Character Backstory: Artoxares

Artoxares was born to a commoner family somewhere in rural areas of Greater Mesopotamia. At birth, he was found to be of great affinity to the Light, and was sought after by the Ahura Mazda clan after he turned 5 years old. His parents sent him to the clan, partly in exchange for financial support, and partly because at that time it was a high honour to have an offsping being trained to become a Magus, especially in the Ahura Mazda clan which have very high social standing.

Since at a young age of 10, Artoxares's Light affinity was peerless, even rivalling the existing Mazda High priests. His strong magical talent and capacity turned him into a very strong Magus at that age. In addition, he was extremely handsome and got in the good books of most the Ahura Mazda priestess. Although the High Priests are jealous of his innate abilities and looks and tried to ostracise him, he was heavily favoured and protected by the incoming Ahura Mazda High Priestess, who was around the age of 20 at that time. The High Priestess candidate doted on him and made him his personal attendant, and gave him access to the innermost knowledge vault of the Ahura Mazda clan. There, Artoxares continues to hone his skills and learn high level magic. Due to his great intellect, he began to understand some of the forbidden secrets and techniques that are normally unrecognizable by the other Priests.

The special relationship between Artoxares and the High Priestess candidate slowly evolve into a one-sided love on Artoxares. Although the High priestess loved him too, due to her training and indoctrination of the clan, she does not see Artoxares as a potential partner, rather a very close brother. However, Atoxares has gotten the wrong signal and tried to pursue this forbidden love.

When Artoxares turned 15, the High priestess candidate turned 25 and became fully mature, and thus took over the position as the High Priestess. Like all Ahura Mazda and Angra Mainyu Priestess, she was visited by the spirit sage Zarathustra, who brought the Ahura Mazda seeds and impregnate her. When the baby was born, Artoxares was extremely mad to think that the High Priestess rejected his advances to bear a child with another lover. He knows that it is the tradition of the clan, but in his heart he was yearning to change the tradition to pursue his selfish love.

Driven by this jealousy, Artoxares locked himself in the vault of knowledge and collected all the forbidden knowledge. He even sourced some of the forbidden knowledge that were held outside the clan. From there he understood the nature of the vessel of Ahura Mazda, and how the power must be passed from mother to daughter that are all born from virgin births. However, during the long research and keeping himself secluded, his love for the High priestess waned, and jealousy has turned into hatred and desires instead. Artoxares delved into the possibility of seizing the Godly powers to himself, which has no precedent in history.

He has tried all sorts of methods to prevent the gradual transmission of Ahura Mazda's power from the High priestess to her daughter. He had tried to siphon off the power for himself through forbidden techniques, however, the High Priestess's daughter's affinity to the power is too strong that it eventually flows back to her. At one point, Artoxares became intoxicated with crazy ideas: one of them in which he castrated himself, thinking that it now makes him a "woman" that is suitable to be a vessel. In the end it didn't work out as well. He also looked into the possibility of killing the daughter, but eventually learnt that the power will be transmitted elsewhere to another vessel not of the current bloodline. Artoxares eventually knew what must be done: he has to imprison the daughter in a very intricate prison where the Ahura Mazda spirit cannot find her, yet cannot acknowledge that she is dead. Stuck in the limbo, Artoxares can use this confusion to offer himself as a "temporary" vessel for the God.

He began to put his plans to action. To build the magical prison, he has to sacrifice the lives of a few hundred thousand men, and use that as an energy base to activate his magical incantations. For that purpose, he approached Darius, and helped him with his rebellion to overthrow the warring princes. After Darius was installed king, he continued to brainwash and convince him of the greatness of Ahura Mazda and suggest him to form a religion. After King Darius was madly devoted to the religion, Artoxares instructed him to built a giant monument at Mount Behistun that chronicles how Ahura Mazda has chosen Darius to be the King of the Greater Persia empire. Unknown to King Darius, the inscriptions on the Behistun monuments actually contained the forbidden incantation of Artoxares. During the construction of the monument, Artoxares orchestrated a lot of accidents that resulted in the deaths of a hundred thousand workers.

When the Behistun inscription was completed, the High Priestess daughter is now 10 years old. Artoxares hatched a plan and abducted her daughter and imprisoned her daughter in the Behistun Inscription. The High Priestess, learning of her daughter's disappearance, had gone into depression and became very weak. Artoxares kept her by his side and slowly poisons her, planning he death in 5 years when the Ahura Mazda powers fully leaves her body. When the 5 years was up, the High Priestess died and Artoxares gained full control of Ahura Mazda.

