From lev at rpgreview.net Thu Nov 1 22:38:09 2012 From: lev at rpgreview.net (lev at rpgreview.net) Date: Fri, 2 Nov 2012 09:38:09 +1100 Subject: [Nyarlathotep] Possible Bubbles of Spacetime Curvature in the South Pacifi c Message-ID: <792e15c4f107aa45fd43709a4205b032.squirrel@webmail.rpgreview.net> http://science.slashdot.org/story/12/10/31/2221247/physicist-explains-cthulhus-non-euclidean-geometry Mathematician Benjamin K. Tippett has written a fascinating and deadpan paper giving insights into Cthulhu. A 'Bubble' of warped Space-Time makes alarmingly consistent sense of the dead God's cyclopean city under the sea. Possible Bubbles of Spacetime Curvature in the South Pacific Benjamin K. Tippett Department of Mathematics and Statistics University of New Brunswick Fredericton, NB, E3B 5A3 Canada http://titaniumphysicists.brachiolopemedia.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/Rlyeh.pdf In 1928, the late Francis Wayland Thurston published a scandalous manuscript in purport of warning the world of a global conspiracy of occultists. Among the documents he gathered to support his thesis was the personal account of a sailor by the name of Gustaf Johansen, describing an encounter with an extraordinary island. Johansen?s descriptions of his adventures upon the island are fantastic, and are often considered the most enigmatic (and therefore the highlight) of Thurston?s collection of documents. We contend that all of the credible phenomena which Johansen described may be explained as being the observable consequences of a localized bubble of spacetime curvature. Many of his most incomprehensible statements (involving the geometry of the architecture, and variability of the location of the horizon) can therefore be said to have a unified underlying cause. We propose a simplified example of such a geometry, and show using numerical computation that Johansen?s descriptions were, for the most part, not simply the ravings of a lunatic. Rather, they are the nontechnical observations of an intelligent man who did not understand how to describe what he was seeing. Conversely, it seems to us improbable that Johansen should have unwittingly given such a precise description of the consequences of spacetime curvature, if the details of this story were merely the dregs of some half remembered fever dream. We calculate the type of matter which would be required to generate such exotic spacetime curvature. Unfortunately, we determine that the required matter is quite unphysical, and possess a nature which is entirely alien to all of the experiences of human science. Indeed, any civilization with mastery over such matter would be able to construct warp drives, cloaking devices, and other exotic geometries required to conveniently travel through the cosmos. From lev at rpgreview.net Wed Nov 7 05:11:49 2012 From: lev at rpgreview.net (lev at rpgreview.net) Date: Wed, 7 Nov 2012 16:11:49 +1100 Subject: [Nyarlathotep] Venetian Encounters Message-ID: Hi investigators, Just a quick reminder that tomorrow night there will be further explorations of Venice and beyond in the further development of the Horror on the Orient Express story. "Though there are some disagreeable things in Venice there is nothing so disagreeable as the visitors." Henry James (who was a visitor of course) Stay sane, Lev From sailorc at gmail.com Thu Nov 8 00:28:51 2012 From: sailorc at gmail.com (Candice) Date: Thu, 8 Nov 2012 11:28:51 +1100 Subject: [Nyarlathotep] Venetian Encounters In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Hey kids, I am afraid I can't come tonight. And for that matter I can't come in 2 weeks either. I have got three Thursdays in a row where I have things I need to do! Take care of Eva! Try not to let her go too crazy! :) p.s if I get any permanent insanities, I'd like to do the rolling for it myself! :) -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From lev at rpgreview.net Thu Nov 8 03:24:21 2012 From: lev at rpgreview.net (lev at rpgreview.net) Date: Thu, 8 Nov 2012 14:24:21 +1100 Subject: [Nyarlathotep] Venetian Encounters In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: > p.s if I get any permanent insanities, I'd like to do the rolling for it > myself! :) We'll keep that ... in mind :) From lev at rpgreview.net Wed Nov 21 13:07:24 2012 From: lev at rpgreview.net (lev at rpgreview.net) Date: Thu, 22 Nov 2012 00:07:24 +1100 Subject: [Nyarlathotep] Chapter Two: Paris et Poissy Message-ID: Le Journal De Hercule Poirot, Friday, January 5th, 1923. Paris. --------------------------------------------------------------- Alas