recursal/Fanatic-Fandom huggingface dataset:
Hagerman Horse

## Ability

### Ability

**Quarry****(Start)** A random Life on Land card in your hand costs -1 Energy until played.

## Did You Know?

Journey back to the American state of Idaho in the Pliocene era around 3.5 million years ago and you might just happen upon a **Hagerman Horse**, one of the oldest horses of the genus Equus. Discovered in 1928 by a local cattle-rancher on his land in Hagerman, Idaho, the fossil of this ancient horse led to the discovery of several tons of fossils of the same species in the nearby quarry.

An average Hagerman horse would have been around the same size as an Arabian horse, and although we don’t actually have direct fossil evidence that this species had stripes, the pattern of the chewing surfaces of the teeth and the details of the skull suggest that this animal was more closely related to zebras than to horses.

Image by Roman Uchytel, <link="https:>https://prehistoric-fauna.com</link>
Hanging Gardens of Babylon

## Ability

### Ability

**Babylon and On and On ....****(Draw)** Your cards in hand gain +35 Power permanently and this card **Lock**s permanently.

## Did You Know?

**The Hanging Gardens of Babylon** were one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World – but as it happens, they weren’t in Babylon at all. In fact, new research suggests the gardens were located 300 miles to the north, in Nineveh, the oldest and most populous city of the ancient Assyrian empire.

Ultimately, the exact location of this ancient wonder cannot be confirmed, and some believe the gardens never existed at all. So, what’s the deal? Well, according to the legend, the Hanging Gardens of Babylon are thought to have been built by King Nebuchadnezzar for his wife, Queen Amytis. If they existed, the gardens were about 75 feet high, and it would have taken 8,200 gallons of water each day to keep the plants watered.
Goblin Shark

## Did You Know?

There’s a reason the **Goblin Shark** looks like a beast from prehistoric times. This rare species comes from the Mitsukurinidae family which dates back over 125-million years. Known to shark-lovers as the Living Fossil, the Goblin Shark isn’t much of a looker – then again, when your habitat is somewhere between 890 and 3,150 feet deep in the ocean, looks don’t really matter.

As well as its distinctive snout, this shark has a scary number of teeth. Its upper jaw has somewhere between 35 and 53 rows of teeth, while the lower jaw has 31 to 62 rows. However, since the shark is not a fast swimmer and has poor eyesight, it relies solely on its natural buoyancy to silently ambush its prey.
Congo

## Did You Know?

If you were to have a competition between the **Congo** and the Nile for Africa’s longest river, the Nile would win, but only by a little bit. The Congo can, however, lay claim to being the deepest in the world, as in some places it’s more than 220 meters in depth (720 ft or approximately 41 average-sized giraffes standing on top of one another).

Portuguese explorer Diogo Cão took the credit for its discovery in 1482, which is a bit rich when you consider humans had been living there for 20,000 years already, including the Ishongo people who have provided us with the earliest relic of mathematical notation (the Ishango bone). The Congo basin still boasts more than 250 ethnic groups, many of whom live as traditional hunter-gatherers.

Most of the Congo river is in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, but it also passes through the Republic of the Congo with tributaries and lakes in Central African Republic, Western Zambia, Northern Angola, Cameroon and Tanzania among others. It has several spectacular waterfalls including the Boyoma Falls, formerly named Stanley Falls after journalist/imperialist/rotter\* Henry Morton Stanley, the chap that uttered the immortal words “Dr Livingstone, I presume?”.

* Stanley had a close association with Leopold II of Belgium, who committed numerous atrocities against people in the region, including genocide and the formation of a slave society.
Hades

## Ability

### Ability

**Underworld Connections****(Play)** Your Ancient Greece cards in hand gain +28 Power this turn.

## Did You Know?

**Hades** is the Ancient Greek god of the Underworld, the place where human souls go after death. His name means ‘The Unseen One” – a pretty suitable name, all things are considered, since **Hades** was the ruler of the invisible world. He sees dead people…

As ruler of the dead, **Hades** is a grim figure, frequently wearing a 'Helm of Darkness'. Usually beside him is Cerberus, the three-headed dog which guards the entrance to the Underworld - keeping both the living from entering and the dead from escaping.

Another one of Hades' henchmen was Charon, his ferryman. He would take the dead on a boat across the rivers Styx and Acheron from the world of the living to the Underworld. The dead had to pay a coin to Charon to cross or they would have to wander the shores for one hundred years.

Hades and his brothers, Zeus and Poseidon, defeated their father and the Titans to end their reign, claiming rulership over the cosmos. They agreed to split their rule with Zeus becoming the god of the skies, Poseidon god of the sea and Hades god of the Underworld.

It was pretty lonely in the Underworld and Hades desperately wanted a wife. He was married to Persephone, the daughter of Demeter, whom he obtained through deception after abducting her to the underworld and giving her the forbidden fruit of the pomegranate, forcing her to remain in the Underworld with him for one-third of each year!

Moral of the story: don't accept pomegranates from strangers.
Futakuchi-onna

## Did You Know?

When it comes to nightmarish monsters, Japanese folklore really doesn’t hold back. Case in point: **Futakuchi-onna** or “the two mouthed woman”.

The story goes that a miserly farmer was happy because his wife never needed to eat, saving him lots of money. Shortly after, the farmer began to notice his grain supplies were running out fast. One night, he stayed up to keep watch of his stores and discovered his wife devouring his grain - not with her normal mouth, but with a terrifying second mouth on the back of her head.

