Last update (main text or comment): O2.04."14
As reported previously, an officially denied word is that the current POPP is carrying on the old tradition of having 366 (because of leap years) wives.
Note that these wives, like top-level athletes, are supposed to retire at a rather young age. They are not repudiated, but by mutual agreement are established with a title, a small estate and a significant pension. Or so it is said. The same would apply to the previous POPP‘s wives not renewed in that function by his heir. But their number is always kept at 366, so they call themselves ‘the Immortals’ – or, again, so it is said.
Note that these wives, like top-level athletes, are supposed to retire at a rather young age. They are not repudiated, but by mutual agreement are established with a title, a small estate and a significant pension. Or so it is said. The same would apply to the previous POPP‘s wives not renewed in that function by his heir. But their number is always kept at 366, so they call themselves ‘the Immortals’ – or, again, so it is said.
But a rumour within the rumour is that the first POPP to gather such a large wifedom did not do it, as generally said, to avoid the pain of a daily choice (even in leap years – POPPs always plan on the long term). Actually, since most of the 366 wives (plus, later, a large part of the ‘retired’ ones) are at any moment traveling across Europe and sometimes further away, it is whispered that this so called ‘wifedom’ was from the start intended as a 
continental-scale web of secret messengers, spies, go-between, seductrices-then-blackmailers, assassins and agents of any species and role of the Presipapal diplomacy. Monte-Cristans are totally convinced of the existence of this all-female Agency, and assure that it is currently more active than ever. Its name could be Service Presipapal d’Investigation par les Dames-Epouses en Recreation, SPIDER for short. An odd detail is that -for some unknown reason- they would be nicknamed (or is it code-named?) 'Bunnies', and the senior members 'Centerfolds': ?
It is said that when acting as SPIDER agents, the POPP’s wives (active or retired) travel under a false identity, either single or in small groups, each accompanied by at least one female servant –actually one of them again, either a novice in training appearing as a serving maid, or a ‘retired’ wife masquerading as a duenna. Some may even dare to dress like Holy Nuns? Yet the best agents generally act alone in 'deep penetration' missions (occasionally -e.g. recently to cover the arrival of the 'rogue Duchess' in Stagonia- they converge for a 'double penetration').
They perfectly know how to be taken for ordinary, innocent, innocuous tourists.
The POPP’s wives are rumoured to be trained to mastery in pistol shooting, fencing in various styles, dirty knives fighting, naked hand fighting and the art of poison.
They are said to always wear a lethal hairpin/ hatpin, a fan lined with razor blades;
and at least three rings with mobile jewels concealing a potion-covered small spike: one instantly lethal, one with a potent anaesthethic and one with an overwhelming aphrodisiac active on both sexes.
Not are the ‘Wives’ said to be less active in Monte-Cristo itself. Here they pose as innocent, harmless Monte-Cristan women (or as strangers come to take the Waters or gamble at the Casino), of the position and profession most apppropriate to the ‘profile’ of the foreigner «under investigation» .
A popular colored etching, variously entitled ‘[Our] Judiths’ or ‘[Our] Princesses Consort in diplomatic duty’ or even ‘Spider Wives’, is a transparent allusion to this «rumour».
The pointed ears were added by the artist (one M. Foundry) at the Presipapal demand, to highlight the ‘totally fictitious’ nature of the image.
"Est' ome es una dona des nostras" -
'This man is a lady of ours':popular engraving, Monte-Cristo.
'This man is a lady of ours':popular engraving, Monte-Cristo.
Admittedly...
Truth to tell, the SPIDER not only *does* actually exists, but is currently more active than ever: if rarely appearing as such in the 'Who's who' of the Presipality, the "Wives" are indeed Monte-Cristan characters of uttermost importance.
The presence of Monte-Cristan agents in a foreign Country is not always totally concealed to its Ruler, if the relationships with Monte-Cristo are specially friendly, if the Prince-President feels sympathetic for a given sovereign or cause, or if leaving this knowledge leak may serve some long-term plan. Yet the fact that they are female is generally not mentioned, but may sometimes left quite likely. In this Highly Confidential Minutes of the Tippelbruder Town Council, the sentence «Confirmation of the existence of the eye-patched white-clad hussar in Tippelbruder has come from a roundabout diplomatic source who cannot be named» refers to a private letter from Louys to David the Uniform Tailor, the unofficial but real ruler of the city-state.
Sometimes the Monte-Cristan nationality of some agents is known from the foreign ruler (but -officially- *not* the fact that they *are* in ‘secret’ Presipapal service). From this exchange between Louys and Karl of reunited Zolms-Braunburg and Zolms-Braunwald, it is obvious that the Prince-President let the young (novice and in a perilous situation) Graf know that the Monte-Cristan ‘maids’ sent to his Court were far more than they seem: but, tactfully and tacitly, neither openly mentioned the fact, even in such very private correspondence. Note that in such case *other*, undiscovered Monte-Cristan agents, assuming another nationality and sometimes another gender, are *always* present on the spot as a back-up and to insure redundancy of communications. 
