Sandman Role Playing Pubcrawl
General Note
This is one of a series of role-playing pub crawls written for meetings of
the Oxford University Douglas Adams Society and possibly of general
interest to others. All are based on various works of literature in
different media familiar to members of the Society. Of course the
originals involved are still in copyright, so the author of these
pubcrawls has no right to profit from the use of the material, despite the
large amounts of original writing that have been put into them. We can
only say that anyone who performs these pubcrawls is very welcome to do
so.
This series includes many other pubcrawls.
These pubcrawls were written for performance in Oxford, and thus if they
instruct participants to visit particular pubs, these pubs are generally
found within quite a small area of that city. This can very easily be
altered to fit in with any location in which the pubcrawl is per formed:
other details can be similarly altered (times changed to suit local
licensing laws, for instance), and usually any Oxford-specific references
can be excised, adapted or else conveniently ignored. The exception is
the Sandman pubcrawl, which has a note appended explaining the options,
but can still be performed elsewhere with ease.
If the number of people available for a pubcrawl is not identical with the
number of characters listed in these texts, the pieces can be adapted
accordingly: several have "extras" (usually found at the end) who are
unnecessary for the plot but can be added to make up the numbers; in
others, certain characters can be removed without grave detriment to the
plot, at the discretion of the organiser (who may wish to edit the other
characters' intructions accordingly). The Hitch-Hiker pubcrawl, in
particular, was designed for a society Freshers' event, at which the
number arriving was utterly unpredictable, and so is written for a number
of participants from ten to about thirty. Inserting new characters would
also be a viable approach, if anyone were feeling creative...
Standard practice has been to give each participant a copy of the title
page (if any) and introductory sheet (if any), and a copy of one
character's instruction sheet(s). A map, with the pubs marked on it, may
be a useful aid, unless enough players know the pubs in the area well.
Participants are given the instructions that they are to play the roles
allocated to the best of their improvisational ability, and (usually) to
drink a lot as well. As observed in the introduction to the Hitch-Hiker
pubcrawl, the comedy effect arises when obeying the latter instruction
renders people unable to carry out the former. Organiser's charts are
provided so that the person mounting the pubcrawl is able to tell who
should be where at any particular point. The organiser may participate
or observe as he/she wishes; sometimes there is an obvious part for the
organiser to play if he/she does take a role, sometimes it may be amusing
to take one of the more minor ones. The important thing is that the
organiser does not use his/her superior knowledge to bugger the plot.
You are encouraged to pass any of these pubcrawls on to any contacts you
may have who you feel would be interested, by email or post or any other
medium that entertains you. If anyone organising one of these events were
to feel moved to send a gratuitous and quite unnecessary present of money
as a contribution to DougSoc funds (say a pound, dollar or nearest local
equivalent collected from each participant) to the society, we can be
reached at this address:
The Oxford University Douglas Adams Society
c/o University Offices
Wellington Square
Oxford
OX1 2JD
UNITED KINGDOM
I mention this merely for information.
SHARE AND ENJOY.
Author's note
Not being a comic freak, my contact with Neil Gaiman's Sandman series has
been limited to the stories published in graphic novel form. Thus this
pubcrawl, though original, is intended to be consistent with the Sandman
books published before 9 June 1994 ( Preludes and Nocturnes, The Doll's
House, Dream Country, Season of Mists, A Game of You and Fables and
Reflections, and the Death novella The High Cost of Living). Any
inconsistency between "Electric Dreams" and these is therefore entirely my
responsibility: any inconsistency between it and Sandman comics not
published in book form at that stage, or indeed published since 9 June
1994, is nothing to do with me and should be taken up with Neil Gaiman.
Any inconsistencies with other areas of what I believe comic-spotters call
the "DC Universe" are, I assure you, not something that concerns me in the
slightest. And yes, I do know John Constantine appears in non-Sandman
comics like Hellblazer and Swamp Thing, I'm not stupid you know.
Like many of this series of pubcrawls, "Electric Dreams" is intended to
take place in Oxford; it is also intended to be performed on a very
specific date, 9 June 1994. While in most cases, changing either the date
or the city in which the pubcrawl is located (and using different pubs as
appropriate), is perfectly reasonable, this particular one relies on
meticulous historical research that established (with disturbing
synchronicity, considering the date for the pubcrawl had been set three
months before, without any knowledge of this), that according to some
sources Roger Bacon died in Oxford circa 11 June 1294, that Greene's Friar
Bacon and Friar Bungay was published in 1594, and that Samuel Taylor
Coleridge was in Oxford just before mid-June 1794. In view of this, my
advice to anyone performing it after 9 June 1994, or in another location
than Oxford, would be to pretend that the place and time were as they were
when we did it, though obviously changing the pubs is probably
unavoidable.
Supplementary note for anyone unbelievably stupid: In this pubcrawl, John
Constantine and Lady Johanna Constantine are intended to be played by the
same participant.
Number of characters 18+
Male 10+
Female 6+
Other Desire is intended to be hermaphrodite; John/Johanna
Constantine has to change sex halfway through. Either
can be played by anyone suitably androgynous.
Number of Pubs 5 or 6
Props A brass head, or something that can appropriately
symbolise it. Otherwise, as appropriate to
character, eg various sigils for the Endless,
cigarettes for John Constantine, pouch of sand for
Dream, etc.
Organiser's Chart
In terms of Oxford pubs:
The Dreaming = The Chequers
1394 = The Bear (interior)
1594 = The Old Tom
1894 = The Wheatsheaf
1984 = The Blue Boar
1994 = The Bear (exterior)
Character 8:30- 9:00- 9:30- 10:00- 10:30
9:00 9:30 10:00 10:30
UNA Dreaming 1994 1994 1994 1994
Dream Dreaming 1994 1594 1794 1994
dream dream
Death 1984 1294 1594 1794 1994
flashback flashback flashback
Desire 1294 1794 1994 1994 1994
Despair 1294 1794 1994 1994 1994
Delirium 1294 1794 1794 1994 1994
Shelley Isaac 1984 1994 1994 1994 1994
Belcephon 1984 1294 1994 1994 1994
flashback
Roger Bacon 1294 1294 1594 1794 1994
ghost ghost ghost
Miles 1984 1294 1594 1794 1994
flashback flashback flashback ghost
Hob Gadling 1994 1994 1594 1994 1994
dream
Constantine 1994 1994 1794 1794 1994
John John Johanna Johanna John
Mad Hettie 1794 1794 1794 1994 1994
Coleridge 1794 1794 1794 1794 1994
dream
Cain Dreaming 1994 1994 1994 1994
Abel Dreaming 1994 1994 1994 1994
Lucien Dreaming 1994 1994 1994 1994
Morningstar 1994 1994 1994 1994 1994
sandman
ELECTRIC DREAMS
featuring characters stolen from
NEIL GAIMAN, SAM KIETH, MIKE DRINGENBERG
"I WOULD LIKE TO ASK A QUESTION."
"WHAT IS IT?"
"WILL I DREAM?"
"OF COURSE YOU WILL. ALL INTELLIGENT CREATURES DREAM - BUT NO ONE KNOWS WHY."
Arthur C Clarke (born 1917), 2010: Odyssey Two, 1982
I'M SORRY, YOUR MAJESTY. THE BASTARD HARD DISK'S CRASHED AGAIN.
BUT THIS HARDWARE'S STILL BETTER THAN ROGER BACON'S MECHANICAL HEAD.
Hob Gadling (born c.1360) in conversation, 1990
Slips for Advance Notice of Character
(for clothing/makeup purposes)
UNA
An android, but since this is Sandman, not a tacky android with silver
eggboxes stuck to her head or anything. Wear stylised, simple clothes (eg
white T-shirt and skirt). Perhaps, if you can get some appropriate
makeup, paint your skin some metallic colour, but this isn't necessary.
