"Beautiful Italy, so warm, so fresh, so utterly enveloped in alien"
"corruption from beyond the stars!"-- The Man in Black

UNAUSPRECHLICHEN KULTEN
Tome: Unausprechlichen Kulten and associated papers - Friedrich Wilheim von Junst 1839 printing
Language: German
Mythos: +15%
SAN: -1d8/2d8
Spell Mult: x4
Study Time:  
Spells:  
Condition:  
References: Encyclopedia Cthulhiana 2nd edition, pg.309, Daniel M. Harms

HISTORY LESSON
Date: Tue, 15 Dec 1998 18:54:45 +0100
From: Davide Mana
Subject: EH - Italian Chapter - A Bit of History

Hi!

I've been instructed to send the stuff I dream up to you directly, and here I go.

For starters, I have some general Historical background to the events that will be the subject of the scenario proper.
I'm also outlining the contenders in this match, but I'll post them in a separate message.

So, from the beginning (sort of):

The Unaussprechliken Kulten has been wrapped in an old army jacket this last 50 years.


April 27 1945, Musso (northern Italy)
A group of Italian partisans stops and inspects a German convoy en route to the Swiss border. One of the "German soldiers" dozing in the back of one of the trucks attracts the men's attentio as he is carrying a suitcase. Positively identified as Benito Mussolini, fugitive former Head of the Fascist State, the man is arrested and, the following day, in nearby hamlet of Dongo, summarily executed on orders from the CLN (National Liberation Commitee), together with his lover Clara Petacci.
This act, later variously disavowed by political factions, causes Italy to lose the occasion to openly and democratically process the man for war crimes.

A dark shadow is cast on the newborn Italian democracy.

The first of many.

Apart from some idle talk about "The Gold of Dongo", nothing is known about the fateful suitcase and its contents, that are never seen again.

Until now.

Unaussprechliken Kulten : Some Historical Background on the Gatto-Borghi Copy.


1839 Mulder German edition of the Von Junst classic printed.
1843 French Sansrire translation Published in St.Malo
Summer 1848 Cardinal Livio Gatto-Borghi - in France for "personal affairs" -acquires the German copy on which the Abbe Sansrire based his translation, together with the man's notes and support texts, with the intention of adding it to his collection of esotherical works. The Sansrire papers will be later erroneously reported lost. While (hopefully unrelated) chaos erupts in Europe, Gatto-Borghi decides nonetheless to get back to Italy, and take the book and the papers to Rome but, after an unprecised "incident" while crossing the Alps, he detours toward the town of Pavia, where he deposits the book in the vault of his family's private summer residence.
1848 -1938 The Gatto-Borghi Book is an unconfirmed rumour among occultists, none of which has a detailed knowledge of its whereabouts nor of the wealth of support material it includes. The Von Junst is sometimes imprecisely referred to as "The Gatto-Borghi Manuscript".
June 1939 soon after the "Steel Pact", German "operatives" start sniffing around on the trail of the book, focusing primarly on Rome.
The Gatto-Borghi villa in Rome is sacked without results; the German Consul in Rome tries to convince Pope Pius XII that handing over the Gatto-Borghi papers and diaries, now part of the Vatican Collections could be a relevant step in the fight against Bolshevism - some of the pontifex special advisors are dead against it, and the talks come to nothing.
OVRA (the Fascist Secret Service) keeps an eye on the "allies" activities, and later (winter '39-'40) hands the file over to La Cricca" (lit. "The Clique") an independent mixed unit that already handled esotheric emergencies on behalf of the Regime in the previous decade.
June 1940 Italy declares war on France. La Cricca beats the German agents to the Gatto-Borghi Book, and adds it to its library of occult tomes in the Turin base. When German diplomatic pressure about the whole matter becomes suspect, OVRA steps in and asks to be handed the book. La Cricca is disbanded, its army members sent to the front, the civilians exiled.
Autumn 1943 Mussolini - under arrest in the Gran Sasso area - uses the Gatto-Borghi Book to force the German Ally to act on his behalf. Otto Skorzeny is sent with a team to rescue the man - despite the fact that by now Mussolini is politically dead. Mussolini is brought to Berlin, and then back to Italy.
April 1945 after the crash of the Gothic Line, Mussolini tries to join the German fugitives. The Gatto-Borghi book, wrapped in an old army jacket in his suitcase, is going to buy him a ticket to Argentina...


On the trail of the book in the chilly april of 1945 are
And the winner is...
Alberto Fagotti [who?!] - paper-chase outsider, opportunist, part-time partisan and free enterprise upholder, that set his eyes on the suitcase no matter what it could contain - it would be sellable anyway. He gets it soon after the execution - thanks to the disorganization of the irregular unit - and dumps it in the woods for later.

Only in 1949, Fagotti - now mayor in a small town near Como, goes back to the suitcase burial ground, digs it up and finally opens it

The suitcase contains:
So much for the fabled "Mussolini's treasure"
[the numbers and details of his five separate Geneva bank accounts were actually sewn inside the jacket the Duce was wearing when captured, and have long been redirected to another seat altogether - but more on this later]

Fagotti cashes in the jewelry - having disassembled it so that no connection can be made - and burns the clothes. The rest he places in his attic, awaiting the right mement for selling it as collector's items.

Senator Alberto Fagotti (respected member of the Socialist Party) dies peacefully in his Rome house in April 1969 - mourned by many, missed by few

The Mussolini letters and photos surface discreetly in the mid 80s, courtesy of the enterprising Eleonora Sabatini, social climber and fiance of Fagotti's second son, socialite Luigi.
The Hitler Diaries scandal causes the bidders - national magazines Panorama and L'Espresso among them - to withdraw.

In 1990 pretty Eleonora dumps Luigi and leaves, taking the letters, the photos and the books with her as a parting gift. A few weeks later, she shacks up with a noted fashion designer, the first of a string of opportunely placed "friends".

In autumn 1993, the OVRA archives are declassified, and they are opened to foreign nationals in 1995.

The Gatto-Borghi Book is once again out of the sack.


And this is it for the time being.
The resurfacing of the book should set in motion the three main factions in the Italian game: DG, Karotekia (through the "Propaganda" entity and its minions), Vatican (through a St. Jerome recon unit).
These three players are already well rounded.
I hope to put together the Bischofe by tomorrow morning - as soon as I have something definitive I will send it along.
Other players are possible but I'll leave that open.

More news as soon as possible.
Let me know what you think of all the thing.
Cheers!

Davide Mana

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