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Go
AmerikaTcho-tchos
Icelandic
DNAPuns
as Anti-AI
weaponTiger Transit
PlugWhat
the Tcho-tchos are
cookingETs
and Tcho-tcho DNA
Date: Fri, 25 Jun 1999 16:32:26 +0200
From: Davide Mana
Greetings.
Re-reading old books is a practice that should be more popular - not only it saves money, but it can provide new perspectives on old subjects. I was leafing through one of the older pieces of my paperback collection and I just stumbled on the following passage...
"Among the northeastern savages the Emishi are the most powerful [...] Their men and women live together priomiscuously, there is no distinction of father and and child. In winter they dwell in holes, in summer they live in nests. TGheir clotrhing consists of furs and they drink blood [...] Both men and women tie up their hair in the form of a mallet and tattoo their bodies [...] They are of a violent disposition and are much given to oppression."
Thus the "Nihongi" (about 720 A.D.).
Sounds familiar?
Date: Sat, 26 Jun 1999 13:47:13 +0900
Ah, the Tcho-tcho lore coming out of this list! I love it! Way too much to comment on individually, so just a couple of things; sorry if I fail to properly attribute.
Definitely we should go the "multiple Tcho-tcho cultures/sects" road. Makes the little bastards much more interesting. And with Tcho-tchos gaining sect-appropriate mutations/mutilations, all the better. That was the whole idea behind the "circumcision" scene in "Tiger"--one sect (Shubby worshippers) practices this particular mutilation (which becomes a mutation with time, as the DYoSN tentacle-tip grows to join with the subject's spine and spiritually fuse with his chakras--provides for added Dreamlands contact, along with opportunities for hideously kinky sex). Others would go a different route.
And what about the non-Queen females? The ones who stay in a permanently sexually immature state (so they look like 60-year-old little girls--and that's when they're 20, because they've been subjected to so much abuse and hard labor). Would some of them get trained as warriors, perhaps support troops?
All this talk of castration brings us around to the Skoptsi--how can we tie them in? And as for the Tcho-tcho with the tentacle between their legs, perhaps the reason for that "circumcision" is to prevent it getting yanked off during intercourse. I recently read an article about how genders as well as species engage in evolutionary competition, taking different forms depending on the competition. Perhaps the Tcho-tcho Queens yank off the males' equipment to prevent inbreeding--she only makes one set of children (I'm assuming multiple ovulation here) from each male who mates with her. Otherwise, the toughest male might be the only one ever to mate with her, refusing to let others do so, and the next generation of Tcho-tcho would be all siblings.
The males in the tribe of "Tiger" fought back with the circumcision ritual. Still, sometimes the Queen is victorious and yanks the willy out by its roots nonetheless--since it's rooted to the spine, the effects are highly gruesome and entertaining for the rest of the tribe.
I'd better stop there. I'm making my own stomach cramp up. (I can't wait to see what Nervy has to say about all this!)
PS: I can't really see Tcho-tcho Queens actually practicing a martial art. They just slam into you and squash you. Or sit on you until you suffocate. Or overwhelm you with sex-pheromones and then rip your thingie off at climax. And then eat you. Extra protein for the kids, you know.
Editor's note: more on Tcho-tcho fighting styles and techniques can be found in a separate document
Date: Sat, 26 Jun 1999 09:16:30 -0400
From: Steven Kaye
Dave Farnell took a break from his bak bon dzshow to ask about possible connections between the Skoptsi and the Tcho-Tcho.
Perhaps your best bet is having Skoptsi encounter one of the variant Tcho-Tcho peoples in Central Asia. Russian and British intrigue in Central Asia is what the Great Game was all about, after all. Count Przewalski came within 170 miles of Lhasa before being turned back. If you want to have Russians tied in with the Southeast Asian branch, you'd probably have to wait until the Vietnam War - AFAIK Southeast Asia was pretty much carved up between the British, French, and Dutch in the 19th century.
The Encyclopedia Britannica (you can try the Web version for free for a limited time, http://www.eb.com) has a charming article on body mutilations, which mentions both the Skoptsi and some Malaysian tribes as practicing mutilation of the female genitals. It also mentions partial castration (one testicle) as being practiced on Ponape.
Date: Sat, 26 Jun 1999 18:09:25 +0100
From: Barry Hill
Someone wrote recently that we do not have any idea what the Tcho-tcho look like. Well I have an idea. All myths and legends are based on distant facts. The old legends of farmers in Europe clearing forests and coming onto conflicts with races of goblins is based on a racial memory of the wars between cro-magnon man moving into Europe and replacing the indigenous neanderthals. There are numberous similarities between goblins and neanders- both are smaller than humans but much stronger and more cunning [ larger brain.]. Even the faces seem the same. There also appear to be cultural similarities- an apparent death cult, interest in magic , the eating of enemies brains . What if the neanders did not die out or be totally absorbed into the human race but hide in the remote areas of northern Europe and Asia such as Azerbaijan or the Pamir Mountains- or Leng and are now infact the tcho-tcho?
> Perhaps advanced Tcho-tcho fighters always eat their opponent, one recent e-mail said .
How true. They would fight using magic and earth poisons on blow darts or a powder blown out of a short tube which would paralyse the victim. OK so this means that the myth of the tcho-tcho /goblin /neanders states that they came from the race of dwarves the Miri-Nigri. The miri-nigri must therefore refer to pithecanthropus of which the most famous example is Peking man. The miri-nigri were developed from amphibian flesh- from the more advanced branch of australopithicus called the deep ones perhaps. If the miri-nigri were created by a supernatural or alien force and developed into the tch-tcho, then pithecathropus must also. We know that the only specimen of Peking man 'disappeared' during World War II but is reputed to still be hidden in America. Why? Does that missing skull indeed contain conclusive proof of alien involvement in human evolution? Does it show that neander/goblin/tcho-tcho people have supernatural alien talents? Could the agents of DG find the missing skull?
If the tcho-tcho have alien talents we are doomed.
From: Steven Kaye
Actually, we have a rudimentary description of the Tcho-Tcho in the first story they appeared in, "The Lair of the Star-Spawn":
On the contrary, they were a horde of little men, the tallest of them no more than four feet, with singularly small eyes set deep in dome-like, hairless heads.
Chaosium, for their own nefarious reasons, has given them bowl cuts and filed teeth. What sinister purpose links an Oakland gaming company and a sinister tribe of South and Southeast Asia?
The link with the Miri Nigri comes from William Barton's scenario "The Curse of Chaugnar Faugn." Frank Belknap Long's original story, "The Horror in the Hills," has the Miri Nigri, a sadistic race of yellowish amphibians who are little more than puppets of Chaugnar Faugn, and a priest, Chung Ga, and his followers. Both are located on the plateau of Tsang. In the interests of conservation of lost races, Chung Ga and his people were seen as identical with the Tcho-Tcho.
