Appendix B: A Guide to the Gargoyles Universe

By Todd Jensen

“R”

RAPA NUI

The native name of Easter Island (q.v.).

RAVEN

A Child of Oberon and notorious trickster. Raven's preferred territory, when in the outside world, is the Pacific Northwest, and particularly Queen Florence Island, which he has periodically attempted to conquer. Raven's lair on the island was the summit of a volcano; here he would live while magically turning the island into a wasteland, driving all the humans and animals who lived there away so that he could enjoy it alone. He was always thwarted in this goal, however, by the Haida chieftain, who would, at Grandmother's coaching, climb the volcano and defeat him.

In 1995, however, Raven was assisted by the fact that the current chieftain, Natsilane, was a skeptic who did not believe that Raven existed, and so would not seek him out. Raven was pleased with this, since if Natsilane did not fight him, he would win control of the island by default, and save himself a considerable amount of trouble. When Goliath and his companions came to Queen Florence Island on the Avalon World Tour, Raven masqueraded as a gargoyle to dupe Goliath, Angela, and Bronx into believing that Grandmother was an evil sorceress and enemy to gargoyle-kind, so that they would become his allies; to further assist in the deception, he also created some illusionary gargoyles (who looked like totem beasts), whom he passed off as the last surviving members of a clan slaughtered by the local humans. However, Angela discovered that Raven was lying, and afterwards, she, Goliath, and Elisa persuaded Natsilane to defeat Raven. Raven sullenly left the island after being bested in battle, muttering in a "sour grapes" fashion that it no longer interested him. However, according to Grandmother, he will no doubt return for another attempt at taking it over in the future.

Raven has at least three known forms: a large raven, a gargoyle-like being with a raven's head, and a dark-haired, arrogant-looking man with "elvish" features. He is one of the more unpleasant tricksters, with a tendency towards snide remarks and the use of deceit to obtain his goals.

[Raven will visit New York at some point and temporarily kidnap Alexander, although the details of this are as yet unknown.]

RECAP

Short for "Reconaissance Emergency Cyber-Automated Probe". RECAP was developed by [the Scarab Corporation] for the police as a means of scouting high-risk situations. It consisted of a small vehicle operated by remote control, which could convey back to its operator via a VR hookup whatever it observed.

RECAP was tested by the NYPD when Coldstone invaded the Golden Cup Building. Under Xanatos's instructions, it came into contact with the cybernetic gargoyle, connecting itself to him via taser long enough for it to download the virus that had infected him. After RECAP was seriously damaged by Coldstone in return, [the Scarab Corporation] recovered its remains and presented them to Xanatos, including the downloaded virus.

[REDEMPTION SQUAD]

[A group of "reformed/reforming villains" in the Gargoyles Universe, set up and controlled by the Director. Its leader is Robyn Canmore, and its other members consist of Dingo, Matrix, Yama, and Fang. The Redemption Squad's purpose is to battle various figures which the Director views as a threat; its members were chosen since, as "bad guys", they were considered expendable by him. Its headquarters are in Paris.]

REED, MAGGIE

A young woman from Ohio, and one of the victims of Xanatos and Sevarius's Mutates project. She came to New York [hoping to become a star, but found no acting jobs and went through her money much more quickly than she had anticipated]. Before long, she found herself living out on the street, where Sevarius found her and lured her into his service. From there, he made her one of the Mutates.

Maggie escaped (being actually prompted to do so by Sevarius, as part of the scheme to mutate Derek), and encountered Brooklyn and Broadway, who attempted, unsuccessfully, to rescue her from the Gen-U-Tech security team; in the process, Brooklyn developed a crush on Maggie that she, needless to say, did not return. Goliath, Lexington, and Brooklyn promptly broke her out of Gen-U-Tech, in the process "foiling" Sevarius's cure of Derek, and took her back with them to the clock tower; however, she was afraid of the gargoyles, and fled as soon as they turned to stone. She went to Castle Wyvern to seek shelter with Xanatos, alongside the other Mutates, but after their first clash with the gargoyles there, fled with the other Mutates (rejecting Brooklyn's overtures in the process).

