The Undying Kings of the Underworld

 

In the aftermath of the Titan War, with the withdrawal of the gods left from the world, humans were able to seize divine knowledge and tools as spoils of war. This theft would reverberate even far, even to the gloomy halls of the Underworld. 

There were the recently arrived souls of great mages and heroes, fallen in the war either fighting for the titans or the gods. These personalities burning with power and rage at the perceived injustice of the universe, resisted the pull of dissolution. Their souls would not enter the cycle of reincarnation. Without the Unseen Lord, God of the Underworld, to quell their rebellion, they ransacked the cities and forests of the lands of the dead to find a way out. Their frenzy cracked the Underworld itself, and they found themselves on the event horizon of the Negative Energy Plane. 

They stared into the abyss and the abyss stared back. And then, perhaps, something within it spoke. The great mages and heroes discovered a way for their intellects to live beyond death, and even to be returned to their physical bodies. To power these miracles, they would need to build receptacles to house the negative energy. The only accommodation necessary to utilize this new and seemingly endless replacement for their life force was a small one. They would just have to give up their souls.

These nine (so it is believed) Undying Kings, or Lich Lords as they are sometimes called, became the new rulers of the Underworld. When that was accomplished, they sought to extend their reach to the world of the living. They sent tendrils of Underworld rising up, and the swirling mists formed cysts of the land of the dead, the Shadowfells. From these bridgeheads, the lich lords raised armies of undead, led by mighty warriors, called Death Knights.

Their conquest of the world of the living isn't driven merely by a desire for territory. Their goad is the Negative Energy Plane, and its hunger for unmaking and entropy. Their own fates are tied to its eternal appetite, so it's needs are their necessity. The self-centered nature of the Lich Lords has hampered their cooperation, and that combined with the weakening of the Shadowfells in daylight hours has slowed their advancement, but the Undying Kings are not hurried as time is something they have in abundance.

This is part of this setting.

Wednesday Comics: DC, July 1983 (week 4)

I'm reading DC Comics' output from January 1980 (cover date) to Crisis! This week, I look at the comics hitting the newsstand on April 28, 1983.

Arion Lord of Atlantis #9: Nice cover by Duursema. The conflict Moench foreshadowed last issue comes to pass as General Balar returns to Atlantis with an army only to discover that Arion and his companions have already liberated the city. Balar is angered when he finds the people erecting a statue of Arion and the technological defenses of the city destroyed. Arion is forced to intervene when Balar takes out his frustrations on some of the citizenry, so Balar orders his arrest. He doesn't have the power to make that happen, so he's forced to retreat and instead works to undermine Arion with the newly returned king.

Fed up with politics, Arion heads north to help save Atlantis from the approaching ice age. Chian goes with him on the quest which leads to a palace of emerald ice. Inside a seductive sorceress named Icestarr puts some sort of spell on Arion.

Ronin #1: This, like Camelot 3000, is another prestige product for DC and shows their editorial risk-taking in this era. Miller tells the story of a samurai from Feudal Japan whose battle with a demon over a magical sword causes them both to be reborn in a dystopian future (not unlike Camelot 3000!). What's different is, C3000 is basically a good comic of its era, where Ronin looks like it could have been published today with Miller's use of "widescreen" panels and other modern layout techniques. His art here isn't like his work in Dark Knight Returns a few years in the future. There are strong influences of both Moebius and (I think) Enki Bilal as well as Goseki Kojima. Modern as it is in some ways, it's also pure distillate of the 80s: all dark future and samurai swords.

Green Arrow #3: Nice cover by von Eeden and Giordano. After a little "harsh interrogation" of Count Vertigo, Green Arrow finds out the Russians sent him to keep an eye on the chemical company, but he doesn't know why. Ollie's next attempt to bluff a CIA agent and then the company's board to find out more, gets him nothing but embarrassment. So next, he tries playing the rich playboy buffoon to lull his hidden enemies into believing him defeated. Maybe that works? Anyway, he realizes what the dying Ted Horton was trying to tell him: he was drawing a benzene ring. With that knowledge he guesses Abby's password and learns the secret Horton project is a synthetic oil substitute. Unfortunately, his enemies know he knows and that marks him for death. Only the intervention of the CIA agent, Jones, saves him from an ambush. Green Arrow and Jones set out to reveal Abby's killer and bring them to justice.

This limited is underappreciated I think only because of the embarrassment of riches that 80s DC was to soon become.