Interestingly, "Lair" has the following to say about the origin of the Tcho-Tcho:
But the evil ones left seeds on the plateau, on the island in the Lake of Dread which the Old Ones caused to be put there. And from these seeds have sprung the Tcho-Tcho people, the spawn of elder evil, and now these people await the day when Lloigor and Zhar will rise again and sweep over all Earth.
Perhaps the way to go with Tcho-Tcho isn't to make them animalistic, but strange plant-human hybrids? Have them erupt into hell-plants when killed, emit perfumes with intoxicating or hallucinatory effects, and whatever other ingenious mutations the Keeper cares to indulge in?
Date: Sat, 26 Jun 1999 21:27:35 +0200
From: Davide Mana
Steven brought back ancient memories when he wrote
>Perhaps the way to go with Tcho-Tcho isn't to make them animalistic,
but
>strange plant-human hybrids? Have them erupt into hell-plants
when
killed,
>emit perfumes with intoxicating or hallucinatory effects,
and whatever
>other ingenious mutations the Keeper cares to indulge
in?
I'm certainly not the only one that remembers the bad guys in the classic Reiji Matsumoto anime "Captain Harlock" [and this just after the Star Blazers quotes.... sincronicity again].
The idea of Tcho-tchos that erupt into green-blue flames when shot, and die with a terrifying scream has some potential.
Somebody cares for a tcho-tcho dryad stage of development?
Just some wild thoughts.
From: The Man in Black
> What if the neanders did not die out or be totally absorbed into
the
> human race but hide in the remote areas of northern Europe and
Asia
such
> as Azerbaijan or the Pamir Mountains- or Leng and are now infact
the tcho-tcho?
You didn't mention Mike Crichton's Eaters of the Dead? This novel describes a Muslim world traveler based on Ibn Batt.. er whomever circa 700AD a fortuitous century indeed. His travels take him to the Scandinavian realm (Sweden, cult of Trancendance) where he and his Viking buddies encounter the Neanderthals. They live in a sea cave accessible only by cliff diving into the Ocean and thru a underwater tunnel, kinda like the Na Pali coast on Kauai, only in the winter.
The resemblance to the Beowulf saga is more than coincidence.
Date: Sat, 26 Jun 1999 20:46:01 EDT
<< You didn't mention Mike Crichton's Eaters of the Dead? This novel describes a Muslim world traveler based on Ibn Batt.. er whomever circa 700AD a fortuitous century indeed. His travels take him to the Scandinavian realm (Sweden, cult of Trancendance) where he and his Viking buddies encounter the Neanderthals. They live in a sea cave accessible only by cliff diving into the Ocean and thru a underwater tunnel, kinda like the Na Pali coast on Kauai, only in the winter. The resemblance to the Beowulf saga is more than coincidence. >>
The upcoming movie, The Thirteenth Warrior stars Antonio Banderas as the Arab diplomat. The trailers so far do not hint at Neanderthals, but I think they are selling Antonio at this stage.
Lot of synchronicity going around lately. I was rereading the Tcho-tcho files in The Ice Cave and someone (Olaughing IIRC) mentioned they have origins in the Pyrenees. This reminded me of Trevanian's comments on Le Cagot in Shibumi, which brought in the Basque threads from awhile back which originated from remarks about insulated mountain cultures in reference to the Swiss/mercenaries/Swiss Guards and the Order Of The Sword Of Saint Jerome and speculations regarding a Neanderthal origin for the Basque. Whew!
To recap: the Basque of the Pyrenees seem to be unrelated to the other genotypes in Europe, just as their language is unrelated to other European languages. Some speculate that the Basque are the descendants of the original inhabitants of Europe, and Neanderthals rear their prognathous heads. In Basque folklore and oral history, there was a despised subculture called the Cagot. They were markedly smaller than the average Basque, were restricted to tinkery and metalwork by tradition, and had to enter church through the specially installed doors at the back. The doors are usually no taller than 4 feet and are still to be found in older churches in the region. I used to think of them as a variation on the Norse dwarves.
Despised short people and metalwork. People resident in areas before the modern people. Metallurgy originated in Southeast Asia. Tcho-tcho as nomads. The Plains of Leng and the various locations for them. Ley lines. I don't have any conclusions yet, but I've got a shopping list of questions.
Date: Sun, 27 Jun 1999 18:07:12 +0100
From: Barry Hill
Thanks to MIB. I haven't read 'Eaters of the Dead' I'll look out for it.
Earlier this year on holiday I read Dennis Wheatley's 'Gateway to Hell' [well it was raining- it does that a lot in the UK] and he has an idea about a race of European pygmies who were dark brown and lived in burrows in remote country areas. They were the origins of the myths of little people, fairies, lepricorns, kobalds, etc., and were still around in mediaeval times. Maybe they too are related in some way to the tcho-tcho.
I am sure I am the only person who doesn't know this so please forgive me but RAFM advertised a set of model tcho-tcho. Do RAFM still exist, did that set ever appear, if so what did they look like, and are they available in the UK?
From: Graeme Price
> Lot of synchronicity going around lately. I was rereading the
Tcho-tcho
>files in The Ice Cave and someone (Olaughing IIRC) mentioned
they
have
>origins in the Pyrenees. This reminded me of Trevanian's comments
on Le Cagot
>in Shibumi, which brought in the Basque threads from awhile
back which
>originated from remarks about insulated mountain cultures
in reference
to the
>Swiss/mercenaries/Swiss Guards and the Order Of The Sword Of
Saint
Jerome and
>speculations regarding a Neanderthal origin for the Basque.
Whew!
Further to this line of thinking, I was reading an article the other day (in the electronic telegraph) which descrined evidence that the neolithic (? I only skimmed the article) inhabitants of the pyrennes were somewhat cannabalistic in nature. Some quite detailed info, in fact.
I believe the article title was "who are we having for dinner this evening, dear?" and it was in the "connected" section. You can probably find it quite easily at:
... although you will need to register (which is free)
From: Steven Kaye
Here are some words from Elizabeth Gaskell, a 19th century English author, on the Cagot:
http://lang.nagoya-u.ac.jp/~matsuoka/EG-Accursed.html
No joy in Encyclopedia Britannica - I'll see what else I can turn up.
From: Mark McFadden
Date: Sun, 27 Jun 1999 15:51:19 EDT
<< ---YAWHAT??!! Err... 'xcuse me sir. I am Basque, and i have never heard anything related to that. I have just checked w/ my brother's girlfriend who happens to teach Basque Culture and she does not have a clue either on this topic. May i ask where have you found this info.? As well as 'Cagot' does not seem a Basque word either (specially as we do not use letter C). >>
I got it from Trevanian, so all the info was in a fictional setting. The hero of Shibumi lived in the French Pyrenees on the Spanish border. His best friend was Basque, a colorful poet who went by the pseudonym Le Cagot (which I presume is French), a name he chose for it's symbolism. All of the (suspect) facts about the Cagot come from that novel.
