References to a German bombing raid

Conversation between Vladimir and James on Dec. 15

Vladimir What do you know of the second World War? Particularly, the interception of German messages by the English? 7:53pm James That's one of the things I don't know a lot about from WW2. Basically, I know that both sides had bunches of people working around the clock, monitoring radio signals, breaking encryptions and such, to get the message, so that they could use them against eachother. The English used them mostly to prepare for air-raids, right? 7:54pm Vladimir [note: this was in reference to James asking whether there is indeed meant to be a chess piece pictured between the two butterflies that form Vlad's profile picture] As for the image: you are now starting to see what is there rather than the negative space. This is good. Now expand this idea to the other items and information you have at your disposal. 7:55pm Vladimir Yes but they had a dilemma at one point. You can research this properly but the general gist is this: Brits received information that they decoded. They realised there was to be a huge bombing raid by the Germans on a populated area. What do you do, especially as you are preparing a massive attack on them, one that may turn the tide of war in your favour and prevent millions dying? a) Evacuate the populated area, thus informing the Germans that you have decoded their messages and that, in turn, will make them change their messages and delay your forces indefinitely, but save many lives. 7:58pm Vladimir  b) Let many innocents die but know that the next day your attack will be secure and you can counter any counter measures as you can decode their messages, thus possibly end the war quicker and save many more lives. c) Something else? Oh yes. You have about 2 hours to make this decision before the raid happens. so option [c] had better be something that can be done quickly.  8:01pm James  Well, in a modern day situation, with internet and such, I'd opt for C and both clear everyone out, AND have their codes quickly cracked. But, in that situation, I don't really know. As they say - the ends justifies the means. But, I don't think I'd want to be the one deciding on which to do.  *end, not ends  8:02pm Vladimir  I think you were/are correct with ends. Many innocents died that day. Some had family survive...  Some had family working in the decision making buildings.  The chances of one family with both?  8:03pm James  They were tipped off.  Or, so I'd think. I mean, they very well could have been off visiting the grandparents or something. But, I'd think they had inside knowledge  8:04pm Vladimir  2 hours. Not many telephones. And children scattered everywhere, like butterflies... 8:07pm James Hm, so, what are you implying? Not that they had been warned in those two hours, but that they had known far ahead of time, or, going the 'comic book' route, and implying that they had some form of ESP and could 'see' the event before it happened? James Or am I totally off with that? 8:09pm Vladimir You are asking the questions people asked before and after the event. Those people are now dead. 8:09pm James Hm. So, what would the right question to ask be? Hm... would it be 'who told them'? or.. 'how were they connected to the source'? 8:11pmVladimir The game begins. Start asking questions now. Watch your back. Old men are still men. 8:11pm James Is that a threat or a warning? 8:11pm Vladimir Yes. 8:12pm James ..how did I figure I'd get that answer? haha. 8:12pm Vladimir Good Knight James, be honourable and be chivalrous. Choose the fellow pieces well. I will help when I can, but for now, watch the time. 8:12pm James One more question. Just for now, any way. 8:13pm Vladimir No. 8:13pm James You told everyone to pick who they are out of the chess pieces. Which color are we? bah. Fine. I had already asked it earlier, but didn't see a response on the wall. 8:14pm Vladimir You cannot play if the king is not on the board properly and the queen is missing can you? 8:14pm James No, I guess you can't. 8:14pm Vladimir Set up the board, but quickly. If you are able to as the questions from the information you have, so can others. 8:15pm James So, should I be sharing this information, or leave it up to them to find it on their own? Or do they already know? Just don't want to jump the gun here, y'know? 8:16pm Vladimir What information is that? I merely raised an ethical idea in your mind. I have told you nothing. Time has pase and philosophers who asked ethical questions in the '40s are surely dead now correct? 8:17pm James That is true. Vladimir Is it? You were deciding on trusting me. Seems you have done with facts. Now, the answer to your equation begins with a little silver. 8:21pm James I didn't mean the part about them being dead being true. I mean, there still are people around from that era. I meant that it was true that all you did was raise the question. I should be more clear. 8:21pm Vladimir Good knight Digory. 8:21pm James As for silver.. Hm. The dragon-slayer? 8:23pm Vladimir is offline.

Telos' further thoughts on this:
 * I thought V's mother may have been one of those kids, but, she was born in 1950. Dawn brought that to my attention, but we agreed that it could have been their parents. We both went to bed after that. But, I remembered a name on the tree this morning, and it makes sense in that scenario - Cynthia Phanes - Born 29th of July, 1923.


 * So. Cynthia's parents - one of them must have been :
 * A. ) A German spy - thus knowing about the air raid way ahead of time, even before the code-crackers.
 * B. ) Worked as code-crackers and somehow left their 'job', got the kids, and got the hell out.
 * C. ) Had some form of extra-sensory-perception and 'saw' the raid before it happened.


 * Normally, I wouldn't include option C. But, it seems Vlad can do it. When I asked him about how he knew V was safe before - when she had that breakdown over the letter - he said he could sense her. When I asked how, and if it was some sort of ESP, he said not exactly - but the math behind it was very complex.

Amandel was able to figure out that the German air-raid referred to throughout the game was the Coventry Blitz. That was a series of air-raids, actually, but the most severe run--code-named Operation Mondscheinsonate (Moonlight Sonata) by the Germans--took place on November 14, 1940 and killed 568 civilians. (Actually, while this death toll is taken as the maximum for the purposes of this game--with the only argument being that it may actually have been a little bit less due to some people surviving when they seemingly shouldn't have--the Wikipedia article on the Blitz seems to indicate that the death toll is not really known and could have been much higher.)

An initial wave of 13 specially modified Heinkel He 111 aircraft of Kampfgruppe 100 accurately dropped marker flares at 19:20.

Coventry Cathedral, dedicated to St. Michael, was reduced to a ruined shell as a result of the Blitz.

A 1974 book, The Ultra Secret, claims the British knew the attack was coming (OOG, they did not necessarily know the target, but IG it seems they did).

Note that a John R. F. Jeffreys was involved in decoding messages that the Germans had encoded using the Enigma Machine; on Dec. 14, Vladimir mentioned a namesake John Jeffreys that had been involved in clock design.