Action Comics #545: Wolfman and Kane continued the Brainiac story from last issue. Brainiac captures Superman and keeps him alive only to analyze him, attempt to learn how to counter the Master Programmer. This, as seen last issue, seems to be Brainiac's conception of God--a god who has sent Superman to destroy him! Superman manages to escape, barely, but Brainiac is in pursuit. Supes knows he's going to need help to deal with this one.

Meanwhile, Cave Carson, Rip Hunter, Rick Flag, Dolphin, and Dane Dorrance--a group of "Forgotten Heroes" if there ever was one--comes together.

With this and the Lex Luthor story early in the month, the villain makeovers have certainly led to more interesting stories.

All-Star Squadron #23: Thomas and Ordway/Machlan introduce the first really new character in this book (though even he borrows the name of an actual Golden Age character). With some of the All-Stars and JSA in the hands of Ultra and his cronies, the remaining heroes sort of go various ways and pursue means to find their friends. Dr. Fate and the Atom headed for Fate's Salem tower, intent on finding the missing Spectre. The tower has been invaded, and Fate's powerful old full-face helmet in the hands of Amazing-Man, who has absorption powers. We get Amazing-Man's origin and understand why the former Olympic champion is working with Ultra.

Captain Carrot and His Amazing Zoo Crew #17: Thomas writes a prologue, but Bridwell is the writer working with a team of artists on this "solo adventures" issue that appears to be a filler. We get a Cannonball Run riff with a disgruntled stunt-platypus in a Rubberduck story. Fastback tangles with a jackrabbit thief whose real skill is being still, and Pig Iron visits Ewerope and fights a monster in "The House of Frankenswine." 

Detective Comics #528: Moench with Colon/Janson continue the misery for Gordon, as his newly appointed assistant (or underminer) Bullock re-opens the Savage Skull case when another cop is killed. Bullock manages to track the Skull to an abandoned building that was formerly used by the GCPD for officer training, but he is unable to reason we him despite their former friendship. Gordon shows up just in time to save Bullock's life, and Batman to save Gordon's. The Skull is defeated, and Bullock wants to have a press conference to say how wrong he was about Gordon and give the commissioner credit--but instead uses it as a platform to attack Gordon again. Moench's Batman is more "street level," a portrayal aided by the gritty Colon/Janson art. It's a harbinger, perhaps, of the "Iron Age" Batman that will emerge from the end of the Bronze Age.

In the Green Arrow backup by Cavalieri and Cullins/Marcos, GA saves himself from last issues cliffhanger by aiming the spray can at the ground and propelling himself back through the window. It turns out Ozone has accidentally stolen a cannister of a bioweapon, now even badder guys are after him.

Jonah Hex #74: Fleisher and Ayers/DeZuniga present a bounty hunting adventure of Hex's that drops the relatively close continuity of the previous few issues. Jonah is hired by a railroad to bring in a former Confederate turned bandit dubbed Railroad Bill. The situation is complicated by the Pinkertons already being on the case. There's a botched ambush not dissimilar to the opening of The Wild Bunch, to show us the Pinkertons aren't exactly the heroes as they are callous to civilian casualties. Hex catches up to them as they have Railroad Bill and are about to hang him. Hex's presence gives Bill the opportunity to escape, which makes it look as if they are working together--a misperception that gets Hex shot. The bounty hunter and the bandit do make common cause after that with the Pinkertons after them both. 

New Adventures of Superboy #43: Nice cover by Kane. Kupperberg and Schaffenberger continues Superboy's conflict with Dyna-Mind, who is secretly one of Clark's less honorable classmates. Dyna-Mind keeps besting him at every turn, but the Boy of Steel figures out his foe's abilities came from red kryptonite and will wear off soon, which they do, just in time. Ever Duplicitous Johnny Webber plays like he has no memory of what he did, and Superboy buys it was all the red kryptonite altering his personality. Also, Clark goes on a date to see True Grit, suggesting this story takes place in 1969,

In the Dial H backup by Bridwell and Bender/McLaughlin, comic artist Nick Stevens is kidnapped by the Master, who wants somehow harness the power that has been leading to Stevens' characters coming to life in Fairfax. Chris and Vicki attempt to intervene as (respectively) Spheror and Fuzz-Ball and Turnabout and Raggedy Doll.

World's Finest Comics #293: We've got David Anthony Kraft writing this issue, whose work I really only know at Marvel. Art is supplied by Gonzales and DeZuniga. It's not particularly distinguishable from what has come before with an emphasis on the "bro-dom" of Batman and Superman, though this issue does have the added twist of a villain bro team, as well. It's also interesting in Null and Void aren't defeated by Marvel-style punch 'em up, but they are more inclined to escape than fight as they really don't want to hurt anyone--they're just old guys with debts they are resorting to crime to pay off. The heroes capture Void after he transforms back into his civilian identity, but he refuses to give away his friend Null's identity. Null later faces his reckoning with the IRS. 

