And I'm busting up my brains for the words...
 |
| Drinking away the blues... |
Most journeys begin in one of two ways:
A
big mouth, in a small bar...
A crew-mate leaning forward, suspicious gaze sweeping
the room, whispers over Black-Hole Brew in an Alpha Blue dive...
“Best friend's brother's friend of a friend has
seen IT out a hull window.”
“It? You mean?”
“Yeah. Zigg's kingdom. The Church of Mad Rapture.”
“Nah, old spacer's tale. Somebody seein' stuff.
Probally tweakin' on Acid Meth.”
“Nope, got pics. See?”
“Damn... Where is this? Is that a black star?”
“Yup. Got the coordinates right here too. Wanna go
for a ride?”
A
dangerous book in eager hands...
You finally got it, damned if you can retrace the
steps back to the start, though.
Years? Months? Weeks? Days?
Doesn't matter, drugs make the mind work and time
just slides on by.
Really dangerous now, gotta lay low.
The Blackstar Gospel, written by Zigg himself.
It's all here: Kelob's coordinates, the final words
of Brahma Christos the Aeon Sattva, the secret of The True Ecstatic
Rapture, the path of Enlightenment Through Pleasure, the secret of
the keys, and the history of Zigg the first homosupreme.
Better move fast, damn knights want this thing too.
White, black, and blue. All of them want it.
But it doesn't matter, they can't have it. You'll die
before they get their damn hands on The Gospel.
You got a ship, cash, and nothing to tie you down.
You're good to go...
 |
| Kelob, the black-star itself. |
I'm a blackstar, way up, oh honey, I've got game...
It's a tall tale told by space-truckers and spacers
getting on in years. A Shangri-La of sex, drugs, neon, and
enlightenment. A place to rest your bones when they've become too
brittle for the re-entry G's. The Church of Mad Rapture, or The
Church of Mad Love. An one ship kingdom. A neon space cathedral. All
of it ruled over by Zigg, the king and pope of a religion of sex and
drugs. It's a secret church, preached by old trucker-junkies on their
way toward that last long haul. Supposedly the knights, doesn't
matter which color, are looking for it too. More than likely they're
too busy fighting each other, or picking up busty waitresses in the
case of the blues.
The church is a massive structure, almost the size of
Alpha Blue, but Alpha Blue will always be the biggest thing in the
galaxy. Alpha Blue is the size of a LSD dream, and those go on
forever. The Church of Mad Rapture is a mass of statues, lost TV's
from seedy motels, and the neon signs from every dive-bar that ever
has been or ever will be. The statues commemorate: Catholic and
Orthodox saints, Hindu deities, Muhammad (his face obscured by the
dust of centuries), the Buddha in all of his (or her) various and
enlightened forms, gods that were forgotten, goddesses that never
were, and deities that might have been if they were given half a
chance. The TV's play reruns of crooked game-shows and porn from the
late 1990's. All the sets are old CRT models, their pictures
flickering and rolling in the silence of the void. Finally, the neon
signs. It's impossible to see each sign individually, they've been
layered over one another by the millions create a single sign that
spells out, 'REST YOUR SOUL – LOVE YOUR BODY – EXPAND YOUR MIND'
and below that 'VACANCY' without an unlit 'NO'. There is always space
at Zigg's place. The only parts not festooned with flickering
anachronisms and holy idols are the docking ports. They're universal
ports, capable of accepting the biggest warship or the smallest
one-man skiff. There is always an open space amid the thousands of
abandoned spacecraft.
It orbits the fabled Kelob, the star God stood on when
he hacked Earth out of His nicotine soaked lungs. Supposedly, God
took note of this strange piece of flesh he birthed, then flung it
out to orbit Sol before going back to figuring out how to kill
Himself. Right before He committed suicide, turning Kelob black, he
considered humanity for a moment, then shot himself. These divine
last thoughts are the undead audio that Kelob echoes in the radio
whine of stars, disregarded by most as a religious telethon from a
long extinct alien species.
Supposedly Zigg was the first to find this place, and to
take note of the black star's radio cry. From within the Church, Zigg
composed The Blackstar gospel based on his translations of God's last
thoughts about humanithy. The Church is really just a bit of God's
Amygdala that escaped Kelob's gravity well, carried out the side of
God's head along with the Divine Bullet. As to it's physical shape,
perhaps God's brains were much different than humanity's, or Zigg
shaped it into something that could recognized. Now it orbits the
black star Kelob, waiting for those faithful spacers who are now in
on the big secret.
 |
| The Man and The Mystery. |
I'm the great I am (I'm a blackstar)...
The identity and history of Zigg is difficult to nail
down. The information he gives about himself in The Blackstar Gospel
is contradictory. In the end, most just choose one of the identities
he presents as they head toward The Church.
Who
is Zigg? – 1D6
1) Major Thomas Freecloud: The first
documented homosupreme in the Terran Aerospace Force. He disappeared
during the maiden voyage of Earth's first hyperspace capable ship,
The Space Oddity. The ship was using a prototype version of a now
obsolete engine call the Eno-Berlin Triad Drive.
2) Guy Stardust: Minor world celebrity and
economics prodigy who grew tired of life on Earth. Before leaving
Earth, he was THE supreme real estate tycoon, owning roughly 90% of
the Earth. The night before he boarded his ship, The Mars Spider, he
sold the world to a homeless beggar for 1 credit.
3) Aladdin Sane: A highly talented
musician and artist who suffered from schizophrenia. His mental
illness was exacerbated by his near endless tour schedule, days spent
painting without any sleep, and a serious addiction to Acid Meth and
Pink Floyd. In a drug induced fugue he stole a ship belonging to a
now forgotten movie star, though the ship is remembered as The
Prettiest Star. Before blinking into hyperspace on a random
trajectory he transmitted, “Who will love Aladdin Sane? Millions
weep a fountain, in case of sunrise.”
4) Thomas Jerome Newton, Duke of Stations: A
neo-aristocrat from Earth's first orbital habitat cluster, known for
a thin romantic veneer over an emotionless void. He quickly
squandered his inheritance on a Space Cocaine that grew to near
legendary levels. In order to curb his habit and 'get his head
together' he boarded his ship, the TCV 15, and blasted off to parts
unknown.
5) Jareth King: One of the earliest dons
of Terra Nostra, Jareth refined the act of kidnapping and ransom into
a true art. For decades he ruled from a labyrinthine
extra-dimensional complex, increasing the power and influence of
Terra Nosta by ten-fold. It was during a internal Terra Nostra power
struggle (i.e. a shootout) that he was mortally wounded. Jareth King
was last seen stumbling aboard his ship, The Goblin, right before it
blasted off to parts unknown.
6) Screamin' Lord Byron (a.k.a Vic Bluejean): A
washed out rock singer who's music never evolved from the defunct
genre that spawned it twenty years earlier. Before his widely
publicized disappearance, Screamin' Lord Byron / Vic was playing
state fairs and festivals. After years of abusing his body with every
drug he could get his hands on, had to be carted in a wheel chair
with an oxygen tank by the time of his last show at the Alpha Blue
Annual Swap Meet. His motivations remain unknown to this day, but
what is known is that he stole a rusted out ore-hauler named The
Freak Factor minutes before he was to appear on stage. A police chase
ensued, during which he announced that he was renaming the ship
'Dream' and he was going to go find 'a screamin' new star jam sound'
deep in the galactic core. Soon after his announcement his ship
slipped into hyperspace, pointed in the exact opposite direction from
the galaxy's core.
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