From: "Greg Bishansky" <madoc55@.>
Date: Thu Oct 17, 2002 9:26 pm
Subject: Thursday Night

It's been pointed out to me that one of the reasons why the arc I've
proposed has not been looked upon favorably is that I made a misuse
of the term, "Civil War", when what is going on would be something a lot more
subtle than that. I've done a poor job presenting it.

And Todd and Lynati are right, I should have been more straight
forward instead of dropping hints. I didn't like when others have done that
in the past, so I shouldn't be doing that either.

Okay, first and foremost, this is an idea that would be built up to
very slowly, and really there'd only be at most two or three real battles.
And I've rethought the idea a little, so not all the clans would be
involved. Really just the Manhattan Clan, the Antarctic Clan, the Persian Clan,
the newly formed Mongolian Clan and the Chinese Clan. Maybe the Labyrinth
Clan also.

And this is not slated for season five, but season six or seven...

Basically it's about ideological differences and ambition. Goliath and
Demona again. Though with other interesting and important players
thrown in.

The Persian Clan, etc.

The Mongolian Clan was formed by gargoyles who deserted the Persian
Clan, upon learning that it's leaders worship Apep (very few are aware of
this), and I'll repost the bio I wrote for the Persian Clan at the end of
this e-mail.

Demona is out to protect her race, she thinks gargoyles like Goliath
are leading them to destruction. Of course, Demona is not the most stable
and rational of people. She thinks she's best qualified to lead them, I
don't think she'd use the word queen, but she probably would behave like a
tyrant should she lead the entire race.

Now with the council founded, Demona feels that she has a way to reach
gargoyles around the world. Spread her message about the evils of
humanity, and only under her leadership can she ensure their survival. "We
Must be united and strong, and willing to deal with the humans as they would
deal with us." She's smart enough to not say "we're going to war against
humanity", even though that may be be part of her master plan. But one
thing at a time.

She finds a kindred spirit in the Balthazar (or thinks she does),
they meet at the next council meeting (season five), which Demona
does attend. And while she's not willing to listen to him at first because
he was allied with Thailog through Tamora, he eventually wins her over.
He's a smart Garg. A romance starts between them
(Two more great loves for Demona after all :)), and they
form a union, Demona providing the capital and using Nightstone
also to try and convince the other clans to unite with them. I think
Balthazar is really in love with Demona unlike Thailog. He's just
being careful with her. He wants to induct her into the Circle that
worships Apep eventually, just taking his time, because at present
she would not bow down to anyone (and as we know she never will).

Balthazar mean while has his own agenda. Since he worships Apep, and
Apep wants the gargoyles to be his slaves, he wants to bring gargoyles
under Apep's shadow. I could easily see a scene between him and Harthoth
where Balthazar feels that serving Apep in the manner Harthoth does is an
honor, and he would gladly trade positions with him. But Harthoth won't be a
big player in this. Maybe a minor appearance now and then as a nod to
"Timedancer". Balthazar also wants to find and punish the renegades
who left the clan, because he views them as a threat to his plans.

Well, at some point, Icarus joins up with them. Icarus is playing both
sides as I've explained. He's really the dragon, Bahemut, and he and
Apep have an old feud. Both are just as bad as the other. Apep wants to
destroy the world, and Bahemut is out to do what ever amuses him and just
stick it to Apep. What started this feud, I'm not exactly sure. But Bahemut has
spent a lot of time among the Mongolian Clan, taken form as a gargoyle
pretending to be one of them.

The Antarctic Clan get a little visit from Icarus, and I've explained
what happens. Demona wants to bring them to her side, and Icarus explains
that if they don't, he may have to rough them up a little, and ends up
slaughtering them to rile the clans up against the Persian Clan. The
survivors, including Aurora, make their way to Manhattan. And it will
be tragic, between now and then, we will get to know them. A lot of this
is planned for the Lexington-Aurora romance, which will be a very slow
romance. I'll see if Robby can post an outline of that, because it ties in
here, and will tie to one of our main characters.

And then, we get a couple of conflicts. At some point Demona does
learn about Apep, and Balthazar tries to induct her, and if not, lock her
up unti he can convert her, because he does love her... in his own sick way I
guess. But he underestimates her, and she does away with him. Some of these
events drive Demona even further down the deep end, and she decides
to do whatever is necessary to become leader of the gargoyle race, even if
it means killing a few gargoyles who would stand against her, such as
Goliath. She's come to far to stop now.

She takes the attitude of "You'll thank me later, this is for your own
good."

While there are outside forces, it will again come down to Goliath and
Demona, and their ideological views.

Not all the clans will fight, for example the Mayan Clan will not,
they're numbers are too few, so they'll be neutral.

These would be character pieces and not just combat stories. I have
plans for Goliath, Elisa, Brooklyn, Sata, Lexington, Angela, Hudson, Demona,
Aurora, Delilah etc in this arc.

But there would probably be only two or three real battles. Definetly
one in Manhattan and one in the Persian Clan's domain.

Um, did I miss anything?

Greg B

Because I promised.

THE PERSIAN CLAN

Probably one of the largest clans in the world, the Persian Clan has
spent many years under the ruthless leadership of their leader the
Balthazar. The Balthazar's ambitions end only at being the leader
of the entire gargoyle race, with a worthy mate ruling at his side.
And with dozens of gargoyles at his command, mostly warriors, but
even a couple of sorcerors, he is a true threat to the rest of the clans.
In season six, the Balthazar and Demona will have a secret love affair.

But the Persian Clan also guards a terrible secret, very few of them
are even aware of it. It is no accident that their clan is so numerous in
such a dangerous part of the world. The Persian Clan is under the
protection of the Dragon King, Apep, and even Harthoth has come
and gone at his own will. Apep gave the clan magic, volumes and
volumes of ancient knowledge, and magical protection from
humans in exchange for tribute being paid to him,
and the clan's alliegance. Very few of them are aware of this, but
among those who know are the Balthazar, Tamora and Darius
(though the latter two have been banished). A few other gargoyles
who learned of this broke away from the Persian Clan in order to
establish a new clan in Mongolia. The Balthazar does not plan for
this act of rebellion to go unpunished.

The Persian Clan lives in the middle of the desert in a huge Arabic
style palace, which includes a great library, a large pool, which is fed by
a river, and even many human servants magically enslaved to serve and
defend the clan with their lives. With the weapons and equipment given to
them by Nightstone Unlimited, the Balthazar could start a war, and that's
something he plans to eventually do.

When their alliance with Thailog was discovered in season 4, and
Thailog was defeated, Balthazar had to deny all knowledge of the
alliance, and since Tamora had done all the work and proposed
the alliance in the first place, she was blamed and as a show of
good faith, the Balthazar banished her and offered her to the
Council for trial... if they can capture her that is.
For now, the Persian Clan is somewhat trustworthy among the Council,
and they plan to take advantage of that for as long as they can.

The majority of the Persian Clan do not have names, names are only
reserved for those who earn a place of esteem among the clan, and only the
leader earns the title of the Balthazar. Tamora was second-in-command and
thus was allowed to choose her name, and Darius was the clan's lead sorceror,
so likewise earned the priveledge of a name. A few others may have names
also.