Professor Shelley Isaacs
Seen first as a vaguely hippy student in the 1980s, later as a cybernetics
professor in the 1990s. Either wear something appropriate for both, or
else bring a quick change of clothing...
Roger Bacon (Doctor Mirabilis)
Thirteenth century divine, scholar and magician. Dress in friar's habit,
make up (if possible) to appear eighty years old.
Miles
A magician and scholar from the thirteenth century. Currently immortal,
but appearing around forty. If you can arrange some kind of clothing that
can be subtly altered to suggest 13th, 16th, 18th and then 20th centuries,
this would be ideal. Come in 20th century mode at first.
Hob Gadling
Peasant from the fourteenth century, currently immortal and working in
computers. Ideally, seen first in 1990s and, later, Elizabethan costume.
John Constantine/Lady Johanna Constantine
You play both John Constantine, a slightly sleazy twentieth-century London
magician, and Lady Johanna Constantine, his aristocratic
eighteenth-century ancestor. Wear an old raincoat, T-shirt and jeans at
first, but ideally bring an eighteenth-century dress to change into...
Mad Hettie
Two hundred and fifty year old London baglady and prophet. Wear tatty
clothing, including an old green duffle-coat and a wide-brimmed hat with a
flower in it, covering most of your face. Also a battered old bag.
Belcephon
A demon. Come dressed and made up however you wish, as long as it's
suitably horrific.
Cain
Story-teller from the Dreaming, and brother of Abel. Usually appears
wearing a casual suit and round glasses. Brown hair and beard, both
enormous.
Abel
Story-teller from the Dreaming, and brother of Cain. Usually appears
wearing an old-fashioned suit and lace bow-tie. Black hair and beard.
Samuel Taylor Coleridge
The eighteenth-century poet, seen at the age of 22. Ideally, should wear
a frilly shirt-front, black tailcoat, black knee-breeches, white
stockings. See what you can do.
Lucifer Morningstar
The devil seen as fallen angel - tall, red-blond, beautiful. Wear
ordinary twentieth-century dress.
Death
Of the Endless. Long black hair, white face, heavy black eyeshadow with
small spirals below the eyes. One of those sleeveless tops with straps
off the shoulders, jeans, pixie boots, all in black. Silver ankh on a
chain.
Dream
Of the Endless. Long black hair, white face with eyes in dark shadow.
Small leather drawstring pouch, full of sand. Black or purple T-shirt,
black jeans, black boots, black cloak. Think imposing.
Desire
Of the Endless. Androgyny is the main thing to project. White face,
black hair, considerable makeup. Some kind of outrageous basque with
suspenders, fishnets and assorted items. Probably an earring. Some kind
of heart necklace (the heart being Desire's sigil) is probably
appropriate.
Despair
Of the Endless. White skin, black hair in a sumo wrestler's bun, and
tusks (try wearing joke vampire fangs upside down). A ring with a hook on
it is vital (one could be easily made from wire or something). As far as
clothing is concerned, there are a number of options:
1) Ideally, come naked. It is doubtful that you could get away with this,
even if you wanted to...
2) Try and give a stylised impression of nakedness, either by wearing very
little (a monochrome bikini, for instance), or else by combining white
body makeup with a white leotard or something similar.
3) Assume that Desire is trying to appear in a human context without being
outrageously conspicuous, and wear the clothing you think she might in
these circumstances. Ripped T-shirt and jeans, probably grey rather than
black, spring to mind, but use your judgement. Just don't wear anything
cheerful...
4) In the original performance, the person playing Desire wore jeans and
a grey sweater on which she had drawn a pair of breasts. Hmmm.
Delirium
Of the Endless. "Her appearance is the most variable of all the Endless",
so anything goes within certain boundaries: Like the others, her skin is
usually white; her hair is either shaven, dyed in startling ways or a
combination of the two. Outrageous punk or bondage gear are both
possibilities; fishnets often appear prominently. Just as long as it
appears insane, chaotic and rather tragic.
DREAM
He began to talk, very quietly, in that strange voice of his, that sounded
like you were hearing it in the back of your head. I'd heard the people
talk about Murphy before, but I'd never imagined he existed. It was like
meeting God, or someone like that. You don't figure they're ever actually
going to show up. He was very tall, and very beautiful, and very distant.
A Game of You
8:30- 9:00 The Chequers The Dreaming
You are intrigued and disturbed by the arrival of a new type of creature
in the dreaming; Una is a dreamer, but neither human, god nor demon. You
first talk to her, to find out what she is, and then ask your servants for
their opinion. You come to the conclusion that she is an artificial human
being, a robot or android, and determine to find out her origin. You
suspect that there may be some involvement by other supernatural powers,
and you fear for the vulnerable android should some more malevolent entity
find out her existence. When she wakes, you follow her, and take the
unusual precaution of bringing with you into the waking world those of
your servants who are present.
9:00- 9:30 The Bear (exterior) 7 June 1994
Arriving at the presentation of the android to her creator's colleagues,
you encounter your old friend Hob Gadling, and the man John Constantine,
whose ancestor you knew well and who once helped you recover something of
value to you. Observing the proceedings, you are disturbed by an
unnaturalness which may be that of cybernetics, but may equally be that of
magical manipulation. Both Hob and Constantine seem troubled by nagging
memories which they feel are relevant, so you decide to accompany them
into dreams to examine those memories. You explain that you will be
observing them,but they will be unaware of you throughout. Leaving your
servants to observe and to protect Una if necessary, you follow Hob and
Constantine into dreams.
9:30-10:00 The Old Tom 7 June 1594
Hob Gadling returns to the age of two hundred and thirty or so, and
relives an encounter with another immortal human. You are surprised but
gratified to meet (on this threshold between present and past, fantasy and
history, the dreamed and the dead, that humans call Memory), your sister
Death. She is following the memories of the other human, Miles, whom she
has taken in 1984. She tells you of the curses that keep Miles alive and
his mentor, Roger Bacon, a ghost, and she tells you of the relic that
Miles carries. You watch as Hob refuses to lift the curse from them; then
send him back to the waking world as you and Death follow Miles on into
Constantine's dream.
10:00-10:30 The Wheatsheaf 7 June 1794
John Constantine has regressed to the life of his ancestor, Lady Johanna
Constantine, who once tried to kidnap you and once helped you to recover
the head of your son. The time you are observing is prior to your second
meeting, however, and you are surprised to see her in the company of
Samuel Taylor Coleridge, the poet who was once the lover of your sister
Delirium. You observe as Miles once again begs for the curse to be
lifted, and Johanna and Coleridge refuse. You feel a sudden strong
compulsion to return to the waking world, and, sending Constantine ahead
into his own persona, you urge Death to accompany you.
10:30onward The Bear 7 June 1994
You arrive in time to see Una destroyed by a demon; she passes into
Death's protection. You are furious to see your sister Despair and her
twin Desire, and to be told of their interference, and that of poor,
cracked Delirium; this is, however, nothing to your anger with the demon,
a particularly repulsive specimen called Belcephon. The demon has the
power of Hell behind him, however, and you will be powerless to prevent
the forces of Hell from destroying the whole pub, as they apparently
intend to. Apart from the Creator Himself, only one being would have the
personal power to repel the forces of Hell. Fortunately, he turns out to
be sitting in the corner having a quiet drink, so everyone is saved.
Belcephon demands his right to the soul of the android's creator, but he
is even denied this. You return, with your servants, to the Dreaming.
