While researching for an adventure set around Easter (the 4e Festival of the Damned, where demons attack in the night of Holy Saturday), I found a rule in DE p. 478: "In Christian lands, all demons are forced to abandon their physical form at dawn on Holy Saturday (the day between Good Friday and Easter Day); furthermore, no demon may spend Might points from this point until dusk on Easter Day. This is a reminder of Christ's victory over Satan and subsequent descent into Hell to bring the good news to the souls trapped there."
Medusa then pointed me to RoP:I:
RoP:I p. 10f: "All Infernal auras in Christian lands gain a point of strength on the Wednesday before Easter, when Judas formally conspired with the authorities against Christ. This enhancement persists throughout the Thursday and the day of Good Friday."
RoP:I p. 11: "At dusk on Good Friday, all Infernal auras are temporarily reduced to a strength of zero, and the Dominion often flows to fill the spiritual void. This situation lasts until Easter Monday, at which point, over the course of the following week, Infernal auras gradually regain strength at a constant rate, until they are back to their resting values."
However, DE p. 415 says: "Infernal auras are particularly strong on Easter Saturday, the day between the Crucifixion and the Resurrection."
It seems hard to reconcile all these rules. My view is that there is an "evil period" where Infernal auras are stronger, followed by a "good period", where they are temporarily reduced to zero and demons may not spend might points. At the start of the "good period", demons are forced to abandon their physical form.
Possible starting points for the evil period are:
- the Wednesday before Easter, (when Judas formally conspired with the authorities against Christ)
- the Mass of the Lord's Supper (morning/evening) of Maundy Thursday, when church bells fall silent.
The Easter Vigil is held after dusk of Holy Saturday (in Jewish tradition, Sunday starts at sundown on Saturday). Wikipedia knows that previous to 1951, the Easter Vigil was held on Holy Saturday morning. ( Easter Vigil - Wikipedia ), this might have been the case in the middle ages.
To me it's pretty clear that the "bad period" ends when the church bells ring during Easter Vigil, and this is when the "good period" starts, which lasts until dusk on Easter Monday. My personal preference is for both periods to have the same length, so the Infernal is strong from dusk of Thursday to dusk of Saturday, and weak from the dusk of Saturday to the dusk of Monday.
Are there any further rules that agree with/contradict this? Do you have a better idea?