Devil Guns

Instructions

To use these rules, three people are required at a minimum. This is because there are three roles: Heresiarch, Devil Gun and Protoseraph. However, the role of the Devil Guns accommodates a larger number of people. A prototypical situation would include a Heresiarch with three Guns, with the Protoseraph facilitating the use of the rules by becoming familiarized with them beforehand.

The use of these rules is apparent from the main sections, but a clearer explanation of can be found in the Answer Keys at the end of the document. These provide some insight as to the reasoning behind each of the rules, but the Keys themselves are not binding.

Devil Guns requires use of a coin with two sides, ▲ spike and ● sphere. Whenever it is flipped, keep note of the results as a running tally. This record is public. Other records should be kept by each person as necessary.

The Heresiarch

The Heresiarch, beloved child of the Pontiffs, has hands of nacre. Only their iridescent fingers can wield the Devil Guns. This is their purpose: to stain mother-of-pearl so that the Protoseraph may die. ⊕The indifference of the Absolute God is the principle upon which all of reality rests. The debased world of things is a cataract in its all-seeing eye, a hollowed-out bone in its perfect ossum, gnawed by the Demiurge, the Betrayer (yet the Absolute God knows nothing of loyalty and betrayal). The Demiurge has created a world of laws in imitation of the world of preordained harmonies. In its pride, the Demiurge does wonders and miracles. Its domain is the second thought, the what-if, the why-not; it proffers the inexplicable upon its believers with pointless regularity.

The Heresiarch must travel through the Axon until they reach the Divine Cerebrum.

1. Rule of action

Their famished vessel is weak and tired. As a consequence, the Heresiarch is feeble, their mind dull and their manners unrefined. Yet they know more about the world than a Devil Gun, as they have been educated by the Pontiffs in matters metaphysical.

When the Heresiarch attempts a perilous action (e.g. grasping a ledge, feigning knowledge, enaging in an unarmed tussle), toss a coin and call it ▲ spike or ● sphere. The Heresiarch succeeds on a good call.

2. Rule of frailty

The body of the Heresiarch can be wounded, just like any body.

Taking a wound while injured results in loss of consciousness. Being injured once more while unconscious results in a certain end.

Eating the bones of the dead restores balance of the humours.

3. Rule of taboo

Frailty of spirit leaves the Heresiarch susceptible to the whispers of the Devil Guns. As long as the Devil Guns are in consensus, the Heresiarch must do what they say. The counsel of the Guns will be ignored when it goes against the taboos:⊕The commandments of the Protoseraph are a mockery of the religion of the Pontiffs, but so are the Heresiarch's taboos.

• Do not hurt myself.
• Do not start gunfights.
• Do not delay the ascent.

While injured, the Heresiarch cannot contravene the will of the Guns, but they cannot be compelled not to heal.

4. Rule of purity

The anathematic Guns can only be reloaded by pure hands. The Heresiarch's digits will shed ichor whenever they transgress one of the Protoseraph's commandments.

Firing a Devil Gun while ritually impure will empty the cartridge. If the Heresiarch becomes impure by the act of shooting or hitting a target, the cartridge will also become empty.

Ichor can only be washed off in secrecy. The Heresiarch always carries enough purified water for ablutions.⊕Within the Axon, the Demiurge compulsively manifests a structured mind. Behold as it makes the holy man dirty, saying: come hither and scrub your fingers, remove the dirt from thy nails, clean the flesh which you yourself have stained; I make soap out of sacrificial soap and water from the tears of pilgrims.

5. Rule of gnosis

The commandments of the Protoseraph are secret: they can only be revealed through action. The Heresiarch can claim to know a commandment.

If the Heresiarch is right, they achieve gnosis and the commandment is revealed. Choose a Cherub to follow you:

• Rosy. Sacrifice it to kill a thing.
• Golden. Sacrifice it to compel a thing.
• Pearl. Sacrifice it to become pure.
• Watery. Sacrifice it to atone for an evil action.
• Vitreous. Sacrifice it to know a thing.
• Coal. Sacrifice it to give life.

If the Heresiarch is wrong, they blaspheme. A random commandment is revealed (it becomes unavailable for gnosis).

Revealed commandments are added to the Heresiarch's taboos.

