for what it's worth

in the beginning

Regarding the mythology of Neurocam, we may be seeing a subtle attempt to tie in the Who is Robert Henley materials to future narrative developments.

OI mentioned the Thule Society, Hitler, and Dr. Edmund Forster in one of his emails to me (and possibly to others). Hades_Chariot perhaps rightly characterized these references as "very standard 'spooky' subtext work," and was generally unimpressed with OI's communiques.

At first glance this reaction may be warranted. But, being unfamiliar with Thule and Forster, I flexed my Google-fu. Just for the hell of it. And maybe I'm reading too much into it (hah! the chances of that?), but it seems there may be an implied corollary between the identity mosh pit that was WIRH and the conspiracy theory that Hitler had his identity stolen by Aleister Crowley while under the treatment of Dr. Forster. Or, at the very least, OI may have been referring to the more mainstream theory that Hitler's murderous god complex was borne of Forster's hypnosis treatments after Hitler suffered from mustard-gas blindness in WW1.

I'm not convinced the "story" element of Neurocam is going anywhere (or that it's intended to), but it's interesting to see what they throw at us. And I imagine it's interesting for "them" to see what we make of it.

42? no, 23!

A link in a comment by neuronaut led me to The Digital Falcon, a digest of occult-related articles. Some interesting stuff there, even for a skeptic.

The DF site, in turn, led me to Key 23, another occult site with some interesting material.

In case you're, ya know, interested in that kind of stuff. ;)

This in particular, from K23, struck me:

On this dusty battlefield arms cross and clash and blood spills relentlessly as the insects wage memetic warfare against each other, vying for dominance in the humble noosphere of the human species. The prevailing memetic deities know the power of human belief and know that it’s the only way they can survive and become real. We surround ourselves with great technological extrusions, vast webworks of creations all manifest from within our minds, from within the sea of ideation, imagination. Whatever we believe in most is what will come to pass. The great struggles now pitched and fought rising towards a seeming apocalypse are being waged by thousand year old mythologies still gripping our consciousness and infecting our minds. Priests and politicians cunningly invest in their powers while common folk give their lives in servitude, like capsids bursting to perpetuate the viral progeny. When the scorecard is read, whatever deified memeplex has the most ardent believers, that’ll be the one that writes our story.

True in the macro sense described above, but also in the microcosms of our daily, interconnected lives.

one more before bed

A few examples of obvious (too obvious?) references in the NC world to things esoteric:

Both Iocus Severus and Robert Henley have signed off on at least one occasion with the phrase "Love or what you will." The phrase is from Evelyn Waugh's novel Brideshead Revisited; the character Sebastian Flyte signs a letter with the phrase.

So? Well, there seems to be at least a passing connection between Waugh and Crowley.

More:

Fiat Nox.  Elemental Quadrants (under NEW HERMETICS GROUNDING AND CENTERING). The Star Ruby. The Middle Pillar. The Mass of the Phoenix.

Incidentally, the Henley-to-Nox memo summarized on Graham's site, which contains all of the above esoteric references, also mentions that "[t]he SAPPHIRE unit has demonstrated a particular vulnerability to Fabry crises and is being returned to Eng. for Alpha Galactosidase sluicing."

He adds:  I recommend caution in the mobilization of this unit.

Fabry crisis refer to episodes of intense pain suffered by those with Fabry disease. Fabry disease is caused by a deficiency of the enzyme alpha galactosidase.

Not sure what (if anything) that has to do with the hermetic connection, but it's kind of creepy that they seem to be referring to humans as "units." Does the phrase "sapphire unit" imply that all mention of sapphires and rubies can be construed to mean humans?

or

As has also been a suspicion kicking around in my brain for the past two days, NC could be a very hip, intensely clever recruitment strategy for an esoteric order along the lines of the Masons or the Golden Dawn. I know membership in the Masons has been flagging in past years. What better way to generate new interest than to get back to the roots of "hidden knowledge" upon which these orders were founded?

Which also relates to my earlier pondering about Tript and Graham. Namely: I believe they (and others) started out as blind initiates, in the same way that those of us who are just now sending off emails to NC are starting. And I believe they have since risen in the ranks of this mysterious organization. But most importantly, I believe even they are in the dark about much of what lurks above them. This theory works even if NC is a game, or an experiment.

Then again, they could know everything. Or nothing. They just seem awfully lax about researching the boatloads of clues that are thrown at them.