The Gotham Guillotine

Stargoyles
by Elias Everett

[Editor’s Note: The following is a continuation of Elias Everett’s TTRPG lore, the first installment of which appeared in the debut issue of The Gotham Guillotine. Further installments will appear in further issues.]

Chiropterras Grotescae are a genus of humanoid extraterrestrials distinguished by their stony hides, large horns, pointed ears, and fearsome maws. These defining traits coupled with the brilliant stelliform patterns in their eyes have earned them the colloquialism, “Stargoyle.”

While a human name in origin (and a pejorative one at that), the term was enthusiastically embraced by the Chiropterran Empire. The Royal Family were immensely pleased by the comparison. Not only did these ancient sculptures of Earth invoke a sense of might and ferocity worthy of The Empress herself, but they were instilled with the very essence of the Chiropterran spirit. For at their core the Stargoyles hold few values higher than the balance of form and function, artistry, and utility.

The Chiropterran term for this balance is unpronounceable by the human tongue (as is most of the syllabary which composes their language) but is best translated as “The Sacred Equilibrium.” It is written that by this principle alone, the Royal Clan Daemnatron and its subfamilies conquered and absorbed every opposing Chiropterran Clan in a Divine War of Unification.

“A helmet was not worthy of its warrior until it spent years under the fine care of sculptors and jewelers. No engine of war graced the battlefield without murals of victories past and future emblazoned upon its sides. After the few frantic victories won against Clan Daemnation, our foes despaired to discover that even the spent shell casings left behind were forged from precious metals and inlaid with complex filigree fitted with gemstones.”

There is widespread belief that the Poetess Desecratia III recorded these words in her personal diary, though most Chiropterran Historians (royal and local) largely believe the quote to be misattributed. What both the masses and historians agree upon is that the Poetess Desecratia III crushed the final alliance of opposing forces and brought the remaining clans under the control of Clan Daemnation. With this final victory, Desecratia was crowned the first Empress of Chiropterra.

Although their rich resources and dedication to The Sacred Equilibrium certainly accelerated the success of their world domination, it was truly the Daemnations’ mastery of aerial combat which granted them global control. While most Stargoyles possess fanned, vestigial wing-fins which crest their elongated forearms, the Royal Bloodline and their subfamilies are “blessed” with immense saurian wings capable of bearing them to great heights. “The Blessing of Flight” as it has come to be known, not only aided the Daemnatrons in battle, but also in securing their right to rule the conquered.

In every hamlet, burg, and village they pillaged, once the last of the local holy women were killed, the Royal Priestesses graced their newly subdued subjects with the True Origin of all Stargoyles and their place in the Natural Order of Chiropterra.

Royal Priestesses of Clan Daemnatron are distinctly the most elegant, beautiful, and fragile of their line, yet in their holiness command such reverence that even the most boorish and bloodthirsty of Daemnatron Commandos bring themselves to heel at the slightest sight of their violet vestiges. For so much as touching the lowest of their acolytes without the express blessing of the High Priestess would secure a lifetime of torture for even those of noble blood.

The priestesses proclaimed that all Stargoyles once had been, as Clan Damenatron now was, an entirely female race, that had likewise joyously sailed the skies on great saurian wings. “The songs of old speak of an ethereal eons’ age of aerial ancestors ruling in power and peace, matched only in their strength and grace by the mighty Pterrons.”

Pterrons are a winged species of carnivorous megafauna that have ruled the skies of Chiropterra since its prehistory. Their ubiquity throughout the planet has enshrined them in almost every early Stargoyle legend and superstition. Some regions fear them as demons. Others worship them as matron deities. All Stargoyles hold them in immense respect. It is even a commonly held belief in many Chiropterran Clans that they themselves are descendants of the Pterrons.

Kneeling defeated in the ashes of their homes, the fallen peoples found themselves seduced by dreams of flight. Their imaginations soared at the suggestion of so sacred a bond between the Pterrons and their forebearers. Even more seductive was the suggestion of an exclusively female world. Stargoyles are a matriarchal people with a homonormative societal structure. Chiropterran males (also called drones) are half the size of their dominant counterparts and only live a “trivial” fifty to a hundred years in comparison to the female average of five-hundred.

