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WELCOME TO THE WORLD OF WHITBOURN
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What's New OR: 'Yo, ladies ... What's happenin ? Whatever Next ? [ Downs Lord Triptych / The Two Confessions / Amy-Faith & the Stronghold] |
MILITARY MEDITATIONS REGARDING 'THE THIRTEEN CLOCKS' by James
Thurber. First
published 1951. Illustrations by
Ronald Searle. Naturally,
I have excluded many plot revelations and denouements for the benefit of those
who have the pleasure of reading this book yet to come. SETTING ‘Once
upon a time, in a gloomy castle on a lonely hill' ( there is an evocative
picture as a frontispiece ). I’d
always imagined the book to be circa 18th
century set, but in the absence of gunpowder references and from
the general appearance of Searle’s illustrations the High Renaissance seems
more likely. Within
the Castle Time is frozen at ten to
five ( accounts vary as to whether a.m. or p.m. ).
Either way, it is always Then, but never Now.
The temporal concept, 'Then', at one point materialises as a vulture and
departs the Castle, ushering in 'Now'. The
castle’s windows are described as ‘Gothic’ and its stairs are made
of iron. The main ‘black oak’
audience room, at least, is accessible via secret passages.
Lances and shields hang on its torch-lit walls. A
‘deep bell’ in the castle signals alerts. In
a terrible security lapse, climbing vines permit unauthorised access to some
chambers by the intrepid. The
Castle’s dungeon contains horrible things including a ( dead ? ) thing without
a head, plus ‘amusing’ bats, spiders and snakes.
I’ve collectively termed them ‘Dungeon Beasties’. The
world of the 13 Clocks is evidently a patchwork of islands collectively called
‘the thousand islands of the ocean seas’.
The story’s setting is not named as ‘Coffin Castle’ until the
penultimate page ! Other
named islands include: The blessed
Isles of Ever After, Yarrow and Zorn. ‘Good’
king Gwain of Yarrow is known to hunt wolves in woods on Coffin Castle Island
although Yarrow is ‘many leagues’ away ( and halfway from Coffin Island
to Zorn ). Incidentally,
Zorn lies 33 days travel by sea from Coffin Castle island. Other
islands are described as being ruled by kings and queens, whereas Coffin Island
merely has a Duke. However, no
higher allegiance owed by the Duke is ever mentioned and Coffin Castle is
described as ‘his kingdom’ by the spy Hark. The
Duke ransacks ships in the vicinity and raids other islands.
Coffin Castle’s island ( it is never otherwise named ) contains no
deposits of precious stones - hence perhaps the Duke’s piratic tendencies. Religion
on the Island is unmentioned other than a reference to St Wistow’s Day.
Taken in conjunction with references to priests and monks, 'the thousand
islands of the ocean seas' are presumably nominally Christian. There
is a town below the castle, containing inns and taverns, including one called
‘The Silver Swan’. Its patrons
include: 'taverners, travellers. tale-tellers, tosspots and troublemakers'.
Further afield on the Island, we
encounter a 'Jackadandy' and 'Jack-o'-lent' who are apparently intrepid
adventurers, both dressed in clothes torn and tattered in the course of their
explorations. There
is a town clock which strikes the hour. Also
mentioned are dogs, and citizenry in velvet gowns - the latter implying a degree
of prosperity. A Town militia
is not an unreasonable assumption given the existence of pirates - even if they
are their own pirates ! In the army
lists below, I’ve assumed at least a portion of the militia could be swung to
rebel against the Duke’s less than enlightened rule. A
‘cool green glade’ leads down from the Castle to a
harbour, where the Duke presumably keeps his ship(s) and inter-island
trade is conducted. Forests
on Coffin Island contain wolf traps and therefore, logically, wolves. Other parts of the island are farmed ( and ploughed by the
dragging points of stars - in whose smoking furrows purple-smocked peasants sew
seeds ). Meadows are also
mentioned, possibly implying rivers or streams. The
climate is not specified, although tangerines are referred to by Hagga, as is
chocolate by the Duke. Either the
local climes permit either/both or there is substantial international trade. ******
PEOPLE,
THINGS & PERSONAGES. THE
DUKE. The
ruler of Coffin Castle ( only named as such on the penultimate page ) is
‘a cold and aggressive Duke’. He
is described as gaunt, six feet four, and forty-six and ‘even colder than he
thought he was’. His voice is
like air dropped on velvet. He
wears jewelled gloves ( to cover disfigurements), one eye is covered by a velvet
patch ( lost as a youth to a mother shrike bird he was going to maul ) and
the other glitters through a monocle. He
limps due to his youthful addiction to place-kicking pups.
