#major jack chapman

[cuteguywhump]

Jack Chapman. Color Study based on Kong: Skull Island Character. By André Nunes.

#this was the shot that started it all #gorgeous artwork! #because toby kebbell #toby kebbell #jack chapman #major jack chapman #whump #kong skull island #blood

[queer-ragnelle]

Hello. I shall thank you again for replying to my requests, which are really helpful. But there is a question that I would love to ask. Or maybe two

1. What are your personal favourite Arthuriana movies/series?

2. Which Arthuriana movies/series are the most accurate to the Legends?

3. Which ones shall I avoid? And why?

P. S. I have already watched:

Knights of the Round Table (1953) 9/10 (I loved Lancelot and Elaine together. He loved her, just not as much as he loved Guinevere... Arthur/Lancelot chemistry. Lancelot vs Mordred... Unexpected duel)

Lancelot du Lac (1974) 7/10 (I loved Gawain and the relationship with Lancelot)

Excalibur (1981) 10/10 (The movie is a gem. I wish we had more like this nowadays... The Lancelot redemption was amazing)

Cursed (2020) 6/10 (I only liked the Fae lore there)

BBC Merlin 8/10 (There were some wack moments. And Arthur wasn't really my jam. But the show is amazing)

hi! you’re welcome, i’m glad it was helpful. :^)

this is going to be a long multi-part answer, so i’ll throw it below a cut to avoid an obnoxious wall of text on the dash.

1. What are your personal favourite Arthuriana movies/series?

movies:

Knights of The Round Table (1953)

Sword of Lancelot (1963)

Camelot (1967)

Lancelot du Lac (1974)

Monty Python and The Holy Grail (1975)

Excalibur (1981) [review]

Merlin and The Sword (1985)

A Knight’s Tale (2001)

Tristan and Isolde (2006)

Kaamelott First Installment (2021)

The Green Knight (2021)

shows:

The Adventures of Sir Lancelot (1956–1957)

BBC The Legend of King Arthur (1979)

Merlin (1998)

Starz Camelot (2011)

2. Which Arthuriana movies/series are the most accurate to the Legends?

finding an “accurate” arthurian adaptation or retelling is an exercise in futility. no iteration exists without its own unique interpretation, including the medieval texts. gawain is obscenely inconsistent, so determining what constitutes an “accurate” characterization of him is literally impossible. the same can be said for every aspect of the legends. each author does their own thing! the other problem is that even if what’s there is reminiscent of the stories it references, something is inevitably missing. most of the time it’s gaheris. (okay, it’s always gaheris.) more often than not, the entire prose tristan cast gets cut. occasionally, one of the lads will show up on his own completely disconnected from the original lore… (palamedes in the black knight (1954), lamorak in sword of lancelot (1963) and again in kaamelott the first installment (2021), dinadan in camelot (1967), and tristan in king arthur (2004)) but i digress. if you’re looking for something that covers the majority of the story from arthur’s conception to his death, the choices are minimal.

BBC The Legend of King Arthur (1979)

Excalibur (1981)

3. Which ones shall I avoid? And why?

movies:

The Black Knight (1954): orientalist, black face palamedes. enough said.

Sword of The Valiant (1984): a remake of gawain and the green knight (1973) with worse everything from casting to costuming to pacing. tall, jacked gawain isn’t real and can’t hurt me.

Guinevere (1994): if i was persia woolley and they showed me this movie calling it an adaptation of my books, i’d maul them.

First Knight (1995): so ick it’s funny. wow this lancelot sucks. american accent, insufferable, entitled, gives face-hugger kisses? convoluted scenarios presented as romantic. lame costuming. questionable age gap between arthur/guin. he knew her as a child????? girl run.

Quest For Camelot (1998): rip author vera chapman, fortunate enough to pass before witnessing this abominable adaptation. why americanize the names lynette and gareth? why the hideous animation? the shabby song and dance numbers? the books are dark let’s make a kids musical out of it!

King Arthur: Legend of The Sword (2017): weaksauce attempt to cash in on existing audience. discombobulated the lore until unrecognizable. two women are fridged in the first half hour. strangely edited. nobody is likable. overall cringe.

shows:

King Arthur and The Knights of Justice (1992): nothing of substance here, typical 90s cartoon existing to sell toys.

The Mists of Avalon (2001): i’ll never support anything related to author marion zimmer bradley. she’s dead, let’s kill her legacy too.

Merlin’s Apprentice (2006): not sure what happened here but this sequel to the 1998 original is the biggest downgrade ever.

The Seven Deadly Sins (2014–present): every pitfall an anime can have, this one has in spades. beyond the bastardization of arthurian lore, it’s hard to follow chronologically bc the seasons are named not numbered, full of shameless fan service, lolis, a drop in budget resulted in ugly cgi animation.

Netflix Cursed (2020): take a shot every time a nicknamed character is revealed to be loosely arthurian. no don’t you’ll get alcohol poisoning. did netflix do it? did they solve misogyny by putting a sword in a girl’s hand? this was so disappointing it offended me.

anyway if there’s something i didn’t mention here then it’s mid. bbc merlin isn’t really my thing but it’s fun! transformers feels so far removed from actual arthuriana it’s not worth discussion, unlike some others that are trying really hard and suck so much. stuff like that. hope this gives you some things to check out next!

#arthurian legend #arthurian legends #arthuriana #arthurian mythology #fanficwritinggremlin #ask

[thedanceronthestreets]

MY ENOLA HOLMES 3 PREDICTIONS

(Skip this if you don't want to know about the enola holmes books or any potential plot points in a hypothetical 3rd film)

So, where to begin. I've only just read the books for the first time, so my memory is still quite fresh and weirdly interwoven with the films, so i thought i'd do this right off the bat. As far as i can tell, the plots in the movies are VERY vaguely based on the plots within the books (example: book 2 mentions the match girls and their strikes in one sentence, and jack thorne seems to have gone yup, i can work with that). This is why i'm guessing the same will be true for the 3rd film, if it happens (for which we should get a press statement in approximately march, presuming the movie is happening and there are no scheduling/overall organisational conflicts). However, there's one major detail that makes me believe film number three may stay truer to the corresponding book than the previous 2 adaptations (spoiler-ish content from here on):

Book 3, or enola holmes and the bizarre bouquets, is about (as many people have already pointed out) the case of dr watson's abduction and incarceration in a lunatic asylum, where he spends a week before enola figures out where he's being held and heroically saves him from the institution. She does this from afar, ie she gives mycroft and sherlock clues via missives in newspapers, which ultimately lead them to find john and release him from the asylum. The way enola figures out that watson is held captive there is a bit of a far stretch though and importantly without any help from her brothers whatsoever, which makes me believe they're definitely gonna change the logical chain of reasoning of how the case would be solved in the film. However, with john's introduction in the last movie, i am quite certain that we're gonna get the watson abduction case and that enola is gonna rescue him with the help of at least sherlock, as has been the pattern so far.

Now, what i'm a little uncertain on for a couple of reasons is the introduction of a new character: in each of the first 3 enola holmes books a new character is introduced that somehow becomes entangled in the case enola solves. In book 1 it's tewksbury, in book 2 it's lady cecily (obviously altered to sarah chapman in the film) and in book 3, it's no other than mary watson, john's newly wedded wife. The problem with this introduction is that, as known from the arthur conan doyle stories, john moves out of baker street when he marries mary, which also happens in the 2nd enola holmes book. In the enola holmes cinematic universe however, this would make little sense as we've only just been introduced to john as sherlock's future flatmate (whereas in the books, john and sherlock's relationship is long established). We can't just have john move out again in the next film as we'd hardly get to see his newfound friendship with sherlock and i think it would take too much screentime away from the case in order to introduce john's new place. I think we can be pretty certain that john will be living at 221b in film 3 and that he won't be married to mary yet. Although, i can see them introduce mary as a new character, to the audience as well as to john, and i guess a marriage could be explored in following films. Whether that's a good idea? I'm not so sure. Book enola adores the watsons and their relationship is quite adorable to read about in short encounters, but i think within a movie, dealing with all these classic sherlock holmes characters does create a danger of taking too much time away from enola as the main character (people were already unsure about john's introduction, so i'm not sure how they'd feel about mary). Plus, it'd be kind of sad if they had john move out in let's say movie number 4, and sherlock would fall back into his pit of loneliness and depression (maybe not as dramatic, but you get my point). There is of course the option of introducing mary as an important part of the case without making her a romantic interest for watson (sort of à la lady cecily turns sarah chapman), but i'm not sure how realistic that is as mary is kind of iconic as his wife and often a no brainer in the sense that the creative team of enola would have to make a conscious decision to discontinue the tradition of marrying john off (which would be quite interesting, in my opinion). I for one would be a fan of having mary involved in the case but simply as a badass and without the romantic connotations.

Anyway, that's a lot of rambling but i hope that kinda made sense and entertained you! If you have any other thoughts/predictions pleeeeaassee let me know : )

#enola holmes 2 #enola holmes 3 #enola holmes

[singeratlarge]

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Polly Bergen, Ingmar Bergman, my sister Jennie, Bebe Buell, Bob Casale, John A. Chapman, Gerald Ford, Lee Friedlander, Rosie Grier, Maulana Karenga, Angélique Kidjo, Gustav Klimt, Jamie Johnson, Paul McCartney’s 1986 “Press” single, Tommy Mottola, Peta Murgatroyd, singer-songwriter Bret Putnam, Adam Quinn, Phil Reeder, Del Reeves, Dan Reynolds (Imagine Dragons), Dale Robertson, Jerry Rubin, Dirty Dave Rudabaugh, Matthew Seligman, Stan Shaw, Harry Dean Stanton, Rubberlegs Williams, and the social activist and iconic figure in American folk music, Woody Guthrie. The legendary singer-songwriter gave us The Dust Bowl Ballads and “This Land is Your Land.” He was a major influence on Johnny Cash, Bob Dylan, Sixto Rodriguez, Pete Seeger, and many others. He also fathered a musical family with son Arlo and grandchildren Gabe and Nora.

Woody gave us the song, “This Land is Your Land”—a land for all people. He taught people how to view America and social issues through the lens of a song, saying, "I hate a song that makes you think that you are not any good. I hate a song that makes you think that you are just born to lose. Bound to lose. No good to nobody. No good for nothing. Because you are too old or too young or too fat or too slim or too ugly or too this or too that." 

Here’s my take of Woody’s autobiographical song “Oklahoma Hills,” co-written with his cousin Jack Guthrie (a cowboy star who went #1 with this in 1945). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_aYTpJETVcQ Meanwhile, HB Woody, and thank you for creating “the machine that kills fascists.” . 

#woodyguthrie #birthday #arloguthrie #johnnycash #bobdylan #sixtorodriguez #peteseeger #americana #machine #fascists #johnnyjblair #jackguthrie

#johnny j blair #singer songwriter #music #singer at large #pop rock #Woody Guthrie #birthday #jack Guthrie #Oklahoma

[casbooks]

