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Demoness writes...

Today I watched the "Avalon" episodes and somehow it got me thinking about what we saw in "Long Way Till Morning" and "Shadows of the Past". *cracks knuckles* Okay here goes...

In "Long Way Till Morning" during one of the flashback scenes; Demona, Goliath, and Hudson enter the Archmage's cave and pass this wall with a bunch of carvings on it. From what I could tell, these carvings looked ancient and I began to wonder the following questions:

1: Did the Archmage somehow create these?

2: If no, who did then?

Now, there is this one carving we get a close up of that shows what looks like the Archmage standing over some gargoyles. So heres my next question:

3: What was the significance of that carving?

Now in "Shadows of the Past" we see this huge structure underneath the Archmage's cave. It looks like it has runes etched into it or some strange ancient writing. We know that it has a magical property because Hakon tells us when he is explaining how their ghostly forms could exist. At first I thought of the Archmage some how building it, but then again that leaves me with a bunch of questions. Anyway here is a question pertaining to that:

4: If not the Archmage, which is obvious by now, then who built that structure?

Also, I read the Lost Race archive and you stated that there were some artificats of the Lost Race left behind. So....

5: Is question (1) a Lost Race artifact?

6: Is question (4) a Lost Race artifact?

Greg responds...

1. No.

2. I'm not telling right now.

3. That's subject to interpretation.

4. See answer to question 2.

5. I'm neither confirming or denying this.

6. Ditto.

Response recorded on September 01, 2001

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One writes...

1) Will we ever receive any direct answers on the Lost Race other than "Maybe", "I'm not saying", "I'm not saying at this time", etc. any time soon?

2) Can you tell us everything about the Lost Race?

3) If so, tell us about the Lost race.

Greg responds...

1. Maybe but I'm not saying at this time.

2. Everything? No.

3. Well, they're lost. Bad sense of direction.

Response recorded on August 08, 2001

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Anonymous writes...

Was the Lost race like the children of Oberon and Gargoyles derived from legends and myths?

Greg responds...

I've lost the answer to that question.

Response recorded on June 29, 2001

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Laura 'ad astra' Ackerman writes...

Another try at sending this out-

I just typed up a particularly long question that didn't post and got lost, and I was foolish not to copy it somewhere before hitting submit. I apologize if it turns up later and this becomes a double post, and also if I can't get rid of the autoformating in Word and it looks a little screwy. After losing that long a question I am not taking a chance working directly into the web page.

It has been a long time since I posted a question... of course it has been a long time since I have been caught up with your answers. After reading all of the new responses, particularly those dealing with Oberon and Titania, a question has come to mind. [Actually two, but how many new ways can you ask, "What did Titania whisper to Fox?"? That question should almost have its own section.] The short form of the question is this: Just how different are Oberon's hildren from humans? I am not referring to physical or magical characteristics, but rather do they think in a quantifiably different way than do humans?

The long version of the questions comes after the long digression:

A while back a friend practically shoved an anthology into my hands and insisted I read a particular article. I believe it was called, "Hamlet in the Bush". The gist of it was that a young anthropologist found herself with an indigenous culture for a long boring stretch. [She had thought the off season would be a wonderful time to get to observe their culture. Had she asked them they would have told her the off season is the off season because the weather is so miserable that they cannot even visit the next village. They spend the time drink the local equivalent to bear waiting for it to pass.]

Before leaving she had had an argument with a friend. She argued that at base all humans are the same and once you do some explaining to take care of cultural differences, a great work of literature would be recognized as such by all people. The example that was bandied about was Hamlet, so he gave her a copy as a going away present.

With nothing else to do she sat in her tent and read it over and over until the locals asked her what on Earth she was doing. They were a non-literate culture and to them reading papers meant reading boring legal documents. Even a white person could not be so daft as to spend weeks doing so. She seized upon it an opportunity to test her theory and they, being a story telling culture, were happy to oblige.

She immediately ran into two problems:
-1-They didn't have a concept of "ghost". Zombie, yes. Evil spirit in false guise, yes. But the idea of a dead person's spirit hanging around this world was simply ludicrous to them.
-2-They thought Claudius was a great guy. He acted as an exemplary uncle and brother-in-law, although he waited a bit long in taking care of his brother's household. [Three whole months! And with only one wife to tend the fields!]

In the end they loved the story (with their corrections) and thought she was on her way being a great storyteller, (being female aside). They also told her to be sure to tell her elders that they had been good hosts and had corrected her misremembering lest she continue in error.

I think her premise held, but she hadn't realized how far cultural difference went. The more complex the story, the more it was tied to its own cultural assumptions and the harder it is to explain to another culture.

Back to Gargoyles-

In Gargoyles the basic emotions seem pretty much universal. Gargoyles, humans, New Olympians, and even Nokar and Matrix as far as we have seen them, display them. Love, hate, curiosity and fear, as well as slightly more complex emotions of protection and loneliness are clearly expressed and are more easily understood than some lost cultures of our own ancestors. Are Oberon's Children fundamentally different, or if we can imagine long enough the effects of great power and incredibly long lives we can empathize without too much brain-sprain?

