InsaneJournal

What does Hexennacht mean?
Hexennacht, also known as Walpurgisnacht, Walpurgis Night, or the Night of the Witches, is the night of April 30 to May 1. Named for the Saint Walpurga, it is a traditional Pagan holiday, Christianized to become a Roman Catholic's Saint day. In Germany, it is the night when witches allegedly gather to celebrate on the Brocken mountain, or the Blocksberg, and celebrate the arrival of spring. It's a night when magical powers are said to be heightened, and the boundary between the living and dead is weakened, and the dead can walk among the living. It also celebrates a time of new beginnings, and with a former Auror outing the entire Magical community to the Muggle community, it is certainly the beginning of a new era in the Magical world.


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 Hexennacht. 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 MWPP 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, Hexennacht was created.
You can certainly play in Hexennacht 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 am so against this Ministry decree, or whatever other laws you might have! I'm going to rebel, is that okay?
Well, of course you can decide that whatever the Ministry of Magic is saying isn't what you want to do. We aren't going to stop you. But keep this in mind that there are consequences to every action and don't be surprised that the Death Eaters have a hit out for your character or your character has an arrest warrant. The moral of the story is, make sure you realize what your character is doing, and try not to get caught. Unless you want them to end up in Azkaban, which is fine with us.

I wanna play a vampire/werewolf/animagus/metamorphamagus/snake creature from the Black Lagoon! Can I?
Well the short answer is yes. The longer one is a bit more complicated. At the moment, we have reached our cap for Metamorphamagus characters, so we won't be accepting any more, unless they are canon. This might change in the future but, as of now, we don't want to have too many running around in the game. As for vampires, right now a coven of female vampires run the Ministry in Finland. So, yes, if you'd like to play a vampire, we can discuss it. Keep in mind, this is not Twilight, nor is this an Anne Rice book. Since JKR didn't flat out set a canon for the vampires in her world, we have used vampire lore to create our own. Werewolves are also a possibility. Back in August, the Order fought against a group of werewolves, so it is possible that a werewolf or two is running around in the world. We will be strict with Animagus characters as we already have a few in the game, though, once again, it can be discussed with the mods. As for a snake creature from the Black Lagoon? Seriously? If you want to app that, please contact us. Because, frankly, I'd love to see how that works out.

Hang on, why's the Ministry in the Greenwich? Does the phonebooth lead there?
During the attacks on February 1986, the Ministry of Magic building was destroyed. Again. This time the Ministry decided to build it outside of Central London and picked a place in Greenwich. Minister Moody at the time stated that it might be good not to take out blocks of the city just in case the building is attacked again, and most people agreed.

What's the PEM? What happened to it and what was it?
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. After February 1986, a vote across Europe destroyed all bonds created by the PEM and each European nation now controls it's own fate.

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 Hexennacht, 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 Hexennacht, 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!

Oh my! Your history is years long, is there any way I can get that in a bite sized nugget? With pictures?
Why yes! Except for the pictures part. You don't want any of us drawing pictures. Trust me.
This was stated by Delilah Savage to Daria Scrimgeour:

'Well, here's the deal, I think. So, two ministers ago was a man named Tom Riddle and he really hates non-magical people. A lot. Some people, like Rabastan and his friends, are in allegiance with him and they call those people Death Eaters. Sometimes because they agree with his ideals and sometimes because their families pushed them into it. I don't know the logistics of being a Death Eater, it doesn't sound very fun. Okay, so then our last minister, Gellert Grindelwald, overthrew Riddle and started implementing even WORSE anti-magical policies. He's the one that put me and Dexter in Bruges and Amsterdam and stuff, which wasn't as fun as it sounds. So, a lot of former Death Eaters switched allegiance and started working for Grindelwald. They call those people Black Caps. Miss Sioned and her husband, Julian, worked for Grindelwald and they helped put him in power and a lot of people were really upset with them. But then when Grindelwald became too power hungry and was too harsh on non-magical people they helped overthrow him and our current minister, Alastar Moody took over. We held an election to see if Julian Derrick or Moody would become our real Minister and Moody won. So, now Riddle and Grindelwald are in cahoots (or that's what Hadrian and I think) and they're trying to get back at all the Death Eaters and Black Caps that betrayed them or are working for Moody now. So, a lot of people have gone missing and I think they're being kidnapped.

The end.'

Bite sized nugget of information, right?