Louys began to post Monte-Cristan maiden *openly* in the immediate circle of a foreign personage when he established regular exchanges with the (still young, but promising) Maurice de Saxe (in that case, officially as a team of messengers –doubling as ‘masseungers’ -or is it 'kinesitheraputes'?- and reciprocally??).
Whenever a desperate friendly country takes the (as yet) unusual step of raising units of female soldiers, teams of 'wives' are offered as 'military advisors'.
These brilliant Monte-Cristan Agents are immune to (among many weaknesses) seasickness, and at any time a few are operating on the Seven Seas.
Indeed one can (canNOT, actually) discover some of them, comfortably blending in the population, anywhere from Transylvania or Siberia to North America, South Africa (and South America as well as North Africa) or the Far East.
Make no mistake: here the Monte-Cristan is on the left.
They don't fear the most disreputable or dangerous company
Neither are afraid of highs
Most members of the SPIDER are expert in disguise, and some may successfully masquerade as men (it is said that the famous French Chevalier d’Eon has been secretly granted Monte-Cristan nationality ‘for signaled service to the Presipality’).
They don't flinch from wearing the clothes of a Holy Sister of St Jezebel -a monastic order unknown out Monte-Cristo (see comment below), but (or is it thus?) a dress respected everywhere in Europe.
A case that is now almost common knowledge in some circles across whole western Europe is the looting of Chinese secrets by a Monte-Cristan agent who had be introduced to the Imperial Court in the Forbidden City as a Portuguese Jesuit. (She also brought back several volumes of Far Eastern metaphysics. Those dealing with the yin and the yang are at the origin of the current controversy between a few –very, very few: only two, actually- Monte-Cristan philosophers about the opposite / complementary nature of the zip and the zob –urged drives in the human mind.)
Not yet widely known is that, in this detail from a well-known painting of a recent battle, the young ensign is actually a Monte-Cristan maid –the POPP’s agents are ready to take any number of risks to achieve their mission.
A lot of risks!
But they know how to entertain men.
Thanks to a single one of them, an entire regiment can be easily surprised and annihilated at dawn by a very, very inferior force.
Nightwatch from the attic of some foreign Palace.
Crossdresser! Even more surprising given the very suspicious and perceptive nature of the person, this colored drawing is said to represent a member of the SPIDER (yes, that very male-looking one, allegedly one Chevalier Biscouillu de Blondesburnes "Né à Quilain, Bouches-Moyennes") as a male hunting companion of Lady Pettygree (the young lady with tricorn), the Jacobite exile rumoured to be a Gallian agent.
And they look so innocuous and charming!
The POPP’s ‘Immortals’ (wives) place their ‘professional’
requirements at a very high level. To be judged successful, not only a mission has to have totally fulfilled its objectives: it is deemed equally important that, outside the ‘Web’ and the Prince-President, nobody even merely *suspected* that an operation may have taken place!
This secrecy as to the *origin* and *nature* of any operation does NOT forbid the agents to recruit 'local manpower’. They sometimes 
team with a local male (for any of many possible reasons), but he is left with the belief she was some freelancer in the provisional pay of some Major Power or Influencial Personage.
They know how to be convincing!
This colored drawing depict an Agent training some local bandits, just in case she would be ordered to ambush that (in)famous black coach. Given that the Lady (who does NOT have April in her eyes) traveling in that equipage is always escorted by a private retinue -a troop of lancers if not her whole Black Legion - this would be only the ‘visible’ part of the ambush, with some sixty other men in support all around. But all of them would be convinced that it was a perfectly ‘normal’ act of Highway Robbery.
And they can recruit a *lot* of local 'womanpower' to e.g. distract / make drunk / lure a whole brigade.
For a century and a half now, 
tracking, exfiltrating persons and if unavoidable in ferocious fighting, is totally unsuspected (and their knowledge of some ‘weird’ matters is equalled only but a few members of a secret inner circle of the Jesuits; while they jealously keep it hidden from the gadjos, the despised 'non-Gypsies', they make an exception for the Presipality; beside, at least one of the currently most active agents -and a mysterious one indeed- foreign by birth, was closely associated with t
he Gypsies before entering the 'Service'). This unlikely (for non – Monte-Cristans) resource proved more than once to be vital. Yet the Gypsies know the woman they help to be from Monte-Cristo: reliable as they are, this constitutes nonetheless a security break, thus they are involved only in last resort.