There also an amusing opener to this issue where the Daily Planet is under siege by a garish villain calling herself the Expropriator who wants to rob from the owner and give to the workers, who is revealed to be sham without powers, and really a Planet employee--a working mom angry about not getting a bonus.

Larry MacDougall's Gwelf

 

Gwelf: The Survival Guide (2021) is a gorgeous art book by Larry MacDougall who once upon a time did art for Palladium and Magic: The Gathering. I say it's an art book, because that's what Amazon likely calls it, but in the rpg world it could credibly be called a systemless setting book.

Gwelf is a Medieval(ish) land of anthropomorphic animals. Its author says it's like a cross between Wind in the Willows and Lord of the Rings and that's not just high concept, but pretty much literally the case. Gwelf is the last bit of civilization of the border. It's a place where Otters, Foxes, Badgers, and the sage Sparrows come together peacefully, but beyond the frontier are the Hinterlands where the Ravenfolk hold sway. They're practitioners of dark magic.

This book details the peoples and cultures of Gwelf. There's another book on the way in June, which promises to reveal more about the Hinterlands.

The Houses of the Dragons

The home provinces of the Draconic Empire are ruled by noble houses with a chromatic dragon progenitor. While not all nobles are sorcerers, few without magical aptitude ascend to real power. Those most often undergo the Ritual of Rebirth to be transformed into Dragonborn, a privilege accorded to the draconic-blooded sorcerers as well. 

The great dragons seldom involve themselves in mere human politics; they are mostly content to rest in their lairs and receive what tribute is brought to them--though occasionally they may roam the countryside and take it from the common folk directly. Only the most senior members of the Houses consult with them, and even for that elite, it is a fearful summons to receive.

These are the eleven Great Houses currently. Two houses are in immediate contention for the throne as they are descended from the Empress herself:

• House Argaman: A conservative house in control of the much of the Spine mountains. They field an elite corps of Dragonborn trooped who where a personal guard to the Empress Pyrekhis.
• House Vyssinis: Less martial than many others, Vyssinis controls the fertile lands of the central islands. The wine of their vineyards is prized.  They are stereotyped as politicians, sometimes schemers, rather than fighters.

A third red House is descended from the Empress' slain consort, Angrazar:

• House Porphyrion: Nakedly ambitious, this House both plays to the people and touts its accomplishments on the field of battle. Its formal connections with the other houses are fewer than its Red rivals and it is seen as an upstart.

The other houses, descended from other chromatic dragons, are not directly in contention for the throne, but may support or hinder the three that are:

• The Houses whose progenitor is the green dragon, Esmaragd, 
•     House Harilak: Mystics known for their might at magic and divination. They seek stability within the Empire.
•     House Gwyrth: Holders of rich timberlands and farms. They are ever on the lookout for an opening to advance their own fortunes.
• The House whose progenitor is the black dragon, Mordax,
•     House Melacanthus: Genteel schemers whose swamplands provide the ingredients for the infamous black lotus poisons employed by their assassins.
•     House Karas: Merchants and smugglers, certainly, pirates, possibly, their lands are in the eastern marshes. They care little for who sits on the throne, so long as their operations are not disrupted.
• The houses whose progenitor is the white dragon, Isaz,
•     House Valko: Known for its remote holdings in the northern forests and its powerful sisterhood of sorceresses known as the Snow Witches.
•     House Brimir: Descendants of a tribe of barbarian reavers that worshipped the white wyrm, they hold fortresses along the Northern coast.
• The Houses whose progenitor is the blue dragon, Azarakh,
•     House Lazuran: A House in the arid southern regions with a strong martial heritage. They are scrupulous to appearances and fastidious about honor. They have no favorite among the Red Houses.
•     House Takilt: Strong in the magical arts. They are inclined to house Argaman because of a fondness of tradition.

There are persistent rumors of a hidden twelfth house, Typhon, who are adherents and priests of the Cult of Tiamat and work for her return. If such a group exists, its members live in secret among the other nobles and even common folk.

Wednesday Comics: DC, July 1983 (week 3)

My mission: read DC Comics' output from January 1980 (cover date) to Crisis! This week, I'm looking at the comics at newsstands around April 21, 1983.

