Nephilim

The Nephilim /ˈnɛfᵻˌlɪm/ (Hebrew: נְפִילִים‎, sing. נָפִיל, Naphíl or Naphil) were offspring of the "sons of God" and the "daughters of men" before the Deluge according to Genesis 6:4; the name is also used in reference to giants who inhabited Canaan at the time of the Israelite conquest of Canaan according to Numbers 13:33. A similar biblical Hebrew word with different vowel-sounds is used in Ezekiel 32:27 to refer to dead Philistine warriors.

Etymology

The Brown-Driver-Briggs Lexicon gives the meaning of Nephilim as "giants". Many suggested interpretations are based on the assumption that the word is a derivative of Hebrew verbal root n-ph-l "fall". Robert Baker Girdlestone argued the word comes from the Hiphil causative stem, implying that the Nephilim are to be perceived as "those that cause others to fall down". Adam Clarke took it as a perfect participle, "fallen", "apostates". Ronald Hendel states that it is a passive form "ones who have fallen", equivalent grammatically to paqid "one who is appointed" (i.e., overseer), asir, "one who is bound", (i.e., prisoner) etc. According to the Brown-Driver-Briggs Lexicon, the basic etymology of the word Nephilim is "dub[ious]", and various suggested interpretations are "all very precarious".

Avernum

Avernum is a series of demoware role-playing video games by Jeff Vogel of Spiderweb Software available for Macintosh and Windows-based computers. Several are available for iPad and Android tablet. There are six canonical games in the series. The first three games in the series and the non-canon Blades of Avernum are remakes of the Exile series by Jeff Vogel, who owns the company, collectively entitled Avernum: First Trilogy. The next three games (Avernum: Second Trilogy), also by Vogel, were released in 2005, 2007 and 2009 respectively. The latter games are entirely original built on a newer game engine and not a remake of any previous game. The Avernum games, like other Spiderweb Software games, are designed with gameplay and storytelling before graphical elements. As of December 2011, a newer version of Avernum has been released, Avernum: Escape from the Pit, followed by the sequel Avernum 2: Crystal Souls in 2015.

Improvements over Exile

The original Exile games used a top-down perspective tile-based graphical system, effectively displayed as an X-Y axis wherein each tile in the grid was filled by a base graphic and perhaps an item or character icon. Avernum features a 45-degree axonometric display that appears three-dimensional. The game also adds varying terrain height, allowing for more interesting map layouts.

Grigori Trilogy

The Grigori Trilogy is a series of three gothic horror novels by British author Storm Constantine. The series tells the story of the Grigori, a race of fallen angels who are being rewoken in preparation for the new millennium, and their children by human women, the Nephilim.

Constantine draws upon a wide-ranging bibliography of references for her novels. Elements of John Milton's Paradise Lost, Lord Byron's Heaven and Earth and the writings of paranormal author Andrew Collins can be found throughout the series.

Originally published in the United Kingdom by Signet/Penguin, the books were later published by U.S. publisher Meisha Merlin. In 2006, the first book in the series was brought back in to print by UK-based Immanion Press. The remaining two books will follow.

Books

External links