The Mad Goblin_Secrets of the Nine

by Philip José Farmer

  MID 1600s

  Two rival extraterrestrial races, the Eridaneans and the Capelleans, arrive on Earth and are stranded. Over the centuries, the warring alien races, which are very long-lived, are forced to adopt human guise; they covertly continue their rivalry while living amongst humans. The two races use “distorters,” very powerful personal teleporters, in furtherance of their conflict. (The Other Log of Phileas Fogg)

  NOVEMBER 22, 1888, A FEW MINUTES AFTER MIDNIGHT

  John Clayton III (the future eighth duke of Greystoke) is born on the coast of French Equatorial Africa (Gabon). He becomes the eponymous hero of Tarzan Alive and is a member of the Wold Newton Family. (Tarzan Alive)

  NOVEMBER 12, 1901

  James Clarke “Doc” Wildman, Jr., a Wold Newton Family member, is born on the schooner Orion in a cove off the northern tip of Andros Island, Bahamas. His parents are James Clarke Wildman, Sr. and Arronaxe Larsen. (Doc Savage: His Apocalyptic Life)

  He later acquires the nickname “Doc.” Doc’s maternal grandparents are the notorious Wolf Larsen (from Jack London’s The Sea Wolf) and Arronaxe Land, who is the daughter of Ned Land (from Jules Verne’s 20,000 Leagues under the Sea).

  Hubert Robertson and Ned Land are also present. It is possible that they, along with Wildman, Sr., have gathered to discuss their plans against the Nine.

  (See Christopher Paul Carey’s essay “The Green Eyes Have It— Or Are They Blue? or Another Case of Identity Recased,” in Myths for the Modern Age: Philip José Farmer’s Wold Newton Universe, Win Scott Eckert, ed., MonkeyBrain Books, 2005, wherein Carey proposes that Wolf Larsen and Baron von Hessel [from Farmer’s Escape from Loki], among others, are all the same man, and indeed may also be the historical Woden [Odin], the immortal member of the Nine known as XauXaz.)

  MARCH 31–JULY 1918

  Sixteen-year-old James Clarke Wildman is captured during the Great War and sent to prison camp Loki where he battles Baron von Hessel and meets future colleagues in his forthcoming battle against evil. (Escape from Loki: Doc Savage’s First Adventure)

  Unknown to Wildman, Baron von Hessel is his own grandfather and an immortal member of the Nine. (Carey’s “The Green Eyes Have It”; Eckert’s “The Wild Huntsman” in The Worlds of Philip José Farmer 3: Portraits of a Trickster, Meteor House, 2012)

  NOVEMBER 1948

  Doc Wildman descends into the depths of New England caverns and has a terrifying adventure which cannot be explained by rational means. (Up from Earth’s Center, a Doc Savage novel by Lester Dent)

  1972

  John Clayton III, his wife Jane, and various family members fake their deaths and take new identities in order to avoid unwanted questions (Tarzan Alive) and also possibly to evade the Nine.

  1972–1973

  James Clarke “Doc” Wildman and his wife Adélaïde Lupin Wildman fake their deaths, possibly going on the run from the Nine. (The Evil in Pemberley House by Farmer and Eckert; “The Wild Huntsman” by Eckert)

  1984

  In the caverns beneath Maine, which he last visited in 1948, Doc Wildman sees a man who looks remarkably like him from across the dimensional void. The other man is Doc Caliban. (The Monster on Hold, an unfinished fragment of a Doc Caliban novel by Philip José Farmer)

  2070-12,000 B.C.E.

  The jungle lord, John Clayton III, now calling himself John Gribardsun, is part of the expedition of the time vessel H. G. Wells I which travels back in time from 2070 to 12,000 B.C.E. (Time’s Last Gift)

  Gribardsun lives 14,000 years without aging, as noted in the canonical books about the jungle lord and by Gribardsun himself: “As you know now, I was fortunate enough to be given an elixir by a witch doctor who was the last man of his tribe. He belonged to a family the original head of which, some generations before, had discovered how to make the elixir, a vile-tasting devil’s brew, from certain African herbs, blood, and several other constituents I will not even hint at. He had a high regard for me because I saved his life and also because he thought I was some sort of a demigod. He knew of my rather peculiar upbringing.” (Time’s Last Gift)

  It is important to note that this elixir differs from that of the Nine in that it bestows true eternal youth as well as immortality. Imbibers of the Nine’s elixir age about one hundred biological years over 20,000 to 30,000 years.

