Nothing is True. Everything is Connected.
Tag: <span>Enemies</span>

Sylum Inspiration: Galileo Galilei

 

Galileo was born in Pisa (then part of the Duchy of Florence), Italy, in 1564, the first of six children of Vincenzo Galilei, a famous lutenist, composer, and music theorist, and Giulia Ammannati. Galileo became an accomplished lutenist himself and would have learned early from his father a healthy scepticism for established authority, the value of well-measured or quantified experimentation, an appreciation for a periodic or musical measure of time or rhythm, as well as the illuminative progeny to expect from a marriage of mathematics and experiment. Three of Galileo’s five siblings survived infancy. The youngest, Michelangelo (or Michelagnolo), also became a noted lutenist and composer although he contributed to financial burdens during Galileo’s young adulthood. Michelangelo was unable to contribute his fair share of their father’s promised dowries to their brothers-in-law, who would later attempt to seek legal remedies for payments due. Michelangelo would also occasionally have to borrow funds from Galileo to support his musical endeavours and excursions. These financial burdens may have contributed to Galileo’s early fire to develop inventions that would bring him additional income.

Galileo was named after an ancestor, Galileo Bonaiuti, a physician, university teacher and politician who lived in Florence from 1370 to 1450; at that time in the late 14th century, the family’s surname shifted from Bonaiuti (or Buonaiuti) to Galilei. Galileo Bonaiuti was buried in the same church, the Basilica of Santa Croce in Florence, where about 200 years later his more famous descendant Galileo Galilei was also buried. When Galileo Galilei was eight, his family moved to Florence, but he was left with Jacopo Borghini for two years. He then was educated in the Camaldolese Monastery at Vallombrosa, 35 km southeast of Florence.

Although a genuinely pious Roman Catholic, Galileo fathered three children out of wedlock with Marina Gamba. They had two daughters, Virginia in 1600 and Livia in 1601, and one son, Vincenzo, in 1606. Because of their illegitimate birth, their father considered the girls unmarriageable, if not posing problems of prohibitively expensive support or dowries, which would have been similar to Galileo’s previous extensive financial problems with two of his sisters. Their only worthy alternative was the religious life. Both girls were accepted by the convent of San Matteo in Arcetri and remained there for the rest of their lives. Virginia took the name Maria Celeste upon entering the convent. She died on 2 April 1634, and is buried with Galileo at the Basilica of Santa Croce, Florence. Livia took the name Sister Arcangela and was ill for most of her life. Vincenzo was later legitimised as the legal heir of Galileo and married Sestilia Bocchineri.

Although Galileo seriously considered the priesthood as a young man, at his father’s urging he instead enrolled at the University of Pisa for a medical degree. In 1581, when he was studying medicine, he noticed a swinging chandelier, which air currents shifted about to swing in larger and smaller arcs. To him it seemed, by comparison with his heartbeat, that the chandelier took the same amount of time to swing back and forth, no matter how far it was swinging. When he returned home, he set up two pendulums of equal length and swung one with a large sweep and the other with a small sweep and found that they kept time together. It was not until Christiaan Huygens almost one hundred years later that the tautochrone nature of a swinging pendulum was used to create an accurate timepiece. Up to this point, Galileo had deliberately been kept away from mathematics, since a physician earned a higher income than a mathematician. However, after accidentally attending a lecture on geometry, he talked his reluctant father into letting him study mathematics and natural philosophy instead of medicine. He created a thermoscope, a forerunner of the thermometer, and in 1586 published a small book on the design of a hydrostatic balance he had invented (which first brought him to the attention of the scholarly world). Galileo also studied disegno, a term encompassing fine art, and in 1588 obtained the position of instructor in the Accademia delle Arti del Disegno in Florence, teaching perspective and chiaroscuro. Being inspired by the artistic tradition of the city and the works of the Renaissance artists, Galileo acquired an aesthetic mentality. While a young teacher at the Accademia, he began a lifelong friendship with the Florentine painter Cigoli, who included Galileo’s lunar observations in one of his paintings.

In 1589, he was appointed to the chair of mathematics in Pisa. In 1591, his father died, and he was entrusted with the care of his younger brother Michelagnolo. In 1592, he moved to the University of Padua where he taught geometry, mechanics, and astronomy until 1610. During this period, Galileo made significant discoveries in both pure fundamental science (for example, kinematics of motion and astronomy) as well as practical applied science (for example, strength of materials and improvement of the telescope). His multiple interests included the study of astrology, which at the time was a discipline tied to the studies of mathematics and astronomy.

