Vril: Techno-sorcery of the SS

[skorzeny]

The mysterious etheric energy known as vril has been a secret long pursued by occultists and mystics. Ancient texts describe vril as the power source of primordial Thule, the lost continent-empire of the Aryans. With vril, the empire of Thule advanced to a height of culture and technology that has never been matched. Vril could be used to power fantastic inventions, could be harnessed to bind the very elements to the will of man. Weapons based upon the power of vril allowed Thule to dominate the ancient world, ensuring that its pure culture would not be soiled by the influence of the barbarian savages who howled at its borders. With vril, the Aryans crafted a paradise on earth that lasted for millennia. If its secrets could be uncovered again, the Reich could unleash such weapons as would stun the world and crush all who would oppose it beneath its heel.

The power of vril is employed with strange, eldritch runes, mystical sigils that somehow draw and contain the spectral energies of vril. From the earliest experiments, the SS was under no illusions about the exact nature of vril and where this mystical force was derived. Vril is the life-energy of living creatures, its power is evoked by draining life force from the environment around the vril device. For reasons that scientists and engineers attached to the project cannot fathom, the runic ‘vril collectors’ exhibit strange properties. Those fashioned from steel and other metals are not as efficient as those crafted from living bone. Further, vril collectors crafted from human bones are markedly more efficient than those made from animals. The mystics and occultists of the SS know, however. It is because beast and steel do not possess souls.

With the arcane energy of vril theirs to harness, the diseased minds of Himmler's inner circle begin to conceive weapons born of blackest nightmare - hideous devices to drive the Allies back into the sea and secure a diabolic victory for the Reich. Whatever the cost.

[Darkson]

This is written by the [glow=blue,2,300]Official Fluff [/glow]writer of Darkson's AE-WWII. ;D ;D ;D

[tordenskjold]

Very cool fluff, though I would suggest changing the part about the ancient Thule empire, it sounds a bit too much like Atlantis and not so much Nordic mythology (or maybe that is the point?).

And congratulations for being official fluff writer!

[skorzeny]

Actually, the lost empire of Thule was something alot of German mystics, occultists and believers in 'Aryanism' held to be historical fact and indeed some did make the connection that Atlantis and Thule were one and the same, although an Arctic origin for Thule seems to have been more popular than an Atlantic one. Indeed, the Ahnenerbe expedition to Tibet in the 1930's was conducted in part to search for evidence of the lost empire of Thule among the Tibetans, who it was believed might be descendents of these original Aryans.

Oh, and thanks. I feel very honoured to be a part of this project, gives me an excuse for exploring some really strange stuff existing in the forgotten shadows of history. Plus Robert has some simply astounding concepts in the works and it is a priveledge to rub elbows with his ideas.

[tordenskjold]

Well I agree that the Thule empire sounds interesting (those German "scientists" have been really far out ) but IMO it is still too much to make it "fact" in the game. Maybe the Germans have the vril runes from somewhere else, but just wants to keep it's orgins a secret, so they come up with the Thule story to make the Führer happy (and of course, him beliving it says a lot about his intelligence and/or sense of realisme ;D).

And of all people you really should be the fluff writer, those sories you wrote a while ago were really good! By the way, hope you don't mind I copied all of them to a word document on my own computer?

[skorzeny]

Nope, I don't mind at all. Just wish I could steal some time to get the other two I have outlines for shaped up. One with some Finns getting rather - ah - creepy materials from the Germans to aid them during the 'Sausage War' and the other with some Chindits coming up against decidely unusual Japanese soldiers.

Well, the idea behind Thule is less that it actually existed, simply that something existed which had a very different sort of technology in what are considered prehistoric times. In the past, different cultures have given this society different names - the Greeks had Atlantis, the Japanese had Mu, and the Germans speak of Thule. All possibly names for the same thing, and no single interpretation is probably any more correct than any of the others, being couched in centuries of legend and myth.

Beyond propoganda purposes, Hitler had zero use for mysticism and the occult, a trait which his toadie Goebbels naturally adopted. Himmler and Hess were the real nuts for this kind of thing. But, in a fictional setting, perhaps there really was some secret power behind all their rituals and arcane trappings. It certainly makes for a sinister aspect to explore.

[skorzeny]

If you want to see just how far out there some German intellectuals were, I'd suggest looking up something called the 'World Ice Theory'. It is so hard to believe anyone actually believed this crackpot theory, much less scientists and politicians. But, then again, they did blindly accept every 'fuehrer decree' coming out of Berlin too.

[tordenskjold]

This truly odd theory was based on the Blavatsky thesis that there had been several moons in the past, that the approach of these moons results in a polar shift and a cataclysmic Ice Age, which are responsible for the fall and rise of the various root-races of Theosophy. According to the theory, the world itself was created when a giant chunk of ice collided with the sun. Hörbiger died in 1931, but his theory was adopted by some Theosophists, South American occultists who used it to prove the existence of Andean civilization with parallels to Atlantis and Thule (this may have been part of the reason behind Ahnenerbe expeditions to South America), and by Himmler and the Ahnenerbe, as "our Nordic ancestors grew strong amidst the ice and snow, and this is why a belief in a world of ice is the natural heritage of Nordic men". The Ahnenerbe were most concerned with practical applications of the World Ice Theory focused on meteorology, vital to military operations. Scultetus sent Edmund Kiß, a German playwright well-known for his novels on Atlantis, to Abyssinia to find evidence to support the World Ice Theory. German rocketry may have even been delayed because of fears based on Hörbiger's theory that a rocket released into space would initiate a global catastrophe.

Okay, this is really, really weird! Of all crazy theories this one takes the first prize! ;D

[xeoran]

Jolly good backround and great to hear you are now offical- perfect choice! Goodie, so we want more Vril, Thule etc do we? Have to see what I can find...