The harsh, flickering light of a chemical camp fire outlined the silhouette of over a dozen men against a stark, desert landscape. The pungent tang of burning sterno mingled with the scent of gun oil and day old sweat. The men, each heavily armed and clad in body armor and desert fatigues, huddled close to the foul, smelly fire to fight the chill of the clear night. As if hesitant to break the silence, they sat together quietly and cleaned weapons or stared into the distance.

Overcome by impatience, a young soldier with dark hair spoke. "How far away are they?"

Closing the breach of his rifle with a resounding snap, an older man in a perfect, unwrinkled uniform covered in medals and insignias answered without looking up. "At least a day's hike to the advanced scouts, Wilson. We'll leave at dawn, meet up with Commander Austin's 4th Battalion by noon, and get ready to engage the Kliks the following day."

But, we do it anyways...

So, to continue this proud tradition of self-inflicted degradation, we'd like to give you last month's newsletter today for free! Sure, it's about a month behind and you may have seen some of this already, but hey - if you want to see it when it's "hot off the presses", then simply subscribe to our newsletter today! The new issue will be out very soon and it's at least one hundred point three times (100.3x) as awesome as this one!

Hailing from a world where magic is the basic building block of life, the L'na are a mystical race generally given to the tenants of subtle balance and harmony with the world around them. Physically, L'na resemble animals, but they are far from simple beasts: they are, in fact, highly intelligent and spiritual beings that are the apex of magical "evolution" on Ai, their home-world.

L'na favor all animals, and yet no particular animal, all at once – seeming to be a primordial organism of transition from which any known animal might emerge. In fact, many L'na have the ability to fluidly morph from one from into the next: one moment bearing the supple scales of a serpent and in the next, the iridescent feathers of a tropical bird, or the shimmering exoskeleton of an insect.

Alias: Sunathet to the ancient Egyptians
Race: L'na Dawn
Aspects: Body 6, Mind 4, Soul 4
Sex: Female aspect; Ht: 5' (at shoulder), 9'0 (length); Wt: 450 lbs.

"We were old when Man was young."

Character Description/Notes: Sunny is a female aspect L'na Dawn that appears to be leonine in her primary appearance, yet she possesses a very male-like lion's mane. Her form combines the yellows of the desert sand and winds alongside the browns of the ancient mountains and stones. Her mane is interspersed with colorful pinnate quill-like feathers and her belly and tail are armored with fine scales, reminiscent of the scintillating skin of a serpent.

Long ago the L'na could cross the gulfs of reality; some readily do so into the present era. Sunny and many of her companions were such spherical navigators, passing over the seas of time and space. Then they arrived in the desert kingdoms of fabled Egypt nearly six thousand years before the present era.

Alias: None known
Race: L'na Dawn
Aspects: Body 7, Mind 5, Soul 3
Sex: Female aspect; Ht: 7' (at shoulder); Wt: 2000 lbs.

"I swear by the wind and the sands - the two-legs are NOT to be trusted!"

Character Description/Notes: Born of the wild stretches of sand and sun-burnt stone, Quicksand lives as free and fierce as the desert where Ai birthed her. She loved the hidden beauty and vitality the scorched land veiled, her eyes attuned to notice each mole, bat, and scorpion hidden in the shadows of the day. Quicksand rejoiced in dancing duels with sand sprites and racing other dawns over the vast plains, the constant cycle of blazing sun and frosty eve a continual procession of unquenchable life. She knew nothing better than basking in the warmth of her world, riding a draft in tune with the melodic thrum of Ai.

From the Journal of the L'na Dawn, Cetacious...

I am Cetacious, my people are the L'na, many of us are among you now since our worlds converged and I make my home here, in the warm waters near Battered Wreck it is a dangerous place. I am no teller of tales, but a protector, a guardian of the deeps and those that call the surface home. It is the way I have chosen. In order to fulfill that duty I must spin a tale, one that many will not find credible. But one that must be told, for the evil that dwells in the deeps is rising and the surface must be made aware.

I was out seeking a fishing skiff that had not returned with the evening tides. Now, a lone vessel in the vastness of the ocean is not any easy thing to find, but I knew her captain. A good man that fished a particular area of water I knew well. I found the remains of the vessel that morning, the red sun setting the waters a blaze with the blood that had been spilt. For blood had been in the water, among the wreckage of the skiff. The men that had been her crew were not to be seen, but the numerous sharks, long, sleek and deadly told their fate readily enough. With a mental command to their primitive brains I sent them on the scent trail of blood that did not exist.

The Neonstalker is one of the greatest tragedies of the Event. Once an extremely powerful L'na Dawn whose powers were based in thunder and lightning, the Neonstalker was caught in a violent storm caused by the Event. She was taken from Ai, and transported to Apoc-Earth. When she passed through the Flux, she became fused the essence of an unusual, otherworldly spectral beast; thus the Neonstalker was born.

The Neonstalker is around ten feet tall, and has little to no body mass. She is primarily formed of a plasma like substance, that is highly conductive. This plasma-like substance emits a field of influence around the Neonstalker, automatically shorting out any electronics that are within fifty feet of the Neonstalker.