Days of Fire Analysis

By Ian James and Allison Oleksa

This is my personal analysis of the book Days of Fire by Greg Stolze. I did this sothat storytellers can read and understand the cryptic speech and use it in their games. Ifyou feel that something that I said is wrong, feel free to e-mail me atnikuchan@hotmail.com with your comments and questions.

Springtime of the World

1. This is the beginning. God, a.k.a. the One Giver, created 9,009,909 angels and all wasgood. God is also referred to as a female.

2. This is the creation of man and woman.

3. This is God’s confusing decree. In the corebook, this is given as “Love the humansmore than you love me, but hide yourselves from them.” However, the actual decree isnot given in this account. All it says is that God ordered them to disobey her and no onecould find out why she said this.

4. This is the great debate. For those of you keeping track, the people referred to are:Belial, Ahrimal, Lailah, and Usiel. Usiel is known here as “the one beyond the deeps, skyand wind.” Here, Lucifer is what is being referred to as THE LIGHT.

5. This is where Lucifer’s gang reveals themselves to humans. ¾ of the humans side withthe demons. It is interesting that Adam and Eve have only 2 sons in this part of the story:just how old were Caine and Abel? Could these be some other sons, or just abstract ideasfor the entire kingdom of man? It was said in the corebook that on one level Adam, Eveand their kids represented all the monkeys that would evolve. I believe that these 2 sonsare just abstract for the rest of humanity and Caine and Abel were actual people after Godstruck the world and destroyed most of the abstract realms.

6. This is the judgment from God’s brain to Michael’s mouth. From now on, Lucifer’sbuddies and the others who fell were known as demons. Also, from this point on, Luciferis referred to as the Dimmed Light. Does this mean a decrease in power, status or purity?I think all three.

The Summer of the World

7. God’s Angels = 6,006,606. Demons = 3,003,302. Lucifer is the missing demon listedthat would bring the total to 3,003,303 and making it a full third of heavens forces.Interestingly enough, 2 demons, Amiel and Ank-Rhuhi, gave up and went to heaven to beunmade. Why then is only Lucifer missing out of the count?

8. This is talking about when God struck the world.

9. This talks about humans during the Age of Wrath. All humans knew cold, want anddoubt. The difference is that the humans who obeyed God were more animalistic anddidn’t have the intelligence to mind this situation. The humans that followed Lucifer notonly had the knowledge that this sucked, but also knew that they were truly outcast andcouldn’t go home.

10. This is the story of Caine. The wording here is interesting in that it says “Then theoldest son of Adam and Eve who was most like the One Giver.” Does this mean thatCaine was most like the One Giver (God), or that Adam and Eve were most like God?Anyway, for those of you who don’t know the story of Caine and Abel, Caine was ahunter while Abel was a farmer. God liked Abel’s tribute more than Caine’s. Caine gotjealous and offered up Abel to God, thus killing him with a big rock. This was the firstmurder and Caine was cursed to walk the land forever. In Vampire the Masquerade,Caine was cursed with vampirism and that is how the vamps came about. I also like howit says “From human choice came all that followed.” As illustrated in Three Paths throughthe Burning Forest, only we can get out of what has happened because we got ourselvesinto it.

11. Caine unleashes murder on the world and the demons take to it like second nature.

12. This chronicles the creation of Lying. I am confused as to whether or not it wascreated by humans or demons.

13. I think that this is all about demons eating the essence of angels. It seems to have beena common practice to do on the enemy.

14. This is the curse of Caine handed down by angels. It doesn’t say exactly who went orwhat was given, leaving it open for a little interpretation. From this point on, Caine willbe called The Great King of Blood.

15. This talks about demons diverting more from their angelic nature. It also brings thenumber of angels down to 5,005,505.

16. God gets pissed and kills the same amount of demons, bringing their number down to2,002,001.

17. God created new creatures and stuff to get rid of the demons. Could this be theMalhim? Or could it be the first hunters?

18. This is talking about the demons being put in the abyss. As for their greatest gift beingtheir greatest mistake, it is talking about how the abyss was created from stuff thatdemons made. I wonder why the Nephilim weren’t mentioned in this section.

The Autumn of the World

19. Again, demons placed in the abyss.

20. Angels went away, but it doesn’t say where. Demons = 2,002,204. The extra 3 are theloyalist angels who were sent to Hell for doing evil things in God’s name: Usiel, Angel ofPain and Forguel. Also, humans go back to normal.

21. This is about the creation of mages. People working their will upon reality byinvoking shapes and patterns and stuff are what Mage is all about. There might also be aconnection with the Fae, but I am not sure.

22. Caine rises from wherever he hid and founds Nod. He calls this the first city. Hemakes 13 children to correspond with the 13 clans of vampires today. It reiterates thatvampires are bad to all.

23. This is about Wraiths showing up/being created. Interesting how it says that not evenangels knew where human souls went after dying.

24. It says here that God created Oblivion for Wraiths and Demons. Could they end theirexistence or were they forever trapped in the abyss? As for the 2 corpses in one gravereference, I think that means that the Wraiths and the Demons are the 2 corpses and thedark umbra/shadow lands is the grave.

25. This is all about the invention of summoning. Caine summoned wraiths and probablytaught it to Cappodocian. Also, this is the creation of the earthbound.

26. The 5 are the first earthbound that were Lucifer’s generals. Caine also cursed hischildren with curses and created the clans we know today. The high spirit could be Gaia.If they meant God, it would say One Giver. The war that it talks about is the original warof rage that the werewolves did. Their punishment was destroying that which theyneeded. Also, men and women made society and went to war.

27. This is about the flood or biblical deluge. The last part is probably referring to thevampire antediluvians who survived that.

28. Definition time: Children of the Book are the Jewish people, the book being theTorah. Children of the Dream = Australian Aborigines? Children of the Wealthy Land =Native Americans. America is now the wealthiest country and was known as the purelands by the Croaton. Children of the Middle Kingdom = Asians. Children of the Land ofthe Skull = Africa. Could this be an allusion to Azreal, the slayer archduke earthboundwho set up shop there? Humans weren’t as smart as their predecessors, but that was theplan. Thanks to ShepardsBook for clearing some of this up.