There are great works of speculative fiction that try to understand the mind of The Other. Zelazny had a whole series of stories of robots worshiping and trying to understand the long last human race. I recently read a great book called "Exogesis" (a post-modern Prometheius) by Astro Teller dealing with how a newly emerged AI might think and how humanity might respond. If I would list every book I could think of on the topic I will never stop typing and will eventually have feel the urge to start listing plays and movies as well, (and probably have to deal with Frankenstein, and I am not fond of the book. It is hard to like a book when you hate the main character. Perhaps the movies were right to make the monster the lead character. :).

It all boils down to this: Are the Children of Oberon "the Other", or something very much like ourselves?

Boy this is long! sorry.

Greg responds...

Don't apologize. It's fascinating.

Boiling it down...

YOU WROTE:

Are Oberon's Children fundamentally different, or if we can imagine long enough the effects of great power and incredibly long lives we can empathize without too much brain-sprain?

I'd have to say the latter. Great power. Little or no responsibility. Long lives. Being able to look however you feel at a given moment. You add these things up and they may seem other for awhile. But fundamentally, it's about extrapolation on our human emotions.

Because fundamentally, as a writer, what else can I do? Maybe someone else has the talent, ability, INTEREST in truly creating the OTHER. But not me. I'm interested in US. Gargoyles, humans, Oberon's Children. Toss in the New Olympians, Nokkar, the Space-Spawn, the Lost Race, etc. I'm fundamentally interested in figuring out what makes us real world humans tick. Or boil it down further, and I'm fundamentally interested in figuring out what the hell makes ME tick. All the characters in the Gargverse are just there as an alternative to me being in therapy, I guess.

Does that make sense?

Response recorded on June 29, 2001

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Anonymous writes...

What is the birthrate for Oberon's children?
What is the birthrate for Nokkar's race?
What is the birthrate for the Space-spawn?
What is the birthrate for the third race involved in the galactic war?
What was the birthrate for the lost race?

Greg responds...

At this time, I have not set any of these things in stone. INTENTIONALLY.

Response recorded on June 28, 2001

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Anonymous writes...

How long did the lost race live?

Greg responds...

Not answering that now.

Response recorded on May 08, 2001

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Bruno writes...

Dear Greg,

Does the misterious 'Lost Race' has a relation with the Lovecraft's Cthullu Mythos?

Greg responds...

Don't know.

Response recorded on January 03, 2001

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Vashkoda writes...

I asked you before if the Lost Race left behind any relics or artifacts, and you answered yes.

1a) Have we seen any of these artifacts/relics in the episodes that have aired? b) Which episode(s)? c) Who discovered them?

2a) If we haven't yet seen any such relics, in which spinoff(s) do you plan on presenting one/some? b) Who discovers it/them?

3a) Does Oberon know about the Lost Race? b) Does Merlin? c) Does Duval? d) Does Hudson?

4) Do you plan on making the Lost Race a recurring subject in future spinoff episodes, or are you only interested in introducing them in one or a few eps?

Greg responds...

I'm not giving details on any of this at this time.

Response recorded on November 09, 2000

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LSZ writes...

Would any of the Lost Race or their descendants appear in any series outside Timedancer?

Greg responds...

Maybe.

Response recorded on November 02, 2000

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Vashkoda writes...

Sorry about the long paragraph of questions. I prefer typing them out that way to save space in the archives, and so that I can later fit an entire post on my screen at once and more easily follow which questions your answers correspond to. But if it makes it easier on you, I'll spread them out (I didn't even realize how long my post had become until I submitted it).

1) What name would you like us to use to refer to the extinct race of sentient earthlings? (the one we keep calling the "zeroth", "lost race", or "fourth race"). Also, maybe they would deserve to have their own categoty in the archives? I found the posts about them in the "Children of Oberon", "Dark Ages" and "Garg Universe Chronology" sections.

2) Did this race ever have contact with extraterrestrials?

3) Did this race's civilization evolve/advance beyond that of present-day humans (in terms of technology, language, art, science, etc.)

4) Did this race study/practice magic? Was this race itself magical, like the fey, or did they use what you've called "mortal magic"?

5) Would Brooklyn ever encounter this race in his Timedancing?

6) a) Did this race die out from a natural disaster? b) Did they inadvertantly bring about their own extinction? c) Was another race the cause of their extinction?

7) Was this race still around when... a)gargoyles appeared b) humans appeared c) fey appeared d) Nokkar arrived on Earth

7) Do their surviving "genetic descendants" realize/remember that they evolved from this race? a) Do you plan on having these descendants eventually evolve sentience? (assumong they haven't already) b) are these descendants themselves rare or dying out as a species?

8) a) Did this race leave behind any relics or artifacts from their civilization? b) Were fossils of these beings ever uncovered? c) Do legends/mythologies about these beings still exist among the other races?

Greg responds...

Thanks for adjusting. It makes it much easier on me.

1. It's hard to give a category to something that currently I have no intention of discussing. But "Lost Race" seems as good a moniker as any -- as a place-holder.

2. Not that I'm aware of.

3. I'm not saying.

4. I'm not saying.

5. Yes.

6a. I'm not saying.

6b. I'm not saying.

6c. I'm not saying.

7a. I'm not saying.

7b. I'm not saying.

7c. I'm not saying.

7d. I'm not saying.

7 (again). I'm not saying.

7a (again). I'm not saying.

7b (again). I'm not saying.

8a. Yes.

8b. I'm not saying.

8c. I'm not saying.

Response recorded on September 16, 2000


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