Due to their shorter lifespans, male Stargoyles are predominantly believed to be incapable of fully developing mentally, physically, and emotionally. Thus, they are predominantly valued through their utility as servants, footsoldiers, and broodfathers. To this day, male Stargoyles are viewed by most Chiropterran Clans as a necessary evil of sorts. The very idea of an era where the Blessing of Flight had substituted the Blight of Man was more than enough to pique the interest of the dismissive and hateful minds among the conquered.

The Royal Priestesses continued:

“Since the days before written word, it was said that one Stargoyle, the eldest of two sisters, was unchallenged in the heights, speeds, and power with which she soared through the hazy aethers of Chiropterra. Vanity in her veins, she despised settling for a mate lesser than herself.

“‘There are none who could surpass my speed, my elevation, my elegance in the air!’” she decreed. “‘Why would I, who flies faster, and higher, and more skillfully than any other, stoop to pair with one of my own kind? Surely she shall hold me back, weigh me down, and disgrace my glory!’”

The younger sister begged her to reconsider, but the many suitors the elder sister spurned in arrogance urged her on with wicked eagerness. And so the ancient Chiropterran instead searched for a mate amongst the bestial Pterrons. In her prideful pursuit of superior offspring, she brought a great ruin upon the entirety of her people and planet. For with each abominable child she sired from her unholy coupling, a blight was brought forth upon the land in kind.

The First Curse said to beset the ancient Stargoyles was the Great Grounding. Once defined by their powers of flight, they would be eternally banished from the skies: never again to ascend the heavens on their own two wings.

The Second Curse was the Cleaving of Nature. Royal Scripture states that once the last Stargoyle had fallen to the soil, the ground itself began to shake, stretch and split. Where once had been a world of only lush jungles and crystal clear lakes, massive savannahs spanned and great rivers surged as snow-peaked mountains climbed the clouds and pierced the aethers, as if to taunt the fallen Stargoyles. Their beautiful home from which they had once drawn a sense of unity had become unfamiliar and unnatural to behold, all while tearing daughters from mothers and lovers from each other’s embrace.

The Third Curse that the Royal Priestesses spoke of was the Distortion of Life. After the lands had contorted, cracked, and blasphemously rearranged themselves into the many biospheres which now characterize the planet’s geography, the people were stricken with a pain unlike any they had ever experienced. It was then that a violent and horrific change took hold of the Stargoyles, as their physical forms shifted to accommodate their newfound confinements. In doing so, they had become alien to one another in appearance and behavior: the Stargoyle of the mountains had become pale and white, with manes of fur and beady eyes, while those of the swamps grew heavy scales and elongated snouts.

The Fourth and Final Curse bestowed upon the Stargoyles was the Blight of Men. No longer would two female Stargoyles be able to reproduce as they had since the dawn of creation. Instead, their procreation would be dependent on horrid, malformed creatures that had been created by the vile union of Chiropterran and Pterron. These mongrel halflings would themselves only survive a fraction of the typical Stargoyle lifetime. Never reaching full maturity,

they existed just long enough to catalyze generations of suffering through temptation and jealousy.

The Four Curses rendered the Stargoyles flightless, confused, fearful, and beleaguered. Only Clan Daemnatron, themselves descended from the Sky Mother (the contented younger sister of The Curse Mother) were spared these divine punishments, retaining the Sky Mother’s blessing.

When concluding every sermon, the Royal Priestesses would chastise their flock. “You have sinned sisters, and for your sins: brought to heal.”

The flock hissed.

“But worry not: for the Sky Mother is Merciful, and she grants clemency to all of the fallen who swear subjugation to her true daughters.”

Whether from envy, hatred, despair, or pride the Chiropterran Clans one by one forsook their old guardian spirits and matron deities to become converts of the Imperial Church. Devotees and followers of the church mark themselves by dawning the “Trappings of Penance”: a series of binds and restraints fitted with spikes, meant to cause the wearer constant suffering in symbolic atonement for their ancestor’s evils.

After the Great Unification, all of Chiropterran Clans, save for a few holdouts of brigands and savages, were folded into the Royal Faith. In the millenia since, the church has adopted a less ostentatious position in Stargoyle society. Without the need to focus energy on conversion, the Daemnatron Clergywomen began conducting themselves in secret: acting with impunity in upon their own interests as cultural enforcers with the full blessing and support of the Empress Herself.

