Weird Revisited: The Ahistorical History Setting

This post first appeared in 2017, but I think a trotted out back in 2020 as well. The occasion of the double repeat is discovering a post on RPGnet forums about a cool Hellenistic setting by Kenneth Hite I remembered from Surpressed Transmission coming to Kickstarter, only to be disappointed to see the post was from 2018 and the projected abandoned...

Historically accurate Aristotle?

A social media thread about bad history in historical costume drama caused me to recall an idea I had years ago upon a re-read of Aaron Allston's wonderful Mythic Greece: Age of Heroes. At the time, Hercules: The Legendary Journeys was still in syndication, and while not particularly good, it did suggest the using of Greek Myth and geographic as a backdrop for a fantasy setting that might not otherwise have a lot of the trappings of Greek myth. For the most part, Hercules stuck to the big names, but there's no reason you couldn't get as detailed as Allston's book, but give it a wholly un-Mythic Greece feel.

The changes can be big. Reign: The Conqueror (based on the novel Arekusandā Senki by Hiroshi Aramata) re-imagines the life of Alexander the Great as a sort of science fantasy thing with giant Persian war machines and Pythagorean ninjas. Or, they can be subtle, like Black Sails weaving historical pirates with a sort of prequel to Treasure Island. (The difference I see between this last one and a standard historical setting which would generally tend to insert fictional characters, i.e. the PCs, into history, is the "high concept" of the literary/historical mashup.)

A lesson on Greek myth every week?

So I say go ahead and run a Kirby-esque space opera based on the book of Exodus. Recontextualize the War of Roses to have it take place in something like Warring States Japan. Or take the history presented in the Book of Mormon and turn it into a hexcrawl as Jeff Reints did.

Let history be your guide, not your boss.

Wednesday Comics: DC, August/July 1985 (week 1)

My mission: to read DC Comics' output from January 1980 (cover date) to the end of Crisis. This week, I'm looking at the comics that were on stands in the week of May 2, 1985. 

Sword of Atom Special #2: This issue actually has a July cover date, but there is some discrepancy in the sources regarding when it came out. Anyway, Strnad and Kane are back with another Lost World/Sword & Planet-ish tale. A bird-riding group of raiders called Skul-Riders attack New Morlaidh and kidnap women, including Laethwen. At around the same time, Paul Hoben and Norman Brawler have arrived with an accidentally shrunk Jean, intending to find Atom and get his help to restore her, but she too is kidnapped by the raiders. Atom, Voss, and Paul join forces to track the riders to their city where it turns out a dictator using mind control technology is responsible for the raids as he seeks breeding stock to bolster his cities ranks to realize his dreams of conquest. When his people are freed from control, they kill the tyrant themselves, and our heroes return home. Atom gives Jean and Paul the shrinking belt as he can't use it anymore.

Atom will appear in several issues of Crisis but that's it until 1988.

DC Comics Presents #83: Rozakis is the writer on this team-up of Superman and the Challengers of the Unknown. The artists are a bit of a puzzle: We have both Kirby and Toth, both with inks by Theakston. Toth's work only appears over a couple of pages in a flashback sequence. It seems weird to engage two such celebrated artists in this way, which makes me think the issue as we got it was a "plan B." Anyway, this is Kirby's last major work for DC, though his last actual work (a cover) won't come until after Crisis.

Zo-Mar, a Kryptonian criminal from the pre-Phantom Zone days, escapes from a prison space capsule and infiltrates the Earth with a mystic card that gives him the power of mind control--including those of Superman and the Challengers of the Unknown. It also (handily) keeps him from developing Kryptonian super-powers. Our heroes manage to get the card from him, but then he gains powers! They ultimately use a trick to defeat him and destroy the card. Zo-Mar is sent to the Phantom Zone.

