Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Adventurers of Yesteryear

The City's seen its share of adventures over the decades.  Many of them, both world-renown and relatively obscure, are celebrated in Munsen's "Life of Fantastic Danger" Museum.  Here are a few examples:

Enok “The Axe” Bludgett
A celebrity adventurer of the late of ‘40s (3840s, that is). The above tintype was sold all over the city.  He's pictured here with his favorite weapon, and axe rested from hands of an undead Northman whose dragonship thawed from an iceberg in the City’s harbor in 3842. Bludgett died tragically of an eldritch venereal disease contracted from a succubus just twelve years later.

Violet M’Gee
Stenography school dropout, turned adventuress. She's pictured here in 3875, with her legendary pistols--magical items supposedly made by an ancient forge god she and her companions discovered trapped in a bricked-up sub-basement in Yronburg.  She spent two months in a sanatarium suffering from the psychic backlash of firing a bullet made from the materia of the Outer Dark at the dread lich aviator, the Bloody Baron.

Colonel Balthazar Hacksilver
Southron Thaumaturgist and sometime ally of Bludgett. Though the title of “colonel” was an affectation, Hacksilver was knighted by Lluddish Queen during her first decanting. He’s perhaps best known for the ability--learned from a postherd recovered from a tomb beneath a mound of the Ancients in Freedonia--to remove his head from his body. Reportedly, Hacksilver’s body would fight on with his saber, while his head cast spells from a safe distance.  Some thaumaturgical scholars believe the amazing spell Hacksilver uncovered was incomplete, and therefore completely misinterpreted, which led to Hacksilver's eventual descent into the mental illness known as Ackerlast's Schism.  There is some disagreement as to whether his death is better termed a murder or a suicide.

10 comments:

Gothridge Manor said...

"eldritch venereal disease", poor Enok. That must have been an ugly way to go. I absolutely love these descriptions. If you ever run 'The City' in an on-line game I want it. Sounds way too cool to moss.

Xyanthon said...

The descriptions are weird and the characters are strange. ILOVE IT!!! I want to see more.

Unknown said...

Great shot of Louise Brooks. Never saw that one before...

And Colonel Hacksilver is brilliant. What an awesome and weird power.

Harald said...

You know, FtSK ranks among my favourite ways to start the day. Today started better than many :D

scottsz said...

Pure goodness.

Anonymous said...

You come up with some of the craziest stuff. And I love it!

Trey said...

@Tim - Thanks! Maybe one of these days I could get something like that going---when I finish writing this project I promised. ;)

@Hey, Johnathan. Glad you liked it. Thanks for stopping by.

@Risus - Tumblr has been a bone in finding unusual pics, though it takes a lot of browsing.

@Harald - FtSK is an important part of a balanced breakfast. ;)

@scottz - Thanks! Glad you liked it.

@Vaults - From the man who gave us the glove imp and the fungal behemoth, that's high praise indeed.

netherwerks said...

Just catching-up...and Violet M. up above is simply awesome. Eldritch veneral disease made me wince though. That's just plain nasty. Excellent stuff!

Trey said...

Thanks, NetherWerks.

Trey said...

Thanks, NetherWerks.