The myth of pure evil is the belief that evil exists separately from individuals, or that evil exists within people as something like what we traditionally think of as an evil 'force', driving them to perform evil acts. If pure evil exists, however, then how can we hold people accountable for their actions? ... if evil does exist, then will we always be plagued with violence, war, genocide, crime, rape and other evils? Michael Shermer, The Science of Good and Evil.
Time Bandits, by Terry Gilliam
A Damned Stakes Tree bears Damned Stakes fruit. The antagonists' power and goals must reflect the core concept, as must the overall mood, as must the initial arc and Conspyramid. Last week we laid the groundwork; this week we see the result.
The interesting thing about pure evil is that it implies so much about the way the universe works, and how we interact with the universe as people. In that world there is an actual thing - it might even have physical substance - which is separate from us and which is responsible for everything we abhor. Were it not for this pure evil there would be no violence, war, genocide, crime, rape, and a host of other things. We would remain as we were in the Garden.
Instead we bumble about, occasionally stumbling into pure evil and getting fried alive. Moreover since pure evil is literally everywhere it's impossible to avoid stumbling into it. The aftershock is cataclysmic. Death, destruction, turmoil - these are Evil's hallmarks.
Bruce Eder once wrote of Time Bandits:
The plans of David Warner’s Evil Genius take the form of building without purpose—he intends to re-create a world to suit his own needs, starting with computers and fast-breeder reactors ... in sharp contrast to the Time Bandits, who created trees and shrubbery before they got above their station. Kevin’s parents reveal themselves as unknowing and uncaring agents of Evil with their fixation on blind consumption, the mortal corollary to the Evil Genius’s desire for construction for its own sake. Their fate—utter destruction as a consequence of ignoring their son’s warnings—makes for the perfect denouement.
The implication being that there is an order, a design, created by a Supreme Being to whom Evil Genius is always in opposition. Where the Supreme Being plans for A, Evil Genius goes straight to Z. From shrubbery to the atom bomb, with no means of stopping this headlong progression to despair.
So what does this mean for the campaign?
It means the Conspiracy's endgame must always be Damned Stakes, but it goes further than that. The agents should always be reminded of what will happen should they fail, and that means wherever they turn, whatever they do, there is Pure Evil, the charred rock in the microwave that destroys anything it touches. The people they trust are seduced or destroyed by Pure Evil. The institutions, the Symbols they revere are corrupted by Pure Evil. Every campaign arc should remind them of this, either because Pure Evil won or because they managed to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat at the last minute.
This is Stakes, after all. The agents aren't playing at the low roller table. It's fate-of-nations time. If Jason Statham doesn't pull off something pretty nifty then hundreds of thousands of people suffer.
Against them are the Vampires, and this time the bloodsuckers want it all. They're agents of Pure Evil, which means they exist outside the established order and actively oppose it. There's no question as to their motives or their methods. Wherever they are, death, destruction and despair follow. If a vampire establishes a lair in, say, an apartment building, then soon afterward everyone in the building suffers for it. The vampire doesn't have to do anything to make that happen. The vampire is Pure Evil. Just being there is enough to ruin lives.
There is also some form of Pure Good, the Ralph Richardson to David Warner's Evil Genius. Distant, unknowable, imperious - but it's there. Else those crucifixes wouldn't work, as Banes. For Holy Water to have any kind of function, there must be something Holy out there to give it strength. That said, even with Pure Good there are still wars, violence, despair. The agents can't rely on Pure Good to ride in like the cavalry and save the day.
Of course, it might be interesting if the crucifix didn't work ...
OK, all that being said, it's time to talk specifics.
The antagonists' power and goals must reflect the core concept.
Since this is Damned Stakes, the antagonists must be Pure Evil and be trying to achieve Stakes-level goals - something cataclysmic for the world as a whole, and possibly more than the world. Storming the gates of Heaven, that sort of thing.
As must the overall mood.
Every single scenario has got to drive this home, on the micro and macro level. Everything the vampires touch turns to pure evil. They do not create; they seduce, then destroy. There should be at least one reminder of this per scenario, whether it be an NPC brought low, an institution, or a nation.
As must the initial arc and Conspyramid.
So much to choose from ...
