COSMIC OPERA: EPIC OF THE DRAGON

[Maharg67]

PROLOGUE AND PRENOTES

 

*********

 

Professors Cosmorda, Geniustar and Frankendane had brought people to the moon in three big antigravity globes in 1898AD of a world much like our own but with some important and many minor differences.

 

Lomodata, Geniustar and Frankendane each has his antigavity ship, followers, livestock, equipment, supplies and other things including the Specials.

 

They landed on the moon and vanished to reappear in an incredible Lunar Underworld and there they began the building of three different types of utopia, or at least what they considered to be utopias.

Domains of the Known Lunar World

 

Clanfolk Territories centred around the Clandom, the large organised realm of the Clanking, Clanqueen and Clanlords.

 

Joytopia, the supposed Utopia began by Cosmorda where happiness is a must and negative emotions are a crime.

 

Truetopia, the dystopia of false equals true where the government is always waging war against Geniustra. Created by Lomodata. Strength in Joy. War is Peace. False is Truth. Ministries of Love, Peace, Plenty and Care represent in turn for the secret police, the military, tight rationing and a harsh controlling welfare system.

 

Geniustra, the science and logic fanatical regime where science is worshipped as the ultimate and only genuine path to truth. Created by Geniustar.

 

The British Imperium and British Empire of three great suncavernlands but they are largely semi-arid, arid and places of powerful, hostile flora and fauna.

 

Domains on the 'Edge' of the Known Lunar Underworld

 

Professor Carvor's small colony of British folk

 

Selenite hive alien quasi-insect creatures

 

Zetan alien colony

 

SPECIES AND SUBSPECIES!?

 

Humans from AltEarths:

 

Clanfolk from Clandorisina.

 

British and others from Terra #1

 

Astronauts and, later, others from Terra #2

 

Non-Humans from ???

 

Eloya from Terra #3

 

Wombles from Wimbledon

 

Wozzles from Gai'iag

 

Morlocks from Terra #3

 

Elves from Gai'iag

 

 

 

more to be added here in future and editing to be done

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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http://i592.photobucket.com/albums/tt9/Dragonpen61/Forum%20Additives/Dragon_Wars-1-1-1.jpg

Edited July 17, 2010 by Maharg67

[WastelandAssassin]

well, this starts out rather nicely

not a lot of info, but just enough to catch interest

if you do choose to do it according to a game, do you think you can add some pictures to go along with the story??

even if it is just a title picture for each chapter (if you do plan on writing in chapters, which to me seems like the best way for you to go)

 

anyway, good luck to you

and i'll be keeping my eyes on this

[Maharg67]

THANKS FOR THE FEEDBACK, WASTELAND ASSASSIN. MORE INFO WILL BE ADDED ABOVE AND PICTURES WILL BE ADDED AS BEST AS I CAN FIND THAT ARE APPLICABLE.

 

1

BOBBY OF THE CLANFOLK

WILD SURVIVAL #1

 

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He ran fast, darting amongst the thornbushes all gnarled, tough and dotted with long, hard and sharp thorns. His fleximetallic armour would protect him from thorns but not from powerful enemy bullets fired from a damned big huntergun. He had an open faced helmet, a breastplate, groinguard, shinplates, gloves and boots of armoured cleverness. His ornaments were personal and of his clan, his extended family and his symbolis, the Dragon Ajaja.

 

Bobby dived behind a bush and came up aiming his own weapon, a Short Magazine Lee Enfield. The bolt-action rifle was large but thanks to the use of light but hard metalwood and light but durable biometal, it was not too heavy. Anyway he was supposed to be superhuman, not that he put too much trust in such things.

 

Bobby aimed and fired. The 7,7mm bullet, also known as a .303 calibre in non metric terms, blasted a big, hulking hunter down. A hunter? Yes a PakHunter whose ancestors had been human. Relatively fast but slow compared to such as Bobby himself. Pakhunters were stronger, less agile and slower than superhumans like himself. Nor did they have the psypowers, the psychic powers, or so ran the theory.

 

The PakHunters had apparently come upon him in the Wildzone of Cressentoa by luck but he did not believe it, not really. He psysensed it was too planned, that somebody had known he would be there and had informed a PakMaster. This meant treachery and he had a good idea who was responsible. Bobby grinned and worked the bolt of his rifle. It was fed by stripper-clips and he had two full stripper-clips, each of ten bullets, and a dozen loose bullets. He also had the back up of a large, powerful Webley revolver-pistol.

