Well, Mr. Ross couldn't give me the permission that I needed, so I
even more strongly recommend that if you're curious about this, you should
go check out "GURPS Warehouse 23".

	Here's an abbreviated version:

	The first thing that you should know is that Adolf Hitler did not
believe in magic.  He was not a firm believer in astrology.  He did not
worship the old German gods.  He *did* like Wagner's operas (for their
portrayal of the struggles of a heroic German race against monstrous lesser
races), but that was as far as any spiritual urge went.  He was a 
materialist, a megalomaniac, and a very sick, evil man.  But that's all.

	Any stories about his having a fascination with the Spear of
Destiny are the product of the writings of one Trevor Ravenscroft, who
was, too put no fine a point on it, a nut.  He recieved the information he
used to write "The Spear of Destiny" from his "guru".  In other words, he
might have made the whole thing up.

	The Spear in question is *not* the spear which stabbed Jesus of
Nazareth.  It has been called the St. Maurice Lance, and rests in Vienna
at the Hapsburg Treasure House.  The one connection that it has to the
crucifixion is that its blade contains a nail, allegedly one used to bind
Jesus to the cross.  (A shaft which may be that of the spear which *did*
stab Jesus is in St. Peter's, although the Magisterium doubts its
authenticity, and the blade has vanished.)  I do hope that everyone is
familiar with the legend that if one were to assemble all the various 
fragments of the True Cross that it would be enough to make a forest of
crosses.

	What does this mean for an author?  Nothing.  If you want to write
a story in which Trevor Ravenscroft's claims are historical truth, go right
ahead.  Just be very clear to yourself that you are making stuff up, and not
resting on historical fact.

	That said, the Lancea Longini in Evangelion is the length of an
aircraft carrier, and I somehow don't think it was ever used to stab anyone
in the Roman province of Judaea around AD 30.  Evangelion uses Christian and
Judaic imagery and myth to lend weight to its intensive storyline, but its
accuracy should never be taken literally -- any more than the fact that one
of the spells used in the OAV series "Mahou Tsukai Tai" is apparently
calling upon H.P. Lovecraft's Shub-Niggurath should be taken as a serious
sign that those kids are up to no good.

Chris Davies.