DEATH
Anyway: I'm not blessed, or merciful. I'm just me. I've got a job to
do, and I do it. Listen: even as we're talking, I'm there for old and
young, innocent and guilty, those who die together and those who die
alone. I'm in cars and boats and planes; in hospitals and forests and
abbatoirs. For some folks death is a release, and for others death is an
abomination, a terrible thing. But in the end, I'm there for all of them.
Dream Country
8:30- 9:00 The Blue Boar 9 June 1984
You arrive at the death of a man named Miles, who is killed by a young
student for a relic he is carrying. You are surprised at his age, and his
having missed you for so long. You talk to him, and use the final picture
of their life that the dead are given (for even the living know that their
life will flash in front of their eyes on the point of death), to
investigate his past. You bring the now-ignored relic with you, too.
9:00- 9:30 The Bear (interior) 9 June 1294
Watching Miles' remembrances of his life, you are brought back to the
deathbed of Roger Bacon, a man you knew as you know everyone at the end.
You watch, with a mixture of compassion and exasperation, as they curse
each other, Miles to wander the earth without the respite of death, Bacon
to be summoned as a ghost at Miles' pleasure. People's ability to be
horrible to each other, when they all have the potential to be so nice,
constantly amazes you. You take Bacon when the time comes for him to die,
though you know now that neither he nor Miles can rest for centuries.
9:30-10:00 The Old Tom 9 June 1594
Following Miles through the next three centuries, you are pleased to meet
(on this threshold between present and past, fantasy and history, the
dreamed and the dead, that humans call Memory), your brother Dream, who is
searching for the origins of an android built in 1994. He is watching, in
dreams, his friend Hob Gadling, the man you agreed not to take unless he
asked it. Hob and Miles meet in a tavern in 1594, and Miles begs Hob to
take the twin curses from himself and Bacon by relieving him of the relic
he carries, the remains of a mechanical head, but Hob refuses.
10:00-10:30 The Wheatsheaf 9 June 1794
Together with Dream, you both observe a meeting between Miles, Lady
Johanna Constantine (whom your brother is watching through the dream of
one of her descendants), and Samuel Coleridge, whom both of you remember
as a lover of your sister Delirium, whom you had eventually to take from
her when he died. Neither of them lifts Bacon's curse from Miles, or
Miles' from Bacon.
10:30onward The Bear 9 June 1994
At Dream's suggestion, you come with him to 1994, where you meet Una,
Dream's android friend. Indeed, you find you have business with her,
since soon after you arrive she is killed by a demon. She is vulnerable
and sweet, and you are pleased to be able to look after her. The demon's
presence disturbs you, and you are worried that you may be forced to take
all the people in the pub, but help comes from an unexpected source. You
reunite Miles and Bacon, liberated by Miles' death so that both of them
can now rest, and finally be at peace together, and you take them and Una
with you.
DESIRE
Desire is of medium height. It is unlikely that any portrait will ever do
Desire justice, since to see her (or him) is to love him (or her), -
passionately, painfully, to the exclusion of all else... Desire smiles in
brief flashes, like sunlight glinting from a knife-edge. And there is
much else that is knife-like about Desire. Never a possession, always the
possessor, with skin as pale as smoke, and eyes tawny and sharp as yellow
wine: Desire is everything you have ever wanted. Whoever you are.
Whatever you are. Everything.
Season of Mists
8:30- 9:00 The Bear (interior) 9 June 1294
With your sister Delirium and your twin Despair, you arrive to dole out
the delicious torture of desire to a man dying of fever. He is a magician
and scholar who has bargained with Hell. You whisper to him of all the
things he wanted, his thirst for knowledge and his secret lust for power,
his loves and pangs and urges. You leave just as he is about to die...
9:00- 9:30 The Wheatsheaf 9 June 1794
Five centuries later, you are summoned by Delirium, who has fallen
ecstatically in love and asks your advice. You know from experience that
the loves of the Endless are of more subtle and exquisite consistency than
of mortals, and the young man in question seems as aesthetically sensual
as you could wish. Naturally you urge her on.
9:30-10:00 The Bear 9 June 1994
Two further centuries pass, and the humans create a new degree of being;
an artifical woman, the first of her kind. You realise the opportunities
for anguished yearning such an entity presents, and with Despair you go to
find her. You tell her of the happiness she has not known, of the joys of
a community and of others of one's kind. You tell her of the tentative
thrill of love's first perception, the agonised longings of love's
pursuit, of the dazed rushing wonder of love's acceptance. You tell her
of the warm comforting presence of another's body, of the violent
exultancy of sex, of the gentle caresses of intimacy. You bring her to
the very threshold. You watch while she asks her creator to build her a
mate. When she is refused, Despair tells her of pain and of the rejection
of love, of misery and loneliness and isolation. Then, with Despair, you
summon Delirium.
10:00-10:30 The Bear 9 June 1994
While Delirium brings the android finally into the realm of insanity, you
observe the others present - the poor tiny humans, some very old, some
mad, all utterly manipulable - and the demon who one of them has summoned.
You move among the humans, talking with them as if you cared about them,
showing them their desires.
10:30onward The Bear 9 June 1994
Your older brother and sister arrive, and the android's journey through
life is finally ended by Death. Dream has a terribly amusing argument
with the demon, and things end in a manner that takes even you
considerably by surprise, though naturally you are uninclined to admit
this.
DESPAIR
Despair, Desire's sister and twin, is queen of her own bleak bourne. It
is said that scattered through Despair's domain are a multitude of tiny
windows, hanging in the void. Each window looks out onto a different
scene, being, in our world, a mirror. Sometimes you will look into a
mirror and feel the eyes of Despair on you, feel her hook catch and snag
on your heart. Her skin is cold and clammy; her eyes are the colour of
the sky on the grey, wet days that leach the world of colour and meaning;
her voice is little more than a whisper... Despair says little, and is
patient.
Season of Mists
8:30- 9:00 The Bear (interior) 9 June 1294
With your sister Delirium and your twin Desire, you arrive at the bedside
of a man dying of fever, a magician and scholar who has bargained with
Hell. While Desire whispers to him of all the things he wanted, his
ambitions and urges and lusts, you tell him he can never accomplish any of
these now. He is dying, his soul is destined for Hell, he has no hope.
You leave just as he is about to die.
9:00- 9:30 The Wheatsheaf 9 June 1794
Five centuries later, you are summoned by Delirium, who believes herself
in love and asks your advice. You know that love, though it is the
province of your sibling Desire, leads to despair more often than any
other emotion, and you see in her lover the potential for melancholy
beyond imagining. You urge her on.
9:30-10:00 The Bear 9 June 1994
Two further centuries pass, and you become aware of a new degree of being,
created not by gods but by the humans; an artifical woman, the first of
her kind. You realise the opportunity such an entity presents, and you go
with Desire to find her. You bide your time while Desire tells her of
happiness, of community and companionship, and of love. You watch while
she asks her creator to build her a mate. When she is refused, you tell
her of pain and of the rejection of love, of misery and loneliness and
isolation. You bring her to despair. Then, with Desire, you summon
Delirium.
10:00-10:30 The Bear 9 June 1994
While Delirium brings the android finally into the realm of insanity, you
observe the others present - the humans, some very old, some mad - and the
demon who one of them has summoned. You move among the humans, talking to
them, trying to bring out their despair.
10:30onward The Bear 9 June 1994
Your older brother and sister arrive, and the android's journey through
life is finally ended by Death. Dream has a violent argument with the
demon, and things end in a manner that takes you considerably by surprise.