He is armed with an apparently two edged sword concealed in a cane, which
is put to frequent use to ‘slit people from their guggle [ stomach ] to
their zatch. [ throat ]’ He
has slain eleven men merely for staring at his gloved hands.
When not engaged in homicide or piracy ( he raids other Island Castles to
kidnap inhabitants and plunder ships ), the Duke amuses himself with torturing
and killing animals ( frequently mentioned in the tale ), murderously
thwarting suitors for his niece’s hand, or in ‘thinking about beetles’. In
sum, 'His nights were spent in evil dreams, and his days were given to wicked
schemes'. You get the picture …
He also believes he has slain Time in his castle.
Though avaricious for jewels, the Duke hates pearls, thinking them made
of fish. The
Duke memorably sums himself thus: ‘We all have flaws … and mine is being
wicked.’ For all his faults he
has a way with words and a certain admirable bravery … The
Duke commands obedient ‘Varlets’ who can appear without word
or sound to feed his enemies to a gaggle of voracious carnivorous geese
who live in the Castle courtyard. Apparently,
the geese relish such meals. Elsewhen,
they subsist on hunting snails. SARALINDA The
Duke shares the Castle with his niece, Princess Saralinda, who is tall and 20
years old ( going on 21 ). She
wears freesias in her dark hair and is beautiful beyond compare.
Her mere presence can light up a window like a star, permitting the
Castle to be seen from afar by night. She
floats like a cloud, her voice is like faraway music etc. etc.
Even the Duke holds up his palms to her as if to warm them by her sheer
gloriousness. An illustration
depicts her as a swan-necked high-medieval princess. A
witch’s ‘tiny’, ‘clever’ and ‘awful’ spell has restricted her
speech in the Duke’s presence to just ‘I wish him well.’
However, even so she can speak a silent language with her eyes. She also possesses intrinsic magical powers which can,
for instance, imbue a rose with direction finding powers, or effect clockwork. THE
IRON GUARD The
Duke’s ‘Iron Guard’ of soldiers appear as a stream of
lanterns when issuing from the Castle at night, but later are described as
numbering only 11. This includes
Krang, their captain, who is described the strongest of them all and the finest
fencer in the world - bar for one mysterious prince in armour who bested him a
year before, ‘somewhere on an island’.
Perhaps these 11 are merely the inner retinue and Duke’s personal
bodyguard, part of an implied larger whole. They
are described as bearing spears and armour and move like ‘engines’. An illustration shows them in full ‘lobster’ plate armour
redolent of circa 1500, and bearing weird halberd type weaponry.
Since Krang is described as a fencer, sword armament is implied.
Slingshots are also mentioned in a song, so the Islanders are obviously
aware of slingers.. XINGU
/ ZORN OF ZORNA A
new arrival on the Island, Xingu the minstrel, ‘a thing of shreds and
patches', aspires to marry Saralinda. He
is soon revealed as a Prince in disguise, and none other than the ‘mighty Zorn
of Zorna’, the youngest son of a powerful and wealthy ( but indecisive ) King.
He is also a doughty warrior who has previously ( and anonymously )
defeated the otherwise invincible Krang, captain of the Duke’s Iron Guard. Xingu/Zorn
is wildly handsome, chivalrous and hugely strong, being able to juggle with an
eighteen stone tavern troublemaker, and or carry companions when pressed for
time. He also ties a world-renowned
warrior into a ‘Turk’s Head’ knot’ which he learned from his sister. An
illustration shows him as a splendidly clad and sword-armed Ruritanian or
Renaissance prince. THE
GOLUX The
unfortunately named Golux, who allies himself with Xingu/Zorn, is a unique
supernatural trickster and the son of apparently rather ineffectual witch and
wizard. Not everyone believes in
his existence - for instance a captain of the Duke’s guard, despite 'having
been to school'. He
is described as looking like a little ( five feet tall ) old man with wide eyes,
a dark beard and an indescribable hat. He
is 'on the side of good by accident and happenstance’ despite childhood high
hopes of being evil. He
has ‘no magic to depend on' but always seems to save
the day nevertheless - sufficient to save ‘a score of princes in my time’.
He can also do a score of things that cannot be done and ‘has a lot of
friends’ and ‘knows a lot of places’. THE
SPIES The
Duke has a corps of spies. Named
members include WHISPER, HARK and LISTEN. They
are dressed in black hoods and cloaks and wear velvet masks.
