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          Morwa Lugi's DragonCrypt
         Homage to Christmas Spirits
             and Japanese Fairy Tales

The Backgrounder
This video is set in the same universe as the Guitar Gertie clip
found in the YahooGroup.There also may be a clip on one of the
sites called "The Wreck" which depicts one version of how Guitar Gertie
and the other mere dragons( homage to Gordon Dickson) came to make
their reluctant pilgrimages to a wrecked sea serpent vessel near
Long Point,Lake Erie.

Once upon a time some dragons decided they wanted to be
human rather then big 4 legged scaly winged flamebreathing
lizards.They employed many magical means to reshape themselves
into human sized beings,who were essentially human except for the
fact that their skulls refused to co-operate and retained much of its
reptillian ancestory.

Time passed and mere dragons thought they had integrated well
with human society,including marrying and bearing apparently
completely human offspring.The mere dragons thought they
had burned and buried their dragonish family tree.

Then came the Great Wars and Great Plagues and Great Famines
of the 1500's.Regular dragons and humans fought bitterly for dominion
of Northern Europe,and the dragons lost and were persecuted to near
extinction.Mere dragons and their human offspring didn't fare any
better,probably due to secret experiments during the Great War to
revive the dormant dragon blood in meredragon sleeper agents.

So by 1670 the Great Migration was underway.Dragons
merely swam and flew over the huge bodies of water to reach the
Promised Land.Mere dragons,being much smaller and weaker compared
to their cousins,had to settle for huge steam powered iron leviathons
called Sea Serpents.They employed flame breathing dragons to keep
the boilers fired up,and were crowded with hundreds of hopeful
mere dragons and their human relatives.

Amongst the passengers were four ordinary mortal humans with
no mere dragon ancestory.

There was the Roman Catholic priest,who
had once been a soldier who had fought against dragons and mere dragons
till he recieved the divine vision telling him he was destined to found a
colony of RC meredragons in the New World.

There was the Anglican deacon and his wife,who'd reluctantly
come aboard because their only child,their daughter Margaret,have
married one of the Sea Serpent's mere dragon crew.

There was the persecuted Moor Piet,who hoped to find sanctuary
in the New World.

There was the Buddhist monk,who was on the verge of achieving
nirvana,and only needed to add one more good deed and he would
achieve heavenly enlightenment.Showing the meredragons the way to
Salvation was his ticket to his own attainment of paradise.

There was the Shinto shaman high priestess Maegrethe,who had
been stranded in Europe after the crew of the Chinese junk she had
been aboard had cast her off when they discovered that a woman was
aboard.Which would bring bad luck.

There was the Dutch Reformed minister,who viewed all the
others as damned and beyond salvation.Why he had thus agreed
to come on the voyage is still a mystery.

The Lake Erie Sea Serpent seemed to have been cursed.She
barely staggered across the stormy Atlantic.At Nova Scotia some of
her passengers decided to get off and colonize the area.

The iron vessel continued on its way and with the use of magic
and the flame breath of her dragon crew pushed her way into
Lake Erie.Some of the dragons aboard had already flown about
on aerial surveys and noted the fertile lands to the west,the area we
associate with Windsor,Sarnia and Point Pelee.This was the
intended destination of the vessel.

However half way there a monster of a storm battered and
pounded the huge vessel,and in the shallow waters off the east
side of Long Point her bottom began to pound on the lake bed.

Lake Erie's currents are such that sand is scooped up on the
west side of Long Point and deposited on the east side of the exposed
sandbar known as Long Point.

This has resulted in a vast thousand foot deep chasm in the waters
offshore of Hemlock to Clear Creek.It was over this chasm that
the vessel in distress steamed as her captain tried to reach shore.

Ironically he would have been better off just letting her settle to
the lake bed further into the lake.A Sea Serpent is a huge vessel,and she could have
sunk in 90 feet of water and her decks and superstructure would
have still afforded some protection to her passengers.

However she struck a sandbar just off Hemlock and whilst her
bow pivoted on the sandbar the rest of her hung dangerously over the mouth
of the chasm.

The vessel was in distress and one dragon crew member
of the "Black Gang" took a heavy
life line and secured it to a tall oak tree on a sandy cliff.Water can be fatal
to flamebreathing dragons and the dragon fled to the nearby forest to seek
refuge from the pelting rains.

Aboard the sinking vessel,everyone was quickly panicking except
for the Black Gang dragons and the six spiritual advisors.

The plan had been that the dragons would keep firing at the boilers
till all the passengers and crew had reached shore on the lifeline.Then the
six huge beasts would leave the ship and try to use their combined strength
to pull the vessel over the bar and into the shallow bay.

The six spiritual advisors quickly came to admire the Black gang.Whilst
the meredragons were a disorganized rabble the six dragons stuck to their
task,ignoring the sounds as the vessel slowly died around them.The six
clergy persons
had last words with the dragons and then after the deacons and his wife
failed to convince their daughter to join them
they were the first group of seven
to climb into the heavy iron cage attached to the lifeline.The steam winch
was started and the cage slid over a mile of raging waters before it
bumped ashore.

They got out and watched as the iron car was hauled back to the
vessel for its next trip.The car was halfway there when a bulkhead must
have collapsed in the rear of the vessel.The blast of flanme,heat,
steam and red acidic dragon venom shooting hundreds of feet out of
the Sea Serpents funnel was a dramatic statement of the instantaneous
death of the six dragons in the boiler room.The steam winch came to a
halt and the vessel made a sickening lurch towards her watery grave.

At which point all confusion reigned supreme aboard the vessel
as the mere dragon passengers and their relatives realized there was no escape
any longer.Unlike the six Black Gang dragons who had stayed at their posts
till the end,everyone else put on a shameful display of cowardice and terror.

So we now pass to the legendary aspect of the tale.According to some
witnesses,the six humans on shore were seen in a attitude of prayer.One
was seen comforting his wife,before leading her away from the main group.
The Anglican deacon was then seen returning to the other five and they all
formed a circle and joining hands.

A spiralling bluish light appeared in the center of the lake waters,with
beams shooting heavenward.As the light drifted towards the sinking Sea
Serpent its light seemed to shine through the very walls of the craft.

As it swept along it illuminated all the passengers and crew and seemed to
awaken ancient dragon attitudes in everyone aboard.The chaos died down.

The light contined to slide under the lakes surface and headed towards
to the circle of six humans on the cliff where it came to rest in the
center of the gathering of the six.

It began to intensify in brightness and cracling lightening shot from the
sky and fused with it.Witnesses swore it lit up the very bones of the
six.Then,with a wrenching crackle,all six humans fell on all fours and
their skeletons morphed into those of small winged dragons.The blue
light began to diminish and the witnesses could see there were six rapidly
growing winged flamebreathing dragons where the humans had been moments
before.

They could hear the screamis and wailing of the deacons wife,as
the full import of his transformation sunk in.

However the six beasts were too busy rearranging to care of such
trivial matters,and their bestial roars was a good indication this
transformation was complete and ireversible.

The six beasts bodies finished changing,then the six newborn
flamebreathers took up the heavy towline/lifeline and slowly strained
massive muscles as they hauled the Sea Serpent half a mile onto
the shallower near shore waters.

The six former humans rested for a few moments,ignoring the tidings
of glad praise from most aboard the saved ship and the suicidal shrieks
from the deacons wife.The dragon that had been the deacon seems to
have been the first amongst the six to notice his altered condition.It
walked over to the wailing human and sampled her with its forked
serpentine tongue.Then it looked at the other five flamebreathers,back
to the human several times and finally sat back on its haunches and
gave a roar of despair to the heavens.

The other five dragons quickly realized why they'd suddenly
become 99 times stronger then they used to be.

One of the beasts leapt into Lake Erie,openned its jaws
wide and took in a deep swallow of water.A fraction of a second
later its death lit up the waters in a boiling maelstrom of fire and steam
that obscured the scene from the witnesses.

When the area cleared only the wailing dragon remained visible.
The other four beasts had vanished.The former deacon suddenly
froze up and toppled over on his side,dead from a broken heart.

Two weeks later three dragon carcasses washed ashore near the
wreck.The torn and mutilated corpse was surmized to be the remains
of the transformed human who had knowingly ended his life.But the
other two dragons could not be identified,and there was no way to
associate the two dragons with the four missing human/dragons.

With time the currents built up a sandy island around the wrecked
Sea Serpent.The sand covered over the bones of the four dragons and a
Anglican Cathedral on the island supposedly contained the bones of a
dragon that had once been a human Anglican deacon.

All the other victims of the wreck were buried beside the other
three dead flamebreathers,and a obelisk was erected over the grave as a
monument to the six Black Gang dragons,the six transformed humans
and the meredragons who had been washed overboard in the storm.