Shadow War of Hawkman #4: The limited series comes to a close just as it seems it was getting started, but Isabella makes it clear at the end that this was merely the first battle in a potentially longer war. We open with several examples of the Absorbacon being used to still secrets from humans, and thus economic and political spoils. The Shadow War is to be an infiltration and covert coup rather than a fledged-fledged invasion.  The Hawks are still in the fight, though. They sneak back onto their own ship, defeat the Thanagarian agents, then destroy the ship so it can't be taken again. They track down the Absorbacon, but fate takes a hand as Rab Mekir, enslaved to the machine, takes his revenge on Fell Andar, leading to his own death. This vanguard defeated, Katar and Shayera can return to their secret IDs and cover lives, but we see there are still Thanagarian deep cover agents on Earth.

Wonder Woman #326: This one has a July cover date, too, though likely released in May. Newell takes over as writer with Heck still on art, and we're back to the stuff that was going in back in issue 316. Wonder Woman follows Keith Griggs and Lauren Haley back to the Central American nation of Tropidor and again encounters the Aztec god Tezcatlipoca. Also, Etta is really angry with Diana for some reason.

V #6: This is another issue with a July cover date. Bates and Infantino/DeZuniga wrap up the whole Meagan arc. The rebellion rescues Meagan, ironically to keep him from blowing up the alien mothership as they fear the severity of reprisals, and they are helped by a scheming faction of Visitor leadership looking to undercut Diana. Unfortunately, Meagan's head-bomb starts to malfunction, so he takes a ship and heads back toward the Mothership on his own. He explodes before he gets there, though, taking out some Visitor fighters and thwarting Diana's plans to recapture him. She remains unaware of the bomb throughout the whole incident. 

On Earth, the Visitor experimentation facility is taken out, and Ham and friends force the lead scientists to inject themselves with their own mutagen.

In Alignment

Mostly discussions about alignment (probably since time immemorial) seem to circle around 3 opens about it: it is just a suggestion for roleplay; it represents cosmic teams of some sort and isn't about character morality; and most commonly its bad and we just ignore it. 

Gareth Hanrahan's The Gutter Prayer suggests to me an interesting tweak to idea 2, one I haven't seen before. I mention previously the saints in that world who were empowered by the gods not due to faith or ideals, but rather due to be somehow psychic compatible with the deity, making passing divine power through them possible. You might say the saints are in alignment with the deity.

So, what if alignment was a bit like that? It does present being on a cosmic team but not a team the character chose, a team that they were born into. This connection would allow the character to speak alignment language and to be recognized as "marked" by that team, perhaps. Characters are free to behave whatever way they want, but they can't (or at least can't easily change) this affinity any more than they could change their bloodtype. It should probably be randomly generated or determined by class, I suppose.

For most characters, a lack of affinity with the ethics of the deity wouldn't be an issue under most circumstances, though for people like clerics and paladins who get more out of the connection, it would matter.

The metaphysical implications for a setting with this would be really interesting, I think. There are a lot of ways it could be operationalized. 

[Parsulan] In The Red Wastes

In Southeast Parsulan, the Karkharoth badlands are an inhospitable, monster-haunted region of gullies and ravines between low, barren, red ridges, at times scarred by jagged rock formations like rows of fangs. In a broad canyon surrounding one of a rare oases is the fortress city-state of Kamazot.

The broken and desolate terrain isn't natural but instead due to the folly of man. In the Age of the Wizard Kings, attempts to push the then-fertile lands to even higher yields, coupled with sabotage from rival lands led to disruption of local fae elementals and a wounding of the land. The weakening of the polity made the region vulnerable to raids from the humanoid nations to the north serving to further depopulate the old kingdom.

The Demon War might have thoroughly returned the badlands to wilderness and ruin, but a warlord rose to organize disparate tribal groups and led them to re-occupy Kamazot. The armies unearthed ancient magitech weapons and restored them to the repaired fortress walls. The city they rebuilt developed into an autocracy organized along military lines, which persists to this day. Despite its regimented society, Kamazot has always been opened to outsiders who prove their worth. Even humanoids and those of monstrous ancestry are occasionally accepted into their society. 

It is rare for rulership succession in the city-state to be passed hereditarily. Instead, the clan generals elect an Imperator. The current ruler, Dornon Gundark, is unusual in that he was a clanless outsider who rose through the ranks due to his battle prowess and canny out-maneuvering of rivals at a time when Kamazot had been weakened by poor leadership.  He enjoys both popular support and the loyalty of most of the generals. Those less supportive are kept in line by his command of the Red Hawks, an elite force drawn mostly from those born outside the city and discriminated minorities such as humanoids and Darklings.

