321vas - Jinx In Hell - Replies To Comments

Jinx in Hell Replies to Comments Jim Vassilakos ([email protected]) Been a busy month, and I didn’t have the gumption to complete the next chapter of the Jinx in Hell series, however, as the deadline is today, I was thinking that perhaps I could reply to a few of the comments.

Robert Dushay (319) asks if Jinx is untroubled by Hell, especially the treatment of females. I asked Kurt, Jinx’s player, about this, and he replied that he tries not to look at the society of Hell through a lens tinted by the values and assumptions of USA circa 2002. Jinx is from an AD&D multiverse, and save for her experiences among the drow and in a few other rare instances, she has never known a female dominated society, or even one that takes public measures toward equality among the sexes. Hence, Hell for her is simply an extreme example of the way things are. Even so, the problems for females in the Hells are not insurmountable. Malarea, her mother, was considered a candidate for ruler of Dis, and Baalzephon (another female devil who has been mentioned but not yet introduced) is the plane’s current prime minister and effectively the interim ruler. Hence, it is possible, however difficult, for females to climb the social ladder of the Hells. In any case, Jinx isn’t sure she even want to go that route, at least not at the moment. Moving up the ladder of the hierarchy means attracting attention, and that often means incurring jealously and making enemies. She realizes that her current situation is rather tenuous and is rightfully concerned as to what will become of her after her present mission, the interrogation of Malarea, regardless of its outcome. It is at this point that Mephistopheles might decide to assign her elsewhere, perhaps as a consort or maybe as his own personal plaything. She doesn’t particularly relish either of these prospects, even though either one would allow her a certain degree of security. I think that what Jinx really wants is to be free to the extent that she can pursue her own destiny, but attached to a society in such a way that she can make use of its assets and can form

mutually beneficial relationships with powerful people. The trick, of course, is that being a female in Hell, she will either need to attach herself to a powerful devil who can afford her these things, or she will need to find some niche of untouchability perhaps in the form of political irreplacability (it’s not what you know, but who you know). But, of course, at this stage, she isn’t close to either of these options. The last alternative, if things get too hot, is that Jinx could flee the Hells. Of course, she would need protection, as such an action would make her an enemy of Mephistopheles himself, but if the worst comes to pass, there is always her grandmother, Lolth, who Jinx could turn to for help. So far, however, Jinx doesn’t trust “Granny” as far as she can throw her. Lolth is a demoness, after all. Plus, Jinx has never actually met Lolth and so has no idea to what to expect.

Simon Reeve (319) mentions that devils in his game would be more spirituous / less organic in composition. I think this is a cool idea, but I have some reservations about it. On the one hand, it would allow gender switching, opening up possibilities for character development which simply aren’t present in the game as it stands. Nonetheless, with these possibilities, it might be harder to establish specific character personalities. Every NPC might have two distinct personalities, one when they are male and the other when they’re female. I’m probably sounding very sexist, but I feel that gender plays a huge role in personality, and it would be difficult for me to imagine the ramification of a society where individuals can change their sex at will. Also, for myself at least, I feel the Hells profit from their gender-bias component in that the society as a whole has a certain character, a wicked unfairness, which I think would be otherwise lacking. Nonetheless, this idea of spirituousamorphism might be an idea for the upand-coming generation of gamers to explore. For myself, I’d have to really think about it before attempting it.

Robert Dushay (320) writes that sociosexual relations in Hell might be very different from human sadism. Males & females might have different spheres of interest. Or the society might be harem-oriented, where independent females are not permitted. It would require some thought as to the role of sex in Hell (reproduction, pleasure, pain, reward?) and whether Hell is supposed to be a dark, twisted mirror of human society. I think I was shooting for this dark, twisted mirror. Whenever we see depictions of satanic rituals in the movies, there is usually some sexual component, possibly with sadistic overtones. I’m reminded of the movie Eyes Wide Shut, where Tom Cruise finds his way into just such an affair, and there are certainly other examples. This was part of my thinking when I decided to portray the Hells with this gender-biased component. On the question of independent females and such, I’m inclined to imagine that perhaps there is very little independence in the Hells for anyone, male or female, but rather that the entire society is structured as tiers of masters & slaves with a legal system in place for adjudicating contracts between nobles, ratification of promotions and demotions, and dealing with the petty disobedience or incompetence of institutional servants and the mistakes of non-residents. How, exactly, this gets implemented, I’m still not sure. Would be interested in seeing more comments.

Patrick Riley (320) mentions the possibility that striga relate to stirges in a legendary context, being the latin term for witches who could polymorph into magical killer owls. Interesting observation. It’s funny how many AD&D monsters are lifted from stories or legends in some manner. Some are obvious. Others, like this example, are not. There are a lot of other comments that I want to get to, but I’m going to hold back until later. In the meantime, hope you’re enjoying the series, and feel free to send me your thoughts.