In search of new characters, the creators of Pokemon turned to folklore and adapted Futakuchi-onna into Mawile, a sweet humanoid Pokemon with a horrifying ponytail-esque pair of jaws on the back of its head.
Hawksbill Turtle

## Ability

### Ability

**Beak Careful****(Return)** If you lost the turn, your opponent's cards, wherever they are, lose -4 Power permanently.

## Did You Know?

The **Hawksbill Turtle** is so named because its head ends in a sharp point that resembles a beak. (But you probably guessed that.)

This beak enables them to reach into small cracks in the coral reefs for their primary source of food (molluscs, crustaceans and fish).

Their beautiful shell may be tough, but tragically it is the Hawksbill’s biggest weakness. It is believed that *millions* have been killed by humans in the last century, primarily to feed a global tortoiseshell market. As a result they are critically endangered.
Eagle Nebula

## Did You Know?

Otherwise known as Messier 16, the Eagle Nebula is home to the Pillars of Creation (which you may remember us releasing as a CUE Card!)

Whilst the Pillars of Creation stretch roughly 4-5 light years, the Eagle Nebula is approximately 70 by 55 light years in size. At this size, the Eagle Nebula can be spotted with a small telescope!

The smokestacks are vast clouds of interstellar dust shaped by the high winds of nearby stars. (yes, yes stars are windy- who knew?!) The pillars are 30 trillion miles long and delighted and thrilled the great Scientific minds of our time.

The name Eagle comes from the nebula's shape, which is said to resemble an eagle with huge, majestic outstretched wings. American astronomer Robert Burnham, Jr also introduced the name 'Star Queen Nebula' because the nebula's central pillar reminded him of a silhouette of the Star Queen and no, David Bowie's Starman was nothing to do with it...
Genetic Identity

## Ability

### Ability

**Skeleton Sequence****(Play)** Your Sue Black's In The Bones cards, wherever they are, gain +6 Power until played. **(Play)** If you have played Ancestral Origin this game, your Missing Person card, wherever it is, gains +15 Power until played.

## Did You Know?

DNA is the genetic building block of the human body and its value for identification was first discovered by Sir Alec Jeffreys from the University of Leicester, UK in 1984. His research was first utilised only a year later in 1985 when asked to investigate the familial relationship of a boy whose family was originally from Ghana but resident in the UK.

Forensic DNA fingerprinting was first used to establish the identity of the killer of two teenage girls from Leicestershire in 1986. Colin Pitchfork was subsequently convicted of their murders after samples taken from him, matched with swabs taken at the murder scene.

DNA does not always survive well, and so to extract DNA from a skeleton that has been exposed in woodland will require either a sample from the internal cavity of a tooth or the cavity of a long bone, because it is well protected. The FA will most likely cut a slice (called a doughnut because of its shape – a hole in the middle) from the middle of the shaft of the femur (thigh bone) and that will be sent for DNA profiling. The results will be compared to the DNA database which holds profiles of all those convicted of crimes.

Professor Dame Sue Black is an anatomist and a forensic anthropologist. She led for her discipline in the war crimes investigations in Kosovo and has deployed to many countries around the world including Thailand, Iraq, Sierra Leone and Grenada. She is the author of 14 textbooks and 2 popular science books about her career. She is a Fellow of 5 learned academies and is a cross bench Peer in the House of Lords. She is currently Pro Vice Chancellor for Engagement at Lancaster University and is President Elect for St. John's College, Oxford.
Gray Goo

## Ability

### Ability

**Self-Replication****(Draw)** If your deck has 9 or more Science cards, 9 of your random Science cards, wherever they are, lose -10 Power until played and 9 of your random non- Science cards, wherever they are, gain +10 Power permanently.

## Did You Know?

When we think about the end of the world, it’s usually zombies running amok, alien invasions and nuclear winter. But American engineer Eric Drexler presented an alternate world-ending hypothesis. In his book ‘Engines of Creation’, he talked about ‘**Gray Goo**’ - self-replicating nanobots that consume all matter on earth while simultaneously building more of themselves. It’s like if your Roomba got a little too ambitious and decided to clean the entire planet, hoovering up all biological matter in its path.

In theory, these molecular-level robots could actually be helpful to humans: they could solve the world’s energy crisis, cure diseases and create any product at a low price. Of course, all of those upsides come with the slightly concerning risk of turning the planet into a lifeless mass teeming with nanomachines.
Great Crested Newt

## Did You Know?

Europe's largest newt, with an average length of seven inches, is the Great Crested Newt (which is also sometimes known as the Northern Crested Newt, although they're mostly found in the centre of the continent - clear as mud.)

Unfortunately, it's an endangered species - there is legislation in place to protect them which prohibits you from killing, injuring, capturing or disturbing them - which I'm sure you weren't planning on doing anyway. Right?
Confuciusornis

## Ability

### Ability

**Confuciusornism****(Return)** Your Philosophy cards, wherever they are, gain +18 Power until played and if you have played Confucius this game, your Philosophy cards, wherever they are, gain an additional +16 Power until played.

## Did You Know?

When it comes to primitive birds, **Confuciusornis** was a bit of an outlier. While most ancient birds clearly descended from theropod dinosaurs and had long, thin, theropod-like tails, Confuciusornis had already evolved to have no such tail at all. Instead, this ancient flyer had a pygostyle (a triangular structure that serves to mount the tail feathers) just like modern birds.

