Strange Stars Art

Here are representatives of two historical cultures of the Zuran Expanse, courtesy of Jez Gordon, illustrator extraordinaire.

On the left is one of the zurr. They flourished between the time of the Great Collapse and the present era. The Expanse is named for them, though how much of the territory their civilization actually controlled is a matter of debate. The zurr are only known from their iconography (images of tall humanoids in unadorned, flowing robes and elaborate, non-representational masks), some ritual sites with oddly angled monumental structures, and a few apparently functionless artifacts. Mysteriously, they left no information technology or tools necessary for an advanced civilization behind, but their presence is attested on multiple worlds. They are blamed for unleashing the ssraad upon the galaxy.

On the right is one of the researcher-sadists called Faceless Ones. In the time of the Great Collapse, a cabal of  like-minded individuals set themselves up in a orbital sanctum and set about to explore extremes of sensation. They replaced their faces with featureless metallic masks that were actually incredibly sensitive sensory and recording apparatus. Their lower limbs they likewise replaced with mechanical ones covered with sensory fibers in a variety of modalities. The Faceless Ones strove to experience and archive everything they could about their depraved experiments on those they fell into their hands. Ultimately, they created the Algosians as their servitors and collaborators.

Warlord Wednesday: And the Cosmos Ends

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...

"The Death-Knell of the Universe: Chapter 2: And the Cosmos Ends"

Warlord #133 (Winter 1988)

Written by Michael Fleisher; Pencils by Jan Duursema, Inks by Tom Mandrake

Synopsis: Ishum leads Morgan and Tara and the group of warriors freed from Yk’Kphat’s jewels back to Skartaris. In her sanctum beneath the volcano, Khnathaiti gloats to her demons that the destruction wrought by Anu will lead to the creation of a new universe with her as its queen. And the cosmos draws to its end.

Morgan and crew arrive in Shamballah and he’s reunited with Jennifer and Shakira. Ishum raises the horn to his lips to blow it but:

Yk’Kphat has played on last trick.

The prophecy of doom begins to fulfill itself. Anu releases beams of fire, and the nine worlds begin to burn. Ice follows, flash freezing everything in touches. Then comes stone, turning men and beast in statutes. Morgan and his friends can only watch helpless, but protected behind a magic shield courtesy of Jennifer.

All of a sudden, Aoife emerges from a portal with the real god-horn in her hand. Before he can, one of Anu’s blasts turns him to stone. He drops the horn, but Morgan dives over the edge of the precipe their standing on and catches it. Anu grabs Morgan with one its tentacles. Morgan resolves to take Anu with him if he’s going. 

He blows the horn:

Anu returns to his plane of rest. The nine worlds are saved.

Jennifer goes to confront Khathaiti. It turns out that won’t be necessary: Khnathaiti and her minions have been turned to stone, victims of the forces they released.

Aoife explains to the others what happened. Yk’kphat was miffed at Khnathaiti’s arrogance, so he let Aoife carry the horn to them, but he doesn’t grant favors without exacting a price. He demands the return of the warriors freed from his jewels. Knowing that Morgan loves Tara and not her, Aoife as agreed to substitute for Tara.

The warriors reluctantly agree, knowing that is the only way to keep petulant Yk’Kphat from summoning Anu again. They boast they’ll all escape together one day.

After seeing their compatriots off, our heroes turn to the task of reuniting Tara’s spirit with her body. Jennifer casts her spell and it’s a success. Tara awakens.

And so ends Warlord vol. 1.

Unanswered Questions:

• Is Tinder still in Wizard World?
• Will Tara and Morgan ever discover that he's really their son?
• Is Morgan really going to leave Mariah with that traitor and abuser Maddox?
• Will Machiste ever get a queen?
• What's Shakira's true origin?

Where to from here: 
The first volume of Warlord is done, but his story isn't over. In 1989, Mike Grell would return to his creation for the first time in 6 years. 

Medusa

No. Enc.:  1?
Movement:  45' (20')
Armor Class:  8
Hit Dice:  5
Attacks:  1 (tentacles or special)
Damage:  1d3
Save:  L5
Morale:  8

The legends of Medusa have there basis in a bizarre creature perhaps brought to Earth from a distant world or perhaps designed by the Olympians or titans from the DNA of some sea-creature. The only known gorgon or medusa dwells in a cave complex in mountains near a ruin city of an unknown civilization in the Libyan. The desert around the cave is dotted with statues in lifelike poses evocative of horror.

The medusa is vaguely tree-like in appearance (an upright cylindrical body covered with tendrils), but it possess a single, glowing eye-like structure. This structure is actually a light emitter that produces a beam in a pattern with effects on the nervous systems of vertebrates. Anyone looking at the medusa when the beam is fired must save versus Stun Attack or be paralyzed by neural lock for 1d6 turns (save means movement at half for 2d6 rounds).

It's tendrils release a thick goo which, combined with silicates in the environment can petrify the organic mass of a human body in 1d6+4 days. The medusa feeds off organic material displayed in this process.

Mutations:  Prehensile tendrils, toxic weapon.

