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| The Strange World of Walter Moers; a very, very strange world? | |
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| Topic Started: Jan 9 2011, 09:17 AM (669 Views) | |
| Cephylus | Jan 9 2011, 09:17 AM Post #1 |
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Torando of Terror
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For anybody who may not know Walter Moers, he is a German cartoonist and fantasy writer. Many of his fantasy novels is set in a fantasical continent/world called 'Zamonia', home to mountains of books, strange sentinents and mythological/fantastical creatures. There is no magic. Now, I want to focus on the fauna and flora of this world, the biological aspects. His world is full of fascinating critters, maybe a bit biologically unplausible. His world has all kinds of creatures on the surface, gryphons, dragons, pterosaurs, harpies, vampires, duck-billed frogs, yetis, trolls, carnivorous whales (like Leviathan)... But there is the underworld, called the Catacombs, a massive web of gigantic caverns, artificial chambers, whole subterranean worlds, connected with a complex, maze-like system of passages, artificial and natural, stretching for thousands of miles and miles. For example, there is a gigantic (30 meter tall) reproducing mountainous creature, with hundreds of tentacle-like 'noses', elongated protrusions for manipulation with 'noseholes', giant holes covered in membranous skin with tiny holes for breathing. They have no other physical characteristic, just looks like grey blobby mountains. Plus, they appear to be sentinent. There are also strange predatorial flying creatures, with massive bat-like membranous wings. They have long, prehinsile tongues for manipulation, with enlarged bat-ish ears and toothy beaks which is serrated at the tip to form a kind of saber and an elongated fusiform head. Overall, they look like gigantic (10 meter wingspan) nightmarish pterosaur-bat cross. The unique things about their hunting style is that they are completely blind, and hunt with echolocation, which they can alter the pitch, and also turn into an ear-splitting weapon which paralyses the prey. There is also the conquerer worm, a massive fat, yellow (with brown spots) worm with cavernous mouths with inward-hooked fangs. The creature is literally larger than the largest whale, with tentacle-like protrusions from te sides. They are blind, and sucks everything down their mouths. There are also massive cat-sized beatles which mobs with sabre-like jaws, massive white, shaggy-eyed spiders with legs as long as that of adult humans, calf-sized flying dragonfly-like arthropods, predatorial and with hundreds of pincers for tearing apart prey, pig-sized transparent globby pink disgusting soft fat slimy invertebrates with suckers for walking and hundreds of eye-like sensitive structures, gigantic dog-sized sabre-toothed blind rats, massive crab-like creatures with heavy armor and pincers with fluffy gold fur, a globule-like round squishy fleshy blubbery invertebrate, strange bioluminiscent scorpions, a strange insect-like creature with hundreds of tentacles, red locust-like bugs, reptiles that appear like enormous black/green snakes, blind predatory monkeys.... How can these be plausible? |
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| Zorcuspine | Mar 27 2011, 01:16 PM Post #2 |
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Enjoying our azure blue world
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Wow that is awesome
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| bloom_boi | Mar 27 2011, 01:23 PM Post #3 |
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What The?
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Finally! Someone who reads them! And the underworld isnt the Catacombs. Which books have you read?
Edited by bloom_boi, Mar 27 2011, 01:24 PM.
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"You shall perish, whatever you do! If you are taken with arms in your hands, death! If you beg for mercy, death! Whichever way you turn, right, left, back, forward, up, down, death! You are not merely outside the law, you are outside humanity. Neither age nor sex shall save you and yours. You shall die, but first you shall taste the agony of your wife, your sister, your sons and daughters, even those in the cradle! Before your eyes the wounded man shall be taken out of the ambulance and hacked with bayonets or knocked down with the butt end of a rifle. He shall be dragged living by his broken leg or bleeding arm and flung like a suffering, groaning bundle of refuse into the gutter. Death! Death! Death!" | |
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| dialforthedevil | Mar 27 2011, 03:33 PM Post #4 |
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Frumentarii Administrator
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I need to read this!!
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Please come visit A Scientfic Fantasy http://s1.zetaboards.com/Conceptual_Evolution/topic/3433014/1/ ALSO!!! JOIN THE NEW RPG SITE!!! FOR ALL MEMBERS!!! IM GOING TO RUN MA GLOBAL SIMULATORS THERE!!! http://s4.zetaboards.com/jasonguppy/index/ Join the Campaign to save minotaurs from extinction!!! (include this in your signature to show your support!) | |
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| Cephylus | Mar 28 2011, 05:08 AM Post #5 |
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Torando of Terror
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Hmmm... In the Korean translation it read that the underworld was the Catacombs, but I haven't read the English version. I've read three of his books, City of Dreaming Books, Rumo and Captain Bluebear |
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| bloom_boi | Mar 28 2011, 08:48 AM Post #6 |
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What The?