 

Again he aimed and fired. A second of the thirteen monsters fell even as the others sought to entrap him, to circle around him, to confuse him. The PakMaster himself was there, larger and more powerful, smarter than his PakHunters but not so bright compared to Bobby and his kind.

 

A PakHunter hurled a grenade, a big dull steel globe. Bobby felt the ground give away beneath himself but he did not panic. Far from it for friends had come to assist in that wide bleak landscape beneath a cloudsky of grey swirling cloud that stretched in all directions as much the same. He was pulled into a tunnel by furry arms, surprising powerful for such short arms, and a womble was then leading him through the cleverly made and reinforced tunnel. Even as they moved, the grenade exploded on the surface and the tunnel shook as some dirt fell upon them from the dark earthy ceiling.

 

The PakMaster would be angry and frustrated. The PakMaster would have to go and report failure to the PakLord of that area. Bobby almost but did not quite feel sorry for him. The Pakken were all savage brutes who were addicted to cruelty and brutality except for a few surprising exceptions.

 

Frankendane's creations carrying out Frankendane's insane orders long after Frankendane had apparently vanished. Such was quite normal for the abnormality of the Lunar Underworld.

 

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http://i592.photobucket.com/albums/tt9/Dragonpen61/Forum%20Additives/new-smle-mkiii_70-1-1-1.jpg

Edited July 13, 2010 by Maharg67

[WastelandAssassin]

while reading the first chapter, i thought it had no real connection to the prologue, only to find out how brilliant it was

i had not expected to see you turn to a different time line so early on, but i am very glad you did

the writing is very good, not too hard to understand, yet still with proper artistic english

i also like your usage of exsisting weapons and not futuristic lasers and such, as it gives a much better prespective for such a story

the main character, Bobby, seems to be a very interesting fellow, and i would love to see how you have invisioned him

the same goes for the Pakken, also equaly well created and interesting

 

you keep a wonderful shroud of mystery, which leads to the reader wish even more that the next chapter will be posted

i am really looking forward to seeing the next chapter, and i hope to see many more coming as your great adventure progresses

[Maharg67]

THANKS AGAIN, WASTELANDASSASSIN, FOR YOUR FEEDBACK. YOU HELP TO INSPIRE ME TO WRITE WELL.

 

2

BOBBY OF THE CLANFOLK

WILD SURVIVAL #2

 

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Out of the tunnel Bobby clambered quickly and stealthily, following furry wombles who crawled along on all fours to peer carefully over a series of smallish boulders. PakHunters were moving away now with lumbering strides. Bobby watched them doing so with a thoughtful expression on his face. Somebody had betrayed him and if it was the one he expected, he would show up in order to make sure that Bobby was dead. Why the betrayal? Partly because of competition for the love of the same young woman, partly out of desire to take from Bobby his birthright of Clan Inheritance but mostly because he could. Spartane was that kind of man.

 

KaratToop the womble, adult-female hunter, she crouched close to Bobby and spoke in Esperanto, the Internationalist language that the Three Grand Geniuses had brought with them from a world called the Earth, or Terra. Few wombles spoke such. They always spoke their own language with each other and mostly the mishmash basics of Obotongue with others. "Wombles picked up signs of Pakken coming this way with purpose, straight to this one place. We knew something was not right. Then our scouts spotted you coming to same place and we suspected a trap. Bobby, friend of wombles."

 

Bobby nodded. "Did great wombles see anybody making agreements with the Pakken?"

 

KaratToop shook her head and spoke again with her soft growly voice. "Not wombles but wozzles did. Wozzles say one of you Clansmen did show up trying to disguise himself in silly brown robes but he smelt like one of you. Wozzle noses are better even than womble noses. Wozzles know his smell and together wozzles and wombles work out that he be one called Ramlon, follower of Spartane. Stupid Ramlon does Spartane's dirty work or so I guess."

 

"You guess very well." Bobby looked up at the cloudsky, examining the patterns that he could see. "A small rainstorm is coming and there is a good chance of small flash floods."

 

The womble nodded. "Wildfolk have already begun to prepare. You come with wombles to wildfolk settlement of BingBingBarbo. Wozzles live there now with wombles but also others of the wildfolk. We work better together now you walked amongst us and spoke to our leaders and leader advisers. We wildfolk respect you more than your own people do. Why is that?"

 

He sighed. "Complicated history wise reasons but soon enough I will start teaching you and others of these matters. Why not? It would allow wombles and other wildfolk to better understand and deal with we Clansfolk. For too long now the Trader Clans have cheated the wildfolk with cunning bartering."

