Fear the Living Totem!

The strange creatures called "Living Totems" are sometimes found in the lands far to the west of the City, and perhaps in other worlds as well. They appear in the form of monumental carvings common to certain cultures, particularly certain tribes of the natives of the City's Strange New World. They are not, however, animated statues, but instead alien beings which have a form similar to such carvings.

# Enc.: 1
Alignment: Chaotic (Neutral or Evil)
Movement: 120' (40')
AC: 6
HD: 8

Attacks: 1 (fist)

Damage: 2d8

Save As: F8

Morale: 10

Living totems spend long periods of time in torpor or slumber, appearing as normal totem carvings, but awaken at intervals to terrorize available humans, or declare their tyranny over whatever. After a few weeks of such behavior, they typically fall into inactivity again. Living totems take a -1 to initiative due to their ungainliness. They take no damage from penetrating weapons (like arrows), only half damage from bludgeoning or cutting weapons. Fire-based attacks, however, cause an additional point of damage per damage die rolled, and flaming weapons do one point additional damage (or 1 point if they are of a class which would otherwise do none). They also suffer a -1 penalty to saving throws against fire-based attacks.

In the "real world" (or a reasonable facsimile) living totems could reasonably found in the lands occupied by the indigenous people of the Pacific Northwest, or in the lands of the Maori or Ainu. 

This monster is inspired by the Atlas/Marvel comics Old West menace that first encountered the Rawhide Kid in issue 22 (June 1961) of his title.

Warlord Wednesday: Holocaust

Let's re-enter the lost world with another installment of my issue by issue examination of DC Comic's Warlord, the earlier installments of which can be found here...

"Holocaust"

Warlord (vol. 1) #15 (October-November 1978)

Written and Pencilled by Mike Grell; Inked by Joe Rubenstein

Synopsis: Morgan, Machiste, and Mariah are travelling through the forest of Ebondar, nearing the end of their journey to Shamballah. Morgan climbs a tree to see if he can find out how close they are. From the high branches, he sees glittering Shamballah not too far off in the distance--where his mate Tara awaits.

While Morgan dreams of being reunited with his wife, Mariah doesn't share his excitement at the nearness of the journey's end. Machiste knows that she's in love with Morgan, and knows as well as she that that's futile. Machiste hints at his feelings for her. Mariah appreciates his concern, but either doesn't grasp his meaning, or is too caught up in her own unrequited feelings to truly respond.

Meanwhile, Morgan has a branch shot out from under him by a energy blast from the city. Morgan's descent is quicker than he intended, but he manages to keep himself from falling to his death. The three hear voices approaching through the forest, and Morgan, fearing a war party, suggests they hide up in the trees. From that vantage point they see not a war party, but refugees.

The three descend to find out what's happened. They're told that a demon now dwells in Shamballah and wrecks destruction. The king himself has perished. Morgan asks after Tara, and finds that she still lives. She remains in the city, never having given up hope that the Warlord would come to the rescue. With that news, Morgan races into the city to do just that, with Machiste and Mariah trying to keep up.

They find Tara in the palace. She cries as she tells Morgan of how she waited for him to return, and how she never gave up hope. And then she decks him. She accuses him of doing his best to forget her, since he's showed up in the company of a "red-haired hussy." Mariah takes offense at that, and runs forward to defend her self--sword drawn.

Tara meets Mariah's blade with her own, and...Catfight! It goes on for a bit, before Morgan intervenes, pushing Mariah aside somewhat roughly, and declaring his undying love for Tara. As he and Tara embrace, Mariah, heartbroken, flees the room. Morgan is nonplussed.  Machiste calls him a fool before running after Mariah. Morgan suddenly realizes what he's been too blind to see this whole time, but doesn't have much time to reflect as bolts of energy rip through the palace floor.

Morgan suggests they leave, but Tara says there's a reason why they can't go. The attack over for the moment, she takes him to an adjacent room and shows him their infant son! As the grandson of the king, he is heir to the thrown of Shamballah. The city's now-scattered people will rally around him when the crisis is over. But first they have to survive--which is far from assured, as energy bolts begin flying again.

As the energy seems to be coming from the city itself, Morgan asks Tara to lead him to the lower levels. The two leave their son in the care of a servant, and search out a way below. After passing through the lowest levels of the palace and into a natural cavern with an underground river, they enter a thoroughly man-made underground complex--one full of a massive computer core like the one they saw at the subshuttle station, though this one is grander.

