City of the Elder Things, or the Plateau of Leng / Kadath in the Cold Waste
Inspired by my re-reading of At the Mountains of Madness, I declare Lovecraft March! Worldbuilding notes, reviews, and essays to follow.
Worldbuilding Wednesday 3/2/22: Battle of the Gargantuas (Syfy monster movies)
Sharktopus (top, a shark’s head walking around on tentacles) tangles it up with Whalewolf (bottom, a human-armed orca-canine hybrid)
In the 2000s and 2010s, that purveyor of quality entertainment, the SyFy channel, released over 200 original made-for-TV movies, which, given the network’s name, could only peripherally be called science fiction. Most were what was once called B-movies, variations on disasters, monsters both mythic and human-created, and horror… and often all three, with the addition of Wild West, post-apocalyptic, and sword-and-sandal settings. In other words, what might once have been broadcast on a UHF channel on some Saturday afternoon in ages past.
The prize jewel of this particular crown is, of course, Sharknado, which spawned four sequels and slew of imitators (Tsharknami and Sharkalanche, to name two.) But this post isn’t about weather/monster disasters. It’s about the monsters.
These creatures were all giant, super-charged, and malevolent toward mankind, badass beasts often combined with other badass beasts. Most were variations on sharks, dinosaurs, giant pythons, more sharks, piranhas, and crocodilians: Dinoshark, Piranhaconda, Megapython, Gatoroid. Added elements were ice and fire, as in Ice Spiders and Fire Serpent. Mythical creatures also made appearances, like chupacabras, hydras, dragons, kraken.
When you think about it, though, there were plenty of other creatures the producers might have chosen, yet they stuck to a limited few. Bulls are certainly big, mean, and destructive, yet no one made a Bullgator or Octobull. There’s also a lack of Megascorpions and Centitanopedes, so I wonder what exactly the criteria was.
The most popular of these movies pitted one creature against another: Dinocroc vs. Supergator, Sharktopus vs. Whalewolf. I myself haven’t seen any of these films, though many viewer, at their most generous, call them mindless cheesy fun, and those less generous, atrocious. So I can’t attest to their quality. But I can attest to how easily they can spawn fresh, imaginary hybrids to stalk our nightmares.
Battle of the Gargantuas: Who will win?
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Chimericane Ultraphant Helljaws Crocohog Wolversaur Squidsquatch Biovulture Titanoclam Krakensaurus Space Gorilla Tuskviper Hyenadingo |
vs.
vs. vs. vs. vs. vs. vs. vs. vs. vs. vs. vs. |
Spiderviathan
Dinoscorpion Cobraconda Tyrannoboa Moledragon Lavawhale Cyberwing Grizzlyshark The Iron Amoeba Robo-Maw Yetipotamus The Piranobats |
The Daunting Chimera
Artwork by BW Osagi
Another fine chimera, adhering to the monster’s female gender, with dragon, lion, and goat heads, dragon wings, and a snake’s tail — with hair!
Worldbuilding Wednesday 2/23/22: Chimerae
The Classic Chimera, a goofy-looking beast if you ask me.
Pretty much anyone with a passing knowledge of Greek mythology or fantasy gaming knows what a chimera is, right? Part lion, part goat, and part snake, embodied in this Etruscan bronze statuette. It’s a goofy-looking beast in its original form. It has a lion body (note, however, the body looks more canine than leonine), a goat’s head — which is said to breathe fire — embedded in the middle of its back, and a tail that is a snake. The snake’s head bites the goat’s horn, and the lion head seems to be crying out in pain, though this may be due to the fact it was discovered in pieces and re-assembled incorrectly. Still, I like the metaphor of a creature at perpetual war with itself.
In myth, the monster was born of monsters, and, interestingly, was a she. In the story of Bellerophon and Pegasus Bellerophon kills her on the orders of the king of Lycia, who never dreamed the hero would survive the mission. But the chimera’s real legacy was in art. Popular as a decoration for vases, plates, and figurines, its usage extended into Roman times.
