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The Comte De Saint-Germain
AKA Cartaphilus (Ahasuerus) the wandering Jew
AKA Prince Ragoczy of Transylvania

Reborn Scribe of the Undying Cult of the Khri-habi, Master of the Art of Alchemy, agent of the Order of Hermes and enemy of Clan Tremere, the self styled "Wonderman".

"A man who knows everything and who never dies," said Voltaire of the Comte de Saint-Germain. He might have added that he was a man whose origin was unknown and who disappeared without leaving a trace. In vain his contemporaries tried to penetrate the mystery, and in vain the chiefs of police and the ministers of the various countries whose inhabitants he puzzled, flattered themselves that they had solved the riddle of his birth.

HIS STORY
Cartaphilus was a minor Noble of the Hyksos who dwelt in their capitol city of Hoot-waret (Avaris) during the second intermediary period of the 16th Dynasty. He spent his early years learning the skills of a scribe, and a artist painting the great murals and wall paintings for monuments. As a child of the Invaders Cartaphilus was not a true Egyptian, but his family adopted the lifestyle and practices of the native peoples. His skill as an artists, as an artificer and as a sculpter eventually brought him to the attention of the Egytian scribes. Although it took him over two decades to prove his worth, he was eventually accepted into the Cult of Thoth due to his sympathy for the Egyptians and his influence in the Hyksos court. When King Seqenenre Tao II 'the brave' and his son, Kamose challenged the Hyksos King Apopi, a worshipper of Set, to war, Cartaphilus was forced to make a choice and he chose the Egyptians. He was granted the Spell of Life after a hurried tribunal and advised the Cult and the Shemsu-Heru about his former peoples, aiding in no small way the expulsion of the Desert princes and the establishment of the 17th and 18th Dynasties.

After the Hyksos were expelled from the lands beside the Nile, Cartaphilus found himself without purpose and almost friendless, a reminded of the occupation. He retreated from open life and communicated only with those few Priests and scribes of the Cult of Thoth who had not turned their back on him. He studied the art of Alchemy, seeing a synchronicity between the transformation of matter and the metamorphosis he had undergone himself. From Hyksos to Egyptian, from mortal to Undying, from important advisor to unwanted pariah, Cartaphilus understood the process of change all to well.

For almost 15 centuries the Undying Alchemist continued to study beside the Nile, when he was in his dead phase his Akh was allowed access to Amentai and his Khat was watched over by his friends among the Cult of Thoth. In time, the accident of his birth became less of a hindrance and he rebuilt his relationship with the Veil of Isis. His grasp of Alchemy brought him renown and he was sought after as a mentor and a teacher of the art, he was a valued member of the Shemsu-Heru.

In the century we call the second century BC Cartaphilus found his mind wandering. He wondered how things fared among the Hyksos, now settled in the so-called Promised Land and calling themselves Israelites. He settled his affairs among the Ptolemy dominated Egyptians and joined a caravan to the lands of Canaan and Israel. For many years the Reborn Priest disappeared from the annals of the Undying, and only rumour and speculation about his possible location was heard. He was seen in Amentai almost never and when he was he remained close lipped concerning his wandering.

29 - 33 ADIn the judgement halls of Pontius Pilate, there was a Jewish doorkeeper called Cartaphilus, who had actually been present at the trial of Joshua ben Joseph (Jesus). When Jesus was dragging his cross through the streets on his way to Calvary, he halted for a moment to rest, at this point; Cartaphilus stepped out from the crowd lining the route and told Jesus to hurry up. Jesus looked at Cartaphilus and said, " I will go now, but thou shall wait until I return." The Roman soldiers escorting Christ to the crucifixion site pushed Cartaphilus back into the crowd and Jesus continued on his way.
1228 An Armenian archbishop visiting St Albans told his astonished audience that he had recently dined with an unusual man who confessed to being Cartaphilus, the man who mocked Christ. From this time on, the legend of the 'Wandering Jew' began to circulate throughout the Western world.


