Lost Worlds Mod Thread

The League of Gentlemen: The League is an organization composed of "extraordinary" individuals who have joined their talents together to oppose a new, more powerful class of criminals that developed out of the political turmoil that swept the world at the dawn of the industrial revolution. This period witnessed the rise of "master" criminals who grasped the tremendous implications of the new technologies suddenly available and quickly outstripped the abilities of governments to control them. They created, in effect, multinational high-tech corporations that profited from misery, misfortune, theft, and murder. The League was chartered to offset this lethal menace by the judicial use of ability, dedication, and scientific application. The true strength of the League does not reside in the incredible abilities of its members, notable though they may be; it is, rather, the League's dedication to investigation and innovation that makes it such an effectively powerful organization. Despite its name, the League's membership has included some certain females, who, contrary to their fair species' reputation of frailty and aversion to conflict, have participated wholly in the battle against criminals and even served in positions of leadership!

Malum Sodalitas (Latin: The Evil Secret Society): was founded by Professor Moriarty, a former Oxford Professor of Mathematics, to be a secret society of master criminals under his personal direction. Because this elite group was known only to (or more accurately, suspected to exist by) certain members of Scotland Yard, its activities not been chronicled in popular literature, although Moriarty's infamous handiwork has become known by the ingenuity and intricacy of its planning and the violence of its execution and aftermath. Even less is known of the membership of the Malum Sodalitas, save for the fact that they have always recruited only from the crème de la crème of the criminal world, so that its members are invariably the most cunning, treacherous, and talented criminal minds of the day.

Great Britain: When the young Princess Alexandrina Victoria was told that she would one day be queen, she reportedly said, "I will be good." This statement, applied to the reign of Queen Victoria, would prove to be succinct, accurate, and predictive, for Victoria would bring the British Empire into being, preside over the industrial revolution, and popularize Christmas trees, railroads, white weddings, and marriage between first cousins. During her reign the Empire has expanded so far around the globe that they say "the sun never sets upon it", and this worldwide military success surely proves that her military was and is among the best ever fielded. Despite this, her reign is also known as one of relative peace between monarchs, bolstered no doubt by the fact that almost all of them are related to her.
On September 29th, 1829, Scotland Yard (and London's Metropolitan Police) was founded by Sir Robert Peel and the controversial French detective (and former criminal) Francois-Eugen Vidocq. Scotland Yard introduced both scientific method and bureaucracy into police work, and both continue to be central to the conduct of professional police forces to this day. Even so, Whitehall has occasionally (quietly) turned to the League of Gentlemen for assistance, although the relationship between Her Majesty's government and the League is invariably strained, at least on an official level.

The Black Coats (Les Habits Noirs) - The origins of the Black Coats go back to 1625, when a young Andrea Vitelli, aka Bel Demonio, organized a criminal gang to avenge the death of his father, the heir of Monteleone. In 1795, great-grandson, Count Mario de Monteleone, formed the Companions of Silence (aka the Iron Knights) to help the less fortunate. Unfortunately, the Count was framed and murdered in jail. The Companions swore to avenge him and turned (back) to crime as a way to do so. In 1802, the son of the Count, who called himself Fra Diavolo, took control of the Companions and rebuilt them into a greater criminal organization called the Black Coats, working from the Corsican monastery of the Freres de la Merci.

Since that time, the Black Coats leadership has been international, including, for instance, Fergus O'Brean, who established the Black Coats in England as the Gentlemen of the Night in order to avenge the murder of his family by the British.

From 1832 to 1843, the Black Coats were led by Mlle Marguerite Sadoulas, who went by the (stolen) title Countess of Claire. When she was apparently murdered by Roland de Claire (the true heir to the Claire title), Colonel Bozzo-Corona rose to head the organization, and held that position through treachery and murder for nearly twenty years, at one point faking his own death so that he could kill his competitors with a bomb he'd placed at the presumed location of Fra Diabolo's treasure. During this period, Marguerite Sadoulas returned and again turned the Black Coats to revenge against the Claire family.

In 1852, Colonel Bozzo-Corona had Mlle Sadoulas' daughter, Justine (named after her great-grandmother, whose exploits had been chronicled by M. De Sade), kidnapped and sold to Leocadie Samayoux, aka Maman Leo, a performer in a crime circus. Justine was endowed with the criminal talents (and libido) of her forebears, and rose to leadership of the Black Silk Hats, a rival of the Black Coats, under the direction of her one-time kidnapper, Saladin.

In the meantime, Henri De Belcamp, aka Jean Diablo, aka John Devil, the son of the Countess De Belcamp (another pseudonym of Mlle Sadoulas) was run out of France by his half-sister Justine, and traveled to England, where he has resurrected the Black Coats (aka Gentlemen of the Night) to be a potent criminal enterprise, surpassing the continental Black Coats in cruelty, coercion, and scope of purpose.

The Black Coats prefer to control by force, rather than reason, and often use foreign mercenaries to carry out their deadly plans.

Link: Black Coats

The Gothic Union Heathcliff was a gypsy orphan discovered on the streets of Liverpool by the Earnshaw family of Yorkshire and brought to their estate at Wuthering Heights. Despite his Transylvanian roots, he was raised as a member of the family and became a gentleman "in dress and aspect", though a neighbor, Mrs. Linton of Thrushcross Grange stated that the urchin they first saw could be a "little Lascar or American castaway."

A silent and at first solitary child, Heathcliff was initially resented by both Catherine Earnshaw and her elder brother, Hindley; whilst Catherine later befriended and learned to love Heathcliff, Hindley continued to resent him, seeing him as an interloper who had stolen his father's affection. Upon Mr. Earnshaw's death and his inheritance of the estate, the spiteful Hindley proceeded to treat Heathcliff as little more than a servant boy and made him work the fields, which fostered Heathcliff's lifelong anger and resentment. Catherine, however, remained close to her foster brother.

As she matured into her young teens, however, Catherine grew close to Edgar Linton, a timid and well-bred young man of the neighbouring estate, Thrushcross Grange, and accepted his proposal of marriage; but she privately insisted that her true and only love was Heathcliff. She claimed that she could not marry Heathcliff, however, because it "would degrade her" and that the two would be beggars were such a union to take place. Nevertheless, she also declared her passion for him in such ways as "whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same," and the famous quote "I am Heathcliff." Aware only of Catherine's decision to marry Edgar, rather than her proclamation of true love for him, a bitter Heathcliff left Wuthering Heights upon overhearing her saying that it would degrade her to marry him, and headed for the continent.

