racial memory

The Wild Hunt was a folk myth prevalent in former times across Northern Scandinavia, Germany and Britain. The fundamental premise in all instances is the same: a phantasmal group of huntsmen with the accoutrements of hunting, horses, hounds, etc., in mad pursuit across the skies. Seeing the Wild Hunt was thought to presage some catastrophe such as war or plague, or at best the death of the one who witnessed it. Mortals getting in the path of or following the Hunt could b ...

Including:

• Wild Hunt - Origins
• Wild Hunt - Middle Ages
• Wild Hunt - Post-medieval legend
• Wild Hunt - Cultural references

Read more here: » Wild Hunt: Encyclopedia - Wild Hunt

The Brood are a fictional race of evil extraterrestrial insect-like beings that has appeared in many Marvel Comics. First appearing in Uncanny X-Men #155, they were created by writer Chris Claremont and artist Dave Cockrum. Claremont has said he was also inspired by the xenomorphs in the movie Alien when he created the Brood. Brood comics - Brood species. Brood comics - Physical characteristics. Despite their resemblance to insects, the Brood have endoskeletons as ...

Including:

• Brood comics - Brood species
• Brood comics - Physical characteristics
• Brood comics - Reproduction
• Brood comics - Civilization
• Brood comics - Encounters with the X-Men

Read more here: » Brood comics: Encyclopedia - Brood comics

Childhood's End is a science fiction novel by Arthur C. Clarke. It was originally published in 1953, and a version with a new first chapter was released in 1990. Childhood's End deals with the transformation of humanity into part of an interplanetary hive mind. The book opens with enormous alien spaceships appearing one day over all of Earth's major cities. The aliens, who become known as the Overlords, quickly make radio contact and announce their benign intentions and desire to help mankind. The Overlords ...

Including:

• Childhood's End - Similar themes in other literature
• Childhood's End - Childhood's End in other media

Read more here: » Childhood's End: Encyclopedia - Childhood's End

Developed in the early 19th century, Lamarckism held that traits acquired (or diminished) during the lifetime of an organism can be passed on to the offspring. Lamarck based his theory on two observations, in his day considered to be generally true: Use and disuse – Individuals lose characteristics they do not require (or use) and develop characteristics that are useful. Inheritance of acquired traits – Individuals inherit ...

See also:

Lamarckism, Lamarckism - History, Lamarckism - Lamarckism and single celled organisms, Lamarckism - Lamarckism and societal change, Lamarckism - Reference

Read more here: » Lamarckism: Encyclopedia II - Lamarckism - History

As Kris Kershaw has exhaustively documented (Kershaw 2001), the ritual reenactment of the Wild Hunt was a cultural phenomenon documented among many Gaulish and Germanic peoples. In its Germanic manifestations the Harii painted themselves black to attack their enemies in the darkness. The Heruli, nomadic, ecstatic wolf-warriors, dedicated themselves to Wodan. The Norse god Odin in his many forms, astride his eight-legged steed Sleipnir, was deeply associated with the Wild Hunt, particularly in Scandinavia. Odin acquired another aspect ...

See also:

Wild Hunt, Wild Hunt - Origins, Wild Hunt - Middle Ages, Wild Hunt - Post-medieval legend, Wild Hunt - Cultural references

Read more here: » Wild Hunt: Encyclopedia II - Wild Hunt - Origins

The idea of humanity reaching an end point through transformation to a higher form of existence is reminiscent of the belief held by some Christians in the "Rapture" and has been used in a number of science fiction works written since "Childhood's End." Examples would be "Blood Music" by Greg Bear. Vernor Vinge novels incorporating the "Singularity." Ian Banks' "Culture" novels and the "Sublimation" that advanced civilizations may undergo. ...

See also:

Childhood's End, Childhood's End - Similar themes in other literature, Childhood's End - Childhood's End in other media

Read more here: » Childhood's End: Encyclopedia II - Childhood's End - Similar themes in other literature

Brood comics - Physical characteristics. Despite their resemblance to insects, the Brood have endoskeletons as well as exoskeletons. Also unlike insects, they have fanged jaws instead of mandibles. Their skulls are triangular and flat, with a birthmark (different for each Brood) between their large eyes. Their two front legs are actually long tentacles they can use to manipulate objects. There are two basic types of Brood: the smaller, winged ones, (who were nicknamed "sleazoids" by Wolverine) and the larg ...

See also:

Brood comics, Brood comics - Brood species, Brood comics - Physical characteristics, Brood comics - Reproduction, Brood comics - Civilization, Brood comics - Encounters with the X-Men

Read more here: » Brood comics: Encyclopedia II - Brood comics - Brood species

While Lamarckism has been discredited as an evolutionary influence for larger lifeforms, some scientists controversially argue that it can be observed among single celled organisms[1]. Whether such mutations are directed or not also remains point of contention. In 1988 John Cairns at the Radcliffe Infirmary in Oxford, England and a group of other scientists renewed the Lamarckian controversy (which by then had been a dead debate for many years)[2]. The group took a mutated strain of E. coli that was unable to consume the sugar lactose ...

See also:

Lamarckism, Lamarckism - History, Lamarckism - Lamarckism and single celled organisms, Lamarckism - Lamarckism and societal change, Lamarckism - Reference

Read more here: » Lamarckism: Encyclopedia II - Lamarckism - Lamarckism and single celled organisms

Medieval legends are mostly from Germany. Historical figures reported to have participated in the Wild Hunt were St. Guthlac (683-714), and Hereward the Wake (died ca 1070). From the 12th century, there are testimonies from England: In the Peterborough Chronicle, the chronicler attests the Wild Hunt's appearance at the appointment of a disasterous abbot for the monastery. Around the year 1132, the anonymous monk wrote: Tha huntes waeron swarte and micele and lardlice, and here hondes ealle swarte and bradegede and lardlice, and ...

See also:

Wild Hunt, Wild Hunt - Origins, Wild Hunt - Middle Ages, Wild Hunt - Post-medieval legend, Wild Hunt - Cultural references

Read more here: » Wild Hunt: Encyclopedia II - Wild Hunt - Middle Ages

The Wild Hunt is known from post-medieval folklore of Germany, Denmark, Sweden, and to a lesser extent Norway. The myth of the Wild Hunt has through the ages been modified to accommodate other gods and folk heroes, among them King Arthur and, more recently, in a Dartmoor folk legend, Sir Francis Drake. In Quebec, the legend of the “chasse-galerie”, or witched canoe, is a favorite. Compare it to another gh ...

See also:

Wild Hunt, Wild Hunt - Origins, Wild Hunt - Middle Ages, Wild Hunt - Post-medieval legend, Wild Hunt - Cultural references

Read more here: » Wild Hunt: Encyclopedia II - Wild Hunt - Post-medieval legend

William Butler Yeats evoked the Wild Hunt in "The Hosting of the Sidhe", the opening poem in his collection inspired by Gaelic faery lore, The Celtic Twilight (1893, 1903) [1] Legends of the Wild Hunt have been used by science fiction author Julian May in her series "Saga of Pliocene Exile (British series title, Saga of the Exiles)." Peter Beagle's novel Tamsin has the Wild Hunt as one of the main themes, along with some other Celtic beliefs. Similarly, Nigel Kneale tied the legend to a racial memory introduced by prehistoric Martian attempts at colonizing Earth in the famous ...

See also:

Wild Hunt, Wild Hunt - Origins, Wild Hunt - Middle Ages, Wild Hunt - Post-medieval legend, Wild Hunt - Cultural references

Read more here: » Wild Hunt: Encyclopedia II - Wild Hunt - Cultural references