As a member of the Cult of Thoth, Cartaphilus maintained a watchful eye over the Order of Hermes as he travelled Europe. This relationship was rarely reciprical as the Orders knowledge of its earliest nature was not widely spoken off within the halls of the Tradition, but St Germain's ability to infiltrate and be accepted by such bodies made him ideal as a spy for the Veil of Isis. Between 1201 and 1325 AD the Order of Hermes was involved with the costly Massasa War gainst Clan Tremere, formerly House Tremere, and Cartaphilus was drawn into the conflict. Even though the war eventually petered out through attrition, Cartaphilus never lost his antagonism to the Vampire Clan, whom he considered only slightly less offensive than the Followers of Set.

When he returned to the world in the 18th century he found himself overly concerned with the effects this group of Undead magi had on the world and took up the fight once more. Seeking out his close Friend Francis Racoczi II, Prince of Transylvania, a Hermetic Mage who had managed to continue reinventing himself as his own offspring for almost 600 years, Cartaphilus began to scheme. The children of Francis Racoczi were brought up by the Emperor of Austria, but one of them was withdrawn from his guardianship. The story was put about that he was dead, but actually he was given into the charge of the last descendant of the Medici family, who brought him up in Italy. Cartaphilus took the identity of this now grown child at his fathers bidding and with support from the work of the theosophists and Annie Besant. With the careful use of Amulets and Necromancy, Cartaphilus became Prince Ragoczy of Transylvania, Tremere vampire. The impenetrable silence kept by him and by those to whom he entrusted his secret was believed to be due to fear of the Emperor of Austria and possible vengeance on his part. The belief that Saint-Germain and the descendant of the Racoczis are one and the same is firmly held by many people, who regard him as a genuine adept and even think he may still be living.

1660 Louis XIV dissolved the secret society known as the the compagnie du saint-sacrament, centred at Saint-Sulpice in Paris. The society was an important part of the Knights Templar and their support of the Merovingian family. The society were repeatedly outspoken against the King, they continued to ignore him and were still strongly attacking his rule in cavalier fashion years after its apparent demise in 1665.
1690 The Countess von Georgy met Cartaphilus, whom was introduced to them as the Compte de Saint Germain in Venice, where she was the ambassadress.
1710 The musician Rameau and Madam de Gergy (with the latter of whom, according to the memoirs of Casanova, he was still dining about 1775) both assert that they met Cartaphilus at Venice, under the name of the Marquis de Montferrat. Both of them agree that he then had the appearance of a man of between forty and fifty years old.
1740 A mysterious man dressed in black arrived in Paris, hot on the heel of a ressurgence of interest in the Myth of the wandering Jew. The gaudily dressed, fashion conscious Parisians instantly noticed the sinister stranger, and admired the dazzling collection of diamond rings on each of his fingers (evidence of his skill in the Hekau of Amulets). The man in black also wore diamond encrusted shoe buckles, a display of wealth that suggested he was an aristocrat, yet nobody in Paris could identify him From the Jewish cast of his handsome countenance, some of the superstitious citizens of Paris believed he was Cartaphilus, the Wandering Jew. The man of mystery later identified himself as the Count of St Germain, and he was quickly welcomed by the nobility into the fashionable circles of Parisian life.


Louis XV was a great patron of Saint Germain, for he extended to him a friendship that aroused the jealousy of his court. He allotted him rooms in the Chateau of Chambord and he shut himself up with Saint-Germain and Madam de Pompadour for whole evenings. Madam du Housset says in her memoirs that the king spoke of Saint-Germain as a personage of illustrious birth.

The reason for this relationship was down to a collection of shared goals and interests, the most important of which was the Fronde. The Fronde was the war for the French throne fought over three generations between the Knights Templar backed Merovingian bloodline and the Family of Louis XIII and his son Louis XIV, and their Catholic prime ministers respectively Cardinal Richelieu and Mazarin. For Louis these remnants of the ancient royalty threatened his own right to rule, but for Cartaphilus the presence of the Templars was like a red rag to a bull. The secrets stolen from Egypt by his own tribe, the Hyksos, had become the foundation of the Knights Templar and their secret parent body, the Prior de Sion.

Louis dabbled in various political fields, advised and manipulated by the Compte de saint Germain. His desire to determine the course of international affairs through intrigue caused him to set up, about 1748, an elaborate system of secret diplomacy known as le Secret du roi. These secret French agents were stationed in major European capitals and ordered by the king to pursue political objectives that were frequently opposed to his publicly announced policies. Louis combined his need to combat the Merovingians with St Germain's spiritual aversion to the Prior de Sion to great effect and together they countered this multi headed Hydra in several arenas.

