The Pope! How many divisions has he got?

[Wakshani]

The Vatican Secret Service may still be a thing.

Maybe.

Possibly.

Not just Secret Service. I think I recall hearing somewhere that the Vatican has thermonuclear weapons. Not missiles or silos or anything like that, obviously, but I heard that they had one or more of the somewhat portable, low-yield variety of warhead. Has anyone looked into this, or am I just imagining it?

If so, well, nukes work just fine under Cyberpapal axioms. And there'd be no missile for CP anti-ballistic defenses to shoot down, so that might be a deterrent to Malraux right there.

Oh man, if you go by rumors, then the Vatican has a secret base on the Moon, ninja assassins, a vast worldwide conspiracy where they run everything, ancient demons … there's a LOT out there.

Turns out that when you're a thousand year-old central point for a mystery religion, people will tell stories about you that get blown up in the retelling. Who knew?

((But the cooler ones can be totallyc ribbed from for your game. If you want the Pope to be running a Euro-version of the Delphi Council, with agents running around and pulling relics and Eternity Shards out of secret Papal vaults? Go for it! The story's the thing!)

[mystic101]

((But the cooler ones can be totallyc ribbed from for your game. If you want the Pope to be running a Euro-version of the Delphi Council, with agents running around and pulling relics and Eternity Shards out of secret Papal vaults? Go for it! The story's the thing!)

Well, darn it. I wish I could remember where I heard that, it might be a good source of “good ideas”. Eh, it was probably twenty years or more ago, though.

I actually wouldn’t be surprised to hear they had a few shards and hard points stocked away, and weren’t sharing with the DC. The world isn’t as happy-sharey at Social 23 as it would be at 24 or more.

[Savioronedge]

_Hudson Hawk_

[Count Thalim]

Not just Secret Service. I think I recall hearing somewhere that the Vatican has thermonuclear weapons. Not missiles or silos or anything like that, obviously, but I heard that they had one or more of the somewhat portable, low-yield variety of warhead. Has anyone looked into this, or am I just imagining it?

If so, well, nukes work just fine under Cyberpapal axioms. And there'd be no missile for CP anti-ballistic defenses to shoot down, so that might be a deterrent to Malraux right there.

There was a series of fiction books by Ken Macleod (starts with The Stone Canal) which was heavy on the ministates. In this one character was queried on how they got hold of some nukes and mentioned that it was a Vatican stockpile they had acquired via diplomatic bags.
The issue of whether the Swiss Guard ever actually told the Pope what they had was raised in it...

I do remember a wonderful quote. "The Vatican. The world's first microstate guarded by a mercenary army"

[Matthew Surridge]

I actually wouldn’t be surprised to hear they had a few shards and hard points stocked away, and weren’t sharing with the DC. The world isn’t as happy-sharey at Social 23 as it would be at 24 or more.

Yeah, I'd assume they've got a whole bunch of shards hidden in the Vatican Museum, the Secret Archives, and so forth. They not even know some of these items have become shards. One imagines an adventure with Storm Knights frantically searching through the secret chambers of the Vatican to find an Eternity Shard in the nick of time to prevent an attack … while coming up through the catacombs are bad guys from the Land Below …

[Big Lurker]

_Hudson Hawk_

I was thinking the Helsing anime/manga since miracles have 'woken up' due to the War...

Edit: But that may be more Orrosh territory...

[darrell]

I have to admit that I like the oTorg "living hardpoint" idea.

Yeah, but TE specifically excludes people .... although ... a person becoming a hardpoint after death is an interesting path.

But they've also said, to paraphrase, "story tops rules".

[mystic101]

But they've also said, to paraphrase, "story tops rules".

In that case, the bubble car is definitely going to become a mobile talisman/hardpoint.

[Atama]

Just imagine this thing with a mounted turret.

[johntfs]

Some things to remember about Core Earth. First it's a deep wellspring of Possibility energy. Second, it's axioms of Magic 9: Social:23 Spirit: 10 and Tech 23 are just what Core Earth level are now. As the Social and Tech axioms were lower in times past it's easily possible that Core Earth's Magic and Spirit axioms were much higher. At Magic 19 permanent magic items are possible. At Spirit 14 items and artifacts that grant miracles/powers are possible.

Suppose we subtract 15 each from Social and Tech, dropping them to 8s, and then we add enough to raise Magic and Spirit each to 19. If we squint a bit that's a decent pass at the mythological version of Ancient Greece. So, you could very possibly have items and artifacts from those ancient ages tucked away and surviving. Hell, you have have stuff from Atlantis or Ancient Aliens (maybe the Vatican really does have a Moon/Mars base). And that's just written history, the last 6000 years or so. An eyeblink compared to the 4.5 billion year old Earth. Who knows what kind of civilizations (human or not) may have risen and fallen (or departed) during prehistoric times? You could pretty much put anything you wanted anywhere you wanted in Core Earth and it could potentially make sense.