Several of you know about the Hendybadger mini my amazing wife commissioned for my birthday.
And you also know about the competition to win one of these minis.
All the details can be found
>>HERE<<
So who won one of only 9 pirate badger models in the world?
Well, the winner is...............
Lets read their winning story first shall we?
This will be linked on this site as the (un)official
Pulp City Hendybadger background story.
Hendybadger Origin Story
The
story of Hendybadger’s origin begins long ago towards the end of
the 17th
Century. Given the length of time since the outset of this tale,
little detail is still known, but, what has been passed down suggests
that it begins in a small town in Cornwall with a young man by the
name of Ian. The rich maritime history of the area and the ever
increasing exciting tales of pirate adventures on the high seas in
far off lands meant that a life of a piracy always appealed to Ian
(plus the promise of unearthing countless riches appealed). Word
reached Ian’s hometown that captains often congregated in the port
town of Falmouth in order to recruit able and enthusiastic men to
form their crew and so at the earliest opportunity Ian hitched a lift
with a local merchant and made his way to the harbour. Upon arrival,
despite his inexperience Ian was inducted into a newly formed crew
which would soon depart for the Lesser Antilles.
It
was at this point during the story that the first of a number of what
could be considered strange coincidences occurred; it turns out that
Ian hadn’t been the only one to hitch a lift in the merchants cart,
but of all things, a badger had stowed away on board. The
inquisitive badger seemed to follow Ian as he made his way around
Falmouth and often appeared at random times around the town. At
first Ian thought nothing of it, later he became somewhat annoyed and
attempted to chase the irritating creature away but eventually he
grew to find it amusing. When the day of departure arrived, Ian
climbed the gang plank to the brigantine only to find the badger
awaiting him. Despite his better judgement, Ian decided to smuggle
his new friend on board and stowed him away, below decks in the crew’
quarters. The decision to adopt the badger proved advantageous given
that he provided Ian with companionship and even acted as a
surprisingly effective guard for his stash of personal belongings
when some of the less than trustworthy, light fingered sailors were
lurking around.
Ian
and the rest of the crew made their way to the Caribbean and despite
plundering gold and valuables from a number of Spanish ships had a
relatively uneventful time, until one fateful day when they made
landfall at Tortola. It turned out that, unbeknown to the crew,
their captain had knowledge of untold riches somewhere on the island.
After some searching the crew were led to what appeared to be a
small cave in a cliff face a little way up one of the paths ascending
Mount Sage. Venturing into the cave they journeyed through a number
of labyrinthine caves before they were ordered to start excavating a
dirt wall at what appeared to be a tunnel with a dead end. The back
breaking work in the uncomfortable conditions continued for hours
until one of the picks sank through into what felt like a hollow
area. The digging continued at an increased pace fuelled by the
excitement of potentially unearthing something until an opening was
formed which was sufficiently large to allow the men to venture
through into an exposed chamber.
Ian
filed through the newly created doorway and was amazed to discover a
huge, high ceilinged cavern. Rows of seating lined an aisle leading
down to a raised golden alter in what appeared to be a place of
worship for an ancient indigenous people. In addition to the
glorious golden alter were golden wall mountings encrusted with
gemstones and equally impressive golden columns formed into the
shapes of terrible beasts evenly spaced around the circumference of
the room.
Once
the awestruck men had got over the sense of awe and then the
excitement at the realisation that they were to be rich beyond their
wildest dreams, they were ordered to begin looting the untold riches
that they had discovered. No one will ever be sure what caused it,
whether it was their presence in this holy place, the removal of one
of the icons, something Ian had inadvertently done or some other
unknown trigger but before any one of them could react something
stirred in the chamber, the earth began to rumble and the monstrous
pillars began to rotate. Ian found himself positioned in the centre
of the cavern and, as he raised his head in surprise was struck by an
ethereal light being emitted from the eyes fashioned into the
columns. Both Ian and the badger, which by this time would never
leave his side, were frozen in what appeared to be a coating of solid
gold. Whilst this may seem like a terrible fate to endure, it saved
the pair from the crumbling rooftop which crushed the remainder of
the crew allowing none to escape with their lives.
The
collapsed cavern and the riches hidden beneath it went undisturbed
until September 1871 when an earthquake struck the island. It was
around this time that an American archaeologist was in the island who
stumbled across some trinkets revealed by the quake. After some
exploration, various treasures were unearthed, including a curious
golden statue of a badger which appeared to be dressed as a pirate.
The explorer didn’t consider the strange juxtaposition of a pirate
badger amongst the contents of an ancient temple but decided that it
would make a fitting addition to the newly founded museum of Pulp
City.
And
so it was, the golden pirate badger sat in pride of place within the
museum for some time, until, over the years, interest in it waned in
favour of new curiosities and it was relegated to the dark depths of
the museum basement where it sat gathering dust.
It
was recently that the final and perhaps most unusual twist of fate
affected our hero. It began with the appointment of a new curator at
the museum who, whilst surveying the building and its contents came
across the myriad of old and forgotten items in the depths of the
museum’s cellar. The curator decided that a number of these
oddities deserved a place on the museum floor. One such item was the
infamous statue which found itself positioned at the end of a
corridor. Also displayed in this corridor was a large ruby like
crystal which it was reported had been prised from the eye socket of
a massive demon statue found deep within a long forgotten dungeon.
The last item was a giant lens retained from the telescope of a
famous observatory which had now been decommissioned in order to make
way for a technologically advanced replacement.
There
is no evidence to suggest whether this turn of events was purely
coincidental, had been written in the stars or was as a result of
some intentional intervention by an unknown third party. In the
early hours of a clear summer morning the sun rose over Pulp City as
it had done every morning since its founding, but on this morning the
position of the sun and the earth resulted in a ray of light shining
directly through a window at the end of a corridor in the museum.
This light fell on the telescopic lens on display but, rather than
being magnified on to a flammable surface, was directed on to the
ruby red crystal causing the end of the corridor to be bathed in a
brilliant crimson glow. The statue reacted to this luminescence by
transforming from a golden effigy of a pirate badger into a living
pirate badger.
Many
of Pulp City’s residents were alerted by the resulting commotion in
the early hours of the morning at the museum, others were drawn to
the area by the loud cry of “Hendybadger awaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay!”
which could be heard in the area as a mysterious figure was seen
bursting from the museum before fleeing, and the remainder were
notified by the news reports over the coming days of a strange break
in at the museum resulting in much destruction and the theft of one
of the more unusual exhibits.
The first resident super hero
to encounter Hendybadger in the days after his resurrection was
Yuriko
Kobayashi with whom he soon struck up a rapport given their common
ground of having originated from cultures very different to those
native to Pulp City. Despite this friendship forming from their
chance meeting, the shock of being thrust into this new world several
centuries after he last lived and breathed has left Hendybadger
confused and suspicious to say the least. In his fragile state, his
obvious superpowers and very public and mysterious appearance many of
the local super heroes are keen to recruit his services for various
tasks, some truly admirable and others more nefarious than others.
Who knows who Hendybadger will decide to fight beside over the coming
months…......
And the writer of this awesome story?
Possibly a close relative to the badger himself?
Hendie!!!!!
Congratulations Hendie! You have your very own Hendybadger!
I will contact you via email but if you see this first shoot me a message with your details.
(The Real) Hendybadger awaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay!!!!!!!