Like the other Mutates, however, Maggie returned to work for Xanatos, hoping that he could cure them. While Talon was more interested in gaining revenge on Goliath and Sevarius, whom he blamed for his condition, and Fang liked being a Mutate, Maggie simply longed to become human again. When she and the other Mutates located Sevarius with Goliath in the Labyrinth, she was more than ready to take Sevarius's cure, even if it was really poison, but Talon persuaded her against it, in the process revealing his feelings for her.

Maggie then settled down with the other Mutates in the Labyrinth, in the process growing closer to Talon. When Fang seized control of the Labyrinth in his coup, he temporarily captured her, but she later on escaped and obtained the help of Hudson and the trio in deposing Fang and liberating the Labyrinth.

[Maggie and Talon will eventually get married.]

Maggie's Mutate form was modeled on that of a lioness. She is the gentlest of the Mutates, and despite her initial fear of the gargoyles, soon came to understand that they were not evil monsters and wanted to help her. While having no romantic feelings for Brooklyn, despite his infatuation for her, she soon came to fall in love with Talon (no doubt thanks in part to his concern for her, particularly when he stopped her from drinking Sevarius's "antidote").

"RENAISSANCE HUNTER"

A Hunter from the Canmore family (whose first name is as yet unknown) who was pursuing Demona during the late 15th century. He attacked her in Florence in 1495, on the same night that she stole the Medici Tablet, mounted on a hang-glider that looked like something out of one of Leonardo da Vinci's notebooks, but failed to slay her.

RENARD, ANASTASIA

Titania's human alias. She adopted it at some point in the late 20th century (although presumably then using a different surname), to study human science and technology. In the process, she met Halcyon Renard; they fell in love with him, married, and had a daughter: Jeanine Renard, now known as Fox. Later on, however, Titania found Renard too "rigid" for her tastes, and they were divorced.

When Xanatos and Fox decided to create the Matrix, Fox sought the help of her mother to achieve this. She and Anastasia created the Matrix in a remote laboratory in Australia; Anastasia, however, was aware of the potential danger that the Matrix posed, and urged Fox to take proper precautions. In spite of her warnings, however, the Matrix indeed became self-aware, and threatened to reformat the entire planet; fortunately, Goliath and Dingo were able to prevent it from doing so.

Anastasia later on attended the birth of her grandson Alexander in New York, and afterwards revealed her true identity as Titania to Xanatos and Fox. More information on her can be found in the entry for Titania.

RENARD, HALCYON

The CEO and founder of Cyberbiotics. In his youth, Halcyon Renard fell in love with and married Titania in her "Anastasia" form; they had one child, Jeanine Renard (now Fox). Renard is a man with a strong belief in integrity and responsibility for one's actions, something that Titania/Anastasia increasingly found too rigid for her liking, resulting at last in their divorce. To Renard's grief, Jeanine also showed herself to have little fondness for his belief in honor and moral rectitude, and began a relationship with David Xanatos that saddened and angered him even more.

After the destruction of Fortress One by Demona during the Cyberbiotics raid, Renard personally financed the building of Fortress Two to replace it, and went on board it with Preston Vogel for its maiden flight. On that occasion, he met Goliath for the first time, who had followed the airship to prevent Xanatos from sabotaging it, and took him prisoner. Renard learned Goliath's story from him, and made it clear to him that he needed to take responsibility for the harm that he did during the Cyberbiotics raid, rather than blaming it on Xanatos. Together the two of them saved Fortress Two from Fox's attempt to sabotage it (with some help from Preston Vogel), after which Renard and Goliath became friends.

By this time, however, Renard had contracted a debilitating illness that had already crippled him, and which was now slowly killing him. As it progressed, he for once forgot his belief in integrity, and made a desperate effort to avoid his doom by forming an alliance with Tomas Brod in Prague. Brod stole the Golem for him, in return for a Cyberbiotics hovercraft, and Renard used a spell to place his soul inside the Golem. Goliath and Max Loew persuaded him that such an action was wrong, however, and in the end, Renard understood them and had his soul returned to his own body, to patiently await his fate.