Books of 2023

Book 15 of 2023

Title: NCIS History Special Agent VietNam Authors: Douglass Hubbard Jr. ISBN: 9780915266333 Tags: A-1 Skyraiders, AUS Catherine Anne Warnes (Murdered) (Vietnam War), CH-46 Sea Knight, CIA Bill Bludworth, CIA Foster Fipps, CIA Robert Gambino, CIA William Colby, H-34 Choctaw, HH-3E Jolly Green Giant, HKG Hong Kong, HKG Royal Hong Kong Police, John F. Kennedy, KHM Cambodia, KHM General Lon Nol, KHM Khmer Rouge, KHM Kompong Som, KHM US MSTS SS Columbia Eagle Incident (1970) (Vietnam War), KHM US MSTS SS Mayaguez Incident (Vietnam War), LAO Laos, LAO Nong Khai, LAO Vientiane, Law Enforcement, Military Intelligence, Military Police, Nungs, OV-1 Mohawk, OV-10 Bronco, PHL US USAF Clark Air Force Base, PHL US USN Naval Station Sangley Point, PHL US USN NCSA Philippines, President Dwight D. Eisenhower, President Lyndon B. Johnson, PRK North Korea, RUS VMF Russian Navy, RUS VMF Submarine Force, SGP Singapore, SpecOps, THA Bangkok, THA RTAFB Don Muang Royal Thai Airbase, THA Thailand, THA USMC MCAB Rose Garden/Nam Phong (Vietnam War), True Crime, UH-1 Huey, UK MI6/SIS Secret Intelligence Service, US Alvin Glatkowski (Mutineer) (Vietnam War), US Ambassador Henry Nolting, US Ambassador Henry Cabot Lodge, US Ambassador Maxwell Taylor, US AP Malcom Brown (News), US Bob Hope (Entertainer), US CIA Central Intelligence Agency, US Clyde McKay (Mutineer) (Vietnam War), US DEA Drug Enforcement Agency, US Edwin Ross Armstrong (Defector), US Horst Faas (News), US Maw Maw (Black Power Organization), US MSTS Military Sea Transportation Service, US NBC Garric Utley (News), US Project 100000 (Vietnam War), US Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara, US Special Agent Basic School - Washington DC, US Students for a Democratic Society, US USA 101st Airborne Division (Screaming Eagles), US USA 199th Light Infantry Brigade (Redcatchers), US USA 23rd ID (Americal), US USA ASA 8th Radio Research Station, US USA ASA Army Security Agency, US USA CIC Army Counterintelligence Corps, US USA General Creighton Abrams, US USA General William Westmoreland, US USA Green Berets, US USA Kitsie Westmoreland, US USA MI 525th Military Intelligence Group, US USA MI Army Military Intelligence, US USA Special Forces, US USA United States Army, US USAF General Robert Rowland, US USAF OSI Office of Special Investigations, US USCG United States Coast Guard, US USCG USCGC Chase (WHEC-718), US USMC 12th Marines, US USMC 1st Light Antiaircraft Missile Bn, US USMC 1st MarDiv, US USMC 1st MAW, US USMC 3rd MarDiv, US USMC 3rd Marine Counterintelligence Team, US USMC 4th Marines, US USMC 4th Marines - 3/4, US USMC 5th Marines, US USMC 7th Engineer Bn, US USMC 7th Marines, US USMC 9th Marines, US USMC General Herman Nickerson, US USMC General Leonard Chapman, US USMC General Lewis Walt, US USMC General Paul X. Kelley, US USMC General Robert Cushman, US USMC Major Les Barrett (Provost Marshall), US USMC Major Roger Simmons, US USMC Marine Security Battalion, US USMC Robert Garwood (Defector) (Vietnam War), US USMC Salt and Pepper (Defectors) (Vietnam War), US USN Admiral Earl F. "Rex" Rectanus, US USN Admiral Robert S. Salzer, US USN Commander Joseph Rochefort, US USN Construction Battalions (Seabees), US USN LtCdr John G. "Jack" Graf (POW) (Vietnam War), US USN MSC Military Sealift Command, US USN Naval Security Group, US USN NCSA Naval Counterintelligence Support Activity, US USN NCSU Naval Counterintelligence Support Unit, US USN NISO Naval Investigative Service Office, US USN NISOSF San Francisco, US USN NISRA Naval Investigative Service Resident Agency, US USN NISSU Hong Kong, US USN NISSU Naval Investigative Service Satellite Unit, US USN ONI Office of Naval Intelligence, US USN SEALS, US USN UDT Underwater Demolition Team, US USN USS Blue (DD-774), US USN USS Card (AKV-40), US USN USS Hampden County (LST-803), US USN USS Pyro (AE-24), US USN Washington Navy Yard, USAF Aerospace Rescue and Recovery Service (ARRS), USMC 1st Force Recon Co, USN Admiral Elmo Russell "Bud" Zumwalt Jr, USN Admiral Jerome H. King, USN HA(L)-3 Seawolves, USN NIS Naval Investigative Service, USN PBR Patrol Boat River, USN PCF Patrol Craft Fast Swift Boat, USN US Navy, USN USS Pueblo (AGER 2), USN VAL-4 Black Ponies, VNM 1968 Tet Offensive (1968) (Vietnam War), VNM 4th Coastal Zone, VNM An Hoa Basin, VNM An Long, VNM AN Thoi, VNM Annamite Mountains, VNM Arizona Territory, VNM ARVN General Hoang Xuan Lam, VNM ARVN General Nguyen Chanh Thi, VNM AUS ADF Australian Army Training Team (Vietnam War), VNM Ba Sac River, VNM Battle of Hue City (1968) (Tet Offensive) (Vietnam War), VNM Battle of Khe Sanh (1968) (Tet Offensive) (Vietnam War), VNM Battle of Saigon (1968) (Tet Offensive) (Vietnam War), VNM Ben Hai River, VNM Ben Tre, VNM Ben Tre Province, VNM Binh Thuy, VNM Bright Light Operations (Vietnam War), VNM Buddhist Monk Thich Tri Quang, VNM Ca Lu, VNM Cam Lo, VNM Cam Lo River, VNM Cam Ranh Bay, VNM Camp Eagle (Vietnam War), VNM Camp Evans (Vietnam War), VNM Camp Reasoner (Vietnam War), VNM Can Tho, VNM Carrier Pigeons (Vietnam War), VNM Cau Mau Peninsula, VNM Charlie Med, VNM Chau Doc, VNM Cholon - 95 Nguyen Duy Duong St, VNM Cholon - Five Oceans BOQ, VNM Cholon - Hong Kong BOQ, VNM Cholon - St. Francis Xavier Church, VNM Cholon Provost Marshalls Office (Vietnam War), VNM Chu Lai, VNM CIA Air America (1950-1976) (Vietnam War), VNM Con Thien, VNM Cua Viet, VNM Da Lat, VNM Da Nang, VNM Da Nang - 20 Duy Tan Street, VNM Da Nang - 23 Doc Lap, VNM Da Nang - 23 Doc Lap Bar (Boom Boom Room / Blue Elephant) (Vietnam War), VNM Da Nang - Bridge Ramp (Vietnam War), VNM Dai Lac, VNM DMZ Demilitarized Zone - 17th Parallel (Vietnam War), VNM Dodge City, VNM Dong Tam, VNM DRV NVA General Vo Nguyen Giap, VNM DRV NVA North Vietnamese Army, VNM DRV VC Phung Ngoc Anh - Dragon Lady (Assassin) (Vietnam War), VNM DRV VC Viet Cong, VNM Emperor Bao Dai, VNM Fall of Saigon (1975) (Vietnam War), VNM FSB Ryder (Vietnam War), VNM Gia Dinh, VNM Go Noi Island, VNM Green Beret Affair (Vietnam War), VNM Hai Van Pass, VNM Haiphong, VNM Han River, VNM Hill 327, VNM Hill 37, VNM Hill 55, VNM Hill 621 (Son Tra Mountain) (Monkey Mountain), VNM Hill 65, VNM Ho Chi Minh Trail, VNM Hoi An, VNM Hue, VNM Hue - Hue University, VNM Hue - Le Loi Street, VNM Hue - Purple City, VNM Hue - The Citadel, VNM Hue - The Forbidden City, VNM Hue - Thua Thien Provincial Headquarters, VNM I Corps (Vietnam War), VNM II Corps (Vietnam War), VNM IV Corps (Vietnam War), VNM Kien Hoa Province, VNM LBJ Long Binh Jail - USARVIS US Army Vietnam Installation Stockade (Vietnam War), VNM Leatherneck Square (Vietnam War), VNM Liberty Bridge, VNM LZ Baldy, VNM Mekong Delta, VNM Moc Hoa, VNM Montagnards, VNM My Khe Beach (China Beach), VNM My Lai, VNM My Lai Massacre (1968), VNM My Tho, VNM Nam Can, VNM Nguyen Cao Ky, VNM Nguyen Van Thieu, VNM Nha Be, VNM Nui Mot (The Rockpile), VNM Nui Son Ga (Charlie Ridge), VNM Operation Market Time (1965-1975) (Vietnam War), VNM Operation Sea Float/Solid Anchor (1969-1973) (Vietnam War), VNM Operation Starlite (1965) (Vietnam War), VNM Parrots Beak, VNM Perfume River, VNM Phouc Tuong (Dogpatch), VNM Phu Bai, VNM Phu Quoc Island, VNM Plain of Reeds, VNM Port of Saigon, VNM Quang Ngai Province, VNM Quang Tri, VNM Que Son Valley, VNM Qui Nhon, VNM Rach Gia, VNM Red Beach Base Area (Vietnam War), VNM Route 1, VNM Route 4, VNM Route 535, VNM Route 9, VNM Rung Sat Special Zone, VNM RVN ARVN Army of the Republic of Vietnam, VNM RVN ARVN MP Quan Canh Military Police, VNM RVN ARVN MSS Provincial Military Security Service, VNM RVN ARVN RF/PF Regional Forces/Popular Forces (Vietnam War), VNM RVN General Duonh Van Minh (Big Minh), VNM RVN Marines, VNM RVN MSD Military Security Directorate, VNM RVN Ngo Dinh Diem, VNM RVN Ngo Dinh Nhu, VNM RVN RVNP Can Sat National Police, VNM RVN RVNP Police Chief Colonel Nguyen Van Luan, VNM RVN RVNP Treasure Fraud Repression Unit, VNM RVN SVNAF Da Nang Airbase, VNM RVN SVNAF General Nguyen Ngoc Loan, VNM RVN SVNAF South Vietnamese Air Force, VNM RVN VNN LDNN Lien Doi Nguoi Nhai Navy Frogmen, VNM RVN VNN LLHT Luc Luong Hai Thuyen Navy Coastal Force / Junk Force(Vietnam War), VNM RVN VNN Republic of Vietnam Navy, VNM RVNP CSDB Can Sat Dac Biet Special Branch Police, VNM Saigon, VNM Saigon - 98 Phan Dinh Phuong Villa, VNM Saigon - Brink BOQ (Vietnam War), VNM Saigon - Capital Kinh Do Theater, VNM Saigon - Caravelle Hotel, VNM Saigon - Cercle Sportif Saigonnais, VNM Saigon - Chi Hoa Prison, VNM Saigon - Continental Hotel, VNM Saigon - French Fort, VNM Saigon - Le Lai BEQ, VNM Saigon - Plantation Road, VNM Saigon - US Embassy (Vietnam War), VNM Saigon Provost Marshalls Office (Vietnam War), VNM Soi Rap River, VNM SOM SS Yellow Dragon Incident (Vietnam War), VNM Song Tu Cau, VNM Tam Ky, VNM Tan Chau, VNM Tan Son Nhut Air Base, VNM Tan Son Nhut Air Base - Defense Attache Office (Vietnam War), VNM Tan Son Nhut Air Base - Grey House (Vietnam War), VNM Thach Han River, VNM Thu Bon River, VNM Thua Thien Province, VNM Thuan An, VNM Tien Sa Peninsula, VNM Tu Cau Bridge, VNM U Minh Forest, VNM US CIB Combat Information Bureau - Da Nang (Vietnam War), VNM US MACV Military Assistance Command Vietnam (Vietnam War), VNM US USAF Air Force Advisory Group (Vietnam War), VNM US USMC AHCB An Hoa Combat Base (Vietnam War), VNM US USMC CAG Combined Action Group (Vietnam War), VNM US USMC Camp Horn (Vietnam War), VNM US USMC CAP Combined Action Platoon (Vietnam War), VNM US USMC DHCB Dong Ha Combat Base (Vietnam War), VNM US USMC ECB Elliot Combat Base (Vietnam War), VNM US USMC FLC Force Logistic Command (Vietnam War), VNM US USMC III MAF Marine Amphibious Force (Vietnam War), VNM US USMC KSCB Khe Sanh Combat Base (Vietnam War), VNM US USMC MMAF Marble Mountain Air Facility, VNM US USMC QTCB Quang Tri Combat Base (Vietnam War), VNM US USMC VCB Vandergrift Combat Base (Vietnam War), VNM US USN Camp Tien Sa (Vietnam War), VNM US USN CBMU 301 (Vietnam War), VNM US USN CBMU Construction Battalion Maintenance Unit (Vietnam War), VNM US USN COMNAVFORV Commander of Naval Forces Vietnam (Vietnam War), VNM US USN Da Nang Officers Club - Stone Elephant (Vietnam War), VNM US USN HSAS Headquarters Support Activity Saigon (Vietnam War), VNM US USN LSB Ben Luc (Vietnam War), VNM US USN LSB Logistic Support Base (Vietnam War), VNM US USN LSB Nha Be (Vietnam War), VNM US USN NAF Naval Air Facility Cam Ranh (Vietnam War), VNM US USN Naval Communication Station Cam Ranh (Vietnam War), VNM US USN NCSA Saigon (Vietnam War), VNM US USN NCSU Da Nang (Vietnam War), VNM US USN NCSU Saigon (Vietnam War), VNM US USN NISOV Naval Investigative Service Office - Vietnam (Vietnam War), VNM US USN NISRA Da Nang (Vietnam War), VNM US USN NISSU Cam Ranh Bay (Vietnam War), VNM US USN NISSU Chu Lai (Vietnam War), VNM US USN NISSU Quang Tri Combat Base (Vietnam War), VNM US USN NISSU Vung Tau (Vietnam War), VNM US USN NSA Naval Support Activity - Da Nang (White Elephant) (Vietnam War), VNM US USN NSABT Naval Support Activity Binh Thuy (Vietnam War), VNM US USN NSAD Naval Support Activity Detachment - Cua Viet (Vietnam War), VNM US USN NSAD Naval Support Activity Detachment - Thuan An (Vietnam War), VNM US USN River Patrol Boat Flotilla Five (Vietnam War), VNM Vietnam, VNM Vietnam War (1955-1975), VNM VNN VNI Vietnamese Naval Intelligence, VNM VNN VNNSB Vietnamese Navy Security Bloc, VNM VNN VNNSS Vietnamese Navy Security Service, VNM Vu Gia River, VNM Yankee Station (1964-1973) (Vietnam War) Rating: ★★★★(4 stars) Subject: Books.Military.20th-21st Century.Asia.Vietnam War.Naval, Books.True Crime

Description: “NCIS History-Special Agent Vietnam is a comprehensive account of naval counterintelligence and criminal investigations in Vietnam. Doug Hubbard's first-hand experience provides unique insights into this little explored topic of the war, and the addition of a broad spectrum of his photos complements the narrative with a real life appeal. In an era when the term "terrorism" was not yet in vogue, NIS' investigations of insurgent attacks against US troops is a grim reminder of current threats our military faces in Afghanistan and around the globe on a daily basis.” Michael Sulick, Former Director, CIA National Clandestine Service “Although the Viet Nam War gives up its secrets grudgingly, former special agent Douglass Hubbard unveils an intriguing account of U.S. Naval Intelligence operations in the Republic of Vietnam. Drawing on his three years’ service in Vietnam and his subsequent research and interviews, Hubbard weaves a masterful story with 'NCIS History Special Agent Vietnam' that is equally inspiring and frustrating-just as the war itself proved to be.” Colonel Joseph H. Alexander, USMC. (Ret.) author of the Battle History of the U.S. Marines “Doug Hubbard Jr. explores the seamy underside of the Vietnam War from his ‘catbird seat’ as a special agent of the Naval Investigative Service. At the most there were never more than twenty-one of these Naval Intelligence officers serving in-country, and they had to deal with an overload of such unsavory matters as counter espionage, sabotage, black marketing, currency manipulation, simple theft, drug trafficking, subversion, rape, and murder. Sometimes these investigations came to a brilliant resolution that Sherlock Holmes would have applauded. More often they foundered because of command apathy or indifference.” Brigadier General Edwin H. Simmons, USMC, Chief of Staff of the First Marine Division in 1970, former head of the Marine Corps History Branch, and author of Frozen Chosin: US Marines at the Changjin Reservoir “Doug Hubbard’s exposition with NCIS History Special Agent Vietnam defines a period of counterintelligence development in the Vietnam conflict and records its events for the first time. Compiled personal recollections of wartime special agents make this historical narrative a defining work in the legacy left by the group of Naval Intelligence professionals who devised rules for counterintelligence and force protection in the challenging and dangerous arena of Vietnam in the 1960s. Theirs was a monumental contribution to the U.S. government’s efforts to achieve stability in the Republic of Vietnam, particularly in the early days of the mission when much was accomplished by a select few.” Maynard C. Anderson, former Assistant Deputy Undersecretary of Defense for Security Policy

Review - It was a decent book with a lot of historical information on the Vietnam War and NIS's members. The main problem with the book was how light it was on actual cases vs pages and pages of commentary of who was assigned when and where. Another major issue were the multiple misspellings (Viet Congo is a common one) and repeated paragraphs. It's not unreadable, but it had issues. But for the historical information, and a few insights into deserters, fraggings, and a few interesting cases, it's worth a read.

#Books #Ebooks #Booklr #Bookblr #vietnam war #us navy #nis #ncis #nonfiction #history #military history

[harrylovesmitski]

Will the Spiraling Publicity Harm ‘Don’t Worry Darling’ at the Box Office?

A series of missteps on the promotional trail has raised questions about the film’s viability and its director, Olivia Wilde.

It was one of the hottest projects Hollywood had seen in years. Eighteen bidders. An ascendant female director. Florence Pugh, the actress of the moment, shooting upward like a rocket. “Don’t Worry Darling” was set up to be a smash.

But now, the $35 million production is being referred to around town as “Kill Your Darlings.” Over the past three weeks, the once highly anticipated movie has become a spectacle in all the wrong ways, with its director, Olivia Wilde, self-immolating on the publicity trail. Now all eyes are on the box office as the film — one of only three Warner Bros. is releasing theatrically through the remainder of the year — debuts nationally on Sept. 23.

Signs of trouble began appearing in March when Wilde’s personal life became entangled with her promotional efforts on a stage in Las Vegas, where her introduction of the “Don’t Worry Darling” trailer was co-opted by a process server presenting her with custody papers from her ex-fiancé, the “Ted Lasso” actor Jason Sudeikis.

That spiraled into internet gossip over Pugh’s lack of substantive promotion for the film, which led to reports of a clash between the director and the star over the rumored on-set affair between Wilde and Harry Styles, the pop star in his first major film role. (Wilde has declined to discuss the rumors other than to tell Vanity Fair that stories that she left Sudeikis for Styles were “completely inaccurate.”) Things ratcheted up when Wilde told Variety she had fired Shia LaBeouf, the actor first cast in the role that eventually went to Styles, only to have LaBeouf dispute her account with both audio and video evidence backing up his contention that he quit.

The saga peaked this month in a tense news conference at the Venice Film Festival, which Pugh did not attend. When asked about the controversy, Wilde tersely replied: “The internet feeds itself. I don’t feel the need to contribute. I think it’s sufficiently well-nourished.”

Wilde declined to comment for this article, canceling a long-scheduled interview last week just hours before it was to take place. A representative for Pugh also declined to comment.