1743 Saint-Germain is mentioned in a letter of Horace Walpole's as being in London and as being arrested as a Jacobite spy and released. Clan Tremere first record an exchange of knowledge between their London Chantry at the Temple and the Mysterious Prince Ragoczy of Transylvania. The paranoid and secretive Clan of Vampires seem to accept the stranger without question, some even remembering meeting him before and having witnessed his presentation to the Inner circle.
1748 At the French court Saint Germain exercised for a time extraordinary influence and was employed on secret missions by Louis XV; but, having interfered in the dispute between Austria and France, he was compelled in June 1760, owing to the hostility of the Duke de Choiseul, to remove to England.
1750 to 1760 The period of the Compte de Saint Germain's great celebrity in Paris. Everyone agreed then that, in appearance, he was a man of between forty and fifty.
1760 St Germain appears to have resided in London for one or two years, an English newspaper, the London Mercury, quite seriously published a story about his elixir of youth. During this period, he continued to meet with the Tremere of London and to grow in thier respect. His knowledge of the Hermetic Mages was indepsensible.
1762 The Compte was at St. Petersburg in Russia and is asserted to have played an important part in the conspiracy against Tsar Peter III in July of that year, a plot that placed Catherine II the Great on the Russian throne. He then went to Germany, where, according to the Mémoires authentiques of the adventurer the Count di Cagliostro, he was the founder of freemasonry and initiated Cagliostro into that rite.
1769 The Count St Germain opened a mass-production factory in Venice in 1769 where he developed a synthetic form of silk. During this period he also executed several magnificent sculptures in the tradition of the classical Greeks. Cartaphilus had spent a great deal of time perfecting his sculpting abilities in order to create better Ushabti with the art of Effigy.
1770 A year later, St Germain was again active in interfering with the politics of other nations; this time he was seen in the uniform of a Russian General with Prince Alexei Orloff in Leghorn.
1774 After the death of Louis XV in 1774, the man from nowhere turned up unexpectedly in Paris and warned the new monarch, King Louis XVI and his Queen, Marie Antoinette, of the approaching danger of the French Revolution, which he described as a "gigantic conspiracy" and would overthrow the order of things. He continued to make several more prophecies but was ignored. The terror of the French revolution may have proved Cartaphilus grasp of the Celestial Hekau, but also proved his seemingly boundless Charisma had its limits. He was heard to sob one night over his guilt that he 'could not make them listen'. He later raged at Maurepas, the Kings minister, that "The king has called on you to give him good counsel, and in refusing to allow me to see him you think only of maintaining your authority.You are destroying the monarchy, for I have only a limited time to give to France, and when that time has passed I shall be seen again only after three generations. I shall not be to blame when anarchy with all its horrors devastates France. You will not see these calamities, but the fact that you paved the way for them will be enough to blacken your memory."
1770 to 1774 He was again in Paris from, and, after frequenting several of the German courts, he took up his residence in Schleswig-Holstein, where he and the landgrave Charles of Hesse pursued together the study of the "secret" sciences.
1775 Comtesse d'Adhemar saw him again, she declared that she found him younger than ever.
Saint Germain spent the last years in which history is able to follow his career at the home of Count Charles of Hesse Cassel. The Count was a member of the Veil of Isis and his home was often used as both a Temple and a Tomb for the Undying. He worked at alchemy with him, and Saint-Germain treated him as an equal. It was to him that Saint-Germain entrusted his papers just before his supposed death in 1784.
1784 A rumor was current in Paris that the Comte de Saint-Germain had just died in the Duchy of Schleswig, at the castle of the Count Charles of Hesse Cassel.
1785 The official documents of Freemasonry say that in 1785 the French masons chose him as their representative at the great convention that took place in that year, with Mesmer, Saint-Martin, and Cagliostro present.
1789 Saint Germain was said to have been seen in Paris during the French Revolution. Finally, the Comtesse d'Adhemar reports at great length a conversation she had with him in the Church of the Recollets, after the taking of the Bastille. His face looked no older than it had looked thirty years earlier.
1792 The Compte de Saint Germain was one of the crowd surrounding the tribunal at which the Princess de Lamballe appeared before her execution.
1798 The Englishman Grosley said he saw the Compte in a revolutionary prison.
1820 'Major Fraser' ( a pseudonym of St Germain) published an account of his journey in the Himalayas, in which he said he had reached Gangotri, the source of the most sacred branch of the Ganges River, and bathed in the source of the Jumna River?
1821 "I have seen Saint-Germain again," wrote Comtesse d'Adhemar, "each time to my amazement." Mademoiselle de Genlis asserts that she met the Comte de Saint-Germain during the negotiations for the Treaty of Vienna; and the Comte de Chalons, who was ambassador in Venice, said he spoke to him there soon afterwards in the Piazza di San Marco. Unconfirmed rumours claim that Prince Ragoczy visited the Tremere Chantry in Vienna at this time and managed to operate without suspiscion.
1821 An Englishman, Albert Vandam, in his memoirs, which he calls An Englishman in Paris, speaks of a certain person whom he knew towards the end of Louis Philippe's reign and whose way of life bore a curious resemblance to that of the Comte de Saint-Germain. "He called himself Major Fraser, wrote Vandam, "
1867 The Count St Germain was then briefly seen in Milan, attending a meeting of the Grand Lodge of Freemasons.
1870 Emperor Napoleon III was so fascinated by the "Undying Count" that he ordered a special commission be set up at the Hotel de Ville to investigate the nobleman. But the findings of the committee never came to a conclusion because of the fire in 1871.
1871 A mysterious fire gutted the Hotel de Ville, destroying every document that related to the self styled Count.


