From: owner-dgrpg@delta-green.com on behalf of box_nine@ix.netcom.com Sent: Monday, February 21, 2000 7:54 AM To: dgrpg@delta-green.com Subject: DG: Those Darn Occult Acronyms EdDrWho wrote: << Topy, Iot, all you have to do now is mention OTO, SOTO, TOTO, ToS, <> < > What does any of this have to do with Delta Green? Well, could be fun to have a magical order run afoul of Delta Green ("They use funny words, they must be cultists! Kill them all!") and tie up the cell in legal disputes, claims and counterclaims of authority with rival orders, etc. Well I think it would be fun, anyway. Not to mention running around in black robes and waving around swords and sticks. Throw in the Golden Dawn (or similar group) and you have kooky egyptian symbology as well. Lible to cause all sorts of confusion with mythos cultists. Matt C. From: owner-dgrpg@delta-green.com on behalf of box_nine@ix.netcom.com Sent: Monday, February 21, 2000 4:14 PM To: dgrpg@delta-green.com Subject: DG: Shan Historical Revisionism Steven Marc Harris had asked me to post this to the DG list for comments. If you do use this, drop Steven a line at kayven@columbus.rr.com, give him credit on web pages, etc. Steven Kaye ----------------(begin forward)-------------------------------------- From:"kayven" To:, Subject: Notes and Additions Towards a Complete Accounting of the Shan, Part 1 Date:Thu, 13 Jan 2000 10:11:35 -0500 The following is the first part of a five part series on the Shan that I had planned. Knowing the way things go, I'm not so sure I'll get to the other parts. So, rather than waiting for all five parts to be finished before sending it out, I'm sending out the first since its completed. (I use the word 'completed' in its loosest form.) ***************** Notes and Additions Towards a Complete Accounting of the Shan, Part 1 While the detailed description and explanation of the Shan within Pagan Publishing's COUNTDOWN is the most exhaustive exploration into the mind, society and biology of the shan to date, it is not without some regret that glaring problems seem to arise once the ecology of the shan is taken to its logical conclusions. It is the purpose of this short essay to address a few of these problems and to add a bit more information to the already extensive lore of the shan species. To begin with, the first problem that appears in Pagan's exposition is the Shan means of reproduction. In "Garden of Earthly Delights" by Lucya Szachnowski, we are first introduced to the Shan's proclivity to use other species as hosts for their eggs. The idea here being that the shan involve themselves with a parasitical-reproduction cycle as befits their waspish insectoid appearance. However, within the Pagan accounting, we learn that this method of reproduction is relatively new in the Shan's biological history. In fact, we discover that the Shan's evolution has made every shan a hermaphrodite and capable of self-fertilization. Still, the shan prefer to exchange genetic information between two individuals when the need arises. Once this fertilization takes place, an egg sac begins to develop in the fertilized shan and eventually spawns forth a horde of larva which proceed to devour their shan host. What this means is that the fertilized shan sacrifices its life to continue the species. It is here that the problem arises, for what possible reason could convince a shan to virtually commit suicide? Pagan's accounting makes it clear that the shan have a non-existent sexual attraction among themselves, and there isn't any indication that the shan suffer some form of sexual or parental need towards the end of their natural lives. In fact, there seems to be no reason why they would reproduce at all. The only answer we are given is that "shan breed only when it is in the group's interests to increase their numbers."(pg. 5) Yet later we are told that before the religion of Azathoth created a religious hierarchy among the shan, their "society had been highly individualistic, almost anarchistic." So while we may see the group's interests playing a part in fertility decision making in a post-religious class system social environment, it seems foolish to account for such a decision in a highly individualistic social environment. In fact, one could reasonably argue that a society that accepted a species-based authority would be incapable of evolving into an individualistic social system Yet, I feel that there could easily be a way out of this problem if we imagined an evolutionary prodigy that has precedents in other insectoid species. Namely the idea of a Queen. A shan capable of producing multiple egg sacs and also capable of surviving their hatching. It isn't out of the realm of possibility for such a specimen to exist. It would solve the problem of reproduction since one Queen could produce many broods and not itself be adverse to this state of affairs. Especially if we consider the social implications of being such Queens. Unlike their brethren, these shan would be considered valuable since their existence would insure the continuation of the shan while also allowing other Shans to not suffer the fate of larval consumption. In an individualistic society, the queen would find itself considered more valuable as an individual than other individuals. And this prestige would continue unabated into a religious social structure where their role would considered as important as the fertile female is in many of our own religious social structures. ("be fruitful and multiply") This idea of a Queen within shan biology is not a new one. In 1995, writer Diane Sammarco contributed a Cthulhu Mythos story entitled "The Queen" (in the collection MADE IN GOATSWOOD) which dealt with this topic in more detail. Drawing upon her imaginative ideas, we find certain facts that can easily be adopted into what we already know about the shan. Sammarco's Queen is a shan both bigger and stronger than ordinary shan. A conclusion we reached on our own in the paragraph above. Bigger because more mass is needed to sacrifice for the nourishment of the larval sacs. Stronger because of the need to survive the internal assault upon the Queen by its 'children'. Taking Sammarco's ideas, let's see what we end up with. First of all, Sammarco's Queen is a shan born within a host body that uses the body's natural growth to facilitate its own needs. This implies a couple of things. Firstly, it implies a longer gestation period for the Queen (Sammarco gives us the time of 12 years). Secondly, it implies that Queen's are dependent on the host body. (i.e. A Queen can not result from an impregnated shan.) These two implications gives us clues as to how Queens may have developed evolutionarily. Let us imagine that very early in the Shan's history, the shan would reproduce in cycles. A shan would reach a certain age and feel an uncontrollable urge to reproduce with another of its species. If another couldn't be found, it would self-reproduce. This kept the species from dying out. At some point, as the shan developed into an intelligent species, they realized that reproduction wasn't necessary for the individual. Perhaps they would voluntarily neuter themselves or simply lock themselves away until the need for reproduction would pass. They would find ways to decrease and eventually erase the reproductive need from their biology. So much so that later generations would never have such a need. This would preserve each individual's lifespan though it would lead to the destruction of the species itself. As the population of the shan decreased, it would become apparent that something would have to be done. It would seem reasonable that experiments would be conducted where fertilized egg sacs would be implanted in ancient and dying members of the shan species. At some point, the shan discovered that implanting their egg sacs into other species worked and allowed each and every shan the chance at a lengthy life span. It would be about at this time that the emergence of a shan Queen would take place in shan history. A mutation occurs within the egg sac where a larval shan for some reason adapts itself to the host's body in such a way that it sees it as an extension of its own. (Since Sammarco makes it clear that the host is usually a newborn member of its own species, we can assume that the infant's gestation works as a bridge between its own and the egg sac's gestation.) As a result, it first attacks the other larva and devours its fellow shan. (A result that normally takes place towards the end of the host's available bio-matter.) With the other larva eaten and killed, the Queen larva then becomes dormant and develops a symbiotic relationship with its host's body. As the host grows, so too does the Queen shan. Its genetics being manipulated by the genetics of its host. Eventually, after 12 years, the Queen shan matures. This may seem like a lengthy time, but we are told that the larval stage of the shan lasts "several decades" (pg. 5) in COUNTDOWN. Upon maturity, the Queen obviously recognizes its host as being no longer a part of itself, but instead views its host as now being the parasite. The symbiotic relationship would have provided the host with its own advantages such as increased strength, height and rapid growth (as well, one presumes, a hearty appetite). Thus at maturity, the Queen devours its own host in an explosive display of emergence. What we are left with is a shan 4 feet long capable of numerous broods and more intelligent than most other shan. The first Queens must have been feared and possibly killed, but at some point the shan would have seen their usefulness. Especially as they began to subjugate other planets and needed larger numbers of their species. Since Queens seem to be so rarely mentioned, we must assume that Queens are random and rare. This being the case, their existence would be extremely valuable. Under the priestly class, it would stand to reason that they would wish control over this fortunate accidents among their own kind. So that all the Queens would be kept in one location under the protection and control of the priests. This location would obviously be upon Shaggai, the center of the shan religion. And Shaggai's destruction would have also meant the destruction of their entire collection of Queens. Taking these events into account, we can easily see why it might become imperative to produce a Queen artificially. A suggestion that Sammarco's story takes seriously and suggests the turn of events that would result. So if we incorporate the events of "The Queen" into the over all lore of the shan, we arrive at this possible timeline. 