The Syndicate

Roles:

S. L. MacGregor Mathers - Founder of Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn with Wynn Westcott. They share BTSC.

Wynn Westcott -Founder of Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn with MacGregor Mathers. They share BTSC.

Gerald Gardner - Founder of Wicca. Can hex a player each night, applying a curse of his choosing

A. E. Waite - Translator and co-creator of the Rider-Waite Tarot deck. Block a night action

Dion Fortune - Wrote on psychic self-defense. Protect a player each night

Madame Blavatsky - One of the first and most influential Theosophists, who theorized about lost races. Dead role check

Cornelius Agrippa - Author of Three Books of Occult Philosophy. Can send a message to a player each night.

John Dee - Astrologer to Queen Elizabeth I and founder of Enochian Magic. BTSC with Kelley At one point in the game they can talk to an angel.

Edward Kelley - John Dee's assistant. BTSC with Dee

Albertus Magnus - Many works of Natural Magic are attributed to him. Brews potions which produce a variety of effects.

Theophrastus Paracelsus - Medical innovator and alchemist. One lynch stop and one resurrect.

Eliphas Levi - French occultist who was the first to link the Tarot to other practices such as Hermetic Qabalah. Can ask a question of the Tarot each night, the results of which will be posted in the thread

Mafia:
Team Power: Each night, they can attempt to evoke a demon to do their bidding.

Aleister Crowley - Splintered off from the Golden Dawn to found Thelemic Magick. Occult genius, but not a very nice fellow. Kills nightly.

Israel Regardie - Pupil of Crowley. Has BTSC with him and can redirect night actions

Indie:

Abramelin the Mage - Author of one of the most powerful and rigorous works of Western Magic, detailing an intense operation to commune with one's Holy Guardian Angel and learn great magical secrets. Takes a few days to complete his operation, but if he makes it he becomes super powerful. *secrets*

Rules
1. No unauthorized BTSC.
2. No role outing.
3. No editing or deleting posts.
4. No double targeting.
5. Off topic talk should be in OT Green.
6. Dead players should post off-topic only in dead red.
7. Non-players should post off-topic only in NP Blue.
8. Sarcastic orange remains stupid in my opinion, but use it if you like.
9. This is the host color. Please do not use it.
10. Treat others with respect.
11. Have fun!

Also, missed votes will be punished, and you may not change your vote once it is cast.
Spacedaisy is the mod for this game. Please let either her or me know if you have any issues, questions, comments, complaints, or conundrums.

Player List
A Person - Israel Regardie - Lynched Day 2
birdwithteeth11 - Replaced Keterman on Night 2
Boogs - killed Night 3 by Aleister Crowley
Dom
Elohcin - killed Night 5 by Abramelin the Mage
Epignosis - S. L. MacGregor Mathers - Lynched Day 1
Hedgeowl - Killed Night 6 by Abramelin the Mage
insertnamehere - Cornelius Agrippa - Lynched Day 6
Keterman - Replaced by birdwithteeth11 on Night 2
Lizzy - Replaced by Metalmarsh89 on Day 2
Metalmarsh89 - Replaced Lizzy on Day 2
Mongoose
MovingPictures07 - Eliphas Levi - Lynched Day 3 - Resurrected Night 4
Nijuukyugou - Killed Night 4 by Abramelin the Mage
Nutella - Aleister Crowley - Lynched Day 4
S~V~S
Vompatti - Madame Blavatsky - Lynched Day 7

Event List
Day 0
Day 1 - Alchemy
Night 1 - Star Search
Day 2 - Divination
Night 2 - Circles of Mania
Day 3 - Hermetic Qabalah
Night 3 - You're So Square
Day 4 - Cryptozoology
Night 4 - Fly, You Fools!
Day 5 - Theosophy
Night 5 - Boring
Day 6 - Natural Magic
Night 6 - Miasma
Day 7 - Evocation/Invocation

ϕr-Σ^t

מַיִם בַּיָם

1 As the chronicles of Father Tiresias be not among the Seven, and sexual transmutation is thus at present unattainable, let it be known that the tentacled one, nijuukyugou, cannot plant the seed, but may bear the fruit. Let it be known.

I woudln't mind a sexcual transformamtion.

Also ,. I think we should start with divination because it's beginner stuff and doesn't require much reading.

Vompatti wrote:I woudln't mind a sexcual transformamtion.

Also ,. I think we should start with divination because it's beginner stuff and doesn't require much reading.

transmutation* and ture and probably ture

I know fuck all about occultism, so I'm going to vote for the option with the funniest name, Hermetic Qabalah.

