CODEX OMNIVERSA

Enemy Ace

The von Hammers were an aristocratic German family that lived in their ancestral home, a castle near the Black Forest, for centuries. Growing up in the early 1900s, young Hans heard all about it from his father.

His father tutored Hans and he was an apt pupil. But above all, his father taught him…

Hans was an exceptional pilot and became an ace of the German Air Force during World War I who was feared among Allied forces as the Enemy Ace.
Hans took no joy in his duty and hated being called, a “killing machine” when he returned from missions. He was a lonely man with only one friend, a black wolf who hunted with him..

Anton Arcane

After Romania was invaded by Austria, Anais Arcane and her two children, Aniela and Gregori, took shelter at her cousin Hans von Hammer’s family estate. She spent time with him between his missions and when he shot down two Allied planes, they investigated the wreckage. 

Inside one of the planes was a French pilot who seemed to be healing from some type of plant matter. They took him into the castle for treatment.

Anais was summoned to the Hamburg School of Medicine to discuss her eldest son, Anton, who had been expelled. While there, the dean read a long list of complaints about her son. He had a generally bad attitude and slothful appearance, and performed unethical surgical experiments. He further charged Anton with “sadism, drug addiction, necrophilia, moral turpitude, depravity, debasement, and decadence.”

Aniela wrote to her husband, Josip, who was off at war. “Was it we who failed him, Josip?”

Aniela found Anton acting as a medical officer on the Western Front…

I see this carnage as a unique opportunity! It allows me to study what I want; to learn what I need; and to experiment with ideas those smug fools back in the classrooms don’t have the will to ponder!

…and convinced him to return with her to examine the injured pilot. 

Anton had stolen an artifact from Hans and his mother witnessed him using it in a strange occult ritual.

When Anton tried to strangle her, Hans shot him in the chest. Examining the artifact, Hans noted that his father… 

…took possession of it under the most extraordinary circumstances on a trip to America. He said its origins were in great antiquity, and called it by a medieval European name.

This was the Claw of Aelkhund! Hans decided it should be hidden in the castle. When he and Aniela turned to look at Anton’s body, it was gone.

Anais and her children eventually moved to her uncle’s estate in Krakow, where she learned that her husband had been killed in action.

Flashback

During his early experiments in reanimating the dead, a young corporal in the German army paid Anton a visit…

Roderick Burgess, Pt. 1

In the early 1900s, Roderick Burgess was obsessed with the occult and used his wealth to establish a mystical fraternity known as the Order of Ancient Mysteries. 

On June 10th 1916, Burgess acquired a powerful mystic tome known as the Magdalene Grimoire and publicly announced that he would use the knowledge and tools at his disposal to summon and imprison the very essence of death itself.

He failed to capture Death, however, he succeeded in summoning Death’s brother Morpheus. Burgess bound him within a mystic circle and erected a large crystal dome to contain his physical form and astral essence.

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