29. Could this mean the founding of democracy? It sounds like the Greeks to me.

30. This is about the Romans. In their mythology, two twins named Romulus and Remuswere raised by a wolf. They went on to found Rome. Rome went on to conquer most of

the world at that time. The Romans conquered the Middle East and Africa. The childrenof the Book (Jews) were their slaves. The true conqueror could be Christianity.

31. Condemned Man = Jesus. This is the founding of Christianity and the Romans beingconverted to it.

32. This is talking about how the Middle Empire arose from Rome and people emulatingRome. And Europe has been around ever since. Also, this is when the First GreatMaelstrom from Wraith appears.

33. This is about the creation of the nation of Islam. The man talking about visitors in thenight is Muhammad. Tribe of Seven Pillars = Muslims.

34. This is about the beginning of the Dark Ages. For vampires, this was their golden age.As for when this will happen again, I think that it might mean either the Victorian agewhen vampires were first romanticized or nowadays with the Gothic culture. The secondgreat storm is the Second maelstrom.

35. This is talking about the Anarch revolt from Vampire. The curse talked about is thatall of Caine’s children will turn upon each other and that Caine can never truly createanything that will last. The number 14 might refer to the 14th Generation which was upuntil recently the lowest generation. The one less strength could be Tremere diablerizingSalubri.

36. This is about the Inquisition. Priests are called fathers even though they don’t haveany children. Vampires and Jews were put to the stake and set aflame.

37. This is talking about the renaissance. The man with the glass eye is Galileo. The manwith the silver nose is Tycho Brahe. The wise fool is Johannes Keplar. They foundmodern science a.k.a. the tribe of the mind. In mage terms, this could be the order ofreason later to become the Technocracy.

38. The wealthy land is now confirmed as the Americas. The iron men in wooden fish arethe conquistadors and they brought plague with them as well as horses. The third plaguecould be canons. The fourth plague is the rats that stowed away on the ships.

39. This is talking about the third great maelstrom. If the first sin is decimating the NativeAmericans, the second is slavery. This is talking about how the slaves worked theplantations picking cotton and sugar cane fields.

40. This is talking about the industrial revolution and the beginnings of a loss of belief insupernatural things among all of humanity. It also talks about people saying they arereligious, but not truly believing in it.

41. This is about the American Revolution in that the colonies rose up against Britain dueto the tax on tea (the drink) and tobacco (the leaf). They won trade routes to Asia and

Europe with this. The Ancient kingdom is Britain. The tax was then passed on to theBritish people.

42. This is a prophesy section about what is to come and that is the Apocalypse.

The Winter of the World

43. God’s angels = 2. This would be the Ebon Dragon and the Scarlet Lady mentioned inHunter and Kindred of the East books. Demons in Hell = 2,002,199. The Demons of theEarth = 5. The one remaining is Lucifer. This is interesting; someone might have badmath skills. At our last count, there were 2,002,204 demons in the abyss. Minus 5 asearthbound and it evens out. Was Lucifer not counted in the original count? Was he evercounted at all after stanza 7 because at that point he was neither angel or in the abyss.

44. Science rules the land. The 9 suitors could be the 9 traditions of mages. The scientiststhink they are doing the right thing and acting as God wishes, but in fact they seem to betoying with things they cannot understand. The reference to children being alone could betalking about God and the angels not being there.

45. Everyone thinks it is great except for the Africans and the children of the dream(Australians and/or Asians). This is the Victorian Age.

46. This is talking about all that we have done: we have made great things. It also talksabout our lust for more despite what we already have.

47. This is talking about colonialism in Africa when most of the Superpowers of that timecarved up Africa for their own. This brought on the First World War. They are referringto this in the lines about gas and wars in the sky and sea.

48. This is about the fourth great maelstrom of the shadow lands. It also alludes to thenext 2 being even worse.

49. World War 1 didn’t stop until America got involved. The disease could be referring tothe great influenza outbreak in America, or maybe just disease brought on by war.

50. This is talking about the Second World War and the fifth great maelstrom. Thetwisted spider is the swastika and the Jewish people were killed as if it were the rightthing to do.

51. Japan is the Island of Eastern Light. Middle kingdom is Europe. The last part istalking about the Fascist Italians trying to take over North Africa just like the Romansdid.

52. Again, America saves the day, but this time it was more costly for us with things likePearl Harbor. This gives way to the cold war and the fear of Communism.

53. The Wall is the Berlin wall or the Iron Curtain. The Eagle is America and the Bear isthe Soviet Union. The shallow mind refers to McCarthyism and the “Better Red thanDead” mentality. The number of fear being 57 could mean the blacklist or McCarthy’slist of Communists in the Government. The Unholy Fire is the threat of nuclear war.

54. This could be about how Europe and America claimed different parts of WestGermany. Vampires enjoy this time because they can be more open as scientists and theOrder of Reason cover their crimes.

55. This talks about the scientists and others of the Tribe of Mind giving people thevictim mentality of thinking.

56. Again, more on banality sweeping the world and a reduction of faith in thesupernatural.

57. It seems that this one is referring to the antediluvian vampire known as Saulot. Heclaimed to be a peace keeper but really didn’t do much except spawn the Tremere. Hewas also known by the name of Zao-lat but that is wrong because it is what the EasternVampires call the Tremere. He is known in the Eastern and Western World and he keepsfighting an uphill battle to redeem vampire kind. Special thanks to Forumite Radu for thisinterpretation. (Greg Stolze said “Verse 57. Not even close, but that works a whole,WHOLE lot better than its true origins.”)

58. Again I am really stumped. I think it might be a Changeling reference.

59. I think that this is talking about Caine. He was cursed to wander and about the onlypeople that will hang around with him are other vampires and probably to kill him anddiablerize him (take his power similar demons devouring each other).

