PIVOTAL PLAYERS

ANNULIS, Medea

also known as Ophiomedea on Sedon's Head; maiden name: Tauri; father: Aeetes; presumed mother: Rhea Sangati; half-sisters via Rhea: Mata Avar & Olympias Sangati Kinesis;

believes herself to be the mother of Apsyrtus Annulis, a Summoning Child, by Taurus Ulysses Heliopolis of Apple/Apis Isle (her father Aeetes being one of his predecessors); has three other children, all girls traded to the feeorin of Twilight ( aka Crepuscule, Sedon's Outer Nose on a map of the Hidden Continent) for her lamia (Neath & Lathe) and supernatural abilities, such as they are;

one of her daughters is Praxitheia (Queen Bee) Faerieflight; Praxi's father was none other than that old satyr, Sedon St Synne, who also just happened to be Medea's half-sister Mata's father;

married to Dr Jason Annulis, though rarely lives with him; considers herself a Korant Sybil; with help of Hulga Volsung, Clymene Atreides, & sister Mata helped reestablish Korant Sisterhood on Outer Earth; has a Silver Chariot (a gift from her 'brother', Etzel Sangati) pulled by the two lamia, who are connected to her mother, which she uses to travel through between-space;

Medea was attempting to get her son to hook up with Valfreja Volsung on January 12, 1938; to do so she tried enticing Hulga always Volsung become Faust with her version of Aeson's Bath;

---

"Maybe she was a clairvoyant, a legitimate medium. But maybe, just maybe, Medea was more than that. Maybe she was as she always claimed to be: the genuine article, a witch not just in tune with the supernatural, the otherwise inexplicable, but intimate with it; even more, was a potent part of it. Her long dead mother certainly had been."

-- from 'The Moloch Manoeuvres';

a trained Hellion with an Athenan background thanks to Clymene Atreides, though both Sorciere & Granny Garuda refer to her as an Ophirant (Ophidian Snake Lover), which is an Inner Earth Sisterhood based in Ophir-Moorset, the India-like land, albeit not size-wise, just behind the Aural Sea (Sedon's Ear) on a map of the Hidden Headworld;

as per the following, Sorciere came to thoroughly despise Medea of the Ararats:

Not knowing what she up against, Medea whipped her changeling dragons in the only direction she, they, would find safety. Over the Aegean Sea, what should have been hours but was actually only minutes later, just before they reached the nexus that led to the truly Inner Earth, the transcendent eagle of the Grey fluttered before the gorgons.

The Neolithic's face made up its face, then her head was its head. "I could have killed you anytime I wanted, Ophidian. You better be grateful I chose not to; better stay well away from me in the future. Better yet, don't come out here ever again!"

"You didn't kill me because you daren't," spat back Medea, risking her wrath. "You're an Antling pacifist, aren't you? Killing goes against all your training!"

"Think so? If you want to stay and play, you'll soon find out differently. If I'm an Ant, it's a Red One, -- as in the colour of your blood!"

"You're one of those cocksure Summoning Children too, I see."

"Consider me rather your nemesis. I'll be waiting."

"Forewarned is forearmed."

"Come back with four arms, nihilist, and I'll learn surgery."

-- from "Wayfarers of the Weird", the third chapter of the 2002 revision of 'The Moloch Manoeuvres'

Medea did come back, first to Aegean Trigon (where she was lucky to escape Sorciere) then, as per the following, to Castle Nightmare (from whence she managed to get away just before Sorciere showed up with Magister Mandam and crew):

"The pretty blonde, apparent seven year old was playing hide and seek in the woods with the two recently-become teenage boys, the brats as she referred to them, when two identical-looking, dark-haired gypsy women in their mid-thirties approached her. It was a good thing the brats were the ones doing the hiding because she was not quite sure what to make of these two and knew that, if she had no idea what to make of them, they would have even less. Hell, they'd only been teenagers for a few days, and that only a couple of years after being alive, whereas she had been a teenager for years and years. In fact she was a teenager when she was exactly the same age as Freya, seventeen years ago.

"Hello, mommies. Mind telling me which one of you is Mommy Medea? Or are you here just to piss me off?"

They did not tell her so much as show her. And they did not piss her off so much as made her wet her pants. Joli Blon should not have felt bad about that. Suddenly seeing a winged, hen-headed, demonic cockatrice and a skinny, red-skinned young woman, one without a trace of a face, where two Medea Annulises had just been standing, would have had that effect on a lot of folks, -- even faerie folks!

