History TabletopGame / Nephilim

* {{Metaplot}}: "The Revelation" (read: Y2K) was the driving plot of 2nd edition, primarily through the published campaign ''The Chronicles of the Apocalypse''. This lead into the revealing of the [=Ar-KaÏm=] and the 3rd edition of the game, which changed the apocalyptic focus to the 2012 predictions.

* WhatDoYouMeanItsNotSymbolic: The game's cosmology is drawn from virtually every occult tradition, but especially Kabbalah.

According to the game, the universe is run by various magic forces (Ka), which, colliding with each other, made the world as we know it. Earth is subjected to five main elemental forces: water, fire, earth, air and moon. It was first the home of [=KaÏm=] (union of different elements, with a conscience) and Saurians (actually the dinosaurs... except they were ultra-intelligent and mastered the Moon-Ka). The Saurians, in their madness, decided to create a new Ka, the Black Moon, which threatened the equilibrium of the planet, forcing the Nephilim to plan their annihilation. Now sole masters of the Earth, some Nephilim reunited in the artificial Island of Atlantis, attempting to induce consciousness in various animals, and therefore creating the homo sapiens as we know it, through vicious experiments. Shortly after, a giant meteor filled with an unknown Ka (Orichalka) hit the Earth; this Ka was so incompatible with the [=KaÏm=]'s constitution it nearly destroyed them and forced them to possess human bodies and take over their real owner's consciousness, changing bodies as time passed. Humans, however, had seized the opportunity to get rid of the [=KaÏm=]'s tyranny: their secret societies fabricated weapons made of Orichalka, forcing them to make their existence a secret.

* ScienceIsWrong: While the game repeatedly states this is the case, it is actually subverted. Science turns out to be mostly accurate, except that the dinosaurs had an advanced civilization and human evolution was altered by the [=KaÏm=]. In truth, it seems to be more like Science Is Incomplete than anything else. Nephilim even refer to magic as "occult science" and [[SufficientlyAnalyzedMagic treat it like an actual science.]]

* OurGhostsAreDifferent: The Selenim sourcebook goes into great detail into how ghosts work. Essentially, human Solar-Ka can sometimes survive the death of the body, retaining its consciousness, though it generally has a "shelf life" of around 300 years, after which the body is too decayed to retain its Solar-Ka. The resulting ghosts can have a variety of motivations, including unrequited love and revenge, with the more strong-willed ones manifesting as poltergeists, but a few of them become insanely evil and even try to ''eat'' the other ghosts. Selenim are uniquely able to communicate with and help these ghosts, and put down the crazy and evil ones. The premise is somewhat similar to ''{{Necroscope}}'', but ''much'' less idealistic.

This seems to have been the idea at the origin of Nephilim, created in 1992 by the french publisher house Multisim. The game would prove popular among experienced gamemasters, but its difficulty also made it quite obscure to the eyes of the more casual gamers. The first edition was published in 1992, followed by a second edition in 1996 which revised the rules and continued the metaplot, leading into a 3rd edition in 2001 that dispensed with the BRP system all together for a d20-based system that described attributes using words instead of numbers. Multisim then went into bankruptcy around 2003 during the French RPG industry crash, putting an end to the legacy of Nephilim and the rights to which have been floating in legal limbo ever since. Its rights were however bought back by Ubik / Edge Entertainment who published an introductory scenario to the 3rd edition called ''Nephilim: Initiation'' in 2007. In late 2012, [[https://nephilim20ans.jux.com/ a 4th edition was announced]] to commemorate the game's 20th anniversary. AndTheFandomRejoiced.

This seems to have been the idea at the origin of Nephilim, created in 1992 by the french publisher house Multisim. The game would prove popular among experienced gamemasters, but its difficulty also made it quite obscure to the eyes of the more casual gamers. Three editions/revisions were published on 1992, 1996 and 2001. Multisim then went into bankruptcy around 2003, putting an end to the legacy of Nephilim. Its rights were however bought back by Ubik who published a new initiation scenario on 2007, though they seem to have no plans to do anything new with the franchise as of now. [[http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/index.php?cPath=74_107 The complete Chaosium translation of the game is available at DriveThruRPG.]]

The English adaption of the game was canceled after only a few books were published due to low sales. Some of the writers got together to write a 2nd edition, but plans for this fizzled out. Meanwhile, the original French game received a 2nd edition in the mid 1990's which revised the rules and continued the metaplot, leading into a 3rd edition at the dawn of the 2000's that dispensed with the BRP system all together for a d20-based system that described attributes using words instead of numbers. However, Multisim went bankrupt in 2004 during the French RPG industry crash, and the rights to ''Nephilim'' have been floating in legal limbo ever since. Edge Entertainment published an introductory scenario to the 3rd edition called ''Nephilim: Initiation," but nothing else came of it. There was also talk of a 4th edition being planned, but this has also dissolved.

