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Blood Sword (gamebook Series)
''Blood Sword'' is a series of gamebooks created by Oliver Johnson and Dave Morris and published by Knight Books in the late 1980s. The books were illustrated by Russ Nicholson and the maps supplied by Geoff Wingate. It was set in the authors' own fantasy world of "Legend" which was also the setting for their Dragon Warriors role playing game. The world of Legend The world of Legend has noticeable parallels with Earth in the late 10th century AD, with strong elements of Christian, Greek, Roman, Norse and Arabian mythology. Crusaders of the 'True Faith' (an analogue of Christianity) have defeated the Ta'ashim people (an analogue of Islam) and conquered the Outremer. As the timeline approaches 1000 AD, Millennialist fever grips many. After emerging victorious from the Battlepits of Krarth (book 1), where a deadly contest is held every thirteen months, you - a hero (or a group of heroes) belonging to the True Faith - are involved in a bloody battle against a pack of werewolve ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dave Morris (writer)
David John Morris (born 19 March 1957) is a British author of gamebooks, novels and comics and a designer of computer games and role-playing games. Education Dave Morris graduated from Magdalen College, Oxford, where he read Physics from 1976 until 1979. Writer Morris began his writing career in 1984 by writing the fantasy adventure gamebook ''Crypt of the Vampire'', part of the ''Golden Dragon'' series published by Grafton Books in the UK and Berkley Books in the US. The following year, Morris and Oliver Johnson created the ''Dragon Warriors'' role-playing game. ''Dragon Warriors'' was an attempt at releasing a role-playing game in a series of paperback books. In a 1996 reader poll conducted by ''Arcane'' to determine the fifty most popular roleplaying games of all time, ''Dragon Warriors'' was ranked 48th. In 2008, the game was licensed by Morris to James Wallis of Magnum Opus Press, and Serpent King Games acquired the ''Dragon Warriors'' license afterwards. In 1987, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Scabbard
A scabbard is a sheath for holding a sword, knife, or other large blade. As well, rifles may be stored in a scabbard by horse riders. Military cavalry and cowboys had scabbards for their saddle ring carbine rifles and lever-action rifles on their horses for storage and protection. Scabbards have been made of many materials over the millennia, including leather, wood, and metals such as brass or steel. Most commonly, sword scabbards were worn suspended from a sword belt or shoulder belt called a baldric. Antiquity Wooden scabbards were typically covered in fabric or leather; the leather versions also usually bore metal fittings for added protection and carrying ease. Japanese blades typically have their sharp cutting edge protected by a wooden scabbard called a saya. Many scabbards, such as ones the Greeks and Romans used, were small and light. It was designed for holding the sword rather than protecting it. All-metal scabbards were popular items for a display of wealth among ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Judgment Day
The Last Judgment, Final Judgment, Day of Reckoning, Day of Judgment, Judgment Day, Doomsday, Day of Resurrection or The Day of the Lord (; ar, یوم القيامة, translit=Yawm al-Qiyāmah or ar, یوم الدین, translit=Yawm ad-Dīn, label=none) is part of the Abrahamic religions and the '' Frashokereti'' of Zoroastrianism. Christianity considers the Second Coming of Jesus Christ to entail the final judgment by God of all people who have ever lived, resulting in the approval of some and the penalizing of others. The concept is found in all the canonical gospels, particularly in the Gospel of Matthew. The Christian tradition is also followed by Islam, where it is mentioned in the 43rd chapter ('' Az-Zukhruf'') of the Quran, according to some interpretations. Christian futurists believe it will follow the resurrection of the dead and the Second Coming of Jesus, while full preterists believe it has already occurred. The Last Judgment has inspired numerous artistic de ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Winter's Eve
