Appendix B: A Guide to the Gargoyles Universe

By Todd Jensen

“S”

ST. DAMIEN'S CATHEDRAL

A cathedral in New York, slated for demolition in 1996. It was the site of the final battle between the gargoyles and the Hunters, and of Goliath's foiling of Demona's "Operation Clean Slate".

SALLI

Elisa's alias, used by her when she was infiltrating Tomas Brod's gang.

<The name is an in-joke; Elisa was voiced by Salli Richardson>.

[SAMSON]

A descendant of Goliath through Angela and Broadway's mating, hatched in 2158. The exact details of his descent are unknown; he might be the biological grandson of Artus or Gwynevere, or the biological son of Lancelot; it hardly matters, considering that gargoyle children are raised by the entire clan. He strongly resembles Goliath, although his coloring is different. A young warrior tutored in both Manhattan and Ishimura, he becomes a key figure in 2198, when the Space-Spawn conquer Earth. He forms a resistance cell, including Delilah (2) as his second, Zafiro (2), Owen, Demona, Brooklyn, and Fu-Dog, determined to free Earth from the alien invaders.

<Samson was named after the famous ancient Israelite "strong man" in the Old Testament (Judges 13-16), a figure whose name has become a byword for strength. His name bears a strong significance for how humans will feel about gargoyles in the future; like his ancestor Goliath, Samson is named after a "mighty man" of the Bible, but this time a hero rather than a villain.>]

SANCHEZ, ROSARIO

One of two teenagers, the other being Peter Choi, who rescued a five-year-old from drowning in Central Park, and were honored by the city of New York for their heroic deed.

SATO, DR.

A doctor at Manhattan General, who tended Elisa after Broadway shot her.

[SCARAB CORPORATION]

A robotics firm owned by Xanatos Enterprises; its logo is a scarab-like beetle. It created both the tracking devices that Xanatos has twice secretly placed upon Goliath, and RECAP. (It may also have created the various Coyote robots and the look-alike Macbeth robot that Xanatos used in the Cauldron of Life incident, although we have no definite proof of this).

SCOTLAND

The original homeland of Goliath and his clan. Scotland is also the ancestral home of Macbeth and the Canmores; the Stone of Destiny and the Loch Ness Monster are likewise linked to it. The gargoyles of the Wyvern clan have had some involvement in noteworthy events in early Scottish history, including Constantine III's murder of Kenneth II in 995, and Macbeth's reign between 1040 and 1057.

SCROLL OF THOTH

A papyrus scroll created by the Egyptian god Thoth. It contained a spell which allowed its reciter to become an avatar of Anubis. The Emir used this scroll to become Anubis's avatar (although the first time that he attempted it, Jackal intervened to make himself the avatar instead). The Scroll of Thoth was presumably lost forever after the Emir sealed off the underground chamber below the Sphinx where he had summoned Anubis.

SCROLLS OF MERLIN

Merlin's memoirs, in which he recorded his life-story, including such events as his training the young King Arthur. He stored these in a cave of his [in Wales], where they were found in 1995 by Lydia Duane and Arthur Morwood-Smythe. The two archaeologists brought them to New York for studying, but Macbeth ambushed them and seized the Scrolls, believing them to contain Merlin's spells (and presumably intending to use them against Demona). Macbeth was disappointed to discover the true nature of the Scrolls upon reading them, but the gargoyles, who had gone to recover them, recognized correctly their true worth, particularly Hudson and Broadway (who had learned the value of being able to read in the course of the adventure). Macbeth yielded the Scrolls to them, which they returned through Elisa to the archaeologists.

SELENE

One of the Weird Sisters. She can be distinguished from the others by her black hair. Selene is the most severe of the three; she was the one who told Macbeth that Gillecomgain had murdered Findlaech at Duncan's orders, and gave him the magical ball of light which he used to slay Duncan in battle.

