#Lord Plunder

[evilhorse]

Wotta set o’ lungs!

[maniacwatchestheworld]

I do find it kinda funny how when it comes to Batman rogues, especially the more niche and obscure ones, people hear about characters like Snowflame or Lord Death Man with a cool, egdy name and an interesting character gimmick and think, "Wow what a cool and interesting villain! They must have some really good dark, edgy, and serious stories under their belts!" When in reality they are just silly little goobers. Meanwhile, they laugh at characters like Calendar Man or the Penny Plunderer on the sheer absurdity of their character themes alone, not realizing that the people at DC have been spending the last few decades taking these silly, goofy character concepts and making them as dark, serious, and edgy as possible. Just saying. Calendar Man apparently led a cult, and in current continuity, grows old and dies at the end of each year, only to get reborn again shortly afterwards! Which fuckin' SUCKS! And last we saw of Penny Plunderer, he was actually burning in hell. Oh yeah, he was also executed. Why? Probably attempted child murder. :/ Just a funny dichotomy. :p

[mako-designated-driver]

Codex Entry #92: A Ghoulish Delight

My dearest Regine:

Surely you must have heard of the Paget's failing fortunes? They've lost almost everything. The lord made some bad decisions and trusted people he shouldn't. All that's left is La Maison Verte, in the Dales. They have to sell it and move to the city. I was called upon to find someone willing to buy the house. You would be so proud of me. I surpassed all the lord's expectations.

I looked into La Maison's history first. Did you know it was built in the time of the elves? It was a sanctuary dedicated to Andruil, goddess of the forest; the house was built around the ruins. The heart of the shrine was an etched stone altar, now in the grand hall. It's quite spectacular. Any noble in Val Royeaux would be envious of something with such historical significance. I planned a party to show off the house and its elven altar. We had it decorated with white flowers and candles, even brought in some harts to graze in the garden outside. The effect was stunning.

Then, my stroke of genius! Remember when Lady Carine's pastime was reading about elves, and how sympathetic she was to what happened in the Dales? She couldn't stop talking about how we must make contact with the restless elven spirits. All her lady companions were so taken with the idea. Well, I did just that. Or I made the guests believe that's what happened. I had to hire a mage to help, of course—a very discreet fellow from Montsimmard.

During the party, I talked about how the house was a haunt for sad elven spirits. They ate it all up. Romantic, they said. For the final touch, I had everyone join hands around the elven stone and pray, and the mage (no names!) cast a spell that made us dance like puppets on strings and sing "The Little Bluebird of Summer."

It was a triumph! Offers began pouring in! One of them was even from a representative of Grand Duchess Florianne.

Oh, I have so much to tell you. I can't wait to return.

With great love,

Ignatius

[fogaminghub]

🌙💀 Calling all adventurers! The Witches Festival is creeping onto Tamriel from October 24 - November 6! Join the spoopy fun by battling the mighty Lord Hollowjack, collecting Plunder Skulls, and unlocking tons of spooktacular rewards! 🎉👻

Are you brave enough to take on the festival's horrors? Let’s show them what we’re made of!

[comicavalcade]

Submariner Summer 30

Ay mi amigos, it is time for a key edition of #SubmarinerSummer, because here in part 30 we are covering Tales to Astonish #96: Somewhere Stands...Skull Island! Namor faces off Plunderer and his vibra-gun on Skull Island right on the cover; love both figures' sense of motion

Raymond Marais takes over the tale, with Everett pencils and Colletta inks. The Title page gives us Namor back on his throne in Atlantis, ready for another Council of War. Dorma's still voicing her misgivings, though, thinking he's acting in rash hatred.

But Namor can't let go that the "air-breathers" had the temerity to build an undersea city in his territory. He feels its too late for diplomacy and he must act now. Vashti speaks up and reminds him he'd best take care of Plunderer first; Namor agrees, and knows where he is

As a Ka-Zar villain, Plunderer's base is of course in the Savage Land. So, Namor goes towards Antarctic waters since the Savage Land is hidden there. While there he visits the crumbling ruins that was his boyhood home, the previous Atlantis now destroyed, and makes his way to-

-the grave of Princess Fen, his dear beloved mother, the very sight of which threatens to overwhelm him. He attempts to banish the sadness with a happy memory. But he soon recalls instead the city's death and destruction, and her's, at the hands of an attack from the surface

So now we've seen how he lost his first city, his mother, and his memory, though he isn't sure who on the surface is to blame. But the surface keeps pushing, so he feels he must go to war...once Plunderer is taken care of. Before he can, though: Savage Land sea monster attack!