However, unlike modern birds, fossil remains suggest that Confuciusornis did not have strong flight muscles and possessed clawed fingers in the bend of each wing. If you’re wondering about the name, palaeontologists chose Confuciusornis as it combines the Greek word for ‘bird’ with the name of the Chinese philosopher Confucius. Hopefully, that clears up any… confusion.

Mohamad Haghani / Alamy Stock Photo
Hawking Radiation

## Ability

### Ability

**Universal Appeal****(Play)** Your Forces of the Universe cards in hand gain +10 Power this turn.

## Did You Know?

Hawking Radiation is the term for sub-atomic particles created and emitted by black holes. Professor Stephen Hawking illustrated that through the loss of these particles, black holes can exhaust their energy and evaporate completely. This means that black holes are not totally black and neither do they last forever.

It's just very likely that they'll suck in everything around them before they decide to call it a day.
Gemini

## Ability

### Ability

**Sign of the Twins****(Play)** Your Dioscuri and Diplodocus cards in hand gain +38 Power this turn.

## Did You Know?

Kanye West, Marilyn Monroe, Venus Williams and Donald Trump are all known for having larger-than-life personalities. Incidentally, they all share the same star sign: **Gemini**.

Born between May 21 and June 21, astronomy stereotypes pin Geminis as being social, impulsive, whimsical and indecisive. If you’re a Gemini and are wondering whether people think you’re similar to Trump, don’t read into it too much. Not all Geminis are two-faced liars with a hidden agenda.

Geminis are said to be highly adaptable, boast brilliant communication skills and possess a zest for life unlike any other Zodiac sign. Like Kanye West, they are known to constantly juggle hobbies and careers – again, don’t worry, not all Geminis are self-obsessed rappers with a God complex.
Gridiron Football

## Ability

### Ability

**TOUCHDOWN!****(Return)** Gain +6 Power/Turn this round and if you won the turn, gain +7 Power/Turn permanently.

## Did You Know?

I'm writing this during week 12 of the 2020 NFL season; practice squad wide receiver Kendall Hinton was elevated to the main Denver Broncos roster after their three regular quarterbacks were all put on the Covid-19 ineligible-to-play list, to cover a position he doesn't have much experience in. As a result, the Broncos limped to a 31-3 loss to the New Orleans Saints.

You see, even though it's a full-contact team sport, **Gridiron Football** (also known as American Football) teams have one player that's more valuable than the rest - the quarterback. It's so vital to have a good one (no offence to Kendall Hinton, who did the best he could in *hilariously unprecedented* circumstances), because so much of the strategy goes through them.

Basics first though; Two teams of players, wearing pads and helmets, line up on a 100-yard field. One team (the Offense) is trying to get an prolate-spheroid-shaped (!) ball from one end to the other, and the other (the Defense) is trying to stop them. Their prize for getting to the other end? A touchdown - six points, and a chance to kick the ball through the goalposts for a seventh. The team with the most points after 60 minutes of play wins (we'll come back to this).

The teams line up facing each other, and the offense's quarterback receives the ball - they have to decide what they're doing with it. Are they going to throw it to a receiver, who'll catch it and run as far up the field as possible? Maybe they hand it back to a running back, a specialist who can charge their way through the defense? Or maybe they run with it themselves? Whatever they do, they have 11 burly defenders bearing down on them so they need to decide in a matter of seconds.

When the ball hits the ground, play stops and the teams line up again. This continues until the offense scores, or until they run out of momentum - the offense gets four "downs", or attempts, to move the ball at least 10 yards. If they do that, their downs get reset and they can continue forward. If they fail, the ball is turned over to the other team.

Gridiron Football (referring to the grid lines painted on the field to indicate the distance to be traveled) games tend to take three to four hours to play out. This is because, while the clock stops after 60 minutes, it only counts the time the ball is actively in play. There is a lot of downtime between activity; substitutions, timeouts, TV timeouts, commercial timeouts, setup between plays, a timeout two minutes before the end of each half, play reviews and so on can lead to a protracted watching experience. On the plus side, when the ball is in play, you're watching athletes at the pinnacle of their abilities duke it out in often brutal style.
Greenland Shark

## Did You Know?

Behold, the **Greenland Shark** – the longest-living Vertebrate on Earth. In fact, there may be Greenland Sharks alive today that were born before Christopher Columbus. Researchers suggest that a Greenland shark’s age at maturity is at least 134, which definitely entitles it to a bus pass, early vaccinations and cheap cinema tickets – sadly, those kinds of benefits don’t apply underwater.

Why do they live so long? The answer is not certain, but scientists suspect slow metabolism and the cold waters they inhabit. One of nature’s less refined-looking creatures, the Greenland Shark is also one of the largest living species of shark, growing to an average length of 6.4m and weighing around 1,000kg.
Flying Car

## Ability

### Ability

**Dude, Where's My (Flying) Car?****(Play)** If you have played **Flying Car** this game, your Futurology cards in hand gain +30 Power for 2 turns.

## Did You Know?

Traffic jams will be a thing of the past when cars can simply take to the skies! Alas, despite being a recurrent feature of sci-fi, **Flying Cars** haven't quite taken off in the real world. We've had prototypes galore, from the 1949 Aerocar built by Molt Taylor to more modern attempts by Terrafugia, PAL-V, and AeroMobil, but none have achieved widespread commercial success.