SENTINEL

A position found among Nokkar's people, in their intergalactic war with the Space-Spawn. A Sentinel is a member of their race who is posted to a planet, as Nokkar was to Earth, to keep watch there and defend it from the invaders. Sentinels are not permitted to take prisoners, but are presumably (from Nokkar's own experience) allowed to work with the local inhabitants of that planet.

SEVARIUS, DR. ANTON

A noted geneticist, employed by the various enemies of the gargoyles to assist them in their schemes. Sevarius was originally in the employ of Halcyon Renard, but Xanatos lured him into his service. (Considering the fact that Xanatos was far more ready to tolerate, and even request, the sort of amoral experiments that Sevarius busies himself with than Renard would have been, it is doubtful that this was a particularly difficult achievement.) He became the head of Gen-U-Tech Systems, the genetic engineering division of Xanatos Enterprises.

Xanatos put Sevarius to work on two gargoyle-related projects. The first of these was to mutate some humans into gargoyle-like creatures, for Xanatos to use as henchmen in the event that he was unable to recruit Goliath and his clan to his cause. Sevarius successfully mutated Derek Maza, Maggie Reed, and the humans now known as Claw and Fang, but they afterwards decided to go their own way and not serve Xanatos. Goliath temporarily kidnapped Sevarius in the hopes of forcing him to provide a cure for the Mutates, but released him after Elisa brought him to his senses.

The second project was to clone Goliath. Sevarius succeeded at this, creating Thailog. However, Thailog proceeded to trick Sevarius into "kidnapping" him and hold him for ransom from Xanatos, then tried to kill Xanatos, Sevarius, and Goliath alike after making off with the ransom money. Elisa managed to rescue Thailog's three "fathers", including Sevarius, however.

Later on, Sevarius went to Loch Ness to capture the Loch Ness Monster and use its genes as a basis for more breeding experiments (presumably on Xanatos's behest, since the Xanatos Goon Squad accompanied him there). During that time, he encountered Angela and discovered that she was really Goliath and Demona's biological daughter, revealing this information to her. Goliath and his companions rescued the Loch Ness Monster from Sevarius, who, however escaped and eventually returned to New York.

There, he entered the employ of Demona and Thailog at Nightstone Unlimited, and created the clones of Hudson and the trio for them. (He also secretly created Delilah at Thailog's request, without informing Demona.) [During this time, he informed Demona that Angela was her biological daughter.]

After the failure of Demona and Thailog's attempt to destroy the clan, Sevarius remained a Nightstone Unlimited employee, and developed the CV-1000 Carrier Virus for Demona (presumably without knowing what purpose she intended to use it for).

Sevarius is noted not only for his considerable expertise in genetic matters and utter amorality and unscrupulousness, but also for being an utter ham. He eagerly takes on the role of the stereotypical mad scientist, reveling in its cliches with considerable gusto.

SHAKESPEARE, WILLIAM

A noteworthy English poet and playwright (1564-1616). Shakespeare is famous for the many great plays that he has written, including "Macbeth", "A Midsummer Night's Dream", "Othello", "Romeo and Juliet", "Hamlet", "King Lear", "The Tempest", and more. Even the gargoyles have discovered his works since their awakening - and have also encountered a number of his characters, such as Macbeth, the Weird Sisters, Oberon, Titania, and Puck.

[Shakespeare was good friends with Macbeth in the Gargoyles Universe, although he did not know Macbeth's true identity. Other characters from his plays known to exist in the Gargoyles Universe are Queen Mab, Prospero, Ariel, and Caliban.]

"SHOWDOWN"

A black-and-white Western showing in New York in 1994. The trio were thrilled by it when it came out, particularly Broadway. Unfortunately, his overenthuasiasm about a gunfight scene in it led to his accidentally shooting Elisa with her own gun when he stopped by her apartment after seeing it.

SIDHE

Oberon's Children (q.v.), as called by the Irish.

SIGIL OF MORAY

A medallion that served as a badge of office for the High Stewards of Moray in 11th century Scotland.