The meredragon community quickly discovered that the miraculous
blue light had done a lot more then calm them.It had somehow
reawakened the supposedly comatose dragon within themselves.They
all soon learned the beast inside could no longer be controlled with
science or magic.Hence Lake Erie's North Shore is replete with
tales of meredragon villages suddenly being hastily abandoned because
their former residents had a draconic lifestyle forced upon them.Other
tales tell of broken marriages when one of the partners got a major shift
in priorities as well as teeth ,wings and claws.

For the first century after the wreck it appeared the mere dragons
and their near human offspring were fated to end up as dragons.There was
no way to stop or undo a metamorphosis .However by trial and error they
discovered a pilgrimage to the island the ruined rusting Sea Serpent rested
on could grant them six trouble free years as a meredragon or human.

It didn't always work.Roughly one out of every ninety nine pilgrims
discovered to their horror that the island seemed to randomly choose them
for a six year stint as a even bigger and more brutal dragon then otherwise
was the case.However it wasn't a permanent position,so the pilgrims
deemed it a acceptable risk.

And so Wreck Island off of Hemlock became a place of pilgrimage
and government funding,as well as a great place to build
churches,temples,mosques and amusement parks.

The video Kiyohime begins with a modern day buddhist monk with a
unwanted ancestory making his every six years pilgrimage to the island
where the Sea Serpent wreck lies.

The main plot is derived from the last part of the Legend of
Anchin and Kiyohime.

Kiyohime is told by her joking dad that Anchin is her betrothed
and she takes its seriously.Anchin the monk placates her by telling her,yes we
will marry someday.He goes away and Kiyohime awaits the return of him.
He doesn't and slowly Kiyohimes joy turns to disillusion and then to
hatred.She stalks him and he hides under a bell at the Temple of
Dojoji.Kiyohimes hatred is so intense that she transforms into a
fire breathing demon serpent,tracks her false lover to the temple and
melts down the bell,with Anchin inside.Then she runs/slithers into the
nearby river and vanishes.

four centuries later the Temple plans to rededicate a new bell.A
street dancer seeking salvation offers to do a dance in front of the bell.The
reluctant monks allow the woman dancer in the temple and
she cavorts about the bell.Then she dashes under it,the bell peals
sickeningly and crashes down on top of the female dancer.

The bell becomes extremely hot.The curse of Kiyohime,still
alive after 4 centuriesworks on the trapped street dancer.

When a monks finally raise the bell a huge fire breathing demon snake
emerges from it.of the street dancer there is no trace.

Kiyohime video in wmv format

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Tales of the Sea Serpent Bernadika

Gus Grimm and his daughter Joan Aleida Grimm are field operatives in the
business of decontaminating dragon hoards left over from the Great War
which ended 15 years earlier.

The Great War began when the dragons started fighting amongst themselves.
Some of them discovered that dragon transformational magic was
a easy way to reshape humans into big scaly monsters which would attack
the dragon enemy.So soon humans were being captured and cursed or remade
to serve as living weapons on the dragons own war.Humans did not appreciate
being turned into 'mines' and the small dragon war escalated into the
Great War,where survival of the species was the prize fought over.

Gus and Joan have been plying the dragon cursed wrecks for years,and
have decided to take along bookish Elizabeth,the youngest member of the
Grimm clan,to show her the practical side of the research she does for them.

They decide to show Elizabeth a human 'mine',a old sailor named Piet
who was cursed decades ago to turn into a ferocious sea serpent whenever a
big thing( a dragon) comes within range.They approach Piet,who'se clueless
about his employment as a sea serpent,and toss a Holy Cross near the
marooned sailor.Since dragon magic reacts strongly to Christian symbols,
Piet reaches over to pick up the Cross and starts rearranging.

The enraged sea serpent promptly goes after the Kristina Scunt and
Joan empties a Bag of Wind to fill the sails.The boat nearly capsizes,
then speeds away with Piet hot in pursuit.After they sail away the sea serpent
reverts to a puzzled cursed human once again.

They arrive at the island where the cursed dragon hoard lies.Apparently all
the dragons in that community were wiped out in that community and the
existence of that hoard would be a fertile breeding ground for more
human 'mines'.Whilst Gus and Joan set the charges that will send the
indestructible cursed dragon hoards down into the magma pool
(decontamination) Elizabeth wanderes down a side tunnel where she finds a
apparent stuffed dragon,some Holocaust dragon victims toy.Knowing the
whole area will soon be incinerated,Elizabeth figures it would be a
shame to let EVERYTHING be decontaminated,so she swiped the
fine gold chain necklace from the dragon teddybear.She never notices
her fingernails instantly lengthen the second she touches the necklace.

