Unfamiliar (First Issue Comic Script)

8/9/2019 Unfamiliar (First Issue Comic Script)

1/28

UNFAMILIAR:CONFLUENCE ARK

NameAddressPhone Number


2/28

-------------------------------

PART I: INTRODUCTIONS

-------------------------------

Prologue:

PAGE 1:

Four horizontal panels, divided evenly.

1 - The people of the urban chic talking on cellphones amongclassical, European architecture.

2 - An array of illuminated screens: racks of slim TVs andgiant lcd billboards.

3 - A dirty, frail looking black boy, a street urchin,dressed in tatters and with a weary gaze, shivers under anoverpass in this nameless city. This is CHARLES.

4 - A shadow in an alleyway in the light of the urban dawn: afour legged beast standing roughly ten feet tall. This isNAUMAI LODUS.

*At the moment Im thinking that Naumai will be the onlynarrator in the story, that his and Charles sections will bethe prologues of each chapter and will otherwise be outsidersfor much of the narrative involving the other characters.

Their dialogue needs to be distinct from all other text.

NAUMAI LODUS (SUBTITLE)The pact is broken - The hiddenborder is crossed - A longforgotten chill.

PAGE 2

1 - The boy walks through a maze of alleyways, wires crossingwires overhead.

NAUMAI LODUS (CONT'D)For a thousand winters I have beenwaiting, in this place that youwould call home.

2 - The boy in a crowded marketplace.

3 - He spots an unattended stall and tries discretely to loadfood into his jacket.


3/28

4 - The shopkeeper spots him and he bolts into the crowd,terrified.

NAUMAI LODUS (CONT'D)But this is no home for you.

5 - Night. The shadow walks through the empty marketplace.

6 - Daytime. The boy, running, drops food on the ground ashe stumbles through the crowd.

7 - Night. The shadow sniffs at the trail.

PAGE 3

1 - Charles pushes through a cluster of people, panic writtenon his face.

NAUMAI LODUS (CONT'D)Such fear.

2 - The shopkeeper screams with rage.

NAUMAI LODUS (CONT'D)Such anger.

3 - two horizontal panels: The boy falls violently to theground, spilling the rest of his cache.

NAUMAI LODUS (CONT'D)Such pain.

4 - Night. The shadow sniffs at the marks of spilled foodand blood.

5 - Night. The boy huddles under the bridge. In his handsis an apple.

NAUMAI LODUS (CONT'D)You are slipping away. I feel yougrowing dimmer.

PAGE 4

2 x 3.

1 - The boy sleeps, curled in a tight ball.

2 - Same view, farther away.

3 - Same view. The shadow enters the frame.

2.


4/28

NAUMAI LODUS (CONT'D)Do you remember?

4 - It stands over him, towering over the boy.

5 - Very close up on the creature face, a weary eye.

NAUMAI LODUS (CONT'D)Let me show you, child.

6 - Charless eyes, shut very tightly.

NAUMAI LODUS (CONT'D)See the glory that you once were.

PAGE 5

Epic full page spread:

A kingly warrior in ornate ceremonial armor sits upon theshadow beast, flanked by soldiers, surrounded by lances andflapping banners. Revealed, for the first time, the beast ofthis time is a frightening thing, similarly armored androaring, baring layers of fierce teeth. The King has a haloof radiance, lightning arcs across his hands and his eyesglow with fire.

PAGE 6

3 x 3, with the last panel taking up the bottom third.

1 - The boy, eyes open, stares up at the beast.

NAUMAI LODUS (CONT'D)And that you will be again.

2 - Same view, pulled back, his familiar revealed. In thistime, it is weathered, tired, an impossibly old and noblecreature.

CHARLESIve dreamed about you.

3 - The creature lowers its head in reverence.

NAUMAI LODUSMy master, it is time.

4 - Charles reaches up, grabbing at the straps of the beast'shalter.

5 - The creature lifts him far off the ground.

3.


5/28

6 - The familiar walks out into falling snow, its king ridingon its back.

