Minor Races, Council Associates:
-Xyk'ti: The Mantis Men of Xyk are six limbed bipeds, giving them four arms for using tools. The lower pair is heavier and stronger, although much less dexterous. The Hive Worlds of the Xyk Cluster are metal poor, and heavily armed mercenaries represent the Hive Queens only export of note.
-Gnoph-keh: These hairy lizard-like creatures are also hexapods, but use four limbs for locomotion, which is the reason for their Solomani nickname of 'centaurs'. The Gnoph-keh head also sports a single curved horn like that of a rhinocerous, which is used in Gnoph-keh mating rituals. Their shaggy fur and thick armored hide with blubberous insulation are all evidence of the icyness of the plains of Gnoph and the coolnes of the star Ithaqa.
-Sleip'nir: The Sleipnir are one of the stranger races of the Councilor Species. A strange mix of wolf, panther, and spider, these eight legged pack hunters of the forrest world of Nir show a reversal of the common sexual dimorphology. The females of this species are larger and more agressive, while the males are smaller and also are equipeed with the pouches and milch glands for nuturing their marsupial young. The front pair of Sleipnir limbs are shorter, and the paws thereof are equiped with opposable thumbs for tool-use. Female Sleip warriors are often equipped with backpack like gyro-mounts for support weapons, the mount's servos being slaved to targeting reticles built into the Sleip's helmets.
-Yuglug: These five limbed bipeds are often thought to be the products of ancient genetic manipulations, but evidence is scant. Yuglug are possessed of three arms, one much larger than the other two. Their thick necks project foward from the main body instead of up, and their heads have jaws that open side to side like great bear-traps. Powerful reverse jointed and hooved legs give these scavenging opportunists great speed and the thick powerful tail gives them the balance to manuever quite freely.
-Drakkon: These hulking brutes quite resemble giant walking iguannas or komodo dragons. The Drakkon homeworld is considered a hell-world of the first order. Heavy gravity, crushing atmospheric preasure, massive radiation, large amounts of free heavy metals in the soil, and an ecosystem that resembles side of beef being fed to piranhas, everything eats everything else. Once freed from the prison of their hellish habitat by the Khai (always looking for new martial races to place under their Dominion) the Drakkon population exploded to incredible levels. Eventually leading to a period of chaos known as the Drakkon Emergency. The Khai eventually released a retrovirus that modified the Drakka's great fecundity and they are now a dying race.
Kra'ken: These malevolent murder machines resemble a nightmarish combination of octopod and squid made man-sized. One of the most independant of the Councilor Races, they are not so much clients of one of the Council Races, and more like eternal pains in the rear-end. Numerous and advanced enough to have been made a member of the council long ago the subject has never risen somehow. The Ken don't seem to mind, using their position inside the Councilor Association to almost monopolise galactic organized crime. It is said that one of a Kra'ken's ten tentacles is in any shady deal in the 'verse.
04 September 2009
01 September 2009
Traveller Campain Notes: part the second
Major Races in my Taveller game. These species all are represented on the Galactic Council, the ruling body of known space.
Khai: A predatory species evolved from high gravity methane breathing arboreal crustaceans, the Khai are great hunters, warrior poets, and far-ranging starfarers. Often called Space-Vikings, humans also think they look like 'predators' or 'klingons' whatever those are.
Elder 'Hivers': These starfish like creatures of radial symetry are on of the oldest known species of the Councilor Worlds. So old in fact, that no one, not even the Hivers themselves, remember their home world. The main body is generally one or two meters tall, general about that in thickness, and slightly tapered towards the top and bottom. The bottom five tentacles or pseudopods are thicker and longer, mainly used for locomotion and feeding. The top five seem to be a strange combination of manipulative appendages and sensory organs. A great lamprey like mouth occupies the center of the bottom side of the barrel like body.
Yithians: The race of Yith are possessed of bodies like upside down cones or funnels at the bottom of which is a slug-like body-foot of mucus covered muscle. The cone is segmented, and it appears one can judge the age of the Yithian by the number of segments in his cone. Surmounting this cone are five appendages. The bottom two are arms that end in three armored crab like grasping 'fingers' capable of gently manipulating and savagely ripping with equal measure. The top three are trunk like necks, each holding a 'head' that has sensory, communication, and feeding functions. The 'brain' of the creature is protected within the armored cone of the body and a Yithian can both view 360 degrees at once and loose two of three heads without being impared over much.