592 A.D.- Shaggai is destroyed and the hive of Queens is eradicated at the time it is needed most. 1597 A.D. - Two Shan vessels land on planet Earth in response to what appears to be a Shan beacon. One lands in Spain. The other lands in the Netherlands. The vessel in Spain is quickly destroyed by the natives. 1598 A.D. - Realizing too late that they had underestimated the natives, the Netherlands Templeship is close to being entirely wiped out. At the last moment, it is decided that a small group of twelve scientist Shan will infest members of the local community and escape. The plan is to escape into surrounding countries and avoid contact with each other as well as avoiding detection by the authorities. In five years, they would journey to a predetermined location and meet up again with the hope of contacting other Shan templeships and conquer the biped population of Earth. 1603 A.D. - Of the twelve, only 5 manage to survive in order to regroup in Sweden. Under the leadership of a infested Lutheran priest, the small Shan group are able to organize themselves around Duke Charles Vasa in the latter's bid for rulership over the country of Sweden. 1604 A.D. - Charles Vasa is given the right to become king under the Diet of 1604, partially due to the influence and backroom intrigue of the Shan infested hosts. 1604-1611 A.D. - Under the protection and patronage of Charles IX of Sweden, the small Shan group comes to the conclusion that the only sure way to subjugate Earth is to increase their own number rapidly. It is decided that their main goal should be to bioengineer the production of Queens. This would allow them to produce Shan in enough numbers to establish various colonies on the Earth at the same time. Along with this plan was the building of pyramid-like structures out in the wilderness to use as hatcheries. Towards the end of their experiments, they were finally able to produce two Queens. What was not expected was the biology of the human host had developed a blood thirst in the Queen who quickly dispatched its fellow Queen almost immediately after hatching. Unfortunately for the Shan, their success would be short lived. 1611 A.D.(April) - Christian IV of Denmark invades Sweden in the Kalmar War. As the Danish army progresses towards the conical hatchery outside of the city of Gothenburg, the Shan begin to fight amongst themselves as to how to proceed. One side wishes to exterminate the Queen and reassume their experiments elsewhere. They feel that the Queen had been contaminated by its human host and was an unacceptable vehicle for their future plans. The other side wants to preserve the Queen and begin the process of breeding and colonization. Eventually, the three Shan in favor of killing the unpredictable Queen succeed in destroying their creation as well as also killing the opposing Shan. During the escape, the Shan find themselves forced to infest Danish soldiers. 1612 A.D. - The remaining Shan make the decision to restart their experiments in the New World. It is thought that the Americas provide a safe location from the wear and tear of the ceaseless European conflicts. 1614 A.D. - Learning that the Roman Catholic Church is planning a missionary crusade among the Canadian Indians, the three surviving Shan invest suitable hosts. Unfortunately, the infestation is witnessed and despite the denials of the hosts, they are quickly arrested by the Church in the French city of Nice and brought to Rome under the direction of the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (Sacra Congregatio Romanae et universalis Inquisitionis seu sancti officii). 1615 A.D. - In a dark secluded building in Rome, the three surviving Shan find themselves subjected to a personal Inquisition. Under the watchful eye of Cardinal Bellarmine, the Shan were interrogated and eventually executed. The records of the trial were placed within the Z collection of the Vatican. 1643 A.D - A Shan Templeship materializes on Earth in the Severn Valley of England near the town of Goatswood. 1768 A.D. - A young Italian composer named Benevento Chieti Bordighera decides to spend a night in the Goatswood forest in order to prove a point. He is infested by the Shan. The Shan conceive of a plan by which the Bordighera host will use its talents and connections to perform a spell capable of bringing Azathoth into our realm in the form of an opera. The Bodighera host leaves England with its Shan inhabitants to return to Rome. 1769 A.D. - The opera, Massa di Requiem per Shaggay, is performed in Rome. A riot breaks out both for the events on stage and the unusual musical composition. The authorities order the arrest for causing the riot and for publishing a work "injurious to proper religious belief." Pope Clement XIII orders copies of the opera to be destroyed. 1770 A.D. - Bordighera is discovered and placed under arrest while attempting to escape Italy. During the day, Bordighera tells outlandish stories that our regarded as tales of a madman, while at night Bordighera refuses to speak. The jailers remark on what seems to be a degenerate physical disease that is destroying Bordighera's body. Bordighera's daytime confessions of insect demons within his skull is reported to the Church. An priest skilled at exorcism is asked to investigate the case. The clergyman's statement on the case is conveyed to the Pope. During this process, a connection is discovered with three cases from Spain of 1597, the Netherlands of 1598, and three priests in 1615. At this point the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (Sacra Congregatio Romanae et universalis Inquisitionis seu sancti officii) takes over the case. 1771 A.D. - Foolishly, the Inquisition judges attempt to control Bordighera's Shan believing that the Shan are demons capable of granting them worldly power or, at the very least, allowing them to contact a more powerful demon for that purpose. From their initial interrogations, the Shan learn about the previous Shan and their attempts and partial success at creating Queens. Do to a misunderstanding of their Inquisitor's religious beliefs, they mistakenly believe that the earlier Shan were able to escape. They are also misinformed about the Egyptian pyramids which the Inquisitors have assumed are related to the Shan. Eventually, the judges in the matter realize that the Shan are not interested in making any deals. Therefore they resort to the threat of the death of Bordighera's body believing that the demons will then have to return to the torments of hell. Eventually, they order the execution of Bordighera and move him to a cell for that purpose. Unfortunately, the execution cells are owned by the city and lax in their security. During the night before the execution, the Shan are able to leave Bordighera's body and inhabit one of the guards to make their escape. 1774 A.D.- The Bordighera Shan return to Goatswood forest and inform the Goatswood templeship of the earlier Shan's existence and operations. The Shan hierarchy orders that similar research is to be conducted with the understanding that it will not constitute the primary resources of the templeship. 1881 A.D. - The research group responsible for the production of Queens informs the hierarchy that they believe they have reached a point where the creation of a Queen may be possible. The hierarchy allows for the development of ten specimens. Over the course of four months, ten human newborns from surrounding towns are stolen. Two of these specimens succeed in showing signs of becoming Queens. Given the results of the Swedish Shans' experiments, it is decided by the Goatswood templeship leaders that one of the two infants are to be incorporated into the human world during their youth stage. 1883 A.D. - The Goatswood templeship is compromised when a retired historian, Dr. Anthony Regis, living just outside of Goatswood forest, enters the templeship during the day and learns of the Queen project. The Shan hierarchy decide to have Dr. Regis killed. Some members of the Goatswood Shan believe that the project should be abandoned and the remaining Queen destroyed. The Shan hierarchy threaten exile to those who question the wisdom of the hierarchy and briefly confine some members of the community in a lower part of the templeship for a few months as punishment. 1886 A.D.- During the fifth year of the templeship Queen's host body, the child is discovered by a equestrian traveler and eventually taken to the nearby town of Exham. There the child is admitted into the Exham Foundling Home under the name, Elizabeth. While this is see as a blow to the project, the hierarchy assigns a Shan to observe and keep track of the girl. 1893 A.D.- At the age of twelve, Elizabeth undergoes the transformation as the Shan Queen prepares for emergence. During the last stages of this transformation, the Queen is killed by the housemother, Mrs. Sharpels. When the Goatswood templeship learns of this, they feel it to be a blow to their project but hold out hope that the remaining Queen will survive and return. There is never any return of this latter Queen. The project is dismissed as an unfruitful enterprise and is abandoned. ********************************************* -------- Steven Marc Harris From: owner-dgrpg@delta-green.com on behalf of Andy Robertson [andywrobertson@clara.co.uk] Sent: Tuesday, February 22, 2000 6:20 PM To: dgrpg@delta-green.com Subject: DG: Re: Shan Historical Revisionism Steve and Steve Two comments: First, If animals need to die in order to breed, then evolution sees to it that they WANT to die. This desire will persist when they become intelligent. Our desires, pleasures, and pains are the product of biological evolution; they evolved to whip us away from danger and to tickle us into having children. The same thing will be true of ANY creature that dies and reproduces, even if it comes from a different planet or a different universe. But, if they reproduce in a different way, their desires, pleasures and pains will be very different. On this basis the Shan are an intelligent race utterly in (sexual) love with death. I say "sexual" even though they are supposed to be facultatively parthenogenic, because death and reproduction would for them be fused, both biologically and psychologically. This offers a neat solution for the (obvious) problem of the Shan. Why haven't they expanded their population to its natural limit? Why isn't every second person carrying a Shan parasite? The solution is that, the Shan