clones clones clones clones....

So I drop this lady off in Steelhead and it's drama central. Jobias is strutting around and Dr. O is complaining about the rain on his joints. No sign of Malegatto though. I was hoping for her autograph.

What I can figure out Genie was in heat and built a clone of the Baron that's now in the hooskow. I thought he already was a clone to be honest. How can he be hanging out in Steelhead and arguing with New Babbage's Ann Coulter/Paris Hilton fur on the Ning when there's all that craziness going on in Europa?

I also heard St. Kitt blew up. Too bad, I used to go on vacation there with Mom back when the neko ruled the island. We had so much fun setting up those moai...then the humans cam and put lawn chairs all over them! *sniff!* Well, that's one prophesy off the list. Too bad the Middlesea Fleet was busy with it, they had to break off chasing the Midas...

Aw crap, the Midas! It's over Winterfell? Darien and Ash are still on it? Gem and Ama are fighting Loli Ogre Ninjas? *sigh* I should get over there...

I'm out standing in my field

In Steelhead I saw the priestesses (Oh, you call them nuns? Whatever...)pounding on door after door looking for silver bars. I also saw them cordon off the old Lighthouse before Tensai demolished it. I felt a lump in my throat, and a tightness in the air like the Universe was holding its breath...

I visited Kira. I told her best I could what happened to us up there. She told me best she could what's changed down here.



So...I'm waiting in Victoria City for...something...important?















What's with all these mushrooms, anyway? And what's wrong with that bunny? Why is it red? Is it ready to catch on fire or something? I'm not used to standing out in the open like this! Daylight doesn't match my coat at all...

Scorecard II: The Villains

Hades (R.I.P.?)
Greek God of the Underworld. aka Ruler of Erebus aka the Obsidian King. I always was told he was the father of Bloodwing, but we found out Bloodwing's real dad (and my Grandpa) was Prometheus. He exiled Bloodwing for helping Persephone escape the Underworld permanently, then sent the Hydra to kill them both. The details are scribbled down here. Hades was last seem screaming at Bloodwing as New Erebus slammed into the old one.

The Hydra
One of the Titans and enemy of the gods. You may have read it was killed by Hercules. Apparently one head survived. The Hydra is more of a hive-mind of snake-headed demons than one big creature, but Hades had the main body caged under his palace. We're talking mountainous huge here. The Hydra can send its heads across dimensions to bite people and inject them with venom that turns them into Hydra Heads...snake demons. The one barrier the Hydra can't pass through is the time barrier. That's how Dr. Mason killed the whole Hydra before, by going back in time while he was infected and severing the colony link. But now, History's been changed so it wasn't killed.

Now I hear Dad may have freed the main body of the Hydra when he destroyed Erebus? Ummm THAT WAS SMART! NOT!

Aleister Mason
The last Mason to be possessed by Bloodwing over a century ago. He found a secret from Bloodwing's past and became a vampire to escape being Bloodwing's Host. Is it a fair trade? You tell me. He's got a stock of Bloodwine that's so concentrated one sip will feed a vamp for a week. It's also the base ingredient for Darien's Reanimation Serum. He's a Spark and way into clockwork...vampire doll constructs, time window clocks, all kinds of stuff.

He lost control of his Dolls, so he threw in the towel when a new Regent was chosen and called a truce. Do I think he's still got something up his sleeve? Of course. He hasn't survived as long as he has without knowing when to retreat and regroup.

Jeremiah Mason
Don't get me started! This guy's a first class Spark as well as a Mage. He's also Darien's Dad. And by "Dad" I mean "make a couple clones of myself and not put my memories in them and see if either of them turn into Bloodwing". He had extra copies of himself stored all over the place. Yeah. He's evil. He had a plan to raise Nekos as slaves and become President of the United States. Then when that didn't work he built an army of Qlippothic copies on a stolen space station to use them to invade Earth. He tried to use me as a fuel source for his space station, and I lost a life. I'm still sore about that. We think he ran out of clones because of this transmission (assuming its legit), and the fact that his other son Marcus just showed up.

