Q-Basic Gorillas: Beneath the Golden Dome

Q-Basic Gorillas: Beneath the Golden Dome is a canceled story pitch in the Dozerfleet Comics saga based on the popular 1991 video game Gorillas. It is the sequel to both Q-Basic Gorillas and Q-Basic Gorillas: Orangutans of Fire.

Muhammad and Solomon
It's revealed in a flashback that the Bible's Queen of Sheba had captured the Ethermangs, and ancient evil, with the help of Qilanta's original Q-Basic Gorillas. The Vase of Ethermangs contained the 20 remaining Ethermangs: Prince Duqat and his 19 servants. King Solomon took the vase and hid it in an underground chamber build deep in the ground beneath his famous temple. It was assumed that from there, the Ethermangs would be forgotten by history. However, Muhammad and the original Muslims discovered the chamber while raiding the remains of Herod's Temple. Considering using the Ethermangs as part of his plans for world domination, Muhammad was talked out of it by a Gorilla history expert. Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan later had the Dome of the Rock built so nobody else would ever be tempted to release them.

Col. Veyour frees the Ethermangs
Four months from the Pyrangutans' assault on Mexico, Col. Veyour discovers that the Vase of Ethermangs is hidden somewhere beneath the Dome on the Rock. Aliyan expresses his frustrations to Niqmad that the Ice Chimps are now taking orders from a Gorilla, asking how it ever came to that. Without saying anything, Niqmad agrees that it's not right. Aliyan nevertheless pretends to remain loyal to Veyour.

Veyour and the Ice Chimps raid a deep, underground tomb to find the Ethermangs. Veyour smashes the vase while ignoring Aliyan's warnings that "there's no turning back" once the Ethermangs are freed. Aliyan supplies them with spare Ice Chimp suits, since their ethereal essence requires them to have something else solid in order to function outside stasis. When Veyour begins arrogantly making demands, the Ethermangs quickly execute him. Aliyan then swears his allegiance to them, gleeful that they freed him from having to take orders from a Gorilla. They immediately demand that they be given customized ice suits that don't contain Ice Chimp logos. As the remaining Ice Chimps, Pyrangutans, and Ethermangs convene in secret in Jerusalem; Niqmad gets the Ethermangs caught up on what has happened in the time that they were imprisoned.

Ethermangs on a rampage
Enraged, the Ethermangs use their unique abilities to wage a full-scale assault on Hamas central headquarters. They gain help from the Ice Chimps and Pyrangutans to take over all of Palestine. Their argument to the Palestinians: "Had you the competence to defeat the Hebrews and their children, you'd've done it!" They begin waging war on Israel from within, determined to destroy anything that gets in their way.

Screechie, sent out with the Quartz Division to monitor what's going on, alerts Topaz Headquarters that "everyone needs to get over here, stat!!!" He ends up being killed by Zikrit, an Ice Chimp that ends up taking Aqhat's place, with a sticky banana bomb. Zikrit then attacks Nazareth with red cluster-spark banana bombs, terrorizing the town's residents while various Ice Chimp minions harass them for fleeing. Meanwhile, Aliyan and Niqmad coordinate an attack on Tel Aviv with Nurge. Using the Felinus Transmogrin, they begin turning Tel Aviv residents into cats while the remaining Pyrangutan minions neutralize troop fire. Nurge begins killing all humans that had been turned into cats, so that the Felinus Transmogrin cannot be used to change them back.

Assault on all Gorillas
Duqat begins to sense the tensions between Ice Chimp and Pyrangutan, so he orders the Ice Chimps to stay with the Ethermangs and destroy Israel while sending the Pyrangutans to attack and destroy all Gorilla Divisions all over the world. Flix receives a distress signal from Col. Inhapum of the Silver Division that their base has been compromised. Therefore, Flix orders all the Topaz Gorillas to evacuate their base early. BB inquires as to why they don't defend the base, and Flix responds that he already has a better strategy. As Enmebe raids Topaz Headquarters, he soon learns that the entire building was rigged to blow. Fireproof toxic foam ejectors activate shortly after fire destroys the base and Enmebe, and these destroy the four Pyrangutans that went with him.

The Pyrangutans' numbers dwindle to almost nothing; but they take out almost all Gorilla bases along the way. Surviving Gorillas from each Division base begin contacting each other, and they decide they need to head to Israel if they wish to destroy the Ethermangs and Ice Chimps for good.

