#the egyptian necromancer series
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Halloween Digimon
If you follow my blog you know I like Digimon and I like Halloween, so why not combine them and gush over Halloweeny Digimon. I'll be showcasing Digimon species that fall into classic Halloween archetypes.
What's spookier than ghosts? Digimon has lots of ghosts and the most recent and honestly probably the best is Ghostmon. That is such a good design and it's even a friendly ghost as it likes to help people, but turns invisible first because it's really shy. I love it so much!
The rest of the ghosts aren't as friendly. Meet Bakemon, a wicked creature that possesses and destroys computer systems. Nobody knows what's under the cloth it wears and while it isn't good in a fight, it can do really nasty stuff to enemies it catches by surprise. Its name comes from "bakemono" a type of Japanese mythical creature that is sometimes translates as "ghost". Bakemon has a variant called Soulmon who wears a witch's hat and is more powerful.
Combining ghosts with the grim reaper is Phantomon (JP: Fantomon). Its a common evolution of Bakemon that has the power of clairvoyance to foresee then others are about to die. The interior of its cloth body contains a portal to another dimension and its scythe can cut through souls. The weapon it carries is a mix of the grim reaper's scythe and a Japanese weapon called a kusarigama. Phantomon has a variant called MetalPhantomon which is an absolute beast. I love this design of a mechanical grim reaper. I have no idea why it isn't en evolution of Phantomon, they're the same level for some reason. MetalPhantomon is rumored to be controlled by something from another dimension.
Witches are another Halloweeen classic and Digimon has a great example in Witchmon. She is a classic witch, but her design makes her look a bit artificial, kind of like a doll. Of course she rides a flying broomstick and a black cat familiar. She's a counterpart and rival to Wizardmon and both come from Witchelny, the setting of another series of Bandai virtual pet games.
Skeletons are Halloweeeny and while there a few animal skeleton Digimon, the closest we have to a human skeleton Digimon is SkullSatamon. Its lore is pretty bland, just being a fallen angel, but hey, lookit the bones
Speaking of fallen angels, the big red devil with a pitchfork archetype is also represented in Digimon with Boogeymon and its evolution Phelesmon. Boogeymon is obviously named after the boogeyman (I love whwn they play around with the mon suffix) and has a pretty sick design. I love the tattoos and in the lore they let it cast dark spells. Phelesmon puts on some clothes and becomes a charming manipulator that convinces people to sell their souls in exchange for fulfilling their desires. Its name and behavior comes from Mephistopheles, the demon from the story of Faust from German legend who gets the title character to sell his soul in exchange for knowledge.
How about spiders? Digimon has a few spiders, but the best in terms of spookiness is Dokugumon. It was once a peaceful creature, but a virus turned it into a monster that corrupts the network by its very presence. It is a relentless predator that follows its prey no natter how far they flee and its very breath is toxic enough to kill. Just imagine being lost in the woods and seeing this nightmare coming after you
You better believe Digimon has a Frankenstein, and its story is a sad one. It was built as a cyborg Digimon at the same time as another named Andromon. However, the primarily mechanical Andromon was deemed a success while the primarily organic Boltmon was considered a failure due to it possessing emotions. Its creator rejected it and now Boltmon wanders around, consumed in sorrow. It is based on the movie version of the monster in appearance (green skin and lots of bolts), but its lore drawn more from the book version.
You want mummies? We got mummies! Mummymon and is evolution Pharaohmon are excellent Egyptian monsters. Mummymon is a necromancer that manipulates the souls (residual data) of deleted Digimon. I like how its not just a mummy but its design of using leg braces and its gun as a crutch implies that being a desiccated corpse has limited its mobility, maybe due to being stuck in rigor mortis. Pharaohmon is also a mummy, but the sarcophagus and death mask it wears are more specific references to ancient Egyptian funerary rites. It was the absolute ruler of the ancient Digital World and many ruins from its reign dot the land. It can produce a flesh-eating mist to attack and will only cure those affected if they swear eternal servitude to Pharaohmon. This is a clear reference to the idea of a mummy's curse.
Digimon has a lot of vampires, so many I'm only going to showcase one of them. If you want to see more, look for Dracmon, Grandracmon, Bastemon, and Sangloupmon. The one I'll cover here is the vampirest of vampires, Myotismon (JP: Vamdemon). He absolutely looks like a cheesy vampire Halloween costume, but do not let yourself think that he's not scary. Myotismon is immensely cruel and cunning, being a classic evil mastermind while also being very capable of throwing down in a fight by summoning swarms of bats and hypnotizing others into serving him. A testament to his skills at villainy is that he was the big bad of what most fans consider to be the best story arc of Digimon Adventure, the original and definitive Digimon anime, and returned as the big bad of the sequel. Mytoismon has several evolutions including VenomMyotismon, MaloMyotismon (BelialVamdemon), and NeoMyotismon, but the OG is the most Halloweeny of them all. His English names comes from a genus of bat while his original name is literally vampire + demon
Evil clowns are a newer Halloween icon, but are a great one and Digimon offers two: Jokermon and Piedmon. Jokermon is a newer Digimon that has been used as a preevo for Piedmon. It is an enigma that randomly appears on battlefiends, cutting down one side with no rhyme or reason and for its own unknown purposes. Piedmon (JP: Piemon) is also an enigma, a being that appeared from another dimension. Its origins and goals are a complete unknown, but it has incredible power and it thoroughly malicious. It served as a major villain in Digimon Adventure and was one of the most powerful Digimon in that setting, soloing almost all of the heroic Digimon at once. That show also emphasized its cruelty as it decided to sadistically chase and torment the youngest human characters instead of just finishing them off. Its english name comes from the pied piper while its original name comes from the pierrot character archetype form pantomime.
What happens when you merge two Halloween monsters? Well apparently when Myotismon and Piedmon merge they become Boltboutamon (JP: Voltobautamon), a vampiric pirate. It is a being with no will of its own that serve as the herald of an entity called the Grudgeful Hand, an evil intellect born from malicious data that seeks to drown the world in darkness. It or its master is a sadist that takes its time to kill its foes and revels in their suffering. Its original name comes from the volto and bauta, both venetian masks. Its English name appears to be a poor transliteration. There's a lot of that in Digimon.
Those are all great spooky Digimon, but is there a Digimon that is the Halloweeniest? Why yes there is: Pumkinmon and its evolution NoblePumpkinmon (JP: Pumpmon and NoblePumpmon). They were born from a computer virus created during Halloween, but are not malicious. Pumpkinmon is a mostly peaceful Digimon that is shy and wants friends. It is adorable and I love it. NoblePumpkinmon tries to befriend all Digimon and remains neutral between good and evil. It is charming and mischievous and gets along well with both heroic and villainous Digimon. It even makes pumpkin pie. Of all the Digimon showcased here, I think NoblePumpkinmon is the most appropriate for Halloween. This is a holiday of scares and horror, but it's all in good fun.
#halloween#digimon#spooky#spooktober#october#ghost#grim reaper#witch#skeleton#demon#mummy#spider#frankenstein's monster#vampire#jack o lantern#ghostmon#bakemon#myotismon#vamdemon#pumpkinmon#pumpmon#noblepumpkinmon#piedmon#piemon#witchmon#phantomon#metalphantomon#soulmon#dokugumon#phelesmon
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Breaking down the comics: Denial is Strange (Issue 36)
Moon Knight, Issue # 36: Ghosts
Written by Alan Zelenetz and drawn by Bo Hampton
Now, I’m a long time fan of Dr. Strange. In fact, he’s number three on my list of favorite comics! (Number two being Scarlet Witch and number one being MK if I even need to mention that). So a Moon Knight with early Dr. Strange cross-over? Yeah, I’ll dip into that no problem!
The first page is a note from the editor, Denny O'Neil. You see, in previous issues, they had asked where fans wanted to see Moon Knight go. They were running low on ideas and didn't know how they wanted to further develop the character, as it looked like he was going to stick around for a while.
Since Moon Knight started in a supernatural horror book (Werewolf by Night), it only seemed fitting that Moon Knight continue to carryon his career as leaning heavily on the supernatural side of things. A fist of the moon and Spector of vengeance, they have decided to let Moon Knight continue on his path of walking the line of what lurks on the other side of the shadows.
"Lots of heroes catch crooks. Moon Knight will be going after a different quarry. We hope you'll go with him."
Also it's interesting to note that they introduce Zelenetz and Bo Hampton as the new MK team, when they only did three issues before the 1980s series ended and things had to get a re-vamp as MK again went in a new direction. Hmm. (He does come back periodically in later runs, but doesn’t stick around.)
For those unfamiliar with Dr. Strange, ....things get strange. An original Marvel character from back in the day, created in 1963 by Steve Ditko himself, he embraced the psychedelic comic art style of that time. Let me put it this way, if Dr. Strange gets involved, you know things are about to get colorful, confusing to look at, and WEIRD.
That out of the way, we open in Nubia, in Ancient Egypt during the twentieth century B.C.
We see a classic Egyptian styled man about to sacrifice a cat for 'the demons of the dark'. He declares himself Amutef, first among necromancers and worthy to be a pharaoh.
Okay. That's a start.
Suddenly a bunch of men run into the room. "Seize him, priests of Khonshu!"
Yeah, it's illegal to slay 'the holy cat in mockery of the gods.'
Amutef declares revenge (Mummy style). "On a moonlit night, ages hence when we meet once again."
Once the mummification of Amutef is done, the head priest prays to Khonshu that 'this enchanted pendant will keep the base Amutef's soul bound within these linen grave clothes for all eternity."
Amutef's spirit enters into the necklace, waiting for his curse to come to light.
And right on cue, we head to the present where we see a beautiful blond woman wearing the necklace.
"I may have been an archeologist's daughter, but these cat mummies can still give me the creeps."
Aw jeeze. It's Marlene.
And we see her there with Steven at the grand opening to an Egyptian wing of a museum as a memorial to her father.
Marlene, why are you wearing an antique Egyptian necklace?
"It will go to the museum one day, Mr. Director. I'm wearing it tonight for the first time since my father found it in one of the tombs of the Seti Kings."
Yeah no.
Their social session is interrupted by a security guard trying to kick out a party crasher.
"Listen, we get all kinds of crackpots crying CURSE every time we open an Egyptian exhibit--"
"But I am Stephen Strange, and my conjurations have led me here. I fear that evil will be born this night--"
(I’ll start by saying the art style reminds me of the comic art from around late 1960s, but I’m also not a fan of how Marlene is portrayed here. She’s too soft and arm candy-esque. I miss the Marlene from Bill’s days where she was capable and intelligent.)
Also, Steven clearly has NOT heard of Strange fully if he dismisses him after that display. You’d think by now that Steven would be like ‘oh. Right. I’ve fought zombies. This isn’t that odd for me.’
A cat (belonging to the security guard?) breaks loose and instantly goes to attack Marlene. Steven backhands it easily before it can sink it's fangs into Marlene.
"In the name of the Vishanti! Don't you see? The animal senses evil."
"Look. How are you at sensing harassment suits, Mister Magic?"
"Dr. Strange, this is a museum, not a circus show."
I love how no one ever takes Dr. Strange seriously when they first meet him. Even in today's age, they just write him off as a cheap palm reader.
Marlene notes she feels terrible and wants to go home. Steven and Marlene head home and Stephen follows above.
Stephen…This is why no one takes you seriously. I hate to hear how he talked BEFORE he became a sorcerer. Can you imagine him in the ER? “By Gray’s Almighty Anatomy, someone hand me the mighty retractor of Senn!”
(Stephen what is that pose? Steven…What is that lurking image of you?)
He scans Marlene while doing what I like to think of as his Vampire flight pose.
"Yes--But wait, there is a mystic aura about this man, Grant, as well. Then there are occult forces at work here that appear to defy even earth's sorcerer supreme, thus--"
He lays a protection spell on Marlene that will keep the possession at bay for the next 24 hours then flies home to do research.
