Edmond Halley

Ktynga Halley

“Calculations: complete. Perigeum: established. Drift: acceptable.”    “Leap through the darkness. Descend, and consecrate the soil for the coming feast.”    “Rejoice, for you too will be part of the Radiance of the cosmos.”    A vessel. A temple. A throne. An omen.    A core of frigid fire and burning ice that rends the heavens asunder.    Upon summoning the True Name of this phenomenon, a light appears in the skies, a wandering celestial body. It streaks along the firmament, eclipsing the stars, hanging over the Earth. From there, it releases a burst of light and a rain of blazing monsters bombards the planet. A horde of fiery creatures that lay waste to all that they find.    Under this unnatural star, Halley himself changes, discarding any pretenses of concealment and unleashing his eldritch form. His flames become the blast of a roaring cosmic wind, and his matter synchronizes with that of the celestial body. For a limited time, he becomes capable of achieving superluminal speeds in short bursts, but these “jumps” greatly tax his energy reserves.    There is also the unnerving possibility of this celestial intruder being steered into a collision with Earth, but if the Foreigner has any sense of self-preservation, we can hope that this will not come to pass. If it did, humanity would face an extinction-level event. Not that it would prevent the comet from ejecting smaller-scale projectiles instead and bombing the planet... 

Edmond Halley was born on the 8th November 1656 in eastern London, the son of a relatively wealthy soapmaker and entrepreneur. His childhood was comfortable, but uneventful, and from a very early age he showed an interest in mathematics. When the Great Fire of London devastated the city in September 1666, 9-year-old Edmond watched as the flames destroyed a sizable amount of his father’s fortune and realized that his mind was set: he wouldn’t follow in his father’s footsteps and would occupy himself with less perishable matters. His heart belonged to science.    Fortunately, Edmond Halley Sr. was very supportive of his son’s choices. Despite the setback that the Great Fire had been for his finances, he made sure to pay for Edmond Jr.’s studies and provide him with the necessary tools to develop his knowledge, such as his first telescope.    By the time that Halley was in college, he managed to strike a friendship with a rather important person: John Flamsteed, the first Astronomer Royal. This relationship would prove to be a double-edged sword for Edmond Halley. While at the beginning his rapport with Flamsteed was excellent and he learnt much from the other astronomer, Flamsteed’s view of Halley eventually changed for the worse. The differences between them blossomed into full-blown hostility, and Flamsteed resolved to block Halley’s advance for as long as he lived.    However, it is certain that positive things came out of the time in which both men were friendly towards each other. Flamsteed had been working on a project to catalogue the stars of the Northern Hemisphere, and Halley was inspired to do the same for the Southern Hemisphere. Therefore, he left Oxford University before finishing his studies and embarked on a two-year voyage that took him to the faraway island of St. Helena in 1676. The detailed observations that he and his companions made during the two-year journey and the resulting star catalogue of the southern stars (the first one ever compiled with the aid of a telescope) contributed to his nomination as a fellow of the Royal Society and to his standing in the eyes of king Charles II.    His non-conventional beliefs made him somewhat of an outcast in the eyes of the scientific and clerical authorities of the time, but they couldn’t keep him away from the thriving scientific community of the time allowed Halley to quickly make a name for himself as a mediator in disputes, such as the conflict between Johannes Hevelius, Robert Hooke and his very mentor John Flamsteed. He also demonstrated a keenness for making sense of great quantities of data, developing advances that redefined demographics as we know it.    These qualities served him well when one of the key moments of his life came to pass. Like many other experts of the time, Halley busied himself with finding a way to prove Kepler’s laws of planetary motion. He was specially motivated, given that Christopher Wren had turned the matter into a race between Halley and Robert Hooke, with a monetary prize for the winner. At one point, in 1684, he decided to consult with Isaac Newton, who had allegedly done some work in the field, and history was made.   
When Halley posed his questions to Newton, he was surprised to see the natural philosopher answer casually with a solution to the problem. Newton said he had already solved it some time ago, but that he couldn’t show him the proof because he had misplaced it. However, he quickly remade it and showed it to Halley, who immediately abandoned any personal ambitions or projects that he might have had and focused all of his efforts in helping Newton achieve the recognition that he deserved. He encouraged the man to go public with his findings, bringing the discovery to the attention of the Royal Society and paying money out of his own pocket to finance the publication. The result was the Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica, one of the most revolutionary works in the history of science. Halley and Newton remained close friends ever since.    After all, Halley’s sacrifices for his friend and the progress of all science were rewarded. Newton’s Principia served as a stepping stone from which to launch many inquiries into the mysteries of the celestial. Halley set out to analyze ancient observations of astronomical events, compare them to the current ones and derive new conclusions. He found his greatest successes in the study of comets. He researched the appearances of many of them throughout history and was able to deduce how several of those appearances were the recurrence of older comets that returned from the outer fringes of the solar system. In fact, he predicted that the comet of 1682 (which he had observed and researched extensively) had been observed previously in 1531 and 1607 and would return in 1758. He knew that he would be dead by then, but he hoped that his eventual successors would be able to prove him right.    Even though these are considered the greatest highlights of his career, Halley never stopped moving, never stopped learning. His interests and achievements were as ardent as they were diverse. He fought for a post as a professor in Oxford, against the barriers put up by his superiors. He designed a diving bell to explore the depths. He researched geomagnetism and identified the aurora borealis as an electromagnetic phenomenon. He revolutionized life insurance. He teamed up with Newton to manage the Mint and rationalize England’s coinage. He befriended Peter the Great. He was given command of a ship. He undertook the challenge of dating the mysterious Stonehenge (he failed).    Halley would not receive the promotions that he sought until his opponents died, such was the zeal with which they impeded his advance. John Flamsteed’s passing saw Halley become the next Astronomer Royal in 1720 and he established his new base of operations at the Greenwich observatory. His new position did not change his work in the slightest: he kept diligently observing, cataloguing, mapping the sky. What he did as the apprentice, he did now as the master.    Thus, Halley died as he lived: ceaselessly pursuing the mysteries of the universe. He had continued his work as an astronomer well into his twilight years, and death found him sitting on his chair at the observatory, at the ripe old age of 86. His mind remained a well-oiled machine; it was his ailing body what finally gave out and put an end to his journey.    True to his calculations, the 1682 comet returned 77 years later. Appropriately, it was christened “Halley’s Comet”, after the man that had dedicated so much to it. 

