Of fallen comrads

The problem with being a Guardian is that death is your constant companion, whether you are a Moros or not.  In some ways, I envy the Moros.  They are, at the very least, used to death and dying.  And they can call back those who have died, if a ghost was left behind.  We Mastagos have our memories.  I suppose, if one delves deep enough, one's collective memories can be enough to bring back something like a person who died... but we will never truly get him or her back.

I begin this journal, dear god child, because death had come for three of us, two of which are members of our order.  It is now a time of remembering.

First, our old Hierarch, Redcap.  He was, bluntly put, insane.  Or perhaps he just tried to embody what it was to be an Achantus.  He lead into battle by going in first - often recklessly.  His love, Ghost - whom I am sure you have met by now - was one of the few people who could hold him back.  Though not of my order, he was of my legacy, and shall be missed.

Next, Journey.  He was a young mage, and often did not leave the college.  But he had great dreams.  He went into the Guardians for the right reasons - to protect magic from the abyss and to protect people from the abyss.  His notes on the theoretical new magical materials are somewhere in the library.  He died, fighting an abyssal entity and saving the life of another mage - one who is generally believed to be worthless.  Now, to clarify, no mage is worthless.  But this young mage lacked experience and had acted foolishly.  This young mage (whom I will not name... who knows?  Perhaps he has gained wisdom by the time you read this) did not even know the name of the person who saved him, and acted like he did not care.

Which brings us to our third death.  That of my godson, Firewall.

The man was brash and often let his feelings get in the way of what is right.  He was working on it, thankfully, but it was his feelings that lead him to do something rather... unbecoming of a Guardian.  He announced what was agreed to be a Guardian secret - his roll as Interceptor.  Now, do not get me wrong on this.  The role of Interceptor is usually known by all members of the Concillium.  The reason for this is so that the individual may become a scape-goat for the other Guardians, and so that others may take on that role privately while the one person takes the blame publicly.  It is an in-envious position.  And he wasted it by letting his temper get the better of him.  It did not help that he had cast vulgar magic while battling the entity.

His death hurt the most, both because he was my godson, and because his death was worthless.

We knew where the entity would next come, and we had prepared to the best of our abilities.  Our weapons were enchanted to provide the maximum effect.  Our tactics were sound.  And there were a lot of us.  But it turned out, our weapons were beyond maximum effect, and that fed the entity until it got bigger and bigger.  The irony is, those overly enchanted weapons seemed to be the only thing that was hurting it.  Things that hurt it healed it.  Like our battle with the Seerers and every battle with the Abyss, we were slowly loosing.

None the less, if we did not fight, all would be lost.  We must use what we have wisely.  We must do what other people will not want to do for the sake of all.  We must have faith the the actions we take, be it hiding the truth, keeping Sleepers from seeing magic, erasing memories, destroying what is dangerous, or killing, is for the best.  I truly believe that some day, this will all be worth it.  I truly believe that our cause is noble.  And I must fight hard to keep these feelings to the forefront of my mind, and not let a desire for revenge consume me.  "Vengeance is mine", not mine.  Godchild, if you ever feel the desire to have another's blood on your hands - and know that you would take great pleasure from it - you must stop and breath.  You must remember to how and why you were able to enter our order - because you saw through mindless death.

But enough crying and griping from an old man.

All actions have consequences.  One consequence is the life of a child, and a death of an investigator.  This investigator was looking into the death of another friend.  He was not my godson, but was important.  But my godson was investigating the death.  My godson was putting the pieces together.  My godson was so close to the truth and to finding justice for Bishop!  And now, that may never happen.  And for justice to come, blood must be spilt!

El maley rakhamim shokhen bam'romim ham'tzey menukhah nekhonah takhat kanfey hashekhinah bema'alot kedoshim u't'horim kezohar harakiah maz'hirim et nishmat Firewall ben Iccolos bensan Sandek. Ba'al harakhamim has'tireyhu beseter kenafav l'olamim vayitz'ror bitz'ror hakhayim et nishmato. Adonay hu nakhalato veyanuakh al mish'kavo beshalom venomar amen.


((OOC: http://www.ritualwell.org/ritual/el-maley-rakhamim-%E2%80%93-masculine-version ))

I fear, it will be to me to tell of this wasted death in a mission on an attempt to redeem himself!

May you never be in this position, godchild.  Always look to your back!

Also, it may not be there in the future, but within the vault, there is a paper puzzle - a soduku that caused many sleepers to fear and nearly caused a riot.  Do not touch it with your hands.  It is a potent weapon.  We will seek a way to nullify it's power.  If it cannot be nullified, anyone who touches it with their skin will feel that fear.

