Reinhardt Weissler

Born in Leipzig in 1838, Reinhardt Weissler is an accomplished scholar and, according to some sources, a practitioner of black magic. Feared by those who know (and knew) him, he is a man of influence, though a very private one. Rumour attests that Bismarck consults him on several occasions during the Unification in 1871, and his wisdom is often sought out, though only by those prepared to pay the price.   It is of no surprise to many when he disappears in 1890. Although a police investigation is mounted, no evidence of foul play can be found. The sorcerer had, according to the police report, simply vanished. Though his estate is kept intact in accordance with instructions left in his will, Weissler is declared officially dead two years later, and is largely forgotten as Germany approaches the 20th Century. But while the world forgets, Reinhardt Weissler dreams.   Many years before, Weissler had learned the ways to reach the Seventy Steps of Light Slumber, and had proven himself worthy before Nasht and Kaman-Tha. He had walked the streets of Celephais and seen the Black Gal- leys prowling the waves, and soon he ventured north to the Plateau of Leng and followed the old legends into the Cold Waste. There, hidden from the dreaming world by the obsidian peaks on all sides, he found the Valley of the Black Sun. As Weissler sank to his knees in awe at the great black orb hanging over the valley, he stared deep into its heart and the Black Sun stared back into his.   Understanding immediately that he was in the presence of a greater power, Weissler pleaded for a sign of its wishes, screaming at the sky, half-crazed by the vision before him. But it was another who answered him then, not the Black Sun. Appearing to him as a man, though with eyes as black as the star above them, Nyarlathotep, the Crawling Chaos, made his presence felt. What took place in that desolate wil- derness between the two will never be known, but Weissler emerged from his dreams a transformed man. He immediately put his affairs in order and gave instructions for the reten- tion of his estates upon his death; then, using an incantation gifted to him by Nyarlathotep himself, he placed his body into a deep hibernating sleep, hidden away in the family’s private tomb in the grounds of the house.   In this unnatural state of sleep, Weissler is able to remain in the Dreamlands indefinitely, with his body requiring no sustenance, and aging only a single day for every year he remains dreaming. In this state he becomes a student to the Black Pharaoh, learning from him the secrets of the Black Sun and the magic that binds it to the Valley. The horrors Weissler witnesses should have rendered him beyond insan- ity, but the sorcery of the Crawling Chaos ensures that his mind remains intact.   As the years pass, Weissler learns much from Nyarlatho- tep, and comes to understand the true nature of the Black Sun. Where saner men would flee, their minds in tatters, Weissler only craves more knowledge, and so finally Nyarla- thotep reveals his purpose: as the Black Sun shines over the Valley, so it must shine over all.   The magic of the ancient men imprisoned the Black Sun, and only their magic can release it once again. Weissler is commanded to discover the means by which the Hyperboreans trapped the Black Sun and break the seals, allowing it to bathe the waking world in its light, as it had done aeons before.   Returning to the waking world, Weissler discovers that twenty-five years have passed and finds Germany in the throes of a new and terrible war. Seeing the carnage gives him an even greater resolve to bring the healing light of the Black Sun to this world.   As the old adversaries of Europe plunge into the First World War, spiritualism gives way to despair, and many of the original progressive movements are engulfed by the horror of the conflict unfolding around them. The eventual defeat of Germany and the crippling terms of the Treaty of Versailles only help to further fuel that anguish and twist it into resentment and hate.   Amidst the political and economic turmoil of post-war Germany, new movements begin to develop. Though bearing many similarities to the earlier Theosophical movement in essence, they show a greater focus on nation and nationalism, and for the first time speak of Aryanism and the Germanic people. Many of the new generation of occultists are little more than political agitators and bigoted ideologues, eager to voice their warped views from behind a veneer of ancient, spiritual “truth”. Hidden in their midst, though, are those with a true understanding of the nature of the universe, and the will to use this knowledge to forge a new future for Germany.