Images from Medusa vs the Son of Hercules(Perseus The Invincible) 1962

Giant Monster Battles

As a wise blogging compañero has already opined: if the basic conceit of Pacific Rim seems like something you would like, you should see it.

Now with that out of the way, let's talk about the gaming potential of the setup. Of course, there's the eminently gameable setting of the film--particular in the 7 year period where humankind is holding off the kaiju threat. But we don't have to stop there.

Maybe the kaiju wind up just occupying certain territory?  The comic limited series Giant Killer by Dan Brereton posits just this sort of scenario. It also offers a wider variety of kaiju (and kaiju categories) than Pacific Rim.

Of course, that sort of situation could easily lead to a post-apocalyptic scenario were kaiju devastate and occupy more and more of the world. In the most pessimistic case, this could lead to something resembling The Night Land, where surviving humans hold out in a last redoubt and sally forth to fight for a lost cause. A less grim version might see humanity escaping to orbital habitats and sending their best mecha pilots to earth to fight to reclaim territory--something akin to Gundam G, but without the tournament element.

That's just off the top of my head. In sure there are a lot more ways to get those robots fighting giant monsters.

Okeanos

Okeanos is the name given by the Greeks to one of the Titans, the alien beings that created the Cosmos. The Greeks view him as the embodiment of the waters that surround the known world. In actuality, his vast, inhuman intellect is encoded in the quantum fabric of spacetime--the "ocean" outside the Earth. The Olympians believe that Okeanos was not a collaborator with Kronos's experiment, but was trapped in the nascent cosmos structure and compressed into his current role.

His "wife" (if such a term is really applicable to such beings) Tethys, also resides primarily in spacetime but is considered a separate being--or at least exists at separate energy state.

Their creations/partial avatars/children (again, the exact relationship is difficult to describe in human terms) are known as Oceanids. Most are equally at home in the icy Oort Cloud as the depths of Earth's oceans. Whatever their appearance, they approach the Olympians in terms of power and exceed them in some capabilities.

Since he was integral to the Cosmos (and apparently no partisan of Kronos), the Olympians didn't imprison Okeanos--though it 's unlikely they could have in any case. His manifestation appears as a giant humanoid male made from the very night sky he stepped out of. He seldom appears on Earth, though, and what little communication he has with humans is in dreams.

Catch Up on the Strange Stars

Work is getting in the way again, but in lieu of a new post, I'll point you to the newly updated Strange Stars Index Page so you can catch up on what you might have missed.

I hope to have some original Strange Stars artwork by Jez Gordon to show you in the (hopefully) not too distant future, so stay tuned.

Warlord Wednesday: The Death-Knell of the Universe

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...

"The Death-Knell of the Universe: Chapter I: Where Dwells the Grim God"

Warlord #133 (Winter 1988)

Written by Michael Fleisher; Pencils by Jan Duursema, Inks by Tom Mandrake

Synopsis: Morgan and Aoife are riding with Ishum on his winged mount, on their way to try to steal Ishum’s horn back from Yk’Kphat to try to prevent to end of the cosmos. They happen to pass over angry blob creatures chasing a man. They swoop down and carry him to safety.

It turns out he stole a jewel from the angry blob. He’s Guernon Darkmoon and he claims to be a master thief.

Meanwhile, the god worm Anu winds his way through the cosmos, passing near the Ebondar forest and dropping alien monsters on Skartaris. Luckily, there are heroes to try to protect the people:

In the god realm of Yk’Kphat, Tara is trapped in a pearl around the fat god’s neck as he “fondles” the horn of being. When he tires of playing with it, he has slaves put it back in storage.

Jennifer figures their straights are so desperate she’s got to find allies—even unsavory ones who will exact a price for their services:

Morgan and crew sneak into Yk’Kphat’s palace. Aoife know’s Tara is on one of the god-thing’s pearls, but she has been dithering about telling him because she’s a little sweet on him. She starts to tell him, but then Darkmoon calls her away to help him snag the horn. Morgan and Ishum fly out to keep Yk’kphat occupied.

It turns out Yk’kphat can produce demonic creatures just from his breath!

Darkmoon proves his skill by picking the lock on the god’s treasure room. As soon as they have the horn, a snake-like monster emerges from the mounds of gold to attack. It grabs Darkmoon in its jaws. Aoife means to fight it, but Darkmoon tells her to leave him and get the horn away. Reluctantly, she does.

She arrives in the main chamber just in time to tell Morgan that Tara is in one of the jewels. Ishum tells Morgan they should shatter them all to free the warriors trapped within. Morgan and Tara are reunited, but the ethereal portal they came in is closing, and Yk’kphat has just exhaled a horde of dragons.

It’s Aoife’s turn to sacrifice herself for the common good:

In Skartaris, the force’s of Jennifer’s netherworldly allies are proving ineffectual against halting Anu’s undulations. The assessment of their leaders:

TO BE CONTINUED

Things to Notice:

• This is the last issue of Warlord.
• The letter page announces the end of the series and points out that it was the only comic started by Marvel or DC launched after 1970 to still be published in 1988 [presumably Greenberger means series launched around new characters].