In modern times chimera as a word has become a way to reference any kind of mixed-up-creature, and in the biology community, a creature with more than one set of DNA, for example, this cat. A type of ghost shark is also named a chimera.
But, for fantasy writers, readers, and gamers, the chimera will always be the tripartite creature. When the first edition of Dungeons and Dragons was released in the late 1970s, the chimera featured prominently as one of the higher-level monsters for characters to conquer. The original D&D chimera stuck to the appearance of the statue, but later came another version, the Greater Chimera, that had three heads side-by-side on the creature’s front: dragon, lion, and goat, plus dragon wings, and this later, sexier version seems to have become the standard for modern depictions.
There are other depictions, of course, which get rid of that awkward goat’s head on the back. Some artists put the lion and goat head together on the same neck, while others eliminate the goat entirely, giving the lion head goat horns to hint at this identity. Often the heads are swapped around, tigers, eagles, and sharks being some others I’ve seen. But for all of them, at least lately, the idea of three creatures melded together remains, and the idea of three different heads.
Arctic Chimera – walrus, ice dragon, polar bear
Forest Chimera – antelope, lion, wolf
Ocean Chimera – dolphin, moray eel, anglerfish, kraken
Classic Chimera as a furry (Ricard Rivera)
Gamer John Crowley has come up with variations on the chimera at his site the wanderingalchemist.com in the posts here, here, and here. In the same spirit, here are some randomgenned chimeras whose descriptions wrote themselves.
Different kinds of chimerae
| Shumyra: This variant of the classic chimera has the heads of a bull, a tiger, and a cobra. Its body is that of a tiger but it has the scaled belly and tail of a cobra. This variant enjoys swimming and lives in tropical or semi-tropical areas. It is slightly larger than, but also slower, than its classic brethren and its cobra bite is, of course, poisonous. Shumyra are known to make pests of themselves preying on humanoid settlements. They are proud and entitled creatures and collect treasure like dragons.
Chaffera: Also a tropical chimera variant, this creature has the heads of a deer, a jaguar, and a python, with the python’s long tail. Its body is that of the jaguar but its leg and feet are of a deer. Chaffera prefer to strangle with their python tail in most situations. They are a shy creature, but charmed by music, especially flute music. Chrymeera: The chrymeera is found in mountains and high hills. Its heads are those of a mountain goat, a gray wolf, and a salamander. The salamander head can breathe fire and also makes the monster impervious to fire. It is a reclusive creature, much smaller than the classic chimera, but able to leap nimbly up and down high cliffs on its mountain goat hooves, while its lupine hindquarters propel it from behind. It seems to feed on hares, pikas, and marmots. Its wolf head tends to be the dominant one and may make it more amenable to human taming. Ephemera: This awe-inspiring creature has the heads of a unicorn, a white lion, and an equally white snake, all with golden eyes. Its body is that of the lion, but with the high legs of a horse. Unlike most chimerae, it has a good alignment. It is a curious, confidant creature endowed with simple magical powers, among them invisibility and healing. Though it has no wings, it can fly by galloping through the air. It has an air of wonderment around it, in that all those who see it will gape and marvel and forget whatever they were doing at the moment. Ephemera usually feed only with their unicorn head on plant matter. Every once in a while, they feel the urge to eat meat, which is a source of embarrassment for them, and they will try to do so in private. A good way to blackmail an ephemera is to catch one doing so. Gimhida: The gimidha swells in dark forests. Its heads are those of a ram, a leopard, and a basilisk. The basilisk head can turn beings into stone with a peck from its beak, but the gimhida only uses it as a last resort on a more powerful enemy, as it has to come too close. Usually it will bite and claw. It has a leopard’s body, but its feet and giant claws are those of the basilisk. A magical aura of horrendous despair surrounds this creature and even its appearance looks shadowed, as if it lives under a dark cloud. Gimidha eat anything a leopard eats. |
Women of The Witcher
Adda the White
Cosplayer, photographer, and stylist Milligan Vick of Deviantart has created some mesmerizing portraits of The Witcher’s female characters, like the one of Adda the White at the top. Adda, for those who don’t remember Season 1 on Netflix, is the king’s daughter who becomes a striga, a vampirelike supernatural being whom Geralt must defeat, and cure. This portrait (not based on the TV show) seems to show her knowledge that she is changing in how she is hovering protectively over her meat, which is raw. There is tension in her face, and confusion, but she cuts into it anyway. I love the contrast of light and dark here, the red hair with red lips, dress, and gloves, while the meat is a different shade of pinkish-red. I mistook it at first for an oil painting, it’s that smooth and composed. The unadorned white plate, the silver utensils, the lonely pork chop, are Magritte-like in their simplicity and sense of surrealism, and that’s why I like it.
