I've got a question about the Illusion: in whatever supplement refers to the Gaia realm, do they clarify Malkuth's role in the creation of the Earth as we know it? The 2nd Ed rulebook states that the Illusion is actually composed of the body of Malkuth, and that she is often worshiped as the "Earth Goddess". Since she is the Sephiroth of Matter/Earth, this makes sense. What, then, is Gaia supposed to be? Does Malkuth simply mediate the relations among Elysium, Gaia and Metropolis, or does she actually provide the material for the Illusion from her own body?

Another dilemma: the Gnostic framework of Kult is pretty consistent with Gnostic mythology, but it leaves out one of the key figures: Sophia. Because she is more aware of the true structure of existence than the Demiurge, it might be argued that she would never appear in a Kult game (the "hierarchy of being" seeming to stop at the Demiurge, anything more original being beyond the game's scope). Nonetheless, it sometimes seems to me that Malkuth shares many of Sophia's qualities, lending credence to the theory that the Archons exist independent of the Demiurge and existed "before" him ("before" being a temporal descriptor and therefore irrelevant to Reality: let's say "closer to the godhead"-- well, closer in a figurative sense, "closer" being a spatial property... oy!). The "Malkuth as Sophia" theory fits in nicely with her attempts to Awaken mankind, as Sophia does in the gnostic version of the "Fall from Eden" myth when she appears to Eve as the Serpent.

According to the first edition of Kult, Malktuh created the illusion herself (possibly from her own body, but with creatures as ephemeral as the Archons that could mean just about anything). Gaia was introduced in Legions of Darkness (a fabulous sourcebook if you can get your hands on it). Gaia is part of the true reality. It is almost an antithesis to Metropolis, as it is the Living Earth. It is a realm where all forms of wilderness exist in all directions. It also seems to be a (or the) major source of power for passion magic (crossbreeding taps into Gaia, where anything can breed with anything else all the time for example). Not only are there the dangers of wild animals, but parts of the land itself are alive, and will consume other living things (in Fallen Angels, a patch of this living earth is said to have invaded central park). In the Second Edition, Gaia is used as raw material for the illusion, and is pretty much ignored after that. I like the idea of Gaia too much to let it be thrown away, so I don't use that version of the creation. Someone on the list said (s)he wrote a Gaia sourcebook, but I have never seen anything like that on the net.

That was me! It's currently not available on the Net because it's being serialized in the fine KULT/horror RPG 'zine THE AWAKENING. I'm not exactly sure when the next issue is coming out, but I think Darrell Hardy, the Awakened One, reads this list, so... Darrell?

It's a real pity that they ignored Gaia that much (as I heard it). I hope that they will find another way in the German rule books concerning this. For me Gaia is very important. Not that it just is the opposite of Metropolis, it also is important for witches - therefor I like the idea of linking it with the lore of passion - which frequently meet the characters in my games... and what would a witch be without nature. I sometimes also like to run a few games outside the city, just to get a little of this classic horror feeling (ghost haunted castles, werewolves and all those old-fashioned things), where Gaia is important, too.

Some of the characters in my game are from New Orleans, and so I decided to work out some background for this region. I came to the conclusion that it would be best to have a big presence of Gaia there. I really would miss Gaia.


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