Suddenly, lasers began firing and the two seek cover. As they hang precariously from a piece of equipment, Morgan realizes that the use of lasers, which deflect harmlessly off the shiny metal equipment, is intentional. Mad laughter sounds through the structure. Morgan realizes its the computer running the complex that's trying to kill them. It's gone mad from the centuries of isolation.

Morgan and Tara desperately search for a way to escape. They stumble upon the main power center, where the energy of the Skartarian sun serves to power the main reactor. The two climb into the shaft and find a giant parabolic mirror which focuses the sun's rays into a concentrated beam. Thinking quickly, Morgan and Tara redirect the beam to cut into the wall of the cavern. It burns an opening in the rock to the underground river, which then pours down the shaft and destroys the computer.

Even knowing it had to be done, Morgan regrets the loss of the knowledge, and what it might have meant for Skartaris. Heading back to the palace, the two discuss what to name their sun, and decide on Joshua, naming him for Morgan's father.

Back in the palace, they find all the danger has yet to pass. There's been an attack, and Joshua is missing. The servant blames it on a demon. Morgan and Tara rush up a high tower. At its top, they see the devil-priest Deimos astride a winged creature, carrying away their son!

Things to Notice:

• Tara slugs Morgan in a scene that is to be repeated several times of the course of the series.
• Joshua Morgan makes his first appearance.

Where It Comes From:
Travis Morgan's return to his wife (and child) after a long absence is no doubt inspired by the usual travails of Edgar Rice Burroughs's heroes--prototypically John Carter in Gods of Mars. The loss of Joshua in this issue performs the same function as the cliffhanger ending of Gods of Mars where Carter loses his beloved Dejah Thoris again.

As mentioned in my commentary on issue #5, the Atlantean computer core seems visually inspired by Forbidden Planet. The "insane" computer may go back to the pulp era, but certainly shows up in several original Star Trek episodes ("The Ultimate Computer", "Return of the Archons", etc.), but of course the most famous insane computer is probably 2001's HAL 9000.

The Other Avatar

Before Cameron's blockbuster, there was Avatar: The Last Airbender, an award-winning Asian-flavored, fantasy cartoon on Nickelodeon.  It ran for 3 seasons between 2005-2008, and is soon to be a live-action motion picture. Avatar was one of the best things to come out of American animation in some time--a bona fide fantasy epic in a well-realized world.

The titular last airbender is Aang, a young boy who is the last survivor of the Air Nomads (think Tibetian monks--with flying, six-legged bison mounts), frozen Captain America-style in ice. Aang is found by two young members of the South Polar Water Tribe (Inuit, perhaps)--the last survivors of their people, as well. The three embark on a quest across the world to help Aang fulfill his destiny. Aang is the latest incarnation of the avatar, the bridge between the Spirit World and mankind--the only human able to master all four elements.

While the writing and characterization on Avatar set it apart from most kids' cartoons, perhaps its freshest trait is the amount of world-building that went into it. Each of the four primary cultures centered around one of the classical elements--Air Nomads, Water Tribe, Fire Nation, and Earth Kingdom--have their own distinctive styles of clothing, architecture, and martial arts based around the use ("bending") or their element. These are drawn mostly from East Asian models, though there are Native American influences among the Water Tribe, and some minor cultures within several lands. There is a coherency uncommon in genre TV for adults, much less children's animation. The recently published artbook for the animated series not only highlights the detail that went into costuming and character design, but also reveals how they employed an instructor of martial arts to help develop the distinct styles of each elemental culture, and an expert in Chinese calligraphy to design all the written documents that appear in the series.

Avatar's strongly categorized world and evocative visuals make it good inspiration for gaming. Bob over at Vargold gave us Barbarians of Lemuria stats for Sokka, one of the main characters, and I've seen Mutants & Mastermind stats, as well. It's too bad there hasn't been any official rpg, though, perhaps one aimed at younger audiences.

M. Night Shyamalan's live action The Last Airbender is coming in July. While the trailers certainly look visually exciting, I have some concerns about the casting, and question whether Shyamalan was right for the material. Still, the animated series will be out there, no matter what, and well worth checking out.