It was his work in mathematics that had caught Leonardo’s attention. He approached the Scientist, asking if he wanted to be Turned.

Sylum Inspiration: Alan Rikkin

 

Alan Rikkin came from a powerful wealthy family in England.  He had the best education in the finest schools, and was given everything he needed to make something of his life.

He took over his father’s businesses and expanded them globally.

He like his father, was a Templar and believed everything they had taught him.  His goals in life were matched to advance to the Templar cause.

He fell in love with and married Ellen Kaye, the only thing he ever did against the Templars, and they had one daughter – Sofia Rikkin.  When the pressure against them became too much, the two divorced and Alan raised their daughter, telling her that Assassins had killed her mother.

It was his daughter’s theories about inherent memories, that gave him the idea about trying to find the legendary ‘Apple’ by putting descendants of famed Assassins into a Simulator.

It failed until they met Callum Lynch … then everything changed.

Sylum Inspiration: Cesare Borgia

 

Cesare Borgia

 

So this month decided to go for the Bad Guys!


Like nearly all aspects of Cesare Borgia’s life, the date of his birth is a subject of dispute. He was born in Rome—in either 1475 or 1476—the illegitimate son of Cardinal Roderic Llançol i de Borja, (usually known as Rodrigo Borgia), later Pope Alexander VI, and his mistress Vannozza dei Cattanei, about whom information is sparse. The Borgia family originally came from the Kingdom of Valencia, and rose to prominence during the mid-15th century; Cesare’s grand-uncle Alphonso Borgia (1378–1458), bishop of Valencia, was elected Pope Callixtus III in 1455. Cesare’s father, Pope Alexander VI, was the first pope who openly recognized his children born out of wedlock.

Stefano Infessura writes that Cardinal Borgia falsely claimed Cesare to be the legitimate son of another man—Domenico d’Arignano, the nominal husband of Vannozza dei Cattanei. More likely, Pope Sixtus IV granted Cesare a release from the necessity of proving his birth in a papal bull of 1 October 1480.

Cesare’s career was founded upon his father’s ability to distribute patronage, along with his alliance with France (reinforced by his marriage with Charlotte d’Albret, sister of John III of Navarre), in the course of the Italian Wars. Louis XII invaded Italy in 1499: after Gian Giacomo Trivulzio had ousted its duke Ludovico Sforza, Cesare accompanied the king in his entrance into Milan.

At this point Alexander decided to profit from the favourable situation and carve out for Cesare a state of his own in northern Italy. To this end, he declared that all his vicars in Romagna and Marche were deposed. Though in theory subject directly to the pope, these rulers had been practically independent or dependent on other states for generations. In the view of the citizens, these vicars were cruel and petty. When Cesare eventually took power, he was viewed by the citizens as a great improvement.

Cesare was appointed commander of the papal armies with a number of Italian mercenaries, supported by 300 cavalry and 4,000 Swiss infantry sent by the King of France. Alexander sent him to capture Imola and Forlì, ruled by Caterina Sforza (mother of the Medici condottiero Giovanni dalle Bande Nere). Despite being deprived of his French troops after the conquest of those two cities, Borgia returned to Rome to celebrate a triumph and to receive the title of Papal Gonfalonier from his father. In 1500 the creation of twelve new cardinals granted Alexander enough money for Cesare to hire the condottieri, Vitellozzo Vitelli, Gian Paolo Baglioni, Giulio and Paolo Orsini, and Oliverotto da Fermo, who resumed his campaign in Romagna.

Giovanni Sforza, first husband of Cesare’s sister Lucrezia, was soon ousted from Pesaro; Pandolfo Malatesta lost Rimini; Faenza surrendered, its young lord Astorre III Manfredi being later drowned in the Tiber river by Cesare’s order. In May 1501 the latter was created duke of Romagna. Hired by Florence, Cesare subsequently added the lordship of Piombino to his new lands.

While his condottieri took over the siege of Piombino (which ended in 1502), Cesare commanded the French troops in the sieges of Naples and Capua, defended by Prospero and Fabrizio Colonna. On 24 June 1501 his troops stormed the latter, causing the collapse of Aragonese power in southern Italy.