-- from "Baltic Nightmares", the first chapter of 'Coueranna's Curse'

see Witches, Gypsies & Etocretans, Cockatrice;

some additional lynx re Medea are here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here;

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AVAR, Mata

maiden name: Sangati; father: unknown (presumed to be either Azrael Sangati or, more likely, Sedon St Synne); mother: Rhea nee Ararat Sangati; married to Count Zygion Avar; by him had one known living child, Ramona (b. 1927), & one known dead child, Melinda, an ever-sickly Summoning Child who died in late 1923 or early 1924;

half-sisters via Rhea: Olympias Kinesis & Medea Annulis; half-brother: Etzel Sangati; half-sisters via Sed-son: Crystal St. Synne, Krista Udaeus, Pandora Mannering, Sophia D'Angelo & Cybele St Synne;

a trained Ophirant (Ophidian Snake Lover); considers herself a Korant Muse; with help of Hulga Volsung, Clymene Atreides, & sister Medea helped reestablish Korant Sisterhood on Outer Earth; in this respect she seems to have been working for and with Clymene nee Catreus Atreides, Magister Joseph Mandam and the Great Man, Loxus Abraham Ryne;

also associated with Stephen von Blut (killed by Raven Fetishim, January 13, 1938) & supportive of Alliance of Man's goal to provoke war between Nazi Germany & Soviet Union; lives on the Zerosses' Aegean Island of Trigon with daughter Ramona & various Etocretans, to whom she is related to via her long dead half-sister, Olympias;

Mata was with the Hellions' Morrigan of the time, Norma the Deadly Druidess, when the latter killed Celestine D'Angelo at the Pompeii Shelter of the Anthean Shelter in late October 1923; she was still with them in Rome the next day when Norma was killed by Memory of the Angels, age 14;

Norma (who was probably Mata's Mama Rhea aging again) was attempting to locate and/or turn a vampire in order to have him or her put the bite on Mata's deathly ill daughter Melinda; the surviving Hellions thereupon kidnapped Memory and Virginia 'Ginny' Mannering, whom only Memory could control, and took them eastwards, eventually to Aegean Trigon and ultimately to Mesopotamia and Persia (see below for more on fate of Memory and Ginny)

A sickly child, despairing of a cure and after failing to find a vampire to turn her [Melinda Avar] in October 1923, -- the quest to find said vamp resulting in first Celestine then Grandmother Rhea/Norma ending up headless --, her mother and aunt tried to stew up a modern-day Aeson's Bath for Melinda's benefit.

Thought they had all the ingredients for it as well. Had ticked them off, one by one: pebbles from the farthest shores; hoar-frost taken at the full of the Moon; a hoot-owl's wings and flesh; a werewolf's entrails; fillet of fenny snake; the liver of the stag; the eggs, the head, of the crow whose years run for nine generations ...

Could it be? Had Ovid lied? Had he missed something? A unicorn's horn perhaps? Considering they chopped her into it too, Melinda was in no position to answer.

... from "Rafting Towards Medusa", the 5th chapter of 'The Vampire Variations'

see Witches, Basilisk;

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CENTAURI, Alpha

born Sentalli, Alfredo

"By contrast, Sentalli had virtually no history at all. His birth certificate said he'd been born in Toronto, of Italo-Canadian descent, in 1927. He enlisted in the American navy, using false papers, in 1943. Lost at sea in 1945, he was not heard from again until 1946 when he bought the chunks of rock that he turned into Centauri Island. He'd offered no cash nor any kind of personal collateral but, since NCE had guaranteed the purchase, no questions were asked and none answered. His word was his bond. He had never let any one down, then nor yet.

While Sentalli had his quirks, primarily his prodigious appetite and his insistence that he be called Alpha Centauri, his work ethic was unquestioned and his effectiveness indubitable. Under his guidance, even before he became chairman of the board and chief executive officer in '56, NCE prospered to the point it became the most successful corporation in the entire world. He was a visionary, -- though his vision was usually espoused by Loxus Ryne. The fatman hadn't left his Island since the late sixties nor had he been photographed in almost that long. If Loxus Ryne was the most public billionaire in the world, Alpha Centauri was the most private.

"Alpha Centauri was slightly over six feet tall and weighed much more than four hundred pounds. He was swarthy, pink-faced, and artistically goateed, though that tuft of fur was largely lost in his massive cheeks and multiple chins. Fifty-three years old and balding, what he'd lost up top, in terms of hair, he had gained down below, in terms of girth. Although he could walk, he preferred to use an automated wheelchair. Took less effort that way. His head was almost as bloated as his body, though it was filled with intelligence, not fat. Since he had stopped worrying about his heart, -- his 'internal' health freed him from such petty concerns --, beer had become his choice of drink."

-- from 'Centauri Island'

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DAEMONICUS

The earthborn, primary male daemon (or demon) in the centuries prior to the Great Flood of Genesis (called the Genesea in the PHANTACEA Mythos); his mate was/is Primeval Lilith, the Demon Queen of the Night;

"Coitus climaxing furiously, Andy and Ginny, the Androsphinx and the Gynosphinx, went galumphing off, as close to paw in paw as was paw-possible. They left, in their wake, something of a sandstorm. Lazareme had got off, and got out, in time to see them go. He hadn’t been eaten. Well, that was something.

Ginny paused, dropped a load. Trailing behind them, beside him, the witch with him pooper-scooped it up.

“It’s the wrong one, the king not the queen.” Hecate growled, in her own snarl. She bared a breast anyhow; let the little shit suckle. “He’ll have to do.”

“My daughter?”

“I’ll keep her. You want her back it may cost you your entire expeditionary team. Then again, it may not.”

“Hey,” Mother Nature’s manure man, momentarily detaching its lips from Hecate’s left nipple, demanded to know: “Where was I?”

