The more I read about Morgau and her intended role in the Tomb Raider Angel of Darkness sequels, the more I like her! She sounds like a complex and interesting character, with a range of unique abilities! This image depicts her undergoing her treatments using all sorts of elixirs and potions made by Eckhardt to keep her alive! In return, she gains superhuman powers and abilities!
We continue to publish exclusive Angel of Darkness documents from Murti Schofield, the writer of the game. This one reveals more details about Morgau Vasiley, one of the planned characters from the game.
MORGAU notes & summary
VISUAL and STYLE REFERENCES:
– Pris in Blade Runner
– River Tam from Firefly
– Demented Harajuku-Goth masques
– Chiana in Farscape TV series (Gigi Edgley)
– Charlize Theron as Imperator Furiosa – Mad Max
– Lisbeth Salander from Girl withTattoo novels
– Nikita (original French outing)
– Geena Davis as Charly Baltimore from Long Kiss Goodnight
– Hit Girl from Kick Ass
– Harley Quinn - Batman
– Modesty Blaise
– Borg Queen from Star Trek, First Contact
– Helena Bonham Carter in Fight Club
– Scavengers TV series 1994, Anna Galvin bodice, cuirass
– Tank Girl
– Martha Washington Goes to War (comic Dave Gibbons & Frank Miller)
SPEAR FIGHTING STYLE REFERENCES:
– Prince Nuada spear weapon style in Hellboy II (Luke Goss)
– Hit Girl in Kick Ass
– 300 Spartans
– Achilles & Hector in TROY
PHYSICAL CONDITION:
– Beneath the protective Cuirass Morgau’s torso is semi transparent. Her internal organs are partially visible, a side effect of the alchymical vivisection she underwent under Eckhardt.
– Essentially her body is at war with itself.
– She is totally dependant on specialised elixirs and essences that maintain her incredibly enhanced life force.
– Though thin limbed and of a pallid white complexion her body is incredibly strong, in part due to the carbonite threading woven throughout her entire skeletal structure.
– She is fast, strong and quick to heal.
– Her arms are thin with semi-translucent skin showing blue veins.
– Morgau’s spine is welded to rows of wiring, bone & silver rods, an ugly arrangement which leaves the heads of rivets & tiny plates exposed along her spinal column.
– Her eyes are opaque milky blue until the irregular psychic abilities kick in when they become translucent.
– Periodically Morgau’s body displays an alarming tendency to erupt into grotesque semi-crystalline, metallic extrusions. [reference the growths on Bouchard’s badly injured man in Paris]. Only the Cuirass helps keep this in check.
– She is not strictly speaking a cyborg, in fact her reliance-relationship to her Cuirass is more that of a mutual parasitic dependency.
– Her need to ‘replenish’ is almost vampyric. Almost.
– The truth is that she has not been entirely human for a while [see notes on Eckhardt’s Nephuman Meta Progeny and Warrior Sentinels.]
ABILITIES POWERS and WEAPONS:
– In combat Morgau displays a terrifying stillness, the ‘awful tranquillity of the wolverine focused on its prey.’
– Partial and erratic psychic ability – triggered under stress. Unreliable and often barely under control.
– Some of her more esoteric abilities are inbred as a natural descendant of a Lux Veritatis bloodline. Others have been brought to the fore as a result of the awful treatments she has undergone at the hands of the Black Alchymist.
– The Culcrys, like the Chirugai, is part-forged from ferrilium, or sky iron, extracted from meteorites. [translation: SpearAxe or Halberd],
– The Culcrys is one of the Iren Waepn armaments which include the Irenscild, the Iren Folm and even the Chirugai series. [NB there are a limited number of other Chirugai apart from Aiyessu which is attuned to Kurtis Trent.]
– Knife missile or Excision Blade – basically a Baetyl stone that can be controlled by telekinesis. It is an arrow-head shaped artefact. Ferilium.
– Morgau was trained from an early age in languages, ciphers, ancient & occult lore, ancient texts & symbols and psychic control of attenuated materials (usually Sky Iron). Codes, ciphers and numeric sequence series especially, fascinate her.
– [see additional list of possible powers available or unlocked at a later stage in Morgau’s evolution i.e. in further Games.]