First, there will be a number of regulatory road bumps and safety concerns to smooth over. After all, in order to operate safely, a Flying Car would have to be certified as both a fully functioning road vehicle and an aircraft. That means the person behind the wheel (or joystick?) would need both a driver’s and a pilot’s licence.
Giant Penguin Hoax

## Ability

### Ability

**Iron Tracks****(Play)** If played between two Excellent Elements cards, your Hoaxes and Cons cards, wherever they are, gain +17 Power until played.

## Did You Know?

For about a decade, people believed that a 15-foot penguin was living on Clearwater Beach, Florida. It all started in 1948 when massive three-toed footprints magically appeared in the sand. These bad boys were about 14 inches long and 11 inches wide, leading out from the sea and striding along the beach for miles.

Soon, reports of strange sightings poured in, including a furry log with a boar's head and a ginormous creature waddling near the shoreline. According to British scientist Ivan Terence Sanderson, the culprit could only be a **Giant Penguin** - because no man would pull a prank this elaborate, right?
Wrong. In 1988, local man Tony Signorini posed in his <link="https:>big metal penguin shoes</link>, revealing himself as the brains (and feet) behind the prank.
Greenbottle Blue Tarantula

## Ability

### Ability

**Azure-ances****(Play)** If your deck has 8 or more Oceans cards, they all, wherever they are, gain +15 Power this round. Repeat for Life on Land cards.

## Did You Know?

If you hate spiders, we’ve got a feeling you’re not going to be totally enamoured with the **Greenbottle Blue Tarantula**. But for spider-loving hobbyists, this species of tarantula makes for the ideal pet. Originating from the harsh and dry desert of northern Venezuela, the Greenbottle Blue Tarantula has evolved to become quite resilient.

Their striking metallic blue legs and orange abdomen make them hard to miss and beautiful to look at (if you’re into that sort of thing.) But these spiders are no slackers: in fact, their fast-moving, active nature allows them to create impressive silk retreats quite quickly.

That being said, the Greenbottle Blue Tarantula is also quite skittish and won’t hesitate to dash off if they feel threatened.
Eye of the Sahara

## Ability

### Ability

**Pre-Prehistoric****(Draw)** Your Paleontology cards in hand cost -1 Energy this round.

## Did You Know?

Asteroid impact, remains of Atlantis or just a naturally formed geologic dome? Whatever your beliefs on how the **Eye of the Sahara**, also known as the Richat Structure, came to be, the fact remains that this natural wonder contains rocks that predate the appearance of life on Earth.

(Sorry, conspiracy buffs – this one is most likely down to geology, which is arguably even more impressive.)
Green's Law

## Did You Know?

Unless you’re a coastal engineer or a maths nerd with a penchant for fluid dynamics, you’ve probably never heard of **Green’s Law**. Invented by British mathematician George Green, the theory describes the evolution of non-breaking, surface gravity waves.

For the less mathematically inclined, here’s the basic principle: as the depth of water decreases, wave height increases. When the depth of water decreases by a factor sixteen, waves become twice as high. When the width of a channel is reduced, the wave height also doubles.

Tsunamis change their height in accordance with this principle, as they propagate through the ocean and up the continental shelf. So, if you’re ever faced with a tsunami, at least you’ll be able to put this deep knowledge of fluid dynamics to use. Thank us later.
HD 189733 b

## Did You Know?

About 63 light-years from Earth in the constellation Vulpecula is an exoplanet known as **HD 189733 b.** From afar, this little blue dot looks a little like our planet. But that’s where the similarities end, because the weather on this world is enough to make even the British hold their tongue.

On HD 189733 b, the winds blow up to 5,400 mph, seven times the speed of sound. If you even approached the planet to get a closer look, you’d be whipped into a violent wind that would send you spiralling around it. And that’s not even the worst part, because a light drizzle on HD 189733 b isn’t just an inconvenience - it’s a death sentence that comes in the form of sideways rain made of glass.
German Pickles

## Ability

### Ability

**Fake Tradition****(Play)** Your opponent's History cards, wherever they are, lose -10 Power this round.

## Did You Know?

The **Weihnachtsgurke** (vine-act-gorkha), or Christmas Pickle, has a become a rather lovely Christmas tradition. The glass pickle ornament is the last decoration placed on the tree, and the first child to find it gets the first gift, or depending on the generosity of the tree owner, an extra gift.

Lovely isn't it? Well, it would be if it were true. In fact, according to a *YouGov* survey, only 7% of Germans have heard of the **Christmas Pickle** and of those who have heard of it, virtually none of them partake in the joyous activity.

So, how on earth have I been tricked into hanging pickle on my tree and, worse still, forced into clearing up the carnage after three children high on candy canes and egg nog destroy the tree in an attempt to curry my favour? The answer is marketing!

There's nothing we folk like more than upholding a tradition, so during the late 19th century some bright spark at Woolworth's had the idea to market them as a traditional German ornaments, one which if purchased will keep the-old-country traditions alive and lots of people fell for it. Well, why wouldn't they everyone knows their German friends never shut up about pickles and how amazing they are.\*

What started as a cynical ploy has now become a rather enjoyable festive tradition.

* I have several German friends and in all honesty, none of them has ever mentioned pickles.
Greek Fire

## Ability

### Ability

**Scorch****(Draw)** Your opponent's cards in hand **Burn** (16) this round and your Ancient Greece and Greek Mythology cards, wherever they are, cost -1 Energy until played.

