The PHANTACEA Mythos- Featuring the Summer 2006 Collection of Character and/or Talismanic Likenesses - |
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Summer 20061. Featured Story:
"Sea,
Sickness, Sundown" |
Image Map: Has been moved to here! |
PHANTACEA on the Web- written by
Jim McPherson © copyright 2006 Jim McPherson |
Lynx to complete mosaic novels within the PHANTACEA Mythos whose potential covers, background information and introductory chapters are still online| 2002: "The Moloch Manoeuvres" | 2003: "The War of the Apocalyptics" | 2004: "Decimation Damnation" | 2005: "The Trigregos Gambit" | |
Introductory RemarksGreetings. Welcome or welcome back. Somewhat disturbingly, the Summer 2006 update of 'pHpubs' marks the 10th anniversary of PHANTACEA on the Web. (If you're in the slightest curious as to the contents of some of its earliest updates, then do be a goose and have a gander at this click.) To order any of the PHANTACEA Mythos Print Publications that are still available, click here. (There's still no way to pay online but I'm working on it.) Next door is the usual Hestia Housekeeping subsection of 'pHpubs'. Immediately below is an alphabetical list of lynx to a number of typically idiosyncratic mini-essays and Character Likeness studies I've prepared over the years for on the Web. They illustrate some of the peculiar perspectives I've developed while writing the PHANTACEA Mythos. Contact me [jmcp@phantacea.com] and feel free to ask any questions you might have regarding PHANTACEA. I'll do my best to answer them either directly or right here in 'pHpubs'. PHANTACEA Essentials
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Hestia HousekeepingHestia Housekeeping amounts to the 'What's New' section of pHpubs. Consequently I always start it with a 'What's Old' link to where I put its previous update. Now that that's done, we can get on with this edition of Hestia Housekeeping. So what is new in the Summer 2006 edition of PHANTACEA on the Web? Firstly, in order to mark the 10th anniversary of PHANTACEA on the Web I've resurrected some of the colour combinations and favourite background images that I've used in 'pHpubs' over the years. Images include the sand-heads from Saturna Island, the tyranno-cliff from Turkey, the 1987A Supernova, the Giza Sphinx and Pyramids, the Abu Simbel, and the India 2005 backdrops. Secondly, to wrap up the long-running serialization of 'Coueranna's Curse' in the accepted manner, I've prepared the the Curse-conclusive instalments of its synopses. They can be found as follows: By my count Curse was the 9th complete novel I've presented since I began web-publishing PHANTACEA in 1996. Must be time for the commencement of the 10th complete novel, right? Yes and no. Yes, Number 10 is here. As promised last time up, it's entitled 'The Volsung Variations'. But, no, so is Number 11: 'The Vampire Variations'. I'm looking forward to presenting both of them, sooth said, and I'll tell you why. Eventually.
Even though I had the postcard of Currin's 'Moroccan' (the woman with fish on her head to the right of this paragraph) at that time, I decided to hold onto it for a more appropriate moment. Now appears to be that moment. That's because, along with Sorciere (born Solace Sunrise) and Bat-Bait (born Barsine Mandam), everyone's favourite, ever-fishifying Fish (born Scylla Nereid) starts out as one of the featured characters in Vamvar. Only then she goes away. She'll be back of course. (She has to be back in the 1938 serials because she's still around for the ones set in 1980, particularly 'The Trigregos Gambit', where she gets to kick some serious turbot.) The problem is, in the Summer of 2006, I can't remember when or where. It could be in Vamvar or it could be in Volvar. Could well be it's in both of them. Which brings us to the 'Eventually' of a few paragraphs back. As detailed in the chronology of my PHANTACEA Mythos material, I wrote the 1938 Web-Wheaties (as in serials) in a creative flurry occupying many of my weekends in the late 90s. One led into the other and indeed, due to how lengthy they were becoming, I moved some sequences initially written for one into the next. A case in point is the first four chapters of Volvar. They were meant for Curse. Then Volvar became so long I hived parts of it, notably the Sociere-Shahiyeda sequences, into Vamvar. As near as I can recall Volvar's intended finale became part of one of the concluding sections of Vamvar. I then finished off all the 1938 story sequences when I concluded Vamvar. Got that? I haven't. Not yet. But I will, once I get the chance to reread both Volvar and Vamvar. That's the main reason I'm presenting Volvar and Vamvar