Dolores – concept and statistics

This is supplemental to Episode 100. which went live early. To quote it:

The poem which follows is a prayer, and a mystery initiation script, for the cult of the Infernal Saint of Sorrow.  I know that the D&D Planescape people have used it for their setting as well, but I’m not familiar with their work, so any resemblance is due to shared source material..

Dolores is the Infernal Saint of Sorrow. Infernal Saints were described briefly in an earlier edition of Ars Magica, and I’m bringing the idea back, for this character.

An infernal saint is technically a dead  human being. The human body is given an extended life, if it can be called that, by a possessing demonic force. This is a reward given by the lords of Hell to humans who exemplify a vice. This encourages other diabolists  to attempt to steal the role, by performing acts of increasing evil.. In Dolores’s case the human and the demon have been paired for so long that they are effectively a single mind, albeit one with a divided internal narrative.

Infernal saints have weaknesses demons do not have: they are, in many senses, human. This means they can be permanently laid to rest. Sadly the thing which dwells inside them granting them power, usually finds a new host, or is replaced by another demon that takes up the mantel of possessing force. They can also, technically, be redeemed. It’s almost unheard of, but God cheats sometimes.

The one power infernal saints have which demons do not, generally, possess is that they are capable of using virtues to perform vices. They can plan, because they have patience and foresight, which demons lack. The competition to remain an Infernal Saint is also a sort of filter: player characters are unlikely to meet incompetent or indecisive infernal saint, because they don’t survive long. This makes them formidable adversaries.

Dolores interests us, because she masterminded the  Corruption of House Tytalus. The sybil worship of the necromantic cult from which the House rose, and its Cthonic fixations, led to an attempt to call up the embodiment of Death Herself. In this it seems they were attempting to call the opposite of the sort of elemental creator-spirits which they call the Titanoi. They sought the embodiment of the natural process of dying, rather a faerie goddess, but they refereed to the creature as “Proserpine” because that’s how she is described in the texts of the Archnecromantrix Gurona.

The creature summoned seemed to be Proserpine. Cthonic rituals are always risky, though. Delores gradually corrupted first the leaders, then the magical symbolism of the House. Perhaps Tsagilla was tricked into believing that she had discovered Dolores’s identity accidentally? Perhaps she was tricked into thinking she could become the Saint of Sorrow? Perhaps, at the final confrontation, Dolores revealed that she, unlike so many creatures from Hell, could lay snares that stoked the Pride of her rival, the draw in her prey implacably. In the end, Tsagilla bowed, and died, and did not regret her death. Death is a form of worship for the followers of the Lady of Pain: suicide, at her altar, grants them, they believe, a place in her Infernal retinue.

Who can say if this is true? Theologically it is bad: no human can become a demon: but infernal ghosts exist, and with sufficient dark power poured through them, who is to suggest their limit?

Dolores: the Lady of Pain

Order: Infernal Saint (new)

Infernal Might: 40 (scaled as Princess of the Furies) (Corpus)

Characteristics: Int +5, Per +3, Pre +7, Com +5, Str +2, Sta +7, Dex +2, Qik +4

Size: Usually between -1 and +1. Her appearance varies with the fashions of the country she inhabits.

Confidence: 5 (15 points)

Virtues and Flaws: Unknown. Change as relevant to your story.

Personality Traits: Cruel +6, Passionate +6. Which of these is higher is a matter of some interest to her followers. Some suggest the demon is one and the human the other.

Reputations: Lady of Pain +9

Combat:
Kisses like poison*:  Init +5, Attack +11, Defense +11, Damage +2**

Touches that causes pain*:  Init +5, Attack +12, Defense +12, Damage +4**

*Does not include specialisation (skin contact)

**Does not include contact damage from Wounds the Bloom power (+15, Perdo)

Soak: 6, but appears to be -1. She has a body that deliberately suffers a great deal of superficial damage, but because of her passionate fury power, her injuries are less incapacitating than normal.

Wound Penalties: -1 (1–15), Incapacitated (16–20), Dead (21+)

Abilities: unclear, but assume Brawl 9 (when contact is made with skin), Carouse 9 (debauchery), Charm 9 (sinful acts), Houe Tytalus Lore 9 (was there when it happened), Infernal Lore 8 (Order of Hermes).

Powers:

Envisioning 1 or 5 points, Init 0, Mentem: Can enter dreams and cause waking dreams.

Form is shapeshifted human: 0 points, Init. 0 : Technically does not coagulate from ambient matter like a demon. Actually shifts shape into ambient moisture, travels and then turns back into her human shape. Her human shape is always beautiful and female, but can vary to suit the culture she is visiting.

I could hurt thee but pain would delight thee: 0 points, 0 Init. Dolores does not suffer Wound penalties, except on Defense totals.

Obsession: 1 point, Init -5, Vim: Can impose the desire for suffering..

The Serpent Oracle: 2 points, Init. +2: Dolores may cast any Intelligo spell for 2 Might, and automatically knows the context and likely outcome of actions made in response to the information gained.

Shroud the Stench of the Pit: variable points, Init. +7, Vim. This Power makes another Infernal Power appear to be aligned to the Magical or Faerie Realm, at the demon’s choice. It has the same cost as the power it disguises.

Waxing Tide of Humors: 3 points, Init +6, Mentem. This power causes passion to overcome sense. A character can resist this effect with a roll against an ease Factor of 9, modified by Traits like Calm.

Wounds that bloom: 3 points, Init -5, Perdo: Makes Dolores’s touch do +15 additional damage for the rest of a battle.

Weakness: The Virgin Mary. The cult of the Virgin hasn’t really taken off yet in 1220, but it gains a lot of power over the 13th Century. When people start wandering around with Servite scapulars, Dolores is going to go after that Order.

Vis: 8 pawns, Perdo

Appearance: A languid woman, filled with delightful venom. She changes appearance to suit the appetites of the local culture.