This scandal ranks rather low on Hollywood’s outrage meter. Stephen Galloway, the dean of the Chapman University Dodge College of Film and Media Arts and the author of “Truly, Madly,” the story of the whirlwind romance between Vivien Leigh and Laurence Olivier, characterized it as “a messy fling.” But the “Don’t Worry Darling” situation is high-profile enough that it could have the power to dim the excitement around Wilde’s potential ascent as Hollywood’s bright new directing talent.

The film centers on Alice and Jack (Pugh and Styles), a wildly-in-love married couple whose idyllic 1950s existence belies a more sinister reality. Originally conceived by Carey and Shane Van Dyke (the grandsons of Dick Van Dyke) in a script that was featured on the Black List, a compendium of the best unproduced screenplays of the year, “Don’t Worry Darling” was rewritten by Katie Silberman (Wilde’s “Booksmart”). It became the subject of a bidding war, with the New Line division of Warner Bros. landing the title thanks in part to its commitment to releasing the film theatrically.

Now “Don’t Worry Darling,” which is set to debut in more than 2,000 theaters, is in jeopardy of falling flat. Based on pre-release surveys that track consumer interest, box office experts had predicted roughly $20 million in opening-weekend ticket sales. In recent days, those estimates have cooled to about $18 million. Surveys have shown that ticket sales could be as low as $16 million. Warner Bros. declined to comment on box office projections but an insider at the studio who was not permitted to speak on the record said it had always expected about $18 million and that interest had not fluctuated.

Early reviews have not been kind. Rotten Tomatoes currently has the film hovering at a 38 percent score, squarely in the rotten category. Many critics have mentioned the scandal surrounding the film. The Los Angeles Times critic Justin Chang wondered whether Alice could be “a more fitting stand-in for Wilde, a talented director trying to fight her way out of a misogynistic system, one that wouldn’t blink twice at a male filmmaker in a similar position?”

Is the reaction to the tabloid controversy misogyny at work, as Chang suggested? Male directors, after all, have a long history of both becoming combative with the press and engaging in on-set affairs. Or will this become a case of Hollywood adding Wilde, a daughter of the journalists and documentarians Andrew and Leslie Cockburn, to the life’s-too-short list, meaning that this episode will overshadow her talent? Some question, given the rift with Pugh and her dispute with LaBeouf, whether talent will want to work with Wilde in the future.

“There’s some degree of sexism in this,” Galloway said. “Male directors have done this for decades and gotten away with it. A female director does it and it explodes. That’s unfair. On the other hand, what she did is wrong, just as it was wrong for all the male directors to behave like male chauvinist pigs. Part of me feels bad for her being judged by a different standard. Part of me says, ‘There is a modern standard which we should all be upholding.’”

What’s next for Wilde is not clear. She was scheduled to follow “Don’t Worry Darling” with “Perfect,” about the gymnast Kerri Strug. But according to three people with knowledge of the project who were granted anonymity to discuss its status, Wilde abandoned the movie after asking for multiple rewrites from different screenwriters before walking away, believing the script was still not ready for production.

“It became clear to me that this year was a time for me to be a stay-at-home mom,” she told Variety. “It was not the year for me to be on a set, which is totally all-encompassing.”

She has two projects in early development: a new Marvel movie, which two people involved said was “Spider-Woman,” and an untitled holiday comedy that Universal Pictures has had in the works since 2019.

Some believe the attention caused by the scandal could bring more moviegoers to theaters, following the adage that there’s no such thing as bad publicity.

“I think that even a title like this with A-list talent attached, increased awareness in this challenging marketplace totally can help people to know that it exists, it’s out there and it’s coming soon,” said Joe Quenqua, a veteran strategic communications executive.

Warner Bros. is continuing with its original marketing strategy. The studio announced last week that its Sept. 19 IMAX experience, which will include a screening of the film and a live question-and-answer session in 100 locations across the country, is the fastest-selling live event in IMAX’s history.

Wilde will be in attendance. Pugh will not.

via The New York Times

#for those who dont have access to nyt !!!! #its all very...yikes

[madalice31]

On the opposite spectrum of what I said this morning about Raven Symone.

Beyoncé. Lol I’m not a Stan and if you read my posts, you would know. However, I can’t deny how Cowboy Carter has started a discourse that really needed to be had. And opened up a real look at how black people have related to country music and cowboy culture historically. And shining a spotlight on how we’ve been unjustly shunned from the genre. Even though people can freely take from hip hop and r&b without criticism or the assumption that it’s black only. Basically if black people treated white folks in hip hop like they treat us in country, Jack Harlow, Mac Miller, MGK, and Eminem would not have careers. Just the facts.

Beyonce mentioning Tracy Chapman in her acceptance speech was what garnered respect from me. My mom loved Tracy Chapman and I grew up listening to her. Tracy is so major when it comes to black representation in folk/alternative and I guess in someways country music. Although I never considered her country, it became more apparent to me when a white country artists sampled her song Fast Car and made his own version. His version goes by the same title. Listen to both of you’re curious. Anyway clearly Beyonce is spearheading redefining what it means to be a country artist and I hope she continues to lead the way in bending other genres as well.

She really deserved that innovator award.

See I can be critical AND supportive whenever the time calls lol.

#black and country #redefined #reacquainted #reeducated

[fearsmagazine]

DO NOT DISTURB - Review

DISTRIBUTOR: Dark Star Pictures

SYNOPSIS: Canadians Chloe and Jack are honeymooning in Miami. While on a beach they believe they have all to themselves a stranger emerges from the sand ranting and throwing the drugs he is carrying at them. Returning to their hotel room with their score they decide that a peyote experience could strengthen their marriage. Unbeknownst to them, they've been given a powerful strand that awakens a desire to eat human flesh. Confronting their toxic relationship, their room becomes a den of love, lust, resentment, and carnage, Chloe comes to the realization that the way to escape this troubled marriage is to literally consume Jack.

REVIEW: John Ainslie’s DO NOT DISTURB feels like a hybrid Carlo Castaneda and William S Burroughs tale of transcendental drug experiences and the human condition blended with horror elements.

The screenplay is trimmed down to six characters and at its core are Chole and Jack. They are on their honeymoon, but clearly there are underlying issues that we learn through their interactions and with the other couple, Wendy and Wayne. When they are alone on the beach they have their life changing encounter with Saj, who seems like a mad monk and lays his drugs on them. The couple has an interesting debate and after a lot of prodigy Chole gives into Jack’s wishes and takes the peyote. Things get complicated as Chole seems to become a stronger, more assertive personality and Jack becomes a spineless trickster. His actions cause events to spiral more out of control. The narrative’s early scenes kind of telegraph what is to come but not to the extent that the flashbacks reveal. The tale plays with time and psychology to make for a compelling and horrifying tale.

With the majority of the film set in a hotel room, Ainslie does an excellent job of blocking, framing and editing the scenes to create energy and momentum in the film. He creates some interesting scenes that play with time and the characters’ reality. There are moments of clarity that are told through flashbacks that nicely flow into the visual narrative. There are some horrifying effect sequences that develop into scenes that feel like a George Romero film. Ainslie, who scored the film, uses the music sparingly and to accentuate specific key moments and enhance the atmosphere of a scene. I loved the way it builds into a scene.

Actors Kimberly Laferriere and Rogan Christopher carry the film. Christopher creates an interesting and annoying, immature husband who, by his actions and attitude, makes it clear he has no business being married, much less in a relationship. There is something so irritating and despicable about this character that I was eager for his demise. Laferriere presents a complex character arc as you can feel her character transforming before our eyes. She maintains an essence of the person we meet at the beginning, but clearly she is changed. If I was programming this into a festival I would easily nominate her performance for an award. The rest of the cast does an excellent job, but Rupinder Nagra’s performance stands out as the raging drug-addled Saj they encounter on the beach.

John Ainslie’s DO NOT DISTURB is an excellent surreal horror film experience that will take viewers on an unforgettable journey. He nicely blends these elements with excellent performances. In many ways it is a contemporary Pandora’s box with life changing deadly results where Ainslie demonstrates his skill as a master storyteller and filmmaker.

This past year I read Clay McLeod Chapman’s novel “Ghost Eaters.” I loved it but thought it would be hard to adapt into a film. After seeing DO NOT DISTURB I have no doubt John Ainslie could make it work. I’d be happy to introduce you gentlemen.

CAST: Kimberly Laferriere, Rogan Christopher, Janet Porter, Christian McKenna, Rupinder Nagra, and Patrick McNeil. CREW: Director/Screenplay/Score - John Ainslie; Producer - Rechna Varma; Cinematographer - Scott McIntyre; Editor - Jordan Crute; Costume Designer - Kerrie De Poli; Special Makeup Effects & Prosthetics - The Butcher Shop FX Studio; Post Production Effects - Smak Cinema; OFFICIAL: N.A. FACEBOOK: N.A. INSTAGRAM: www.instagram.com/do_not_disturb_movie/ TWITTER: N.A. TRAILER: https://youtu.be/kXXscA6v794?si=fjKDOznzQM_Upx_N RELEASE DATE: In Theaters Nov. 17th, and VOD Nov. 21st, 2023

**Until we can all head back into the theaters our “COVID Reel Value” will be similar to how you rate a film on digital platforms - 👍 (Like), 👌 (It’s just okay), or 👎 (Dislike)

Reviewed by Joseph B Mauceri

#film review #movie review #do not disturb #dark star pictures #John Ainslie #Kimberly Laferriere #Rogan Christopher #horror #cannibalism #surreal #drugs #joseph mauceri #joseph b mauceri

[drcpanda12]

Serial killers have captivated the public's imagination for decades, both out of morbid fascination and a desire to understand the depths of human darkness. These individuals, driven by twisted motives and psychological abnormalities, have left a chilling mark on history. From the notorious Jack the Ripper, whose identity remains a haunting mystery, to the charismatic but deadly Ted Bundy, the annals of true crime are filled with stories of heinous acts committed by infamous serial killers. Their crimes reveal the complex interplay between psychological factors, societal influences, and the dark recesses of the human mind. Criminal psychologists and profilers tirelessly analyze the patterns and motivations behind these murders, hoping to gain insights that can help prevent future atrocities. Unsolved mysteries surrounding serial killers add an additional layer of intrigue. The identity of Jack the Ripper continues to elude investigators, leaving behind a trail of unanswered questions and speculation. The search for answers is a reminder that, even in an age of advanced forensic techniques, some mysteries may forever remain unsolved. True crime enthusiasts and researchers delve into the disturbing details of these cases, examining the methods, signatures, and victimology associated with each killer. The painstaking work of forensic investigators and law enforcement officers is essential in bringing justice to the victims and their families, striving to provide closure in the face of unimaginable grief. The study of infamous serial killers sheds light on the darkest corners of the human psyche, challenging our understanding of the boundaries of human behavior. Through exploring the chilling tales and motivations of these individuals, we come face-to-face with the terrifying reality that evil can exist within our midst, lurking behind seemingly normal facades. As society continues to grapple with the aftermath of their crimes, it is through understanding, vigilance, and a relentless pursuit of justice that we aim to prevent such atrocities from occurring again. The stories of infamous serial killers serve as a sobering reminder of the importance of remaining aware, informed, and committed to protecting the vulnerable among us. Jack the Ripper Jack the Ripper is one of the most notorious and enigmatic serial killers in history, active in the impoverished Whitechapel district of London in 1888. The true identity of Jack the Ripper remains unknown, leading to countless theories and speculation. During a span of several months, Jack the Ripper brutally murdered at least five women, all of whom were prostitutes. The victims, known as the "Canonical Five," were Mary Ann Nichols, Annie Chapman, Elizabeth Stride, Catherine Eddowes, and Mary Jane Kelly. The manner in which they were killed and mutilated suggested a level of anatomical knowledge and a disturbed fascination with violence. The murders were marked by a signature style, with the victims' throats being slashed, followed by extensive abdominal mutilations. The savagery of the killings, along with the precise removal of organs in some cases, led to widespread panic and a frenzy of media coverage at the time. Despite intense investigations and public pressure, the police were unable to apprehend the elusive killer. The case was plagued by a lack of forensic technology and the challenges of investigating in a densely populated and impoverished area. The absence of reliable eyewitness accounts and the use of aliases by potential suspects further complicated the investigation. Numerous suspects emerged over the years, ranging from local individuals with criminal backgrounds to doctors and members of the royal family. However, conclusive evidence linking any of them to the crimes has never been found. The legacy of Jack the Ripper endures in popular culture, with numerous books, movies, and documentaries dedicated to the unsolved case. The mystery

surrounding the true identity of Jack the Ripper continues to captivate and intrigue people to this day, making it one of the most enduring unsolved mysteries in criminal history. Ted Bundy Ted Bundy was an infamous American serial killer who operated during the 1970s. He was known for his good looks, charisma, and ability to manipulate his victims. Bundy confessed to murdering at least 30 young women, although the actual number of his victims is believed to be much higher. Bundy targeted young women, often college students, whom he would approach under the pretense of needing help or assistance. Once he gained their trust, he would overpower and assault them. His preferred method of killing varied, including strangulation, bludgeoning, and even using handcuffs. One of Bundy's most notable crime sprees occurred in 1978 when he abducted and murdered several women from Washington State and Oregon. This period of heightened violence led to his eventual capture. Bundy's charm and intelligence enabled him to elude capture for a considerable time. He frequently changed his appearance, used multiple aliases, and employed various strategies to evade suspicion. However, his luck ran out in 1978 when he was finally apprehended and charged with multiple counts of murder. During his trial, Bundy represented himself and used his legal knowledge to manipulate the proceedings. He often attracted media attention and garnered a small following of supporters. However, overwhelming evidence, including eyewitness testimonies and forensic analysis, ultimately led to his conviction. In 1989, Bundy was executed in the electric chair in Florida's Raiford Prison. Prior to his execution, he confessed to a series of murders and provided some insights into his twisted psychology. Bundy's case remains one of the most infamous in American criminal history and continues to fascinate people due to the contrast between his charming exterior and his heinous acts of violence. Jeffrey Dahmer Jeffrey Dahmer, also known as the "Milwaukee Cannibal" or the "Milwaukee Monster," was an American serial killer who operated between 1978 and 1991. He targeted young men and boys, primarily of Asian or African-American descent. Dahmer lured his victims to his apartment under the pretense of offering them money, alcohol, or companionship. Once there, he drugged them, engaged in sexual acts with their unconscious bodies, and ultimately killed them. His crimes escalated over time, involving dismemberment, necrophilia, and cannibalism. Dahmer's actions went undetected for years due to his ability to deceive authorities and manipulate the people around him. However, in 1991, one of his intended victims managed to escape, leading to Dahmer's arrest and the discovery of his horrifying crimes. Upon his arrest, police found photographs of dismembered bodies, human remains, and evidence of his gruesome acts. Dahmer confessed to the murders of 17 young men and boys but hinted at a higher body count. He was charged with multiple counts of murder, sexual assault, and dismemberment. During his trial, Dahmer's defense team argued that he suffered from various mental disorders, including a paraphilic disorder and borderline personality disorder. However, he was found guilty and sentenced to 16 life terms in prison. In 1994, Dahmer met a violent end when he was attacked and killed by a fellow inmate in the Columbia Correctional Institution in Portage, Wisconsin. Jeffrey Dahmer's case shocked the world due to the heinous nature of his crimes and the extent of his depravity. It raised questions about the failings of the justice system and the importance of early intervention in identifying and treating individuals with violent tendencies. John Wayne Gacy John Wayne Gacy, also known as the "Killer Clown," was an American serial killer who operated between 1972 and 1978. He sexually assaulted and murdered at least 33 teenage boys and young men, making him one of the most notorious serial killers in American history.

Gacy presented himself as a friendly and upstanding member of the community, often entertaining children as a clown at local events and parties. However, behind this façade, he harbored a dark and sadistic desire for power and control. Gacy would lure his victims to his home, promising them money, drugs, or employment opportunities. Once inside, he would overpower them, sexually assault them, and eventually strangle them to death. He buried many of his victims in the crawl space beneath his house, while others were discarded in nearby rivers. Gacy's crimes went undetected for years due to his ability to manipulate and deceive those around him. However, in 1978, a series of disappearances and the discovery of the remains of several young men near his property led to his arrest. During his trial, Gacy's defense attempted to argue that he suffered from multiple personality disorder, but the jury rejected this defense. In 1980, he was convicted of multiple counts of murder and sentenced to death. Gacy spent over a decade on death row, filing numerous appeals. However, in 1994, he was executed by lethal injection at the Stateville Correctional Center in Illinois. The chilling nature of Gacy's crimes, combined with his dual identity as a respected member of society and a sadistic killer, continues to captivate public attention. His case prompted a reexamination of how society identifies and apprehends individuals who may be concealing dark and dangerous secrets. Aileen Wuornos Aileen Wuornos was an American female serial killer who operated in Florida between 1989 and 1990. She targeted and killed several men, claiming they had either raped or attempted to rape her while she worked as a prostitute. Wuornos had a troubled upbringing, experiencing a traumatic childhood and engaging in criminal activities from an early age. She turned to prostitution to support herself and became involved in a series of violent encounters with clients. Between 1989 and 1990, Wuornos murdered at least seven men. Her victims were typically middle-aged men who picked her up while she was working as a sex worker. She would shoot them at close range and often rob them of their belongings afterward. Wuornos' crimes gained significant media attention, partly due to her status as a female serial killer. She was apprehended in 1991 after evidence led police to her location. During her trial, Wuornos claimed that the killings were acts of self-defense and that she had been a victim of sexual violence. However, her self-defense claims were largely unsuccessful, and she was convicted and sentenced to death. Wuornos maintained her innocence and alleged that the killings were a result of her desperate situation and fear for her own life. In 2002, Wuornos was executed by lethal injection at the Florida State Prison. Her case sparked debates surrounding the death penalty, mental health issues, and the impact of trauma on criminal behavior. Wuornos' life and crimes have been the subject of books, documentaries, and the film "Monster" starring Charlize Theron, for which Theron won an Academy Award for her portrayal of Wuornos. Her case continues to generate interest and controversy, raising questions about the interplay of personal history, mental health, and criminal responsibility.

[docrotten]

X THE UNKNOWN (1956) – Episode 149 – Decades Of Horror: The Classic Era

“I’m going to kick your head in if you don’t get it down! That’s what I’m going to do!” A kick in the head turns out to be an effective management technique for Sgt. Grimsdyke. Join this episode’s Grue-Crew – Chad Hunt, Whitney Collazo, Daphne Monary-Ernsdorff, and Jeff Mohr – as they discover all the known unknowns and the unknown unknowns of Hammer’s X the Unknown (1956).

Decades of Horror: The Classic Era Episode 149 – X the Unknown (1956)

Join the Crew on the Gruesome Magazine YouTube channel! Subscribe today! And click the alert to get notified of new content! https://youtube.com/gruesomemagazine

ANNOUNCEMENT Decades of Horror The Classic Era is partnering with THE CLASSIC SCI-FI MOVIE CHANNEL, THE CLASSIC HORROR MOVIE CHANNEL, and WICKED HORROR TV CHANNEL Which all now include video episodes of The Classic Era! Available on Roku, AppleTV, Amazon FireTV, AndroidTV, Online Website. Across All OTT platforms, as well as mobile, tablet, and desktop. https://classicscifichannel.com/; https://classichorrorchannel.com/; https://wickedhorrortv.com/

A radioactive, mud-like creature terrorizes a Scottish village.

  Directors: Leslie Norman, Joseph Losey (uncredited)

Writer: Jimmy Sangster (story) (screenplay)

Music by: James Bernard

Special Effects: Bowie Margutti Ltd. (Les Bowie, Vic Margutti), Jack Curtis

Make-up and Special Make-up Effects: Philip Leakey

Production Manager: Jimmy Sangster

Selected Cast:

Dean Jagger as Dr. Adam Royston

Leo McKern as “Mac” McGill

Edward Chapman as John Elliott

William Lucas as Peter Elliott

Peter Hammond as Lieutenant Bannerman

Anthony Newley as Lance Corporal “Spider” Webb

Ian MacNaughton as Haggis

Michael Ripper as Sergeant Harry Grimsdyke

Michael Brooke as Willie Harding

Frazer Hines as Ian Osborne

Norman MacOwan as Old Tom

John Harvey as Major Cartwright

Edwin Richfield as Soldier Burned on Back

Jane Aird as Vi Harding

Neil Hallett as Unwin

Kenneth Cope as Private Lansing

Jameson Clark as Jack Harding

Marianne Brauns as Zena, the Nurse

Brown Derby as The Vicar

Anthony Sagar as Security Man (uncredited)

It’s time to explore early Hammer Sci-fi films with X the Unknown (1956). The film is part of a trilogy of Cold War sci-fi features along with The Quatermass Xperiment (1955, aka The Creeping Unknown) and Quatermass 2 (1957, aka Enemy From Space) that firmly transitioned Hammer from B-movie thrillers to solid horror/sci-fi excellence. The only thing missing is Bernard Quatermass himself, but not without Hammer trying – writer Nigel Kneale would not agree to the use of the character in this film. Regardless, X the Unknown is notable and well worth the watch. Hammer fans will appreciate an early appearance of fan-favorite character actor Michael Ripper as Sergeant Grimsdyke. Let’s see what the Grue-Crew make of directors Leslie Norman’s and Joseph Losey’s, and writer Jimmy Sangster’s black-and-white creepy classic. 

With this episode, The Classic Era Grue-Crew say adiós a nuestra querida amiga to Whitney Collazo. She has more opportunities than time to pursue them and will be stepping away from her podcast hosting duties. Whitney has participated in over 100 episodes of Decades of Horror: The Classic Era. Grue Believers and Grue-Crew alike will sorely miss her insightful comments, her unique movie choices, and her loving persona. We love you without reservation, Whitney. You will always be welcome here! And if you find a movie you’d like to discuss with us or have a movie you’d like to hear us discuss, just give us a shout-out. Buena suerte, mi querido amigo!

Gruesome Magazine’s Decades of Horror: The Classic Era records a new episode every two weeks. Up next in their very flexible schedule, the Classic Era Grue-Crew wanted a fitting topic for their 150th episode. They decided on a film often considered one of the best horror films of all time, Rosemary’s Baby (1968), written and directed by Roman Polanski, based on the book by Ira Levin, starring Mia Farrow who is supported by an Oscar-winning performance from Ruth Gordon. You won’t want to miss this one! There is lots of “stuff” to discuss.

Please let them know how they’re doing! They want to hear from you – the coolest, grooviest fans: leave them a message or leave a comment on the Gruesome Magazine YouTube channel, the site, or email the Decades of Horror: The Classic Era podcast hosts at [email protected]

To each of you from each of them, “Thank you so much for watching and listening!”

Check out this episode!

[mitalimr]

Final Major Project

02nd April 2022

Research- Contemporary and Contextual.

https://stonemaiergames.com/kickstarter/how-to-design-a-tabletop-game/

https://www.boardgamequest.com/top-10-team-board-games/

https://www.itsnicethat.com/news/technology-will-save-us-arcade-coder-product-design-300819

https://www.itsnicethat.com/features/ra-bear-adam-griffiths-mobile-mania-graphic-design-publication-210721

https://www.itsnicethat.com/articles/theo-triantafyllidis-matthew-doyle-anti-gone-digital-180919

https://www.itsnicethat.com/features/joe-jack-chapman-digital-the-graduates-2019-120819

https://www.itsnicethat.com/articles/arne-bellstorf-the-smallest-unit-of-life-illustration-010419

https://www.itsnicethat.com/articles/uniform-plexopolis-game-university-college-london-graphic-design-090718

https://www.itsnicethat.com/articles/vivichen-illustration-011117

[samshushox]

First of all, Toby Kebbell? Yeah uh I want a ring right now

#toby kebbell #major jack chapman #kong skull island #johnny quid #rocknrolla #sean turner #servant #victor von doom #doctor doom #fantastic four

[specialagentartemis]

Mary Anning

Lyme Regis, England

1799-1847

Part of my Aro Week series on Reomantic De-prioritization in History.

Mary Anning was one of my first icons.  She was always presented as “a woman paleontologist!”  I knew about her fossil discoveries, especially ichthyosaurs and plesiosaurs, since I was a little kid.  I was quite the dinosaur kid, obsessed with dinosaurs and fossils and by extension geology.  I went on fossil-hunting trips on the beach or on roadsides with my dad.  Mary Anning, Jack Horner, and Roy Chapman Andrews were celebrities to me.  I knew that Mary Anning’s work wasn’t about dinosaurs per se, but ichthyosaurs, plesiosaurs, fish, shells, and all sorts of ancient marine life from the dinosaur times, and she changed the scientific view of her era about ancient ecosystems.

It was a lot later that I learned more about Mary Anning’s life.  She collected and sold fossils to tourists coming to the seaside to try to alleviate her family from poverty.  Collecting fossils from the sea cliffs could be dangerous; her dog Tray, her frequent companion on her trips, died in a cliff-fall rockslide that almost caught Anning too.  She was devastated.  From a very young age, she was the leading expert in the fossil history of the south of England.  In her scientific work, she made detailed notes about her fossil discoveries and became an expert in local geology but was often dismissed by male scientists. She became a well-known scientist throughout Europe, but often male geologists would publish her work and take credit, because scientific associations didn’t accept or publish women. However, she was a force within the scientific world, in a time of major upheaval.  Her discoveries revealed the idea of “extinction” to European scientists for the first time—before the 1800s, received wisdom was that God’s perfect creation was never fundamentally altered, and God wouldn’t let one of His creatures go extinct.  When Mary pulled never-before-seen sea creatures out of the cliffs near her home, it changed everything, and the whole scientific establishment took note.

She was close friends with lots of geologists and naturalists, both male and female, and widely regarded in the scientific world of the time—just not within official channels.  She never married, and at times thrived but often struggled to support herself with her fossils.

Mary Anning is in many ways a classic tale of women being shut out, dismissed, and ignored by the patriarchal establishment, but also a story of a brilliant woman supporting herself and creating a strong community through her scientific endeavors and changing the way we understand the world.

#Mary Anning #history #aromantic spectrum awareness week

[weclassybouquetfun]

By order of the fookin’ PEAKY BLINDERS, it is done. It has been announced that the currently filming sixth season will be the series’ last. 

Yep. No more staring into the tormented crystal blue eyes of Tommy Shelby. 

With the announcement of PEAKY BLINDERS’ cancellation comes the realisation that it is the second job Finn Cole has lost in a week. 

The only worthwhile thing Michael Gray has done is the French inhale.

On Thursday, TNT announced that the upcoming sixth season of ANIMAL KINGDOM will be its final season. 

Finn can be currently seen in the film DREAMLAND with Margot Robbie, and will next be seen in HERE ARE THE YOUNG MEN, directed by actor Eoin Macken (The Night Shift, Merlin). 

The film also stars Dean Charles Chapman (1917), Ferdia Walsh-Peelo (Vikings, Sing Street) and Finn’s PEAKY BLINDERS wife Anya Taylor Joy. 

Speaking of Anya Taylor Joy, she is amongst the actors nominated for a Critics Choice Award.   Anya was nominated in the category of Lead Actress in a Limited Series/Made for TV Movie for Netflix’s THE QUEEN’S GAMBIT.

Her competition in that category is: Shira Haas (Unorthodox), Cate Blanchett (Mrs. America), Michaela Coel ( I May Destroy You), Daisy Edgar Jones (Normal People, Tessa Thompson (Sylvie’s Love). 

The surprises to me are Nicholas Hoult being nominated in Lead Actor for a Comedy Series

amongst Jason Sudeikis (Ted Lasso),

S2 currently filming

Matt Berry (What We Do in the Shadow), Eugene Levy (Schitt’s Creek), Hank Azaria (Brockmire) and Ramy Youseff (Ramy);  surprised by no nomination for Elle Fanning in THE GREAT, no nomination for Ben Whishaw, Timothy Olyphant, Jack Huston or any of the female actors who gave extraordinary performances this season of FARGO (congrats to Chris Rock and Glynn Turman for their nods); no Ethan Hawke nomination for his performance in THE GOOD LORD BIRD (though his two costars received nods); Quibi dominated the short form category but no nomination for THE MOST DANGEROUS GAME which garnered Christoph Waltz an Emmy nomination or #FreeRayshawn whose two leads Laurence Fishburne and Jasmine Cephas-Jones won Emmys; the nomination for Betsy Brandt in the superb finale of SOULMATES. I did not see that coming. 

The other Critics Choice nominees.

BEST DRAMA SERIES

Better Call Saul (AMC) The Crown (Netflix) The Good Fight (CBS All Access) Lovecraft Country (HBO) The Mandalorian (Disney+) Ozark (Netflix) Perry Mason (HBO) This Is Us (NBC)

BEST ACTOR IN A DRAMA SERIES

Jason Bateman – Ozark (Netflix) Sterling K. Brown – This Is Us (NBC) Jonathan Majors – Lovecraft Country (HBO) Josh O’Connor – The Crown (Netflix) Bob Odenkirk – Better Call Saul (AMC) Matthew Rhys – Perry Mason (HBO)

BEST ACTRESS IN A DRAMA SERIES

Christine Baranski – The Good Fight (CBS All Access) Olivia Colman – The Crown (Netflix) Emma Corrin – The Crown (Netflix) Claire Danes – Homeland (Showtime) Laura Linney – Ozark (Netflix) Jurnee Smollett – Lovecraft Country (HBO)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A DRAMA SERIES

Jonathan Banks – Better Call Saul (AMC) Justin Hartley – This Is Us (NBC) John Lithgow – Perry Mason (HBO) Tobias Menzies – The Crown (Netflix) Tom Pelphrey – Ozark (Netflix) Michael K. Williams – Lovecraft Country (HBO)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A DRAMA SERIES

Gillian Anderson – The Crown (Netflix) Cynthia Erivo – The Outsider (HBO) Julia Garner – Ozark (Netflix) Janet McTeer – Ozark (Netflix) Wunmi Mosaku – Lovecraft Country (HBO) Rhea Seehorn – Better Call Saul (AMC)

BEST COMEDY SERIES

Better Things (FX) The Flight Attendant (HBO Max) Mom (CBS) PEN15 (Hulu) Ramy (Hulu) Schitt’s Creek (Pop) Ted Lasso (Apple TV+) What We Do in the Shadows (FX)

BEST ACTOR IN A COMEDY SERIES

Hank Azaria – Brockmire (IFC) Matt Berry – What We Do in the Shadows (FX) Nicholas Hoult – The Great (Hulu) Eugene Levy – Schitt’s Creek (Pop) Jason Sudeikis – Ted Lasso (Apple TV+) Ramy Youssef – Ramy (Hulu)

BEST ACTRESS IN A COMEDY SERIES

Pamela Adlon – Better Things (FX) Christina Applegate – Dead to Me (Netflix) Kaley Cuoco – The Flight Attendant (HBO Max) Natasia Demetriou – What We Do in the Shadows (FX) Catherine O’Hara – Schitt’s Creek (Pop) Issa Rae – Insecure (HBO)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A COMEDY SERIES