The Gypsies have been entrusted with investigating the odd rumour that her main employer holds Milady de Winter on a leash by keeping his secret son as hostage. This would open ‘interesting opportunities’…
Rumours about a secret 'Stranglers' Cult of Kali among them? Would serve the 'Service' in exchange of our silence..
Hearsay suggests that currently at least one member of the 'Service' is also a Kore, even a high-ranking member of the mysterious Sorority of the 'Daughters of Athena' (O4.07."11 comments). Such connection with an international secret society of exceptional women can only be highly beneficial to both parties.
Turn-over of agents: this one left a week ago: pretending to be a boy, she managed just in time to be enlisted among Schinderfranz's chauffeurs now (secretly) "escorting" the rogue Duchess of Saschen-Vindow. Update: Francoise did not had to break her cover during the hectic encounter at the Crooked Kobold. She deserted the chauffeurs so to keep secretly following her at watching distance. A ‘Lord Randall’ team is already ‘nested’ in garrets of the Stagonian Palace.
One just back from Istanbul,
this one from the Court in Vienna,
this one from some Adriatic shore;
while this one is on her way to... ?
On her way to Venice.
This one managed to question / comfort a prisoner in Puerto-Rico.
Of diverse, 'exotic' for a few, ethnicity
Always watchful
Anonymity respected
In some gloomy Lutheran country of the North...
Convincing arguments and a seductive smile
(or is it, seductive arguments and a convincing smile?)
Not Cupid's arrows (they are poisoned)
-unless she wants it so.
Currently known as 'Mademoiselle Krystyna Skarbek, Comtesse de Granville' in Transnarewia.
Support the Presipality!
The Black Rose
as deadly as facinating
Her Monte-Cristan background prepared this one to adapt to the requirements of the hot climate of the Indian Ocean.
This one went even further East in the Pacific Ocean.
This one settled in Schwartzwaldeland, that oversea country where people wear very old-fashioned costumes,
this one already 'immersed' in the Native population,
A team of twins often opens... interesting possibilities.
A deadly team of two with a single name:
the first cousins 'La Grande Yette' & 'Cousine Lulu', both de Saint-Etienne
The Black Widows are not widows at all
but lethal nonetheless!
The Black Widows are not widows at all
but lethal nonetheless!
Sometimes, to spread fear among the superstitious and freak out the culprits, they act openly as masked redressers of wrongs -blatantly feminine or of uncertain sex.
Not obsolete at all! No noise, no flame, no smoke; good accuracy,
range and stopping power; back-up shots:
a repeating crossbow is a perfect ambusher / assassin weapon(and it can shoot pointed stakes and silver-tipped bolts...)
range and stopping power; back-up shots:
a repeating crossbow is a perfect ambusher / assassin weapon(and it can shoot pointed stakes and silver-tipped bolts...)
The Wives intensively use the service of carrier pigeons maintained over most of Europe by the network of Monte-Cristans currently residing abroad.
A preeminent member of the SPIDER tried to use messenger bats as done in Herrschaden, but it turned out that as one moves away from Transylvania the cute little furballs are less and less reliable.
Monte-Cristan presence in America has been recorded in the form of naive (or less so) Native sculptings; even in Tortuga and New Providence– idem in several very different places, even Europe (scroll down) -most recently in Scotland with Prince Charlie. This one does not look young, but obviously left pleasant memories ("Vieilles marmites font meilleurs potages / Avec jeunes carottes et panais")
Even a recent Gypsy ex-voto in the chapel of Sara e Kali refers to Sybille de Saint-Exmin, a member of the 'Service' who did "Shichinin no samurai" on her own in defense of one of their families groups in Eastern Europe.
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note
Equally credible as
holy sister
or
fortune teller
Operation Jackaroe
[In the same way as the POPP's Gardes seem to have peculiar secret traditions, a few references in casual conversations *may* suggest that his Wives do have some of their own (see 12."9 comment below): in Monte-Cristo one always has to look beyond the veil. 
Now, as rationalist Monte-Cristans the Wives certainly do not *believe* in the explicit content of such traditions, but rather cultivate them and the attached rituals as a mark of identity and an additional cement of their Sorority. Anyway, in their personal jewelry, home decoration, tableware, furniture... the 'Wives' favor crows (single or by three) while the Gardes (of both sexes) favor ravens. ]
Imp or 
the weirdest contraptions and weapons
A given tune can be used
as sign of recognition
as sign of recognition
Angélique, known as
'La Marquise des Anges'
'La Marquise des Anges'
Military looking
A new face
They know how to be warmly welcome
in camps 
even in armies HQ
Geneviève Sandrine d'Isle Dieudonné
recently joined the "Wives".
