Historical, Novel and Movie characters of Gothic Earth

[Lady Ligeia]

John Henry , Revenant
John Henry was born into slavery in Virginia in the 1840's. He was a giant of a man, standing well over 6 feet tall and bulging with powerful muscles. After obtaining his freedom, he found employment as a steel-driver for the Chesapeake and Ohio railroad.

In order to construct the railroads, companies hired thousands of men to smooth out terrain and cut through obstacles that stood in the way of the proposed tracks. John Henry made quite a name for himself working on the blasting of the Big Bend Tunnel – more than a mile straight through a mountain in West Virginia.

Steel-drivin' men like John Henry used large hammers and stakes to pound holes into the rock, which were then filled with explosives that would blast a cavity deeper and deeper into the mountain. Eager to reduce costs and speed up progress, some tunnel engineers started using steam drills to power their way into the rock. Upon hearing of this marvelous invention, John Henry challenged one such steam drill to a contest. He won, but died of exhaustion, his life cut short by his own superhuman effort.

Forbidden Lore: Soon after his death John Henry rose from the grave as a Revenant, an undead horror bent on revenge. He stalks the railroads, seeking his vengeance against all manner of machines and technology. He has felled telegraph poles, knocked railroads out of alignment to cause catastrophic derailments, and brought down entire trestle bridges with just a few swings of his mighty hammer. He lets no one stand in his way once he selects a target for demolition – in his blind rage against technology he has no compunction against killing people who try to stop him.

[The Lesser Evil]

I don't know much about Rip van Winkle, but what if instead of fallilng asleep for a long time, he actually died and became reanimated centuries later. Perhaps he could be a bog mummy (or otherwise naturally preserved ancient dead) that simply believes he is alive?


And we could use the ghost of Casey Jones that haunts the railroads and causes distress to drive people away from the railroad (idea taken from an old Ghostbusters episode). Secretly though, he is a force of good, having a limited divinatory ability to predict train wrecks and other unfortunate occurrences on the railroad. He has risen as a ghost to prevent such occurrences as what killed him and his train. Unfortunately he is cursed to be a vile-looking ghost. He cannot rest until he prevents enough accidents to make up for his failure in life. But normally the living consider him a harbinger of evil rather than a warning spirit. The living never seem to heed his warnings, and the accidents are always blamed on his influence.
Adventure ideas: The PCs need to leave a city via the train ASAP. Casey Jones has been frightening the train operators away preventing their transportation. They must battle the ghost to get moving. However, after they have defeated Casey Jones' ghost, the party must deal with a real problem: the train they are on is about to crash (perhaps the railroad track was sabotaged by minions of the Red Death). Only by preventing the crash can the characters lay the spirit to rest.

[The Lesser Evil]

John Henry , Revenant

Forbidden Lore: Soon after his death John Henry rose from the grave as a Revenant, an undead horror bent on revenge. He stalks the railroads, seeking his vengeance against all manner of machines and technology. He has felled telegraph poles, knocked railroads out of alignment to cause catastrophic derailments, and brought down entire trestle bridges with just a few swings of his mighty hammer. He lets no one stand in his way once he selects a target for demolition – in his blind rage against technology he has no compunction against killing people who try to stop him.

I don't know. I wouldn't think he would be like him to arise into undead rage like that. What if that is what the railroad industry said happened, but really some Frankenstein-type mad scientist wanted to get a hold of Henry's remains. The mad scientist is hellbent on merging John Henry's strong soul and flesh with the unyielding endurance and regularity of technology by building some sort of dread construct. Perhaps a middle ground between a flesh golem and a mechanical golem, almost like an archaic cyborg.

[Lady Ligeia]

That's an excellent idea as well. I hadn't thought of that angle.

[Olly]

I don't know. I wouldn't think he would be like him to arise into undead rage like that. What if that is what the railroad industry said happened, but really some Frankenstein-type mad scientist wanted to get a hold of Henry's remains. The mad scientist is hellbent on merging John Henry's strong soul and flesh with the unyielding endurance and regularity of technology by building some sort of dread construct. Perhaps a middle ground between a flesh golem and a mechanical golem, almost like an archaic cyborg.

As I seem to recall, (and I could be wrong) after Ol' John Henry beat the steam drill, his heart exploded in his chest. Perhaps the mad scientist crafted some sort of artificial, mechanical heart to keep him alive as some sort of strange, half-mechanical golem?

After all, we don't have nearly enough half-golems on Gothic Earth!

[Drinnik Shoehorn]

I don't know. I wouldn't think he would be like him to arise into undead rage like that. What if that is what the railroad industry said happened, but really some Frankenstein-type mad scientist wanted to get a hold of Henry's remains. The mad scientist is hellbent on merging John Henry's strong soul and flesh with the unyielding endurance and regularity of technology by building some sort of dread construct. Perhaps a middle ground between a flesh golem and a mechanical golem, almost like an archaic cyborg.