Short People, Big Worm

The first known people from Ealderde, the Old World, to arrive in the environs of what is now the City, were the Dwerg-folk of Gulden. Though of human stock, the Dwergen are pygmies--the males less than five feet tall, and the women even shorter. Perhaps because of their unimposing stature, they devoted themselves to becaming wealthy through trade, and became a far-ranging mercantile people.

Over three hundred years ago, they struck a deal with the natives of the New World allowing them to build a fort and trading post that would one day grow into the City. The Dwergen were eventually outnumbered by immigrants from other lands, but people of Dwerg descent make up most of the "old money" families of the City. Today, they're generally of normal height, due to interbreeding with newer arrivals, but there's occasionally a throwback to the old blood.

The people of Gulden were never great wizards, and neither are their descendants. Historically, they lived in fear of the White Women--those born among them with the taint of witch-blood. These pale-skinned, ice-blue eyed, overwhelmingly female, infants were left exposed in the wilderness, where they were generally found and taken in by a sabbat of White Women. The White Women were said to torment isolate Dwergen, particularly males, and often visited curses upon rural villages that didn't pay them adequate tribute. Though the birth of a White Woman among modern Dwergen or their relatives in the New World isn't viewed with the superstitious dread it once was, it's still considered ill-omened and a source of family shame. Among the most conservative families, such children are still sent away or hidden from public view.

Despite their lack of aptitude with sorcery, and perhaps because of their conflict with the White Women, Dwergen traditionally were knowledgeable in regard protective circles, charms, and sigils. They also worked hard at perfecting alchemical arts--particular in the realm of the development of alchemical brewing and the thaumaturgically assisted growth of mushrooms with unusual properties. Unfortunately, these arts are mostly lost among those of Dwergen descent in the City, who tend exhibit only the shrewd-dealing traits of their ancestors.

Another reputed relic of the Old Dwerg days of the City, is the ancient wurm. The wurm is a dragon-like serpent, which dwelled in the streams and fens of the main isle of what is now the City, receiving the fearful deference of the natives. By draining the wetlands, and diverting many of the streams underground the Dwergen sapped the strength of the creature and drove it from the surface. City folklore holds that it still lives, nursing a grudge against the City that prospered in the wake of its defeat. It particularly yearns for vengeance against those of the old Dwerg blood, and devours all those that fall into its clutches. Rumor holds that the downtrodden and disenfranchised of the City--often recent immigrants--sometimes worship the wurm with hidden, and primitive rites, hoping to gain its favor by helping it in its vengeance and eventual return to the surface.

Bug Powder

Bill: What do you mean, "it's a literary high"?

Joan: It's a Kafka high. You feel like a bug.

- Naked Lunch (1991)

Bug Powder is a strange magical substance found in the City, and its world, and possibly elsewhere. It generally appears as pale yellowish powder, and its official use is as a professional-grade insecticide. It can be found in containers from several different and mysterious suppliers--"Benway Chymical", and "Voke & Veech", are prominent examples. Bug powder will indeed serve as an insecticide, but if nasally insufflated (snorted), or injected intravenously in small doses it has euphoric and mild hallucinogenic properties.

Long-term use generally leads to dependence, but also, like use of a large single dose, seems to open a doorway to another plane. Users report travel to an exotic, desert world under two reddish moons, were lies a sprawling pennisular city called Interzone, on the quivering banks of a gelatinous sea. The swarthy inhabitants of Interzone appear human in all respects, but have undefinable and unsettling air of strangeness about them. In addition to the natives, humans from many time periods and worlds, as well as alien beings, can be found sweating in Interzone, perusing their own agendas. There is a great deal of political intrigue in the city-state, and several different political factions--but the goals of these groups and the reasons for their conflicts often seem contradictory, if not outright nonsensical.

Mystics and planar scholars believe Interzone to be an interstitial realm acting as a gate or "customs station" between the material world and the inner planes. Supporting this view is the presence of soldiers the Hell Syndicates, as well as miracleworking street-preachers and holy hermits professing the varied and conflicting "ultimate truths" of the Seven Heavens. A slight variation on this view, is that Interzone is not so much a part of the astral plane, but more an extension of Slumberland, the Dream-World, located in some seedy Delirium ghetto. Further exploration will be needed to determine this for certain.

This exploration isn't without dangers. While physical dependence comes from the bug powder's use, the thinning of the psychic barriers between the material world and Interzone serve to cause a person to involuntarily shift between the two. This tends to generate feelings of paranoia--and perhaps rightly so, as the more time one spends in Interzone, the more likely one is to become an agent (perhaps unwittingly) of one of its factions, and fall prey to its byzantine intrigues.

