Notes from the Underground

[Cain]

It started with the discovery of the secret bar on Old Street.

We hadn't been looking for it.  Of course not, since it was a secret.  But, well, between us, we have a lot of time.  Sitting in the coffee shop, we'd notice now and again, people would go into the toilets, but not out again.  Well, not for at least half an hour, and curiously flushed in the face when they did so.  One of us joked about sex, but sometimes it would be a few hours before they came out again.  Unnatural levels of stamina if so.

We also noticed they would generally speak to one of the baristas before disappearing.  With a bit of tradecraft, we eventually figured out it was a password, and what exactly it was.

The next evening we we're all free, we mustered up our courage and went in ourselves, not knowing exactly what to expect.  A 1920s style American speak-easy, built into an abandoned section of the London Underground, had not been precisely what we had in mind, though it was a very welcome discovery.  Soon, it became our favourite watering hole, somwhere with an ambience we could appreciate, a select clientele and much quieter than most of the pubs in this area.

But it had got us thinking, always a dangerous thing with our group.  If there was this bar, hidden on one of the busiest streets in North London, then what else could there be around the city, awaiting discovery?  London is a city build on the ruined previous incarnations of itself.  Basements.  Tunnels.  Entire former streets, abandoned as the mud and filth steadily crept upwards.  A secret bar was certainly a good find, but how many other hidden and interesting things might be waiting in lay for us out there?  We needed to explore, to acquire maps, look through historical records.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

I like where this is going.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

Yep.  Cities have secrets, and secret histories.  It's fascinating as hell.

More, please.

[Telarus]

Good scene frame.

[Cain]

A little known fact about the Empire was its rapacious desire for foreign knowledge.  Whilst Britain retained some of the best inventors and scientific thinkers in the world, along with natural resources and ancient monuments, records, scrolls and religious texts were avidly desired and transported back to London, regardless of previous ownership.

Speculation about the fate and use of these texts varies, from the mundane explanation of academic exploration, to the plausible and pragmatic idea that these texts were being used to learn more about the cultures and societies the Empire was attempting to control, to the idea that elite secret societies wanted the texts for more...occult reasons.  All have evidence for and against them.

Nevertheless, down the centuries, many of these texts will go...missing.  A lot vanished during the Blitz, of course, but various fires, accidents, "accidents", thefts and so on have considerably thinned the number of texts available.

But now and again, a text will reappear.

In the back alleys between Mayfair and Temple, one can find rare and extraordinary tomes, for a fraction of what they should truly cost.  A copy of Historische und politische Aufsatze, first edition and with three essays not seen in any other version of the work, can be bought for what it would cost to have lunch in one of Mayfair's hotels.  Sanguinetti's Of Terrorism and of the State can be bought in English, Arabic, Russian and Indonesian for less than a cup of coffee at one of the aforementioned hotels. 

I've verified their authenticity myself, sometimes at great expense.  Sometimes, the sellers have an idea of what they have hold of, sometimes they do not, yet the prices do not seem to vary much.

I have tried questioning them about their sources, who provides these texts to them, but I am either rushed out of the shop, or else given leads that go nowhere.

Hidden history like this is hard to come by, but I suspect more of it is in London than anywhere else.  One does not rule a quarter of the globe, sitting astride other jealous and hungry powers, unless one acquires and deploys knowledge more effectively than ones rivals.  Equally, one does not manage a decline, an "informal empire" that still exists to this day, without access to the same kind of expertise.

Nevertheless, London will not give up its secrets carelessly.  I must proceed with caution.

[navkat]

When you're finished with London, make like the Brits and come to New York:
http://myhotellife.blogspot.com/2010/10/top-3-speakeasy-bars-in-new-york.html

Maybe not as intricate or as old as London but adventure to be had for sure. Don't forget to eat a Crif Dog as you stumble your way out of PDT.

[Nephew Twiddleton]

This thread and some other factors have made me realize i dont know  boston well enough. Im inclined to start doing a little exploring. I have found a thing or two already, when altering my routes on a whim. Its cool when that sjit happens.

[Telarus]

The derive is a very cool memetic device.

http://www.bopsecrets.org/SI/2.derive.htm

[as a derive note, with wikipedia being blacked-out today, I had to choose another reference. which means I had to compare a couple of hits and think about it. in fact, this turned out an article with a much better intro than the previewed one from wikipedia had.]