Back in the mansion, Marlene gets into her usual skimpy night gown STILL WEARING THE NECKLACE.
Look, if I ever go to bed still in a necklace that gaudy, please consider me cursed.
Marlene is worried about the curse. She feels terrible and she's a little spooked.
Steven Grant feels differently.
"That black cat at the museum has got you all strung out. You'll sleep it off. As for curses... You should know better than anyone, Marlene, that these days--for sanity's sake, I like to keep a cool distance between myself and thoughts of the supernatural."
Steven no…
Jokes aside, we must remember that DID is a form of self preservation, protection, processing, and denial. When it comes to their DID, Stephen has ALWAYS been the first one to go "Nawh. I'm fine." and then try to strong arm his way through every situation. Marc is the first to go "May as well die" and throw himself head first into a dangerous situation, and Jake is the first to go "It ain't my problem. I'mma chill here with my buds."
Here is classic Stephen Grant, fresh off his most recent run of self doubt and slow crawl into a mental break (for the third or fourth time) and he's living in denial land and choosing a path that he feels is the most conducive to compartmentalize and keep his distance from their trauma.
"I try to forget that the ruthless mercenary I once was--Marc Spector-- apparently died and was reborn in a desert tomb years ago...
Under the gaze of a cold white statue of Khonshu, God of the moon... Whose spirit I use to believe reanimated me."
And yet you won't shut up about it. (I kid, but seriously, Steven.)
"Believed only too well. I relied on that superstition until I'd almost lost my mind --Forgot just where Khonshu ended and Spector or Grant began."
Why does he always forget about Jake?
"But you helped me see that I derived my strength and abilities from my own will and commitments, not from some long-dead mythology. You redeemed my soul and my sanity, Marlene...
And I'm not about to lose either of them again. So no more talk of witchcraft, okay? Just sleep tight while Moon Knight makes the rounds."
Steven sure is in a mood. I don't blame him.
(I also love how depending on who tells it or remembers it, we either see bloody beaten up Marc at the foot of the statue or we see a gently and sexily sprawled out Steven rendition with a gently weeping Marlene memory. I’d love to see how Jake remembers it.)
Moon Knight takes off and a clearly possessed Marlene mutters a classic line about “After thousands of years we have met once more, fool Thosbi. Now Amutef’s spirit, given voice by inhabiting the mortal frame, shall utter incantations of revenge.”
Classic.
Meanwhile, Stephen Strange is doing his own thing.
Stephen is...wordy. I'm going to summarize the WALL OF TEXT that is his ramblings and chantings.
Marlene is possessed by an ancient sorcerer. Steven Grant has been mystically endowed with the spirit of an ancient priest of Khonshu.
Meeting up on this moonlit night spells trouble with a capital T and now the curse is real.
He must get Steven Grant to cooperate with him or it will spell doom for them both.
And then we cut to Moon Knight, still angry about the implication of something supernatural happening to him.
"Steel and glass and concrete. There's reality for you. No room in a city like this for superstitions."
He spots some thugs assaulting a couple and he decides to glide down to intercept.
Yeah that…that seems about right.
He barely manages to dodge a gun shot, his crescent dart whacks a guy right in the face and cuts him, and he barely manages to catch up with the other two fleeing villains.
And of Course Detective Flint arrives to drive in the nail.
"Say, everything okay? Not like you to lose your wind over a trio of amatures."
"Just an accident, Detective--Cape got caught, you go on and treat the punks to a night in the slammer. Put it on my tab."
And to make his night even better, Stephen Strange shows up.
"It was no accident, Steven Grant."
"YOU again!? Am I supposed to admire your persistence or--Wait, you called me Grant?"
"Yes, it was Steven Grant I sought, and I'm afraid your costume does little to disguise HIS psychic aura. But, that is inconsequential--It is your life, not your identity, that is in jeopardy."
I...Could have SO much to say about breaking down that statement and we'd be here all night as I talked about the psychic aura of Steven vs. the others, his life vs. his identity, and all that fun stuff... But I have a feeling the writer wasn't aiming for that line...sadly... SO I'll leave it alone....this time.
He tells Steven that he's in danger and Steven demands to be shown the demons after him.
Stephen tells him that they were the ones that grabbed his cape, but he banished them before they could destroy him.
Moon Knight still isn't buying it.
I swear, half the Dr. Strange cross-over comics are spent with Stephen trying to convince everyone that magic is real and that he isn't full of it.
"I have learned that you are endowed with the spirit of a priest of Khonshu whose mystic powers are needed to save Ms. Alraune from the evil spirit which possesses her."
Honestly, while this isn't the first instance of the OG comic showing the cult of Khonshu and the priests, this is the first time someone has considered Moon Knight to be imbued with the spirit of a priest of Khonshu.
As many of you may be aware, the current run with MacKay pushes heavily into the Priest of Khonshu plot line, which has often been dropped and lost by subsequent writers after this one.
However, Strange is insisting that the priest himself is inside Moon Knight, while it's long been determined that Khonshu himself has imbued Marc and the others with his own power to make Moon Knight his own sort of priest.
Let's see how this issue plays it out.
"I would have mesmerized you without asking in order to summon the Ancient Priest within your being... But even your unconscious will is incredibly strong and I could not break through it."
I'm cackling about this. Imagine Strange trying to get in there and just being met by a really pissed off Jake Lockley.
"Bet on it, Mister." Steven is thinking the same thing. You know it. "My will's like granite, because that's what holds the real world out there together for me. It's my sanity."
Oh Steven...
Moon Knight calls Khonshu a myth and make-believe. "Do you think I'd ever embrace that madness again?"
He calls for Frenchie. He's done with this.
"If the spirit is not exorcised from Ms. Alraune by tomorrow night, she will be the one who knows true madness. Without the mystic aid of KHonshu, my spells can protect her no longer than that." Stephen Strange calls after him.
Moon Knight calls him a "blasted Looney" and takes off.
The next evening at Grant Mansion, the doctor informs Steven that he can't figure out what's wrong with Marlene.
Steven tells her that he'll cut the Moon Knight patrol short and be back before midnight.
(She's still wearing the necklace).
As Moon Knight leaves, Marlene sits up, possessed again, and sending the evil spirits out after the Khonshu priest Thosbi.
This time they attack the chopper.
Oh no. Not the chopper!
While the possessed Marlene chants of vengeance from the balcony, cats start to gather in the nearby tree.
Dr. Strange arrives to the chipper and starts to fight off the invisible demons that only he can see.
Frenchie tells Moon Knight to glide to safety. The chopper is going down. (My dear Frenchie always looking out for his friend.)
Moon Knight refuses to jump and the chopper starts to function again.
A particularly nasty demon shows up to fight Strange.
"Begone, Mage, for my chaotic powers are summoned by a spell more ancient than any your mortal lips can utter." It taunts him.
While Strange battles the demons, Frenchie manages to land the chopper.
Side note, I do love the way they draw Moon Knight’s costume. This is the start of the era where his shorts start to actually look like shorts and not underwear outside his outfit. You also see more black mixed in with his top and leggings. While you see the muscles, he isn’t drawn HUGE and ridiculous. It’s believable.
Also behold Strange before the goatee! It looks wrong…
Anyways, Moon Knight is not pleased to see Strange again.
They argue and give me my most favorite image of Frenchie EVER.
This man. I love this man.
Look at it. The moon hat. The lighting on his face. The relaxed sit. The smoke rings. Not one not two but THREE pens in his pocket. The gloves. The match book in his other hand. This is just another day for him.
The copter nearly crashed for unknown demonic reasons and his BFF super hero buddy is outside arguing with a wizard about being possessed by an ancient Egyptian priest.
Jean-Paul Duchamp I love you.
Strange tells him that if they don't contact the priest of Khonshu within the hour, Marlene is going to be lost to them.
Moon Knight concedes. He jumps in the chopper and they follow Strange back to the mansion. ....Why he doesn't let Strange fly in his chopper but makes him fly...You got me?
They arrive to find the mansion crawling with cats and Marlene in a trance staring contest with one of them.
Moon Knight decides to take a short cut to get to Marlene as fast as he ....OH FOR CRYING OUT LOUD. THERE ARE SO MANY Other WAYS TO ENTER YOUR MANSION! YOU BUILT IT!
(Adds another hash tag to the list)
Moon Knight crashing through his own window with his nunchucks out in a room full of cats. I just... He is the ultimate catboy.
They send away the cats, who were apparently there to attack the evil.
Stephen sets the room up for the ritual and Steven carries Marlene to a chair. "Save her, Strange... Even if it costs me my mind."
We get some interesting art here... They made Steven look like a bad anime magical girl transformation reaction or something. I can't even begin to describe this. I apologize for what I’m about to show you.
Flew too close to the sun with Frenchie. Now we must all pay the price with anime boy Steven Grant.
So Strange does his thing and forces the demons to show themselves.
"Do you think to conquer Amutef with glibness of tongue, mage?! I who was first among necromancers, who dared blaspheme the names of Khonshu and Osiris.." He summons his own demons to battle Strange.
He summons the priest of Khonshu through Moon Knight and we get some CLASSIC Dr. Strange art. We got the symbols, we got the squiggle lines, we got the colors, we got the eyes, we got the floating heads and we even got the floating hour glass.
As much as I love Dr. Strange, it takes me a while to read his old comics. My processing skills can't handle the barrage of EVERYTHING on every page. I’m glad it’s just a little in this comic.
We watch the two men do battle through time and space and in King Arthur's backyard for some reason... We see the great pyramids and some temples that my geographically challenged mind does not recognize...
Just as the battle is picking up...
"What?! I sense emotions of abnormal pitch. No! They flow from the mind of Grant. The strain on his will is too great! But he can't succumb now---!"
We see chanting and...wait... those words... They sound familiar...
"Khonshu, Nehem kua her entet ari-na maat! Amutef, thosbi! Affirms thee no longer to be!"
Parts of that sound suspiciously like something Harrow chanted from the MCU show. HMMMMMM....
Yeah, the battle is over and Marlene and Steven come out of their trances.
"You've survived, Steven Grant, and your mind is whole, stronger than before. You have experienced life AND death, the natural and supernatural. You have mastered your will and become a complete man."
Then Strange essentially does the "I must go now" thing and zips away to fight the occult forces of evil elsewhere.
We are left with Steven thinking things over.
"Occult forces. Like Marc Spector's dying and being reborn through the ghost of an ancient priest. You know, Marlene? I believe him. I don't for one minute like the idea...But I believe him."
The End!
Okay you guys… This was a wild one. It was a disaster start to finish but it did what comics are meant to do and it made me laugh and it was fun.
The art was…all over the place. It worked for an issue with Dr. Strange, but they made everyone FAR too baby faced and pretty. What’s weird is that the next issue is the same artist but he gets his shit together and it’s back to Moon Knight nitty gritty. What the hell happened? Let’s blame Dr. Strange on this one.
But….
Can you imagine THIS being the face of Steven Grant, Marc Spector, and slap a mustache on that and you got Jake Lockley!? THIS?!
He’s so judgy!
I’m dying out here you guys. Someone draw a mustache on that and I’ll love you forever. I think this broke me.
So… Aside from the… What ever all this was… It reminds me of the issue recently with Mackay. Where we got to go into Moon Knight’s mind-scape and we got to see Marc, Steven, and Jake all work together to defeat outside forces. They worked as a team and it was their special weapon. Going after Marc? No you aren’t. You’re gonna get punched in the face by Jake and Steven (steven gonna look at you like a highly disapproving father). In this early run, we don’t have the wonderful understanding and research into DID to fully comprehend or experience this, but looking back, I like to imagine it’s there under the surface.