Ae-Shi: One of the most humanoid of the major species, the Ae-Shi resemble ancient Terran legends about Fae, Elves, and Fair Folk, many believe the Ae-Shi visited old Earth in the past. Perhaps, but the Ae-Shi today are not talking about it. In form they resemble tall and lithely shaped human beings, with very large pointed ears and very tall skulls with high foreheads with over-large eyes, the back sides have bony growths. Their skin ranges from golden to silver to blues and greens, eye and hair colring similar. Most Ae-Shi are psions of some sort and their abilities are very advanced. Their society is divided into three castes; Worker, Warrior, and Priest, and also clans and bloodlines.
Reticuli: Another some what human like alien, the Reticuli in fact resemble stories of 'grey aliens' who supposedly abducted people in the late 1990's AD. Although the details differ greatly; for instance the Reticuli have reverse jointed legs, hooved feet, horn like protuberances on their heads, feeding probisci, stubby tails and hairy bodies. In fact some have taken to calling them 'fauns' after a creature of old Earth folklore. Like the Ae-Shi the Reticulans are also strongly Psionic, although Reticuli seem to use more psiotic amps and other augmentation.
Kthani: These methane breathers stay mostly inside their encounter suits to maintain ritual purity, but it is known that they are human-like in shape and that their mouth is surrounded by many prehensile tentacles while their compound eyes resemble those of some Earth insects.
Solomani: Much to the surprise of those from Terra, they weren't the first humans into space. Although only the Solomani (Men of Sol) have a seat on the council. The rest are clients or even slaves of other species.
Khai: A predatory species evolved from high gravity methane breathing arboreal crustaceans, the Khai are great hunters, warrior poets, and far-ranging starfarers. Often called Space-Vikings, humans also think they look like 'predators' or 'klingons' whatever those are.
Elder 'Hivers': These starfish like creatures of radial symetry are on of the oldest known species of the Councilor Worlds. So old in fact, that no one, not even the Hivers themselves, remember their home world. The main body is generally one or two meters tall, general about that in thickness, and slightly tapered towards the top and bottom. The bottom five tentacles or pseudopods are thicker and longer, mainly used for locomotion and feeding. The top five seem to be a strange combination of manipulative appendages and sensory organs. A great lamprey like mouth occupies the center of the bottom side of the barrel like body.
Yithians: The race of Yith are possessed of bodies like upside down cones or funnels at the bottom of which is a slug-like body-foot of mucus covered muscle. The cone is segmented, and it appears one can judge the age of the Yithian by the number of segments in his cone. Surmounting this cone are five appendages. The bottom two are arms that end in three armored crab like grasping 'fingers' capable of gently manipulating and savagely ripping with equal measure. The top three are trunk like necks, each holding a 'head' that has sensory, communication, and feeding functions. The 'brain' of the creature is protected within the armored cone of the body and a Yithian can both view 360 degrees at once and loose two of three heads without being impared over much.
Ae-Shi: One of the most humanoid of the major species, the Ae-Shi resemble ancient Terran legends about Fae, Elves, and Fair Folk, many believe the Ae-Shi visited old Earth in the past. Perhaps, but the Ae-Shi today are not talking about it. In form they resemble tall and lithely shaped human beings, with very large pointed ears and very tall skulls with high foreheads with over-large eyes, the back sides have bony growths. Their skin ranges from golden to silver to blues and greens, eye and hair colring similar. Most Ae-Shi are psions of some sort and their abilities are very advanced. Their society is divided into three castes; Worker, Warrior, and Priest, and also clans and bloodlines.
Reticuli: Another some what human like alien, the Reticuli in fact resemble stories of 'grey aliens' who supposedly abducted people in the late 1990's AD. Although the details differ greatly; for instance the Reticuli have reverse jointed legs, hooved feet, horn like protuberances on their heads, feeding probisci, stubby tails and hairy bodies. In fact some have taken to calling them 'fauns' after a creature of old Earth folklore. Like the Ae-Shi the Reticulans are also strongly Psionic, although Reticuli seem to use more psiotic amps and other augmentation.
Kthani: These methane breathers stay mostly inside their encounter suits to maintain ritual purity, but it is known that they are human-like in shape and that their mouth is surrounded by many prehensile tentacles while their compound eyes resemble those of some Earth insects.