Brave and the Bold #200: This is the final issue of Brave and the Bold, ending a 28-year run. It also happens to be a comic I bought off the stands (one of three this month, it turns out! The first time that's happened in this review.) so I have a lot of nostalgia for it. It perhaps doesn't read as well to be today as it did at 10, but I still think its a good Bronze Age comic, starting with a great Aparo cover. 

The main story by Barr and Gibbons/Martin is billed as a team-up between Earth-One and Two Batmen, but is really a sort of team-up between parallel world counterparts of a new villain, Brimstone. On Earth-Two (rendered in Jerry Robinson-esque style by Gibbons), Nicholas Lucien is a B-grade villain with a devil gimmick who is defeated by Batman and Robin and accidentally but in a long coma by a head injury. He is revived 28 years later in Arkham to find himself an old man, and Batman dead and thus beyond his vengeance.  Unwilling to accept this, he mentally reaches out to that other him he always sensed existed who is a respectable businessman on Earth-One. He essentially possesses that version of himself to execute a terroristic plan to lure Earth-One Batman into a trap and girl him. The Earth-One portions of the story are, of course, rendered in more gritty, modern style. It's a nice gimmick that leads to a good story, if not necessarily a memorable one beyond its high concept. Gibbons changing art styles are a large part of its success.

This issue also as a preview of the comic that is to replace Brave and the Bold: Batman and the Outsiders. In the continuity of that title, I am told, this story comes after the third issue. Anyway, it's a nice introduction by Barr and Aparo and left me wondering as a kid who these characters were. A group cultish terrorists seek to liberate their leader Miklos from the hospital where he is being held in police custody. When they attack the hospital, they run up against Batman and the Outsiders.

Legion of Super-Heroes #301: This is another issue why brother and I had as a kid. Despite it's very Silver Age-y cover by Giffen and Mahlstedt it's a very modern comic for the era. In fact, this title is one of the ones really closing the book on the Bronze Age 70s style, I think. Anyway, Chameleon Boy and his father, RJ Brande, are on Durla trying to regain Chameleon Boys powers which involve trials, including a fight with the Durlan elders. Meanwhile, there's a lot of character drama stuff, including Proty II making space for himself as a newly recognized sophont being, and the announcement of Karate Kid's and Princess Projectra's wedding. 

Night Force #11: In the 1930s, Winters and Vanessa get more than they bargain for when they meet with the cabal financially supporting Hitler whose members are all malign ghosts in 1983. Turns out the group is able to summon (or maybe form Voltron-style, it's unclear) the Beast of Revelations. After Fleeing back to the present, Winters blunders again by sending Jack and Vanessa to the house, where for some reason he didn't think the ghosts would attack them (but they do). He's forced to call in allies: Katina, with which he has personal history.

Daring New Adventures of Supergirl #9: Kupperberg and Infantino/Oksner continue the team-up with the Doom Patrol. We get the origin of Reactor, who Tempest knew in Vietnam as Krullen. Tempest first manifested his mutant powers to stop Krullen from massacring a village of civilians. Krullen had been irradiated during atom bomb tests in the 1950's and was later turned into Reactron by the Council. Reactron attempts to absorb all the radiation from an experimental reactor and blasts Supergirl. She manages to create a wind-funnel that draws him into the upper atmosphere, where he explodes from radiation overload. Unfortunately, in the aftermath, Robotman tells his teammates that his sensors detect an unknown radiation Supergirl has absorbed from Reactron--which is killing her.

Halloween (1978) must be really in the Zeitgeist in 1983, because it is referenced in two comics this week. In this Cavalieri and Oksner/Hunt Lois Lane backup, Lois spends the day with film scream queen Jenny Lind Keaton, but then she is mistaken for a disguised Keaton by a nutty gunman who thinks she's really a witch.

Green Lantern #166: The story that's been building in the background comes to the fore, as we get a new creative team with Cavalieri and Tuska/McLaughlin, and a promising start. Krista, the newest member of the Green Lantern Corps, gets stranded in the yellow desert planet of Sikarra, where a ring can't protector. She is rescued by Jordan, but she is badly injured.

On Oa, Lanterns Eddore, Kaylark, and Galius-Zed accuse the Guardians of betraying them by hiding an advanced model of the Power Ring that is effective against the color yellow, and thus endangering the lives of the Corps members. When Jordan arrives with Krista, who then dies of her injuries, the situation turns violent. Jordan fights on the side of the Guardians, but the rogue Lanterns find the advanced rings inside the Central Power Battery. Two of them escape from Oa, leaving Galius Zed to fight Hal Jordan with the advantage of the improved ring. Jordan is overpowered and Galius vows never to be dictated by the Guardians again.