I also look at the priest as not being the one that revived them. Again, I cite Khonshu himself. The priest issue can be folded into current and then building lore of the Priesthood of Khonshu. This was an early and powerful priest that happened to have a grudge against this particular bad guy. Perhaps this is where Mackay starts taking his ideas and lore from. We’re already seen other ideas from the OG run that he’s explored. If this is the case, it’s nice to see him doing his research and getting back to basics.
So what did you guys thing? Did it make you laugh too? Are we all cursed by the Magical Anime Steven image?
Next time I’m dipping back into the past to cover some of the issues I skipped. We’re getting to the home stretch you guys.
#Moon Knight#Moon Knight Comics#Analyzing the comics#Marc Spector#Steven Grant#Jake Lockley#Marlene Alraune#Jean-Paul Duchamp#Dr. Strange#This issue broke me you guys#I've been laughing for an hour#LOOK AT HIS FACE#WHY DOES HE LOOK LIKE THAT#Oh my god#I want to put that image of Frenchie on my wall
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Oh boy a fun weird complicated one...
DAKLEIT is a weird start on account of I don't know wtf this guy is. The original design gives off serious Hellraiser Cenobite vibes to me, but I can't really nail that link down with anything. Some bad google translate suggests DARKLIGHT, which I guess isn't unfitting but is still completely arbitrary. It could be DARKLYTE as in DARK+ACOLYTE. (Google just returns DUCLIGHT, a Japanese company that makes roadside guardrails.) He shows up in WA3 in a weird almost DUNE-esque or Star Wars Tuscan Raider looking desert get up. No idea what the through-line is on that.
DEATHTILES. So funny enough the original name is actually DEATHPAI where the PAI refers to a mahjong tile, hence the English localization. But there is a mahjong manga called DEATHPIE, romanized exactly like that, in which DEATHPIE is the name of an underworld gambling racket that the hero faces off against. So I have to assume that's what this enemy name is referencing? (The series is actually an obtuse Kamen Rider parody of all things...)
LYCANTHROPE/LOUP-GAROU classic werewolf and the French specific name of the local wolfman lore. The WA3 Lycanthrope came in both man and monster forms, the former recolored from DAKLEIT, but the latter being a shared model with various distinctly not werewolf monsters, including VAMPIRE... but we'll get to those...
BALBERITH should probably be BA'AL BERITH but I think I've seen it spelled both ways. An old Canaanite god in the old testament, as with many figures of the region and era's indigenous faiths it was appropriated and conflated into a false god/demon.
RADUGA[Радуга] is the Russian word for "Rainbow"? I have no idea what the reasoning behind this is. It does have a multi colored coat of fur though.
BEOWULF from the epic of Beowulf, obviously... epic hero of old Germanic myth, and most notable for being the oldest surviving work of English literature.
RING KEEPER is probably just exactly what it says on the tin... Just a monster that keeps the cursed ring you have to take to complete the particular side quest it's associated with. But I get this sneaking suspicion it might be a reference to Gollum from The Lord of the Rings(?) (WA3 does already have the dwarves of The Hobbit just kicking around. So there being a wretched twisted monster hanging onto an evil ring in a cave some place doesn't feel not TLotR adjacent...)
VAMPIRE what a weird choice... Weird model for a vampire. Weird that there's not been a VAMPIRE monster before now. Weird that there wouldn't be another after this... Weird that they accidentally had BLOODSUCKER sort of overlap with VAMPIRE but they're totally unrelated. Just kinda goofy.
NOSFERATU isn't directly related to this line, but I'm adding them in as a half relative of the VAMPIRE. The NOSFERATU was a WA1 original that stuck around the whole way despite some weird design changes... Namely that between WA2 and WA4 both taking stabs at redesigning it, both went with a mummy in pharaoh's attire??? Wrong Universal Studios monster movie, you guys... It is of course named after the famous legally distinct Not-Dracula movie adaptation of 1922 starring Max Schreck as Count Orlok.
NECROMANCER originally localized as WIZARD has been in lock step with NOSFERATU. Despite that this does not make any more sense as an Egyptian mummy than NOSFERATU does.
NEGALORD is a weird blip on the radar. A 3rd recolor that only existed in WA2, it was actually named MINUS LIFE LORD, and I cannot for the life of me figure out what was up with that. It definitely feels like it must have been referencing some other work of fiction, right? Like it's too specific a word choice to be random but just self-descript; it feels like it's referencing someone else's worldbuilding jargon.
GESPENST/NACHTGEIST and these two just show up in WA2 as kinda generic robed occultists with their big ornamental knives. GESPENST seems to be the root of the WA3 model that it shares with NOSFERATU and NECROMANCER since it's the one that was a boss monster, but what even is that? Wheels??? Oh but the names themselves are just German for "Ghost" and "NightSpirit".
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omggg just sent a long list of fantasy recs to the original poster when you were the tags of looking for fantasy oops well they get that list
for fantasy recs boy am i your gal try naomi novik (any of her works, but I really liked spinning silver / jewish fairytale, or temeraire regency era + dragons); samantha shannon's priory of the orange tree (wlw high fantasy); the city of brass by sa chakraborty (arabic fantasy); the poppy war by rf kuang (chinese fantasy); the broken earth by nk jemison (apocalpytic poc/black rock magic) or the dreamblood duology (egyptian high fantasy); the bear and the nightingale by katherine arden (russian magic/myth); the bone ships (poc queer pirate fantasy + sea serpents); helene wecker's the golem and the jinni (jewish + arabic fantasy at turn of the century NYC); the book of lost things by john connolly (an alice-esque quest in a land that's also a nostalgic/meta coming of age); 10,000 doors of january by alix harrow (girl between worlds can open doors); night circus or starless sea by erin morgenstern (1800s fantasy v storyteller/library) - these are just current authors i can think of! not preexisting fantasy from the last few decades, thought you'd want to read something fresh/find authors to follow now!
also am a fantasy nerd and world myth nerd so if you need even more hmu! or just make other people read them!
also if anyone has more from around the world i am always looking, though i prefer not YA (though for those who like YA I'd recommend the bone witch series (Chinese high fantasy/necromancer + performing arts); serafina by rachel hartman (mixed dragon + urdine shape = half girl/half dragon hiding in steampunk society); and probably some others i can't think of right now
Thank you! 😊
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Book recs 2019
I read a lot of really good books this year! Some of them I’ve already posted about here and there, but others I haven’t, and it seemed like a good time to make a list:
Charlie Jane Anders, The City in the Middle of the Night. On a desolate frozen planet, human existence is confined to two very different cities. When reluctant revolutionary Sophie is forced into exile, she doesn’t expect to survive, and only the the planet’s native wildlife can help her. A really beautiful book with a wonderful protagonist, aliens, broken hearts, and radical empathy.
Tana French, In the Woods. I’m just adding myself to the chorus here, praising French’s gorgeous, evocative prose and overall atmosphere of creeping dread.
Rebecca Roanhorse, Trail of Lightning. Post-apocalyptic sf/fantasy adventure, but the protagonist is Navajo/Dine, and so is the apocalypse surrounding her. It’s a fun trip through Native lore. (first of a series, the sequel is out but I haven’t read it yet)
Ann Leckie, The Raven Tower. I loved this book; it’s so different from her other books but also amazing. A fascinating exploration of divinity and language, wrapped up in a retelling of Hamlet. This book is too hard to describe, but I so recommend it.
S. A. Chakraborty, City of Brass and Kingdom of Copper. Egyptian street hustler Nahri accidentally summons a djinni and finds herself whisked to the hidden city of djinn, where she has a much bigger (and more dangerous) role in politics than she ever dreamed. These two books are packed full of politics and machinations. with tons of intrigue; the characters make terrible choices all the time, but often for understandable and relatable reasons. I’m really looking forward to the forthcoming sequel.
Naomi Novik, Spinning Silver. I feel like Novik’s novels keep getting better. This one plays with a whole lot of fairy-tale tropes; Miryem is a Jewish girl who takes over her father’s lending business and her reputation for “spinning silver into gold” gets the attention of the fey creatures who surround her. But that’s not all; the story expands to include a humble farming family, a duke’s plain daughter, demons, princes, and an ever-encroaching winter. A great book, though be warned that there are abusive situations in it.
Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone, This Is How You Lose the Time War. I know I’ve gushed about this elsewhere. It’s a time-traveling f/f enemies-to-lovers story in beautiful, weird epistolary prose! It’s not that long! Go get it!
Max Gladstone, The Empress of Forever. Tech genius Vivian Liao finds herself in a far future dominated by the terrifying Empress of Forever. Do you like found families? Do you like queer women? Do you like character growth? Do you like ragtag misfits banding together against authority? If you do, this is a book for you!
Tamsyn Muir, Gideon the Ninth. The heirs of the empire’s Nine Houses of necromancers, plus their cavalier bodyguards, are thrown into a locked country house to solve puzzles. Then the murders begin. Plus, protagonist Gideon (one of the great snarky protagonist voices of all time) wasn’t supposed to be there in the first place. Necromancy, duels, intrigue, snark, enemies-to-friends(?). People do in fact die in this book. Also first in a series.
Dominik Parisien and Navah Wolfe, eds. The Mythic Dream. A collection of myth retellings from a wide, diverse group of some of the best sf/f authors today. Highly recommended.
Yoon Ha Lee, Hexarchate Stories. I am a fan of Lee’s Machineries of Empire series (please go read Ninefox Gambit!). This collection has short stories scattered through the series’ timeline and giving nice snapshots of Jedao, Cheris, and other characters. Also has a new novella that functions as a sequel to the trilogy, which I enjoyed a lot.
Arkady Martine, A Memory Called Empire. Wow, I love this book. Mahit Dzmare is the new ambassador from her small, independent mining station to the vast and mighty Teixcalaanli Empire, only to discover that her predecessor is mysteriously dead, and the implanted memories she has from him aren’t working correctly. What was he up to? Can she find out without getting killed herself? The plot and characters are compelling, but the book is also a long meditation on empire, cultural hegemony, and marginalization. Such a great read, I’m also really looking forward to the sequel to this one.
Naomi Kritzer, Catfishing on Catnet. Steph has always moved around a lot, so her friends are mostly on Catnet, her favorite social media site. But she doesn’t know that the site is run by a well-meaning AI, or that her questions about her past are about to make her world a lot more dangerous. On the one hand a near-future thriller about AIs, automation, and the surveillance state, on the other hand a wonderful exploration of queer teen romance and friendship. So good, and highly recommended!
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Actually I talked abt it on twitter but fate squad (and mdzs squad) y’all might wanna check out Voice & Vein of the Broadsides serie. Tl;dr: it’s about a necromancer and a healer working together to solve a murder.
Good points:
+ Really likeable characters
+ Neat worldbuilding (based mostly on welsh/irish/egyptian folklore)
+ Graphic descriptions of gore. Personally that’s a plus for me.
+ I know I already mentioned the characters but really the banter between the two mains is fantastic.
Bad points:
- I’d be lying if I said I had an idea what the plot was.
Overall I had a good time tho it’s a solid 7/10 in imo.
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appless/skeleton rpg plots based off of ya lit.
below the cut you’ll find a ton of potential appless rpg plots based off of YA Lit. this is in an effort to diversify the groups we see and explore themes that aren’t common.
SHADOW & BONE / in a world where power is wealth, there is a conflict between the grisha, beings that have power and control it, and the common folk. the grisha are reviled because their power makes them distinguished; there are those who control water, fire, and air, then those that can manipulate the body, amongst other things. the potential is endless. the commonsfolk may start war because they see that the grisha may hold too much power in their world. ravka, the nation this plot occurs in, may be in a war with a neighboring country.
distinguishing about this plot: russian origins, powers that are manipulated from their surroundings but not produced.
RED QUEEN / the reds are ruled by the silvers, humans that now have mutations that allow them to wield power. the silvers are cruel and send the reds off constantly to fight in their wars. most reds that are conscripted never survive the war. the potential is endless. you can right about a red rebellion focusing solely on the reds, or queenstrial, the event that centers around silver women competing to be the silver queen.
distinguishing about this plot: dystopian, mutation based powers.
THRONE OF GLASS / the king requires a champion, and has had thirty of his lords/ladies sponsor thirty criminals to compete as his assassin. the criminals chosen can be selected regardless of their crime. cue ballrooms, chandeliers, and a castle made entirely of glass, along with the rest of it being made of stone. the potential is somewhat limited, but offers for an rpg that can be driven by a generator.
distinguishing about this plot: magic, competition, assassins, crime.
RED PYRAMID / the egyptian gods still live ; and there are magicians that wield the power of ancient egypt. they are located in various nomes around the world, and their powers vary. there are diviners, necromancers, and many more. the more powerful the magician, the more rare their ability. you can come up with almost any sort of plot; that set is attempting to start war with another god, apophis may be coming back. you will need knowledge over egyptian mythology, and this rpg will require egyptian FCs only, which makes it difficult.
distinguishing about this plot: egyptian, mythology
THE SELECTION / thirty girls throughout the country have been brought to the castle to compete in what is a competition to marry the crown prince of illea, the country that resides on the ruins of america. they compete in a series of tests and trials that show their wits, abilities in various situations, and even capacity for kindness.
distinguishing about this plot: romance based, not really roleplayable but an idea
THE HUNGER GAMES / y’all know the plot, here are ideas. focus on a certain district during the mockingjay rebellion, write one of the quarter quells, or the districts before the uprisings. set the group in a career academy in one of the career districts. there are so many HG RPGs that surface but they have the same idea in most cases.
i’ll prob make a second list w more ideas because i have a ton
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You have made me curious. Please tell me about your oc's! What are their names? Why? Are they from a specific fandom or from a world of your own making? What do they look like? What is thier favorite fruit/color/food/drink? You made a spidersona a while back, right? Have you developed them more or have you moved on? (Sorry theese are a lot of questions at once you don't have to awnser all of them if u don't want to lol)
Okay so I have a great many main ocs so I’ll make little intros for them that answer each question lol
also here’s a link to the masterlist that might be more helpful and less rambly lol, it also links to art of the characters if you’re interested:
OC MASTERLIST
First of all, we have Rosalia (Rose) Scarlett Dawn who has healing powers, she (or at least her main design) started out as the spidersona you mentioned, but she evolved beyond even marvel oc territory lol. I draw her the most, she’s the one with red fading into white hair and sectoral heterochromia/ gold eyes, you can probably find her very easily on my art account @sciencelings-arts. Her image is also what I use as the icon for my writing account @sciencelings-writes which was a commission I got done for her last Halloween. She has become a very different character, although I still really vibe with her spidersona origins. She exists in the marvel universe as a SHIELD agent that does her best to use her powers for good but once SHIELD falls she works for Tony Stark and the Avengers as their on-call medical professional as she is kind of the expert in weird shit like injuries and sickness that originate from magic or alien stuff. Her sister Artemis also works for SHIELD as a field agent and does not have powers. Their relationship is kinda complex and depends on the universe that they’re in, like my original series is set in a bunch of different universes as I don’t want to constrict myself with just writing fantasy or sci-fi or whatever. Anyway Rose is a lesbian with underestimated powers and all that kind of shit. She’s fruity, they say an apple a day keeps the doctor away but she is the doctor and she will consume any apple within her eyesight.
Second of all, this one will be shorter, Andromeda Starling, Basically her parents were scientists for hydra and she found out and ran away, resulting in her getting lost in space and gaining shapeshifting powers that evolve from partial shifts like gills and wings to full transformations like turning into a dragon because she wants to. She’s a sapphic asexual and is endgame with Rose, Her image is on my art blog (linked above) and my rarely used OC blog @sciencelings-ocs, After her transformation, her blood turned purple and her eyes turned purple and all her hair turned a cold white. She actively avoids going to earth and is the basic lone wolf type that comes across as mean but it’s mostly due to trauma and mental illnesses. She kicks ass and has no idea how to talk to people. She likes space fruit and actually knows how to cook space food.
Next, we have Adisa Crow AKA Doctor Plague who is Rose’s nemesis, She got her powers from trying to recreate Rose’s powers within her and it going very wrong. Her powers can reverse other character's powers and skills, whether that’s a direct opposite like making a fire-themed character control ice or whether it’s just twisting the power against them, like making Andromeda’s shapeshifting uncontrollable as her power normally relies on her focus and complete control. But her powers come with a price as they are constantly affecting her, giving her hallucinations and manipulating her thoughts and emotions drastically. She wears a plague doctor mask when in full supervillain mode. She and Rose have a full friends to lovers to enemies to friends kind of arc as when she is released of her powers she might be forgivable with a whole lot of therapy. She only drinks Redbull and coffee.
speaking of therapy, next we have Alexandria Iriklitis. She’s a superhuman therapist with a magic voice. She mostly uses her voice to manipulate emotions but it’s powerful enough to levitate objects and break glass, and even bring down buildings and stuff. She has very colorful hair and very solid black geometric tattoos all over her body. She’s not normally a fighter type of character but she does appear as a peacock siren bard in the fantasy au and that comes with having wing arms and a big dramatic peacock tail. She is the only emotionally stable one usually but she’s not perfect and although it takes a lot to rile her up, she can lose her shit and no one should be within fifty miles of her when that happens.
Next, we have Ma’at Ramses who is a necromancer goth mom who adopts death kids that are ostracised from the normal magic organizations. She has a magic sword hilt that shifts into different weapons at will and a magic helmet that resembles an Egyptian pharaoh's crown that gives her extra abilities. She’s constantly in contact with the dead and her mission is to give them peace but more and more keep coming to her for help and no matter how much she works, she is never finished. She constantly feels the rage from the dead that need to be avenged and it takes tremendous control to not take it out on the people around her. Eventually, she figures out that those feelings are not her own and she can control how much they affect her and she becomes a much less angry person. She’s kinda morally gray as she has no qualms about things like murder of she decides that the person really deserves it. She really hates injustice and doesn’t just sit around for people change and you know, heavily bigoted politicians just disappear sometimes, that’s just how life is.
Next is Diana Schmitt, a mutant who can control the heat of objects (mostly metal and glass) and the molten outcome. She’s heavily scarred on half of her body including her face and she’s missing an arm and a leg that she replaced with layered metal and glass prosthetics. She’s trans and sapphic because I can’t make cishet characters to save my life. She uses her powers to make weapons and tools as she has big blacksmith energy. also, she's six feet tall and super buff. She's the whole gentle giant type and is super friendly. Her scars and limb loss are from a malicious attack with ice which causes her to hate any kind of cold and even makes ice a trauma trigger for her. She hates the winter and tries her best to avoid cold places. She is immune to incredibly high heat and has literally slept inside of a volcano with a magma blanket. cozy.
Lastly (I think) we have Guinevere (Gwen) Kaimana. She’s an actual mermaid. and a Pirate. She can control the sea and temporarily turn her tail into a skirt over fishnet tights covering human legs. When out of the water she has to take special care to be very hydrated. She can faint if lacking enough water in her body. She has Polynesian tattoos on her arm and torso that glow white in the dark but only when it’s very dark like when she’s very deep in the ocean. She wields dual scimitars (those curved pirate swords) and is bisexual. She has a very unearthly energy and is basically a myth to the people on land, but on the seas, she’s known as the Queen of the Seas and is feared by the people who don’t know her. She has big found family energy with her crew and mostly just focuses on saving sea life and causing trouble for the us military because she thinks it's funny. They tend to overreact and try to find her and “bring her to justice” but they can never find her, no matter how much they search. Before becoming a pirate she had spent several unaging decades in isolation in the ocean before she was willing to associate with people again. Sometimes she gets confused by current events and technology when she visits the land but she hates showing it.
#this ended up being a little long whoops#i kinda worked all morning on this. I woke up like an hour ago tho so not that long#ask gay#my ocs#ocs#marvelsonas#marvel ocs#marvel oc#Rosalia Scarlett Dawn#Andromeda Starling#Adisa Crow#Doctor Plague#Alexandria Iriklitis#Ma'at Ramses#My OC Phoenix#Diana Schmitt#Guinevere Kaimana#OCs#Anonymous
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Thoughts On: HEXEN II
After developing two fantastic games utilizing the id tech 1 engine -- also known as the DOOM engine -- Raven Software found themselves once again at the forefront of technological advancement when their neighbors id Software released a little game called Quake. Using a brand new, fully 3D rendered engine, Quake revolutionized first person shooters and PC gaming graphics. After the successes of Heretic and Hexen, Raven was deep in the throes of developing a third game in their dark fantasy series, this one titled Hecatomb. Sadly, this game never came to pass, as John Romero (who’d had heavily helped develop the previous two games) left id Software to found his own company, abandoning Hecatomb in the process. At this point, Activision Publishing acquired Raven and the rights to distribute future games they developed. Activision told Raven that they wanted to see the Heretic and Hexen games split into two separate franchises as both games were different in gameplay styles. So rather than a final third game to wrap up a trilogy, ideas from Hecatomb were then split between Hexen II and Heretic II. While this yielded mixed results, we’ll look first at Hexen II, a game that was highly anticipated upon release, and whose legacy is an uneven yield.
The story this time around is that the third and final Serpent Rider, Eidolon, has taken over the word of Thyrion. Separated into four lands, Thyrion is infested with Eidolon’s minions, and it’s up to one of four warriors to take him down: the Crusader, Assassin, Necromancer, and Paladin. What’s neat about this premise is that each of the warriors comes from one of the four lands -- Blackmarsh, Mazaera, Thysis, and Septimus, respectively. And each land has a different cultural theme -- Medieval European, Mesoamerican, Ancient Egyptian, and Greco-Roman, also respectively. Also very interesting about this setup is that each land is being ruled by one of the Four Fucking Horsemen of the Apocalypse -- Famine, Death, Pestilence, and War also also respectively. Off the jump there is a lot going on here, a lot more detail than the previous two games about the worlds and what is happening. This works to the game’s credit in attempting to set up a distinct world for this entry in the game series, but somehow, it falls a little flat. In previous games the player encounters a variety of monsters and enemies that all carry over from hub to hub, level to level, giving the player a chance to learn their attacks and be aware of how to defend themselves. There’s also overarching aesthetics that maintain a steady, immersive feel to the worlds presented. Hexen II’s decision to split the hubs into unique lands works against it, as each land as its own unique enemies and aesthetic and architecture. Just as the player has a chance to get used to enemy tactics and tricks (thanks to some stellar AI work), those strategies are abandoned as the next world is loaded up with new enemies and new look, throwing the player off and breaking the immersion. As much as I tried to get into it, what it ends up feeling like is the standard issue Water World, Fire World, Sand World, etc of old NES platformers. This is not to say that the worlds aren’t good looking, however -- Raven modified the shit out of id tech 2′s textures and polygonal aspects, crafting a still-gorgeous game which takes full advantage of the technology.
Progression here is also slightly different from the previous Hexen, but is a very welcome course change. Each character class has different skills and abilities, and as you play through the game, you’ll gain experience and level up. Returning from the previous game are the fact that each class has their own four weapons, using 1) no mana ammo 2) blue mana 3) green mana and 4) both mana. As usual, the fourth weapons need to be assembled from pieces in order to be used, but what overpowered destruction they bring. My favorite class is Crusader, whose skills and weapons focus on defensive measures, but his ultimate weapon is the Light bringer. It fires a steady stream of what can basically be called pure light, burning through any enemy in a matter of seconds, and the drain on Mana is negligible. It’s possible to reach the max level of 12 through the game, and each character receives a new passive ability at levels 3 and 6. It’s always nice to notice that you’ve gained a level during the adventure, but it usually happens well after the fact. I had a difficult time hearing the audio cue to let me know that I’d leveled up and now had extra health, or new ability. I had to go into the revamped inventory screen, which now shows key quest items as well as the current items in your pocket.