  (See “Gribardsun through the Ages: A Chronology of Major Events Pertinent to Time’s Last Gift” by Win Scott Eckert and Dennis E. Power in the Titan Books edition of Time’s Last Gift for complete information on this time-traveling immortal jungle lord.)

  10,814 B.C.E.

  Gribardsun encounters Nine member XauXaz (who calls himself Kethnu at this point in time) near Khokarsa; Kethnu acquires Gribardsun’s immortality elixir. Gribardsun’s elixir prevents any aging whatsoever, whereas with the Nine’s elixir, the user’s body will age perhaps one hundred years over tens of thousands of years, and the user will still eventually die. Kethnu/XauXaz does not share this improved elixir with his fellow Nine members. (“The Wild Huntsman”)

  DECEMBER 13, 1795

  The immortal John Gribardsun, still living forward through time from 12,000 B.C.E., comes to witness the Wold Newton meteor strike, which imbued his ancestors with, and passed on to him, the qualities of supermen. He is an invitee at the Conclave called by Sir Percy Blakeney, and held in Wold Newton, in December 1795.

  XauXaz is also present, having time-traveled to the event from the year 1972.

  (See Eckert’s short stories “Is He in Hell?” [The Worlds of Philip José Farmer 1: Protean Dimensions, Meteor House, 2010] and “The Wild Huntsman.”)

  2070

  The H. G. Wells I time-travel expedition occurs again, attempting to reach a point 14,000 years in the past:

  “When the H. G. Wells I voyaged into time (again), he felt sorry for John II, Rachel, Drummond, and Robert. This trip would not take them to the France of 12,000 B.C. Somewhere along the transit, the vessel and its passengers would disappear. He did not know how or to where. But the same time barrier that had existed from 1872 to 2070 would prevent the vessel from existing in 12,000 B.C.

  It was supposed to appear the same day that he, John I, had appeared. His cells had not replaced themselves yet, which meant that the ship and its passengers would go elsewhere.

  He liked to think that Rachel and the others had not just disintegrated. Perhaps they were shunted off into a parallel world.

  The temporal obstacle was removed the moment the vessel was launched. There would be no more John IIs, John IIIs, John IVs, and so on. Ad infinitum.

  If it were not for the time barrier, John II would also have lived 14,000 years or so and have waited in the wings while John III prepared to board the vessel. And then John IV and then John V. Until the world was crowded with them.

  The circuit of time was broken now. No need to worry about those others.”

  (Time’s Last Gift)

  26,000 B.C.E.

  Owing to the impossibility of arriving in 12,000 B.C.E. (see prior entry), John Gribardsun and the expedition in the time vessel H. G. Wells I are “bounced” an additional 14,000 years into the past, arriving in 26,000 B.C.E.

  (See the short story “Into Time’s Abyss” by John Allen Small in The Worlds of Philip José Farmer 2: Of Dust and Soul, Meteor House, 2011.)

  The time travelers’ arrival in a different time period causes a quantum division and creates two parallel universes, which diverge over time.

  The Nine organization already exists at the time of the quantum split, and the group’s membership includes the Nine’s leader Anana; XauXaz; and XauXaz’s brothers, Ebn XauXaz and Thrithjaz.

  Since these Nine members are already alive and immortal at the time of the quantum split, these doppelgängers live on through the millennia in parallel universes: the Wold Newton Universe and the universe of Lord Grandrith and Doc Caliban.

  Through the ages, the two universes diverge somewhat, and the membership of the Nine in each universe mirrors that divergence.
By 1720, both XauXazs are still alive in each universe; XauXaz’s brothers in the Grandrith/Caliban Universe are deceased (their status in the Wold Newton Universe is unknown, but it is likely they are deceased); and Anana is still alive in the Grandrith/Caliban Universe (it is unknown if she is still alive in the Wold Newton Universe).

  EVENTS IN THE GRANDRITH/CALIBAN UNIVERSE

  The entries described here take place in the continuity known as the Grandrith/Caliban Universe unless otherwise indicated.

  APPROX. 10,000 B.C.E.