simultaneously. That's also why I haven't finished either of their teasers and haven't even begun their synoptic sections as yet. I'll get to it eventually, though. You can mark me on that. I still intend to print-publish "Feeling Theocidal". In truth, assuming I can sort out a few more details, I may yet publish it in the Summer of 2006 as originally promised. As for the PHANTACEA PDF advertised on the ordering page, well, there are five other print publications readily available from there. I'll happily email you the PDF even if you only order one of them. Or maybe even if you don't order any of them. In the meantime, down below in the topic section, I've prepared a couple of collages re the Thrygragos Talismans, which figure as prominently as the Trigregos Talismans do in Theocidal. That's only fay-fairy fair. I did a mini-essay on the three Sisters' power foci last year at this time so it's about time I got around to that of the three Brothers. (The two synopses referring to Thrygragon remain where they've always been, just in case you need to whet your Theocidal appetite the more.) Even though I haven't finished the teasers that go with either Volvar or Vamvar, I've compiled plenty of graphics, new and old, to go with them. Smaller ones are down below in the topic section. Their lynx usually go to bigger ones in a variety of places. What about Serendipity? Glad I asked. As well as a list of lynx to previous instalments of said-Seren, there is a new entry there. It has to do with Methuselah (PHANTACEA's Amemp Tut), the ages of the Golden Age patriarchs, powdered gold and golden apples. There's nothing new in terms of TIMP, however. Got a few more interesting images re Faeries and Tholoi, though. At least think I do. Have I mentioned my recent difficulties with memory (not Human Memory, nor any of PHANTACEA's myriad other Memories)? Seems I've already forgotten! Feedback encouraged. Oh and, lest we forget, as always, good reading. Top of Page
"Yield, Nightmare!" Black Macha looked up at the near-Irache through bleeding eyelids. She must have wondered who was the worst off, her or the outworlder with the cut-anything knife. He wasn't just a redskin. He was blood-drenched, most of it being his own. He should have been dead. Decapitation worked on full devils and, deviant or not, it should have worked fully fatally on this one. Had to be the influence of that old Wayfarer in the Weird Shamanitoulin's Fetishim. They had obviously merged again since the teenager was sprouting feathers along his arms and upper body. What part of it that wasn't seeping away his life, that is! -- from 'SEA, SICKNESS, SUNDOWN', the third chapter of 'The Volsung Variations'
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Jim McPherson's Latest Collection of Mini-Essays and Character Likeness Studies
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The
Thrygragos Talismans
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As detailed in the 1990 graphic novel "Forever & 40 Days - The Genesis of PHANTACEA", which can still be ordered, devils have been around for a very long time. In terms of devakind, there are three generations: |
1. The solitary first generational member of devakind was and still is (in 5980 Year of the Dome) the Moloch Sedon; |
2. The six members of the second generation were (and perhaps still are) the Thrygragos Brothers and the Trigregos Sisters; 3. The third generation of devakind are the devil-gods themselves, the Master Devas. Perhaps 500 of them survived the Genesea and made it to Sedon's Head. - Top of Page - Top of Topic - Continue Topic - |
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The second book in this cycle is tentatively entitled "The Thousand Days of Disbelief". |
As was also detailed in 'pH: 4-ever & 40', only a small percentage of the third generation, their grandfather (reputedly the Devil Himself) and their three fathers (Unmoving Byron, Lackland Lazareme and Varuna Mithras) made it to the Whole Earth circa 669 pre-Dome. The devil-gods' three simultaneous mothers (Demeter the Body, Sapiendev the Mind and Devaura the Soul) never did. That didn't stop Tvasitar Smithmonger crafting them individual talismans or power foci, however. |
- Top of Page - Top of Topic - Continue Topic - |
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told, in what may have been the 1st ploy of the Panharmonium
Project, he was tricked into it. They are, or were (on Thrygragon -- Mithramas Day, 4376 YD), Methandra of Mithras, Umashakti of Byron and Harmonia of Lazareme. The latter, the Unity of Harmony, is not only the firstborn of the firstborn females, her father was the firstborn of the Great Gods.
We first came across them in the PHANTACEA comic books, when they were in the possession of the Awesome Akbar. There have been sightings of them ever since, most recently in 'Coueranna's Curse', when they were in the possession of Magister Joseph Mandam. Where they are today (I'm writing this in 2006), I couldn't possibly say. Where they were on Thrygragon, that I can tell you. As soon as I finally print-publish "Feeling Theocidal", allow me to qualify. |
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Top of Page - Top of Section - Return to List of Topics - Onto the Cross of Mithras
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The Cross of Mithras |
Sometimes called the Crutch of Mithras. When Chrysaor Attis had it at the beginning of Thrygragon it was in the shape of a javelin. Old Man Power, before he's revealed to be the Awesome Akbar, wore it as a sword in 1980. He destroyed all three of the Brothers' talismans while possessed of the Apocalyptics and their two allies in WarPoc-7. In "Feeling Theocidal", as set on his feast day (Mithramas, the 25th of Tantalar) in 4376 YD, Thrygragos Varuna Mithras makes it his blazing labarum. In the currently ongoing Variations serials, which are set in early 1938, a rejuvenated Magister Mandam still has all three of the Brothers' Tvasitar-trinkets, as he begins to refer to them. |
In 'pH: 4-ever & 40', eventual Thrygragos Varuna Mithras is shown actually using a crutch, albeit in the second Weirworld shortly after the Dual Entities set off Supernova 1987A. |
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As depicted in 'pH: 4-ever & 40', second generational Mithras gloats to his sole first generational father, the Moloch Sedon, how one of his myriad third generational daughters is, circa 10 PD (Pre-Deluge or Pre-Dome), humanizing the Female Entity. |
Top of Page - Top of Section - Return to List of Topics - Onto the Mask of Byron
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The Mask of Byron |
The face-dancing Head of Anyone can be just that, among other things. All devic power foci are composed of Godstuff (Brainrock-Gypsium). They're transmutable. They can also be used by anyone: devil, deviant or an ordinary mortal, be she or he humanoid, reptilian or whatever. That's one reason why they are so valuable. The godlike abilities they grant devils they can grant anyone. Along with their daemonic bodies, devic power foci are why third generational Master Devas can remain solid individuals. However, having been solid long before their offspring by the Trigregos Sisters gained solidity, the Thrygragos Brothers gave their power foci to Chrysaor Attis within a couple of decades of his birth circa 2000 YD. The face-dancing Mask of Byron allows anyone wearing it to facially appear to be anyone they want to look like. In combination with the Cloak of Lazareme, it therefore allows anyone wearing it to in effect physically be anyone or anything they please. |
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When he first appeared in pH-2,
OMP had all three of the Thrygragos Talismans. Here he's shown wearing Ian Bateson's version of the Mask of Byron. |
The Age of Mithras ended with Thrygragon
-- Mithramas Day, 4376 Year of the Dome (YD). The Age of Lazareme
ended with the Disunition
of the Unities
circa 5500 YD. As depicted in pH-5, the Age of Byron ended when the Apocalyptic Nucleus atomized the Byronic Nucleus. If what's become of the three Great Gods' surviving firstborn daughters get their way in "The Trigregos Gambit", Tantalar 5980 will mark the beginning of the Age of Panharmonium. |
Top of Page - Top of Section - Return to List of Topics - Onto the Cloak of Lazareme
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Lazareme's Cloak of Many Colours |
Sometimes called the Star Cape, with the Milky Way depicted in its inside lining, it allows anyone to shift shapes. Third generational devils tend to defer to their elders, particularly firstborns such as Byron's Silverclouds and the three Unities of Lazareme. Devils, though, are genetically incapable of disobeying their fathers. Or, as becomes the case during "Feeling Theocidal", anyone who appears to be one of their fathers; in other words, anyone who has hold of their fathers' talismans, their emblems of authority. And that includes one of their fathers! |
In the PHANTACEA Mythos, the Mithras figure
you commonly see when you google up images of Mithraism
represents the Great God's deviant son, Chrysaor
Attis. The bull he's shown slaying is Cruel Plathon, though. |
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Mithras (Attis) slaying the bull (Plathon)
shown with the Sun (Helios) and the Moon (Mnemosyne) observing.