Marcus Mason
Darien's brother. Twelve years old Adult Spark + Mage + Telekinetic = Big Trouble. So much trouble Jeremiah had his butler murder him because he was too powerful to control. Marcus was just reanimated, either as revenge by that disgruntled butler or as a failsafe when Jermiah lost his last life. Either way, something ain't right about this kid. Judging from the pictures he's not an exact clone of Jeremiah. In fact I'm not even sure he's human.

Jobias Barthelmess
He's Sheriff Fuzzball Ortega's arch-enemy. He's one of those obnoxious Human Supremacists. He's been in Steampunk Land for a couple years now, just looming over people and taking notes. I think he's finally making his move. He's not a Spark or a Mage as far as I can tell, but he probably has silver bullets. Somehow he scored an Ambassadorship with Steeltopia. Now he waves his passport around and gloats at everyone. Sorry Jobie, I'm a chat sans frontiers so don't even try it.

Malegatto Alter and Cato Quan
Evil Tiny Kitty and Clueless Minion. Dressing like Santa in August to tell Lunar he's been drafted by the workshop? GET A CLUE! You're an embarassment to the species!

Dr. Obolensky
The kind of villain you see in the moving pictures. Top hat, cape, cane, twirly stache, the whole nine deal. Not-so-secret lair? Check. Submarine? Check. Big Statue of himself? Check. Can't handle his cavorite? Check. Rumor has it he's powerless without his bran muffins in the morning.

EXPLAIN!

That's what Ash said as I stepped out of that bear suit. "How did you survive that fall?"

I rolled my eyes. "No, you idiot. I didn't survive that fall." I tossed him his shins.

"You lost one of your lives?" He used his fingertorch to start welding them back on.

"NO. Listen. Mr. Bear fell out of the ship. I found Mr. Bear. I cleaned off the fur."

"What about the person who was in it?"

"It was empty."

"Congratulations, Koen. You have succeeded utterly confusing me."

I crouched next to him and gave him a crash course in Demon Psychology 101.

"Look, I've been to Erebus before. Their society is like a wolfpack. One huge pecking order. And on a cramped ship someone has to be the..."

"Ahem?"

"The Omega Wolf. And that Omega keeps from getting killed by being funny. He's the Court Jester, the chew toy..."

"Like Keenly the Clown?"

"EXACTLY! You met that guy?"

"I've read about him."

As I lectured him I helped him get to his feet. "So the thing about the Bear is he's anonymous. Because no one would submit to be the Bear if they knew they couldn't assume their own station again at some point without being blackmailed. As for throwing the Bear off the ship? That's just not done. That's like throwing the rum off a pirate ship!"

"So that would have been a decision by Marcus?"

"Right. And the crew is too afraid to correct him. Most likely they just let the guy slip out and threw out the costume!"

Ash picked up the mask.

"But I heard it cry out as it fell."

I reached in the mask and pressed a button in the muzzle. A voice roared from the device.

"MOARRRRR!! SAUUUUUCE!! LOL..." I clicked it off.

There was one of those long awkward silences. I could hear Ash's gears spinning double-time.

"I see why the Founder could never adjust to Human society."

"So here's the plan, Stan" I continued, "YOU put on this Bear and slip back on the ship. No one will ask who you are, in fact they'll be relieved that someone had an extra Bear on the ship. You just crawl and wobble around, act obnoxious like a Mainlan..."

"Koen!"

"Like Keenly. People will kick you around a bit, pour drinks on you, but you can take it. You can even pull some pranks back on them so they don't forget you're there. If they miss the Bear too long they'll start turning on each other, or those Dolls."

"I can't get back to the ship. My wings are destroyed."

I heard something. I pointed up to the small craft floating down. "Quick. Put this on. Act crazy and they'll take you back to the ship. I've gotta get back to Pretty Ugly's Super Happy Fun Time Cabinet. Later!"

Introductions and a Scorecard (revised)

So, Hi. I'm that catboy in the Mason family that died in the New Erebus adventure. But I got better. I was staying with my Mom for a while in Helopolis before these time ripples happened and she turned back into Sekhmet and...well let's just say I plan to stay here for a while.