In Paris, Heathcliff rediscovered the survival skills he'd learned as an urchin in Liverpool; and combining those with the knowledge he'd gained of the upper classes from his adoptive family; he soon became an accomplished gentleman thief. Adopting the alias Lord Ruthven, he moved easily in the upper echelon of society, picking the pockets of the rich even as he flattered them. One fateful day, however, he picked the wrong pocket and was immediately attacked turned into a vampire by his wrathful victim, a young russian named Armand (who was actually a very old vampire), who was moved to this act mostly by his flustered surprise at having been gotten the best of by a thief. Armand then ordered Heathcliff to leave Paris; "Go back to wherever you came from Thief, and when you have emptied the souls of all whom you love, remember that it all began when you emptied my purse."

So Heathcliff returned to Wuthering Heights a quite different man than the one who had left. Like many vampires, he appeared to be in the peak of health - "like a soldier", it was said. His heightened vampire senses made manipulating those around him an easy task, and he'd soon seduced and married Edgar Linton's sister, Isabelle, who he thereafter treated abominably, alternately beating her, then feeding on her while she was unconscious. When his beloved Catherine fell terminally ill after giving birth to a daughter, Heathcliff resolved to turn her into a vampire, but stopped just short of completing the process, fearing that she would resent him for it. Because of his efforts, she remained suspended between life and death; she appeared to everyone else to have died, but he knew the truth of it, and would twice later have her grave opened so that he could confirm for himself that he had actually preserved her in that state, and because of the fear that she might awaken and be unable to either escape her grave or die.

Meanwhile Isabelle escaped to London and had a son, who she named Linton Heathcliff. Heathcliff was left to focus his rage on his foster brother Hindley, who had treated him badly when he was a child. He toyed with Hindley as a cat would with a mouse, alternately befriending him with drink and card games, then feeding on him after he'd passed out. Hinton's health declined rapidly and he finally died, and Heathcliff took ownership of Wuthering Heights, and began raising Hinton's son, Hareton with as much neglect as he had suffered at Hinton's hands, but did not feed on the boy, instead quenching his unholy thirst with the blood of small animals, and masked these small deaths as acts of random cruelty.

Thirteen years later Isabella died, and Linton came to live at Wuthering Heights with his father, but Linton's resemblance to Isabella drove Heathcliff to begin abusing the boy as he had his mother. When Catherine's and Edgar's daughter Cathy later came to visit and appeared to take an interest in Linton, Heathcliff formed a plan to gain final revenge on Edgar, whom he irrationally blamed for his wretched existence. He redoubled his nocturnal feeding on Linton, and when Cathy returned to the Heights to care for Linton, Heathcliff held her hostage and forced her to to marry his son. Shortly thereafter, Heathcliff killed Edgar and then his own son Linton, finally allowing that poor soul to rest in peace.

By these deaths, Heathcliff acquired Edgar's estate, Thrushcross Grange, and his revenge was complete. But it was a dish served cold, as they say, and when Cathy eventually fell in love with Hareton (as her mother had fallen in love with him when he was in similar circumstance), Heathcliff developed a longing for Catherine that caused a psychic connection to her in the grave, though she yet slumbered in deathly mortis. He began speaking aloud to her as if she were in the room: "I will be with you soon." What his confused relatives couldn't have known was that he could sense her answer from the grave: "I am waiting, my love."

In the end, it was a simple matter for him to reach the grave. He starved himself, both his vampire and mortal selves that is, until his body stopped functioning, and Cathy and Hareton buried him, as he'd requested, in a grave adjoining Catherine, taking off the adjoining sides of their coffins so that they could be together.

After a long while, possibly decades, Heathcliff was able to move himself close enough to Catherine to comingle his blood with hers; by this they were both awakened. Though still weak, Heathcliff tore at the earth above them until he was able to finally pull himself and Catherine up onto the moonlit moors. He captured whatever small animals he could find and they fed until she was able to walk, and then took her back to Wuthering Heights, which had been closed and shuttered in the years since Heathcliff's death. They lived secretly there until all who had known them in life had died, and openly thereafter, and Heathcliff was eventually able to secure the deeds for the land in a trust so that it would be theirs in perpetuity.

Though they remained happy in each other's company, in time they yearned for the company of others like themselves, and formed the Gothic Union, inviting all supernatural beings (for there are many) to join them, and they have been so successful in this pursuit that it threatens to turn a sizeable portion of Britain into the walking dead.

But first, on earth as vampire sent,
Thy corse shall from its tomb be rent:
Then ghastly haunt thy native place,
And suck the blood of all thy race;

There from thy daughter, sister, wife,
At midnight drain the stream of life;
Yet loathe the banquet which perforce
Must feed thy livid living corse:
Thy victims ere they yet expire
Shall know the demon for their sire,
As cursing thee, thou cursing them,
Thy flowers are withered on the stem. - Lord Byron

Not the inert gas, but he most powerful red Martian nation upon Baroom, Helium is located in the South East Hemisphere. This nation has the largest armada of any red Martian empire, consisting of some 6,000 advanced warships. The Jeddak of Helium, Tardos Mors resides in the city of greater Helium, while his son Mors Kajak, father of Dejah Thoris lives in lesser Helium.