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

When you're finished with London, make like the Brits and come to New York:
http://myhotellife.blogspot.com/2010/10/top-3-speakeasy-bars-in-new-york.html

Maybe not as intricate or as old as London but adventure to be had for sure. Don't forget to eat a Crif Dog as you stumble your way out of PDT.

My goodness, that article was a sausage-skin of douche.

[Cain]

It was expensive, but hanging out in the RIBA cafe for a couple of months has reaped considerable rewards.

The archivist was suspicious, of course, but adding up the cost of all those coffees for two months was enough to gain me access to the sections I wanted.  Maps of London, arranged by date and geographical proximity to different parts of the city. 

An anomaly I noted: Londinium was a small Roman town, civilian in nature, built on previously unsettled territory.  In theory it could be used to land Roman legions there, but plenty of other available sites in the South East were also open to the Roman navy.  Yet when the Iceni revoled, Boudica led her armies there, specifically.  Also, after the sack of Camulodunum at Iceni hands, it was was Londinium that was built up as the administrative and military capital for the Romans, despite the former's extensive military defensives and strategic position in the South East, as well as it's associations with Mars, the God of War.

What drew Boudica's attention to a small, civilian town of minor importance, when far more tempting and militarily threatening targets were also within striking range?  And what convinced the Romans to build it up in preference to other, possibly more useful locations, in the aftermath of the uprising?  To be sure, Boudica's rebellion was the last major one in Britain, but the Romans at the time did not know that.  The Emperor was contemplating withdrawal in the aftermath, yet the legions continued building fortifications and improving the port facilities.

What can account for this?  The records on London before the Iceni uprising are essentially nonexistant.  Meaning historians are operating in an area where they have no knowledge, and where the judgements of archeologists must come to the fore.  It is believed there was no settlements prior to the Roman invasion, but nothing can be said for sure.  When the Iceni sacked the city, records were almost certainly destroyed in large number.  We know the fire damage to the town was extensive, due to the large quantities of red ash found in the city foundations from this period in history.

Plunder may have been a factor.  Celtic warfare was often as much about plunder as it was about territorial expansion and traditional power politics.  Londinium was known to service traders from all over the empire, and it was surrounded by open, fertile land.

We know the Iceni sacked Camulodunum not just because of the military and administrative importance of the town, but also because the building of a temple to Cladius there offended Celtic religious sensibilities.  Could Londinium have been built on a site of religious significance?  Temples and religious orders have frequently controlled important trade routes in antiquity, and it seems unlikely that such land would be left empty and deserted, given it's many advantages for settlement.  Records on this area are highly limited, but research suggests that, if it was of significance to any deity, it would be that of Andrasta, a war goddess worshipped by the Iceni and their Trinovante allies. 

It is notable that Andrasta accepted human sacrifice among her sacrements, as did many tribal religions.  The Romans themselves had practiced it at one point, but had, by the late Republic period, found the practice to be highly horrifying and barbaric.  In particular, the Cathaginian practice of sacrifice had led the empire to identify the practice with the enemies of the Empire, and as such human sacrifice was seen not only as murder, but expression of rebellion of the worst kind. 

Was the sacking of Londinium then a form of religious mass sacrifice, which led the Romans to conclude that Boudica, far from being just another disgrunted Celt, was a religiously inspired uprising of the most horrifying kind?  Londinium was abandoned by the legions for military reasons, but the subsequent build-up suggested it was never intended to fall into enemy hands again, the wishes of the Emperor be damned.

The maps are the key to many secrets.  Our investigations continue.

[Nephew Twiddleton]

Ooh- nice cain!

[P3nT4gR4m]

Cain, you're fucking with my mind here. Is this shit real or fiction, or fiction based on real, or real based on fiction? 

[LMNO]

I really don't care, I just want to read more and have my mind scrambled.

Cain is one of the few people I know who can mindfuck me without resorting to Absurdism.

[Freeky]

I don't know what this is I only know that I like it and this is the sort of thing I'd burn an entire week reading nonstop.

[P3nT4gR4m]

I really don't care, I just want to read more and have my mind scrambled.

Cain is one of the few people I know who can mindfuck me without resorting to Absurdism.

I don't know what this is I only know that I like it and this is the sort of thing I'd burn an entire week reading nonstop.

Yeah, should have mentioned - I love it. Would just like to know WTF, is all.