World of Hadanum

This is the third installment of a multi-part classic radio drama-style Horror script. If you have not done so already, please begin reading with The Thing From the Grotto, Part 1. - W. Robinson Mason III

TOM (narrates): I sat at an antique wooden secretary next to the sofa as I looked over Jake’s papers. They were just as Dana had said, apparently some sort of instructions on how to summon an otherworldly creature. But upon further reading I discovered that the creature was not a Christian devil nor was it some forgotten demon from a dead religion. No, I recognized the name of the beast to be conjured…from the works of E. Chadwick Lorre!

I relaxed somewhat in my chair. (chuckles softly) Had Jake been trying his hand at fiction? Was this a manuscript of some black tome he intended to have published for the sake of amusing fans of Mr. Lorre? I'd read books years before that had been “written in the world of E. Chadwick Lorre” or so they had intended, done by various modern authors who loved and wanted to expand on the mythos he had created before his untimely death. Was that all this was? I thought so as I continued to page through the strange scribbling. But despite my convictions that the collection of notes was nothing more than a way for Jake to pass the time, perhaps at some bar in Atlantic City, his writing style was entertaining enough to keep me reading, mouthing out the words in a low whisper.

“Hasrogon, Lord of the Seas, I make this offering of my humble human soul, that one of the Unspeakable Ones whom you long ago imprisoned within a single dark undersea grotto off of the coast of Corson’s Inlet, might be released here to me in this very place…” Corson’s Inlet? Hadn’t I seen that somewhere, on a map of the area while looking for directions to Jakes home? His home was in Strathmere, on the Atlantic coast of New Jersey, but I recalled seeing something about Corson’s Inlet, I was sure. I was also sure that Mr. Lorre had never written about Corson’s Inlet, wherever that was. He preferred using a few of his own fictional villages set in the Northeast.

DANA: Have you found anything?

TOM: No. But I never knew that Jake could write like this. It just doesn’t seem like him. I guess I should have kept up more with him over the years.

DANA: Jake was a very different man than the boy you knew. He became more and more dependent on me as the years went by. Devoted like you said, but dependent as well. He was a bit of a recluse, Tom. I know you might find that hard to believe. It was hard to get him to come to parties with me, or for us even go shopping together on the weekends. His whole life revolved around...me! Sometimes I would get angry with him for not being more social, and when our arguments were the worst, he would head off to gamble somewhere or just drive around by himself at night. I just couldn’t stand it Tom, the constant attention, it was too much. He wasn't concerned with doing anything with his life, just making me happy, and all he was doing was making me *sick*. He lost all interest in his own hobbies and friends. It was really unhealthy both of us, you know. But now that he's gone...

TOM: I wonder if that’s what made him start writing this kind of thing. Maybe this was a sort of hobby for him...writing this.

DANA: Listen to me (chuckles ruefully), complaining about my husband while he's gone...I must sound awfully cold to you.

TOM: No, no of course not.

DANA: About those manuscripts, Tom, there was section in there, like a poem, that Jake used to chant over and over again. I tried to read it, but one of the pages was missing like you said, and I could never pronounce those words...

TOM: You mean this part? (narrates) I thumbed through several scraps of paper until I found the only page with anything resembling a poem.

DANA: Yes, that's it. He would chant that constantly, for hours on end. I thought if I could do the same thing, maybe I could get it to work, to take me wherever he's gone. But the words don't look like English, and I think I might be doing it wrong. You were always good with languages, weren't you?

TOM: Do you want me to try?

DANA: (hopefully) Would you?

TOM: Sure, I mean, I think I can pronounce these words...I used to read Lorre's books all the time.

DANA: I'd be so happy. You know I'd almost given up on the police providing any help, and the whole thing with this manual, its just so confusing. I'm not a religious or even superstitious person, you know, but I just have to know if there is anything to all of this summoning stuff that Jake was involved with.

TOM: (narrates) Imagine that, Jake taken away by a creature summoned from the imagination of a pulp fiction author! I began to smile and almost laughed, but caught the serious look on Dana's face. I'd promised not to make fun of her concerns, and Jake still was missing, so I quickly turned my grin into a frown.