 Dornon directs his forces to seek out magitech weapons to add to the state's arsenal. He is very fond of cannons, the bigger the better. He pays handsomely for the recovery of weaponry from ancient ruins and dungeons.

His interests in technology extend beyond weaponry, however. Recently a railroad line was completed linking Kamazot with the Northern Parsulan industrial hubs. The line passes a perilous route through humanoid territory, however, and must employ adventurers and mercenaries both the trains and crews effecting repairs. Another line is planned between Kamazot and the port of Ervessos, but interests in the rival states of the Lightbearer Republic and Grancazarel oppose to close and alliance between those regional powers.

Wednesday Comics: DC, July 1985 (week 4)

I'm reading DC Comics' output from January 1980 (cover date) to the end of Crisis! This week, I read the comics on sale on April 25, 1985.

Tales of the Legion #325: Levitz/Newell and Jurgens/Kesel deliver what feels a bit like a cable TV season finale in that things with the Dark Circle reach a fairly abrupt (but pat) conclusion. The Legionnaires storm their base and discover that the Dark Circle leaders have cloned themselves (also that Ontarr is one of them). The leaders seem to commit mass suicide, killing their clones as well. Afterward, Gigi and Dev-Em get flirty, and White Witch and Blok fall asleep together watching future-TV.

Then we have a coda where Lightning Lad and Saturn Girl explain that Tales is going all reprint form this point on, so this will likely be the last I talk about it here. It feels like they left some plot threads dangling (with the Dark Circle and the stuff with Dawnstar and her new love) that just sort of get dropped.

Action Comics #568: In the first story by Yee/Kupperberg and Norvick/Rodriguez, a bullied schoolgirl is a conduit for a demon ("Ravenjh") to attack her classmates. When Superman gets involved, the demon briefly possesses Lois, leading in the aftermath, to the two of them having a discussion of why their relationship failed.

The second story by Wolff and Bender/Marcos gets the cover and is more humorous. An alien filmmaker comes to Earth and asks for Superman's help in choosing an actor to portray him in a movie. It seems that all humanoids look alike to the alien, which is proven by their choice of a rather un-super would-be actor to portray the Man of Steel.

Ambush Bug #2: Giffen, Fleming, and Oksner keep up the funny this issue. We're first introduced by Jonni DC, keeper of continuity of the DC Universe, a topical character given what's going on over in Crisis. Most of the issue though, deals with Ambush Bug dealing with the threat of Quantis, once a scientist working on a cuteness formula, now a giant, man-koala. Jonni DC's powers prove insufficient to deal with the menace, so it's up to Ambush Bug to save the day with an antidote.

Arion Lord of Atlantis #33: Kupperberg and Duursema/Mandrake conclude "The Magic Odyssey." Jhy and Jheryl work to free Arion from his mother, Majistra. They enlist the aid of the entity known as the Weaver, who ultimately restores Arion's magical powers, so the sorcerer can battle his mother, himself. Meanwhile, Chian discovers Tokomata's treachery and gets into a fight with him. He's caught in the blast of the evil released with Majistra's defeat and injured, then Chian finishes him off. 

Arion returns, to the physical world and is reunited with Chian who is really sorry (again) about being duped by somebody who wanted to kill him. Arion uses his power to restore Wyynde to normal. Next, they're headed to Atlantis and a new arc.

All-Star Squadron #47: McFarlane provides the pencils for most of this issue retelling the origin of Dr. Fate and his first encounter with Wotan. McFarlane's stylization is already starting to be evident, but his work here still has an amateurish look. After Fate finishes, the Squadron gets word that Winston Churchill requests their presence in Britain.

Detective Comics #552: An assassin named Cutter is offering his services to the Gotham Underworld to get rid of Batman. Our hero here's about this and fakes his death to catch both the assassin and mob bosses off guard. It's a clever story, though Moench parallels it with Julia Pennyworth's first published story about a historic tree being cut down in the name of progress, which doesn't really add much.