She gets back to her appointed spot,with the necklace hidden under her
neck collar.Her relatives come charging out of the main cavern ,with the
gunpowder kegs set to go "BOOM"

They all flee to the beach where Elizabeth watches the big bang that
slides the cursed hoards into the Earth,where no mortal human can
reach it.As the hoards slip away,the magic and curses on them are
passed onto the one remaining artifact still on the surface,Elizabeths
necklace.Elizabeth unknowingly becomes the heir to the extinct
dragon clan.Her pupils slowly itch and reform,her teeth quietly take on a
dragonlike quality.

Then the Grimm's flee the rocking thundering island as the magma
leaps out of the central pool,seeking escape.In a small side tunnel a
stuffed dragon teddybear is revealed to be the last resting place of
a unborn dragonet.Elizabeth has unleashed powerful dragon magic within
herself way beyond her wildest imaginings.

The island blows away .Elizabeth is screaming and freaking out in the
cabin.Gus and Joan must face the approaching tsunami without the
help of a panicking Elizabeth.

The younger girls screams are suddenly cut off.All is peace and
quiet in the cabin.

After the wave wrecks the Kristina Scunt Gus looks in on his daughter
but there's no sign of her in the cabin.He never notices the giant dragons
egg resting on the womens clothing under the bunk where the young
girl had lain hours earlier.A egg fairly eager to burst the corset it
lies within.

A short while later Elizabeth picks herself up off the floor,with nothing
on but a torn and stretched corset and a wet sticky necklace around
her abdomen.

She quickly realizes the period of soothing oblivion she
remembers must be because the necklace transformed her into
something other then a screaming human female.A dragon of some
sort.

Sensibly,she tosses the cursed necklace overboard before her surprised
relatives notice her sudden reappearance aboard the boat.

Behind her a huge metallic Sea Serpents figurehead suddenly approaches
and comes to a stop just dozens of fathoms from the distressed sailboat.
In its jaws mill about officers and important people.The Sea Serpent
Bernadika is a huge dragon built ship from the past.

The resuced Gus clan are led into the iron vessel.Standing in a
line is the receptioncommittee,the Buddhist priest,the Jesuit member ,
the General Legionairethe rich mere-dragon industrialist,the politician.

off to the side the mere-dragon Captain Jonathan Grimm glowers at the
one person he'd rather not meet again even if hell froze over,his
step brother Gus Grimm.The feeling is mutual.Off in the distance Jan Grimm,
son of Jonathan,tries to ignore Scotty,the engineer dragon,whose been
with the Bernadika since she was built a century earlier.The dragon's
senses just told him a female dragon just came aboard,but he can't see her.

Then as Jan Grimm leads his two (step-cousins?) Scotty zeroes in on
Elizabeth,and knows her for the shapeshifting dragoness she's turned into.

Whilst Gus and Jonathan Grimm fondly remember their childhood
on the navigation deck,Jan tells Joan all about Sea Serpents.Manta Ray
winged iron vessels,with a tail.decks sized for a dragons crew.He's afraid
to mention the Bernadika is a former 'human mine' maker and layer,but
Joan ignores his talk of sealed chambers,rooms and tunnels and concentrates
on the dragon fired boilers and the overall superiority of the Sea Serpent
to anything humanity has so far built.She's beginning to fall in love,both
with her meredragon relative and the vessel his dad commands.

Then they come to the elevator and Jan explains the Bernadika is a
segregated ship.Up on the main platform humans live a live of decadent
upper class luxury,down below are decks filled with hundreds of banished
European mere-dragon farmers,villagers and craftsfolk,all migrants.And
down in the lowest levels slither and hiss dragons and formerly human
reptillian things.dripped venom,exhaling smoke and scratching the hard
iron deck with their talons.

Elizabeth however,is more concerned with the fact her unwanted gift
from the island of the vanished dragon community has magically reappeared
around her neck.And thoughts,beastial dragonnish messages and whispers,
signify the dragon community aboard has noted her presence aboard.

As the sun sets Joan relaxes in her upper class human room,and
determines that the Sea Serpent life is the life for her,indeed!

Tales of the Sea Serpent Bernadika