THE CUIRASS or ALCHYMIC BODICE or CORSELET-PROSTHESIS:
– Eckhardt’s body is held together by a metallo-ceramic mesh cuirass - the waistcoat we glimpse beneath his flare coat. This Cuirass needs constant replenishing in order to maintain his physical continuation.
– Morgau is also dependant on a cuirass or corselet-prosthesis to maintain both her life and the notoriously unstable physical powers she possesses. Eckhardt’s cuirass and hers differ but operate on similar Alchymic principles.
– Forged of meta-link alloy, largely a mercury-brass amalgam.
– Eckhardt, as the Monstrum, must harvest alchemically pure bio-elements to repair and renew his physical state. Morgau has been constructed to be dependant on specialised elixirs & essences of Alchymical derivation.
– The Cuirass is a form of armour but this is not its main function. The vital bio-essences are administered via the Cuirass through a network of tubing built into the armour casing.
– Morgau can only have access to these essential elixirs via her Cabal controllers. [though this situation changes in Game III or in the Kurtis spin off game when she experiences a radical transformation and allies herself to Kurtis in order to reform & recruit for the newly nascent Lux Veritatis.]
– The Cuirass is highly flexible, more like a mail-link series of plates and tubing than a solid object.
– It is constructed of prima materia metals, mercury amalgams and carbonite threading.
INFLUENCES ON MORGAU’S LIFE:
– Morgau’s endless rage at the brutality & injustices of her incredibly perilous life is masked beneath a deceptively placid manner and frail appearance. [See note of the dangerous ‘stillness’ and tranquillity of her combat demeanour.]
– Her upbringing, as an LV descendant on-the-run has engendered a finely honed paranoid attitude to everything in life.
– From an early age she has proven to be of a mercurial temperament, rebellious and wilful. This trait appeared to become accentuated by her unstable upbringing and the effects of a serum given her by her father.
– The misjudged administering of the flawed Vitalis Eterna serum by her father Mathias has had damaging effects on her mental stability
– The effects of the vivisections & Nephuman adaptations performed on her by Eckhardt has turned her into something not entirely human and her rage at life and all who oppose her is a terrible force contributing to her general instability and unreliability. She is a danger to all around her, slave-owners, foes and allies alike…although she would never acknowledge anyone as an ally.
OTHER ITEMS – ODDS & ENDS - SCRAPS:
– Morgau was slaved to work under Boaz for a while in the Cabal before being loaned out to Gunderson. She learned all she could about the Gothic vivisectionist and had her marked out for an especially detailed vengeance. This was thwarted of course when Boaz was fed to one of Muller’s mutant podosaurs – The Pod.
– Karel considers Morgau to be a Shadow version of Lara, a strategically valuable and biddable living weapon.
– Morgau’s Siglum or Arcanum is an esoteric symbol, a highly personalised glyph of power; an arcane signature. It is also an identity anchor for an unstable individual struggling to maintain a sense of who she is.
– Morgau once attempted to use the Chirugai, when she was working close to Konstantin Heissturm, but although she was able to awaken it the LV artefact did not respond to her control. She was not sufficiently attuned to its harmonic operation. She was lucky it didn’t kill her, as it was set to eviscerate anyone attempting to misuse it. Her Lux Veritatis lineage and training was all that protected her from a savage mutilation. On this occasion she barely escaped with little more than a sever scarring.
– The search for the Mayan Genome Sequencer is something of a personal quest for Morgau. She has been told it could be a way to unravel the dreadful genetic damage done to her by Eckhardt. If it exists it might be a way for her to reclaim something of her misplaced human nature and normalcy… if it exists!
– Morgau has her own network of ‘Irregulars’ built up when she was working as a free lance in her early independent days. They are all outcasts, exiles, freak heads, rogue personalities, wild cards, outsiders, unemployables and pariahs …named Crypsis, [other various names are listed elsewhere]. Typical T-Shirt = “From Chaos, more Chaos”.