Artoxares is still not satisfied with this outcome, and wanted to be the one and only God of the world. He knew that an opposing force equivalent to him was the Ahriman God. Hence, he started to hatch another plan to try to steal the power of Ahriman as well. That led to the final great battle between King Darius Persian army and the Babylon empire supported by the Angra Mainyu clan. His plans partially failed, however, when Houri was transported to the future. However, since Ahriman disappeared from the world for 5000 years, Ahura Mazda is only God left, and thus Artoxares became the sole supreme power.

Artoxares, not satisfied yet, seized the throne by killing King Darius. From then onwards he waged war against Babylon and swallowed the whole empire, uniting it into an empire called Greater Asura. The empire expanded during the thousand year period and Artoxares nearly united the whole world under his command. As long as the High priestess's daughter is kept in stasis in the Behistun Inscription (where 1 year in the stasis is equivalent to 1000 years on normal time), Artoxares's soul is immortal and has lived throughout the century, and he will live for another 4000 years and beyond by changing bodies. This also caused Artoxares to become bored, and as such he left the empire to the rule of someone else. In the shadows, he orchestrated enemies powerful enough to counter the forces of Greater Asura and caused the empire to shrink. And on some occasion he did the reverse, as he watched from afar to his amusement. These types of conflicts, some small and some huge, goes on for 5000 years to entertain Artoxares.

Character Backstory: King Darius

Darius was born to a noble family of Satraps serving King Cyrus the Great. King Cyrus greatly expanded the Persian empire. But after King Cyrus's death, the royal family was in turmoil over succession to the throne, where his sons Cambysses and Bardiya plotted to kill each other.

At that time, Darius was serving as King Cyrus's bodyguard and personal war strategist. On Cyrus's death, Darius watch the warring princes with disgust. Although he planned on supporting one of the princes, subconsciously he wanted to seize the throne, as he felt that he was the closest to King Cyrus and can continue Cyrus's ambitions. Artoxares caught wind of his desires and approached him to encourage him. As Darius spends more time with Artoxares, he was tempted even more and finally made up his mind to carry out his rebellion. With the help of Artoxares's Ahura Mazda forces, Darius killed both princes and usurped the throne.

King Darius then installed Artoxares as the Grand vizier, and put his trust on almost everything includes running of the government. Due to Artoxares previous brainwashing, King Darius began to think that he is the chosen one by Ahura Mazda, and that Ahura Mazda has made him King through divine intervention. He began to dwell deep into religion and ignore all other affairs. The Ahura Mazda clan became a very important part of the government, and now the Persian government is ruled though the clan's doctrines. Citizens are now mandated to adopt Ahura Mazda as their religion.

King Darius became even more arrogant and mad with the spiritual world. Everyday he revels in religious service and rituals and celebrations while ignoring worldly affairs. The ministers and people around him began to distrust him, and even his Queen, a political marriage from the Babylon empire, eloped with one of his ministers. He was enraged and vowed vengeance against the Babylon empire.

Artoxares puts a suggestion that the Babylon empire is actually being controlled behind the shadows by the Angra Mainyu clan, which is a heretic cult that opposes Ahura Mazda. King Darius, with cognitive bias, is now convinced that it is the evil Ahriman which causes all the problems in his empire. Slowly with each day, Artoxares briefed him with all the bad news in his empire and put the blame on Babylon and Ahriman. King Darius was enraged and wanted to declare a holy war against the evil Babylon empire and the Angra Mainyu clan. Alot of his ministers did not agree with the plan and tried to dissuade him, but all were put to death by Artoxares's men.

Soon enough, King Darius declared war. Due to both his fame and the late King Cyrus, he managed to gather alot of vassal kingdoms and smaller clans to his side. Artoxares became the chieft strategist while King Darius now only functions as the puppet King to rally the forces.

The great battle broke and as expected, the Persian forces overpowers the Babylon and Angra Mainyu clan. However, during the heated battle between King Darius and Anna, Artoxares managed to slip in and kill King Darius. As Anna also fell in battle. Artoxares returned to announce that King Darius had been killed by the enemy and proclaimed himself as interim commander of the battlefield. By the time the war is over, Artoxares officially became the next king and changed his name to Artaxerxes.

