About Siena

[smokingboot]

Well, yes, it's undoubtedly beautiful; the main square is a pretty scallop shape, the buildings capture your eye, and the town is full of art and legend; here Remus' children grew strong, proud against Rome and Florence both, and the twins' lupercal fostermother is the city's symbol. She-wolves and Madonnas are to be found everywhere, though alas! seldom in the same painting (would have made a nice change) nor did we lack the company of dead people, or bits of them at least.

I tried to understand the idea of holy relics, but between you and me, Tuscany seems to have been a dangerous place for saints; one miracle and the moment you died bits of your body would be pruned, stuffed into a reliquary and placed somewhere you could be extolled at forever. We mused on the terrifying result had Frankenstein got Vatican approval for his experiments, and tried to fuse together the limbs, legs, fingers, vertebrae, pelvises etc of the many Saints to be found in splinters throughout the city. The result may well have been some terrifying uber-saint, starting off with good intentions but in the end smashing its way through downtown Tokyo. It would undoubtedly have been crowned with the most treasured article in the Dominican church of St Catherine of Siena; that good lady's head.

The head sits in a little case, glass at the front, so you can just make it out; it has been preserved or mummified or something, and the eyes seem terribly small and sunken. Nearby can be found one of her thumbs and the whip with which she flagellated herself 'for the sins of mankind'. There is no desire in me to mock this lady, or those who find comfort in praying to the head - I saw one such believer kneel and pray - each to their own. Having read some of Catherine's letters I can see how she would be an inspiration and a hope to many. Still, to me it was an alarming thing; I found myself having dreams of my little tomcat, and his eyes were too small, sunk back in his head, just like hers.

No, the town was at its exuberant best from the top of the belltower, where you could watch the swifts (swallows?) loop and wheel over the terracotta rooftops, sweeping so close it made you think of stylish early 60s cat burglars leaping from house to house with no problem at all. Those birds were full of life and joy; in all the city of the she-wolf, I saw nothing more abundantly beautiful.

Comments

[hybridartifacts.livejournal.com]

hmmm-I am thinking through the interesting possibilities of a sort of saintly Frankenstein's monster with Papal authority. Would it hunt vampires and demons, but be a tortured soul in itself, riven by internal conflicts of faith and multiple personalities? It would certainly be interesting. Or would it be some sort of mobile articulate vehicle of the faith of the people, debating the nature of God and damnation?

The Vampire rpg chronicle I am doing for my gaming group at the moment has a severed head of an ancient vampire in it. Hovering on the brink of destruction it awaits a mechanical body to place the brass reliquary it already has for its head on so it can take revenge for its condition-but its also loosely based around an old Van Der Graff Generator song (ouch-my liking of prog rock is out now for all to see) called 'man-erg' http://www.lyricsdomain.com/22/van_der_graaf_generator/manerg.html
(I am playing a round with the idea of damnation and vampires a wee bit).
The reason I bring this up is because your idea and Ctaherines head bought the vampire with its brazen head/Frankenstein body to mind-and the song as well. The whole inner conflict theme-is the character ultimately good, or bad? Or just a man in strange circumstances that force him into being one or the other? Could such a Saint/monster remain saintly? Or would its very nature corrupt it?

Yes-I like that idea a lot :)

Glad to hear Siena is making an impression. Inspirational places have their own strange wonder.

Headheadsheadsheadsheads!

[smokingboot.livejournal.com]

From Bran and Mimir to those who flavour our rum barrels! One of these days I will create a compendium of head and skull stories, for they are many and very odd indeed.

I like the idea of the monster; of course, there is an issue with the madness underlying all sainthood as well plus the old question, corrupt according to whom? A god whom Jung diagnoses as having a nervous breakdown in the book of Job...

You have some very interesting elements, sounds like a superb campaign!

Re: Headheadsheadsheadsheads!

[hybridartifacts.livejournal.com]

I suspect I am developing a head fetish of some sort (not the kinky kind, the obsessive sort). Bran the Blessed and severed heads just keep turning up. Its been happening ever since my last degree when I studied in London right near the domain of Bran at Tower Hill. Maybe the game is a way of exorcising him?
I chase connections in things though (its the way I work)-and there are so many that its like a rich dark cake of connectivity. My Tarot rpg is doing the same thing (only with goddesses and Greek Myths and secret codes-I am trying to avoid Bran in the game because it would drive my players mad if he cropped in both the vampire game and my own one).
Alas, our vampire chronicle has been drawn out and fractured by infrequent play, so its not quite the splendid story-beast I wanted it to be. Its nearing its end and I am anxious to move on.

I love the concept of God having a nervous breakdown in the book of Job (though Im not entirely convinced). There is some meat in that book about mystery and meaning and pain that gets neglected because it is hard to grasp. Sainthood seems as much inflicted by the church on 'Saints' as suffered in their lifetimes. Like a collective attempt at using people as scapegoats for all the pain and magic in the world-all the things people do not want to confront. Ordinariness is very, very safe-we need our heroes, saints and martyrs to be large and bloody and very much NOT us so they can take our pain away-but they also take our wonder and the ability to see real miracles around us with them...

If one day you do compile a great books of severed heads, a 'Capet Mortis book' I would love to be involved ;)