 

The womble laughed in her own fashion. "Do not worry so much, Bobby! We are not so foolish. We learned long ago how to make it seem that we were being cheated while we made very good deals for ourselves."

 

At that Bobby smiled very much even as he observed a stormhawk high above. Stormhawk behaviour was a good indicator of weather conditions. The bird of prey was acting as one who is fleeing from a Lunar Underworld rainstorm, which was a wise move. It was time that Bobby and his womble companions made their way to the mostly underground settlement of BingBingBarbo. He knew that big suncavern well with its suncrystal and cloudsky that had been there an amazingly long time like the Lunar Underworld itself.

 

He had more than one reason for wanting to go to BingBingBarbo.

 

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http://i592.photobucket.com/albums/tt9/Dragonpen61/Forum%20Additives/the-first-men-in-the-moon-1-1.jpg

Edited July 13, 2010 by Maharg67

[WastelandAssassin]

really nicely done

it gets more and more interesting, and i would love to read it all, but of course, no pressure, take all the time you need to make the most out of your ideas

 

on a different note, i am speaking with someone who showed interest in your writing, and would love to try drawing your characters, if that is possible

if you would like that, could you please PM me some more details as to how you envision the Pakken or Bobby, so that i can convey that information to that friend, so that he will give it a shot??

i will be very glad if you decide to try it out

 

anyways, awaiting you answer

always a fan

WA

[Maharg67]

THANKS AGAIN, WASTELANDASSASSIN, WILL BE HAPPY TO HAVE YOUR FRIEND DRAW PICTURES OF MY CHARACTERS

 

3

BOBBY OF THE CLANFOLK

WILD SURVIVAL #3

 

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Bobby and the wombles made good time first by going overland using wildfolk paths, cleverly made but just as cleverly hidden from outsiders, and then by going through just a tiny part of a great network of tunnels. As they moved through the tunnels they came upon womble, wozzle and other creatures on guard. It seemed that the Pakken had been entering the big suncavern more frequently of late, as if they were hunting for something, and they had been trying to get into the tunnel networks of the wildfolk. Why, nobody seemed to know.

 

They came upon a great metallic stone chamber after going through an area of cave tunnels and chambers. The Ancients had created the metallic stone chamber as they had the whole Lunar Underworld, or so it was commonly assumed. Inside the mighty dome chamber were huge metallic stone statues fused into the curving wall, eight of them looking inwards, and at the centre was a circle of eight figures looking at the those looking in and one taller standing figure in the centre. Being naked, it was quite evident that they were apparently quite human though very beautiful and elegantly so with no apparent blemishes.

 

This was the core of the settlement of BingBingBarbo where the peoples utilised ancient metallic stone devices that dispensed streams of clean, clear, cool water into even channels flowing from the outer chamber to the inner where the water vanished into a tight grilled series of holes. There were four such water fountains and channels evenly spaced around the domechamber. Then there were four others, colour coded, from which came colour coded semiliquids of nutritional, healing, contructing and growth stimulating properties. These were also spaced around the outer of the chamber, one each next to a water fountain, but the semiquid flowed into big metallic stone sinks before swirling away. They filled the sinks.

 

Bobby had been there many times and he was welcomed by nearly all there though some greetings were warmer than others. Apart from humans, wombles, wozzles, goblins and other folk there were morloks, white furred and wearing dark lensed goggles. Most morloks did not like Bobby since he helped put a stop to their cannibalistic raids against some other peoples. He had beheaded the great morlok leader in front of the morlok masses, or at least some of them, and had forced a mighty oath of honour to be sworn.

 

None of his people seemed to know of his exploits away from the Clanlands but he did not speak of them to the Clanfolk for he did not think that they would believe him. He considered his path to be one that would lead him away from his birthright and the people of his birth. Why? Because he had never been fully accepted by them, at least not by most of them. Any feelings of rejection, of anger, of self pity, had faded away long ago or at least that is what he told himself.

 

He and the wombles walked around the great domechamber, through the market area and stopped at an eatery of a counter plus cushions and mats to sit upon. Bowls of nutriogoo, warmed and mixed with a stew of loop-lizard meat, sliced steamed yam, were served along with hand-bowls of spice-coffee with honey. Bobby paid from his obvious leather purse and did so in good reliable trade clancoins. Despite this he was not offended when the woman running the stall automatically examined the coins; there were too many forgeries and even honest folk sometimes tried to spend them.