I did not receive the rest that I so desired, as the journey across The Channel was most unpleasant, a stormy evening. Reaching Calais in the late evening, and passing through customs with an efficiency most remarkable, we embarked as soon as possible upon the Orient Express. There, at last, we could at least manage some rest over the next four hours, as we made our way to The City of Light. It was the smell of fresh coffee, the pain aux raisins, and pain au chocolate, which greeted us in the early morning. After breaking our fast, and making a booking in a local hotel, we made our way to the Biblioth?que Nationale, for we had no other clues from Professor Smith except the association with Conte Fenalik. It was with great fortune then that we made an association with a young student, Remi Vangeim, who offered his services as a researcher and was most honest in his price and the quality of his work. To the best of our ability we assisted the young man in the researchers, although understandably, some wished to see the great sights that a city like Paris has to offer. Nevertheless, by the end of the day we had some success! We had located a diary which referred to a certain incident involving Comte Fenalique, a man who would hold feasts "most lavish and lascivious", and who was arrested just prior to the revolution. Tomorrow we shall continue our investigations. M. Vangeim has indeed been worth his fee! Le Journal De Hercule Poirot, Saturday, January 6th, 1923. Paris. ----------------------------------------------------------------- Today we were most fortunate in being able to conduct our researchers and to see more of this fine and exciting city. With further investigations we were referred to an old diary from a captain of pre-revolutionary France, held in the Biblioth?que de l'Aresenal, near the Place de la Bastille. In reading this material we discovered that that the Conte's arrest occured at his mansion in Poissy, north and west of Paris. The material in the diary was disturbing. As expected it discussed how the Conte's parties included orgiastic behaviour. However the captain also referred to torture devices, and a corpse. The house was burned to the ground, and the Conte was taken to Charenton, an asylum most famous, for it was there were the Marquis de Sade was also incarcerated some decades later. The Conte, the diary explained, was eventually locked in a cellar for attacking another patient. On this discovery young Remi referred us to a recent article in L'Humanit?, a newspaper which I believe betrayed his political convictions. Nevertheless, the article was of great import, a public announcement from the acting director of the asylum, Dr. Fran?ois Leroux, referring to the recent death of the previous director, Dr. Etienne Delplace. We now have two places of great interest to investigate; the asylum ay Charenton, and the remains of the mansion at Poissy. I do not look forward to either, but our path is set before us. Le Journal De Hercule Poirot, Sunday, January 7th, 1923. Paris. ---------------------------------------------------------------- After observances were made, we made our way to Charenton, south and east of the Gare de Lyon. Most fortuitous that we were visiting an asylum, for on this Sunday it was open with many family and friends of the unfortunates visiting. It must be said, the Maison Nationale de Sant? it is a building most vast, and most beautiful in the Italian style. However we are not here to view the architecture, we are here to investigate the Conte Fenalik. Posing as historical researchers in the life of the famous residents of the sanatorium we sought an audience with the acting director of the asylum. Whilst waiting for his attention I noticed a book of events from the previous director among much paperwork. I took this opportunity - as who would believe our story? - to purloin the notebook, with every intention to return it at the earliest opportunity. There was not much to be discovered at the asylum itself. We had a tour of the grounds and were given the opportunity to engage in study at their library. Frau Weissmuller struck a conversation with one of the workers, whom I would discover later had a diner with and discovered information most pertinent to our investigations. The events book however spoke of a discovery of a man most emaciated in the older wards, who spoke in old Greek, and Latin, repeating the names Marosh, Gorgynia, and Sofia. Frau Weissmuller's dining partner was most useful as well; Paul Mandrin explained to us that the previous director