Dean Norris?

Uncle Fester

Hello all I am excited to start a new game. Even with all the other things I have going on all the time, I love to have a Mafia game to sit down to. So much fun! Anyway....I went with divination after reading all the definitions of the options.

Yay game!

Definitely voting for Alchemy but mostly due to Fullmetal Alchemist and not actually because it's awesome (though that's the remainder of the reason).

A quick cross-check of the roles descriptions and the poll options reveals that the following options seem to be aligned with civvie roles: Alchemy, Natural Magic, Hermetic Qabalah, Theosophy. The baddie team description includes a mention of Evocation. I see no direct mention of Divination or Cryptozoology, though surely Divination is related to the various uses of tarot.

Epignosis wrote:1 As the chronicles of Father Tiresias be not among the Seven, and sexual transmutation is thus at present unattainable, let it be known that the tentacled one, nijuukyugou, cannot plant the seed, but may bear the fruit. Let it be known.

I can't connect cryptozoology to any of the rules. To be honest I think llama put that option there for the lulz.

Huzzah! I went with alchemy.

I don't know how this keeps happening, but tomorrow I'll be out of town again, with no means of voting. So I apologise in advance.

I bought a quartz pendulum for chakra checks, so I'm going with Divination.

PLUS - Professor Trelawney, the Hogwarts professor of Divination, was the great-great-grandaughter of Cassandra Trelawney (excellent nomenclature, Ms Rowling), and I tend to get a bit of a Cassandra Complex sometimes (but not a Sybil situation, okay).

MovingPictures07 wrote:Yay game!

Definitely voting for Alchemy but mostly due to Fullmetal Alchemist and not actually because it's awesome (though that's the remainder of the reason).

The Cassandra metaphor (variously labelled the Cassandra 'syndrome', 'complex', 'phenomenon', 'predicament', 'dilemma', or 'curse') occurs when valid warnings or concerns are dismissed or disbelieved.

hi

i like the one where there's a q but no u

Yay checking in now that I'm off work! Alchemy makes me think of a black mage, so that is my choice.

The phrase “mad as a hatter” comes from the use of mercury in 19th-century hat-making.

Vompatti wrote:The phrase “mad as a hatter” comes from the use of mercury in 19th-century hat-making.

OI! It's not time yet for Felt Mafia, k! Don't be giving away secrets and such, you rogue carpetbagger.

nijuukyugou wrote:

Epignosis wrote:1 As the chronicles of Father Tiresias be not among the Seven, and sexual transmutation is thus at present unattainable, let it be known that the tentacled one, nijuukyugou, cannot plant the seed, but may bear the fruit. Let it be known.

That is so cool~!! Blooper wins the game. [/game over]

OK.

I have to read the options, and decide what to do. But ^^^ distracted me (oo look, shiny squirrells!!)

Mongoose wrote:

Vompatti wrote:The phrase “mad as a hatter” comes from the use of mercury in 19th-century hat-making.

OI! It's not time yet for Felt Mafia, k! Don't be giving away secrets and such, you rogue carpetbagger.

I only mentioned it because it was mercury/alchemy-related and thus on topic. Also I can hardly wait for felt mafia k

I did not have to look long, I went with cryptozoology, I have a love/hate relationship with cryptozoology. On the one hand I have had countless hours of fun reading and watching TV shows/books/movies/magazines about Bogfoot, nessie, Chupacabra et al, yet i have also been known to scream at a TV show about chupacabra and throw my remote at the scrren, lol.

So yeah. No more analysis from me was needed.

*Bigfoot, there's no such thing as "Bogfoot"

2 And in those days did Aqualung go down to the bog and warm his feet; and thenceforth was he known as "Bogfoot." Let it be known.

I was also intrigued by recent articles talking about the analysis of various Bigfoot, Yeti, etc hair samples. Most turned out to be know great apes, raccoons, human, etc., but a few of the Yeti samples turned out to be an unknown archaic bear :o That was interesting

Has anyone seen that show, Finding Bigfoot?

SPOILER ALERT: They don't find Bigfoot.

S~V~S wrote:

nijuukyugou wrote:

Epignosis wrote:1 As the chronicles of Father Tiresias be not among the Seven, and sexual transmutation is thus at present unattainable, let it be known that the tentacled one, nijuukyugou, cannot plant the seed, but may bear the fruit. Let it be known.