Solomani: Much to the surprise of those from Terra, they weren't the first humans into space. Although only the Solomani (Men of Sol) have a seat on the council. The rest are clients or even slaves of other species.
31 August 2009
Traveller Campain Notes: part the first
Well, my gaming group (Puente's Paladins) is on board to start up a game of Traveller (Mongoose style), while our regular GM recharges his batteries of creative juice as a player. Yours truly will take the reigns of GM-hood and hopefully I won't screw up too badly. There were voices in the group that wanted to play Ulot's fantasy trip(tm) (using Anima) instead, but since a good part of our group was recruited as Serenity players, they were hoping to continue in the SF vein.
So here's a quick introduction to the Galaxy of Fire and the Third Imperium of Man (pro-Imperial historians writing during the golden days of the Pax Humana count the Roman Empire as the first Imperium and the Holy Roman Empire as the second).
So here's a quick introduction to the Galaxy of Fire and the Third Imperium of Man (pro-Imperial historians writing during the golden days of the Pax Humana count the Roman Empire as the first Imperium and the Holy Roman Empire as the second).
Alright you Space Dogs, listen up! Here's how it was...
2000-2100
Considered the 100 year's madness. A time of general chaos and disorder, the movements of peoples and the burning of cities. Out of the chaos, and the ashes of the old order, arises the Alliance. The Alliance brings law, order, and prosperity with only one demand; all fission and fusion weapons belong to the Alliance. Scientists discover what they think is a crashed space-craft at the bottom of the Pacific ocean. The news media runs with the story but it is eventually forgotten.
2100-2200
The Alliance become a true one world government and is now called the Earth Alliance. Fusion power, anti-gravity, nano-scale machines, and other advanced technologies become practical for the first time. The Earth Alliance begins exploring, exploiting, and settling the Solar System on a mass scale (the money is considered stimulative spending to energize destroyed economies and and the effort a collective project to unite mankind). Obviously extra-terrestrial ruins are found on Mars, Ganymede. Arkham Institute scientists rework Heim Theory to include poly-dimensional non-euclidean mathematics and test a working faster than light propulsion system.
2200-2300
An artifact is found on Pluto that baffles scientists for decades. Eventually an archaeologist and expert on extinct languages determines the writing on the artifact to be related to certain languages of the Ponape peoples of Polynesia. Eventually scientists manage to activate the jump gate opening up the wider galaxy. Combined with Heimdall Space-Time Warp drive the Jump Gates leads to a rush to explore the 'Final Frontier'.
2300-2400
First Contact War: Initial encounters with the Khai Dominion turn violent, leading to a multi-decade vicious war for survival. Just when it became obvious the alien foe had learned of Terra's location and were advancing towards it, shocking news ends the war. The Khai are members of a Galactic Council which stops the war (mostly out of factional politics, lest the Khai faction wax too powerful). Negotiations are long and tortuous but the errors of both sides are revealed and public amends are made. The Earth Alliance joins the Galactic Council as an associate species under the patronage of the Elder-Yith faction. Mankind spreads throughout the Orion Spur of the Perseus Arm of the Milky Way Galaxy. Friends are made, like the Ae-Shi and the Gnophkek, and enemies like the Ayayig, Migoul Pirates, and the aquatic Dagon. Human Psions appear for the first time.
2400-2500
Mankind is a rising power in the Galaxy, provoking awe and jealousy in equal measure. It becomes obvious to all that Humans are on a fast track to full Council Membership, with a seat and a vote, in a matter of a few brief centuries, unheard of. Events in the mid-Century cast doubts on this inevitability however. One man is at the center of everything; Captain Phillip Magnus Sherridan-Windsor, Commander of Byzantium Nine, a critical Star-Fort at the edge of Human Space and a trade hub in orbit around Epsilon Erridani. Phillip and his allies would both expose and thwart the design of a rogue Khai Inquisitor (agents of the Council, autonomous and deniable) to awaken slumbering terror. At the same time as Sherridan is saving the Galaxy and becoming the first Human Inquisitor, the Earth Alliance is falling under a shadow. A power mad vice president arranges for his superior to be assassinated and assumes dictatorial powers; beginning a reign of bloody terror. President-for-life Clark is only brought down when Admiral Sherridan overthrows him in a lighting fast civil war and counter-coup. The Alliance Navy hails Sherridan as Imperator and he crowns himself, thus inaugurating the Imperium.