I know what you're thinking. OH GAWD NOT ANOTHER MASON! I CAN'T KEEP UP! Well, half the time we can't either. So...let me give you the rundown.

Bloodwing (R.I.P.)
Son of Persephone and raised by Hades as his own, but actually sired by the Titan Prometheus. Founder of the Mason bloodline (that's why we call him the Founder, also because we just get tired of hearing his name all the time.) He also built the Bloodwing Temple in Sumatra where my ancestors worshipped him, until they double-crossed him. Something to do with the Tree of Death.

He took over the comet/space-station I was trapped on (New Erebus) and claimed himself King, which by the ancient rulebook made him a god of the Greco-Roman pantheon. He spent his short reign growing buildings and arguing with the Fates who made him clean up most of the Family's time-rips. His last act was crashing New Erebus into the old Erebus, leaving a huge crater in the Underworld and destroying himself and Hades (we think) in the process.

Lumina Elvejhem

Bloodwing's twin sister. My Aunt. She's an artist. Clothes, buildings, gardening, bodyshaping, you name it. She just happened to be Bloodwing's neighbor when he moved to Steelhead. Small Grid. After Bloodwing died we had to find a new Regent fast, or those demon instincts would have kicked kick in and we'd all be at each other's throats. Trust me, nobody wants to see that. We sometimes slip and call her Founder, even though she wasn't the first, but it's the most literal translation from the ancient rites. You could say she's Founding something new. So there.

Dr. Darien James Mason
My dear old Dad. Well, I thought he was a bastard for ditching my Mom in the streets of New Babbage, but later I found out he was told she was dead. I wish someone told me that before I ripped his face off that time. But that's all under the bridge. He graduated from Miskatonic U. and now he runs Caledon Regency Hospital. He also likes to build constructs if you haven't noticed. He's built a lot of wacky inventions too that sometimes work right. And then there's that whole Reanimation Serum deal...

Qlippothic Projects
My android sister, or sisters. There were three of her, actually. Qli-1 was built by Dr. Mason and Bloodwing, when they were sharing bodies. Later Qli-1 tried to rescue her friend Nova Sakigake and their circuits got mixed together. No Qli-2 has Nova's memories and Qli-3 had the memories of the original Qlippothic. There's a quiz on this later.

Qli came back after Bloodwing's death. She's been adventuring, getting past the failure of the family's time-travel tech with something called the Eye of Yog... (What? It's too dangerous to say? Fine.) We're a bit concerned that she's turning into one of those Mythos Cultists like the other Nova Sakigake running around. To put it mildly.

Gematria is what the original Qlippothic's spirit is calling herself these days. She's become a Blood Doll - a creepy mechanical dolly that bites necks for blood like a vampire - apparently it's better lubricant than oil. OK she's not as creepy now, I'm getting to know her again. She's working as a Tavern Wench at Port Novem in Winterfell Laudanum, working for tips and a glass of cheap bloodwine a night. It's a living.

Ash Mason aka Tumim
Another android made from a shard of Bloodwing's bone and infected by Qli-3's magic circuitry that came to life. (Hey, I'm just reading the Histories, here.) Ash "grew" in Bloodwing's dying body and took it over when the Founder's soul was taken. When he tried to rescue me from my grandfather Jeremiah, he got zapped and Bloodwing's body disintegreated except for his shard. Now he's almost all metal, which is fine for me since he doesn't look so much like the Founder anymore except for that new set of wings he just got. He's got a job with the Europan Consulate acting as a mouthpiece in Steeltopia.

I'm glad I finally got to meet him. He seems to be a genius, and he's really nice too, but he still has stuff to learn about how living people act. He's starting to assert himself and telling people when he has emotions. Good work, bro. Keep it up.

Amarantis
I haven't met her yet, but she's a demon formed from mental echoes of the survivors (including Dr. Mason) of the trip they took to rescue me. We know she's legit because Bloodwing meeting a descendant in the future named Amarantis. Not that many in the aetherphone book.