#jean of arc

[trudelosch]

Jean Seberg in "Saint Joan" Otto Preminger 1957

[syrakhanistan]

Barrière d'Enfer (The Gate of Hell)

[Excerpt from an internal report of the Turkish National Intelligence Organisation (Millî İstihbarat Teşkilatı) circa 1944-1947; with regards to a secret expedition between the Istanbul and Paris Universities to investigate the Byzantine Archival record related to the Hundred Years' War.]

In early 1919, following the end of hostilities between the Ottoman Empire and the Entente Powers alongside the de facto end of the Ottoman sultanate, but before the beginning of the National Struggle, forces from the Entente (particularly French and British troops) began a years-long occupation of the city formerly known as Constantinople (now Istanbul).

During this time, extensive archeological expeditions from the victorious powers were performed within the city as well as other occupied territory in Anatolia. One particularly interesting find (between 1919 and 1921) to a group of French researchers, assisted by members of the İstanbul Dârülfünûnu (now University of Istanbul), was a series of documents found primarily in newly discovered former Byzantine archives underneath the Palace of Manganae ruins (with other related documents found in other both former Byzantine and later Ottoman archival records upon further inspection as well as excavation, particularly in Ankara, Smyrna (now Izmir), and Sinop).

These vague sources of new information related predominantly to previously unrecognised (or, more likely, forgotten - given the age of the documents) trading relations between the later Capet dynasty and early House of Valois and the then-Byzantine (Eastern Roman) Empire. The documents, initially benign, seemingly took a much more unorganised and, frankly, odd tone by the mid-to-late 15th century, even before the Ottoman conquest of the Byzantines (the secret trade relations would seemingly continue even under the Ottoman Empire until the late 18th century when it stopped abruptly). This change coincided with the usage of a new coded cipher - one we have yet to break fully; but the parts that have been understood seem to indicate a large yearly transfer of slaves between the Byzantines, and later the Ottomans, and the French kingdom, alongside a substance oddly referred to as 'blessed mortar' (roughly written as mübarekhavan). It was, and still is (somewhat), unknown if this is literal or a coded phrase.

Whatever the slaves and the mortar were for, it quickly became clear under further scrutiny of the discovered archives that sudden and new secret trade was at the direct request of the French crown; and, with further translation and deciphering success blossoming in the late 1930s and early 1940s, a location of delivery for the traded goods was found to be in Northern Paris. A co-operative expedition was sponsored by both the Turkish government and the Third French Republic, but delayed due to French occupation during the Second World War.

The expedition, now sponsored not just by the two governments, but also by both of the governments' security apparatuses due to the need for security amid the thought of possible explosive remains from the war, finally began in earnest in late 1945. However...

[The excerpt continues. However, of note from this point herein, is a piece of evidence - a diary, as well as a few photos, by one of the expedition workers, named [REDACTED], former head of archeology at the University of Istanbul.]

Day 1:

Arrived at Basilica of Saint-Denis in Northern Paris alongside around 30 peers from both France and Istanbul (plus some French and Turkish soldiers as requested). Likely won't be necessary as Paris escaped much of the war's terror seen in other European cities, but better safe than sorry. Fighting in the Liberation of Paris seemed to be largely contained to the centre of Paris, so the church (cathedral?) remains in good condition.

Discovered new entrance to the famed Catacombs of Paris within the church basement, tucked in behind a surprisingly sturdy pillar. [REDACTED] estimates pillar installed circa 1800? Pillar successfully extracted, given to French authorities, roof propped up safely.

Very cold today! Hopefully underground might be warmer.

Day 2:

Group has entered Catacombs proper. Very careful; apparently the Parisians haven't seen a section of the Catacombs this pristinely kept.

Disproportionate number of dead buried here. Largest mass graves, particularly from Plagues during 1300s-1400s, centre around Cimetière des Innocents, with aggregate number following construction of Catacombs in late 18th century being near 2 million. Numbers here alone... more than any four cemetaries later combined in Innocents put together. Numbers to be made note of.

Getting colder? Odd.

Day 3:

So many skulls. Too many.

New documents found in half-buried desk ledger; mass graves of criminals as well as slaves executed here. Why? Human sacrifice?

Ledger documents ~250,000 slaves between 1500-1600 period alone. Also makes reference to blessed mortar substance seen in Istanbul Archives, but does not explain. Photos taken, but not too clear when printed. Ledger extracted, sent upstairs for examination.