2500-2997
The Human Imperium waxes strong and virile under the guidance of the Sherridan-Windsor dynasty. Now with a full council seat Mankind is truly a power astride the stars. New worlds are settled, grow, and found colonies of their own. The center of Imperial power shifts to Terra Nova, whith Old Terra remaining as a cultural and economic powerhouse. This veritable golden age of growth, discovery, advancement and achievement is soon referred to as the Pax Humana. Humanity begin to upset the old balances of power and ancient assumptions. Although still not as technological advanced as the Elders, Man is advancing at a rapid pace and beginning to question assumption older than the species itself. Many of the younger races flock to Humanity's banner, basking in the reflected glory that a youngling race can do so much.
2998
NOW
Shadows grow long and wheels turn within wheels, the golden age turns ashen as suspicions grow amongst the stars. Something is amiss in the black; ships disappear and colonies go silent. Trade is disrupted and voices and hands are raised against each other;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.
And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,
Slouches towards Gomorrah to be born?
06 August 2009
Dragonfly: Episode I
The continuing adventures of the MRV (merchant registry vehicle) Din Sua Bah (Dinosaur Bob) as recollected and adapted from the tabletop adventures of a crew playing Serenity the roleplaying game.
Dramatis Personae:
Yuri Leonid Spassky: Captain of the Din Sua Bah, ex Russian Mafia trouble-shooter.
Justinian Edumton Bartholomew Stuart III, esquire: Ace pilot, gambler, gun-fighter, duelist, womanizer, and morphine addict.
Senior Chief 'Stunty' Ryan: Diminutive ship's Engineer and intuitive mechanic, served with JEB in the war.
Dr. Hex: Ship's Medical Officer, former Independent Army Special Forces combat medic.
Kat: Public Relations, former IASF scout-sniper, served with Dr. Hex in the war.
The Din Sua Bah, an ancient and weathered Dragonfly class mid-bulk transport is floating through the inky black of space, on course for the terraformed moon known as Whitefall. Inside, the crew is cleaning up, the entire ship looks like it was shaken upside down by a giant, and everything loose went flying. In the cockpit JEB glaces behind him as the Captain enters the cramped space, looked out of sorts.
"Did you see that? Ah shaved three hours of flight time with that slingshot about Persephone"
"And next time, you give crew more notice when you pull hot pilot shit!" Yuri says icily before he slaps his over-dressed upper class twit pilot on the lop side of his thick head.
"Ah thought the gravy would hold up better, how old is this ship anyway?'
"One hour, you give crew one hour notice next time!"
"One hour, aye sah!"
"Good, we can still charge customer for full flight time and pocket difference, just don't break ship!"
Yuri glares at his pilot until JEB mumbles his apologies and busies himself with checking his sensors and flight plan.
"Now I go and check tractors, farm-boys on Whitefall all very eager for tractors, pay much money!"
The tractors in question were rusty second or third hand models from used lots on Beleraphon, along with boxes of spare parts, and drums of fuel and hydraulic fluid. Cleverly hidden inside the shipment were several thousand pounds of small arms, ammunition, and explosives. Someone was buying enough for a small army, and the simmering cold war between Whitefall's major ranchers was about to get hot. He dragooned his dwarf and the shooty lady into doing the heavy shifting, making sure things were ready for the inevitable customs inspection. He wasn't sure about this crew, his old crew had... left suddenly and this one had fallen together a little too easily. Maybe someone was pulling strings, and would want a favor in return. The thought made Yuri nervous and a nervous Yuri was a paranoid Yuri.
The ships intercom crackled and JEBs much chastised voice drawled out, "Captain, we're being hailed by an Alliance Patrol Cruiser, they want us to heave to and prepare for inspection."
"OK, make it last another few minutes!"
"How?" JEB thought to himself, then grinned. He summoned up his best, thickest drawl, "Ahh Terrible, this is MRV Din Sua Bah, Ahm having some trouble with the hydraulics in the port engine pod, going to have to compensate and killing my delta vee is going to take a bit longer than anticipated" JEB grinned, between the accent and the non-standard banter just figuring out the transmission would delay the purple bellies in the other ship.
Half an hour later three Alliance Federal Officers were standing in the Bob's cargo hold going over the tractors and crates. They looked a little green, since JEB had managed to convince the Terrible that they had to shuttle over, the main docking collar was 'busted'. Two were obviously going through the motions, but the third was poking his nose around like he smelled something. Yuri watched that one through slitted eyes.
