CURSED

It began in 1777....

Chief Cornstalk of the Shawnee tribe lay dying, shot by colonial settlers. As his lifeblood spilled onto the floor from no less than 8 bullet holes, he sucked in a rattling lungful of air, and said...

　

"I was the border man’s friend. Many times I have saved him and his people from harm. I never warred with you, but only to protect our wigwams and lands. I refused to join your paleface enemies with the red coats. I came to the fort as your friend and you murdered me. You have murdered by my side, my young son.... For this, may the curse of the Great Spirit rest upon this land. May it be blighted by nature. May it even be blighted in its hopes. May the strength of its peoples be paralyzed by the stain of our blood."

As Cornstalk's soul took leave of his flesh, the curse took hold of the town where he died, Point Pleasant, West Virginia, and the surrounding areas. For the next three hundred years, a series of freak accidents and suicides constantly plagued the area. This is the story of the most fearsome incident. This is the story....

...of the MOTHMAN.

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The year was 1966. Jack, and his friends (Elijah and Justine) were taking a visit to a popular tourist attraction in West Virginia. The TNT area was a WW2 explosives plant, formed by a number of concrete "igloos" and a few dilapidated old buildings consisting of rusting steel frames and a few brick walls, slowly disintegrating under time's relentless pressure. But Jack and the others weren't interested in that.

You see, another teenager, Jonas, had dared them to go there. At night. Naturally, they accepted, because it was just a dare to go to a place at night. So, there they were. They arrived, and all stepped out. Milling around the SUV, they were all agreeing this was the easiest fifty bucks any of them had ever made. Then, they heard a noise from the other side of the road. In the vague light of a faltering fluorescent tube, struggling valiantly to remain lit, they saw a vaguely human-shaped figure step out from the crumbling building.

The figure shuffled forward. It was covered in ragged gray hair, hanging limply from its arms and shoulders. It's arms were outstretched towards them, as they all stared at it. Then, it reached up and pulled off its face.

It was Jonas.

"What's the matter, you scared of my costume? Man, that was totally worth fifty dollars! You should see your guys' faces..."

He trailed off as he realized they were not, in fact looking at him.

Behind him was an apparition straight out of Hell. It stood at seven feet even, and was broader than a man. Its feet were pincer-like claws, razor-sharp and gleaming in the flickering light. Brown-gray mottled hair coated the entire creature. Wings the size of a small plane lay folded against its back and sides, with a single claw like a rail spike jutting from the "elbow."

It had no visible head.

But worst of all...

...were the EYES

Twin red lights glowered from the "chest" of the creature. The crimson light emitted by these fell orbs seemed to transfix those who regarded them with terror.

But Jonas saw nothing of this. Confused, he opened his mouth to say something to the petrified party across the street from him, when one of the talons pierced the base of his neck, blood spurting out of the wound onto the grass. The entity pulled, and Jonas' entire spinal column split away from his body, blood pouring from the wound as the backbone peeled away. Jonas made a gurgling noise, then toppled forward, his head cracking on the concrete as his blood surrounded him in a pool.

The entity took a step forward, the light from its eyes growing more intense as it focused on its prey. Its talons made a squelching noise as it trod over Jonas' carcasse, then a clicking noise as it began to cross the street.

Elijah was the first to recover.

"Get in the car!"

The other two reacted quickly and jumped in. Elijah was climbing in when the entity, moving with astounding speed, launched itself across the road at him. He was just closing the door when a talon closed around it, crumpling the metal like tinfoil. It gave a sharp tug and the door flew off with a metallic scream. Elijah then contributed his own scream as the creature's other talon flew into his stomach, slicing it wide open. The luckless teen stared as his entrails, loosed from his body, tumbled down onto the concrete. Then the first talon was back, closing around his head.

Justine had been fumbling with her camera during this, and managed to snap off a shot just as Elijah's skull burst like a melon, blood spattering everything in the car. Jack, who had been transfixed, now stomped on the gas and the SUV shot away from the creature.

Just as Jack was about to say something, he heard a squeaking noise like a giant mouse. He looked up, and saw the two pincers descend into the roof of the car, punching easily through. Then the car's roof was being pried open. He wondered vaguely how it caught up, he had been doing over 100 miles per hour. He wrenched the wheel, trying to shake it off, but only succeeded in swerving out of control. Fortunately he was able to floor the brake and the SUV screeched to a halt, upside down with the entity underneath. Both of the shaken teens got out of the car, and both of them immediately dialed 911. Just then, the car was rolled over, and the aberration reared up from the ground, spilling malevolent light over the two of them.

"Run for it!" Jack roared, and the two of them did. But neither of them got very far. He heard a flapping of wings, and one of the rail spike claws on the wing joint slammed into his shoulder, knocking him to the ground in a pool of his own blood.

