Venus.
Goddess of Love. The Evening Star. Planet of Mysteries.
When mankind realized he was not alone in the solar system, it was not a great surprise to discover the planet Venus was populated. It was however a shock to discover that the people of Venus had visited Earth before, and had done so a very long time ago.
Though Venus is our nearest and most similar planetary neighbor, it remains nearly as mysterious as the satellite worlds of the Jovian giants. Obscured by dense clouds and choked with jungles it could take many lifetimes to unveil Venus.
Of the races which inhabit the lush world, the most similar to mankind is the Rodite.
The Rodite (Roa-die-tee) are similar in size and appearance to humanity, and if it were not for the green skin they could pass among us unremarked. They are perhaps more similar to the Barsoomians, those of two arms at any rate, than us however, since like the Barsoomians they are also oviparous, in that they lay eggs to birth their young. An interesting note is that Earth seems unique in the solar system with the propensity for live-births. Does the similarities between the Rodite people and Barsoomians suggest a common ancestry? Or is it simply a matter of coincidental evolutionary development? We do not know.
There are other significant differences between the Rodites and the Barsoomians and Earthlings both. The Rodite people are almost entirely female. Male hatchings are rare with only about one in fifty being male.
Because of this, Rodite society is entirely different than what we have on Earth. It is a matriarchal society as one would expect, with the smaller male population living their life in what could only be described as a harem structure, where the more powerful leaders in society having one or more males: the greater their position in society, the more males they have. It is a mark of position to have even one male as the leader of a 'house' may have, and the Alpha Rodite is said to have a thousand men. As can be readily seen, this arrangement only adds to the problem of decreasing birth rates, as the social conventions and rituals only permit these males to be gifted for mating purposes as tokens of great gratitude and debt from a higher ranked woman to subordinates. The highly ritualized and rigorous society they possess makes this occurrence rare and undesirable for the highly placed women.
The Rodites have captured the imagination of Earth men, as you can imagine. Tall tales from returning rocketeers abound regarding rendezvous with beautiful amorous alien women. The less reputable motion picture companies have begun producing such tales to the silver screen, shown in unmarked movie houses.
But is there any truth to these tales?
It has been discovered that the Rodite have recently recovered from a sort of 'middle ages' where their technology and civilization diminished. Long ago they had a civilization which dominated their planet and they made ships to explore beyond their world. They came to Earth nearly three thousand years ago. The first expedition ship crash-landed off the coast of Greece. They made contact with the primitive people they found there.
The people of Earth at the time were incapable of understanding the origins of the Rodites, or their nature and named the Goddesses. The Rodites taught the Greeks much, but much was misunderstood. They pointed out their planet in the sky, and told them this is where their Queen, the Alpha-Rodite ruled supreme. Over time Alpha Rodite became condensed to Aphrodite, and the emergence of the Goddesses from the sea and the concept of a supreme Goddess beyond their reach in the sky became the distinction between Aphrodite Pandemos and Aphrodite Urania. The Rodite name for their world, Cytheria, also became associated with the Goddess Aphrodite. The Rodite tales of the peoples of the other planets were taken by the Greeks to be tales of the Gods, and became central to their mythology.
How will this reconnection to the peoples of Venus affect the lives of those of Earth?
Considering the formative effect from the first meeting, the changes ahead for Earth could be altering indeed.
Goddess of Love. The Evening Star. Planet of Mysteries.
When mankind realized he was not alone in the solar system, it was not a great surprise to discover the planet Venus was populated. It was however a shock to discover that the people of Venus had visited Earth before, and had done so a very long time ago.
Though Venus is our nearest and most similar planetary neighbor, it remains nearly as mysterious as the satellite worlds of the Jovian giants. Obscured by dense clouds and choked with jungles it could take many lifetimes to unveil Venus.
Of the races which inhabit the lush world, the most similar to mankind is the Rodite.
The Rodite (Roa-die-tee) are similar in size and appearance to humanity, and if it were not for the green skin they could pass among us unremarked. They are perhaps more similar to the Barsoomians, those of two arms at any rate, than us however, since like the Barsoomians they are also oviparous, in that they lay eggs to birth their young. An interesting note is that Earth seems unique in the solar system with the propensity for live-births. Does the similarities between the Rodite people and Barsoomians suggest a common ancestry? Or is it simply a matter of coincidental evolutionary development? We do not know.
There are other significant differences between the Rodites and the Barsoomians and Earthlings both. The Rodite people are almost entirely female. Male hatchings are rare with only about one in fifty being male.
Because of this, Rodite society is entirely different than what we have on Earth. It is a matriarchal society as one would expect, with the smaller male population living their life in what could only be described as a harem structure, where the more powerful leaders in society having one or more males: the greater their position in society, the more males they have. It is a mark of position to have even one male as the leader of a 'house' may have, and the Alpha Rodite is said to have a thousand men. As can be readily seen, this arrangement only adds to the problem of decreasing birth rates, as the social conventions and rituals only permit these males to be gifted for mating purposes as tokens of great gratitude and debt from a higher ranked woman to subordinates. The highly ritualized and rigorous society they possess makes this occurrence rare and undesirable for the highly placed women.
The Rodites have captured the imagination of Earth men, as you can imagine. Tall tales from returning rocketeers abound regarding rendezvous with beautiful amorous alien women. The less reputable motion picture companies have begun producing such tales to the silver screen, shown in unmarked movie houses.
But is there any truth to these tales?
It has been discovered that the Rodite have recently recovered from a sort of 'middle ages' where their technology and civilization diminished. Long ago they had a civilization which dominated their planet and they made ships to explore beyond their world. They came to Earth nearly three thousand years ago. The first expedition ship crash-landed off the coast of Greece. They made contact with the primitive people they found there.
The people of Earth at the time were incapable of understanding the origins of the Rodites, or their nature and named the Goddesses. The Rodites taught the Greeks much, but much was misunderstood. They pointed out their planet in the sky, and told them this is where their Queen, the Alpha-Rodite ruled supreme. Over time Alpha Rodite became condensed to Aphrodite, and the emergence of the Goddesses from the sea and the concept of a supreme Goddess beyond their reach in the sky became the distinction between Aphrodite Pandemos and Aphrodite Urania. The Rodite name for their world, Cytheria, also became associated with the Goddess Aphrodite. The Rodite tales of the peoples of the other planets were taken by the Greeks to be tales of the Gods, and became central to their mythology.
How will this reconnection to the peoples of Venus affect the lives of those of Earth?
Considering the formative effect from the first meeting, the changes ahead for Earth could be altering indeed.
..........................
The miniatures I used for the Rodite are the Valkeeri from Hydra Miniatures. Really nice sculpts.
I decided to paint them with green skin, to give them a more alien-look and make a clear distinction between them and Earthlings. This will also keep them separate from any Barsoomians, since the only race from Mars with Green Skin are the 4-armed 'Thark' type, all the 'human' types have other skin colors. So green women seemed just right for Venus.
Gamma Commander Jiniq
This will probably be the last skirmish group for Planets in Peril for awhile. I have a team of Earth Men and a team of Thurn, but they're still raw metal, so it will be some time before I find time to work on them.
But there is more to come, never fear!
In the meantime, here are some face-off snaps of the different factions so far:
