Appendix B: A Guide to the Gargoyles Universe

By Todd Jensen

“N”

[NASHVILLE]

[Brooklyn and Katana's son, born to them during their Timedancer adventures. He will be the gargoyle equivalent of 10 when they return to the Eyrie Building.]

NATSILANE

The young chieftain of the Haida on Queen Florence Island. Harvard-educated, Natsilane was skeptical about the legends and beliefs of his people, particularly the old tales of Raven lurking on a volcano top and periodically laying waste to the island. When Raven made his most recent attempt to seize control of Queen Florence Island in 1995, Grandmother urged Natsilane to challenge the trickster as his ancestors had done, but he refused to believe her. Elisa at last introduced Goliath, Angela, and Bronx to the young man, to show him that mythical beings did exist; Natsilane at last had to accept the fact that Raven existed, sought him out at his volcano lair, and defeated him in single combat. Presumably, he became more ready to heed the old ways of his people afterwards.

Natsilane went by the Western name of "Nick".

NAZIS

A political party in Germany (known in full as the National Socialist German Workers' Party), which arose in the aftermath of World War I, and came to power under Adolf Hitler in 1933. They turned Germany into a ruthless totalitarian dictatorship, and led it both into its drive for dominating Europe in World War II and the effort to destroy the Jews through the Holocaust, until their overthrow in 1945. Griff and Goliath joined the Royal Air Force in defending London from them during the Battle of Britain in 1940.

[NEW CAMELOT]

[King Arthur's home in the modern world, which will be founded in Antarctica at some point between the 1990's and 2198. Here Arthur will live, once his questing is ended, alongside a new clan of gargoyles - one of whose founders, obviously, will be Griff. The Master Matrix, which will presumably be located here, will supply it with a form of climate control that renders it livable in - until 2198, when the Space-Spawn steal the Master Matrix and thereby cause the artificial environment for New Camelot to deteriorate.]

NEW OLYMPIANS

The descendants of the beings of Greek mythology, now dwelling on the hidden island of New Olympus.

HISTORY

The New Olympians were originally known, in the time of ancient Greece, simply as Olympians. [They originated as the offspring of Children of Oberon by mortals, which accounts for their various unusual (by human standards) features.] Some were worshipped as gods, while others were believed to be monsters, and consequently feared and mistreated. (The best-known example is that of the Minotaur, Taurus's ancestor).

The Olympians finally became so embittered towards humans for so often persecuting them that they decided to withdraw themselves from the world. They left for the island of New Olympus, to shut themselves away forever. [In the course of their departure, they invited the local gargoyle clans to join them. Some of the gargoyles went to New Olympus with them, but others remained in the outside world, hoping that they could yet peacefully co-exist with humans.] Exactly when this event took place is unknown, although in light of some Roman-influenced elements of New Olympian society (such as the Senate - a Roman institution, the Columnadium - which name is clearly Latin-influenced, [and Jove]), it presumably took place at some point after the founding of Rome (traditionally dated to 753 B.C.). New Olympus had definitely been sealed off from the outside world by the time of Caesar Augustus (27 B.C. - A.D. 14), for Elisa has been described as the first human to visit New Olympus in 2000 years.

Here the New Olympians, as they now called themselves, settled down to a certain amount of peace. But even their society was not without frictions. By the present day, it had produced one notorious criminal, the shape-shifter Proteus, who caused considerable havoc and even murdered Taurus's father, who was then Chief of Security, before becoming imprisoned. The New Olympians continued to (for the most part) hate humans and view them with considerable suspicion, although at the same time, they were uneasily aware that eventually the humans would discover them; New Olympus was protected by a cloaking device, but it could not withstand the developing human technology for long.

In 1996, Goliath, Elisa, Angela, and Bronx came to New Olympus on the Avalon World Tour. The New Olympians were alarmed at Elisa's presence on the island, and, fearing that she would lead others of her kind there, quickly imprisoned her. Goliath decided to break her out of prison, but Proteus, who had learned of the situation, tricked Goliath into freeing him, planning to then destroy New Olympus and make his escape. Elisa helped Taurus, who had become Chief of Security by then, recapture the treacherous shape-shifter, however, and thus showed him and the other New Olympians that not all humans were evil. The New Olympians gave her her freedom, and allowed her to leave the island with her friends.

[Not long afterwards, Terry Chung will come to New Olympus just as Elisa had done, and his visit will serve as the final catalyst for the New Olympians to reveal themselves to the outside world. Taurus, Talos, and Sphinx will promptly go to New York and present their credentials at the United Nations Building, beginning diplomatic relations with humanity. Following this event, three factions will develop in New Olympian society, each one having a different attitude towards New Olympian-human relations. Some, such as Ekidna, will be firmly isolationist. Others, such as Sphinx, will want to make peace. A third faction, led by Jove, will be in favor of ruling over the humans, and being worshipped as gods by them once more. By 2198, relations between New Olympus and the outside world will be tense but peaceful.]