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Top of Page - Top of Section - Return to List of Topics - Onto Volvar Images
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The Golden-Haired Volsung Image suggestive of the real Valfreja Volsung (Milady Malaise or Cousin Contamination in Volvar) |
The Silver-Haired Volsung Image suggestive of Tanith von Blut (Tanith Silverhair or Cousin Constellation in Volvar) |
The Bronze-Haired Volsung Image suggestive of Brunhild von Alptraum (Torches for Arms, Burning Hell or Cousin Conflagration in Volvar) - Top of Page - Top of Topic - Continue Topic - |
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Image suggestive of the Dual Entities
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Image suggestive of Herr Hel Helios with a creature suggestive of All of Incain on his helmet |
Another angle of next door's possible Helios; this one showing a horse on his helmet as well as All - Top of Page - Top of Topic - Continue Topic - |
| Original shot of the sun-face used in the Cross of Mithras collage above. |
Image suggestive of some of Helios's glowingly golden sun-regalia |
Altered image of a wall mosaic taken in the British Museum. It's suggestive of Helios in a sun circle - Top of Page - Top of Topic - Continue Topic - |
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A painting by Max Ernst called Chimere, it's more suggestive of All of Incain than either ever-changing Chimaera Glimmenmare or Tralalorn's three-headed, pet chimera in Theocidal. |
A wall-painting of the traditional form taken by a she-sphinx. |
| As detailed in 'Coueranna's Curse', Sorciere (born Solace Sunrise) ingested some of Magister Mandam's faerie food at Castle Nightmare. She thereupon became her totem, a thunderbird. Might that happen again in Vamvar? Might she acquire Aquilla the Garuda Hunter? I'd tell you except, as noted above, I can't recall much of anything that happens in it. |
Also at Castle Nightmare during 'Coueranna's Curse' Barsine Mandam revealed she was an incarnation of Nergal Vetala. As a result, throughout much of Vamvar Barsine is often referred to as Bat-Bait. I can guarantee you that, during the course of Vamvar, she does indeed become bat bait. She also meets the woman she initially thinks was her birth mother. That mother, Mary Magdalene born Ryne become Mandam, died in 1933. Does that mean the Magdalene became a vamp? I do recall the answer to that is no. |
Fisherwoman (Scylla Nereid) accompanies Sorciere and Bat-Bait to Sedon's Head only to abandon them on Tympani, an island in the Aural Sea, Sedon's Ear. She and Delphi then go off to Godbad, which is still a kingdom in 5937/8, to reconnect with her daughter Winifred Auranja (Wave). I can't say she'll be back in Vamvar. Can't say she'll move over to Volvar either. I could tell you what becomes of Wave, but I won't. Could tell you Fish's married to Godbad's king-to-be and that his regent is a vamp, but I shouldn't. - Top of Page - Top of Topic - Continue Topic - |
| Upon arriving on Sedon's Head, Sorciere, Bat-Bait and Fish arrive in a between-space Ant Shelter (an Anthill) situated just south of the Gypsium Wall (Sedon's Head). They're looking to gather up Shahiyeda, Sorciere's daughter by John Sundown, and return to the Outer Earth. Let me assure that had they been successful there would have been no Vamvar. |
At the Anthill just below the Gypsium Wall, they discover a now thoroughly dead again lamia. Like all lamiae she first died giving birth. She's hardly the only lamiae to appear in Vamvar. In PHANTACEA fact, the mothers of virtually every potential Black Queen Count Molech pursued in 'The Moloch Manoeuvres' will appear in Vamvar. As we already know from Moloch, Sorciere's mother died giving her birth. As we quickly discover in Vamvar, Lamia Lou has made off with Shah. |
In 'The Moloch Manoeuvres' Mata Avar became a Chelonian Basilisk. In 'Coueranna's Curse' her younger sister, Medea Annulis, became a Cockatrice. It turns out in Vamvar that their oldest sister, Olympias, isn't just a lamia who died giving birth to Barsine. She's become a Medusa. Sorciere and Bat-Bait build a raft to take themselves from Tympani to Ophir Moorset. That's where Olympias has set up house as both the Ophirants' hellacious Mother Superior and the Hellions' Morrigan. - Top of Page - Top of Topic - Continue Topic - |