Beyond the Royal Faith, Clan Daemnatron maintains their rule through three subfamilies, each charged with a different aspect of societal governance intent on maintaining The Sacred Equilibrium: The Art Wing, The Science Wing, and the War Wing. Not long after concluding the Divine War of Unification, the victorious royals grew restless (and paranoid) and efforts to develop off-world travel began in earnest. While Chiropterra’s quest to conquer the stars found its footing under Desecratia III, it would not be until the rule of her descendant: Empress Defilecia the Expansionist, that the Stargoyles developed interstellar capabilities. Progress, it seemed, had been extensively prolonged by the same Sacred Equilibrium that had propelled Clan Daemnatron to power..

When the Noble Ladies of Art and Science presented the first model of prototype, they had long planned to lay the project’s abject failures at one another’s feet. The Baroness of Science was convinced that the Empress would see her own stalwart efforts for efficient design through the gaudy hampering of that wretched Duchess of Art. All whilst the Duchess of Art was certain that her indelicate cohort would see the gallows for the prototype’s indelicacy of design. The Empress had made a rare descent from her airship “The Abominatrix” to view their progress, and both Wing Leaders felt more than their political careers would be at risk should she be displeased with their efforts. Both had taken certain measures to bolster appeal, each ensuring their daughters would be present and visible during the presentation. The Empress herself was mother to many, but her eldest, the Countess of War, was to be in attendance, and the Nobles hoped the presence of their own heiresses would win them sympathy from Her Highness.

Each elite had also taken care to adjust the outward appearance of her height in Defilecia’s presence. Baroness Dhümhilda, hailing from the mountainous sub-family, was naturally of a stouter build and had enhanced her height with a pair of customized motor-stilts. Initially designed by her ancestors for combat, Dhümhilda’s stilts had been specially engineered to put her just below the Empress in stature. Duchess Disarraya, being from the forest family, typically towered over the Empress and thus had her drones prepare a richly embroidered cushion of the finest fabrics for her to kneel upon before her Royal Radiance. While their failure was undeniable, they at the very least would spare themselves the dishonor of forcing Defilecia to crane her neck as she admonished them.

Admonishment would never come. Before allowing either noble to utter a word in defence of their rocket, Empress Defilecia beheaded both nobles in a single swipe of her saber.

“It seems I was not clear in my instruction,” she remarked, wiping the blood from her blade.

“I did not command the construction of a ship that can reach the stars”

Now addressing the new Duchess and Baroness:

“I commanded that MY ship reach the stars.”

“And since YOU”

The previously cackling Countess snapped to attention as her mother turned in rage.

“Seem to find great amusement in all this, you will oversee that they are successful, or I shall find a NEW heiress”

The Countess had barely choked back her laughter when she felt it plummet to the bottom of her gut like an anchor.

It was known to all that Defilecia’s airship was more than a mere palatial pleasurecruiser: The Abominatrix was a floating fortress whose shadow eclipsed entire villages, a platinum-plated dreadnought with an arsenal large enough to besiege the entire planet.

Beyond the scale of their undertaking, the technological barrier they faced was insurmountable. Chiropterra’s resource abundant lands had allowed for incredible advances in all areas of invention, but the Stargoyle dedication to detail-oriented craftsmanship in all endeavors greatly prolonged the development of certain technologies. Sporting dual helium envelopes and a dozen turbines powered by the latest in ethanol combustion engine, The Abominatrix was already the pinnacle of Chiropterran innovation. Bringing it to the stars would take more than settling petty bloodfeuds, it would require defying nature itself.

Over the following decades countless theories were tested, new methods developed, and processes refined by the newly ascended noblewomen under the Countesses’ ardent supervision. As the inherent impossibility of their task became more and more apparent, their

efforts became increasingly desperate. Frayed at seams, tortured by the memories of their mothers’ shared fate, it seemed inevitable that they too would face the blade. With each failure they felt their past ideals and aspirations slip through their fingers, and in reaching out for something, anything to hold on to: found themselves in each other’s clasp.

The great poets of Chiropterra will insist that it was this tragic, forbidden love between rival families that moved the mighty Sky Mother to light the beacons of inspiration: igniting their revolutionary discovery. And while this is certainly a romantic take on the true events, it’s not as misleading as many would assume! It is widely documented in the diaries of Dhümhilda II and Dissaraya II that they saw a massive increase in both productivity and creativity after the start of their affair. Even more famously: it was in the throes of a particularly passionate sexual encounter between the two that a certain rounding error was made.