## Did You Know?

A secret weapon of the Byzantine Empire, **Greek Fire** was an incendiary weapon that used a heavily guarded formula that we still can’t figure out today. Typically used in naval battles, Greek Fire was effectively a rudimentary flame-thrower that could supposedly continue burning while on water. Some historians believe that the weapon could be ignited on contact with water, so likely had a compound of naphtha and quicklime.

Whatever the formula, the advantage it gave the Byzantine Empire is unquestionable. Thanks to the successful salvation of Constantinople from the first and second Arab sieges, they secured the Empire’s survival. It may not be the first incendiary weapon in history, but Greek Fire is definitely one of the most historically significant.

'Byzantine - Greek Fire' by Patrick Gray (Source: Flickr) is licensed under CC BY 2.0 (original image resized, cropped and altered)
General Grant

## Ability

### Ability

**Second in Command****(Play)** If you have played **General Grant** this game, this card gains +30 Power permanently.

## Did You Know?

Anyone cool enough to keep up to date with the Giant Sequoia size rankings will know **General Grant** is #2 on the list, moving up one spot in 2003 after the Washington tree was torched by lightning. Sorry, Washington.

Located in Kings Canyon National Park in California, General Grant reaches an eye-watering height of 32.8 metres, which is roughly the size of around 19 clones of the actual General Ulysses S. Grant stacked on top of each other.

Forget the Rockerfeller tree - General Grant was designated the Nation’s Christmas Tree by President Coolidge in 1926. Then, in 1956, President Eisenhower declared the tree a National Shrine - a memorial to those who died in war. It is the only living object to be so declared.
Duat

## Ability

### Ability

**Netherworld Residence****(Play)** If your deck contains Osiris, your Egyptian Mythology cards, wherever they are, gain +5 Power until played. Repeat for Thoth, Horus, Hathor and Ma'at

## Did You Know?

Welcome to **Duat**, the realm of the dead! We trust you brought a copy of your death certificate? Just kidding, we won’t be needing human documents down here! Your heart is the only thing we’ll need to judge your soul. We’ll be placing it on a scale and weighing it against a feather. If your soul is lighter than a feather, you’re all good! If not… Well, we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it, shall we?

You’ll notice in Duat that there’s no day or night here - don’t worry, you’ll get used to that. But we do recommend carrying a map with you at all times to navigate through the landscape, or you might fall headfirst into the lake of flames or walk into a wall of iron.
Gravity

## Ability

### Ability

**...Must Come Down****(Play)** Your Lift card in hand gains +32 Power this turn.

## Did You Know?

Sit down, because this is important. Go on, take a seat.

Now, I didn't really need you to sit down - I just need you to imagine that you're on a chair, because it's a helpful way of understanding how **Gravity** works. It's the reason that chair hasn't floated off into space, and the reason that when your backside touched it, you didn't bounce off it.

All objects in the universe generate a gravitational field - a kind of 'pull' that attracts smaller objects to it. On a small scale it's not very potent, but when you talk about planets, that pull is so big that things are forced to collide with it. **Gravity** is the force that's keeping you firmly on the ground - you are a small enough object that you're caught in Earths gravitational field. You and that chair.

Gravity was discovered by Sir Isaac Newton, and while it would be lovely to believe the story he told for how he discovered it, it's probably not true - apparently he was sitting under a tree, contemplating physics and forces, when an apple fell from the tree gave him the idea that there's a force holding everything down. Do you ever just go outside and contemplate physics and forces? I don't, but then I'm not a universally revered genius scientist. Probably what's stopping me from being one, come to think of it.
Hayreddin Barbarossa

## Ability

### Ability

**Inheritance****(Draw)** Your Oruç Reis card, wherever it is, costs -2 Energy until played.

## Did You Know?

Best known for defeating the combined forces of Spain, the Holy Roman Empire and the Republic of Venice in the battle of Preveza, **Hayreddin Barbarossa** was a Mediterranean pirate and one of the most successful (and greatly feared) naval commanders of the Ottoman Empire in the 16th Century.

Since he was exiled from so many countries, Barbarossa decided to start his own (the Regency of Algiers) with the blessing of the Ottoman Empire, which became modern-day Algeria, Tunisia and parts of Morocco. Hey, when life gives you lemons, right?

Although he is remembered as Barbarossa (Italian for “Redbeard”), he went by many names during his career: Khiḍr, Hayreddin Pasha, the “Pirate of Algiers,” and even the “King of the Sea”.
Gliese 1132 b

## Did You Know?

It has been called "one of the most important planets ever discovered beyond the Solar System” - but don’t get your hopes up just yet. This exoplanet, roughly 20% larger than Earth, is considered uninhabitable.

However, due to its relative proximity to Earth, **Gliese 1132 b** is close enough for telescopes to observe any atmosphere it might have, allowing astronomers to spot signs of life on other planets in the future. Located in the constellation of Vela in the southern sky, Gliese 1132 b was spotted moving across the face of a red dwarf star about one fifth the size of our sun.

Although its star is smaller, the planet orbits so close to it that surface temperatures reach a scorching 260 degrees Celsius, and its proximity to its star creates intense tidal forces, meaning the planet’s shape is constant in flux, causing gases to rush to the surface and immense volcanic activity.