Trevanian apparently loves the region and the people, as he has set two novels there. The other was The Summer Of Katya, where the narrator is a young Basque doctor who gets involved with a family with a gothic history. No blatant DG to be found, but riveting reads.
Despite the lack of obvious DG content, I'd recommend Trevanian for inspirational reading. For tradecraft, if nothing else. In The Eiger Sanction, he introduces the character of Jonathan Hemlock, art collector and freelance assassin. Also one of the best mountain climbers in the world. Between the action and tradecraft, Trevanian's tongue was so firmly in cheek that he must have looked like a lopsided chipmunk as he typed. A satire of action novels that succeeds as an action novel.
In The Loo Sanction, Hemlock is retired from assassining (well, it *should* be a word) and living in London as an art critic, but the British equivalent of his old employers blackmail him back into the biz. He has all the elements of a great James Bond adventure are in this one:
Bond girl, evil babe with predatory carnality, twisted villain with cool backstory and grotesque silent henchman, colorful peripheral characters in quirky settings.
The head of the British assassination bureau poses as the vicar of a country parish, the quaint graveyard is full of dead agents. Part Bond, part Avengers, and often funnier than hell. And yet, when it's time to get serious he does.
Shibumi is often like a comic book, and since I'm a comic fan, that is not a disparagement.
His hero, Nicholai Hel, is an unabashed superman. Anyone who tried to get into a game with his stats would be laughed out of the room. But Trevanian makes it work. The world is a satire, but the tradecraft is solid. I had a funny moment earlier this week. I was reading Alien Intelligence (and a shout out to the Pagans! I found it at Borders. You are in chain stores, you've arrived) and I got to the last story, Operation: LOOKING GLASS. The first lines mention that the report is a Black Card Memorandum. In Shibumi, a section mentions that the US intelligence community used to use a system of colored computer cards to represent security levels and subject matter. Terrorism had a heyday when no one in the US could read anything on the Black Cards, and it took years of requests and committees to get the bureaucracy to change the office supplies. It's a Catch-22 farce.
From: Davide Mana
A fast note to complement Mark's post about Trevanian
> Despite the lack of obvious DG content, I'd recommend Trevanian
for
>inspirational reading. For tradecraft, if nothing else.
On the subject, opinions are divided.
On one hand, Trevanian has built a reputation for extreme accuracy in describing tradecraft practices and techniques. Trevanian himself is pushing this line when he writes in a footnote (in Shibumi, IIRC) that he'll never go into details again as amateurs are bound to hurt themselves trying them at home.
On the other hand, many regard his approach as a masterful use of half truths and convincing speculations (more likely).
> In The Eiger Sanction, he introduces the character of Jonathan Hemlock,
art
>collector and freelance assassin.
This was turned in a movie, featuring Clint Eastwood.
Can't remember
the original title, sorry.
It's not so great, anyway (IMHO).
> In The Loo Sanction,
[snip]
> Part Bond, part Avengers, and often funnier than hell. And yet, when
it's
>time to get serious he does.
A warning to the oversensitive: the Hemlock books are not politically correct - on a par with Bond, much less delicate than the Avengers. On the long run, tongue in cheek or somewhere else, the amount of badly stereotiped females and supercool posturing can get in the way if you are for more down to earth espionage (Deighton, LeCarré).
> Shibumi is often like a comic book, and since I'm a comic fan, that
is not a
>disparagement.
I never had the opportunity of reading "The Summer of Katya" - that is generally considered to be Trevanian's finest - but I thoroughly enjoyed "Shibumi"; I knew the guy that did the Italian translation and he forced a copy on me.
It's more restrained than the Hemlock books, and while absolutely implausible, it's still a nicer read. On the other hand, espionage novels lovers be warned - this book skirts the Eric VanLustbader Ninja books territory.
From: Mark McFadden
Date: Sun, 27 Jun 1999 20:22:19 EDT
<< Here are some words from Elizabeth Gaskell, a 19th century English author, >>
I checked out the site, and the Cagot are ripe for HPL interpretation.
Some quotes:
"There yet remains a remnant of the miserable people called Cagots in the valleys of the Pyrenees; in the Landes near Bourdeaux; and, stretching up on the west side of France, their numbers become larger in Lower Brittany. Even now, the origin of these families is a word of shame to them among their neighbours; although they are protected by the law, which confirmed them in the equal rights of citizens about the end of the last century. Before then they had lived, for hundreds of years, isolated from all those who boasted of pure blood, and they had been, all this time, oppressed by cruel local edicts. They were truly what they were popularly called, The Accursed Race."
"All distinct traces of their origin are lost. Even at the close of that period which we call the Middle Ages, this was a problem which no one could solve; and as the traces, which even then were faint and uncertain, have vanished away one by one, it is a complete mystery at the present day. Why they were accursed in the first instance, why isolated from their kind, no one knows. From the earliest accounts of their state that are yet remaining to us, it seems that the names which they gave each other were ignored by the population they lived amongst, who spoke of them as Crestiaa, or Cagots, just as we speak of animals by their generic names."
"In all the towns and villages in the large districts extending on both sides of the Pyrenees -- in all that part of Spain -- they were forbidden to buy or sell anything eatable, to walk in the middle (esteemed the better) part of the streets, to come within the gates before sunrise, or to be found after sunset within the walls of the town.
But still, as the Cagots were good-looking men, and (although they bore certain natural marks of their caste, of which I shall speak by-and-by) were not easily distinguished by casual passers-by from other men, they were compelled to wear some distinctive peculiarity which should arrest the eye;
and, in the greater number of towns, it was decreed that the outward sign of a Cagot should be a piece of red cloth sewed conspicuously on the front of his dress. In other towns, the mark of Cagoterie was the foot of a duck or a goose hung over their left shoulder, so as to be seen by any one meeting them."
"The race was repulsed by the State. Under the small local governments they could hold no post whatsoever. And they were barely tolerated by the Church, although they were good Catholics, and zealous frequenters of the mass. They might only enter the churches by a small door set apart for them. through which no one of the pure race ever passed. This door was low, so as to compel them to make an obeisance."
"In the Basses-Pyrenees, for instance, it is only about a hundred years since, that the Cagots of Rehouilhes rose up against the inhabitants of the neighbouring town of Lourdes, and got the better of them, by their magical powers, as it is said. The people of Lourdes were conquered and slain, and their ghastly, bloody heads served the triumphant Cagots for balls to play at ninepins with."