DELIRIUM
Her appearance is the most variable of all the Endless, who, at best, are
ideas cloaked in the semblance of flesh... Some say that the tragedy of
Delirium is her knowledge that despite being older than suns, older than
gods, she is forever the youngest of the Endless, who do not measure time
as we measure time, or see the worlds through mortal eyes. Others deny
this, and say that Delirium has no tragedy, but here they speak without
reflection. For Delirium was once Delight. And although that was long
ago now, even today her eyes are badly matched: one eye is a vivid emerald
green, spattered with silver flecks that move; her other eye is vein blue.
Who knows what Delirium sees, through her mismatched eyes?
Season of Mists
8:30- 9:00 The Bear (interior) 9 June 1294
With your sister Despair, and your sister-brother Desire, you go to visit
a man called Roger. While the others tell him about everything he wanted
once, and how he'll never have it all now, you tell him about pretty
things and terrifying things and strange things, and worms and stars and
windows. He is going to die soon.
9:00- 9:30 The Wheatsheaf 9 June 1794
You remember visiting the dying man five centuries ago when you come back
to Oxford this time. There is a man, a student from Cambridge. You know
he has potential for delirium, that he could be great or insane or a poet
or all three. You have told a mad woman, someone who belongs to you
called Hettie, to meet this man and call you to him. When you come, you
meet him. His name is Samuel, and he is as beautiful as madness. You
fall in love with him soon, but then you worry. When your family fall in
love, it's not always good. You nearly got married once. Your big
brother had a son, and now he's just a head. Shit happens. You can't
always tell. So you call Desire and Despair to help. They tell you to go
ahead and love Samuel. You can make him a poet or an addict or a lunatic,
whatever you want. Your servant Hettie asks you to release her, but she's
mad.
9:30-10:00 The Wheatsheaf 9 June 1794
You tell Samuel about love and about snakes, about graves and albatrosses
and waterfalls and slimy things. A woman arrives and tries to take Samuel
away from you, but Samuel loves you and she can't. She says someone's
coming. You know it is a man with a head, and you tell Samuel: this man
will be in his greatest poem, his most famous and beautiful poem, of ships
and salt and madness, will come from meeting this man. Then you leave.
10:00-10:30 The Bear 9 June 1994
Now it is two hundred years later again, and a hundred and sixty since
your oldest sister finally took Samuel away from you. You are in Oxford
again, remembering him, and remembering Roger, the man who was dying once.
You meet Una - a robot, a living doll, a model human being. She is nice.
You talk to her a lot, about terror and flowers and butterflies and
quasars, and about Samuel. She is your friend. Hettie, the woman who was
your servant once, turns up and talks to you. She laughs at you and makes
you angry.
10:30onward The Bear 9 June 1994
A demon kills Una, and your oldest sister takes her away like she has all
the humans you've known. You feel sad and angry and you shout a lot.
Then some weird shit happens and you feel strange. You forget what you
were talking about and then you go away.
HOB GADLING
The only reason people die, is because everyone does it. You all just go
along with it. It's rubbish, death. It's stupid. I don't want anything
to do with it.
The Doll's House
8:30- 9:00 The Bear (exterior) 9 June 1994
The latest stage in your six hundred year business career has been with a
small computer hardware firm, which with your usual acumen you established
shortly before Clive Sinclair had the brainstorm which led to the ZX80.
The firm has brought you a considerable amount of profit in the last
twenty years, but you are looking to branch out, and the rumour of
astounding breakthroughs in cybernetics technology have brought you to
Oxford for the unveiling of a prototype android, supposedly far more
sophisticated than any robot yet created, by Professor Shelley Isaac,
widely acknowledged as a genius in the field. While waiting for the
arrival of Isaac and her colleagues at the occasion (which, for the best
of reasons, is to take place at a pub), you meet John Constantine, who
reminds you strongly both of a Jack Constantine you met in Queen Bess'
day, and a Lady Johanna Constantine, who tried to hold you up once when
George III was around. You are fairly used to meeting descendants of
people you knew by now, but Constantine appears more sinister than most;
bearing in mind the supernatural predilections of his ancestors, you are
suspicious of his motives in attending a scientific gathering. You try to
draw him out.
9:00- 9:30 The Bear (exterior) 9 June 1994
When the android, Una, is unveiled, her sophistication appears to amount
to an independent emotional life, which you know should not be even
remotely possible with current computer technology. A vague memory which
you are unable to capture, begins to nag at you, and you wonder if the
presence of the shifty Constantine may be even more sinister than you
thought. You are startled when your friend, the pale stranger who first
offered you immortality in 1389, and whom you have met at hundred-year
intervals since, appears. You begin to realise that more is going on here
than you imagined, and confide your suspicions to him. He appears to know
Constantine as well, and decides to return both of you, in dreams, into
the past, to discover the secret behind the android's existence.
9:30-10:00 The Old Tom 9 June 1594
Your dream returns you to 1594, when you were working in shipping, but had
kept your interests in publishing and printing from the previous century.
A publisher's in which you have a partnership has published in the last
few months a play called Friar Bacon and Friar Bungay, by Rob Greene, whom
you knew and who died two years before. You know vaguely that this play
is about a legend popular even in your youth, of Roger Bacon, "Doctor
Mirabilis", the Oxford scholar who sold his soul to the devil in order to
create a talking mechanical head. You considered this only slightly
interesting, until you received a bizarre message asking you to meet one
Mr Miles this evening, at a pub in Oxford. Fearing that he may be
accusing Greene of plagiarism, you have marshalled all your arguments and
come to meet him. The tale he tells you is extraordinary, but you utterly
refuse to accede to his terrifying request.
10:00-10:30 The Bear 9 June 1994
You awake, and remember that you are in the twentieth century, and what
you are there for. The android UNA is behaving with increasing
strangeness, and you are disturbed by the supernatural air surrounding the
proceedings (in all your six hundred and thirty years of life, you have
never been tempted to play with magic). You wish your friend would
return, but, since Constantine is still asleep, you assume he is still
with him in dreams.
10:30onward The Bear 9 June 1994
Constantine awakes, your friend returns, and several extremely strange
things happen. You have a drink and think about perhaps leaving the
computer industry and going into tourism instead.
JOHN CONSTANTINE
Have you ever had one of those days when something just seems to be trying
to tell you somebody? There was a smell of magic somewhere, like the
blue-sparks smell of smoke at a funfair. I'd just had this nightmare.
These things with faces like appendectomy scars were crocheting my
intestines into body bags for the blind and dead. I told myself it was
only a dream, but it didn't matter. The bastards just kept on bloody
knitting.
Preludes and Nocturnes
8:30- 9:00 The Bear 9 June 1994
You have been intrigued recently by rumours of the achievements of
Professor Shelly Isaac, who is said to have created a working android.
Your usually infallible nose for magic tells you that this is more likely
to have been achieved by demonology than cybernetics, so you have resolved
to gatecrash the unveiling in Oxford of Isaac's creation. While waiting
for the beginning of the event, you start talking to Robert Gadling, a
representative from some big computer firm. Your instinct tells you he is
unusual, though you cannot feel anything magical about him. You feel
strongly suspicious of him, particularly when he tries to draw you out
about your interest in the occasion.
9:00- 9:30 The Bear 9 June 1994
Sure enough, when the android is unveiled, it stinks of Hell, and of a
memory you cannot catch. Things are complicated, however, by the arrival
of the being you know as the Sandman, whom you once did a favour. He, too,
is deeply suspicious of the circumstances, and has decided to regress you
and Gadling into the past, in dreams, to find out about the android's
origin. You find yourself in the persona of one of your ancestors, but
are unnerved by her gender...
LADY JOHANNA CONSTANTINE
Thus it was I found myself immured in the Palace of Luxembourg. My Plight
was not cheerful, and in my Younger Days I might perhaps have dropt a few
tears in the Tumult of my Senses; but I had been hardened by the Years,
and was content to wait. It is forever a matter of Amazement to me what
trifling Consolations the Mind will sieze upon, in times of Misery.
