So, my girlfriend was telling me about this thing she's working on - or helping work on, or whatever.  Here's a line of setting she handed me:

In the beginning, the demons made war on God.  And they were cast down.  And the duty was given to the church: To bring and bind them into the world of the living, and force them to labor in mechanical artifacts as punishment.  Sacrifices are required to perform the work.

Puritan Diabolists, baby.  Now, there's this whole social angle that she's got on it, and it's sweet.  But the actual mechanics of the demon-in-the-world, that got me thinking.

Demons are bound to items by the strength of the sacrifice, in a way.
The stronger the self-control of the sacrifice, the stronger the binding.  The more willing the sacrifice, the longer the summoning lasts.  An unwilling man, and one given to vices he can't control, with would make a very weak artifact that wasn't safe at all to use, because the demon can pervert the binding.  But hey, any artifact in a storm.

In possession, it works in reverse.
When someone is possessed, it's because they've already sacrificed (from the perspective of the demon) some virtue - truth or charity or mercy.  That creates a place for the demon, but the demon must abide by the nature of the place created.  If, by lying at every turn, I give up my honesty, and get possessed, then the demon will be utterly honest and will never lie.  It is using a space that "holds honesty" - so it must be honest.  A demon can, too, take over a place that formerly held a vice, and become that vice for that person - the problem is, in the virtue case, the person simply isn't used to having the virtue, and doesn't know how to fight.  A demon grabbing a hollowed-out vice is facing down someone that can fight, on the other hand.

Which means that Indulgence is necessary.
If you're a priest in the church of the Puritan Diabolists, then you've got to deal with the fact that you can't shed all your vices in one lifetime - the demonic attacks that resulted would be too strong.  So you've got to indulge them from time to time.  The church, of course, would regulate this process.  A little sanctioned gambling over here, a discrete little orgy over there - big hits, with long pauses in between, y'see?  Yeah, that's the ticket.

Got a neat idea that fits?

Throw down.

Does a newborn child count as an "item"?

Quote from: TonyLBDoes a newborn child count as an "item"?

...Sure!