In fact, Hexen II’s biggest immediate suffering is that there seems to be a lack of feedback. There’s little in the way of gratifying sound or feel whenever your attacks land, which is doubly frustrating when most attacks are ranged and as far away from the very deadly monsters. Up close and personal melee attacks seem to have a weird range, sometimes being able to hit at different distances, but it’s hard to know exactly how and when that’s going to happen. The inventory system is fine, objects work they way they’re supposed to. Most of the problems come from the early usage of id tech 2. Quake is not a game designed around interactivity, despite Hexen II being the exact opposite. id tech 2 takes away the Action button, so you walk into panels or switches to operate them, no button mashing required. There’s also no minimap, so navigating become a trying issue. But projectiles in this game don’t seem to have an impact; there’s no oomph to it, similarly to Quake’s monster who rarely stagger when hit. This is a problem because multiple times will occur when you’re firing rapidly at damage-sponge enemies, wondering if you’ve hit them enough to count, counting each shot, watching your steadily diminishing mana fall away, waiting hoping praying that this isn’t another time where you’re going to be forced to use the melee weapon, and then they are suddenly dead and you didn’t know they were close to death. It’s not as frustrating in the early levels, where you’re Level 1 and Everything Hurts and Everything Takes A Lot To Kill. But by Level 9, there are bigger, badder, more horrifying enemies who soak up so much damage that it feels like a Thoroughly Epic Duel every single time. This, perhaps, is meant to make up for the fact that -- unlike Hexen which sent waves of hordes of squads of monsters at the player at once -- Hexen II lobbies much fewer enemies at a time. In fact, I’m hard pressed to remember any time I fought more than five at a time, and even that is a generous number. But since each of the enemies are so much more resilient, anything more than three becomes an exercise in dodging and weaving and running for cover in order to get in a few shots and quaff a drink from a healing elixir, because these fuckers hit, hit hard, and hurt harder. Especially the Four Horsemen, who are so intense and difficult that I was convinced for a moment that the game was building up to a boss run near the end that would have been insurmountable. Fortunately, thank fuck, there wasn’t. And yet, while the increased difficulty of the enemies comes with the bonus of impressive AI (most notable in the Were-Jaguar warriors, who leap and roll and attack like real human opponents), it also comes with the downside of empty stretches of pathfinding. Where in Hexen enemies would respawn with abandon in an effort to wear down the player, Hexen II seemingly keeps a limit on the number of enemies involved on a map. Once they’re dead, they’re dead, which then makes wandering around afterwards an exercise in frustrated boredom searching for clues and hints to the puzzles.
Speaking of which, while feedback and aesthetics are weak points, if there’s anything that the game truly bounces players out of the game, it’s the puzzles. Blackmarsh is host to one of the most infamous puzzle glitches in the series, possibly in all RPG gaming, the solution to which is based on how your character enters a particular courtyard. Depending on which turn the player takes, this will then spawn a clue in one of three locations based on your entry point, along with the necessary quest item in one of three locations after gathering the clue. However, the clue itself can be accidentally destroyed. It can also be missed entirely, and if you don’t find the clue you can’t go directly to the quest item location knowing the solution -- it can only be solved in the order of clue, location, item. So if you somehow miss or even destroy the clue itself -- and Hexen II is rife with destructible items holding hidden mana and health so chances are you’re breaking a lot of shit -- you’re out of luck. I discovered this far, far too late, and had to start the whole game over because I didn’t have a recent enough save file that I could utilize to go back to. Thankfully, this was fairly early on in the game, but it serves as a brutal low point that comes back to haunt the player in the Egyptian levels, where a maddeningly opaque puzzle involving time travel and astrology nearly drove me to a walkthrough and early onset baldness. Elsewhere, puzzles are item-based rather than key-based like in Hexen, which revolve around gathering items, transporting them to a location, and then receiving either a new item or a key. Sometimes these items need to be altered or transmutated; the game is questionably vague about what is necessary sometimes. Fortunately, despite the veiled hints, most fetch quests are simple enough to solve. But the lack of enemies giving way to empty hallways and corridors makes those fetch quests empty and tedious, moreso than they ought to be.
Hexen II isn’t a bad game by any means. It’s very much a product of 1997. New technology, advancements in PC gaming, experimentation with new control schemes and movements, a lot of games at the time featured both innovation and frustration in equal measure. Hexen II is a solid game at its core, with great direction from the returning team, a great soundtrack, fantastic graphics and sound design, and RPG progression. But all of these upgrades come at the cost of a more simplistic version of Hexen that is somehow trying to have the straightforward run-n-gun gameplay of Heretic and the brutal dungeon crawl of Hexen. Puzzles suffer, shooting mechanics suffer, and immersion suffers. What it ends up being is Hexen Lite, not as good as the original, but fine on its own. Would I go back and play it? Sure, at some point I’d love to, but it didn’t draw me in the same way that Hexen did, not even as much as Heretic. But it’s a Quake engine game (which I’m a sucker for) and a 1997 game (which I’m a sucker for, goddammit), and despite its flaws it represents a moment in gaming which I can’t help but be nostalgic for. Your mileage may vary, but be advised that there are other, bigger, bolder versions of this experience that Hexen II has inspired, and while this may have inspired quite a few, it hasn’t aged as well as its predecessors.
Next up: we close off the Thoughts On series of Heretic/Hexen games with Heretic II. And if Hexen II was a different experience in order to differentiate itself as a unique series, Heretic II goes above and beyond to set itself apart....for better and for worse.
#hexen ii#hexen#heretic#raven software#id software#activision#rubyranger#ck burch#thoughts on#long post#ranger report
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by kimchiimoon
Erwin, a solitary necromancer, lies ostracized in the outskirts of his village. He is the monster in the forest that the children fear, the demon that plagues their nightmares.
In the throes of his loneliness and isolation, he accidentally summons a sorcerer.
Words: 3480, Chapters: 1/3, Language: English
Series: Part 2 of egyptian cotton
Fandoms: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Categories: M/M
Characters: Levi (Shingeki no Kyojin), Erwin Smith
Relationships: Levi/Erwin Smith
Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Demons, Romance, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Fluff, Necromancy, Sorcerers, Soulmates, Eventual Smut, References to Depression, Protective Levi (Shingeki no Kyojin)
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Monster Mash? Non-Scary Anime for Halloween Wimps
Halloween is generally viewed as a season of supernatural thrills, but some us—even some of us who routinely watch horror movies or read scary stories—aren't always in the mood for the terrifying and the macabre. Some of us, in fact, are gigantic, rubbery babies when it comes to anything more frightening than E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial, so what are we supposed to do when October rolls around and suddenly the Internet is flush with features proclaiming which scary anime are essential Halloween viewing?
Fear not, gentle reader, for this article features nothing but the cutest, funniest, gentlest, or strangest viewer recommendations for anime involving things that go bump in the night. Below please find (in alphabetical order) a curated chronicle of some nine shows that are more sweet than spooky.
Actually, I Am
Year Aired: 2015
Contents: Vampires, demons, gender-bending werewolves, very tiny aliens
Profile: When Asahi Kuromine's would-be crush, Yoko Shiragami, turns out to be a vampire in disguise, she's allowed to continue attending the same school as her human friends so long as no one else learns her true identity, a task that is complicated by Asahi's general inability to keep quiet as well as the presence of numerous other supernatural entities among the class and faculty.
Comfort Level: A cozy evening under the kotatsu, with plenty of mandarin oranges on hand.
Where you can find it: Actually, I Am is currently streaming on Crunchyroll, and the series is also released on DVD and Bluray in North America by Eastern Star. An English language version of the original manga is available from Seven Seas Entertainment under the title My Monster Secret.
Cuticle Detective Inaba
Year Aired: 2013
Contents: Werewolves, mad scientists, goats with a penchant for organized crime
Profile: Former police dog turned private detective Hiroshi Inaba (who is also a werewolf) was ready to leave his old life behind, but his previous partner keeps dragging him into investigations involving the nefarious Valentino Family, a Mafia organization led by Don Valentino, for whom the letters “g.o.a.t.” take on a meaning other than “greatest of all time”.
Comfort Level: A play session with a friendly but precocious puppy.
Where you can find it: Cuticle Detective Inaba is currently streaming on Crunchyroll, and the series is also available on Bluray and DVD from Sentai Filmworks.
Demon Girl Next Door, The
Year Aired: 2019
Contents: Demon girls, magical girls, overly dramatic familiars
Profile: One day, Yuko Yoshida awakens to her dark destiny as “Shadow Mistress Yuko” (“Shamiko” for short) and learns that she must spill the blood of a magical girl in order to break the seal on her family's diabolical powers. Unfortunately, Shamiko's a complete wuss who can't even throw a punch and the local magical girl, Momo Chiyoda, is a physical powerhouse, so the two end up becoming close friends instead.
Comfort Level: Winning a particularly grueling thumb-wrestling match against your kid cousin.
Where you can find it: The Demon Girl Next Door is currently streaming on HIDIVE and VRV.
Don Dracula
Year Aired: 1982
Contents: Vampires, vampire hunters, enthusiastic large women who long to be bitten
Profile: A horror-themed comedy based on the manga by none-other-than Osamu Tezuka himself, Don Dracula only managed to animate 8 episodes before the commercial sponsors funding it went bankrupt. Highlights of the series include Dracula's cute daughter, Chocola, and Van Helsing having an intestinal emergency and taking a poop in Dracula's coffin.
Comfort Level: Realizing that even people regarded as artistic geniuses have a few turkeys in their body of work.
Where you can find it: Don Dracula used to be available via streaming on Viki and YouTube, but at the time of this writing, these videos are no longer available in the United States.
Flying Witch
Year Aired: 2016
Contents: Witches, seasonal spirits, vegetables with a threatening aura
Profile: A cozy little tale that follows the apprentice training of a would-be witch with no sense of direction as she lives with her cousins in the Japanese countryside, Flying Witch celebrates all of the little things that make life worth living, such as gathering wild herbs, spontaneously chasing pheasants, and making poor life decisions after imbibing a few too many adult beverages.
Comfort Level: Being swaddled in your warmest blanket with a warm cup of cocoa (complete with marshmallows) on a chilly winter day.
Where you can find it: Flying Witch is currently streaming on Crunchyroll, and the series is also released on DVD and Bluray in North America by Sentai Filmworks. An English language version of the Flying Witch manga is published by Vertical.
How to Keep a Mummy
Year Aired: 2018
Contents: Tiny mummies, tiny dragons, tiny creatures of myth and folklore
Profile: Caring for an animal companion can be a huge responsibility, but what if the pet in question is an ancient Egyptian mummy that can fit in the palm of your hand? How to Keep a Mummy is a short-form series that's sure to deliver bite-sized moments of bliss for even the sternest monster-lovers.
Comfort Level: A sixty minute YouTube compilation of pandas falling over, set to smooth jazz.
Where you can find it: How to Keep a Mummy is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.
Interviews with Monster Girls
Year Aired: 2017
Contents: Teenage vampires, teenage yuki onna, teenage dullahans, teacher succubi
Profile: Overcoming physical disabilities and pushing back against social stigmas are a daily challenge for the demihuman high school students in this heart-warming and humorous TV anime based on the manga by Petos. And you thought your adolescence was weird...
Comfort Level: The realization, muted by the distance of decades, that maybe high school wasn't that terrible after all.
Where you can find it: Interviews with Monster Girls is currently streaming on Crunchyroll. An English language version of the original manga is available from Kodansha Comics, and the series is released in North America on a Bluray/DVD combo pack by Funimation.