Well, since we're talking Damnation and that's usually a theosophical conversation, it seems reasonable to start with religion. We need something that has at least an outpost or a history in every major location we want to use in the campaign. Something rife with scandal that can be exploited for plot.
Sounds like the Catholic Church will fit that bill nicely.
The Church's scandals are many and various, but Vati-leaks and its financial misdeeds are perhaps the most plot-useful. People tend to forget that the Church is rich and has an established, impressive diplomatic corps. Imagine what the Conspyramid could do if it could put its chosen representative in control of the Section for General Affairs.
The Vati-Leaks scandal, briefly, began when a highly placed official leaked information to the press claiming that Catholic construction project tenders were wildly overpriced, suggesting corruption and bribery. The Pope, Benedict XVI, appointed a team of highly-placed clergy to uncover the source of the leaks, and one of the consequences of this investigation was the discovery of hitherto unsuspected financial misdeeds. In 2012 the Pope's butler, Paolo Gabriele, was given a reduced sentence of 18 months for supplying confidential documents to journalists. The butler claimed he did so to combat corruption within the Church, and rather than spend actual time in prison he was allowed to serve his time within the Vatican itself. Rumor had it this was because everyone feared he'd spill more secrets if he was kept in a state-run institution. Pope Benedict resigned shortly thereafter, becoming the first Pope in more than 700 years to do so. Before he resigned, he made sure to pardon his butler. Paolo Gabriele died in 2020 at the age of 54, after a long illness.
From a Guardian article written at the time of Gabriele's arrest:
Investigators searching through the "chaotic" collection of stolen papal letters found in Gabriele's apartment at the Vatican also found gifts meant for Pope Benedict, including a cheque for €100,000 (£78,00), a gold nugget and a 16th century copy of the Aeneid.
Gabriele's lawyer, Carlo Fusco, said the cheque had ended up between the letters by mistake and that Gabriele had not sought to cash it. Gabriele told investigators he had borrowed the copy of the Aeneid to show his son's school teacher and intended to give it back.
In another Guardian article:
When one officer said documents were found with the phrase "to be destroyed" written in German – the language of Bavaria-born Benedict, Gabriele smiled.
The search turned up documents that had been published in Nuzzi's book. "For us that was the first proof," said Stefano de Santis.
Police from the tiny city state's police force also recalled finding documents about masking mobile phone calls and a large number of computer USBs.
Police inspector Stefano Carli said there were more than 1,000 documents relevant to the investigation, and these were hidden among other documents, which a second officer said totalled tens of thousands.
If ever there was an excuse for Conspyramid shenanigans, this is it. You've got everything from ancient, crumbling texts to computer files, fiddled financial records and gold nuggets, and a scandal that goes right to the Pope. On top of all that you have a high-ranking Vatican official, now disgraced, who's on his deathbed and might be looking for a way to cheat the reaper.
So, the first arc begins with, let's say, an Italian journalist whose recent work threatens to expose yet another Vati-leaks. Is Pope Francis trying to keep his predecessor's misdeeds a secret, or is there something worse hidden behind the cover-up? Does the former Pope's disgraced butler still have some of his old boss' papers hidden away, or does he perhaps have some more esoteric tomes in a bank vault? Why is the Enigmatic Monsignor spending so much time at the bankers' Klopstock & Billreuth, and does it have anything to do with those old accusations of money laundering? All of which is leading up to that moment after the funeral, when the agents get to find out whether the butler shall rise again ...
Stakes: vast sums of money, corruption at an intra-national level, the potential ruination of a Pope with all the damage that implies to an institution that claims 1.8 billion baptized worshippers worldwide.
The Fruit: damaged lives, for a start. Destroyed faith. Churches, once revered, falling into decay. Symbols tarnished, solace gone. That's before you consider the many, many murders that could result from a Conspyramid like this. The potential for Mafia nodes, which spirals off into all kinds of plot possibilities.
Perhaps more importantly though is the potential for seduction, which is one of Damned's signifiers. Seduction of the good, the great, the beneficent. Honest people who want only to do what is best, whose efforts are perverted into the service of a vast money-making machine. The cop who believes in the law, overpowered and ultimately subsumed into a cause that believes itself above the law. The spy who believes she's doing what's best for her country, only to discover that the organization she works for is part of the cover-up.
The Damned Stakes Tree bears Damned Stakes Fruit.
Enjoy!
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