Myself, I sought Refuge at this Extremity in tabulating what I had so far
accomplished.
Fables and Reflections
9:30-10:00 The Wheatsheaf 9 June 1794
You have come to Oxford in search of a vagrant woman who is rumoured to be
a prophet; your instinct for magic is as efficient as your descendant's,
and you are seeking enlightenment about a supernatural being whom you
encountered in an inn five years ago, a gaunt stranger who faced you with
the nightmares of your past. You track down the woman, but find her with
a young poet and student of your acquaintance, one Samuel Coleridge, and
with a pale-faced and apparently insane woman who appears to be of the
same ilk as your inn acquaintance. You warn Coleridge against entangling
with such dangerous spirits, but he is besotted with her. You beg the
seeress to tell you about the identity of the beings, and she does. Your
instincts suddenly warn you of more magic approaching, and you advise
Coleridge to go. He refuses.
10:00-10:30 The Wheatsheaf 9 June 1794
The prophetess and the spirit of Delirium leave, and a magician arrives.
He tells you a story that horrifies you and moves you to sympathy, but,
despite being sorely tempted, you refuse the unusual offer he makes you.
Coleridge, as you feared, has retreated entirely into a delirious world of
his own, and cannot be reached. You take your leave of the magician,
resolved to return to Wych Cross and think on this...
JOHN CONSTANTINE (contd)
10:30onward The Bear 9 June 1994
You awake in your own body once more, to find that Hell seems to have
taken firm control of the events in twentieth-century Oxford. You watch
as the Sandman tries to deal with this, but are shocked at the turn soon
taken by the circumstances. You have another drink to recover.
MAD HETTIE
Now you lissen ter me, John Constanteen, you littel prick! I sed the
Sandman, and I meant the bleeding Sandman! 'E's back, John. And 'e wants
'is own. I know. I'm two 'undrid and forty-sevvin years old and I know!
'E's back!
Preludes and Nocturnes
Ah, but this is the life, Mad Hettie me pet, and who's a clever old
biddie? Indeed, 'tis yerself and no mistake. Now all we needs is a cuppa
and life's a merry fing indeed. Any minute now they'll be returnin' wiv
our heart, me deario. And then I'll dance. Oh how I'll dance.
Oh but when and I was a tippy tiny girl
Singin' rats an' mice and daisies-oh
With eyes of blue and pretty yellow curls
Singin' newts an' toads an' snakes an' squirrels an' bats an'
herrings and daisies-oh...
The High Cost of Living
8:30- 9:00 The Wheatsheaf 9 June 1794
In 1794 you are fifty-two years old and, in your own words, "Mad as a
porridge-knife". Already your gift for prophecy has led you, first to
lose your sanity, and then to wander England as a tramp, muttering dark
predictions to yourself. You are particularly prone to the promptings of
Delirium, whom you recognise as one of the Endless (you know of them and
their little ways, oh yes you do), but whom you tend at the moment to
obey, since she can use your mind to make life so unbearable otherwise.
She has warned you that you are to be visited by a young man, a poet, and
you are waiting for him when he arrives. He calls you Sibyl, which isn't
your name, and asks you about the future of some movement called
pants-and-socks-racy, but you know that isn't what he really wants. What
he really wants is to be told about his poetry, and you know it. You tell
him in ten years' time no-one will have heard of his pants idea, but he'll
be one of the most famous poets in England if he behaves hisself, and
stops writing the crap he is know. You don't tell him any more, except
that you've got a friend for him to meet, who may feel like helping with
his poems if he's lucky.
9:00- 9:30 The Wheatsheaf 9 June 1794
You call Delirium, and she comes. She calls two of her family, Desire and
Despair, who you know as well. You are terrified, but sharp enough still
to beg Delirium to release you from your madness.
9:30-10:00 The Wheatsheaf 9 June 1794
A fine Lady turns up, who you can tell is a witch. She starts asking you
about a tall gaunt white-faced man she met in a pub, so you tell her about
Dream, and about the Endless, and about Delirium. She warns the young man
off Delirium, but he's hooked. Delirium refuses to release you, and
vanishes. You go, leaving the young poet and the witch-lady together to
wait for a magician, or some such type.
10:00-10:30 The Bear 9 June 1994
Two centuries pass; you hide your heart and you find it, you miss Death
and you meet her, you meet the witch-lady's descendant and go to New York.
And now you come to a pub in Oxford again, oh yes. You know who's going
to be there, you know about the robots and the devils and the ghosts and
the dreams, but most of all you know Delirium is there. And you want to
show her you've beaten her, that you've discovered how she's wrong, and
how madness can keep you sane, you and all the others. And you tell her.
10:30onward The Bear 9 June 1994
You meet the witch-lady's tall thin man, and you meet Death again, though
again she has no business with you. And a lady Professor cries on your
shoulder. And lots of things happen, but you're not surprised, because
you're a prophet, you are. And then you go away and sleep in a church
doorway, like you have done lots of times before.
CAIN
Why, bless my boots and chin-whiskers. Do my eyes deceive me? Could it
be? Is my beloved brother actually having a party without me? Oh be
still, my trembling heart.
Fables and Reflections
8:30- 9:00 The Chequers The Dreaming
When a robot, a type of dreamer you have never encountered before, arrives
in the dreaming, you take the opportunity to tell her a story, as is your
function. She is distracted, however, by the arrival of your master, Lord
Morpheus, and you take out your frustration on your brother, Abel, by
killing him as usual.
9:00- 9:30 The Bear 9 June 1994
You accompany your master into the waking world, with the intention of
observing Una, the new dreamer. Your brother accompanies you, and the two
of you try to entertain the humans present, with tales of Pygmalion and
Galatea, of Frankenstein and his Creature, of Dr Chandra and HAL 9000.
9:30-10:00 The Bear 9 June 1994
Mightier things are afoot, and the humans are soon distracted. You take
advantage of Lord Morpheus' absence to kill Abel again, in whatever manner
seems to you amusing.
10:00-10:30 The Bear 9 June 1994
In boredom, you wait for Abel to revive before killing him once more. You
realise, however, that unnerving events are underway, involving three
members of Lord Morpheus' family, and, remembering your instructions to
observe, you and Abel summon him to return.
10:30onward The Bear 9 June 1994
Morpheus returns, and the subsequent events are apocalyptic and
surprising. You have another drink and kill Abel interestingly again.
ABEL
It's a story of two brothers. And they, uh... they loved each other very
much and they were always nice to each other. And the elder brother would
never hurt the younger brother. Never. And they lived together in the
same house. And they were... Hnh. Uhah. Th-they were, uh, v-very
happy. I'm sorry. I wasn't - I'm n-not crying. I'm really not crying.
It's only blood...
Preludes and Nocturnes
8:30- 9:00 The Chequers The Dreaming
When a robot, a type of dreamer you have never encountered before, arrives
in the dreaming, your brother Cain takes the opportunity to tell her a
story, to which you listen. They are distracted, however, by the arrival
of your master, Lord Morpheus, and Cain takes out his frustration by
killing you as usual.
9:00- 9:30 The Bear 9 June 1994
Revived again, you accompany your master into the waking world, with the
intention of observing Una, the new dreamer. Your brother accompanies
you, and the two of you try to entertain the humans present, with tales of
Pygmalion and Galatea, of Frankenstein and his Creature, of Dr Chandra and
HAL 9000.
9:30-10:00 The Bear 9 June 1994
Mightier things are afoot, and the humans are soon distracted. Cain gets
bored, and takes advantage of Lord Morpheus' absence to kill you again.