"Captain Spassky, what is this?" The man, Jefferson was what his name-plate said, beckoned over the captain.
"What is what?" Yuri gave it his best impenetrable east-blok trade patois. He spoke very good, unaccented standard Anglic, but rarely. As he leaned over to look inside the engine compartment of one of the tractors, at what was obviously the receiver of a auto-rifle attached to the frame of the machine and covered, sloppily, in engine grease he put his arm around the agent. "I don't see anything!" Yuri grabbed the Fed and slammed his head into the side of the tractor, and then injected a syringe of fast acting sleep agent. Standing up he made beckoning motions at the other feds, "Help, this one fall down!"
"What happened?"
"I don't know, he fall over, hit his head on tractor, not wake up!"
"What the...?"
"No worries, I have doctor!" Turning to the intercom, Yuri pockets the syringe and mashes the all call button. "Doctor!, hurry, bring something for Fed!"
A few minutes later Dr. Hex, a nondescript figure with plain face and wearing unremarkable field utilities carrying a big bag with a red cross on it comes pounding down the stairs. "Were is he?"
"Over here!"
Hex runs over to the stricken Fed, glancing at his captain as he does so. Yuri shakes his slightly, and then points to the fallen man. "Hit head, fall down, won't wake, something must be wrong!"
Hex runs through some simple diagnostics, shining lights, taking pulse and pressure, doing witch-doctory things. Then he gives the man a shot saying, "Looks like he passed out and hit his head, can't say why, but he needs to get to proper facilities fast."
"Alright, we're out of here, Captain here's your stamp for inspection, now get of my sky."
"Ok, have good day!"
Later, as the ship was preparing for landing, Yuri asked his doctor "What did you give him?"
"A dose of insulin, he'll come up as diabetic on the scan, that'll explain the fainting, probably end his career though."
"Good, one less purple belly to worry about. Let's get this deal done, I got a funny feeling about this run."
...to be continued.
Dramatis Personae:
Yuri Leonid Spassky: Captain of the Din Sua Bah, ex Russian Mafia trouble-shooter.
Justinian Edumton Bartholomew Stuart III, esquire: Ace pilot, gambler, gun-fighter, duelist, womanizer, and morphine addict.
Senior Chief 'Stunty' Ryan: Diminutive ship's Engineer and intuitive mechanic, served with JEB in the war.
Dr. Hex: Ship's Medical Officer, former Independent Army Special Forces combat medic.
Kat: Public Relations, former IASF scout-sniper, served with Dr. Hex in the war.
The Din Sua Bah, an ancient and weathered Dragonfly class mid-bulk transport is floating through the inky black of space, on course for the terraformed moon known as Whitefall. Inside, the crew is cleaning up, the entire ship looks like it was shaken upside down by a giant, and everything loose went flying. In the cockpit JEB glaces behind him as the Captain enters the cramped space, looked out of sorts.
"Did you see that? Ah shaved three hours of flight time with that slingshot about Persephone"
"And next time, you give crew more notice when you pull hot pilot shit!" Yuri says icily before he slaps his over-dressed upper class twit pilot on the lop side of his thick head.
"Ah thought the gravy would hold up better, how old is this ship anyway?'
"One hour, you give crew one hour notice next time!"
"One hour, aye sah!"
"Good, we can still charge customer for full flight time and pocket difference, just don't break ship!"
Yuri glares at his pilot until JEB mumbles his apologies and busies himself with checking his sensors and flight plan.
"Now I go and check tractors, farm-boys on Whitefall all very eager for tractors, pay much money!"
The tractors in question were rusty second or third hand models from used lots on Beleraphon, along with boxes of spare parts, and drums of fuel and hydraulic fluid. Cleverly hidden inside the shipment were several thousand pounds of small arms, ammunition, and explosives. Someone was buying enough for a small army, and the simmering cold war between Whitefall's major ranchers was about to get hot. He dragooned his dwarf and the shooty lady into doing the heavy shifting, making sure things were ready for the inevitable customs inspection. He wasn't sure about this crew, his old crew had... left suddenly and this one had fallen together a little too easily. Maybe someone was pulling strings, and would want a favor in return. The thought made Yuri nervous and a nervous Yuri was a paranoid Yuri.
