Cavaliers of Mars (I think I have my Thanksgiving game)

[Emprint]

[sound of howling wind]

On a world beyond time

[zooming across a landscape of red sand]

In a land beyond the desert

[shifting, zooming along a canal]

In a city without compassion

[the ziggurat looms in the distance, the sprawl of the city rushes by below us as we zoom in on its top]

[we settle and circle on a priest atop the ziggurat. his clothes are yellow silk, but he's showing plenty of muscled, shining skin. his head is unnaturally oval. he's covered in tattoos and ritual paint designs, and stands with a wicked knife over a silent-screaming sacrificial victim]

[closeup on the victim's face]

[shots of the shouting crowd, eager for blood]

[close on the knife, then on the roaring priest as he stabs it downwards]

[lock on the knife as it stabs downward -- and is blocked by a rapier shining in the martian noon -- sparks flying from the impact]

[close on the face of a man with a beard and an extravagant hat. he's holding the rapier]

[music with a pumping drumbeat kicks in]

[another scene of the swordsman in the hat, this time walking through a crowd of ragged but stylish people that parts like the red sea. he's got a babe in one arm and a flintlock laser pistol in the other]

[cut to a hover chariot racing through the desert. a woman on a mechanical horse pulls even with it. she aims and fires a flintlaser. the chariot spins, flips over, cut to the woman's horse rearing over the driver]

Die for honor

[the bearded swordsman plummeting from a great height]

[a gorilla artillery man firing a howitzer at figures mounted on flying beasts]

[the bearded man pulling a dancing girl to him by the waist]

Live for everything

[silhouetted figures duelling with swords on a telegraph wire above the city]

[the gunslinger girl crushing a guy's mouth to hers]

Cavaliers of Mars



----

What are you doing for Thanksgiving?

[Emprint]

To clarify: because Mars has canals, it also has Venice.

[Craig Oxbrow]

Well, darn.

Any chance you might visit the UK some convention season?

[Emprint]

Originally Posted by Craig Oxbrow

Well, darn.

Any chance you might visit the UK some convention season?

If marketing wants to pay for it!

[AnyaTheBlue]

Three words: Dictionary of Mu

Four words: In a Wicked Age

[Emprint]

Originally Posted by AnyaTheBlue

Three words: Dictionary of Mu

Which I cannot find my copy of, or I'd be cribbing from there.

Originally Posted by AnyaTheBlue

Four words: In a Wicked Age

If this one shot works out, I may make some Martian Oracles!

Okay, so the bad guy is going to be part Thoth Amon, part Cardinal Richilieu. Let's go ahead and call him Cardinal Illieu of the Seven Yellow Silks.

He has a rocket throne, like Gilgamesh, and is allied with the ape men of the wastes.

He's the leader of the Roundheads, hereditary priests of steamwork science.

[cutup]

Awesome!

[DrewID]

Originally Posted by Emprint

[sound of howling wind]

On a world beyond time

(snipo)

This is sufficiently cool that you can store your Thanksgiving leftovers with it and they will stay fresh FOREVER!

OK, maybe not, but I liked it anyway.

DrewID

[Gen. Lee]

That RAWKS!

My inner Space:1889 addict says, "Hear, hear. Good show, old boy."

[Emprint]

Thanks, folks.

Some more random thoughts...

...the city is called Vance. I like that from many angles.

...Deimos steel is the best in the Red Kingdoms.

...ice from the subterranean glaciers is a sought-after resource.

...eldritch ceremonies take place at the Opposition of the Blue Star.

...how do you get to and from the moons?