Paleo
by Yvonne Navarro
Book Review
Two and a Half Stakes
I'm giving the book one and a half stakes for its concept; I've always been fascinated with dinosaurs, and I thought this was a really interesting way to bring them into the Slayerverse. It gets one stake for everything else. I thought the characterization was mostly poor, and the writting left a lot ot be desired. There were a few witty lines, but overall I wasn't too fond of it. I especially didn't like how it made Xander out to be entirely insensitive to Buffy's future as a Slayer.
"I don't think evil gets old," Willow said. "It just gets more experienced." - Paleo, Page 146
Setting the Stage
Sunnydale's Museum of Natural History is roughly the size of a square block, has three upper levels and one basement level. The basement level is used primarily for storage; most museums have a large amount of items they keep locked away - most never see the light of day, but some occasionally come out on rotations. The first ground level houses the atrium (which displays the skulls of both a Tyrannosaur and a Triceratops), the gift shop (one can assume), as well as the exhibits. The two upper floors house the labs and offices of the various museum departments. At night, the museum has double security courtesy of the Incan mummy incident.
| Three stories high, the roof consisted of three domes - a huge middle on flanked by two that were only a third the size of the main one. The entrance was in the center of three fifteen-foot high arches, and the whole thing was surrounded by an expanse of lawn that aws lush and green, even in very early spring. A strip of scarlet petunias already blosssomed down the center of the lawn, while marigolds and sculpted bushes followed the fence and trees that bordered the grounds and parking lots... |
| -Paleo, Pages 69-70 |
Of the exhibits, the most widely acknowledged are those for dinosaurs. The entry foyer into this set of displays is cast in a golden glow that highlights and warms the old-fashioned granite tiles of the floor and walls. Above the high, arched entrance is a tropically-designed sign that reads: "WELCOME TO PALEO-VIEW!"
| Some were skeletal reconstructions of the expected variety: a Stegosaurus in a defensive posture against a Ceratosaurus raiding its nest; a browsing Pelorosaurus; an unexpected but extremely interesting depiction of a group of Cynognathus feeding on a downed Kannemeyeria; another Ceratosaurus that had mostly been left in skeletal form. Keven's practiced eye recognized immediately that the rendition of a Hypacrosaurus nest contained fiberglass components, well-made but impossible for the knowledgeable eye not to detect. More striking were the full-flesh reproductions of lesser known species like Typothorax, Euparkeria, and Oviraptor. And even though they weren't true dinosaurs, at the far end of the hallway near a less obvious exit was what he immediately considered the dinosaur exhibit's crowning achievement: a life-size simulation of Pteranodon ingens in flight. They'd chosen to portray the skin tones in varying shades of red and russet browns, and the model of the creature soared overhead like some kind of massive flying devil, its wingspan easily twenty-three feet. back-lighting shone through the fragile-looking membranes that had enabled the pterosaurs to glide through the air. The long triangular jaw was fillwed with sharp, tiny teeth, while the reproduction's dark eyes glinted unpleasantly. Gutteral roars, screams and growls, mant's best guesstimate as to how these creatures would have sounded, blared intermittently from speakers hidden among the fake foliage. |
| -Paleo, Pages 71-72 |
Getting to Know the [Non] Players
There are three NPCs of note, although you really only need two to run an episode.
Professor Gibor Nuriel, 1891-1939
Professor Nuriel died on a dig in Big Bend, Texas. His death is attributed to a faulty camping stove that exploded inside his tent, setting it alight and roasting the Professor alive. Only a few of his personal posessions made it out of the fire, one of them being his dig journal. The journal is burnt, and many of the pages have runny script (presumably because something wet soaked the book before the fire). The journal, along with the other items that returned from the dig, have been sealed away in the museum's basement and are only now being sorted (by Daniel Addison) because they need to be entered into the museum's computer database.
What really happened on the dig is this: Nuriel discovered an ancient ritual that supposedly brought the remains of ancient beasts back to life. After performing it, he realized what a terrible mistake he made and killed the monster by setting the tent that housed it aflame, killing himself in the process. His journal contains a number of entries that help detail this.
28 July 1939 Wednesday
I've made the most amazing strangest discovery of my entire career, and this in the midst of the local's efforts to make this area into some kind of a national park - they are calling it "Big Bend National Park." I can only hope this place remains hidden inaccessible, but i doubt it - the trading post they are setting up at Lajitas will take care of that. Mankind spreads upon the most precious areas of our world like fleas on the back of a stray dog. Someday the roads here in South Browster County will be paved and it will be much easier for the common people to visit and ultimately destroy the wondrous things that nature has preserved.
Speaking of which, while Jimmy and the rest of the crew were working on freeing what appeared to be the femour of an iguanodont in the main part of the site, I had gone off behind a large outcropping to attend to the ne-
Here the text becomes runny until the end of the page.
old leather saddlebag. The papers inside are written in what I believe is a Romany dialect, but I can translate enough of it to theorize that it is a spell ritual of some sort. It's very strange peculiar and seems to postulate that something dead can be brought back to life, but it's also very specific with regards to what that object is - no people, only animals "such as large lizards or the petrified remains of their spawn."
Interestingly enough, there's a reference in the text that might pertain to ancient Greek mythology. Roughly put to English, this is the incantation:
Hear this call, spirits of Ladonithia
Awaken and return from your abyss to this frozen host
First of four, to then combine
And grant to he who resurrects you
A single wish fulfilled.
Another chunk of text is lost here.