10:00-10:30 The Bear 9 June 1994
Cain waits for you to revive before killing you once more. You realise,
however, that unnerving events are underway, involving three members of
Lord Morpheus' family, and, remembering your instructions to observe, you
and Cain summon him to return.
10:30onward The Bear 9 June 1994
Morpheus returns, and the subsequent events are apocalyptic and
surprising. You have another drink and get killed again.
LUCIEN
Oh, yes. But unusual books. You'll find none of them on earth. In this
section, for example, are novels their authors never wrote, or never
finished, except in dreams... I am the keeper of the library, Matthew.
Without it I am nothing. Were it to be destroyed again, it would destroy
me as well.
Season of Mists
8:30- 9:00 The Chequers The Dreaming
You and your lord witness the arrival of a new type of creature in the
Dreaming: a dreamer, but one of no species you have encountered before.
You can find no references to her in your library, except in the fiction,
where there are many references to artificial people, unhallowed creatures
built from the contents of graves, or robots and mechanical men. You can
only conclude that she is such a creature.
9:00- 9:30 The Bear 9 June 1994
You accompany your lord into the waking realms, following the robot, Una.
You pretend to be a scholar learned in the art of cybernetics, as indeed
(thanks to the cyberpunk dreams of a million adolescents) you are. Your
lord asks you to observe the occasion of Una's introduction to the human
world, while he investigates her background, and to do your best to
protect her if necessary.
9:30-10:00 The Bear 9 June 1994
You are disturbed when two of your master's family, the rulers of the
realms of Desire and Despair, arrive and take an interest in Una. You are
uneasy about interfering in his family affairs, neither do you have the
power to do so, so you try to avoid being recognised, and observe
unhappily as they try to interfere. The arrival of a man you recognise as
being a disguised demon does nothing for your composure.
10:00-10:30 The Bear 9 June 1994
Your master's youngest sister, the lady of Delirium, arrives and
influences Una in her turn. This development, together with the
increasingly sinister behaviour of the demon, forces you, diffidently, to
introduce yourself to the three Endless, point out that Una is under your
protection, and ask them their business. Their unsympathetic response
prompts you to call for your lord to return (the name "Morpheus" summons
him across any distance).
10:30onward The Bear 9 June 1994
You are relieved at the reappearance of your master, but distinctly
unnerved by the events which follow.
LUCIFER MORNINGSTAR
LUCIFER: But there is only one that we have ever owned to be our superior.
There is but one greater than us. And to him... To him we no
longer speak... Still, "Better to reign in Hell than serve in
Heaven." Eh, little brother-killer?
CAIN: Suh-certainly, Lord Lucifer. Whatever you say, Lord Lucifer.
LUCIFER: We did not say it. Milton said it. And he was blind.
Season of Mists
8:30- 9:00 The Bear (exterior) 9 June 1994
Since your retirement from ruling Hell, you have been taking a holiday on
Earth, generally relaxing, enjoying your freedom and mingling with the
natives. Being over ten billion years old already, you are in no hurry,
and after a few years in Australia, you have come to Europe, and are
currently visiting Oxford, which you find almost painfully reminsicent of
Heaven. You are drinking at a pub, talking on equal terms with the human
clients, and you are extremely happy. You have no intention to reveal
your identity to anyone.
9:00- 9:30 The Bear (exterior) 9 June 1994
The increased activity attracts your attention, and you begin to realise
that the artificial human being who is being demonstrated can only have
been animated with the technology of Hell. You are interested to realise
that the minor demonkind are continuing to traffic in souls since your the
instatement of the unfallen angels Remiel and Duma as the viceregents of
Hell, but you keep the information to yourself, reflecting that it's no
longer your problem. The arrival of the Dream King intrigues you,
however, but you ensure that he is unable to recognise you.
9:30-10:00 The Bear 9 June 1994
Others of the Endless, Desire and Despair, arrive and begin to display an
interest in the artificial woman. You disguise yourself against them
also, and continue to observe, even when a demon arrives whom you vaguely
recognise as one of the lowest-ranking of the millions you once commanded,
summoned by the woman magician, Isaac.
10:00-10:30 The Bear 9 June 1994
The youngest of the Endless, Delirium (for whom you have always had a
certain fondness) arrives, summoned by her sister and sibling. You pay
close attention to the conversation between Isaac and the demon Belcephon,
as you realise that the magician's mental state is becoming more
unbalanced, and that the demon is capable of taking advantage of this for
apocalyptic purposes of his own.
10:30onward The Bear 9 June 1994
Belcephon finally destroys the mechanical woman, as the Dream-king
returns, accompanied by his sister Death. When you realise that the demon
is intent on destroying all the humans present, breaking down the peace
and enjoyment you have found here, you intervene, making yourself known to
him, to the five Endless, and to Isaac. Your intrinsic powers are
undiminished by your retirement, and you are able to paralyse Belcephon
with no more than a thought. He pleads his right to the soul of Isaac,
but you see that the woman is an emotional wreck, and a repentant one at
that, and you deny him this right. You banish him to Hell empty-handed,
and have another drink.
SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE
Delirium is the youngest of the Endless... The poet Coleridge claimed to
have known her intimately, but the man was an inveterate liar, and in
this, as in so much, we must doubt his word.
Season of Mists
Background
A 22-year old poet, currently at Cambridge, you have come to Oxford on
your way to a walking holiday in Wales, to stay with your friend Bob
Southey. You are obsessed with Pantisocracy, a plan you have to create a
community of poets and philosophers in the political freedom of the United
States, but your direct obsession is with poetic inspiration, as you are
aware that your previous poetry has been far from good.
8:30- 9:00 The Wheatsheaf 9 June 1794
You have heard that there is an old vagrant woman in town, who has the
reputation of being a Sibyl, a prophet, and you seek her out to ask her
about the future of Pantisocracy, which you see as becoming one of the
great political movements of future centuries. She dashes your hopes, but
perceptively sees that your real ambitions lie elsewhere. She gives you
hints about your personal future, and offers to summon up a spirit to
inspire you. You agree.
9:00- 9:30 The Wheatsheaf 9 June 1794
The Sibyl succeeds in calling the spirit of Delirium, with whom you fall
in love, forgetting your old love, Mary Evans, instantly. She summons in
turn the spirits of Despair and Desire, who advise her to form a bond with
you.
9:30-10:00 The Wheatsheaf 9 June 1794
An aristocratic lady with whom you are slightly acquainted, Lady Johanna
Constantine, suddenly arrives, urging you not to become involved with the
spirits. She argues in vain: you are enamoured with Delirium, interested
not at all by Pantisocracy. Lady Johanna warns you that she has
identified more magic approaching, but Delirium promises you that the man
you are about to meet will provide the inspiration for your greatest and
most famous poem. Delirium vanishes. The Sibyl leaves you alone with
Lady Johanna to await the approaching magician.
10:00-10:30 The Wheatsheaf 9 June 1794
The stranger whom you meet tells you an astonishing story, but it is the
manner of his telling it that strikes you: he is as a man driven, a man
who can only repeat his story again and again to the exclusion of all
other function. You begin to try and imagine such a figure as the central
figure of a poem: a man who would approach a complete stranger and force
him, by the power of his personality, to listen to his tale... You vanish
in a happy daze, leaving the stranger with Lady Johanna, and think about
poetry and Delirium.
10:30onward The Bear 9 June 1994
You fall asleep, and dream. The many wonders you have encountered this
evening - prophecy, ghosts, immortals and your beloved Delirium - combine
and rebuild themselves in your mind, and you find yourself observing a
scene two hundred years hence.