SILVER FALCON

A night club on 1st and 8th Avenue in New York, built or at least operated by Mace Malone in the 1920's, prior to his disappearance. By the 1990's, it was no longer in business; also by that time, it had come to Dominic Dracon's attention, who mistakenly believed that the night club was the "silver falcon" that Malone had spoken of in his letters, hinting that it was where he had hidden the diamonds that he and Dominic had stolen.

Dominic therefore searched it for the jewels, and had Tony Dracon tear the building down in the end, to no avail - until Elisa revealed to them that the actual "silver falcon" was one of the ornaments on the [Apex Tower].

SLEEPING KING

The name given to Arthur Pendragon during his enchanted sleep on Avalon.

SLEIPNIR

Odin's horse, and presumably a Child of Oberon who generally appears in animal form. He looks like a magnificent black horse with starry sparkles, wearing medieval-style barding. [Sleipnir sometimes has eight legs, although he did not take this form in his encounter with the gargoyles.]

<Sleipnir was Odin's horse in Norse mythology, and was particularly noted for having eight legs, although he is described in the legends as grey rather than black. (Some scholars of Norse mythology believe that this feature of his was thanks to Odin's status as a death-god. According to this theory, Sleipnir is a personification, of a sort, of a coffin, which is carried by four pallbearers, and thus can be viewed as having eight legs.)

According to the myths, he was born in this wise. A frost giant offered to build a mighty stone wall around Asgard, on the condition that, if he completed it before the end of winter, Odin give him in payment the sun and moon, and also Freya, the Norse goddess of love and beauty, for his wife. Odin disliked the demanded price, but, after Loki the trickster-god convinced him that the giant could not possibly complete the wall in that amount of time, agreed to it. What he and the other gods had not reckoned with was that the giant had a powerful work-horse, a stallion named Svaldifari, who hauled massive rocks for the wall to the building site, allowing the giant to build the wall with amazing swiftness.

The gods, alarmed at this development, blamed Loki for this state of affairs, and ordered him to do something about the problem. Loki did just that by shape-shifting into a mare and luring Svaldifari away from the building-site, thus preventing the giant from completing the wall by the deadline. However, Svaldifari managed to catch up with him, and Loki later on gave birth to Sleipnir.>

SOHO

The region of London where the "Into the Mystic" shop stands.

SORA

[Yama's mate,] and a member of the Ishimura clan. [She and Yama are currently separated because of his banishment from Ishimura. After Yama's banishment, Sora succeeded him to the role of second-in-command.]

SPACE-SPAWN

A mysterious race of aliens intent on conquering the galaxy, and currently at war with Nokkar's people. [There is a third race involved in this war, although in a mysterious and complicated manner, the details of which we do not as yet know.]

Very little is known as yet about the Space-Spawn. [They were literally "spawned in space", formed during a supernova's explosion; hence their name. They began ruthlessly conquering planet after planet throughout the galaxy, armed with highly advanced technology, including cloaking devices, transport beams, force shields, faster-than-light spaceships, and even weapons capable of destroying entire planets. They also have a religious belief system, centering around the worship of two gods, though no further details are known at present.

In 2198, the Space-Spawn will reach Earth and conquer it, abducting the human world leaders and the current heads of every gargoyle clan in a strike at Queen Florence Island. They will then occupy the planet as part of their empire, to be opposed by Samson and his resistance group. The Illuminati will enter into an alliance with the Space-Spawn out of self-interest.]

SPHINX (1)

A famous monument in Egypt. The Sphinx was built by the Pharaoh Khafre in the middle of the 3rd millennium B.C. as a monument to himself, depicting himself in the form of a sphinx, a lion with a human head. It ranks alongside the Pyramids as the best-known symbol of ancient Egypt.

Beneath the Sphinx lies a secret underground complex, where the Emir and the Pack summoned Anubis. This was the site of Goliath and his companions' encounter with Anubis, the Emir, and the Pack when they came to Egypt on the Avalon World Tour. Afterwards, the Emir sealed off the complex so that nobody could ever enter it again.