“In addition to the twin-city formation of Helium, another distinguishing feature is the two immense towers, one of vivid scarlet rising nearly a mile into the air from the center of one of the cities, while the other, of bright yellow and of the same height, marks her sister.” (PM XXIII)

Helium is unique for its twin capital cities which are two karads (75 miles) apart; these cities lie 27 karads southwest of Zodanga. A great wind storm toppled the Scarlet Tower of lesser Helium about twenty years after the birth of Tara of Helium, daughter of John Carter and Princess Dejah Thoris. (CM V)

“As he moved with the throng in the parklike canyon of the thoroughfare the life of an awakening Martian city was in evidence about him. Houses, raised high upon their slender metal columns for the night were dropping gently toward the ground. Among the flowers upon the scarlet sward which lies about the buildings children were already playing, and comely women laughing and chatting with their neighbours as they culled gorgeous blossoms for the vases within doors.
“The pleasant ‘kaor’ of the Barsoomian greeting fell continually upon the ears of the stranger as friends and neighbors took up the duties of a new day.
“The district in which he had landed was residential—a district of merchants of the more prosperous sort. Everywhere were evidences of luxury and wealth. Slaves appeared upon every housetop with gorgeous silks and costly furs, laying them in the sun for airing. Jewel-encrusted women lolled even thus early upon the carven balconies before their sleeping apartments. Later in the day they would repair to the roofs when the slaves had arranged couches and pitched silken canopies to shade them from the sun. Strains of inspiring music broke pleasantly from open windows, for the Martians have solved the problem of attuning the nerves pleasantly to the sudden transition from sleep to waking that proves so difficult a thing for most Earth folk.
“Above him raced the long, light passenger fliers, plying, each in its proper plane, between the numerous landing-stages for internal passenger traffic. Landing-stages that tower high into the heavens are for the great international passenger liners. Freighters have other landing-stages at various lower levels, to within a couple of hundred feet of the ground; nor dare any flier rise or drop from one plane to another except in certain restricted districts where horizontal traffic is forbidden.
“Along the close-cropped sward which paves the avenue ground fliers were moving in continuous lines in opposite directions. For the greater part they skimmed along the surface of the sward, soaring gracefully into the air at times to pass over a slower-going driver ahead, or at intersections, where the north and south traffic has the right of way and the east and west must rise above it. From private hangars upon many a roof top fliers were darting into the line of traffic. Gay farewells and parting admonitions mingled with the whirring of motors and the subdued noises of the city. Yet with all the swift movement and the countless thousands rushing hither and thither, the predominant suggestion was that of luxurious ease and soft noiselessness.
“Martians dislike harsh, discordant clamour. The only loud noises they can abide are the martial sounds of war, the clash of arms, the collision of two mighty dreadnoughts of the air. To them there is no sweeter music than this.”
(TMM II)

Located north east of Bantoom, and 814 miles west of Gathol, this isolated red Martian nation is protected by treacherous air currents, haads of meager vegetation, ‘torn rocks and yawning chasms.’ These people are notorious for their Jetan games (Martian Chess) that are played with gladiators and slaves. About one million descendants of Gatholians serve as slaves in Manator. Three major cities; Manataj, Manatos & Manator comprise the kingdom of Manator.

“Banners and pennons broke from many a staff. People were moving about the gate before them. The high white walls were paced by sentinels at far intervals. Upon the roofs of higher buildings the women could be seen airing the sleeping silks and furs. Turan watched it all in silence for some time.

“I do not know them,’ he said at last. "I cannot guess what city this may be. But it is an ancient city. Its people have no fliers and no firearms. It must be old indeed . . .There are no landing-stages upon the roofs—not one that can be seen from here; while were we looking similarly at Helium we would see hundreds. And they have no firearms because their defenses are all built to withstand the attack of spear and arrow, with spear and arrow. They are an ancient people.

“From their vantage point they saw a body of armed warriors ride forth from the gate, and winding along a well-beaten road pass from sight about the foot of the hill from which they watched. The men were red, like themselves, and they rode the small saddle thoats of the red race. Their trappings were barbaric and magnificent, and in their head-dress were many feathers as had been the custom of ancients. They were armed with swords and long spears and they rode almost naked, their bodies being painted in ochre and blue and white. There were, perhaps, a score of them in the party and as they galloped away on their tireless mounts they presented a picture at once savage and beautiful.” (CMM IX)

The Jeddak of Manator is O-Tar, “a large man, the perfection of whose handsome face was marred only by the hauteur of his cold eyes and the suggestion of cruelty imparted by too thin lips. It needed no second glance to assure the least observing that here indeed was a ruler of men—a fighting jeddak whose people might worship but not love, and for whose slightest favor warriors would vie with one another to go forth and die. This was O-Tar, Jeddak of Manator, and as Tara of Helium saw him for the first time she could not but acknowledge a certain admiration for this savage chieftain who so virilely personified the ancient virtues of the God of War.” (CM XI)

Located about 15 karads (550 miles) southwest from the territories of Helium is the capitol city of this green Martian tribe. “a city from whose long-forgotten people this horde of green men have stolen even their name. The hordes of Thark number some thirty thousand souls, and are divided into twenty-five communities. Each community has its own jed and lesser chieftains . . . Five communities make their headquarters at the city of Thark, and the balance are scattered among other deserted cities of ancient Mars.” (PM XVI).

Green Martian hordes are distinguished by their insignia and metal ornaments. Upon the harness of a Thark warrior is “a small mirror, about the bigness of a lady's hand glass, which hung midway between his shoulders and his waist against his broad back.” (GM III)

“At length Tars Tarkas laughed softly, after the manner of his strange kind when in the presence of the horrible or terrifying. It is not an hysterical laugh, but rather the genuine expression of the pleasure they derive from the things that move Earth men to loathing or to tears. Often and again have I seen them roll upon the ground in mad fits of uncontrollable mirth when witnessing the death agonies of women and little children beneath the torture of that hellish green Martian fete—the Great Games.” (GM III)

“Sharp talons and cruel fangs had torn leg, arm, and breast literally to ribbons. So weak was he from continued exertion and loss of blood that but for the supporting wall I doubt that he even could have stood erect. But with the tenacity and indomitable courage of his kind he still faced his cruel and relentless foes—the personification of that ancient proverb of his tribe: ‘Leave to a Thark his head and one hand and he may yet conquer.’ ” (GM, IV)

Unique amongst green Martian tribes or hordes, the Tharks are particularly adept at handling their steeds or thoats; “these great brutes, by the uncertainty of their tempers, often were the means of turning victory into defeat, since, at a crucial moment, they might elect to unseat and rend their riders . . . And so I explained as carefully as I could the entire method of training I had adopted with my beasts, and later he had me repeat it before Lorquas Ptomel and the assembled warriors. That moment marked the beginning of a new existence for the poor thoats, and before I left the community of Lorquas Ptomel I had the satisfaction of observing a regiment of as tractable and docile mounts as one might care to see. The effect on the precision and celerity of the military movements was so remarkable that Lorquas Ptomel presented me with a massive anklet of gold from his own leg, as a sign of his appreciation of my service to the horde.” (PM XIII)

Green Martian tribe ruled by their jed, Thar Ban and Jeddak, Hortan Gur. Their capital city (also called Torquas) is located in Barsoom’s SW hemisphere about 7000 haads (2583 miles) west of Helium and 200 haads (74 miles) from Aaanthor.

