Chaosium Digest Volume 11, Number 10 Date: Sunday, October 8, 1995 Number: 1 of 1 Contents: An Occult Guide to Legendary London (Dave Salisbury) NEPHILIM Editor's Notes: This week, some Nephilim background on London, originally presented over on the Nephilim Mailing List a few weeks ago. With that, a few short notes from Chaosium Digest subscribers: Karl Rodriguez (rodriguez@thorin.uthscsa.edu) recently sent a note mentioning that, due to the Adventure of Rydychan in _The Boy King_, one of his players is the Earl of Rydychan. Karl was wondering what type of income an Earl would have and how many knights he could support. If anyone has any good rules or ideas for how to treat such situations, where one of the players is Upper Nobility, drop Karl a line. Any interesting sets of rules would be welcome here in the Digest as well. On a closely related note, Liam Routt (repulse@zikzak.net) mentioned that he is currently working on a revision of the old Noble's Book. He said it would contain "a reworked and clarified Lands system, expanded rules for hunting and falconry, the siege and defensive rules, and a more complete description of Heraldry, amongst other things." Likely, some of Karl's questions will be answered here; the book is scheduled to be completed near the end of the year, which implies a release sometime in 1996. Finally, David Hipple (D.R.S.Hipple@open.ac.uk) says that "it is becoming a slightly urgent problem for me that I somehow manage to track down the Chaosium CoC publication _The Fungi From Yuggoth_." If anyone can sell, lend or point David in the direction of a copy of TFFY, he would be extremely grateful. If you can help him out, drop him a line. Shannon NEW RELEASES: * Call of Cthulhu - _The Compact Arkham Unveiled_ (Chaosium, $18.95, 96pg) is a partial reprint of the original _Arkham Unveiled_ book, which has been out of print for a few years. It contains all of the original Arkham background material, though not the adventures that were present in the original book. The Cthulhu in '96 T-Shirt (Wizard's Attic, $15.00) is another cool t-shirt available from Wizard's Attic. Help support your favorite presidential candidate by asking "Why vote for the Lesser Evil?". You can order products from Wizard's Attic by calling 1-800-213-1493. NEW (FRENCH) RELEASES: * Credo! - The French edition of Credo! has been announced for release in mid-October. (FRENCH) MAGAZINE SIGHTINGS: * Call of Cthulhu - "Le ciel n'etair pas a l'heure", a four page adventure, Casus Belli #89 [Oct/Nov, 1995] RECENT BOOKS OF NOTE: * Elric! - _A Nomad of the Time Streams_ (White Wolf, $19.99) is not exactly a tale of the Young Kingdom, but it is White Wolf's fourth collection of the stories of the Eternal Champion. It contains the three Oswald Bastable tales, _The Warlord of the Air_, _The Land Leviathian_ and _The Steel Tsar_. -------------------- From: Dave Salisbury [via M.G.Atherton@bradford.ac.uk] Subject: An Occult Guide to Legendary London System: Nephilim AN OCCULT GUIDE TO LEGENDARY LONDON According to Geoffrey of Monmouth's History of the Kings of Britain (a rather dubious 12th c. account), the city that came to be known as London was founded over a century after the great Trojan War, by Brutus, a renegade prince of fallen Troy. Brutus' great grandfather, Aeneas, had fled the sack of Troy and journeyed to Rome where he married the daughter of King Latinus and fathered a line of kings whose descendents would become the great Roman emperors. Unfortunately, Brutus was not destined to be one of them; after a freak hunting accident in which he slew his own father, the young prince was banished to Greece where he fell in with a band of fellow disposessed Trojans. When they learned of his noble lineage, more Trojan refugees flocked to his cause until Brutus commanded a huge army with which he defeated the Greeks. After marrying the Greek King's daughter, Ignoge and commandeering a huge fleet, Brutus set sail in search of his destiny. When the ships anchored at a deserted island, the Goddess Diana appeared to Brutus and told him to sail ever westwards until he reached a new land where his people could live in peace. After several battles with fierce Gauls and pirates, many adventures and a journey which took him beyond the Pillars of Hercules, Brutus eventually came ashore at Totness on the isle of Albion (England) where he had to defeat the giants who lived there and their champion, Gog-Magog. Once victory was his, he founded a great city and dedicated it to the moon goddess Diana, building a great temple in her honour on the site now occupied by St Paul's Cathedral. That city was called Trinovantum (New Troy) and if Geoffrey of Monmouth is telling the truth, it would date from sometime around 1000 B.C. It later became known as London due to its association with the celtic Solar King Llud. Today's London, almost totally destroyed by the Great Fire of 1666 and then again during the Blitz still contains many vestiges of its pagan past. It contains something else, too. The Templars The Templars are the reason why London is one of the most dangerous places a Nephilim can re-incarnate. For