60. This could be talking about Baba Yaga from Rage Across Russia and Night ofProphesy. Her diadems are her 6 armies and her debts might be her Zmei. No clue on thesuitor though. It couldn’t be Saphriel the blood angel because he is in the Earthboundbook.

61. I think that this may be a reference to President Kennedy. He was very anti-communist. Most people call his term in the oval office Camelot. Russia is associatedwith bears, so that would explain the knight versus bear angle. The knight falling withoutstriking his blow is probably talking about the assassination.

62. Forumite Kurai Seraphim had an interesting idea in that the woman symbolizescommunism and how the cold bite is the cold war. However, Greg Stolze said “To tellyou the awful truth, I had no meaning in mind when I wrote the Chisel verse. It wasmeant to inspire head scratching and wild flights of fancy, like an inkblot test.” Go figure.63. This could be a reference to the times changing and people starting to give up onpurity and indulged more. At least, that is about how it was in America at this time. Fromthe 50’s to the 70’s, there were some radical changes in what was and wasn’t acceptable.

64. This could mean a lot of things. Those that walk to crooked path could be talkingabout Black Spiral Dancer werewolves. Slaves of death’s maze are probably specters thatreside in the Black Labyrinth of Malfeas. Malfeas is a realm of evil incarnate in the spiritworld. This in general seems to be talking about the Wyrm and the Malfeans becomingrestless and becoming more active in the world.

65. The first sentence is talking about the rise of Caitiff (clanless vampires) and how theyare striking at vampire society much like what the third generation did to their sires. Theseven suitors are the traditions (the Sons of Ether and the Virtual Adepts don’t countbecause they were originally part of the Technocracy) are losing the Ascension War (thebattle for reality). The tribe of mind is now referring to the Technocracy. Reason’s gripcracking as it hardens seems to be referring to the Sons of Ether and the Virtual Adeptssplitting from the Technocracy. The lines about the nation of wolves calling to armswould be the Garou Nation picking up the pace in their fight against the Wyrm. As theWyrm tries harder to destroy the world, the Garou try harder in turn.

66. I don’t know what this could be but it seems to be in the air.

67. No clue here.

68. This talks about Christians defeating Romans. I think that it is talking aboutChristianity overcoming Catholicism. Catholicism is no longer the only place wherebelievers in Jesus go and the American Evangelicals seem to be more prevalent inAmerica. That sounds silly, but it is the best sense I can make of it for now. It seems thatdefeating the Romans brought forth a holy relic since no evil thing can abide it. Whateverit is, God_45 aka Joshua Mathews seems to have picked it up. Bright shiners are theImbued. It is what Lucifer calls Hunters in Time of Judgment. This is further backed upby the Time of Judgment news ticker where Joshua said “The sun is gone but I have alight. The fire is coming for us all.” Many have speculated that what he found is the reliclisted in The Inquisition as The Martyr’s Fire. It is a lantern that bathes others in light andgives them strength and pain resistance. It sound like it fits except for the fact that itdoesn’t say anything about it repelling monsters.

69. Some think that this is a reference to Angels making sure that the Abyss doesn’tcrack. I believe that it is talking about Angels and the walking dead. Once the 6th

maelstrom hit, walking dead were everywhere. Most were evil. Hence why it says “eachmemory tower a sore on the world, a sting of death in earthly flesh.” The gatekeeperscould be the Reapers (loyalists of the 7th house) or it might even be those wraiths thatmake sure no one passes the shroud. I think it is more the second choice because theauthor begs them to watch out of pride. Angels would do it because it is the right thing todo.

70. I don’t know much about this but I think the answer is in the book World ofDarkness: Hong Kong. The middle kingdom is China and Greg Stolze even said it wasreferring to a jewel brought back there.

71. Now we are up to the 6th and final maelstrom. This is the maelstrom that started in thelate 1990’s and continued on until the end of the world. Its coming spawned the new typeof Mummies, the Imbued, the explosion of Walking Dead, Mages to be stuck on Earth,and the walls of the abyss to be sundered. The Angel gift waking the sleeping fire in all isa reference to the Imbued. In Hunter: Fall From Grace, the demon Vassago talks about theAngels putting something back into the imbued which proposes the idea that humanshave been made weaker over time. Remembered shades waging war on the forgotten is areference to the happenings in the Wraith book Ends of Empire. Graves spit forth istalking about all the walking dead. “She” might be the one called Grandmother in theOrpheus series. Grandmother could also be called the mother of Specters and Oblivionincarnate. I don’t have much experience on Orpheus but it sounds good.

72. This is all talking about the imbuing. In the Hermit creed book it talks about a redfigure and a black one imbuing people. In Hunter: Apocrypha and in the section of Daysof Fire with the good pictures (Time Catches Fire) it shows that these are the Scarlet Ladyand the Ebon Dragon. They are also big figures in the Kindred of the East series, but thatis a story for another tail. This section is also proof that Bright Shiners = Imbued.

73. This seems to be talking about the five Archdukes. Once the red star shows up, theykinda wake up and call their servants to them. Also, in the Miller Report it talks abouthuman females no longer being born. A complete lack of females would bring the humanrace down to a final generation.

74. This is all about the Perfect Metis prophesized in Werewolf the Apocalypse. Mostmetis are physically deformed and all are sterile. That is why it is one that no one couldpredict. The children of the moon are definitely werewolves. The future really does rideon the perfect metis from a werewolf perspective because he can either work for Gaia orthe Wyrm. The reason why the decision comes when it is a child is because inApocalypse, it talks about one side kidnapping him and raising him under their guidance.

75. This talks about the holy lands to Muslims, Christians and Jews being desecrated.There are fights and bloodshed, and one Time of Judgment ticker talks about a rain of fireon Jerusalem. Mummy: the Resurrection is all about freeing the holy lands fromcorruption by evil. It is a tough battle. The hatred part is the different groups buttingheads. Jews, Muslims and Christians can really be at odds with each other especiallywhen it comes to the holy lands. Anyone remember the Crusades?