William Fichtner – Mom (CBS) Harvey Guillén – What We Do in the Shadows (FX) Daniel Levy – Schitt’s Creek (Pop) Alex Newell – Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist (NBC) Mark Proksch – What We Do in the Shadows (FX) Andrew Rannells – Black Monday (Showtime)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A COMEDY SERIES

Lecy Goranson – The Conners (ABC) Rita Moreno – One Day at a Time (Pop) Annie Murphy – Schitt’s Creek (Pop) Ashley Park – Emily in Paris (Netflix) Jaime Pressly – Mom (CBS) Hannah Waddingham – Ted Lasso (Apple TV+)

BEST LIMITED SERIES

I May Destroy You (HBO) Mrs. America (FX) Normal People (Hulu) The Plot Against America (HBO) The Queen’s Gambit (Netflix) Small Axe (Amazon Studios) The Undoing (HBO) Unorthodox (Netflix)

BEST MOVIE MADE FOR TELEVISION

Bad Education (HBO) Between the World and Me (HBO) The Clark Sisters: First Ladies of Gospel (Lifetime) Hamilton (Disney+) Sylvie’s Love (Amazon Studios) What the Constitution Means to Me (Amazon Studios)

BEST ACTOR IN A LIMITED SERIES OR MOVIE MADE FOR TV

John Boyega – Small Axe (Amazon Studios) Hugh Grant – The Undoing (HBO) Paul Mescal – Normal People (Hulu) Chris Rock – Fargo (FX) Mark Ruffalo – I Know This Much is True (HBO) Morgan Spector – The Plot Against America (HBO)

BEST ACTRESS IN A LIMITED SERIES OR MOVIE MADE FOR TV

Cate Blanchett – Mrs. America (FX) Michaela Coel – I May Destroy You (HBO) Daisy Edgar-Jones – Normal People (Hulu) Shira Haas – Unorthodox (Netflix) Anya Taylor-Joy – The Queen’s Gambit (Netflix) Tessa Thompson – Sylvie’s Love (Amazon Studios)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A LIMITED SERIES OR MOVIE MADE FOR TV

Daveed Diggs – The Good Lord Bird (Showtime) Joshua Caleb Johnson – The Good Lord Bird (Showtime) Dylan McDermott – Hollywood (Netflix) Donald Sutherland – The Undoing (HBO) Glynn Turman – Fargo (FX) John Turturro – The Plot Against America (HBO)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A LIMITED SERIES OR MOVIE MADE FOR TV

Uzo Aduba – Mrs. America (FX) Betsy Brandt – Soulmates (AMC) Marielle Heller – The Queen’s Gambit (Netflix) Margo Martindale – Mrs. America (FX) Winona Ryder – The Plot Against America (HBO) Tracey Ullman – Mrs. America (FX)

BEST TALK SHOW

Desus & Mero (Showtime) Full Frontal with Samantha Bee (TBS) The Kelly Clarkson Show (NBC/Syndicated) Late Night with Seth Meyers (NBC) The Late Show with Stephen Colbert (CBS) Red Table Talk (Facebook Watch)

BEST COMEDY SPECIAL

Fortune Feimster: Sweet & Salty (Netflix) Hannah Gadsby: Douglas (Netflix) Jerry Seinfeld: 23 Hours to Kill (Netflix) Marc Maron: End Times Fun (Netflix) Michelle Buteau: Welcome to Buteaupia (Netflix) Patton Oswalt: I Love Everything (Netflix)

BEST SHORT FORM SERIES

The Andy Cohen Diaries (Quibi) Better Call Saul: Ethics Training with Kim Wexler (AMC/Youtube) Mapleworth Murders (Quibi) Nikki Fre$h (Quibi) Reno 911! (Quibi) Tooning Out the News (CBS All Access)

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[thatboomerkid]

SpellJammer: Shadow of the Spider-Moon

Player’s Packet (ver 1.3)

for use with the First Edition Pathfinder Role-Playing Game

by Clinton J. Boomer

with special thanks to Andy Collins, Scott Schomburg, Chloe Michelle, Dennis Detwiller, David Gerrold, and George Loki Williams

additional campaign materials may be found here

The broad theme of the campaign is simple: “outsiders — criminals, rejects, freedom fighters, the lost, the abandoned, the desperate, and the mad — go balls-out, nothing to lose, against corrupt authority and nightmare monsters, surviving on the razor’s edge of the known & the unknown”.

It’s meant to have one foot in Serenity/Firefly, one foot in Pirates of the Caribbean, one foot in Guardians of the Galaxy, yet another foot in Princess Bride, plus little dashes of steampunk / dieselpunk pulp-action high-fantasy on top: Raiders of the Lost Ark, Giant Robo: The Day the Earth Stood Still, Aliens, Lupin III: The Castle of Cagliostro, The Mummy, The Fifth Element, The Rocketeer, and/or Big Trouble in Little China

RACES

Dwarf: a scattered people born of Moradin’s Forge*, 80% of whom now exist solely as slaves beneath the whip and bootheel of the illithid and their grotesque creations. Dwarves in captivity are stripped of their names, titles, and family lineage; for this reason, free dwarves often cover themselves in dense tattoos, transformed into living repositories of their clan history. Dwarves no longer have a homeland but make small communities on Fenris, the Crown-Moons of Garl, Gelth, and Callarduran, and across the Chain of Tears (especially the city of Discord).

For human occupants of Pyrespace, the illithid invasion – which the Church of Yondalla officially denies occurring, under pain of incarceration, transportation, and excommunication – happened ten years ago: half a generation past, when the very youngest of human spacehands were still in diapers.

For dwarves, it happened approximately last Tuesday.

Shepard Book, Zoe Washburne, and Drax the Destroyer are good examples of dwarves.

*NOTE: The Church of Yondalla, which does not recognize the divinity of Moradin, refers to the dwarven home-world instead simply as ‘the Adamant Forge’ in all official documentation.

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Elf: an elegant race in slow decline, born of Perianth, still recovering from the Unseelie War that split and decimated the species a millennium ago. For the elves, long-lived as they are, the wound is still very fresh: fewer than seven generations have passed since the end of the war, after all (for a human, this is perhaps comparable to a tragedy that occurred less than a century and a half ago).

Elves consume food, water, and air as Small-size creatures. Drow are a playable race, although they suffer a great deal of distrust from everyone … including other drow.

Inara, Simon Tam, River Tam, the Operative, Nebula, and Gamora are good examples of elves.

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Gnome: engineers and technologists born from the Circle of Gold, greatest moon of the Crown of Sapphire, now scraping-by on the Crown’s remaining moons and across the Chain of Tears: the devastated shards of their destroyed home-world, shattered two-and-a-quarter centuries ago.

Like the elves, of course, gnomes are fantastically long-lived: the very eldest gnomes can recall the true glory of their home world, seen with their own eyes; some of the most ancient were already well into their venerable years, over two and a half centuries old, at the time of the cataclysm. Even for the very youngest of gnomes, those who have never known a home-world other than the Chain of Tears, only about three generations have passed since the destruction of that moon (in terms that a human might understand, this is perhaps similar to an event that occurred 60-70 years ago).

Gnomes may choose to gain +2 Intelligence in place of their standard +2 Charisma; most have the Gear Gnome subtype. Nearly half of all gnomish pregnancies result in twins, and triplets are as common among gnomes as twins are among humans.

Kaylee Frye, Niska, Hoban ‘Wash’ Washburne, Rocket Racoon, Miracle Max (from Princess Bride), and Twigg (from Pirates of the Caribbean) are good examples of gnomes.

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Hin: Undisputed rulers of Quelya above the waves, thanks much to their ingenuity in social organization & their bountiful harvests even in the most barren of lands. The vast monotheistic religion of the Hin offers prayers to Yondalla and to her Saints, including Davian and Asmodeus; all Hin estates contain a shrine to Yondalla. The priests and nuns of the Church may not marry, though their laity is expected to produce many, many children. Status within the Church is of paramount importance for all Hin; donations to the church can buy writs of indulgence, favorable legal judgment, and even sainthood.

Lord Beckett, Governor Swann, Elizabeth Swan, Captain Barbossa, and Commodore Norrington (from Pirates of the Caribbean), Badger (from Firefly), Buttercup, Prince Humperdink, Count Rugen, Vizzini (from Princess Bride), and the Collector and Grandmaster (from Guardians of the Galaxy) are all good examples of Hin.

A BRIEF NOTE ON HIN NAMING-CONVENTIONS

Hin identify, for the most part, as members of the Church of Yondalla first, as part of a culture second, and as citizens of a nation third.

Thus, a Hin living in Arvoreen, Beshaba, or Brandobaris can be expected to have an Arvorean, Beshabite, or Brandobarin name. However, a Hin living far away from the shores of Green Fields -- in Cyrrollalee or in Urogolan, for example -- with always retain a “proper” Arvorean, Beshabite, or Brandobarin name.

Hin with Urogalandic names, simply put, do not exist.

“Invented” Hin names, which are relatively common everywhere except on Quelya, are the major exception to this general rule: occasionally, a young Hin living off-world will choose to reinvent himself -- and, thus, rename himself -- often, but not always, as a means to get out from under the thumb of a particularly oppressive (or shameful) family. 

Venturing forth into the unknown without the benefit of a longstanding lineage is, in fact, a tradition among Hin significantly older than modern Arvorean or Brandobarin society.

As such, a young Hin in Lagas going by the name of “Morgan Drake,” “John Smith,” “Alastair Chapman,” or “Sebastian West” -- for example -- might be looked down upon as a probable criminal or even as a pirate ... but on Ashen, Verdura, or out on the Chain of Tears, such an individual is likely to earn a mark of respect from all but the most conservative and close-minded of Hin.

Invented Hin Male Names: Thomas, Morgan, Smith, Hunter, John, Price, Bennet, Chapman, West, Tanner, Spencer, Walker, Jackson, Clarke, Parker, Mason, Drake, Corbyn, Everett, Garret, Simon, Alastair, Sebastian, Elliot, Fletcher, Graham, Ethan, Oliver, Felix, Callumn, Stanley, Richmond, Lennox, Ford, Jensen, Gabriel, March, Ellis, Wellington, Reginald, Chesterton, Alex, Solomon, Carter

Invented Hin Female Names: Beatrix, Cressida, Gemma, Joclyn, Scarlett, Elizabeth, Rhonwen, Maisie, Isla, Kaitlyn, Briony, Jane, Charlotte, Adalaide, Ivy, Gwendolyn, Kenzie, Finlay, Audren, Haley, Theodora, Abigail

Invented Hin Last Names: (any invented Hin male first name)

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Human: Humans come in many different colors, in many different sizes, and worship many, many gods – usually in the guise of Yondallan saints. Most humans pay at least some lip service to St. Davian, the great champion of Yondalla (who intercedes to deliver the prayers of humans to Yondalla), but humans very often also worship older, more-private familial gods. Humans may not, of course, marry into Hin families nor join in any Hin merchant house as a full partner; the best that a human can hope for, in many cases, is to be a servant remembered fondly by the children of the family he serves.

This, of course, leaves humans permanently at the bottom of the Quelyan (and thereby system-wide) economic food chain.

It is accepted fact, by those who study the pre-history of Pyrespace, that humans were once scattered across the system for unknown purposes and by unknown means, presumably at the whim of the mysterious Precursors. For this reason, the Church of Yondalla is active in seeking-out lost civilizations of humans who have spent unknown centuries far from the light of Yondalla’s mercy.

Captain Malcolm Reynolds, Captain Jack Sparrow, Westley the Farm-Boy, and Peter Quill are good examples of humans.

HUMAN OFFSHOOTS:

al’Zihad: Despite their bizarre appearances and hostile overtures, it is passionately believed that the curious ifrit, oread, sylph, suli, and undine populations native to Ashen were once human: servants of the Precursors adapted over the course of centuries to their alien environment. It is because of this belief that the Church of Yondalla has extended such a warm and generous offer of camaraderie to the “native” al’Zihad population, hoping to reintroduce them to their divinely ordained role as servants … this time, to the Hin.

Aasimar: Human families who commit themselves to the performance of good works in the name of Yondalla occasionally produce an angel-blooded or archon-blooded heir: born to serve the Church as beatific instruments of peace.

Dhampir: Some human children born beneath the Spider-Moon, along the Chain of Tears, or in the wilds of Fenris are infused with strange energies of death-magic. These children are claimed by the Church, for their own protection.

Fetchling: A strange subspecies of human – thought to originally hail from the lost forest-moon of Baervan (circling the Crown of Sapphire), infused with energies from the forbidden Library of the Eremite – these creatures are kept secret by the Church of Yondalla.

Ganzi: The children of humans exposed over-long to the energies of the Crown of Sapphire have been known to exhibit bizarre mutations; such creatures are taken-in by the Church of Yondalla to be kept safe.

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Half-Elf: Increasingly common throughout the system, originally the products of union between a male elf and female human: while elven females will often take human lovers, both male and female, pregnancies resulting from such unions are unknown: elven women must maintain a strict, meditative state of concentration to actually achieve pregnancy. As such, accidental fertilization is impossible, and even the act of impregnation is discomforting enough that no elven female would perform the act without sound – usually political – reason.

Elven men, therefore, are often shocked to discover that a brief rendezvous with a human woman has produced a bastard child.

Half-elves now breed true and have formed small communities in larger cities like Discord, Zionil, Dallah, and Lagas. Half-elves have no place within Elven society and possess little group unity.

Will Turner (from Pirates of the Caribbean) and Inigo Montoya are good examples of Half-Elves.

Half-Orc: True orcs (and their off-shoot species, including ogres, goblins, and hobgoblins) are not born and possess no gender: they are fungal creatures that emerge fully-grown from vast, reeking pits. Humans exposed to this fungus occasionally produce half-orc offspring; half-orcs are most-commonly born from humans captured by the illithid and taken to Moradin’s Forge (where airborne spores of goblin-fungus are dangerously common).

Half-orcs are prized by the illithid as a more perfect slave-stock than dwarves, orcs, or other monstrous humanoids, and have escaped their bondage to breed true: the product of any mating involving half-orcs (human/half-orc or half-elf/half-orc) is nearly always half-orc: their bizarre, altered fungus-genome is nearly viral in this regard.

Populations of “native” half-orcs intermingle with “native” humans across the wastes of Fenris, representing – to the Church – peoples long separated from the light of Yondalla.

Jayne Cobb and Niska’s leg-breaker Crow (from Firefly), Fezzick (from Princess Bride), Yondu (from Guardians of the Galaxy), and Bo’sun (from Pirates of the Caribbean) are good examples of Half-Orcs.

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Kuru: A bizarre subspecies of island-dwelling human driven all-but-extinct by the combined might of the Arvorean navy and the Church of Yondalla; kuru who bend the knee to the Church and denounce the worship of Dagon are given the same rights as other human offshoots (which is to say, not very much and certainly not as much as main-bloodline humans).

Skintwister: A vanishingly small percentage of humans – when directly exposed to alien fauna and extreme environment – rapidly adapt at a cellular level, taking on the most useful traits of a local native animal species within a generation. Human families on Quelya occasionally produce shark-blooded skintwister, while humans on Verdura can produce bat-blooded, bird-of-prey blooded, boar-blooded, crocodile-blooded, or tiger-blooded offspring, and humans on Fenris can produce bear-blooded, bird-of-prey blooded, boar-blooded, rat-blooded, tiger-blooded, and wolf-blooded young. These ‘near-humans’ are much prized by the Church as useful resources.