'Artist's Impression' by ESA/Hubble (Source: Wikimedia Commons) is licensed under CC BY 4.0 (original image resized, cropped and altered)
Haruspex

## Ability

### Ability

**Entrail Inspection****(Play)** If your deck has 5 or more Life on Land cards and 5 or fewer The Roman Empire cards, your Life on Land cards, wherever they are, lose -15 Power permanently, and all other cards, wherever they are, gain +10 Power permanently.

## Did You Know?

What do you want to be when you grow up? Butcher, baker, candlestick maker? How about a **Haruspex**? Before you commit, you might want to hear the job description.

In ancient Rome, a haruspex played the important role of making predictions based on the entrails of sacrificial animals - specifically, the livers and gallbladder of sheep and poultry. Yes, it’s a dirty job, but someone’s gotta do it… right?

Absolutely - in fact, these soothsayers were part of a larger group of seers whose official function was to determine whether the gods approved of a proposed course of political or military action. An important decision simply couldn’t be taken until the auguries had been consulted, and the work of the Haruspex was vital to the mix.
Heitstrenging

## Ability

### Ability

**A Solemn Vow****(Play)** If played next to any Festive Traditions card, your Norse Mythology cards, wherever they are, gain +12 Power this round.

## Did You Know?

New Year's Resolutions are overrated. Instead of Tweeting about a gym membership you’ll cancel after a month or a painting class you’ll never take, why not take part in **Heitstrenging**? This old Norse tradition involves the very festive activity of sacrificing a boar, touching its bristles, placing your foot upon a stone or bench and saying: “I mount on the block and solemnly swear…”

Heitstrenging took place on Yule Eve, often in association with the chieftain’s toast. And, like the best man’s speech at a wedding, the vow usually came after the speaker was drunk. Still, vows were solemn and breaking them was a punishable offence, even if they were trivial. During one Heitstrenging, <link="https:>Harald Fairhair</link> vowed not to comb his hair until he ruled over the entire country.
Hair Ice

## Ability

### Ability

**Close Shave****(Play)** If you are trailing by 50 Power or less, this card gains +75 Power this turn.

## Did You Know?

Like a wizard’s beard in desperate need of a trim, **Hair Ice** grows and flows like white candyfloss from the surface of rotting wood. This unusual phenomenon is a rare type of ice formation that happens when temperatures drop slightly below zero degrees Celsius.

For decades, it puzzled scientists, until they finally realised the root cause (pun intended). It turns out that hair ice is only made possible due to a certain type of fungi called *Exidiopsis effusa*. When the fungi inside dead wood generates carbon dioxide, it pushes water to the surface and out of the pores in the wood. When the water freezes, it's spun into hair ice.

Although it looks fluffy, it’ll melt the moment you touch it.
Galapagos Marine Iguana

## Ability

### Ability

**Avian Symbiosis****(Play)** Your Birds cards in hand gain +15 Power this turn.

## Did You Know?

Ever wish you could hold your breath underwater for like, erm... 40 minutes? Well would you darn well believe it, The male Galapagos Marine Iguanas actually can!

Charles Darwin described them as "hideous-looking" and "most disgusting, clumsy lizards." Give the guys a break Charles, come on!

Ok, so there may be a little truth in the above statement; these Iguanas would never win a beauty contest, with their alien-like wide-set eyes, mildly smashed in looking faces and spiky harsh dorsal scales. But their amazing ecological adaptions make up for what they seemingly lack in the looks department.

According to Scientists, land-dwelling Iguanas from South America had one hell of an adventure, drifting out to sea millions of years ago on debris, eventually landing on the Galápagos. This heralded the emergence of the Marine Iguanas, which went on to spread to nearly all the islands of the archipelago, each with its own distinctive size, shape and colour.
Fūma Kotarō

## Ability

### Ability

**Leader of the Clan****(Draw)** For every Espionage card in your deck, your Feudal Japan cards in hand gain +3 Power until played, and vice versa.

## Did You Know?

While a clan of ninjas might seem ominous enough, the legendary Fūma clan, led by the mysterious **Fūma Kotarō** who operated Kanagawa Prefecture in the late 1500s. Much of Fūma Kotarō’s life is shrouded in mystery but the legends we have of his escapades are something else. He was rumored to be part oni (or demon) at 7 feet tall, with a terrifyingly deep voice and…you know…just looking like an anime villain in general.

The Fūma clan were best known for their guerilla warfare and for being much more bold and brazen than many other ninja clans. They fought on horseback and were known as battle disrupters due to their unusual tactics. One of the most famous stories of the clan is the Battle of Omosu, where the Fūma clan entered the enemy camp at night and used smoke and all manner of chaos to frighten the enemy into attacking each other. This resulted in the enemy army doing more damage to themselves while the Fūma casually walked off in <link="https:>slow motion against a fiery exploding backdrop</link>. Or, that’s how it looked in our heads.

Fūma Kotarō is also said to have had a nemesis in the shape of Hattori Hanzō, another legendary ninja from the time period. Hanzō once tracked down Fūma Kotarō and attempted to surprise him by approaching via the coastline, not knowing that Fūma Kotarō and his men had set oil down, preparing for Hanzō’s approach. Of course, as soon as Hanzō got close enough, Kotarō lit the oil, thus destroying the plot to take him down.
Galapagos Land Iguana

## Ability

### Ability

**Avian Symbiosis****(Play)** Your Sea Birds cards in hand gain +25 Power this turn.

## Did You Know?

The Galapagos Land Iguana is endemic to the Galapagos Islands. They're hefty looking and grown to over 1 m (3.3 ft) in length, weigh up to 13 kgs (28.7 lbs) and they have a life expectancy of up to SIXTY years. (Oh the stories they could tell).