Discovered impromptu-looking prison area. Possible slave holding cells?

Two peers from my team excused themselves for religious reasons. I accepted, promised not to mark down.

French researcher found loose tiling laid oddly onto an earthen wall. Improper exposure to elements upon examination lead to the wall crumbling, almost injuring researcher; revealed new tunnel. Large set of ornate metal doors held within. Security team and workers estimate a few days to get open - thicker than expected or needed for age of doors - so taking break to examine discoveries thus far.

Day 7:

Doors opened, another set of tunnels, deeper than any found in Catacombs across Paris.

Tunnels first lead to what appears to be central hub of sorts, with an impressively kept map. Delicately taken upstairs for study; on inspection, hub area appears to connect all the cemeteries in Paris (and surrounding area) to the Catacombs and this section in particular. French authorities deeply interested, have sent teams to locations marked on map for inspection and locating new entrances to catacombs.

This hub location under the Basillica is unique... Second, far more ornate and properly stone-masoned, set of tunnels. Again, unlike any other found in Paris - far more like Byzantine tunnels beneath old Constantinople, or older networks found in Derinkuyu and Kaymakli. Sent sample of stonework for analysis.

[Mil-Int Note: Later and modern analysis of the sample discovered by [REDACTED] confirmed suspicions; masonry found in deeper sections almost wholly made from stone found not in Paris, but in Ottoman territories - specifically, the Mutasarrifate of Jerusalem. Medieval French kings might have interest in supposed 'holy' stone... but for what?]

Day 8:

Further deep exploration authorised by both governments and universities. Supplies given in case of emergency.

Hub location further studied, before entering the second set of tunnels. Tunnels is somewhat innaccurate - seems to be mostly staircases. Estimates seem to put the trail as an odd semicircle, going through the north to the south of Paris, directly under the Place Denfert-Rochereau, then back around to the north, under the Palace d'Louvre before reaching back beneath the Basilica of Saint-Denis. Depth estimate is... just under a kilometre. Should be impossible - the lowest depths previously known of the Catacombs was roughly 50 metres.

Tunnels finally gave way to a set of chambers. Seems almost like an underground house-bunker; rudimentary bedroom, hole-in-the-ground, a small chapel. Further into the house reveals another set of those massive metallic doors - this time, painted an odd dark red. Another few days will be needed to breach. Suppose this house will be our camping ground.

The temperature is dropping further.

Day 9:

Rats seem to have eaten some of our supplies. Holes discovered.

Worms in some of our food??

Our water supplies keep freezing.

Chapel was interesting to deeply examine; cross and the icon of Mary both made of solid gold. Wooden seating is in pristine condition. Taking turns to sleep in the chapel - the warmest area of the house.

The candles we find in this house never burn down their wicks.

Three of our French colleagues apparently got into an argument; one of them ran off back into the Catacombs. Hopefully they returned to the surface safely.

[Mil-Int Note: A single French university scholar did indeed return to the surface on the 9th day of the expedition. They were taken to the hospital almost instantly afterwards due to collapsing, wherein they were found to have suffered major internal damage predominantly due to the bends (decompression sickness), but ended up recovering. They refused to explain what had happened, only begging for a rescue team to be sent down. No team was sent, as communications continued to be working fine through the telephone wires set up to the team below, where no issues were reported.]

Day 10:

Everyone is hearing a dripping sound. We can't find the source of the noise, though.

Going through more findings found inside the house, including a large but moth-eaten Bible (a 15th century version, complete with illustrations and in Vulgate Latin), some tapestries that have long since faded, and an incomplete painting depicting some sort of battle (given the dating of the Bible, it could be a depiction of a battle during the Hundred Years' War).

More ledgers were founded stored in one of the rooms, these ones even older than the ones previously found in the Catacombs. It includes a vague but disturbing description of blessed mortar - originally, an aggregate concrete-like mixture of mortar using stones transported from the Crusader Kingdoms via the Byzantines mixed with blood and bones from live human sacrifices, at a mixture of 10 people per 1 quintal of stone mixture (200 people per tonne of mixture; a quintal being an archaic French weight of roughly 50 kilogrammes). It does not, however, give any indication of what the 'blessed mortar' mixture was necessary for, aside from construction of... something.

One of my colleagues went to the hole-in-the-floor, seemed to lock the door, and then we heard not a peep for hours. Someone tried the door, finding it unlocked, with no trace of my colleague.