76. This is all about the rise of the Ravnos progenitor in India. His clan is mostly made ofgypsies hence the labels of thief and wanderer and such. Ravnos fights with powerfulEastern Vampires (guardians of Middle Kingdom) for three full days even in broaddaylight. Finally, the Technocracy comes over and uses their best weapon on him: theSpirit Nuke.

77. And so he dies. Whenever a clan progenitor truly dies, the rest of the clan memberstry to diablerize each other. Why? Who knows? It just is. Maybe Ravnos himself cursedthem. It doesn’t matter much, because very few Ravnos survive this.

78. This seems to be referring to people trafficking with the dead and other spirits. Itmight be referring to a rise in the worship of demons. It could also be referring to theOrpheus group from Orpheus. The wall of storms seems to be the gauntlet separating thespirit realm from earth. The dark mother might be Lilith since that is one of her monikers,but it could also be Grandmother from Orpheus as well.

79. This is referring to people becoming more aware to vampires and the like and theythink it is something new. The NSA has set up a system of identifying vampires, ghouls,thralls, demons, ghosts and other such Nasties. They think they are aliens from anotherdimension. That is listed in the revised vampire book in the antagonists section. It couldalso be talking about a substance called Pigment in Orpheus that allows humans to seeghosts but corrupts the soul. It also seems to be made of ground up Spectres.

80. This is a reference to the Ebony Oak Tree that exists at the center of the formerOrphic Circle's headquarters in Greece. The nine leading priests and priestesses of theOrphic Circle were known as the Ebon Branch. The tree became inhabited by a powerfulSpecter of insane power and everyone at the estate was killed eaten or possessed exceptfor a handful. The oak tree itself functions almost like a direct gateway into theLabyrinth. This is all detailed in Mediums, Hunter: the Walking Dead, and Hunter: FirstContact. It's possible that what actually entered the tree was an Earthbound. (Specialthanks to Ken Schmidt for this and the other Orpheus stuff.)

81. This is talking about Lucifer appearing over Los Angeles during the Devil’s Nightriots. It is detailed in Lucifer’s Shadow and touched on in City of Angels. The rest of thissection is about demons in general: they try to accomplish something and go somewhere,but it is all for naught because the end of the world is just around the corner.

82. Ah, this is referring to the Earthbound Avitu from the Trilogy of the Fallen. She wasbound into a tree in the Nevada desert and had a cult that performed ritual lobotomies onpeople so that they would lose their knowledge and go back to what they were before thefall… in theory at least. The ritual involved poking into a part of their brains by goingthrough the tear duct in the eye. It worked on some. Avitu was doing this because shethought that once all humans were back to being apes that God would let the demonsback in to Heaven. Unfortunately, she was defeated…

83. … and that is detailed here. Keep in mind this is the ending to the Trilogy. Sabriel,Gaviel, Hasmed and Usiel kill Avitu and devour her soul. Before she is killed, Sabrieland Hasmed see the part of here that was still an angel and want to keep it alive… butthen Usiel and Gaviel devour it. Usiel couldn’t control himself and Gaviel didn’t care.Usiel is the closest to being an angel because he never rebelled. (Special thanks to SeanMcMahon for this)

84. This is talking about demons in general. The 5 archdukes are earthbound demonstrapped in stone and metal. Most of the rest of the fallen are in human bodies. And theone who is neither is Lucifer.

85. This is a good passage. It talks about the three angels put in Hell because they didbad things in the name of God but they never rebelled. The first is Usiel. He is detailed inthe Trilogy of the Fallen and mentioned Hunter: Fall from Grace and in the Miller Report.His key to human deaths is a releasing tool that slayers and reapers used to separate spiritfrom flesh and kill people. It is also detailed in the Trilogy of the Fallen. The second isn’tmentioned anywhere else but here. And the third isn’t really mentioned at all but its nameis Forguel. The last two are plot devices for storytellers to use in their campaigns. Theyare what you make them and nothing more. They are not mentioned in any other demonbook.

86. The seer of scorn is the title of the earthbound demon Vassago. He has an imbued as athrall. However, when he thralls a second one, she redeems him to be good again. That isdetailed in Time of Judgment. Vassago later implodes which I think is him killing himselffor all the wrong he has done as a final act of redemption.

87. This is talking about people subconsciously realizing that the end is near and savingnothing for tomorrow because there is no tomorrow.

88. This is an interesting passage. It talks about more humans being imbued. The firsttime was in ancient times but was scrapped because they all turned evil. The second timewould be the modern imbued. This third time will apparently reveal all monsters toeveryone. The interesting part is that if humans do nothing, then the monsters willoverwhelm them. But if humans hunt and burn all the monsters like a new Inquisition,then the sky will turn dark with ash and vampires will be unstoppable. This would be the“we’re screwed” passage.

89. This is a reference to a later passage in the Miller Dossier. It talks about the speed oflight accelerating. If the speed of light hits infinite, then the world will end.

90. This is a prophesy of what it will be right before it is over: everyone will see the RedStar Antihelios, the eye of the Wyrm will open, almost everyone is a thrall to a demon,the dead will walk, all the secrets of death will be uncovered, and no monsters will beable to hide. Then humanity must choose. They must choose which path to take throughthe forest. See the next section for more info.

Three Paths through the Burning Forest

In this section, I will give my interpretation of what each of the passages think. They arepretty straight forward and most people can figure out what they mean. This is my

opinion of what it says and what the passages say to me. Take it any other way you want

because that is what it is meant for. Assume that before every one of these interpretationsthat I write it says “I think this is saying…”

91. The world is ending and the last humans might be able to stop the extinction of theirrace. To do so, they must choose the right way to go in regards of the supernatural.

92. Don’t look to the sky or any sort of divination or higher power. You got yourself intothis mess, now you have to get out of it.