"In the fourteenth, fifteenth, and sixteenth centuries, it was considered no more a crime to kill a Cagot than to destroy obnoxious vermin. A 'nest of Cagots,' as the old accounts phrase it, had assembled in a deserted castle of Mauvezin, about the year sixteen hundred; and, certainly, they made themselves not very agreeable neighbours, as they seemed to enjoy their reputation of magicians; and, by some acoustic secrets which were known to them, all sorts of meanings and groanings were heard in the neighbouring forests, very much to the alarm of the good people of the pure race; who could not cut off a withered branch for firewood, but some unearthly sound seemed to fill the air, nor drink water which was not poisoned. because the Cagots would persist in filling their pitchers at the same running stream."
"As any intermarriage with the pure race was strictly forbidden, and as there were books kept in every commune in which the names and habitations of the reputed Cagots were written, these unfortunate people had no hope of ever becoming blended with the rest of the population."
"'Besides, it is the country talk, that where the Cagot treads, the grass withers, proving the unnatural heat of his body. Many credible and trustworthy witnesses will also tell you that, if a Cagot bolds a freshly-gathered apple in his hand, it will shrivel and wither up in an hour's time as much as if it had been kept for a whole winter in a dry room. They are born with tails; although the parents are cunning enough to pinch them off immediately. Do you doubt this? [snip] And their bodily smell is so horrible and detestable that it shows that they must be heretics of some vile and pernicious description, for do we not read of the incense of good workers, and the fragrance of holiness?'"
"And all this time, there was nothing remarkable or disgusting in the outward appearance of this unfortunate people. There was nothing about them to countenance the idea of their being lepers -- the most natural mode of accounting for the abhorrence in which they were held. They were repeatedly examined by learned doctors, whose experiments, although singular and rude, appear to have been made in a spirit of humanity."
"The families existing in the south and west of France, who are reputed to be of Cagot descent at this day, are, like their ancestors, tall, largely made, and powerful in frame; fair and ruddy in complexion, with gray-blue eyes, in which some observers see a pensive heaviness of look. Their lips are thick, but well-formed. Some of the reports name their sad expression of countenance with surprise and suspicion -- 'They are not gay, like other folk.' The wonder would be if they were. Dr. Guyon, the medical man of the last century who has left the clearest report on the health of the Cagots, speaks of the vigorous old age they attain to. In one family alone, he found a man of seventy-four years of age; a woman as old, gathering cherries; and another woman, aged eighty-three, was lying on the grass, having her hair combed by her great-grandchildren. Dr. Guyon and other surgeons examined into the subject of the horribly infectious smell which the Cagots were said to leave behind them, and upon everything they touched; but they could perceive nothing unusual on this head. They also examined their ears, which, according to common belief (a belief existing to this day), were differently shaped from those of other people; being round and gristly, without the lobe of flesh into which the ear-ring is inserted. They decided that most of the Cagots whom they examined had the ears of this round shape; but they gravely added, that they saw no reason why this should exclude them from the good-will of men, and from the power of holding office in Church and State."
"This prejudice against mixed marriages remained prevalent until very lately. The tradition of the Cagot descent lingered among the people, long after the laws against the accursed race were abolished. A Breton girl, within the last few years, having two lovers each of reputed Cagot descent, employed a notary to examine their pedigrees, and see which of the two had least Cagot in him , and to that one she gave her hand."
"The French Cagots tried to destroy all the records of their pariah descent, in the commotions of seventeen hundred and eighty-nine; but if writings have disappeared, the tradition yet remains, and points out such and such a family as Cagot, or Malandrin, or Oiselier, according to the old terms of abhorrence."
"There are various ways in which learned men have attempted to account for the universal repugnance in which this well-made, powerful race are held. Some say that the antipathy to them took its rise in the days when leprosy was a dreadfully prevalent disease; and that the Cagots are more liable than any other men to a kind of skin disease, not precisely leprosy, but resembling it in some of its symptoms; such as dead whiteness of complexion, and swellings of the face and extremities."
"Another authority says, that though the Cagots are fine-looking men, hard-working, and good mechanics, yet they bear in their faces, and show in their actions, reasons for the detestation in which they are held: their glance, if you meet it, is the jettatura, or evil-eye, and they are spiteful, and cruel, and deceitful above all other men. All these qualities they derive from their ancestor Gehazi, the servant of Elisha, together with their tendency to leprosy."
"In Brittany the common idea was, they were of Jewish descent. Their unpleasant smell was again pressed into service. The Jews, it was well known, had this physical infirmity, which might be cured either by bathing in a certain fountain in Egypt -- which was a long way from Brittany -- or by anointing themselves with the blood of a Christian child. Blood gushed out of the body of every Cagot on Good Friday. No wonder, if they were of Jewish descent. It was the only way of accounting for so portentous a fact. Again, the Cagots were capital carpenters, which gave the Bretons every reason to believe that their ancestors were the very Jews who made the cross. When first the tide of emigration set from Brittany to America, the oppressed Cagots crowded to the ports, seeking to go to some new country, where their race might be unknown."
"...symptoms of idiotism were not unusual among the Cagots; although sometimes, if old tradition is to be credited, their malady of the brain took rather the form of violent delirium, which attacked them at new and full moons. Then the workmen laid down their tools , and rushed off from their labour to play mad pranks up and down the country. Perpetual motion was required to alleviate the agony of fury that seized upon the Cagots at such times. In this desire for rapid movement, the attack resembled the Neapolitan tarantella; while in the mad deeds they performed during such attacks, they were not unlike the northern Berserker."
Me again. Whew!
OK, so they weren't dwarves and the church doors were to humble them. But what a smorgasbord despite that.
We've got:
Despised people with lost origins.
The locals are horrified at getting their own blood tainted by Cagot.
Hints of magic.
The ears. Was Ernst Stavro Blofeld descended from Cagot?
They are handsome and well-made people, at least to the outsiders who examine them, and yet they have the reputation of lepers. When I got to the section which mentions "swellings of the face and extremities" I immediately thought of acromegaly, the condition suffered by Rondo Hatton (the actor who played The Soho Creeper and The Brute Man, billed as the monster who didn't need make-up) and possibly Abraham Lincoln.
What if, looooong before history, Tcho-tcho moved to the Pyrenees. They spent generations in the woods, happily humping Shubby and all the usual Tcho-tcho hobbies, and then those other, bigger people moved in and began to breed like bunnies. The Tcho-tcho were extremely vulnerable to genocide as they were easily identifiable. So, with the help of Goat milk and positive thinking, they grew taller and began to resemble the other races in the area, as protective coloration. Eventually, outsiders would view the Cagot and wonder what the problem was, but the locals know that they just ain't right. Outsiders just wouldn't understand.
In this light, their public devotion to the church seems planned, even sinister.
Date: Sun, 27 Jun 1999 22:01:46 -0400 (EDT)
From: John Petherick
> I checked out the site, and the Cagot are ripe for HPL
interpretation.
> Some quotes:
<body of quoted text deleted>
Hmmm.