In June 1502 he set out for Marche, where he was able to capture Urbino and Camerino by treason. He planned to conquer Bologna next. However, his condottieri, most notably Vitellozzo Vitelli and the Orsini brothers (Guilio, Paolo and Francesco), feared Cesare’s cruelty and set up a plot against him. Guidobaldo da Montefeltro and Giovanni Maria da Varano returned to Urbino and Camerino, and Fossombrone revolted. The fact that his subjects had enjoyed his rule thus far meant that his opponents had to work much harder than they would have liked. He eventually recalled his loyal generals to Imola, where he waited for his opponents’ loose alliance to collapse. Cesare called for a reconciliation, but imprisoned his condottieri in Senigallia, then called Sinigaglia, a feat described as a “wonderful deceiving” by Paolo Giovio, and had them executed.

Although he was an immensely capable general and statesman, Cesare had trouble maintaining his domain without continued Papal patronage. Niccolò Machiavelli cites Cesare’s dependence on the good will of the Papacy, under the control of his father, to be the principal disadvantage of his rule. Machiavelli argued that, had Cesare been able to win the favor of the new Pope, he would have been a very successful ruler. The news of his father’s death (1503) arrived when Cesare was planning the conquest of Tuscany. While he was convalescing in Castel Sant’Angelo, his troops controlled the conclave.

The new pope, Pius III, supported Cesare Borgia and reconfirmed him as Gonfalonier; but after a brief pontificate of twenty-six days he died. Borgia’s deadly enemy, Giuliano Della Rovere, then succeeded by dexterous diplomacy in tricking the weakened Cesare Borgia into supporting him by offering him money and continued papal backing for Borgia policies in the Romagna; promises which he disregarded upon election. He was elected as Pope Julius II to the papal dignity by the near-unanimous vote of the cardinals. Realizing his mistake by then, Cesare tried to correct the situation to his favor, but Pope Julius II made sure of its failure at every turn.

For More Information Contact Vampire Council Libray

(Dilios Note: Some of this is written history – what it leaves out is Ezio and the fight against the Borgias)

It was in Spain that Commodus found Cesare and Turned him.

Sylum Inspiration: Rupert Giles

Enemy: Deceased

 

Rupert Giles was the fourth son of the Giles family.  He realized pretty quickly that he was on his own as he grew up, so he left his small village at the first opportunity, and set out for London.  There he found a job as a scribe, working in a very small but blossoming industry – publishing.  He enjoyed his life in London, meeting interesting people and learning new things.

Giles would find himself in interesting debates about religion, science, philosophy, and history with a young Lord by the name of Dorian Grey.  It wasn’t long until Giles was introduced to Galileo Galilei and learned about the world of Vampires.

After much debate with himself, Rupert decided that the Vampire was exactly what he wanted for his life, and he requested to be Turned so he could have the chance to learn so much more about the world.

Sylum Inspiration: James Phelps

James Phelps

(Dilios: This one is the asshole)

James Phelps met Galileo while he was in Italy exploring the lands and learning more history.  Galileo liked his attitude and offered him a position in his society that puts education and learning above all others.

When the time came, he gave him a second choice of a new life.

Sylum Inspiration: Ellen Kaye

 

Ellen is the daughter of an influential family, that has been in the House of Lords for generations.   She opted out of being a politician instead work behind the scenes influence others on how they should vote.

Raised a Templar she believed in what their mission.  The only time she went against the Order, was when she married Alan Rikkin, and the two had their daughter, Sofia.  When the pressure became too much, she agreed to divorce Alan, and then distance herself from her family, only to watch from afar as her daughter grew into an intelligent and beautiful woman.

When the Assassins killed her daughter, she learned there was more to this old feud that she had ever known.

Sylum Inspiration: Alan Rikkin

 

Alan Rikkin came from a powerful wealthy family in England.  He had the best education in the finest schools, and was given everything he needed to make something of his life.

He took over his father’s businesses and expanded them globally.

He like his father, was a Templar and believed everything they had taught him.  His goals in life were matched to advance to the Templar cause.

He fell in love with and married Ellen Kaye, the only thing he ever did against the Templars, and they had one daughter – Sofia Rikkin.  When the pressure against them became too much, the two divorced and Alan raised their daughter, telling her that Assassins had killed her mother.

It was his daughter’s theories about inherent memories, that gave him the idea about trying to find the legendary ‘Apple’ by putting descendants of famed Assassins into a Simulator.

It failed until they met Callum Lynch … then everything changed.