6. Rule of traversal

Movement through the Axon is difficult. In order to move toward the Divine Cerebrum, the Heresiarch must use implements. Implements will always lead to one or more exceptional people, but only within the current sphere of the Axon.⊕There is nothing in the Axon except thought. Hideous surgery has conjoined the body of the Demiurge with the mind of the Absolute God. The Axon connects many spheres, each one determined by the many human psyches that lend cohesion to its chronotope. The Pontiffs teach that every sphere exists in three axes, the Axis of Ego, the Axis of Id and the Axis of Superego. Whether dissassociation of the axes and subsequent dissolution of the spheres will occur automatically upon the death of the Protoseraph and the separation of the Demiurge from the outside world is still an open question.

The Pontiffs always help the Heresiarch out by making these two implements available:

• Reliquary. Leads to the holiest person.
• Apocrypha. Leads to the person who has made the most deals with the devil.

7. Rule of religion

The Pontiffs have raised their favourite in the stricture of piety. Religion, they teach, is the form of the mind. The distorted world of the spheres makes it something more.

The Heresiarch can reshape the spheres to some extent, but they can only abide by a single discipline. When using a discipline, pay the cost. Then create an Omen. The effect of an Omen is felt whenever ▲ spike or ● sphere manifests.

• Mortification. Take a wound.
• Humilliation. Become impure.
• Forbearance. Remove a taboo, but gain it back when the Omen ends.
• Docility. Fail the next coin toss. These can accumulate.

The miraculous Omens of the Heresiarch are not bound by the dictates of alchemical science or the rules of sorcery. Nevertheless, the Heresiarch tends to operate according to a principle, which may or may not be recorded in the wisdom of the Pontiffs. Omens that fall within the Heresiarch's principle trigger at will.⊕

• Principle of Carmola. Birds
• Principle of Salmatis. Horses.
• Principle of Asmoday. Ring-shaped jewelry.
• Principle of Parcas. Gemstones.
• Principle of Barbas. Dogs
• Principle of Barthas. Weather.
• Principle of Aymoymon. Crowns.
• Principle of Lucubar. Silver.
• Principle of Poymon. Orbs.
• Principle of Bugan. Factory.
In the Prolegomenon of the Pontiffs, this rosary is prescribed: "Bronze egg, silver egg, golden egg, eternal yolk, eternal yolk, eternal yolk."

Another prayer is added to the tenth bead: "Paleozoic egg, mesozoic egg, cenozoic egg, eternal yolk, eternal yolk, eternal yolk".

And for forgiveness, one says: "Sulphur egg, arsenic egg, pyrite egg, eternal yolk, eternal yolk, eternal yolk".

8. Rule of penance

Impure actions stain the soul, but evil actions befoul the spirit. The Heresiarch will become depraved as long as they have performed at least ten evil actions for which they have not atoned. There are two ways to truly atone: to sacrifice the correct Cherub, or to let the Devil Guns eat the sin.

• Evil of Pleasure. Eating a bone.
• Evil of Grief. Performing ablutions.
• Evil of Fear. Killing.
• Evil of Desire. Using religion.

If a depraved Heresiarch encounters the Protoseraph, the Heresiarch will lose their spirit the moment they are perceived, leaving the Guns to use the body.

The Devil Guns

To absolve through sin and to kill so that death may live. This is how Devil Guns think: to hate is to love. They give the Heresiarch teeth-gritted thanks. A gun cast into oblivion misses the pleasure of the wound and the sense of an ending. They are creatures of faith. What greater glory for a God than to be absolved of the world? ⊕The Devil delights in multiplication and feeds upon existence. Every misbegotten heaven has a crevice upon which its worms pupate. The Devil only causes pain, and yet it acts without malice. When the Devil makes a deal, a Devil Gun is born.

1. Rule of command

When all the Devil Guns are in accord, the Heresiarch acts in the manner the Guns see fit.

There is an exception: when the Heresiarch considers an action taboo, they cannot be compelled to perform it. They can still be persuaded, for they can sin of their own volition.

When the Heresiarch is wounded, they lose the ability to resist compulsions, even in the face of a taboo. Guns still have to issue commands in full accord.

