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“The Great Pyramid of Egypt vs. the 7-11,” by Bill Whittle

(This piece excerpted from a longer article that was originally published here: https://scifiwright.com/2015/01/sanctuary-by-bill-whittle/ ) As an exercise in perspective, let's briefly compare our civilization to another. Let's compare our supposedly soulless, banal, hum-drum society to the splendors of ancient Egypt. And let's tie both hands behind our backs while we do so. Let's not compare the Great Pyramid to one of our skyscrapers, or airports, or hospitals, or even our shopping malls. Let's take a moment to compare the Great Pyramid of Cheops with the most common and drab and ordinary structure on the block: The Great Pyramid vs. the 7-11. Assume that we could transplant a corner 7-11 to the Egyptian desert, with all of the support systems that make it what it is. It is a tiny speck compared to the gleaming white marble sides of the pyramid. It looks small and poorly made. From afar. Pharaoh comes by barge and litter to inspect the competition, laughing at...

Saurians as ancestors to the KaIm and Nephilim?

In an older post , I suggested making Saurians the same race as the KaIm. However, after thinking some more, I thought a further refinement would be to make them the ancestors of the KaIm. Rather than being wiped out by the KaIm, the Saurians wiped each other out in a civil war between the Black Saurians and the White Saurians. The White Saurians won and brought the Black Moon crashing down, but it was a pyrrhic victory that resulted in their extinction as well. While new KaIm were born from the nexi, the Saurians themselves were extinct. What made the next generation so different from their predecessors? The Saurians existed in symbiosis, an elemental Onirim Pentacle and a corporal dinosaur body. The next generation of KaIm were born in spiritual form and used their innate mastery of the elemental fields to create bodies for themselves. The Ka from the deceased Saurians was recycled by the nexi to birth new KaIm, but they would never again be Saurians because their fleshy envelopes we...

The stasis object as an anchor for the immortal soul

A key distinction in my campaigns is that Nephilim are symbiotic hybrids of human and elemental, not elemental spirits possessing hapless human hosts, nor awakened humans with a connection to the magic fields. The human half provides a physical body and a soul (Sol, Solar-Ka), allowing the Nephilim to interact, travel and to have awareness, identity, and will. The elemental half provides the Ka-elements, allowing the Nephilim to exist in symbiosis with the magic fields and to practice the occult sciences. There is also a third portion, the stasis object, which anchors the soul and the Ka-elements so that the Nephilim can be immortal. Without a stasis object, the Nephilim's Solar-Ka and Ka-elements will dissolve into the magic fields upon death. With a stasis object, his Ka-elements are able to remain on the earthly plane as a spirit known as a daimonian or paredrus . Without Solar-Ka it is bestial and driven entirely by its passions, but as an insubstantial spirit it can do nothing...

Another name for Tarshish?

As mentioned in the timeline in the  GM's Companion , there was a 10,000 BC Mediterranean civilization named Tarshish. (A full writeup by Ian Young is  archived here .) As was pointed out to me in a discussion, the name Tarshish here is anachronistic. In real life documents, Tarshish was a port that traded with the Israelites, not any kind of ancient civilization. So if the name doesn't make sense, then what could replace it? Atlantis? While Plato's 9000 year estimate does place it in the same general range, the name Atlantis is Greek and Greek wouldn't have existed at that time. I did some research, and ultimately there really aren't many suitable names that I could find. The best candidate I could find is "Kheheb", a name for a prehistoric Egyptian civilization in the roleplaying game Fireborn . It's a fictitious neologism, so I think it could fit okay. The language spoken by them would probably be completely speculative anyway, since this civiliza...

Some musings on the etymology of Agartha

In the US Nephilim rulebook and supplements, "Agartha" is the perfected spiritual state that Nephilim seek to achieve. Although there are stories of Agartha being a physical place, a city located at the center of the Hollow Earth , these are lies concocted by malevolent secret societies to seduce initiates.  In the French version, the mythical city was later introduced as "Aggartha" (with two Gs). This was the headquarters of the World Arcanum, and thus a play on the wording of "center of the world". It was not located in the center of a Hollow Earth, but was located in the astral plane. Anyway, the real life occultist description of Agartha mentions it is a city at the center of the Hollow Earth and lit by an inner sun (in some accounts a "diamond sun"). What does this inner sun remind you of? It reminds me of the "Grail", the game's name for the Earth's core where the planetary Ethers are transmuted into the magic fields. (In ...

If the Templars and Nephilim both venerate Jesus, then why are they enemies?

A while ago in a chat I read someone ask, “If both the Templars and Nephilim venerated Jesus, then why are they enemies?” This is an interesting question with easy answers. Firstly, there are numerous Christian denominations that have been at each other’s throats for millennia. Catholic versus Protestant, anyone? Secondly, neither group actually venerates the Jesus described in the Bible. The Nephilim rulebook itself outright states Christianity is a lie concocted by secret societies to conceal the truth. Indeed, neither of them are actually Christian in any sense. The only Nephilim who actually venerate Jesus are the Fool Arcanum, and to them he's just one of several Messiahs they venerate. The other Arcana don't venerate any Messiahs, with the possible exception of the Unnamed Arcanum maybe venerating the Devouring Messiah.  The Templars, at least the secret society that persists to the modern day, is actually descended from an Ancient Egyptian cult known as the Temple of Li...

How do you kill a Nephilim?

A Nephilim is hypothetically immortal. How do you kill an immortal? Here are my thoughts: Orichalc . If a Nephilim is slain by Orichalc, then he dies. His remaining Ka-elements dissolve into the magic fields. Magic damage . Certain spells and certain attacks by magical creatures inflict damage directly on the Nephilim’s Ka. Sufficient damage results in the soul losing integrity and dissolving into the magic fields. Repeated death . Every time a Nephilim dies, it is a traumatic experience that leaves spiritual wounds. If his subsequent reincarnations are killed in quick succession, then it is possible to inflict so much trauma that his soul finally dissolves into the magic fields rather than reincarnating. Destroy his stasis object . Destroying the enchantment on a stasis object is possible by inflicting sufficient magical or Orichalc damage. This also inflicts sympathetic damage against the Nephilim. Even if he survives the psychic trauma, his soul will have no anchor when his body die...