Cavalieri and Moore/Patterson continue the "Green Arrow versus Immigration Enforcement" story. After arguing with the official running the detention facility, Ollie is thrown in detention himself. Dinah Lance helps him break out of detention, along with two Salvadoran refugees. They head for the next stop on the "underground railroad" and leave the refugees there. Apparently, that's that, and the government just let's Ollie get away with it! A night later, Green Arrow makes his way back to Oliver Queen's apartment, unaware that Onyx is watching him.

World's Finest Comics #317: Cavalieri's and Stroman/Aiken/Garvey finish up the Cheapjack story. Batman's cover is blown, and he takes a beating from Cheapjack's thugs, but he rallies as Superman arrives. Cheapjack has built a giant machine that is part shack, part construction equipment, and he threatens to kill Massimo's daughter in its back-hoe claw grasp, but the heroes use smarts to save her, and Cheapjack is defeat, then consigned to the comics limbo he deserves.

[Parsulan] The Lightbearer Republic

The youngest state of Southeastern Parsulan is at once ill-omened and favored with great promise. Morrgna, capital of the Republic, is famed for the strange lights that can frequently be seen in its night skies: the aurora-like ribbons and curtains of pale color, sometimes with faces or forms moving through them and the flickering will-o'wisps that pass through the streets or hang in place for a time before fading. Such lights are often seen in association with the irruption of shadow cysts and they do seem to foreshadow the difficulties the area has with demonic forces.

At the same time, the Republic seems to be on the rise. Less than two decades ago, it was a sparsely populated backwater, ravaged by the demonic Wild Hunt. The tide turned with the so-called Miracle of the Church of Saint Lampada, wherein Leonhart Urzen, now First Citizen of the Republic, led a band of refugees in repulsing an assault by a demonic host. The cost of victory was the death of Leonhart's adventuring companions and their retainers, a group now celebrated as the Fallen Heroes. Those Heroes are entombed with honor in a crypt beneath the great church, guarded by special Keeper-Priests, for reasons that are doctrinally obscure. They are venerated on All Heroes Day, and the night before their spirits and those of the city's other dead are propitiated with offerings and their forgiveness is sought through rituals led by the priests.

Leonhart guided the formation of the Republic by inviting in neighboring cities and towns, and organized a militia, both protect the land against demonic incursion and to collect magical artifacts that emerge from the shadow cysts and bring them to Morrgna's dungeon vaults for safe keeping. While citizens guard the cities and serve in officer roles, Mercenaries and adventurers compromise most of the forces sent into emergent shadow cysts and patrolling beyond the walls of the cities and towns. Those who die in service are considered to be added to the ranks of the Fallen Heroes laid to rest with the original group beneath the church. Though few would refuse such as an honor, agreement to this burial honor is said to be a stipulation of admittance into the militia's ranks.

Saints and Clerics

In the post-industrial fantasy, The Gutter Prayer, by Gareth Hanrahan, gods are essentially strange loops of magical energy, powered by worship and quite obviously a lot more trouble than they're worth. At least most of them don't eat the souls of living being like the gods in R. Scott Bakker's The Second Apocalypse series, but that's about the only thing one could say in their favor. 

One of the interesting things in Hanrahan's portrayal are the saints. These saints are much like "The Gifted" in my Weird Adventures setting and in other posts in that they are people effectively imbued with super-powers by a god. As such, they make good inspiration for an approach to clerics in fantasy rpgs.

Saints differ from your standard cleric of the D&D variety in a few ways. One, they don't seem to cast spells, just manifest divine powers. Two, they aren't necessarily people of high faith, but ones who just happen to be on the same psychic wavelength as the god, making it easier for the god to establish a connection and work through them. Third, the saints, then, aren't the evangelists and expanders of a faith, generally, but it's holy warriors.

I've long felt that having clerical magic-users that are separate and distinct from regular priests and priestly hierarchies worldbuilding-wise, and this remains a really good approach, I think, and I feel like Hanrahan provides a flavorful implementation of it, with an interesting take on the gods, in general.