Palestine in peril
Enli attacks the city of Eliat along with Lubarna, Tasul, and Piyam. This forces Palestinians to work with their Israeli neighbors to fight off the Ethermang assault. The Quartz Division shows up to help however, causing opportunist Palestinians to turn on the Israelis when they assume the Gorillas will take care of the Ethermangs for them. The four Ethermangs are killed, but only at the expense of all Quartz Gorillas perishing also.

Annit, Arnuwan, Katu, Maradu, and Tarhun begin to wage war on the streets of Haifa. Troops in those cities manage to kill all but Tarhun, who makes off with a young Jewish bride named Hadara while her new husband, Yinon, is left distraught. Tarhun takes her to Mesan in Bethelehem, who nearly rapes her. However, he is intercepted and defeated by Col. Flix. Flix gives the girl to Burrpatch to keep watch over. As Tarhun tries to flee, BB intercepts and defeats him in a street brawl using a toxic foam banana bomb.

Aane and several Ice Chimps arrive and engage the Topaz Gorillas. The Amethyst Gorillas congregate outside and are immediately assaulted by Natum, Telip, Tudhal, and Piluli. Burrpatch and Aldono run for cover with Hadara, when Enli arrives and gases Aldono to death. Captain Reggie Warrin shows up with a group of US Marines right as the Ice Chimps are about to kill Burrpatch. They launch lighter spew banana bombs at the Ice Chimps, compromising their suits and allowing the troops a fair chance to take out their visors. Burrpatch seizes the moment to use his last can of toxic foam on Enli. Reggie agrees to get Hadara to safety at an embassy in Italy. He assures Hadara that he will attempt to establish contact with Yinon.

Ashu and Akalam find themselves the only ones left standing of Duqat's servants. They decide to launch a full scale assault on the neighboring country of Jordan. Pablono ends up sacrificing himself to kill the Ethermangs there, but the Jordanian troops soon find themselves overwhelmed against the advancing Ice Chimps.

Duqat grows desperate
Furious that his men have all perished, Duqat heads to Jerusalem with Aliyan and Niqmad to destroy the old city once and for all. As the Israeli prime minister offers to give a speech, the Ice Chimps attack yet again. The Topaz and Emerald Gorillas show up to protect the prime minister when the speech is interrupted. Akilina seizes her lucky moment and takes out Niqmad. However, she is shot by Hamas operatives, whose leader's brother was killed while caught in a crossfire between Gorillas and Ice Chimps. BB tends to Akilina while Burrpatch and Israeli authorities subdue the operatives.

Pawel decides to run off to the location of where Col. Veyour found the Vase of Ethermangs. Flix follows, wondering what Pawel's plan is. Pawel explains that the time has come to use the Anti Transmogrin. Flix warns that if they succeed at its use, it will only destroy all Ice Chimps within a 5,000 mile radius. Any Ice Chimps outside that range will be spared. Also, it is one of the last hopes the Gorillas have of ever being human again. Pawel states that he understands the risk. Before either can act, Duqat shows up with several Ice Chimps and tries to wrestle the Anti away from Pawel. However, Pawel clings jealously to it. BB shows up, furious over what happened to Akilina, and attacks the Ice Chimps whilst armed with far more weapons than necessary. Duqat decides to attack Flix directly, as the ground beneath the Dome begins to give way. On the surface, an Israeli family cowers in fear while their Palestinian captors and would-be executioners are distracted by flying Ice Chimps guarding the entrance to the tomb.

Finale
Duqat finally decides he's had enough of Flix, and turns his hands into vapor in an effort to fill Flix's lungs and suffocate him. Pawel, noticing what's going on, pulls the Anti out and activates it directly at Duqat. Duqat solidifies as a human, and is immediately executed by Pawel's meat cleaver. Sapphire Gorillas sneak past the Ice Chimp guard while the Palestinian guard continues firing at them. The Ice Chimps soon find themselves unable to hold off the assault of fully-armed Gorillas. Seizing the moment, Pawel destroys the Anti while telling it to cure the Ice Chimps. Flix recovers in time to witness the Anti Transmogrin self-destruct, then orders all Gorillas to flee the tomb. As they run, the tomb's foundations begin to collapse behind them. A few Sapphire Gorillas end up trapped in the rubble along with their formerly-Ice-Chimp adversaries.