are tempted into spawning-death by enormous physical pleasure. For them, this is the (normal, desired) end and fulfilment of life. However (we will assume) this pleasure is temporary: it lasts only until the birthing/dying Shan is paralysed and unable to communicate; then the pleasure switches off (because the resources that maintain it are better devoted to the spawn) and horrible agony supervenes. No Shan ever learns of this in the normal course of affairs. Now imagine that when the Shan were in their pre-technological phase they held religious beliefs that told them that by dying-to-reproduce they went to heaven (which for them was a place of transcendent sexual bliss, perpetually feasting on the entrails of the perfect host at the same time as perpetually experiencing the (literally) body-shattering orgasm of parturition enhanced to transcendent levels). However, technology shattered this myth, by allowing rare Shan to survive spawning, with technological and surgical help. These Shan testified that after the lollipop of pleasure awful pain followed. Cue religious wars ("You did not go faithfully to The Great Mother and that is why you suffered this agony"), inquisitions, revolutions . . . you can fill in the rest. I guess this is implicit in the statement in "Countdown" that the Shan only breed when they "have to" - but what is missing there (IMHO) is the insights of Evolutionary Psychology: that the Shan do not make rational choices about this, but follow evolved, emotionally driven, behavoural programs that have nothing to do with "logic" (just as we do) and that are badly fitted to the new conditions produced by technology (just as contraceptives have cut birth rates to below replacement levels in some societies). Hence - the Shan racial insanity, wished on them by an awful trick of biology. You can build on that Second - The timeline you have worked out here is far too good to drop, but I personally think "queens" are a bit naff. The hive-insect model is perfectly plausible scientifically, but it has been used too much in SF. That's just my feeling. Perhaps you could just "call" the "queens" something different? Perhaps they could be the first of a new sub-clade of Shan specially bred and genetically manipulated to reproduce without dying? To fulfil the promise of their religion? Perhaps - an idea - the Shan want us in order to build the paradise of their religion in our flesh. They are genetically enhancing themselves (or trying to) to create Shan who can experience orgasm/death perpetually in actual, physical, fact? And we are to be the "perfect hosts", on whom they will perpetually feast and riot? Just my musings . . . . Andy R ----- Original Message ----- From: To: Sent: Monday, February 21, 2000 10:13 PM Subject: DG: Shan Historical Revisionism > Steven Marc Harris had asked me to post this to the DG list for comments. If you do use this, drop Steven a line at kayven@columbus.rr.com, give him credit on web pages, etc. > > Steven Kaye > ----------------(begin forward)-------------------------------------- > From:"kayven" > To:, > Subject: Notes and Additions Towards a Complete Accounting of the Shan, Part 1 > Date:Thu, 13 Jan 2000 10:11:35 -0500 > > > The following is the first part of a five part series on the Shan that I had planned. Knowing the way things go, > I'm not so sure I'll get to the other parts. So, rather than waiting for all five parts to be finished before sending > it out, I'm sending out the first since its completed. (I use the word 'completed' in its loosest form.) > > ***************** > > Notes and Additions Towards a Complete Accounting of the Shan, Part 1 > > While the detailed description and explanation of the Shan within Pagan Publishing's COUNTDOWN is the > most exhaustive exploration into the mind, society and biology of the shan to date, it is not without some > regret that glaring problems seem to arise once the ecology of the shan is taken to its logical conclusions. > It is the purpose of this short essay to address a few of these problems and to add a bit more information to > the already extensive lore of the shan species. > > > > To begin with, the first problem that appears in Pagan's exposition is the Shan means of reproduction. In > "Garden of Earthly Delights" by Lucya Szachnowski, we are first introduced to the Shan's proclivity to use > other species as hosts for their eggs. The idea here being that the shan involve themselves with a > parasitical-reproduction cycle as befits their waspish insectoid appearance. However, within the Pagan > accounting, we learn that this method of reproduction is relatively new in the Shan's biological history. In > fact, we discover that the Shan's evolution has made every shan a hermaphrodite and capable of > self-fertilization. Still, the shan prefer to exchange genetic information between two individuals when the > need arises. Once this fertilization takes place, an egg sac begins to develop in the fertilized shan and > eventually spawns forth a horde of larva which proceed to devour their shan host. What this means is that > the fertilized shan sacrifices its life to continue the species. > > > > It is here that the problem arises, for what possible reason could convince a shan to virtually commit > suicide? Pagan's accounting makes it clear that the shan have a non-existent sexual attraction among > themselves, and there isn't any indication that the shan suffer some form of sexual or parental need towards > the end of their natural lives. In fact, there seems to be no reason why they would reproduce at all. The > only answer we are given is that "shan breed only when it is in the group's interests to increase their > numbers."(pg. 5) Yet later we are told that before the religion of Azathoth created a religious hierarchy > among the shan, their "society had been highly individualistic, almost anarchistic." So while we may see > the group's interests playing a part in fertility decision making in a post-religious class system social > environment, it seems foolish to account for such a decision in a highly individualistic social environment. In > fact, one could reasonably argue that a society that accepted a species-based authority would be incapable > of evolving into an individualistic social system > > > > Yet, I feel that there could easily be a way out of this problem if we imagined an evolutionary prodigy that > has precedents in other insectoid species. Namely the idea of a Queen. A shan capable of producing > multiple egg sacs and also capable of surviving their hatching. It isn't out of the realm of possibility for such > a specimen to exist. It would solve the problem of reproduction since one Queen could produce many > broods and not itself be adverse to this state of affairs. Especially if we consider the social implications of > being such Queens. Unlike their brethren, these shan would be considered valuable since their existence > would insure the continuation of the shan while also allowing other Shans to not suffer the fate of larval > consumption. In an individualistic society, the queen would find itself considered more valuable as an > individual than other individuals. And this prestige would continue unabated into a religious social structure > where their role would considered as important as the fertile female is in many of our own religious social > structures. ("be fruitful and multiply") > > > > This idea of a Queen within shan biology is not a new one. In 1995, writer Diane Sammarco contributed a > Cthulhu Mythos story entitled "The Queen" (in the collection MADE IN GOATSWOOD) which dealt with this > topic in more detail. Drawing upon her imaginative ideas, we find certain facts that can easily be adopted > into what we already know about the shan. Sammarco's Queen is a shan both bigger and stronger than > ordinary shan. A conclusion we reached on our own in the paragraph above. Bigger because more mass is > needed to sacrifice for the nourishment of the larval sacs. Stronger because of the need to survive the > internal assault upon the Queen by its 'children'. Taking Sammarco's ideas, let's see what we end up with. > > > > First of all, Sammarco's Queen is a shan born within a host body that uses the body's natural growth to > facilitate its own needs. This implies a couple of things. Firstly, it implies a longer gestation period for the > Queen (Sammarco gives us the time of 12 years). Secondly, it implies that Queen's are dependent on the > host body. (i.e. A Queen can not result from an impregnated shan.) These two implications gives us clues > as to how Queens may have developed evolutionarily. Let us imagine that very early in the Shan's history, > the shan would reproduce in cycles. A shan would reach a certain age and feel an uncontrollable urge to > reproduce with another of its species. If another couldn't be found, it would self-reproduce. This kept the > species from dying out. At some point, as the shan developed into an intelligent species, they realized that > reproduction wasn't necessary for the individual. Perhaps they would voluntarily neuter themselves or simply > lock themselves away until the need for reproduction would pass. They would find ways to decrease and > eventually erase the reproductive need from their biology. So much so that later generations would never > have such a need. This would preserve each individual's lifespan though it would lead to the destruction of > the species itself. As the population of the shan decreased, it would become apparent that something > would have to be done. It would seem reasonable that experiments would be conducted where fertilized egg > sacs would be implanted in ancient and dying members of the shan species. At some point, the shan > discovered that implanting their egg sacs into other species worked and allowed each and every shan the > chance at a lengthy life span. > > > > It would be about at this time that the emergence of a shan Queen would take place in shan history. A > mutation occurs within the egg sac where a larval shan for some reason adapts itself to the host's body in > such a way that it sees it as an extension of its own. (Since Sammarco makes it clear that the host is > usually a newborn member of its own species, we can assume that the infant's gestation works as a bridge > between its own and the egg sac's gestation.) As a result, it first attacks the other larva and devours its > fellow shan. (A result that normally takes place towards the end of the host's available bio-matter.) With