Yellowish in colour, these large cold-blooded reptiles have a spiky majestic looking dorsal crest that runs along their neck and back. Despite their intimidating prehistoric appearance, they are primarily herbivores – feeding on prickly pear leaves and fruit.

Straight out of a Disney movie, they have a long running friendship with finches – which can often be seen sitting on their backs or affectionately picking ticks from between their scales. Move over Timon and Pumbaa, there's a new unlikely animal duo in town...
Grooved Brain Coral

## Ability

### Ability

**Sea Smarts****(Play)** If played next to The Brain, your Oceans and Seas cards in hand gain +18 Power for 2 turns.

## Did You Know?

Nature has an odd habit of repeating itself. Just look at the Diploria, a monotypic genus of massive reef building stony corals in the family Mussidae. Looks familiar, right?

Although the **Grooved Brain Coral** doesn’t have a brain of its own, it can grow over six feet tall and live up to 900 years! So, if you want to be a few inches taller and live for a handful more centuries, why not try replacing your own brain with one of these?\*

Found in the Caribbean, Atlantic, and Pacific Oceans, brain corals use a network of coral polyps to transfer molecules such as nutrients, hormones, and oxygen—making it easier for the brain coral colony to communicate.

* Do not try this at home without the supervision of an experienced coral brain surgeon.
Graceful Decorator Crab

## Ability

### Ability

**Dressed to the Nines****(Play)** Your Crustaceans cards in hand gain +9 Power this turn.

## Did You Know?

Like an ocean-dwelling Inspector Gadget, the **Graceful Decorator Crab** can attach other organisms to its back thanks to bristles that act a bit like velcro. A master of disguise, this crab carefully selects pieces of algae and small animals from its habitat to create the perfect camouflage.

When the Graceful Decorator Crab outgrows its shell, it goes through the moulting process to grow a new size-appropriate exoskeleton. Not one for fast fashion, the crab recycles its living decorations, removing anemones, sponges and other decorations from its old shell and placing them on its new shell once ready.

Generally speaking, young decorator crabs and adult females go all out when it comes to their attire, while adult males are sparse in their decoration.
Golem

## Ability

### Ability

**Inanimate Matter****(Play)** For every card in your deck with "Stone" in the name, up to a maximum of 5, the card opposite this loses -15 Power until played.

## Did You Know?

Long before Mary Shelley dreamed up Frankenstein, Jewish stories of a creature brought to life by men were told of a creature called the **Golem**. Stories tell of ancient Jewish mystics who believed their magic could bring them closer to God. They used incantations and the Sefer Yetzirah, or the Book of Creation, to learn how to animate creatures made from dust or clay. And thus the Golem was born.

In folklore and popular stories, the Golem (like Frankenstein’s monster) is seen as both victim and aggressor. In some tales, they protect Jewish communities and are seen as a helper. However, in more cautionary tales, they can turn on their creator and cause chaos and destruction.
Galen

## Ability

### Ability

**Diagnose the Problem****(Draw)** Your Marvellous Medicine cards, wherever they are, gain +12 Power until played.

## Did You Know?

In Swedish, Galen means crazy. But Aelius Galenus or Claudius Galenus, often Anglicized as **Galen** wasn’t totally mental. A prominent Roman physician and philosopher, Galen was an important medical researcher during the time of the Roman Empire who had great expertise in anatomy, surgery, pharmacology, and therapeutic methods.

Although Galen’s medical writing was profoundly influential and he is known for bringing philosophy into medicine, he never dissected a human body. Instead, he often dissected pigs, cats and monkeys and drew medical conclusions about the human body from them. Later, he was proved wrong – but in Galen’s defence, there was a ban on human dissection at the time, so these errors are pretty understandable.
Gorgonopsids

## Did You Know?

Drumroll and a standing ovation, please, for the family Gorgonopsid. Why? Because these Therapsids (mammal-like reptiles) lived in the Permian period, about 250 million years ago and are the ancient ancestors of the mammals we know and love today.

Gorgonopsids were some of the most fearsome predators of their day, possessing powerful jaws and sabre-like canine teeth. Think JAWS on land (terrifying).
Ghost Shark

## Ability

### Ability

**Not Afraid of the Shark****(Draw)** If your deck has 4 or more Deep Ocean cards, gain +6 Power/Turn permanently.

## Did You Know?

If something goes bump in the night, you better hope it’s not a **Ghost Shark**. Also known as Chimaeras, these mysterious beasts aren’t technically sharks at all and won’t try to eat you – but they do have a dangerously sharp spine. Every year, these gooey, glowing eyed fish get their own day: International Ghost Shark Day is on October 30th, the day before Halloween.
Gamayun

## Ability

### Ability

**Omniscient****(Draw)** If your deck has 3 or more Mythical Creatures cards, a random card from each album in your hand gains +23 Power until played.

## Did You Know?

Slavic folklore tells of a mythical creature called **Gamayun** - a giant bird-like beast with the head of a beautiful woman. A symbol of wisdom and knowledge, Gamayun is aware of everything that occurs within the world including man and animal.

Yup, that’s right - everything. Gamayun knows you didn’t send a thank you message for the birthday present from your grandmother, and Gamayun knows you dropped that teabag on the floor and still put it in the mug for your colleague. Nothing gets by her.

