The Clockwork Elves

 Source material for Lithic.

Over The Garden Wall

So apparently that last comic was based on Cartoon Network's Over The Garden Wall, which looks Bawsome!

Here's the pilot:

Character sketcher: Doll Divine

Bear with me here . . .

Doll Divine  is a website that has a vast array of little engines for creating virtual dressup dolls in various genres.  Some may be too cartoony or "pre-teen-girly" to really set the right tone for certain role-playing gamers tastes.  But, the wide variety of templates available can still provide a quick, go-to utility for trying to visually portray a character.

Hoxton Street Monster Supplies

Quality products for the discerning monstrosity.

A sampling of their wares includes Fang Floss, The Collywobbles, Escalating Panic, and Impacted Ear Wax.

Bachelorette (Isobel version)

Love the recursion. Seems a good portrayal of a Durance.

Quicktime version available at Bjork's official site here.

Mythic Miami

From the Miami New Times:

On Christmas night a year ago, God fled Heaven to escape an audacious demon attack -- a celestial Tet Offensive. The demons smashed to dust his palace of beautiful blue-moon marble. TV news kept it secret, but homeless children in shelters across the country report being awakened from troubled sleep and alerted by dead relatives. No one knows why God has never reappeared, leaving his stunned angels to defend his earthly estate against assaults from Hell. "Demons found doors to our world," adds eight-year-old Miguel, who sits before Andre with the other children at the Salvation Army shelter. The demons' gateways from Hell include abandoned refrigerators, mirrors, Ghost Town (the nickname shelter children have for a cemetery somewhere in Dade County), and Jeep Cherokees with "black windows." The demons are nourished by dark human emotions: jealousy, hate, fear.

One demon is feared even by Satan. In Miami shelters, children know her by two names: Bloody Mary and La Llorona (the Crying Woman). She weeps blood or black tears from ghoulish empty sockets and feeds on children's terror. When a child is killed accidentally in gang crossfire or is murdered, she croons with joy. "If you wake at night and see her," a ten-year-old says softly, "her clothes be blowing back, even in a room where there is no wind. And you know she's marked you for killing."

The homeless children's chief ally is a beautiful angel they have nicknamed the Blue Lady. She has pale blue skin and lives in the ocean, but she is hobbled by a spell. "The demons made it so she only has power if you know her secret name," says Andre, whose mother has been through three rehabilitation programs for crack addiction. "If you and your friends on a corner on a street when a car comes shooting bullets and only one child yells out her true name, all will be safe. Even if bullets tearing your skin, the Blue Lady makes them fall on the ground. She can talk to us, even without her name. She says: 'Hold on.'"

A blond six-year-old with a bruise above his eye, swollen huge as a ruby egg and laced with black stitches, nods his head in affirmation. "I've seen her," he murmurs. A rustle of whispered Me toos ripples through the small circle of initiates.

Full story here.

Less pretty, but also available at Archive.org.

Cult-reviving politician killed by lightning

Reposted from Mosnews:

A Ukrainian politician who had been excommunicated by the Russian Orthodox Church for his attempts to revive ancient pagan cult was killed by lightning on Saturday while on a fishing trip, Russian daily Komsomolskaya Pravda reported on Monday.

. . .

A former activist in the Soviet youth movement Comsomol, Chervoni started an independent political career in early 1990s with radical Ukrainian nationalists. At some point, the politician joined the religious movement Runvera – a Ukrainian sect that seeks revival of obscure ancient cults, in particular, the worship of the sun god Dazhbog.

When he was retired from the governor’s post in 2006, all Orthodox churches in Rovno Region had a special prayer thanking the Lord for deliverance.

This story was trawled up by the Delta Green folks who had the obvious take that, in the name of nationalist cultic revival, this guy had been dredging up ancient powers best left forgotten.

But from a World of Darkness point of view he might just as easily have been fried by the Technocracy before he could use his newly acquired reality deviant abilities to revive yet another brand of superstitionist practice among the masses. Simple Paradox backlash wouldn't be out of the question either.

Via Tenebrax on the Delta Green mailing list.

The Horned Man in Sports

One of the old gods proving his mettle against these modern human contrivances. Probably a Firbolg or Runnerswift.

Image originally from Mutantti aamulenkillä.

Via Dirty Russia.