(Grimoire) Archaeology in Words

[Yumyumcrow]

Aileen wrestles with the problem deep into the early hours.

The formulae and incantations found in the Revelations of the Eyeless King appear to use a ritual system that has its roots deep in history. She finds that there is a signature in the formulae - a certain rhyming scheme, linked with a set of common symbols - that repeats through time: from the Order of Orthodox monks, through to the garbled poetry of Haight-Ashbury.

She can't be certain at this stage, but it could be that the Revelations form a parallel literature - similar to, but not following, the stricter course of this particular tradition.

[Aileen McFarlane]

The more she learned, the more puzzled Aïleen was. She remembered of course that the book had been created during a ritual gone havoc, in a very particular context, but what did it mean about its content ? If she had been daring, she would have tried to replicate the book's ritual. As it was, it seemed that the truth it held had been discovered and kept alive since centuries ago. If it was less strict, it may mean that it was less safe. Or perhaps it was just more bare.

It was getting late, and she didn't want to start something that she wouldn't be able to finish - alas that she had to sleep during the day, even though she had promised herself it would change someday. But Aïleen now knew what her next step would be. To identify all the common points between those two traditions, if she was right. It should be the most required step in the ritual, and she had to identify its backbone if she wanted to make anything of it. Scientific method.

[Yumyumcrow]

Aileen will need to make an Extended [Intelligence + Occult] check. The GeoNexus will act as an Equipment Bonus but the Library will not provide a bonus - the information is too scattered and obscure for the Library to offer much assistance mechanically. Given the obscure nature of the material, and the sheer grunt work involved, each roll will represent a night of work.

For convenience, I suggest we simply continue with this thread. Its related to the same search / enquiry

[Aileen McFarlane]

  15 successes !

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2014-05-20 16:27:10		[03] Aileen rolls 11 to Int 5 + Occ 3 + GeoNexus 3 (10 Again)		9, 4, 2, 6, 8, 7, 7, 8, 8, 1, 8		5 successes
2014-05-20 16:27:10		[02] Aileen rolls 11 to Int 5 + Occ 3 + GeoNexus 3 (10 Again)		6, 6, 9, 10, 8, 1, 8, 8, 2, 7, 10, 2, 2		6 successes
2014-05-20 16:27:10		[01] Aileen rolls 11 to Int 5 + Occ 3 + GeoNexus 3 (10 Again)		6, 3, 2, 6, 1, 10, 9, 3, 8, 4, 7, 9		4 successes

Over the next week, Aïleen alternated between her mundane duties, and her project for the Ordo. She painstakingly compared all references, trying to get the gist of it, and only the gist. She tried her best to discard anything superfluous, and the more she did it, the easier the process became, and the clearer picture she got. The young Mekhet was extremely confident in her findings, but confidence and truth were not the same thing, and she refrained as best she could from being overoptimistic.

[Yumyumcrow]

Aileen worked her sources, and using them as a gate keeper, cut a path through the Mysteries to achieve, in broad strokes, her task.

Always, the Necrotelenomicon. The battered book and its strange contents was alpha and omega of her quest. There was a system; a system, which at its core was very simple, but was open to a wide variety of interpretation and embellishment. A system rooted in the old magics of Egypt and Persia but in a form much pared back. It had founds its way into the Hymns of an Orphic cult that had clothed itself in Christian symbolism during Late Antiquity; it had underpinned the garbled Revelations of the Eyeless King; it had crept into the Chants of the Yellow Priests - a small role within a wider, as yet unknown system; and had popped up in a tattered fragments and mouldy grimoires here and there; it stared back at her from the fever dreams of Haight Ashbury and she detected rumours of a similar formula appearing in the secret operations manuals of Cold War operatives.

It was a lot to take in, even harder to mine from the literature and the lies. By the third night, the Mekhet had had enough. It existed, recurring through time. In The Necrotelenomicon someone or something had attempted to lay out the most strongly advanced versions of the system for those who knew how to harness its power source.

[Aileen McFarlane]

Whether or not her findings would be directly useful to her, Aïleen felt a strange and invigorating feeling of elation from her achievement. She had actually achieved something. By herself, her own willpower, tenacity and intelligence, she had pierced the mysteries laid out in front of her. Of course, she would perhaps have to work still on the topic, or better yet, experiment, if she were to formalize the system she had started to perceive, but she had already made a huge leap forward by asserting its mere existence.

Now... now, it was time to report her discovery, lest it risked being lost again. And also, depending on what others had found, it might shed further light on her work, and simplify it. Idly, she wondered what she could trade this knowledge she had earned for ?

At this point, I think Aileen will wrap up and summarize her knowledge, to present it either to Raluca or the Grand Wyrm. Unless there were something else you wanted to put in this thread, of course

[Yumyumcrow]

No. Thats fine We wrap the scene here then, with Aileen basking in her triumph. Good scene