The Black Madonna 23: Fear City

The 70’s was a dark time for New York. The economic recession had devastated the city’s industrial sector and in just five years it had lost over 500,000 manufacturing jobs. Unemployment soared and a million households ended up having to rely on welfare.

With the social turmoil of the 60’s having led the middle class to flee the city for the suburbs, New York was now running out of funds and was forced to make substantial budget cuts. Among the areas cut the hardest was law enforcement.

These two factors combined led to rapes and burglaries tripling, car thefts and felony assaults doubling and murders going up from 700 a year to almost 1700.

This was Fear City.

The Black Madonna 22: GRU

Glavnoye Razvedyvatel'noye Upravleniye, GRU, the Main Intelligence Directorate is Russia's most powerful intelligence agency. It deploys large numbers of agents across the world and also commands the Spetsnaz GRU, Russia's elite forces.

According to a GRU defector, the organization have completely infiltrated the United States; to the extent that there are arms caches and miniaturized tactical nukes, suitcase bombs, lying in wait for the inevitable confrontation. GRU assassination teams would use these weapons to take out the US leadership during the first days of the war.

The Black Madonna 21: Coup d'état

On August 19th 1991, hardliners within the Communist party, backed by the KGB, attempted to seize control of the Soviet government. They were opposed to the reforms and decentralization of power, from Moscow to the republics, that had been launched by Gorbachev.

Armored units and paratroops descended upon Moscow, TV and radio stations were occupied and the KGB arrested a number of key deputies. However, the conspirators made one fatal mistake by failing to arrest Russian President Boris Yeltsin.

Over the coming days he ended up leading civil resistance against the coup from outside the parliament building. KGB spetsnaz forces from Alpha and Vympel were set to storm the parliament building on August 20th as part of “Operation Grom”,  but by that point Yeltsin had already secured the support of both the public and the military. The attack was called off and the coup failed, further accelerating the dissolution of the Soviet Union.

The Black Madonna 20: Theotokos

Our Most Holy Lady Theotokos and Ever-Virgin Mary. This is the title of the Mother of God used especially in Eastern Christianity. Theotokos is also used as a term to describe icons of the Mother with Child, in the western tradition called a Madonna. Some of the Madonna sculptures and paintings depict the mother and child with dark skin, depicting the true features of the deity Jesus and his mother Mary. Such a depiction is known as a “Black Madonna”.

The Black Madonna 19: PPSh-41

PPSh-41, pistolet-pulemyot Shpagina, was one of the major infantry weapons used by the Soviet Union during the Second World War. It was a cheap, reliable and simple submachine gun and as many as 6 million units were produced. The nickname given to it among Soviet troops was "papasha", Russian for "daddy".

Camp S-17.

The Black Madonna 18: Wolf 359

Wolf 359 is a red dwarf, 7.8 light-years from earth. Its proper motion was measured in 1917 by the German astronomer Max Wolf, the 359th that he measured.  It is the fourth-closest stellar system to our Sun which is why it has inspired many science fiction writers to include it in their stories.

The Black Madonna 17: Incinerator

Incineration converts waste into ash, flue gas and heat. The process can be used to generate electricity, and in some countries the burning of waste and biomass amounts for more than 90% of total generated electricity. A turbine connected to the burners in a crematorium can generate 150 kWh per human corpse, enough to power 1500 televisions for one hour.  

The Black Madonna 16: Fravashi

According to Zoroastrianism each person has a guardian angel, a Fravashi. They are a manifestation of God’s energy, and responsible for sending our souls, Urvan, out in to the material world to fight in the cosmic battle between good and evil. On the fourth day after death, the soul returns to the guardian angel. There its experiences are evaluated, lessons learned and the knowledge used to assist the next generation in the eternal struggle.

The Clinic.

The Black Madonna 15: Cyanide

Human ingenuity knows no boundaries when it comes to murder. Since the dawn of time we have found new and innovative ways of ending life, bending creation to become our servant in the destruction of the most sacred.
A compound that has been found extraordinarily potent is Cyanide. As a gas it is especially effective and became a great commercial success during the 40’s.
Death has a trade name; Zyklon B.

