living+statue

//This is part of the Hangover city, Liverpool, uk setting// =The living Statues= Living statues have long existed. The best example being Talos, the bronze man who protected Crete and was killed by Jason. They are often tied to a location or group of people who they defend, and that is certainly the case with those in Liverpool. By day they are merely creations of metal or stone. But at night they are free to go out and do what needs to be done. Often they rely on the Guild of Wizards to create veils to hid their actions, or create the illusion that they are still on their plinth whilst they are out an about. The current best guess is that they are spirits which animate the statue. It has been postulated that they are created by magic, but no one is sure exactly who is going about doing this. The Fisher king said it is the city itself but that just seems daft.

The best known spirit in the city is The Liver bird however he is no longer alone:

Dickie Lewis
Dicky Lewis is the local name for the Jacob Epstein creation Liverpool Resurgent; a bronze naked man standing on the prow of a boat on the Lewis’s store on Renshaw Street. He has been standing there since 1958, and often complains of the cold; it is a fairly windy corner after all. As a result Dicky has a soft spot for those sleeping rough, and often acts to protect them. Since the shop closed down, the basement has become a popular sight for the homeless to gather. In many ways Dicky is just and expression of the building he is standing on. Lewis's store was always a 'family' store. The company supported it's workers and promoted a family atmosphere. It introduced the idea of good quality products for reasonable prices. Thier clients could return products as long as they were undamaged if they do not live up to the claims. It looked after the whole body, including resturants, hair dressers and an ice cream bar in the basement. Even after being devastated in the 1941 fire bombing, it was trading from few parts of the building still standing. The current building, and it's statue, rose pheonix like from those flames and represents the determination of the scouse people to press on regardless.

Eleanor Rigby
Eleanor provides a clue as to the possibly origins of the Living statures. There is a grave in Woolton Cemetery for an Eleanor Rigby who died at the age of 44 in 1939. In 1966 the Beatles (Reams Four Warblers) released a song called Eleanor Rigby which became very popular. In 1982 Tommy Steele created a bronze statue of an lady and dedicated it to ‘all the lonely people’. The casting was paid for by public subscription. It was donated to the city and placed in Stanley street. It rapidly became a focal point for people looking for a bit of company, who would sit and talk to it. Others even left her gifts and flowers. In 1989 there was an accident at a football match in Hillsborough where Liverpool were playing between Nottingham Forest in the FA Cup semi-final. 94 liverpool supporters were killed, with 3 more dying over the following days and years. In a state of shock the people of the city pulled together. There was a gathering in the city centre in memory of the dead the following week. Eleanor Rigby attended.

It caused a bit of a stir amongst the Convenant. Dickie was one thing; he had been created as a sign of the cities determination to recover form the destruction of the blitz and created as a major monumental piece of art by a world renowned artist. Eleanor was a lump of bronze that had be designed by a singer. Still no one could deny that the statue walked, and seemed to have a purpose. No one in a city that sings “You’ll never walk alone” should ever walk alone. And that is what Eleanor does. When the people of the city are sad and alone and desperate, she is there. She uses glamour now because being addressed by a statue can be a little disturbing. However she does have a knack for finding people and giving them a bit of a pep talk, or the shoulder to cry on, that they need to get them through their darkest hours.

John and Cyril Moores Proto-statue
John and Cyril are not living statues, at least they are not living statues yet. They are part of an ‘experiment’ being carried out by some of the apprentices at the lyceum. They are working on the idea that the flowers left with Eleanor Rigby somehow acted as offerings to the gods, and thus attracted some spirit into the statue. They are trying to reproduce the effect by leaving ‘gifts’ in the out stretched hand of John Moore. Each night one of the apprentice’s leaves something on his way home. Sadly the ‘gift’ is more likely to be a half eaten Sausage dinner or Kebab than anything of worth, and after one particular late night out the gift was a squashed traffic cone, which was left on Cyrils head. The Guild do not hold out much success for the experiment if the apprentices do not take their task more seriously.