2. Rule of trigger

When the Devil leaves behind one of its guns, a series is set in motion that, in retrospect, will take the form of the tragic. If the victim of the foul arm set out, in those final moments of thought where clarity pours into the mind as if the last light tried to dissolve all barriers, if the victim set out to reconstruct the manner in which the finger came to rest on the trigger, they would find a smile with no end. ⊕The Devil creates worldly guns to humble the Demiurge and the Absolute God, by showing them what little it takes to move a soul. The Devil creates sorcerous guns to humble humanity and the Absolute God, by showing that ignorance is the mother of desire, the universal womb that begets power. The Devil creates ineffable guns to humble humanity and the Demiurge with the unwavering rigor of causes.

When the Heresiarch fires a Devil Gun, toss a coin and call it ▲ spike or ● sphere. The shot lands on a right call.

3. Rule of receiver

Devil Guns produce effects homologous to that of firearms. Veiled from the Pontiffs, the Heresiarch has learned what the Devil contrives through its creatures.

When a Devil Gun is fired, the corresponding effect is produced as if it were an Omen. Every Gun has one receiver.

• Handgun. ▲● Ricochet. ●▲ Deceive. ●● Spray. ▲▲ Astound.
• Blaster. ▲● Flash. ●▲ Cauterize. ●● Blind. ▲▲ Melt.
• Rifle. ▲● Passthrough. ●▲ Cut. ●● Hollow. ▲▲ Mince.
• Shotgun. ▲● Punch. ●▲ Tag. ●● Rend. ▲▲ Smother.
• Rocket. ▲● Shrapnel. ●▲ Blast. ●● Choke. ▲▲ Conflagrate.
• Beam. ▲● Solder. ●▲ Magnetize. ●● Vaporize. ▲▲ Overload.
• Mortar. ▲● Excavate. ●▲ Deafen. ●● Demolish. ▲▲ Mutilate.

4. Rule of barrel

A Devil Gun's barrel is always rifled with grooves that bite into reality. Thus their effects are modulated with the consistency of law. Every Gun has a single kind of rifling.⊕Devil Guns are contemptible. Their pain is not sentience (all machines feel), but psyche. Inert by nature, the ideal nature of the world within the Axon's spheres will awaken the Guns to otherness. They project their inner life in a simulacrum of agency. It is unclear whether this is the fulfillment of the machinations of the Adversary or an unhappy accident.

• Euphemistic. It cannot kill.
• Hyperbolic. It can only kill.
• Anaphoric. It can store a single instruction and carry it out.
• Slanted. Wielder cannot be disarmed.
• Ptyx. The action of the gun is imperceptible.
• Indexical. Shots are a source of perception.
• Polysemic. When it hits, it hits multiple targets.
• Univocal. It cannot cause collateral damage.
• Epiphoric. It will have been shot some time before.
• Chiasmic. Someone else will have shot.
• Zeugmatic. It only hits abstracta.
• Recollective. It can undo its last shot.
• Authorial. It compels whom it wounds.
• Polysyndetic. It attaches to what it wounds.
• Transpositive. It stores what matter it removes.
• Omissive. Shots landed count as an ablution.

5. Rule of depravity

The hatred of a Devil Gun spills from their cup. It is not enough for the Heresiarch to shoot: they must drown in the ichor of vice.

As long as they inhabit the Axon, Devil Guns seek to inspire the Heresiarch to depravity, so that their mother-of-pearl hands will not forget the weapons after their mission is fulfilled.

Each Devil Gun picks one sin to add to the tally. Keep a tally of sins committed. The Heresiarch is depraved if the number of sins totals ten or more.

• Covetousness. Eating a bone.
• Vainglory. Performing ablutions.
• Hatred. Killing.
• Perfidy. Using religion.

Sins can be consumed by the respective Gun to produce effects. This is atonement.

• 1 mark. Jam trigger.
• 3 marks. Compel Heresiarch.
• 5 marks. Proactively decide the result of a trigger.
⊕The theology of the Pontiffs recognizes no sin. This is because sin is a mark, and a mark is added to creation, and all creation is good (it is sustained by good). But there is depravity: the bad eggshell runs the risk of spilling the yolk. The sign is an ectopic pregnancy upon the signifier.

6. Rule of appetite

Every barrel is a maw and every Gun a glutton. They demand a banquet and turn their cravings into curses. Devil Guns tend to prefer a class of things to satisfy their appetites:

• Blood and other lifely substances.
• Gold and other mammonite goods.
• Grimoires and other secular inscriptions.
• Idols and other worshipful likenesses.