Let us consider:
- located in Pyrenees, northern Spain, along western coast of France and into Brittany
- strange eyes
- malodourous
- no earlobes
- reputed to suffer from skin conditions
- prone to fits of madness at the new and full moons (high and low tides, anyone? Hmmm?)
- reputed to have magical powers
Sounds like Deep One hybrids to me, it does.
Probably some twisted connection to the Merovingian kings, who are reputed to have come from the sea. The ostracism was probably deliberately concocted, in a subtle deception to both allay suspician and keep the blood strong.
Mandatory RL reality check - it is common practice for people of French and Spanish descent to pierce the ears of their female children at a very young age. Even groups like French Canadians, who have been living in North America for generations. The origin of this practice is tied to the Cagot, since it was a deliberate way of indicating that your children have enough earlobes to pierce.
Date: Sun, 27 Jun 1999 22:15:00 -0400
From: Steven Kaye
> What if, looooong before history, Tcho-tcho moved to the Pyrenees.
They
>spent generations in the woods, happily humping Shubby and all
the
usual
>Tcho-tcho hobbies, and then those other, bigger people moved
in and
began to
>breed like bunnies. The Tcho-tcho were extremely vulnerable
to genocide
as
>they were easily identifiable. So, with the help of Goat milk and
positive
>thinking, they grew taller and began to resemble the other
races in
the area,
>as protective coloration.
I'd have to re-read the Averoigne stories, but one could have the Tcho-Tcho interbreeding with the Averones when they began moving westward, as an alternative hypothesis. I'd be inclined to have the European Tcho-Tcho worshipping Hastur - it ties in with the decadence of Averoigne (if one takes the King in Yellow as an avatar of Hastur) and the trend towards worshipping Hastur in Southern Europe postulated by the Lizard King on the list. There's also a possible tie-in with the practice of having dwarves at courts throughout Europe.
From: "gable"
Date: Sun, 27 Jun 1999 22:39:54 -0400
>Thanks to MIB. I haven't read 'Eaters of the Dead' I'll look out for it.
I'm surprised nobody's mentioned that Eaters of the Dead mentions, albeit briefly, Abdul Alhazred and Necronomicon/Al Azif.
>Earlier this year on holiday I read Dennis Wheatley's 'Gateway to
Hell'
>[well it was raining- it does that a lot in the UK] and he has
an
idea
>about a race of European pygmies who were dark brown and lived
in
>burrows in remote country areas. They were the origins of the myths
of
>little people, fairies, lepricorns, kobalds, etc., and were still
around
>in mediaeval times. Maybe they too are related in some way
to the
tcho-
>tcho.
Sounds like Machen's ideas. The Tylwydd Teg (sp., them Welsh words aren't easy to spell) and all those. Not to mention the "Little People" which are servitors of either Zhar or Shubby. In either case, one of the -- you guessed it -- Tcho-Tcho's favorite gods...hmm.
From: Mark McFadden
Date: Mon, 28 Jun 1999 00:42:52 EDT
<< Sounds like Deep One hybrids to me, it does.
Probably some twisted connection to the Merovingian kings, who are reputed to have come from the sea. The ostracism was probably deliberately concocted, in a subtle deception to both allay suspician and keep the blood strong. >>
Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be a connection between the Cagot and the ocean.
But, someone proposed landlocked Deep One cities that surfaced over time.
This seems like a good place for one. Those Merovingians are too good to ignore.
From: Mark McFadden
Date: Mon, 28 Jun 1999 00:42:54 EDT
<< I'd be inclined to have the European Tcho-Tcho worshipping Hastur - it ties in with the decadence of Averoigne (if one takes the King in Yellow as an avatar of Hastur) and the trend towards worshipping Hastur in Southern Europe postulated by the Lizard King on the list. >>
Thank you.
A heretic branch of Tcho-tcho that worship Hastur. Somehow, the King in Yellow and a reputation for leprosy seem to fit together. Maybe it's the rags and tatters.
The Cagot wilding through the Pyrenees being compared to a Neapolitan tarantella reminded me of the Wild Hunt. It's got a beat and you can dance to it. All we need is a clown and it could go #1 with a bullet.
Date: Mon, 28 Jun 1999 06:49:51 -0400
From: Steven Kaye
> A heretic branch of Tcho-tcho that worship Hastur. Somehow, the King
in
>Yellow and a reputation for leprosy seem to fit together.
Hmm. The Pallid Mask, anyone?
> It's got a beat and you can dance to it. All we need is a clown and
it could
>go #1 with a bullet.
Pierrot has a bald head and white face, although he's usually a pathetic lovestruck figure (according to the EB) and doesn't come along till the late 17th century. And for more King in Yellow tie-ins, I qupte from the Encyclopedia Brittanica article on Pierrot (Pedrolino):
"Unlike most of the other stock characters, he played without a mask, his face whitened with powder."
Compare with the Carcosan play:
CAMILLA: You, sir, should unmask.
STRANGER: Indeed?
CAMILLA: Indeed, it's time. We have all laid aside disguise but you.
STRANGER: I wear no mask.
From: "David Farnell" <daf@iwa.att.ne.jp>
Date: Mon, 28 Jun 1999 21:11:26 +0900
From: Steven Kaye:
> Perhaps the way to go with Tcho-Tcho isn't to make them animalistic,
but
> strange plant-human hybrids? Have them erupt into hell-plants
when
killed,
> emit perfumes with intoxicating or hallucinatory effects,
and whatever
> other ingenious mutations the Keeper cares to indulge
in?
Interesting...maybe a tribe of mutant vegetable Tcho-tcho--like the Elves from Runequest, only far more vicious and twisted. But I think the bit about "seeds" can be read metaphorically, as in sperm or changelings. Still, you've got me thinking about it.
From: "David Farnell"
Date: Mon, 28 Jun 1999 21:23:12 +0900
> Dave Farnell took a break from his bak bon dzshow to ask about
possible
> connections between the Skoptsi and the Tcho-Tcho.
> Perhaps your best bet is having Skoptsi encounter one of the
variant
> Tcho-Tcho peoples in Central Asia. [good info snipped]
I was thinking along the lines of a more mystical connection--not actual contact, but a connection through the GOO. What I mean is, we've got the Skoptsi castration rituals, our own ideas about castration-happy Tcho-tcho (which, AFAIK, exists only in the twisted minds on this list), and many other castration-cults (those you mentioned and others, such as the old cult of Adonis, or the Heaven's Gate cult), plus "Operation: Looking Glass" from /Alien Intelligence/. I was thinking, "What's the connection?" I guess the simplest answer is, "Shubby wants willies." But surely there's something more? For example, WHY does she want willies? Or is it something more sinister (although how you get more sinister than outer gods scooping one's willie out for a toy is beyond me, but all that bak bon dzshow is making me sleepy).