The ships intercom crackled and JEBs much chastised voice drawled out, "Captain, we're being hailed by an Alliance Patrol Cruiser, they want us to heave to and prepare for inspection."
"OK, make it last another few minutes!"
"How?" JEB thought to himself, then grinned. He summoned up his best, thickest drawl, "Ahh Terrible, this is MRV Din Sua Bah, Ahm having some trouble with the hydraulics in the port engine pod, going to have to compensate and killing my delta vee is going to take a bit longer than anticipated" JEB grinned, between the accent and the non-standard banter just figuring out the transmission would delay the purple bellies in the other ship.
Half an hour later three Alliance Federal Officers were standing in the Bob's cargo hold going over the tractors and crates. They looked a little green, since JEB had managed to convince the Terrible that they had to shuttle over, the main docking collar was 'busted'. Two were obviously going through the motions, but the third was poking his nose around like he smelled something. Yuri watched that one through slitted eyes.
"Captain Spassky, what is this?" The man, Jefferson was what his name-plate said, beckoned over the captain.
"What is what?" Yuri gave it his best impenetrable east-blok trade patois. He spoke very good, unaccented standard Anglic, but rarely. As he leaned over to look inside the engine compartment of one of the tractors, at what was obviously the receiver of a auto-rifle attached to the frame of the machine and covered, sloppily, in engine grease he put his arm around the agent. "I don't see anything!" Yuri grabbed the Fed and slammed his head into the side of the tractor, and then injected a syringe of fast acting sleep agent. Standing up he made beckoning motions at the other feds, "Help, this one fall down!"
"What happened?"
"I don't know, he fall over, hit his head on tractor, not wake up!"
"What the...?"
"No worries, I have doctor!" Turning to the intercom, Yuri pockets the syringe and mashes the all call button. "Doctor!, hurry, bring something for Fed!"
A few minutes later Dr. Hex, a nondescript figure with plain face and wearing unremarkable field utilities carrying a big bag with a red cross on it comes pounding down the stairs. "Were is he?"
"Over here!"
Hex runs over to the stricken Fed, glancing at his captain as he does so. Yuri shakes his slightly, and then points to the fallen man. "Hit head, fall down, won't wake, something must be wrong!"
Hex runs through some simple diagnostics, shining lights, taking pulse and pressure, doing witch-doctory things. Then he gives the man a shot saying, "Looks like he passed out and hit his head, can't say why, but he needs to get to proper facilities fast."
"Alright, we're out of here, Captain here's your stamp for inspection, now get of my sky."
"Ok, have good day!"
Later, as the ship was preparing for landing, Yuri asked his doctor "What did you give him?"
"A dose of insulin, he'll come up as diabetic on the scan, that'll explain the fainting, probably end his career though."
"Good, one less purple belly to worry about. Let's get this deal done, I got a funny feeling about this run."
...to be continued.
20 July 2009
17 July 2009
Chainsaw!!!
Man Says He Used Chainsaw to Fight Starving Mountain Lion
Friday, July 17, 2009
CODY, Wyoming — A Colorado man used a chain saw to fight off an apparently starving mountain lion that attacked him during a camping trip in northwestern Wyoming with his wife and two toddlers.
Dustin Britton, a 32-year-old mechanic and ex-Marine from Windsor, Colo., said he was alone cutting firewood about 100 feet from his campsite in the Shoshone National Forest when he saw the 100-pound lion staring at him from some bushes.
The 6-foot-tall, 170-pound Britton said he raised his 18-inch chain saw and met the lion head-on as it pounced — a collision he described as feeling like a grown man running directly into him.
"It batted me three or four times with its front paws and as quick as I hit it with that saw it just turned away," he said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press.
Wildlife officials said Sunday evening's attack about 27 miles west of Cody was highly unusual because mountain lions are reclusive by nature. Only eight cases of mountain lions acting aggressively toward humans have been documented in Wyoming over the last decade.
"It's very, very rare" for lions to attack, said Wyoming Game and Fish spokesman Warren Mischke. "We're still trying to investigate why this lion would behave this way."
The wounded animal retreated after Britton inflicted a six- to eight-inch gash on the lion's shoulder, leaving him with only a small puncture wound on his forearm.
"You would think if you hit an animal with a chain saw it would dig right in," he said. "I might as well have hit it with a hockey stick."