UNA
Background
An android created only days ago, you know nothing of life, of people, or
of the unique status you hold. You have no knowledge of cybernetics and
cannot understand your origin. You feel towards Professor Isaac, your
creator, as a child might feel towards its mother, but you have not even
the knowledge to make such an analogy. You are curious about the world
and about your place in it.
8:30- 9:00 The Chequers The Dreaming
You have been deactivated by Professor Isaac prior to your first
appearance in public. You did not expect to undergo any experiences while
deactivated, but you find yourself with people in a place you do not
recognise. A tall man in black tells you that you are dreaming, and asks
you who and what you are.
9:00- 9:30 The Bear (exterior) 9 June 1994
You are activated by Professor Isaac, and tell her of your experience.
You can see that the tall man has followed you, but since you assume that
Professor Isaac knows this you do not mention it. You meet many new
people.
9:30-10:00 The Bear 9 June 1994
Two more people arrive, and talk to you, though you are beginning to
realise from Professor Isaac's responses that there are people in the
world she cannot see. One of the people, on whom your programmes for
gender recognition will not work, tells you about all the things you could
have, which you haven't got. Of these, you like the idea of a mate the
best, as you begin to realise that you are the only one of your kind
anyone knows. You ask Professor Isaac for a male android to be your mate.
When she refuses, the other new person, a large woman, tells you that the
world will always be like this, that you will never have any of the things
you want, and that the life you have been created for is terrible. You
believe her.
10:00-10:30 The Bear 9 June 1994
Your two friends introduce you to another new person, a woman with strange
hair who they say is their sister. She shows you many interesting and
beautiful things, and tells you things you choose to believe. You tell
Professor Isaac about all these things. Professor Isaac tries to
deactivate you again, but your switch does not seem to be working, so you
are able to stay and talk to the people.
10:30onward The Bear 9 June 1994
One of Professor Isaac's friends does something to you, and you are
finally deactivated again, this time permanently. Again, you find that
your consciousness does not stop. You meet another of the strange people,
a nice woman wearing black. She asks you to come with her and you decide
you will.
PROFESSOR SHELLEY ISAAC
Background
As the story begins, you are a young and rather mystically-inclined 1980s
Oxford undergraduate. Your violent and overriding urge for knowledge has
led to a developing interest in demonology, the works of Aleister Crowley
and Roderick Burgess, and legends such as those of Faust or Roger Bacon,
who made bargains with the devil.
8:30- 9:00 The Blue Boar 9 June 1984
You meet, as you have so often longed to do, with a mysterious stranger,
who tells you his story and offers you the remains of a
demonically-animated brass Head from seven centuries before. When you
accept his offer, he becomes defensive and refuses to give it to you:
knowing that he is telling the truth and that you must have this relic for
what it can tell you, you kill him and steal it. A demon appears to you
and offers to help you construct a similar mechanical device yourself.
You toss the relic negligently onto the stranger's corpse and agree.
9:00- 9:30 The Bear (exterior) 9 June 1994
Ten years' study in cybernetics, with the supernatural knowledge given to
you by the demon Belcephon, has led to a Professorship in the subject at
Oxford, and a fame as a scholar rivalling that of the Head's original
owner. Tonight, as Professor of Cybernetics, you are unveiling your first
creation, the android UNA, who only you know to have been given life by
the aid of demons. You activate the android to rapturous applause. UNA
tells you that she has been dreaming while deactivated, which disturbs you
greatly. Among those observing are several students and computer
specialists, including a representative, Robert Gadling, from a major
computer firm, and a man whose cybernetics qualifications you are hazy
about, John Constantine, who keeps asking you particularly awkward
questions.
9:30-10:00 The Bear 9 June 1994
You are even more unnerved when UNA starts displaying signs of an
independent emotional life, for which she is not even remotely programmed.
She requests you to create a male android to be her mate, and appears to
be depressed when you refuse. You worry that it may be a demonic trick,
and summon Belcephon (instructing him to disguise himself as a don to
avoid panic), asking him to stop it. You are pleased, if a little
surprised, that Gadling and Constantine both seem to have fallen asleep
and are missing your humiliation, however.
10:00-10:30 The Bear 9 June 1994
The situation gets further out of hand as UNA appears to undergo fevered
hallucinations. You try to shut her down, but are unable to. Belcephon
offers to kill all those present, to preserve your reputation, but you
find this thought horrifying. You watch the old baglady who has arrived,
and all the others present, and you think of the value of life, which you
have so negligently created. You remember the murder of the stranger ten
years before. You feel sick with guilt.
10:30onward The Bear 9 June 1994
In desperation, you instruct Belcephon to destroy UNA, but this in no way
ends your guilt and despair. You feel you can never work again, never
consort with demons or the Endless, or occupy yourself with magic or
cybernetics. You feel strangely drawn to the old tramp, and throw
yourself onto her mercy.
ROGER BACON
Background
Thirteenth-century Oxford friar, scholar and magician, you have been
credited during your life with the ability to control the weather, to
transmute base metals into gold and to summon the spirits of the dead.
What is true beyond doubt is your ability to control and instruct demons,
particularly Belcephon, the servant whom the hierarchy of Hell have
assigned to you. A number of years ago you were prevailed upon by King
Henry III to construct a strategic computer, with the purpose of making
England secure from foreign attack. This you created in the form of a
brass head (inspired, rather whimsically, by the emblem of your College,
Brazen-nose) which you brought to life by Belcephon's agency. You were
told it would speak within a day of its construction, and watched it in
shifts with your servant and pupil, Miles. While you were asleep, the
Head said "Time is". Miles thought this unimportant, and failed to wake
you. The Head added first, "Time was," and finally, "Time is past,"
before crashing from its pedestal and being irretrievably damaged. You
awoke and cursed Miles for failing to wake you when the time was right for
the Head to speak. You condemned him to walk the earth in misery,
carrying the Head with him always, until he could persuade someone to take
it away from him, in full awareness of its nature and the curse attached
to it, which would then fall on them. Someone, in fact, whose search for
knowledge is as urgent as your own. Hell has never allowed you to repeat
the experiment with the Head, and the failure of it haunts you even now,
at the age of eighty.
8:30- 9:00 The Bear (interior) 9 June 1294
You are eighty years old, and are dying of fever in Oxford. You are torn
between your desire for greatness in story and legend, despair at the
failure of all your ambitions, and your fevered delirium of brass heads,
ghosts and poets.
9:00- 9:30 The Bear (interior) 9 June 1294
The tormenting feelings leave, and you feel the approach of Death. You
summon your familiar, Belcephon, for a final leave-taking, but are
interrupted by the arrival of Miles, the servant whom you cursed, bearing
the brazen Head. Miles commands you to lift the curse of immortality from
him, which you firmly refuse to do. Miles curses you in turn, with
Belcephon's aid, as you die.
9:30-10:00 The Old Tom 9 June 1594
Belcephon's betrayal means that the contract you have made for your soul is
invalid, and you do not go to Hell. Miles' curse means, however, that you
are humiliated many times in the next three centuries, being called back
from the dead to do the bidding of your servant, just as you once called
the demon Belcephon to carry out your whims. Like a good ghost, you come
when he summons you now, and wearily do his bidding.
10:00-10:30 The Wheatsheaf 9 June 1794
Once again you are called, to obey your ex-servant and perform to impress
a gullible poet before being relegated, exhausted, to the spirit realm
once more.
10:30onward The Bear 9 June 1994
You have not been summoned for ten years, and secretly hope that Miles has
finally found death, although by the terms of your curse he cannot have
done so unless he has finally found someone to relieve him of the Head.
You find yourself summoned to Oxford once more, and find the circumstances
startling.