Is This a Zombie?
Years Aired: 2011 - 2012
Contents: Zombies, necromancers, ninja vampires, magical garment girls
Profile: Ayumu Aikawa is an ordinary high school student who has to deal with the curse of undeath as well as a harem of supernatural interlopers including a reticent necromancer and a chainsaw-wielding magical girl in this light novel-based comedy that is silly, ultra-violent, and just a bit lewd.
Comfort Level: That numb, prickly sensation you get when you sleep in a weird position and your entire left arm falls asleep.
Where you can find it: Both seasons of Is This a Zombie? are currently streaming on Funimation, and Funimation also releases the series in North America on a Bluray/DVD combo pack. An English language version of the manga adaptation is also available from Yen Press.
Ms. Vampire who lives in my neighborhood.
Year Aired: 2018
Contents: Moe vampires, moe vampire enthusiasts, a thinly-disguised Amazon.com
Profile: It's a tale as old as time: girl meets girl. Girl loses girl. Girl discovers girl is a centuries old vampire, then gets girl back again by unceremoniously moving into her mansion along with her collection of creepy dolls. Vampire girl orders otaku merchandise online. Vampire girl's friends show up. Truly, it's a close encounter of the moe kind.
Comfort Level: The supreme satisfaction of ordering pizza online and then having it delivered straight to your door and eating it off of paper plates rather than cooking a real meal and then having to clean up the kitchen and the dishes afterwards.
Where you can find it: Ms. Vampire who lives in my neighborhood. is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.
And there you have it, a (mostly) wholesome list of monster-themed anime for celebrating the Halloween season in a not-too-spooky manner. The titles here are by no means exhaustive—we didn't even mention Toei's 1980 masterpiece, Dracula: Sovereign of the Damned (pictured above)—nor did we delve into other honorable mentions such as As Miss Beelzebub Likes it. or MONSTER MUSUME EVERYDAY LIFE WITH MONSTER GIRLS.
There's a whole world of cute and cuddly Halloween-appropriate anime out there, just waiting to be discovered. What are some of your favorite non-scary series? Let us know in the comments, and be sure to have a Happy Halloweeen!
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Paul Chapman is the host of The Greatest Movie EVER! Podcast and GME! Anime Fun Time.
Do you love writing? Do you love anime? If you have an idea for a features story, pitch it to Crunchyroll Features!
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I really should put wip info for the other wips I have. Not that I’m working on them because I’m not. I can only work on one project at a time and the wild hunt project is long as hell so it gets all my interest but he’s a brief summary of my other ideas.
Mischief: (I wrote one chapter and have no idea what I want with it other than gay genderfluid loki panic) basically its about the norse gods waking back up in our day and age and Loki is one of the first of the gods.
Retold Dark fairy tales: basically fairy tales but with vampires, fey and the such. Ex: red riding hood with werewolves
Sisters: This is a story I wrote when I was in middle school. My goal is to take the idea I had and rewrite it. I wrote 7 books. and while they are pretty bad. I was young as hell and not a great writer but the idea was something I enjoyed. So I would love to redo it.
Shatterheart(Assassin’s series): This is also a rewrite. I only wrote and finished one book. Went back and hated it because I suck at writing from female pov. In fact reading the male pov parts I love them so I decided to rewrite the whole series from Vince’s pov because I just feel him more.
Necromancer/Vampire book that I’m writing with a friend or aka I’ve written a paragraph and I’m glad my friend is patient with me because I’m horrible.
These are just the series I’ve plotted out enough to know what I want but I have a couple vampire and shifter ideas that I’ve written and deleted in the past that I may want to bring back. Also the norse series, is just a start. I have a plan for egyptian and Greek gods waking up as well. But who knows when I’ll get to that.
Wild Hunt will be finished before I get into any of these. But I wouldn’t mind talking about them.
@hannahs-creations
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God’s Secrets in the Pyramids?
Image by Pete Linforth from Pixabay
The Great pyramids of Giza are, as just about everyone knows, large stone structures believed to have been built perhaps 4,000 – 4,500 years ago as tombs for the Pharaoh. They have a great deal to do with their pagan worldview, beliefs about the afterlife and the presumed necessity of preserving the body. Prior to the building of the Eiffel Tower, they were the tallest man made structures in the world. With their rather amazing geometric accuracy, some believed their construction was guided by something other-worldly, a belief that still exists in some circles today. Something which has recently gained popularity in the evangelical church is the Enneagram. We would argue that it is a mystical and occultic – “tool” that many Christians today believe has great significance for their relationship with God and their fellow Christians. On the surface, we wouldn’t think to compare its current devoted use by Christians to occultic tools, such as Pyramidology, that infected and influenced the Christian church in times past. But there are some interesting parallels. Some Enneagram teachers, like Christopher Heuertz, believe that the Enneagram has very ancient origins and may have originated in ancient Egypt: …it’s suggested the Enneagram may be as “old as Babylon,” while others claim there is evidence the Enneagram first showed up over six thousand years ago in ancient Egypt.((Heuertz, Christopher L.. The Sacred Enneagram (p. 43). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.)) The alleged link to pagan Egypt didn’t originate with Heuertz. As he wrote, “others claimed there is evidence” that “it first showed up…in ancient Egypt.” Who might we suppose made the claim? PD Ouspensky, disciple of mystic inventor of the Enneagram George Gurdjieff, is a likely suspect. The BBC’s interesting article, “A Short History of Pyramidology,” under the subheading “Occultists,” writes: Not surprisingly, the Pyramid was also seized on by just about every one of the mystical cults that thrived in the late 19th and early 20th centuries - above all by the Theosophists, an influential group founded by one Madame Helena Petrovna Blavatsky (1831-91). In her widely read, if all-but-unreadable, books, The Secret Doctrine (1888) and Isis Unveiled (1877), she explained to her followers that the Pyramid was 'the everlasting record and the indestructible symbol of the Mysteries and Initiations on Earth'. Thanks to Mme Blavatsky, the Pyramid became an essential point of pilgrimage for all self-respecting occultists. Among the notable necromancers and magi who made the journey were the Russian mathematician and mystic PD Ouspensky, whose cult is still alive in various forms today…
Necromancer? Magi? Russian mystic? Which “cult” was PD Ouspensky involved with which the BBC could been alluding to in 2017? Well, that would be the Enneagram.
In 1859, a Brit by the name of John Taylor, whom some refer to as “eccentric,” published The Great Pyramid: Why Was It Built? And Who Built It? John Taylor believed the “pyramid inch” was “one twenty-fifth of a "sacred cubit." Building on that, Astronomer-Royal of Scotland, Professor C. Piazzi Smyth, who was himself involved in the cult of British Israelism, built on Taylor’s work and ideas. Both believed the pyramids were divinely inspired, designed by God using God’s math. Smyth regarded Taylor’s supposition as a way to prove God’s existence, as well as providing evidence that the Brit’s standard of measurement was very close to God’s standard of measurement - as opposed to what he referred to as “atheistic French”:
Smyth was hardly a dispassionate, objective scientist when dealing with the pyramid. His writings show that he certainly had a deep emotional commitment to demonstrating "scientifically" that the Christian religion is true, and that he saw his work with the pyramid as a means by which he could do so. Smyth also had a great antipathy towards the metric system, which he regarded as the flawed produce of the minds of atheistic French radicals. Over and over again in his book The Great Pyramid, Smyth heaps ridicule and scorn upon the metric system and its inventors for using "unnatural" standard units of measurement. (See PYRAMIDOLOGY) Many of Taylor and Smyth’s dubious occultic ideas made their way across Europe and moved on to America where they infected Christians and cultists alike:
A number of Christian religious leaders accepted the Taylor-Smyth theory and made it an article of faith. Numerous Englishmen took it up, and in France the abbé F. Moigno, the cannon of St. Denis at Paris, became its foremost advocate. (See PYRAMIDOLOGY) Pyramidology became the legacy of the followers of the Baptist minister William Miller, who famously predicted the return of Jesus Christ for 1843 and then 1844 (Second Adventism, as well as Seventh Day Adventism and other Adventist groups, arose out of the “disappointed” Millerite Movement) Second Adventist George Stetson passed pyramidology on to another Second Adventist, George Storrs of Brooklyn, NY who published, “The Bible Examiner.” Another Second Adventist, Nelson Barbour, also saw the Great Pyramid as “God’s stone witness.” Charles Taze Russell, founder of the Bible Students, which morphed into the Jehovah’s Witnesses, picked up pyamidology from these three. Russell is today buried near a 9 ft pyramid. Russell had been raised Presbyterian and Congregationalist, but at the age of 20, in 1872, he radically reimagined his faith because he could not reconcile the doctrine of hell with God’s mercy. Not finding the answers he liked from the churches, he set out to find answers elsewhere to unlock the Bible and its mysteries, and he ran into these three Second Adventists.
Through careful study of the Great Pyramid of Giza, which Russell referred to as “God’s stone witness,” he settled on what he believed to be God’s “plan of salvation” and the timing of Christ’s return, which he initially set for 1874. He (and other Second Adventists) arrived at the date through the measurement of the passageways in the Egyptian pyramids. In Series III of Russell’s Studies in the Scriptures: Thy Kingdom Come, he writes:
The Great Pyramid, however, proves to be a storehouse of important truth – scientific, historic, and prophetic…((Charles Taze Russell, Series III of Russell’s Studies in the Scriptures: They Kingdom Come; Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society, Allegheny, PA, 1907, p. 314)) Russell thought it to be a secret in Scripture that would be revealed when the time was right:
If it was built under God’s direction, to be one of his witnesses to men, we might reasonably expect some allusion to it in the written Word of God. And yet, since it was evidently part of God’s purpose to keep secret, until the Time of the End, features of the plan of which it gives testimony, we should expect that any reference to it in the Scriptures would be, as it is, somewhat undercover - to be recognized only when due to be understood. Isaiah, as quoted above, testifies of an altar and pillar in the land of Egypt, which “shall be for a sign and for a witness unto the Lord of hosts in the land of Egypt.” In the context shows that it shall be a witness in the day when the great Savior and Deliverer shall come to break the chains of oppression and to set at liberty captives - of which things our Lord preached at his first advent (Luke 4:18.) The scope of this prophecy is but dimly seen, however until Egypt is recognized as a symbol or type of the world of mankind, full of vein philosophies, which only darken their understandings, but ignorant of the true light. ((Charles Taze Russell, Series III of Russell’s Studies in the Scriptures: They Kingdom Come; Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society, Allegheny, PA, 1907, p. 315))
Notice the language here. We would know that the pyramid was built “under God’s direction” if we can find some allusion to it in Scripture. Russell then goes on to argue that indeed the Great Pyramid is found in Scripture - but it was a secret which God would later reveal near the end times just prior to the return of Jesus. And why should anyone believe that? Because, in Russell���s circular reasoning, we now have something outside of the Bible – the Great Pyramid – with which to interpret the secrets of Scripture.
And what of the Enneagram? If is a truly an essential spiritual tool, might we “reasonably expect some allusion to it in the written Word of God,” as Russell said of the sacred secrets of the pyramid? We can only surmise that it was evidently part of God’s purpose to keep the Enneagram a secret as well! Evidently, it was a very well-kept secret indeed, hidden from the church and individual Christians for all these many centuries, though they had the Bible the whole time! And yet, according to its promoters - New Age mystical promoters we might add - it is the very face of God with each number being one’s personal path to God! That sounds critically important to the Christian’s salvation and walk! Would God keep such a vital secret from His people for all these centuries, while at the same time safeguarding the secret in the hands of mystics and occultists?
The Enneagram and Pyramidology are more closely related than appears at first glance, even aside fact that they share the devotion of PD Ouspensky. Like former Presbyterian Charles Russell found the secrets to Christian salvation and prophecy in occultic Pyramidology, too many of today’s Christians are finding mystical connections with God - which they seem unable to find in Scripture – in the occult medium of the Enneagram.