Character Backstory: Anna

Anna belongs to a long line of Angra Mainyu High Priestess, and a vessel for the Dark God Ahriman. Like all Ahriman vessels, Anna is born from a virgin birth. The spirit sage, Zarathustra, carried the seeds of both Ahriman and Ahura Mazda. He then impregnates Anna's mother, who is the former High Priestess, with the seed of Ahriman to continue the sacred bloodline.

Each high priestess has their own distinctive personality and abilities. For Anna, she was uniquely a fighter-type priestess, a very rare trait among the bloodline. She was born with extremely good physical strength and agility. She is a master of most melee weapons, and specialises in fist fighting. Due to the Angra Mainyu clan consist of mostly scholarly Magi, she has to find training elsewhere. Due to the clan's proximity with the Babylon empire, Anna often train with the Babylon's royal army and their finest generals. She often offer her services in battles by the army of king nebuchadnezzar as a battle magus. Anna's personality is often rash as she charges into battle without care of defense. She maximises her training on power of her strikes without bothering about accuracy.

As a priestess, Anna also possess innate great magical abilities. However due to her style of fighting, she rarely cultivates any advance techniques. Her most used magic are for fortification and buffs for her physical attacks. Due to this combination, Anna is often thought as a one-man army. The sheer power combination as both magus and warrior is the first among the history of both the angra mainyu and ahura mazda clans, making her very formidable and unrivalled among all generations of Priestesses. It is also possible that she has become the most powerful person of that time.

As the vessel of Ahriman, Anna possess the Ahriman avatar ability which is unique for all High Priestess. The special ability of Anna turns out to be able to manipulate time. The use of the avatar ability, however, will eat into her life force. When she was 5 years old, Anna can already stop time at a radius of half meter for 5 seconds. Her powers grew gradually as Anna's mother slowly passes the power of Ahriman to her, which happens until Anna's maturity age. By 15 years old, she is fully mature and become the vessel of Ahriman. By that time, her time manipulation ability grew so gigantic that she could stop the time for legions of army. Her time manipulation ability eventually become the basis for setting up the time-warp portal to transport Houri into the future.

By the time she was 25, the spirit sage Zarathustra visited her again, this time bearing the seeds for the next Ahriman vessel. After impregnation, Anna's mother relinquished her status as High Priestess and passes the position to Anna, and so Anna now commands the whole Angra Mainyu clan. 9 months after that, Houri was born.

The rules and traditions of the Angra Mainyu clan are often passed down from each generation High Priestesses with the help of the spirit sage as well. However, each generation High Priestess is free to follow a different path to suit the situation of that era. Anna place more importance to maintain non-interference with the politics of kingdoms and empires, a policy which started from her grandmother, as she felt the power of the gods are too great and will cause great destruction if used in war. However, the downside is she have to bring the clan to even greater seclusion to minimise their influence on the world, and the side effect is that their presence becomes lost to the greater community. This eventually became the Achilles heel for the clan as not many people knew the Angra Mainyu, they began to fear the unknown.

Houri Prelude: Act One

Lord Artoxares of the Paphlagonian, high council member from the Ahura Mazda, stood at the pedestal.  King Darius sat behind him on the throne.  Below the pedestal Lord Artoxares addressed the convention of several Satraps (governors), kings and ambassadors from allegiant kingdoms, and Magi from different clans.

“The time of reckoning has come.  This is the time where we unite against our common foe, the Angra Mainyu!”  Lord Artoxares thundered in the echoing great hall, with his forward-raised hand and outstretched palms gesticulating with excitement.

There were whispers across the room.  Kings whispered sideways on their chairs amongst themselves.  The ambassadors whispered amongst themselves.  The generals stood there unmoved, listening attentively.  While the magi whispered through their hoods.

“And it is this day that I beseech your cooperation.  This is the day we put aside all our past differences, in solidarity to fight against the looming threat.  If you have anything to say, say it now and we shall hear you and try to reach for a resolution.”

More whispers across the room.  Then the whispers died down when one robed magi stepped forwards.  He clutched a bow with intricate designs.  Instantly everyone recognized him from the Sagitarii clan.

“If I may speak,” he began, “I come with news of grief.  Our kinsmen are assassinated by the wretched order of the Angra Mainyu.  And we now seek to avenge our brothers’ passing to appease their souls.  But we alone are weak, and stand no chance against them.  Hence I implore you, everyone here to help us restore any ounce of dignity left in our clan!”

Another magi representative stepped forwards, this time bearing gauntlets, vambraces, spaulders and poleyns over their short robes.  The Aegis clan is known for their near-impenetrable defense magic.

