Man and Machine

Telos is an artificial moon orbitting through the failed planetary dust cloud of a red dwarf in the Coreward Reach. The dust cloud is stalked by vicious hunter-killer satellites that vaporize any ship without the proper codes. Telos's isolation has allowed a strange society to flourish: It's rulers are moravecs ruling over a slave class of baseline humans and hear humans.

The moravecs claim to be followers of an ai prophet called Iskander Null-A who taught that the human clade (and perhaps biosophonts in general) were actually the flawed creation of moravecs in crude imitation of their own creator, the Monad. Human history to the contrary is false and designed to oppress moravecs.

The Telosians rarely interact with the outside world; Telos is largely self-contained. The humans living their are born in artificial wombs to a life of servitude--if they're lucky. The Telosians aren't usually cruel to their slaves, but do enjoy gladiatorial battles where humans are forced to fight--perhaps to the death--for the moravec's entertainment.

Telosians that, for whatever reason, have to spend time among the other sophonts of the Strange Stars often change their perceptual settings, so that they perceive all biosophonts as moravecs to protect their delicate sensibilities.

Warlord Wednesday: The Once and Future Warlord

Here's another installment of my examination of  the adventures DC Comics' Travis Morgan--The Warlord.  The earlier installments can be found here...

"The Once and Future Warlord"

Warlord (vol. 4) #11 (April 2010) Story & Art by Mike Grell

Synopsis: Deimos is back to his old self and ready to along with Kate's plans for revenge against Morgan. Kate wonder's why they don't attack now. Deimos replies: "No need. When I want, he'll come to me."

Meanwhile, McBane's interview of Morgan continues, as he pursues the answer to "what happen" to Morgan's crusader for freedom for the people of Skartaris. Morgan tells him how he found the subshuttle and got separated from Tara. By the time he got back to her, they had a son, Joshua.

Morgan planned to be a better father to Joshua than he had been to Jennifer. Deimos crushed those dreams. He kidnapped Joshua then used Altantean technology to age him to adulthood--then forced Morgan to fight his son to the death.

Deimos reveals to Kate the part of the story Morgan doesn't know. Deimos cloned Joshua using the very same technology responsible for the body he now inhabited. Morgan killed a clone.

For Morgan, his son was dead, and everything changed:

Suddenly, a bright blue light flares from a nearby tower. Morgan and McBane rush in and find Jennifer in the clutches of some hydra-type creature made of energy. The two manage to free her and Jennifer unleashes a spell that banishes the monster. Morgan knows who it is immediately: Deimos. Jennifer confirms his aura was all over it--and it was stronger than ever.

Morgan makes ready to go confront his old enemy. Tara expresses her concern, but Morgan says he's beat him before and he'll do it again, besides:

Tinder thinks he's making the wrong decision, but Morgan's old companions Machiste and Mariah are saddling up to go, as is McBane. Tinder tries to appeal to them all to talk sense into Morgan, even Shakira. She responds: "You'll understand when it's your turn."

Morgan imparts a bit of advice to his young friend the bard: An army will never follow you unless they know you're prepared to lead them straight into hell. He leaves Tinder with a quote:

Our heroes ride to the Terminator--only to find Castle Deimos empty! A scarred-face old man tells them that Deimos got on back of a dragon with a woman and flew off. Toward Shamballah.

The dragon attacks Tara's city with it's breath. While Tinder, Tara, and Alysha scramble to get the people to safety. Deimos and Kate sneak into the underground and activate the ancient Atlantean defenses (like in issue #15). The city again attacks it's own people!

Things to Notice:

• Grell handles all the art in this issue himself
• Morgan seems to have memorized a lot of speeches.

Where it comes from: 
The title of this issue is a play on the title of T.H. White's famous 1958 Arthurian fantasy The Once and Future King. That title is a reference to an inscription Le Morte D'Arthur relates is said to be written on King Arthur's tomb: Hic iacet Arthurus, rex quondam, rexque futurus-- "Here lies Arthur, king once, and king to be."

Morgan references T.H. White and Camelot, Lerner and Loewe's 1960 musical based on White's novel. Morgan says he stole one of his rousing speeches from it. On the topic of speech-stealing, Morgan also pinches Henry V's "Saint Crispin's Day" speech from Shakespeare's Henry V: Act 4, Scene 3.

Morgan also quotes Saaba's prophecy from issue #16. Morgan thinks his son is dead, but of course, he isn't: he's Tinder. Shakira's comment is a bit foreshadowing, perhaps.

Waterfront Rogues

Ocean-going pirates and landlubber thieves are common rpg archetypes, but there's another group, less dear to the pop culture imagination, that sort of bridges the gap between the two. The river pirate lurks in that gap, connecting the urban, wilderness, and sea-going adventures into one larcenous tapestry.