 

As he and his comrades consumed the food and drink, he discretely studied the people of the big domechamber and hoped to see at least one he could speak to so as to clarify certain matters.

 

It was then that he spotted them, the curious strangers.

 

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http://i592.photobucket.com/albums/tt9/Dragonpen61/Forum%20Additives/morlocks-1.jpg

Edited July 13, 2010 by Maharg67

[Maharg67]

4

BOBBY OF THE CLANFOLK

WILD SURVIVAL #4

 

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Bobby slipped his rifle into its scabbard and placed it over his back. Then he made his was, helmet on, across the great metallic stone floor to where the five humans were huddled in apparent fear, curiosity and bafflement. Or at least he sensed it to be so. They wore odd white jumpsuits with black pouch dotted belts and boots that slipped on. They also had some furs, a coat, of the kind made by wombles. He noted backpacks of a plasticy material, hard and waterproof. The jumpsuits were stained more off white than white and there were some small rips in the sturdy seeming material. He sensed these people had endured some hardship.

 

These humans had pistols in holsters and one had a rifle wrapped in a blanket, a curious shaped rifle of some sort.

 

There were two eurowhite men, a eurowhite man, a yellow-brown woman and a black man.

 

The humans were clearly astonished by the size and quality of the domechamber and the great statues. As he got closer he noted that each had a kind of curious badge with a rocket and the words UNITED FREE SPACE PROGRAM written in the language called English. The same was on the backpacks also and caps. They seemed to be speaking the common trade language quite well and he decided for the moment not to reveal his knowledge of English.

 

He stood before them until they noticed him, bent forward with hands steepled, and then spoke in Obotongue. "May I sit with you for a while? I am always interested in talking with newcomers, with strangers to the Wildlands, to learn new things. We could exchange knowledge. I do not seek to rob you or otherwise to trick you. I have enough money myself."

 

A tall, thick bodies black man frowned and spoke to his companions in English. "Looks nasty to me. Looks human enough but all we can see is the face."

 

"Shut up JJ!" An attractive, mature eurowhite woman spoke in English to the man. "Even if he can not speak English, I doubt that he is stupid. He will hear your tone of voice. Then she turned and spoke fairly fluent Obotongue to Bobby. "I am Adala. Please sit with us. Yes, an exchange of information would assist both of us."

 

Bobby sat as the circle adjusted to give him room. Then he spoke even as he placed his rifle across his lap. "My name is Bobby. This is not the best place to speak but my womble friends have a chamber close to here. It has open doorways onto public hallways so no, I am not trying to trick you. Obotongue is spoken by many including those who would kill and rob or enslave or carry out some other awfulness against you. I have many roles but now I am a bounty-hunter. I was seeking a big bounty criminal when PakHunters forced me to retreat from my quarry. Still, I will find the criminal and kill him."

 

Adala frowned softly. "Would you not take him alive?"

 

He shook his head. "No. He is abomination, is one who cheated natural death through dark sorcery-science of the necromancers. Such a state changes the basic nature of one and one is always evil for such abominations have no inhibitions and strange, dangerous urges. Thankfully such are quite rare in the Known Lunar Underworld."

 

The humans all looked surprised or even shocked at his words but only one seemed to pick up on his mistake.

 

Adala spoke. "What did you call this place? So far people have called it the Deeplands or the DeepWorld but not the Lunar Underworld. Why would anybody here use a Latin term like Lunar?"

 

Bobby grinned and spoke in English. "So, you caught me out. Some of my ancestors were and are English. About a thousand standard years ago they came from the Earth, from Terra, in three great antigravity globes. Each carried many hundreds of people, animals and plants. They even brought microbiological life with them. They blasted off from the Moors of England and the British Redcoats tried to stop them but failed to do so. The three ships vanished as they landed on the surface of the moon and ended up down here. We should not speak English here. The language is symbolic of three powerful and brutal regimes that have many enemies in the Wildlands. I suggest strongly that we go to a more private place and talk. It is important that you learn some ground rules of how to survive here for it is clear to me that you have not learned enough of them yet."

 

The humans gave him an odd look but ended up following him anyway.