Listen is invisible to all. Their
loyalty appears to be either fanatical or questionable - which is understandable
given that, for instance, ‘spy-in-chief’ Whisper is fed to the carnivorous
geese merely for being obliged to
mention the hated word ‘mittens’ in a report.
Yet he returns willingly to certain death.
Conversely, Hark appears increasingly insubordinate, although it is he
who uncovers ‘Xingu’s’ true name by searching his quarters in the Town.
Hark has black eye-brows. THE
GHOSTS The
Castle is haunted by an unseen group of ghostly children
killed by the Duke in some horrible but unspecified way for sleeping
amongst his prized camellias. They
now throw ‘insolent’ or 'impudent' purple or black balls decorated with gold
stars or stamped with scarlet owls. When
trodden on, the balls unpleasantly ‘squutch’ beneath the foot and
‘flobb’ against the wall. They
seem linked to the Golux in that these are said to be similar to the toys both
parties used to play with. Certainly,
the Duke concludes the ghost children are on the Golux’s side. Also,
at one point, a unique ‘something very much like nothing anyone had seen
before’ trots down the stairs in the castle.
Likewise, at another point ‘something that would have been purple, if
there had been light to see it,’ scuttles across the Castle floor.
Their nature and allegiance are uncertain but the Duke seems unfazed.
I’ve presumed their presence is tolerated because of a willingness to
serve him and so have collectively termed them ‘Castle Nasties’. HAGGA Hagga
is a magically blessed ( or cursed ) woman, variously described as in her
eighties or thirties. The question
remains unresolved even when we meet her. She
lives in a valley hut ( paradoxically ‘high on Hagga’s Hill’ ) which naked
eye cannot see, ‘over mountain, over stream’, forty-five hours journey from
Coffin Castle through lightless forest, briar, thorn and bramble, via a narrow
path uphill all the way. When
she weeps or laughs she can - on rare occasions
- produce jewels from her eyes. A
previous jewel producing glut before she was sixteen led to the local economy
being flooded and economic chaos. Consequently
there is or was the death penalty ( plus a fine ! ) for making Hagga cry.
Subsequently, she has turned a thousand visitors gemless away from her
door. THE
TODAL The
Todal is fearsome 'blob of glup', which either ‘gleeps’ or makes a sound
like rabbits screaming, and smells of old, unopened rooms or a musty sofa. Later we are informed it is made of lip, feels like it
has been dead at least a dozen days and moves like monkeys and shadows.
Apparently it cannot be killed ! Mere
mention of it is enough to turn a soldier’s hair white or a velvet mask grey !
It haunts the Duke as an agent of the Devil sent to punish evildoers for
having done less evil than they should. However,
since the Duke's evildoing seems to be set at a fairly high and constant level,
I've allowed the possibility of the Todal acting in concert with the Duke, but
only if Zorn of Zorna has declined its services. PASSING
REFERENCES & PRESUMPTIONS There
are fleeting mentions of knights like Galahad, Tristram, Lancelot, Tyne and Tora,
and of tournaments, wizards using ‘magic words’ and spells, witches, monks
and priests, hangmen, dragons devouring damsels, snakes, monsters, whistling
comets, owls, sheep and octopi. There
are 'no horses in the stable' in Coffin Castle, and therefore presumably no
cavalry available to the Duke. However,
the Golux can provide a pair of white steeds at short notice from unknown
'friends' Given
the Duke’s beast-torturing proclivities, one can reasonably assume opposition
to him in the form of Outraged Animals.
For instance, we are told that some years back a mother shrike bird
evened the score by blinding him in one eye.
Other, named, victim creatures are: nightingales, puppy dogs and kittens,
bats and spiders and mice. Alternatively,
as cruel children have been warned by millennia of mothers: ‘the king of the [ insert
species ] will come looking for revenge !’.
Accordingly, giant sized regal versions of the relevant species could
shown opposing the Ducal forces. Both
Witches and wizards are mentioned frequently,
usually as journeymen mercenaries hired for specific tasks.
They do not seem particularly formidable, although ‘Good’ King
Gwain of Yarrow is a wizard who can both curse and bless people and turn
them into grasshoppers. Therefore,
Magic is evidently prevalent - though capricious - in the Thousand Island World.
Even nursemaids can be powerful spell-casting witches. Relevantly,
the spy Hark also observes that ‘there are rules and rites and rituals, older
than the sound of bells and snow on mountains.’
Furthermore, he knows that binding spells contain chinks and loopholes to
permit right to triumph. ‘The
Thorny boar of Borythorn’ is mentioned as a formidable opponent.