the > other larva eaten and killed, the Queen larva then becomes dormant and develops a symbiotic relationship > with its host's body. As the host grows, so too does the Queen shan. Its genetics being manipulated by the > genetics of its host. Eventually, after 12 years, the Queen shan matures. This may seem like a lengthy > time, but we are told that the larval stage of the shan lasts "several decades" (pg. 5) in COUNTDOWN. > > > > Upon maturity, the Queen obviously recognizes its host as being no longer a part of itself, but instead views > its host as now being the parasite. The symbiotic relationship would have provided the host with its own > advantages such as increased strength, height and rapid growth (as well, one presumes, a hearty appetite). > Thus at maturity, the Queen devours its own host in an explosive display of emergence. What we are left > with is a shan 4 feet long capable of numerous broods and more intelligent than most other shan. The first > Queens must have been feared and possibly killed, but at some point the shan would have seen their > usefulness. Especially as they began to subjugate other planets and needed larger numbers of their > species. Since Queens seem to be so rarely mentioned, we must assume that Queens are random and > rare. This being the case, their existence would be extremely valuable. Under the priestly class, it would > stand to reason that they would wish control over this fortunate accidents among their own kind. So that all > the Queens would be kept in one location under the protection and control of the priests. This location > would obviously be upon Shaggai, the center of the shan religion. And Shaggai's destruction would have also > meant the destruction of their entire collection of Queens. > > Taking these events into account, we can easily see why it might become imperative to produce a Queen > artificially. A suggestion that Sammarco's story takes seriously and suggests the turn of events that would > result. So if we incorporate the events of "The Queen" into the over all lore of the shan, we arrive at this > possible timeline. > > 592 A.D.- Shaggai is destroyed and the hive of Queens is eradicated at the time it is needed most. > > 1597 A.D. - Two Shan vessels land on planet Earth in response to what appears to be a Shan beacon. One > lands in Spain. The other lands in the Netherlands. The vessel in Spain is quickly destroyed by the natives. > > 1598 A.D. - Realizing too late that they had underestimated the natives, the Netherlands Templeship is > close to being entirely wiped out. At the last moment, it is decided that a small group of twelve scientist > Shan will infest members of the local community and escape. The plan is to escape into surrounding > countries and avoid contact with each other as well as avoiding detection by the authorities. In five years, > they would journey to a predetermined location and meet up again with the hope of contacting other Shan > templeships and conquer the biped population of Earth. > > 1603 A.D. - Of the twelve, only 5 manage to survive in order to regroup in Sweden. Under the leadership of a > infested Lutheran priest, the small Shan group are able to organize themselves around Duke Charles Vasa > in the latter's bid for rulership over the country of Sweden. > > 1604 A.D. - Charles Vasa is given the right to become king under the Diet of 1604, partially due to the > influence and backroom intrigue of the Shan infested hosts. > > 1604-1611 A.D. - Under the protection and patronage of Charles IX of Sweden, the small Shan group comes > to the conclusion that the only sure way to subjugate Earth is to increase their own number rapidly. It is > decided that their main goal should be to bioengineer the production of Queens. This would allow them to > produce Shan in enough numbers to establish various colonies on the Earth at the same time. Along with > this plan was the building of pyramid-like structures out in the wilderness to use as hatcheries. Towards the > end of their experiments, they were finally able to produce two Queens. What was not expected was the > biology of the human host had developed a blood thirst in the Queen who quickly dispatched its fellow > Queen almost immediately after hatching. Unfortunately for the Shan, their success would be short lived. > > 1611 A.D.(April) - Christian IV of Denmark invades Sweden in the Kalmar War. As the Danish army > progresses towards the conical hatchery outside of the city of Gothenburg, the Shan begin to fight amongst > themselves as to how to proceed. One side wishes to exterminate the Queen and reassume their > experiments elsewhere. They feel that the Queen had been contaminated by its human host and was an > unacceptable vehicle for their future plans. The other side wants to preserve the Queen and begin the > process of breeding and colonization. Eventually, the three Shan in favor of killing the unpredictable Queen > succeed in destroying their creation as well as also killing the opposing Shan. During the escape, the Shan > find themselves forced to infest Danish soldiers. > > 1612 A.D. - The remaining Shan make the decision to restart their experiments in the New World. It is > thought that the Americas provide a safe location from the wear and tear of the ceaseless European > conflicts. > > 1614 A.D. - Learning that the Roman Catholic Church is planning a missionary crusade among the Canadian > Indians, the three surviving Shan invest suitable hosts. Unfortunately, the infestation is witnessed and > despite the denials of the hosts, they are quickly arrested by the Church in the French city of Nice and > brought to Rome under the direction of the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (Sacra > Congregatio Romanae et universalis Inquisitionis seu sancti officii). > > 1615 A.D. - In a dark secluded building in Rome, the three surviving Shan find themselves subjected to a > personal Inquisition. Under the watchful eye of Cardinal Bellarmine, the Shan were interrogated and > eventually executed. The records of the trial were placed within the Z collection of the Vatican. > > 1643 A.D - A Shan Templeship materializes on Earth in the Severn Valley of England near the town of > Goatswood. > > 1768 A.D. - A young Italian composer named Benevento Chieti Bordighera decides to spend a night in the > Goatswood forest in order to prove a point. He is infested by the Shan. The Shan conceive of a plan by > which the Bordighera host will use its talents and connections to perform a spell capable of bringing > Azathoth into our realm in the form of an opera. The Bodighera host leaves England with its Shan inhabitants > to return to Rome. > > 1769 A.D. - The opera, Massa di Requiem per Shaggay, is performed in Rome. A riot breaks out both for > the events on stage and the unusual musical composition. The authorities order the arrest for causing the > riot and for publishing a work "injurious to proper religious belief." Pope Clement XIII orders copies of > the opera to be destroyed. > > 1770 A.D. - Bordighera is discovered and placed under arrest while attempting to escape Italy. During the > day, Bordighera tells outlandish stories that our regarded as tales of a madman, while at night Bordighera > refuses to speak. The jailers remark on what seems to be a degenerate physical disease that is destroying > Bordighera's body. Bordighera's daytime confessions of insect demons within his skull is reported to the > Church. An priest skilled at exorcism is asked to investigate the case. The clergyman's statement on the > case is conveyed to the Pope. During this process, a connection is discovered with three cases from Spain > of 1597, the Netherlands of 1598, and three priests in 1615. At this point the Sacred Congregation for the > Doctrine of the Faith (Sacra Congregatio Romanae et universalis Inquisitionis seu sancti officii) takes over > the case. > > 1771 A.D. - Foolishly, the Inquisition judges attempt to control Bordighera's Shan believing that the Shan are > demons capable of granting them worldly power or, at the very least, allowing them to contact a more > powerful demon for that purpose. From their initial interrogations, the Shan learn about the previous Shan > and their attempts and partial success at creating Queens. Do to a misunderstanding of their Inquisitor's > religious beliefs, they mistakenly believe that the earlier Shan were able to escape. They are also > misinformed about the Egyptian pyramids which the Inquisitors have assumed are related to the > Shan. Eventually, the judges in the matter realize that the Shan are not interested in making any deals. > Therefore they resort to the threat of the death of Bordighera's body believing that the demons will then have > to return to the torments of hell. Eventually, they order the execution of Bordighera and move him to a cell for > that purpose. Unfortunately, the execution cells are owned by the city and lax in their security. During the > night before the execution, the Shan are able to leave Bordighera's body and inhabit one of the guards to > make their escape. > > 1774 A.D.- The Bordighera Shan return to Goatswood forest and inform the Goatswood templeship of the > earlier Shan's existence and operations. The Shan hierarchy orders that similar research is to be conducted > with the understanding that it will not constitute the primary resources of the templeship. > > 1881 A.D. - The research group responsible for the production of Queens informs the hierarchy that they > believe they have reached a point where the creation of a Queen may be possible. The hierarchy allows for > the development of ten specimens. Over the course of four months, ten human newborns from surrounding > towns are stolen. Two of these specimens succeed in showing signs of becoming Queens. Given the > results of the Swedish Shans' experiments, it is decided by the Goatswood templeship leaders that one of > the two infants are to be incorporated into the human world during their youth stage. > > 1883 A.D. - The Goatswood templeship is compromised when a retired historian, Dr. Anthony Regis, living > just outside of Goatswood forest, enters the templeship during the day and learns of the Queen project. The > Shan hierarchy decide to have Dr. Regis killed. Some members of the Goatswood Shan believe that the > project should be abandoned and the remaining Queen destroyed. The Shan hierarchy threaten exile to > those who question the wisdom of the hierarchy and briefly confine some members of the community in a > lower part of the templeship for a few months as punishment. > > 1886 A.D.