That is so cool~!! Blooper wins the game. [/game over]

I am interested in learning more about all of these (and some of them confuse the hell outta me, even upon Google searches, so I look forward to being enlightened further in this game ). I think I'd like to start with cryptozoology because a) it's a fun word to say and b) yes to freaky hidden animal searching/studying! Perhaps we will find the elusive Blooper in its natural habitat.

insertnamehere wrote:Has anyone seen that show, Finding Bigfoot?

SPOILER ALERT: They don't find Bigfoot.

Adding it to the list of shows I don't need to watch.

Yay game! I am going with Alchemy as well, but because the Alchemist was an awesome book.

insertnamehere wrote:Has anyone seen that show, Finding Bigfoot?

SPOILER ALERT: They don't find Bigfoot.

My brother watches that sometimes. I think I lose IQ points each time I have to overhear it.

How do I choose? Alchemy is cool. Divination is cool. Natural magic sounds cool. Magic in general is pretty damn cool.
OK I'm going with divination

Vompatti wrote:

Mongoose wrote:

Vompatti wrote:The phrase “mad as a hatter” comes from the use of mercury in 19th-century hat-making.

OI! It's not time yet for Felt Mafia, k! Don't be giving away secrets and such, you rogue carpetbagger.

I only mentioned it because it was mercury/alchemy-related and thus on topic. Also I can hardly wait for felt mafia k

Awww, thanks, sug!!

I wish History of the Occult was an option.

Epignosis, you be sure to tell us if your wife is evil once again with those spouse tingling skills of yours, okay? Lol

Boogs wrote:Yay Dom is playing! Hiya Blooper Scooper also

Hiya back!

Theosophy!

My second choice was Natural Magic and no one else has voted for that either yet. For shame!

3 And lo, on the Day before the Dawn, the Knowledge-Seeker surveyed the Seven, and in his wisdom, raised up that which was arcane above the others. Let it be known.

Since it is Day 0 and people are still checking in, there is no penalty for missed votes today. In the future, however, missed votes will have consequences that may not be readily apparent.

With the students equally split between wanting to study Alchemy and Divination, and only Keterman voting alone as a non-conformist, alphabetical order was allowed to prevail.



Arguably the most obscure of all occult areas of study, alchemists could rarely agree even with each other over what it was they were up to. For some, alchemy was the antecedent to chemistry, a way of exploring the natural sciences and an understanding of physical laws. Isaac Newton was passionate about his study of alchemy, although this is mostly forgotten in favor of his contributions to gravitational theory, laws of motion and optics.

Most people are familiar with alchemy’s promise to transmute lead into gold using the fabled “philosopher’s stone”, but this was only one of several goals, the others being the creation of an elixir of eternal life, and the age old problem of “squaring the circle,” a mathematical impossibility.

The transmutation of metals required the combination of sulfur, mercury, and salt, each representing one of the classical elements. Naturally, it was not as simple as this, with alchemists being careful to stress that these were not the ordinary forms of mercury, sulfur, and salt, but an ever-unspecified archetype of these elements.

Alchemical texts were written as purposely obscure and metaphorical to prevent “the unworthy” from diving their secrets. Unfortunately, this also prevented “the worthy” from learning much either, and the alchemists frequently misunderstood one another. The extensive use of metaphorical language led many to believe that these writings were not about chemical processes at all, but rather spiritual ones.

The transmutation of lead into gold can be reimagined as the elevation of a base, unenlightened mind to the lofty realms of spiritual perfection through study, prayer, and meditation.

Later scholars have also theorized that alchemical texts were actually sex manuals in disguise. SInce the topic was taboo to talk about in plain language, alchemists used metaphor to describe the sexual act, with substances like sulfur and mercury representing bodily fluids, combined in the sublime act of procreation. The references to eternal life could be allusions to the creation of children to perpetuate one’s bloodline. But this is all conjecture.

Although alchemy is today scorned as a pseudoscience, its influence on modern chemistry has been profound, with its chief exponents like Nicholas Flamel, Theophrastus Paracelsus, and Cornelius Agrippa all making important contributions to medicine and science in general.

For further reading, see A. E. Waite’s translation of a large number of impenetrable alchemical tracts under the collected title “The Hermetic Museum.”



Having heard all this, the group felt somewhat disappointed and no more enlightened. They had hoped to at least walk away with some gold. Now they were just as confused as when they came in. Frustrated, someone suggested they have a good old fashioned lynching to make themselves feel better, and this was generally agreed to be a sensible idea.

But whom to lynch? Whom, indeed?

Boogs wrote:Epignosis, you be sure to tell us if your wife is evil once again with those spouse tingling skills of yours, okay? Lol

Epi's opinions are not flawless.