Cartaphilus was a loyal follower of Horus, but his nature as a foreigner precluded him from being counted among the Shemsu-Heru. To his peers he was always counted as a Cabiri, an outsider and an Independent. As he grew in influence and renown, many of the Undying on the periphery of the Wat Hor looked to him for guidance and leadership. Together with a collection of non Egyptian Mummies and those out of favour with the status quo, Cartaphilus established a cell of the Veil of Isis in Tibet, known as Shambhala.

Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, cofounder of the Theosophical Society, was a devoted acolyte of several of these Independent Undying. She was not party to the complete truth about her preternatural patrons whom she referred to as the Ascended Masters of the Great White Brotherhood. Blavatsky believed that, as the world's hidden leaders, members of this mystical brotherhood guided the destiny of the planet. Her ideas contributed to expectation of a New Age among practitioners of Spiritualism and believers in astrology, for whom the coming of the new Aquarian Age promised a period of brotherhood and enlightenment.

The Theosophical Society (founded in 1875 in New York City) grew into a plethora of splinter groups but Blavatsky and her associate Henry Steel Olcott moved to India in 1878, eventually establishing their base of operations at Adyar, near Madras, which still serves as the international headquarters for the Theosophical Society. The Russian Noblewoman fell out of favour after revealing part of the truth to the world when she openly proclaimed that the Compte de Saint Germain belonged to a race of immortals who lived in a subterranean country called Shambhala, north of the Himalayas. Even without her Secret Masters, Blavatsky was still a easily manipulated dupe and the Theosophical Society as a whole acted to shield the Cabiri in the mundane world.

1880 - 1900 It was admitted among all theosophists, who at that time had become very numerous, particularly in England and America, that the Comte de Saint-Germain was still alive, that he was still engaged in the spiritual development of the West, and that those who sincerely took part in this development had the possibility of meeting him. During the same period, Prince Ragoczy was the major influence among the Theosophists for Clan Tremere.
1896 The Theosophist Annie Besant said she had met the Count, and around the same year, Russian Theosophist Madame Blavatsky said the Count had been in contact with her. She proclaimed that he belonged to a race of immortals who lived in a subterranean country called Shambhala, north of the Himalayas.
1897 The French singer Emma Calvay also claimed the Count St Germain had paid her a visit, and she called him a "great chi romancer", who had told her many truths. Emma Calvey is notably connected with Berenger Sauniere, the priest in the mystery of Rennes Le Chateau.
1914 August, in the early days of World War One, two Bavarian soldiers captured a Jewish-looking Frenchman in Alsace. During his all night interrogation he prophesised the second world war, Germany's money woes and the nazi party. He continued to predict a string of events that have since come to pass, all to the amusement of his captives. The soldier led him go, thinking him a mad man.