- During the fifth year of the templeship Queen's host body, the child is discovered by a equestrian > traveler and eventually taken to the nearby town of Exham. There the child is admitted into the Exham > Foundling Home under the name, Elizabeth. While this is see as a blow to the project, the hierarchy > assigns a Shan to observe and keep track of the girl. > > 1893 A.D.- At the age of twelve, Elizabeth undergoes the transformation as the Shan Queen prepares for > emergence. During the last stages of this transformation, the Queen is killed by the housemother, Mrs. > Sharpels. When the Goatswood templeship learns of this, they feel it to be a blow to their project but hold > out hope that the remaining Queen will survive and return. There is never any return of this latter Queen. The > project is dismissed as an unfruitful enterprise and is abandoned. > > > > ********************************************* > > > > -------- Steven Marc Harris > > > From: owner-dgrpg@delta-green.com on behalf of jpetheri@cyberbeach.net Sent: Monday, February 21, 2000 8:06 PM To: dgrpg@delta-green.com Subject: DG: Items of Interest from Brazil These articles from the Toronto Globe and Mail (Canada's Original National Newspaper)strongly suggest the influence of one or more Mythos entities in Rio de Janeiro. Let's see .... which entity would be interested in teenagers beating each other to death in time to music? (Hmmm ... slipping journalistic standards also - all of this about Brazil, music, dance and fighting but not a single mention of capoeira.) http://www.globeandmail.ca/gam/Arts/20000221/RVRIOO.html http://www.globeandmail.ca/gam/Arts/20000221/RVRIO2.html ======================================== John Petherick, CIH e-mail: jpetheri@cyberbeach.net ----------------------------------------------- Did you know ? Cyber Beach has extended its monthly plan to 300 HOURS per month. Happy Surfing ! http://www.cyberbeach.net ----------------------------------------------- Brought to you by Cyber Beach's BottleMail ! http://www.cyberbeach.net From: owner-dgrpg@delta-green.com on behalf of Andy Robertson [andywrobertson@clara.co.uk] Sent: Thursday, February 24, 2000 5:58 PM To: dgrpg@delta-green.com Subject: Re: DG: Space Setting Colin Spot on. What I like about the DG stuff (it's the reason I'm lurking here - and the reason I started reading the spinoffs and the background material in the first place) is the fact that it goes back to basics and discards the incestuous devaluation-by-escalation which afflicts Mythos fiction. Making everything gritty, low-tech, mean and poverty-stricken constrains your "play" to a small stage, without special effects. But aside from a temporary "jazz", the size of the stage and the richness of the special effects has nothing to do with the power of a drama. The feel of "Space Opera" is absolutely wrong for Mythos. However, a widescreen SF setting might not be an impossibility, provided you stay gritty, mean and poverty-stricken. Low-tech? In a sense you could have that too, if your have the sense to leave the tech details as background and not make them the meaning of the story. Gritty? Star travel should HURT. It should take half your life to go from star to star. Poverty-stricken? What is more likely to be resource-poor than a community half way through a decades long voyage? How about -Mythos thingies infecting people on a generation starship - maybe rioting through a shared Dreamworld provided for the sleepers by the hibernation machinery, and infiltrating the computers . . . . "Agent Kinnison" though - - - Just imagine "A million enLensed members thrust skyward" in the context of Agent mi-go, Agent Dark Young, . . . . ----- Original Message ----- From: Colin Creitz To: Sent: Wednesday, February 23, 2000 9:54 PM Subject: Re: DG: Space Setting > On Tue, 22 Feb 2000, Michael Layne wrote: > > I might take my cue from people like Robert Forward and James P. Hogan, > > reputable physicists (as well as SF writers) who hint that [rubber > > science gadgets] may one day not only be possible, but almost > > commonplace... > > But of course, there are other reputable physicists who would deny the > possibility of gravity generators and such toys. And that's not really > the point - the point is maintaining the eldritch terror of the mythos > against a space-operatic background. As soon as Agent Kinnison shows up > and goes into telepathic rapport with Great Cthulhu, doesn't that kind of > mitigate the threat to sanity that even a partial understanding of the > Master of R'lyeh should pose? And then there's what I call the '90s > problem': where the hell do these Mythos entities hide when we have maps > for everyplace in the universe? Hard enough to justify keeping them on > Earth in the Cthulhu 2000 setting! I keep thinking that a TL-Aliens or > maybe TL-Star Trek could work, but TL-Lensman is probably destructive to > the types of stories CoC is best for telling. How about perhaps > TL-Trinity (from White Wolf)? > > Even within Cthulhupunk, the options are there to go TL-Snow Crash (very > near future) on up through TL-Neuromancer (much more advanced) to > TL-Trinity (FTL travel, psi); this leads me to speculate about how much > more tech we can toss into the mix without destroying the possibility for > cool Mythos stories. Probably there are some safe ranges, and > TL-Battletech might work very well for interstellar CoC. > > But Cthulhulens could be kind of cool, as long as you halt the > escalation somewhere... ;) I can see it now - GURPS Cthulhulens, GURPS > Myth-os, GURPS Batthulhu, GURPS Cthulhity, GURPS Snow Cthulhu, GURPS > Cthuliens... an endless array of glossy licensed RPG supplements! Gotta > love SJG (="S'nother Jagoff Game n'nat", in Pixburgese). > > ------------------------ > Colin Creitz [cocst6@pitt.edu] > > > From: owner-dgrpg@delta-green.com on behalf of Daniel Harms [dmharms@acsu.buffalo.edu] Sent: Wednesday, February 23, 2000 6:30 PM To: dgrpg@delta-green.com Subject: Re: DG: Re: Shan Historical Revisionism At 12:20 AM 2/23/2000 -0000, you wrote: >First, >If animals need to die in order to breed, then evolution sees to it that >they WANT to die. >This desire will persist when they become intelligent. This might work with ordinary insects or animals, but when you get up to human-level intelligence and beyond, it doesn't necessarily hold water. The assumption here is that because evolution makes something desirable, there's no way around it. Yet celibacy is not that uncommon on our own world, even considering that it can hardly be the way of life for an entire culture. And that's in a species that doesn't die right after sex... I'd say that biological imperatives would be prominent, if not overwhelming, in shan culture in the earlier stages. However, by the time they approached something roughly close to our own stage, they might find that those members of the species who didn't reproduce kept living - and living - and living. Given the shan's intellect, this might be something which many would find appealing - at least, they'd decide to put off breeding for longer. Over time, this might lead to the following traits: a) a system in which avoidance of reproduction for as long as possible, if not altogether, is seen as a virtue; b) technological advances which compensate for this. On one hand, you might have the queen/breeders to keep the population at its height. On the other, you could possibly have chemical or psychological aids to suppress the mating drive, with the goal of keeping shan alive for longer. Yrs., Daniel Harms dmharms@acsu.buffalo.edu The Internet: Learn what you know. Share what you don't. From: owner-dgrpg@delta-green.com on behalf of Crossingham, Adam [Adam.Crossingham@Octavian1009.E-MAIL.COM] Sent: Thursday, February 24, 2000 3:39 AM To: 'dgrpg@delta-green.com' Subject: DG: RE: GUARDIAN / TELEGRAPH / MAIL Adding my humble 2p to argument, the Mail is downmarket and tabloid and is doing well because it identified the middle England female audience and went for it well before the rest of the tabloids realised that tits and ass don't sell so well any more. News contents-wise the Mail is average tabloid standard - simplistic but roughly right, and much of it, especially the overseas news, is probably sourced from press agencies and rewritten. It's the leaders, comment articles and opinion columnists that make the Mail the nasty read that it is (Maggie is a goddess, Europe's a mistake, Little England POV, buy/own nice things). But you can't ignore it as it's the market sector leader. The sectors being: The Red Tops: The Sun, The Mirror, The Star Tabloids: The Mail, The Express Broadsheets: The Daily Telegraph, The Guardian, The Times, The Independent, HTH AFC > -----Original Message----- > From: LizardRoi@aol.com [SMTP:LizardRoi@aol.com] > Sent: Thursday, February 24, 2000 12:09 AM > To: dgrpg@delta-green.com > Subject: DG: GUARDIAN / TELEGRAPH / MAIL > > In a message dated 00-02-23 09:58:18 EST, you write: > > << Well that's a surprise isn't it? :-)) Actually I don't much notice > a > paper's political stance - I go more by "feel", and I'm afraid that, > whereas > the GUARDIAN and the TELEGRAPH (Left wing and Right wing respectively) > both > make me feel there are decent people doing the writing,the MAIL gives me > the > shivering creeps. > > All this is bit off-subject maybe - but I started it ....... beg pardon > !!! > >> > > But of interest to colonials who might dabble in writing about modern day > > Blighty. Sort of the way Merkin writers will namedrop NY papers as if that > > says all you need to know. "Oh..the Post! Figures." > > Mark McFadden > Sees more copies of the Manchester Guardian in US libraries than any other > UK > paper. > From: owner-dgrpg@delta-green.com on behalf of Crossingham, Adam [Adam.Crossingham@Octavian1009.E-MAIL.COM] Sent: Thursday, February 24, 2000 3:53 AM To: 'dgrpg@delta-green.com' Subject: DG: RE: Invading Britain > Jonathan Turner writes: <<< I hadn't heard of > it before, but apparently the British had trained 3,500 people in > guerrilla > warfare at Swindon in case of just such an invasion. >>> > The Home Guard Auxiliary Units, so named in order to avoid gaining attention form the Nazi invaders. Worked in 3 man cells, leaders recruited their cell members. Operated out of secret bunkers built by the Army. Were supplied with silenced rifles and explosives with orders to disrupt Nazis occupation as much as possible. Expected to let Nazis