Below, portraits of two more lovelies.
Yennefer of Vengerberg
Princess Cirilla (Ciri)
Worldbuilding Wednesday 2/16/22: The Witcher
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Which Witcher? Hot, hairy, and handsome, in an open-collar shirt, or grizzled, scarred, and dressed for business?
Andrzej Sapkowski’s The Witcher series (reviewed by me here) has a naming convention for characters that is all over the map, yet taken as a whole, also unlike any Western fantasy I’ve read. There are names derived from French (Jacques), Italian (Vilgefortz), English folklore and fairy tales (Triss Merigold, Mousesack), Latin (Artorius), German (Reidrich, Sabrina) as well as Polish (Adda, Laszlo, Sigismund, Vesemir). The Elder language the mages speak for their spells, and that of the Elves, is based on ancient Celtish; for what else would an elf speak?
Despite the hodgepodge, the majority of names do stick out as sounding Polish or Eastern European, and I’ve chosen that model for the randomgennings here.
Proper names from The Witcher universe
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FEMALE Agánthe Anra Calaia Cerina Enetta Esfor Eyanthe Falra Gietta Hadilla Ílyrina Jiranthe Karoila Kirra Korina Lédrua Líra Mádirina Maiafa Mimischina Nadilla Nalanthe Odetta Odilla Pakarla Patraia Ramothy Rowetti Saia Shaldra Timirlana Tissanthe Yenenthe Yerilla Zaltina |
MALE Afel Besemir Dald Thyir Esiel Ethrald Etir Ildreld Ithalt Jirvyal Dugal Kachnir Kald Wialter Mert Curcichel Munalt Obralt Obrywald Olithert Othan Othert Ráfemal Ralt Rythralt Shald Vael Sysgert Thibert Threchald Trevanthier Trubel Uriald Usal Vebremalt Vercithal Vestaujier Weillan Ygafort Ythiert |
The Witcher, Season 1 and 2 [Review]
Witcher Geralt of Rivia (Henry Cavill) ponders how the candles of the chandelier behind him all burn at exactly the same rate and intensity.
The Witcher, based on the writings of Polish fantasy author Andrzej Sapkowski, debuted on Netflix in 2019 and has remained one of its top draws ever since. It’s not hard to see why. The series is full of action, adventure, and romance, tempered with a wry, dry, typically Polish sense of humor.
The Netflix show is actually the latest media production in a string of many that began 35 years ago when Andrzej Sapkowski wrote his first Witcher story. His creation has gone on to spawn six novels, several collections of short stories, two collections of Witcher short fiction spinoffs written by other Polish and Ukrainian authors, two comic series, one Polish, one American; and a Polish language TV series. Clearly it’s a phenomenon the West has missed out on, save for a series of successful video games which began release in 2007.
Like the HBO version of Game of Thrones, The Witcher is fantasy for adults. There’s nudity and sex, gore, violence, and moral ambiguity; but instead of pre-Tudor England we’re in Eastern Europe, specifically Poland and the areas around Poland – Germany, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania. There’s an ornate heaviness in the sets, costumes, and depictions of castles, while the commoner’s wooden cottages are scrubbed clean with painted designs on the walls and curtains at the windows. This world is civilized, more cultured. Yet superstition abounds – a very Balkan type of superstition, based on life debts, fear of magic and monsters, and xenophobia, for Elves are this world’s undercaste.