House of Mystery #317: We're at the penultimate installment of the "I...Vampire" saga. Bennett and Deborah track Mary to Paris. Bennett decides to take the untested Rashnikov Formula, that's supposed to remove vampire weaknesses. It seems to work, leaving him with vampire powers but removing the weaknesses and need for blood. He is able to start a romantic relationship with Deborah. He's keep hunting the Blood Red Moon, and under cover, follows several vampires back to their hideout where he hides in a coffin. When day comes, he's unable to move. When Mary wakes him from the coffin the next night. She tells him rigor mortis has set in. The experimental formula apparently wasn't meant to be taken by existing vampires, but by people who would be turned into vampires. Looks like it's the end for Bennett, but we'll find out next issue.

There are two additional stories this issue. The first is a post-apocalyptic yarn by Kashdan and Matucenio where a couple repairs a robot to be a servant, but instead gets a killing machine. The last story, by Kelly and Trinidad has a serial killer who uses various weapons with occult significance. Only one reporter realizes what's going on, but when the killings stop, he's ridiculed so he commits a murder himself to keep interest up. That of course brings him to the attention of the serial killer.  

Sgt. Rock #379: The main story has Easy getting their mail months overdue, and then deciding to play Santa Claus to the German kids in an orphanage, complete with Jackie going down the chimney dressed as Santa. Since nothing is ever easy in Easy, there's the Wehrmacht to fight, too.

There's a story credited to "the Kubert School" about a G.I. eager for a war souvenir, a French kid playing with a German helmet he found, and a tragic accident. Finally, Harris and DeMulder deliver a schmaltzy story of a soldier who keeps talking about his gal back home, who we discover (after his death) was his mother.

Warlord #71:   I reviewed the main story in this issue here. In the Barren Earth backup by Cohn and Randall, Jinal and friends infiltrate the Mulge guardian to get back their captured friends, encountering dangerous plants and fungi, and breaking up a creepy Mulge ritual to cause fungi to grow threw the bodies of sacrificed humans. This is probably the most interesting installment of this series so far.

Preparing for a New Campaign

I think my group will finish up our current campaign in the Land of Azurth this year, and though with months to go some plenty of time to change my mind, I'm in the mood for something different. With a semi-new edition of D&D arriving around that time and other, similar options available (Shadow of the Weird Wizard, 13th Age--possibly with a 2nd edition) it will be a good time to do it, too. My prerequisites are that the system be close enough to D&D so as not to cause undue angst for my players who don't always appreciate new systems and so I have an easy time finding/adapting published material. My experience running at a regular clip for 10 years now is that I need to use premade material a lot to keep it going.

Right now, I'm thinking about expanding on the world introduced in my recent "Draconic Empire" post. Inspired by my recent consumption of some anime with the Japanese version of "generic D&D fantasy" I think that's what it will be with influence from the two settings of various editions of the Sword World rpg and Uresia, as well as hints of more console game-inspired settings like BREAK!!, Fabula Ultima, Exalted, and Icon (though more "standard D&D" than any of those). I also want to utilize as much official D&D "lore" and character options as possible to keep it familiar, though they may be given a slight twist.

Additionally, I'd like to try to capture the passage of time better, something like Frieren: Beyond Journey's End, so I think I'll try to use the Fellowship and Journey rules from One Ring (or it's 5e adaptation).

Solar Queen

Our Action Tales system sci-fi game continued last Sunday with the group going aboard the spaceliner, Solar Queen to get the untraceable credit stick to pay a group of pirates for a captured Martian vessel which supposedly contained classified data potentially useful to the Earth freedom fighters. Things didn't exactly go smooth, though, as there were more Ares Corp agents waiting in Chandra Roberts' stateroom.

The battle was in a confined spaced and unorthodox. Zarek and Rusty pushed one agent into the bathroom and beat him unconscious. Ryne flipped a mattress over on another and Ariana stunned him with an electrolaser blast through it. In the end, the agents were defeated and stolen keycards and some fast talking convinced ship security that they party were in law enforcement.

Out at the edge of the spaceport, they found the newly repainted and repaired "salvage" in Bay 11. They turned over the credit stick and took possession of the Rowdy Yates. They did some quick, preflight checks, then blasted off for a 10 hour flight to their rendezvous station. 

They were only a few hours out of Luna when they were hailed by the Martian cruiser Yangwei. Captain Willard Tang demanded they prepare for boarding. 

They party elected not to do that. Hesperos did some fancy flying, aided by the ship's powerful drive, and manged to race out ahead of the other vessel, but the high G maneuvers caused several of the party to lose consciousness. Quickly everyone had had time to strap in.