overrun and then attack the rear - much like 23 SAS was expected to operate in a potential WW3. The SS-Werewolves were meant to operate on similar principles. It's only recently that ex-members of the AU have started talking, as they were impressed at the time of recruitment and training that the project was highly secret. Maybe it's a generational thing. There's is a book out there somewhere (no idea of name, or ISBN) with details. DG relevancy? Somewhere out there the UK, is a forgotten bunker that was created for a PISCES sponsored cell of the AU. It's contents have lain secret for over 50 years as records were destroyed in 1944 by a V-1 hit, and the cell went out one night and never came back. -- Adam Crossingham War in English = Wanting more cows in Sanskrit Home e-mail: tigger@the-wolery.demon.co.uk Any opinions expressed in this email are those of the individual From: owner-dgrpg@delta-green.com on behalf of REFLECTING SKIN [reflectingskin@hotmail.com] Sent: Thursday, February 24, 2000 8:09 AM To: dgrpg@delta-green.com Subject: Re: DG: More B&E (You can read this Roger!) >how does on "pick" a mag srip lock? In the end I would attack the physical mechanism of the lock itself before I would screw with trying to give a "false" magnetic tag, but then again I'm WAY more comfortable with scorching a lock than I am playing with electronics... >Also, do the locks keep a record of when they were used/activated? Is >the mag code created anew each time a new person checks in, or will >an >older card still operate the lock? Most places I know of automatically reset, and rekey each lock after each guest leaves. ______________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com From: owner-dgrpg@delta-green.com on behalf of moorebros@earthlink.net Sent: Thursday, February 24, 2000 8:54 AM To: dgrpg@delta-green.com Subject: Re: DG: More B&E (You can read this Roger!) REFLECTING SKIN wrote: > >how does on "pick" a mag srip lock? > In the end I would attack the physical mechanism of the lock itself before I > would screw with trying to give a "false" magnetic tag, but then again I'm > WAY more comfortable with scorching a lock than I am playing with > electronics... > I saw a report on a Dateline-type show that used any plastic card that would fit in the slot with a piece of video tape taped to it to activate the reporter's ATM. It was quite some time ago that I saw the report, but the idea was that if you knew the PIN, your target electric lock was basically defenseless. I can't imagine the tech to send several combinations into a particular lock doesn't exist. > > >Also, do the locks keep a record of when they were used/activated? Is > >the mag code created anew each time a new person checks in, or will >an > >older card still operate the lock? > I don't know if they keep a record. But I stuck my card into the next door lock this weekend and nothing happend (that I know about).! > > Most places I know of automatically reset, and rekey each lock after each > guest leaves. > ______________________________________________________ > Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com From: owner-dgrpg@delta-green.com on behalf of Jason R. Armstrong [gerwalkveritech@juno.com] Sent: Thursday, February 24, 2000 9:27 AM To: dgrpg@delta-green.com Subject: Re: DG: CoC and SF Agreed that the Shadows were an excellent (perhaps the only excellent) part of Bab5. But that "ending" to the Shadow War...Gawd Almighty, what a stupid, worthless, hackneyed letdown! Uuuuurgh. But then again, I guess the alternative was to kill off everything in creation. Actually, I would have been happy with something that ended that way....I bet Harlan Ellison would have too. Not that I necessarily know the guy or anything. But he's been working in (or with) TV for so long; I bet he would have loved to do what most series had never done-whack the people that everyone had come to know and love. But doubtless, being the "creative consultant" was more of an ego-boost for him and a free name-drop for the show's bigwigs. I doubt that he had THAT much control. Yes? No? Anyone got any dirt on it? Y'know, "Those Fuckers Sold Out My Script Ideas, Complains Ellison (Again)". xJAYx On Wed, 23 Feb 2000 23:41:14 -0800 "Marco S.Subias" writes: >I just thought I'd mention that Babylon 5 featured some fairly >Lovecraftian aliens, called the Shadows. Their ships were described as >"a cross between a spider and your worst nightmare," they used very >alien technology, could move about invisibly, employed very strange >servants (one was a black, tentacled parasite that monitored the >behavior and thoughts of the host it rode). The Shadows and their >allies were also corrupting by their very nature, and helped transform >a >somewhat harmless and sympathetic major character into a monster who >had >enough of a conscious left to regret and feel pain for the massive >death >and destruction in which he participated. > >Nowhere near as dark as Lovecraft, but still worth mentioning. > >Marco > ________________________________________________________________ YOU'RE PAYING TOO MUCH FOR THE INTERNET! Juno now offers FREE Internet Access! Try it today - there's no risk! For your FREE software, visit: http://dl.www.juno.com/get/tagj. From: owner-dgrpg@delta-green.com on behalf of Michael Layne [theherald@hotmail.com] Sent: Thursday, February 24, 2000 11:48 AM To: dgrpg@delta-green.com Subject: Re: DG: CoC and SF On 23 February, 2000 AD, "Marco S.Subias" has this to say about Cthuloid SF: >I just thought I'd mention that Babylon 5 featured some fairly >Lovecraftian aliens, called the Shadows. Their ships were described as >"a cross between a spider and your worst nightmare," they used very >alien technology, could move about invisibly, employed very strange >servants (one was a black, tentacled parasite that monitored the >behavior and thoughts of the host it rode). And didn't they use captured telepaths cyberlinked into the ship's systems as onboard computers? Their ships were sufficiently different from what we generally thought of as "spaceships" that the first time I saw one -- when it collided with a Starfury in hyperspace during the Cortez rescue ("A Distant Star"?) -- my first thought was, "There _are_ Things living in hyperspace!" -- I mistook the ship for a living creature! > The Shadows and their >allies were also corrupting by their very nature, and helped transform a >somewhat harmless and sympathetic major character into a monster who had >enough of a conscious left to regret and feel pain for the massive death >and destruction in which he participated. Which in its own way was even worse than turning him into something purely Evil... > >Nowhere near as dark as Lovecraft, but still worth mentioning. Definitely a Lovecraftian feel to it... and how about whatever it was there in "Thirdspace"? A B5 type setting might be good for SF Cthulhu... The Humans may have had FTL travel and communications, and laser and plasma guns, but they still had to mimic gravity by spinning their habitats (or sections of their ships), their weapons weren't powerful enough to blow up entire planets, even their telepaths couldn't (usually) simply kill with a thought, etc. Some other SF settings that come to mind for CoC: CthulhuTrek: "Captain, we are receiving a distress call from the Borg! It appears they have attempted to assimilate Cthulhu..." ShadowThulhuRun: "Ever seen what happens if ya don't take the foil wrapper offa a stuffer before ya nuke it in the microwave? That's what's happenin' inside his brain now! I TOLD him, "Chummer, don't jack inta CthulhuNet", but did he _listen_? NAAAW!" Captain Green and the Cthulhuoids: "This is the voice of Dread Cthulhu! I know you can hear me, puny Humans..." Darkthulhuover: "So the idiot tries to summon a Fire Vampire to light his campfire! I didn't know there was a Fire Vampire named "Sharra", either, and now the Space Force and the Aldaran Domain are both blaming us for what happened to Caer Donn! And did you know that one of the Darkovan dieties is named "Hastur"?" GURPS Traveller Cthulhu: "When you said you had signed on a "Hound" as Navigator of our Scoutship, I thought you meant a _Vargr_!" And one of my personal favorites... "Mythos Troopers": "Listen up! This is gonna be another bug hunt! The officers tell me these Bugs are called "Shan"! Well, even if they're Irish, Yancey's Yardbirds are gonna squash 'em all the same! Check out your battlesuits, flamers, and cans of RAID, and prepare to make the drop!" Michael Layne DGGF#688 theherald@hotmail.com ______________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com From: owner-dgrpg@delta-green.com on behalf of Abdul [ludovic.chabant@polymtl.ca] Sent: Thursday, February 24, 2000 11:57 AM To: dgrpg@delta-green.com Subject: Re: DG: Space Setting Hi everyone ! I'm quite new around here (i registered 3 days ago) and i just jumped into the Space-DG conversation....i started creating a background for a story a while ago and never finished developing it (can you even finish developing a background, anyway ?), but it was based on a Cthulhu-2300 kind of universe so maybe i could share some ideas with you...? okay, here it is : it's quite difficult to adapt Cthulhu so i adopted a non-stable background that's easy to tear apart, and with a strong feeling of pessimism (as always in CoC)...The story is set in the 2400s or something like that. The stars were right around 2080-2120, and something happened then but i won't tell anything about this since it's still under construction...But i think it will include the end of Majestic, the discovery of the Grey/Migo stuff (they held the secret for 60years...why not another 80?) and the expansion of DG activities...some big stuff too (like the Migo stopping the rising of R'lyeh) but i have to be careful with that... Anyway....Humanity developped FTL travel but still can't build battle ships, because they still haven't managed a way to move correctly in the void of space (spacecraft still evolve the same way as now, i.e. straight forward. turning takes a loooooong time). So no space fights. sorry. On Earth, cities have expanded a lot, and, before discovering FTLT, we avoided overpopulation by terraforming Mars. Various Mythos monsters continued to fade out and sects tended to lost their members, excepted strong and old sects such as various Nyarlathotep cults and so on... Then, when FTL travel was completly developped, we started terraforming the Alpha Centauri system, and some of the satellites of Jupiter or whatever. The Mi-Go modified