“The men of Torquas had perfected huge guns with which their uncanny marksmanship had permitted them to repulse the few determined efforts that near-by red nations had made to explore their country by means of battle fleets of airships.” (TMM V)

“The temper of the thoats of Torquas appeared even shorter than their vicious cousins among the Tharks and Warhoons, and for a time it seemed unlikely that he should escape a savage charge on the part of a couple of old bulls that circled, squealing, about him; but at last he managed to get close enough to one of them to touch the beast. With the feel of his hand hand upon the sleek hide the creature quieted, and in answer to the telepathic command of the red man sank to its knees. . . Even in the hands of the giant green men bridle and reins would be hopelessly futile against the mad savagery and mastodonic strength of the thoat, and so they are guided by that strange telepathic power with which the men of Mars have learned to communicate in a crude way with the lower orders of their planet.” (TMM XI)

THERNS are the degenerate descendants of the ancient fair-skinned race and are integral to the pandemic Cult of Issus. “The therns for their part have temples doted along the entire civilized world. Here priests whom the people never see, communicate the doctrine of the Mysterious River Iss, the Valley Dor and the Lost Sea of Korus to persuade the poor deluded creatures to take the voluntary pilgrimage that swells the wealth of the Holy Therns and adds to their number of slaves.” (GM, XIII, p.111) The Valley Dor is not the promised land of peace and happiness, but a nightmare of cruelty and exploitation.

In the subterranean world under the Otz Cliffs, dwell millions of slaves and the ferocious banth. The therns are ruled by a theocracy that sometimes receives written revelation from their goddess, Issus. The thern navy consists of some 2,000 battleships, and one million warriors guard their surface temples, courts and gardens.

An ancient city in the South East hemisphere nestled within a hidden valley adjacent to the mountains of Torquas and a small forest. Accessed upon foot by an inconspicuous tunnel next to a forest, here the 1,000 survivors of Barsoom’s ancient auburn-haired, fair-skinned race still subsist. They are rule by Tario, a cruel and tyrannical despot. The Lotharians worship an ageless, giant banth (TMM IX) and are protected by a force of illusionary bowmen.

After considerable parleying he consented to admit them to the city, and a moment later the wheel-like gate rolled back within its niche, and Thuvia and Carthoris entered the city of Lothar. All about them were evidences of fabulous wealth. The facades of the buildings fronting upon the avenue within the wall were richly carven, and about the windows and doors were ofttimes set foot-wide borders of precious stones, intricate mosaics, or tablets of beaten gold bearing bas-reliefs depicting what may have been bits of the history of this forgotten people.

"There are no women in Lothar. The last of the Lotharian females perished ages since, upon that cruel and terrible journey across the muddy plains that fringed the half-dried seas, when the green hordes scourged us across the world to this our last hiding-place—our impregnable fortress of Lothar. Scarce twenty thousand men of all the countless millions of our race lived to reach Lothar. Among us were no women and no children. All these had perished by the way.” (TMM VI)

‘Poor Lothar,” he said. "It is indeed a city of ghosts. There are scarce a thousand of us left, who once were numbered in the millions. Our great city is peopled by the creatures of our own imaginings. For our own needs we do not take the trouble to materialize these peoples of our brain, yet they are apparent to us. . .

"There are others among us who insist that none of us is real. That we could not have existed all these ages without material food and water had we ourselves been material. Although I am a realist, I rather incline toward this belief myself. It seems well and sensibly based upon the belief that our ancient forbears developed before their extinction such wondrous mentalities that some of the stronger minds among them lived after the death of their bodies—that we are but the deathless minds of individuals long dead.” (TMM IX)

The First Born are “men six feet and over in height. Have clear cut and handsome features; their eyes are well set and large, though a slight narrowness gives them a crafty appearance. The iris is extremely black while the eyeball itself is quite white and clear. Their skin has the appearance of polished ebony.” (TMM, glossary, p.154) The harnesses of the black pirates are lavishly adorned with gold, silver, platinum and precious gems. Although courageous and disciplined warriors, the black pirates are “far inferior to the red men in refinement and chivalry.” (GM, VIII, p.71)

“There is no peasantry amongst the First Born. Even the lowest soldier is a god, and has slaves to wait upon him. The First Born do not work. The men fight- that is a sacred privilege and duty; to fight and die for Issus. The women do nothing, slaves wash them, slaves dress them, slaves feed them.” (GM, XI, p.98) Just like the yellow Martians, the First Born are neither telepathic nor oviparous; they neither labor nor invent. They have a healthy respect for the Green Martian.

The First Born are ruled by a twisted charlatan posing as a goddess. This bloated, toothless megalomaniac has lived for millennia and has unquestioned authority. Black pirate princes or dators have the privilege of gazing upon the visage of their goddess, Issus. If captives are allowed to view Issus, their life expectancy is less than one year.

“The whole fabric of our religion is based upon superstitious belief in lies that have been foisted upon us for ages by those directly above us, to whose personal profit and aggrandizement it was to have us continue to believe as they wished us to believe. I am ready to cast off the ties that bind me, I am ready to defy Issus herself, but what will it avail us?” (GM, X, p. 93)

The lower chambers of the Temple of Issus are found in the underground caverns bordering the subterranean tributary of Korus, the Sea of Omean. There is only one aerial entry to the phosphorescently lit Sea of Omean; this is through the mouth of an extinct, but hidden volcano. The might of the First Born is their black and silver armada of 1,000 modern battleships (TL VIII) which are docked upon the windless, subterranean surface of Omean.

Kaldanes are small crablike creatures (a little larger than your head), who, though of great intellectual capacity (and even psychic powers), pose little physical threat to a warrior. However, they have developed a race of creatures – the rykors – which have full-sized human bodies, and serve them as mounts to do fighting and labor. Rykors have no head, and only the simplest of sensory and central nervous systems: they are all but blind and deaf, and possess no true will of their own. A kaldane can place itself on the neck of a rykor and use its peculiar appendages to take control of the rykor, serving as its head. The resulting combined creature is then able to do anything a normal human can do, and the two creatures become one for all practical purposes.