7 - Same view, wide shot, the pair in the distance.

NAUMAI LODUS (CONT'D)Let me tell you a story.

PAGE 7

2 x 3

1 - The exterior of a hospital. Night.

NAUMAI LODUS (CONT'D)There was once a world that was anunsolvable puzzle.

2 - A child's hospital room.

3 - A closeup of a pile of flowers, stuffed animals and otherget-well trinkets.

4 - Two blond children, a boy and a girl, ten years old, liein adjacent beds behind plastic curtains, oxygen masks overtheir faces, asleep.

5, wide panel - Exterior. Walking toward the hospital aretwo of the familiar animals.

PAGE 8

2 x 3

1 - A slovenly security guard walks down a hallway, eating acandy bar.

NAUMAI LODUS (CONT'D)It was a planet made of countlessmoving pieces that were alwayschanging shape.

2 - same view - A beast passes just behind him in silhouette,followed closely by another. It dwarfs him, spanning thewith of the hall.

3 - same view - A second stops behind him. Menacing eyesstare at the man.

4 - same view - The guard turns quizzically, but the hall isempty.

4.


6/28

5 - same view - He turns back, and the beast is still behindhim, staring.

6 - same view - It walks on.

PAGE 9

1 - Close up of a stuffed animal in the children's room.

NAUMAI LODUS (CONT'D)It was a place where all that waspossible was real; one only had toexplore until they found whateverthey could dream.

2 - Reveal of the beasts as they enter the room, verydifferent from the one seen before. They are heavilyaugmented, consisting primarily of ornate armored sections

like cyborg insects, but with the heads of horned mammals.They are TRAIUS and RALENCE.

3 - Each stands over one of the beds. They look terriblysad.

4-5 - Multiple pairs of mechanical arms, tipped with clawedhands, lasers, cameras, medical instruments and needlesunfold from patterns in their chest plates.

6 - The same scene, a different time and place. Thecreatures, seen from afar, hover over beds in a lavish room,one fit for royalty.

PAGE 10

1 - The hospital: half a dozen needles are stuck in the bodyof the frail looking girl, an arcane device above her shinesa light that reveals bones and organs under her skin. Aspiderlike object is held to her forehead and a metal clawcaresses her face.

NAUMAI LODUS (CONT'D)Tribes of men and women, much asthey are here, began to make theirown way, as one, all over thisshifting globe. They workedtogether to explore its endlessmysteries.

2 - In the past: A limp woman is held by the beast, bloodiedand soot-covered on a charred battlefield, plumes of fire arcacross the sky.

4 - Present: Traius looks mournfully at Sarah. It speaks.

5.


7/28

TRAIUSDont let them fool you.

5 - Past: A man lies on the floor. Sticking out of his skinare hundreds of wires leading into the shadows of a

monumental clockwork engine that fills the room. Above himstands Ralence.

6 - Present: Ralence lifts and inspects Sams tiny hand.

RALENCEYou are stronger than this.

7 - The children's eyes open, their bodies still dense withneedles and now cut open, instruments dancing in theirinnards.

8 - They see their guardians and they are not afraid.

PAGE 11

1 - Lasers seal their incisions.

NAUMAI LODUSThey learned much about the natureof their world and of themselves.Their knowledge became vast, butthey always desired more.

2-4 - The instruments withdraw, but arms remain. They cradlethe children and carry them out of the room.

5 - POV of a security camera in the hall.

6 - Pull back. The creatures appear on the monitors, as asecurity guard leans back in his chair, asleep in theforeground.

7 They reach the roof.

8 - The creatures leap off and fall into the night.

PAGE 12

1 - A boy, eyes tightly shut, under water. This is LIAM. Anarm presses down on his chest.

2 - The arm belongs to his father. A large man, he issteadfast, resolute in the ritual. He is drowning his son intheir bathtub. Next to him stands FATHER SIMM, bible andcrucifix in hand.

6.


8/28

FATHER SIMMNos eriperes de potestate diaboli!