Just then, Dorma arrives, having felt compelled to go where Namor went. Unfortunately, she picks the wrong moment to get closer, as just then Plunderer attacks Namor and she gets caught in the blast radius!

But it takes more than that to stop Namor, especially when he's in the water, much to Plunderer's shock. Just as Namor is about to wrap him up, he reveals he saw Dorma sink from the previous attack and a wild-eyed Namor lays him out before going to her. She's actually fine, but he's angry

She wants to be beside him, but he tells her to return to Atlantis. She wonders if there's something else behind his anger. You ask me, he should keep Action Dorma. Unfortunately by the time Namor returns to the Plunderer, he's laid a trap for our Prince

Um. Plunderer sure knows how to outfit some henchmen, huh? Better rename it from Skull Island to Beefcake Island. At any rate, Plunderer has a scheme in motion because, y'know, villain. Meanwhile, Dorma makes it back to Atlantis, where their screens give a puzzling view of Namor

But the truth is Namor is caught, and the Plunderer's plan is conquest! We are once again at a cliffhanger, Namor Nation.

Once again we see the debate between Dorma and Namor about war, we revisit the site of the Atlantis from the Golden Age comics, go over its destruction, and the loss of one of the key characters in all Namor's history, his mother Fen. Oh, plus a sea monster, and a villain scheme. Quite a full issue, and you see why I called it key right at the start!

But now we look forward, because NEXT we will cover Tales to Astonish #97: The Sovereign And The Savages

[savage-kult-of-gorthaur]

JUNGLE ADVENTURES OF THE SUPER-SEVENTIES..."AT THE BOTTOM OF THE WORLD!"

PIC INFO: Spotlight on remastered & original published cover art to "KA-ZAR" Vol. 2 #2. March, 1974. Marvel Comics. Artwork by Gil Kane, John Romita, & Gaspar Saladino.

Resolution at 1164x1764 & 1042x1508.

"Your offer's tempting, though... You're my type, Ka-Zar -- Free and wild!"

—SHANNA THE SHE-DEVIL (Shanna O'Hara), story/script by Mike Friedrich

Sources: eBay & Marvel Database.

[chaos-coming]

Have i mentioned recently how much i hate living in this stupid backwater excuse for a country? The power wemt out in my apartment, again, at 7pm on friday night. If this were a modern country i'd be fine, but this is austria so i'm fucked. Call the building manager, but he turns his work phone Off after 4pm. Straight to voicemail. Left him a bunch of upset voicemails about having no power, again. There is no nights/weekends manager. It looks like i will not have power until monday when this lazy austrian decides to check his phone. I hate this country so fucking much i cannot wait to move back to the 21st century

[lordgodjehovahsway]

1 Chronicles 20: God Hands Over Rabbah To David And His Army

1 In the spring, at the time when kings go off to war, Joab led out the armed forces. He laid waste the land of the Ammonites and went to Rabbah and besieged it, but David remained in Jerusalem. Joab attacked Rabbah and left it in ruins. 

2 David took the crown from the head of their king—its weight was found to be a talent of gold, and it was set with precious stones—and it was placed on David’s head. He took a great quantity of plunder from the city 

3 and brought out the people who were there, consigning them to labor with saws and with iron picks and axes. David did this to all the Ammonite towns. Then David and his entire army returned to Jerusalem.

War With the Philistines

4 In the course of time, war broke out with the Philistines, at Gezer. At that time Sibbekai the Hushathite killed Sippai, one of the descendants of the Rephaites, and the Philistines were subjugated.

5 In another battle with the Philistines, Elhanan son of Jair killed Lahmi the brother of Goliath the Gittite, who had a spear with a shaft like a weaver’s rod.

