SG/LNH: New Exarchs #11 - Getting Squirrelly

[Saxon Brenton]

In the Author's Notes of _New Exarchs_ #11 Dave Van Domelen wrote:
[...]
>                              But I'm still not worrying too
> much about planning and plotting here...I save that for ASH.
> Here I write to be weird and blow off steam.  And use squirrels
> in dramatic scenes.  Hard to do that in ASH.

Hard to do and maintain the theme, mood and stylistic consistency
of the ASH setting?  Sure.  Hard to do, period?  Nope, I'd have
to call shenanigans on that.  And I can prove it with one word:
'Silvenrods"

Back in ASH #56 Thom O'Ryan was explaining the imminent rise of a
superhuman oligarchy to his brother, and cited the way Silvenrods
had come into existence only five years previously.  The old
Goldenrods were causing allergy problems, so a superhuman with
undiscovered plant powers reflexively zapped them, inadvertently
creating a new species.

Extrapolate that.  Uplifted squirrels?  Sure.  Deliberately or
inadvertently created?  What, you think something like that is
only going to happen ONCE?

Okay, that last bit was pure hyperbole.  But given the history of
the ASH setting, things like that have probably been happening to
some extent for centuries.  Some creatures would probably be
extinct as a result of the creation of the Barrier in 1998: things
like vampires and werewolves and anything else with abilities that
could only operate via superhuman/supernatural power.  Others may
have migrated into myth-related pocket dimensions or other
realities entirely.  But even with the comparatively low numbers of
superhumans prior to the 20th and 21st centuries, there could be
anything.  Whether there *is* anything can be left to editorial whim.

And in the 20th and 21st centuries?  Lots of opportunity for weird
sh!t.  Suddenly, you don't need a supervillain mastermind to be
behind the sudden appearance of that battalion of Nazi dinosaurs.

---
Saxon Brenton
Suddenly looking forward to the prospect of the Impossible Five
getting their butts kicked by a squirrel.  Or eaten by lemurs.