NAUMAI LODUSThe tribes met, and they found that

they had not all learned the sametruths. For 10,000 years theyfought to see whose knowledge wasstrongest.

3 - In an open field at night, a portal opens like a rip inspace. Liams guardian bounds out of it.

4 - Liam, calm under water.

5 - Liam, walking with his father through a convenience storeparking lot.

FATHERI dont know whats happening inthis country anymore. Got a Muslimin the White House and I know hesgivin Iran the bomb. Homosexualson the TV all the time.

6 - He opens the trunk of their car. Liam, in theforeground, is in a daze.

FATHER (CONT'D)

2012s coming and this wholecountry will be in cinders. Itllbe hell on earth. Maybe thentheyll learn.

MIRN (V.O.)Maybe then theyll learn.

7 - Liam turns.

PAGE 13

The first panel dominates the page, taking up two half of thepage.

1 - They are gathered on a ridge overlooking a vast stretchof scorched land, dotted with fires, camps, and piles ofdead: Mirn (the sick boy), his body a grotesque biomechanicalskeleton, Sutur Amn Quosa (not yet introduced) a stately,exotic minimalist, and, at the moment, young Liam. Standingnext to each are their guardian beasts.

7.


9/28

NAUMAI LODUSThe leaders of these tribes becamewarriors of incredible power.

MIRN

I say we let the damn things goover the border. Let them wreakhavoc on those fools in Tirraluntil they beg us to come to theiraid.

2 - Amn Quosa, Liam in foreground.

AMN QUOSAWe will not allow that. They havedone nothing to deserve such abetrayal.

LIAMHavent they?

3 - Now in Liams place is Lykael Onsvarim, a tattooed,emaciated figure contorted and bound in a bizarre meditativepose. Hes a scary dude.

LYKAELHavent they been asking for this?Every day that they sell themselvesto the pleasures of the body,growing weaker and more foolish,more open to attack from all sides,

havent they been secretly prayingfor this judgement? I can hearthem. This is what they want.

4 - He leaps to his feet and screams.

LYKAEL (CONT'D)SINNERS!

5 - Liam, in the parking lot, hysterical with anger.

LIAMYou are all sinners!

PAGE 14

1 - His father looks down at him.

FATHERLiam?

8.


10/28

2 - Liam rages, tears streaming down his cheeks. He seems tohave a dark aura.

LIAMAmul sem rowa! Judgement is

coming! The fires of Hell!

3 - He doubles over with pain, something is growing out ofhis back.

4-6 - It grows taller and bigger, before splitting openexplosively. A portal opens above them. Black tendrils andflames burst high into the air.

PAGE 15

Two panels, the first taking up a third of the page.

1 - Liam, screaming.

LIAM (CONT'D)YOU WILL ALL BURN!

2 - The flames shape themselves into a demonic face.

NAUMAI LODUSThey became living gods thatcontrolled all the furies ofexistence.

PAGE 16

1 - Liam is raised out of the water, the instant of terrorwhen he realizes that hes drowning.

2 - His father looks just as frightened.

3 - His mother speaks from the doorway.

MOTHERIs it working?

FATHER SIMMI dont know!

Ab omni hoste visibili etinvisibili!

4 - A window of the house, from the outside, rimmed withspeedlines. Something is flying toward it at great speed.

5 - Liams guardian smashes through the wall of the adjacentbedroom as if it were paper, knocking the mother unconscious.

9.


11/28

It is a terrifying thing: clusters of glowing eyes and teethon a tattooed skull, claws and tendrils radiating from thecore of its body, the arcane engine that powers it..

(Design note: this creature looks scary, but actually leanstoward benevolence. It should be able to be sympathetic.)

NAUMAI LODUSThey created life.

They created us.

PAGE 17

1 - It faces them.

2 - Jaws drop.

3 - The creature tosses the priest like a ragdoll.

4 - Liams father grabs him out of the bath.

5 - He backs up against the wall, the beast in theforeground.

FATHERStay back.

6 - Hes outmatched. The creature fills the room, as tall asthe ceiling.