Tiefling: Human families who commit wicked deeds, marking themselves for eternal punishment in the bowels of Hell, occasionally produce a devil-blooded heir: born to serve the Church as weapons of war. In addition to the devil-spawn tieflings recognized by the Church of Yondalla, demon-spawn tieflings occasionally appear among the hinen (human servants) of Perianth; kyton-spawn appear among those humans on the Chain of Tears who venture too close to the forest-moon of Baervan, and rakshasa-spawn appear with alarming frequency among those humans assigned to toil the plantation-fields of Verdura.

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Warforged: Creations of the gnomes, the original warforged were long ago the original deciding factor in the wars against the ysoki. Redesigned in later centuries to act as adaptable, dependable assistants for gnomes, including the best possible defense against Hive (and later, illithid) incursions into gnome-space, the warforged were manufactured in the tens of millions.

All warforged, under the dictates of the Church of Yondalla, are property: they do not, and cannot, possess souls.

Each warforged is “born” from a generation creche; not a single such creche is known to have survived the destruction of the Circle of Gold (the gnomish home-world), and the technology to repair or re-fire a damaged creche – if one could even be found! – is utterly lost. For this reason, warforged are no longer treated as the expendable resource they were in the days of the Rat-Slaughter or the Hive Marches.

Data (Star Trek), C3-PO (Star Wars), the T-800 (Terminator), K2-SO (Rogue One), Baymax (Big Hero 6), David (Prometheus), Cameron (Terminator: the Sarah Conner Chronicles), Bishop (Aliens), GLaDOS (Portal), Wall-E, and the Iron Giant are all good examples of possible warforged archetypes, but many other interpretations are possible.

image from here

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Others:

In addition to the major races and civilizations of the system, two dozen or more other sapient species make their homes across Pyrespace.

Inhabitants of Ashen:

Kasatha: Swift and dangerous hunters adapted for the open desert, a rare few kasatha have left the holdings of their clans to seek bounty beyond their world.

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Inhabitants of Verdura:

A huge number of native species make the wilds of Verdura their home, many of them armed with Precursor technology and decidedly hostile to strangers. Among them are the Catfolk (lion, tiger, jaguar, leopard, cheetah, puma), Giff, Ghoran, Gnoll, Grippli, Kobold, Lizardfolk, Nagaji, Orang-Pendak, Reptoid, Tengu, Vanara, Vishkanya, and Wyvaran.

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Inhabitants of Quelya:

Gargoyle: A strange species of living stone that laired near – and among – the Urogalandic people for unknown millennia, gargoyles struck a deal with the Church of Yondalla during the Siege of Mordheim to assure their own survival; now, more than four centuries later, these hulking devils serve the Hin as bodyguards, elite scouts, heavy infantry, and unstoppable delivery-mechanisms.

Locathah: The curious and grotesque locathah – who are said to intermingle freely with the humans of many remote island communities – are treated with grave suspicion by the Church of Yondalla, as they often act as spies, seducers, and saboteurs for the cults of Dagon. The few locathah able to earn the trust of the Church are still watched closely for any sign of heresy.

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Inhabitants of Perianth:

Gathlain: In the deepest woodlands of Perianth, far from the oversight of Elven noble houses, the bizarre gathlain wander the twilight; these odd entities claim to originate from an “adjacent” reality, one to which the doors have been shuttered.

The gathlain whisper that older, hungrier, and infinitely more powerful spirits of “the Forest Behind the Word” also lurk in the long shadows, slowly rebuilding their strength after a humiliating defeat -- and centuries of enslavement -- at the hands of a nameless elven witch-queen.

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Inhabitants of the Chain of Tears:

Ratfolk: Nearly exterminated a dozen times over by the warforged armies of the gnomes, with whom they once shared a home world, the ysoki are a cunning species of survivors who have adapted to life across the Chain of Tears with endless tenacity.

Goblin-Spore (SQ): Some percentage of ysoki are carriers for a curious strain of the goblin fungus (which births goblins, hobgoblins, orcs, and ogres) to which they alone are immune. 

These special ysoki gain low-light vision, are immune to disease and poison, and are treated as Plant creatures -- in addition to being treated as humanoids with the ratfolk subtype --  for the purposes of a ranger’s favored enemy, for bane weapons, for feats, and for purposes of spells such as antiplant shell and horrid wilting, and for all similar effects, although these ysoki do not gain any other normal immunities, benefits, or traits of a true Plant creature.

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Inhabitants of Fenris:

A fair number of native species make the wilds of Verdura their home, many of them armed with Precursor technology and decidedly hostile to strangers. Among them are the Catfolk (tigers and snow leopards), Kitsune, Syrinx, and Tengu.

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Inhabitants of the Adamant Forge

Duergar: engineered slaves of the illithid, built via a foul twisting of the dwarven genetic code, duergar are not a common sight anywhere in Pyrespace except, perhaps, in the company of their horrid masters. That said, some duergar -- such as those dwelling on the Forge-Moon of Duerra -- have shattered the chains of their bondage and now walk free.

Goblin, Hobgoblin, and Orc: various subspecies born of the same strange fungal blooms (all of which possess the Goblin Spore Special Quality, above), sapient members of these races are rare in the extreme. That said, it is not completely unknown for an individual goblin, hobgoblin, or orc to “wake up”: becoming something significantly more complex than a mere weapon of genocide and extermination.

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UNIQUE RACES: Verdura, Fenris, the Chain of Tears, several moons, and even the wilds of Quelya are doubtlessly home to additional sapient species, still as yet undiscovered.

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SETTING

The setting is a single solar-system, Pyrespace, with several major & minor worlds.

WORLDS & NATIONS The Pyre: an incalculably vast stellar engine of incandescent plasma; small dark shapes — rumored to be ancient artifacts of the long-vanished Precursors — orbit the star tightly, flickering low across the endless ocean of flame (burning at an average of 6,000 degree Kelvin), diving through 13,000-mile-tall solar flares that routinely reach 10-20 million Kelvin (up to 100 million); these eerie & barely-visible shapes, whatever they may be, are utterly inaccessible to any modern space-vessel.

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Ashen: A storm-wracked world of dust & salt drifting upon an ocean of vacuum, covered in an inhospitable white desert slashed-through with low, jagged, slate-grey mountain ranges; this world hides strange ruins & wondrous treasures of the Precursors beneath its oceans of dust; it is considered strategically valuable both for its rare natural resources; dotted with Hin refineries, forts, border towns, resupply depots, and mining operations; home to strange native populations of kasatha, alongside clans of ifrit, oread, sylph, suli and undine (collectively known as the al’Zihad), who claim to have come to Ashen while bound in the service of the Precursors: inscrutable masters who once dwelt in a mysterious city trapped deep within the Celestial Pearl.

Ashen has two moons:

Anachtyr the Shining: A blinding-bright tempest-world of endless, boiling amythest-hued ocean studded with towering fumarole-vents dozens of miles in height; mighty coils of eye-searing azure lightning leap eternally between titanic these waterspouts, and the steam of this roaring planetoid can be seen drifting into the void: a haze that glitters like diamonds.

Lessinor the Masked: A world of heavy fog, dripping rust, creaking black tourmaline, and unending gloom, mantled in long shadows which writhe with ancient echoes and whispers, it is said that visibility on this planetoid has a maximum of 100 feet. Vast keeps, palaces, and even lightless cities of cyclopean gold-draped skeleons have been reported dotting the curious surface, but not one has ever been found a second time.

Approximately 10% of Ashen is actively subject to mining, exploitation, extraction and terraforming operations.

Major Cities of Ashen:

Acheron: a dug-in black-site military base / fortress-city / arcane research facility controlled by the Hin nation of Brandobaris

Core: a city-sized, semi-mobile mining and oil-rig facility controlled by the Hin nation of Arvoreen; a joint project with gnome & warforged diaspora from the Chain

Salt Lake: a religious-outreach community controlled by the Church of Yondalla, which seeks to convert the native al’Zihad to the worship of the goddess; this is by far the largest city on Ashen, and the central hub for all rail-travel on the planet.

image from here

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Verdura: a world of shallow oceans, towering mountain peaks, massive waterfalls, sprawling cave-systems, boiling mud-flats, impossible plateaus, icy ravines, echoing jungles, smoldering volcanos, bewildering river-systems, ancient lost ruins, and — above all — rainforest seemingly without end; home to an uncountable number of near-human species all-but-universally hostile to outsiders, many of whom are armed with ancient Precursor tech.

Hin rubber plantations, lumber mills, exotic “safari” hunting lodges, and industrial logging-facilities are therefore sprawling, heavily-militarized affairs

Although it boasts no truly massive cities, Verdura is host to the Hin colony of New Arvoreen, the center of Covington Farms – soon to be the breadbasket of the Pyrespace system – and a mountain-set Brandobarin research-station known as Thaumir. In addition, a small community of gnome diaspora have established the technological-marvel nation of Markovia, named for its Founder, Monarch and Supreme Leader, Dr. Adlai Markovitch (and his three nieces).

image from here

The Three Moons of Verdura:

Tiamat: A darkly-glittering, iridescent jungle of venom and razor-sharp glass, a shimmering wilderness of fog-shrouded valleys, viridian mire, and steam-wreathed peaks laid beneath a sky of eternally wheeling stars. Home to many of the deadliest insects and reptiles in the system, this endless deep-emerald hell is yet rumored to contain that most fantastic of treasures: the legendary la fonte della giovinezza: a mystic source of endless youth and vitality, guarded by an ancient knight – Sir Azharul of the Thorns – devoted utterly to the service of Yondalla … and to the execution of all unworthy seekers.

Bahamut: A golden moon of shifting desert sand and sky-rending thunderstorms, of dark clouds howling over rain-spattered platinum dunes, this world is sacred to many of the reptilian monstrosities that lurk in the jungles of Verdura. Priests among these creatures claim that once, long ago, doorways opened from their sacrifice-sites to a huge city of bone, a fantastic place fed by the twin rivers Luar and Kath, ruled-over by a red-skinned, leviathan humanoid: a grotesque thing, serpent-like, with four eyes and four ears, that shot flames from its mouth when it spoke. No true evidence of this fabled city, said to lie “behind the east wind,” has yet been discovered.

Chronepsis: A small, silver-grey ice-moon, this airless and barren world is riddled with vast doorways, leading down into bone-white palaces of titanic, cyclopean design. What treasure might lie within these pleasure-halls is unknown, as few who have ventured beneath the surface have ever returned. It is sung, by the heretical faith of Dagon, that two great serpents lair here – named Null and Faluzure – and that these creatures know, between them, the fate of the dragons … and time of their return.

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Quelya: a world of archipelagos, reefs, marbled sand, dark cerulean waves, and tropical island chains boasting only a handful of sizable land masses, dominated by the Hin (halflings) and their servitor-race, humanity; the hungry, expansionist, colonial-minded nations of the Hin are united only by the rule of a massive corrupt Church and a single vast, hyper-complex monetary system; the planet boasts but a single continent — the Green Fields of Yondalla –  which are ruled-over by an ever-shifting array of Hin merchant-houses; in the furthest reaches of the world, shark skintwisters and locathah are rumored to bend the knee in loyalty to the strange and beautiful malenti, and to make horrid sacrifices to the coiling serpent Dagon.

HIN NATIONS / CITIES / HOLDINGS

Acheron: a Brandobarin military base / fortress-city / research base on Ashen

Arvoreen: an aggressive, militaristic nation noted for its perpetual war-footing, it maintains the finest navy in the system; the Arvorean Academy of War is famously egalitarian, admitting humans, half-elves, near-humans, and even warforged into its officer-training corps; national colors of red & gold.

Arvorean Male First Names: Alejandro, Fernando, Santiago, Antonio, Maceo, Francisco, Joaquin, Marco, Cristian, Javier, Rafael, Carlos

Arvorean Female First Names: Yamilet, Carmen, Valentina, Paloma, Lucia, Esmeralda, Alicia, Maria, Sofia, Luna, Catalina, Vida

Arvorean Last Names: García, Fernández, González, Rodríguez, López, Martínez, Sánchez, Pérez, Martín, Gómez, Ruiz, Hernández, Jiménez

Beshaba: The Hin holy city on the banks of the Rio Provendor (and its surrounding hills), most sacred site of Yondalla’s worship, currently self-ruled; the place where Gol-Kaa (the Last Human King of Beshaba) was slain by Saint Davian in single combat; national colors of white & sky blue.

Beshabite Male First Names: Dvir, Asaf, Asher, Elazar, Uriah, Reef, Aryah, Ofek, Yaheli, Arbel, Yinon, Idan

Beshabite Female First Names: Maayan, Danya, Liv, Shoshanna, Alean, Annael, Carmel, Eden, Avitel, Avia, Naama, Ofri

Beshabite Last Names: Ngaere, Zerbibi, Mishayev, Qablan, Magadla, Berdugo, Yayin, Sasi, Sharabani, Akiyva, Hagge, Siyvan, Tzviy

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Brandobaris: an elegant, cultured nation noted for its arts and refinement, it maintains the finest academies of learning – in alchemy, wizardry, engineering, medicine, mathematics, law, history, and space-flight – in the system; national colors bright yellow & light grey; home to the three bitterly warring institutes of higher learning:

Archives Timmestre-Falco: home of both the finest telescope array and most complete orrery in the system.

Sincomakti School of Sciences: known for the deep pockets of its alumni – for use in funding elaborate expeditions – and a particularly notorious library.

Universidad de Lepidottero: specialists in medicine, mathematics, and forensic investigation, on the cutting edge of xenobiology.

Brandobarin Male First Names: Luca, Filippo, Marco, Pietro, Giovanni, Nicolo, Davide, Diego, Giuseppe, Edoardo, Tommaso, Andreas , Cosimo, Lorenzo, Ottaviano

Brandobarin Female First Names: Chiara, Nicole, Ludovica, Gaia, Matilde, Vittoria, Francesca, Alessia, Camilla, Bianca, Arianna, Elena

Brandobarin Last Names: Rossi, Berlusconi, Ferrari, Brambilla, Ricci, Greco, Esposito, Marino, Bianchi, Morelli, D’Angelo, Piazza, Caputo

Chaldira: a massive mining-city on Fenris; although it is ostensibly self-ruled under the auspices of a gnomish coalition from the Chain of Tears, in practice the city bows to the “supervision” of a Brandobarin wizarding-circle. Core: a city-sized, semi-mobile mining and oil-rig facility on Ashen, controlled by the Arvorean armada; a joint project with gnome & warforged diaspora from the Chain. Cyrrollalee: former home of the last human king; an enormous, incredibly-fertile nation noted for its high population of humans (mostly farmers); rumors persist among the superstitious peasantry of “fairy circles” in the woods that lead to other realms; national colors of green & dark blue

Cyrrolaelan Male First Names: Odhran (Orin), Rory, Tadhg (Tag), Senan, Cathal (Kat-hal), Rodnan, Aodham (Aiden), Callum, Eion (Ow-en), Rian (Ree-an), Fionn (Finn), Cillian (Killian), Declan

Cyrrolaelan Female First Names: Aoife (ee-fa), Caoimhe (kwee-va or kee-va), Saoirse (seer-sha), Ciara (kay-ra), Niamh (neev), Roisin (ro-sheen), Cara (ca-ra), Clodagh (clo-da), Aine (on-yah), Aislinn (ash-lin), Alys, Avalon

Cyrrolaelan Last Names: Murchadha (Murphy), Ó Ceallaigh (Kelly), Ó Súilleabháin (O’Sullivan), Breathnach (Walsh), Ó Broin (Byrne), Ó Conchobhair (O’Conner), Ó Raghallaigh (O’Reilly), Ó Dubhghaill (O’Doyle), Mac Carthaigh (McCarthy), Ó Gallchobhair (Gallagher), Ó Cinnéide (Kennedy), Ó Muireadhaigh (Murray), Ó Cuinn (Quinn), Ó Mordha (Moore), Mac Lochlainn (McLoughlin)

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Dallah: a sin-soaked island city of gambling & revelry, part of the Tymoran island-chain; currently under self-rule; “national colors” of black & white Gixx: a floating city named for its watery host-moon, under Brandobarin control, orbiting the Crown of Sapphire Lagas: capital city of both Arvoreen and Brandobaris, existing along the border of both nations at the mouth of the Rio Provendor; a sacred city of the faith of Yondalla second only to the City & Lands of Beshaba

Important Sites in Lagas: The Rusted Sun Theatre, Parrish Place Bed & Breakfast, Café Molise, The Shuttered Door Academy

Important Hin residing in Lagas: Lord Mayor Emilio Dioceres, Archbishop Quirino Stephanos, Minister of Finance Alessio Villanova, Trade Minister Lazzaro Calistoga, Assistant Trade-Minister Dario Adalberto.

