The Instrument: The Brass Jawed Golem

Toward the end or the 1690's the creations known as golem were not longer being used by their masters. The High Rabbis, who once utilized the hulks of dirt and sand for numerous tasks, had heard the wide-spread accounts of the golems turning on their creators. Or had themselves been punished for their misuse. Regardless of the reason the golem was in decline in Europe. A maddeningly brilliant alchemist, Fogdan Demoldov, also used a golem for menial tasks in his work. Demoldov always found the golem to be simple and unpredictable. Before meeting a most unfortunate end, Demoldov went to work on what would become his legacy. He set out to create a golem that was sentient. To achieve his goal, he created a computer of sorts. The device would rapidly cycle through commands in the interior of the golem's mouth. Traditionally a golem was controlled by placing parchment in the mouth of the creature. This computer bypassed the process. The alchemist fashioned each command to be what he saw as being sentient "Live" "Think" "Intuit" "Learn". He used the lower half of decorative brass mask to house the unpious piece of mechanical genius. The inner workings of the device were staggering. It appeared not to follow rules that applied in this world. A cylindrical gear appeared to make a figure-eight when placed in the device. Acute angles appeared obtuse and the whole interior of the thing seemed to be vastly larger than the housing would allow. When the device was completed it was placed on the deactivated golem. The brass jaw whirred softly when it made contact with the still earth of the creation. Demoldov was enraged by the apparent lack of life. The golem sat with its half crumbled face, still as the soil it was made from. The mad alchemist went feverishly back to his notes and books, leaving the unmoving thing to sit. After some time the discourage creator entered the laboratory with plans to salvage what he could from the failed experiment.



To his astonishment, he found the seven-foot behemoth reading one of the many books in the lab. It's face had completely reformed and in the black holes that represented the eyes a dim amber glow emanated. The golem worked for about a year for his creator. Demoldov had set his sights on a new goal. To cheat death. This new aim prompted the mad alchemist to delve deeper into the darker side of his craft. He set his sights on the Necronomicon, and all of it's evil.

Human Afflicting Cordyceps Fungus (Update)

This is an up a followup to a post I did a while back. I always thought I should do a bit better version the original was quite rushed. And now a video game called "Last of Us" is coming out with a similar theme, so I figure what better time to do a more polished version. The original write-up an artwork can be found here.



This scene is the damp dark places the infected gravitate to. This specimen is in the final stages of the infection and will soon burst out of this isolation, fueled by adrenaline and the human need for help from others. This panic is the fungus's way of propagating. The host searches for help and in doing so infects all in its wake.

Zombosapien: What happened after man?

When the first reports of zombies started to filter in the masses panicked. Enormous groups of people rioted, looted and unfortunately added to the dead that would return. Centers with large tightly grouped populations bloomed with zombies. Those who could, fled the cities looking for secluded refuges. In a matter of months the earth's population had dropped to under 100,000. All of the technology and progress that mankind had created couldn't stop the mass of mankind from reverting back into scared animals when the hoards came. No bombs were dropped. No cure was developed. The last of the human race slowly died out over the following six months. Mankind did not go out with a bang, but a quiet whimper. in the months that followed the zombies began to congregate and feast on the freshest of their kind. The zombies were decomposing, and earth was about to witness its second extinction event in the same year. Their bodies continued to break down and the congregated groups become indistinguishable as individuals. Just a mass of rot of millions. Whatever force had brought the zombies back to life continued to keep them animated until the last strands of muscle fiber had broken down. Then something miraculous happened. In the immortal words of Dr. Ian Malcolm(Jurassic Park) "I'm simply saying that life, uh... finds a way".



Somehow the mixing of the zombie fluids combined with the number of different bacteria, fungi and viruses, incubated and maintained a new form of life from the rot. The first crawled from the and shortly after hundreds more came. Fully grown. These creatures had not been grown from an embryo they had been constructed using the human framework. these first appeared very human-like in appearance, but they were still almost brain dead, mostly functioning on a base instinct. Like baby deer they struggled to stand up but eventually did. This wouldn't be evolution. it would be revolution, the physiology of the newly birthed species allowed for massive leaps in genetic change from one generation to the next.

Müller's Secret SS

During the fall of Berlin, Hitler's inner circle was collapsing. Himmler lost faith in a German victory and to that end he had betrayed Hitler. In the final hours of Hitler's life he ordered that directive Auferstehung(rebirth) be carried out. Heinrich Müller, Chief of the Gestapo, was ordered to escape Berlin and travel west to the Harz mountains. In a subterranean fortress and laboratory Müller carried out the task of preparing for Hitler's arrival. In Berlin the Red army was closing in. Berlin had fallen. the Soviets were blocks from the bunker. Eva Braun bit a cyanide capsule and Hitler shot himself. Their bodies were carried to the bombed-out garden behind the Reich Chancellery where they were placed in a shell crater. A strange liquid was poured on the bodies and set ablaze. The chemical burned hot and fast, it produced a thick black smoke that consumed the garden as the city shook as the shelling continued. Directive Auferstehung had begun. when the smoke finally cleared and the crater was investigated, it was found to have two skeletons. One black and charred, crumbling as the heat died. And the second that appeared to be fully intact and made entirely of glass crystal.



The status of Berlin did not concern Müller. His task in the Auferstehung was to prepare a clone body to receive the fuhrer's consciousness. Ten such clone had been grown in the Harz lab. All brain-dead, waiting for a host.