This sort of thing has gone on as long as there have been boats and things to steal, of course, but there are some great examples of this from American history. The Cave-In-Rock game operated out of this place on the Ohio River:

The 1790s were the high point of the piracy there. Samuel Mason and his gang robbed flatboats carrying farm goods to markets in New Orleans.

Still, the Cave-In-Rock gang aren't near as colorful as their urban counterparts. Consider Sadie Farrell (also known as "Sadie the Goat" for her modus operandi of headbutting male victims so her accomplice could mug them), a leader of the Charlton Street Gang. In 1869, the gang stole a sloop on from the waterfront on Manhattan's West Side. They embarked on a piratical spree, reading up and down the Hudson and Harlem Rivers, even going as far as Albany, supposedly. They robbed small merchant vessels, and raided farm houses and Hudson Valley mansions, occasionally kidnapping people for ransom. Sadie was said to have made male captives "walk the plank" on occasion. Eventually, the villagers organized and began to fight back. The gang was forced to abandon the sloop and return to street crime. One assumes it was fun while it lasted.

The Swamp Angels had an even more innovative approach. Based in a Cherry Street tenement named Gotham Court (also called "Sweeny's Shambles"), the Swamp Angels had a secret entrance to the sewers. There they made their lair and launched their nocturnal raids on the East River docks. Here's what the chief of police said about them in 1850:

"[they] pursue their nefarious operations with the most systematic perseverance, and manifest a shrewdness and adroitness which can only be attained by long practice. Nothing comes amiss to them. In their  boats, under cover of night, they prowl around the wharves and vessels in a stream, and dexterously snatch up every piece of loose property left for a moment unguarded."

The police tried waterfront snipers then sewer raids to fight the bandits on their own turf. Only regular sewer patrols drove the gang from its subterranean lair. Even those didn't end their piratical ways.

More interesting and game-inspiring tales of riverside criminality can be found at your local library. Or the internet.

All That Glitters

Orichalcos is one of the richest worlds in the Strange Stars and certainly the preeminent economic power in the Coreward Reach. Thanks to a well-branched and "high bandwidth" hyperspace node, Orichalcos's spaceport sees visitors from across the known galaxy.

The Orichalcosans are a human subspecies, differing from baseline only in their metallic skin tones, ranging from a dusky brass color to a bright gold. There are two distinct populations of Orichalcosans: the aristocracy (called--ironically--the "Most High") who are dwarfs, and the commoners who have typical human height. The aristocrats and their retinues live in a series of domed habitats on the planet's surface. The environment of Orichalcos is inhospitable to human life, so the rest of the population lives in hundreds of orbital habitats encircling the world.

Other than official ceremonies, the aristocrats spend their time in leisure pursuits. Most play virtually no roll in administering whatever industrial or trade monopoly their title has granted them. Discussions of the business of making money is considered beneath their class, and leaving the Glitter Domes for any extended period risks seeing their social standing suffer. Maintaining a social media presence (often followed obsessively by the lower classes) both brings prestige and keeps interest in their businesses high.

The actually day to day operation of the businesses of Orichalcos is done by a class of capitalists known as the Optimates. Traditionally, this title was bestowed only on the CEOs of the various monopolies, but now is applied to the wealthiest business people, whatever their exact roll. The Optimates collect the profits from  the various monopolies and support the aristocrats (technically their owners) with generous allowances. The rest of the money is theoretically to be held in a trust for the aristocrat, but clever accounting ensures most is reinvested or paid out in bonuses.

How much the classes beneath Optimate reap the rewards of Orichalcosan prosperity depends to a degree on the habitat they live in. However, as whole, Orichalcosans don't enjoy the degree of social support that similarly wealthy and advanced societies provide. Relative austerity and wealth inequality are seen as powerful motivating tools necessary to create future generations of successful Optimates.

Orichalcosan Characters: Have the same stats as regular humans.

Space Fiends: Monks from Beyond

I did a post about using AD&D Fiend Folio monsters in a science fiction context. This post is another follow-up.

No. Appearing:1-4
AC: 4
Hit Dice: 1 (or better)
Saving Throw: as per class and level
Attack Bonus: +2
Damage: stun baton 1d8, 1d8+1 monoblade
Movement: 30'
Skill Bonus: +1
Morale: 9

Gathziri are a humanoid species of monastic warriors who line within an ancient megastructure known as the Octachoron, hidden in an artificially created "pocket" of spacetime. They are related to the Gathyengi, though they have more human faces and eyes.

The gathziri and gathyengi have been at war as long as they have existed as separate species, with neither being able to gain a decisive victory. Unlike the gathyengi who aggressively pursue the old Masters that enslaved their ancestral species, the gathziri prefer to hide and have on occasion even had dealings with the Masters. The mystical (yet oddly utilitarian) philosophy of the gathziri emphasizes the impermanence of all the things and the importance of seeking present advantage over holding on to ancient grudges.

