Silver
Page 41
That they were calling it Nostradamus' comet dove-tailed beautifully with another dimension of the story I was developing--the idea of the Thirteen Martyrs that opens the book. Michel de Nostradame's prophecies provided the basis for two important factions in Silver: Mabus and Ogmios. Nostradamus' Mabus is the herald of the antichrist who must die for the Third Antichrist to rise.
Mythologically, Ogmios was a deity frequently depicted as a bald old man leading a band of prisoners with chains running from his tongue to their ears. The Gauls associated him with Hercules, whereas the Eastern Celtic tradition tied him to Hermes. The Irish equivalent would be the Dagda, brother of Ogma. Unlike Hercules, the chain linking the followers to the silver-tongued deity suggests a certain gift of gab, or as his Irish heritage would suggest, blarney. Ogmios appears in the quatrains of Nostradamus, although not once is it spelled with an s. Instead it always appears with an n--Ogmion or l'ogmion. In The Centuries, Ogmios counters the Antichrist, as it is prophesied that he is the only one who can stand in his way. So it seemed fitting that Sir Charles' band of brothers take their name from him.
Of course, having inverted the story once by taking direction from the Gospel of Judas, it seemed just as fitting to invert it again, and instead of looking for a 'Third Antichrist' I turned to the meaning of the word messiah. I wasn't surprised to learn that different faiths had different definitions and made different demands upon their messiah, or more accurately, messiahs. I was most taken with the Judaic definition--one who is anointed. Considering it was the Jewish faith that invented the term, I thought it fascinating that the Jewish meaning had become all but lost outside of their faith; but in story terms, it offered a wonderful avenue of exploration. Obviously the main aspects of the definition have been covered by The Disciples of Judas in the story, but it is worth mentioning them again here, as well as aspects I didn't bring up. According to Rabbinical Law, the Messiah is born of two human parents, is able to trace his lineage through his father--back to King David--through the line of King Solomon and not through the lines of Jehoakim, Jeconiah, or Shealtiel, because this particular royal line was cursed.
These are four major reasons that the Jewish faith doesn't view Jesus as the real Messiah. Indeed, according to the Jewish definition of the term, the real Messiah will make substantive and quantifiable changes in the real world, including re-establishing the Davidic dynasty through his own children; bringing an eternal peace between all nations, between all peoples, and people; bringing about the universal conversion of all peoples to Judaism, or at least to Ethical Monotheism; gathering to Israel, all of the Twelve Tribes; rebuilding The Temple; restoring each tribe of Israel to their lands of inheritance; and causing the nations of the earth to recognize that they have been wrong, that the Jews have been right, and that the sins of the Gentile nations--their persecutions and the murders they committed--have been borne by the Jewish people.
Together, these become the backbone of the beliefs of the Disciples of Judas in the book, and in a world where fear has become a commonplace negotiating tool (this isn't new; think of the Templars, Holy Crusades and other attempts to influence faith with force), it made sense to turn my disciples militant.
During the course of researching Silver I came across over 250 End of Days prophecies ranging over 2000 years. Every one of the prophecies Abandonato cites Noah during his visit to the Vatican library is genuine. As a species, we've been obsessed with predicting the end of the line and, more often than not, these prophecies have been linked to 'portentous' dates, say, for instance, the end of a century, the turning of a millennium, the devil's number, and so on. It's fascinating, really.
But, back to Nostradamus and prophecies for a moment . . . Mabus the herald. I came across hundreds of intriguing discussions as to the nature of Mabus, from it being Sadam in mirror writing (misspelling aside, as Nostradmus had a habit of misspelling those he was predicting, like Hister); the Obama-Bush transition period (which mated wonderfully with the Lulin comet, for instance); Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian leader; and so on and so forth. Like Archduke Ferdinand, Mabus, according to Nostradmus, is only important because he dies. Ferdinand's assassination started World War I and paved the way for the rise of the Second Antichrist, Adolf Hitler.
The death of Mabus precipitates the End of Days. An event such as the assassination of Abbas would make a lot of sense, given that the ramifications of such an act would almost certainly provoke vengeance, but again, from a writer's perspective, I was looking to tell a different story--one that linked back in with the notion of the Messiah, not the Antichrist. Rather than a political figure, it had to be a spiritual one, and of course, Nostradamus had also predicted the assassination of the Pope. Quite independently, we have the Prophecy of the Popes, attributed to Saint Malachy, which details, supposedly, every Pope from first to last. And as of writing, it appears that we have reached the penultimate name on that list--Gloria olivae--the Glory of the Olive, Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger. The last name on that list is Petrus Romanus, whose death will lead us into the Time of Tribulation.
"In persecutione extrema S.R.E. sedebit.
Petrus Romanus, qui pascet oves in multis tribulationibus: quibus transactis civitas septicollis diruetur,
et Iudex tremendus iudicabit populum suum.
Finis."
"During the final persecution of the Holy Roman Church, the seat will be occupied by
Peter the Roman, who will feed his sheep in many tribulations:
and when these things are finished, the seven-hilled city will be destroyed,
and the formidable Judge will judge his people.
The End."