Her esoteric knowledge, specially of the Witchblade
mythos is outstanding.
She let slip that the 3 of them are missing the 4th member of their 'little sorority' who left 'long ago' for a far away oversea country.
Between missions, the 'Wives'
relax in Monte-Cristo
relax in Monte-Cristo
Gardiennes from an illustrated collection of Monte-Cristan children's tales: note the SPIDER associated with each of them...
Three santouns of the (very unconventional) Monte-Cristan Crib:Judith, Dalila and Salome.
(Shadowforge ‘Laughing Monk’ range)
Large Monte-Cristan clothed dolland painted statuettes
But they have other weapons than firearms and cold steel
Distract, mesmerize...
Blackmailing as a weapon:
the quill can be more powerful
than the sword, more lethal
than a dagger.
and so gentle and pace-loving, nonetheless...
the quill can be more powerful
than the sword, more lethal
than a dagger.
Dressing for the kill
and so gentle and pace-loving, nonetheless...
'Good girls go to heaven,
bad girls go everywhere'
bad girls go everywhere'
(popular Monte-Cristan image)
A very dear colleague
Not a member of the 'Service', but a beloved sister in Presipapal service
Claire Baizanville, sous-lieutenant aux Gardes de l’Etrier, ex 'privateer' then professional duelist, is the most lethal of BSN Opératifs. While L-F C de Saint-Gobain's agents normally operate mostly in the Presipality, she volunteered to carry on her dangerous bodyguard mission to Paris and then Barcelona.
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16 comments:
A note about the Cult of St Jezebel in Monte-Cristo
The routinely casual reference (and reverence) to St Jezebel in Monte-Cristo may seem in total contradiction to the mores of the Presipality. After the horrors of the Wars of Religion, State and Religion were totally separated in the newly founded Country. The secularity was supported by the total interdiction of public display of any sign of religious alignement and of any religious ceremony; the official position of the POPP lineage is atheism. Yet many Monte-Cristans publicly call upon (or swear by) one ‘St Jezebel’, and the female monastic Order of St Jezebel is (more or less officially) acknowledged and supported.
Actually during the atrocious Wars of Religion the mercenaries of the Black Company sourly swore by ‘St Jezebel, the Patron Saint of Lost Causes’ – probably at first as a grim joke. The practice generalized in the reborn Monte-Cristo, but in fact without any Christian connexion - St Jezebel is conspicuously absent from any canonic Christian list, anyway. In fact, while all Monte-Cristans often mention St Jezebel, very few (and then, mainly among the very young or eldely) really believe in, or pray, Her; and not as a Christian Saint, but as some pagan mini-deity.
As for the Order of St Jezebel, it is widely ignored (a state of fact extremely practical for a given Presipapal Agency), and certainly NOT acknowledged by the Vatican. This for a number of reasons, among other that the Sisters are Nuns only on part-time (very, very part-time). The Order appeared when the camp followers of the Black Company settled down in Monte-Cristo. The Sisters’ aim is to bring comfort, care and nursing to wounded men (in battle, initially). The nature of their attentions is not to be revealed, but while leaving the patients exhausted, they are acknowledged as extremely relaxing and beneficial for the morale (if not morals). While the Nuns of St Jezebel officially constitute a Sisterhood, those who profited from their care form an informal Brothelhood.
For a list of 26 – 28 mm ‘fighting’ female minis, see the § dealing with ‘fictitious all-girls units’.
‘Non fighting’ women appear in a few other ranges, and even a few female Elves are in quasi-18th C. dress.
DOUBLE AGENTS AND DIPLOMATIC SUBTLETIES
It is not unknown to Monte-Cristan agents to enter the (secret) service of a foreign Power. This, in recorded history, always on the order of the Presipapal Palace and without *ever* disclosing their true nature to their occasional employer.
That none ever turned coat (or petticoat) is due, part to the deep personal attachment between the POPP and his wives, part to a careful choice of agents with feelings toward the infiltrated country in perfect harmony with the Presipapal attitude and intentions.
Thus, valorous Catherine Selene acts sometimes -as ‘Anna Zigeunera’- for the Austrian Secret Police in Transsylvania / Transcarpathiana. While Monique Di Castillo is occasionally ‘Sylvia La Lupa’, in ‘errand’ for no less than (one of?) the Vatican’s secret service(s) , the dreaded Opus Dei (of course, nobody would expect the Spanish Inquisition).
The advantages of such infiltration are multifold: the nature of the missions informs about the deeper worries and intimest intention of the ‘employer’. Being part of his Agencies allows fruitful contacts and eavesdroppings; most of the information collected by the ‘parasited’ network –which becomes unknowningly a branch of the SPIDER- can be ‘siphonned’.