Worldbuilding Wednesday 2/9/22: Let’s Talk About -stan
Central Asian warrior princess
After the dissolution of the Soviet Union in the 1990s a slew of new countries came into being that ended with -stan: Uzbekistan, Kazahkstan, Tajikstan, Turkmenistan, and Kyrgyzstan. This Central Asian quintet joins two existing -stans, Pakistan and Afghanistan, bringing the total to seven. They are known collectively as “The Stans.”
And what does -stan, or more precisely, -istan, mean, anyway? Well, it’s from the Persian language, meaning nothing more than “land.” So, Uzbekistan is the land of the Uzbeks, Kazahkstan the land of the Kazahks, and so on.
By this definition, there are plenty of other -stan locales that never made it to full country status, such as Baluchistan (which gave its name to the world’s largest land mammal, the Baluchitherium), Nurastan, Dagustan, Uyghuristan (better known as Xinjiang) and Turkestan, which often serves as a catch-all name for the entire Central Asian region. The Persians also refer to Western countries by -stan suffixes. India was Hindustan, Hungary Majarestan, etc.
Need a fantasy Central Asian kingdom of your own?
Central Asian Nations
| Anghirastan
Amaristan Aprastan Azbakastan Bachuqstan Byrustan Chakrastan Dadjistan Hachustan Janchustan Kaligstan Kimezstan Kurkushtan Lakapstan Lingustan Lozistan |
Mundustan Pellistan Pungustan Qibiristan Rhaabistan Rondistan Sarzistan Szyrgistan Tandestan Tzubakistan Ursustan Usakistan Uzwachustan Vindestan Yaschestan Zundistan |
Djinn
This lovely cover for Vol. 12 of the graphic novel series Djinn is by Spanish illustrator Ana Miralles, who also serves as the series’ artist. Djinn is an adult-oriented (read: lots of sex) action-adventure-intrigue story about harem life in the Ottoman Empire.
Worldbuilding Wednesday 2/2/22: Emotions You Never Knew You Had
The Plutchik Wheel of emotional states, a useful tool for therapists, and writers.
There’s a meme that keeps coming around, a list of terms for emotions that other cultures have, but not the English-speaking world. One of them is the marvelous term Schadenfreude, from German, that means the shameful joy you feel at another’s distress — like, say, Sarah Palin contracting COVID. Unlike many of the other feelings on the list, it’s one that’s actually worked its way into American culture, and seems here to stay.
So, in the spirit of fun, here are some randomgenned emotions in the same vein, filled out with some creative aryopschia.
Emotions you never knew you had
| Triscience: The discovery that a cruel, hated teacher is actually deeply unhappy
Udransis: The fearful urge to run away from a stranger with facial hair Opealisma: When you feel skeptical of a sibling’s seeming neglect of you and feel it’s all just an act to get your attention Elosis: The nauseating feeling that comes from attending a friend’s wedding when your own romantic situation is deeply shameful Uchopsia: The anxious vulnerability that comes with eating your favorite food in a public place and fearing someone you know will pass by and you’ll be obliged to exchange pleasantries with them while your food gets cold Blanguine: A state of complacency experienced by walking in the rain with no protection, but knowing that the weather will change soon. Shriritia: Feeling an improper desire in the presence of a member of the opposite sex who is sweating heavily Yecszaty: The unabashed urge to kiss a dying enemy and thank them Cryregalosmamic: Feeling too cold on Christmas morning to get out of bed and go downstairs to open your presents Drafiolism: Desperation one feels after graduating from a course of study and realizing you have no career plan Aryopschia: When you feel artistically inspired by the depth of a celebrity’s or other public figure’s grief Odardstät: The sudden urge to talk to a political figure and note the odor of their breath |