tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4522018539311056682.post6926060778006338765..comments2024-03-27T01:28:28.346-07:00Comments on False Machine: The Empire of Gormenghastpjamesstuarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13288777018721199748noreply@blogger.comBlogger17125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4522018539311056682.post-19410611874371708372021-07-13T17:11:39.365-07:002021-07-13T17:11:39.365-07:00Oddly the game that most reminded me of Gormenghas...Oddly the game that most reminded me of Gormenghast is Electric Bastionland, a city so full of inhabitants that you are never truly alone; the near opposite of the castle of ruins that is Gormenghast.<br /> Maybe it is that both are fever dream fantasies of early Twentieth Century Britain, one from the time, the other over a century later ...edhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08131638200752104938noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4522018539311056682.post-24882886814340791542021-07-13T13:14:29.356-07:002021-07-13T13:14:29.356-07:00This is a lovely extrapolation and rationalization...This is a lovely extrapolation and rationalization of Gromenghast (though still a fantastical one of course). The Groan books are certainly one of the things that's influenced my own setting design - though I suppose I imagine the world of Castle Gromenghast (or the Palatine Mound of the Imperial Captial) shrinking and closing in like any collapsing empire, the hoarded plunder of ages flowing out to vibrant and resurgent cultures in the hinterlands, and necessities priced high trickling in. Threadbare thrones, and noble tables sparsely fed with decorative carp and tiny oranges that were the terrace hobbies of the ancestors. Yet for the elite the obvious winding down of worldly power, the broken staircases and peeling mirrors are far less important then intricacies of court and power - who will lead this regiment or succeed to that dukedom: both lost a generation before to desertion.<br /><br />Anyway there's a lot of fun to be had skipping through the elegiac stained glory. Thanks for posting this. Gus Lhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14872819206286105195noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4522018539311056682.post-29484108991861884762021-07-01T05:38:51.065-07:002021-07-01T05:38:51.065-07:00piranesi art would work and other collosal buildin...piranesi art would work and other collosal building fantasies - i have a infinitely ruined giant city/land in my game players keep visiting to learn secrets of the cosmos but mostly full of stupid clod survivalist giants in ruinsKonsumterrahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18170560484656800416noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4522018539311056682.post-45854318222244735282021-06-30T13:38:39.781-07:002021-06-30T13:38:39.781-07:00There is an explicit reference to the burning of a...There is an explicit reference to the burning of artwork in one of the early scenarios of Dark Heresy, i'll have to look it up again.Mradon Kalashhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06373817703237113329noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4522018539311056682.post-50461141391575942992021-06-30T11:41:52.116-07:002021-06-30T11:41:52.116-07:00Love this. “Deep Time on a human scale” is a conce...Love this. “Deep Time on a human scale” is a concept I love and have tried to use in Dreamland. The books are all so good, even the big insane presumptuous twist of Book 3, and I’m left wondering how Peake would have possibly ‘continued’ it in a 4th book, who knows what his sadly advancing dementia had planned for his One World and his One Favorite (after Steerpike?) Character….Jason & Jayhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08382538007150266805noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4522018539311056682.post-20699877473612880092021-06-30T10:23:32.635-07:002021-06-30T10:23:32.635-07:00This comment has been removed by the author.Matthewhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11583217398067521538noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4522018539311056682.post-51946926728542932112021-06-30T08:48:07.149-07:002021-06-30T08:48:07.149-07:00Re. Covers and illustrations, my own copies have t...Re. Covers and illustrations, my own copies have these covers, by Mark Robinson. (https://www.arenaillustration.com/news/2011/08/my-dream-job/)<br /><br />A little difficult to tell, I know, under all the titles and price tags, but I've a fondness for the sense of scale and time conveyed by them - look at the wear of many thousands of feet on that staircase, or the mist-wreathed protruding bastion.Solomon VKhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11763252777153908412noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4522018539311056682.post-17090500872750246832021-06-30T02:21:39.780-07:002021-06-30T02:21:39.780-07:00Both can be true. Gormenghast could have influence...Both can be true. Gormenghast could have influenced 40k which then definitely influenced me when I was writing about it.pjamesstuarthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13288777018721199748noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4522018539311056682.post-13478542480947896942021-06-30T01:40:25.752-07:002021-06-30T01:40:25.752-07:00Surely it's the other way around: Gormenghast ...Surely it's the other way around: Gormenghast is one of the precursors of 40K. (It's a foundational work of British fantasy, after all - there's no way the original GW crew weren't familiar with it.) Both are interested in what happens when you take a hierarchical class system and just let it sprawl *forever*, physically and chronologically. Joseph Manolahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05387275537008858939noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4522018539311056682.post-58898597502646229372021-06-30T01:27:43.724-07:002021-06-30T01:27:43.724-07:00Oh the Wyrd-and-Wyld guy. I know of him.Oh the Wyrd-and-Wyld guy. I know of him.pjamesstuarthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13288777018721199748noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4522018539311056682.post-38140104208127868612021-06-30T01:21:01.705-07:002021-06-30T01:21:01.705-07:00I have not heard of it but will try to take a look...I have not heard of it but will try to take a lookpjamesstuarthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13288777018721199748noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4522018539311056682.post-91628494301667900832021-06-30T01:20:04.430-07:002021-06-30T01:20:04.430-07:0040k seems to seep into everything I do40k seems to seep into everything I dopjamesstuarthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13288777018721199748noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4522018539311056682.post-67135914426286701402021-06-30T01:17:58.705-07:002021-06-30T01:17:58.705-07:00Thank youThank youpjamesstuarthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13288777018721199748noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4522018539311056682.post-11119844860182452632021-06-29T18:39:51.133-07:002021-06-29T18:39:51.133-07:00Just wanted to say that I loved this and I haven&#...Just wanted to say that I loved this and I haven't even read Gormenghast. I gather from the post that the whole resource supply chain thing isn't in the books at all, so massive credit to you because that stuff has this melancholy vibe that I love in a setting. That sense of age, tradition, and alienating enormity of scale is really cool. Not a perfect fit, but probably the closest TTRPG thing I've read is "The Vast in the Dark" (https://feral-indie-studios.itch.io/vast-in-the-dark).<br /><br />Bumping Gormenghast up from somewhere in the godforsaken middle of of my reading list to the "I actually might get to this" section at the top.Salindayhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03474506269950104807noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4522018539311056682.post-1273140197977628192021-06-29T18:23:20.128-07:002021-06-29T18:23:20.128-07:00That last pic is Alan Lee from his book "Cast...That last pic is Alan Lee from his book "Castles"Matthewhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11167344710085522777noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4522018539311056682.post-2350075756333915302021-06-29T17:15:17.611-07:002021-06-29T17:15:17.611-07:00Still haven't read Gormenghast. (so many books...Still haven't read Gormenghast. (so many books, etc.) Tangentially, are you familiar with the webcomic The Mansion of E? Some related concepts you might enjoy if you've time for an enormous archive binge.Jason McCulleyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02786790890474712648noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4522018539311056682.post-22008896611525976362021-06-29T14:11:09.209-07:002021-06-29T14:11:09.209-07:00Oh that last paragraph really got me, shivers. The...Oh that last paragraph really got me, shivers. The ultimate extension of the feudal vassal-lord contract.<br /><br />I’m sure you’re aware of the parallels but the whole ‘massive accounting nightmare tribute’ makes me think of the 40k Administratum and the bureaucracy of Holy Terra.<br /><br />Titus Alone really shook me when I first read it, I found it a very powerful read. The strangely modern technology, the two policemen: it’s a bloody good book.Ben Masseyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09296387469310535838noreply@blogger.com