Coffee, Code, and Chronicles

Atop the Fauschlag sits the City of the White Wolf, Middenheim. The Fauschlag itself is the god Taal's gift to his brother Ulric. 2300 years ago on the Imperial Calendar, Wulcan, High Priest in the cult of Ulric was visited by the deity. Striking the ground with the butt of Blitzbeil, Ulric's personal great axe, a great flame erupted. Ulric commanded Wulcan to build him a grand temple, saying, “On this spot, as long as this fire burns in its hearth, your people shall endure." Today, the temple is a castle as well as a cathedral. The flame burns in front of the High Altar in a high vaulted roof of awe inspiring architecture. The grand nave and chancel hold more than 1000 worshipers and the acoustics said to be so fine that the High Priest may whisper and the worshipper in the furthest corner of the nave may hear perfectly—and an Ulrican priest is not one to whisper. The flame itself is a center piece of the temple and is often used in important state functions and high prof...

Xe'ddu has many names to mortals. As all daemons fail to grasp the purposes for which they are summoned, pulled to the material planes by rituals old and new, and often in service of Greater daemons or the Dark Prince and Lord of Pleasure and Excess, Slaanesh. The One of Whips, Holder of the Lash, Nine Tails, and many other names have been used in mortal rituals. These names are quite literal in that they recognize Xe'ddu's favored instrument in her service to Slaanesh: the whip.  She cares not what the mortals call her. Though she would never reveal her true name. For a mortal to know her true name would be to cede control on the mortal plane. And yet a mortal may bargain with Xe'ddu's masters to learn her true name. Such a bargain would carry a cost, but Xe'ddu knows that for the right sacrifice to her whips, perhaps a new cultist that imagines divine pleasure at the end of her untiring lashes, Xe'ddu may offer the name of other lesser daemons. Of course, ...

Names have power. It is said that Daemonologists pay great costs of earthly and spiritual forms to learn the true name of the foul spirits they summon. To learn the true name of a summoned, often a foul bargain may be struck with another spirit. These rituals are not known to the author and only speculation. The cults of the Empire, save the Verenans, believe that names carry power over the named. Many miracles, hermetic magics, and the rituals of the same must use the name of the receiver for effectiveness, demonstrating the power in a name. Save the Venenans, as mentioned lest forgotten, cults bestow upon their priesthood sacred names . These names may not be secret, but may often be used in ceremony or in correspondence. To the acquaintances of the priests, the use of the name may create confusion. As many cults will bestow a new sacred name  with each higher appointment—the first given as an Initiate to a cult—the same acquaintances, accustomed to one sacred name, must learn an...

I love a cigar. I thought about holding this topic for V is for ... Vices —and that still may be the topic—but I made a snap call this evening. All the smoking warnings aside—and considered—the often quiet and reflective moments of an hour or more cannot be discounted. I've developed a few of my own rituals. And there are many varied rituals in the cigar smoking community. My first ritual is removing the slender cellophane tube that holds many mid-market “sticks." Many up-market cigars do not, but some do.  I fold the wrapper then roll it on my finger and tighten it into a squat roll and hold it for a between my forefinger and thumb for a minute or two while I inspect the cigar. I set the cellophane in my ash bowl where it will spring open into a loose curl. Cigars come with a distinctive label that wraps the body of the cigar. Decorative, often evocative of a forgotten moment in the 19th century, but some modern, and many in-between. I really strive to remove this label in a ...