6 In still another battle, which took place at Gath, there was a huge man with six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot—twenty-four in all. He also was descended from Rapha. 

7 When he taunted Israel, Jonathan son of Shimea, David’s brother, killed him.

8 These were descendants of Rapha in Gath, and they fell at the hands of David and his men.

[sssaintyboy]

update: still cant stop playing rimworld

also now everything is medieval themed because (failing) making medieval themed towns so so funs!

i want to achieve my lifelong goal of actually finishing my castle walls ..... wish me luck

[tenth-sentence]

The rulers reward these lords by sharing plunder with them.

"Why the West Rules – For Now: The patterns of history and what they reveal about the future" - Ian Morris

[revvethasmythh]

on the one hand, i both understand and somewhat agree with the criticism that the lords of fortune were defanged of the more problematic elements that accompany treasure hunting and piracy, but on the other hand the idea that isabela reformed her raiders into a group that checks how important a plundered item is culturally before doing anything with it specifically because the last time isabela did NOT do this it resulted in An Actual Violent Coup That Almost Destroyed Kirkwall And Got The Viscount Literally Murdered is so fucking funny that i'm just like "yeah, fair enough"

[evilhorse]

The scion of an English lord throws back his golden-maned head…

[kdmiller55]

Give Credit Where Credit Is Due

25 The Lord said to Moses, 26 “Take the count of the plunder that was taken, both of man and of beast, you and Eleazar the priest and the heads of the fathers�� houses of the congregation, 27 and divide the plunder into two parts between the warriors who went out to battle and all the congregation. 28 And levy for the Lord a tribute from the men of war who went out to battle, one out of five…

[convertgrapeling]

reading about the coronation ceremony, it's impossible to parody this thing because the actual details are so ridiculous. instead of just having Christian leaders present, charles will make things more inclusive by also having Buddhist, Hindu, Jewish, Muslim and Sikh leaders bowing down to him! the chair he will sit on whilst wearing a crown made from plundered gold and jewels is recycled! the sovereign's sceptre will be carried by a black woman! instead of just asking lords to swear their allegiance, the king will demand the allegiance of everyone in the country!

i mean you wouldn't want to feel excluded from a ceremony glorifying britain's long history of colonial domination, murder and plunder, as well as our ongoing inclination towards boot licking during an event to honour one of the UK's biggest landlords at a time of widespread deprivation, would you?

[edennill-archived]

Yes! — I've also thought a lot about just how important the Lay of Leithian must have been to them in those last years — the great defeats of Sauron and Morgoth, sure, but also Finrod's Ten, "but none would yield and none would tell", et cetera. Probably treated almost like a prayer at times, even — I've written upon this here and here, I think. I've never considered the lesser known stories in that context though, and the bit about the Third Kinslaying is fascinating to think about. Venerating Bor out of spite at the racism of the ruling class... wow.

The reason I'm wondering about martyrological traditions is that, well, I'm hard-pressed to imagine that a people (and religious tradition!) who experienced such persecution could not have one... except that what happened in Númenor, with that entire "human sacrifice to the embodiment of evil" facet is, I think, slightly more awful than anything that happened — on a similar scale — in real life history (and the things that did were already... bad). And I don't know if they'd be able to look at it with anything but horror, even knowing these were heroes, these were people who conquered in death — and to be honest, the idea that they wouldn't even be able to draw comfort from the bravery of others, would make that completely terrifying situation even worse. I don't know if I want that, from a "narrative satisfaction" POV, but I keep debating this with myself.

I'm also wondering in how much did they take the whole idea to be a parody of their own religious traditions — how much Sauron intended it to be in fact — as the kings did make bloodless offerings (i.e. fruit and grain probably) upon Meneltarma. The kings of Gondor are still high priests, but they fulfill any rites alone (anyone have that letter in which Tolkien expounds on this?) — and I feel like what prompted the change had to have been either a sense of collective guilt, or lingering horror at the once-committed desecration.