When a Devil Gun is fed, they become satiated. A Gun can stop being satiated to curse. Cursing transforms the lines in an omen into effects that correspond to the domain of the Gun, called their prestige. Every Devil Gun picks a prestige. The number of prestiges is infinite.

• Prestige of Yaldabaoth. Fire
• Prestige of Iao. Water.
• Prestige of Sabaoth. Air.
• Prestige of Adunai. Earth.
• Prestige of Oroorrothos. Cold.
• Prestige of Phloxpha. Heat.
• Prestige of Kriman. Fingernail.
• Prestige of Megiggesstroeth. Brain.
• Prestige of Chnoumeninorin. Bone.
• Prestige of Yeronumos. Eye.

7. Rule of holy

Any Devil Gun that encounters the protoseraph and is not satiated disappears. If all Devil Guns disappear in this manner, the Heresiarch will acquire the Absolute Gun, a blessed substitute.

The Protoseraph

The overseeing of the operations of the Demiurge falls to the betrayer of the cabal, the Protoseraph. He wrongly thinks himself an intermediary of the Absolute God and the Demiurge, the surgical ἄγγελος, Melchizedek of science, the Lamb. His delusions are no less dangerous than they are false. ⊕The implements drive the Demiurge like a lashed horse; they fold distances and rotate the heavens. In the Demiurge's thrice-repeated world, it is possible to separate the elements from their occult properties; this is the beginning of magic, the principle of Agrippa.

1. Rule of omen

Within the Demiurge's Axon, the border between the actual and the absolute are degraded. Every sphere thinks, but its thoughts are in a permanent struggle to integrate events and meaning, to turn similarity into repetition and cause into compulsion. The Protoseraph calls these reality-delusions "omens", being prefigurations of the final world.

Every omen that accumulates within a sphere feeds into the resolution of any actions within. A Devil Gun shot under the auspices of ▲ spike might simultaneously be dropped as the result of quicksand ▲▲, or expose the wielder to a wound as a result of a shootout ▲●.

In order to use the rules of Devil Guns it is fundamental to have an extensive collection of omens (their accumulation is key to situations becoming unbearably complex).

• The Sun. ▲● Reveal. ●▲ Reflect. ●● Dry. ▲▲▲ Strike .
• The Moon. ▲● Reveal. ●●● Change. ▲▲▲ Awaken.
• Rain. ▲● Wet. ●▲ Obscure. ●● Deafen. ▲▲ Muddy.
• Drought. ▲● Mirage. ●▲ Thirst. ▲▲▲ Evaporate.
• Quicksand. ●● Delay. ▲▲ Disarm.
• Forest. ▲● Bloom. ●▲ Crackle. ●● Hoot. ▲▲ Howl. ●●● Them. ▲▲▲ Maze.
• Prairie. ●▲ Show. ●●● Overwhelm.
• Night. ▲● Hide. ●▲ Startle. ●● Reveal. ▲▲ Scare.
• Desert. ▲● Thirst. ●▲ Tire.
• Shootout. ▲● Suppress. ●▲ Wound.
• Sniped. ▲● Wound. ●▲ Glint. ●●● Trap.
• Melee. ▲● Disarm. ●▲ Wound. ●● Stun. ▲▲ Grapple.
• Arcane Missile. ▲● Suppress. ●▲ Blind. ●● Wound. ▲▲ Fizzle out.
• Flammiger Wall. ▲● Burn. ●▲ Wound. ●● Fizzle out. ▲▲ Fizzle out.

2. Rule of prototype

All beings within a sphere are ordered in the mind of the Demiurge. The structure of this ordering responds to the rule of prototype. For any given quality, the most representative are more salient in the ability of the Demiurge to recall (create).

Therefore, when manipulating the cerebral folds with the use of an implement, the Heresiarch will often encounter rule-like compulsion in the manner and order of their encounters.

Use of this rule requires preparation. For any implement that might be used by the Heresiarch, there should be a corresponding list of dramatis personae ordered with attention to a certain quality (holiness, sinfulness, number of murders committed, height, wealth, days alive).