''Winter's Eve'' is the thirteenth studio album and second Christmas-themed album by Nox Arcana. It was released in 2009 on Monolith Graphics. Apart from traditional music for the Christmas season, the theme of this album evokes a medieval or pagan Yuletide celebration typical of the winter solstice. Track listing All music composed and performed by Joseph Vargo. "Greensleeves" (traditional) arranged by Joseph Vargo. # "The Messenger" — 1:18 # "Frozen Memories" — 2:45 # "Magic and Moonlight" — 3:25 # "The Rose of Winter" — 2:24 # "Enchanted Realm" — 2:35 # "The Ides of December" — 4:21 # "Gifts of the Magi" — 3:01 # "Season of Wonder" — 2:44 # "Solstice Dance" — 2:30 # "The White Queen" — 2:53 # "Winter's Eve" — 4:19 # "Starlight Serenade" — 3:31 # "Greensleeves" — 4:09 # "The Longest Night" — 4:02 # "Pax Terra" — 3:01 # "Winds of Change" — 3:39 # "Fading Embers" — 2:07 # "Crystal Chimes" — 2:08 # "Serenity" — 2:41 # "Winter Rhapsody" — 3: ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Azrael
Azrael (; , 'God has helped'; ) is the angel of death in some Abrahamic religions, namely Islam, Christian popular culture and some traditions of Judaism. He is also referenced in Sikhism. Relative to similar concepts of such beings, Azrael holds a rather benevolent role as God's angel of death; he acts as a psychopomp, responsible for transporting the souls of the deceased after their death. Both in Islam and in Judaism, he is said to hold a scroll concerning the fate of mortals, recording and erasing their names at their birth and death, respectively.Hamilton, Michelle M. 2014. ''Beyond Faith: Belief, Morality and Memory in a Fifteenth-Century Judeo-Iberian Manuscript''. Leiden: Brill. . Depending on the perspective and precepts of the various religions in which he is a figure, he may also be portrayed as a resident of the Third Heaven, a division of heaven in Judaism and Islam. Davidson, Gustav. 9671971"A § Azrael" Pp. 64–65 in ''A Dictionary of Angels, Including ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sheol
Sheol ( ; he, ''Šəʾōl'', Tiberian: ''Šŏʾōl'') in the Hebrew Bible is a place of still darkness which lies after death. Although not well defined in the Tanakh, Sheol in this view was a subterranean underworld where the souls of the dead went after the body died. Within the Hebrew Bible, there are few – often brief and nondescript – mentions of Sheol, seemingly describing it as a place where both the righteous and the unrighteous dead go, regardless of their moral choices in life. The implications of Sheol within the texts are therefore somewhat unclear; it can be interpreted as either a generic metaphor describing "the grave" into which all humans invariably descend, or, it may be interpreted as representing an actual state of afterlife within Israelite thought. Though such practices are forbidden, the inhabitants of Sheol can, under some circumstances, be summoned by the living, as when the Witch of Endor calls up the spirit of Samuel for Saul. While the Hebrew ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Yamato Province
was a province of Japan, located in Kinai, corresponding to present-day Nara Prefecture in Honshū. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric (2005). "Yamato" in . It was also called . Yamato consists of two characters, 大 "great", and 和 " Wa". At first, the name was written with one different character (), but due to its offensive connotation, for about ten years after 737, this was revised to use more desirable characters () (see Names of Japan). The final revision was made in the second year of the Tenpyō-hōji era (c. 758). It is classified as a great province in the '' Engishiki''. The Yamato Period in the history of Japan refers to the late Kofun Period (c. 250–538) and Asuka Period (538–710). Japanese archaeologists and historians emphasize the fact that during the early Kofun Period the Yamato Kingship was in close contention with other regional powers, such as Kibi Province near present-day Okayama Prefecture. Around the 6th century, the local chieftainship gained nation ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hasan-i-Sabbah
Hasan-i Sabbāh ( fa, حسن صباح) or Hassan as-Sabbāh ( ar, حسن بن الصباح الحميري, full name: Hassan bin Ali bin Muhammad bin Ja'far bin al-Husayn bin Muhammad bin al-Sabbah al-Himyari; c. 1050 – 12 June 1124) was the founder of the Nizari Isma'ili state and its ''fidā'i'' military groupLewis, Bernard (1967), ''The Assassins: a Radical Sect of Islam'', pp 38-65, Oxford University Press known as the Order of Assassins, often referred also as the ''Hashshashin''. Since Marco Polo, he has been known in the West as the Old Man of the Mountain. He later seized a mountain fortress called Alamut. Sources Hasan is thought to have written an autobiography, which did not survive but seems to underlie the first part of an anonymous Isma'ili biography entitled ''Sargozasht-e Seyyednā'' ( fa, سرگذشت سیدنا). The latter is known only from quotations made by later Persian authors. Daftary, Farhad, ''The Isma'ilis'', p. 311. Hasan also wrote a treatise, i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hashshashin