The mountain lion was shot and killed Monday after it attacked a dog brought in to track the animal, which was 4 to 5 years old. Authorities say it was in poor physical condition and appeared to be starving.
After Britton's confrontation, he and his wife, Kirsta, decided to spend the night in their pop-up camper with their two children rather than risk packing up with the lion still on the loose.
Wildlife agents were called the next morning after Britton told a passing U.S. Forest Service employee about the incident.
Tests for rabies and other diseases came up negative, but officials said they were continuing to analyze the animal for other potential diseases.
Friday, July 17, 2009
CODY, Wyoming — A Colorado man used a chain saw to fight off an apparently starving mountain lion that attacked him during a camping trip in northwestern Wyoming with his wife and two toddlers.
Dustin Britton, a 32-year-old mechanic and ex-Marine from Windsor, Colo., said he was alone cutting firewood about 100 feet from his campsite in the Shoshone National Forest when he saw the 100-pound lion staring at him from some bushes.
The 6-foot-tall, 170-pound Britton said he raised his 18-inch chain saw and met the lion head-on as it pounced — a collision he described as feeling like a grown man running directly into him.
"It batted me three or four times with its front paws and as quick as I hit it with that saw it just turned away," he said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press.
Wildlife officials said Sunday evening's attack about 27 miles west of Cody was highly unusual because mountain lions are reclusive by nature. Only eight cases of mountain lions acting aggressively toward humans have been documented in Wyoming over the last decade.
"It's very, very rare" for lions to attack, said Wyoming Game and Fish spokesman Warren Mischke. "We're still trying to investigate why this lion would behave this way."
The wounded animal retreated after Britton inflicted a six- to eight-inch gash on the lion's shoulder, leaving him with only a small puncture wound on his forearm.
"You would think if you hit an animal with a chain saw it would dig right in," he said. "I might as well have hit it with a hockey stick."
The mountain lion was shot and killed Monday after it attacked a dog brought in to track the animal, which was 4 to 5 years old. Authorities say it was in poor physical condition and appeared to be starving.
After Britton's confrontation, he and his wife, Kirsta, decided to spend the night in their pop-up camper with their two children rather than risk packing up with the lion still on the loose.
Wildlife agents were called the next morning after Britton told a passing U.S. Forest Service employee about the incident.
Tests for rabies and other diseases came up negative, but officials said they were continuing to analyze the animal for other potential diseases.
14 July 2009
LOL
Mon 13 Jul 10:46 AM
Was naked man at a casino a Terminator? Enlarge Photo
A man found naked at a casino claimed he was a Terminator sent from the future.
19-year-old Sean Stanley Smith was arrested on the Nevada border after he was spotted by a motorist wandering around the highway nude. He was ordered by police to stop but proceeded into a nearby casino - where he was then tasered in front of a group of children.
Smith claims he was a Terminator sent back in time from the future - a reference to the film character made popular by Arnold Schwarznegger in the sci-fi franchise. The films usually start with a naked man being transported to the past.
However, it turned out that Smith was not a time-travelling Terminator but was in fact suffering from the effects of LSD and marijuana. He was charged with indecent exposure and resisting a police officer.
Was naked man at a casino a Terminator? Enlarge Photo
A man found naked at a casino claimed he was a Terminator sent from the future.
19-year-old Sean Stanley Smith was arrested on the Nevada border after he was spotted by a motorist wandering around the highway nude. He was ordered by police to stop but proceeded into a nearby casino - where he was then tasered in front of a group of children.
Smith claims he was a Terminator sent back in time from the future - a reference to the film character made popular by Arnold Schwarznegger in the sci-fi franchise. The films usually start with a naked man being transported to the past.
However, it turned out that Smith was not a time-travelling Terminator but was in fact suffering from the effects of LSD and marijuana. He was charged with indecent exposure and resisting a police officer.
07 July 2009
Rethinking Shadow Gates
Back to a gaming subject, a break from dreary politics and policy.
1) The name. I'm not satisfied with Shadow Gates as a title for the project. It doesn't have enough menace. I'm thinking Nemesis Gates not only rolls of the tongue better but is at the same time more ominous. Also it brings in connotations of destruction via the Nemesis Hypothesis and the Harbinger of the Old Ones; Ghroth. Much better suited for a post apocalyptic project.
