Mesa of the Sky-Vikings

In the Hidden Land beyond a cave in the Superstition Mountains, there is an imposing, solitary mesa rising above the jungle. The mesa is some 1200 feet tall and steep-sided. Its flat top is about 900 ft. long and 400 ft. across at its widest. Located there are the longhouses and fortress of the Sky-Vikings.

Interbreeding with captives from the jungle tribes and exposure to the tropical sun and turned their pale complexions darker, but they often retain the fair hair of their ancestors. Their material cultural is similar, but adapted to their surroundings.

Most dramatically, they have replaced their forebears seagoing raids with aerial attacks. The Sky-Vikings have domesticated the pteranodons that nest on the mesa and use them as mounts. As there society depends on the raids for most of their food and raw materials, they train from a young age to command the flying beasts. Their society is male-dominated; only rarely are women able to prove themselves as pteranodon-riding raiders. Some jarls are more permissive than others, however.

The Sky-Vikings know the working of metal,and have metal spearheads, knives, and short-swords. The rarely waist their limited supplies on armor.

Another Friday Map

This map from Amethyst: Princess of Gemworld throws realism completely out the window. In later stories, Gemworld becomes an actual planet. I think this was better.

Here's some details about Gemworld and points of interest.

Do You Dare Enter...The Setting Crypt?

While I've got indices for a couple of the settings I've discussed here over the years, there are some that languish in the blog archives--as well as in a still-unfinished state. Several of them I do intend to get back to eventually:

Gods, Demi-gods, and Strangeness is an ongoing concern. It's Greek mythology as science fantasy with a hint of Kirby. It got an index post and later posts here.

Apocalypse Underground is a D&D setting that rationalizes game aspects like increasing hit points and some class abilities, while dwelling on a horror of fighting apocalyptic struggle with monsters in dark, cramped spaces beneath the earth. Here's the first post. Follow the tag for later ones.

Planet of the Elves is post-apocalyptic fantasy where Man is a distant memory. It draws on Bakshi's Wizards and a slew of comics for inspirations: particular the fantasy stylings of Wally Wood and Mike Ploog. Read the first post, then follow the tag.

Pulp Space is a alternate history and an alternate Spelljammer setting. It starts at the end of War of the Worlds and ends in a 1930s where occultism and alien science has taken volatile politics of Earth out into colonies on other planets in the solar system. It starts here and continues with the tag.

There are other setting riffs back there, but these are the big ones.

Warlord Wednesday: Sea King in Skartaris

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

"To Enter the Lost World..."/ "Worlds Apart" / "Power Game"

Aquanman (vol. 3) #71-73 (September-November 2000) Written by Dan Jurgens, Penciled by Steve Epting, Inked by Norm Rapmund

Synopsis: Machiste, Mariah, and Mongo are on a desperate ride through the Skartarian jungle. They decide they have to split up. Mariah and Machiste will deal with the Ch'rin, while Mongo rides on to the Gate. Mongo makes it to the stone arch of the Gate of Infinity. There, he casts a spell that creates a vortex in the pool beyond the gate.

On Earth, in the Atlantean city of Poseidonis, Aqualad senses some mystical disturbance and rushes to tell his king, Aquaman, about it. Bored with affairs of state, Aquaman and his queen Mera go to check it out. They find a vortex that they are quickly sucked into it.

Arriving on the other side, the first thing they see is an elasmosaurus, suggesting there in the past. They're even more confused when they rise to the surface and are almost run over by what looks like a Viking longship. Believing them to be evil wizards, the seamen pour burning oil on to the water. Aquaman summons the marine reptile to destroy one of the ships. Then, a familiar figure dives (rashly) from one of the ships to confront the "wizards" head on:

Aquaman mistakes him for Oliver Queen and doesn't fight back. When Morgan realizes what's going on, he rises to the surface to talk. He explains who he is and invites them onboard his ship. He tells them that Skartaris is under a grave threat and so they were summoned by Mongo's spell. A short distance upriver into the jungle, and he shows them what they're facing:

The Ch'rin are the servitors of an evil sorcerer, Valgos. One of them smashes the lead ship with a gigantic fist. Morgan's bullets are useless against them, but Mera is able to use her power to knock one of them over. Aquaman start's giving orders to Morgan's men, which doesn't sit terribly well with the Warlord, but he takes it for now.

Morgan leads the two Atlanteans to Valgos's lair:

They infiltrate the skull fortress: Morgan repelling in from above, Aquaman and Mera swimming in from below. The Atlanteans are first to meet the wizard--and mind-controlled Machiste and Mariah as his protectors! The Atlanteans are winning, until Valgos takes control of Aquaman's shapechanging metal hand. When Morgan arrives on the scene:

Morgan and Mera are soon captured, though not before Mera discovers that the masked Valgos is really just another mind controlled pawn: Mongo. Valgos (controlling Aquaman through his hand, now spread over his whole body) puts Mera in a heating pool to boil her alive.