[SPHINX (2)]

[A New Olympian. Sphinx rescued Terry Chung from drowning when his boat was endangered by a storm, and afterwards brought him to New Olympus. When the New Olympians decided to make contact with the outside world, Sphinx accompanied Taurus, Talos, and Terry to the United Nations Building in New York as the New Olympian delegation. Sphinx is one of those New Olympians in favor of making peace with the humans, and has entered into a Romeo-and-Juliet-style relationship with Terry, to the alarm and disapproval of many humans and New Olympians alike.

Sphinx looks like a young blonde-haired woman with feathered wings and some mildly feline features. (Terry mistook her for an angel when she first appeared to rescue him at sea.)

<Sphinx is named after the original Sphinx of Greek mythology, which resembled a winged lioness with a woman's head, one of the many offspring of Echidna. It perched atop a great rock overlooking the road to Thebes, and asked everyone who passed by it on the way to that city a riddle: "What has four legs in the morning, two legs at noon, and three legs in the evening?" If they could not answer the riddle correctly, it devoured and ate them. At last, the young Oedipus encountered the Sphinx on his way to Thebes, and correctly solved the riddle: the answer was man, for an infant crawls on all fours, a grown man stands upright, and an old man uses a cane. The enraged Sphinx promptly threw itself off the rock to its death. Presumably, the present-day Sphinx is a much more pleasant person than her mythological namesake.>]

SPIDER GATES

The gates of the city of Karadigi.

STAR OF ARABIA

A precious stone in Xanatos's possession.

STATUE OF LIBERTY

A famous New York landmark, more accurately titled "Liberty Enlightening the World". This statue was built by the French and given to the United States in commemmoration of the French assistance to the American colonists during the Revolutionary War, and was designed by Gustave Eiffel (the man responsible for the Eiffel Tower) and Frederic Bertholdi; it was raised on its present location on Liberty Island in 1886 and declared a national monument by President Coolidge in 1924.

The Statue of Liberty was the site of Goliath and his clan's first battle with Xanatos in his gargoyle exo-suit. Later on, during the time that Coldstone and Coldfire were housed in Broadway and Angela's bodies, they spent some time here at the Statue of Liberty, during which time Coldsteel, housed in Brooklyn's body, eagerly tempted them to stay in the two young gargoyles' bodies.

STEEL CLAN

A group of Goliath-shaped robots built by Xanatos, using the information that he had obtained from the three computer disks which he tricked the gargoyles into stealing from Cyberbiotics for him. His first use of the Steel Clan was to have them attack Goliath's clan, having concluded that the gargoyles were unreliable assistants in the long run. Fortunately, the programming of the Steel Clan robots was simple enough at the time that Goliath and the other gargoyles were able to destroy them with relative ease.

Xanatos built more, however, and continued to improve on their programming. During the time that he spent in prison, he had one of these robots attack Goliath, and draw blood from him, which same blood Sevarius used to obtain the cell samples needed to create Thailog. When Xanatos clashed with the gargoyles at the Statue of Liberty and the George Washington Bridge following his release from prison, he was accompanied by fresh Steel Clan robots (although these were defeated). He also used them to steal the Eye of Odin from the Museum of Modern Art and to help spread the hypergolic gas needed to break Demona's "stone by night" curse throughout the sky over Manhattan.

More recently, iron-clad versions of the Steel Clan robots were built by Owen, and used against Oberon when he attempted to kidnap the infant Alexander. (They were all destroyed, however.) Xanatos also used some more "regular" Steel Clan robots to recapture Coldstone in the Himalayas, not long afterwards. It is unknown at present as to whether Xanatos has continued to make use of these robots, following his having made peace with Goliath and his clan.