Something is knocking on the other side of the sealed metal doors.

Everyone is reporting a recurring nightmare. Memories are vague, but we all remember a burning cathedral, a bloodied crown, and a butterfly with feathered wings.

it is watching us. we can't tell from where.

Day 11:

Good news at last; the new supplies finally arrived, including the necessary materials to breach the crimson doors. Upon opening, a pleasant gasp of warm air filled the house, finally giving us a reprieve from the chill.

The stairs here are solid. Stone, strong, structure appears to be more akin to a road, likely used for the transport of supplies.

The stairs become a spiral, going down and down further, until breaching into a most marvellous place.

The staircase ended with a large corridor, filled with golden statues of angels with no faces. At the end, another set of doors - these ones solid oak, but unlocked. We opened the doors, and found ourselves at a decent height above a vast chasm... cave? Cavern?

A city was down here. An entire city of wooden Medieval houses, streets, dim windows, carts in the roads, all perfectly preserved. We took some photos from this high angle, before descending down a steep set of winding stairs built into the side of the cavern.

I'm not sure why I expected the city to be populated, but it seems as though the whole area was almost frozen in time. No people, no skeletons, yet the streets are filled with signs of life. Windows left open, even bowls of what appears to be fresh food on some tables. Some of our team even swear they can hear conversations in French, whispers in the moyen français or Ancien Francais d'Oile.

Looking back up from the streets, there almost seems to be an artificial sky. The cavern roof must have been painted somehow, complete with realistic looking clouds. There also seem to be odd circles in the sky, almost ritualistic.

Speaking of ritualistic circles, as we moved through the underground city, similar odd circles seemed to keep cropping up. In particular, in the houses of the rich who could afford written books from the Church or other sources (the European printing press presumably not having been made by Gutenberg yet), all the pages where written words should be were replaced with the same unusual runic language seen in both the ritual circles reoccuring around the area, as well as the same language seen in some ancient (and late pre-modern) documents and ruins... The same odd language I saw while working in Diyarbakir's tombs, in some sections of the Byzantine Archives.

One of the French special forces soldiers surprised us by explaining that some of the landmarks, particularly one of the distant towers, was familiar to him; it appears that the city is a Medieval fascimile of the French city of Rouen, north-west of Paris. Why would a replica of Rouen be under Paris?

the ground is crawling

We decided to keep moving through the town, studying it, taking notes, the camera still taking photos for further inspection later. We collectively agreed to end the expedition after reaching the replica of Rouen's cathedral, at the centre of the cavern. We settled down for the night after reaching what appeared to be the original Rouen Château Bouvreuil (an old citadel that had long since been demolished in the real Rouen), just west of the cathedral.

Day 12:

she is here

she wants us to stop

we cannot stop

Day 13:

Odd... it appears we all sleptwalked, or something. Transported back to the edge of the town.

tried to leave

wooden doors locked. soldiers can't even blow it up or shoot it down. weird ritual circle glows on it?

[Mil-Int Note: The recovered camera had a photo of the door, depicting the ground covered with shrapnel and ash from the usage of explosives, as well as the glowing circle of runes seemingly levitating above the doorway, a crude drawing of some sort of bird in the centre of the circle.]

Day 15:

out of food

one of our soldiers started killing his comrades before being put down by the french soldiers

the water was turned to wine??????

Day 19:

The remnants of our group - two French soldiers, one French university scholar, one Turkish soldier, and myself and one of my colleagues as the remnants of the Istanbul University group - finally reached the cathedral. It's warm here. We lounged under the sun on the steps for a moment.

A set of solid golden doors had replaced the central doors of the cathedral's front towers; the north and south towers had no doors, replaced with flat concrete of some kind, that weird bird ritual circle on them. After [REDACTED]'s explosive demise, we know not to touch them anymore.

The cathedral's interior is apparently unchanged from the modern version up above, according to the Frenchman from Rouen - which is odd, given that the modern cathedral has had extensive modifications and expansions from the cathedral of the 15th century.

One glaring issue was, yet again, another set of stairs, warm wood painted red, descending down a spiral staircase into a central descending segment under the the cathedral at the centre of the descending at the centre of the

nto red it's flesh the hole is blood

at least there's not more doors. but more stairs... banisters are bones the smell

don't know, stopped counting:

me and the french soldier from rouen are the last ones

friend from work fell down a few flights ago. found him when we reached the bottom. pancake of jam.

