Answered Questions

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Contents 1 1333 Ritual 2 Canopic jar 3 Celestial Chorus nuns 4 Ersatz catnip blood 5 Frozen vagrants incident 6 First Five 7 Granny Ammie 8 Halley's Comet 9 Hermit 10 Kitt and Kitt's bride 11 Ley line pentagram 12 Mark of Cain 13 Openers and Closers 14 Phantasmal spider 15 Pure elements 16 Sun ritual tome 17 Thanatos 18 White Hat 19 Witch's Diary 20 What Churches Have Been Burned? 20.1 November 1999 20.2 December 1999 20.3 February 2000

These are the answers to questions asked using the {{UnansweredQuestion| ... }} template on this site and recorded at Unanswered Questions. An alphabetized list of pages containing questions may be found at Unanswered Questions.

1333 Ritual

• Which castle in the Holy Land was used for the 1333 Ritual?

• Where is the castle where the 1333 Ritual was executed?

The place has been decided to be Jebal al-Habis overlooking Petra, Jordan.

Granny Ammie did not know, though she knew it to be a strong castle on a large, flat hill. The players had seen such a thing in the Dream Ritual incident and in an episode of training with Kassidy.
Granny Ammie

In general terms, wasn't that the crusader & arab castle. One would presume the middle east, historic records are good enough the fall of a crusader castle would be recorded, so we could find the geographic location, which presumably is a place of power.
Quercus

Sean indicated that the castle involved ain't important to know. I'll chase down the name anyway.
Richie 10:22, 1 August 2006 (PDT)

Finding a castle may prove difficult. Most of the Crusader lands were lost in 1187 to Saladin. Wikipedia's list of Crusader castles doesn't have dates for all, but 1285 was the latest I found. The Ninth Crusade in 1271 was the last. The last castle falling I found listed was Magrat in May of 1285 and that was not by storm. The fall of Acre in 1291 seems to have been the last mainland holding of the Crusaders.

Alternately, there was active christian/arab fighting in Spain at this time "1312 to 1350: Alfonso XI fights the kingdom of Granada for 25 years and in 1340 wins the battle of Rio Salado." Lastly, the Ottoman Empire was busily absorbing portions of the Byzantine Empire in this time period, and the Byzantines did appeal for help, so members of a crusader order could have been in the right place.

So either the technocracy edited something (ie It's Sean's version of history), or we're out of luck. Quercus

Canopic jar

• Did the players find two canopic jars in San Jose with Sobek's head (the crocodile) on top?

Erik found two jars. The first likely had Sobek's head or something he remember as simular, but he broke that. The second, in an alternate San Jose, he retrieved.
Quercus

• How many canopic jars should be used for a burial?

Different traditions use different numbers of jars depending on how many pieces of the body should be so contained according to teir traditions. The tradition of using canopic jars probably passed from one civilization to another. Eight jars may have been required in Atlantis as Roarke recorded, perhaps six in very early Egypt as Francis used in the basement ritual, and four in classical Egypt which is considered the correct number now.
Granny Ammie

Celestial Chorus nuns

• Who were the nuns in the basement ritual?

Flora Chambers and Moira Roarke (nun).

Ersatz catnip blood

• Was it the ruby-red substance or the lobster bot that gave Richie the catnip blood effect?

Sean as much as said "You betcha!" to the red substance. Later, the not-police were better about making it look like blood.

Frozen vagrants incident

• Were any of the homeless men actually werewolves?

According to Nicky's research, you betcha
Richie

First Five

• Who are the First Five?

Granny Ammie was unfamiliar with the term, though she felt it could be associated with the Book of Nod.
Granny Ammie

Granny Ammie

• When was Granny Ammie born?

In the time of the Byzantine Empire after Rome fell. She was hundreds of years old when the 1333 Ritual occurred.
Granny Ammie

• Which mage tradition did Granny Ammie belong to?

She was a Child of Fire, a bygone tradition.
Granny Ammie

• Was that tradition replaced by the Virtual Adepts?

The Order of Hermes is a closer cousin to her former tradition. Granny Ammie is the last Child of Fire.
Granny Ammie

• Who was the ghost behind Francis that looks like Granny Ammie?

A portion of Granny Ammie given to Francis' care when Granny Ammie was having trouble maintaining herself.

Granny Ammie noted that the players were the first people she had had the opportunity to awaken since that time. She had taken advantage of the opportunity when Raylene suspended the curse of vampirism on Richie and Roarke.
Granny Ammie

Halley's Comet

• What does Halley's Comet have to do with The Ritual?

Halley's Comet is a harbinger. It puts a hole through space and trails magic particles behind it. It opens doors. The more conjunction there is with other signs, the more power there is after Halley's Comet passes and the better the time for The Ritual. The technocracy cannot stop the comet because it is part of the universal cycle of renewal and change. Edmond Halley, a member of the technocracy, learned of the comet from the Da Vinci Codex and redefined it as a common rock orbiting the sun, thus deluding the masses into believing that it was not a supernatural sign.
Granny Ammie

Hermit

• Who was the Hermit that was mentioned in the Witch's Diary?

