Abandon all hope ye who enter...

[Niccolo]

Back to the Council of Pandemonium in place of the U.N. The sort of vision I have for the Council of Pandemonium is summed up in the news files from the Pandemonium/Hell MUSH:

POLITICS OF HELL:
The politics of Hell center around three basic branches. The first is Lucifer, who is the uncontested monarch of Hell and all its demesnes. Lucifer acts through the shadowy arm referred to only as "the Seven" - who are seven of the most powerful and loyal lords of Hell, and all princes in their own right. The Seven pass "High Laws", laws that cannot be countermanded by the Council of Pandemonium and in fact overrule any Low Laws. Such is only the most blatant of the Seven's tools, and for all that rarely used.

The second factor of politics is the Council of Pandemonium. Consisting of a general meeting of the lords of Hell, it is attended by all of those of rank of knight or higher. It meets at the behest of the Keeper-of-Records, and at minimum once every month. It is there that the Low Laws are passed, that promotions and executions take place, and from there that the general sound of debate rings forth through the Halls of Pandemonium.

Moloch, Grand Marshall of the Legions of Hell, is responsible for carrying out the directives of the Council of Pandemonium and its executive in the body of the Chancellor.

The third major branch of power in Pandemonium lies in the various offices. Broadly defined, this includes the Legions and the Black Guard, but in formal practice it generally refers only to three: the Iron Fist, the office of the Steward, and the office of the Master or Mistress of Heralds. While all three are in theory only answerable to the Seven, in actual practice the Iron Fist is the only one where this is actually in practice true.

The final aspect to politics in Pandemonium lies in the various factions. This side of politics, however, is far more shadowy, and generally finds its expression in open assassination and secret deals rather than the general forum of Council.

PROCEDURE AND PROTOCOL FOR THE COUNCIL OF PANDEMONIUM

The Council of Pandemonium meets at least once every month and is called by the Steward, although in theory the Chancellor or a Prince of Hell can call such a meeting, though the former happens but rarely and the latter all but never.

Procedure is as follows:
1) The Council of Pandemonium is called to session by Lucifer or his chosen proxy.
2) The Chancellor first, and then any of the Princes of Hell, may choose to address the Council.
3) The Keeper-of-Records reads off the petitions for promotion or demotion, including who is sponsoring each promotion. Council votes. If the petition is accepted, the Keeper-of-Records marks such in the Rolls-of-Hierarchy unless Lucifer or his chosen proxy vetoes the promotion or demotion.
4) The Keeper-of-Records formally asks if the Captain of the Black Guard wishes to make any accusations of treason of a ranking noble of Hell.
5) The Keeper-of-Records asks then if any others in Council have any accusations to make. Evidence is heard for such a time as the Keeper-of-Records determines is appropriate. The Keeper-of-Records calls the vote for guilt ('Aye' or 'Nay') If the verdict is guilty, the Captain of the Black Guard looks to Lucifer or his proxy for a nod of confirmation. If given, the captain carries out the execution with no further ceremony.
6) The Keeper-of-Records then announces that debate shall be heard. Members of Council must be formally recognized by the Keeper-of-Records to speak.
IMPORTANT!
o A person may only sponsor one person, and the sponsor must be of rank higher than the one the person is being sponsored for.
o If the petition for promotion is successful, then a small amount of the sponsor's vital essense (their attributes) is drained off to symbolize the gift they have given. This amount depends on the rank the person is being sponsored for: (Supervisor 1, Knight 1, Baronet 1, Baron 3, Count 5)
7) After a sufficient time has passed, the Keeper-of-Records calls for a vote on measures so recommended by Council.
8) Lucifer or his proxy formally ends Council.

SEATING

There are two tiers. The topmost is reserved for the Princes of Hell and any dukes, counts, and barons. The bottom tier is for all others. The dais holds Lucifer on his Brass Throne as well a number of Black Guard, generally including the Captain of the Guard as well.

The assemblage must stand when Lucifer enters. In the case of a proxy (generally Beelzebub) the assemblage need not stand, though many do. When Lucifer sits, the assemblage may sit.

I don't think we'll have anything nearly so complex in terms of game play, but it still makes for a very rich setting and some very long civilopedia files if we are so inclined.