In spite of their advanced intellect and telepathic abilities, the Kaldanes have little technology; no firearms, no fliers, no telescopes and no contact with the outside world.

"None who enters Bantoom ever leaves," repeated the creature without expression. "I know nothing of the lesser creatures of Barsoom, of whom you speak. There is but one high race—the race of Bantoomians. All Nature exists to serve them. You shall do your share, but not yet—you are too skinny. We shall have to put some fat upon it, Sept. I tire of rykor. Perhaps this will have a different flavor. The banths are too rank and it is seldom that any other creature enters the valley. And you, Ghek; you shall be rewarded. I shall promote you from the fields to the burrows. Hereafter you shall remain underground as every Bantoomian longs to. No more shall you be forced to endure the hated sun, or look upon the hideous sky, or the hateful growing things that defile the surface. For the present you shall look after this thing that you have brought me, seeing that it sleeps and eats—and does nothing else. You understand me, Ghek; nothing else!" (CM)

The U'gas call their lunar world Va'nah. They are humanoid, and were originally part of an ancient race from a distant galaxy, the Vril-ya, who were stranded on the moon's surface and learned to adapt inside the moon's deep craters, where water and even atmosphere exist. The city of Laythe is the U'gas' capitol city, from which they are ruled by their Jemadar, Sagroth.

All gentlemen of this race carry, as their custom, a short lance or javelin, a dagger, and a sword. They keep these weapons with them at all times because the Selenites are extremely unpredictable and can attack without warning. Many U'ga hunters carry a coil of rope around their bodies underneath their clothing. The rope is used for emergencies such as to gain entrance to tunnels below the crater’s edge. That the U'gas would remain at such a high state of vigilance might seem strange to some, in fact they are as used to it as we are used to wearing shoes.

The U'gas have learned that they can occasionally capture a Selenite and domesticate it to work, and in fact they are considered to be extremely competent workers, as once set to a task, a Selenite will keep doing that task until it is completed. It is not unusual for a Selenite worker, given a task which is beyond its abilities, to literally work itself to death.

Because of their exoskeletons, most humans would say that the Selenites look like insects, only much, much larger. They share the moon with the U'gas, an advanced civilization. Most Selenites have low intelligence, but all Selenites share one spectacular talent: they are perfect mimics, and can duplicate any structure or technology, down to the source minerals. They are also social mimics, can pick up a new languages instantly, and will adopt the body language and attitude of whatever being it comes upon (so if you are surprised by a Selenite, it is wise to be friendly; of course, if a Selenite is hungry, it will find a way to eat you anyway). As a result of this mimicry, the cities of the Selenites are as big and beautiful as those of the U'gas themselves. Some say that the cities are a variation on a Venus flytrap; that somewhere in the past the Selenites' ancestors developed this technique to lure unwary travelers into their lairs to be eaten. Actually, the Selenites devote most of their attention to the care of their Queen, upon whose milk the Selenites depend for life. The Selenite entrusted with the care of the Queen has the title GrandLunar, and acts as the Selenites' leader.

The clues we had kept mentioning 'Atland' and the North Sea, but Ahab insisted that there was no such place, not even an island, that fit the description. "Fools!" said Nemo, "They are describing Atlantis! It is not on the North Sea it is under it!" This declaration was met all around with skepticism, as it was generally agreed that Plato's description of Atlantis had been of a place near the Straits of Gibraltar, or in the Americas. "You shall see!" cried Nemo, and left, returning a short while later with a manuscript, which he described as an ancient document recently discovered in Fresia, called 'The Oera Linda Book' . Fogg, who had knowledge of obscure languages, examined the book and after a while declared that it did indeed describe the location as being under the North Sea. Nemo only glared at the rest of us, and finally said, "I shall prepare," and then stormed out. Later, Holmes took me aside and intimated that he had examined the document, and decided that it was a fake. "But," he said, "we could never convince Nemo of it." Then he added, "I'm sure the captain will provide us with an interesting voyage nonetheless."

When Atlantis sank beneath the sea, the only thing that saved its occupants from watery death was a network of tunnels beneath the city, provided from below with breathable atmosphere . These tunnels apparently existed before the city sank; one theory is that the mountain upon which Plato says Atlantis was built was actually a hollowed-out volcano, dead from ancient times. The Atlantans adapted in time to their new environment; they tamed the creatures of the sea around them, most notoriously training Giant Squid to defend the sea that lies above them. However enlightened the Atlantans may have been before their country sank (and they have wonderful ancient archives), twenty-five centuries of isolation have left them extremely xenophobic and aggressive. They are unusually healthy and very long lived, having access to a form of concentrated, nutrient-rich water resource called Vrill that is collected in the underground tunnels.

The Cthulhu are a malicious and telepathic alien race, originally from the distant planet Vhoorl. They came to Earth in pursuit of their sworn enemies, the Vril-ya, who were in search of the rare mineral, Vrill, which has powerful medicinal properties, and can, in sufficient quantity, induce immortality. As the Vril-ya approached the Earth, however, the Cthulhu were able to cripple their ship, causing it to crash on the Moon. The Cthulhu then continued on to Earth and seized the only source of Vril on the planet, in deep tunnels beneath the city of Atlantis. They represented themselves as Gods and Monsters to the humans and demanded tribute and sacrifices. But when the city of Atlantis sank under the sea, the Cthulhu found themselves trapped from above by the Atlantans and the Sea, and from below by the Mahar, a race impervious to their telepathic powers. But from their rocky tombs the Cthulhu are still able to invade the dreams of the humans in the world far above as horrible, horrible nightmares.