Gamayun is also a great singer - her songs have the power to inspire people to do heroic acts. On the flip side, her songs are so hypnotic that they could cause people to drop everything and follow her forever, which is less than ideal.
Gentoo Penguin

## Did You Know?

Think you can outswim a penguin? Think again. With their streamlined bodies and powerful flippers, the **Gentoo Penguin** can dive more than 600 feet deep, swim up to 22 miles an hour (faster than any other diving bird) and stay underwater for up to seven minutes.

These Olympic-level diving skills are essential to the penguin, as this species has been known to make as many as 450 dives a day to forage for food. Although they prefer to stay close to land, Gentoo penguins have been spotted as far as 26 kilometres out to sea.

When they aren’t swimming, they’re busy getting busy: unlike many other penguin species, gentoo penguins rear two chicks a year as opposed to one.
Glamis Castle

## Ability

### Ability

**Earl Beardie****(Play)** If played next to Playing Cards, your Horrible Halloween cards, wherever they are, gain +8 Power permanently.

## Did You Know?

Do you like old Scottish castles? Have you ever thought “hey, you know what this room could do with? More pictures of lions”? Then **Glamis Castle** might be your perfect home! Sadly, it’s not up for sale as it’s currently the home of the 19th Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne. But it also has other, less… alive residents.

There’s Alexander Lindsay, 4th Earl of Crawford, whose soul was stolen away by Satan for gambling; there’s the Monster of Glamis, the ghost of a severely deformed child; there’s Earl Beardie, The Green Lady, The Grey Lady, The Tongueless Woman who runs across the lawns, The Hanged Butler, The African Servant Boy… the list goes on. If there ever was a Monster Mash, we couldn’t think of a better venue.
Hammer Orchid

## Ability

### Ability

**Entrapment****(Return)** An opponent's random card in hand loses -13 Power until played and a random card in your hand gains +13 Power until played.

## Did You Know?

The Drakaea, also known as the **Hammer Orchid**, is a vibrant and alluring flower. It’s also the plant master of catfishing. More than a petal, the lip of the Hammer Orchid looks just like an insect. This is all part of its act: when a male insect sees what he thinks is an alluring female, sitting on an orchid petal, he attempts to fly off with “her”.

The combination of his momentum and the mechanism of the orchid’s lip swings him upside down, right into the orchid’s reproductive structure. When the Hammer Orchid succeeds in its catfishing endeavours, this is what’s known as “Hammer Time” (although, not if MC Hammer’s lawyers have anything to do with it.)
Florida Panther

## Did You Know?

The Florida Panther is one of the most endangered mammals in the world. Estimates put the number of Florida Panthers living in the wild at between 120 and 230. These largely solitary big cats live in Southwest Florida and feed on prey such as small deer.

Even though Florida panthers are big, they’re more closely related to house cats and lynx, rather than bigger cats such as tigers and lions. That being said, we've tried but we just can't quite picture them curled up at the foot of the bed or having a scratch on kitty's scratch post somehow.
Giant Leopard Moth

## Ability

### Ability

**Not Quite Either****(Play)** Your Beautiful Butterflies and Cool Cats cards, wherever they are, gain +10 Power until played.

## Did You Know?

Stepping out in style with bright white wings adorned with a striking spotted pattern is the **Giant Leopard Moth**. For this eye-catching design, we have mother nature to thank (take a hike, Givenchy.) Beyond appearances, kudos is due to this moth for its patience and commitment: their average mating session lasts at least 24 hours!

Before metamorphosis takes place, the giant leopard moth is a fuzzy caterpillar of the “woolly bear” variety, possessing a bristly black coat that resembles a tiny pom-pom when the caterpillar rolls into a ball for defence. Found across fields, meadows and forest edges of eastern North America and as far south as Colombia, this moth hibernates in winter and will spin itself into a cocoon come spring.
Gnathia marleyi

## Ability

### Ability

**Stir It Up****(Play)** Your opponent's Feisty Fish cards in hand lose -15 Power this turn and your Crustaceans cards in hand gain +15 Power this turn.

## Did You Know?

♫ These are the big fish / Who always try to eat down the small fish / Just the small fish ♫
Those were the words of Bob Marley in his song ‘Guiltiness’ - but he failed to mention a little blood-sucking crustacean that attacks hosts by surprise and drains them of all bodily fluids. Ironically, this very crustacean is named after the legendary reggae musician.

In the **Gnathia marleyi’s** defence, it only behaves this way in its youth. After reaching maturity, it stops attacking others and ceases to feed altogether, becoming a free-living, benthic organism. First discovered in 2012, Gnathia marleyi was the first new species to be described in the Caribbean in 20 years. Its discoverer, Paul Sikkel, chose the name because of his admiration for Marley’s music, rather than its behaviour.

'Female with Eggs' by Ann Marie Coile (Source: Wikimedia Commons) is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 (original image resized, cropped and altered)
Golden Gate Bridge

## Ability

### Ability

**Golden Touch****(Play)** If you are losing the round, gain +1:energy/turn: permanently.

## Did You Know?

You would be forgiven for thinking that Hollywood has a vendetta with the Golden Gate Bridge - it has been destroyed in 9 Hollywood movies in the last 10 years alone!

The bridge links San Francisco with Marin County, and reached its 1 billionth car crossing in 1985. It is painted in International Orange, which may account in part for it being the most photographed bridge in the world.