PAGE TWO (4 panels)
Panel 1. The great starship points its nose upward as it touches down on the surface of Andronus: an endless, primeval jungle of alien vegetation. Strange bird-like reptiles flee from the descending starship; the jungle is teeming with alien life (but we don’t yet see the dominant life form, the dragon-like Olfari). Misty mountains rise in the distance, and half of the sky is dominated by Elyptra and Andrylla.
CAP: “SEPTIMIUS IT WAS WHO NAMED THE TWO GREATER WORLDS ANDRYLLA AND ANDRONUS, AND THEIR COMMON MOON ELYPTRA. ATMOSPHERIC RESEARCH REVEALED A WARMER AND LESS AGGRESSIVE CLIMATE ON ANDRONUS, AND THE ARK TOUCHED DOWN.”
Panel 2. Centuries later, the great starship has become the Great Keep: it rises like a fantastic city from the steaming jungle, and strains of alien ivy and moss cover much of its outer walls. Although it retains its basic shape, its environs have been slowly expanded and modified in subtle ways. (But it should still be obvious that this “city” is actually the great generational star ship that touched down here centuries earlier.) Above the city soar the forms of a few soaring dragons--but they are so far away the reader cannot be sure exactly what they are yet. In the foreground, a group of hunters are making their way back to the Great Keep--they are not knights, but common folk, and their dress is evocative of a futuristic Greco-Roman realm. They carry baskets of jungle fruit and nets filled with snared rabbit-like creatures. They may carry a mixture of spears and energy rifles.
CAP: “AFTER CENTURIES OF EXPANSION AND MODIFICATION, THE ARK BECAME OUR GREAT KEEP, WHERE THE HEART OF MODERN CIVILIZATION IS PRESERVED.”
Panel 3. In the depths of the planetary jungle, a group of hunter/explorers (both men and women) stand calmly before a towering dragon-like creature (an Olfari). The Olfari looks down upon the humans with curious, wise eyes. Although it is large enough to swallow one of them whole, it gives a sense of kindness and benevolence, without any threat of violence. Behind it several other Olfari fly above the jungle trees, looking down upon the scene.
CAP: “SOON AFTER SETTLING ON ANDRONUS, OUR PROGENITORS MET THE OLFARI, THE NOBLE BEASTS THAT HAD RULED THE PLANETARY JUNGLES FOR EONS.”
Panel 4. A different group of hunters battle a lone Olfari with their spears and energy weapons. They are like a pack of wild dogs trying to bring down an elephant. The Olfari has crushed a man in its massive jaws, and it is obviously winning this battle…
CAP: “INITIAL CONTACT WITH THE WINGED ONES WAS TENTATIVE AND OFTEN CONFRONTATIONAL.”