As everyone knows - well, everyone who is aware of the War, at least - Vapula refuses to tolerate Calabim in his ranks. In the Genius 'Archangel's' opinion, their mere presence can be a catastrophe: the combination of their resonance, habits and general outlook on existence makes them an unacceptable risk. Considering the delicate nature of many Technological experiments and prototypes, simply having one in the same room is a short and sure recipe for disaster.
Jean is perfectly willing to acknowledge that, in
this one case at least, his opposite number has a definite point.
Calabite of Lightning
Calling the procedure by the above name is
discouraged among Servitors of Lightning: suggesting that the procedure by
which captured, incorrigible Calabim are put to at least some use is
even superficially equivalent to the solemn granting of a boon to a loyal
servant of God is vaguely insulting to the latter. Much worse, it is sloppy thinking. Regrettably, the practice persists - even among angels that
should really know better.
At any rate, the ... procedure ... itself is fairly
straightforward. A team is sent out to
locate, acquire and subdue a suitable Calabite (preferably one that is not
Renegade, and certainly not one that is a potential Redemption candidate): once
this is accomplished, the demon is brought to the attention of Jean himself for
the adaptation process. Various
low-level specialized artifacts are implanted into the Calabite's celestial
form (under anesthesia, of course: this isn't about sadism). After this is done, all that remains is to
excise and replace the demon's short-term memory. The Calabite will 'wake up' in a suitable place, with suitable
evidence for explaining away his or her hazy recollections. Other than that, there is very little
evidence that anything has actually happened: given the amount of Discord
manifested by most Calabim, Jean finds that hiding the celestial scars to
actually be quite easy.
However, a Calabite that has undergone this
procedure will eventually discover that he or she has become extraordinarily
sensitive to that class of items colloquially designated as 'Vaputech': so much
so, in fact, that the demon will be able to somehow recognize said items on
sight. As a side note, Jean would not
be averse to gifting his Servitors with the same ability, but every method that
has been worked out at this time would necessitate the grafting of an
Infernally-tainted Force. Further
research continues along these lines.
At any rate, the Calabite is now able to detect
'Vaputech' - and, as most sentient entities exhibit curiosity as part of their
makeup, will eventually be drawn to actually handle one of the Infernal
Devices. At this point the other
feature of the implants activates: the Calabite must make a Will Roll at -3 to
avoid immediately using his or her resonance on the device. An interesting quirk of the implants is that
short-circuiting the demon's resonance in this way actually makes it easier to
activate (in game terms, add the CD of a failed Will Roll to the
resonance check number: if the Calabite chooses not to resist, simply add +3).
The fact that the sensation is intensely pleasurable
(treat as a Highly Addictive, Tough Withdrawal drug) was at first merely a
serendipitous effect - but one that was carefully enhanced, once discovered.
From there, it is merely a case of standing back and
watching the steadily increasing (in every sense of the term) explosions. The combination of typical Calabite
psychology and a severe positive-feedback loop almost invariably results in a
severely-addicted demon personally destroying every piece of 'Vaputech' that he
or she can detect ... and, sooner or later, the realization that there is an
entire Principality where such items can be encountered. Often sooner. Jean has not yet received reliable intelligence about what
happens when a treated Calabite appears in Tartarus, but a simple extrapolation
of the corporeal evidence would suggest that the results are satisfactorily
detrimental to Vapula's normal working environment, such as it is.
Also, a side effect of this procedure is that there
has lately been a slight but increasing tendency for most Calabim to be more
cautious around suspected Servitors of Lightning - or even avoid them
altogether.
Which is as it should be.