It turns out Valgos controls all the others with symbiotes that will kill them over time, because they resist his domination. Valgos sends Machiste to finish Mera and Morgan off. Meanwhile, a bit of the liquid metal from Aquaman's prosthetic hand left on Mera's cheek, grows to cover her and protect her from the heat. She realizes Valgos must not have full control over her husband's mind.

She breaks Morgan free. Machiste attacks, but Morgan lays him out with a punch.

Later, we see Machiste return to Valgos. To the evil sorcerer's surprise me moves to free Mariah: he's out of Valgos's control. Morgan starts to shoot Valgos, but Mera reminds him the wizard controls Aquaman's body. Or does he?

Our heroes make it out of the skull, but there's no sign of  Valgos--until the giant skull begins to rise out of the muck, attached to a whole giant body, with Valgos in the jewel on its forehead.

With the help of Mera's water powers, Aquaman jumps up and punches through the jewel, grabbing Valgos.

With the jewel destroyed, the giant body crumbles. It turns out Valgos is dead and appears to have been for some time. Aquaman theorizes the jewel must have acted like a battery, holding on to his life-force.

The wizard defeated, Aquaman and Mera want a way home. Mongo says that might be tough, but Aquaman reminds him of what happened to the last wizard that crossed him.

Things to Notice:

• All the covers are by Michael Kaluta.
• Morgan has heard of Aquaman and knows the Justice League used to have their base in a cave.
• Unlike every other superhero visitor, Aquaman and Mera don't adopt Skartarian clothes. Maybe they just didn't have time?
• For some reason, Aquaman's and Mera's super-strength isn't in evidence here.

Where it comes from: 
Again, Dan Jurgens pens a Warlord crossover that gets the characters and the world right, for the most part (though he makes Morgan rather atagonistic to Aquaman for no good reason, other than that's just the way things work in crossovers).

This is the first time we've seen Mongo Ironhand since issue #98 (1985). How he got from the Age of the Wizard Kings to the present of Skartaris isn't explained.

Harpies

No. Enc.:  1d6
Movement:  Fly 360' (120')
Armor Class:  7
Hit Dice:  3
Attacks: 1
Damage: 1d6 (talons)
Save:  L3
Morale:  7

Despite fanciful presentations of them as winged women (at least having the upper bodies of women) harpies are actually large birds of prey (wing spans as big as 10 ft and weighing 30 lbs.) with beakless faces uncannily similar to a woman's. Though not hideous in form, their faces are unnerving, somehow both soulless and over-expressive. Their mouths are filled with sharp teeth.

Harpies were either engineered by the Olympians or brought from some distant world. They use them to punish humans that have offended them in some way, though some have escaped into the wild. Though they all appear female, nothing is known of their actual sexes or whether they have any ability to reproduce.

They are very intelligent for animals, but no more than that. They can make mimic human speech in voices like old women, but are only able to repeat things they've heard.

Swoop attacks cause double damage if the target is surprised. The filth of their nests is such that their talons are terrible purveyors of infection. Anyone damaged by a harpies talons must make a saving throw versus poison. A failure means they take 1-2 points of damage a day for a duration of 1 week.

City Automobile Enthusiast

The automobile is an important part of the world of Weird Adventures, though no specific automobile makes are mentioned in the book. Some of these after appeared in play; after all, adventurers like to get around town in style.

A modest new sedan (like a standard model from the Cord Motor Company) can be purchased for around $500-600. Fancier automobiles or sporty models will cost more--sometimes, much more. Here are a couple of high end examples that have appeared in my games:

5883 Raser "Dual Six" Fitzroy Sports Saloon
Engine: V12, 150 bhp
Top Speed: 100 mph
This is a luxury automobile; less than 60 exist and each was built to order at a price of $12,000+. Cornelius Doyle's has a silver elephant head hood ornament.

5885 Auberon 761 Series C Speedster
Engine: super-charged 8-cylinder, 150 bhp
Top Speed: 104 mph
This stylish roadster sales for $2245. Gentleman thief Don Diabolico is the proud owner of one.

Mapping Terra Incognita

Not getting all the map posting out of my system with yesterday's post, I figured I would follow it up with another today. This is Pal-ul-don from Tarzan the Terrible, as expanded by Dell Comics' Tarzan's Jungle Annual #1. Pal-ul-don is located in Africa and has carnivorous triceratops, among other things. You could locate it anywhere you wanted, of course, but you probably want to keep the carnivorous triceratops.

West side:

East side: