No Really, It's a Holiday!

As a state employee, I've got a holiday today for Confederate Memorial Day--not to be confused, of course, with regular Memorial Day.

So, in the spirit of the day, here are some former Confederate soldiers of note:

John Carter, Warlord of Mars

Jonah Hex, disfigured bounty-hunter

Ghost of J.E.B. Stuart, haunter of tanks

Strange Relations

This week, it was reported that a team working on Neanderthal genome sequencing efforts found that all modern human populations, outside of Sub-Saharan Africans, share some Neanderthal genetic material--perhaps 1 to 4 percent of their total genome. This suggests some interbreeding went on sometime before 45,000 years ago--after the first human exodus from Africa, but before the split that led to groups spreading out over Eurasia.

Maybe its just me, but I think this has some gaming applications. I've already suggested that dwarves are Neanderthals uplifted by an alien intelligence--at least in my campaign setting. Let's add to this idea the background of Ska from Jack Vance's Lyonesse Trilogy--who hold themselves to be the only pure humans because they believe all other populations to be interbred with Neanderthals--and apply the resultant mixture to the standard D&D implied setting, and see what we get...

Maybe elves represent "pure" humanity undiluted by interbreeding with other hominids? They never left the ancestral homeland, whether in some Uttermost West, or elsewhere. Why not the South where the ancestral population might be darker-skinned (and perhaps call themselves "the First Born" for a nice Burroughs Easter egg)? Then, "humans" could be a more mixed bunch, descendants of folk who left the ancestral homeland and encountered other groups. Dwarves would still be "purer" Neanderthal descendants. This would nicely set elves and dwarves up as disparate groups, but humans would share a bit of both.

We don't have to stop there. Orcs could be descendants of another hominid species entirely, as might halflings--or maybe halflings are just an interesting human sub-population, whichever. The point is, all humanoids and demi-humans could be woven into a riotous fantasy hominid family tree.

Kill the Gods and Take Their Stuff

In comic book parlance, I presented the "Modern Age" version of four deities yesterday--though of course, they've been subsumed under the two primary faiths. Today, I'm going to provide AD&D Deities & Demigods stats for the original (the "Golden Age", if you will) versions of a couple of them as created by my cousin, Tim (my first DM) back in eighties.

 I toyed with the idea of scanning these pages, but they weren't really legible that way, so transcription had to be the way. Unfortunate, that--because you guys miss out on my cousin's "outsider art" illustrations that accompanied the stats.

So, here's more "setting archeology."  The stats are presented unchanged from the twenty plus year-old documents, so I'm afraid I can't explain the rationale for some of them...

ETERNUS (Æternus)
greater god
AC: -12
Move: Infinite
HP: 400
#Atk.: 2
Dmg/Atk: 6-60, or by weapon type
Spec. Atk: see below
Spec. Def.: see below
Size: L (9')
Magic Resistance: 90%
Alignment: Lawful neutral
Worshippers' Align.:Neutral or good
Symbol: golden helmet
Plane: Twin Paradises
Cleric/Druid: 20th lvl. cleric
Fighter: 20th lvl. ranger
MU/Illusionist: 20th lvl. MU
Thief/Assassin: nil
Monk/Bard: nil
Psionic Ability: I
S: 25 (+7,+14) I:25 W:25 D:20 C:20 Ch:25

Eternus can not be harmed by any form of attack using physical means, except barehanded. Eternus can shape-change at will. He can shoot rays of blue light from each hand that can polymorph other, condemn forever to the astral plane, cause 5-100 damage, or completely heal all wounds, at his choice.

CAIRN (Kaarn)
greater god
AC: -6
Move: 15"
HP: 375
#Atk.: 3
Dmg/Atk: 6-60, or by weapon type
Spec. Atk: see below
Spec. Def.: see below
Size: L (15')
Magic Resistance: 70%
Alignment: Neutral evil (chaotic)
Worshippers' Align.: all evil and murderers
Symbol: black battle axe and sickle
Plane: Pandemonium
Cleric/Druid: 15th lvl. in each
Fighter: 25th lvl. ranger
MU/Illusionist: 10th lvl. in each
Thief/Assassin: nil
Monk/Bard: 15th lvl. bard
Psionic Ability: I
S: 25 (+7,+14) I:25 W:20 D:25 C:25 Ch:25

The mere sight of this god (at Cairn's wish) can cause immediate and irrevocable death (no saving throw) to any non-divine being. He can cause plagues, drought, or floods at a whim. He can shoot from his palm a ray of disintegration as a 30th level magic-user. Moreover, any steel weapon striking the god does double damage to its wielder.