The Mahars are the formally dominant race within the hollow earth. They are super-intelligent pterosaurs descended from rhamphorynchus of the Jurassic. On the surface, the rhamphorynchus grew to no larger than a crow, and were unintelligent. But due to some freak of Pellucidar’s evolutionary chain, here they developed vast intellect and stupefying mental powers. Mahars are totally deaf, and communicate telepathically among one another, and to their servants the sagoths. They are also deaf, but have developed a form of “musical” entertainment based on motion. They often use a related species, the giant thipdars, as bloodhounds to chase down escaped slaves, and guard animals. They use humans (gilaks) for their scientific experiments, and also to serve as Mahar food, though eating any kind of mammal is considered taboo, and not done by “respectable” members of the species. Humans intended to serve this purpose are taken to a Mahar “temple”, where they are imprisoned on islands surrounded by water, not unlike an aquatic zoo exhibit. When a mahr singles out a human as victim, she fastens her gaze on him/her, and lures the mesmerized victim into the water to be devoured. Mahars, unlike their Jurassic ancestors are able not only to fly but to swim as well as a seal. Mahars are also a race entirely made up of females. Somewhere along their journey to dominance, Mahar scientists learned to fertilize their eggs chemically, eliminating the need for males.

The Royal Docks comprise three docks in east London - the Royal Victoria Dock, opened in 1855, the Royal Albert Dock, opened in 1880, and the King George V Dock, which was completed in 1921. They are more correctly called the Royal Group of Docks to distinguish them from the Royal Dockyards, Royal being due to their naming after royal personages rather than Crown ownership. The three docks collectively formed the largest enclosed docks in the world, with a water area of nearly 250 acres (1.0 km2) and an overall estate of 1,100 acres (4.5 km2). This is equivalent to the whole of central London from Hyde Park to Tower Bridge.

Victoria Dock was built on a previously uninhabited area of the Plaistow Marshes. It was the first London dock to be designed specifically to accommodate large steam ships. It was also the first to use hydraulic power to operate its machinery and the first to be connected to the national railway network. By any measure, it was a commercial success. By 1860, it was already taking over 850,000 tons of shipping a year - double that of the London Docks, four times that of St Katharine Docks and 70% more than the West India Dock and East India Docks combined.

The Royal Albert Dock was constructed to the east of the earlier Victoria Dock by the Duke of Connaught and the St Katharine and London dock companies. It was even larger than the Victoria, with over 3 miles of quay, and an entrance to the Thames far down river at Gallions Reach.

By 1886 there was over-provision of dock facilities within the Port of London; there were 7 enclosed dock systems: the London and St Katherine's Docks, the Surrey Docks, the West India Docks, the Millwall Docks, the East India Docks, the Royal Victoria Dock, the Royal Albert Dock and Tilbury Docks. This created financial difficulties for the dock companies, and the East and West India Docks Company went into receivership in 1886. Low financial returns led to a lack of investment in new facilities and, at a time of rapid advances in technology, the ports' facilities became increasingly inefficient. A Royal Commission was appointed in 1900 to look into these problems and as a result the Port of London Act was passed in 1908. The Port of London Authority (PLA) came into being the following year and took over all the existing Docks.

Although the third Royal Dock, the King George V Dock, was smaller than the other royals, it had its own entrance from the Thames and could berth liners as large as the RMS Mauretania.

The Royal Exchange was officially opened by Queen Elizabeth I who awarded the building its Royal title, on 23 January 1571. During the 17th century, stockbrokers were not allowed in the Royal Exchange due to their rude manners, hence they had to operate from other establishments in the vicinity, like Jonathan's Coffee-House. Gresham's original building was destroyed in the Great Fire of London in 1666. A second exchange was built on the site, designed by Edward Jarman, which opened in 1669, and was also destroyed by fire on 10 January 1838.

The third Royal Exchange building, which still stands today, was designed by Sir William Tite and adheres to the original layout - consisting of a four-sided structure surrounding a central courtyard where merchants and tradesmen could do business. It features pediment sculptures by Richard Westmacott (the younger), and was opened by Queen Victoria on 28 October 1844, though trading did not commence until 1 January 1845.

Around the World in Eighty Days (French: Le tour du monde en quatre-vingts jours) is a classic adventure novel by the French writer Jules Verne, first published in 1873. In the story, Phileas Fogg of London and his French valet Passepartout attempt to circumnavigate the world in 80 days on a £20,000 wager (equal to £1,324,289 today) set by his friends at the Reform Club. It is one of Verne's most acclaimed works.

Some say that it was founded by Francis Bacon, and that a signed copy of Shakepeare's First Folio was the first book of its collection. Others maintain that it was built simply to be a depository of the Hannover Kings' libraries. Whatever its origins, the Universal Library, with its temperature-constant vaults extending deep beneath Hyde Park in London, has the mission of collecting, storing, and indexing all of the books ever written.

A different version of the Universal Library was written about in a 1901 short story by the same name by Kurd Lasswitz, who is considered to be the father of German science fiction.

Scotland Yard is often used as a metonym for the Metropolitan Police Service of London. It derives from the location of the original Metropolitan Police headquarters at 4 Whitehall Place. Previously a private house, 4 Whitehall Place which had a rear entrance onto a street called Great Scotland Yard. The Scotland Yard entrance became the public entrance to the police station. Over time, the street and the Metropolitan Police became synonymous.

The Metropolitan Police was formed by Home Secretary Sir Robert Peel with the implementation of the Metropolitan Police Act, passed by Parliament in 1829. Peel, with the help of Eugène-François Vidocq, selected the original site at 4 Whitehall Place for the new police headquarters. The first two Commissioners, Charles Rowan and Richard Mayne, along with various police officers and staff, occupied the building.

Vidocq was an extremely colorful character; a French criminal and criminalist whose life story inspired several writers, including Victor Hugo and Honoré de Balzac. A former crook who subsequently became the founder and first director of the crime-fighting Sûreté Nationale as well as the head of the first known private detective agency, he is considered to be the father of modern criminology and of the French police. He is also regarded as the first private detective.

Chief Superintendent Gregory Temple, a character in Paul Féval's Jean Diablo (John Devil) 1862, is widely regarded as the first Scotland Yard Detective in crime fiction. Emile Gaboriau worked for Féval, before he created his own detective, Monsieur Lecoq. Lecoq later influenced the creation of Sherlock Holmes.

The Illuminati (plural of Latin illuminatus, "enlightened") is a name given to several groups, specifically to the Bavarian Illuminati, an Enlightenment-era secret society. The movement was founded in Ingolstadt (Upper Bavaria) as the Order of the Illuminati, with an initial membership of five, by Jesuit-taught Adam Weishaupt (d. 1830), who was the first lay professor of canon law at the University of Ingolstadt. The movement was made up of freethinkers as an offshoot of the Enlightenment, and was modeled on the Freemasons.