| Manitoulin (Shamanitoulin) only appeared as a Wayfarer in the Wild Weird during 'The Moloch Manoeuvres'. He starts out in Vamvar the same way. However, I suspect he'll show up in the flesh sooner rather than later. I also suspect he may be revealed as Sorciere's father. |
Although Manitoulin gave John Sundown his raven fetishim to act as his guardian demon, his psychopomp is not Raven's Head. It's a unicorn. Until it becomes a narwhal, that is. Does that mean Manitoulin consorts with demons? Oh, probably. He definitely consorts with lamiae, one of whom (Lamia Lou) he helped raise during the 1880s. |
Unholy Abaddon, the one-time Unity of Chaos whom Young Death calls Uncle Abe, made a nuisance of himself in 'Coueranna's Curse'. I suspect he'll be busy in Vamvar performing much the same function. - Top of Page - Top of Topic - Continue Topic - |
| Janna Fangfingers thinks Sorciere's Shahiyeda is an incarnation of Nergal Vetala. Consequently she not only kidnaps her, she turns her into a vamp. Shah isn't an incarnation of Vetala. (Barsine Mandam has that dubious distinction.) However, Shah does have a very non-vampirish knack. Warning: We don't learn what it is until quite some distance into Vamvar. |
In addition to lamiae there will likely be bats aplenty in Vamvar. In life many of them were Iraches. Although Sorciere's mother (Lamia Lou) was Metis, and therefore only half native, both Sorciere and Shah turn out to be much more full-blooded. Since Iraches on the Head are very much related to North American natives, this may create some difficulties for Janna Fangfingers and her non-Irache vamps. |
Onto some notes on the graphics that went into the Thrygragos Talismans panels
The collage in the masthead at the top of 'pHpubs' is an Image Map; run your mouse over the graphics incorporated within it and, when a hand appears, click there to take you elsewhere on the Web; there are nine elsewheres; clockwise, their destinations are the following webpages: Serendipity, Terms Peculiar to PHANTACEA, 'The Moloch Manoeuvres' revision, the webpage dedicated to the two 'Damnation Brigade' serials, 'The War of the Apocalyptics' revision, information on some of the inspirations that led to the creation of PHANTACEA, a link to the list of Glossaries, a link to information on the Moloch Sedon Himself, and the webpage dedicated to the novel, 'Decimation Damnation'.
The mouse-over message reads: "John Currin's "Moroccan" (2001), scanned in from a postcard bought in Paris 2004; suggestive of Fisherwoman". Click to return. Click to go to a larger image. Click to go to a character study of 'Fisherwoman'.
The mouse-over message reads: "Logo reads Anheroic Fantasy PHANTACEA Since 1977". Click to return. Click to go to a larger image. Click to go to an early Serendipity entry on how I spotted Sed's Head on the Giza Plateau.
The mouse-over message reads: "Gif reading The Thrice-Cursed Godly Glories, prepared on PHOTOSHOP by Jim McPherson, 2006". Intended for use on the backcover of "Feeling Theocidal". Click to return. Click to go to a mini-essay on 'Lilith, the Demon Queen of the Night'.
The mouse-over message reads: "Gif used on back cover of potential dustcover for 'The Trigregos Gambit', prepared on PHOTOSHOP by Jim McPherson, 2005". Click to return. Click to go to a larger image. Click to go to a mini-essay on 'The Trigregos Talismans'.
The mouse-over message reads: "Collage
prepared on PHOTOSHOP by Jim McPherson, 2006, intended to represent
the Cross of Mithras as transformed in 'Feeling Theocidal'".
Click to return.
NOTE: I built the collage out of three photos I took in
Mexico early in 2005. The sun-face
is from the Palacio de Bellas Artes in Mexico City. (That's the same
place I snapped Siqueiros's 'Nueva Democracia', which I used
in the Nihila
collage.) I took the flaming sword from a snap of a painting of Father
Hidalgo in Guadalajara's Palacio de Gobierno. The other constituents
of the collage were taken from a snap of a painting entitled 'Man
of Fire' in the ceiling cupola of Guadalajara's Hospicio Cabanas.