* WhatCouldHaveBeen: Chaosium was working to produce sourcebooks that included ''Selenim'' (detailing the Unnamed Arcanum, the Cult of Lilith, the Xibalbans, the Yama Kings, and Black Magic), ''Slaying the Dragon'' (detailing extensively revised Alchemy rules), ''Immortal Asia'' (detailing the Xian-ren, Wu Xing, Martial Arts, Taoist Alchemy, and Feng Shui), and expanded rules for summoning (detailing warding circles, magical names, and bargaining, plus a gazetteer of the Worlds of Kabbalah), but the line was canceled before they could be released. However, the two surviving chapters of ''Slaying the Dragon'' (the history of alchemy and the revised rules, respectively) have been [[http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/nephilim-ascendant/ made available on a certain Yahoo! group.]] The other two chapters of ''Slaying the Dragon'', and the majority of the ''Selenim'' notes (save for a backstory overview, a FAQ, and character creation rules), have been LostForever; ''Immortal Asia'' and the summoning expansion never went beyond the conceptual stage.

* ReptilesAreAbhorrent: The ever-rebellious Cult of the Dragon, hated by most of the other secret societies; they worship natural forces and powers and let them free without any regard to human life.

-->-Second sentence. Written on the page after the first sentence.

* AncientTomb: While the game was canceled before anything came of it, Chaosium originally intended for magical artefacts called "sarcophagi" to play an important role in the Selenim's path to Agartha. In ancient times, Selenim created special sarcophagi to collect Solar-Ka directly and craddle their fragile Black Moon-Ka, but later found humans to be a much richer source in this regard. The Nephilim used the principles of the sarcophagi to create the first stasises; later they crudely duplicated the sarcophagi to build mastabas and pyramids in alignment with the stars, with massive amounts of Solar-Ka sacrificed at the Pharaoh's burial, and then used them to progress to Agartha through centuries of silent contemplation.

* EmotionEater: Selenim must harvest Solar-Ka from humans experiencing heightened emotional states (a process known as "assuaging"). Most Selenim will deliberately manipulate human beings to engender the emotions they prefer; the Selenim sourcebook cites [[{{Othello}} Iago]] as an example of assuaging jealousy.

* GaiasVengeance: The Cult of the Dragon.

* HumanSacrifice: Subverted. The Mystics sacrifice humans possessed by Nephilim for their magic rituals... it's hilarious when you learn that they actually are supposed to ''worship'' Nephilim. "It brings them closer to their divine nature," they say.

* {{PersonalityPowers}}/{{PsychoactivePowers}}: Introduced in ''Chronicle of the Awakenings'', Nephilim Metamorphoses are controlled by a set of "Personality Traits," a measurement of how much the Nephilim understands and represents that emotion. Had the ''Selenim'' sourcebook been released in English, Emotional Traits would have applied to Selenim Imago (their version of Metamorphosis), representing what emotions they preferred to feed upon, which in turn would reflect their own emotional states.

* RiddleMeThis: As "Magic" is the game is created through the power of words, it is a common way to seal/open a place.

* HellFire: powerful Djinni get their hair replaced by incandescent fire. Meaning that this sort of fire doesn't need any combustion to be created...

* HumanSacrifice: subverted. The Mystics sacrifice humans possessed by Nephilim for their magic rituals... it's hilarious when you learn that they actually are supposed to ''worship'' Nephilim. "It brings them closer to their divine nature," they say.

* LightIsNotGood: if you encounter a secret society with benevolent ideals, be assured that it WILL become crazily fanatic and WON'T hesitate to wipe everything out of its way. Even other "rival" benevolent powers. On top of that, Angels have no alignment obligations, just personality guidelines.

* OurMonstersAreDifferent: everything. According to the game, supernatural creatures that are common in human folklore were inspired by the different species of Nephilim, without actually understanding their true nature. Applies to: Angels, Elves, Genies, Gorgons, Mermaids, Phoenixes, Sea Monsters, Vampires, and Werewolves. Amongst others...

* PunyEarthlings: without Orichalka to defend themselves any human is pretty much defenseless against Nephilim possession. Humans however have their own Ka (Sun-Ka) which may allow them to regain control at times.

* RiddleMeThis: as "Magic" is the game is created through the power of words, it is a common way to seal/open a place.

* SourceBook: ''dear God.'' The amount of overly-complicated supplementary material is enough to give you asthma. The English adaption, [[{{Cancellation}} not so much]].