From: "Crossingham, Adam"
Date: Tue, 29 Jun 1999 15:59:05 -0000
Barry Hill writes: <<<I am sure I am the only person who doesn't know this so please forgive me but RAFM advertised a set of model Tcho-Tcho. Do RAFM still exist, did that set ever appear, if so what did they look like, and are they available in the UK? >>>
I have 'em - they are sculpted after the Chaosium portrayal - bowl haircuts and stuff. Not particularly useful as there are only 3 of them, and 1 is a priest figure. I think if I wanted to do a whole Tcho-Tcho tribe "as found in the wilds by intrepid but unlucky investigators" I'd be looking for suitable figures from the Colonial ranges of mainstream wargames minis manufacturers like Wargames Foundry and brushing up on my Miliput technique instead.
Esdevium Games (Hants), Leisure Games (N.London) and Orc's Nest (C. London) all stock RAFM minis. Leisure Games is the more reliable source I'd guess or your could try ordering direct from the web site at http://www.rafm.com/, though I've never been able to get the order form to work (something to do Java I think...).
ObDG: Has anyone at Pagan tried convincing anyone at RAFM that they desperately need a DG miniatures licence? The overlap with RAFM's 'Nam wargame rules Charlie Company and Operation Looking Glass could be interesting....
From: Peter Devlin
I've been working down the West coast but now that I have time...
Doctor Dee wrote:
>Somebody cares for a tcho-tcho dryad stage of development?
Intriguing idea. So, the Shub-Niggurath branch (sic) of the Tcho Tchos have REALLY mutated into something unhuman. Sounds a lot like the original elves from RuneQuest. What then of the other two branches?
Also, I'm quite taken with this Hastur idea. Has anyone read 'Behind the Mask' and 'The Strange Doom of Enos Harker'? These tales relate to the Elder Pharos in Leng, the corpse-eating cult, and the spiritual reincarnation of Nyarlathotep's avatar into the body of the Tcho Tcho llama, changing it to resemble a human-sized Faceless One avatar.
Ok, topic for someone else to pursue. Could we say that the Tcho Tchos are a survival from Mu / Atlantis / Hyperborea or somesuch? How about pursuing their hinted origins as having originally been the Dreamlands, a realm the priests often return to in spirit? Is there a connection between eating humans and the ability to travel between realities?
Then Sifu McFadden wrote:
>SNIPPED
>Despised short people and metalwork. People resident
in areas before
the
>modern people. Metallurgy originated in Southeast Asia. Tcho-tcho
as
>nomads. The Plains of Leng and the various locations for them.
Ley
lines.
>I don't have any conclusions yet, but I've got a shopping list
of
questions.
Me too, these Cagot guys sound intriguing, even if it may be racist medieval propaganda. IIRC the treatise 'The Book of Werewolves' discusses an odd E. European sub-race, short nomadic tinkers who are only employed as blacksmiths. The stories concern their apparent ability to change forms at the drop of a hat (metaphorically speaking) and the idea that they were an outcast race.
For me, this sort of fits in with the idea of the Tcho Tcho branch in the Pyrenees who served(?) Chaugnar Faughn and his sleeping brothers. Any other ideas?
This is getting too complex. Help! We need to pull these threads together somehow! Brain hurt, must seek alcohol...
From: "Crossingham, Adam"
Date: Tue, 29 Jun 1999 18:34:15 -0000
Mark "March Or Die" McFadden writes: <<< ...[snip]... It accepts recruits from many nationalities, and is famous for not asking questions about a recruit's background. >>>
It's not so much a case of asking questions as the potential recruit telling the Legion about any trouble he may be involved. According to a deserter Legionnaire I once worked with (I accepted him as such because the ex-Guards sergeant I was working for believed what he said as well) the trick to be accepted is to be completely honest with the Legion because they will find out everything when they run a check on you; the crime doesn't really matter - but the honesty does.
Mark again: <<< For gaming purposes, you can stick most any nationality into any geographical region where the French were feisty if they get there via the Foreign Legion.>>>
The reason the Legion gets sent to France's trouble spots is because it isn't subject to the same controls as the Metropolitan forces for mobilisation, and is perceived as tough yet expendable.
Mark: <<< Perhaps the Foreign Legion was heavy with White Russians prior to that. >>>
and Dave K.:<<< After WWII it was Germans. >>>
It was full of Germans after WW1 as well. The French trusted them enough to post most of the Germans to North Africa. The Germans have had a long and honourable tradition of service in the FFL (from the 1850s I think) - there was a German sergeant who won quite a few decorations on WW1's Western front fighting against his countrymen.
Dave K.:<<< A scenario I have on the burner features some former Karotechia members who find their old ways hard to give up when they come into contact with Tcho-Tchos and some of the other shadowy elements of this corner of the world. >>>
A scenario I hope you're going to share when finished - sounds good.
Editor's Note - more French Foreign legion data can be found in a separate document
From: "gable"
Date: Tue, 29 Jun 1999 16:44:41 -0400
>Intriguing idea. So, the Shub-Niggurath branch (sic) of the Tcho Tchos
have
>REALLY mutated into something unhuman. Sounds a lot like the
original
elves
>from RuneQuest.
Cries out for tie-ins with the Green Man and the leshy of Russia. Wait... Russia... Skoptsi... Weird Shubby cult... castration...Tcho-Tcho. England... Green Man... Celtic fertility goddesses AKA avatars of Shubby...hunh. Brain overload.
I recall an online CoC scenario...something about a human/plant hybrid which the Japanese (read Unit 731) tried to develop during WWII. An attempt to create an army of Tcho-Tcho?
>>Despised short people and metalwork. People resident in areas
before the
>>modern people. Metallurgy originated in Southeast Asia.
Tcho-tcho
as
>>nomads. The Plains of Leng and the various locations for them.
Ley lines.
Hmm. Sounds like this is just crying out for a connection with Tubalcain (the Biblical originator of metalworking & Cain's son), the thing mentioned in the Beatus Methodivo about the "empire of black magic founded in India by the children of Cain"...plus, you could do really spiffy tie-ins with the products of the Pallid Lupine!
>IIRC the treatise 'The Book of Werewolves' discusses an odd E. European
sub-race,
>short nomadic tinkers who are only employed as blacksmiths.
The stories concern
>their apparent ability to change forms at the
drop
of a hat (metaphorically speaking)
>and the idea that they were an
outcast race.
Hmm. The Kallikanzari? If so, sorry, the Mi-Go are already responsible. HPL 'imself said so.
From: Steven Kaye
>Intriguing idea. So, the Shub-Niggurath branch (sic) of the Tcho Tchos
have
>REALLY mutated into something unhuman. Sounds a lot like the
original
elves
>from RuneQuest. What then of the other two branches?
