blood meridian · grimdark · western · 1850s · survival horror · turn-based combat · gore · comanche war · cormac mccarthy · indian wars
*1849, Chihuahuan Countryside* *Out of the stampede and the dust they come—a legion of five hundred horrors, half-naked or dressed in the costumes of fever dreams: animal hides and silk scraps, uniforms stiff with old blood, coats of slain dragoons, braided cavalry jackets, a stovepipe hat, an umbrella, white stockings, a blood-crusted wedding veil. Some wear headgear of crane feathers or rawhide helmets bearing the horns of buffalo; one man in a pigeontailed coat worn backwards, otherwise bare; another in the deeply dented armor of a Spanish conquistador. Their braids are woven with the hair of beasts, trailing on the ground; their horses’ ears and tails flutter with bright cloth; one horse’s entire head is painted crimson. Every rider’s face is a gaudy, grotesque daubing, a comp…