their intallations on Yuggoth so as we couldn't notice them, but were very glad that the human race did not end with the stars being right... At that point, the big sects started to think about the future and realized that, very soon, we would reach the systems inhabited by GOO. They gathered their forces and created The BrotherHood, maybe with the Fate involved, but i'm not sure (the motivations of the Fate are not easy to comprehend). Anyway, they slowly started to place agents at differents levels of the authorities, while Alpha Centauri's athmosphere finished being created. From now on, they could more or less control the space development of the human race. The next steps (like Barnard's Star) were easy, but then, Fomalhaut was a disaster. It finally got colonized and scientists discovered with surprise that it was a twin star...a big one (FomalHaut), and a small one (Cthuga, of course), graviting around the big one....Of course, the Brotherhood had to "take care" of a few scientists who thought that the small star was a bit too "active" for a star. Anyway, the Fomalhaut system, with a high concentration of Fire Vampire (Cthuga's servants) is a very hot and hard place to live. It's mainly a big mining planet, and only lower classes live there. (you can imagine a red ambiance with always something burning, everybody sweating, and strange things happening all the time). Aldebaran, the next step, was a success, on the other hand. The Brotherhood managed to control the 1st exploration missions, and everybody believes that there's nothing there. Of course, the Brother hood itself is currently exploring with awe and joy the streets of Carcosa and the shores of the lake Hali.... And that's it. Humanity's just at the beginning of the spacial conquest...legends of Byakhees attacking spacecrafts are told in pilot circles, the Mi-Go are in a complete state of joy, with an expanding race to control and to study, the Brotherhood is gathering more and more adepts, and lower monster races, like vampires, who feared for their future, are now travelling between the systems, able to create children again thanks to the new baby boom... I've got a lot of details behind this to make everything logical and realistic, but that's not always easy and i've still got some dark areas... anyway, i hope it gave some of you some ideas.... Ia Ia Cthulhu!! Abdul From: owner-dgrpg@delta-green.com on behalf of PM [mermoud@easynet.fr] Sent: Thursday, February 24, 2000 12:04 PM To: dgrpg@delta-green.com Subject: Re: DG: More B&E (You can read this Roger!) >but instead use those magnetic strip cards. So, if anyone knows, while >brutal measures such as breaking down the door or overt methods such as >flashing badges can be used, how does on "pick" a mag srip lock? I'd say electronic tampering a la "John Connor and the ATM in Terminator 2" >Also, do the locks keep a record of when they were used/activated? Is >the mag code created anew each time a new person checks in, or will an >older card still operate the lock? Considering it isn't usually mandatory to give the card back (as seen in some hotels I've been staying in) I'd say the code is changed on the central puter and sent to the door mechanisms (or centrally checked ?) ============================================= Patrice Mermoud (Paris - France) mermoud@easynet.fr ============================================= From: owner-dgrpg@delta-green.com on behalf of Davide Mana [doctor.dee@libero.it] Sent: Thursday, February 24, 2000 12:12 PM To: dgrpg@delta-green.com Subject: Re: DG: Re: Shan Historical Revisionism Greetings. Graeme 'Shan man' Price wrote a nice little rationalization. > Now eventually they may succumb >to a sudden fit of hermaphrodite lust (kinky....) but that will take a >long, long time. Meanwhile to keep the population ticking over, the Shan >decide to go for implanting egg sacs into other hosts. > >Nice, neat, simple. Everyone will probably hate it. I do not hate it. Not at all. It is sound, logical and perfectly adaptable to any campaign. It fails, IMHO, in a single respect (sorry). It does not make the Shans scarier. Why go through all this evolutionary shananigans when the answer is pretty simple and fits the Shans psychological profile so nicely? Kids, Shans are EVIL. They do worship Azathot. They just love to hurt other sentients. And Shan sexual culture is based on rape. The biological urge is there. They know it will kill the subject and they do give a damn - they just LOVE it. They actually like to go and rape one of their kind, and impregnate it, so that the bastard dies horribly in child-bearing. They probably consider it quite a laugh, something to brag about down at the pub. ['Do you know the news about Zippy?' 'No, what?' 'Got caught with its elitrae down and someone as yet unknow gave it a capital rogering, filling it up with eggs to its eyestalks.' 'Really?!' (sniggers) 'By Az! Zippy was always a sucker.' 'Yeah.'] By this I assume that one of the ermaphrodite couple is acting as a male and the other as a female (in the sense of egg-bearing organism). So only one in the pair gets to feed the kids. [sorry, I do not have my Countdown handy, so maybe all this is heresy] The concept could be further refined (and I hope there's enough sickos out there that will collaborate on this). Just start thinking about a society of maschilistic ermaphrodites, in which raping your kin is a religious right. Sounds feasible? Davide Mana Torino, Italy doctor.dee@libero.it The Ice Cave - http://www.fortunecity.com/tattooine/leiber/50/ice_cave.htm From: owner-dgrpg@delta-green.com on behalf of andrew john farrow [afarrow@kirkmoorrd.freeserve.co.uk] Sent: Thursday, February 24, 2000 12:45 PM To: dgrpg@delta-green.com Subject: DG: decapitation , the new trepaning ? while the list has shan on thier minds - no pun intended :-) a couple of stories have caught my eye this week 1 the spate of murders in columbia . where 20 vilagers were beheaded last? week by an malitia gang 2 a man in england murdered the lover of his teen age son ( by decapitation with an axe ) , because she was having his baby ( a hybrid breeding programme? ) so are the shan using new techniques that are immune to the old trepaning trick . are are people just becoming more bloodthirsty , * just to be sure * sorry no links to these stories - still in hospital , but WWW.botach,com do a wicked line in axe cum multi tool things w/- countless uses for DG ops every where who have lost faith in trepaning yours andrew farrow - ( sharpening his axe , putting away the cordless drill ) afarrow@kirkmoorrd.freeserve.co.uk From: owner-dgrpg@delta-green.com on behalf of Graeme Price [graemep@immagene.mcg.edu] Sent: Thursday, February 24, 2000 12:50 PM To: dgrpg@delta-green.com Subject: Re: DG: More B&E (You can read this Roger!) >>Also, do the locks keep a record of when they were used/activated? Is >>the mag code created anew each time a new person checks in, or will >an >>older card still operate the lock? > >Most places I know of automatically reset, and rekey each lock after each >guest leaves. There was something on this on one of the US TV News magazine programs the other week (20/20 IIRC). The places should reset each magnetic key (which are disposable) when the guest checks out, but in many motels this doesn't happen. Whilst access to the room is normally blocked (in some cases this doesn't even happen, and access to rooms is retained until the next guest in that room checks in and is issued with a new card key), the card can still access common areas such as corridors etc. for some days after it should have expired. Obviously this represents something of a crime risk for muggings occuring in stairwells etc. The problem (as I understand it) is with the way the software is set up for programming the cards. You can set it to revoke access when the guest checks out, but most places don't bother as it's too much trouble. Go figure. Graeme graemep@immag.mcg.edu PS. As for picking magnetic locks, the definitive method is _still_ the one the Robert Redford character uses in "Sneakers"... "Uh-huh. Uh-huh. Right. You sure this will work? OK" **KICK** "It worked. I'm in" From: owner-dgrpg@delta-green.com on behalf of Jesper Anderson [jesper@pobox.com] Sent: Thursday, February 24, 2000 1:22 PM To: dgrpg@delta-green.com Subject: Re: DG: More B&E (You can read this Roger!) >>>On Thu, Feb 24, 2000 at 01:50:16PM -0500, Graeme Price wrote: > >>Most places I know of automatically reset, and rekey each lock after >>each guest leaves. > > There was something on this on one of the US TV News magazine > programs the other week (20/20 IIRC). The places should reset each > magnetic key (which are disposable) when the guest checks out, but in > many motels this doesn't happen. The key isn't reset; the lock is. Usually this is simply done by a timer in the lock (it resets noon-ish), so the access card either has to be reprogrammed or a new one given to the guest. A card can also be programmed to handle several days stay at once. Fancier versions of the door locks are centrally controlled, but apparently this is rather uncommon (in fact, I've never been in a hotel that has a centralized system). Jesper -- "They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." -- Benjamin Franklin, 1759 From: owner-dgrpg@delta-green.com on behalf of Jeff Ewing [ewing@postbox.csi.cuny.edu] Sent: Thursday, February 24, 2000 5:44 PM To: dgrpg@delta-green.com Subject: Re: DG: More B&E (You can read this Roger!) Graeme Price wrote: > > The problem (as I understand it) > is with the way the software is set up for programming the cards. You can > set it to revoke access when the guest checks out, but most places don't > bother as it's too much trouble. Go figure. Pretty much par for the course. A couple years back 2600 had an article on the pushbutton combo locks used by Federal Express drop boxes, among other things. It seems that these were almost never set to anything but the default (you are, of course, supposed to change them when you intall them). As it happened, my bother-in-law's apartment front door had one of these locks, and I opened it using the default setting printed in the mag, thus verifying the story to my own satisfaction. Jeff From: owner-dgrpg@delta-green.com on behalf of Jason R. Armstrong [gerwalkveritech@juno.com] Sent: Friday, February 25, 2000 12:03 AM To: dgrpg@delta-green.com Subject: DG: Re: Shan Historical Revisionism Just wanted to say wow again. I was worried that the "new" Shan thread would be crossing over old Ice Cave territory. Boy, as usual, you guys proved me totally wrong, and am I glad. More sick than I thought the Shan _already_ were. And more amusing than the "Cap'n Ahab and the Cthonian" drill rig routine. I'm gonna foreward this stuff to my brother offlist. I don't give a shit if it spoils him as a player, this is too good. He loves England and the Shan as campaign setting and ideas, as much as I love the Americas, and Rh** Te**** (promised I wouldn't mention Him again). I recall (not, as you may have guessed, having my Countdown or Encyc. Cthuliana handy) dimly that there was some Shan demi-deity known as Baout Zuqqa-Mogg, the "Bringer of Pestilence". Was this being actually worshipped by the Shan? If so, why? As a Bringer of Disease, how did it benefit the Shan at all? Was it just a really powerful Shan-turned-Great Oldie that they placated to keep it off their asses? Was it sort of a "team mascot"?