STONE OF DESTINY

A great stone upon which the Kings of Scotland, including Constantine III in 995 and Macbeth in 1040, were traditionally crowned. It was also, in the time of King Arthur, the very stone that he drew Excalibur from in order to become King of Britain. In 1296, it was captured by King Edward I of England (1272-1307) in his invasion of Scotland, and removed to Westminster Abbey in London, where it was placed underneath the Coronation Chair. There it remained until 1996, when it was returned to Scotland.

When King Arthur came to London in early 1996, following his awakening upon Avalon, he and Griff encountered the Stone of Destiny at Westminster Abbey. The Stone told Arthur that he must prove himself once more worthy of Excalibur, and sent him and Griff to New York for that task. [Later on, Arthur and Griff re-encountered the Stone upon its return to Scotland, although the details of that adventure are as yet unknown.]

<The Stone of Destiny, more commonly known as the Stone of Scone, is a real object. Legend claims that it originally came from Ireland, where it was known as the Lia Fail and kept at Tara, the traditional stronghold of the Irish High Kings. It would scream aloud whenever the rightful High King of Ireland stepped upon it, and was said to have been first discovered by the legendary King Conn of the Hundred Battles. (An alternate, Christian-influenced version, makes it the very rock used by Jacob for a pillow at Bethel (Genesis 28:11) when he had his vision of the ladder to Heaven, brought to Ireland by an eastern princess named Tea in 585 B.C.).

The Stone of Destiny was removed from Ireland, according to legend, in the early 6th century, when it was loaned to the rulers of Dalriada, a kingdom established by Irish settlers in what is now Argyll, who never returned it. They kept it at Iona, their sacred center, until 843, when Kenneth mac Alpin, then King of the Scots of Dalriada, seized control of Scotland from the Picts and became the first King of Scotland. Kenneth then moved the Stone to Scone, where it remained until 1296. It was indeed part of the coronation ritual of the Kings of Scotland, as per the series.

The Stone of Destiny's identification with the very stone that King Arthur pulled his sword from is an invention of the series, although many Arthurian scholars believe that the two stones could well be thematically linked. In view of the Stone's history above, the equation is puzzling, since Arthur's feat is traditionally placed in London, which the Stone of Destiny did not reach until Edward I's reign, eight hundred years after the traditional dating of Arthur. Quite possibly the Stone of Destiny episode planned for the never-made "Pendragon" spin-off would have answered this question.>

STONE SLEEP

The natural phenomenon in gargoyle biology that causes them to turn to stone in the daytime.

[Stone sleep is not activated by sunlight coming into contact with gargoyles, even though it appears to be that way. Instead, it comes about via the gargoyle's internal biological clock, so that even if a gargoyle is kept in a completely dark room during the daytime, cut off entirely from the sun, he or she will still become stone - although the transformation may be delayed.

Actually, gargoyles do not turn into stone outright during this time, but rather, an organic substance similar to stone. While the exact mechanism and cause of this are unknown, it is a natural feature of gargoyles rather than the result of some magical intervention. (Of course, it is doubtful that superstitious humans would see it in that light).]

Stone sleep lasts from dawn to sunset. During this time, gargoyles heal from their wounds [and from any illnesses that they might have]; in most cases, they will awaken from stone sleep fully cured. (There are occasional exceptions to this rule if the damage that has been inflicted upon a gargoyle is severe enough, as in the case of Hudson's being blinded in one eye by the Archmage.) [Severed limbs will not grow back, however.] During this time, gargoyles also dream.

Stone sleep also provides gargoyles with the energy to glide about at night. In their stone form, they absorb and trap solar radiation, giving them enough strength to glide. Without this useful feature, a gargoyle would have to eat the equivalent of three cows a night in order to become strong enough to be able to get airborne.

Gargoyles' clothing turns to stone with them. [Originally, this was not the case; their garments would remain unchanged, and consequently, would get torn apart when the gargoyle awakened. This came to an end during the reign of Caesar Augustus (27 B.C. - A.D. 14), who, displeased with seeing gargoyles rendered naked upon their awakening this way, had his advisor, the Roman Magus, cast a "spell of humility" over the entire race that caused their garments to become affected by stone sleep. This spell also causes any possession that the gargoyle is holding at the time and considers to be his or her own to turn to stone during the day, likewise.]

