I have many questions regarding Paragon, and while Bowen can answer all of the rule questions and inform me on playing strategies in the following tutorial, he has never given me any answers regarding the awkward situation on this backglass.

First off, in whatever world or reality this pinball machine is located, there are tame winged lions. I can deal with that. The second thing I notice is the man riding the lion is absolutely ripped, so I fully expect there to be both anabolic steroids and lots of weightlifting in this world, as I don’t expect someone to bulge quite that much when they’re farming or doing masonry. Then again, perhaps holding onto a flying lion at 10k+ feet is extremely tiring and works arm muscles in a way I never considered.

Next up, is the man preparing to slice this woman to death or rescue her from some unseen peril? Given what I can see in the artwork, I suspect he’s trying to kill her. Why is this scantily clad woman so dangerous, especially considering she’s in chains? And why is she not more afraid? And most importantly, why is she wearing a bikini in what is –judging by the information the artwork provides me– a cold and “nippy” environment.

One of the elements that catches my eye are the skulls in the lower left. Given that this woman is seemingly unafraid, and the flying-lion-man-sword-combo is preparing for battle against her, I can’t help but wonder if SHE is the dangerous one. Perhaps she is a seductress-siren type, and those skulls on the lower left are her previous victims, lulled in closer by her bikini-clad wiles and then beheaded and had their bones polished with novus.

I bring up one additional concern: does the man have wings too? I can’t help but feel wings of that size would be wholly inadequate to move that man very far, but hey, my science class never had a section on flying lions either, so who knows. Maybe he uses them like turkey wings-only for moments of panic to fly across a street and cause car wrecks. The reason I mention these wings is because I’m most concerned about where the giant lizard tail is attached. I had initially assumed the tail was attached to the lion, but if the man has the dragon wings, then I have to assume the dragon tail would also be a part of that combination. There is also the chance that a dragon happens to be flying by directly behind the man at a distance, and the dragon tail in the scene is part of the lion. Judging by the way the man is turned slightly at the shoulders but the wings are not, and the other humanoid woman has no wings, I’m inclined to think there IS a dragon flying in the distance positioned directly behind the man creating the illusion of dragon-man-wings.

Now, looking at this from a different perspective, and after a heated dinner-table discussion, my wife has pointed out that the lion and man may not necessarily be on the same team. Perhaps the man with dragon wings has swooped down and attacked the flying lion to rescue the chained woman. Or, even more likely, perhaps the man has fallen off of a dragon hovering above the scene in the distance and landed on top of the flying lion who was about to eat the woman. The woman is unafraid because she saw the man falling out of the sky towards her rescue.

Paul Faris… are you out there? Could someone please shed some light on this for me?

Oh yeah, pre-register for PAPA 14, and here’s the tutorial!