* FishPeople: when they posses a human, the Hydrim (Nephilim with predominant Water-Ka) begin to gain fish-like physical characteristics.

* GorgeousGorgon: it's in their nature... Humans are fascinated by them but also repulsed by their characteristics.

* CharacterLevel: subverted. You can start with an uber-powerful character with thousands of years of experience already behind him, as every new level comes with new unpleasant prices. Playing a powerful character can actually be quite tedious because of their complicated new limitations.

* DarkIsNotEvil: the Onirim (Nephilim with predominant Moon-Ka) and Selenim. Some of them can actually be quite decent despite their absurdly roguish nature (if Onirim) or extremely morbid tastes (if Selenim).

Everyone loves conspiracy theories. Everyone loves cracked-up stories about the hidden history behind History. For all we know, BeethovenWasAnAlienSpy...I know! How about we made a role-playing tabletop game based on the sole purpose of perpetrating this trope, with magic entities trying to take over the world through secret societies?

* BlackMagic: the magic of the Selenim (Nephilim whose Ka have been replaced with Black Moon-Ka). They can speak with and reanimate the dead, summon ''things'' from the Black Moon fields, and create an idealized "sculpture" of themselves that eventually becomes a pocket universe.

* DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu: happens regularly, since Nephilim, especially those of the Hierophant Arcanum, tend to pose themselves as gods to manipulate humans. However the surviving Saurians, desperately trying to escape from the voids where they have been confined, fit the trope better.

* VampireVannabe: The Cultes des Goules is a secret society dedicated to serving the Selenim by, among other things, performing human sacrifice. They don't seem to really know all that much about the Selenim, as some of them try to emulate their masters by engaging in acts of cannibalism.

* BackgroundMagicField: The Earth is composed of five elemental fields, ethers from the Sun that reflect off the planets and into Earth. These provide the energy that makes magic, and indeed ''all'' natural processes (like tectonics and the weather), possible. These fields continually travel across the Earth's surface, forming ley lines that can be charted through astrology. Magical creatures are sustained entirely by these fields and require no other nourishment to survive, in contrast to plant and animal life (which were originally created by the interaction of the Solar and Lunar fields a billion years ago).

** Selenim can also "contaminate" ordinary humans with Black Moon-Ka, which has some interesting side-effects. Humans contaminated this way will reanimate if killed, and will remain immortal as long as they are provided with Black Moon-Ka. Black Moon-Ka is also highly addictive and can induce various morbid psychoses.
** While the game was canceled before anything came of it, Chaosium originally intended for Sarcophagi (described as ''"the sepulcher that would sustain the tenuous fields of the Black Moon"'') to play an important role in the Selenim's path to Agartha. Speculations on the mailing list included them being used to collect Solar-Ka directly (this would make sense, as when the Nephilim crudely duplicated the Sarcophagi to build Mastabas and later Pyramids, these tombs were build in alignment with the stars, had massive amounts of Solar-Ka sacrificed at the Pharaoh's burial, and were then used them to progress to Agartha through centuries of silent contemplation), and a writer implied that the Xibalbans (Mesoamerican Selenim) were using them to collect enough Black Moon-Ka to slowly rebuild the Black Moon itself before their plans were spoiled by Cortez, who was actually a Nephilim.

This seems to have been the idea at the origin of Nephilim, created in 1992 by the french publisher house Multisim. The game would prove popular among experienced gamemasters, but its difficulty also made it quite obscure to the eyes of the more casual gamers. Three editions/revisions were published on 1992, 1996 and 2001. Multisim then went into bankruptcy around 2003, putting an end to the legacy of Nephilim. Its rights were however bought back by Ubik who published a new initiation scenario on 2007, though they seem to have no plans to do anything new with the franchise as of now. [[strike:Most manuals and updates are now sold out, which encourages gamemasters to download illegal pdf files of the books in question so they can play the game.]] [[http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/index.php?cPath=74_107 The complete Chaosium translation of the game is available at DriveThruRPG.]]

* OurGhostsAreDifferent: The Selenim sourcebook goes into great detail into how ghosts work. Essentially, human Solar-Ka can sometimes survive the death of the body, retaining its consciousness, though it generally has a "half-life" of around 300 years, after which the body is too decayed to retain its Solar-Ka. The resulting ghosts can have a variety of motivations, including unrequited love and revenge, with the more strong-willed ones manifesting as poltergeists, but a few of them become insanely evil and even try to ''eat'' the other ghosts. Selenim are uniquely able to communicate with and help these ghosts, and put down the crazy and evil ones. The premise is somewhat similar to ''{{Necroscope}}'', but ''much'' less idealistic.

