Whats with the Roman Numeral in the Prey Symbol

[nofather]

A number of new shirts have become available through Onyx Path's RedBubble site. I've gotten a number of the shirts before and can vouch for their good quality.

Anyways, what's the deal with the IV in the symbol for the Prey Threshold?

[Zimthehacker]

I think it's directly referencing the fourth horseman of the apocalypse (IV = roman numeral for four), did a quick google search and this came up:
"The fourth horseman is mentioned in Revelation 6:8, “I looked, and there before me was a pale horse! Its rider was named Death, and Hades was following close behind him. They were given power over a fourth of the earth to kill by sword, famine and plague, and by the wild beasts of the earth.”"

It's kinda a mix of the other horseman, but it seems like the only one that really mentions the wild beasts part.
I could be wrong though.

[nofather]

That makes sense. I guess the Stricken would be Plague, and they have three arrows. And the Silent would be Famine, with two scales forming a set. The Torn would be sword, but they don't seem to have one of anything in their image, except maybe a skull, or knife, or brass knuckle. And I guess the Forgotten would be something else, they do have fives and ones on their dice.

[Illuminated Minutia]

The book directly associates the Four Horsemen (and the fifth, Hades) with the Thresholds.

Torn - Red, Rider of War (Carries a sword)
Silent - Black, Rider of Famine (Carries scales)
Stricken - White, Rider of Conquest (Commonly called Pestilence, carries a bow)
Prey - Pale, Rider of Death

Forgotten - Hades (Called the Grey, Rider of Chance.)

[malonkey1]

The book directly associates the Four Horsemen (and the fifth, Hades) with the Thresholds.

Torn - Red, Rider of War (Carries a sword)
Silent - Black, Rider of Famine (Carries scales)
Stricken - White, Rider of Conquest (Commonly called Pestilence, carries a bow)
Prey - Pale, Rider of Death

Forgotten - Hades (Called the Grey, Rider of Chance.)

Thank you for illuminating that minutia.

[nofather]

I heard the Horsemen thing but haven't looked at the book in ages. Do they exist in the game as things?

[Satchel]

I heard the Horsemen thing but haven't looked at the book in ages. Do they exist in the game as things?

They are an overt cultural phenomenon used in part to explain the Thresholds. If you mean "are the Horsemen real?" then the answer is about as solid as "are Luna and Helios real?" is in the average Werewolf game — their handiwork is all over the place, their ostensible subordinates can be encountered from time to time, and you may or may not see manifestations of them in dreams and omens, but meeting one of the conclusive fajitas themselves goes beyond the stuff of legends into the stuff of myth thanks to how deep into the substrata of the universe beings of their power are necessarily ensconced.

[Dusksage]

While the roman numeral I have no explanation for I believe that in chinese numerology the number 4 is often associated with death. I know the Sin-Eater culture loves to blend cultural mythology so that might explain why they made it a roman numeral. Other than that I have no other theories.

[nofather]

their ostensible subordinates can be encountered from time to time

Who are they?

[Satchel]

Who are they?

The same sort of ghosts and geists that claim to do the work of the deathlords.

That's the what. The who is an incredibly nebulous question thanks to the Underworld's effect on memory and krewe mythoi's effect on fate.

[TerraBen]

I heard the Horsemen thing but haven't looked at the book in ages. Do they exist in the game as things?

Satchel's pretty much got the right of it, but I think a "there's not much detail in the book" answers this question a little more thoroughly. There's one part where it talks about someone posting to the Twilight Network about having had a dream about a fifth Rider who was grey, thus filling out the horsemen mythos of the Thresholds (as correctly stated above), but that's about as much detail as is given regarding the physical/ephemeral reality of the horsemen as beings.

Personally, before I actually read the book I thought the Bargain involved meeting one of the Horsemen and then being assigned a geist. I still kinda like that idea...

[Mangle77]

The book directly associates the Four Horsemen (and the fifth, Hades) with the Thresholds.

Torn - Red, Rider of War (Carries a sword)
Silent - Black, Rider of Famine (Carries scales)
Stricken - White, Rider of Conquest (Commonly called Pestilence, carries a bow)
Prey - Pale, Rider of Death

Forgotten - Hades (Called the Grey, Rider of Chance.)

Although that order is wrong; in Revelation, the Horseman are White, Red, Black, and Pale. (the word in the original Greek text refers to the color of unhealthy or dead flesh.) Onyx Path made up the Gray Horseman whole cloth.

While the roman numeral I have no explanation for I believe that in chinese numerology the number 4 is often associated with death. I know the Sin-Eater culture loves to blend cultural mythology so that might explain why they made it a roman numeral. Other than that I have no other theories.

In Japanese, the symbol, or "Kanji" for four, "Shi", is the same as the one for death.

[Satchel]

Personally, before I actually read the book I thought the Bargain involved meeting one of the Horsemen and then being assigned a geist. I still kinda like that idea...

Considering the mention in Imperial Mysteries of lesser and greater deathlords and Werewolf 2e's adjustment to the nomenclature of what constitutes a "Celestine," I'm fond of the idea that the Horsemen are the Thresholds.

[malonkey1]

Although that order is wrong; in Revelation, the Horseman are White, Red, Black, and Pale. (the word in the original Greek text refers to the color of unhealthy or dead flesh.) Onyx Path made up the Gray Horseman whole cloth.



In Japanese, the symbol, or "Kanji" for four, "Shi", is the same as the one for death.

No, the kanji are different. They are pronounced the same, but they are not the same Kanji.

四 = 4
死 = death
Both are pronounced "Shi". There is a conection, culturally, between 4 and death, but they don't share the same kanji.

[Mangle77]

No, the kanji are different. They are pronounced the same, but they are not the same Kanji.

四 = 4
死 = death
Both are pronounced "Shi". There is a conection, culturally, between 4 and death, but they don't share the same kanji.

Thank you, I'm happy to learn that. How do you get your computer to make Kanji?