As I seem to recall, (and I could be wrong) after Ol' John Henry beat the steam drill, his heart exploded in his chest. Perhaps the mad scientist crafted some sort of artificial, mechanical heart to keep him alive as some sort of strange, half-mechanical golem?

After all, we don't have nearly enough half-golems on Gothic Earth!

Then, perhaps because he's kept alive by a mechanical heart, he hates his existence. He died to prove man was better than machine, but now a machine keeps him alive. Perhaps he hears of Dr Frankenstien's work somehow and realises he can get a real heart using it.

[The Lesser Evil]

Then, perhaps because he's kept alive by a mechanical heart, he hates his existence. He died to prove man was better than machine, but now a machine keeps him alive. Perhaps he hears of Dr Frankenstien's work somehow and realises he can get a real heart using it.

This sounds like a good schtick for the Tinman if somebody did a twisted version of Oz, like in the other thread. And the scarecrow cound want a human brain".

"If I only had a heart"
"If I only had a brain"

[Olly]

Then, perhaps because he's kept alive by a mechanical heart, he hates his existence. He died to prove man was better than machine, but now a machine keeps him alive. Perhaps he hears of Dr Frankenstien's work somehow and realises he can get a real heart using it.

This sounds like a good schtick for the Tinman if somebody did a twisted version of Oz, like in the other thread. And the scarecrow cound want a human brain".

"If I only had a heart"
"If I only had a brain"

That is a brilliant idea! After all, we need to flesh out the Gothic Earth version of Oz.

[Lady Ligeia]

And what of the Cowardly Lion? A were-lion perhaps, but what of his quest for courage? How could we twist that into something dark and gothic?

[Jasper]

This sounds like a good schtick for the Tinman if somebody did a twisted version of Oz, like in the other thread. And the scarecrow cound want a human brain".

"If I only had a heart"
"If I only had a brain"

Acctuly the story of the Tin woodsman in the origonal story fits nicely with the gothic horror theme-

From http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/encycl ... odsman.htm

In the books, the origins of the character are rather gruesome. Originally an ordinary man by the name of Nick Chopper, The Tin Woodsman used to make his living chopping down trees in the forests of Oz. TheWicked Witch of the East enchanted his axe to prevent him from marrying the girl that he loved. The enchanted axe chopped off his limbs, one by one. Each time he lost a limb, Nick Chopper replaced it with aprosthetic limb made of tin. Finally, nothing was left of him but tin. However, the tinsmith who helped him neglected to give him a heart. Once Nick Chopper was made entirely of tin, he was no longer able to love the girl he had fallen for.

[Lady Ligeia]

Eek! That is pretty grim!

[ScS of the Fraternity]

And what of the Cowardly Lion? A were-lion perhaps, but what of his quest for courage? How could we twist that into something dark and gothic?

Not too hard - as a werelion, CL spends most of his time as a human. He is good natured and gentle, and naturally, very cowardly. When he is afraid, he can transform into a ravenous lion-creature (Perhaps more like the creature in Brotherhood of the Wolf?). This creature is powerful and wholly evil - it devours anything it can find, often torturing its prey like a cat toying with a mouse.
The lion is no friend of CL - it actually tries to team up with whoever forced CL to change shape (though this isn't always possible). The Lion lives off of CL's misery, and so perfers to maim CL's friends.

CL knows that the Lion is evil, but being a coward, he just can't help but turn himself into the beast.

Right now, CL is trapped in the midst of the most frightening, vile creatures imaginable - a hideous metal man, a patchwork corpse and a psychotic girl. Unfortunatly, since they're on the run he's too afraid to leave.

[Olly]

I think Todd McFarlane's Twisted Land Of Oz action figures could be an invaluable resource here!

If you are ignorant of these, perhaps the coolest toys ever, check 'em out at the link below.

http://www.spawn.com/toys/series.aspx?series=184

I wantssss them...

Also, just been checking out that link about the Tin Woodsman, stumbled across this deliciously twisted little... er... twist...

In 'The Tin Woodsman of Oz', Nick Chopper finally sets out to find his lost love, Nimmee Ammee, but she has already married a man constructed partly out of his own discarded limbs.

...Ew.

[Joël of the FoS]

I'll never see Dorothy the same way...

Not sure if I should thank you.



Joël

[Lady Ligeia]

I only read one of the Oz books, but some of them can be pretty twisted.

I seem to remember in the book that I read the ruler of the Growleywogs threatened to chop up his lieutennant and use him for dog food if he displeased him.