Wednesday and so I must wait for the Mexican workers to leave. They will stay through Saturday afternoon, then return to their families for Sunday worship. There's no logical reason to try this accept for curiosity, but I am a scientist and so must investigate even that. "Petrified remains of their spawn" - could that refer to, perhaps, a fossil? There's precious little entertainment in this dismal location, and so I've selected the small (though regrettably incomplete) skeleton of a young hypsilophodont. Reanimation? Impossibile!!! I do this only for amusement's sake, of course, and so must hide my foolishness from the
The text stops completely here - the next pages blank. It's very odd. The writing picks up again towards the end of the journal.
This was a terrible error in judgment - I should have NEVER said this incantation aloud. I thought it was a joke, but I am the one who is the fool, the puny man at whom the univers laughts laughs. A living, breathing hypsilophodont - my God, who could have ever imagined?? But it's WRONG . . . how was I to know? The dinosaur creature is missing half its spine and two limbs, also part of its skull - yet still it thrashes and screeches - yes, it's actually reanimated somehow ALIVE. I don't know if it's in pain or just . . . evil. I think that's it, because it "speaks" to me inside my thoughts, demanding that I continue, bellowing commands into my mind that I must do more for it. God forgive me but I don't think I can hold out - I'm not strong enough. What have I dont? To save myself, to save everyone, I must dest
That is the last of the text in the journal.
|
| -Paleo, Pages 7-11 |
Daniel Addison
Daniel Addison was a student at Sunnydale Highschool who graduated and moved on to study palentology at the college. He recieved an internship at the Museum of Natural History, where he would put on a good show and then seek out others to do the hard work for him. He has been an intern at the museum for two years and, unbeknownst to him, he will not be recieving an invitation the next year. He wants, above all, to be famous - to be respected and worshipped by those at the museum, and everyone else. But, he does not wish to work for such acclaim.
He is assigned the job of going through the museum's storage and entering the material into the computer database. He finds this job deplorable up until he discovers Nuriel's journal. He takes the journal, after reading it, assuming (correctly) that it won't be missed. The next day, he goes to speak at Sunnydale High, where he meets Kevin Sanderson. Kevin lets it slip that he has a Timimus egg, and Daniel pounces upon the unsuspecting highschooler in an attempt to get at the fossil. Together, they raise the Timimus from the dead, and then also three Tyrannosaurs. Daniel is eaten by the Tyrannosaurs several hours after the ritual is performed, but Kevin escapes.
Daniel is a user. He would gladly toss Kevin to the wayside were it not for the teenager's connections to dinosaur eggs. He has a slimy personality, and puts up a false front of nicities.
ENTER STATS HERE
Keven Sanderson
Kevin only just moved to Sunnydale from Chicago, where he had an excellent foot-hold in the Paleontology Department at the Museum of Natural History there. He has been on a dig in Australia (where he stole both Tyrannosaurus and Timimus eggs) and is a veritable dinosaur nut. He has long blonde hair which he keeps pulled back in a pony-tail, blue eyes, and tanned skin. He does not yet have any friends in Sunnydale, and latches onto Daniel during a presentation in his science class (which Kevin shares with Oz).
Kevin, eager to please his new mentor, shares the Timimus egg with Daniel. He is at first skeptical of the spell Daniel wishes to perform, but he feels going along with the plan is the only way he'll be accepted into the fold at the museum. Once the ritual works, he won't leave the baby dinosaur's side, much to Daniel's annoyance. Finally, he leaves for home (as he does not wish his parents to worry), and the Timimus escapes from Daniel. Kevin comes around two days later, angry that he hasn't been able to get ahold of Daniel. Daniel makes false apologies once he finds out Kevin has a set of 3 T-Rex eggs. He convinces Kevin that this time they will have proper containment and weapons nearby, in case the dinosaurs get out of hand. The T-Rex babies eat continously for several hours, and finally break free, eating Daniel and escaping. Kevin manages to get away.
Kevin is distant, and angry at being forced to move to Sunnydale because of his father's failing health. He is incredibly intelligent, but can't bring himself to focus on anything except dinosaurs.
Enter Stats here
"I believe the species we're looking for would be the I-want-to-devour-your-flesh kind." - Xander, Paleo, Page 114
The Big Bad(s)
The "spirits of Ladonithia" are actually the four parts of one demonic spirit: Ladon. The "ithia" was added on to the name later, to make it rather fancy. Ladon is the name of a Greek serpent with one-hundred heads said to guard the golden apples of the tree given by Gaea to Zeus and Hera at their wedding. In reality, Ladon is a dragon-like demon whose spirit resides in the nether-world until it is called forth by the incantation in Nuriel's journal.
The ritual must be performed four times; each time one of the four parts of Ladon's spirit implants itself into the reptilian host. Once all four hosts are animated, they will converge and meld into a single body - Ladon's true form. In this form, Ladon will have four horned heads, wings, and will be incredibly large. He will then begin to devour the world.
Ladon will mentally link with the weakest human nearby, tricking (through promises of a wish fullfilled) or forcing that human to perform the ritual until its spirits can converge. The only way to destroy Ladon is to kill the later animated corpses first, until only the original creature remains. At this time, the original body will be host for all four parts of Ladon's spirit, and when killed it will banish Ladon back to the abyss. It does not kill Ladon permanently, but keeps him imprisoned for sixty years. It is uncertain what would happen if the first host was killed before the others.
Each time one of the hosts is killed, the original becomes agitated. It undoubtably feels pain as another spirit seeks refuge in its body, much like Angel must constantly battle the demon Angelus. The spirits in the dinosaur hosts mutate their bodies, and as time progresses horns and wings begin to sprout. The change is more immediate when all the spirits are within one host, though the dinosaurs mature from infant to teen within a day's time, and from teen to adult within another.
Note: It's mentioned in the book, by Giles, that it's entirely possible Ladon is also mentioned in other legends around the world. Specifically, the serpent from the story of Adam and Eve is brought up. It might be an interesting subplot...
|