FATHER (CONT'D)

Lord protect me. You cant havehim.

NAUMAI LODUSTheir guardians, their servants.

PAGE 17

1 - The creature rears up.

LIAMDont!

2 - It stops, bloodied claws inches from the mans face.

3 - Liam reaches out to the creature.

NAUMAI LODUSTheir companions in life and death.

4 - It takes him, very carefully, from his fathers arms andbacks away.

10.


12/28

5 - Then it is gone.

6 - Liams father falls to his knees.

PAGE 18

1-3 - Magic hour in the Arizona desert. Cacti, coyote,strange rock formations and, in stark contrast, anintimidating wall stretching to the horizon.

NAUMAI LODUS (CONT'D)Then, after 10,000 years, therecame an uneasy peace. The peacebecame an alliance. The unitedtribes were among the greatestcivilizations that the world hadever known.

4 - Looking at it from cover, travelling alone, is the twelveyear old Mexican boy ARTURO. His lips are chapped, his eyesbloodshot from lack of sleep.

5 - He scratches graffiti on a rock with a piece of charcoal.

PAGE 19

1 - Night. He treks steadily under the light of the starsalong the edge of the wall.

NAUMAI LODUS (CONT'D)For another 10,000 years the tribes

grew, and in that time the leaderslearned to conquer death itself.

2 - He draws a few drops of water from a canvas canteen.

3 - He looks at something excitedly.

4 - At the top of the wall there is an opening.

5 - He stealthily approaches it.

PAGE 20

1 - He pulls a crude grappling hook from his pack.

NAUMAI LODUS (CONT'D)For aeons they watched theirempires thrive.

11.

(MORE)


13/28

They rode with their armies to thefarthest edges of the land, placesthat no one had ever seen, and thatno one but they and their strongestwarriors could survive.

2 - It catches on an edge of the wall.

3 - He climbs arduously toward the gap.

4 - His hands bleed onto the jagged metal edges as he pullshimself through.

5 - He drops down to the other side.

PAGE 19

1 - He lands.

NAUMAI LODUS (CONT'D)In these strange lands they foundglories and wonders that humbledeven them, in their majesty.

2 - Lying on his back, he clutches his hand and smiles.

3 - He stands up.

4 - Bam! Spot lights target him.

5 - They shine from the roof racks of three looming trucks,and standing next to them are six armed border patrol agents.

BORDER PATROL #1We got one!

BORDER PATROL #2Its just a kid. Is he alone?

6 - Arturo shields his eyes. He is very scared, and veryangry.

PAGE 20

1 - An agent approaches him, one palm held up, the other handresting on the holster of his sidearm. He alternates betweenspeaking English and Spanish.

BORDER PATROL #1Frank, you got this?

BORDER PATROL #2Take it easy. (Spanish) Youalone? (Spanish)

12.

NAUMAI LODUS (CONT'D)


14/28

NAUMAI LODUSAnd also fear, as they had notknown it in millenia.

2 - Arturo pulls out a nasty looking shiv.

3 - Guns go up.

BORDER PATROL #2Whoa!

4 - Arturo, speaking:

ARTURO(Im not going back. You canttake me back!)

5 - Frank, in a defensive pose.

BORDER PATROL #2Easy!

BORDER PATROL #1You got it?

BORDER PATROL #2Yeah, I got it. Stay cool.

6 - Frank grabs a taser from his belt.

PAGE 21

1 - He aims and pulls the trigger.

2 - It clicks.

3 - Frank, inspecting the taser.

BORDER PATROL #1Whats up?

BORDER PATROL #2Tasers jammed. Hold on,somethings not-

4 - Amn Quosa, the chaos mystic, in front of a sheer rockface, encircled by slavering four armed monstrosities.

5 - Frank doubles over and falls to his knees.

BORDER PATROL #1Frank!

13.


15/28

6 - Amn Quosa is levitating, in a graceful pose, seeminglybuffeted by a strong wind. The creatures are being tornapart from the inside out, and in places their bodies arebeing melted together like plastic.

