Post by Deleted on Dec 7, 2021 21:30:36 GMT
The Ancestral Trail was a long-form narrative fiction magazine that ran from December 1992 to December 1994. As the older trailer and the new youtube one suggest was a fantasy style series, at least in the beginning, that told the tale of adventures and monsters.
The basic plot is that a boy from our world, Richard is summoned to the Ancestral World by one of it's guardians. Golan, representative of the landsmen (a race that are sort of like a cross between a human and a dwarf), has brought Richard there because he is the chosen one, as indicated by his different colour eyes, to save their world from the Evil One, an enigmatic villain who appeared in the ancestral world and brought it to the edge of ruin. Richard's quest to walk the Ancestral Trail, find the 6 other missing guardians along with the Life Force Pods they guarded. Each pod holds a piece of the life force of the Ancestral World, and until they are all return to the Tree of Life, the land cannot be healed. With the pods and guardians they may have hope of finally defeating the evil one.
Naturally Richard is very confused by and ill equipped for such a task, so he is given tool and guardian to help him. Orkan is a member of the common beasts (mammal humanoids) and had served in the last battle against the Evil One's forces. He serves as the teams muscle as well as their guardian and experienced warrior. The third member of the team is Melek, a dwarf and a scribe, who acts as the teams intellectual side to balance out Orkan's practicality and experience. Together this trio would travel together over the course of 26 issues going to many strange places and encountering even stranger monsters.
With the set up out of the way, the Ancestral Trail is a multifaceted series. It's by design a work for all ages, like Doctor Who, and tells a coming of age story for Richard who matures over the course of the story. That said as with images like this...
The series mad it very clear from the onset that this was not your typical Dungeons and Dragons affaire. The monsters in the world are dangerous, are more then a match for the heroes in terms of brute forces and WILL kill them if they get the chance. With that in mind, the story generally favours the heroes use their brains to to out-smart their foes and exploit their weaknesses. The reader is also encouraged, for at the start of every magazine is a rhyme, one that the characters will later read from Melek's book of prophesies, which provide hints of what they face and how to beat it. While a bit simplistic, it's a great way to get younger readers heads going on what the story may contain. Each magazine also contained lot of extra bits, such as maps of the ancestral world and character cards for use in role play, monster cards which contained info of monsters from real world legends both common and obscure, as well as a host of contests and contact details.
I myself originally had a handful of these. 1, 2, 3, 6, 7 and 9. However many years ago I was able to buy the whole lot for quite a good price at a car boot sale.
Each magazine issue is number and titled after the monster that will appear, though I will say this can occasionally lead to some minor disappointments when the title monster either doesn't prove so great (which is thankfully rare) or is actually just a minor point in the story (again rare). Each issue has wonderfully drawn double spread pages with a few paragraphs each side.
The first 26 issues are, no including the introduction piece which is very hard to come by these days.
- #1: The Moss Beast
- #2: Tolosh of the Garoon
- #3: Baal the Giant Spider
- #4: Mirra the Magician
- #5: Boltor, Bird of Thunder
- #6: Cozards and Killer Bees
- #7: Zock, Cannibal Chief
- #8: Enlil's Dungeon
- #9: Living Death-Traps
- #10: Zibella's Fortress
- #11: Klaw, Servant of Evil
- #12: Scorpions of the Desert
- #13: Dragora's Inner Sanctum
- #14: Hulkan, the Mole Monster
- #15: Narkum, the Fly King
- #16: Cragmar, Man of Stone
- #17: Gator, Reptile Warrior
- #18: Kronis, the Winged Lion
- #19: Nemis, Master of the Deep
- #20: Spector, Keeper of the Ice Kingdom
- #21: Stridor, Lord of the Snowy Mountains
- #22: Zyton and the Curse of Loktar
- #23: Dagmar, Demon of Fire
- #24: Syrus, Spirit of the Sky
- #25: Fenrar, the Desert Stalker
- #26: The Evil One
However the were a full 52 issues printed... well thats because even after the Ancestral World is saved, Richard's adventure is not over. He then finds himself in the Cyber Dimension, a place far more dangerous and inhospitable then the Ancestral World. as well as the origin of the Evil One. In this dimension he holds full sway, there are no rebels and Richard is almost totally alone in his venture this time. His sole companion for much of the story, and who gets separated form now and again, is Robo, a robot who looks like he stepped right out of the 60's. While he offers to help Richard from the get go, telling him he needs to collect the Omni-Pieces to defeat the Evil One, he is a far cry from Orkan or Melek, despite being both rolled into one. He is guide, warrior and a source of information, as well as possessing this section of the magazine's version of riddles. Instead Robo has a panel that shows binary code which appeared at the start of each issue and if deciphered, gives away the monster of the weeks weakness. For all this Robo is cold, matter a fact, and seems to care little for anything else beyond the quest, making him less then ideal company. Richard would later pick up a small, friendly creature called a Wigmat who would help turn the party into a trio, much to Robo's annoyance as he vies such creatures as vermin.
Robo is an avatar for the tonal shift that occurs in the cyber dimension. It's nothing drastic, but the place feels a lot colder and harsher. The Ancestral World was dangers shore but it had things like the Book of Prophecy, the Life Pods (which would bolster Richard in times of need though often without him knowing) and allies. Things were for the most part clearly defined, the heroes had several safety nets and eachother. The Cyber Dimension offers little to none of these and Richard has to be a lot more carful and self sufficient in order to survive. He is even lumped with a companion who he has to work with out of necessity rather then Orkan who was picked by Golan to help him.
Another change is in the artwork, while it still has it's amazing classic art, there is a lot of 3D style art an imagery used through out. Naturally the monsters of this section the series are far more sci-fi in nature then befor.
The later issues are...
- #27: Tengam, Gravity Defier
- #28: Zenon, Laser Lancer
- #29: Flector, Hi-Speed Solar Cruiser
- #30: Mortex, Molten Trail-Blazer
- #31: Holotron, Dynamic Deceiver
- #32: Husasan, Silicon Samurai
- #33: Terraforma, Enviromorpher
- #34: Toxis, Poison Predator
- #35: Identico, Deadly Replicator
- #36: Scordef, Sinister Supervirus
- #37: Cronid, Micro Creature
- #38: Mescon, Menacing Multi-Form
- #39: Proton, Power Android
- #40: Kentar, Cyber Demon
- #41: Continuuma, Empress of Time
- #42: Tyrannix, Robo-Dinosaur
- #43: Galaxia, Anti-Matter Alien
- #44: Quasar, Faceless Fiend
- #45: Cortix, Mind Master
- #46: Hydron, Mercury Monster
- #47: Mandelboit, Fearsome Fractal
- #48: Pixar, Particle Blaster
- #49: Malachit, Evil Incinerator
- #50: Robo, Robotic Betrayer
- #51: Vileeon, Cyber Judge
- #52: The Evil One
Over all this is a very fun, if sadly obscure series that has never been reprinted. From my understand the original writer of this series, who still maintains the series' website, has tried to resurrect it in the form of three novels. The first two covering the Ancestral and Cyber parts of the magazine, and a final part that takes place in our world. The final part was apparently dropped from the mazin version.
The books are... ok. They have a lot of changes but the basic plot is the same. There main problem is that they are badly in need of some proof reading and someone else to edit them, given that their is a lot of redundant dialog. As a result I strongly recommend the magazines over the books, thought heir not unreadable, jus have a very amature feel.
If your interested just tip Ancestral Trail into youtube, as several youtubers have done read throughs of the series to different points.
