Check out this cool sculpture of an Elder Thing from "At the Mountains of Madness" created by artists Monstark and Dave Correia. I stumbled across it today, but it apparently dates back to 2018. It's pretty kick-ass for a project done with absolutely zero budget. What makes it particularly timely is that it popped while I was searching for Halloween projects to do with the grandkids.
We wrap up the week with a fun little printable prop- a blueprint for the Dornier Wal Do-J flying boat used by the Miskatonic University Antarctic Expedition in Lovecraft's "At the Mountains of Madness". You can click through on the picture below for a higher resolution graphic, or download an 11 X 14 PDF over here.
In the upper left you'll find the rundown of the plane's electrical system. That information is based on the stock Wal's 24 volt configuration, modified by the addition of two heavy duty batteries and a backup two-stroke gasoline generator. In flight the craft can function perfectly well with the current from the airstream generator on the top deck. The secondary generator is used primarily to power the engine warming gear when the plane is on the ground.
The engine specs in the middle left are based on the ones used by Wolfgang von Gronau on his around the world flight. This is the one place where I engage in a bit of handwaving. Although the engines are close to stock I've assumed that the Miskatonic expedition used aviation gas with an octane rating of 93 or above. Fuel of that quality was available within the time frame of the story and would be commonplace by World War II, powering the high compression engines of cutting edge fighters.
There are a few modifications to the stock airframe that aren't noticeable on casual examination. I've shortened the body and assumed that some of the steel frame has been replaced by machined aluminum, cutting the weight of the plane. Extending the lifting surface of the main wing helped generate more lift and significantly dropped the overall wing loading.
I combined some details of the radio sets carried by the first Byrd Antarctic expedition of 1928-1930 with the ones used by Charles Lindbergh and his wife during their Pacific survey flight in 1932. Although the Lindbergh flight occurred later in the timeline it's equipment (the Pan-American 10C) was first available in 1929. The 50 watt telegraphic transmitter on board the Miskatonic Wals would have given them a communications range of over 2000 km, while the emergency transceiver would have been limited to around 650 km.
Finally, the blueprint mentions the "fuel-warming and quick-starting devices worked out by Pabodie". This material was based on the modifications made to aircraft used by both arctic and antarctic expeditions throughout the twenties. It includes a rubberized canvas shroud for insulating the engine pod during warmup, electrical heating elements for the engine oil, and a backup system of kerosene heaters and an ether injector.
While the rest of us were celebrating Valentines Day with candy and flowers, Jason McKittrick was off to Antarctica to bring us this nicely done Elder Thing.
"Recovered during the Starkweather-Moore Expedition of 1933 and then subsequently acquired by Prof. William Dyer of Miskatonic University. This piece of extremely ancient soapstone was discovered near an undisclosed location in Antarctica. Seemingly fashioned into the curious star shape by artificial means not weathering. Sets of dot patterns have been theorized to be an unknown primitive language or constellation maps. Item is of possible extraterrestrial origin and correlates with descriptions of fabled "Elder Things" use of five pointed star motifs in construction and art."
Jason McKittrick brings us his recreation of the Elder Thing star stone from Lovecraft's "At the Mountains of Madness". As usual, the craftsmanship and presentation are outstanding.
"Have found peculiar soapstone fragment about six inches across and an inch and a half thick, wholly unlike any visible local formation. Greenish, but no evidences to place its period. Has curious smoothness and regularity. Shaped like five-pointed star with tips broken off, and signs of other cleavage at inward angles and in centre of surface. Small, smooth depression in centre of unbroken surface. Arouses much curiosity as to source and weathering. Probably some freak of water action. Carroll, with magnifier, thinks he can make out additional markings of geologic significance. Groups of tiny dots in regular patterns. Dogs growing uneasy as we work, and seem to hate this soapstone."
- H. P. Lovecraft, "At the Mountains of Madness"
The talented Joe Broers returns to our pages with this excellent take on an Elder Thing star stone.