“In heaven, honey,” Hecate responded, in the Year Pre-Dome 725.

-- from 'Feeling Theocidal'

"I thought he [Tomcat Tattletale, the Lazareme-lookalike Harmony's so infatuated with in 1000 Daze] was a Dusted Daemonicus. Illuminary-annals say the pre-Sedon-released, but pre-Ragnarok-deposed, Demon King ate an otherwise nameless, as well as forgettable, Pan-like devil not long after your Anvil the Artificer crafted a power focus, a syrinx no less, for him 2800-odd years ago. Allegedly this Daemonicus is indestructible. Reputedly also, he didn’t digest the devil he ate so much as fused with him, which makes him double trouble."

... Master Morgan Abyss to Lazareme's Librarian, Biblio Drek, in 4825 YD,
as taken from 'The Thousand Days of Disbelief'

there are images of 2-eyed Daemonicus-types here and here; there's more on Daemonicus pre-Smiler here, here and here; there's an entry on some of those who've occupied the Daemonicus shell over during the course of PHANTACEA on the Web thus far on the Additional Characters web page; Smiler, nominally much more so than Daemonicus, featured prominently throughout Feel Theo; as such there's plenty more re him over on www.phantacea.com; examples are here and here;

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D'ANGELO, Mnemosyne

also known as Memory of the Angels, the Grey, & the Devils; b. 1909; 'birth' mother: Leonora D'Angelo; conceivably one of the so-called Trigon Triplets (other two being Cybele St Synne and Eden Nightingale); initially an otherwise powerless, though sexually-adept Afrite -- an avowed witch who worships the Great Mother of Love (Aphrodite, Aphropsyche Morningstar, aka APM All-Eyes);

appears primarily in the the 'Heliodyssey' Quintet of novels, which are set in 1938; because of her sexual propensities, brother Raphael despises what she has become; there are notes re what she saw and what happened to her in 1916 here, here and here; references to events that took place in October 1923 can be found here, here, here and here; among other places notes re her long-term relationship with Virginia "Ginny" Mannering are here, here and here;

on eve of seventh birthday was taken through Beehive Tomb of Agamemnon (below left) to Sedon's Head by eldest sister, Celestine (Celeste Mannering), the Celestial Superior; already there are Louise St Synne with Cybele and, presumably, Rhea always Ararat with Eden; what happened then is included in one of the stories recounted in "Blood Beasts Prime", which is still online;

Mycenae, 1916

When they came out of the [the beehive tomb's side] room they were anywhere but inside the eggshell of a Tholos!

This was a cave so immense they could not perceive its extremities. There was far more than just a fissure in its centre. There was a broad and possibly bottomless depression filled, the witch knew, with bubbling Brainrock mixed with molten Stopstone and become something one might call Brainstone or Stoprock, -- the stuff of Samsara, the Universal Substance.

The tripod was three land bridges meeting at an apex over the centre of the lava lake. While they may have been a natural phenomenon, she did not think that the case. Reckoned they had been constructed. Not by man though. Not even by her fellow witches. By the ancient gods and goddesses. By devils!

The incredible cavern was lit without torches but with more than just glowing Brainrock/Stopstone and ordinary phosphorescence. That further suggested not natural but supernatural agents at work. Except, although those on the outside would have difficulty explaining it any other way, this was not a magical place.

The Sicilian-Italians, silver-haired big sister and dark-haired little sister, stepped on the bridge at their feet and walked toward the apex. The fumes from the cavity might have been hallucinatory. Figures were forming in and out of the air. Were uniformly female but some were positively grotesque, scarcely even humanoid. One was formed entirely out of smoke; another cow-headed with six anthropomorphic breasts. All but one had three eyes and that one seemed to be all eyes.

-- from the first chapter of the 2002 Revision of "The Moloch Manoeuvres"

- possible connections to Machine Memory (Her Story, Female Entity) & Datong Harmonia, the Unity of Balance, has never been demonstrated undeniably;

- believes she was raped during the Simultaneous Summonings of 19/5920 by Sedon St Synne when she was not quite eleven; killed Norma the Deadly Druidess (conceivably Rhea Ararat), in 1923; helped bring up Virginia "Ginny" Mannering mostly in Sheikh Zechariah Markazi's harem until 1928; in '35/36 was with Joseph Mandam and Etocretans on journey to the Wishing Hell, the Tholos Tomb for Pygmies, in the Eastern Congo; has an amazing memory;

- among her pre-1938 lovers were Sedon St. Synne, Sheikh Markazi, Agenor Heliopolis, Alexandros Kinesis, and Magister Mandam, to whom she's deeply devoted; initiated by Etzel Sangati; associate of Clymene Atreides (probable head honcho or Morrigan of the Hecate-Hellion Sisterhood since Memory killed Norma in 1923 and the custodian of Kore-Concord or Kore-Hel, one of Myrionymous Kore's aspects, until handing her over to Summoning daughter Laodice for Lao's protection in Rome);

- in Rome, on night of January 12, 1938, Memory slept with Maxwell (Magus Maxius) Dre'Ath and gained her Circean abilities; like niece Claudia did in 1938, as a child once had a cat named Bast;

"... a shapely, even beautiful Italian woman in her late twenties. Her dark hair was cut short partially to offset the intense heat and humidity of the Congo; partly to annoy her pompous papist of a brother, Raphael D'Angelo, who lived in Rome and thought it somehow immoral for women to cut their hair. Of course his youngest of three sisters was nothing if not immoral. When you were raped at the age of ten, almost eleven, by the man you were currently sharing a cot with, how could you not be?"