NAUMAI LODUSYet never did they turn back. Itwas not their way.

7 - Arturo runs up and puts his knife to Franks throat.

PAGE 22

1 - Arturo, screaming.

ARTURO(I dont want to hurt him! Justlet me go!)

2 - The border patrol, guns trained.

BORDER PATROL #2Put the knife down! (Spanish)

BORDER PATROL #3Shoot him!

BORDER PATROL #4No! Dont shoot!

BORDER PATROL #2

Hes just a kid!

BORDER PATROL #3But hes going to kill him!

BORDER PATROL #1Fire a warning shot!

3 - Somebody pulls a trigger.

4 - The gun clicks.

5 - Confusion ripples through the guards

BORDER PATROL #3Its jammed!

BORDER PATROL #1Mine too!

BORDER PATROL #3What the hell is going on?

14.


16/28

6 - Their guns turn to dust in their hands.

PAGE 23

1 - Their eyes go red, the arteries rupturing in unison,

veins bulging in their faces.

2 - The bulbs of the spotlights burst.

3 - Their trucks explode, spikes of metal ripping through thehoods.

4 - Perched at the top of the wall is the beast SESSURA.This creature is a glorious vision, sublimely beautiful, abioluminescent masterpiece of abstract sculpture.

5 - Close up of its face.

SESSURAMaster, let him go.

6 - Arturo lowers the knife.

7 - Frank scrambles away.

8 - The other patrolmen gape.

PAGE 24

1 - Sessura speaks.

SESSURA (CONT'D)Leave.

2 - The agents bolt clumsily away into the dark.

3 - Sessura slides to the ground in front of Arturo.

4 - Arturo looks at the creature in awe,

5 - and then collapses.

6 - Sessura catches and lifts him away in a graceful arc.

NAUMAI LODUSAnd always, until the very lastmoment, were we with them.

PAGE 25

1 - The low, tepid flatlands of the suburbs.

15.


17/28

2 - A beautiful Pakistani girl, 15 years old, dressed in allblack except for her head scarf, walks angrily away from afairly standard two story house. This is AYESHA.

3 - Her father, a pudgy and very angry looking man, is at the

door, yelling after her.

FATHERYou have brought shame upon ourfamily! You are not welcome in myhouse!

4 - Ayesha turns.

AYESHAIm just getting started!

5-6 - She takes off her head scarf and throws it on the

ground.

7 - She raises her hand in an obscene gesture. The fatherseyes are wide as saucers.

8 - Ayeshas mother steps out from behind the father.

MOTHERAyesha!

9 - Ayesha is walking again, away from them. She will neversee them again, and in some way she understands this.

MOTHER (CONT'D)Come Back!

NAUMAI LODUSAt the end of the world, they foundthat they had gone too far, andthat they could never return.Their world would never be thesame.

PAGE 26

1 - Ayesha and her blanche friend KYLIE are in line for aconcert along with lots of other teenagers who are allwearing black. The sign of the venue, above them, saysSALOME. Ayeshas demeanor, in contrast to the last page,shows her to be a smart, thoughtful girl.

KYLIEThat sucks. What happened?

16.


18/28

AYESHAThey found out I got a tattoo.

KYLIEHow?

AYESHAI put pictures online.

2 - Ayesha, contemplating.

AYESHA (CONT'D)Lots of pictures. They were reallymad.

KYLIEThat sucks.

3 - Kylie, texting device now in hand, smiles at a tall, thinposer boy.

KYLIE (CONT'D)Theyre not going to, like, killyou are they?

4 - Ayesha looks at her, disapprovingly.

5 - Kylie, flustered.

KYLIE (CONT'D)Not that- Islam people do that

sometimes. Well I mean, Ive heardof, you know, honor killings orwhatever.

6 - Ayesha, same expression.

AYESHANo. Thisll blow over. I shouldhave been more careful. Can I stayat your place tonight?

7 - Kylie, bubbly.

KYLIESure, of course you can! Myparents love you!

8-10, quick panels - Ayesha catches the eye of a boy with amohawk. She looks away.