In this journal, I am being as honest as I can.  And give as much information as I can.  Now, I give the one piece of information that I have - the Four Horsemen have returned.

Of spirits and other shades of twilight.

Never leave the Arrow alone.  That is a rule, young one, that you should learn and follow.  Their task is noble and important, but in their rush to fulfill their tasks, at times they may forget the things that we espouse. For example, the it was discovered that there was something taking children and eating them.  We did not know who or what it was.  Some sources - spirits if my source is to be believed - said that the thing taking the children was "one of us".  This could mean a mage, or even a human.  Another source stated that what was taking the children was once mortal but is now a spirit.  (No, I do not know if such a thing is possible.)  Regardless of what the thing is, the Arrow had discovered where a child was kidnapped.  She was taken in a park and dragged into the Spirit Realm.  They were, in typical Arrow fashion, ready to enter the Spirit Realm then and there - in a public park where there were potential sleeper witnesses.  "Gun ho" is the term you young people are using today, yes?  Fortunately, with a gentle reminder, a safer place was found.  (For the record, the wooded areas in and around the city are usually free of Sleepers.  It is a good thing Hamilton is known as the Forest City.)

I have no first hand knowledge about what happened in the Spirit Realm, because sometimes one must stand guard at a door - if only to keep people who shouldn't walk through from walking through.  I was, however, told that they found this thing's layer, as well as partially eaten bodies of children.  It is my hope that we find who or whatever is doing this quickly!

They had also found something in the thing's layer: a doorway that leads into what is possibly the Oppression.  Apparently, entering such a place would be very bad.  Two people entered - one fully and one with just his arm.  In both cases, they came out without any skin.

This oppression requires much investigation.  I do not know if it helps the Veil or not, but it is a bit of a pain.  When the opportunity came up to potentially learn more about the Oppression, I took it.

It is always odd when one meets a spirit.  I will fully admit, I am not versed in the ways of spirits, though I know a few basic bits of information.  The one whom I met - Who Walks Between - seemed almost human.  As I understand things, it (spirits do not have genders, so terms such as he or she are irrelevant, no matter what the spirit happens to look like) is one who is in charge of the relationships between things, and possibly the boarders of things as well.  It informed us that there was a very little link between our group, the Seerers and the Oppression.  It also informed us that others who belong to our five-star club have this knowledge.  It would be more than willing to trade the information with me, but was decent enough to give me the choice between finding out on my own, or owing it a  significant favor.  While I am sure I could have gotten out of the deal, it is never wise to take such favors unless absolutely necessary.

Speaking of deals, when one is dealing with a ghost, be sure one can control the ghost.  A member of our order, I am sorry to say, said something to a ghost - one of the children who was killed by whatever is taking them into the Spirit realm - which caused the ghost to react violently.  The ghost caused things to fly around.  Strictly speaking, this is both a breach of the veil and not a breach of the veil.  It was the ghost that caused things flying around.  But it was a mage who said one word - Stop - with hand motions to emphasize the order.  The ghost child did stop.  And the entire thing was caught on video tape, which someone had to bargain with to obtain and which I later saw.  Only because of the actions and the film would I consider this a breach.

Other spirits are much easier to deal with.  There was a teenager, who somehow came into possession of a fetish.  A fetish, if you do not know, is an object that a spirit lives in.  This particular fetish was for cars and speed.  The teenager, as a result, did nothing but drive quickly up and down the expressway.  Once the fetish was removed from the teenager, he was fine.  In and of itself, this fetish was not dangerous, but it the situation that the teenager found himself in as a result of being exposed to that fetish was dangerous.  My instincts was to destroy this; not because of the nature of the Spirit - indeed, I would rather have the Spirit be in something else than be destroyed - but because the Spirit's home was in a compact disk filled with loud, Natzi sounding music that was found in, of all things, a flee market with a reputation for distributing mysterious objects!  I do not know where that disk is now - someone who knew much about spirits took it and he was one of our politicians. 

It was everything I could do to control my anger and curse the child for spouting such filth!  Thankfully, I did not do so, as that teenager was a victim in this situation.  Let my experience be a lesson for you: we bring to our society our past experiences, hopes, dreams and beliefs.  These experiences can either cloud our judgements or make us see things for what they truly are.  The police officer who caught up to the teenager said he remembered what it was like to be that young, and let him off with a warning.  May that man be blessed by the Almighty for his mercy.  Another police officer may not have done so if he or she did not have the experience of driving a powerful automobile.  Someone was taking steel to build robots.  But were they robots, or golams?  And if they were golams, were they made in the traditional way, with the word for Life written on their forehead, or another way?  As I told a young mystigog earlier tonight, "It is important to stick to the narrow path and be good" regardless of one's past experiences and beliefs.  I believe I was shaking my cane at her at the time, to emphasize the point.  That is an old man's prerogative.