BIOLOGY

New Olympians come in so many different forms that it is impossible to provide a description for an overall "norm". Some are part-human and part-animal, such as Taurus, Kiron, Ekidna, [and Sphinx]. Others look reasonably human, but with other unusual traits, such as Helios, Proteus, [and Jove]. With such a wide variety, it is impossible to generalize about the New Olympians.

[New Olympian life-spans range between 13 and 250 years, depending upon the natural life-span of the mortal side of a New Olympian's ancestry.]

CULTURE

The New Olympians are technically very advanced. Their island is protected by a cloaking device, and they have access to aircars (modelled after ancient Greek triremes in appearance), electricity, electronic locks for their prison cells, and even robotics (as Talos is evidence of). They are, in fact, ahead of humans in the technology race, although humans are quickly overtaking them.

[New Olympus is a representative democracy,] with a Senate as part of its government. Boreas is the head of state, with Taurus as the Chief of Security.

[A gargoyle clan lives on New Olympus, atop Mount Thanatos, and has been given citizenship; the New Olympian gargoyles enjoy the same rights and duties as more "conventional" New Olympians. Their precise role in New Olympian society is as yet unknown, however.]

NEW OLYMPUS

The island home of the New Olympians. New Olympus is hidden from the outside world by a sophisticated cloaking device, although it is doubtful as to how much longer that will be the case, given the advance of human technology.

The New Olympians withdrew here at some unspecified date (although presumably between the founding of Rome and the reign of Caesar Augustus), to seal themselves off from the outside world on account of their persecution by humans. [New Olympus was presumably founded at some point long before. Its precise location is unknown, although presumably it is somewhere in the Atlantic or Pacific Ocean.]

New Olympus remained undisturbed by the outside world until 1996, when Goliath, Elisa, Angela, and Bronx came here on the Avalon World Tour. The New Olympians, suspicious of Elisa because of their ancestors' experiences with humans, temporarily imprisoned her, but after she helped save the island from Proteus, afterwards released her.

[Later on, Terry Chung will come to New Olympus, and serve as the catalyst for it making contact with the human world.]

Noted landmarks of New Olympus include the Senate-House, where the citizens meet to deal with government issues, the Columnadium, which houses the island's power supply, [Mount Thanatos, where the New Olympian gargoyles live,] and the prison, where Proteus is currently incarcerated.

NEW YORK CITY

One of the most prominent cities in the United States, and the current home of Goliath and his clan. It also serves as the backdrop for the greater part of their adventures (the chief exception being the Avalon World Tour).

NICK

Natsilane's Western name.

NIGHTSTONE UNLIMITED

The business company founded by Demona and Thailog in Paris, combining their accumulated wealth for capital, using their "human aliases" of Dominique Destine and Alexander Thailog. It focuses strongly on genetic research, and in particular, created the CV-1000 Carrier Virus. Demona/Dominique Destine now operates it alone, after her alliance with Thailog went down in flames (literally).

NIGHTWATCH

A television news program, based in New York. Travis Marshall serves as its host. After the revelation of the gargoyles to the world, "Nightwatch" covered the city's response to this revelation, and even hosted a debate between Margot Yale and Macbeth over the gargoyles.

[NIMUE]

[A human sorceress from King Arthur's time, still alive in modern times. She is the biological daughter of Duke Gorlois of Cornwall and his wife Igraine, but was stolen from her cradle as a baby, with the young Morgana left in her place as a changeling. Nimue was then presumably raised on Avalon and learned how to become a magic-user; she also is responsible for Merlin's current imprisonment in the Crystal Cave. Nimue was one of the three women who took the wounded Arthur away to Avalon following the Battle of Camlann, alongside the Lady of the Lake and Morgana le Fay. She also taught the ancestors of the London clan (in conjunction with the Lady of the Lake and Morgana le Fay) the riddling rhyme that King Arthur and Griff used to guide them on their quest for Excalibur.

<In the Arthurian legends, Nimue's most prominent role is that of the woman who magically imprisoned Merlin. According to Malory, Merlin fell in love with her, and in an effort to win her favor, began teaching her his magic. Nimue had no similar fondness for Merlin, and merely desired to be rid of his unwelcome attention. So she tricked him into teaching her a powerful imprisonment spell, and then used it to trap him for all time in a cave in Cornwall.

Afterwards, maybe in order to make amends to Arthur for depriving him of his magical advisor and guardian, she came to his aid on a number of occasions, twice foiling assassination attempts of Morgana le Fay's, once (with the help of Sir Tristram) rescuing Arthur from the evil sorceress Annowre, and once clearing Queen Guinevere of a poisoning charge made against her (coming, admittedly, after Sir Lancelot had already defeated Guinevere's accuser, Sir Mador de la Porte, in a "trial-by-combat"). She was also in the boat that came to take Arthur away to Avalon, after his final battle.