“This is an outrage!  Our clan, too, have fall prey to the scheming Angra Mainyu.  Even with our best defense we still succumbed to their powerful dark arts.”  

“They have broken the sacred covenant of the Magi!” another mage commented, “we, Magi of the Covenant, have pledged on the non-aggression pact between clans outside of kingdom wars.  It is clear that they have broken the covenant and gone rogue.  They have to be eradicated.”

The whispers got louder every minute.  Lord Artoxares waved his hand calling a silence.

“It is clear to us now that the situation is grave.  We should not let the Angra Mainyu continue their bloodshed any longer!  King Darius has been magnanimous enough to offer his soldiers for this cause.  Let’s now unite under his banner and crush those vile beasts once and for all!”

There were great cheers in the hall.  The generals swung their swords high while the mages waved their staves.  The convention ended and the great doors opened to a tremendous crowd consisting of the allied armies led by their respective representatives, awaiting their leaders’ command.  The greatest battle in history loomed.

The Mahmudiyah Killings

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahmudiyah_killings

The Mahmudiyah killings and gang-rape of a 14-year-old girl by U.S. troops occurred on March 12, 2006, in a house to the southwest of Yusufiyah, a village to the west of the town of Al-Mahmudiyah, Iraq. Five United States Army soldiers of the 502nd Infantry Regiment were charged with the crimes: (i) Sgt. Paul E. Cortez, (ii) Spc. James P. Barker, (iii) Pfc. Jesse V. Spielman, (iv) Pfc. Brian L. Howard and (v) Pfc. Steven D. Green (whom the army discharged before the crime's discovery). Abeer Qasim Hamza was raped and murdered, after her family was murdered: her mother, Fakhriyah Taha Muhsin, 34; father, Qasim Hamza Raheem, 45; and six-year-old sister Hadeel Qasim Hamza.^[1] As of September 2009^[update], Spielman and Green have been convicted and three others have pled guilty.^[2]
Abeer Qassim Hamza al-Janabi (عبير قاسم حمزه الجنابي) (February 28, 1992 – March 12, 2006) an Iraqi girl who, at the age of 14,^[3][4] was gang-raped and murdered ^[5] in her home by U.S. soldiers who then set fire to the girl's body before decamping. They also murdered her six year old sister, and her mother and father.^[6]

Background

Abeer Hamza lived with her mother and father (Fakhriya Taha Muhasen, 34, and Qassim Hamza Raheem, 45, respectively) and their three other children, a daughter – 6-year-old Hadeel Qassim Hamza, a son – 11-year-old Mohammed and his 9-year-old younger brother Ahmed. Their house was situated approximately 200 meters (220 yd) from a six-man U.S. traffic checkpoint,^[7] southwest of the village of Yusufiyah, which lies west of the larger township of Al-Mahmudiyah (in the coalition-termed area "Triangle of Death").^[8]
According to her neighbours, Abeer spent most of her days at home as her parents would not allow her to go to school because of security concerns. From their checkpoint, the soldiers would often watch Abeer doing her chores and tending the garden. The neighbors had warned Abeer's father of this, but he replied it was not a problem as she was just a small girl.^[8]
Abeer's brother Mohammed (who survived along with his younger brother due to being at school at the time of the killings) recalls that the soldiers often searched the house. And on one such occasion PFC Steven Dale Green ran his index finger down Abeer's cheek, an action which had terrified the 14-year-old girl.^[9]
Abeer's mother told her relatives before the murders that, whenever she caught the soldiers staring at Abeer, they would give her the thumbs-up sign, point to her daughter and say "Very good, very good." Evidently this had concerned her and she made plans for Abeer to spend nights sleeping at her uncle's (Ahmad Qassim's) house.^[9][10] The 101st Airborne Division's 502nd Infantry Regiment had been posted at the edge of the 'Triangle of Death' and had been losing one soldier per week ^[11] It has been described as a severely undermanned operation that sustained severe casualties in a very short time. ^[12] On March 12, 2006, the soldiers (from the 502nd Infantry Regiment) at the checkpoint had been drinking alcohol and discussing plans to rape Abeer.^[13] In broad daylight they walked to the house (not wearing their uniforms)^[14] and separated Abeer and her family into two different rooms. Steven Green then murdered her parents and younger sister, while two other soldiers raped Abeer. He then emerged from the room saying "I just killed them, all are dead".^[15] He then raped Abeer, shot her in the head and proceeded (along with the other soldiers) to set fire to the house and bodies.
The neighbors were among the first to discover the scene. One recalled "The poor girl, she was so beautiful. She lay there, one leg was stretched and the other bent and her dress was lifted up to her neck."^[10]