had died by a fault in the electroshock machine and had been most obsessed with a private patient, claiming that he had uncovered the secrets of a racial unconscoius memory most universal and of new languages in the world of dreams. It would appear that the doctor was beginning to become a patient. This was confirmed with the journal of events which I borrowed. Le Journal De Hercule Poirot, Monday, January 8th, 1923. Poissy. ---------------------------------------------------------------- The morning newspapers are full of national pride relating to the successful journey of a French expedition across the Sahara to Timbuktu. I thought it diplomatic not to suggest that without a doubt the Tuareg had been engaging in this journey for some time. Our journey that day was significantly more modest, some thirty kilometres northwest from Paris to the town of Poissy. Reaching the destination shortly before lunch, we investigated the town hall for records of where the Comte's villa once stood. By the late afternoon, having tried the patience of the clerks, we had located the villa on the outskirts of town with plans most exacting. Arrival at the site was late afternoon, a small house surrounded by an old brick wall and covered with a exceptionally large rose bush, thorny in these winter months. We were greeted at the door by Christian Lorien and explained our interest in this location most historic. An educated man - we would learn he was the town doctor - he was most interested in our investigation and invited us inside, whereupon we were introduced to his wife Veronique and their young child Quitterie, who took quite an interest in M. Sergio Garcia, and especially his skill at legerdemain. As it was already late and becoming dark we were invited for dinner and to stay the night. Christian showed us a letter that he had received from one Edgar Wellington from Lausanne some six months prior concerning the whereabouts of an Arabic artifact which M. Wellington believed would be present in this abode. Then an event most peculiar; I had already noticed a scar on M. Lorien's left hand, which he said was an infected would from a rose cutting that caused several weeks of illness. I also noticed that Mdm. Lorien suffered from arthritis, again on her left hand. But the third event, Mon Dieu! The child accidentally spilled coffee on M. Garcia and herself, leading her to scream most loudly, even though the liquid was not hot at all, her left arm was most inflamed. The poor child was taken to bed, and we continued our conversation, and planned the digging that would be required the following day as the plans of the estate suggested that cellars of the old house still remained. Again there was another scream from the child; Veronique raced to her aid, bringing her downstairs. Quitterie's armed was still inflamed and she claimed that the "bogey-man" was at her window, on the second floor. A bad dream? Or is something epiphenomenal stalking us? I went to bed most uneasy, despite the comfortable accomadation. Le Journal De Hercule Poirot, Tuesday, January 9th, 1923. Poissy. ----------------------------------------------------------------- M. Christian Lorien was most fortunate that he had no morning appointments and was able to assits us most graciously in locating the entrance of the cellar steps. Nevertheless, he had business to attend to in town, and for the rest of the day we worked at excavating the site, a task well suited to the brawn of M. Frazer and the brains of Frau Weismuller. After digging for much of the day, breaking through more than two metres of earth and charred brick we revealed an old steel door at the base of the stairs. M. Lorien had returned by this time and brought crowbars to force the door open, along with torches to guide us in this old cellar. Past the door we worked our way through a morass of thick tree roots, unable not to notice that due to great coincidence each thick root terminated in five thinner roots bearing a resemblance most alike a large human arm. Beyond these was several rooms off the main corridor, housing various medieval torture devices and skeletons of the deceased. The diary of the French captain all those years ago was most subdued in its descriptions. Strangely we noticed a dim light ahead, further down the corridor. This could not bode well. Reaching the end of the corridor however a sight most superb and macabre. A great roses, growing below the ground, propped up several skeletons as it they were in a dance. The roses were in a range of colours most scintillating; violet, orange, aquamarine, even