centuries, they have used Protestant Freemasonry as a cover as they ruled from behind the scenes; it may not be quite so true today as it once was, but most of Britain's politicians, police force and business leaders used to be in the Temple's pocket. London was one of the Order's most important commanderies outside of the Holy Land, and during the supression of the Order in 130,9 the treatment they recieved in England was most lenient compared to that in the rest of Europe. Their lands were 'confiscated' and given to the Hospitallers, but English law prohibited the torture of prisoners and only the Grand Preceptor of England, William de la More died imprisoned in the Tower of London. Today, they are the real power behind the Conservative Party and the Bank of England, and often use Special Branch (England's answer to the FBI) as muscle. On to the guided tour. Tower Of London What tour of London couldn't take in the famous Tower? Built by William the Conqueror (some time after 1066 A.D.) on a site of both military and religious significance, the White Hill. It is said the head of Bran the Blessed was buried on the White Hill after his death fighting against the Irish (as told in The Mabinogion). The head was said to still be alive, a thing of great magical power which could defend Britain from all threats, but King Arthur dug it up during his reign, claiming that England needed no other defenders save him. Bran's sacred animal, the Raven, can still be found in the Tower grounds today. It is said that if they ever leave, England will fall soon after (Moon arcanum Nephilim?). Of course, the Tower is also home to a large number of ghosts and the famous Crown Jewels (stasis objects for a re-incarnating Royal Family?). Being England's most magically protected site and strongest castle, it may also be the repository of a number of magical artefacts taken from the wreckage of Nazi Germany; after all Rudolf Hess was held prisoner here for some time during WWII... The Temple Further down the mighty Thames lies Temple Bar, one of the ancient gates to the city, currently defended by a pair of griffon statues (a symbolic ward says the guidebook...). Nearby is the area known as the Temple, a series of buildings, including a church, which are currently home to London's legal profession; they've occupied this part of London since the previous owners were turned out in the fourteenth century. The Temple used to be the headquarters for the Knights Templar. The church is built on a circular plan to mimic the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, the so called 'Compas' or centre of the world. Here the knights recieved their secret initiations and exercised their power; physical, spritual and financial. Until Edward I (see 'Braveheart' for details) broke into their vaults and stole them back, the Templars had kept the Crown Jewels here for 'safe keeping'. The church is in remarkably good condition following extensive bombing damage, but the public are no longer allowed in. Could the Templars still be using it? Surely they couldn't be that self confident, even in Conservative controlled London... Christchurch, Spitalfields During the restoration work following the Great Fire of London, one of Sir Christopher Wren's contempories built a string of strange churches across the city. Nicholas Hawksmoor claimed to be following the ancient building traditions of the early Christian basilicas, but his obelisk-like spires and trompe d'oeuil effects have drawn admiration and conspiracy theorists in equal measures. Christchurch, Spitalfields is Hawksmoor's best example. Haunted does not describe the feeling of a church built atop a plague pit, over the road from what used to be the biggest abbatoir in the world. A recent excavation of the crypt (now a drop-in centre for homeless alcoholics) unearthed a series of lead lined coffins full of liquified corpses which archaeologists had to shovel out into bags for analysis. Does lead stop a Nephilim from returning to its stasis? Hmm. If anywhere in London is the site of a Black Moon Ka nexus, it's here. Coincidentaly, Spitalfields is also on a ley line which runs through two other Hawksmoor churches, St Georges-In-The-East and St Lukes. All have obelisk-like steeples. One end of the alignment continues on to the Isle of Dogs and a huge (by British standards) skyscraper topped with a pyramid, Canary Wharf! Cleopatra's Needle One of a pair (the other stands in New York's Central Park), taken from the ruins of Heliopolis during the last century and carried by barge back to London. Several sailors died when the barge broke free of its tug near the Straits of Gibraltar (otherwise known as the Pillars of Hercules), but eventually the needle was recovered and set upon London's Embankment by a group of philanthropic local Freemasons(!). It is flanked by a pair of sphinxes. What was in the time capsule the Masons so diligently buried beneath it? Clerkenwell The Clerk's Well is one of only a few remaining Holy Springs of London. Access to this healing well and water nexus can be obtained from Finsbury Public Library. Other wells used to be found near