17.


19/28

NAUMAI LODUSSomething had been waiting forthem.We should have stayed. They shouldhave turned back.

PAGE 27

1 - A metal band on a stage, and in the foreground the tangleof bodies of a mosh pit.

NAUMAI LODUS (CONT'D)They could sense what was coming,and so they sent us back to theirpeople. They told us to build.

2 - Ayesha and Kylie watch from the back of the room.

3-4 - Kylie yells in her ear, Kylie runs into the crowd.

5 - Ayesha watches her go.

6 - Kylie falls into the arms of the tall poser boy.

7 - Ayesha, disapproving.

8-9 - She catches the eye of the boy with the mohawk again.

PAGE 28

1 - He approaches her.

2 - She shrinks, but cant help smiling.

3 - He yells into her ear.

AYESHAWhat?

DUDEI said can I get you a drink orsomething?

4, wide shot - Ayesha and the boy talking.

AYESHAI dont drink.

DUDEOh yeah, I used to be the same way.How about a Coke?

18.


20/28

5 - Ayesha, smiling.

AYESHASure.

6 - The boy at the bar, discretely slipping something intothe drink.

7 - He hands it to her.

DUDEHere. My names Trey. Whatsyours?

AYESHAAyesha.

8 - She drinks.

DUDEThats a beautiful name.

PAGE 29

1 - The band, walking off stage.

2 - Ayesha, standing next to Trey.

DUDE (CONT'D)Have you seen them before? Iveseen them like eight times, theyre

amazing.

AYESHAI feel a little weird.

DUDEReally? The bathrooms are overthere, want me to show you.

3 - Ayesha braces herself against him, looking very out ofit.

AYESHAYeah.

4 - Trey walks away from the crowd.

5 - Ayeshas face seems to be doubling. A ghostly version ofherself is splitting away.

6 - An ornate palatial gallery. In the middle of the flooris a large, finely detailed, somewhat menacing sarcophagus.

19.


21/28

PAGE 30

1 - Amn Quosa walks toward an imposing doorway flanking byguards armed with tall lances. Sessura follows close behind.

2 - He stands before them and speaks.

AMN QUOSAI wish to see her.

3 - The guards, in closeup, are empty suits of armor.

4 - Amn Quosa takes another step.

AMN QUOSA (CONT'D)I amnot leaving.

SESSURA

Master, please.

5 - The guards raise their lances.

PAGE 31

1 - A woman has appeared behind him, semi transparent. Shewhispers in his ear.

DRELISAMy love, I am here.I am always with you.

AMN QUOSANo.

2 - An explosion of entropy atomizes the door and the guardsare turned to rust.

AMN QUOSA (CONT'D)I must see you!

3 - Ayesha, in ethereal form, watches herself being draggedthrough a doorway.

4 - Trey lays her body against the wall of an emptystairwell.

5 - He touches her empty face with side of his hand.

6 - Ayesha watches, a hand over her mouth.

7 - She screams.

20.


22/28

AYESHAStop it!

8 - Trey turns, fearful.

9 - The stairwell is empty.

PAGE 31

1 - The concert hall.

2 - Same view. A beast made of blinding white light leapsthrough the wall. This is an angelic being, a ribbon ofenergy with a face something like an African mask.

3 - It moves into the opposite wall, passing through a groupof scared people that are unable to move out of the way.

4 - It emerges in front of Trey, above Ayesha. As it passesthrough this wall it materializes, seeming to draw energy outof the air, and grabbing Trey with its claws.

5 - It throws him to the other side of the room withincredible force.

6 - It drops him to the ground.

7 - It turns on Ayeshas body.

8 - It looks at her ephemeral self.

WEIAEmpress.

9 - Ayesha, wide eyed.

WEIA (CONT'D)You are safe.

PAGE 32

1-2 - Weia picks up her body.

3-5 - Weia, incorporeal except for the arms that carryAyesha, flies up the stairwell.

6 - Trey looks up, wide eyed.