POSSIBLE POWERS for consideration:
– Mind spear/needle
– Telekinesis
– Ectoplasm control
– Time Judder/stutter
– Paralysing shriek
– Uber-mentat…Morgau has abnormally acute instincts when it comes to codes & patterning. She is able to discern disparate connections, meta-links and sequencing veiled from other, less astute minds. She worked as a security advisor for several illegitimate corporations at one stage.
IDENTITIES (some):
– Morgau Nanuaat Madura Vasiley
– Annessa Chimoya
– Claire Issoux
– Maude Holtzmün
– Lilith – a name imposed on her by Eckhardt - but she never submits to this offensive designation. Capitulation is not in her nature.
NOTES on the CHIRUGAI and OTHER FERRILIUM WEAPONRY:
No one has yet seen the full Chirugai weapon displayed or been able to master the full range of its diverse capabilities, not even the current Heissturm custodian.
Apart from its controlled flight and multiple blades the weapon’s potential capabilities can be enhanced by the addition of quartz-like attachments slotted into key parts of the weapon. These small slotted rods, or Catriches, unlock further weapon capabilities, in keeping with the user’s level of psychic skill.
In Game II or III Kurtis discovers a cache of LV Catriches which change the configuration of the Chirugai and transform it into an even more deadly weapon.
When in the possession of Konstantin Heissturm the Chirugai was stored in a specially constructed weapons cask or Vasculum. This was only when not in use. The Vasculum is distinct from the side-satchel Kurtis sometimes uses when carrying the weapon discretely i.e. in public.
Possible Scene:
in which the Chirugai is discovered held captive by three ponderous chains. It thrashes and tears at its restraints as soon as any adept, LV or Cabal, approaches.
Discover more exclusive Tomb Raider - the Angel of Darkness content
Morgau Vasiley was a planned for the cancelled sequels to Tomb Raider the Angel of Darkness. She was the daughter of Mathias Vasiley, a victim of the Monstrum. Lara explores his gallery in Prague.
Morgau had been experimented on by Eckhardt, and was also a Lux Veritatis. Due to being experimented on, Morgau possessed a range of supernatural abilities including enhanced speed, strength and stamina. She also has psychic abilities, presumably similar to Kurtis and his powers.
Another exclusive Angel of Darkness document from Murti Schofield, the writer of the game. The document reveals more details about Morgau Vasiley, one of the planned characters from the game.
MORGAU’S PHYSICAL MAKE UP – A SUMMARY.
What Morgau has become defies easy summation. It is certainly something other than human – possibly the name Lilith would have been appropriate after all. [in Game II someone makes the mistake of taunting Morgau with this name and pays the price.]
Her skin is albino pale. Her body slender. Her eyes milky blue, until something triggers her latent psychic powers when they become translucent. This is the time to beware as it is also the time when her tendency to erupt into frenzied Hulk-like violence is nearest the surface.
Physically Morgau is a mass of contradictions. It is almost as if her body is at war with itself, attempting to tear itself apart. Though immensely strong and fast she is at the same time incredibly vulnerable being dependent on the specialised elixirs that keep her functioning at such a high peak. Her torso is encased in an armoured corselet or cuirass, not entirely dissimilar to that worn by Eckhardt. Whereas the Black Alchemist’s chest plates and metallo-mesh bodice is to hold his physical form together after the ravages of his centuries long confinement Morgau’s is there to deliver the alchemically derived elixirs and bio-essences that maintain her life.
Beneath the corselet Morgau’s torso is semi transparent. Close examination would reveal her internal organs functioning as if viewed through a murky X-ray screen. Her spine is exposed along its length each vertebrae being welded to rows of bone, silver and ivory rods which in turn are interwoven with carbonite threads anchored to her entire skeletal structure. The corselet-prosthesis delivers the necessary life support through a network of fine tubing.
Despite inhabiting a physicality that is so flawed and at war with itself these augmentations mean that Morgau is incredibly fast, strong and preternaturally quick to heal. [for more details see: Morgau Vasiley Hope Or Peril.]