The Order of Assassins or simply the Assassins ( fa, حَشّاشین, Ḥaššāšīn, ) were a Nizārī Ismāʿīlī order and sect of Shīʿa Islam that existed between 1090 and 1275 CE. During that time, they lived in the mountains of Persia and in Syria, and held a strict subterfuge policy throughout the Middle East through the covert murder of Muslim and Christian leaders who were considered enemies of the Nizārī Ismāʿīlī State. The modern term assassination is believed to stem from the tactics used by the Assassins. Nizārī Ismāʿīlīsm formed in the late 11th century after a succession crisis within the Fatimid Caliphate between Nizār ibn al-Mustanṣir and his half-brother, caliph al-Musta‘lī. Contemporaneous historians include Arabs ibn al-Qalanisi and Ali ibn al-Athir, and the Persian Ata-Malik Juvayni. The first two referred to the Assassins as ''batiniyya'', an epithet widely accepted by Ismāʿīlīs themselves. Overview The Nizari Ism ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wyrd
Wyrd is a concept in Anglo-Saxon culture roughly corresponding to fate or personal destiny. The word is ancestral to Modern English '' weird'', whose meaning has drifted towards an adjectival use with a more general sense of "supernatural" or "uncanny", or simply "unexpected". The cognate term to ''wyrd'' in Old Norse is , with a similar meaning, but also personified as a deity: Urðr (anglicized as ), one of the Norns in Norse mythology. The word also appears in the name of the well where the Norns meet, Urðarbrunnr. Etymology The Old English term derives from a Proto-Germanic term . ''Wyrd'' has cognates in Old Saxon , Old High German , Old Norse , Dutch (to become), and German . The Proto-Indo-European root is meaning 'to twist', which is related to Latin ''vertere'' 'turning, rotating', and in Proto-Germanic is with a meaning 'to come to pass, to become, to be due'. The same root is also found in , with the notion of 'origin' or ' worth' both in the sense of 'con ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Undead
The undead are beings in mythology, legend, or fiction that are deceased but behave as if alive. Most commonly the term refers to corporeal forms of formerly-alive humans, such as mummies, vampires, and zombies, who have been reanimated by supernatural means, technology, or disease. In some cases (for example in Dungeons & Dragons) the term also includes incorporeal forms of the dead, such as ghosts. The undead are featured in the belief systems of most cultures, and appear in many works of fantasy and horror fiction. The term is also occasionally used for real-life attempts to resurrect the dead with science and technology, from early experiments like Robert E. Cornish's to future sciences such as "chemical brain preservation" and "cryonics." History Bram Stoker considered using the title, ''The Un-Dead'', for his novel '' Dracula'' (1897), and use of the term in the novel is mostly responsible for the modern sense of the word. The word does appear in English before St ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Blade
A blade is the portion of a tool, weapon, or machine with an edge that is designed to puncture, chop, slice or scrape surfaces or materials. Blades are typically made from materials that are harder than those they are to be used on. Historically, humans have made blades from flaking stones such as flint or obsidian, and from various metal such as copper, bronze and iron. Modern blades are often made of steel or ceramic. Blades are one of humanity's oldest tools, and continue to be used for combat, food preparation, and other purposes. Blades work by concentrating force on the cutting edge. Certain blades, such as those used on bread knives or saws, are serrated, further concentrating force on the point of each tooth. Uses During food preparation, knives are mainly used for slicing, chopping, and piercing. In combat, a blade may be used to slash or puncture, and may also be thrown or otherwise propelled. The function is to sever a nerve, muscle or tendon fibers, or ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