On 1 May 1776 Weishaupt formed the "Order of Perfectibilists", later renamed "Order of the Illuminati". He adopted the name of "Brother Spartacus" within the order. Though the Order was not egalitarian or democratic, its mission was the abolition of all monarchical governments and state religions in Europe and its colonies.

Weishaupt wrote: "the ends justified the means." The actual character of the society was an elaborate network of spies and counter-spies. Each isolated cell of initiates reported to a superior, whom they did not know, a party structure that was effectively adopted by some later groups.

Weishaupt was initiated into the Masonic Lodge "Theodor zum guten Rath", at Munich in 1777. His project of "illumination, enlightening the understanding by the sun of reason, which will dispel the clouds of superstition and of prejudice" was an unwelcome reform. Soon however he had developed gnostic mysteries of his own, with the goal of "perfecting human nature" through re-education to achieve a communal state with nature, freed of government and organized religion. He began working towards incorporating his system of Illuminism with that of Freemasonry

Writings by Weishaupt that were intercepted in 1784 were interpreted as seditious, and the Society was banned by the government of Karl Theodor, Elector of Bavaria, in 1784. Weishaupt lost his position at the University of Ingolstadt and fled Bavaria.

The order had its branches in most countries of the European continent; it reportedly had around 2,000 members over the span of ten years. The organization had its attraction for literary men, such as Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and Johann Gottfried Herder, and even for the reigning dukes of Gotha and Weimar. Many Illuminati chapters drew membership from existing Masonic lodges. Internal rupture and panic over succession preceded its downfall, which was effected by the Secular Edict made by the Bavarian government in 1785.

After the Edict, some members of the Society established new cells in countries which also had thriving Masonic Lodges. Weishaupt received the assistance of Duke Ernest II of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg (1745–1804), and lived in Gotha writing a series of works on illuminism, including A Complete History of the Persecutions of the Illuminati in Bavaria (1785), A Picture of Illuminism (1786), An Apology for the Illuminati (1786), and An Improved System of Illuminism (1787). In France, Illuminati were suspected of deep involvement in the events leading to the French Revolution, and it was not rare to find Weishapt's books among the reading materials of the Jacobins.

When The Eye of Providence, a mystical symbol which was the symbol of the Bavarian Illuminati, derived from the ancient Egyptian Eye of Horus, began to appear in the iconography of the American United States, it was taken as evidence that the Illuminati had adherents among the founders of that country as well. When George Washington was challenged on this point, he at first denied any Illuministic influence in America; he later (as America's first politician) denied that denial, insisting that what he had meant was that the Freemasons (with whom he was closely tied) were not the source of it:

It was not my intention to doubt that, the Doctrines of the Illuminati, and principles of Jacobinism had not spread in the United States. On the contrary, no one is more truly satisfied of this fact than I am. The idea that I meant to convey, was, that I did not believe that the Lodges of Free Masons in this Country had, as Societies, endeavoured to propagate the diabolical tenets of the first, or pernicious principles of the latter (if they are susceptible of separation)..

- George Washington – Letter to the Reverend G. W. Snyder (24 October 1798)​

Even after having seen first hand the abuses of the Jacobins in the French Revolution, Thomas Jefferson was less critical of the Illuminati, but remained skeptical of their ideology, writing:

Wishaupt [sic] seems to be an enthusiastic Philanthropist. He is among those (as you know the excellent [Richard] Price and [Joseph] Priestley also are) who believe in the indefinite perfectibility of man. He thinks he may in time be rendered so perfect that he will be able to govern himself in every circumstance so as to injure none, to do all the good he can, to leave government no occasion to exercise their powers over him, & of course to render political government useless."

If Illuminism found fertile ground among the new elites in America, it was less successful at reforming or recruiting from the Grand Lodges of England, due to the heavy involvement of aristocracy among their membership.

One of the most notable Illuminati Grand Masters was the Scottish Writer John Galt. Galt was a writer of popular rustic fiction, and had been a friend and biographer of Lord Byron. He was an ardent student of political philosophy, being a friend to the political philosophers Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill, who established the "Utilitarian" Society, taking the word, as he tells us, from Galt's Annals of the Parish. Bentham espoused, like the Illuminists, that the purpose of Government was "the greatest happiness of the greatest number" (a formula adopted from Joseph Priestley), and that the pursuit of such happiness is taught by the "utilitarian" philosophy. By this, it might be said that he fathered not one, but two political philosophies which have since, and to the present, been at total war with one another.

When the Grand Lodges became the United Grand Lodge of England with the Duke of Sussex (son of King George III) at it's head, things got hot for the anti-monarchist Illuminists, and Galt went to Gilbralter and established a trading company, ostensibly to circumvent Napoleon, but actually to serve as a critical node in the Illuminati spy network. After his return to England, Galt married Elizabeth Tilloch, daughter of Alexander Tilloch, editor of the Philosophical Magazine, in which the most important technological breakthroughs of the day were first published. For the next few years, Galt devoted himself to just two duties: writing popular novels and expanding his spy network. This involved constantly moving, and even switching publishers frequently, in order that his motives were not revealed. Galt lived at times in London, Glasgow, Edinburgh and elsewhere, writing fiction and a number of school texts under the pseudonym Reverend T. Clark.

When the authorities again began to close in on his operations, however, Galt was forced to resign his Grand Master's post and again left England, this time going to Ontario, where he founded the city of Guelph in 1827. The town's name was an inside joke from the viewpoint of an Illuminist: it comes from the Italian Guelfo and the Bavarian-Germanic Welf. It is a reference to King George IV, monarch at the time of the its founding, whose family was from the House of Hanover, a younger branch of the House of Welf, and Guelphs being the name given to the northern Italian factions who opposed the reign of the Holy Roman Empire, i.e. medieval Germany, in the 12th to 16th centuries. The community of Galt in Ontario was named after him. His three sons played prominent roles in Canadian politics; one of them, Alexander, was one of the 'Fathers of the Confederation', and Canada's first Minister of Finance.