On one occasion she led an incursion team into an enemy LV base in Russia but in the heat of battle her unpredictable psycho-fury became triggered, possibly by proximity to an LV Adept. Whatever the cause she erupted into a maelstrom of slaughter, killing the Adept, the opposing forces, her own squad members and destroyed much of the surrounding building. When she returned to the Strahov with nothing to show Eckhardt was incandescent with fury and was only dissuaded from punishing her brutally by Karel. The Shape Shifter was delighted with the way this unique asset was shaping up and he convinced Eckhardt to send Gunderson out with her out on more missions to test the extent to which she might be controlled. Morgau and Gunderson were constantly at each others throats, which suited Eckhardt’s way of keeping the Cabal from engaging in plots to overthrow him. Divide and rule – a favourite strategy of another megalomaniac who threw Europe and the world into bloody conflict for six years in the 1940’s.
MORGAU IN THE FOLLOW ON GAMES
A brief summary of how Morgau encounters Lara Croft and Kurtis Trent in subsequent games is found in other documents.
At this stage Morgau exchanges mutual hostility with all members of the Cabal and lower ranks – everyone she comes across really. She defers only to Karel, or Karel-as-Eckhardt as he first appears to the reformed Cabalists. When the Eckhardt charade is finally dropped and everyone accepts that the Black Alchemist really is dead and dust and that Karel is now numero uno Karel keeps Morgau in check by promising her that there might be at least a partial remedy for her dependencies.
There is an ancient Mayan equivalent to a modern genome sequencer that could unravel the damage done to her body. Utter nonsense of course but by this time Morgau’s body has shown an alarming tendency to erupt into weird metallic extrusions, similar to the grotesque semi-crystalline growths witnessed on Bouchard’s man in Paris. Morgau is inclined to seize any chance of a remedy with fists bleeding if she has to. If left untreated she would be suffocated by her own monstrous extrusions. And so she toes the line and carries out Karel’s bidding…for now
Karel is delighted at the way things are progressing. He even assists her in gaining possession of a genuine LV weapon, the Culcrys, something no one else can wield without losing limbs and body parts they want to remain intimate with.
He sees Morgau as a foil to the young adventuress Croft, who refused his offer of a place in his plans for a new world beginning at the end of AOD. In his eyes Morgau is a shadow Lara, the perfect deterrent against the Amazonian threat. Morgau will also be a match for the Lux Veritatis Trent, matched as they are with LV Irenwaepn. Chirugai –v- Culcrys what a grudge match that would be.
Suffice it to say that as The Lost Dominion kicks off the first contact (as far as the three key antagonists know) between Lara, Kurtis and Morgau is characterised by violence on an epic scale. Yes, extreme warfare, arcane combat and pyrotechnics will be the order of the day.
No one is interested in spending time trying to empathise or ‘understand’ anyone’s damaged childhoods. None of them are inclined to consider their adversary’s point of view. There is little time for anything except kicking the bejabbers out of the f***er who is currently trying to kill you. It is vicious, merciless conflict with no prisoners.
Kurtis is looking to re-establish the Lux Veritatis along its original enlightened path, an obligation laid on him by Karel in the previously unrevealed ending to AOD. He sees Morgau, initially, as a prime obstacle to that goal. The fact that things shift and he comes to an uneasy alliance with his erstwhile foe would unfold in Game III. It is not an easy association with someone so seriously damaged as the barely human Vasiley – but it might just work.
Lara meanwhile is beginning to unearth evidence of how something of Eckhardt’s work seems to have had an astounding influence on her own roots, her family, her bloodline and that of many prominent figures throughout recorded history.
The emergence of the truth behind the Sangreal legends and others such as the Calix Immanis (Savage Cup) offers a disturbing possibility that something or someone is responsible for many of the ‘enhanced’ individuals that have marked the pages of history with their achievements, right up to and including the present day. Is there something to the theory of a shared ancestry for all the heroes we admire and know so well? Who knows.
NB See reference to Philip Jose Farmer’s WOLD NEWTON UNIVERSE in the document ‘Eckhardt and Breeding.’
Discover more exclusive Tomb Raider - the Angel of Darkness content
Morgau Vasiley was a planned character for the Tomb Raider Angel of Darkness sequels. The Daughter of the art dealer Vasiley from AOD, she would have been a major character in the sequels, something of a "renegade Lux Veritatis"
She has an awesome design, backstory and potential! Find out more info on her here: LINK