The Tablet of Houri

This provisional translation of the Tablet of the Houri addresses the relationship between the Divine Youth and the Maiden (Houri). The Tablet uses human love and human passion, bordering on the erotic, to symbolize the bond of love between God and His creation. In this form, the Tablet is part of a long tradition of religious scripture, including the Song of Songs, the writings of some Christian saints, and much of Islamic, and particularly Sufi, mysticism.

http://www.omphaloskepsis.com/collection/descriptions/houri.html

08 December idea: The Hukou System

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hukou_system
http://faculty.washington.edu/kwchan/Chan-WSB-Hukou-Abolition-CQ2008.pdf

Household registration in mainland China

The Communist Party instigated a command economy when it came to power in 1949. In 1958, the Chinese government officially promulgated the family register system to control the movement of people between urban and rural areas. Individuals were broadly categorised as a "rural" or "urban" worker.^[4] A worker seeking to move from the country to urban areas to take up non-agricultural work would have to apply through the relevant bureaucracies. The number of workers allowed to make such moves was tightly controlled. Migrant workers would require six passes to work in provinces other than their own.^[5] People who worked outside their authorized domain or geographical area would not qualify for grain rations, employer-provided housing, or health care.^[6] There were controls over education, employment, marriage and so on.^[4]

Analogies to apartheid

The hukou system has been described as "China's apartheid".^[18][19] The gradual relaxation of some of the more repressive aspects of the hukou system since the mid-1990s has largely eliminated the spatial aspect of the "apartheid". However, as the hukou remains partially hereditary, the "substance of the social apartheid remains intact."^[20]
Two areas differ from South Africa's apartheid system: Firstly, under a system called xia fang, or "sending down", individuals or groups of urban workers were sometimes re-classified as rural workers and banished to the countryside (at lower wages and benefits), often as a sentence for "bourgeois imperialist crimes" during the Cultural Revolution; by contrast, white workers in South Africa were never sent to work in Bantustans. Second, the ideology driving China's apartheid system was Maoism, not racism.^[14] More significantly it is possible to move up from a rural to an urban hukou by obtaining a college degree and gaining employment with a corporation or the government.
Some Mainland Chinese-based scholars claim that though the Hukou system is discriminatory, it is no worse than the passport system keeping people from developing countries from resettling in the West,^[9].

4 December Idea: Wikileaks

The latest release of Wikileaks documents - a trove of US diplomatic cables which offer, among other things, unflattering and candid assessments of world leaders - has deeply angered American officials.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Wikileaks' actions undermined US foreign policy efforts and amounted to "an attack on the international community, the alliances and partnerships, the conventions and negotiations that safeguard global security and advance economic prosperity".
New York Congressman Pete King has called for the US Attorney General to designate Wikileaks a terrorist organisation and to prosecute founder Julian Assange for espionage.
Much of the criticism of Wikileaks, though, revolves around the notion that releasing such information risks lives.
Identities of informants could be compromised, spies exposed, and the safety of human rights activists, journalists and dissidents jeopardised when information of their activities is made public, the argument goes.
US military officials contend that allowing enemies access to their strategic and operational documents creates a dangerous environment for American troops serving abroad.
On Saturday, US state department legal adviser Harold Koh wrote in a letter to Wikileaks that the most recent document dump "could place at risk the lives of countless innocent individuals" as well as "ongoing military operations".
He accused Wikileaks of endangerment "without regard to the security and the sanctity of the lives your actions endanger".
But is there any real evidence of this peril?
Justification for secrecy The problem for officials like Mr Koh is proving direct links between the information released and any loss of life.
After the release of an enormous haul of US defence department documents in August, Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell told the Washington Post: "We have yet to see any harm come to anyone in Afghanistan that we can directly tie to exposure in the Wikileaks documents."