-- from 'The Moloch Manoeuvres';

see also Circean, Queen of Spades, Memory Entity; lynx to some of PHANTACEA's many Memories can be found here;

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KINESIS, Romaine (Rom), Professor

also known as 'pro', 'doc'; parents: Alexandros (Pluman) & Roxanne (Slipper) nee Heliopolis Kinesis;

"Romaine Kinesis was about five feet ten and weighed around a hundred and eighty pounds. His darkish skin and thick black beard bespoke his Mediterranean background but few people knew he was actually of gypsy descent. With his broad shoulders and fairly tight gut, he might have been mistaken for a forty-four year old athlete only slightly past his prime but hanging on gamely. In truth, he wasn't very fit at all. About his only exercise was riding his bike to the laboratory every day; a flat, hardly gruelling two mile distance between his surface bungalow and the hidden elevator that took him into the real heart of Centauri Island.

"There, for the last fifteen years, he had spent most of his waking hours designing the Cosmic Express, the unique casing that cloaked it and its six shuttle crafts, called cosmicars, and, most importantly, coaxing, -- for that was the correct word --, Gypsium to act as their primary propellant once the Express escaped Earth's atmosphere."

-- from 'Centauri Island'

see also Gypsies & Etocretans and Doc Defiance, the Gypsium Man;

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MANDAM, Jesus

also known as Jesse or Jess; Summoning Child born Christmas Day 1920; acknowledged son of Magister Joseph Mandam and Mary Magdalene born Ryne; self-proclaimed Saviour of Supranormalkind though he seems to have no supranormal attributes other than he can use Stepping Stones to get about between-space, something no other man can do;

"It was his understanding that a man could not utilize one of these things; not solely by himself, that is, and no woman had stepped out of between-space holding his hand. Witches were one thing but a warlock was something else again, -- especially a warlock named Jesus."

-- John Sundown reflecting on Jesse's sudden appearance out of Shadowland outside Hulga Faust's hotel suite on January 12, 1938, from 'The Moloch Manoeuvres';

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MANDAM, Magister Joseph

Old Joe, Dragon Joe, Mithraic Magus or Persian; born 186?; original could be the twin brother of Rhea Ararat;

presumed father of Jesus Mandam (by Mary Magdalene nee Ryne) and Barsine Mandam (by either the Magdalene or an unknown mother, conceivably Olympias Sangati, who died giving her birth and thus became a lamia); may also have been the father by the Magdalene of Virginia Mannering, assuming she is Jesse's twin sister;

Magister Mandam appears throughout the 1938 Heliodyssey sequences; however, in those serials and others there is a strong suggestion that he is a faerie-type who, over the years, has taken on other identities after cocooning;

these identities may include, but are not limited to, Akbarartha (the rightful Kronokronos Supreme of Temporis by late 5980 YD), King Orfeo (who finished off what had become of the remnant of Strife's Attis circa 5850 YD), the eventually peace-loving berserker 'Killer' Kadesh (a companion of Jordan Tethys as well as Ubris and Kanin Nauroz after his Orfeo days), Michael D'Angelo, until the Simultaneous Summonings of 19/5920, and Obadiah Melvin Power (OMP - D-Brig's Old Man Power) as of 1945;

there are scandalously scads of tell-tale lynx re Magister Mandam starting in the overview section to 'Coueranna's Curse' and continuing throughout its chapter-by-chapter synopses; there's even a suggestion that Dragon Joe isn't precisely his personal psychopomp;

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MANNERING, Virginia

- one of the most long-lastingly important of the Summoning Children; certainly one of the first of them ever to be born (just after midnight, on Christmas Day 1920); raised until October 30, 1923, at the Anthean Witch Shelter near Mt Vesuvius (in the vicinity of the ruins of Pompeii, south of Naples) in Italy (where the Celestial Superior acted as Mother Superior);

- parentage never determined; many believed her mother was either Celestine or Dolores D'Angelo by either the Great Man, Loxus Abraham Ryne, or his father, Noah Charan Ryne;

- as per below, physically bears a strong resemblance to Jesus Mandam, which suggests that her actual parents were Magister Joseph Mandam and the Great Man's twin sister, Mary Magdalene; the problem with this scenario is that Jesse already has a twin, Barsine, who admittedly didn't look much like him or the Magdalene, her evident mother;

- Ginny was a toddler in the Pompeii Shelter when Norma the Deadly Druidess killed Celestine in 1923; why the Hellions took Ginny from the Pompeii Shelter is here;

- Memory of the Angels was the only one who could control Ginny; Memory stuck with her, and the Hellions, until the late 20s; she left Ginny in Mexico City under the care of Sister Sorrow and her husband, Diego Rivera (not that Diego Rivera);

