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Guildenstern and Rosencrantz are characters in Shakespeare's
Hamlet. Though childhood friends of Hamlet, they betray him and even participate in the King's plot against
his life.
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The Inquisition is an infamous example of
religious fanatism and cruelty. A Catholic institution created around the 13th century to enquire on the "heretics" and
attempt to convert them. However, the independence of the Inquisition led to abuse and non-Catholics were hunted, tortured
and murdered if they refused conversion.
Catholicism had great influence over many governments of Western Europe. Heresy was considered
as a crime. Voltaire ridiculed and denounced the Inquisition in a chapter of his satire Candide. It is only in
the 19th century that the last branch of the Inquisition was abolished. Though torture was used by the Inquisition, I
found no reference to the particular punishment mentionned at the end of the game, so it may not be historical but
made up for narrative purpose. (This is a complex part of history which I only tried to sum up briefly here.)
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As to that mysterious cross and
the Mullenkamp cult, this is even
more complex history, but to put it in a nutshell.
The former could be referring to the "Rose-croix". It was originally a belief shared
by a few idealists who created a secret society which proned tolerance and friendship (at the time of the Inquisition)
but was since reused by many organisations (including the Freemasons). The latter may allude
to the legend of Christian Rosencreutz (Rosencrantz is after all a character from the game though the legend
fits Sydney better).
This tale include many elements from the game story, namely, Rosencreutz is taught the "supreme knowledge" in Marocco,
and asked to create a secret society back in Europe. He thus creates a rose-croix fraternity there, whose aim is to teach the "Truth" and
help freely the poor and the ill. He learns of the rose-croix while hiding in
Turkey. He wrote an allegoric story featuring himself, in which a beautiful woman from some black magic sect
(remember Mullenkamp is shown as a beautiful arabian lady in the opening credits) tests him and so on.
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Sources:
my memories of history and literature classes, readings and the following sites:
The Inquisition
The Rose-Croix doctrine
Rose-Croix et utopie
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