He pulled himself, agonizingly, to his feet just in time to see the creature's talon whip out and slice Justine in half at the stomach. The red-brown blood coated everything within 10 feet in a thick, shimmering layer of it. The reek of it filled Jack's nostrils, and he gagged. Hearing the noise, the entity bore down on him. He barely registered the claw that severed his neck, sending his head spinning into a tree.

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The next day, the town's newspaper had gotten hold of the story. Four teenagers had been found dead in the vicinity of the TNT Area. Their bodies had been mutilated nearly beyond recognition. The picture Justine had taken of the abomination as it crushed Elijah's skull was all over the headlines of the entire state. The monstrosity was given the name Mothman, after the popular Batman TV series.

Over the next two years, reports would pour in from the Point Pleasant area of more sightings of this and similar creatures. A headless hulk in Grafton, breaking concrete apart with its bare hands. An alien entity in Flatwoods, spewing poisonous gas and setting brush alight just by its proximity. A floating, bulbous four-armed ghost that haunted the highways of the area, terrifying motorists.

Creatures with glowing heads that imitated headlights and ran vehicles off the road, then devoured the occupants. And a horse-like kangaroo creature with similar glowing eyes that went on a two-week rampage in the area's cities.

When Native Americans curse...

...they sure mean business.

****

This was an assignment I did for English class. The idea was a Poe-style story, but I seem to have drifted into Michael Crichton and Steven King, or at least my dad says so.

Vor'Pa

This is a Vor'Pa, a semi-amphibious triped from the swampy world of Nero. The Vor'Pa's anatomy is fairly easy to understand. Many of the vital organs are stored in the torso, the brain in the head. The brain extends back through the center of the crest, shielded by rubbery flesh and a bony disc. What makes a Vor'Pa peculiar is that on the underside of the crest, extensions of the brain project in fleshy tendrils that cling to the underside of the crest. Tests have shown that damage to these tendrils does not affect the rest of the brain, nor do they grow back if severed. The removal/damage sustained will cause near-unbearable pain, which is why a Vor'Pa custom with criminals is to amputate their tendrils. This renders them unable to manifest their peculiar ability: Vor'Pa are capable of mind control through the engulfing and gradual absorption of a victim's consciousness through a method not fully understood. This is enough of a problem by itself, but the Vor'Pa have also developed an extremist religion that requires them to subjugate all other races to their influence. This has led to near-constant warring with neighboring races, in particular the Anthricids and Humans. All members of the Vor'Pa race observed so far have been devoted followers of this religion, with the exception of the criminals. Vor'Pa prefer to take prisoners alive, for obvious reasons, with the exception of Anthricids. Due to the unique nature of the Anthricids, Vor'Pa warships fire on ships bearing Anthricid design patterns or symbols without provocation or warning. The generally accepted hypothesis is that Vor'Pa religion dictates that they destroy anything they cannot take control of.

My "this is me" speech

There are going to be a lot of good speeches you'll hear in your lifetime. Mine will not be one of

them. I might as well start off my speech by telling you all that I'm horrible at speeches, since I'm

going to tell you about myself anyway. Now that that's out of the way, I guess I'll start.

I have never truly been accepted as part of a school community. Nor have I really wanted to be.

Due to an odd condition, I started off my life with an absolutely horrible temper, and a violent

disposition. Needless to say this got me in heaps of trouble at my elementary school in Nevada.

Suffice to say that the teachers, my parents, and me did not see eye to eye. At all. So my parents

made the decision to put me in homeschooling, where they managed to do the best, most efficient

job of botching it as was humanly possible. Nothing against my parents, but they didn't know

anything about running a homeschool.

So after about a year of putting up with my stubborn, asinine behavior, they packed everything up

and moved here to Ames. I started at Sawyer school, under the assumptions that the Ames

district could adapt to anything I threw at them. I put a stop to that theory pretty fast. My next

school was Fellows, where I was placed in the BD program. They handled me better, so I made it

through fourth and fifth grade. Somehow. I continued to be a part of the BD program right up into

sixth grade, where I once again proved my inability to handle school. So my parents put me in

homeschool. I think there's a pattern going here...

They learned a lot from the earlier attempt, and I was homeschooled for the equivalent of two

years. One half of sixth and eighth each, and all of seventh. It was during this time that my parents

found out that the cause of my bad behavior was an allergy to wheat, milk, eggs, and peanuts. It

didn't manifest physically, only behaviorally. Anyway, so after about a year and a half of going

without these, my mom's cousin said she might have the possible cure. Acupuncture. Of course

my imagination instantly filled with needles the size of ice picks protruding from my skin, but when

we started, I got the accupressure treatment instead, which is basically a massage. Very nice deal

out of the whole thing. It's clearly worked, as I am no longer violent or belligerent at school and

can eat all of the foods but peanuts, which we are still working on.