PAGE 33

1 - A rocky wasteland.

21.


23/28

NAUMAI LODUSThey sent us their last messages,the last words of the dynastiesthat would end with them, and thenwe felt them die.

2 - A point of light hovers above the pale dust of theground.

NAUMAI LODUS (CONT'D)What they found at the end of theworld had killed them, the greatestof us. They said that one day itwould be at our walls, and that itwould level every city and killevery man woman and child of allour great empires.

3 - The light becomes a small, simple geometric shape.

NAUMAI LODUS (CONT'D)What we were building was an ark.We had to take as much of ourhomeworld with us as we could andleave it forever.We could not disobey.

4 - It grows in size and complexity.

NAUMAI LODUS (CONT'D)We were to find another habitable

planet and to build new lives fortheir people. It fell to us tolead them.But that . . . We could not do.

PAGE 34

Over the course of these panels the view gradually looks up.

1 - More of them appear.

NAUMAI LODUS (CONT'D)We had to bring you back.

2 - They join into branching, crystalline formations.

NAUMAI LODUS (CONT'D)We did not know when you wouldreturn, or where, but we would findyou when you did.

22.


24/28

3 - The shapes grow. The edge of a blue sphere becomesvisible at the top of the panel.

4 - It is the earth.

NAUMAI LODUS (CONT'D)Now you have returned, my Lord.You are all here.

------------------------------------------------

House/Character Reference

------------------------------------------------

House Lir-Olu (Solemn Disc)

Lord Riyam Dei: Ashen Rider of the End Wurm, Ruler of the RedSands - reborn as Charles Winston Moore, homeless AfricanAmerican orphan

Beast Naumai Lodus

A culture based on strict isolationism informed the creationof this house. It values individuality with the knowledge ofones heritage, the forging of a strong character bycontinuously testing ones mettle according to an ancientcode, usually forbidding the aid of others. Friendships,though rare, are valued very highly. A comparativelyprimitive group, they are no less among the most respected,in part due to having cultivated an enigmatic reputation.They are among the most respected of all the houses, theirwarriors among the most feared.

They practice elemental magics and advanced martial arts.

23.


25/28

House Yulashei Noroba (A Thousand Bladed Arms)

Twin Consulars Mirn and Mira of the Walking Cliffs - rebornand Sam and Sarah Welles, sufferers of an abnormal, chronicillness.

Beasts Traius and Ralence

This group strives for perfection in all ways, oftenachieving it by manipulating themselves using extraordinarymeans. There is no reverence among them for the past, theystrive continually toward a future of seemingly boundlesspotential. They are the transhumanists of their world,masters of technology, biology, medicine, surgery andmechanical augmentation. The preference of customizedrobotic bodies to organic ones is commonplace, and thehouses rulers were undoubtably the most radicallytransformed.

Their familiars are shining machines, master engineers andtechnicians that are their own universal toolboxes, able tobuild and reshape themselves according to any environmentthat they find themselves in.

In terms of combat, their sophisticated armors, shields andweaponry make them very aggressive fighters, able to send inhand-to-hand fighters while their artillery hammers the samelines.

The royal family trains in blades, as their name suggests,but their bodies are their most powerful weapons.

They prefer the laws of science to the unpredictable natureof magic and other chaotic disciplines.

House Tirruk Almir Som (Shining Spear of the Mind)

Sovereign Prefect Lykael Onsvarim, Guard of the AetherLigature and Seer of the Tunneling Worldmind - reborn as LiamFreer, Son of Christian religious zealots

Beast Dsirl Rouk

A highly spiritual and monastic faction, based primarily onthe knowledge that the visible world is merely a shadow inthe mist of the universe, one of an infinite number of planesrunning in parallel. They believe in a hierarchy of theseworlds, both higher and lower shades of existence relative toours, something akin to heaven and hell except with infinitepermutations of both, and thus no real concept of good andevil but of a seamless gradient between all extremes.

24.