- the Hellions, including some of their men-folk, notably Etzel ('Count Molech') Sangati, believed Ginny's actual parents were Olympias nee Sangati Kinesis, who died having her, and either Michael D'Angelo or Bleda Sangati, both of whom (according to Norma) turned themselves into vampires during the Summoning of 1920;

- Count Molech (also called the Moloch, hence 'The Moloch Manoeuvres') reckoned Ginny was a for-sure Black Queen; her losing her virginity before he could impregnate her is what maddened him to the degree he went after a number of other potential Black Queens (one of whom was Nita D'Angelo, who on account of Ginny's loss endured this);

- as for why Memory could control her from 1923 until 1929 or 30, it was because Ginny let only her control her; as for how Ginny could be so conniving between ages of 2 almost 3 until 7 or 8, the answer is she wasn't altogether herself during much of that time; for exactly the same reason she also wasn't altogether herself when she earned the code names'Living Agate' and 'General Gemstone' in January 1938;

- the Great Man (Abe Ryne) has relied on her to raise his children (hence ' Headmistress') since shortly after Eden nee Nightingale left him (primarily, as remarked upon only moderately graphically during the synopsis of Odd-13, due to the fact he was also bagging Ginny, who remained, potentially anyhow, his own daughter);

---

"It's someone the patriarch has and is willing to trade for Sangati's vampiric kiss. Has to be! The Tantaluses, that of Aesgard and that of Olympus, only showed up within the past year or so. It's Virginia, my Virginia, -- our Virginia, Doll! Quit playing stupid, Eden. I'm right, am I not?"

Eden was shocked at Memory's assertion. "Abe trading anyone for a bogus vampire's kiss is preposterous."

"Come up something better then. I'm telling you, everything points to Abe and the Magister!"

-- from 'The Moloch Manoeuvres';

---

Summoning Children are 17-year olds, or near enough, born as a result of the Summoning of 1920. One of the [ones on Charan's Ark in January 1938] looks a lot like Jesse, the Great Man Himself, his almost 5-years' dead twin sister, Mary Magdalene, Jesse's mother, and their Summoning-killed father, Noah Charan Ryne.

That'd be Virginia "Ginny" Mannering. Miss Mannering doesn't know who her parents are; rather, she didn't know until Rome when she learned they were Olympias Sangati Kinesis, who died having her, and Bleda Sangati, Olympias' one-time brother-in-law. That was why she was stalked by Etzel Sangati, Count Molech, Bleda's son by, well, it probably wasn't Rhea Sangati, Olympias' mom, the woman who brought him up.

That's because Count Molech was a Blood Beast Prime, a Vampire Maker. Which means his birth mother must have died giving him birth.

-- from the synopsis to 'Boss Bovines', the ninth chapter of 'Helioddity';

---

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MAXWELL, O'Ryan James (O. J.)

also known as Big Max Maxwell; Security Chief on Centauri Island from approximately 1970 to November 1980; definite father, by Aranyani Nightingale Ryne, of Timothy James Maxwell and Firenze Nightingale; possible father of Dolph Dulles;

see also: RICHTER, Victor in Teutons; Indescribable Mr. No Name;

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NIGHTINGALE, Eden

born 1909; conceivably one of the so-called Trigon Triplets (other two being Cybele St Synne and Memory of the Angels);

Mycenae, 1916

The other two there likely only pretended to be related. The eldest one, a Black Sea Russian or Armenian, had no seven year old daughter that either the Italian Angelic or the Metisse knew about, -- and they had known her for even longer than they knew each other. Neither did her three legitimate daughters, though the eldest had a nine year old boy and a four year old girl.

What was more, her 'daughter' looked more a mixture of the two Angelics and the two-toned redhead than she did her 'mother'. Had ovular facial features similar to the former two and two-toned hair similar to the latter one, -- only she had silvery strips in her otherwise black hair. Had different coloured eyeballs as well.

Since it was the Scythian, Rhea Ararat now Sangati again, who had arranged this little get-together between-space, it fell to her to take the lead. She gripped her uncomplaining, self-proclaimed 'daughter' under the armpits. Lifted her above the bubbling cauldron then dropped her into it.

The three women, two remaining children, and all the spectral shapes surrounding them held their collective breath, assuming devils bothered to breathe. Girl vanished into the obscuring steam. Did not resurface. Obviously Eden Nightingale was not a Great Goddess and, if she was not one, then neither were the other two: Mnemosyne D'Angelo and Cybele St Synne.

Too bad. All of them, even the devils, had such hopes!

-- from the first chapter of the 2002 Revision of "The Moloch Manoeuvres"

first wife of Loxus Abraham Ryne; mother by him of twins, Saul & David Ryne, who were born in 1929, and Aranyani Nightingale (b: 1933);

"... a remarkable-looking woman of twenty-eight with streaks of pure silver in her otherwise jet black hair."