93. Who cares where the flame came from, there is flame and that is all that matters. Whyaren’t you running yet?

94. C’mon, run. There is no one here to help you other than yourself and other humans.

95. Look straight ahead, and choose which of the three paths you want.

The First Path: Ignorance

96. You see beasts along this way. It looks like they know the right way to go.

97. You see another huge blaze (no surprise). But you are small enough to get by withoutgetting burned.

98. Keep your head low like a slave. Do not look up or others will regard you jealously.Be like the beasts you travel with and tread your path.

99. Although you are told not to look, some do. They are morons. Just keep your headlow, be not defiant, and you will live.

100. Those that look up will be consumed by fire. They should have listened.

101. Step off of the path and you will be burnt and destroyed, but you will see secretsrevealed at last. Which do you choose: life or knowledge?

102. If you were to step off the path, which would be stupid, you would see many things.

103. You will see werewolves attacking each other.

104. Black Furies will be shackled and stop being feminists. Bone Gnawers will gainpower but screw it up because it wasn’t meant for them. The Children of Gaia will bedestroyed by what they have been warning the rest of the Garou for centuries. The Fiannawill go up in flames while the Get of Fenris will freeze to death.

105. A Glass Walker will betray the whole tribe. The Red Talons will fall upon eachother in the end. The Shadow Lords will become servants of the Wyrm. The SilentStriders are all hunted down and killed. The Stargazers will be blinded by theirknowledge. The Wendigo and the Uktena will be taken in by something, only to be

betrayed and destroyed. The Silver Fangs will go to an unending war and die in battle.Despite all this, the Black Spiral Dancers get it the worst in the end. (special thanks toJulius for clearing up some stuff)

106. Hey look, it’s the Mages. They think they won but it will be for naught once the fireburns all they have created.

107. The Technocracy finds out that they knew nothing and screw everything up.Everything they tried to accomplish is destroyed mostly by their own actions. Iteration Xdestroys their own potential by getting rid of too much humanity. The New World Orderfinds that they couldn’t predict everything including the end of the world. Void Engineersbecome lost in themselves. The Syndicate finds that they did too much and are forgottenas they burn out. The Progenitors find that they didn’t harness nature, they broke it.

108. The Nephandi hit rock bottom and realize that they are already there. The Marauderstake on too much and lose everything. The Akashic Brotherhood has to choose which ismore important, can’t and fall apart. The Celestial Chorus wasn’t being heard by God butonly by themselves. The Cult of Ecstasy finally reaches perfection in a world of crap andrealizes how futile it was. Dreamspeakers must choose between past and future. Whateverthey choose lead to their downfall. The Euthanatos all die. The Order of Hermes isdefeated by the numbers 13, 19 and 17. These are all prime numbers. So they are defeatedeither by something indivisible or by the sphere of Prime. The Sons of Ether lose all theirtoys as they realize it is all vapor and lies. The Verbena die bloody deaths. The VirtualAdepts go into their lie and then die. The hollow ones and the orphans all die but at leastthey did it individually.

109. No more Mages. Hey look, there are some vampires. Did they cause the Red Star toshow up? It doesn’t matter. Too bad they back stab each other too much to reallyaccomplish anything.

110. Every clan is destroyed. The Ventrue die because their refined tastes get too refineduntil there is nothing left to feed them. The Lasombra fade away. The remaining Ravnosdie alone. The Brujah finally get over their rage… only to find they needed it as they dieweakened. The Toreador see what they really are (dead, static things that destroyeverything they try to save) and despair. The Nosferatu rot away as maggots eat them.Giovanni and Tremere are destroyed by Cappodocian and Salubri respectively. TheGangrel become beasts and are forgotten. The Tzimisce are remembered for how taintedand evil they were. The Assamites will turn on each other and not last a month. TheFollowers of Set die without ever witnessing the return of Set. The Malkavians die aswell but at least they are still crazy.

111. And what about those who started it all? They will die with everyone watching.

112. Hurray, you get out alive as long as you pay no attention to what is going on aroundyou.

113. So you live. You look back and wonder if it was all a dream. It doesn’t matter, youwill forget about it soon and life will go on as normal.

The moral of this story is that the meek shall inherit the Earth.

The Second Path: Oblivion

114. There is another path that looks like humans made it. It has to lead to a good ending,right? Don’t worry about missing anything: the flames are bright enough to reveal all andthe sounds are so loud that the deaf could hear it.

115. This is the path of the dying world. The streets looked safe but they are reallydangerous. You shouldn’t have come this way, but it is too late now.

116. There are dangers here. Things that even the monsters fear.

117. Hey look, there are demons. How will they die? They will destroy the world withtheir control over reality and spirit. The Devils will die when they fail to calm everyonedown and are turned on. Once Lucifer comes out, the world will end soon. The scourgeswanted to protect people from all accidents, but are now confronted with must deal withpurposeful harm to humans. They cannot defend against nuclear weapons and other suchtools of warfare. The Malefactors will make such wondrous objects that they will betrapped and imprisoned by them and be unable to escape. The Fiends who think that theyknow everything will find that the will of God is unpredictable and will not see theirdeaths coming. The Defilers will use their gift to a new level until they learn so muchabout humanity’s wants and desires that they will weep for them. The Devourers willmake such powerful monsters that they will turn on their masters. The Slayers will findthat the only true death is the lack of life. They will be put out of business when there isno one left to die. It is a hollow victory indeed.

118. Everyone wanted to know what lurked in the darkness and once they find out theywill burn with righteous fire. Many people will be imbued.

119. This fire that burns in the people will reveal the vampires and their ghouls. Theircattle will charge them. Mages will lose their powers. The werewolves will lose theability to change as the eye of the Wyrm winks. You cannot hide in the Earth because itwill spit you out and make new things to kill you. You can no longer rule. You cannot runfrom this. You cannot hide from this. You still have your strength, but it is no match forintelligence and steel weapons. No more shadows to hide in, no more shields to defendyourself, no more beauty to enchant with. Even madness will not save you from themadness of the world. You may think that spirits will aid you but they will only drag youto Hell and there is nothing you can do to stop it. Even animals will turn on you, givingyou literally no place to hide. The best thing you can do is shut your eyes and ears andwait for death.