(speaking) I'm sorry Dana. Let's see here... (creepy music low in background) "Jub nya Hasrogon, loi he loi! Jub nya Hasrogon, loi he loi!" Wait, I remember this, its straight out of Lorre's books. Yes, see these words correspond to the English on the sides of the page: "Praise be to Lord Hasrogon , take my soul, take it!" I don't recognize the rest, but I think these numbers on the margin correspond to each of the paragraphs. "Myan hal tomedos, un to lya! Sur bos lo-hela, loi me loi!" yes, this one means "Come from the sea, dark and dripping! Unspeakable servant to rise and take me, take me!" (music rises and fades) (narrates) I continued reading the chants for several minutes. They often repeated themselves and mentioned a grotto in the sea off of Corson's Inlet several times. (speaking) Dana, what's this "Corson's Inlet?"

DANA: That's what this city of Strathmere used to be called, a long time ago. There's still a place called Corson's Inlet nearby, but once this whole area went by that name.

TOM: Interesting. Well, that't it, Dana, I read through the entire thing. If anything was supposed to happen, then it should have happened already.

DANA: Thanks, I know it was strange what I asked, but what you've done has really lifted a weight off of my shoulders. Now I don't have to wonder any more. (pauses) Would you like some iced tea, I just brewed it.

TOM: Sure.

(sound of ICE in GLASS)

TOM: This is very good, is it raspberry tea?

DANA: Yes, its a little something I made for Jake.

TOM: Well its good, better than any iced tea I've ever had.

DANA: How are you feeling?

TOM: I'm feeling...well, I'm feeling a little tired. Maybe I didn't get enough sleep.

DANA: Maybe.

TOM: I'm, wow, I'm feeling kinda sleepy all of a sudden. Like I..I...
(narrates) The room began to spin around me and Dana's face, watching me closely, blurred.

DANA: I must admit my mistake, Tom. I made Jake give up his hobbies and friends. I made him devote himself to me and only later found that I'd gone too far. I didn't like the man that he'd become. He pushed me to do this, Tom. It was like torture living with him, a selfless man with no goals or future. But I found a way to get out of it, as you'll soon see. Jake would do anything for me, Tom, even read my (mockingly) "silly poems".

TOM: What do those poems have to do with anything, it's starting to sound to me like you killed him!

DANA: Killing people these days is such a messy thing, Tom. You've watched those crime shows on TV, right? They always manage to trace the crime back to the one who committed it. There was only one way to be sure that Jake's disappearance would never be tied to me, and that was to have someone, or some...thing...do it for me.

TOM: What? You can't be serious! You can't just imagine things into reality!

DANA: Can't I? I have and I'm doing it again. Even now one of the Unspeakable Servants of Lord Hasrogon comes to take you to the sea!

DANA: You might have noticed one of the books in the bookshelf was missing. You see, I had to hide that book. One of the chapters is very specific about one thing in summoning rituals. The preparations for the summoned creature's arrival can be made by me, the material things, the idol, your blood...

TOM: (narrates) I watched as Dana pulled out a handful of items, including the fork with my blood on it, and some strands of my hair!

DANA: But the verbal summoning ritual can only be provided verbally by the one who is to be taken!

TOM: But why, Dana, why me?

To be continued...

Content copyright © 2009 by W. Robinson Mason III.

Copyright W. Robinson Mason III - World of Hadanum and Other Tales

My World of Hadanum setting has been developing in my mind since my late teens, but even then I had some clear ideas about how I wanted the planet to look and feel, and what was acceptable for a certain level of "realistic" science fiction. At the same time I did not want my world to be captive to the often slow pacing, emphasis on technical details and scientific accuracy of some "hard" SF I'd read (and not enjoyed very much) like Rendezvous with Rama.

I wanted my world to be a place of mysteries and marvels, not one measured in cold calculations. I wanted my world to have the feel of Sword & Sorcery style fantasy, but without any magic (that includes things like "The Force" in Star Wars). I wanted an alien world, but without any "aliens" - and certainly no aliens that evolved on another planet yet for some coincidental and unexplained reason look almost exactly like humans.

In short, I wanted my world of varying "races" and cultures to be one that could actually exist in some distant future in another part of the galaxy, colonized by genetically modified humans (along with some level of modified Earth-origin flora and fauna) in a struggle for survival on a hostile planet.

I've been discussing the origins and the "immutable truths" of Hadanum with a friend for a few months now. Some of our discussions have led to changes in the lore and canon of Hadanum, but few will retroactively impact anything that has been web published so far, and most deal with the origins of what came before the stories you've read here.

The retrospective on what kind of world I was seeking to create prompted me to take another look at some influences that might have affected me in my teen years and even as a child.

