The Superiority of Scottish Magic

“The magician of Athodel ruled his own island. Athodel is one of the western Isles of Scotland. The island of Athodel has either sunken or has, according to some, has become invisible. Some Scottish historians like to see Athodel as evidence of the superiority of Scottish magic. The Raven King lost his kingdoms, but if the island is indeed invisible and the magician still reigns over the island it must defiantly prove that Scottish magic is superior to English magic. If you can follow that form of logic.”

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PS: I really didn’t believe I was going to reach my goal of fifteen posts this month. Like most months it just happens. I do hope to complete some projects that are currently littering my workbench in this coming month.

Who is this Captian Nemo?

Twenty Thousands Leagues Under the Sea, Disney Films

Captain Nemo tells his story and reveals his identity to the settlers on Lincoln Island.

"Captain Nemo was an Indian, the Prince Dakkar, son of a rajah of the then independent territory of Bundelkund. His father sent him, when ten years of age, to Europe, in order that he might receive an education in all respects complete, and in the hopes that by his talents and knowledge he might one day take a leading part in raising his long degraded and heathen country to a level with the nations of Europe.

From the age of ten years to that of thirty Prince Dakkar, endowed by Nature with her richest gifts of intellect, accumulated knowledge of every kind, and in science, literature, and art his researches were extensive and profound.

He traveled over the whole of Europe. His rank and fortune caused him to be everywhere sought after; but the pleasures of the world had for him no attractions. Though young and possessed of every personal advantage, he was ever grave—somber even—devoured by an unquenchable thirst for knowledge, and cherishing in the recesses of his heart the hope that he might become a great and powerful ruler of a free and enlightened people.

Still, for long the love of science triumphed over all other feelings. He became an artist deeply impressed by the marvels of art, a philosopher to whom no one of the higher sciences was unknown, a statesman versed in the policy of European courts. To the eyes of those who observed him superficially he might have passed for one of those cosmopolitans, curious of knowledge, but disdaining action; one of those opulent travelers, haughty and cynical, who move incessantly from place to place, and are of no country."

Chapter 19, The Mysterious Island, Jules Verne

The Motto of the "Nautilus"

I have just completed my reading of the third book of Verne’s The Mysterious Island. I have read through this volume once before, but came upon the third part of this novel entitled the Secret of the Island. Assuming that it was a take-off from the Mysterious Island I downloaded it and read through it. It is actually the third part of Verne’s The Mysterious Island.

"Mobilis in mobile." (Moving in a moving thing). The Nautilus is the name of Captain's Nemo's submarine.

Chapter 19, The Mysterious Island, Jules Verne

Mysterious Islands Game

Mysterious Islands site includes a basic premise of the game, instructions on how to play, and the materials needed to play the game. The game is played with up to six players. Each player takes one of the associated factions. The factions of Mysterious Islands are The Pirates, Dr. Nemo, Dr. Moreau, The Rebels, The British East India Company, The Zombies, and The Natives. Each faction is either fighting to keep the territory they already have or trying to unseat the other factions from their domains.

Mysterious Islands uses a hex-game-board map of a Pacific archipelago consisting of 11 main islands and several smaller islands. Each faction chooses one island as its base. The game lasts 12 rounds. During a round, each player takes a turn. Each turn includes the following phases: Recruit Phase, Movement Phase, Bombardment Phase, Action Phase, and Combat Phase.

If one could come up with the required game-board, the game looks like it might be interesting to play. Anyone know of an online map creator that could be used to produce the game board?

Odds and Ends-Mysterious Islands

While searching for “Mysterious Islands” I have come upon these instances of Mysterious Islands. Here is a short list of those resources.

Ships of the Mysterious Islands

Ships of the Mysterious Islands is a Role Playing Game, and although the RPG has very little in common with the Whizkids game of the same name this RPG could add some interesting concepts and give a player some ideas on how to expand the Ships of the Mysterious Islands game.

Top 10 Mysterious Islands in Fiction

The Top 10 Mysterious Islands in Fiction site offers ten examples of Mysterious Islands that have been mentioned in popular culture.

The Mysterious Island by Jules Verne (epub)

The Mysterious Island by Jules Verne is a must read for those Mysterious Island aficionados.

10 Mysterious Tidal Islands around the World

A tidal island is a piece of land that is connected to the mainland and can be reached by foot at low tide, however are either total submerged or are cut off from the main land at high tide.

Captain Nemo

The Captain Nemo character is a creation of Jules Vern and was first mentioned in Verne’s “Twenty Thousands Leagues under the Sea” and then again in Verne’s “Mysterious Island”. Since these appearances the character of Capt. Nemo has been portrayed in many different forms and characterized in the popular culture. The character of Captain Nemo has appeared in 67 different comics, in several books, as a miniature, and in a few movies.

The many different characterizations of Captain Nemo I have encountered already have me wanting to explore and expound on this character further in upcoming blog posts.

Unique Treasure

Pirates of the Spanish Main and the other versions of this strategy game include unique treasure pieces. They seem to be a bit rare, for I have only received two unique treasure pieces in six game packs. Unique treasures, like normal treasure are distributed among the “wild Islands”.

Unique treasures are worth 0 gold pieces, but may change later in the game. Unique treasures provide the ship in which they are carried special abilities.

Special abilities like the two listed here:

Bad Plans allows you to subtract one from a die roll while at a mysterious island.

Marksmen Map allows you, once per turn to look at one face down treasure on any island.

Pirates of Mysterious Islands-What is all the Mystery Anyway?

Although quite rare there is a Nautilus Submarine included with this version of this strategy game by Whizkids, so I thought the use of Mysterious Islands was a very obvious reference to Jules Verne’s Mysterious Island; however the Islands included in this rendition have their own set of mysteries.

Verne’s Mysterious Island was the island where Captain Nemo and his submarine Nautilus ended up stuck in a sub terrain cavern. The Island, an uncharted Island, that was off the usually shipping lanes, became home to several civil war ex-prisoners of war, after they were deposited on the island by their hot air balloon. Mysterious happenings started to occur soon after arriving on the island and thus the title “The Mysterious Island”.

The Pirates of Mysterious Islands have several scenarios printed on the bottom of the islands and are tied to certain dice roll outcomes. There is even a provision on one island where you can write your own scenario.

These scenarios will make the game a bit more interesting, as you really never really know what the outcome might be.