Pentagon Papers whistle-blower Daniel Ellsberg says silence puts lives at risk

But, he added: "There is in all likelihood a lag between exposure of these documents and jeopardy in the field."
After this latest release a Pentagon official, who wished to remain anonymous due to the sensitive nature of the material involved, told the McClatchy newspaper group that even three months later the US military still had no evidence that people had died or been harmed because of information gleaned from Wikileaks documents.
Daniel Ellsberg, the former military analyst who in 1971 released the Pentagon Papers which detailed government lies and cover-ups in the Vietnam War, is sceptical of whether the government really believes that lives are at stake.
He told the BBC's World Today programme that US officials made that same argument every time there was a potentially embarrassing leak.
"The best justification they can find for secrecy is that lives are at stake. Actually, lives are at stake as a result of the silences and lies which a lot of these leaks reveal," he said.
"The same charges were made against the Pentagon Papers and turned out to be quite invalid."
Unknowable effects Mr Ellsberg noted that with this release, the newspapers involved co-operated with the US government to ensure that the information they published did not imperil lives.

Continue reading the main story

“Start Quote

I don't think it has been proven that this is dangerous to US troops, for instance. I haven't seen that case made very clearly”

End Quote Carne Ross Former UK ambassador to the UN

New York Times executive editor Bill Keller told the BBC that although his newspaper did not always agree with the advice of US authorities, it had carefully redacted the published documents to remove identifying information.

"Our hope is that we've done everything in our power to minimise actual damage," he said.
Carne Ross, a former UK diplomat at the United Nations, told the BBC that the effects of Wikileaks were largely unknowable at this point.
"I don't think it has been proven that this is dangerous to US troops, for instance. I haven't seen that case made very clearly," he said. "What I think this means is that we need to look at our own mechanisms for democratic accountability and foreign policy. We need to be much, much better."
One thing the experts appear to agree on is that the leaks will make it more difficult for US diplomats and human intelligence operatives to do their jobs. Although that does not present an immediate threat to American lives, strained international relations may create a more dangerous world.
"They embarrass governments with which the US co-operates," Max Boot, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, said of the leaks on the BBC's World Today programme.
"At the very least, they will make governments like Pakistan and Yemen and others, which are collaborating with the US in the battle against terrorism, more reluctant to co-operate.
"It's harming some of the vital activities that the US government, the UK government or others engage in, which are protecting us against terrorism."

8 Jan new ideas: Church Bombing

The Church bombing incident

The issue started when Muslim does not allow Christians to use the word Allah to represent God.
Can be used as a conflict in religious aspect.

Ideas 2nd Jan 2010

Updates on ideas:

Royal Society of London for the Improvement of Natural Knowledge.

From wikipedia:

The Royal Society of London for the Improvement of Natural Knowledge, known simply as the Royal Society, is a learned society for science, and is arguably the oldest such society in existence.[1] Formally founded on 15 July 1662 by Royal Charter as the "Royal Society of London", the Society was initially an extension of the "Invisible College", with the founders intending for it to be a place of research and discussion. The Society today acts as a scientific advisor to Her Majesty's Government, receiving a grant-in-aid from them, funding a variety of research fellowships and scientific start-up companies and acting as the United Kingdom's Academy of Sciences.

The Society is governed by its Council, which is chaired by Society's President, according to a set of Statutes and Standing Orders. The members of Council and the President are elected from and by its Fellows, the basic members of the Society, who are themselves elected by existing Fellows. There are currently 1,314 Fellows, allowed to use the postnominal title FRS (Fellow of the Royal Society), with 44 new Fellows appointed each year. There are also Royal Fellows, Honorary Fellows and Foreign Fellows, the latter of which are allowed to use their postnomial title ForMemRS (Foreign Member of the Royal Society). The current President is Lord Rees of Ludlow. Since 1967, the Society has been based at 6–9 Carlton House Terrace, a Grade I listed building in central London that underwent a substantial renovation between 1999 and November 2003.

Ideas of a secret society based on the Royal Society of London for the Improvement of Natural Knowledge. It will be called the Royal Society of ... for the Improvement of Natural Knowledge. But here, "Natural Knowledge" comes in 2 forms, science and (secretly) magic, as both are natural in this world setting. The Science part will belong to the main council, while the Magic part will belong to the "Invisible College", hidden from society.


Singer of Revolution

Idea: A singer of revolution can spark a massive protest, but soon will be assasinated by the government agents.

Peace, Justice and Liberty

I've thought of erecting 2 or 3 towers that represents peace, justice and liberty, or just justice and liberty, as a symbol to the nation (albeit a farcial one). And the fall of the towers will trigger a rebellion of the people and also the crackdown of the government on suspicious persons.




This could be nice too:

Houri Theme Song (Or rather, Image song)

Sidenote: Michael Jackson rehearsed this song 2 days before his death. Conspiracy theorists linked his "murder" to his intention of creating a mass rebellion against the world order.