When a gargoyle awakens at night, he or she turns to flesh and blood from the inside out, with the final process being the shattering of a thin layer of stone over the gargoyle himself or herself. These stone fragments usually quickly decompose, although occasionally one will last for quite a while (such as the piece of stone skin that Jon Canmore found during his visit to Castle Wyvern). They have some unusual properties of their own; for example, a vital ingredient of the brew of the Cauldron of Life is a piece of stone skin. [It has also been hypothesized that these stone fragments serve as a means for gargoyles to expel waste products, although this is also uncertain; gargoyles' "bathroom habits" have generally not been studied, out of the feeling that it's best to leave them some dignity and privacy.]

Gargoyles will generally find a safe place to roost during the daytime while stone, usually atop a high building in a settled area, and adopt a threatening pose while preparing to turn to stone. (A habit which helped give rise to the concept of architectural gargoyles, in fact.) In most cases, gargoyles will enter stone sleep facing away from their home, in the direction that danger and enemies might come from; a rare exception is found in Ishimura, where gargoyles take up their places facing inwards towards the village, as a sign of trust towards their human friends.

On rare occasions, a gargoyle may be able to avoid stone sleep through magical intervention. The four pendants powered by the Mayan Sun Amulet allow the gargoyles who wear them to remain awake during the daytime; the Eye of Odin had a similar effect upon Goliath when he wore it. Demona has also become able to avoid stone sleep thanks to a magical gift of Puck's, which turns her into a human in the daytime. [In all these cases, the gargoyle in question is still able to glide at night, in spite of the loss of stone sleep, because the magic that has removed this need from them also compensates for this loss.] The Coldtrio are also no longer subject to stone sleep, because of their mechanical or cybernetic bodies.

While stone sleep is in many ways a boon to gargoyles, it also forms their Achilles' heel. In this state, they are defenceless, unable to fight or flee in their own defense. Human enemies could easily smash a stone gargoyle to rubble - and have often done this, particularly in the case of the Wyvern Massacre of 994 and the massacre of the gargoyles in Guatemala. And a gargoyle shattered in stone sleep is dead forever (except through magical intervention of the sort that created Coldstone), and will remain stone even after sunset. [Likewise, a gargoyle maimed in stone sleep - say, by having an arm chiseled off - will remain maimed even upon awakening - and probably will not survive long, thanks to the severity of the wound. Stone sleep was an unmixed blessing for gargoyles before humans learned how to make metal tools and weapons, but after the Iron Age began, humans were capable of shattering gargoyles in their sleep, and the mass destruction of the species was able to get underway.]

Stone sleep has thus become close to a curse for gargoyles. (And it may even help account for human fear of them, given the common belief among humans that anything nocturnal, weakened in the daytime, must be evil.) However, it is extremely unlikely that it is a feature that we will see them lose in the near future, considering the fact that, even with these severe drawbacks, it is still a vital part of their nature.

STURLUSON, ERIK

A Norwegian farmer, the father of Gunther Sturluson. He and his son encountered Goliath and his companions during their visit to Norway on the Avalon World Tour, and became involved in their adventure with Odin.

STURLUSON, GUNTHER

A young boy in Norway, the son of Erik Sturluson. He and his father encountered Goliath and his companions during their visit to Norway on the Avalon World Tour, and became involved in their adventure with Odin.

SUSAN

A small girl in New York, who was an avid fan of the Pack. She, her brother Billy, and their parents briefly encountered Goliath and Lexington during their first clash with the Pack. Later on their mother joined the Quarrymen upon its founding, out of fear of what the gargoyles might do to her children.

"SWORD AND THE STAFF, THE"

An Arthurian novel written by Jeffrey Robbins, focusing on Merlin, inspired by the Scrolls of Merlin adventure.

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