You're probably right that any martyrological tradition would swiftly decline in popularity during the Third Age; I don't think that if one existed it could be utterly forgotten, but it wouldn't be something an average citizen thinks about too often (or at all), and the númenórean co-responsibility for it might be downplayed too (although I do have this particular headcanon about the Gondorian psyche that might preclude this somewhat, but I believe "they didn't want to think about it too much" is more or less canon...) I do imagine that there is, for example, a symbolic grave someone had raised in Pelargir to a kinsman who was slain in the temple, and that centuries later, there is still a tradition of leaving flowers upon it, but these are local things and need not be accompanied by too much reflection over what they really mean.

(Tbh, I wonder what it looks like in Gondor vs. Arnor, because the latter strikes me as both less connected to that Númenórean heritage, for very understandable reasons — Gondor was always nearer and is partially founded upon the colonies — and more... I don't know how to describe it, ascetic maybe — especially after its might is dissolved? rational? likelier to focus on tragedies?)

The questions of morality when living at the heart of a tyrannical empire are also an interesting subject, since you cannot really avoid being partially complicit. The Lords of Andunië canonically have ships and riches, so I think it's likely the Faithful in the Westlands/Romenna (I have no idea where they were living at this point and the text itself isn't helpful) were almost self-sufficient as a whole — but not all of them were part of this community. At the same time, I also think there was a lot of internal debate on whether the colonialism is justified — I really don't imagine Elendil & co supporting slavery, but there has to have been someone who used the very beliefs of the Faithful to justify it ("We were given this island and power by the Valar, so what follows is that they want us to rule the world et cetera"). Which conflict probably also boils over into how the kingdoms-in-exile approached the "middle men" later on.

Do you maybe have any thoughts about the Faithful in Númenór, esp. in the last, darkest years... their motivations and ways of going about the hellish reality they found themselves in? Do you think the later remnant that formed the kingdoms in exile has a martyrological tradition?

(feel absolutely free to ignore this if I'm being presumptuous by asking — I don't think Númenor is your "specialty" as far as I'm aware, but I really like your philosophical approach to the Silm in general and I kind of yearn to hear the opinions of other religious people on the Akallabeth... since I think one cannot ignore that facet of the story, as interwined with the subject as it is)

I love these kinds of asks and I’m delighted you sent it! I hadn’t comsidered it before – thank you for setting me off thinking about it, because it is fascinating!

I think you’re right, that the Faithful would certainly have matrys and hold strongly to the memory of them as inspiration to hold fast in dark times. It must have bern horrific to them, seeing their entiee culture that they loved twisted and turned to the service of evil, and their friends dragged off as human sacrifices on Sauron’s altars. Remembering borth their own martyrs, and heroes of the First Age who defied the darkness, like Beren and Lúthien and Finrod and Húrin, could be inspiration in that time. I can even see them developing traditions around parts of the First Age they hadn’t thought much about until that time; for example, Fëanoreans followers who turned against the Fëanoreans during Sirion could be an image of rejecting allegiance to your nation-state when it has turned to evil. Or around Bór and his people, who fought against Morgoth; which could also become a symbol of solidarity with the Men of Middle-earth whom Númenor was victimizing. You would see Faithful risking their lives to save Men of Middle-earth from being made sacrifices, and being killed themselves (which would probably also draw parallels with Finrod in Tol-in-Gaurhoth), and memorialized by the Faithful. Martyrdom would be further elevated by being a symbolic contrast to the obsessions of Ar-Pharazôn and his followers: willingly giving up your life in service of what is right, set against the all-consuming obsession with avoiding death.

I think one thing that would become pressing to the Faithful in the time of Ar-Pharazôn and Sauron (and even well before that) would be the question of how to avoid being complicit in an empire that is bring your country such wealth and power. Because of this, I could see a strong ascetic tradition developing among some of the Faithful, living with minimal possessions and on simple food to avoid partaking of the spoils of empire; the love of craft and beauty is rooted to deeply to disappear, I think, but for some it would change to a determination that the only objects of art/beauty you would have would be ones made by yourself and your loved ones – a sort of return to the roots of what makes art meaningful, in human connection not vain display.

In times of such despair, I can also see these things taking a darker turn in some cases. People deliberately seeking out a martyr’s death for its own sake, seeing it again as a defiance of the King’s Men’s obsession with extending life, and because they had lost hope of things ever being better. Ascetics deliberately starving themselves to death.