green! They also glistened under our torchlight with an oily sheen which dripped from the stems. I could not resist and sought to draw a draught from these roses, a most unfortunate decision. The smell was most unpleasant, and worse still I was pricked by a thorn, causing enormous pain to my nose and great swelling. At the same time however, we carefully extracted a large arm, cool and smooth to the touch, most certainly part of the Sedefkar Simulacrum. As we did so, a mist began to congeal and swirl in the room; M. Frazer was unfortunately overcome with his experience of the Great War and believed that we were under the attack of gas, and urinated on his handkerchief as a type of mask. The mist however dissipitated, or rather, flowed down the corridor and towards our point of ingress, despite the fact that the draught was in the other direction. In the cold, fresh air, we made our exit and stayed another night with the Lorien family. Le Journal De Hercule Poirot, Wednesday, January 10th, 1923. Paris. ------------------------------------------------------------------- The following morning we travelled with Christian Lorien into the town to inform the authorities, both religious and secular, of the discoveries that we had made. I could not help but notice that the child's arm had almost completely healed, and Veronique's hand did not not shake as she poured coffee in the morning. Casting a glace at Christian, I also noticed that the scar on his arm was much less significant. We thanked him and his family most graciously for their assistance and generiousity of the past days, however I suspect that it was we who would be lifting a great burden from their life. We returned to Paris by early afternoon and made our bookings for the Orient Express, which would not leave La Gare de Lyon until midnight. It was fortunate that M. Garcia had a special trunk for a ventriloquest's dummy which suited the simulcrum piece perfectly. The rest of the day was a sunny, yet cool, as pleasant as Paris could be in the middle of winter, and we explored Paris as a normal tourist would. That evening we shared an excellent diner, which we were enjoined by our young researcher most helpful, Remi Vangeim, before boarding the midnight train to Lausanne. From lev at rpgreview.net Wed Nov 21 13:09:31 2012 From: lev at rpgreview.net (lev at rpgreview.net) Date: Thu, 22 Nov 2012 00:09:31 +1100 Subject: [Nyarlathotep] Next city... Belgrade. Message-ID: <2e0118e398abd4a4fa1aba2c833609e6.squirrel@webmail.rpgreview.net> Tonight's gaming will be at the asylum visiting a virtual reality in time and space of 1923 Belgrade. With *two* groups of cultists chasing down the party last session and a *friendly* vampire, is it any wonder that we now have two indefinitely insane PCs? *cough* Is now the time to mention to Candice that her character suffers from meglomania? From sailorc at gmail.com Wed Nov 21 22:14:57 2012 From: sailorc at gmail.com (Candice) Date: Thu, 22 Nov 2012 09:14:57 +1100 Subject: [Nyarlathotep] Next city... Belgrade. In-Reply-To: <2e0118e398abd4a4fa1aba2c833609e6.squirrel@webmail.rpgreview.net> References: <2e0118e398abd4a4fa1aba2c833609e6.squirrel@webmail.rpgreview.net> Message-ID: Lol, awesome. I can't come tonight either though. *sniff* Work thing :( On Thu, Nov 22, 2012 at 12:09 AM, wrote: > Tonight's gaming will be at the asylum visiting a virtual reality in time > and space of 1923 Belgrade. > > With *two* groups of cultists chasing down the party last session and a > *friendly* vampire, is it any wonder that we now have two indefinitely > insane PCs? > > *cough* Is now the time to mention to Candice that her character suffers > from meglomania? > > > _______________________________________________ > Nyarlathotep mailing list > Nyarlathotep at rpgreview.net > http://rpgreview.net/mailman/listinfo/nyarlathotep_rpgreview.net > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From lev at rpgreview.net Wed Nov 21 23:08:49 2012 From: lev at rpgreview.net (lev at rpgreview.net) Date: Thu, 22 Nov 2012 10:08:49 +1100 Subject: [Nyarlathotep] Next city... Belgrade. In-Reply-To: References: <2e0118e398abd4a4fa1aba2c833609e6.squirrel@webmail.rpgreview.net> Message-ID: <69963679b988b3bff2858df546bc1e76.squirrel@webmail.rpgreview.net> > Lol, awesome. > The spirits only talk to you. You are a superior being! ?bermensch! > I can't come tonight either though. *sniff* > Alas... Well, next time. All the best, Lev From lev at rpgreview.net Thu Nov 22 22:26:17 2012 From: lev at rpgreview.net (lev at rpgreview.net) Date: Fri, 23 