Faction (Planescape)

The Factions are fictional philosophically based power groups in the Planescape campaign setting for the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game.

Background

While the Lady of Pain is considered the ultimate ruler of the planar metropolis called Sigil, "the City of Doors", the Factions perform virtually all the actual administrative and practical functions of the city. They are the ones the people look to for authority; the Lady only gives edicts or appears personally under rare circumstances. Each of the Factions is based around one particular belief system; many of the Factions' beliefs make them enemies where their other goals and actions might have made them allies. All Factions hold many secrets from non-members and even their own members, for the fewer know a secret the more secret it is (and these are secrets of power, either wielded or potentially gained by the Faction's adversaries).

There are fifteen Factions in total, per decree of the Lady of Pain; any additional factions emerging would be subject to her wrath (unless they destroy one of the current 15). At one point there were many more Factions, but after a war referred to as the Great Upheaval amongst the factions, the Lady of Pain decreed that they had two weeks to get the number down to 15 or she would kill them all. Interestingly the Free League membership swelled to over a million, compared to the 20,000 or so members present day.

The Dead (1987 film)

The Dead is a 1987 feature film directed by John Huston, starring his daughter Anjelica Huston. The Dead was the last film that Huston directed, and it was released posthumously.

It was adapted from the short story "The Dead" by James Joyce (from his short works collection Dubliners), and nominated for an Academy Award for Writing Adapted Screenplay. It was also nominated for an Academy Award for Costume Design.

The film takes place in Dublin in 1904 at an Epiphany party held by two elderly sisters. The story focuses attention on the academic Gabriel Conroy (Donal McCann) and his discovery of his wife Gretta's (Anjelica Huston) memory of a deceased lover.

Film adaptation

This film adaptation by John Huston's son Tony Huston can be considered a close adaptation of Joyce's short story, with some alterations made to the dialogue to aid the narrative for cinema audiences.

The most significant change to the story was the inclusion of a new character, a Mr Grace, who recites an eighth-century Middle Irish poem, "Donal Óg". The effect of this is to act as catalyst for the "Distant Music" that provokes the memories Gretta and Gabriel discuss at the end of the film.

James Joyce's The Dead

James Joyce's The Dead is a Broadway musical by Richard Nelson and Shaun Davey based upon James Joyce's short story "The Dead".

Productions

The musical was originally presented Off-Broadway at Playwrights Horizons, starting on October 1, 1999. The opening night cast included Blair Brown, Paddy Croft, Brian Davies, Daisy Eagan, Dashiell Eaves, Sally Ann Howes, John Kelly, Brooke Sunny Moriber, Marni Nixon, Alice Ripley, Emily Skinner, Stephen Spinella and Christopher Walken. Musical direction was by Charles Prince, with music co-ordination and percussion by Tom Partington. It transferred to the Belasco Theatre on Broadway on January 11, 2000, where it completed a run of 120 performances before closing on April 16, 2000.

The musical ran at the Kennedy Center (Washington, D.C.), from October 14, 2000 to November 12, 2000, with Faith Prince and Stephen Bogardus as Greta and Gabriel Conroy. The musical had played an earlier engagement at the Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles from July 11, 2000 to September 3, 2000.

Survival of the Dead

Survival of the Dead (also known as George A. Romero's Survival of the Dead) is a 2009 American horror film written and directed by George A. Romero and starring Alan van Sprang, Kenneth Welsh and Kathleen Munroe. It is the sixth entry in Romero's Night of the Living Dead series. The story follows a group of AWOL National Guardsmen who briefly appeared in Diary of the Dead.

Plot

The prologue follows the actions of National Guard Sergeant "Nicotine" Crockett, who along with Kenny, Francisco and Tomboy, desert their posts and rob the protagonists of the previous film. Meanwhile, off the coast of Delaware lies Plum Island, home to two feuding Irish families: the O'Flynns and the Muldoons. The former family, led by Patrick O'Flynn, round up a posse to kill the undead on the island. O'Flynn learns that the Muldoons are keeping their undead loved ones safe until a cure is found. Tensions come to a head when O'Flynn and his posse arrive at a Muldoon house to dispatch their undead children, only to engage in a brief gunfight that leaves a woman dead as well. Unable to put the children down himself, Patrick surrenders his weapons when the Muldoon posse arrives. Seamus Muldoon contemplates killing Patrick until Patrick's daughter Janet suggests he be exiled from the island instead.

Scorpia (novel)

Scorpia is the fifth book in the Alex Rider series (stories about the adventures of Alex Rider a 14–15-year-old spy), written by British author Anthony Horowitz. It begins several weeks after the events of fourth book, Eagle Strike, and up to nine days before the sixth, Ark Angel.

The book concerns the plans of a criminal organisation attempting to disrupt UK/US relations by murdering schoolchildren. Alex thwarts them by infiltrating the organisation but is apparently killed by a sniper.

It was released in the United Kingdom on April 1, 2004 and in the United States on March 17, 2005.

Abbreviation

The letters SCORPIA stand for "Sabotage, Corruption, Intelligence and Assassination".

Plot

The novel begins with the prologue-like introduction of a terrorist organization called SCORPIA, its leader as Julia Rothman. She walks into a secret room to discuss with the terrorist about her final stage of plan, when one of them, Max Grendel, tells her his retiring and his quitting from the organization. Julia goes out with him and sends Max to his waiting boat. Before he goes, she gives him a silver box and tells him to open it once he gets to the boat. He does, but the box is revealed to be filled with scorpions. As a result, the neurotoxin kills Max.

Nile (band)

Nile is an American technical death metal band from Greenville, South Carolina, United States, formed in 1993. Their music and lyrics are inspired by Ancient Egyptian/Near Eastern mysticism, history, religion, and ancient art, as well as the works of H.P. Lovecraft.

History

Nile formed in their hometown of Greenville in 1993, from the ashes of a previous band Morriah in which Karl Sanders played since the 1980s.Karl Sanders (guitar/vocals), Chief Spires (bass/vocals), and Pete Hammoura (drums) debuted with their Festivals of Atonement EP in 1995, leading Nile to a southwestern tour in support of other big metal acts such as Obituary, Deicide, and Broken Hope.

The EP Ramses Bringer of War was released by Visceral Productions in 1997. Visceral were due to release the full-length Amongst the Catacombs of Nephren-Ka, but went out of business later that year. However, Relapse Records was open to releasing it in early 1998, giving Nile a wider distribution and a chance to hit the road with Incantation and Morbid Angel.

Regions of the African Union

The member states of the African Union are divided into five geographic regions of the African Union.

List

North

Southern

East

West

Central

Sixth Region

The AU considers the African diaspora as its sixth region.

References