120. Oh, you mages are so taking it so grab your ankles. The spheres won’t help you atall. As they become corrupted with the dying world, so will you who try to use them. Ifyou use spirit and you try to go to the spirit world, you will be trapped there forever eventhough the answer is so obvious, you won’t get it. If you use forces, you should fear thethings directly above you because you might cause something to fall on your head. If youuse life, you will be overwhelmed by your power and it will kill you. If you use matter,you will be confronted by something that you cannot affect. If you use entropy, it willbackfire and chaos will plague you. If you use mind, you will be trapped in your ownthoughts as a dog chases its tail. If you use correspondence, you will be humbled by thestorm and live enslaved to it. If you use time, you will find that it will fight back and youwill be the one mastered.

121. Finally, if you try to use Prime, you will only quicken the death of the world and findyourselves masters of all because there is nothing for you to rule.

122. Some, like the Nephandi, Baali and Black Spiral Dancers, do not fear the end of theworld but instead pray for it. They shall bring the Red Star closer and it will bringArmageddon with it. First it will come on slow, whispering things in your ears. The madwill know what is going on but they will be ignored. Then, when the star is at half“power,” blood will boil, and the way will be lit for people to find you and destroy you.Finally, the crimson light will fill everything. No more day or night or sun or moon, justred like blood all the time as the world dies.

123. Vampires will walk without fear, but they will get it in the end as they will be unableto feed and when they try it will destroy them.

124. This is the path where humans take an active role in the end and only end updestroying everything in a great purge of the world. There will be nothing left, but at leastthat includes monsters.

The moral of this story is that if you try to get involved with the monsters, you die.

The Third Path: Enlightenment

125. Are these your only choices: Ignorance or oblivion? I think I see another path, but itmay be a false one.

126. Well, I have to tell it anyway or else the world is screwed all to Hell. Here is thethird way it can end.

127. Screw ignorance, and oblivion a horrible choice. Instead of looking for a made path,make your own by trusting in your own faith, strength and ability. You have to earn thisone.

128. First, you will face vampires. They will say to you, “Hi there. We love you so much.We have always defended you and ruled over you just waiting for this moment to come.Help us and we will help you. You won’t even have to die if you join us!”

129. Don’t listen to them; they just want to rule you again. Remember that theirweaknesses are fire, sunlight, and dependency. Without you they will die. They willalways fight each other. There is one other curse that was given by one of the three angelsthat went to Hell yet did not rebel. It is a curse that has only recently taken effect. Afterreading Gehenna, I think that it is the Withering. As to which angel it is, I think that it isthe nameless one.

130. If you defeat the vampires then you will face werewolves next. They say that theywere meant to rule humanity and that only they have the power to stop the world fromgoing to crap.

131. They say to you, “Look at this mess you made that we have to clean up! You shouldnever have gotten control of the world. Don’t worry, it will never happen again. Nowshow us your necks so that you will be culled until your race is our servants again.”

132. You shouldn’t totally submit, but you also shouldn’t fight. They are way too strongand you can’t win in a fair fight. All you have to do is wait. Once there is no one else forthem to fight, they will turn on each other. Their final division will be what to do with thePerfect Metis: follow it or kill it.

133. Wait for the right moment. They will squabble and kill each other until one factionwins. Once that happens, you can turn on them and make them kill each other more orjust finish them off yourselves.

134. When the werewolves are all almost dead, an ally will join you. They are mages.You need these people to kill the werewolves, but you will be able to best them later.They are at their weakest because they need you to survive.

135. They say that they are humans, but perfected by a unity that you do not have. Withtheir magic they can remake the world into what they think is a better place.

136. The worst part is that they believe everything that they say. The only problem is thatif you follow them, many people will die because they will make a new world that isnothing more than a prison. Humans will be brought down to a level that is a little bitbetter than animals because that is the only way that they can squash dissident ideas. Theydo not see this because they think that they are right and cannot be persuaded otherwise.

137. How do you defeat these monsters? Their Achilles heel is disbelief. You cannot fightthem because they gain their power from you. Ignore them and they will lose their powersand fade away.

138. Trust in yourself and not in what they tell you or show you. They are trying to makewhat you know to be false when they are in fact the false ones.

139. As the mages fade away and die, demons will show up to be your next challenge.They have the best and worst of the previous three challenges. They promise like

vampires, threaten like werewolves, propose alliances like mages, but they are reallynever born. They do not come from humans at all, they only inhabit them. They reallywere never born.

140. Not quite sure how to beat them, other than the fact that you can do more than theycan. You can innovate and invent whereas they can only do what they once could. Youcan do things that God never intended but they cannot.

141. Once this human invention kills that last demon, or they kill each other, or they areforgiven by God, only then will your last and worst challenge surface.

142. Against the vampires, you can give up by letting them control you. Against thewerewolves, you can give up by asking them to spare you from the culling. Against themages, you can give up by accepting their teachings. Against the demons, you can give upby letting them shape you as they see fit. But the last challenge cannot be escaped becauseit is yourselves.

143. Maybe being human is not as cool as it seems. Maybe the best thing to do istranscend simple humanity and become what you were originally supposed to be andsurpass the creator.

144. However, you will have to say goodbye to a lot of stuff. You have to give up what itis to be human and become something more. Sort of like how Buddha reachedenlightenment by escaping the world and what we consider being human.

145. The last thing you have to give up, just like Buddha, is power for virtue. You have tostrive for something greater than the world. You have to forget about being ahead ofpeople and just exist in harmony with everything.

146. What if that is what God did? To give up everything not because it was to look coolor see what would happen, or because she felt sorry, but because she loved giving. Imean, she is called the One Giver.

147. Can you be as God and do what God did? Can you give back what was given to younot because it will save the world, or because you don’t want it or because you feel sorry,but because true joy comes from giving of one’s self? If you do this, then it doesn’t matterwhat happens. If you do this then you win in the end because you become one with theuniverse and gain wisdom.