This is insanely cool. "Billn53" at the BritModeller forums created this diorama of the Miskatonic University expedition to Antarctica, featuring the fateful flight to the Elder Thing city. I could quibble with the use of a Ford Trimotor instead of the canon Dornier Wal, but that would be picayune. To the average person the Trimotor is far more familiar, having played a vital part in Byrd's 1929 expedition.
There's so much to like here. You really have to click through and check out the full gallery. The diorama is filled with amazing details and easter eggs, including the story's giant albino penguins, the all-too-descriptive wall carvings, and a hungry shoggoth.
This white, waddling thing was fully six feet high, yet we seemed to realize at once that it was not one of those others. They were larger and dark, and according to the sculptures their motion over land surfaces was a swift, assured matter despite the queerness of their sea-born tentacle equipment. But to say that the white thing did not profoundly frighten us would be vain. We were indeed clutched for an instant by a primitive dread almost sharper than the worst of our reasoned fears regarding those others. Then came a flash of anticlimax as the white shape sidled into a lateral archway to our left to join two others of its kind which had summoned it in raucous tones. For it was only a penguin—albeit of a huge, unknown species larger than the greatest of the known king penguins, and monstrous in its combined albinism and virtual eyelessness.
One of the defining features of H.P. Lovecraft's "At the Mountains of Madness" are the huge, misshapen penguins discovered in the ruins of the ancient Elder Thing city. Ironically, they could be the one thing that makes long-term exploration of the high plateau structures by the Miskatonic expedition possible. Charles Dickinson was kind enough to send over this article from the Guardian about the use of raw penguin meat to prevent scurvy during one of the earliest polar expeditions.
Thirteen years before he became the first person ever to reach the south pole in 1911, the Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen experienced his first merciless taste of winter in the Antarctic. Stuck onboard the Belgian expedition ship Belgica, which was grounded in pack ice, he and the rest of the crew contracted scurvy and faced certain death.
That is when, according to a new book published later this month, Amundsen started eating raw penguin meat – and discovered a secret that would later give him a huge advantage over Captain Robert Falcon Scott in the race to the south pole.
It's a fascinating story. Amundsen was a huge influence on Lovecraft's story, in particular his use of the Dornier Wal seaplane for polar exploration. Given that resource management is a large part of Chaosium's classic "Beyond the Mountains of Madness" adventure, his use of penguin meat opens up some interesting story options . Having gigantic, eyeless albino penguins on the menu would be a wonderfully icky option for the final act.
"Have found peculiar soapstone fragment about six inches across and an inch and a half thick, wholly unlike any visible local formation. Greenish, but no evidences to place its period. Has curious smoothness and regularity. Shaped like five-pointed star with tips broken off, and signs of other cleavage at inward angles and in centre of surface. Small, smooth depression in centre of unbroken surface. Arouses much curiosity as to source and weathering. Probably some freak of water action. Carroll, with magnifier, thinks he can make out additional markings of geologic significance. Groups of tiny dots in regular patterns. Dogs growing uneasy as we work, and seem to hate this soapstone."
No matter where on the torso they are attached, I also have a problem trying to figure out how they fold up. They can't just open and close like a paper fan and still have a 7' wing spread- unless they attach near the top of the torso, below the gilled bulbous neck and then extend down to where the lower bulbous neck ends (see figure A, below).
Lovecraft's drawing and notes (above) confuse me because the sides of the torso have this jagged edge, like a pinecone or something. I think those are the wings folded up. On the left side, there is an arrow which points out to the note: (circled) "Fan-like expansible to 7 foot spread." And then: "veined ?????-membraned comb-????. At tips- ends of veins are spore cases." So, those could be the serrated edges of the comb-like wings somehow sticking out of the furrows, but....I don't see how those would unfold....unless the tubular veins extend each time, but I doubt it.