But there was a bottom. A floor. At some point just before the end, the stairs became regular stone once more, with wooden banisters encrusted with golden rings.

another corridor. no doors this time, just a blank black space barred by the bird symbol.

frenchman sighed and pushed it. seemed solid, opened like doors despite being invisible.

we're directly above the city? floating in void. i can sit down though, take a rest.

[Mil-Int Note: The diary ends here. What happens next is collated from a fragmented video and photos, with a description for easier reading. The video is unusual, as the camera taken by the team into the Catacombs was not a video camera with video film.]

The camera swings from side to side; it's being held at the hip by one of two people. The flip of pages and pen to paper in the background indicates that Professor [REDACTED] was the person holding the camera.

"Mon dieu... Professor, I need you here with me." The French soldier comes into view of the camera, motioning for the Professor. The camera's view swings upwards, briefly showing the diary on the 'floor' - the solid void, floating above the pristine medieval settlement - before settling once more on the Professor's hip.

The pair appear to wordlessly move forward in tandem, tip-toeing across the ant-sized city below, towards the area above the cathedral.

The camera is shaking, but a photo taken at this time-stamp shows... something. A glow in the direction they are moving.

The video footage breaks here, and the photos end. However, the footage comes back after a few fixes.

The professor has collapsed, bleeding, the blood pouring into the abyss and going directly through the solidified void. The video shows the French soldier kneeling, putting his hand on the dead man's shoulder, before standing.

Upon standing, he no longer blocks the view of the video footage - revealing an... extraordinary sight. A statue of some sorts, glowing, depicting an abomination, a dragon-like creature with six eyes and butterfly wings, hair flowing out from behind two horns and alongside caterpillar-like legs. Standing above the dragon, and decidedly not a statue yet frozen like one, is what appears to be a young woman with dark blonde hair in full-plate armour, a shadow-like gauntlet criss-crossed with gold on her left arm, a sword that is nearly blinding in her other hand and impaling the forehead of the dragon.

The video's audio is that of static. A whisper can be heard at one point, a gutteral noise, nearly drowned out by the static cries and sobbing of an unseen woman. It roughly translates to:

"Venez, bon monsieur. Remplissez votre devoir envers la France..."

'Come, good sir. Do your duty, for France.'

The soldier, wobbling and stumbling towards the statue, dripping blood from various orifices, appears to oblige the whispers. He moves forward, before dramatically collapsing onto the statue, a single arm wrapping itself around the glowing blade.

A veritable cacophony of sounds breaks into the audio of the video, shrieks, cries, a noise like glass shattering. The camera falls through the previously-solid void, spinning wildly, catching occasional glimpses of flashes, the sound of metal rending, a woman's cry, before the film abruptly ends upon, presumably, hitting the ground.

[The excerpt from the military intelligence report returns.]

...some cost and minor injuries to recover any trace. While nothing remained of the house or anything past it, the camera and diary - alongside several untidy piles of clothing and flesh - had been left outside the metal doors from the Catacombs hub area. The doors themselves are completely sealed now, as it appears to be pointless to go through them - given that the other side of the doors is now a flat face of earth and dirt, with no discernable entrance of any sort.

Both Ankara and Paris decided, particularly upon reviewing the evidence, to close shut the continued investigation of the Byzantine Archives and the excavation of the delivery point of the slave purchases, as well as to suppress any information surrounding the expedition, through bribes, blackmail, and violence. Any economic purpose for further examinations or excavation seems to be at odds to the potential risk of life or the potential to damage the remaining centuries-old artifacts discovered prior to opening the metal doors.

Investigations into the evidence within the photos and film footage, particularly with regards to the statue, the girl, and the runes, have all also been closed - mostly due to lack of concrete evidence, and no extra leads to go towards. The Professor's mention of Diyarbakir as another source of the runes proved fruitless - and, indeed, the Istanbul University group that attempted to perform continued excavation on the possible site he referred to only proved to be worthless as they damaged a set of related ruins and archeologically important architecture, including nearly destroying a cultural landmark.

In terms of recognition, while difficult, the families of our soldiers were given stipends and sent to different places far from urban areas; the Professor and his team were labelled as dying in an accident related to a different archeological expedition happening at the same time (at the Lascaux cave complex in southern France), and summarily but posthumously given various awards.