That rounding error would of course lead to an incendiary incident during their launch test the following morning. This incident was so precise in both the path of its destruction and the number of labor drones it claimed that it manifested the First Spell ever cast on Chiropterran soil, and erupted into a pillar of flame that incinerated the remaining workforce. Rather than share this discovery with her mother, The Countess suppressed this discovery and urged the lovers to continue their work in secret. The precision, flourish, and sacrifice of the initial accident soon became easily replicable, with experimentation leading to modification and eventually a fully formed discipline of study which they dubbed “Mathmagics.”

When at last Defilecia descended once more to administer her final judgement, she discovered that the nobles had made no accommodations for her height, and no model to present. Incensed at their defiance she grabbed her swordhilt and screamed in pain as the precious metal seared her flesh and encased her hand in molten vengeance. Striding proudly from between her two Mathmagicians, the Countess of War approached her mother with a grin that split her face in two. Mages at her side, Empress Deflilecia II The Expansionist boarded The Abominatix and ascended to the stars.

During Defilecia II’s reign, she oversaw the colonization of many worlds and established several settlements that would become footholds of the Chiropterran Empire. Most were uninhabited, though few were home to several species of “lower” life-forms who have since been commodified or extinguished.

Dyzzantine, once home to species of burrowing rodents, became famous for its precious ores and gem deposits (and infamous for its working conditions and mortality rates). While the Oasis of Bhoode, known for its lush jungles and singing terrapinoids, was identified as a veritable paradise and became the Empress’s new seat of power. Defilecia II’s expansionist efforts were as fruitful as they were unchallenged for over two-hundred years, until encountering the peoples of the Trident Triumvirate.

From that point on the affairs of Stargoyles are well known: their attempted colonization of the Triumvirate has been recorded in agonizing detail by Icthiod and Stargoyle alike and the subsequent intervention of Ajirine’s Holy Order is chronicled in the memory cells of all Cometspore temples. Why, there are many Chiropterrans around today who were alive for the Android Uprising, First Contact with Humans, and the outbreak of the LGM War all within the same lifespan. In truth none of the information I’ve put forward in this paltry summation of Chiropterran history is revolutionary or groundbreaking. Royalcentric history is always tiring and propagandistic.

In the past I’ve elected to write far more extensively on the culture of Stargoyle Clans in the Pre-Unification period, something I’ve barely discussed in this writing. But I had to contextualize things this way, I’ve had to lay out events the way I have so that I can make sense of it all.

You see, my name is Helia Harvester, I’m a xenoanthropologist from Flareville, Venus, and I’m probably the foremost non-native expert on Chiropterran history and civilization. Unless of course my colleague in the adjacent cell has yet to pass from her gaping head wound, in which case she still holds the title for another minute at most.

TO BE CONTINUED

Visual Index

(A.) Silhouette Study for Sapient Species

1.) LGM

2.) Humans LTR: Martian, Venusian, Earthling

3.) Ajirine LTR: Soldier, Overseer, Assassin, Seer

4.) Frustrated Stargoyle Attempts

(B.) Simplified Stargoyle build

(C.) Detailed Profile of Stargoyle with Eyepatch

(D.) Exploration of Saurian Wing Design for Clan Daemnatron

(E.) Stargoyle Eye Practice: The “Star” resembles a stellated pupil and iris, but is actually an

asterism caused by the way their gemstone-like eyes reflect light.

(F.) This Chiropterran Warhelm is of the less intricate examples of its kind

(G.) A Chest-Mounted Air Filter allows for a larger filtration unit without further encumbering the warhelm

(H.) Front Facing Chiropterran Concept (a bit kaijuesque)

(I.) Mathmagic Gun Concept: Cylinder holds Rounds, Clip holds Spells

(J.) Bolt-Action Rail Rifle: Stargoyle weapons often require multiple triggers to be pulled at once

(K.) Flachette Pistol with Air-Cooled Barrel

(L.) Double Air-Cooled Barrel Pump-Action Trench Gun

(M.) Dueling Pistol with Custom Stock: often used as a rifle by rebellious drones

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Elias Everett (he/him) is a bisexual Zillenial and a massive dork. He writes largely to buff out the science fantasy setting for his tabletop RPG The Pantheon of Perseus. In his writings, he suffuses cynical humor with sincere whimsy while unsubtly exploring themes of class, gender, race, sexuality, disability, cultural anxieties, existential dread, and alien witchcraft. He makes a mean stew.

Image Credit: Total Eclipse of the Sun (1882) by Étienne Léopold Trouvelot from The Public Domain Image Archive

Visual Index Credit: Elias Everett