Was the church completely in the dark until Christians embraced the Enneagram in 2016 - or have Christians allowed themselves to be led into darkness by mystical charlatans?
© 2020, Midwest Christian Outreach, Inc All rights reserved. Excerpts and links may be used if full and clear credit is given with specific direction to the original content.
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1. Regular Form.
2. Human Form.
Name: Ahkenaton Ralïs
(Ahh-Ken-aten Rallies)
Age & Date of birth: He has no recorded birth date, but he is approximately 756 years old.
Species: He is a Ghoul.
Gender: Male
Orientation: Questioning and that is all that he says about that.
Fandom: Original character from my netherworld series.
Warnings: Dictatorship, death, amnesia, capture, God complexes, Necromancers.
Biography: During the reign of the Dictator Queen, she had a campaign where she killed many sorcerers because she was afraid of their powers. She didn’t want anyone to usurp her, and she saw their deaths as a mean to an end. An Egyptian sorcerer by the name of Amisi could see the future and she saw that the Queen was coming after her. She knew that she was going to die. The Queen had already killed her husband, who was the ruling death god, and she knew that she couldn’t fight her on her own. She made a decision to hide information in different parts of time, where the Queen could find them. She was eventually killed, but as part of the Queen’s experiments, her genes and DNA were taken and cloned.
Akhenaton was made, and he was one of the Queen’s most ruthless soldiers. He was stronger than his colleagues, and they didn’t trust him because he was too good at his job. He was eventually moved to the Queen’s Elite squad where he worked with a few other people. They never used their real names, but he was referred to as Jackal, while the others were Wolf, Doe, Leech, Snake, and Vulture respectively. The strangest member was Vulture, who was a creature known as an Avvoltoi and he had his own agenda, but he still worked with them.
Ahkenaton worked with this Elite Squad for a while and things were going well until he started getting these migraines. These migraines were terrible and for some reason he kept on seeing visions of a woman, children, and people that he did not know. One day he was walking when he saw a ghostly woman waiting for him. She introduced herself as Amisi and she said that she was part of him. She explained everything to him and although it was hard to believe, he listened to her. He soon learned that he had this time traveling ability like her, so every once in a while he would follow her instructions and speak with her in these time rifts.
This went on for a few years, until he got a tip from Amisi. She told him that he should “Be wary of Vulture”. This tip made him paranoid, and as he was training with him, he would avoid him at all costs. When Ahken was having a conversation with Amisi, he heard something and saw that Vulture had followed him into the time rift. He confronted him and Vulture told him that he had been following him the whole time. He wasn’t going to tell the Queen because he got tired of her too, and this was the only place where he could get away from her. When he asked him why he didn’t leave, he said that he was stuck because the Queen owned his contract. With that the two of them became good friends. He learned that his name was Sette, and he was a pretty cool guy.
The Queen was growing mad with power and she saw anyone as a threat to her. She was close to waging a war against the Reapers; a war that would literally throw the world off balance, but she had one thing to attend to. Ahken and Sette were becoming more than friends and she noticed this. In her opinion, she was supposed to be worshiped and loved. She was enraged and she took her anger out on the people of the Netherworld. It made her more mad that unlike the others, Akhenaton refused to follow her orders, and he went into hiding. Her Elite squad was coming apart, and she was loosing everything. She forgot to keep up her end of the bargain and she had to give up her contract with Sette. He eventually ran away, but she had one more trick up her sleeve.
Her soldier, Leech was a necromancer, and he was the key to destroying the Reapers. The two of them went to the soul valley and he started to summon a strong spell.
Amisi told Ahken about this and he made a hard decision. Before he did, he created a contract with Sette, who told him that he had to be locked away. He hated to do this, but if the Queen or Leech had his contract then they would be unstoppable. Ahken had someone that he cared about, and he did not want anything to happen to him, so he put him into hiding.
That night, Ahken appeared where the Necromancer and the Queen were. Under the guise that he wanted to join them, he stood around, then without warning he killed Leech and the Dictator Queen. As she died, she smiled. She told him that his life was connected to hers, and because of this betrayl, He would suffer a terrace fate. He would cease to exist. He acknowledged this, took her head and he brought it to the Reapers.
They were appalled, and he confessed to killing her himself. They had no idea what to do, so they locked him in prison, which he didn’t mind at all. The Dictator Queen was right, and he became a lifeless husk. For the next 300 years he was like this until the next Death God came into power. He awoke to a new time and a new ruler. The sad thing was that during those 300 years, his memories disappeared. All that he knew was that he killed the Dictator Queen, and that is was his job to make sure that the new ruler was doing their job correctly.
Appearance: Akhenaton has one of the most distinctive appearance in the netherworld. He’s 6'4, and he has long, back length, black hair that almost looks indigo. It’s always parted down the middle, and it is straight. His skin is brown but it has a dead pallor to it, so he looks slightly blue. He has an androgynous appearance.
His lips are solid black and he has very piercing eyes. His sclera are always orange, but his pupils and irises change color depending on his mood. On his back he does have these bone spikes along his spine like a dinosaur and a bone tail. He’s always seen wearing this battle armor and he has blueish-black tattoos on his skin.
His “human” appearance looks the same, but his eyes are hazel colored.
Personality: Akhenaton is an extremely serious person. Almost to the point that he comes off as being a jerk. He does not laugh much, and smiling is foreign to him. He has been known to walk away from someone in the middle of a conversation because he has better things to do.
Despite his prickly nature, he is actually very compassionate when it comes to his soldiers and protecting the Netherworld. He is like the security advisor, and he has to stay alert all the time. He acts like this because he was the Dictator Queen’s second in command and she was a perfectionist.
Favourite & Least Favourite things:
Favorites: He loves his armor, he likes training his soldiers, he likes when soldiers listen, and he likes his good friend, Nikolaj.
Least favorite things: He literally hates everything, but if he had to pick his most least favorite things things they would be that he does not like insubordination, magic, being late, people who don’t listen, and food. He can’t physically eat it, so don’t give it to him.
Strengths and Weaknesses:
Skills: Ahken is a ghoul that has the ability to teleport and travel through time. This is a rare ability to have and he uses it to its fullest. He is also incapable of dying, and he is extremely fast.
Strengths: He has a serious code of honor. Although he does not act like this, he is a just and devoted person.
Weaknesses: His personality. He is so harsh and critical that barely anyone likes to work with him. He can hold his own in a fight, but he is generally alone. He would never admit it, but he can become overwhelmed in a fight.
Additional notes:
7 Facts about Akhenaton!
1. He did not know that he left Nazzaereno in hiding in a dungeon for 300 years.
2. Black eyes = Good Mood
3. He likes children because “They are in corrupted and they will tell you the truth”.
4. He has the ability to kill a death god, so he is known as the “Reaper Slayer”.
5. He’s rarely seen with his armor off. He always expects trouble.
6. He does have fun. His idea of fun is time traveling.
7. If he’s told that he has a meeting at 8:00 Am, he will get there promptly at 7:59.
((Art by Me!))
#murder#gore#original#body horror#death#submission#oh heck that's a story and a half#evangelionunitkenway
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Mission Log: Black Sun, Red Sand
Objective: Aid Council of Venice operations in area. Investigate unusual shipping activities. Halt the rise of Akhenaten and the Black Sun, Aten.
Location: Valley of the Sun God, Egypt
- Points of Interest: al-Merayah (village), Oxford Dig, Temple City Amarna, Pyramid of Akhenaten
Investigation Summary (1 of 3):
Week 1: Arrival at Valley of the Sun God (January 1 - January 7)
On exiting the Agartha gate outside of al-Merayah, the village at the heart of the reported incidents, I was immediately met with combat between the Atenist (cultist) and Marya (local militia) forces, as well as atrocities committed by the Atenists on the outskirts of town. Much of the first week was spent assisting Shani, the leader of the Marya, and Council of Venice Operative Amparo Osorio, the contact I was sent to work with.
Over the course of my early investigations and work to defend the village against the cultists, I was introduced to Zhara, a cafe owner living in the village having moved from elsewhere, who shared some of the local history. From her, I first learned of Abdel Daoud, the Atenists head prophet, and an Orochi growing operation that had opened a few years ago.
Exploration of the Orochi-owned date farm revealed that it had been taken over by cultists and that, at some point, the date palm roots had grown into an underground Filth pool, poisoning the fruit. The Atenists then used the contaminated fruit to aid in their forced conversion and torture of al-Merayah’s villagers and captured Marya warriors. Additionally, it was determined that items were being shipped from the Orochi-owned warehouse to Cape Town, South Africa where no Orochi facilities are known to be located. The man responsible was aware of my presence and attempted to threaten me off with a note identifying himself a ‘B’ - later established to stand for Berihun.
Week 2: The Atenists and the Marya (January 8 - January 14)
On the evening of the 7th leading into the 8th, Shani and her contact with the Kingdom, an influential Egyptian organization known for their artifact dealings, were attacked by someone believed to have information from within the Marya. Investigation uncovered the culprit was a Dragon operative intended to infiltrate the Atenists and apparently gone rogue. Correspondences between the culprit and Berihun were discovered in the culprit’s residence. The culprit was ultimately tracked down and dealt with before he could cause any more harm.
Not long after, I gained access to some of the tunnels beneath al-Merayah, specifically those leading to one of the Atenist temples. There I witnessed an exchange between Daoud and Berihun regarding their agreement: Daoud was to use his followers to collect artifacts for Berihun(‘s organization), in exchange for support in taking over the valley. Neither appeared to feel like they were getting what was promised. I followed Berihun back to the surface to witness a second exchange with the Kingdom’s representative, Saïd. Berihun demanded the Kingdom handle a second shipment for him which Saïd refused, citing Berihun as too dangerous to work with.
The next few days were spent assisting the Marya in various endeavors, such as closing down the tunnel to the temple and incapacitating a pumping station that was drawing Filth instead of water.
On January 14th, I was approached by Khalid el Sayad, a 3500+ year old man who shared what he knew of the region’s history and the current events. Key points: He was responsible for the original Plagues of Egypt, said plagues have happened several times over the years, the current plagues were caused by someone from outside of the valley and would have to be resolved by someone from outside of the valley. Later that day, I was also contacted by Saïd to suggest I visit the local tea house. There, I overheard another meeting between Daoud and Berihun discussing a planned attack on the village.
Week 3: Costs of Doing Business (January 15 - January 21)
I started the week by locating the tunnels the Atenists intended to use for their attack and preventing them from making any further progress. While there, I came across evidence of Phoenician involvement: Atenists had killed a Phoenician agent for an artifact and stolen explosives from him to use against the village.
The evidence also indicated that the operative’s superior, later identified as Tanis, was still in the village. I would attempt to make contact with her over the next couple of days, witnessing her commit an assassination on one of Saïd’s men and discuss her business dealings with Saïd and Berihun before I got a chance to meet with her face-to-face. The Kingdom had declared the were no longer doing business with the Phoenicians either, apparently over their connections to Berihun and his organization (theorized to be the Morninglight).
The rest of the week was spent assisting Tanis and Saïd with their respective difficulties with the Atenists: Tanis in recovering the artifacts and supplies stolen from her people and Saïd in getting his people out of harm’s way. The artifacts were determined to be powerful Third Age devices and were placed under Illuminati custody rather than returned to the Phoenicians.
Week 4: Delving Through the Past (January 22 - January 28)
I ended up crossing paths with Khalid el Sayad again after preventing the Atenists from opening the locks on the river leading out of the valley. He pointed me in the direction of Sol Glorificus, an ancient Roman city built by Deus Sol Invictus cultists as they fled to the south to avoid persecution. While in the valley, they interacted and mixed beliefs with the followers of the Aten before being defeated and driven out by the Marya. In the present day, Atenist necromancers were raising the mummified Romans to aid in their ongoing attacks on the village. I was able to dispatch both the necromancers and the raised soldiers.
