Character Spotlight: Durgan of the Iron Hand

When Durgan the Minotaur got ticked off at an army of warrior demons, he didn't stop fighting until all of them were dead. That took him more than a few days to accomplish but it earned him the status of legend in cosmic eyes.

Brahmakar, the god of Minotaurs declared Durgan of the Iron hand to be a legend and blessed him. No single source of damage may harm him twice in 24 hours. So, if you want to throw down with that Minotaur, you better have a lot of weapons or hit hard enough to shatter mountains. Durgan doesn't go down easily at all.

Durgan stands over 8 feet all covered in rippling muscle. His horns have pierced the armor of tanks and never broken. He can toss 40-50 tons with ease.

His metal hand is magically indestructible and breaks about anything it hits. How he lost that hand is an unknown story as of yet. Maybe he'll tell it in Chessmen 2 (in writing stage now).

Durgan travels with another legend, a Faerie named Lorelei. The two are the best of friends. Sometimes it seems like she serves as his conscience or adviser, but she likes to just bug him a lot of the time.

Durgan knows little in the way of fear or restraint and is low on patience. It's best to be short and direct about what you want with him. Boring him is never a good idea. As a hero, Durgan hard to figure out. It seems more like he reacts to his own rage over what the bad guys happen to be doing, but Lorelei helps him a lot with that. Lorelei longs for the days they were known adventurers. Those days slowed and stopped because Durgan didn't feel challenged anymore.

In Chessmen 2, he and Lorelei will be joining the fight to help the Chessmen.

Spotlight: Minotaurs!

My first spotlight request is for Minotaurs and they are a very interesting race. I have several characters that are Minotaurs to include Red Rhok and Durgan. Maestro has a Demon/Minotaur named Fist who serves as a kind of bodyguard. There's even a vampiric Minotaur our there named, Viceroy who roams with a quartet of powerful villains. But what about the race in general?

Minotaurs in GZ are a nomadic race, scattered across the stars. Villages are rare to see and most take to wandering the universe or various worlds all their lives. In spite of that, they are fiercely loyal. Once a Minotaur dedicates himself to a cause or friendship, he puts all of himself into it. Unless their friend is also a wanderer, the wandering is over. They never leave their allies in a bad situation and may have to be killed to stop them. Durgan's lifelong friend is a legendary Faerie named Lilith. If you really want to see him in a deadly rage, threaten the Faerie.

Minotaurs are not without religion of some form. They have a god called, Brahmakar and he is always watching for Minotaurs who impress him. If one does, he gives them gifts. He may even make them a Minotaur knight with specially blessed equipment. To the Minotaur this is a holy gift.

Minotaurs are known for great strength and those horns aren't just for looking at. They can and will fight with them. They also come in three forms from distant tribes. The most common ones have either the legs of a humanoid or of a bull. The third and very rare form (nearly extinct) is built more like a Centaur with the body of a great bull, humanoid torso, and head of a bull. They have names for these tribes:

Manfoot: humanoid feet
Cloven: hooved feet
Four legs: for the rare type

As you can tell, they keep names pretty simple. You might wonder now, how such a nomadic race keeps their numbers up. In fact, they number in the billions across the stars. It's not as hard to find a mate as you might imagine.

All in all, the Minotaur is an amazing creature that dates back on our world to stories of myth and legend. In Galaxy Zento, those myths and legends are based on real visits by Minotaurs (and even enslavement of one by King Minos).

Hope you enjoyed today's spotlight on Minotaurs. Do you have a request?

Down time

I've been quite a bit off course in down time recently because of health issues. I just want everyone to know that I'm still here and coming back on with a vengeance. There have also been setbacks, but that's just a fact of life, right?

As some of you may remember, I'm on a health journey. I've had two MRI's confirm that "something" is amiss. We've ruled out MS but we know "something" is still there and needs to be identified. I had a lumbar puncture this week to try and find out more. Oh, a lumbar puncture is where the put a needle into your spinal column to draw out spinal fluid to test for a variety of diseases, like MS and meningitis. No, we don't think I have meningitis. So, the journey for answers continues.

I also want to remind my friends that my sharing of GZ is more than just putting my characters out there and sharing their stories. It's about doing in spite of my medical conditions. It's about overcoming. That's why I also say that GZ supports autism education, and always will.

Now, with setbacks and downtime, good things are still happening. Guest artists and compliments from professionals have been a great motivator and just outright awesome. I'm definitely coming across a lot of awesome people as well. I am endlessly grateful. There are so many possibilities coming up with this and I am excited to see them develop. I'm excited to have friends see them develop right along with me.

So, please stay tuned, there is more to come and I will be hard a working to make it so! (Image is Durgan of the Iron Hand vs an army of demons, a work in progress sneak peek!)