Toaru Majutsu no Index SS: Agnese's Magic Side Work Experience/Chapter 2

Agnese's Magic Side Work Experience Chapter 2 第二話 Chapter 2 Volume Navigation Biohacker SS Agnese SS N/A Chapter Navigation Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3

Synopsis

This section requires expansion Pt1-9

Characters

By order of appearance:

• Orsola Aquinas
• Angelene
• Agnese Sanctis
• Lucia
• Isabella Theism

New Characters

• Harris Nicholagene
• Jack Prometeria
• Pierre Gosetti
• Rini Calculed
• Plum Mordosié
• Rouen Nalberia

Abilities

• Lotus Wand - Agnese Sanctis
• St. Catherine's Wheel - Lucia

New Abilities

• Scissor-based Lie Detector - Agnese Sanctis

Locations

• Strait of Dover

New Locations

• France
  • Calais

Trivia

• This chapter was released with limited editions of the second Blu-Ray/DVD volume for Toaru Kagaku no Railgun T.

Lucia and Angelene in the port, as seen in the promotional manga chapter

• A scene from this chapter (namely the nuns under fire in the harbor) was depicted in the special Toaru Kagaku no Railgun chapter promoting the side story.

Referbacks

• In mentioning how the ghost ship might continue inland, Agnese refers to the ice ships of La Regina del Mare Adriatico.

Cultural References

• HMS Hood, nicknamed "The Mighty Hood", was the last battlecruiser built for the Royal Navy, commissioned in 1920, and for 20 years afterwards remained the largest warship in the world. She was sunk on May 24th 1941 during the Battle of the Denmark Strait, when a shell from the German battleship Bismarck pierced her deck and detonated her magazine.
  • In the Toaru universe, Jack Prometeria's father was one of the few survivors when the ship was sunk. In real life, only three people survived: Ordinary Signalman Ted Briggs, Able Seaman Robert Tilburn, and Midshipman William John Dundas.
• The Olympian spirits are a group of planetary spirits listed in the grimoire Arbatel de magia veterum and in Column LXXX of Liber 777's correspondence table. They are Arathron (Saturn), Bethor (Jupiter), Phaleg (Mars), Och (Sun), Hagith (Venus), Ophiel (Mercury) and Phul (Moon).
• Two ships are given as examples of vessels capable of travelling between worlds:
  • In Greek Mythology, Charon's ferry is used to carry the souls of the recently deceased across the rivers Styx and Acheron in the underworld, between the world of the living and the afterlife.
  • In Japanese folklore, the Takarabune or Treasure Ship is said to be a vessel piloted through the heavens and into human ports by the Seven Lucky Gods during the first three days of the New Year. Wood blocks with an image of the Takarabune are placed beneath pillows on the night of January 2nd to help give the sleeper a happy dream, which is said to signify that the coming year will be a fortunate one.
• The mention of Aleister Crowley having predicted World War I is a reference to this passage in Book 4 by Crowley, written in the summer of 1911 and seemingly prophetic: "There is a Magical operation of maximum importance: the Initiation of a New Aeon. When it becomes necessary to utter a Word, the whole Planet must be bathed in blood. Before man is ready to accept the Law of Thelema, the Great War must be fought. This Bloody Sacrifice is the critical point of the World-Ceremony of the Proclamation of Horus, the Crowned and conquering Child, as Lord of the Aeon."
• The mention of witches dancing in the forest to delay an invasion of the Third Reich is a reference to a story told by British Wiccan Gerald Gardner, who wrote in his early writing that his (alleged) New Forest Coven performed a "cone of power" ritual to keep Nazi Germany from invading the United Kingdom. The novel gets one detail wrong, describing the witches dancing in "midwinter forests" when it allegedly took place in August 1940 according to Gardner.
• Mandrakes are a type of plant root, believed to have special properties in Folklore. Said to be born from a criminal's bodily fluids touching the earth, they scream when uprooted with a cry which is said to kill all who hear it, and can be used as a medicinal ingredient.
• Jack Prometeria refers to Xians (specifically them never eating food), a type of immortal associated with Taoism, while talking about the need to maintain a cover life to avoid standing out.
• Pierre Gosetti refers to the catacombs beneath Paris. Part of a tunnel network built to consolidate the city's ancient stone quarries, the catacombs came to house underground ossuaries storing remains from the city's overflowing cemeteries.
• Agnese hoping that Rouen Nalberia wouldn't end up trying to drink mercury for eternal life, after imagining that his research into extracting elements from food would probably lead to ancient Chinese alchemy, might be a reference to Qin Shi Huang, the First Emperor of China, who sought immortality and ingested mercury in pursuit of it.
• In mentioning how he was capable of separating elements from food but not extracting them, Rouen Nalberia makes a comparison to an elixir created by Ayton of the Golden Dawn. William Alexander Ayton was a clergyman with an interest in alchemy, who translated a record of the life of John Dee from Latin. He was a member of one of the Golden Dawn's successor organizations and supported Arthur Edward Waite's reforms during one of the schisms.
• The Italian saint Agnese is named after is the martyr Agnes of Rome.

Unanswered Questions

• How exactly did Aleister Crowley's symbols get incorporated into the Hood's design?