What occurs in the reverse direction depends upon the POPP’s feelings toward the infiltrated Country.
In case of sympathy –or provisional convergence of interests- the double agent, without disclosing her source, can pass essential information and coordinate the (secret) actions of both her employers. Examples are even known –but associated with statlets without a ‘Service’ of their own- where the interested Ruler was informed (yet in tactfully ambiguous words) of the presence, if not always the identity or location, and action of friendly Monte-Cristan agents. Such has recently been the case in Tippelbruder and Zolms-Braunwald.
In case of antipathy –or provisional divergence of interests- disinformation, disruption of the Service and sabotage of its secret action by judicious leaks are in order. Such is currently the Monte-Cristan attitude toward e.g. Britannia and Stagonia. In this last case the hostility is not to König Maurice –the POPP judges his plots ‘amusing’- but to his ‘secret’ agents. The inelegance and brutality of their approaches, clumsiness in the execution and inefficiency in the results make them the shame of the Profession.
With large and powerful Countries (and some tiny one also) the situation is more complex (Monte-Cristans say ‘interesting’): the Court, the Government, the Influencial Circles are divided in rival cliques with contradictory objectives. Such is the case in Vienna as well as in Paris.
For instance, in the (bilocated, with the King at Versailles) Capitol of the Lys (but not of Gaul, which by tradition is still Lyons), the Departments of Foreign Affairs and those of War and of Navy & Colonies traditionally have their own diverging agendas. Even within the Navy, the Flotte du Levant (in the Mediterranean Sea, the ex-galleys Fleet, still jealously using ‘espingoles’ as swivel guns), having to deal with the pirates from the Barbary Coast and periodically to bombard Algiers, has toward Islam an attitude different from that of the Flotte du Ponant (the Oceanic Fleet – preferring ‘pierriers’), obsessed with its centuries-old feud with the Saozons of the British Isles, and now associated in the West Indies with the Bourbon Spanish Navy. The Army HQ eye on the Austrian Netherlands, to have the Rhine as (the natural) border between Gaul and Germania, and thus would support any attempt to weaken Maria-Theresa, while the Foreign Affairs are worried by the raise of Frederick II. As for the Ministres themselves, their attitude reflects that of the coterie / gathering of financial interests that supported their nomination, frequently at odds with the traditional inclination of their Departments!
Thus King Louis XV had to create, in the uttermost secrecy, his own, strictly personal, Intelligence Service: the Secret du Roi, in order to obtain unbiased information and have a secure way to deliver confidential messages (as for ‘Action’ -from armed subversion to arson, sabotage and assassination- it is said to be subcontracted to Monte-Cristo since the days of Maurice de Saxe). For those (very few) aware of the privilegied links between the Secret du Roi -and thus King Louis XV Himself- and Monte-Cristo, some Presipapal gestures may reflect the Lys’ real attitude and intents, sometimes quite different from the official position of one Secretaire d’Etat or another...
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For additional relevant illustrations see the nov. 03, 2007 entry and several of the videos listed in the presentation.
Cardinal Maximilian facing a Monte-Cristan agent brutally ceasing to masquerade as a Holy Sister of St Jezebel…
(«Everybody agrees that the (political) wedding of young Prinzessin Sophie-Vittoria von Pfalz-Kognat-Obersayn to old, ugly and brutal Pfalzgraf Friedrich von Waldreck equals in cruelty the sacrifices of Iphigeneia and Andromeda...»)
Monte-Cristo can provide Prinzessin Sophie-Vittoria with an escort of skilled bridesmaids (or Holy Sisters of the Order of St Jezebel).
How the young widow would express her gratitude could be discussed later.
Louys
(always honoured to do an Aphrodite’s Child a small service)
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"Never put off till tomorrow what you can have done today by someone else"
Old Monte-Cristan saying
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It will soon change for obvious reasons, but a cover currently fashionable among Monte-Cristan ‘agents’ is that of ‘dames philosophes’ collecting old popular tales and legends, traditional songs, local rituals and practices, language variants and idiomatisms… They are ready in exchange to entertain the audience with anecdotes, stories, poems and songs ‘learned earlier in their journey’.
As more befits the atmosphere they travel on personal curiosity or are on errand for some official institution, and can produce documents endorsing their academic research on behalf of the ‘Academie Royale’ or the ‘Royal Society’, according to local faith and sympathies.
This cover justifies their patronizing of inns and taverns of all kinds (and becoming very popular and medling with conversations there), and provides an original introduction to some enlightened circles.
Actually they are not totally *pretending*: Louys’ personal interests are not restricted to military uniforms and flags, and the Palace is indeed sponsoring the compilation of a monumental ‘Encyclopedie des Coutumes et Traditions Populaires d’Urope et des Colonies’.
