This name sounds
familiar. What does Kristallnacht mean?Kristallnacht,
aka Crystal Night, or the Night of the Broken Glass, is a historical
reference to World War II. Kristallnacht marked the beginning of the
systematic eradication of the Jewish people, as more than 30,000
Jewish men were rounded up and taken to concentration camps, more
than 1,000 Synagogues were destroyed, and tens of thousands of
Jewish businesses and homes were ransacked and destroyed. On the
anniversary of Kristallnacht, Grindelwald rounded up hundreds of
Muggles to kill them in front of the Ministry of Magic, and
Muggleborns were forced to leave London, marking the beginning of a
dark era in Grindelwald's reign.
Is this really the best choice of names for your
game?We realize some people might look at the name
and think, "Do they realize they just named their game after a
horrific event in World War II?" And yes, we do, and were well aware
of it when we named the game. We were drawing parallels between
Grindelwald's actions and those in World War II. As you may notice,
a few of the important events in our history even occur on the same
dates as the historical events, and this was not by accident. Don't
worry, we did our research, and we didn't just think, "Man,
that sounds like a cool name, and I do like broken glass!" We
do realize that the name might be offensive to people, but we did
pick the name for a reason and not simply because we wanted to start
trouble. We are attempting to take what JKR said and move it forward
into a different world. There is no telling what would have happened
if Grindelwald took over within canon fiction, so we are running
with what was already planted within the books. If you have a
problem with that, we are sorry. But we do like our name and we, as
a group, decided upon it.
You
mention Sien Finn once or twice. What does the IRA have to do with
RPing?Not to be confused with Sinn Féin,
Sien Finn is
the predecessor to Kristallnacht. See, back in December of 2005, a
game called Intempesta Nox, a canon MWPP era game, started up. A few
months later, the mods decided to move the game ahead three years
and created Sien Finn, an alternate universe MWWP era game, where
the prophecy never occurred and Tom Riddle was the Minister of
Magic. Everyone gladly moved to Sien Finn, and it flourished. After
two years of playing at Sien Finn, we all decided it was about time
for another change, and, so, Kristallnacht was created.
You can
certainly play in Kristallnacht without ever having been a member of
Sien Finn, but there is some backstory that is being brought over
from there. Which is why we have this handy dandy FAQ.
Alastor Moody the Black brothers running the
Order? Where the heck is Dumbledore and why are an old kook and a
Death Eater in charge?Two years ago, Albus Dumbledore
was locked up in Azkaban by Tom Riddle without a trial, where he
eventually died. Ever since, Alastor Moody has been in charge of the
Order of the Phoenix. As for Regulus, in the backstory of Sien Finn,
after the destruction of the Horcrux, he joined the Order of the
Phoenix, and has since begun to help Moody with some of the
responsibilities of the Order.
Ashwinder Coalition? Who in the what
now?The Ashwinder Coalition began as a vigilante
group, determined to expose corruption in the government and arrest
Death Eaters walking openly in the public. They were small and their
identities were hidden, but they were more open and extreme about
their actions, hacking journals and bombing pureblood businesses.
Since Grindelwald's reign began, the remaining members of the
Ashwinder Coalition have begun working with the Order of the
Phoenix.
Just what the hell is
a 'Black Cap'?Since Grindelwald took over the
Ministry, he created his own army to look after the rest of the
community. The Black Caps are basically Grindelwald's private army,
getting their name from the black hats that are part of their
uniform. They have a real name, discussed only in passing as Black
Cap has become their common name. Think of them as the Death Eaters
this time around. Though they do have power over most everyone else,
they are expected not to abuse it. This doesn't mean that any
character that is a Black Cap can simply walk up and kill another
character, but they will be given quite a bit more abilities. Higher
placed Ministry officials will almost always be members of the Black
Caps but, just like being a Death Eater, they do not run around
proclaiming what they are. Concealed in black masks and heavy robes,
it is hard to figure out just who they are but needless to say, they
are a force you don't want to meet in a dark alley.
Wait, wait, wait, I play a Muggleborn, you
mean I can't use magic?Not quite. Muggleborn wizards
still are able to cast spells, walk around in wizarding areas, and
basically be normal citizens. But you won't see them flashing their
magic around in public. They are restricted to spells that one would
learn up until Fifth year in school. That means nothing complex,
nothing amazing and certainly no Unforgivables. This, of course, is
only a law and only punishable if caught. Got a rule breaking
character? That's great because we don't expect everyone to fall
into line, but keep in mind, there are consequences to every action
just like in real life.
Hang
on, why's the Ministry in the Royal Borough of Kensington and
Chelsea? Does the phonebooth lead there?In December
of 1982, the British Ministry of Magic hosted a summit for all the
European Ministers of Magic. The summit was attacked, killing nearly
everyone in the summit, and destroying the original Ministry of
Magic. The Ministry was then rebuilt, with a place in the
RBKC.
What's the PEM?
Grindelwald isn't running a candy company, is
he?After all the European Ministers of Magic were
killed, someone had to take over all of these countries, and the
only surviving Minister took that chance to seize control of all of
Europe. Tom Riddle took control of all but two European countries
(Finland and Belgium, who refused to join and elected new
Ministers), calling it the Pan-European Ministry, or the PEM. The
PEM still exists, and is now under Grindelwald's strict
control.
I know who the Weird
Sisters are but who the hell are these other
bands?Everyone knows who the Weird Sisters are, but
everyone has a different way of playing them. Here at kristallnacht,
our Weird Sisters can be described very easily as a punk band.
Though they have adapted to the changing style of the 80s, they're
still true to their garage punk band roots. Some influences for the
Weird Sisters are: Sex Pistols, Clash, Ramones, and Cockney Rejects.
Think of them as your hard core punk band in the game.
There are
also two other played bands within kristallnacht, one is largely a
band created out of NPCs and one is a real played band with
characters in the game. The first one is Parasiiti. This band is led
by Regulus Black and Burton Jones. The two trade off being lead
vocalists and trade styles when they do so. The main influences for
Parasiiti can be traced back to the Misfits, Black Sabbath, Clash as
well as Deep Purple and Iron Maiden. They are the heavy
metal/alternative rock band within the game.
The last band is
Umlauti, and was started by Burton Jones's wife, Liz. She is the
lead vocalist and has quite a bit of influences from Burton as well.
Umlauti can be considered the horror punk band. They often draw from
many of the same bands as Parasiiti but most of their songs involve
serial killers, vampires, death, and general horror movie topics
where as Parasiiti pulls from bizarre love ballads.
The only
band with open, playable, characters is the Weird Sisters, but all
three bands are loosely connected within the game.
Something seems off here. Aren't the Weird
Sisters a little young for this game? And Celestina Warbeck a little
old?You might notice a couple characters around here
that seem to be a bit older or younger than the Lexicon claims. You
see, around here, while Jo's word is God, her numbers are closer to
human. As in, they err. She's said numerous times that math is not
her strong point, so don't be afraid to play around with ages a bit
here and there. Nothing
too much, please, as this isn't a
Time Travel game. The basic rule of thumb is that if the character's
age doesn't play a factor in the books (such as the Weird Sisters,
as long as they still could have performed at the Yule Ball), then
it's okay to flip it around and skew it a bit to fit your ends, as
long as it stays believable!
Hey, wait, that's all? I have more questions,
damnit!Comment here with any questions you might have
already!