3. Rule of encounter

Movement of persons within a sphere happens in two manners. The natural manner involves something akin to physical displacement. It does not require much explanation. Small, localized maps are useful for this purpose, although their reliability diminishes with time as the protean axis of Id encroaches upon the self-organizing mind.

Therefore, when manipulating the cerebral folds with the use of an implement, the Heresiarch will often encounter rule-like compulsion in the manner and order of their encounters.

This rule and the rule of prototype should determine how the majority of entitie.

4. Rule of commandment

The Protoseraph manipulates the Divine Cerebrum to produce a well-ordered existence, one in which all get their due and everything is in its place. The Heresiarch is an unforgivable stain upon this design. For this purpose the Protoseraph has set forth seven commandments that will stain the Heresiarch's iridescent fingers with pseudosin. From his surgery immoral the Protoseraph influences the journey so that it will reach a terrible end.

Commandments are decided in secret when the Heresiarch enters the Axon, and should not change except through the Citrinitas Process. See a common variation:

• Do not kill.
• Do not steal.
• Do not lie.
• Do not touch gold.
• Do not touch rainwater.
• Do not read.
• Do not see a naked body.

5. Rule of interference

The Demiurge's electric spirit makes the world. The Protoseraph has a wretched understanding of the Demiurge's psychism, and so he imposes corrections upon the duplicator's mind.

The duration of one of the four Processes can be defined as one wills. The Process and its duration must be announced in advance.

• Albedo Process. At the end, an implement changes.
• Nigredo Process. At the end, a person dies.
• Citrinitas Process. At the end, a commandment changes.
• Rubedo Process. At the end, add a perpetual omen.
• Azoth Fabrication. At the end, shift spheres.
• Theurgic Divination. Pose a riddle. If unsolved, a different process occurs. If solved, illuminate a sphere transition.
• Goetia Divination. Pose a riddle. If unsolved, a different process occurs. If solved, gain an implement.

Answer Key: The Heresiarch

a. The role

As the Heresiarch, your main concern will be maintaining agency. Because you only start with three taboos, it is difficult to override the Guns: you will end up doing what they want, putting you in positions where you have no choice but to perform evil actions and become depraved. Once you are depraved, it will be difficult to atone (you either have to persuade the Guns to eat sin, or sacrifice Cherubs). Depravity is a straightforward loss condition: if you are depraved when you meet the Protoseraph, you will have no say in the ultimate resolution of things.

Because of the implements and your taboo against delaying the ascent, control of travel is weighted toward your decisions. Careful use of implements will allow you to minimize use of the Guns, although you still want to transgress some commandments so that you might earn Cherubs.

Gnosis is a very important tool to avoid the worst case scenario. By observing what actions turn you impure, you can learn what things you cannot be compelled to do, and lord these over the Guns. Having a variety of Cherubs is essential for facing the Protoseraph, whose powers are beyond understanding.

Becoming wounded puts you in a tough spot, because you can be forced to kill or to backtrack your ascent (putting you in inconvenient situations). This is to be avoided at all costs. However, once you are wounded, you cannot be compelled not to cannibalize a corpse (thereby bringing you back to good health).

The best case scenario: reaching the Protoseraph with starving Guns and a holy self. The Guns disappear, leaving the you to use the mysterious Absolute Gun and your Cherubs to change the world.

The worst case scenario: to reach the Protoseraph while depraved, but having fed all Guns. You will perish to the Protoseraph and only survive as a puppet of your tools.

You can imagine many intermediate scenarios where an imperfect Heresiarch cannot end both the Devil Guns and the Protoseraph in one fell swoop.

b. Preparation

This is a summary of the process for coming up with the Heresiarch. There is not much complexity in "character creation" for the Heresiarch. Since Devil Guns does not demand (by itself) a lot of character bookkeeping, I have not provided a sheet. Just keep in mind the Heresiarch needs to decide these:

• Personal details. Name, physical characteristics, etc. These are important but can just as well be left vague (it's up to the group).
• Religion. Pick the type of penance the Heresiarch does or discuss a new one with the facilitator.
• Principle. Pick the type of Omen the Heresiarch can create or discuss a new one with the facilitator.

c. Actions

This is a summary of what the rules means in terms of calling out actions. Devil Guns has no segregation of systems (e.g. there is no separation between "combat" and "noncombat", or "travel" and "movement").

