Originally posted by aldra
Yeah I heard reports they had friends in high places in the Soviet military willing to liquidate their stockpiles, but never any specifics.
They put a lot of energy into becoming self-sufficient though; they somehow attracted a lot more well-educated doctors and engineers than most similar cults. As far as I know they never actually bought chemical weapons (aside from those virus samples) but synthed them and built the delivery systems themselves, which is probably why they fucked up that subway attack - it was a very early effort compared to state bioweapons programmes at the time. When they got raided they were building/buying hardware to construct their own rifles, grenades etc. from their own designs
As far as cults go Aum Shinrikyo is definitely one of the most badass to ever exist.
ONTOPIC: If we're going to bring the old Gods back then fuck the Olympians/Roman Version. It should be the Nordic Pantheon, i already know quite a lot about Norse Mythology, and i am in the process of studying Havamal. A special edition done by old Norse specialist Dr Crawford. It's called The Wanderer's Havamal, it has the original Norse text, then an English translation and every stanza has a very well thought out examination of the deeper meaning behind it. It's fascinating stuff.
Now Havamal is essentially a Book of Wisdom, it ties Metaphysical concepts to practical concepts and a way of viewing the world, it is generally stoic in it's philosophy, even though the book isn't a philosophical work per se. Obviously the old Nordic and Germanic peoples never read Marcus Aurelius but if you are interested in this sort of thing then i would highly recommend picking up a copy of The Wanderer's Havamal.