In some deeply Catholic backwaters they dress as Holy Sisters of St. Jezebel and pretend to be nuns sent by the Vatican to gather the ‘oral hagiographies’ of characters of the local past, with a view to their possible beatification: works amazingly well.
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RECENT ACTIVITIES OF THE SERVICE: A FEW NOT-TOO-DISREPUTABLE EXEMPLES
- Here and There: as commented upon on O1.15. "9, several ‘unsavoury’ persons have untimely met their extremely painful end.
- Caledonia: our agent(s) there –the same who did nickname Pipe Major Sean MacLeod "Couillu le Barbu"- did not pass totally unnoticed, but report(s) ‘this makes the cover all the better’.
- Pfalz-Kognat-Obersayn: message delivered; watching for further developments.
- Dunkeldorf-Pfühl, Stagonia, Waldreck (and other places): private, often secret, informations unearthed by our agents were essential in the success of Operation Bloodline. A task board combining genealogists of the Service d’Heraldique and physicians learned in the heredity of physical and mental features, weaknesses and diseases demonstrated that the ruling lines of Dunkeldorf-Pfühl, Stagonia and Waldreck, not only share a common, if illegitimate, ancestry but are closely interlinked by numerous adulterous cross-breedings. The degenerative effects of excessive consanguinity are well known and current ruling characters there illustrate such consequences of iterative inbreeding: Ludwig of Stagonia and Heinrich of Dunkeldorf-Pfuhl share not only ‘arguable’ psychological traits but also the wall-eyes and many other features of the Martense syndrome.
- Wittenberg (and everywhere else) : an ‘English’ singer currently performing at the Palace eavesdropped and transmitted the deciphered content of the ‘mysterious document’.
All our agents and ‘correspondants’ are enquiring for possible connections with, on the one hand, the surfacing of ‘unexpected’ chemical knowledge in Scandalusia, on the other hand worrying reports from Saint Maurice and various parts of Eastern Europe.
- Dunkeldorf-Pfühl: operation Mary-Amadeus was a partial unsuccess. Our agent was sent to observe Sister Mary-Amadeus’ noisy (and as dangerous as brilliant) experiments, and was so concentrated on how to suggest to stabilize her ‘explosive oil’ by impregnation in diatomaceous earth, that she failed to identify the true identity and, more importantly, ‘profession’ of her best friend Sister Ursula in time to prevent their arrest. Later she could only follow and watch, alone in hostile and difficult territory, even after they both escaped, until they reached safety in Hetzenberg.
Yet an operation is deemed a real failure only if secrecy is broken.
- Stagonian border: Stagonian border: among Schinderfranz's chauffeurs watching closely the Duchess of Saschen- Vindow, a freshly recruited young boy is actually older than 'he' appears, but a girl.... As explained previously (O1.06. "9) Mont-Cristo is a priori not hostile to the Duchess and our observer may contribute to the safety of the daring traveller –but the final decision is entirely hers. Our agents are always intended to act on their own initiative (O1.15. "9 comment); specially when isolated in such a ‘chaotic’ situation; it is to be hoped that, would the Stagonian Queen Mother’s "45" (commented upon on O1.13. "9) appear, her loathing would not cloud her judgment.
- Adriatic Sea and Maghreb: as commented upon on 12.10. "8, as soon as warned by unexpected scimitar rattling the Palace took steps to have observers in several crucial places. A peculiar attention was given to Cavenderia, Prinz Geoffrey being inexperimented and, truth to tell, not altogether reliable. Several agents are in place on land –they’ll have in addition to secretly reinforce the security of Reich Duke Wilhelm and young ‘King’ Basil; and to have an eye directly in the Navy the Service organized, as commented upon on 12.10. "8, Operation Jackaroe.
Some (‘backward’ / ‘barbaric’ / ‘primitive’ / ‘revolting’) peculiarities of local culture make work harder for the Service in the Eastern and Southern Mediterranean shores; but there are always means to enter when one has to investigate in Bizercca, ‘the shop across the street’,
- Azores: for obvious reasons the Service keeps friendly exchange with a peculiar ‘free lancer’ in the Carribean. When in her hunting ground ‘air become too hot for her’ she was easily convinced to seek her fortune in other waters until ‘it colds down’. Several members of the Service transfered from La Petillante (O4. "8 entry), being to pay for the passage by doing Marine duty. Several have already disembarked at Bonne Esperance to assess the validity of diverse weird rumours: about the attempt by the Huguenots to use oxen-powered mobile pillboxes, about the ‘rogue Whites’ settlement(s) (Afrodizia?) in the heart of the Black Continent; a few will disembark in Neues Sudland and New Wales; several in Ameri-go where Monte-Cristo still has all to discover; and the last in Scwartzwaldeland.