• Traversal. Call out what implement you are using. If you know the location of someone or something, you can travel by natural means (but this could be considered a nontrivial action and trigger Omens as a result).
• Trivial actions. Things that don't actually have any trick to them can just be done (as long as the Guns can't override you).
• Nontrivial actions. These require a toss of the coin ("trigger"), so they trigger Omens.
• Shooting. This is just a nontrivial action that involves the Guns. Keep in mind this triggers any Gun-specific receiver Omens as well as their barrel effects.
• Eating bones. The only guaranteed healing action. Does not take a trigger, but requires a corpse.
• Ablution. The purification action. Does not take a trigger, but requires secrecy.
• Religion. The action of creating Omens of your own. Check the rule for the specifics of paying the cost.
• Gnosis. The action of guessing a commandment (called a "blasphemy" if you guess wrong).

d. Statuses

This is a summary of what the rules means in terms of temporary conditions.

• Wounded. Puts you one hit away from being incapacitated and subjects you to the whims of the Guns. The only guaranteed way to fix it is via eating bones (or some Gun barrels). Earned by getting hit.
• Impure. Prevents you from reloading. Goes away with ablution. Earned by violating a commandment.
• Depraved. Prevents you from surviving the Protoseraph encounter. Earned by accruing ten unatoned evil actions.

Answer Key: The Devil Guns

a. The role

As a Devil Gun, your main concern will be maintaining agency. Because the Heresiarch is of one mind, they can make sure their interests and their taboos align in order to disobey your commands. Besides, the Heresiarch can wrest control from the Guns by sowing the seeds of dissent. It only takes one of your coreligionists to acquiesce for the consensus to be broken.

This is the main interpersonal struggle for the Devil Gun players: how to keep consensus for actions without being bribed by an intelligent Heresiarch who uses the promise of feeding and sinning to keep the Guns in line.

Keeping an unassailable consensus is a valid strategy, but it could also mean that the Heresiarch acts more carefully and will never acquiese to any non-binding requests (e.g. to break a taboo). Thus, it might be useful to allow your co-Guns to engage in breaches of the consensus to secure individual objectives (feeding, persuading the Heresiarch of doing a type of evil action).

The best case scenario: to reach the Protoseraph with all Guns fed and a depraved Heresiarch. The Heresiarch perishes to the Protoseraph, leaving the Guns to achieve victory by themselves.

The worst case scenario: to reach the Protoseraph while hungry, with a holy Heresiarch. The Guns disappear, leaving the Heresiarch to use his accumulated gifts to succeed.

In an intermediate scenario, some Devil Guns survive the encounter and some do not.

b. Preparation

This is a checklist of things to decide if you're playing a Gun. Since Devil Guns does not demand (by itself) a lot of character bookkeeping, I have not provided a sheet. Just keep in mind each individual Gun needs to decide these:

• Personal details. Name, physical characteristics, etc. These have a lot of leeway (not all guns operate like actual guns: a glove that points in the direction of misfortune is a gun).
• Receiver. This determine's the gun's "base" omen (it's always active when you shoot).
• Barrel. This gives a simple, unique ability.
• Depravity. This is the type of sin you choose to eat.
• Appetite. This is the kind of object you require to be satiated.
• Prestige. This is the type of curse you can inflict by using up satiation.

c. Actions

This is a summary of what the rules means in terms of calling out actions. Devil Guns has no segregation of systems (e.g. there is no separation between "combat" and "noncombat", or "travel" and "movement").

• Compulsion. By agreeing with all the Guns, you can get the Heresiarch to do something they could normally do, as long as it's not a taboo. (See the Heresiarch Answer Key if you are unsure of what these are).
• Sin eating. You can forcefully make the Heresiarch atone for a sin, and this lets you do unusual actions: refuse to shoot (forcing a trigger to fail), force them to break a taboo, or proactively decide whether a trigger will land Spike or Sphere.
• Cursing. Become hungry again to modify an existing Omen.

d. Statuses

This is a summary of what the rules means in terms of temporary conditions.

• Sinful. You add some sins to your tally (see rule of depravity). These are spent during sin eating, but have no effect on you.
• Satiated. You are satiated when you've been fed. You become hungry again after using a curse.

Answer Key: The Protoseraph

WIP.