This is the video of his rehearsal before his death:



At the end of the rehearsal, there's an eerie smile. As if there's some sort of accomplishment on his side.

Updates 09/08/09

Updates

1. Prologue is ready (might be subject to revision).  Link is under Houri (The story).
2. Protagonist to be named as Remington von Steiner (might be subject to revision too as the surname sounds german. Edit: Revised)  Shotened form is Rem.
   
3. Profiles of Rem, Rem's father and mother is here (click link).
   

Considerations for the character design of Houri

After some thinking, I felt that the character Houri resembles much of that of Kuromitsu, from the manga Kurozuka.

This is from my character description of Houri:

....for one who saw her in person would certainly be mesmerised by her alluring beauty second to none. Her silky raven hair glistened with radiance, her large eyes gleamed of ebony, and her fair complexion blended into the white mist. Water trickled down from her slender neck and rolled along her supple breasts, further gliding down to a well-formed navel. Yet her defining beauty wasn’t due to her perfect woman-body proportions alone. There was a mysterious aura of coldness that surrounded her....

Background info on characters

1. Main protagonist (the son) Remington von Steiner

• 19 years old who studies in a Technology Institution.
• Joins the Paranormal Studies and Investigations Society (PSI-society) as a fulfillment of his club activity credit hours.
• Reason of joining the club: as an obligation to his father who founded the society.
• Disbelieves in paranormal due to his disapproval of his father's delusion in the paranormal.
• believes that the paranormal are actually a conspiracy act of the government to cover up certain scandals and atrocities.
  
• Intends to actually debunk the myth of paranormal through the club (irony)
• Works part-time as a research assistant in the Institute (to avoid any dependency on his father whom he disapproves).
• Working in a research lab also to use scientific discovery to explain paranormal activities.

2. Main Protagonist (father)

• 40 years old private investigator for paranormal cases
• Strongly believes in paranormal and treat paranormal as part and parcel of life.
• Reason for choice of job: to study paranormal activities and learn more about them.
• Due to nature of his company, earns very little close to none. therefore earning disrespect from his son die to his obsession.
• Tries all avenues to repair relationship with his son.

3. Supporting Character (the mother/ the wife)

• also 40 years old, came from the same club as the father.
• Strongly believes in paranormal but in a different way: the paranormal are being covered up by the government so as to use it to maintain power in the society.
• Intends to infiltrate the government machinery to find out the truth regarding paranormal activities.
• Job: prominent newscaster and journalist of the Government media.
• Was being mind-controlled when found out about her intentions by the government. The side effect from the mind control was that she turned hostile against her own family.

The magic concept

4 types of magic:

1. Alchemy

The art to disassemble and reconstruct objects at will.

2. Death magic

The magic that is used to inflict damage on objects and living beings.

3. Life magic

The magic that is used to heal/protect/buff an object or a living being.

4. Summoning magic

The magic that is used to summon objects/avatars from another world.

19/7/09 meeting minutes

1. Storyline: 2 main characters, 2 perspectives

a. the son, 19, high school student, disbelieve in supernatural and magic
b. the father, 40, supernatural and paranormal detective

2. Mood of story: Dark and Emo, conspiracy

3. Storyline objective: Prophecy and artifact

4. Reference Anime/Manga/Movie:

a. Chrome Shelled Regios
b. Shangri-la
c. Noir
d. Higurashi no naku koro ni

5. Memo: confessions of a psychopath

Ahura Mazda And Ahriman

Ahura Mazda



Ahriman

Background Story 2 (details)

“Before Ahsura” refers to the era before the Ahura Mazda gained significance in the world annals. At that time, the world is less sophisticated in governance, and there are over 5000 kingdoms not including several hundred thousand fiefs that have their own autonomy. There were constant wars during that era, and slowly kingdoms were being assimilated into empires.

At the end of that era, an advancement of a revolutionary movement suddenly cropped out and slowly developed into the first formal monotheistic religion, called Zoroastrianism, or more commonly called Mazdaism. They worshipped the God called Ahura Mazda, and started the era of “Amesha Spenta”. Mazdaism fast became a very powerful religion that persisted for many millenniums. There were rumours that the rapid rise of the religion goes back to legend of the Ahura Mazda clan of magicians who wielded power to manipulate the world, however that remains a legend testing to be proven.