-- from 'The Moloch Manoeuvres';

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RYNE, Loxus Abraham

born just after midnight on January 1, 1900; also known as the Patriarch, the Great Man; son of Charan Noah Ryne and Athena born Kinesis; twin sister was Mary Magdalene become Mandam;

had three children by Eden Nightingale, his first wife: Saul, David and Aranyani; had a set of twins by Barbara nee Plantagenet: James and Jane; had a set of twins by Ramona Avar; had a final set of twins by Oriani Zeross;

some claim he was the father, by either Celestine or Dolores D'Angelo, of the Elemental Twins, Aires and Thalassa, both of whom were presumed Summoning Children;

"Loxus Ryne was probably the most famous, fabulously rich person on the planet. His life was a one-man history of the twentieth century. Born in Baghdad, an Iraryan-Gypsy, at the stroke of midnight in the first second of the year 1900, he'd been everywhere and done just about everything there was to do in this century or any other, for that matter. Succeeding at most things he'd started or tried to resolve, yet seemingly failing at all the crucial times, he lived his life in the public spotlight."

-- from 'Centauri Island'

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ST SYNNE, Sedon

also known as Sed-son; during the Second World War called himself Satan St Synne;

has many children including Crystal St. Synne (who may have become Crystallion, the leader of Hell's Horsemen) by Corona Power (the Lady Takeda in 'The Volsung Variations'), Cybele St Synne & Sophia D'Angelo by Louise nee Riel, Mata Avar by Rhea Ararat, possibly Sapphire Lancz by Tereza D'Angelo Lancz, and, equally possibly, Pandora Mannering by Celeste Mannering; all his children are girls except there is some thought that he may have been the sperm-father of Jesus Mandam;

Faceless Strife adheres to his daughters for some reason;

Sedon St. Synne was a peculiar mixture of widely separated races. His father, Kabul, was a world-travelling French missionary-cum-diplomat who was born in Indochina and had an abiding interest in anthropology. His mother, whose name was Takeda, was an Ainu woman. The Ainu were an aboriginal race related to the Japanese as well as a number of neighbouring peoples on the Siberian mainland. St. Synne himself was born on Sakhalin Island in 1875 but was actually raised in Plainsland America, first by the Sioux then by the Metis and their Cheyenne benefactors.

His eventual wife, Louise Riel, -- whom he married, oddly enough, in London England in November 1895 --, was a bit of a hybrid herself. She belonged to the Metis people, the initially half-French, half-Indian clans of the Great American and Canadian Plains. Metistis were not to be confused with the Titan, Metis, Zeus' first wife, the mythological Goddess of Wisdom whom he impregnated then swallowed much as his father, Kronos, once swallowed his Olympian brothers and sisters. Somewhat ironically, given that Louise was a long time friend and associate of Athena Kinesis Ryne and helped her found the Athenan war witches, the Classical Metis was the mother of Athena, yet another goddess of wisdom, one who supposedly popped out of Zeus' head before anyone could say Gesundheit.

Sophia D'Angelo, their first child, was also born on Sakhalin, albeit thirty years after her father. Their second child, Cybele, the one who was lost during the Summoning, was born on Crete three years later, in 1909. The St. Synnes spent a great of deal of time on Crete, particularly in the first decade of the new century after their return from Mesopotamia and Magister Mandam, Sedon's rival as much as his mentor in the old Godling Guild.

-- from 'The Moloch Manoeuvres';

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SANGATI, Etzel

- also known as Count Molech, the Melanchlaeni Magician; male Vampire Maker fertile on the full moon of January 13, 1938; b: 1905; father: Bleda Sangati, who died during the Summoning; mother: unknown, though she presumably died giving him birth (as discovered in 'Helioddity' his mother was likely one of Medea's lamia, either Neath or Lathe);

- brought up by Rhea Sangati whose first husband was Bleda's brother, Azrael, and who married Bleda around the time of his birth; half-sisters via Rhea: Olympias Kinesis, Mata Avar, & Medea Annulis;

- throughout 1937 almost single-handedly helped revive Roman-style Cave Mithraism, into which he initiated a number of the Teutons including Stephen & Tyrtod von Blut, Baron Tyrtod von Alptraum, & Conrad Schroff;

- has the Aesgardian Tantalus, which he is using to bilk von Alp of his modest fortune; though known to have swum in the Totem Pool in '35/36, thereafter turning into some sort of bat-like creature;

- source of his abilities seems to be Djinn, his manservant; evidently this Djinn is akin to legendary genie except he does not hang out in a magic lantern, he hangs out in Etzel's ring, which was once his niece Megaera (nee Kinesis) Zeross's wedding ring (he bit off her ring finger in order to acquire it);

- he calls it the Ring of the Nebuland even though it's actually a ringot (one of the many Meg's husband, Angelo Zeross (the 1st Ringleader), discovered during the course of the Simultaneous Summonings of 19/5920;

"... as hairy as a wolf but burly as a five and a half foot tall midget-bear of a man ...";

"... comparatively short but exceedingly strong-looking gypsy, he with his forked goatee and curled up moustaches ..."