Then, remember that a member of the Service cannot be away from Monte-Cristo more than a full year!
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BUTTERFLY HUNTRESS
Beware the (slightly eccentric) moving old lady with soft shoes roaming everywhere with her butterfly net. Decorative patterns of butterfly wings, drawn on a translucent paper, are great for recording information in a graphical form –e.g. plans of fortifications. When the wings are ‘unfolded’ the drawings are disrupted and unidentifiable.
Besides, the lady may well be 30 years younger than she looks, prone to ‘chase the wild strawberry’ as well, and her hat pin more lethal than the sting of any scorpion.
For the initiated, some butterflies are a handy source of very powerful poisons: they accumulate in their tissues the toxic principles of *all* the leave they ate as voracious caterpillars. A pleasant complement to the plants themselves. Later in the season, some really interesting mushrooms provide amusing alyernatives.
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Disinformation and gossip
An old, well-known but still efficient trick is to have the right 'locals' spreading a rumor or instilling suggestions. The 'Wives' are specially proficient, but almost every Monte-Cristan abroad -merchant, student, tourist or mercenary- can be entrusted with such an 'injection'.
To know the best 'broadcasters' in relation with the targeted circles is essential; for instance in Paris Madame Helena Blavatsky, -astrologer, crystal gazer, palmist and tarot reader- across from Saint-Medard cemetery, is a most efficient 'buzzer' echoed in all classes.
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MORRIGAN (I & II) and ESTERELLA
In her aspects corresponding to the first two 'functions' of traditional Euro-Indian 'ideologies' (see 11."09 comment), the Irish Triple Goddess shows deep similarities with facets of the Monte-Cristan Esterella. As soldiers of the Presipality's "secret wars", the Wives specially cherish her 'warrior' nature.
Over hills and over meadows
see the crow fly, feel her shadow,
over woods and over mountains
searching for a war.
Her wings embrace each strife and battle
where swords they clash and chariots rattle,
seeking out the one whose time
has come to take the blade
Morrigan ancient crone of war
I see your face, I'll cry no more,
Morrigan ancient crone of war
come lift me on your wings,
Morrigan ancient crone of war
I hear your voice, I'll breathe no more,
Morrigan ancient crone of war
come set my spirit free.
Kill for Morrigan
Maim for Morrigan
Fight for Morrigan
and you will
Slay for Morrigan
Die for Morrigan
Morrigan crone of war.
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We in Monte-Cristo heard with horrified sadness of the hideous crimes recently perpetrated by the Ordo of The Bloodied Martyrs in Lifonlia.
How distressing that, in our Age of Enlightenment and Reason, blind, crazy fanaticism can still drive such atrocious behaviors!
One wonders if an exceptional mold of centuries-old fantastical fears and terrified superstitions, peculiar to the area, contributes to the local madness? For sure impaling is traditional there, combined by the Order with Ancient Roman crucifixion in the most eclectic way.
These atrocities came as a shock, but not a total surprise. While for some reason the Monte-Cristan 'Service' is dismally less efficient there than usually, the Presipapal Palace learned enough about the 'Chiesarchia' of the 'Order' to worry and inquire for more.
As a matter of fact our agents and informants, with the invaluable help of the Gypsies, are already tracking that Ricardo Au gout Apre.
We are also wondering if the actions of the Ordia are coordinated -directly or by the Vatican through the Opus Dei- with those of other militant sects we are secretly confronting? But indeed what evidence is already available hints for the Langdoucian Order at far more fearsome, wide-ranged objectives verging on the heretical.
UD Walther Ansbach-Hoffen received a folder (a huge trunk, actually) of copies of all the relevant files in the Presipapal secret archives.
Another source of worry is the simultaneity between this surge of crazy zealot unrest -after centuries of seclusion, for the Successor Crusading Ordia- and the disturbing reports of weird events from different Continents. Could it be that, according to some esoteric calendar (Maya perhaps, but scholars here favor the R'lyeh one), feverish devouts of opposite convictions believe we are reaching the Millenium? A few may even think as their Sacred Duty to trigger the Final Battle...
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ADVENTUROUS CHARACTERS THE 'SERVICE' MAY HAVE TO INTERACT WITH
Bartolomeo Gundaker: a freelance agent for hire to the courts of Europe 'A low-level wretch with a propensity for murder -but good at what he does'; speciality (besides assassination): forged documents.
? von Lessing: a young ex-Major in the army of Wittenberg, sentenced to death for treason, officially executed but actually force-converted to the secret service of that country; a dreadful sniper fond of unlikely disguises.
Erwin von Mack: a resourceful Raubenstadter reputed in some special circles; also known as 'Mack the Knife' .