  Birth of Iwaldi. (The Mad Goblin)

  1900 B.C.E.–1600 B.C.E.

  Stonehenge is built in three phases by the Wessex People, supervised by XauXaz. (Lord of the Trees, The Mad Goblin)

  (Presumably the XauXaz counterpart in the Wold Newton Universe also plays a part in the building of Stonehenge in that universe.)

  1241

  Iwaldi’s castle is built in Gramzdorf, Germany, upon an even more ancient keep and series of caves. (The Mad Goblin)

  1641

  Birth of Barbara Villiers, 1st Duchess of Cleveland, Countess Castlemaine. (The Mad Goblin)

  EARLY 1700S

  The use of distorters by the Eridaneans and the Capelleans in the Wold Newton Universe creates tiny tears in the pluriverse, weakening the dimensional barrier between the Wold Newton Universe and the Grandrith/Caliban Universe. (“The Wild Huntsman”)

  1709

  Barbara Villiers, a candidate of the Nine, fakes her death. (The Mad Goblin)

  (Barbara Villiers also has a counterpart in the Wold Newton Universe with the same name and titles, but it is unknown if the doppelgänger was also recruited by the Nine in that dimension.)

  1720

  The Nine in the Grandrith/Caliban Universe become aware of Shrassk, a multidimensional entity, and invoke the creature to quell a rebellion among three candidates of the Nine. Shrassk has the power, perhaps uncontrolled by it, a wild talent, to touch the subconscious of some sensitive human receptors and cause nightmares. After the rebellion, recognizing the danger posed by the entity, the Nine imprison Shrassk. Shrassk and her children are suspended between the Grandrith/ Caliban Universe and the Wold Newton Universe, acting as a sort of bridge. The Nine place guards around the deep caves in Maine where it is located to prevent it and her children from escaping into their world. (The Monster on Hold, an unfinished fragment of a Doc Caliban novel by Philip José Farmer)

  1720

  WOLD NEWTON UNIVERSE

  The Nine in the Wold Newton Universe become aware of the Shrassk entity (which was invoked by their counterparts in the Grandrith/ Caliban Universe) and place guards around the deep caves in Maine where it’s located to prevent it and her children from escaping into their world.

  17 20–1968

  WOLD NEWTON UNIVERSE AND GRANDRITH/CALIBAN UNIVERSE

  XauXaz from the Wold Newton Universe discovers and utilizes the “bridge” created by Shrassk to travel back and forth between the universes; he accesses the bridge using a Capellean distorter (there are no distorters in the Grandrith/Caliban Universe because the Eridanean/Capellean conflict on Earth has not happened there). Shrassk taps XauXaz’s subconscious, but XauXaz is the only human to overcome Shrassk’s influence and thus use Shrassk’s dimension bridge for his own purposes.

  XauXaz is the counterpart, but much younger appearing, of the XauXaz from the Grandrith/Caliban Universe; unlike XauXaz or any member of the Nine in either universe, the Wold Newton Universe’s XauXaz had not aged one hundred years over tens of thousands of years. This is because he has, or at least once had, access to an elixir like John Gribardsun’s, which functions differently than the Nine’s elixir.

  The Wold Newton Universe’s XauXaz crosses over to the Grandrith/Caliban Universe and murders his counterpart—the Grandrith/Caliban Universe’s XauXaz. Between 1720 and 1968, he travels back and forth between the dimensions, playing the part of XauXaz in both universes, with both groups of the Nine. (“The Wild Huntsman”)

  LATE 1850S–EARLY 1860S

  XauXaz, during his many crossover trips from the Wold Newton Universe (“The Wild Huntsman”), takes the guise of elderly Swedish gentlemen “Mister Bileyg” and over the course of a few years pays several midnight visits to Catstarn Hall on the Grandrith Estate, and to the woman who will become the mother of three brothers: James, John, and Patrick Cloamby. (A Feast Unknown)

  The woman’s sterile husband, Viscount Grandrith, who is fifty-five but looks thirty, commits suicide after his wife takes her own life. He suspected that her own suicide was brought on by a guilty conscience due to her infidelity. (A Feast Unknown)

  Thus, the XauXaz of the Wold Newton Universe is the grandfather of the Grandrith/Caliban Universe’s John Cloamby, aka Lord Grandrith; James “Doc” Caliban; and Trish Wilde. (A Feast Unknown; “The Wild Huntsman”)