-- from 'The Moloch Manoeuvres'

---

 

"... all he needs is a son but all he wants is to be fabulously wealthy, a not-unreasonable desire given what he can already do." -- Medea Annulis to Hulga Faust, from 'The Moloch Manoeuvres';

Count Molech, the Melanchlaeni Magician, was a smallish, pale-skinned, stout but strong-looking Slav with a forked black beard and turned-up, waxed moustache. He wore a black fur cloak over a dark suit with a collarless peasant shirt underneath, had a Russian style hat, and looked like he was outfitted more against winter in the Steppes than the relatively mild Roman season.

-- from 'The Moloch Manoeuvres';

"Oh, that's simply splendid! As if being a Vampire Maker who can turn to mist isn't enough, he's got a pet genie that can materialize arrowheads in people's pockets long distance. Does the Pope do exorcisms? It's beginning to seem we might need him."

-- Angus Dre'Ath in reference to Etzel Sangati and Djinn, from 'The Moloch Manoeuvres';

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Faceless Strife (Marutia, Marut Kanin, Kore-Eris, Kore-Discord)

PHANTACEA on the Web, like every other incarnation of PHANTACEA, advertises itself as Anheroic Fantasy. Even so, it does have more than its share of top notch slime-buckets, recurring villains of the vilest variety, ones who truly rate more than just a hoot on the hiss-meter. As preserved elsewhere, one of those is definitely Faceless Strife.

Of course she's more of a virus, of the venomous variety, than anything else. Once a Master Deva, one of Thrygragos Mithras's Apple Goddesses, she's been adhering to daughters of Outer Earth Sed-sons, such as Sedon St Synne, since circa 4000 YD.

From the aftermath of the Simultaneous Summonings of 19/5920 until January 13, 1938 (Yamana 12, 5937 on most of the Hidden Continent of Sedon's Head) she was held neutralized on Apple Isle by Miracle Maenad and her protege, Cybele St Synne. From that day forth she bears a great deal of the responsibility for everything that went wrong on either side of the Dome.

Indeed, she's so bad about the only way to get rid of her is to become pregnant!

---

"She was me," imparted Strife, somewhat disconcertingly to most of those around the table (due to the fact that, being faceless, she had no visible mouth with which to speak). Dis L'Orca and Milo Mind, who knew more about Strife than the rest, still had difficulty with the concept that the Order's co-leader was some kind of sentient infection. "Unwittingly perhaps and only long enough to give me back to Ramona in '51. As my mother remarked a couple of days ago, we've an affinity for each other. We're sisters, after all."

-- from 'Centauri Island'

The 'she' Strife (aka Marutia or Marut Kanin, Kore-Eris and/or Discord) is referring to in this conversation is Aranyani Nightingale; the Ramona is Ramona Avar, Lady Guillotine (Boo! Hiss!). Villains don't get the respect they would probably think they deserve in PHANTACEA, though. Back in early '38, one of Strife's first shells after escaping Cybele St Synne was this self-same Ramona, then age 9.

Once the six Volsung women left the hospital room, Ramona Avar asked her father if they could visit the D'Angelos. Zygion said no, it was already well past her bedtime. Ramona began to pout. When that did not work, she launched a full scale temper tantrum. Avar could think of only one thing to do.

He spanked her!

-- from 'The Moloch Manoeuvres'

There's an entry on Faceless Strife in the exposition section of the Overview web page created for the 2002 revised version of 'The Moloch Manoeuvres'; among many other places there are entries on 1938's Strife here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here and, finally, at least in terms of the first three books making up the 'Heliodyssey' Quintet, here;

Faceless Strife is not only one of the most persistent villains ever to appear in PHANTACEA on the Web, she's one of the few characters who might be warrant a Boo! Hiss! whenever and wherever she appears. Indeed, she's so persistent there's even a suggestion there's more than one of her.

Truth told there is and there isn't. There are multiple Strifes only in the sense that, as per the synopsis to Kore-2, she was once part of the conglomerate devil known as Myrionymous Kore. Myrionymous just means 'many names'. But because Kore was originally composed of many devils, she had as many personalities as she had names.

Evidently Strife is just all that's left of one of her/their most dominant, not to mention dangerously demented, personalities. As such, there remains an open question, never fully answered during the course of 'Aspects of an Amoebaman', which was set in 1960, as to who Strife (and/or which aspect of her, if any) had hold of when she killed Belificent D'Angelo.

The prevailing wisdom of the time was that, once again, she had hold of Ramona Avar by then Ryne (though not yet Lady Guillotine). However, it's far more likely she (if Strife was even involved) had hold of Crystal St Synne, Sed-Son's daughter by OMP's by then long cancerous, supposedly terminally ill, but never quite dying, ex-wife, Corona Power.