Edmond Halley is a generous man. His pursuit of science was not motivated by a search for personal glory, but by a genuine desire to put his talents to practical use for the sake of humanity. He didn’t restrict himself to just one field, and keeps pursuing new avenues of advancement. After all, he is gifted with a deeply analytical mind, able to discern trends and patterns among enormous quantities of data. Of course, that feeds one of his flaws: sometimes, he goes too far in trying to make sense out of disorder and indulges in bouts of apophenia. The good thing is that whichever convoluted conclusion he draws is bound to be entertaining.    One element of the modern world which fascinates him is the field of personal cleaning and grooming products. Edmond’s father was a wealthy soapmaker, so the young astronomer grew up surrounded by the smells and sights of the new personal care fad. But compared to the soaps of his time, the assortment of products that humans use for washing and bathing are like the whole of the universe is to the Solar System. This is why you can see him get excited about testing a new scented shower gel or enjoying a relaxing bath.    He also greatly enjoys food. It may be that he has not forgotten the end of his life, in which he lost all of his teeth and was limited to eating fish. In fact, he says that what he most enjoys is the texture and the feel of the food, not its taste. Small pleasures reclaimed...    But above all, Halley is your friend. If he makes your acquaintance, he will devote all of his efforts to make you happy, to make you reach your goals. He will be there for you and be your support. He will get you to be healthy, to socialize, to be better. Halley wants to see you succeed, to see you rise and be luminous, like a star. And when you burn the brightest…    He will devour you. And take your fire for his own.    The generosity and love that were part of Edmond Halley’s being have been twisted into something else. They are now tinged with an irrepressible hunger that drives him to consume every object of his affection, for now love and hunger have been intertwined together beyond recognition and have become one and the same. He can’t help but crave what he loves, nor love what he craves. This warped desire is undeniably sincere, and he considers that what he does is good. His morality has been wrenched outside of human confines and he’s unable to classify the actions that he takes as evil. Concerns like pain and fear are now infinitesimally small in his eyes. Even death has ceased to have the meaning that it once had, for everything that he consumes becomes part of a new whole.    Halley has become a true opportunist, single-minded in the pursuit of his goals. What his friend needs, he will provide. What his quarrel demands, he will do without reservation, for anything that elevates them is bound to be beneficial to himself in the end. Everyone wins. It is not unlike a symbiosis… but one that is fated for an unpleasant, sizzling end.     This begs the question of whether the Outer being that is fused with him was filled with cruelty and it has abated while in contact with his humanity. Or maybe what it feels is an indifference as cold and as unfathomable as the void of space. Let us hope that we do not see the uglier side of him anytime soon. 

“I am a lover, not a fighter.”    Or so he says. Halley eschews physical combat, or rather the idea of striking an enemy. He seems to prefer avoiding, redirecting or even outright taking any blows directed at him rather than initiate combat himself. But that does not mean that he is just going to stand idle. At some point, maybe out of a dwindling supply of patience or because he has been waiting for the right moment, Halley strikes back. And he does it with explosive force, either crushing his target into a pulp or burning them to a crisp.    According to him, he prefers to gravitate around fights, offering useful support, surveying everything from afar. However, his reluctance belies a considerable power that he seldom uses. When push comes to shove, he unveils an array of fiery contraptions, each deadlier than the previous one. He’s surprisingly fond of his whips of fire. 

Another old project. My very first idea for a Foreigner, long in the making.    I’ve been a fan of astronomy for all of my life, and Halley’s name has always been present in my mind. One day, my forays into Lovecraftian bore fruit when I identified an entity that could have a connection to him. Said entity brought with it an array of cool powers, to boot. After figuring out a personality and deciding that I wanted to explore the contradictions of a being wrought from the fusion of a human and an eldritch being, the question remained: how was I going to render him visually? Picrew was a useful resource, but a very limited one. I needed an artist who would be able to portray the aesthetic that I had in mind. Lune was a perfect choice.    The moth/butterfly inspirations came in late in the game, because of the existence of comet moths. My liking for Hollow Knight also had a part in it, I have to admit. Where else would you find buglike fire vampires?    Yes, fire vampire. That’s what he is. If you follow the clues, it shouldn’t be hard to figure out who is behind him.