When Galt returned to Great Britain in 1829 he was immediately imprisoned for several months by authorities, who were unable to find enough proof of his connection with the Illuminati to build a case; the best they could do was trump up a case in debtor's court. It was said that Sir Robert Peel was so frustrated by the inability of the Police to investigate Galt that it led to the establishment of Scotland Yard. In truth, the investigation was hamstrung by the need for secrecy; Galt had so successfully hidden the activities of the Illuminati that it was considered eccentric to even believe in its existence, and Galt's own role was such a closely held secret that the question, "Who is John Galt?" followed by the proper response continued to be the Illuminati's secret password of entrance long after his association with the Society ended.

Galt retired to Greenock in Scotland, publishing his two volume Autobiography (omitting his association with the Illuminati) in 1833.

The Salvation Army was founded in London's East End in 1865 by one-time Methodist minister William Booth and his wife Catherine. Originally, Booth named the organization the East London Christian Mission. The name The Salvation Army developed from an incident in May 1878. William Booth was dictating a letter to his secretary George Scott Railton and said, "We are a volunteer army." Bramwell Booth heard his father and said, "Volunteer! I'm no volunteer, I'm a regular!" Railton was instructed to cross out the word "volunteer" and substitute the word "salvation". The Salvation Army was modeled after the military, with its own flag (or colours) and its own music, often with Christian words to popular and folkloric tunes sung in the pubs. William Booth described the organization's approach: "The three ‘S's’ best expressed the way in which the Army administered to the 'down and outs': first, soup; second, soap; and finally, salvation."

In Das Kapital: Critique of Political Economy (1867), Karl Marx proposes that the motivating force of capitalism is in the exploitation of labour, whose unpaid work is the ultimate source of profit and surplus value. The employer can claim right to the profits (new output value), because he or she owns the productive capital assets (means of production), which are legally protected by the State through property rights. In producing capital (money) rather than commodities (goods and services), the workers continually reproduce the economic conditions by which they labour.

Das Kapital, Volume I (1867) was published in Marx’s lifetime, but he died, in 1883, before completing the manuscripts for Das Kapital, Volume II (1885) and Das Kapital, Volume III (1894), which friend and collaborator Friedrich Engels edited and published as the work of Karl Marx. The first translated publication of Das Kapital: Critique of Political Economy was in Imperial Russia, in 1872. Despite Tsarist censorship proscribing “the harmful doctrines of socialism and communism”, the Russian censors considered Kapital as a “strictly scientific work” of political economy the content of which did not apply to monarchic Russia, where “capitalist exploitation” had never occurred, and was officially dismissed, given that “that very few people in Russia will read it, and even fewer will understand it”.

Ada Byron, Lady Lovelace, was one of the most picturesque characters in computer history. Augusta Ada Byron was born December 10, 1815 the daughter of the illustrious poet, Lord Byron. Five weeks after Ada was born Lady Byron asked for a separation from Lord Byron, and was awarded sole custody of Ada who she brought up to be a mathematician and scientist. Lady Byron was terrified that Ada might end up being a poet like her father. Despite Lady Byron's programming Ada did not sublimate her poetical inclinations. She hoped to be "an analyst and a metaphysician". In her 30's she wrote her mother, if you can't give me poetry, can't you give me "poetical science?" Her understanding of mathematics was laced with imagination, and described in metaphors.

At the age of 17 Ada was introduced to Mary Somerville, a remarkable woman who translated LaPlace's works into English, and whose texts were used at Cambridge. Though Mrs. Somerville encouraged Ada in her mathematical studies, she also attempted to put mathematics and technology into an appropriate human context. It was at a dinner party at Mrs. Somerville's that Ada heard in November, 1834, Babbage's ideas for a new calculating engine, the Analytical Engine. He conjectured: what if a calculating engine could not only foresee but could act on that foresight. Ada was touched by the "universality of his ideas". Hardly anyone else was.

By 1834, Lovelace was a regular at Court and started attending various events. Her intelligence and quick wit were highly prized by her acquaintances, which included Sir David Brewster (the originator of the kaleidoscope), Charles Wheatstone, Charles Dickens and Michael Faraday. She danced often and was able to charm many people and was described by most people as being dainty. However, John Hobhouse, Lord Byron's friend, was the exception and he described her as "a large, coarse-skinned young woman but with something of my friend's features, particularly the mouth". This description followed their meeting on 24 February 1834 in which Lovelace made it clear to Hobhouse that she did not like him, probably due to the influence of her mother, which led her to dislike all of her father's friends. This first impression was not to last, and they later became friends.

On 8 July 1835 she married William King, 8th Baron King, later 1st Earl of Lovelace in 1838. Her full title for most of her married life was "The Right Honourable the Countess of Lovelace".

Ada Lovelace met and corresponded with Charles Babbage on many occasions, including socially and in relation to Babbage's Difference Engine and Analytical Engine. Babbage was impressed by Lovelace's intellect and writing skills. He called her "The Enchantress of Numbers". In 1843 he wrote of her:

Forget this world and all its troubles and if
possible its multitudinous Charlatans – every thing
in short but the Enchantress of Numbers.

During a nine-month period in 1842–43, Lovelace translated Italian mathematician Luigi Menabrea's memoir on Babbage's newest proposed machine, the Analytical Engine. With the article, she appended a set of notes. The notes are longer than the memoir itself and include (Section G), in complete detail, a method for calculating a sequence of Bernoulli numbers with the Engine, which would have run correctly had the Analytical Engine been built.

Some detractors have debated the extent of her original contributions, contending that the programs were mostly written by Babbage himself. Babbage wrote the following on the subject, in his Passages from the Life of a Philosopher (1864):

Friedrich Krupp (1787–1826) launched the family's metal-based activities, building a pioneering steel foundry in Essen in 1810. His son Alfred (1812–87), known as "the Cannon King" or as "Alfred the Great", invested heavily in new technology to become a significant manufacturer of steel rollers (used to make eating utensils) and railway tyres. He also invested in fluidized hotbed technologies (notably the Bessemer process) and acquired many mines in Germany and France. Unusually for the era, he provided social services for his workers, including subsidized housing and health and retirement benefits.

The company began to make steel cannons in the 1840s—especially for the Russian, Turkish, and Prussian armies. Low non-military demand and government subsidies meant that the company specialized more and more in weapons: by the late 1880s the manufacture of armaments represented around 50% of Krupp's total output. When Alfred started with the firm, it had five employees. At his death twenty thousand people worked for Krupp—making it the world's largest industrial company and the largest private company in the German empire.