Renard visited the Eyrie Building to attend the birth of his grandson Alex, and afterwards somehow learned of how Oberon intended to kidnap the child. He and Vogel entered the battle that followed to stop him, fighting against him in Fortress Two, but were finally defeated, along with all the other defenders.

Renard has a strong loathing for Xanatos, partly because of the latter's utter amorality, partly because Xanatos lured Owen and Sevarius away from Cyberbiotics, and partly because of his relationship with Fox.

Renard is currently dying of a crippling disease that he has had for some time now, which has already confined him to a high-tech wheelchair. It even renders him unable to participate much in the day-to-day affairs of Cyberbiotics.

[Indeed, Renard will succumb to his illness at last, not long after the gargoyles' return to Castle Wyvern.]

RENARD, JEANINE

Fox's original name, which she has since abandoned.

RIKER'S ISLAND

The prison where the Pack (except for Dingo) were incarcerated following their initial arrests. Dingo and Coyote 1.0 broke them out (except for Fox), and Fox was afterwards granted an early parole for refusing to escape and for protecting a guard from Hyena.

ROBBIE

The Captain of the Guard (q.v.).

ROBBINS, JEFFREY

A blind writer, and close friend to Hudson. Robbins was blinded while serving in Vietnam, and after leaving the Army took up writing novels, [primarily works based on old hero-legends such as those about Gilgamesh and Beowulf, examining how the stories might have arisen in a manner very much like that of Mary Renault's novels on Theseus and Mary Stewart's novels on Merlin]. After a while, however, he found himself temporarily out of inspiration.

He met and befriended Hudson during the Scrolls of Merlin adventure, unaware (so far as we know) of his true nature thanks to his blindness. Robbins helped him locate Macbeth, and also encouraged him to learn how to read upon discovering Hudson's illiteracy, explaining to him that it is no shame to be illiterate, but only to remain so. After the Scrolls of Merlin were recovered, Jeffrey became inspired enough by the event to compose a new novel, "The Sword and the Staff", about Merlin.

Jeffrey Robbins later on met Hudson and the other gargoyles again, during Demona's "stone by night" curse upon New York, and helped them discover that she was behind it. (He himself escaped her spell because of his blindness.)

[ROBIN GOODFELLOW]

[An alias of Puck's.

<Robin Goodfellow was originally in English folklore a distinct figure from Puck, portrayed as a sort of brownie or hobgoblin, a being who attaches himself to a household and helps look after it, tidying up the house at night and performing other useful chores. (This is a particularly interesting role for the figure, in light of Owen's own function in Xanatos's household, as almost a mundanized version of the brownie - although this seems to be a coincidence, for Greg Weisman was unaware of this role of Robin Goodfellow's at the time that he was working on the series.) One account of him, a 17th century pamphlet, actually portrays him as the son of Oberon by a human woman (although this is not Puck's actual origin in the Gargoyles Universe). It was William Shakespeare who equated Robin Goodfellow with Puck in his "A Midsummer Night's Dream".>]

ROCKEFELLER CENTER

A business and entertainment center built by John D. Rockefeller Jr. in the late 1920's, covering 22 acres and composed of 19 buildings, including the Rockefeller Plaza and the Radio City Music Hall. A noteworthy landmark here is an 18 foot tall bronze statue of Prometheus, overlooking the Plaza's skating rink/Summer Garden Restaurant. The Summer Garden Restaurant was the site of Goliath and his clan's final battle with Demona and Puck, during the "Titania's Mirror" adventure. It was also the place from where Travis Marshall delivered his broadcast about the mysterious "lost nights" in New York that had come about from Demona's "stone-by-night" spell.

ROEBLYN, JUDGE

A New York Justice of the Peace, who officiated at Xanatos and Fox's wedding.

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