Appendix B: A Guide to the Gargoyles Universe

By Todd Jensen

“V”

VIKINGS

Raiders from Norway, Sweden, and Denmark who attacked most of western Europe, including Scotland, during the early medieval period. A band of Vikings under Hakon attacked Castle Wyvern in 994, and finally sacked it with the help of the Captain of the Guard and Demona, although thanks to Goliath, they did not enjoy the fruits of their victory for long.

The Vikings were aware of the Children of Oberon, whom they called "Dark Elves". They also believed many of them, such as Odin, to be gods, and worshipped them before they were converted to Christianity.

<Vikings, properly speaking, were not the inhabitants of Norway, Sweden, and Denmark during the Dark Ages as a whole, but rather, that specific part of the population that went seafaring and raiding; the very word "Viking" means "raider", in fact. The first recorded Viking raid was in 789, when some Vikings landed in southern England and killed the Reeve of Dorchester. Four years later, in 793, they carried out the famous sack of Lindisfarne on the northeastern coast of England. After that, for the next two centuries, Vikings harried the coasts of Europe everywhere, even venturing as far afield as Constantinople (where many of them entered the Byzantine Emperor's service as the Varingian Guard), and successfully won a great deal of plunder; in many cases, they actually won much territory for themselves, including northern England - which came to be known as the Danelaw, and where remnants of the Scandinavian language can be found to this day in place-names and local dialect - and Normandy, which was named after them ("Normans" being the Frenchified version of "Northmen" or "Norsemen"). They were indeed still raiding Scotland as late as 994, although the Viking Age was drawing to a close by then. (It is traditionally held to have officially ended when King Harald Hardraada of Norway was defeated and slain at the Battle of Stamford Bridge in 1066). Vikings also ventured westwards across the Atlantic, discovering Iceland and Greenland and even, under Leif Ericson, temporarily settling in North America around A.D. 1000.

Contrary to popular belief, Vikings did not wear horned helmets in battle - these did exist, but only as ceremonial garb. The costume of Hakon and his followers in "Awakening", in fact, is a far more accurate depiction of the Vikings in actual history than the stereotypical comic-strip savage clad in bearskin and horned helmet.>

VINNIE

[Full name: Vinnie Gregarino.] A New Yorker who has encountered the gargoyles extremely often. The first time was the night after the gargoyles awakened; Lexington spotted Vinnie out on a motorcycle ride, and swooped down to take a closer look. Vinnie, alarmed at the sight of the little gargoyle, fell off his motorcycle, and when Lexington subsequently made an effort at riding it, he inadvertently drove it into a wall and destroyed it. When Vinnie reported the loss of his motorcycle to the authorities, they refused to believe his story about gargoyles, considered him to have been drunk, and took away his driver's license.

At that time, Vinnie was a security guard for Cyberbiotics, on board Fortress One. The night after his motorcycle disaster, he met Goliath and Demona during their raid on the air fortress, and was frightened enough to pass out in shock at the sight of the two gargoyles. Vinnie escaped the destruction of Fortress One, but was now out of a job. He got another security job at Gen-U-Tech Systems, but when Goliath kidnapped Sevarius on a night that Vinnie was on duty, he was promptly fired again.

Vinnie had by now had enough. He had Mr. Acme make a special pie-firing gun for him, which he named "Mr. Carter", and with it, hunted Goliath down and finally fired "Mr. Carter" at him, splatting the gargoyle with a banana cream pie. He then triumphantly walked away, while Goliath stared bewilderedly after him.

Vinnie was one of the New Yorkers interviewed by "Nightwatch" after the gargoyles were revealed to the world, and told his story about his revenge on Goliath to the reporters; [Taro,] watching in Japan, was intrigued and offered Vinnie a security job with his company. Castaway also learned about Vinnie's exploit, and eagerly recruited him for the Quarrymen. When Vinnie quickly got a taste of Castaway's true nature, however, he decided that he wanted no part of the Quarrymen's mission, and saved Goliath and Elisa from Castaway's wrath. Giving the two his best wishes and a warning to be careful, he then left for Japan to accept [Taro's] offer. It is more than likely that he will soon discover the Ishimura clan there.

VOGEL, PRESTON

Halcyon Renard's aide-de-camp. Vogel is, regrettably, somewhat less concerned with honor and morality than his employer. During the maiden flight of "Fortress Two", he secretly made a deal with Fox, helping to sabotage the robots manning the airship as per her instructions, and even framing Goliath for their behavior. However, after seeing how Renard was willing to risk himself and stay on board to prevent "Fortress Two" from colliding with the Cyberbiotics Tower, he became suitably moved that he chose to stay and help his employer. Goliath afterwards forced Vogel to confess having been part of Fox's scheme. Renard, while disappointed and disgusted, finally forgave Vogel and kept him on for having chosen the honorable path in the end.

Vogel accompanied Renard to Prague during the Golem adventure, even assisting his employer in transfering his soul to the Golem. Later on, [without Renard's knowledge], he conducted a rain forest-clearing operation in Guatemala for Cyberbiotics, which brought him into contact and conflict with the local gargoyles. [Also without Renard's knowledge,] he employed Jackal and Hyena to destroy the clan, but when they failed, decided to call off the operation altogether. He also assisted Renard on board "Fortress Two" during the battle with Oberon over Alex.

Vogel bears a striking resemblance to Owen Burnett in both appearance and mannerisms, in particular displaying a similar stiff and almost wooden efficiency; their chief physical difference is that Vogel is dark-haired and Owen fair-haired. The reason for this is that Puck, when creating the alias of Owen, used Vogel as his source of inspiration.

VOICE OVERRIDE V7R9

Preston Vogel's code for gaining control of the Cyberbiotics robots.

V-SHAPE HEALTH CLUB

A health club in New York where Matt Bluestone met Jack Danforth and learned from him about his stepfather Mace Malone.

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