Episode 1: The Shadow King
As
Lady Penelope prepares to leave the court of her lover, King Fenn of the Tanu,
Little Nuada, Princess Dana Ashworth’s 3-year old son and Fenn’s adopted heir,
is suddenly robbed of his psyche and lifeforce by an invisible enemy. Penelope
must race against time to prevent the Dying of the Light and save the child
from the clutches of the mysterious Shadow King…
Episode 2: The Companions
of Demnos
While
enjoying a short trip to 1956 Paris,
Penelope once again crosses the path of the Comte de Saint-Germain! Soo, the Time Lady and the dear old (more or
less) immortal rogue join forces to thwart the nefarious plans of the
mysterious Companions of Demnos, prevent an atomic disaster and defeat the
terrible Helix Mandragora before it changes history! Mais oui!
Episode 3: The Emperor’s
Talisman
On
her quest to find the scattered remnants of King Fenn’s psyche, Lady Penelope
arrives to Charlemagne’s palace in the spring of 803 AD, with the Comte de
Saint-Germain at her side… just a few days before a terrible earthquake ravages
Aachen! Are the time travellers ready to face the Judgment of God? A tale of
court intrigue, historical destinies and human ordeals.
Episode 1 focused on Lady Penelope’s long-time relationships with the Tanu people, a
race loosely based on the species of the same name from the Many-Coloured Land book series by Julian
May – and more specifically on her very peculiar rapport with King Fenn, who
first started out as a full-blown enemy of the Time Lady (that was back in
season 1!), before becoming her ally (that was in season 8)… and then her
lover. The romantic evolution of their relationship was completely unexpected
and developed in actual play, at Sylvie’s initiative, providing us with one of
those fascinating story twists that make some episodes unforgettable. Since
then, Penelope and Fenn’s story had acted as a recurring plot device within the
larger context of her alliance with the Tanu… and it needed a new twist, which
The Shadow King delivered. At the end of this season opener, King Fenn ended up
in suspended animation inside the TARDIS’ clinic, with his psyche scattered all
around the vortex. Thus, Penelope started a new quest to recover, collect and
reconfigure these psychic fragments in the hope of bringing back the Sleeping
King alive, adding an extra dimension to her usual travels through space and
time… And for those wondering, here is what King Fenn looks like...
Episode
2 was great fun. It started with Sylvie expressing an interest in travelling to
1950s Paris… a setting which I knew quite well but which, somehow, gave me
absolutely Zero Inspiration as far as the character of Penelope and our
chronicle was concerned. I just couldn’t figure out what kind of strange
adventures I could develop in this context… until I got hit by The Idea: to
bring back the Comte de Saint-Germain, a character first introduced in season 8
(how time flies…) and who later played a major role in season 10 and, to a
lesser extent, in season 11, just before Penelope’s latest regeneration. Not
only did the Count gave me the perfect catalyst for a typically Parisian
adventure – but he also proved to be the perfect kind of temporary travelling
companion Penelope was needing at this very moment of her odyssey. Their reunion
was actually quite moving… For the story itself, I used the Mandragora Helix
and the cult of Demnos from The Masque of
the Mandragora, transplanted into the Parisian catacombs, with an extra
“1950s atomic research” twist and a few meta-references to Les Compagnons de Baal, a French TV series from 1968 which featured
an occult cabal of masked conspirators whose look was oddly similar to the
Brethren of Demnos’ (just see HERE).
A
quick note about our version of the Comte de Saint-Germain: when Penelope first
met him, he was a flamboyant charlatan, claiming to have lived for centuries
and doing the classic “immortal ascended master” act – a complete confidence
trickster, with a fair amount of flair and panache… and it was Penelope herself
who actually made him (more or less)
immortal (or, at least, very long-lived) by giving him some Elixir from Karn to
save his life, after he was critically wounded by an alien entity… thereby
causing the Saint-Germain legend to come full circle! Later, in season 10, she took him to the
fabled Library of Alexandria because he wished to trace the true origins of the
mysterious manuscripts of Hermes Trismegistus (what else?) - which he ended up
writing himself, making once again things come full circle and reinforcing his
status as a truly unique, time-defying character! Here he is - in his 18th century attire, back when Penelope first met him.
Episode
3 was originally intended as a purely historical story, in the style of, say, The Aztecs – but with an obviously very
different historical period! No alien threat to defeat, no otherworldly menace
to tackle, just a tale about the challenges and problems of temporal travel… In
the end, it did include a small (but decisive) fantasy/SF element about
Charlemagne’s famous talisman, which allowed me to make a nifty connection with
the ongoing theme of King Fenn’s scattered psyche fragments AND the “psychic
stones” encountered by Penelope back in episode 8.05, when she first crossed
the path of the Comte at the court of Catherine the Great.
See you in a few weeks for a couple of new episodes!