 

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http://i592.photobucket.com/albums/tt9/Dragonpen61/Forum%20Additives/Dragons-1-1.jpg

Edited July 13, 2010 by Maharg67

[Maharg67]

5

BOBBY OF THE CLANFOLK

WILD SURVIVAL #5

 

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The big chamber was an evened out cave with materials added to line the walls, to form inner dividing walls, doors and a floor. There were other big chambers but this one, the commonroom, was easily the biggest. Wombles were busy at metal tap-sinks washing items or were fixing items at workbenches or sowing garments with big, clunky looking sowing-machines. Some wombles, young children, were being educated by an adult womble in one corner who was doing math problems on a blackboard. Some wombles were napping on big flat cushionmats, two or three curled up together on a cushionmat. A mother was breast feeding two lightly, softly furred babies at once. There was this activity and much more.

 

Bobby led the humans to a discrete corner and only one womble, KaratToop, sat with them. A privacy screen was put up by other wombles, a paper thin folding screen much decorated and quite elegantly beautiful. They sat in a circle, facing inwards, on cushionseats. Bobby lay his rifle, in its scabbard, across his lap. As soon as the others had settled down, he spoke. "You smell wrong, you dress wrong, you walk wrong, you speak English, you stare too much, you give impressions of being lost and vulnerable. All of this and more is bound to attract trouble. I am surprised you survived this long."

 

The man called JJ scowled. "There were eleven of us when we first appeared. Four staid at the spaceship, the big moonlander, and seven of us set out to try to find out just where we were. We soon ran into trouble and now two of us are buried, quite dead, in the strange ground of this damned world."

 

Bobby sighed. "You should have burned the bodies or at least cut off the heads. What killed your two comrades?"

 

The young brown skinned woman opened a pouch and handed him a coloured photo, a compact thick plastic one. He looked at the slightly blurred image of the monster and he sighed again. "A clawbear. Big, muscular, vaguely like a Kodiak bear of Terra but with great big retractable claws much bigger than any Kodiak has. Trick is to detect their warning signs. Clawbears are highly territorial but they put down markers to warn other clawbears away. You can learn to detect those markers and either go around the territory or be better prepared for danger." He handed the photo back. "Clawbears are mainly to be found in the Grudging Suncaverns of the Known Underworld. By Edict of the One-Of-Many-Of-One, they are left alone. Nobody is allowed to settle there or to hunt the clawbears. People are allowed to pass through but only along certain routes. There are only a few exceptions allowed. I have been there. How did they die?"

 

Adala nodded. "Sampson and Randy were killed while going to the toilet."

 

Bobby shook his head in wonder. "I take it that they went away from the others for privacy and had nobody guarding them properly. A nice civilized trick but a stupid one here, out in the wilds. Take a guard of the same gender if you must be have somebody who can both see you and around you and them."

 

Adala nodded again. "That is what we did do after that. I suppose all behave such in this world."

 

"No!" Bobby shook his head. "The Underworld has civilized folk who would make the same sort of fatal mistake made by your dead comrades. You should have burned the bodies or cut their heads of, at least."

 

A young eurowhite woman, blonde, and with a Texas accent, frowned hard at Bobby. "You may have your spiritual beliefs, I respect that, but we do not treat our dead so."

 

Bobby sighed heavily. "Here in the DeepWorld, in the Deeplands, in the Lunar Underworld, sometimes bodies don't stay dead. They become fake undead. They become yizombies. It is rare but it is enough for even animals to cut up their own dead, it has become an instinct amongst them. If the brain is smashed or otherwise destroyed, no yizombie arises. It is nature of a bizarre kind that does this. A kind of parasite that gets into the brain and spreads a kind of nerve webwork through the body. It forms a major node in the brain and secondary ones in the chest and upper middle back. Any of these points are very vulnerable on a yizombie. They are not called zombies because... because true zombies are sometimes created as abominations by the means of sorcery-science but this is rare, at least in the Known Lunar Underworld."

 

Suddenly, with out warning, Bobby froze into motionlessness.

 

The humans were quite startled but before they could say or do anything, KaratToop the womble quietly and quickly ushered them out of the corner. He and other wombles soon came back into the corner with cushions, a big cushionbed and they gently but firmly made Bobby lay down. They closed his eyes for him. Then all three curled up with him as he lay there quietly, unmoving, his chest not moving and his heart not beating.

 

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http://i592.photobucket.com/albums/tt9/Dragonpen61/Forum%20Additives/Clive-1.jpg

Edited July 13, 2010 by Maharg67

[WastelandAssassin]

this is getting better and better with each new line you add

i can see a great story unfolding just in front of my eyes

i have to say i am very glad i saw this one, and i am not going to stop following this one

great job on what you have done, and best of luck on what you will do