When I was a boy I used to enjoy such animated and live action Saturday morning shows as The Herculoids, Land of the Lost, and later Blackstar and Thundarr the Barbarian.

All throughout my childhood and teen years I enjoyed Star Trek fiction in various forms, and recognize some influence now from the old TV series episodes "The Paradise Syndrome", "The Gamesters of Triskelion" and "A Private Little War".

Another favorite was The Planet of the Apes TV and movie series.

Dungeons and Dragons and Commodore 64 computer role playing games as an influence in my early teens cannot be ignored, as well as a number of similarly themed fantasy books that I read such as The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant and of course the Lord of the Rings.

I also read several Science Fiction books as a boy, starting with The Third Tom Swift Series, and later many books from Isaac Asimov such as The Foundation Series.

All of these influences predate early versions of Hadanum and my later interest in authors such as H.P. Lovecraft and Robert E. Howard, who inspired me to go in another direction away from epic story arcs in favor of detail rich and action-packed short stories.

All of these early influences helped in forming my concept of what such a planet of high adventure and danger might look like. You may see some of the elements from these various influences pop up in the World of Hadanum from time to time, but none are intentional.

I am no longer a teen or even a young adult, and my world has naturally matured along with me. However, I feel it is important that in the face of my own jaded adult sensibilities that the setting never lose the same sense of awe and wonder that those many influences had on me so all those years ago.

Copyright W. Robinson Mason III - World of Hadanum and Other Tales

Since a few people have asked, I thought I'd spend a little time to clear up any confusion about just what sort of stories I'm focusing on, and what sort of setting Hadanum is.

Despite certain fantasy-flavored elements, there is no "magic" and nothing that cannot be explained away by science and technology, though some of the technology has yet to be realized. If you're waiting for wizards in pointy hats or flying carpets to show up, you'll be disappointed!

On the other hand, if you are looking for futuristic utopian stories with clean cut people in uniforms set on the decks of shiny spaceships going from planet to planet in the blink of an eye, again, you're looking in the wrong place.

"So what genre is it?" you ask. I never wrote with the intention of pleasing any one segment of readers, but I've found through searching around that there are several examples of the sort of fiction I write, all sub-genres of Science Fiction.

Sword & Planet as a tag might loosely apply. The main difference is that there is no unmodified human protagonist (currently) in any of my stories, nor do I intend to introduce any. I do try to ensure that the science is acceptable by modern standards and makes sense. Since many Sword & Planet stories were written in the early part of the last century before much was known about planets like Mars and Venus, romantic and unrealistic notions of life on those planets thrived in early Sword & Planet fiction.

Per the Wikipedia entry: "Sword & Planet stories are a subgenre of science fantasy that features rousing adventure stories set on other planets, and usually featuring Earthmen as protagonists. The prototype for the genre is A Princess of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs. There is a fair amount of overlap between "Sword & Planet" and "planetary romance" although some works are considered to belong to one and not the other. In general, Planetary Romance is considered to be more of a Space Opera subgenre, yet more modern and technologically savvy."

Planetary Romance seems more appropriate, though the name for the genre might incorrectly bring to mind a connection with Romance novels that isn't there.

"Planetary romance is a type of science fiction or science fantasy story in which the bulk of the action consists of adventures on one or more exotic alien planets, characterized by distinctive physical and cultural backgrounds."

That's what stories set on Hadanum are all about in a nutshell - to sum up between the two genres the aim of my stories is to feature:

"Rousing adventure stories set on an exotic alien planet with peoples characterized by distinctive and differing physical and cultural backgrounds engaged in conflicts, events and brushes with futuristic technology that hold to a a level of modern realism."

That's what you can look forward to in Hadanum-based fiction!

Copyright W. Robinson Mason III - World of Hadanum and Other Tales

Wondering what those strange dates are preceding many posts?

As an indication of how time has passed in the events posted here at the World of Hadanum the Kasgen ("Superior") Calendar system is used to indicate dates in Hadanum-based stories regardless of the race of the individual that is the main focus of that story.

There are 5 days in a week: Kast, Kulm, Narn, Lest and Umbar
There are typically 9 months in a year: Alidal, Ketlan, Marun, Vidan, Emergas, Rapan, Skarun, Lanmar and Gaspal.

There are two moons, Mar (24 days between full moons) and Vida (17 day cycle).

An intercalary 10th month (Hadar) is added every few years as there are not a whole number of lunar months in a solar year.