That being said, our co-operation with France greatly benefitted both sides, encouraging further diplomatic and military dialogue during and following the incident. In particular, both Ankara and Paris have a joint interest in the possibility of developing biological or chemical weapons based upon substances that might have been in place during the expedition, including a full mark-up of the substance known as blessed mortar (with one hypothesis being that the specific set of mines where the stone was brought from reacting badly to a miner's blood, which instilled a psychological or cultural scare into the governments at the time based on superstitions).

[The Turkish military intelligence report ends here. However, an exclave of the Military Salvation Front in the mid-1990s discovered the report in an archive. The following was made as an addendum.]

MSF forces converging on [REDACTED] base discovered this unusual report. Suffice to say, [REDACTED] took immiediate interest in the contents of it.

Operation Baphomet was set up to investigate...

[A further report was made by a team of Marines from the Syrakhanistan executive branch in the early 2000s. The following is heavily censored.]

Operation Baphomet was semi-sucessful. However, [REDACTED]...

...source of power with red... Excavations took note of... translations quickly...

...Extraction of the Beta object, unlike the Theta-Zeta object, proved only somewhat easier...

...Communications between it and our teams proved forthcoming, and...

...virtually unlimited potential to...

...dangerously unstable yet [REDACTED]...

...with that in mind, Operation Bal des Ardents has commenced as a continuation of Baphomet. Co-operation with France via easing of military and diplomatic relations would make it easier, but espionage can always be an option. This could...

...estimates at...

...finally, to establish and...

...harvesting the...

...deep interest to us. Her advice and continued help is of paramount importance, even if it does risk [REDACTED][REDACTED][REDACTED][REDACTED]. But, with that [REDACTED]...

Continued success is likely.

As always,

The First prevails. There is much work to be done.

[gaia-mix-nicolosi]

Jean of Arc!!!

[knox-knocks]

Can’t get over the trojans expecting jean to be a big scary raven and getting a scared, sweet kid instead vs the foxes expecting a quiet and unassuming neil and getting a loud mouth mafia nepo baby (affectionate)

[aaaaaaaaraaaaaraaa]

Silly goose hours (forcing yet another analysis of Anouilh's antigone in an unrelated school assignment)

[manganart]

[allforthegayphase]

Some other examples, hope you don’t mind ❤️‍🩹

jean is never beating the big hearted protector allegations. act aloof all you want but everyone can still see your big giant tender heart ❤️‍🩹

[zegalba]

Jean-Paul Gaultier: 'Joan of Arc' collection spring/summer 1994 ready-to-wear

[lizstiel]

in which scott realizes he is not immune to the logan brainrot

[dykekarkat]

there's a very vague au idea in my head where neil is like a human lab experiment and the lab randomly brings in this up and coming new doctor scientist man (it's aaron) and aaron shows up extremely naive like wow can't wait to Science today i love Science and Medicine and Mad Scientists then he gets there and is like. yo what the fuck that is a whole adult human man.

anyway aaron and neil get close but in that weird scientist lab experiment friendship way (aaron does do some ethically dubious things here bcus i believe in his mad scientist desires) but ultimately he's like okay we have got to get this guy out of here and into real society (he has good intentions AND less good ones here...bcus he does want to see and study how neil interacts with the general public). so he ropes andrew in by being like, hey so remember that new well paying job i got yeah well its unethical human experimentation do you mind trading spots with me every tues/thurs so that we can plan a prison break. and that's how andreil fall in love <3

[lotussgrl]

jean paul gaultier spring 1994

[enthraud]

And now I know how Joan of Arc felt

[diioonysus]

women in art: jeanne d'arc

[ghw-archive]

Jean Seberg As Joan Of Arc by Bettmann

[broken-heart-raven-queen]

Ichirou needs bestmen and someone to plan his bachelor's party and not having any friends and he doesn't wanna pay someone to do it and also could look weird so he calls Jean, Kevin and Neil to do something for him that they can't refuse.

They are all weirded out by this but also don't want problems so they end up planning a trip and a party with the budget Ichirou (that really doesn't know how much this things cost) gave them.

The four of them have a blast and it's SO random, they of course don't ever bring this up again and when the media asks they use their relationship with Riko as an excuse. But Ichirou got to live like a man in his 20s once, and he's starting to think that maybe things aren't just as his father said it should be.

[directorlyric]

Whats a Jo and bro to do….. Based of of this Roblox Screenshot with me and my friends <3

Plus some extras