Over the next few days, Khalid encouraged me to work with his brother - in the form of a brushfire! - to learn more about the original instance of the Egyptian plagues and recreate several of them on a smaller scale. Doing so uncovered a series of tablets containing the actual story of what happened. Many of the plagues were caused by Khalid’s (Moses’s? Aaron’s?) staff, a likely Third Age device. Akhenaten was unphased by the suffering of his people and instead took inspiration from the brothers, seeking out a staff of his own to use against them. After driving the brothers and their allies and followers from the valley, Akhenaten turned the staff on his own people to force them into service to the Aten. It would take some time for the brothers to return to overthrow the pharaoh.
I was unable to collect the staff for storage as it turned into a snake and returned itself to Khalid.
I returned to the village to find they were experiencing a rash of disappearances in the time I was away, including a Council envoy. Following the trail lead me to the Hotel Wahid International which had been taken over by cultists, and then taken again by ghouls. The ghouls and their jinn leader had kept the hostages taken by the cultists in hopes of exchanging them for favors with the Council of Venice.
Week 5: Arbeh (January 29 - February 4)
Further exploration of the hotel revealed it to be the place where Saïd had taken up temporary residence. He informed me that an Atenist sect had claimed a nearby tourist attraction temple and had taken to worshipping a local minor locust god called Arbeh. With his help, I accessed the Marya archives to recover an artifact to defeat the god and disperse its worshippers.
On the morning of February 4, the Council of Venice’s equipment picked up what was believed to be a distress call from a plane - later confirmed to be Orochi-owned - that had been struck by a fireball from the sky the day before.
Week 6: Rifts (February 5 - February 11)
Following the distress signal received the previous day, I traveled to the Eastern Scar, where one of the larger volcanic rifts had opened up. While I was unable to do anything for the person who sent out the call or the unidentified items they were trying to protect, exploration of the scar revealed the rifts to be Hellish in origin. Magma golems displaced by the rifts were responsible for the hail of fire seen from the village. The golems were successfully broken up and settled back underground.
While working at the scar, I came across and reactivated an Orochi ‘Clairvoyance’ drone which lead me back to the camp that had dispatched it. The camp, part of Orochi’s ‘Prometheus Initiative,’ had been overrun by Filth-infected personnel. I disregarded orders to avoid contact with the Orochi Group to assist in containing the infection. The remaining personnel had no interest in the research being done and allowed me full access to any materials on-site.
My investigation uncovered that the lead scientists heading this division of the Prometheus Initiative (Klein, Shirui, and Themis) had become infected early on - Klein in particular had been infected years prior - and went on to infect their personnel via direct experimentation on them and reckless safety decisions. The site, an ancient underground temple known as the Ankh, was believed to be the birthplace of Atenism, where Akhenaten first encountered and exposed his people to his god directly. From Dr. Shirui’s research notes, I learned that he and Dr. Klein were attempting to develop more powerful strains of Filth contaminant to produce specific mutations. Dr. Themis, on the other hand, was working a neighboring pump station that was drawing Filth from the ground. Drs. Shirui and Themis were killed during this time.
Continued research suggests the Prometheus Initiative may have been about seeking out the Filth all along, though the intent behind doing so is still unknown. Speculation includes looking for ways to inoculate against it or to weaponize it.
Week 7: The Ankh (February 12 - February 18)
On February 12, I entered the Ankh itself and was contacted almost immediately by Dr. Klein. I pursued him to the bottom of the Filth-saturated temple, eliminating his test subjects and ex-personnel as I went. While I was able to do considerable damage to the doctor and his work, I would later find that he would survive his injuries and is believed to still be in the Ankh at current.
The high levels of exposure and injuries sustained in the Ankh required a few days of recovery time, following which I further stabilized the Eastern scar region.
On February 18, I was contacted by Saïd to suggest I meet with the remaining archaeologists of the Oxford dig and did so.
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Reunited, the latest book in Colleen Houk’s Reawakened series is coming out on August 8th! I couldn’t be more excited for the book, and I’m thrilled to have Colleen on the blog today to give us all the details about the magical creatures that can be found in this captivating series!
About the Book
Title: REUNITED
Author: Colleen Houck
Pub. Date: August 8, 2017
Publisher: Delacorte Press
Pages: 446
Formats: Hardcover, eBook, audiobook
Find it: Amazon, Barnes&Noble, iBooks, TBD, Goodreads
After surviving her otherworldly adventure, Lily wakes up on her nana’s farm having forgotten everything. Her sun prince, her travels to Egypt, and her journey to the Afterlife are all distant memories.
But Lily is not the girl she once was. Her body is now part human, part lion, and part fairy. And if that isn’t bad enough, she must now harness this power of three and become Wasret: a goddess destined to defeat the evil god Seth once and for all.
With the help of her old friend Dr. Hassan, Lily departs on her final voyage through the cosmos and across the plains of Egypt. On the journey, she will transform into the being she is destined to become.
Reunited is the heart-pounding conclusion to the Reawakened series.
It is time for Lily to find her sunset.
Author Guest Post with Colleen Houck:
Magical Creatures in the Reawakened Series
I love adding magical creatures of all kinds into my books. Some are based on mythology while others are film or television inspired. A few come straight from my imagination. Here they are in no particular order.
Unicorns-My unicorns are the color of the sand and sparkle ground mica, though they do have a variety of shades. They gave up the right to their alicorns and so they look like simple desert horses but these horses have wings and can fly through dimensions. They are naturally at odds with lions as the two magical species have been at odds for quite some time. (Find image on Pinterest.)
Mummies-You can’t talk about Egypt without referencing mummies. I loved The Mummy movie franchise and thought it would be fun to twist it around and have my mummies be the good guys. There’s still plenty of scary mummy action for the purists out there. (Find image on Pinterest.)
Fairies-This is a strange one when considering that I’m writing Egypt. For those who have read my tiger series, you know I love fairies. Ashleigh came from the frequent niece requests to have one of them be a fairy. Well, that plus I found an amazing picture of a fairy tree on Pinterest and it fit the image of Ashleigh in my mind. (Find image on Pinterest.)
Biloko Demons-This one came from a mythology book. Biloko are crocodile-like demons who walk on two legs but still have a tail. They are either white or, in my case, invisible. (Find image here.)
Zombies-You can’t have a necromancer without zombies. In Reawakened, my mummies fight a powerful necromancer who raises a zombie army to fight for him, including crocodile mummies. (Find image on Pinterest)
Falcon/Ibis/Crane-These are the avian versions of my Egyptian princes. They have the ability to transform into giant birds that are common in Egypt. Amon’s golden falcon was a gift from Horus and is, in fact, an actual independent creature. (Find image on Pinterest.)
Sphinx-My sphinx follows the Greek version more than the Egyptian. The sphinx is female and has various abilities including sharp claws, wings, and the ability to control the wind. (Find image on Pinterest.)
Shabtis-These are clay figurines placed in tombs to act as servants. In my books they can be used to summon actual servants bound to do the bidding of the summoner. (Find image on Pinterest.)
Giant Crocodile-My necromancer villain in Reawakened, transforms himself into a Godzilla-like giant crocodile that terrorizes my heroes. (Find image on Pinterest.)
Fire Scorpions-These creatures are bound to the Netherworld where they serve the Queen of the Dead, also known as The Devourer. Their exoskeletons burn red hot and they can shoot fire from their tails. (Find image on Pinterest.)
Fairy Trees-These are special trees, cared for by fairies. The trees are sentient and communicate to their fairy keepers. They also produce a special healing sap and can hide people inside their trunks for safety. (Find image on Pinterest.)
Reapers-A cross between a grim reaper and a white hornet. My reapers work for the Queen of the Dead harvesting crops of ghosts for her to consume. They are hive centered creatures who carry sickles but can also sting. Their mandibles clack as they work. (Find image on Pinterest.)
Serin-An evil version of a mermaid, serin live in the Cosmic River where they hunt for creatures that traverse the waters. They can be distracted by a gold coin which just happens to be the price to ride the ferryman’s boat. (Find image on Pinterest.)
Menfishers-Underwater spiders who fashion sticky nets they use to trap ships and other prey. Once the net has caught something, they rise from the depths to finish off whatever unfortunate creature wriggled in their dripping web. (Find image on Pinterest.)
Apep-The giant snake that lives in the cosmic river. His eyes are so mesmerizing, he can convince his victims to walk right into his mouth. He particularly loves chasing Cherty’s boat and swallowing the ghosts that cling to the sides of his ship. (Find image on Pinterest.)
Jackals (hellhounds)-A large pack of jackals, otherwise known as hellhounds, live in the Netherworld and are subject to the Devourer. They can cause their bodies to dissolve into smoke which makes them nearly impossible to kill. (Find image on Pinterest.)
Giant spider-In Reunited you’ll meet a cosmic spider. Once her web connected the stars but she was cast out for eating all her kind to absorb their power. A seer in her own right, she creates giant webs depicting the lives of her victims before she sucks them dry. She was inspired by a mixture of African folklore and the spider in The Lord of the Rings. (Find image on Pinterest.)
Banshee-Banshees sing beautifully. Sometimes they are called sirens but my sirens don’t sing you to your death, they sing of your death so listening is both terrific and terrible. They cannot die themselves for they have given up death so they sing to others as penance. (Find image on Pinterest.)
Sky Demons-A cross between a bat and a gargoyle, the Devourer uses sky demons as warriors to battle our heroes. They have sharp talons and a sky demon’s skin is very tough to penetrate. (Find image on Pinterest.)
Ghosts-Since the Netherworld is the home for the dead, it is full of ghosts. Some journey there to learn to slay their demons while others struggle futilely, unwilling to let go of the thing that tethers them to the soil. (Find image on Pinterest.)
Giant Worm-The necromancer sends a giant worm to battle our heroes. He is purple and blind but he had sharp teeth in a wide mouth and spews poison clouds. He was inspired by the worms in Dune. (Find image on Pinterest.)
About Colleen
New York Times Bestselling author Colleen Houck is a lifelong reader whose literary interests include action, adventure, paranormal, science fiction, and romance. When she’s not busy writing, she likes to spend time chatting on the phone with one of her six siblings, watching plays, and shopping online. Colleen has lived in Arizona, Idaho, Utah, California, and North Carolina and is now permanently settled in Salem, Oregon with her husband and a huge assortment of plush tigers.
Website | Twitter | Facebook | Pinterest | Goodreads | YouTube | Instagram
Enter the Giveaway!
3 winners will receive a finished copy of REUNITED, US Only.
Follow the Blog Tour!
Thanks so much to Rockstar Book Tours for hosting this tour! Be sure to check out their website here as well as the other amazing posts on this tour!
Week One:
7/31/2017- YA Books Central– Interview
8/1/2017- Here’s to Happy Endings– Review
8/2/2017- YA and Wine– Guest Post
8/3/2017- a GREAT read– Review
8/4/2017- Two Chicks on Books– Interview
Week Two:
8/7/2017- Tales of the Ravenous Reader–Review
8/8/2017- Ohana Reads– Guest Post
8/9/2017- Seeing Double In Neverland– Review
8/10/2017- The Cover Contessa– Interview
8/11/2017- Riddle’s Reviews– Review
Have you started reading the Reawakened series yet? What is your favorite creature from Colleen’s bestiary?
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Author Guest Post: The Magical Creatures of the REAWAKENED Series Reunited, the latest book in Colleen Houk's Reawakened series is coming out on August 8th! I couldn't be more excited for the book, and I'm thrilled to have Colleen on the blog today to give us all the details about the magical creatures that can be found in this captivating series!
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