jesus was a prophet who announced the coming of a spiritual kingdom. He delivered his message throughout Judea and was condemned by the Romans for attempting to spark civil war. He suffered the Roman torture of crucifixion.  Accepted religious history professes a different message. The Christian Church says that Jesus was the Messiah who had been announced in the Old Testament, that he is the Son of God, and that he came upon Earth to spread the Good News. During his life he accomplished numerous mira...

I'm still translating the 3rd edition, and my knowledge of the 4th and 5th editions is fragmentary, but I think I know enough of the rudiments to start thinking about my own rules revisions. The BRP rules aren't a good fit for Nephilim . So I've decided to devise a new system based on the French version, third edition and beyond. Currently my ideas are like so: The Nephilim's Ka, Personality Traits and Degenerations are treated as Characteristics and measured from 1-5 levels. Instead of numbers, Characteristics are described using adjectives and adverbs. E.g. Not Strong, Little Strong, Enough Strong, Strong, Very Strong. Each Characteristic has attached a pool of 0-10 "bullets" used to track progression: when the character accumulates 10 "bullets", then the "bullets" are erased and the Characteristic increases by 1 level, and vice versa.  Instead of persistent Meta-Characteristics, each Ka has an associated “Approach” that must be deliberat...

In the French version, Stasis items worked differently. A Nephilim dissolved immediately if their Stasis item was broken. At any time the Nephilim could be bound to a new Stasis item by exposing their blood to Orichalc, with the resulting litharge used to create the new Stasis item. This severed the bond to the old Stasis item and explained how a Nephilim's Stasis item could change over time. The Third Circle invocation Shai Hulud could change a Nephilim's Stasis item. The summoner provided the Stasis item, his own or another's, and the item to become the new Stasis item. Shai Hulud then transferred the Litharge containing all the magical properties of the old Stasis item to the new one, no Orichalc required. Only one transfer was allowed per invocation. In the US version, Stasis items worked differently. A Stasis bond could be broken by physically breaking the Stasis item. A Nephilim could survive without a Stasis item, but had to serially reincarnate because it would soon...

In the unfinished Ex Oculis fanbook, a new mechanic called Assets, Burdens and Goals was added to past life generation at character creation. Assets and Burdens were similar to perks and flaws from other systems, while Goals were plot hooks that could be pursued for experience and such. These were basically a more systematized way of handling past life legacies, which were very vague in the rulebook. A similar idea appeared in another homebrew as Secrets, Quests, and Curses, and another as Resources. The French 3rd edition independently did something similar. Characters were created with their relative power levels measured, then balanced by adding an equal measure of flaws. To quote or explain for those who don't have those PDFs or cannot access them: Secrets, quests and curses (From Nephilim Redux 1.2 by Frank Rafaelsen) Secrets Every incarnation has given the Nephilim secret knowledge. To represent this, each past life allows the Nephilim to know one secret. These secrets a...

In my campaign setting, Ar-Kaïms or "Astrological Nephilim" have appeared sporadically throughout history as mere legends but started appearing in greater numbers since the 20th century. This coincides with the subsequent increased awakenings of Nephilim due to the magic disturbances caused by the Golden Dawn, and the subsequent increase in Ar-Kaïms awakening was probably caused/aggravated by the same. (This is the case in the French too.) In the French version, Ar-Kaïm didn’t have past lives even after reincarnation (and they could only reincarnate in willing blood relatives too). Where the nephilim were alien body snatchers, the Ar-Kaïms were enlightened humans or Aberrant -inspired superheroes. They didn’t prove very popular, so the 5th edition put them all on a bus and they vanished from canon. The other difference between the symbolic Nephilim and the astrological Nephilim aka Ar-Kaïm is that the latter may incorporate any combination of elements within their Ka-Heart. T...

I have seen  expansions ,  revisions , and  simplifications  of the rules for generating past lives, even  saving their  Occult Development Points (ODPs) for later use. What I don’t recall seeing were rules for remembering new past lives during play, nor having flashbacks to known past lives that relate to events in the current adventures a la Highlander: The Series . Probably because the rules for generating past lives and stealing skills are hella complicated and aren’t designed to be done retroactively? In the French version, recalling new past lives during play or flashing back to past life eras for adventures was presented in later editions under the rule “Mnemos Effect”. This was never backported to the US version, altho the unfinished fanbook Ex Oculis planned something similar. If I was adapting this to English, then I have some ideas for handling it. As always, GM’s discretion applies. The nephilim’s stolen skills are no longer a thing: Instead,...

In addition the official past lives presented in the Nephilim rulebook and Chronicle of the Awakenings , a complete index of which is provided on Gamemaster's Companion p23, the following new or modified past lives were written by fans and released in zines or to the mailing list. Those eras marked with an † are included the same document. Additionally, an index by Joshua Wright with speculation on potential eras may be  found here . Mediterranean, 10,000BC . "The Drowning of Tarshish" Tara, Ireland, 600BC. "The Fall of the Tuatha de Danann" Anglesey, Britain, 61AD. "The Destruction of the Druids" Albion, Britain, 415AD. "The Dance of the Sun"† (Note: This is an alternate version of Arthurian Britain that isn't consistent with the timeline given in the Gamemaster's Companion ) Camelot, Britain, 542AD. "The Grail Kingdom"  Scandinavia, 800AD. "The Viking Age" Khorasan, Persia, 1300AD. “Kublai Khan and the Wor...

This post is a recap of the purpose of Stasis objects, plus some injections of my own ideas and some comparisons to the French version. Stasis objects are the key to the nephilim’s immortality. The stasis object anchors the elemental pentacle spirit to material reality, preventing it from being dissolved into the magic fields when disembodied. However, the secret societies have developed various dark purposes for stasis objects, such as imprisoning nephilim indefinitely or enslaving them as homunculi. Mechanical effects The Stasis object anchors the Nephilim's Ka-elements after bodily death, allowing the Pentacle to reincarnate. While incarnate, it stores Ka that the owner may tap in the "Stasis Ritual" boost the effectiveness of magic (see Nephilim rulebook p46, 140-1). Bonding a stasis object to a Nephilim is a third circle effect: a High Magic ritual or a Philosopher’s Stone meditation (see “Create Stasis”,  Major Arcana p7; “Crafting the Vessel of the Winds”, Unpubli...