Moander: capital city of Cyrrollalee, built on the ruins of Dún Ailinne.

Mordheim: capital city of Urogolan, former home of “Uric, Last Human King of Urogolan”; this cold and half-tumbled fortress city, towering high above the treacherous stone of the Baía da Loucura, is choked in near-constant ice Perryroyal: massive island city at the far end of the Tymora island-chain that serves as the legendary “gateway to Xhiaae-La,” currently under the control of the Arvorean navy Salt Lake: a religious-outreach community on Ashen controlled by the Church of Yondalla, which seeks to convert the native al’Zihad to the worship of the goddess; this is by far the largest city on Ashen, and the central hub for all rail-travel on the planet Thaumir: a mountain-set Brandobarin research-station on Verdura Tymora: a particularly fertile chain of islands inhabited mostly by humans, currently ruled by the city of Dallah; the islands stretch from Lagas to Perryroyal.

Many traditional Tymoran names -- especailly those found in Dallah -- sound vaguely Greek to 21st-century human ears, but the islands are home to over 7,000 unique human cultures and no single list could possibly home to capure the length and breadth of the names used by Tymorans.

In addition, put bluntly, many people of the island chain simply do not think of themselves as “Tymoran,” but, rather, as members of a distinct culture under foreign occupation.

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Urogolan: grim, north-most Hin nation, noted for its vast mineral wealth, dense coniferous forests, fatalistic populace, and bleak weather; national colors of grey and black.

Urogalandic Male First Names: Ander, Hans, Johan, Ulf, Lars, Sven, Ivar, Leif (layf), Magnus, Ragnar, Sigurd (see-gurd), Herleif (her-leaf), Hjalmar (hyal-mahr), Njal (nj-al), Ødger (ed-ger), Roar (ruw-aar), Rune (ruw-n-eh), Sten (stehn), Trygve (trig-vah), Uhtred (oof-tred), gil (ee-yeh-gil), Einar (eye-nahr), Frey (fray), Geir (geyr), Gudbrand (good-brant), Gudmund (good-moond), Gunnar (guhn-nar), Hagen (hah-gen), Haldor (hahl-dawr), Halvar or Halvor (hahl-vahr), Jarl (yahr-al), Kåre (kehr), Aric (aar-ih-k), Arkyn (aar-khin), Brynjar (brin-yahr), Cuyler (kiel-ehr)

Urogalanadic Female First Names: Áma, Åse, Astra, Astrid, Borghild, Brynhild, Eir, Elli, Embla, Erica, Liva, Ragnfríðr, Revna, Rúna, Saga, Sigrid, Sif, Freya, Heidrun, Hildr, Hrefna, Hulda, Kara

Urogalandic Last Names: Any of the above Urogalandic male first names, with one of the following added to the end: sen, son, sson, søn, datter, dotter, or dottir

Xhiaae-La: legendary islands of gold & jade just beyond Tymora, source of human unarmed martial fighting techniques highly valued by Hin employers; currently under Brandobarin control

Xhiaae-Lan Male Names: Liang, Haoran, Zhen, Shufen, Ling, Lan, Kaihong, Taio, Shui, Qui, Jin, Chun, Ai, Bao

Xhiaae-Lan Female Names: Annchi, Baozhai, Changying, Chao-Xing, Chuntao, Da-Xia, Daiyu, Ehuang, Fenfang, Genji, Hu, Huian

Xhiaae-Lan Family Names: (spoken & written first) Shao, Long, Wàn, Zhāng, Qián, Tāng, Yǐn, Lí, Yì, Cháng, Wǔ, Qiáo, Lài, Gōng, Wén

Zuzadlara: an Arvorean military-base and floating “port city” on Perianth, established to assist Elven forces in maintaining peace across the system.

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Perianth: the elven home-world, a mist-wreathed, twilight-draped bioengineered “forest of prosperity” constructed by the Precursors via unknown means; the deep woodlands are said to hold terrifying gateways to other realms of existence; the courts of the elves are closed to outsiders, and non-elves are permitted access only to a vanishingly small number of sky-ports; the elves of both the Western Courts and Eastern Courts alike do a brisk trade in humans bought from the Hin, and some reports suggest that only 3% of the planetary population is actually elven.

Perianth is “ruled” by House Larethian, although the high throne of that House – that of the Phoenix Emperor (Western Court) or Moonlight Dragon (Eastern Court) – stands empty, as does the throne of his bride: Lolth, the Beautiful Eclipse (Western Court) or Lolth, the Crimson Empress (Eastern Court).

The favor of House Larethian is a currency traded by the other noble Houses; the Western Court name is given for each House first, followed by the Eastern Court name:

House Fleuris / House Kaika: painters, vintners, and rose-garden keepers.

House Sanglante / House Chimanire: the most-expert sword-smiths and sword-saints.

House Chanceux / House Kōun'na: Imperial record-keepers, known for their prodigious luck.

House Illustre / House Kagayakashī: the most beautiful and honorable house, known for their mastery of dance.

House Assombrir / House Kage-tsuki: the lowest of the noble houses, experts in medicine.

Perianth is not known to have any major cities, although each House maintains a number of holdings.

Western Court Male Names: Baillieu, Ménétries, Bachelot, Peletier, Bocuse, Marius, Théophile, Roland, Ancel, Thibaut, Sylvain, Médard, Chauve, Rémy, Maret

Western Court Female Names: Solène, Élisa, Émeline, Joséphine, Ameline, Neri, Mélanie, Coline, Émilienne, Iseult, Asselineau, Eulalie, Roxanne

Eastern Court Male Names: Hyotoki, Gatane, Yamitsu, Dainaga, Akihiko, Yori, Hideaki, Kazuhiro, Wantaro, Anoye, Gezushi, Sesuki, Teitada, Hiroaki, Noboru

Eastern Court Female Names: Haitsuke, Narino, Reinatsu, Maera, Benomi, Kohaku, Kayo, Miyako, Aya, Shizuka, Komina, Jionuye, Kakura, Amiri, Reiko, Yuki, Emi

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The Spider-Moon

The sole satellite of Perianth, a massive labyrinthine ruin to-which one third of the elves — the drow — were exiled long ago; the drow are no longer trapped beneath the surface of the Spider-Moon due to the hideous gifts of the illithid. This oversized nightmare realm is ruled by House Lolth and her loyalists: exiled members of all five noble Houses and their servants. This inhospitable world boasts only a single major trade-hub: the Dark City of Xogotha.

Any type of direct approach on the Spider Moon must find a way to navigate the tens of thousands of floating dead (and undead) – casualties of the Unseelie War – still drifting in orbit around the planetoid. For their part, the drow use this corpse-field as a blockade, employing necromancy to bypass the horror-show whenever necessary.

Drow names are identical to elven names.

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The Celestial Pearl: a mysterious planet-sized anomaly bearing what appears to be a perfectly smooth, bone-white surface: this ghostly pale sphere has no atmosphere and no magnetic field, no geographical features, no marks consistent with any meteoric impact, no evidence of historical habitation, a surface temperature of 3 Kelvin, and a core temperature zero Kelvin. The curious surface itself – which appears to be an impossibly-thin crystalline latticework of monomolecular razor-ribbons covered in a few drifting inches of ice-powder, white sand, ash, and stardust – cannot be landed-upon or even approached: weird, invisible, immovable “arches” — made of something harder than adamantium — protrude in a strange, coiling web of whorls into space, reaching up to 500 miles away from the surface.

Zionil: Largest space-station in the system, nearly a moon onto itself, this massive gnomish facility serves as an informal way-station -- a respected, nearly sacred neutral ground -- between the “inner worlds” of Ashen, Verdura, Quelya, and Perianth; and the “outer worlds”: the Crown of Sapphire and the Chain of Tears, Fenris, and Moradin’s Forge.

It also serves as the ultimate melting-pot of cultures across Pyrespace: here, humans dressed in fashionable gnomish top-hats & tails rub shoulders with dwarves travling to jobs on Ashen & half-orcs en route to Verdura.

Dominated by the enormous Cathedral of St. Deneir the Scribe and House of St. Mili, the Voice of Heaven, sprawling centers of worship for the Church of Yondalla, Zionil is also home to a huge Xhaaie-Lan population; the Lantan Shipyards are without a doubt the finest facilities in the system for the design & construction of Hin-built spelljamming vessels.

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The city is unofficially under the control of Baronet Giancarlo Lugocelli of Fenris, a devout human aristocrat admired across the system for his shrewd buisness accumen and unbridled civic spirit. 

This artificial moon also serves as home to The Thirteenth: an emergency garrison of specially-designed warforged kept in reserve to make a surgical-strike wherever the threat of Hive activity is detected outside the heavily quarantined moons of Segojan (Hive Colony Euclid), Baervan (Hive Colony Keter), Baravar (Hive Colony Thaumiel), and Urdlen (Hive Colony Apollyon); this force is led by Inquisitor Francesca DiAccursio of La Universidad de Lepidottero as part of a massive anti-xenos taskforce.

An increasing number of dwarves from Moradin’s Forge also now make a holy pilgrimage here to the Muamman Duathal: a library of dwarven law, history, technological innovation, achivement, literary scholarship, and art nearly the equal to the catacombs of lost Dugmaren.

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The Crown of Sapphire & the Chain of Tears: an enormous, shining, many-ringed cerulean gas-giant, host to a dozen moons (listed below) and the long trail of an asteroid belt which follows behind it; the Crown roars with low heat and mild radiation, serving as a “second sun” to the system. As to the means by which the Precursors performed this “stellar uplifting” and manipulated the interior of the Crown, it is impossible to say.

About 70% of the “chain” following behind the Crown was originally the home-world of the gnomes – once known as Kruug od Szlatta, or the ‘Circle of Gold’ – and their many miraculous inventions, which was shattered utterly as the result of a run-away hyper-energy reaction; big money can be made out here, sifting the clockwork wreckage and mining interplanetary debris for rarities; the finest technology in the known universe can be found here: powering the cities, foundries, refineries, sky-docks, casinos, space stations, laboratories, and bio-manufactora which float together in complex nets through the wild void.

Moons of the Sapphire Crown:

Garl: now the largest of the moons, a gem-studded planetoid home to a huge number of scattered mineral-mining operations, including Blistavo Zlatta: now the default capital-city of the gnome people, formerly known best as a decadent, lawless, off-world trade-hub town full of casinos, amusements, cunning illusions, and other cheap entertainments.

Gelth: second largest of the moons, a dark spheroid of endless seething lava-flats, smoldering radioactive pools, toxic black smoke, and jagged obsidian blades miles in height. Home to a small number of mining-colonies (which are outnumbered 10-1 by the destroyed remnants of exactly such facilities).

Callarduran: third largest of the moons, a place of icy-cold wind whistling through thousands of miles of smooth stone tunnels, home to the finest stone-crafting workshops in the system.

Flandal: a hot, near-barren planetoid rich in iron and a number of other valuable metals … but, very specifically, boasting neither water nor arable land. Successfully cleared of all Hive infection after the eradication of Hive Colony Nehemoth in 1463; classified as safe.

Gixx: a fog-shrouded shallow-sea water-world currently occupied by a floating Brandobarin city.

Segojan: a smog-shrouded death-world of fungus and alien monsters, home to Hive Colony Euclid.

Baervan: a lost moon, once a twilight forest-world, now home to Hive Colony Keter; also home to the mysterious, floating Library of the Eremite.

Baravar: a shadowy crystalline moon now home to Hive Colony Thaumiel.

Urdlen: home to nothing but an icy, red-tinged ocean that flows silently between towering black spires, this bleak world now plays host to Hive Colony Apollyon.

Gaerdal: a heavily fortified workshop-moon, now 99% destroyed; original “birthplace” of the warforged.

Nebelun: the still-smoldering remains of a desert laboratory-world, dotted with blackened pits connected by a vast webwork of now-shattered elevated railways.

Rupa u Beskonačnom (the Hole in the Infinite): although not a true moon, this small artificial wormhole drifts in orbit around the Crown of Sapphire, occasionally spiting-out weird horrible alien monsters: the nearby moons of Segojan (Hive Colony Euclid), Baervan (Hive Colony Keter), Baravar (Hive Colony Thaumiel), and Urdlen (Hive Colony Apollyon) are infected with a terrifying strain of bizarre alien life; the wormhole is currently orbited by a small armada of mysterious githyanki ships native to another solar system.

Major Cities of the Chain of Tears:

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Discord: The largest city adrift in the Chain is also the largest city system-wide; in terms of sheer population, only the holy city of Lagas on Quelya even comes close. Discord is a sprawling affair, composed of innumerable asteroids and earth-bergs lashed-together with sparking remnants from hundreds – if not thousands – of derelict and damaged SpellJamming vessels. Although the gnomish population of Discord is lightly smaller than that of Blistavo Zlatta, on Garl, gnomes and their warforged security units run much of the city: High Master Artificer Krenlin maintains strict order among the scoundrels, spacehands, and fortune-seekers … at least, in the neighborhoods capable of paying for his protection. The black markets of Discord’s underbelly are run by gangs of ysoki (ratfolk), dwarves, half-orcs, half-elves, more bizarre human-offshoots, locathah, kasatha, unique creatures from the wilds of Verdura and Fenris, and even drow. Significantly more uncommon are goblins, orcs, and ogres – ancient enemies of the dwarves – and Perianth-born elves; although Hin are occasionally spotted here, it’s incredibly rare to see one without an escort … such as a lumbering Church-sanctioned gargoyle or a heavily-armed mercenary crew.

Serenity: Known better by its inhabitants as ‘Scarcity,’ this ugly warren of trash and filth is – to those with the keen eyes to see it – a goldmine of opportunity. If the ysoki can lay claim to a home-world, this is it: the majority of the population here is ratfolk, and their laws guide the city … for good or for ill. Part of a dense asteroid-field known for dangerous gravitational eddies, the port of Serenity is a haven for pirates and criminals wanted in every other metropolis.

Linger: The last glorious remnants of the Circle of Gold are kept here, a city-sized museum dedicated to the memory of that devastated world, and to honoring the uncounted millions who perished in the flare of its destruction. It is a place of quiet luxury and high technology, where the very wealthiest of those who do business in Discord can pretend – if only for a few hours – that the Circle of Gold was never broken.

Gnomish Male Names: Andrija, Nikola, Luka, Marko, Aleksandr, Jovan, Nemanja, Matija, Miloje, Miroslav, Rodavan, Vlado, Zivko,

Gnomish Female Names: Aleksandra, Teodora, Jana, Katarina, Petra, Malina, Milena, Maja, Hana, Anja, Milica (miy-LIH-ts-a), Sara, Nina

Gnomish Last Names: Jovanović, Petrović, Nikolić, Marković, Đorđević, Stojanović, Ilić, Stanković, Pavlović, Milošević, Katić, Sinđelić, Nedić, Marić, Višnjić, Janjić, Sarić, Miličić, Milenić, Natalić, Zorić, Smiljić, Anđelić

Warforged Names: any; names of warforged are self-selected, are not derived from family, and may be drawn from any culture.