26/28

They are adept at manipulating and controlling portalsbetween these worlds and ours, using these tunnels for anyimaginable task: a portal to a world in which all space is aburning star can be a source of infinite energy, and thisportal can housed in the matter taken from a universe inwhich a super insulative element is found that could not

exist according to the physical laws of our own. At the timeof their destruction on Old Somosai they were beginning tocommunicate via sophisticated telepathic links with beingsfrom other realms for the first time in known history.

This house practices extreme forms of meditative training,including asceticism, flagellation, the use of psychedelicsand mortification of the flesh as passages to spiritualecstasy and to cultivate the incredible discipline requiredto telepathically create and shape interspace portals.

These portals can be used as weapons, summoning plumes offire or spears of matter or energy, as wormholes for

instantaneous transport (basically Portal * Nightcrawlerrules), to create controlled miniature singularities, etc.

House Na Reyoso (Will of the Cloud)

Sutur Amn Quosa, Impure Star God - reborn as Arturo Morales,illegal Mexican immigrant

Beast Sessura

The founding rule of this house is that if one can quantify a

thing then one can control it, but if a thing is notquantifiable, and thus cannot be controlled, it must then bemore powerful than anything that can be measured. From thismaxim was born a philosophy based on the destruction of theego, of seeing oneself as a conduit for the will of thesegodlike forces rather than one who is arrogantly dependent onthe meager force of their own will. The strange practices oftheir ancient tribal precursors made them objects of merecuriosity to the civilizations that sprung up around them,but any attempts to subdue the tribe met with abject defeat.Only a few Reyosan channelers were able to hold back fullbattalions of encroaching armies. Men and women who lookedlike simpletons and beggars would suddenly become shiftingmirages, possessed titans that were able to wield chance andentropy as weapons.

Eventually they did develop into their own great empire, butthese concepts continued to shape their culture. Humility isfor them the greatest virtue, and they strive to be consciousof the outside forces that are at work before they seek todictate them.

25.


27/28

At the same time, the chaotic aspects of the self are givengreat weight: passion, emotion, intuition and creativity.

House Ellik Atama-Tersal (Far Seeing Without Trace)

Empress Regnant Drelisa Lizuul, The One and Many

Beast Weia Drao

Similar to other philosophies, this culture sought totranscend the material world and their physical forms. Indoing so their mystics became masters of astral projectionand practicers of frequent and prolonged periods of complete

sensory deprivation.

This informed a culture of strict isolationism, walled citiesfrom which the citizens scouted and explored by sending outtheir non-corporeal selves, or by possessing artificialbodies if they wished to perform physical labors such asfarming or waging war.

As their power grew so too did their ambitions, venturingfarther and farther away from the bodies to which they werebound, but never as far as they would like, and also becomingthe controllers of more and more complex physical forms. Alone Ataman engineer could pilot and maintain a Yulashei

steamship from his cabin, for example, a task that wouldnormally take a crew of dozens of trained men, but never forextended periods of time as the strain inevitably becomes toogreat for the most seasoned Projector.

Being removed from the physical limitations of the human bodycreates a number of jarring discrepancies. Being able tohear every aural frequency, see the entire spectrum of lightin all directions simultaneously or to feel all thesensations of a bustling metal body inhabited by other beingsand so on, created an extreme sensory overload that theAtamans balanced out of necessity with time in their physicalbodies removed from all such distractions. Every practicingAtaman Projector lives primarily in a metal sarcophagus thatallows no light or sound and is filled with a super dense gason which the body can lie as if weightless, and without anyphysical sensation for periods of days, weeks or months at atime with the aid of certain Yulashei medical technologies.

Their Queen, Drelisa Lizuul, was known as one of the mostbeautiful women of the known world, though seeing her inperson was an exceptionally rare privilege.

26.


28/28

She was a Projector of unparalleled skill, able to appear inmultiple places simultaneously, to will herself into physicalbeing remotely, and also to control whole battalions ofarmored bodies when necessary with perfect tactical grace.

27.

Unfamiliar (First Issue Comic Script)

Documents

Transcript of Unfamiliar (First Issue Comic Script)