New Allies on Venus

Royal Hawaiians Arrive on Jungle Planet

Reporting for duty to Venus, the 25th Royal Oahu Rangers are a specialist corps of tropical scouts and pathfinders known affectionately as the "Birds of Paradise" for their use of tropical bird calls for secret communication in while on missions. Having served in various island actions both against homeland threats and in various island skirmishes, they are adept at navigating the threats of tropical environments. They are skilled in ambush, raiding and counter-raiding tactics and fight in what has been described by many Europeans as a very "un-gentlemanly" manner. Already perfectly acclimatized to hot and humid environments and undaunted by the drizzle and miasma of a rain forest, they were the perfect asset for the Kingdom of Hawaii to lend as aid and a sign of solidarity with the Republic of Texas.

Their commander, Major Thomas Kipitupu, is proud to serve his king alongside his kingdom's Texican allies. He and his men will lend all of their talents to the efforts to forge a new colony in the hostile, shadowy jungles of Venus. Forging paths, scouting new territories and lending warclub and rifle to battle any hostile forces they might encounter, I am sure the Texican Marines on Venus will quickly come to appreciate their merits.

Sadly, our staff photostat artist was confined to his bunk with a nasty fungal infection, so no photostats are available at this time. We hope he will recover soon, so he can get back to work and earn the ridiculously large sum he receives as a per diem from this journal... I tell you, it's the last time I hire one of my wife's useless relatives...

[Editor's Notes: Eli sent me the basic text of the above copy in an email. I made a few minor changes to make it fit in a bit better stylistically, but it's a great addition to the VSF storyline as far as I am concerned. I wonder what's going to happen on Venus? There should be some kind of adventure their in the nearish future if I can pull a few things together. Stay tuned!]

News from Exotic Earthly Islands

Kingdom of Hawaii in the Sandwich Isles

An interesting piece of news from our correspondent Mister Eli, from the Sandwich Isles in the warm Pacific waters. He has provided in his own journal [I See Lead People - check it out!] some interesting articles regarding the development of the Kingdom of Hawaii's armed forces. I thought it might be of interest to our readers who follow the development of Her Britannic Majesty's allies around the globe and throughout the solar system. His Excellency the Viceroy had this to say:

"Jolly good! Nice to see a bunch of primitive wogs learning how to behave properly, what? Her Majesty can always use a friendly puppet regime - er, mean to say, a good solid ally in the vast Pacific waters. Good for trade, and good for Britain! I wonder if they've sent any pineapples along? I do so like a nice sweet pineapple..."

Seen above are the provincial militia of the Hawaiian kingdom. While hardly proper professional soldiers, I am sure they can settle for any pirates that might come calling in their quiet island homes.

[Editor's Note: I snagged the photo from Eli's blog - hope you don't mind, Eli! - and I think they look great. If you haven't been following the development of the Hawaiian military, you should immediately go to his blog and check out all 8 (!) installments of the discussions there. Some really interesting imagery and ideas being tossed about.]

Kingdom of Hawaii?

My friend Eli runs his own gaming blog, called "I See Lead People." I've mentioned it before here, I am sure, and there's a link to the blog in my links.

Anyway, he threw out an idea sort of off-the-cuff for a new VSF power: Hawaii. Before you scoff, check out this link: http://leadpeople.blogspot.com/2009/04/atler-nations-kingdom-of-hawaii-part-1.html. It fleshes out the idea a little more, and begins to make some sort of sense. I could see the Kingdom of Hawaii becoming as powerful as, say, the Papal States, Imperial Mexico or even the Republic of Texas, with the right set of circumstances.

At any rate, its a fun idea to kick about. Check it out, and let Eli know what your thoughts are.