The moral of this story is that there may be no way to save this world but that is okbecause none of it matters. Maybe a fresh start is what we all need and we can’t do it ifwe try to hold on to it no matter how bad it is.

Miller Report Commentary

By Ian James

Introduction: This is a page by page analysis on The Miller Dossier from the White Wolfbook Days of Fire. I wrote this because many people asked questions about it. I also havequestions about it, but there would seem to be too much to explain for others to get thequestions. Many people are asking about an analysis on all of Days of Fire. I think I willsee how this goes and then maybe I will write that. I don’t mean to tell you how to thinkwith this paper, but only for you to see what I see. Feel free to tell me what you think andexpand upon it. Please, only do constructive criticism. I tried not to summarize theDossier, I want people to read it and then read this. If you want to post this on a website,let me know. You can do it, just credit me and tell me about it. I would like to see mywork appreciated. If anyone from White Wolf has a problem with me writing this, then

please tell me and I will not give it to anyone else. I do not take credit for anything thatWhite Wolf has written. Please don’t sue me!

Page 1 and 2: These pretty much explain themselves. Page 3: This is interesting. The first article, “New Comet Sighted” seems to be referringto the Red Star or “Antihelios” that will signal the coming Apocalypse. This “comet” is inall the World of Darkness lines and now we see it is in Demon as well. The next one“Fermilab corrects speed of light” will be discussed more later on. It is a set up for a laterarticle. Finally, the article “Smithsonian Curator Vanishes” is talking about Miles Fiske,one of Vassago’s servants. I believe that the incident they are talking about with someonecoming in and attacking some guards and a guy with a knife is a reference to the timewhen Usiel fought with Rigger111 in the Trilogy of the Fallen and in Hunter: Fall FromGrace. Where Fiske went, who knows? Probably doing things for his master.Page 4: In this memo, we hear from Babbit. In reference to the memo on page 2, Babbitsays that this is no problem. This probably leads to Miller thinking that Babbit is “actingweird.” However he does a nice play of misdirection by saying telling Miller that he is theonly one who can get to the bottom of this. Page 5: Here we hear from Miller and his friend Miranda. It seems that Miranda is an oldfriend of Miller’s that is in Special Affairs. They talk about the connection with Dr. Fiskegoing missing and the stolen Dies Ignis papers. Miranda got a tip that they would beconnected somehow. Miranda also talks about a case in Chicago where she and millerworked together. Miranda also tried to track down Carleton Van Wyk who is a hunterknown as Doctor119 on hunter net. In Hunter Book Judge, it talks about Van Wyk beingin Chicago when something bad went down and caused 2 of his teammates to die. He leftbut hopes to return. Van Wyk and his tales with Miranda start in Hunter: First Contactand continue in Hunter: Utopia.Page 6: More news clippings. I think that this page is someone trying to tell Miller thatthe end times are coming. Tensions between countries on a nuclear level could spell theend of the world in any case, whereas no more female children being born would signalthe end of the world on a biblical scale.Page 7: This is another e-mail wherein Miller talks to Miranda about all the stuff comingup on Days of Fire on the net. He also talks about the Book of Nod from Vampire. TheBook of Nod is pretty much the vampire creation myth as told by Caine. Miller claimsthat similarities between Nod and Days of Fire could be from the 2 translators readingNod and then writing Days of Fire. I think that this would be a nice tie in with a vampirecampaign.Page 8: This is a letter to Miller from someone named Charlene. Not much to discusshere, but it does make an interesting point about the book “The Burning Times.”Apparently it was never really published but people think it is. Charlene thinks that thebook is a fake used to support Days of Fire somehow. Page 9: This is a transcript of a conversation between Miller and Babbit talking aboutMiranda. Babbit thinks that Miranda is working with Van Wyk and that she can no longerbe trusted. Miller thinks that she is broken and not turned. By that I assume he means thatshe means no wrong. Apparently, Van Wyk and other like minded people are preparingfor the Apocalypse in Turkey. Again, I don’t know enough Hunter to back this up. Page 10: More fun articles. The first one talks about how the Red Star is getting closeenough for people with store bought telescopes to see. The second article is about unrest

due to different religions. I think this is just to let Miller know that the Apocalypse is stillcoming.Page 11: This is a transcript of a conversation between Miller and the Throne of theDeepest Root. In this, the Root defines himself as one of the 2,002,204. I am pretty surethis identifies him as a demon. Since in stanza 43 it talks of the demons of the abyssnumbering 2,002,199 and there being 5 demons of the world (earthbound?) making thetotal 2,002,204. I don’t think Lucifer counts as a demon in that count. I think that thisdemon is trying to enthrall Miller. Near the end Root tells Miller how to envoke him andthat his boss didn’t seem to mind. Also, as a showing of good faith, Root tells Millerwhere to find Donnie Cahill. Cahill is mentioned in Saviors and Destroyers as someonewho killed his demonically possessed father and the cult his dad had made by sealingthem up in the church. How did this demon get the location of Cahill? Maybe the demonthat possessed his dad jumped into a new body and wanted revenge.Page 12: This is a private e-mail from Miranda to Miller. In it, she says that she has notturned, it is Babbit that has. Apparently, Babbit is enthralled to Vodantu (Hasmed’smaster from the Trilogy) and that Babbit visited St. Louis many times. If you look at the9/23/03 news ticker, it seems that Vodantu has taken up residence in St. Louis. Does thismean that Root is a servant of Vodantu? Miranda tells Miller to get Babbit to be scannedby the NSA. If you look in the revised Vampire core book on pages 271-274, you canread about Cook’s project. Apparently, a devise was invented that could detect vampires,wraiths and ghouls. When a person or entity passes through the device, they show up aseither a red body or a black body. Apparently it works on thralls and demons as well. Itseems that the government has invented a machine that can cast “sense wyrm.” Also, thisis the beginning of the coded e-mails. In this first coded e-mail, Miller talks about hisconversation with Root and hearing about Vodantu. He asks Miranda if Vodantu is withher. For the full translation, it is after this commentary. On a final note, this page also hassomeone (maybe Miller) figuring out that Vera Sadry and Yves Darra have the sameletters in each. More on this later.Page 13: This is a letter from some black ops person to Babbit talking about themobserving Miller. Miller thinks he is under surveillance and is taking precautions buthasn’t caught them yet. The second bit is talking about just what would happen if thescientists from the article on page 3 and their findings that the speed of light is everincreasing were true. Apparently, if PIRT has it right, then light will reach a speed ofinfinite and the universe would be everywhere at once and it would end. They set the timeof this happening for the middle of next year. So, would that mean about the time that theTime of Judgement book comes out?Page 14: This is another article about the coming Apocalypse. This talks about howpeople all over the world are beginning to worship demons. They even mention Usielfrom the Trilogy as being worshiped as the Reaper of Souls. See the epilogue of theTrilogy for info on that. In a nutshell, this article is saying that it is time for a new religionand devil worship seems to be filling that void.Page 15: This is a transcript between Miller and some vampire with the initials MM. Thisvampire is an original creation and is not in any of the vampire books. Anyway, Millerdemands to know about Days of Fire and Root. The vamp says that he doesn’t know whoRoot is, but Days of Fire is totally true. Page 16: Ah, the last of the encoded messages. Again, the full translation of them will beafter this section. The first one is from Miranda to Miller, and the second is a reply from