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Fenris: A frozen, rocky world of icebergs & fathomless oceans, mighty fjords, roaring hot springs, steaming river-valleys, shrieking tundra, rolling steppes, drifting ice-floes, frigid marshland, deep emerald forest, and seething volcanoes; it is “ruled-over” by a minority population of warring giants, who tear themselves fully-formed from the simmering ley-lines of the living planet; in their long shadow, bold survivors face the fierce wrath of endless winter; some clans scratch out a meager, subsistence-level hunter-gatherer existence, while others build great longhouses, fortresses, and onion-domed cathedrals of wood & stone, defying the giants; beneath the surface of the world, enchanted mechanical castles — home to slumbering vampire lords — wait in silence to be called-forth for the night-hunt.

Humans and half-orcs “native” to Fenris tend toward Cyrrolaelan and Urogalandic names, suggesting some truth to the legends of doorways in the deep woods leading between Quelya and Fenris.

The massive, smoldering, heavily-entrenched mining-city of Chaldira employs tens of thousands of workers, including innumerable indentured humans and near-humans imported from Quelya by the hundreds through the Church-sanctioned penal transportation program; most such workers are branded, upon arrival, to prevent their disappearance into the local human communities. Specialized squads of “workforce retention agents” operating under Brandobarin authority maintain an uneasy peace with nearby human enclaves … though both groups wisely fear the fury of giants, who on occasion choose to assault the veritable fortress of Chaldira seemingly out of pure malice.

Beyond humans, dwarves comprise the bulk of Chaldira’s employees; outright violence in the barracks between dwarves and their orc-blooded coworkers is frowned upon, punishable by both monetary fine and loss of privileges, but is still not uncommon. Gnomes, warforged, and even ratfolk form the Chain of Tears are also common sights, as are Hin mages and their gargoyle bodyguards, although the only thing rarer than a native of Verdura here is an elf.

For their own part, the native catfolk, kitsune, syrinx, and tengu give Chaldira a wide berth: the huge, heavily militarized mining-city has, for the most part, nothing to offer them.

Moons of Fenris

Bahgtru: A hot, dark, ash-swept landscape of dense black forests, broiling deserts, flinty badlands, murky rivers, and foreboding seas, all bearing the ravages of constant war waged beneath a coal-streaked and starless sky. A dozen or more major orc-blood nations vie for control of this resource-rich, twilight-lit world; the largest single military force – the Broken Skull Clan, led by a hulking creature called Moragrek – dominates less than 10% of the planetoid. In the deepest woodlands, orcs fly crude marrow-stained, gut-stitched banners above fallen towers still sparking with ancient Precursor-tech.

Ilneval: Floating mountains, coiling moebius-spiral waterfalls, serpentine valleys filled with boiling fog, forests of glass, a series of artificial rings, cities of broken fractal room-recursions, walking Precursor-tech “transport-facilities” the size of nations, and stranger landmarks dot this bizarre world. Worse still, the goblin-fungus of this moon has underdone a wild number of dangerous mutations, producing varieties of dangerous goblinoid entities unknown anywhere else in Pyrespace.

Luthic: A damp, echoing, rain-drenched world with a low-burning core, this windswept planetoid sees surprisingly few dangerous meteorological events – considering the near-constant cloud cover -- and features only very mild tectonic activity. As such, impossible caverns filled with warm mushroom forests abound, grazed-upon by bizarre, blind half-fungal elk. This world is by far the economically valuable of the Fenris-moons, a veritable goldmine for its Brandobarin investors; transportation to this moon is a sentence dreaded by every human living under the Church of Yondalla’s laws.

Obould: Miles upon miles of long-fallen ruins – twisting, elegant citadels of what appears to have been ancient elven construction – crisscross this rime-coated world, buried in miles upon miles of shattered ice; unfortunately, whatever strange process causes the planet Fenris to vomit-forth giants from its ley-lines is also active here: titans of frost wander the wastes, obedient to three mysterious warlords: the Shogun of Crimson Snowfall, the Shogun of the Endless Dark, and the Shogun of Winterblind.

Shargaas: High above the roiling toxic cloud-cover, cold mountain-peaks spill miles-long waterfalls from smoldering calderas; far below, falling ash and acidic sleet fall silently on the dark glass libraries of the Precursors. It is said that nothing moves here, in the realm of dead furnaces: a planetoid fallen to night. In the winding passages beneath the dormant facilities, however – the strange passages linking the long abandoned “colleges” of Hopelorn, Cold Fever, and the Citadel of Vanished Audience – somethingold and unclean can be heard clicking-away … hungry, and drawing ever closer.

Vaprak: Trolls are an infectious, predatory presence known across Pyrespace: Verdura, Tiamat, the forests of Cyrrollalee and Urogolan, the wooded isles of Tymora, the Crown-moon of Baervan, and upon most of the Fenris-moons & Forge-moons; in fact, it is believed (but not confirmed by the elves) that trolls may even be known in the wild places of Perianth. No place, however, can be said to have been conquered by the trolls like this horrid planetoid: an endless morass of sinking stonework and icy-cold swamp, a place of stench and the low whine of blood-mad insects.

Yurtrus: Miles below the Brandobarin military research-facility of Khin-Oin, a planet-sized city of war-ravaged, long-overgrown Precursor-tech glitters in the cold sunrise … while another neighborhood, connected by monorails that blur between districts faster than the speed of sound, shines like an ocean of light on the other side of nightfall. The city – nicknamed “Fleshslough” by the researchers who drift in orbit high above, perpetually examining the curious urban properties – is a vast thing of austere, ever-moving wonderment: whatever incurable, perversely-contagious disease hangs in the warm air reduces skin to boiling crimson horror in mere moments.

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Moradin’s Forge: this hyper-dense, heavily volcanic planet is just over half the size of Quelya, yet it commands a significantly more massive gravity well. Although it boasts a minimal surface atmosphere, it serves as the home world of dwarves, goblins, ogres, hobgoblins, and orcs; it is also the staging-ground for an illithid invasion-force with control over a supermassive wormhole situated somewhere beyond the edge of the known solar system; illithid forces include any number of alien monstrosities (many mutated or bio-manipulated by the illithid) stolen from a hundred different systems, of which orcs are the newest prize; 80% of all dwarves system-wide live in bondage beneath the heel of the illithid.

A single rebel city, secret in the extreme, is hidden in the shadows of otherwise-absolute illithid dominance: Veil, last hope of the Forge.

Dwarven Male First Names: Hakk, Osrick, Drok, Brut, Muls, Grold, Urbrik, Aandrak, Buulrol, Kigrer, Fraysik, Korvin, Vog, Bellbaarg

Dwarven Female First Names: Yorgwyn, Urgwan, Rren, Inngva, Kledgeg, Lonnvull, Urrgvi, Kalbri, Khora, Sro, Ohlih, Hyylkis, Memrii

Dwarven Clan Names: Grandmaul, Stonehall, Winterstride, Thunderhand, Icevein, Wargold, Blackstone, Runelore, Heartstrong, Ironblaze, Steelfist, Greysky, Shieldhorn, Axetusk, Proudburn, Stormedge

A NOTE ON DWARVEN NAMING CUSTOMS

Dwarves are hardly a monoculture, and each dwarf has dealt with the loss of Moradin’s Forge in an intensely personal way. Some dwarves have taken to answering only to their Clan name (their first name forever, abandoned), while others refuse to speak their Clan name aloud until they stand once more in the re-taken hall of their ancestors; some dwarves have founded entirely new off-world lineages -- such as Clan Dustblade of Ashen -- and some have adopted themselves into existing bloodlines: Clan Malov, the “dwarven branch” of the Malovitch crime-family is, of course, the most famous of these.

Orc, Goblin, Ogre, Hobgoblin Names: Wurgoth, Gradba, Azuk, Speghat, Cagan, Wilaktug, Sbghat, Omegugh, Fogugh, Braugh, Oggugat, Yegoth, Oogorim, Vothug, Nildud, Golag, Bugharz, Zguk, Ombilge, Zudagog, Tothag, Sogg, Narfug, Ergoth, Xorag, Orpigig, Agronak, Orakh, Xulgug, Fudagog

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Moons of the Forge AKA “The Morndinsamman”:

Abbathar: A shimmering world of vast iron pyrite slabs floating across a seething ocean of molten lead, shot-through with veins of plutonium. Extreme weather events triggered by mega-scale Precursor tech embedded at the moon’s poles – still barely understood, even in theory – routinely cause the surface temperature and atmospheric pressure to reach or exceed 4,000 degrees Kelvin and 18 gigapascals (2,610,680 pounds per square inch): converting portions of the atmosphere into solid, crystalline “red oxygen” while shattering the vast methane-plumes into sheets of pure diamond.

Berronar: A temperate world of steep valleys and winding natural cave systems, with a craggy mineral-rich surface marked by broad streams and small hardwood forests, this served for nearly seven centuries as the “second home” of the dwarven people, founded soon after first contact with gnomes from the Circle of Gold. The early loss of this quiet paradise-moon, along with the entirety of its population, to the illithid during their invasion was a brutal blow to the Clans of the Forge.

Clangeddin: A storm-wracked world of mighty fortresses and massive iron-foundries, this was the very last of Forge-moons to fall: its bleak surface is still marked with endless fields of the unburied war dead, broken banners, and mighty siege-engines half-buried in seas of ash. The endless lightning strikes are said to illuminate black rivers of goblin-fungus running between the most hallowed halls and treasure-filled tombs of the ancient dwarven kings: funerary-stone and pale gold circlets trod into the grey mud.

Duerra: In some ways, on certain battle-fronts, it can be said that the dwarven race yet stands: roaring in open, bloodthirsty, unrelenting defiance of the illithid and all their servants. On this inhospitable planetoid, a vast labyrinth of toxic metal-tainted pools, rusted razor wire, and dizzying mineshafts once used to extract silver, iron, gemstones, and titanium by the cubic ton, two rogue creations of the illithid – the duergar and the dark naga – wage endless war in the dark, focusing the psychic energies of their cold anger on killing anything that so much as looks at them sideways … and plotting, always, to escape the oubliette and shackle the universe as their slave.

Dugmaren: What was once the center of all dwarven scholarship – the eternal echoing repository of some thirty centuries of discovery, poetry, engineering, innovation, and invention, the epicenter of all history recorded by the Clans of the Forge, the memories of a people writ in rune – has been lost. None can say how many tomes and testaments were lost during the Battle of Dugmaren, put to the torch and the axe … nor how many of the great, austere library-moon’s sacred record-keepers were devoured by the rapacious illithid, their minds stolen to be used as horrid weapons against the living. For those who treasure the knowledge of ages, the fall of Dugmaren was perhaps the greatest loss of all.

Dumathoin: A lightless world, shrouded in constant slate-grey cloud-cover, riddled with dangerous – yet fantastically lucrative! – gemstone cave systems of seemingly limitless depth. In the many centuries of its exploration, it yet continues to reveal strange new secrets: some treacherous, some fantastic, all of them beautiful and curious in the extreme. Legends suggest that the winding passages here are truly limitless: that the halls curl back on themselves, leading to tunnels beneath the surface of the Forge, the Spider-Moon, the sands of Ashen, the tombs of Chronepsis, the vampire-castles of Fenris, and even the strange armor of the Celestial Pearl.

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Gorm: A cruel planetoid, a howling nightmare of treacherous, winding obsidian passageways, covered in goblin-fungus and lit only by the low blood-red flickers of a hateful molten core, the Gauntlet of Gorm was once the final testing-ground of the greatest dwarven warriors and the finest dwarven armor: here, unstoppable heroes and unbreakable shields alike were forged. Fallen, now, to the illithid, the retaking of unassailable Gorm may yet represent the last, best hope of the dwarven people.

Haela: The imposing mountain peaks of this glimmering moon are carved with the likenesses of the great clan leaders, the eternal Kings and Queens of the Forge. Beneath their austere gaze, feuding clans have, for centuries, set aside their hate and their bloodthirst to settle generations-old grudges through honorable challenge: tests of skill-at-arms, bravery, strength, endurance, mettle, riddling, drinking, cunning, and even the gift of poetry. The halls here have fallen silent, picked-at now by lean, faceless nightmare predators: misshapen things born under unclean stars.

Laduguer: A hard world wrapped in chill grey mist, a moon of foul reputation and terrible whispers drifting on the winds beneath the stone. Under a steel-grey sky flickering with impossible darkness, bottomless pits sparkling with adamantine and black diamonds rend a jagged landscape of petrified Precursor tech: shattered alien weapons, armor, engines, towers, biological experiments, and massive shipwrecks of sea, star, and air, all transformed to iron. Vast, gaping holes in the surface – some miles across – open into mazeworks of silver and mithral, precious blood-onyx and fantastic skymetals, the tunnels lit by the twisting glimmer of an unwholesome and unnatural flame. The icy peaks of this foreboding moon are home to three long-abandoned dwarven strongholds: the Citadel of the White Rose, the Fortress Hammergrim, and the Throne Perilous.

Marthammor: A wild and far-wandering forest moon of geysers and thermal vents, known for its near-constant earthquakes, its towering native flora and fauna, its softly luminescent gemstones, it extreme and unpredictable weather, and – perhaps best of all – for its sprawling subterranean woodlands: vast, steaming caverns filled with trees adapted to survive seemingly without need of sunlight. Legends speak of doorways in the deep woods to other worlds, and ancient elven runes – some millennia old – can be found carved alongside incomprehensible alien glyphs on the many moss-covered marble pillars, stairs, ivory archways of long-fallen ruins.

Sharindlar: A dusky, crimson and rose-gold planetoid of impossible buttes, wide mesas, abundant hot springs, and huge naturally occurring stone “monuments” interlaced with warm shallow seas, all brushed with glittering, coral-pink sandbars, echoing grottos, and wide white beaches. The rare minerals and exotic plant life of this moon are said to possess a variety of astonishing medicinal properties, capable of restoring life, joy, and vitality to even the most crippled form. A massive temple – seemingly of dwarven construction, yet over 7,000 years old – rises from a golden hillside surrounded by circles of great standing-stones, marked by runes of indecipherable origin.

Thard Harr: Thought to be the ancient origin-point of goblin-fungus, the so-called Labyrinth of Life is home to terrible, primordial beasts seen nowhere else in Pyrespace. This bizarre, sweltering jungle world is stacked in “layers” of independently-floating, constantly shifting plateaus, all orbiting a single boiling ocean: the destination of all waterfalls and the source of constant warm mist and heavy rain. For reasons yet unknown, the maddening complexities of this moon are well-recorded in the oral histories of many monstrous species dwelling on Verdura, who claim to have walked star-paths to this place – for purposes of tending to a mysterious “Temple of the Deceiver / Serpent-Father” – in ancient days.

Vergadain: A small planetoid of gentle hills and clear lakes with a wide orbit, this moon was – for nearly seven centuries, since 1051 A.D. – the preferred meeting-ground to facilitate trade between the races of gnome and dwarf. In the wake of utter cataclysm befalling the shattered gnome home world (in 1492 A.D.), a number of wealthy and prominent gnomish merchant-families established permanent residence here at the heartfelt invitation of their friends among the Clans of the Forge; the casual annihilation of those families by the illithid at their outset of the invasion was a horrific shock to both races.

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