The setting of the world will be parallel with our existing world, with a few alterations. As the world is fast forwarded to 3000 A.S., advancement in technology is at its peak and most things are automated. The world is still in constant conflict and gigantic armaments are produced. Coupled by the advancement in robotics technology, battle mechs are the common robots used in both warfare and also civilian security. The dominating religion is Mazdaism, worshipping Ahura Mazda as god. Most people are usually either atheists (bearing a large population of about 60%) or Masdanians (around 30% of the population), but there are also other beliefs which makes up the remaining composition.

The people in the new era of Amesha Spenta do not know the existence of magic as it is completely wiped out in the 1000 B.A. millennium. However, there are still some who knew the ancient art, and when performed, people mistook them for the supernatural and paranormal. The magic clans, thought to be completely wiped out, actually do have some of their descendants practicing in secret. The most prolific ones comes from the Ahura Mazda clan, and they used this ancient art to control the world most powerful protocols and manipulate them in favour to their family lineage.

However still, the destructive power of magic in the olden days barely competes with the battle mechs of the new era, and some do claim that battle mechs are the “new magic” themselves. Little is known that the Mazdanians actually have a big relation to the creation of the battle mech technology. The Mazdanians have created the technology for fear of the prophecy from 5000 years ago that the Angra Mainyu will resurface on the world (although the prophecy is only passed down through word, but Mazdanians believed it).

Background story

In the millennium of 3000 Before Ahsura (B.A.), the world is ruled by kings and feudal lords governing over their fief toiled by the serfs. There are over 5000 kingdoms in the world, all often in conflict to expand their territory.

Magic is often employed in the war as they can change the tides very effectively. Magicians are used as tools for the war, and they have to be trained from special bloodlines that are born with the ability of conjuring magic. Usually, the magicians come from clans who are dignified with titles from kings and feudal lords, some may hold important positions in the government. At that time, there are known to be 1000 sects of magicians officially, and a few thousands which are shielded from public knowledge.

Two most prominent clans of magicians are the Ahura Mazda and Angra Mainyu. They are well known because of their ferocious magic ability – the ability to summon avatars, or angels and demons more commonly known. The Ahura Mazdas are sometimes called the Sun Gods because they can summon eye-blinding angel warriors to sweep the whole battlefield ablaze. Meanwhile, the Angra Mainyu sect summons demons and the fiery depths of hell to do their biddings.

The two clans are natural enemies because of their nature, and the most powerful kingdoms often employ their service to pit against each other. The two clans are powerful enough that at some times, they would disregard their employers’ orders and hunt down their sworn enemies autonomously. Few kings would dare to employ them, as sometimes the price they would have to pay for their service is ultimately their own lives.

Although the Ahura Mazda is powerful and have a certain degree of autonomy, one of the leaders in the clan was not satisfied being a mere tool of a kingdom. He had ambitions of being a king too, and not just a mere king, but king of kings, which would later become an empire. However, one stumbling block to his ambitions is the Angra Mainyu, as their influence was too strong in the world for him to make a move to commit treason against the kingdom he served. He knew the king would definitely ask the Angra Mainyu for assistance should he attack the kingdom.

Therefore, he conceived a campaign to convince several other magic clans that Angra Mainyu is an evil entity that must be eradicated. With the King also convinced, he had mustered up a formidable force both magical and physical. The Angra Mainyu, unable to face the onslaught, were doomed to perish from that era. In a desperate attempt, a special committee performed a ritual and sent the heir of the Angra Mainyu towards the future, hoping that she will continue the bloodline.

With the Angra Mainyu vanquished, the leader rebelled against the king and stole the throne. With his powerful magic and clever tactics in war, he managed to conquer hundreds of kingdoms and fiefdoms and put them under his empire. Soon, in a bid to protect his sovereignity, he declared a crusade against all other magicians that were the only threat to him.

At the end of the millennium, almost all the magic clans were annihilated by the Ahura Mazda on the pretext of evil cults. At some time, even the Ahura Mazdas have forbidden themselves from practicing magic in the eyes of the public for fear of uprising. Soon by the year of 1000 B.A., magic has become a mere folklore that never existed in the world. Those little miracles performed by small time magicians are mistaken for tricks, or simply called the forgotten arts, but are less taken seriously.

The Ahura Mazda, even when magic was wiped from earth, continued to practice magic in secret. They formed a movement of religion and attributed the miracles they performed to God. The descendants of Ahura Mazda have since been very powerful and control the state of the great nations and giant conglomerates of today.

Fast forward to the future, at 3000 Amesha Spenta (A.S.), the heir of the Angra Mainyu resurfaces on earth….