Antediluvian Novel Sections

Having recently put a cap on the Haunted Tank game (the first part, at least), I find myself thinking about the Antediluvian novels more and more.  It's sort of weird, looking at how the games took a life of their own once the original gamemaster left town.  His ideas ran more towards a synthesis of World of Darkness (in the form of the miserable Everlasting RPG that he based much of his ideas from) and Doctor Who (which is where we end up with the time travel and related bizarre side concepts that he came up with later), with various Vampire LARP concepts thrown in.

One of my notebooks (the one with the Shattered Sky notes in it, actually) had a chapter listing of sorts for the first three Antediluvian novels.  These were sketched out a year or so ago, with the first three books in outline and little thought given to further novels.  Probably best, considering the scope of these novels in the first place.  No sense in trying to plan out a dozen books before the first one has actually been written out.  Ambition is one thing; common sense is quite another.

Having no title in mind, here's the outlines for the three books.

Book 1 -

1. Introduction of the Class
2. Timeshift into the Ancient Era
3. Caught in the crossfire, encounter with the Mi-go
4. Appearance of the Olympians
5. Arrival in Paradise
6. Trial of the Black Arts
7. Departure of the Venture
8. Battle of the Sirens & The Holy Land (Al-Aqrani)
9. Destruction of the Gibborhim

A lot of this outline presupposes a number of necessary changes.  Dietrich's ideas of Dragon's Blood as anathema were interesting, but Bekofske's theories on the weird, eldritch nature of certain tech made a lot more sense overall.  Hence, the 6th part, which would deal with a more immediate horror of shoggoth tech coming out of the phones and laptops of the class.

Working in a sort of border war in the 3rd chapter would also make things a little more interesting, in that it would allow a better level of intrigue between the characters and the Olympians.  The Olympians would be in the area to deal with the weird, cosmic creatures (Mi-go, with the serial numbers scraped off), and the weird things would assume that the class was allied with the Olympians.  Having people killed simply because the Olympians were in the area would add a certain logical tension.

There would need to be a certain amount of tangible research dealt with from the Bible, just to keep the actual timeline straight.  This would also necessitate a certain amount of revision to keep Dietrich's weird, unreliable proto-history from being too far from what would be necessary source material.

Book 2 -

1. Irem, City of Pillars
2. Intrigues
3. Theft & Departure of the Scirocco
4. The Nightmare City of Lemuria & Dealing with the Morning Star
5. Flight from the Darkness
6. The Marie Celeste (Flying Dutchman?)
7. Return to Olympus

This book would necessitate a much longer middle section, as the time in Lemuria would have to be the bulk of the book, overall.  The 2nd part would cover a number of things dealing with the differing alliances of the crew and their outlook on the Olympians.  Joe would reveal his alliances with the Olympians and press for their mission to Lemuria, which would be of note to the ruling council of Irem.  This would lead to the covert theft of the Scirocco, in order to hasten the voyage accordingly.

The actual city that the book opens in would require a certain amount of research, much as the Biblical base for the first book.  Irem was a city mentioned in Lovecraft's work, but its precise place is as much in question as anything else.  There would likely have to be some sort of Sumerian involvement as well, given the general advancement of their civilization at the time.

As to what sort of final chapters there are, I have to think that the Flying Dutchman would be a better source of intrigue than the Marie Celeste, being as the ship was wholly lost, rather than abandoned.  This would allow a better sort of mystery with the crew, even if the small family basis for the adventure would be lost.  There might be a better antecedent to be found in history, depending.

The book would end with the crew returning to Olympus to find it in ruin, having been destroyed by Ken his attempt to wrest power from the Olympians.

Book 3 -

1. Creation of the Church as a Defense against the Serpent
2. A Refuge of Civilization
3. The First Martyr
4. Plots Unraveling, A Chorus of Renegade Angels
5. Attracting the Attention of the Lightbringer
6. The Final Battle & The Death of Rhea
7. Return of the Prodigals & The Battle with Storms

The book would necessarily have to open with an introductory chapter with Cam talking to the survivors of Olympus (likely Frank Foster and Shawn Zalewski), who would narrate the beginning of the book before it turned over to an actual novel.

Most of the book would reflect Ken's power mad paranoia, as well as his manipulations of the various class members and city dwellers.  Keeping with the general theme of the rebellion against the Olympians, Dawn would be properly offended by the appearance of the Titans (who, in proper Hellenistic manner, would spend their time unclothed), and Ken would use their indecency and their alliance with the Serpent as a means to drive a wedge in the class.

Interesting sub-note:
There were a number of dragons in Greek mythology that could be dealt with in the course of the narrative, which would allow the weirdness of regarding Chronos as a dragon out of the whole system.  There is the Python of Delphi, which would serve extremely well, as it would be fairly similar to the Rainbow Serpent of Uluru (encountered during the voyages of Shannon Brooks), as well as the Dragon of Colchis, which was dealt with by Jason on his quest to retrieve the Golden Fleece.