The Black Madonna 14: Monument

History is full of countries and empires that are created, rise, fall and then disappear. All that remains of them are the monuments they left behind. They stand as reminders of the hopes and dreams of the people who built them. But they can also be reminders of oppression, injustice and suffering.

Der Oderturm in Frankfurt-an-der-Oder at the Polish border is a monument of sorts; built in part by the Free German Youth work brigades, it was to embody the ideals of socialism and the ambitions and engineering prowess of the people of East Germany...Today it houses a shopping mall...

The Frankfurt Clinic in Frankfurt-an-der-Oder.

The Black Madonna 13: Kosmonaut

The spacecraft Soyuz 31, en-route to the Soviet space station Salyut 6, carried with it two cosmonauts. One of them was Sigmund Jähn, representing East Germany in the Interkosmos program. The first German native in space. After 124 orbits and spending 7 days, 20 hours and 49 minutes in space he returned safely home to Earth. 
He described his journey with the words "…what I saw then was total happiness: Our Earth, shining in bright blue. Just like a dream."

The Black Madonna 12: The Killers' Dance

Achdarat Chagidiel ferocior Malkuthat
Adnanan opressior Cirkulo stadat
Cirkulo fundat, in Nomine Chagidiel disparat
ex carnata perdotris achdarat
Deorgaoth Chagidiel Thaumatorgion
ex cricificio, ex carnation
ex mondato, ex Homo degrati pardanat
Carnath, Carnath
Chagidiel atharatoth, Chagidiel nekrat
Chagidiel incarnat

Pogodin's mansion.

The Black Madonna 11: Storm-333

The Black Madonna 11: Storm-333
We tend to create simplistic narratives; there are heroes and there are villains. Good and evil. Necessary self-deception in order to sleep at night. But evil and malice alone cannot drive the true tragedies of our shared history... for that you also need good intentions and idealistic dreams of a better world. We all begin as heroes in our own stories.

The Black Madonna 10: The Skull

Seven millimeters of bone is all that protects our sensitive minds from the hazards of this realm. Seven millimeters between life and death... Do any of our thoughts remain in there after we are gone?

The Slavic Association.

The Black Madonna 09: Murderer

Could you kill another human being? How about one that isn’t a direct threat to you? During World War 2 it’s estimated that only 2% of U.S. front line soldiers fired their weapons with the aim of killing the enemy - even when they were in a position to do so. Shooting to kill requires conditioning.. or a psychopath...

The Slavic Association.

The Black Madonna 08: Mr. Mahler

Stasi had 90,000 employees and 170,000 unofficial informants prior to the fall of the Berlin wall. It is now 1991, and the East German state is but a painful memory. But those that supported Stasi; some because of jealousy and malice, others out of love for their country - now carry the secret of how they betrayed their neighbors, their friends... their loved ones.

Could you live with that?

Ask for the Moon 01: First things first

This is the first episode of "Ask for the Moon", our Patreon-exclusive Q&A podcast where you can ask us about the campaign and roleplaying in general. We have chosen to release this first episode to all of our listeners in order to allow you to get to know us better, and hopefully also to help grow our community on Patreon. Enjoy!

You can find our Patreon here.
https://www.patreon.com/RedMoonRoleplaying

Cover art for our Patreon feed. Art by George Cotronis.

The Black Madonna 07: The Cemetery

Our civilization is built on the bones of our dead ancestors. Billions of souls that are now eternally slumbering in their graves. But is life truly a story that ends with death? Or is death... only the beginning?

The Black Madonna 06: Reeperbahn

We are here, where forgotten gods are revived by the neon lights and the street noise, and tread their dance of death in seedy night clubs. But where is the book? Where is the book Carver? 

The Black Madonna 05: An Understanding Pathologist

Why are some driven to the brink of insanity by the reality they perceive, while others are able to blissfully enjoy their lives? Is it even reality that we are experiencing? Or could there be something... beyond the veil?

Magda's apartment in Berlin.