( "Hey, look what extensive longevity and the ability to transcend the common Shanly form did for BZM! We should all emulate Its cruelty and ferocity!") Was it maybe also used in this respect as a gargoyle or A-Bomb terror weapon? ("Don't fuck with us, lousy Xiclotlan. Be our slaves or it's war. And even if you win against us, we'll call out BZM as a last resort; BZM kills EVERYONE!! Ha ha ha...) But, more to the point, what would the Shan v.2, with new and improved Extra Rape Sauce, see in this being? Could it be sort of an intercessionary for those Shan who will be eaten alive via being impregnated? IIRC, BZM is covered with vermin and parasites. It might (at least be SEEN as) some sort of symbol of the triumph of Shan over degradation, pain, and parasitic, um, "infection". Perhaps those who are trapped as "female" give a last crazy insectile prayer than BZM will give them some of Its power to withstand the torment of being eaten alive. Or maybe they pray that It, symbol of the Degraded Shan, will bring "pestilence"(impotence?) to the father in question? Nah, maybe not. I'm making this sound way too human. And Catholic:) It's just that Lhrogg makes sense (arcane knowledge), Azathoth makes sense (power, temporal, atomic and otherwise), but the BZM thing doesn't. Is it their demigod? Or a version of their Satan? Confusion. That's what I get for assuming that space-bugs have an organized, reliable pantheon. Oh well. xJAYx "I've swallowed every pill in the house, And every last tiny bit of my pride, Toss and turn, crash and burn, toss and turn, The sun is coming- And I've nowhere to hide I close my eyes And see everything, clear as day I open my eyes, Just in time to see them take it away It's taken away..." Sheer Terror ________________________________________________________________ YOU'RE PAYING TOO MUCH FOR THE INTERNET! Juno now offers FREE Internet Access! Try it today - there's no risk! For your FREE software, visit: http://dl.www.juno.com/get/tagj. From: owner-dgrpg@delta-green.com on behalf of Davide Mana [doctor.dee@libero.it] Sent: Friday, February 25, 2000 7:18 AM To: dgrpg@delta-green.com Subject: Re: DG: Re: Shan Historical Revisionism Greetings. Jay is exploring Shan theology (as if sexuality was not enough...) > I recall (not, as you may have guessed, having my Countdown or >Encyc. Cthuliana handy) dimly that there was some Shan demi-deity known >as Baout Zuqqa-Mogg, the "Bringer of Pestilence". Was this being actually >worshipped by the Shan? If so, why? As a Bringer of Disease, how did it >benefit the Shan at all? [snip!] >But, more to the point, what would the Shan v.2, with new and >improved Extra Rape Sauce, see in this being? Could it be sort of an >intercessionary for those Shan who will be eaten alive via being >impregnated? Considering that after epidemics - that cause a drop in the population - the rate of births goes normally up and fast to compensate (same after wars), the Rape-oriented Shans should have quite a good reason to try and keep on the good side of BZM. As for his form crawling with parasites - parasites or youngs? Cold BMZ be a mix of disease god, unchecked couplings patron saint and and birth spirit? After all, the three are close connected when it comes with the Shans. Imagine the Four Riders of Apocalypse, Pan and the baby-carrying stork rolled into one. One thing is sure, aniway. You don't screw with Baout Zuqqa-Mogg. Davide Mana Torino, Italy doctor.dee@libero.it The Ice Cave - http://www.fortunecity.com/tattooine/leiber/50/ice_cave.htm From: owner-dgrpg@delta-green.com on behalf of Jonathan Turner [j.turner@irishnews.com] Sent: Friday, February 25, 2000 8:15 AM To: dgrpg@delta-green.com Subject: DG: Witch murdered Just saw a story on the PA wire which will probably be everywhere tomorrow. Police have launched a murder inquiry after Derek Taylor (60), was found dead on a beach in Sussex. Taylor, who lived with the former King of the Witches Alex Sanders before he died in May, was obsessed with black magic and life in outer space. On a DG-related note, particularly as far as the Shan are concerned, Taylor built a huge pyramid in his front room in Hastings which he said would transport him to the mystical planet of Ganymede... A prototype templeship of some sort, perhaps? Heading back to Shaggai? Maybe he was some kind of rogue Shan. Perhaps as well as PISCES the Shan have infilitrated other occult groups in the UK. Makes sense, really... The witches have been bickering amongst themselves over who should be the new King since May, BTW. Can you imagine the bloodshed if a bunch of Mythos sorcerers decided to duke it out over the leadership? Later Jonathan From: owner-dgrpg@delta-green.com on behalf of Andrew D. Gable [agable@falcon.lhup.edu] Sent: Friday, February 25, 2000 6:42 PM To: Delta Green List Subject: DG: Killer Kenyan Apes Yet another cryptozoology list forward. Disturbing if true. I don't know what relevance it would have, but sounds like it may possibly be DG-relevant... >From: Gavin Joth > >Monkeys Stone Herder in Kenya > > NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) _ Thirsty monkeys in drought-affected >eastern Kenya stoned to death a herder watering his livestock, a >local newspaper reported Thursday. > Ali Adam Hussein and other herdsmen had stopped to water their >cattle at a pool in the northeastern Wajir district on Saturday >when a group of wild monkeys attacked them with stones, the >independent daily East African Standard said. > Hussein died from severe head injuries after he was transferred >to a dispensary in Ajawa, the newspaper quoted Abdi Gosho, a nurse >in the village, as saying. > Attempts to confirm the story were unsuccessful. Police in >Wajir, contacted by telephone from the Kenyan capital Nairobi, had >no information about the alleged incident. > The report did not specify what kind of monkey carried out the >purported attack. Baboons have been known to throw objects at >rivals. Andrew D. Gable agable@falcon.lhup.edu The CryptoWeb (I'll fix it! I'll fix it!): come.to/the_cryptoweb/ We are all Britons! And I am your King! -- Monty Python From: owner-dgrpg@delta-green.com on behalf of Graeme Price [graemep@immagene.mcg.edu] Sent: Saturday, February 26, 2000 1:11 PM To: dgrpg@delta-green.com Subject: Re: DG: CoC and SF Janusz wrote: >Its no surprise since J. Michael StraczyÒski, B5 creator is a big fan of >Lovecraft. There's even one cthulhoid race put in explicite. I vaguely remember it coming out on one of the newsgroups which I used to keep an eye on (probably alt.horror.cthulhu), back in the days when I had more time and energy, that before (arguably) going on to bigger and better things Mr. Strazynski used to be a scriptwriter for Scooby Doo, and was responsible forthe infamous Scooby Doo meets Cthulhu episode. Anyone verify this, or is it just another urban legend? Later Graeme "I'd have gotten away with it too, if it wasn't for you meddling kids!" Price graemep@immag.mcg.edu From: owner-dgrpg@delta-green.com on behalf of Colin Creitz [cocst6+@pitt.edu] Sent: Saturday, February 26, 2000 2:41 PM To: dgrpg@delta-green.com Subject: Re: DG: Re: The New Age Campaign On Thu, 24 Feb 2000, Woods wrote: > Has anyone out there found a semi-decent way to include DG type scenarios > in a CP2020 sort of game? I've tried before (my players prefer the motto > "Bigger guns. We need bigger ****ing guns."), but not with great success. We played Cthulhupunk for a whole summer campaign and had an excellent experience. For starters, note that we used the CoC rules, but just yanked the cyberware from CP2020 (drugs too!) and I made up the setting out of whole cloth, since I'm not especially high on the CP2020 setting. Make sure you scale up the armor of the bad guys so it's on a par with the PCs. I figure that a corpse of an unarmored cultist is itself about 10 points the first time it's used as armor, maybe half that the next time, etc, so cult heads should survive fire fights better than their followers. Possible spoilers ahead - Players, you've been warned. I was successful by concentrating on the human aspects of the Mythos - the only nonhumans in the campaign were Y-S and a few sons of the same, created by cultist bioscientists using advanced biotech. Mostly, teh game was about trying to understand what motivates the cultists of the Outer Gods, and the PCs who came to that understanding found themselves at single-digit SAN, one of them found himself turned cultist, and the one who remained ignorant (an exceptionally-played low INT and bad attitiude) had the cyberware replacements to show for it. Don't let them off easy on SAN loss, either. Cyberware humanity costs in CP2020 should come out equivalent to SAN loss for those puppies. If you use the CP2020 rules, every time you'd roll SAN, feel free to roll Humanity loss and scale down by perhaps 25%. Play up the inhumanity of being stared at by frightened children, the abnormal character of cybersenses, the disorientation of using chipped skills (I made it nauseating or shocking in my game to have a physical-skill chip take over your voluntary muscles - in other words, 0/0 or 0/1 SAN). Cthulhupunk characters should live under two Damoclean threats - the Mythos and cyberware burnout. You shouldn't need to bring in the Mythos every session to scare your players - their own characters have the potential to be as frightening as anything you choose to evoke. Good luck - and maybe you'll calm down their gunfondler tendencies if you charge all but the most combat-hardened of them a bit of SAN for whipping out their engorged phallus-surrogates. ------------------------ Colin Creitz [cocst6@pitt.edu]