Melvino Calvino, also called the Penguinoid or Sirpe, is a companion of the Seekers of Ardis Vala in the Ardis Vala gesta (campaign-cycle), an outsider who gave his shadow to a demon to rescue Alúmine and vanished when his true name was spoken.
| Gesta | Ardis Vala |
| Spanish entry | Melvino Calvino |
Description
He is a 1.20 m penguin-shaped humanoid with duck feet, with technological equipment: a blaster, a communicator and a rocket launcher. He perceives movement at 100 m. He is the group’s member most tied to the extraplanar side that Ardis Vala admits through the Rudishva and the Beacon.
He is connected to Spelljammer, the realm of arcane ships between worlds, and to other worlds. Not native to Vala, he probably comes from a world in Spelljammer’s orbit, possibly linked to the Rudishva who arrived in the Beacon some 3,000 years ago.
History
The creed of the spirits
When the cult of Set was swept from the forum and it became Thoth’s again, Melvino raised a small altar there to his new religion and preached three things: that space is time; that the spirits are here and one can speak to them; and that magic is the power of the will, through which God manifests his will. A spirit told him: “Melvino Calvino, es tu destino” (“Melvino Calvino, it is your destiny”). Some neo-Priscians came to hear him.
The knights offered 144 black and white crystal tokens; communion meant taking one in the mouth and feeling the platform’s guardian. Melvino recognized them as datacrystals, spirits with code inside: “They are houses: six towers, dual, twelve signs, platforms, and it is a game of powerful demons who perform these rituals for a form of multiversal domination.” He called it a rite of domination disguised as civility, which he lacked the strength to oppose.
Earlier, with Alúmine lost between death and life, Melvino had everyone join hands, write the elf’s name on paper boats, float them down a stream and share memories of him until it rained in the cavern. On the other side, crawling in that rain, Alúmine saw a paper boat coming toward him.
”I offer you my shadow for him”
Under the blue quartz dome, Melvino took a host and sank into a thirty-meter pool. Below, Alúmine floated weightless in his rainy demiplane. When Melvino reached for him, a huge scaly serpentine creature with a forked tongue said in bubbles: “Siga intentando” (“Keep trying”).
Melvino said: “Te ofrezco mi sombra por él.” (“I offer you my shadow for him.“) It answered: “Acepto.” (“I accept.“)
The creature latched onto his left hand like a leech and ate it. He came out with a black arm, the serpentoid behind him, and Alúmine emerged naked, without armor, swords or staff, free after days of not existing.
The true name
A spell to send the creature back to its plane required a true name; the only one anyone knew was Melvino’s, and Numa said: “Melvino Calvino.” The spell took hold and Melvino disappeared, since the pact had bound him to the creature. His shadow, Dark Melvino, remained, docile and sinister. The serpent said: “No me maten: él morirá” (“Don’t kill me: he will die”). It was explained as transposition: those from below take a mortal’s place, and the mortal ends up on the other side. Melvino is in hell.
The group argued whether destroying or expelling the shadow would kill or return him, or whether to walk beyond the gray horizon. The druids stayed out: “Melvino chose that balance.” The shadow threatened to torture his soul, fought, and crawled away into the trees; Melvino was not heard of again.
Relationships
- Arian did the same as Numa in the New World: he handed over a true name he knew and changed a gesta not his own.
- He first appears alongside Caladan, emerging from the sarcophagus, and the Druid.