Had a decisive role in the "Crooked Kobold incident" (was acting in uniform, for once).
Donatien de Rotefort: assumed name of Domitien Boutzizi, the 'black sheep' of a wealthy (converted Sepharadi) family of bankers in Avignon. Earned some repute as weapon master, soon professional duellist, then turned really rogue. Thanks to very diverse talents ended as the Stagonian Queen-Mother (nee de Sade)'s "1st dagger", i. e. the leader among her "45", her forty-five fanatically devoted bodyguards - cum abductors - cum assassins (comment).
? Steiner: a mysterious Herrschadener, recently released from jail on the express order of Lietung-Direktor Otto Schwarz von Blitzenkruz; seemingly an ex-Direktor fallen into disgrace (rebellious to any attempt of direktive), but too skilled to be wasted?
Milady de Winter: the best known and most feared 'agent' in Eveurope; in the (forced) service of Gross Hesse-Seawald, but with a lot of free time to play freelance. Has raised a retinue of her own, the Black Legion.
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A FEW GYPSIES' SECRETS SHARED WITH PRIVILEGED MONTE-CRISTANS
Gypsies can be reliable, trustworthy and very precious allies -once you gained their trust; and they are generally so mistreated that their gratitude can be indefectible. But gratitude and trust they grant very difficultly, very rarely to gadjos ('no Romanipen') -even more than Jews to goyim. Monte-Cristo being the only place where they receive a warm welcome on their pilgrimage to the Saintes Maries de la Mer, a few Monte-Cristans of inquisitive nature and genial conatct, over the decades, gathered a few certitudes about the Gypsies.
Firstly, while the claim of some of their women to be palmists, crystal-grazers and fortune-tellers of various kind is pure fraud. The truth is that a few of them happen to have very short visions of a dramatic event of past, present or of the *possible future' ; 'possible' because in some recorded cases their warning prevented the event from happening. Such visions are unexpected, unpredictable in their coming, nature and duration.
What is real (and far less suspected) is that some Gypsy women (the gift in inherited from mother to daughter -its a gift 'in the blood', not a skill that could be learned) can have a special empathy with animals. It can be 'generic', making them outstanding veterinarians and finders of lost beasts; but in most case it is restricted, or at least far stronger, at times verging on telepathy, with *a single* animal species: wolves more often than not, or bats or rats or owls or crows... During privileged 'contacts' -unpredictable, though some women use drugs and shamanic rituals to favor their coming and hopefully make the contact deeper and lengthen its duration- the Gypsy woman can see and hear through the eyes and eras of the beast she is linked to, and to some degree guide its moving. It's with the wolves, intelligent and social, that empathy can be the deepest and closest to telepathy, and for specially gifted women almost permanent and unconscious. There are numeral stories of Gypsy girls or women in danger -because of groups of overexcited lustful men- who without having consciously screamed for help, find themselves surrounded and protected by packs of wolves.
Another point, unknown of most Gypsies themselves, is seemingly the existence among them of a very secret (and very, very minority) sect /secret cult. Two generations ago a Monte-Cristan philosopher was intrigued by the fact that their Patron, *St Sarah* they come to worship in pilgrimage every year at the Saintes Maries de la Mer is called in their tongue Sara Kali -yes 'Kali' ('the Black') like the Indian Goddess. And the Gypsies came from India, more precisely from the Sind or the Sinhu basin, as proven by comparative linguistics and Early Medieval Persian archives recording their going through. Thus a very restricted circle of Monte-Cristans (the Palace, the Secret 'internal' and 'abroad' Services and a few members of the Academie) envisaged, suspected and now were granted the certain knowledge that, unknown of the majority of Gypsies themselves -who would hunt down mercilessly her followers- Sara Kali has in the Gypsy community a secret cult as in India - a Thuggee Stranglers / Assassins cult. It may not be coincidental that among the 3 most lethal female agents of the Presipality, at least one has in her purse as a handkerchief what is indeed a Rumaal, a ritual strangler's garotte.
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LONG-RANGE FAST COMMUNICATIONS
Btw, while our 'Service' routinely uses carrier pigeons (e.g. maintaing a permanent 'pigeon line' between the Presipapal Palace and the Enclos du Temple in Paris, with a major relay / communication node in the Croix-Rousse above Lyon), contrary to what is sometimes whispered, it does not use carrier bats: this is a purely Herrschadener feature. Not that we dislike bats, mind you: at first glance, bat -like the platypus- look like natural oddities / anomalies. Being ourselves generally deemed 'odd' or even 'monstrous', we Monte-Cristans a priori sympathize with anyone and anything 'odd'. But according to our expert we are simply too far from Transylvania for the cute little flying furballs to be reliable messengers.
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