Medieval and modern versions of the Merlin legend give Nimue various other motives for imprisoning Merlin. The French Vulgate Cycle, which calls her Viviane and combines her with the Lady of the Lake, portrays her as being genuinely in love with Merlin and confining him within an invisible tower in the forest of Broceliande in Brittany, where she could have him all to herself (disliking the fact that he often left her side to aid and advise King Arthur). Alfred Lord Tennyson portrayed her in his "Idylls of the King", under the name of Vivien, as evil, deliberately imprisoning Merlin so as to deprive Arthur of his aid, and some other modern-day writers, such as Howard Pyle, have followed this interpretation. Still others, such as Mary Stewart, have portrayed her as gently retiring a worn-out Merlin, whose powers have begun to fade. Which interpretation is correct in the Gargoyles Universe, we as yet do not know.>]

[N'KAI]

[A race or extra-terrestrial nation that Nokkar is a member of.]

NOKKAR

An alien Sentinel [of the N'kai], posted on Easter Island. Nokkar was sent to Earth by his people to protect it from the Space-Spawn invaders, in case they ever reached it; he landed on Easter Island [at some point before A.D. 642], and made it his headquarters as he monitored outer space for signs of the enemy. He also befriended the natives and shared his mission with them; they built the famous stone heads or "moai" upon Easter Island as a sort of tribute to him. When they died out, however, he became alone once more. Over the years, he began to question his purpose, and even considered leaving Earth, abandoning his post as its Sentinel.

Then Goliath, Elisa, Angela, and Bronx came to Easter Island on the Avalon World Tour. Nokkar, who had never seen gargoyles before, believed them to be members of a Space Spawn-allied race, spying out Earth; when he first encountered Elisa and she told him that the gargoyles were her friends, he believed that she had been brainwashed by them and subjected her to a dose of amnesia to undo this; in the process, he removed all her memories. He next captured Goliath, Angela, and Bronx, with the intent of executing them (since Sentinels are forbidden to take prisoners), refusing to listen to their arguments that they were gargoyles rather than aliens. In the end, however, Elisa, acting out of instinctive loyalty to her friends even while still operating under Nokkar's amnesia, came to the gargoyles' defense. Nokkar, realizing that she could not have acted thus if her loyalty was solely due to the gargoyles' "brainwashing" because his amnesia treatment had removed all such traces from her, understood now that the gargoyles had been telling the truth, and called off his attack upon them, letting them go. At Goliath's advice, he befriended Dr. Arnada and the archaeologists Arthur Morwood-Smith and Lydia Duane, so that he would once again have company in his mission and not be alone.

[In 2198, after the Space-Spawn reach Earth and conquer it, Nokkar, ashamed at having been unable to prevent their occupation, joins Samson's resistance cell. He eventually takes many of the resistance members, such as Demona and Zafiro (2), into outer space to fight the Space-Spawn there. Nokkar, wishing to make amends for his earlier failure, is willing to sacrifice himself to save Earth.]

Physically speaking, Nokkar is a tall humanoid feature, with a head shaped very much like one of the stone heads or "moai" of Easter Island, and crimson eyes.

NORMAN AMBASSADOR

A Norman nobleman (whose real name is unknown) in the late 10th century, and member of the Illuminati. He escorted Princess Elena to Castle Wyvern in 975, and like her, was rescued from the Archmage's bandits by a time-travelling Xanatos. Recognizing Xanatos from his badge as a fellow Illuminatus, he accepted him and his companions into his party, and afterwards delivered Xanatos's instructions to the Illuminati for sending him the rare coin in 1975 that he would need for the foundations of his wealth, and his account of his time travel adventure in 1995.

[NORTHUMBERLAND KEEP]

[The castle in northern England that Prince Malcolm and his family took refuge in, following the Battle of Gaine.]

NOTRE DAME CATHEDRAL

One of Paris's best-known landmarks, and widely considered to be one of the most beautiful cathedrals in the world. It was built between 1163 and 1345, and is noted, among other things, for its famous architectural gargoyles.

Gargoyles of the living variety are also linked to Notre Dame. The Praying Gargoyle was hidden in the cathedral until Demona recovered it on the night of September 28, 1980 (just before she killed Charles Canmore), and she and Thailog used it as their headquarters when they were laying their schemes against Macbeth in Paris, Thailog actually roosting atop the cathedral in the daytime amid the architectural gargoyles.

[At some point after 2198, Notre Dame will become the home of a new gargoyle clan, but the details for this are as yet unknown.]

[NOUGHT]

[A Child of Oberon. He looks like an elegantly clad, caped figure, with an empty space where his head should be. Presumably, his name (an old-fashioned word for "nothing") reflects his appearance, or lack of appearance.]

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