  He is also the grandfather of the Wold Newton Universe’s James Clarke “Doc” Wildman (Carey’s “The Green Eyes Have It”) and the ancestor many times over of Greystoke the jungle lord and other members of the Wold Newton Family. (“The Wild Huntsman”)

  1881

  James Murtagh is born in Meiringen, Switzerland, and is raised from the age of eight in Wales. Like his notorious father, he goes on to become an extremely talented mathematician, a genius, who teaches higher mathematics at Oxford and the University of Talinn. He is also a candidate of the Nine. (The Mad Goblin)

  MARCH 21, 1888

  Alexandra Applethwaite’s brother-in-law, John Cloamby, rapes her in the streets of Whitechapel while suffering insanity under the influence of the Nine’s elixir. She becomes pregnant. (A Feast Unknown)

  John Cloamby goes on to commit more murders, and is known as Jack the Ripper. Finally, the insanity subsides and, remorse-stricken, he changes his surname to Caliban and disappears to America, eventually fathering James “Doc” Caliban. (A Feast Unknown)

  MAY OR JUNE, 1888

  James Cloamby, Viscount Grandrith, and wife Alexandra Applethwaite sail for West Africa, where James is assigned to conduct a secret investigation for the Colonial Office. They are later marooned on the coast of French Equatorial Africa. (A Feast Unknown)

  NOVEMBER 21, 1888 AT 11:45 p.m.

  John Cloamby (the future Lord Grandrith) is born prematurely on the coast of French Equatorial Africa (Gabon). He becomes the jungle lord. (A Feast Unknown)

  1889

  Deaths of James Cloamby and Alexandra Applethwaite; John Cloamby is adopted and raised by The Folk. (A Feast Unknown)

  1898

  John Cloamby discovers his mother and legal father’s/uncle’s (James Cloamby) cabin along with books and tools. (Lord of the Trees)

  1901

  Birth of James Caliban, later known as “Doc” Caliban. He is the halfbrother of John Cloamby, Lord Grandrith. (The Mad Goblin)

  A Feast Unknown gives Caliban’s birth year as 1903. The 1901 date from The Mad Goblin makes more sense, as Grandrith mentions in Lord of the Trees that Caliban fought in the Great War: “...he served with distinction as a commissioned officer in the U.S. Army in 1918.” And in The Mad Goblin, it’s noted that, “When Doc was only seventeen and a lieutenant in World War I, he had captured two German soldiers at the same time that he had been cut off by the advance of the enemy.” In A Feast Unknown, Grandrith spied upon Caliban’s elderly aides, Rivers and Simmons, and learned the 1903 date. Either they misspoke, or Grandrith misheard them.

  1908

  John Cloamby first lays eyes on Clio Jeanne de Carriol. (Lord of the Trees)

  1911

  Birth of Patricia “Trish” Wilde, cousin of James “Doc” Caliban and John Cloamby, Lord Grandrith. (The Mad Goblin)

  Trish’s father is Patrick Cloamby, who traveled to Canada at a very young age, after assaulting and nearly killing a teacher; this presumably occurred sometime before 1888. Patrick Cloamby changed his surname to Wilde and became a doctor. (A Feast Unknown)

  Lord Grandrith discovers a hidden valley containing a ruined city in Africa; the
gold he uncovers at the site, which he names Ophir, becomes the source of his immense wealth. (A Feast Unknown)

  NOVEMBER 21, 1913

  Marriage of John Cloamby and Clio Jeanne de Carriol. (A Feast Unknown)

  DECEMBER 1913

  An agent of the Nine approaches John Cloamby and his wife Clio. (Lord of the Trees)

  At this point, the Nine consist of Anana, a thirty-millennia-old Caucasian woman; XauXaz; Ing, a Nordic; Iwaldi, a dwarf; Yeshua, a Hebrew born about 3 B.C.E.; Mubaniga, an ancient proto-Bantu; two proto-Mongolians, Jiizfan and Shaumbim; and Tilatoc, an Amerindian from Central America or perhaps North America. (Lord of the Trees)

  1918

  The underage James Caliban serves as a Lieutenant during the Great War. (Lord of the Trees, The Mad Goblin)

  1920

  Lord Grandrith and his wife Clio are formally inducted into the Nine as “candidates” and they begin attending the annual ceremonies to receive the elixir. (A Feast Unknown)