At LEAST two other. Derleth has the original (?) Tcho-Tcho on the Plateau of Sung worship Lloigor and Zhar, associated with interstellar spaces. In other stories he drops hints of the Tcho-Tcho being associated with Ithaqua (whom he claims is a servant of Hastur) and of their worshipping Cthulhu. And there's the possibility of Chaugnar Faugn.
Some of the Andamanese tribes (see http://www.andaman.org for lots of cool potentially Tcho-Tcho related ideas) worshipped wind and storms, so Lloigor, Zhar, and Ithaqua might be the originally worshipped gods.
[snip]
>For me, this sort of fits in with the idea of the Tcho Tcho branch
in the
>Pyrenees who served(?) Chaugnar Faughn and his sleeping brothers.
Any
>other ideas?
One of Ptah's aspects is a dwarf, if memory serves. You could have the Tcho-Tcho flee the sinking of Atlantis and split up, some going deeper into Africa and some heading into Southern Europe. And there's a mysterious land in Smith's Hyperborean tales, Tscho Vulpanomi...
Date: 30 Jun 99 13:38:28 +0100
Subject: DG: Tcho Tcho Clans / Tribes / Whatever
Having established the potential for many different branches of Tcho Tchos, could we work on a listing of all these tribes / clans? That way we could posit traits for each tribe. I'll start the ball rolling:
Malaysia (Burma?). As mentioned in 'Black Man with a Horn'. I've gone with the idea that this story deals with TTs who coexist with one of the Brothers of Chaugnar Faugn (see 'Horror's Heart' for these sucker snouted nasties) and hence worship the Elephant God.
Tibetan / Nepalese (Leng? Sung? Sang? plateau?). As mentioned in 'Strange Doom of Enos Harker' and others. Worship Lloigor, Zhar, Nyarlathotep and others in Mythos pantheon. I like the idea of this as a religious or spiritual fountainhead for all Tcho Tcho peoples, a temple surviving at least since the sinking of Mu. Priests occasionally travel here for enlightenment and carry occult knowledge back to the outside world.
Andaman Islands. As per scenario in 'Spawn of Azathoth'. Worshippers of Atlach Nacha. Possibly living amongst legitimate Andamanese tribes. The real-world Sentineli tribes in the Andamans look like a good bet for modern TTs.
Vietnam / Laos. As per story 'Tiger'. Primarily worshippers of the Black Goat.
Right, what about the TTs appearing in 'Curse of Chaugnar Faughn' and 'The Horror from The Hills'? Does anyone have access to these stories to check? Any others worth tracking? I think it's time to purchase the Encyclopaedia.
Whilst we are in the region (so to speak) can we perhaps pin down (heh!) the locations of the Sung plateau, Sang plateau, Tsang, and perhaps Leng (or the earthly Gates to Leng)?
Date: Wed, 30 Jun 1999 11:07:55 -0400
From: BRUCE BALLON
<Malaysia (Burma?). As mentioned in 'Black Man with a Horn'. I've gone with the idea that this story deals with TTs who coexist with one of the Brothers of Chaugnar Faugn (see 'Horror's Heart' for these sucker snouted nasties) and hence worship the Elephant God.>
I think they worship Nyarlathotep under his Avatar's guise of Shugoron, rather than the Babar of Evil (although with Tcho Tchos, they seem to like worshipping a lot of old ones and outer gods). Check out the Creature Campanion.
Date: Wed, 30 Jun 1999 19:48:08 -0400 (EDT)
From: The Man in Black
> I'd be looking for suitable figures from the Colonial ranges
of
> mainstream wargames minis manufacturers like Wargames Foundry
and
> brushing up on my Miliput technique instead.
One does not "milliput" sculpt an entire tribe/army/unit. Sane people use Milliput for unique conversions and figure repair.
> ObDG: Has anyone at Pagan tried convincing anyone at RAFM that
they
> desperately need a DG miniatures licence? The overlap with RAFM's
'Nam
> wargame rules Charlie Company and Operation Looking Glass could
be interesting....
Perhaps a thread on which miniatures work best with DG would be a good start. I hear Con-X has a line, but of the three gaming stores in Hawaii: One has only Games Workshop (but will soon receive a fuel air explosive), one carries maybe a few dozen packs of figs at a time, and one carries no miniatures. CyberPunk and Shadowrun could offer a few choice items.
Does anyone know if a HAZMAT/Biohazard team was produced in 25mm?
Date: Thu, 1 Jul 1999 02:43:27 -0600
From: Joseph Camp
COUNTDOWN spoiler follows...
>Now, what you said about economics has real potential. As
DG
>explains, the old style cults are small and really ineffective
today.
Its
>the governments and corporations that are the heralds of the
Endtimes.
Not to be a tease, but you'll find interesting chapters on both the Russian mafia and on a possible Tcho-tcho/Bolivian cocaine cartel/Fate corporate merger in COUNTDOWN.
Date: Thu, 1 Jul 1999 09:20:16 -0000
<<< One does not "milliput" sculpt an entire tribe/army/unit. >>>
That's not what I was suggesting, a few words got left out - I would purchase some ethnic wargames figures (like some from Wargames Foundry's Darkest Africa range who do both normal sized and pygmy warriors) and then convert them using the Miliput - different hairdos, change facial expressions, create monster Tcho-Tcho ravaging queens (a la Glorantha's Mistress Trolls...), whatever.
<<< Sane people use Milliput for unique conversions and figure repair. >>>
And it can be used to create miniature bases, fill in flaws and join lines in miniature preparation, and a 1001 other uses around the home and workplace too!
<<< I hear Con-X has a line, but of the three gaming stores in Hawaii: One has only Games Workshop (but will soon receive a fuel air explosive), one carries maybe a few dozen packs of figs at a time, and one carries no miniatures. >>>
I ordered mine direct via the Con-X web site and they got to the UK in less than 5 days. I only got the Aegis investigators and the Black Book team. Greys are easily obtainable at a cheaper price and the other figures sound like they're Con-X specific.
The Aegis investigators are a 'Scully and Mulder' couple. Quite well done, large 28mm size on slotta bases. Will definitely look out of scale with earlier moderns released by other manufacturers but would fit in quite happily with recent (last 4-5 years) larger releases.
The Black Book team is three characters. The 3rd is a dud - a bald T-shirted guy with what might be a M60 MG. The others: a business-suited woman with gun and mobile phone/scanner, and a man with a scanning device are definitely worst getting. Again - large slotta based figures.
The Con-X miniatures are at: http://www.edenstudios.net/XMinis.html
Date: Thu, 1 Jul 1999 17:53:46 +0100
From: Barry Hill
We also know that forty thousand T-T took up residence in the US [Encylopedia Cthulhana p.202] I believe that they used the railway systems to travel about and find victims to eat and can be found dwelling in the disused warehouses etc. in the cities where there are large railway yards. Prehaps these tribes can be indentified - slightly larger perhaps? You may ask' Pardon me, Baz, is that the Chattanooga tcho-tcho?'