In the kingdoms in exile, Arnor and Gondor, it becomes complicated in a different way. When the Faithful left Númenor, I think they knew in their hearts something dreadful was going to happen; but I don’t think they necessarily expected it to encompass the destruction of the entire island and everyone on it. While the martyriologucal tradition may have endured until the end of the Second Age, while they were fighting Sauron, as a memorial of what he had done to them and why it was necessary to fight, I think that things would have changed fairly rapidly in the Third Age. When we look at how Gondor remembers Númenor – the ritual of looking west before dinner as an equivalent to saying grace, and the way it’s talked about throughout The Lord of the Rings – it feels remembered primarily as a glorious lost past, not as a cautionary tale. I think the memory of Ar-Pharazôn’s era would have faded quickly, and the earlier history of Númenor would have been valorized – at first the time of Elros and the years when things were uncomplicatedly good, but after a while even the pre-Sauron time of empire and the years of Tar-Ciryatan and Tar-Atanamir might also be remembered as glory days, and the Downfall seen as the tragic consequence of corruption brought about by Sauron, rather than a progressive moral decline that long preceded Sauron and of which he was only the culmination. I think that it’s natural to idealize a thing once you’ve lost it; even a political refugee who left their country because it was tyrannical and oppressive – even one who had vigorously opposed their country’s actions as immoral – would feel grief, nostalgia, sentiment, if while in exile they saw that country destroyed. So I think that in the Third Age, Gondorian memory of Númenor as a whole becomes rather hagiographic, and the period under Ar-Pharazôn and Sauron is sidelined as an anomaly.

[comicavalcade]

Submariner Summer 31

Bueno, llegue tarde y en las copas pero, lets do #SubmarinerSummer read through 31, con Tales to Astonish 97: The Sovereign And The Savages! Hulk cover this ish. Title Page gives us Namor still captured by Plunderer in the Savage Land. Roy Thomas on scripts, and Werner Roth on pencils, Dan Adkins on inks, Gaspar Saldino on letters

Namor stays defiant, and Plunderer catches a crush and tries to impress sempai, giving his villain monologue: origin story, and details on his vibra-gun powered by "Plunderstone" (actually Antarctic Vibranium). Also, calls him "my precious prince" Chico got it bad, no?

Of course, there's dangers in the Savage Land, one of which is natives, including the "swamp people" (yo no se tampoco) who now decide to raid Plunderer's Skull Island. One even gets their hands on a vibra-gun. He can't have that, so he sends his minions out to chase them off

That's all Namor needed to break loose, and he sets to teaching Plunderer a lesson about catching the tiger by the tail by catching him by the cape. Imperius Rex!

Plunderer tries desperately to grab a vibra-gun, but Namor whips him good. Unfortunately just then the Swamp People chief drops a giant piece of debris into the proceedings, which lands right on Namor, saving Plunderer who thinks it must have killed Namor (not even close)

His base going up in flames, and his sub loaded up with vibra-guns and "plunderstone", he has his men board so they can begin conquering. But in the base, a broken pipe leaks water onto Namor, giving him what he needs to revive, and burst free, saving a life as he escapes

Namor returns the swamp person, and watches as Plunderer's sub departs. He decides to recover before pursuing. Bad call: In Atlantis, Dorma and Vashti saw think he allied with Plunderer to make war, and get the Atlantis Council of Elders to banish him! Coño Dorma, you don't play

Ironically, events have led Plunderer to decide that his conquests can only start in one place: Atlantis! So that's where he's headed, just as the Atlantean Council publicly declares Namor banished! Quite the situation we've got ourselves just in time for...cliffhanger!

Cool twists and turns to the story of Namor's clash with the Plunderer, along with a couple classic Silver Age convenient coincidences. Very interesting seeing Dorma willing to act to put what she sees as Atlantis' well being over Namor, even if she's mistaken here. Queen shit 👸

But what will this mean as the Plunderer's vibra-weapons head to Atlantis? We shall see NEXT in Tales to Astonish #98: ...To Destroy The Realm Eternal!