CURRENT PRACTICES
Cartaphilus returned to the world of the living from Amentai less than ten years ago, and has devoted much of his attention to the city of London, finding republican France dull and gauche. As always he has taken up the persona of Prince Ragoczy and has begun to work with the Tremere once more. As a Vampire whose portraits hang in both the gallery of the Temple and the Vienna Chantry itself, Ragoczy has a wealth of Friends and peers among the Tremere. This entrenched presence allows Cartaphilus to spy upon his enemies and to take steps to counter their plans, it also gives him access to the Tremere intelligence concerning the Followers of Set and thus garners him a great deal of respect from the Shemsu-Heru.

In recent years the Compte de Saint Germain has begun to contact the Changelings of London. Mixing his own occult research with snippets of information learned from Hermetic allies, Cartaphilus has embarked on a program of discover aimed primarily at the Nocker Kith. He hopes at some date to open a line of communication between these masters of Alchemy and his own cult of Khri-habi. As is indicative of his nature, this interest has drawn him into the Civil war currently waging across the courts of London's Dreaming and he is considering offering his services as an agent, counsellor and tactician to one of the forces in the struggle.

NATURE
In the distinguished company of writers, philosophers, scientists, freemasons and aristocrats, the count displayed a veritable plethora of talents. He was an accomplished pianist, a gifted singer and violinist, a linguist who spoke fluent Spanish, Greek, Italian, Russian, Portuguese, Chinese Arabic, Sanskrit, English and of course French. The count of St. Germain was also a fine artist, historian and a brilliant alchemist. He maintained that he had travelled widely, and recounted his many visits to the court of the Shah of Persia, where he had learnt the closely guarded science of improving and enlarging gemstones. The count also hinted that he had learnt many arcane lessons of the occult.

The Compte de Saint Germain was renown for his love of jewels, and he ostentatiously showed off those he possessed. He kept a great quantity of them in a casket, which he carried about everywhere with him. The importance he attached to jewels was so great that in the pictures painted by him, which were in themselves remarkable, the figures were covered with jewels; and his colours were so vivid and strange that faces looked pale and insignificant by contrast. This is due in part to the fact that he spent so much of his formative years as a hated outsider and as a lesser member of the Shemsu-Heru and in part to his reliance on magical Amulets.

The drive to enjoy his eternal life extended to all aspects of his nature. Saint-Germain seems to have been free personally from the solemnity in which men of religion and philosophers wrap themselves. He had an immense stock of amusing stories with which he regaled society and he enjoyed and sought the company of the pretty women of his day. It appears from the memoirs of Baron von Gleichen that when Saint-Germain was in Paris he became the lover of Mademoiselle Lambert, daughter of the Chevalier Lambert, who lived in the house in which he lodged. And it appears from Grosley's memoirs that in Holland he became the lover of a woman as rich and mysterious as himself. He was a dapper and charming man, with a quick wit and a silver tongue. Though he never ate any food in public, he liked dining out because of the people he met and the conversation he heard. The parties he threw were legendary and his presence at Parisian salons was a guarantee of social success. He was an aristocrat who lived with princes and even with kings almost on a footing of an equal.

Unlike many other of his Undying companions, Cartapilhus was fond of using his Hekau to improve his life and his social standing. He gave recipes for removing wrinkles and dyeing hair. He devised diets and health regimens for Ladies of a certain age and advised politicians and Princes on matters of state. In short, the Compte de Saint Germain was popular. He had completely reinvented himself and had overcome the feelings of inferiority he had harboured since he first awoke from the Spell of Life. At first this hedonistic and gad fly lifestyle seems incompatible with the high mission with which he was invested by the Veil of Isis, with the part he played in the Hermetic societies of Germany and France and with his role in the Masonic sects of Europe. But the contradiction is deliberate. His outward appearance of a man of the world was necessary in the first place for the purposes of the secret diplomacy in which Louis XV often employed him. Beneath the polished exterior of the courtier and adventurer, Cartaphilus is a dedicated follower of Isis, a man who sees the missions his adopted race set him as the most vital of quests. Each mission to thwart Apophis and the forces of Izfet is his personal Philosophers stone.