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Well you should know that in Rumo the underworld really IS the underworld. With its capital of course, being Hel. Oh, there's on more, but it's not as good as the rest: The Alchamaster's Apprentice |
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"You shall perish, whatever you do! If you are taken with arms in your hands, death! If you beg for mercy, death! Whichever way you turn, right, left, back, forward, up, down, death! You are not merely outside the law, you are outside humanity. Neither age nor sex shall save you and yours. You shall die, but first you shall taste the agony of your wife, your sister, your sons and daughters, even those in the cradle! Before your eyes the wounded man shall be taken out of the ambulance and hacked with bayonets or knocked down with the butt end of a rifle. He shall be dragged living by his broken leg or bleeding arm and flung like a suffering, groaning bundle of refuse into the gutter. Death! Death! Death!" | |
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| bloom_boi | Mar 28 2011, 08:51 AM Post #7 |
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What The?
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Yeah, it's a continent (yes Im a Zamonia nerd )
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"You shall perish, whatever you do! If you are taken with arms in your hands, death! If you beg for mercy, death! Whichever way you turn, right, left, back, forward, up, down, death! You are not merely outside the law, you are outside humanity. Neither age nor sex shall save you and yours. You shall die, but first you shall taste the agony of your wife, your sister, your sons and daughters, even those in the cradle! Before your eyes the wounded man shall be taken out of the ambulance and hacked with bayonets or knocked down with the butt end of a rifle. He shall be dragged living by his broken leg or bleeding arm and flung like a suffering, groaning bundle of refuse into the gutter. Death! Death! Death!" | |
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| dialforthedevil | Mar 28 2011, 11:43 AM Post #8 |
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Frumentarii Administrator
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A series of books i used to read with fascinating creatures has to be the Edge Chronicles, they were awesome!
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Please come visit A Scientfic Fantasy http://s1.zetaboards.com/Conceptual_Evolution/topic/3433014/1/ ALSO!!! JOIN THE NEW RPG SITE!!! FOR ALL MEMBERS!!! IM GOING TO RUN MA GLOBAL SIMULATORS THERE!!! http://s4.zetaboards.com/jasonguppy/index/ Join the Campaign to save minotaurs from extinction!!! (include this in your signature to show your support!) | |
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| bloom_boi | Mar 28 2011, 11:53 AM Post #9 |
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What The?
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The Edge chronically, can only marginally compete with this. |
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"You shall perish, whatever you do! If you are taken with arms in your hands, death! If you beg for mercy, death! Whichever way you turn, right, left, back, forward, up, down, death! You are not merely outside the law, you are outside humanity. Neither age nor sex shall save you and yours. You shall die, but first you shall taste the agony of your wife, your sister, your sons and daughters, even those in the cradle! Before your eyes the wounded man shall be taken out of the ambulance and hacked with bayonets or knocked down with the butt end of a rifle. He shall be dragged living by his broken leg or bleeding arm and flung like a suffering, groaning bundle of refuse into the gutter. Death! Death! Death!" | |
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| Aziora | Mar 28 2011, 03:04 PM Post #10 |
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Zygote
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Anyone who hasn't read The City of Dreaming Books: get it now! (Sorry, automatic reaction whenever the subject comes up. )I absolutely love Walter Moers' books. Still have to find Rumo somewhere. |
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| Holben | Mar 28 2011, 03:06 PM Post #11 |
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Rumbo a la Victoria
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YES Rumo Luves of Captain Bluebar or whatever (read that in german) |
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Time flows like a river. Which is to say, downhill. We can tell this because everything is going downhill rapidly. It would seem prudent to be somewhere else when we reach the sea. "It is the old wound my king. It has never healed." | |
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| lone shee | Mar 28 2011, 03:31 PM Post #12 |
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Fetus
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wrong. The edge is awesome. But back on topic, the blind predatory monkeys....How did they navigate? Is smell and hearing dominant, or can they use echolocation? |
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(yes Im a Zamonia nerd
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wrong. The edge is awesome. But back on topic, the blind predatory monkeys....
2:28 PM Jul 11