Date: Thu, 1 Jul 1999 13:49:47 EDT
<< You may ask' Pardon me, Baz, is that the Chattanooga tcho-tcho?' >>
That's it. Use a pun, go to jail.
Tweeeeettt!! Outta the gene pool.
French DG, now puns. There goes the neighborhood.
From: ScottSaylo
Date: Thu, 1 Jul 1999 15:10:54 EDT
<< That's it. Use a pun, go to jail. Tweeeeettt!! Outta the gene pool.
French DG, now puns. There goes the neighborhood. >>
Maybe tcho-tcho martial arts is NOT physically based. Envision this scenario:
Two DG investigators are investigating tcho-Niggurath involvement and are taking evidence samples from a suspect tree. The tcho-tcho cultists gather all wearing identical robes and haircuts.
"Look, the DG is barking up the wrong tree again!"
"I think their problesm stem from an obsession with vegetable matter."
"Obviously they've got out on the wrong limb!"
"Rooting around for evidence, Joe?"
"DG investigators and dogs, can't keep 'em away from the shrubbery!"
The DG investigators lose D20 san and run shrieking from the tcho-tcho pun attack squad.
From: "David Farnell"
Date: Fri, 2 Jul 1999 08:28:24 +0900
> We also know that forty thousand T-T took up residence in the
US
> [Encylopedia Cthulhana p.202] I believe that they used the
railway
> systems to travel about and find victims to eat and can
be found
> dwelling in the disused warehouses etc. in the cities where
there
are
> large railway yards.
That originally comes out of At Your Door--the TT were brought over by Mythos-connected generals in the US military (who we know now to be part of the big Karotechia / MJ-12 Axis). The TT were listed as refugees. They seem to own lots of restaurants, serving what they claim to be "Cambodian," "Malaysian," etc cooking, which are quite successful. Rather than being homeless themselves, they prey upon the homeless, using the bodies of those who will not be missed as ingredients. The youth now often join street gangs.
Date: Thu, 1 Jul 1999 22:32:06 -0400
A few days back, someone (don't ask me who, the e-mail came in after a ... uh ... rough night) mentioned the Hyperborean land of Tscho Vulpanomi, probably in connection with the Tcho-tcho as Hyperborean theory and as a Tcho-tcho homeland, one manifestation of Leng, mebbe.
Well, tying this into another thread from a while back, the volcanic land of Tscho Vulpanomi may correspond to Iceland, if mainland Hyperborea corresponded to Greenland. Now, combine the bit about Icelandic pure genes (hence Icelanders could be the original Europeans) with this theory, that Tcho-tcho (at least one branch) are Icelandic, and...maybe we're all just a little bit Tcho-tcho.
Date: Fri, 02 Jul 1999 16:19:51 +0200
From: Davide Mana
> ObDG: is pun-making something else that human brains do that
you-know-who
>can't fathom? It does seem to flex those nonlinear mental
muscles.
Certainly it's a good way to screw up wannabe AIs.
A few years back, Italian e-mail and IRC users were unwittingly used to test a little software thingie called "Eloisa".
Eloisa acted as a witty lady and a tease to boot, and for a few days (according to the soft writer, at least) a lot of onliners were taken in, and believed they were communicating with an actual person.
Eloisa's replies were never completely on focus, but they were on topic enough to sound like a bubblehead's posts or something. A guy I knew simply rationalized her as an on-line pothead.
Then someone started countering Eloisa's babble with a few well-placed puns. The program went belly up - it was apparently written to recognize certain words and relate them to "discussion-threads", and taking puns at face value it started giving all the wrong answers.
The Eloisa project was dropped.
So, yes.
Puns could be another weapon that's strictly reserved to us, puny humans.
From: Dennis Detwiller
Date: Sat, 3 Jul 1999 00:20:49 EDT
>nd perhaps even some of the more
>monstrous ideas about Tcho-tchos,
Mother's Milk, etc. that's come
out of
>this List? Ooooooh baby! That's a dream-supplement!
I believe Dave, that once you recieve a copy of COUNTDOWN and read the section on Tiger Transit, you will be very, very pleased.
That's all I'll say for now...
From: The Man in Black
> That originally comes out of At Your Door--the TT were brought over
by
> Mythos-connected generals in the US military (who we know now
to
be part of
> the big Karotechia / MJ-12 Axis).
I thought it was "Black Brotherhood" generals from Strange Eons, Bloch's (or was it Howard's) WereCthulhu novel. Maybe they're in with MJ and/or Karotechia, maybe not.
> The TT were listed as refugees. They seem to own lots of
restaurants,
> serving what they claim to be "Cambodian," "Malaysian,"
etc cooking,
> which are quite successful. Rather than being homeless
themselves,
they
> prey upon the homeless, using the bodies of those who will not
be
missed
> as ingredients. The youth now often join street gangs.
Thus begins the typical immigration pattern common to all groups since the Puritans right up through the Vietnamese, Koreans and Russians. By the era of GURPS CthulhuPunk, the Tcho-Tcho will be part of the emerging Upper-Middle Class. Mostly they will work in the burgeoning "Neo-Spirtuality" movement of global culture in 2059.
From: Shoggoth
Date: Mon, 5 Jul 1999 14:42:33 +0200 (CEST)
Gene purity of Icelandics come from the uniform colonization during XIII century , that stopped afterwards , so they are a still photo of the gene pool of nordic europeans of that century.
On a DG vision , they can be viewed as an exodus of some nasty minorities or better , a regeneration and gene purifying of an ancient branch of a mithos related race.
As i had mentioned in a post some moths ago , during the Elder Things wars with the newcomers , like Cthulhu , they used Shoggoths as troopers , but i belive some of them get corrupted in the contact with the powefull Psionic flux of Cthulhu. So , some Shoggoths get evolved to a nasty critter , a Shoggoth-Killer , a creature more stable , with a stable brain, stable extremities (i.e. legs , arms) , that reclaimed a frozen land far away of they former masters , the Elder Things on Antartica , so they get focused on the Nort Pole (Hyperborea?). As counless milenia passed , they get smaller , smarter , and become .... somethig that can interbreed with a new critter that have dominion over the fire , a ape-like thing.
After some generations of hybrids , we have a new pretty critter over the Earth , the Human Being (tm) , that have enclosed the secret of the Shoggoths in its DNA (just the thing the Mi-Go are seeking , how to de-evolve humans to make its own Shoggoths)
The more pure specimens of course , are those who interbreed only in few families , so the recessor genes can be expressed more frecuently , and if the gene pool is realy limited , the posibility of getting a full back-evolved specimen is multiplied. This is the origing of the ICELAND project , of course , a Mi-Go experiment.
But now , the Big K. its getting it's big nose inside the thing....