Arsenios of Cappadocia, known to the players as White Hat. Dru and Roarke knew that he hands out the Hermit tarot card as a calling card. White Hat was the first Tremere, retaining his mage abilities when turned to a vampire.
Granny Ammie

Kitt and Kitt's bride

• Who was Kitt?
• Who was Kitt's bride?

Kitt says his wife's name is Elissa and she was not really a willing participant but had to 'cause she was married to Kitt. She was a powerful mage. Kitt was a playboy that was luckier at cards than with women. Kitt and wife had a daughter who married a Defoe. Daughter in her teens when he offed it. I asked if he was brought in because of his wife's magic. How did he know Franky? Met when Kitt was gambling, and Franky proved an interesting opponent. Franky introduced Kitt to Elissa. The trouble was that Kitt had reached the end of his money and health and so opted in for containing evil. His daughter's name was Elizabeth. The Defoes had a relative in the witch trials. She was ducked in the pond or weighed the same as a duck or some damn thing. Her child was taken by the changelings. Elissa had been frail in health.

Ley line pentagram

• What is in the middle of the ley line pentagram?

It is a place where one may stay undisturbed as long as the pentagram is still intact. If The Ritual were performed there, it would affect not only this world but all worlds.
Granny Ammie

Mark of Cain

The Mark of Cain has five words representing five archetypes. Anarchy for Chaos, the Dame of Anarchy. Pandemonium for Cain, Ariel, Francis, and Kassidy. Dystopia for Victor Strong. Eden for Gaia. Chaos for Loki (or facets of Loki such as Clayton Moore). Granny said "It takes all the aspects of our life to change life."
Granny Ammie

Openers and Closers

• What is the difference between Openers and Closers?

Openers want to add magic to the world, to have more awakened people, to open up minds. Closers want to take magic out of the world, to keep the people as sleepers, to close minds.
Granny Ammie

Phantasmal spider

• What are the phantasmal spiders that Erik, Dru, and others can see in the spirit realm?

The spiders, Rat King / Knight of Pattern says, are an outgrowth of the Nephandi.
Richie

Pure elements

• What is pure metal?

Mercury and may be taken from our world. The other pure elements must come from elsewhere, as did the pure water the players received from Gaia.
Granny Ammie

Sun ritual tome

• Who wrote the Sun ritual tome?

Granny Ammie did not know, though she thought it could possibly be the work of Clayton Moore.
Granny Ammie

Thanatos

• Was Thanatos only at the First Ritual, or is he known by another name today?

Thanatos was an ancient death god who became Victor Strong's teacher. Victor usurped the power of Thanatos. It is possible that Thanatos is no more, but Granny Ammie was not certain of this. Granny Ammie said that she is part fire in the same way that Victor is part death.
Granny Ammie

White Hat

• Was White Hat in the warehouse when the not-police attacked?

No.
Pandemonium

Witch's Diary

• Who were the First, the All-Father, and the Son metioned in the Witch's Diary?

The All-Father was Odin, the First was Cain, and the Son was Francis. The Goddess of Night was the Queen of Darkness, a goddess named Nut. The King of Light is Ra, Egyptian god of the sun. Their children are Order and Chaos. Order is the Knight of Pattern, Chaos is the Dame of Anarchy.
Granny Ammie

What Churches Have Been Burned?

This is a many-pieced unanswered question, so it goes here. Richie is aware of three churches that have burned down:

November 1999

Granny Ammie's house burned down, stranding Granny Ammie, Raylene, and Lila in the Plane of Fire. Roarke went to church at midnight and asked Vengeance for help. Vengeance set the church on fire. The fire consumed the church, but the players made contact with Granny Ammie and retrieved Lila.

Sean said that he had it in his head that the church where Roarke and Vengeance met was St. Brigid's Church at Van Ness and Broadway, a century-old church that survived the earthquake and fire.
Richie

December 1999

After the not-police raided Vengeance's warehouse and wounded Korfu, the players followed the scent of his catnip blood to St. Mary's cathedral. The players duked it out with Korfu, Vengeance drained Korfu, Vengeance said he no longer needed the players and left. Erik had exploded the furnace in the basement and the church caught fire and burned.

Richie made the comment that "we ended up at St. Mary's where V-Boy burned down the church that time." Does this mean that the November fire also took place at St. Mary's?

Erik's diaries also indicate that the Kory-Vengeance battle ended at St. Marys. My recollection is that it was disused due to being partially burnt from the previous occaision.
Quercus

This scene definitely happens at the dishwasher cathedral found at Geary and Gough.
Richie

February 2000

Father Thomas died, having been stabbed with a single-bladed knife and infected with a phantasmal spider. His church was burned down. Raphael's limo was nearby and large a spirit-being got in the limo before it drove off.

Sean recalls that Father Thomas was a priest at St. Mary's. Does this mean that St. Mary's was set on fire three times in four months?

What I recall is that there were two churches with simular names. That the one with the furnace had been lightly burned the first time.
Quercus

Sean was under the impression that all three fires happened at different churches, so we've solved the similar name thing by setting the February fire at Old St. Mary's Cathedral at Grant and California in Chinatown. Please don't have a problem with this. If you do, I'll try to rationalize another answer.
Richie