Both paintings are by Jose Clemente Orozco (1993-1949). Google up
his name and check out some of his work. You'll be impressed.
The mouse-over message reads: "Sedon and the Thrygragos Brothers limp into New Weirworld's Trigon, as depicted by Ian Fry, 1998". The image is taken from the 1990 graphic novel "Forever & 40 Days - The Genesis of PHANTACEA", which can still be ordered. Click to return. Click to go to a larger image.
The mouse-over message reads: "Ian Fry's depiction of the Dual Entities, Mnemosyne is being humanized by Fecundity, aka Nergal Vetala, Ian Fry circa 1989". Also depicted are the Moloch Sedon and Thrygragos Varuna Mithras. The image is taken from the 1990 graphic novel "Forever & 40 Days - The Genesis of PHANTACEA", which can still be ordered. Click to return. Click to go to a larger image.
The mouse-over message reads: "Collage prepared on PHOTOSHOP by Jim McPherson, 2006, intended to represent the Mask of Byron as transformed in 'Feeling Theocidal'". Click to return. I can't remember where I snapped the Demon Mask I grafted to the top of the Olmec head. Click to go to a couple of Olmec heads I shot at Mexico City's Museum of Anthropology in 2005.
Google.ca supplies what amounts to a pH-Webworld web gallery. Just go to http://www.google.ca/, hit the images link and type in PHANTACEA. Pasting into the address area of your browser the following Url might work as well: http://images.google.ca/images?q=phantacea&hl=en&lr=&c2coff=1&start=100&sa=N&filter=0
PHANTACEA on the Web is chock-a-block with visuals. Good places to ogle artwork from the comic books and graphic novel are One to Six, 'Twenty-Five Years Plus' and what began as 'The Genesis of PHANTACEA' webpage. Most of the other graphics are scans I did of my own photographs or material I put together using PHOTOSHOP. All the essays are loaded with images. Try out the framed version of the Main Menu. You won't go anywhere else but, then again, you won't get lost either.
| Winter 2006/7 | Summer 2006 | Winter 2005/6 | Summer 2005 | Winter 2004/5 | Summer 2004| Spring 2004 | Autumn 2003 | Summer 2003 | Autumn 2002 | Summer 2002 | Autumn 2001 | Spring-Summer 2001 | Winter 2000/1 | August 1998 | Samplings from other Not So Recent Commentaries | June-March '97 | February '97-July '96 |
![[BYRON LOSES HIS BODY -- from pH4-Ever & 40]](graphicimages/xuthros3.jpg)
![[Thrgragos Lazareme Wearing the Starcape]](graphicimages/mithras2.jpg)
![[AN IMAGE OF MITHRAS SLAYING THE CELESTIAL BULL TAKEN FROM THE WEB]](graphicimages/taurocto.jpg)
![[LIKENESS OF VALFREYA VOLSUNG, FROM 'THE COLOUR OF SCULPTURE' EXHIBITION, AMSTERDAM 1996]](graphicimages/tanith1.jpg)
![[TANITH VON BLUT MIGHT LOOK SOMETHING LIKE THIS, ARTWORK: OLIVIA, IMAGE TAKEN FROM THE WEB]](graphicimages/tansil2.jpg)
![[BRUNHILD VON ALPTRAUM LOOKS SOMETHING LIKE BOTTICELLI'S VENUS, IMAGE TAKEN FROM THE WEB]](graphicimages/brun3.jpg)
![[Likeness of All of Incain, photograph taken in Catania, Sicily by Jim McPherson, 1997]](graphicimages/afriall1.jpg)
![[Photograph of a Female Sphinx reminiscent of All of Incain taken in the Cairo Museum by Jim McPherson, Year 2000]](graphicimages/allstynx.jpg)
![[SHOT FROM AN EGYPTIAN SARCOPHAGUS IN VIENNA, 1996]](graphicimages/lampic21.jpg)
![[Image of Unholy Abaddon, the Unity of Chaos, DRAWN BY IAN FRY, CIRCA 1988]](graphicimages/abehalf1.jpg)
