Shadows of Truth

Shadows of Truth was a program run during the Jihad by Werner von Schattenberg.

Overview

The program was a platform to review several conspirator theories after the Jihad, among them:

• Kacey Edwards, president of the Nesbit Foundation, explained that the Foundation had been working on a passage of Frank Nesbit's prophecies speaking of a man of peace though formidable visage that would redeem the blue marble and usher in a new golden age. That person, followed by many companions, some fell, some fair, would vanquish a great devouring monster, sitting astride the hearthstone of the universe. The Foundation identifies this mas as Devlin Stone and the monster as the Word of Blake, and makes two bold claims:

• That Devlin Stone is blood related to House Cameron.
• A new Star League would be reborn in one year.

• Occult expert Christian Weishaupt explains that only the Rosicrucian Order existed and survived at least until the fall of the Star League. The program goes to say that Francis Bacon demonstrated an immortality Elixir at the height of the Star League, and influenced Jerome Blake, and ask the viewers who could tell how much power his Order wields behind the scenes after the Jihad.
• Based on comments from ethnologist Gavrilo Benes, the program worked on a theory pointing to Marshik Marik, a pretender to the Duchy of Marik in Bohemia with ties to Transylvania of being a vampire.

Saying that House Marik had won their titles through a combination of warfare and marriage, and one dynastic link they forged led back to the infamous Vlad Tepes, it pointed to Marshik Marik, a pretender to the Duchy of Marik in Bohemia with ties to Transylvania of being a vampire, and also said that there was an uncanny resemblance between extant portraits of Vlad Tepes and Charles Marik.

With rumors on newspaper accounts of a triple-murder in Dormuth in 2207 following typical vampire actions. Globally, similar complaints and similar unsolved murders have cropped up over the entire Marik Commonwealth for centuries, displaying the spread and reach of the Nosferatu.

• A complex theory supported by BlakeWatch veteran Elissa Chen of the Spear of Destiny being recovered by Jerome Blake from the Greenhaven Gestapo, then handled to Conrad Toyama and then ending in the hands of the Master. Finally he tries to tight it to the mysterious disappearance of Devlin Stone with two ComStar armies in May and June of 3079 prior to the decisive Invasion of Terra and asks if he tried to recover the Spear.
• An interview with Taoist Priest Qiu Erzhi explaining that the Xin Sheng movement clean the past sins of the state and opened a new age of sucess after the disaster of the Fourth Succession War, and that selection of all new namings and designs build were working in a positive way for the state. Qiu ends his interview though by warning the Chancellor Sun-Tzu Liao of his hostility towards Devlin Stone and the risk of the sin of hubris unbalance the country again.
• Based on captured Blakist soldiers speak of their surprise at the outcome of the Whitting Conference, and that they were expecting a Third Transfer and a heavy focus on the Clans. After this, Werner goes to link these events with rare celestial conjunctions present in the skies of Apollo seen only three times since the system settlement and linking them to the Third Transfer and a resurgence of House Amaris. The dates on the rare events are:

• In 2463, the year House Amaris ascended to rule the Rim Worlds Republic.
• In 2765, on the eve of the Amaris Coup.
• And in April 3067, nearly prior to the Whitting Conference.

• One theory said that Kalvin Liao was an occult follower who owned a copy of an alleged book called "The Bloody-Handed Duke", with insights on the book given by somebody called Nyla Rustah.
• The killing of a Jihad veteran from Tharkad, Franz Wei, by what a person described as a bulky, very hairy gentleman which they claim to be a werewolf.
• A theory that said that some among the Belters had been living for hundred of years supported by an unknown source.
• News on "phantom" black navy ships like the Augustus, the Century Hawk‎ and the Celestine Maria‎.
• Alleged killings of Word of Blake Manei Domini by WoB ROM.
• Werner was approached by a recent visitor to Columbia with alleged news to other Belter communities with links to Columbia. He said to have met somebody from Churchill, the real British colony, implying New London had been a faint. He also claimed to know of a colony called Veracruz.

As a final touch, he said that Columbia had launched its own slowboat missions and that they had dozens of hidden settlements in uninhabited systems.

These rumors though were never confirmed.

• A theory that involved David Lear to the Rosicrucians and alleged rituals involved to make Devlin Stone succeed.

Bibliography

• BattleCorps: INN Newscast (ScandalVids section), news item published [11/02/3080]: "The Nesbit Prophecies Confirmed?"
• BattleCorps: INN Newscast (ScandalVids section), news item published [07/06/3080]: "Alchemist Masters of the Inner Sphere!"
• BattleCorps: INN Newscast (ScandalVids section), news item published [14/06/3080]: "Vampires of Marik?"
• BattleCorps: INN Newscast (ScandalVids section), news item published [21/06/3080]: "Tortured Trail of the Spear of Destiny!"
• BattleCorps: INN Newscast (ScandalVids section), news item published [26/07/3080]: "Xin Sheng or Feng Shui?"
• BattleCorps: INN Newscast (ScandalVids section), news item published [02/08/3080]: "Revenge of the Rim Worlds?"
• BattleCorps: INN Newscast (ScandalVids section), news item published [09/08/3080]: "The Bloody-Handed Duke!"
• BattleCorps: INN Newscast (ScandalVids section), news item published [16/08/3080]: "Werewolves of Tharkad!"
• BattleCorps: INN Newscast (ScandalVids section), news item published [23/08/3080]: "Immortals Among the Belters?"
• BattleCorps: INN Newscast (ScandalVids section), news item published [30/08/3080]: "Ghost Ships of the Periphery!"
• BattleCorps: INN Newscast (ScandalVids section), news item published [13/09/3080]: "The Mysterious Nephilim!"'
• BattleCorps: INN Newscast (ScandalVids section), news item published [27/09/3080]: "Hidden Legacies of Magellan!"
• BattleCorps: INN Newscast (ScandalVids section), news item published [04/10/3080]: "Hidden Puppeteer of the Coalition?"