Miller to Miranda. In the first, Miranda says that she doesn’t know Root or Vodantu. Shedoes know about someone called Vassago and how he is involved with Fiske. He alsomentions that Vassago is trying to take over two people: John Coaler (Rigger111) andLeaf Pankowski (Potter116). These two are hunters and their story involving Vassago canbe found in Hunter: Fall From Grace. In the second e-mail, Miller talks about how he gotBabbit to the capitol and then Babbit goes on leave a couple days later. Looks like theNSA got him. Miller also thinks it is interesting that 2 people whose names are bothanagrams for “adversary” both translated Days of Fire, a book written by the devil. Milleralso talks about his fears in how Days of Fire seems to be coming true more and moreevery day.Page 17: 2 more Apocalyptic articles. Nothing of note to expand upon in the first articleother than this is proof that it is the end times for them. The second article talks aboutpeople found dead in the Gateway Arch in the buffalo exhibit in St. Louis. Is Vodantutrying to make a statement that humans are going the way of the buffalo? Page 18: In this memo from Miller to Babbit, Miller talks about how Sadry and Darrawere killed within minutes of each other on different sides of the continent with a veryrare gun that was found on Miller’s back doorstep. Creepy! I wonder if this is Lucifertrying to tell Miller something. I can’t think of any other person who could do that. I usedto think that Lucifer was really Darra and Sadry because he takes many forms in theTrilogy. But if there were bodies left behind, how could he do that? Page 19: This just tells you how to translate the encoded e-mails. Page 20: This is the obligatory “REPENT!” article. Nothing much to expand upon, but Iwonder if Father Ramos wrote it? ;)Page 21: This is Miller’s goodbye speech. Nothing much to expand upon here. Page 22: This is Miller’s escape. Miller apparently enacted a ritual in a cemetery inKansas. It says on page 5 that in this cemetery is a passage to Hell. Later, in the Time ofJudgment book, we learn that Miller did this to meet Lucifer and didn’t actually go toHell.

Days of Fire Translation By Ian James

(First Encoded Letter)Do you remember me telling you about a good book I read once? I think we should usethat. Babbit is acting very odd. I got a call from someone that I think is very special affairs.Maybe this person who stole the Latin fragment. Like you, he thinks Babbit has goneover. And he calls himself “The Throne of the Deepest Root.” That, and other things hesaid, are references to old demonology tests – the kind of books no one finds onamazon.com. Is he with you? I don’t know who to believe. Babbit is acting odd. The manfrom Stull is calling at home and he mentioned Vodantu. Is he with you?

(Second Encoded Letter)None of my contacts know anything about you, and no one had heard of this DeepestRoot character. Did you try getting Babbit to the capitol?

Be very careful, Woodrow. Both of us have seen terrible things working special, but Ithink we just saw the coming attractions. Now the feature is playing. I have believed indemons ever since I arrested Jane Inoue. Do you?I don’t know anything about “Vodantu” and neither do my associates but they believeFiske is serving some entity called “Vassago,” also known as The Seer of Scorn. Theydon’t speak his name out loud and they think Fiske wasn’t his only servant. They soundcrazy some times but I’ve seen things I can’t explain. We’re trying to find Fiske and adiamond necklace and two people – John Coaler and Leaf Pankowski. My associatesthink those two are very important, that Vassago may be on the brink of taking them over,of controlling humans directly. You know that’s possible. You saw it in Ohio. Do you believe in demons?M.

(Third Encoded Letter)I got Babbit to the capitol and two days later he went on temporary administrative leave.Coincidence? Who can tell? I made contact with Madeline Mason. She is V for victory,as I suspected. But she had information about the books, solid stuff. She made a drop offin Barstow and I do not think I was followed. I have spoken to the Deepest Root too, but I do not think I will again.Imeres Pyros is starting to make too much sense and I do not like it. So much points to itbeing a hoax – for instance, the names “Yves Darra” and “Very Sadry” are both anagramsfor “Adversary.” If this is a hoax, it is the most insanely expensive, elaborate andintelligent hoax in history.It almost makes more sense to believe the book is true. Demons? I do not know. Butbelieving in them is starting to make more sense too.

Thanks Page

Special thanks to:

Allison, for being there for me and helping with the analysis.Kristina and Sean Sullivan for turning me on to White Wolf.Greg Stolze for writing most of the books and being a really great writer.Mike Lee for designing the game.White Wolf Studios for actually making the game.And anybody I left out.