However, opinion varies as to whether it exists. Though
they do not ever appear in the book, the heroes’ close links with Zorn and
Yarrow ( I’ll say no more ) raise the possibility of an allied contingent of
archetypal knights and bowmen. ******
SUGGESTED
ARMIES
'HORDES
OF THE THINGS' Troop Classes +
Army Point ( AP ) cost )
[
NB. Armies must total 24 AP ] Gods.
[ 4 AP ] Dragons.
[ 4 AP ] Airboats.
[ 3 AP ] Flyers.
[ 2 AP ] Heroes.
[ 4 AP ] ( Aerial Hero = 6 AP ) Paladins.
[ 4 AP ] Knights.
[ 2 AP ] Riders.
[ 2 AP ] Behemoths.
[ 4 AP ] Beasts.
[ 2 AP ] Blades.
[ 2 AP ] Spears.
[ 2 AP ] Shooters.
[ 2 AP ] Warband.
[ 2 AP ] Artillery.
[ 3 AP ] Hordes.
[ 1 AP ] Lurkers.
[ 1 AP ] Sneakers.
[ 3 AP ] Magicians.
[ 4 AP ] Clerics.
[ 3 AP ] THE DUKE OF
COFFIN ISLAND HERO
GENERAL ( THE DUKE )
@ 4AP
x 1
= 4 BLADES
( THE IRON GUARD ) @ 2AP
x 2 =
8 BEASTS
( CASTLE GEESE )
@ 2AP x 2 =
12 SNEAKERS
( FANATIC SPIES ) @ 3 AP x
1
= 15 SPEARS
( TOWN MILITIA )
@ 2AP x 2
= 19 SHOOTERS
( TOWN MILITIA ) @ 2AP x 1 =
21 LURKERS
( DUNGEON BEASTIES )
@ 1AP x 1
= 22 HORDES
( VARLETS )
@ 1 AP x 2
= 24 STRONGHOLD
- A gothic castle on a hill OR a symbolic grandfather clock ( stuck at ten
to five ). Alternatives: BEHEMOTH
( THE TODAL )
@ 4AP
1 (
Only if not used by Zorn’s forces ) MAGICIANS
( WITCHES/WIZARDS )
@ 4AP
1 DRAGON
( MERCENARY )
@ 4AP
1 HORDES
( PIRATE PALS )
@ 1AP
2 HORDES
( TOWN TROUBLEMAKERS ) @ 1AP 1 SNEAKERS
( CASTLE NASTIES )
@ 3 AP
1 BEAST
( THORNY BOAR )
@ 2AP
1 PRINCE ZORN
OF ZORNA LIBERATION ARMY PALADIN
GENERAL ( ZORN OF ZORNA ) @ 4AP 1
4 CLERIC
( SARALINDA )
@ 3AP
1
7 MAGICIAN
( THE GOLUX )
@ 4AP
1
11 FLYERS
( THEN - A VULTURE ) @ 2AP
1
13 FLYERS
( OUTRAGED BIRDS )
@ 2AP
1
15 BEASTS
( OUTRAGED ANIMALS )
@ 2AP
1
17 SPEARS
( TOWN MILITIA )
@ 2AP
1
19 SHOOTERS
( TOWN MILITIA )
@ 2AP
1
21 LURKERS
( GHOSTLY CHILDREN )
@ 1AP
2
23 HORDES
( TOWN TROUBLEMAKERS ) @ 1AP
1
24 STRONGHOLD
- Harbour with ship, plus 2 white horses on quay. Alternatives: BEHEMOTH
( THE TODAL )
@ 4AP
1 SNEAKERS
( MUTINOUS SPIES )
@ 3 AP
1
CLERIC
( HAGGA ) @ 3AP
1 MAGICIANS
( KING GWAIN ) @ 4AP
1 KNIGHTS
( ZORNA OR YALLOW ) @2AP
2
SHOOTERS
( ZORNA OR YALLOW ) @ 2AP
2 BEAST
( THORNY BOAR )
@ 2AP
1 HORDES
( TOWN TROUBLEMAKERS ) @ 1AP
1 ****** NB. re SARALINDA. In view of the unique affection for his niece displayed by
the Duke, should the two elements come into combat the result will be perpetual
stalemate, neither being willing to harm the other. Zornan generals might care to consider taking Machiavellian ( or even
Duke-ish ) style advantage of this sentimental weakness, by exploiting it
as a stratagem to neutralise the otherwise formidable Duke. ******
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