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."
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
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.
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.
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.
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?
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?
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?
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.
There are moments when time stops. When you meet your true love, hold your newborn child in your arms for the first time... and when you come face to face with death. But a fire... a fire does not wait.
Magda's apartment in Berlin.
The fever dreams had felt so... real. Did Magda experience the same night terrors before her disappearance? And what did Filip Kramer mean in his message on her answering machine? "Too late" for what?
Magda's apartment in Hamburg.
Björn von Krusenstierna, well-respected businessman and book collector. James Carver, the man who gets you the rare tomes you need. What connects the two, aside from an affinity for expensive paper from the 17th century, is their friendship with Magda Orlova - a woman haunted by dark dreams...
Magda's apartment in Hamburg.
There is victory in the air; the Cold War has ended, Germany is reunified and the dissolution of the Soviet Union is imminent. Yet the citizens of Hamburg feel a profound sense of foreboding, as if a dark cloud hangs above the city. Our story is about to begin...