2) Historical Inspiration. I already knew that I wanted the campaign to take place in the ruins of a once great Human Empire. This has naturally lead to seeking inspiration in similar historical periods like, for example, the Dark Ages. The Confederation (my setting's nod to everyone's favorite Coalition Sates) was originally going to be largely based on the Holy Roman Empire.
Now I see I haven't gone back far enough. Instead I will be using the Frankish Empire of the Merovingian kings and Carolingian Emperors as my main inspiration. Instead of Franks crossing the Rhine into the Roman Empire we will have Yanks, ugly American exiles who left the great sprawling cities of Columbia and San Angeles to live in Coventry, basically a great reservation in flyover country. Now they are picking up the pieces after the Joachite Wreckers have leveled the cities of the ancien regime. Of course the Joachites also (knowingly?) completed a ritual to summon forth powers vastly older than Man and opened the Gates.
While the Cheyenne Commanderie will be modeled after the Exarchate of Ravenna, a last military outpostof the Eastern Empire of Terra Nova. Also there will be winks and nods to the Enclave of Fallout fame.
The Xothians of Mu, Kali, Atlantis, and Lemuria will stand in nicely for the ominously rising Moors. Their hordes of Barracuda fish-men and Gargoyle star-spawn chanting 'there are no Gods but the Old Ones and Lord Cthulhu is the prophet of their return.'
And from the frozen farthest north sweep baying packs of Gnophkeh warriors thirsty for blood and hungry for warm flesh. From the fury of the Northmen, oh Lord, preserve us.
I must stop myself from going on and on, there are so many possibilities; Pendragon of Mars, Serpent Men of the southron jungles, the Risen Empire of the vile Nephren Ka, the fungus from Yuggoth, Dinosaur Swamps...
3) Anyway play will initially focus on adventurous Yankish warriors questing forth into the ruins of ancient cities looking for lost technology or striking deep into the quisling Sorcerous Federation to destroy some nascent threat to the free peoples of Earth.
1) The name. I'm not satisfied with Shadow Gates as a title for the project. It doesn't have enough menace. I'm thinking Nemesis Gates not only rolls of the tongue better but is at the same time more ominous. Also it brings in connotations of destruction via the Nemesis Hypothesis and the Harbinger of the Old Ones; Ghroth. Much better suited for a post apocalyptic project.
2) Historical Inspiration. I already knew that I wanted the campaign to take place in the ruins of a once great Human Empire. This has naturally lead to seeking inspiration in similar historical periods like, for example, the Dark Ages. The Confederation (my setting's nod to everyone's favorite Coalition Sates) was originally going to be largely based on the Holy Roman Empire.
Now I see I haven't gone back far enough. Instead I will be using the Frankish Empire of the Merovingian kings and Carolingian Emperors as my main inspiration. Instead of Franks crossing the Rhine into the Roman Empire we will have Yanks, ugly American exiles who left the great sprawling cities of Columbia and San Angeles to live in Coventry, basically a great reservation in flyover country. Now they are picking up the pieces after the Joachite Wreckers have leveled the cities of the ancien regime. Of course the Joachites also (knowingly?) completed a ritual to summon forth powers vastly older than Man and opened the Gates.
While the Cheyenne Commanderie will be modeled after the Exarchate of Ravenna, a last military outpostof the Eastern Empire of Terra Nova. Also there will be winks and nods to the Enclave of Fallout fame.
The Xothians of Mu, Kali, Atlantis, and Lemuria will stand in nicely for the ominously rising Moors. Their hordes of Barracuda fish-men and Gargoyle star-spawn chanting 'there are no Gods but the Old Ones and Lord Cthulhu is the prophet of their return.'
And from the frozen farthest north sweep baying packs of Gnophkeh warriors thirsty for blood and hungry for warm flesh. From the fury of the Northmen, oh Lord, preserve us.
I must stop myself from going on and on, there are so many possibilities; Pendragon of Mars, Serpent Men of the southron jungles, the Risen Empire of the vile Nephren Ka, the fungus from Yuggoth, Dinosaur Swamps...
3) Anyway play will initially focus on adventurous Yankish warriors questing forth into the ruins of ancient cities looking for lost technology or striking deep into the quisling Sorcerous Federation to destroy some nascent threat to the free peoples of Earth.
04 July 2009
Independence Day
Freedom is not Free.
Liberty is Purchased with Blood.
Rights grow from the barrel of a Gun.
The best way to celebrate is to go and buy a firearm. Doc Savage out.
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