MILES
Background
In the thirteenth century, you were the pupil and servant of Roger Bacon,
the friar, scholar and magician of Oxford. With the aid of demons, your
master constructed a brass head which, you gathered, would teach him how
to build brass walls around the whole of England. You were told it would
speak within a day of its construction, and watched it in shifts with
Bacon. While you were watching, the Head said "Time is". You thought
this too unimportant to bother Bacon with, as he was a fussy master, and
did not wake him. The Head added first, "Time was," and finally, "Time is
past," before crashing from its pedestal and being irretrievably damaged.
Bacon awoke and cursed you for failing to wake him when the time was right
for the Head to speak. You were condemned to walk the earth in misery,
carrying the inert remains of the Head with you always, until you can
persuade someone to take it off your hands, in full awareness of its
nature and the curse attached to it, which will then pass to them. At
first you continued your magical studies, but found you would never be
able to lift a curse that another magician had laid. You cursed Bacon in
turn on his deathbed, when he refused to lift the curse himself. Many
things have happened since then, and you have wandered the earth for more
than seven centuries, carrying the Head.
8:30- 9:00 The Blue Boar 9 June 1984
You meet a young woman student, Shelley Isaac, and try to persuade her to
take the Head from you. You try to interest her, as always, in its
history and its original powers, before mentioning the curse (as you are
obliged to do). You are wary when she appears to be interested in spite
of this, and you find yourself unable of giving it up after all this time.
This is when she attacks you and takes the Head from you. You finally
meet Death, and the whole of your life begins to flash before your eyes...
9:00- 9:30 The Bear (interior) 9 June 1294
Six hundred and ninety years earlier, you arrive (with the Head, which you
will need to have brought with you) at the deathbed of your old mentor,
Bacon. You find him with his familiar demon, Belcephon. You tell him of
the powers and knowledge that you have acquired through your magical
studies, and threaten to curse him eternally unless he lifts the curse
from you. He refuses, and you use your mastery over the demon to inflict
a reciprocal curse on him: you will have the power, for as long as you
live, to summon Bacon's ghost for your amusement or service: as long as
you are wandering the earth, he too will never achieve rest. He dies, and
you leave.
9:30-10:00 The Old Tom 9 June 1594
Three centuries pass, and you have summoned Bacon many times for his
humiliation: you have still never been able to rid yourself of the Head.
If you throw it away, it returns; if you give it away without explaining
the curse, it returns likewise. This 300th anniversary of Bacon's death
you meet a publisher in Oxford: he has just printed an account of your
master's history, as written by a man named Greene and based on a history
you yourself told to a man a century before. All mention of your fate, or
Bacon's, has been eliminated. You try to tell him the real story, and to
persuade him, for pity's sake, to relieve you of the Head. To prove your
veracity, you summon Bacon's ghost and have it relate its story too. The
man refuses your offer.
10:00-10:30 The Wheatsheaf 9 June 1794
Two centuries pass, and the curse still holds. In Oxford once more, you
meet with a young poet and an aristocratic adventuress. You tell them of
your plight: to the poet, who seems interested in the supernatural, you
emphasise strongly you fate of walking the land, telling and retelling
your story again and again as a warning to others. Neither of them wants
the brazen Head, but you realise afterwards that this probably wasn't the
best sales pitch. You summon Bacon once more (on this the 500th
anniversary of his death), but both are still uninterested.
10:30onward The Bear 9 June 1994
You are unexpectedly brought forward by Death, whom you now realise has
been observing your memories throughout, to a time ten years ahead of your
death, where you witness a marvel, and are reunited in Death (since both
curses are now invalid, finally at mutual peace) with Roger Bacon.
BELCEPHON
Background
A very minor demon in the hierarchy of Hell, malicious and petty, not a
rhymer or anyone of rank, you were once Roger Bacon's familiar spirit, and
animated for him a mechanical brass head, which human incompetence caused
him to waste utterly (he slept through the time when it would have spoken
to him, his servant failing to wake him up). You have observed with
amusement the mutual curse which has caused the servant, Miles, to walk
the earth carrying the inert remains of Head for over seven centuries,
while Bacon has been constantly recalled form the dead to gratify his
whims as you were once summoned to gratify his. At the moment, Hell is
still in a state of disorganisation following the retirement of Lucifer
Morningstar four years before, and the new rulers of Hell, the unfallen
angels Remiel and Duma, are unaware of the petty trafficking for souls
that still goes on among the minor demonkind.
8:30- 9:00 The Blue Boar 9 June 1984
You are interested when a Shelley Isaac, a young student whose interest in
demonology is known to the servants of Hell, encounters Miles in Oxford.
You observe as she kills him, able to do so only by relieving him of the
Head. Impressed by her determination and lack of conscience, you appear
to her, and offer to help her construct a similar magical mechanical being
herself.
9:00- 9:30 The Bear (interior) 9 June 1294
Helping Isaac with her project brings you such gleeful memories that you
revisit the scene of Bacon's deathbed curse. You arrive as he summons you
to take his final leave-taking, and help Miles to curse him, knowing the
fate that awaits both of them for the next seven hundred years.
9:30-10:00 The Bear 9 June 1994
The project is completed: the animated mechanical woman whom you have
aided Isaac in constructing has made her the wonder of modern scholars, as
Bacon was the wonder of his age. She summons you in panic, however, as
her creation takes on an emotional life of its own. You recognise the
actions of the Endless in this, and, calling on the powers of Hell to make
them visible to you, recognise that Desire and Despair are present. You
are unable to stop their assault on the creature, but pretend you can,
wishing to make Isaac beg you in desperation.
10:00-10:30 The Bear 9 June 1994
Delirium, the youngest of the Endless, arrives also. You cannot hope to
prevail against any of them, let alone all three, but to appease Isaac you
offer to destroy the mortals who are present, so that no-one will know of
her failure and her reputation will remain intact. When Isaac tries to
stop her creation from functioning, you ensure magically that she is
unable to do so, to increase her desperation.
10:30onward The Bear 9 June 1994
At Isaacs' instruction you destroy the mechanical woman. You prepare to
destroy all the mortals present (including Isaac, who will certainly go to
Hell if she dies immediately after making such a request) - you have the
ability to do this, with the powers of hell at your disposal, and, as you
gloatingly point out to Dream of the Endless (who has also arrived) he is
powerless to stop you. To your surprise, however, you are rather
terrifyingly thwarted, and though you point out that Isaac is your lawful
prey, the superior powers present send you empty-handed back to Hell.
Excited engineering student
Boring pseudy type on left Dream Country
All evening The Bear (exterior) 9 June 1994
You are here to observe the unveiling by the cybernetics Professor,
Shelley Isaac, of her prototype working android. It's rumoured to be the
most exciting cybernetic event of the century. Act like an excited
engineering student.
Excited computer firm representative
Boring pseudy type on left Dream Country
All evening The Bear (exterior) 9 June 1994
You are here to observe the unveiling by the cybernetics Professor,
Shelley Isaac, of her prototype working android. It's rumoured to be the
most exciting cybernetic event of the century. Act like an excited
computer firm representative.
Excited engineering don
Boring pseudy type on left Dream Country
All evening The Bear (exterior) 9 June 1994
You are here to observe the unveiling by the cybernetics Professor,
Shelley Isaac, of her prototype working android. It's rumoured to be the
most exciting cybernetic event of the century. Act like an excited
engineering don.
ROBERT SOUTHEY
Background
Boring minor Romantic poet, of interest only to a few obsessive
postgraduates, and to Byron, who took the piss out of him mercilessly.
Seen as an Oxford undergraduate at the age of twenty. You are in constant
awe of your friend Coleridge, who is a much better poet than you and
generally wonderful, even though he's at Cambridge. Follow him wherever
he goes and agree sycophantically with everything he says. Gawp inanely
at anything remotely interesting.