And it is a young person's prerogative to ask questions.  You may be surprised at what comes about.  For example, a very lively discussion about when, under the Lex, it is legal to kill another person - be it a sleeper, sleep walker or awakened individual.  Although one can get into difficulty when asking certain questions - or by obtaining certain answers - asking can offer a small amount of protection.  Among humans, sometimes ignorance is an excuse.  Among ghosts or spirits, ignorance is never an excuse.

Of old dead things.

Thirty years ago, when I was still a sleep walker, a great ritual was enacted.  I was not part of this ritual, nor do I fully understand what the ritual did, other than keep our city safe.  And it has remained relatively safe for thirty years... with a few annoyances along the way.

But I fear that safety ended today.

Because all those who took part in the ritual, save one, died today.  One died right in front of me.  No.  It appeared that his soul had been ripped from his body.

And what, young mage, do you think the difference between simply dying and having one's soul removed from one's body is?  If you think that they are the same, you are gravely mistaken.  When a body dies, the soul is released and, I hope and pray, goes to the Almighty.  And there are still links to the living world as well - friends, relatives, possessions.  But a soul ripped from one's body is not only murder, but it can be assumed that the one who has ripped the soul out of the body has possession of that soul, perhaps stuck in a soul jar or bound to serve the one who has taken the soul. 

Never do such a thing.

What should have been a day of celebration turned into a day of panic as everyone attempted to find out what, exactly, went wrong.  The term "chickens with their heads cut off" is an apt description.  (And if you've never seen a chicken with its head cut off, head to the Farm.)  It took time, but finally people began to talk, compare notes, and figure out what exactly happened.

It turns out, a political opponent of mine was involved and is now in self-exile, trying to keep an unexpected factor (a great deal of energy coming into his body) from leaking out, perhaps with explosive consequences!

Oh these young mages!  No respect for the bodies of their elders!  No respect for the bodies of their elders!  Not one prayer for them.  And, I will admit, in the excitement, I had forgotten to pray to God for mercy as well.

None the less, what happened has happened and that is all there is to it.    I gave Mel a blessing when she offered to watch over my opponent's home.

The deaths were not the only thing that had happened.  Our city has been home to several strange things - the Oppression being the least of them - but these things were beyond ordinary.

A woman with a split personality was discovered.  One personality was a sleeper, and the other, Awakened.  But apparently - for I was not involved in this until the end - her Awakening had gone wrong, and she wished to destroy all magic.  She wished to banish it away and block the gates to magic. 

Our leader was decisive in what to do in this situation.  Indeed, I doubt that everyone else in council understood just how decisive he was.  I heard this from our leader himself - so take this with a grain of salt young one - that when he decreed that the woman must die, everyone remained silent.  And there were no protests nor debate until after the decision had been made and the orders given.  The only reason I give this story a hint of creditability was when - after the orders were given - our leader came to where the woman was.  By chance, I was there.  And when he had told me the decree, and I had offered an alternative... The statement about not respecting one's elders held true in life as in death.

 All of this is interesting... but there was a discovery that goes beyond even what I had described.  Someone had found the remains of a Thing.  It appeared to be a Lizard Man, with weapons from the stone age!  Most of the Mysterium had been working on this, including dealing with the man who had discovered it.  I fear that I had misspoken when I said there was no need to destroy the corps.  (Three people yelling at me is more than what my hearing aid can take!)  Of course there was no need to destroy it!  But there was a need to hide it.  For now, the Myserium's food is in my freezer and the Lizard Man is in hers. 

I wonder if they will respect this old body any more than how the bodies of the ritualists were respected.

-SD

OOC: Other things that happened: minor mentoring of Marie Eve's character about life as a mage in general, and aspects of being a Guardian.

About this blog...

This blog belongs to a fictional character in a Mage the Awakening LARP game named Bram "Grandfather" Strachan.  The situations in this blog are not real.  The people in this blog are either not real, or are fictional representations of real people.  The things discussed in this blog have never happened in real life.

If anyone is interested in this larp, please see the Canada at Midnight website, or the Mind's Eye Society website.

It is meant to be read as an in-character journal.  I am assuming that the book will be read, some time after this character's death by a new member of the Guardians of the Veil.  As such, it will be filled with "grandfatherly" advice as well as outline the adventures that have occurred in the game.

With this warning out of the way, enjoy reading.