* WhatCouldHaveBeen: Chaosium was working to produce sourcebooks that included ''Selenim'' (detailing the Unnamed Arcanum, the Cult of Lilith, the Xibalbans, the Yama Kings, and Black Magic), ''Slaying the Dragon'' (detailing extensively revised Alchemy rules), ''Immortal Asia'' (detailing the Xian-ren, Wu Xing, Martial Arts, Taoist Alchemy, and Feng Shui), and expanded rules for summoning (detailing warding circles, magical names, and bargaining, plus a gazetteer of the Astral Plane), but the line was canceled before they could be released. However, the two surviving chapters of ''Slaying the Dragon'' (the history of alchemy and the revised rules, respectively) have been [[http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/nephilim-ascendant/ made available on a certain Yahoo! group.]] The other two chapters of ''Slaying the Dragon'', and the majority of the ''Selenim'' notes (save for a backstory overview, a FAQ, and character creation rules), have been LostForever; ''Immortal Asia'' and the summoning expansion never went beyond the conceptual stage.

* WhatCouldHaveBeen: Chaosium was working to produce sourcebooks that included ''Selenim'' (detailing the Unnamed Arcanum, the Cult of Lilith, the Xibalbans, the Yama Kings, and Black Magic), ''Slaying the Dragon'' (detailing extensively revised Alchemy rules), ''Immortal Asia'' (detailing the Xian-ren, Wu Xing, Martial Arts, Taoist Alchemy, and Feng Shui), and expanded rules for summoning (detailing warding circles, magical names, and bargaining), but the line was canceled before they could be released. However, the two surviving chapters of ''Slaying the Dragon'' (the history of alchemy and the revised rules, respectively) have been [[http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/nephilim-ascendant/ made available on a certain Yahoo! group.]] The other two chapters of ''Slaying the Dragon'', and the majority of the ''Selenim'' notes (save for a backstory overview, a FAQ, and character creation rules), have been LostForever; ''Immortal Asia'' and the summoning expansion never went beyond the conceptual stage.

* GodsNeedPrayerBadly: Selenim can actually feed off of human faith, usually directed at themselves. Hence why they formed cults and religions around themselves in ancient times, especially for the {{Mayincatec}}.

* PhlebotinumKilledTheDinosaurs: Inverted. The dinosaurs (Saurians) had an advanced magical civilization, and their last great achievement was to build an artificial "Black Moon" in order to extend their pleasures. The Black Moon began to choke off the Ka fields of the Earth, which jolted the fledgling [=KaÏm=] into awareness. The [=KaÏm=] proceeded to force the Black Moon to explode, destroying the Saurian civilization, with the survivors marching to the impact sites in order to bask in the residual energy, where they eventually died.

** Unfortunately, the ones that ''didn't'' die are still living in the subterranean caverns of the lost continent Mu. There is also the problem of birds being descended from dinosaurs.

* OurDragonsAreDifferent: The Strength Arcanum refers to the influence of the elemental fields, and especially Khaiba, by the epithet of "the Dragon." In the French 2nd edition, this is because the elemental fields are inhabited by the [=DraKaOn=], which were originally [=KaIm=] who merged their bodies together in the hundreds to create continent-sized monstrosities; a side effect is that they influence the nature of magic in their location and randomly generate element-based monsters called Dragon-Effects.

* OurDragonsAreDifferent: The Strength Arcanum refers to the influence of the elemental fields, and especially Khaiba, by the epithet of "the Dragon." In the French 2nd edition, this is because the elemental fields are inhabited by the DraKaOn, which were originally KaIm who merged their bodies together in the hundreds to create continent-sized monstrosities; a side effect is that they influence the nature of magic in their location and randomly generate element-based monsters called Dragon-Effects.

* ScienceIsWrong: While the game repeatedly states this is the case, it is actually subverted. Science turns out to be mostly accurate, except that the dinosaurs had an advanced civilization and human evolution was altered by the [=KaÏm=]. In truth, it seems to be more like Science Is Incomplete than anything else. Nephilim even refer to magic as "occult science."
* SealedEvilInACan: The souls of the Saurians survive in the Black Moon fields. Unlike other examples, however, this is probably permanent.
* SourceBook: ''dear God.'' The amount of overly-complicated supplementary material is enough to give you asthma. The English version, not so much.

* OurDragonsAreDifferent: The Strength Arcanum refers to the influence of the elemental fields, and especially Khaiba, by the epithet of "the Dragon."
** There are also Drakes, dragon-like manifestations of each elemental field. They only form at special places (natural disasters, plexuses and nexuses), and like other elemental creatures they will rarely last long after the event that spawned them has ended.
** Additionally, the English mailing list and ''Chaosium Digest'' included an article that detailed the Devil Arcanum's path to Agartha, titled ''"The Coming of the Dragons."''