The Mike Lung Gallery #41 - The Venus-Congo Connection

Our intrepid correspondent, Mike Lung is busy slaving away finishing up the details of a massive gnome/mousling gonzo space game for Cold Wars.  I'll be linking to Jim Stanton's Gnome Wars and Stout Smurf blogs for any updates he posts.  After Cold Wars, I'll post the remainder.  To quote a Danish toy company, "Everything is Awesome!"

While that's going on, I figured I'd continue to clean out my e-mails of Mike's mad genius rambling, and post two attached pics of his Gnome War big game hunter he sculpted for personal use.

Western Imperialism, On and Off World
                                                        By Mike Lung

The discovery of these gates connecting the Earth to other worlds in our solar system would set off a new colonial scramble.  Earth colonies would, of course, gain even more importance as well. Belgians creating a Venusian colony via the Congo, England to Mars via Egypt, Italy to Mars via Somalia, US to Mars via Arizona and Venus via Panama, Germany to Venus via a U-boat accessible cave in the Antarctic, and etc. Mysterious plateaus in Mongolia and up the Amazon are unclaimed by major powers...could it kick off a new scramble or a new war?

Also, I had always thought that the gate to Venus via the Congo would be the perfect background for a CoC game and some miniatures skirmish games. Adventures arrive in Belgium Congo and sent via Steamer up the Congo to investigate or help put down unsettling native rebellions. On the surface, the native rebellions appear to be caused by the cruel inhuman rule of the Belgians and their rubber trade. However, these rebellions are particularly barbaric. Turns out it is much worse than it appears. There is a major zombie outbreak in the heart of the Congo…whole tribes are being consumed. Further investigation, shows that a zombie virus (Venusian Flu) is in the water supply. After battling zombies, deep ones (i.e., Creature of the Black Lagoon), and dinosaurs, the source of the water is discovered to come from a strange river valley entered via a chasm. The chasm is the remains of an Old One gate recently discovered a crazed Belgium scientist/explorer who tampered with gate and destroyed it along with himself! The destruction of the gate caused a huge earthquake and allowed Primordial Venus to bleed into the Congo. Depending on how it pans out, the Explorers could become Belgian heroes, the gate valley would be named after Explorers who discovered (rediscovered) it, and this could set off the Belgians' colonization of Venus. Of course, Venus is also the source of the deep ones strange gold…may be a good lead to why the characters are there in the first place. It could be that the explorers unknowingly cross through the ripped gate and leave Earth to have lots adventures on Venus among the Deep Ones, lizard men, primitive ape men, and dinosaurs. Lots of room to throw in Old Ones or Great Race of Yith and other friends. Why do the remote mountains valleys of Venus have Cavemen and Mammoths?...another gate back to Earth during the Pleistocene?!

This also can be used with colonization of Polynesia, Samoa, New Guinea, etc.  Does a gate exist to Venus exist on one of the Samoan islands, too?…is that why German, England, and the US all want to control this vital point so they all can gain a new entry point onto Venus? Are some Samoan tribes not as human as they appear…is there a deep one colony off the shore…I wonder what they would have to say about this intrusion?   A mere coaling station may not be worth the effort the powers are putting into the territory...

 

This concept works extremely well for a straight Call of Cthulhu campaign (I pray no one wants to wander into the jungles of the Congo after visiting Kenya in Masks, but I wouldn't be surprised), it gives yet another angle for moon (and other) colonizations that the Stout Gnomes will cover in their game at Cold Wars, and it allows a traditional Pulp Game to expand into the weird science of other worlds.  Sure, my game with the kids has had some undead, gnomes, an elf, a dinosaur, and a talking mouse with a bow, but we've yet to visit Martians.... and after all the trouble obtaining artifacts, perhaps Maja Millie the archaeologist needs a relaxing Polynesian vacation.  RAFM, where are my Deep Ones!!!