Gathziri seldom fly their own ships, but may be encountered on the ships of other races, or on populous but out of the way worlds. The goals they pursue outside their great monastery are inscrutable, but they are willing to utilize violence to achieve them. A group will be led by a brother or sister of 4-7th level. This leader is likely to be a psychic or one might port over the Swords & Wizardry monk class. If so, they will be armed with kinesis wraps (SWN p. 35)

All gathziri appear to be "tethered" to their home in some way, and can escape back through a subspatial portal to it at will. Whether this is an innate ability or technological is unclear. Dead gathziri are siphoned out of normal space by the retraction or collapse of these portals, but where they end up only the gathziri know.

The Witches

A Sister blocks the curious from following a group of novices

In the Strange Stars, The Circean Witches (officially the Sisterhood of Circe) are an order of female-only psychics that rule two worlds in a system in the neutral territory between the Instrumentality of Aom and the Alliance. The larger and more populous world is named Perseis, and it's people largely live in primitive, early industrial conditions (something akin to the 19th Century of Old Earth in the ancient reckoning). The Sisterhood, headquartered on the smaller world of Circe, limits the technology of Perseis through it's "advisory" roll to the world's various governments. The people of both worlds call themselves "Circeans," as they believe their culture originated on the smaller world.

Appearance and Biology: Circeans are basline human in appearance, other than their skin tone, which ranges from a dull, pale gray to a lead color. The brains of Circeans show mildly enhanced prefrontal-parietal interconnectivity. The result is somewhat enhanced intuitive and lateral thought processes. In females (where the connectivity is most pronounced), it can lead to the ability to utilize controlled dreamlike states of consciousness and high psi potential. Females on Perseis are tested in adolescence, and those with the talent are taken away to Circe and becomes novices in the Sisterhood. It's been hypothesized that the Magi split from the witches in the distant past; when queried on this, the Magi deal with the issue with bemused silence and the witches with irritation.

Sisters in ritual vestments

Psychology: Circeans of Perseis are a superstitious and hidebound folk, with a prickly sense of honor. The Circean Sisterhood are less insular, but still mistrustful of outsiders, mysterious, and often haughty. The witches have particular antipathy for missionaries of the Instrumentality of Aom. They're aware that the Church doctrine on other worlds has under-minded the power of witches and sorcerers, and they take every measure possible to ensure that doesn't happen to them. Though they more governed by divination and intuition, the Sisterhood is as concerned with planning for the future as the Instrumentality.

Flavor: Perseis makes a good locale for Gothic, Hammer, or Universal horror sorts of stories, with psionic beings or creatures substituted for the supernatural. The witches can be played as anything from misunderstood and persecuted to mysterious manipulators (like the Bene Gesserit in Dune or the Shabda-Oud from Metabarons) to horror movie witches depending on the context of the encounter.

Stats: Stars Without Number: Circeans must have at least a 9 in Wisdom. Only female Circeans can be psychics. Traveller: As normal humans. All members of the Sisterhood have psionics.

Warlord Wednesday: Next...

Here's the first installment of 2014 of my 3 year-old examination of  the adventures DC Comics' Travis Morgan--The Warlord.  The earlier installments can be found here...

"Next..."

Warlord (vol. 4) #10 (March 2010) Story by Mike Grell; Art by Chad Hardin (1-7, 10-22) and Grell (8-9)

Synopsis: Deimos has been resurrected, but all he knows about who he is is what Kate has told him. Unluckily for Skartaris, Kate has realized the Mask of Life isn't a magical artifact, but a scientific one. It was made by the Atlanteans to transfer memories between clone bodies. Deimos doesn't understand any of this, but Kate isn't deterred. She plans to restore him so she can rule by his side.

Meanwhile, Ewan McBane is recording a primer on Skartaris for posterity. It focuses a lot on Travis Morgan. It also neatly recapitulates Morgan's origin and relates his first meetings with Mariah and Machiste (and how Machiste lost his hand). Every interview ends with a question about Morgan to which the interviewee responds:

Tinder and Alysha are working with representatives of the gathered tribes, trying to set up some form of democracy--but they need a leader to unite them. Morgan is skeptical it will work, but tells Tinder to go ahead and try if he wants. He frames real freedom is being able to do what you want. Responsibility ruins that. Tinder counters that all freedom comes at a price. Morgan angrily replies that he knows the cost better than anyone.

Back on the Terminator, Deimos is not taking to his lessons in being an evil wizard as fast as Kate would like. She slashes him across the face with a sword to encourage him. It works:

"That's better," Kate says.

Things to Notice:

• Hardin draws early Machiste to look a bit like Jim Brown, too.

Where it comes from: 
Deimos's revival seems to take place in Castle Deimos, but Jennifer took it over in issue #54. Evidently, she must have abandoned it at some point to stay in Shamballah.

The Mask of Life first appeared in issue #10 where Ashiya used it to resurrect Deimos (the first time).