Nov 2012 09:26:17 +1100 Subject: [Nyarlathotep] Character status Message-ID: <3ec933eceba977e08a1eff4343c833e2.squirrel@webmail.rpgreview.net> At the beginning of the session (i.e., having boarded the train at Trieste) - Donald Frazer, 3 hit points, 63 sanity. - Eva Weismuller, 4 hit points, 17 sanity (meglomania) - Sergio Garcia, 0 hit points*, 52 sanity - Lilian St John, 12 hit points, 44 sanity (blood phobia) - Hercule Poirot, 5 hit points, 67 sanity In the course of the evening's play, most characters actually gained a couple of hit points and, most remarkably, at least one character (Lillian) even gained Sanity for recovering a component of the simulcrum and escaping from the clutches of Baba Yaga. Poor Eva, at such a low level of San (I believe she's in single digits now), picked up two more indefinite insanities (Criminal Psychosis, Quixotism-Panzaism**). Note that a character at 0 Sanity is *permanently* insane, and beyond even medical help. * Note in our rules, one must be a negative hit points before being dead. ** What? http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Panzaism. Note that this will inevitable cycle with Quixotism. After all, if the most extraordinary things are ordinary, that means that the most ordinary things are also extraordinary. From sailorc at gmail.com Tue Nov 27 00:11:14 2012 From: sailorc at gmail.com (Candice) Date: Tue, 27 Nov 2012 11:11:14 +1100 Subject: [Nyarlathotep] Character status In-Reply-To: <3ec933eceba977e08a1eff4343c833e2.squirrel@webmail.rpgreview.net> References: <3ec933eceba977e08a1eff4343c833e2.squirrel@webmail.rpgreview.net> Message-ID: I think that perhaps Eva needs to be chucked into an asylum. It isn't really feasible to play her if she's single digits! I don't want her permanently written out. Should I create a temporary character? Or just miss some more sessions while she recovers? :) On Fri, Nov 23, 2012 at 9:26 AM, wrote: > At the beginning of the session (i.e., having boarded the train at Trieste) > > - Donald Frazer, 3 hit points, 63 sanity. > - Eva Weismuller, 4 hit points, 17 sanity (meglomania) > - Sergio Garcia, 0 hit points*, 52 sanity > - Lilian St John, 12 hit points, 44 sanity (blood phobia) > - Hercule Poirot, 5 hit points, 67 sanity > > In the course of the evening's play, most characters actually gained a > couple of hit points and, most remarkably, at least one character > (Lillian) even gained Sanity for recovering a component of the simulcrum > and escaping from the clutches of Baba Yaga. > > Poor Eva, at such a low level of San (I believe she's in single digits > now), picked up two more indefinite insanities (Criminal Psychosis, > Quixotism-Panzaism**). Note that a character at 0 Sanity is *permanently* > insane, and beyond even medical help. > > > * Note in our rules, one must be a negative hit points before being dead. > > ** What? http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Panzaism. Note that this will > inevitable cycle with Quixotism. After all, if the most extraordinary > things are ordinary, that means that the most ordinary things are also > extraordinary. > > > _______________________________________________ > Nyarlathotep mailing list > Nyarlathotep at rpgreview.net > http://rpgreview.net/mailman/listinfo/nyarlathotep_rpgreview.net > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From lev at rpgreview.net Tue Nov 27 00:59:15 2012 From: lev at rpgreview.net (lev at rpgreview.net) Date: Tue, 27 Nov 2012 11:59:15 +1100 Subject: [Nyarlathotep] Character status In-Reply-To: References: <3ec933eceba977e08a1eff4343c833e2.squirrel@webmail.rpgreview.net> Message-ID: <6d681b99d797b843aa2472ec6a6b4d9a.squirrel@webmail.rpgreview.net> > I think that perhaps Eva needs to be chucked into an asylum. It isn't > really feasible to play her if she's single digits! I don't want her > permanently written out. Should I create a temporary character? Or just > miss some more sessions while she recovers? :) Sure, but we'd have to think of a way to roleplay this out. After all, Eva wouldn't *want* to be put into a sanatorium, let alone one in Sofia. I mean, it's run by Bulgarins untermensch, for starters. Somehow the PCs will have to *trick* her into one. Something else I should also mention is that she still feels comfortable in extreme cold and, well, she also hears "the call of the North".. Now, as for temporary characters, the scenario really is designed well for this.. The players have already made an association with a certain Turkish financier, for example, which could be quite useful... Hope this makes sense, Lev