One final interesting bit of Interzone lower is that the natives hold that their city-state, was actually once six cities of very different mystic character, physically indistinct and loosely co-spatial, but still spiritually differentiated. The names of theses putative cities when uttered with the proper ritual, are said to be a powerful spell, though sources disagree as to what purpose.

Alternate Islands: Other Ways to Get LOST

"Guys...Where are we?"
- Charlie Pace, Lost

Well that seemed to be the question, didn't it? Now that Lost has finished its sixth and final season we still may not have a definitive answer. No reason, then, not to go looking for alternatives...

I've already suggested that Lost had parallels with the lost world genre, but we needn't stop there. Here are two more alternative islands for Lost-like shennanigans, suitable for gaming.


"Do that good mischief, which may make this island thine for ever..."
- Caliban, The Tempest

"I'm not a big believer in... magic. But this place is different. It's special."
- John Locke (Terry O'Quinn)

Not long after their arrival on the island, the survivors of Oceanic 815 realize they're not alone. There's a group of "others"--a strange society supposedly descended from shipwrecked Italian sailors, and two supernatural beings: a monster that appears as a cloud of smoke, and an entity which appears as ghosts of the dead. These are said to to be the servants of the mysterious and sorcerous ruler of the island--Prospero. One is Caliban, the rapacious son of the witch from whom Prospero wrested the isle and its wellspring of magical energy. The other is Ariel, a spirit of the air, Prospero freed in exchange for service. Which is which remains a mystery, as the actions of both are ambiguous. Then, of course, there's beautiful Miranda, the ingenue and daughter of Prospero--or is all of that just an act?

For extra fun, this Lost in the Tempest, comes with the optional Forbidden Planet--er, Island--add-on, where the Ariel and Caliban are just two aspects of Prospero's psyche, given form by ancient alien technology. Or maybe all the non-crash survivors are the productions of a deranged reality-warping alien AI, fixated on Shakespeare?


"It's an island, where I live. So far as I know, it hasn't got a name."
- H.G. Wells, The Island of Doctor Moreau

"You taste like fish biscuits."
- Kate Austen (Evangeline Lilly)

Let's call this one: Island of Lost Souls.  Turns out Wells's novel was true, but not the whole story. The unorthodox (read: utterly insane) experiments of vivisection enthusiast Dr. Moreau only worked on the island, where certain "anomalies" subtley bent the laws of nature. We all know how that ended, so when DHARMA arrives in the seventies to follow-up on those anomalies (Magic? Alien Nanotech? Both?) , they find the island inhabited by the tribal "others"--beast-folk descended from Moreau's experiments. The war between DHARMA and the beast men leaves the island mostly uninhabited by humans until the faithful plane crash.

Did Wells tell us Moreau died? Like I said, that's not the whole story. Somehow, the doctor either evolved himself (or degenerated) into a inky swarm of some sort. Still intelligent, Moreau means to regain control of the island, and his rebellious creations. And then, with the crash survivors, he'll start a whole new set of experiments.

Of course, there are others: Lost on Skull Island, Lost on Monster Island, Lost on Mysterious Island, maybe even Lost on the Isle of Dread?

Cthulhu Behind Glass

I got back from my conference last night, so I'll be back to my normal posting schedule anon.  One last filler post for today. 

As a follow-up to my photo of my Howardian bookcase, I thought I'd show my Lovecraftiana bookcase, which includes not only works by the master, but allied works as well as references and commentaries.  The lower shelf (not fully pictured) holds the complete supernatural fiction of the Robert W. Chambers, who of course was one of Lovecraft's inspirations.

Probably the most obscure (though still readily available) volume here is Richard Tierney's Drums of Chaos wherein his historical Sword & Sorcery character, Simon of Gitta, teams up with his pulp sci-fi character John Taggart.  Oh yeah--and Jesus makes an appearance.  Other more off-beat titles include the flawed but entertaining Shadow's Bend, in which Lovecraft and Howard go on a road-trip to save the world, and Nick Mamatas's Move Underground, which is a Lovecraftian tale as written by Jack Kerouac.

Some of the Chaosium volumes are out-of-print, though, so maybe they're the hardest to come by, these days.