And now my visual. It's a lightbulb, which symbolizes one of my favorite presents from God; my

imagination. Lightbulbs mean ideas, and I have a lot of them, including Anthricids, Vor'Pa, raoni,

and philotic weaponry. I can't really go into those without a lot of technical terms, so I won't try.

Anyway, hopefully this has been around the three-minute mark and I'll get a good grade. Please

remember not to use my speech as an example for the sake of your GPA, and always remember

that.....um.....you should have something deep-sounding prepared in advance or else you'll look

like an idiot like I'm doing.

..:::NEW RUIN:::..

an Event Horizons Role Playing Game

sponsored by POLARIS Productions

created by Jeffrey D. Packard of the EHRPG

Centuries ago, the powerful empire of Eranos spanned almost the entire realm. However, the forces of an evil necromancer named Zaecki waged war on them, and overwhelmed the armies of Eranos. As the undead legions approached the capital, Tanis, the king and queen sacrificed themselves, creating a powerful magic protection over the city and annihilating Zaecki and his troops. Since then, there has been peace for the residents of Tanis.

...Until now.

A drow nation sprang up in the far north. Seeking ancient texts in the ruins, they happened upon a failsafe Zaecki had placed in the event of his death. The drow unwittingly activated it, releasing Zaecki from death as a lich, an undead sorcerer of unparalleled power. Zaecki quickly destroyed the drow, transforming most of them into undead. Now, he wars constantly against neighbouring Thoroth, and Sorlois, seeking victims to be turned into undead for his final revenge against Tanis.

Meanwhile, the enchantments around Tanis have begun to unravel. The relentless march of time has eroded the barrier between the city and the harsh outsiders, and now it threatens to fail completely. The king has turned to you, the finest people Tanis has to offer. He has tasked you with going out into the surrounding area, subduing possible threats, and creating a map of the outside world (The last maps were lost long ago). Will you succeed, carving a name for yourself in the history books, or will you fail, fighting to the last against those who would do your people harm? The choice is yours, in NEW RUIN.

This is a roleplay created by me. Still waiting to test it.

NEW updates from Project Timeline

New updates: The IGF has been replaced by the IGCF (InterGalactic Congressional Federation)

The IGCF Armada consists of a few select craft at this time:

Thunderbolt-class destroyer: These ships are the backbone of IGCF armadal (totally a word) strike forces. They have two foreward-mounted fusion cannons with enough raw power in them to blow apart a small moon. The craft seen at left is the Tremor, which was modified with special belly-mounted cannons for clearing areas to land its troops. Tremor is painted in the colors of the IGCF 72nd Airborne Corps, the most feared marines in the galaxy.

Viper-class patrol boat: These multi-use craft are often seen harassing enemy shipping or patrolling near planetside bases. They lack the firepower to take on anything larger than a cruiser, but make up for that by being some of the most annoying craft the Anthricids have ever been up against. They use their greater speed and agility to dodge out of firing range of enemy guns and then pound them with the large side-mounted cannons. For defence against fighters, they also are equipped with three dual antifighter turrets.

The Anthricids have also been updated. In their current form, they are an insectoid race with several different "castes," each of which has a different purpose. Certain castes produce genetic spores that, when introduced into another race, will proceed to turn that creature into a half-Anthricid, half-other creature hybrid.

Also, a world has been developed.

Planet name: Cassini

System name: Helios - golden star

Geography/Notable features: Cassini has an orange-gold colored sky with black clouds. Most of the planet is boggy, with swamplike oceans.

Sentient species: Cassinian (native), Human

Life: Cassini is a reasonable world. It supports several types of tree-like lichen, as well as various highly evolved mollusks, arthropods, and echinoderms.

Project: Timeline

Project: Timeline is a new creation of mine, where I will be creating a possible future for our society, leading up to the events of the 41st century and the Millenium War. So far, possible events have included the Solar Wars (6-way war between Mercurians, Venerians, Humans, Martians, Jovians, & Cassinians), the Great War (a.k.a. The Big One, huge war between Communism and democracy that rages indefinitely), & multiple other overused scenarios. It will borrow events from the Taethosian Idea Workshops and my private universe, even using some of my roleplaying characters in the process. So far, The Big One is more likely to take the place of the Solar Wars, due to the ease of moving the Solar Wars-style combatants to a different time & place.

If anyone knows of a site/application that allows you to edit the world map, please tell me because I will need to change country boundaries and make new ones etc.