Earl's Court (Billings Well) and St Bride's (Bridewell - as in the Taxi's), but they are no longer accessible. St Bride is a local spelling of St Bridget; St Bridget a Christianisation of Brigid, Celtic goddess of fire (among other things); could the well here actually be a fire nexus? Limehouse Once the haunt of Dr Fu Manchu (!), the region around Limehouse has been tidied up a bit since the days of Opium dens and crazed Lascars. Now, the only residents are the docklands yuppies, who live nearby, and the meths drinkers. In Mayhew's excellent work on the street life of Dickensian London, he records the popular belief that the sewers under Limehouse were inhabited by giant black pigs. More Moon Arcanum Nephilim, perhaps? Battlebridge and Kings Cross Station Under platform ten is buried one of the greatest heroines of British nhistory, Queen Boudicca of the Icenii, whose rebellion against the Romans came to a bloody end nearby in AD 61. The Romans (Mithraic initiates) had forbidden the custom of matrilinear descent of title and property (including stases? Did the Icenii practice hereditary Nephilim incarnation?), stolen the Icenii lands on the death of Boudicca's husband and raped both the Queen and her two daughters. After razing the town of Colchester to the ground and burning the city of London, the Queen, her two daughters and her army were trapped in an area unsuitable for their scythe-wheeled chariots and massacred by two Roman Legions. The Queen and her daughters took poison rather than be re-captured by the victorious Romans. A tumulus on Hampstead Heath also bears her name. St Paul's Cathedral Built by Sir Christopher Wren on the site of the ancient temple to Diana, the dome contains a special whispering gallery with seemingly magical accoustic properties. The dome itself is bound without by a tremendous iron chain as a form of strengthening, aparently a common practice at the time. Diana is connected to the Moon, as are all illusions and deceptions. A Moon nexus bound with an Orichalka ward? By an astonishing coincidence (!?), St Paul spent most of his time on Earth attempting to suppress the worship of Diana (re: his letters to the Ephesians). Vestiges of Diana worship remained until fairly recently, however. During the eighteenth century, the 'Blowing of the Stag' ceremony was performed on Christianity's high altars. It involved the sacrifice of a stag, the processing around the church with its head on a stick and the ritual feasting upon roast venison in the evening! So much for the suppression of paganism. Highgate Cemetary Not only is this the burial place of Karl Marx, and thus a meeting ground for pro-revolutionary Illuminati sponsored anarcho-communist sympathisers, but the old cemetary is also one of London's oldest and eeriest. Until recently, it was a magnificent ruin, overgrown and tumbled down, its crypts gaping open. As a source for vampire myths, it attracted groups of satanists and vampire hunters; during 1970, two men were arrested for breaking in, armed with crucifixes, stakes and holy water. Perhaps they had watched Amicus' 'Tales From The Crypt', a classic British '70's horror film, once too often: Highgate Cemetary features on the opening credits! But then again, if anywhere in London deserves to have a Selenim in residence... That's enough for now. I haven't even begun to talk about the plague pits on the underground, the Hospitaller museum or the true meaning of 'Oranges and Lemons'. Not to mention the real-life secret society that meet in St Martins-Within-Ludgate. If anybody wants more of this sort of thing, I suggest the following updates to the ever-expanding Nephilim bibliography. 'From Hell' - Mad Love Graphics. Comic about Jack the Ripper by Alan Moore and Eddie Campbell, particularly the geomancy in issue 2 and the Freemasonry in general. 'The Aquarian Guide to Legendary London' - Aquarian Press 'A Guide to Occult Britain' by John Wilcock (publ. Sphere) 'Hawksmoor' by Peter Ackroyd. Heck, anything by Peter Ackroyd. 'Roofworld' and 'Rune' by Christopher Fowler (publ. Grafton, I think...) 'The Invisibles' - DC comics Vertigo imprint. THE Nephilim source comic by Grant Morrison. 'Dr Who and the Talons of Weng Chiang' - BBC video. For Limehouse and things in sewers. 'Vengeance of Fu Manchu' - Hammer. Limehouse and Fu Manchu in a tunnel under the Thames. 'Deathline' - another cult British '70's horror flick - cannibals on the tube ("Mind the doors!") 'Neverwhere' - a TV series written by Neil Gaiman that's going to be cult viewing everywhere that should debut on BBC2 next year. Until next time, Dave Salisbury "England swing like a pendulum do, "Bobbies on bicycles, two by two; "Westminster Abbey, the Tower of Big Ben, "The rosy red cheeks of the little children." -------------------- The Chaosium Digest is an unofficial electronic 'zine about Chaosium's Games. In no way should it be considered representative of the views or beliefs of Chaosium Inc. To submit an article, subscribe or unsubscribe, mail to: appel@erzo.org. The old digests are archived on ftp.csua.berkeley.edu in the directory /pub/chaosium, and may be retrieved via FTP.