Also during the course of 1980's 'Island' Strife had hold of Lady Guillotine's daughter, Balkis Mandam, for awhile; at the same time Balkis's twin brother, Solomon, had hold of Daemonicus; there's some material on some of of the various Strifes, as of 1980, in the synopsis to 'The Strife Sorority'; Doc Dark (Immanuel Dark, Gloriel's thought-widowed husband who was once the supra Saint code-named Mr Brilliant) has always maintained that Strife was Wilderwitch;

Strife wasn't always faceless; during the Male Entity's 7th Lifetime, circa 2000 YD, she had a very familiar face; as detailed in "Feeling Theocidal" (although she doesn't appear in it), at that time she either possessed or was possessed by the Female Entity; thus humanized, Mnemosyne-Strife bore Chrysaor Attis, the Universal Soldier; as Mithras's mistress until that time she ruled Sedon's Cheek, which was therefore named Marutia after her;

From the start of the modern era beyond the Dome until January 1938, she was only a possessive spirit; prior to that, though, she was one of Thrygragos Varuna Mithras's second born Apple Goddesses, the pupil of her third eye (when she had one) looked like a golden apple, which was her power focus;

She lost it, the consequential Golden Apple of Discord (which I incorporated into above image), along with her body, hence her facelessness, when she tried to swim the Brainrock lava lake on Sedon's Peak while attempting to escape to the Outer Earth after the abysmal failure of the so-called Crimson Conspiracy circa 4030 YD;

Her two fellow Apple Goddesses are Divine Coueranna, Kore-Concord, whose power focus is the little Green Apple of Rejuvenescence (because, being a seasonal goddess, she rejuvenates every Spring), and Sinistral Belialma, Lady Lust of Satanwyck, whose power focus is the Ruby Red Apple of Concupiscence (because it means 'sexual desire'); both Concord and Bouncing Belle feature prominently in "Feeling Theocidal";

Another of the traditional symbols of Strife is the flower of the sloe or blackthorn tree; an unnatural black one of which, as per here, Pelops Atreides found on Aegean Trigon the day (January 13, 1938) that Strife returned to the Outer Earth in possession of Cybele St Synne;

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SUNDOWN, John

Like a perhaps surprisingly large number of non-devic characters in the PHANTACEA Mythos, notably Strife (who's a virus more so than a devil), Daemonicus (who began existence as, yes, a daemon), Abe Ryne, Headmistress Mannering and, indeed, most of those featured on this page, John Sundown has appeared in most of the novels thus far serialized during the course of pH-Webworld (to the best of my recollection the only exceptions were 'Aspects of an Amoebaman' and 'Centauri Island');

- a Summoning Child, he was one of many born on December 25. 1920 (Mithramas, Tantalar 25, 5920, if he was born on the Inner Earth of Sedon's Head); his parentage has been hinted at but never stated with any definiteness; he was brought up by Shaman Manitoulin alongside Solace Sunrise, another one born on Xmas Day (as Xuthrodites celebrate it);

- he married Solace, the supra code-named Sorciere, twice: unofficially on their 13th birthdays and officially circa 1940; with her, starting sometime after their official marriage, he had 3 boys, all of whom died on or about their 7th birthdays; with her also, though she evidently never told him, he also had a daughter (the non-Hush Shahiyeda featured in 'The Vampire Variations');

"It was only instinct that told the Summoning Child to hesitate before he stepped out of the shadows in order to follow Medea Annulis. As usual, he was not misled."

-- from 'The Moloch Manoeuvres'

- at some unspecified point in time, Shamanitoulin gifted him with a Raven Fetishim; presumably a daemon variant of some sort, it looked after him throughout his post-1933 wanderings in search of Solace, who vanished on the day they wed themselves (their 13th birthdays);

Out of the clump of cloud, which was hazy but nonetheless visible to anyone who happened to be watching the now deserted street, rose a black crow-like bird. It left nothing in its place and, taking to the air, headed after the Etocretan Extremists.

Folks who came that close to killing Sundown, even if they were supposed to be friends, or at least former comrades-in-arms, and may have intentionally all-but-missed him, were not allowed a second chance.

The Raven saw to that!

-- from 'The Moloch Manoeuvres'

As first depicted in pH-5, John Sundown became Blind Sundown around the same time he officially married Solace and they started having family; his eyes and the sight that went with them ("So that I may greet Death with the utmost clarity") were the price Shaman Manitoulin demanded before he'd turn over the Solar Spear and the reins to Raven's Head;

NOTE 1: There's an entry in the Summer 2002 installment of Serendipity that uses these same images. It might be considered something of spoilsport entry for those of you who haven't read 'The Moloch Manoeuvres' yet, so be warned;

NOTE 2: A long-serving graphic re 1938's Raven Fetishim can be found here. A 2007 collage re ditto (made up mostly of pictures I took during various trips to Mexico over the decades) can be found here; while you can google up 'transformer masks' and see plenty of the inspirations behind Sundown and the Raven Fetishim, there's one at YVR, the Vancouver International Airport; I incorporated it into the aforementioned collage but here's a stand-alone shot of it;

NOTE 3: In addition to the comic books and graphic novel ("Forever & 40 Days -- The Genesis of PHANTACEA"), which can still be ordered, there are a number of graphics intended to represent Raven's Head sprinkled throughout pH-Webworld; one's here, another's here, a third's here and here's a fourth; perhaps the best one, of a raven's head if not necessarily of Raven's Head, can be found here;

NOTE 4: With the 2009 release of "The War of the Apocalyptics", the opening entry in the Launch 1980 story cycle and the second phantacea Mythos mosaic novel, much more on Blind Sundown and Raven's Head can be found over on www.phantacea. com; the main lynx are here and here;

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