Oh, and some ideas for the kind of hell flavored resolutions that could be passed might be found in the High Laws of Pandemonium, and it's offices

The High Laws of Pandemonium are decided and determined by the shadowy group known as the Seven. Answerable only to Lucifer himself, they rarely intervene in the mundanities of politics. High Laws are few and far between, and are rarely revoked or made anew. They cannot be countermanded by the Council of Pandemonium, but like the Council of Pandemonium's Low Laws, are enforced by Moloch's legions and, to a lesser extent, Beelzebub's Black Guard.

1) Thou shalt acknowledge Lucifer as thy lord and sovereign, making proper obeisance to Him as is His due.
2) Thou shalt not by word or deed seek to harm a Prince of the Land, neither Lucifer nor His royal peers.
3) Thou shalt not succor or aid a servant of or the person of the Enemy, that only One whom doth lie above the Great Lord Lucifer.
4) Thou shalt not draw blood in the eyes of thy lord and sovereign, save at His leave.
5) Thou shalt transfer the fire of life only at Lucifer's command.

Offices:
Chancellor (office responsible for issuing of directives to enforce the laws of the Council of and the High Laws of Lucifer)
Steward (office responsible for the general upkeep and maintenance of the city of Pandemonium, as well as any appropriations of labor and material for the various projects of the Seven and the Council of Pandemonium)
Keeper-of-Records (office responsible for the maintaining of the Rolls-of-Hierarchy which is the list of all members of the upper nobility (baron and above) as well as the current holders of all offices)
Grand Marshall (office that is in theory in overall command of the massed legions of Hell; also responsible for non-noble violations of both the High Laws or the Low Laws)
Captain of the Iron Fist (Lucifer's head of secret police)
Master/Mistress of Heralds (office responsible for the propogation of information; answers to the Seven)
Captain of the Black Guard (Pandemonium's chief of its elite police; also responsible for providing Lucifer with bodyguards as necessary as well as a palace guard)

I think the vision I have for HellMod is for a much looser set of fueding fuedal empires all contesting to control more and more of hell, at the expense of the others, all paying nominal lipservice unto Lucifer until they think they have enough power to try and dethrone him (perhaps Lucifer as a unique unit with it's own civ that won't attack, unless he is attacked... and then it's on; killing Lucifer and ascending the throne of Hell is also a way to "win" the game).

So please post ideas about what a council of all demons should be coming to common agreements about (or not). Mayb e replicate the debate between Moloch, Belial and Mammon about whether to seek to wage war on heaven again (+25% military production for all players), to beg forgiveness from the Enemy (+25% redemption for all players), or to just ignore heaven and focus on making a better life in hell (+25% currency for all players)

 

[erikg88]

I'm poking this topic, because I want to play this mod very much.

It's a shame my knowledge in regards to the mod's milieu is very comparable to my knowledge of quantum physics, I fear I can't chip in much help. It's a shame, too, since I think I could be an asset in terms of 'pedia writing. Maybe I'll read Paradise Lost (that's public domain, right?) once I finish up with my current slate of books.

 

[Niccolo]

I'm poking this topic, because I want to play this mod very much.

It's a shame my knowledge in regards to the mod's milieu is very comparable to my knowledge of quantum physics, I fear I can't chip in much help. It's a shame, too, since I think I could be an asset in terms of 'pedia writing. Maybe I'll read Paradise Lost (that's public domain, right?) once I finish up with my current slate of books.

Thanks for the poke. I am working on it as I have free time. I'm having a hard time figuring out what file that the starting era is defined. I found the erainfos file, and I think I figured out it's relationship to Art defning buildings; but I want to figure out say how to set the default era to hell. I'm thinking about instead just replacing all the default buildings with the veil buildings without going through the trouble of creating a specific era.

List of things to do
1) change buildings
2) add most of the available units
3) define the 1st and 2nd technology level
4) write a map script for the changed tiles
5) create a bunch of leaders/civilization place holders (I wanted to use the Civ4 civilization editor that's coded in the .NET 2.0; but I couldn't get it work so I'll have go through it the slow way).

Please feel free to throw out any idea, any idea at all regardless of your knowledge of infernology. I think that kind of discourse has done alot to improve Fall From Heaven and Song of the Moon.

 

[Wyz_sub10]

This is wonderfully creative idea. Good luck to you!

 

[woodelf]

How's this coming niccolo? There's a nice skeleton model out now for some sort of unit.