While Aliyan is about to declare victory for the Ice Chimps over the ruins of Tel Aviv, a wave of the Anti's magic strikes him and all his troops. They suddenly find themselves being shot by armed civilians, and die. As the tomb collapses, the Dome on the Rock begins to also suffer structural damage. Flix, BB, and Pawel make it out just as the stray Palestinian band is about to execute the family it captured. Before the leader can shoot the couple's son between the eyes, Burrpatch hits said leader in the face with a sticky banana bomb. Burrpatch and BB open fire on the kidnappers, while Flix grabs the child and Pawel grabs his parents. The Gorillas keep running until they are a safe distance from the sinkhole.

Flix observes the burning city around him, reflecting on how costly the Gorillas' victory has proven.

Q-Base-symbol.png Gorillas

 * Col. Flix: The Topaz Division leader. He is deeply hurt by the loss of several Gorillas, and suspects that the time of Bokomar and Wandering One alike is near an end.


 * BB: A younger and thinner Gorilla. He is quickly beginning to take the place of Jaac and Screechie on the team, given both their deaths.


 * Burrpatch: Burrpatch is the big muscle in the group. Since befriending Stacey, he has become fiercely protective of young brides and young brides-to-be when they are threatened.


 * Akilina: A feminine version of BB, Akilina often gets into corners the boys can't.


 * Pawel: The group medic, Pawel accompanies Flix the way Jaac used to.


 * Aldono: A former Ruby Division captain. Aldono is determined to die with honor, convinced he will not survive another mission.


 * Pablono: Still mourning the loss of Col. Roto, Pablono vows to honor his memory by fighting as valiantly for the Topaz Gorillas as he did for the Ruby Division.


 * Screechie: An athletic Gorilla and BB's former mentor. Upon scouting in Israel, he is almost immediately killed.  His last words warn Col. Flix that something really bad is about to happen.


 * Various troops: Gorillas from every division descend on Israel to defeat the Ethermangs.

Evil Gorillas

 * Col. Veyour: A former colonel of the Diamond Division. Since falling away, he became the de-facto leader of the Pyrangutans and Ice Chimps both after the death of Lord Incendimore.  His arrogance leads him to freeing the Ethermangs, convinced he can control them whereas not even Muhammad was willing to take that risk.  He is resented by the Ice Chimps, who are dumbfounded to find themselves working for a Gorilla.

IceChimp-symbol.png Ice Chimps

 * Aliyan: Always finding himself in second place; he is ever-grudging to find his masters less respectable. However, he is too loyal to his office to ever betray a master outright while that master is alive.  Aliyan is a huge show-off, a feature which irritates his later masters.  When an Israeli tries to get him to betray Prince Duqat, he refuses.  Not even when warned that victory for Duqat could implode the universe.


 * Niqmad: The top spy and communications officer of the Ice Chimps. He lends his services to the Ethermangs only grudgingly, nostalgic for the old day when Quirini was in charge.


 * Various foot soldiers: The Ice Chimps are the most numerous of all the factions. This makes them especially necessary for any of the other forces to stand any chance against the Gorillas.

Pyrangutan-symbol.png Pyrangutans

 * Nerod: Lord Incendimore's former second-in-command. Once jealous of Aliyan, the two have become more friendly towards each other, especially in their shared resentment of Col. Veyour.  He secretly suspects that it was a mistake to set the Ethermangs free; but wouldn't dare switch sides and join the Gorillas.  While a few Pyrangutans still live; he feels distraught that so much of his army has been diminished.


 * Sizzle: Once proud to be the most sadistic ape around, the Central Guards for Prince Duqat upstage him frequently and make him feel inadequate. He is determined to destroy as many Gorillas as cruelly as possible to compensate.


 * Various foot soldiers: The Ice Chimps and Pyrangutans merged forces to take over Mexico. Now with the Ethermangs free, both camps have become the Ethermangs' servants.

Ethermang-symbol.png Ethermangs

 * Prince Duqat: A forgotten bastard son of the wicked King Agag, who was executed by Samuel. He and his 19 Servants were turned into the Ethermangs by Tinshpuut the Confident; and trapped in stasis inside the Vase of Ethermangs by the Queen of Sheba.  Imprisoned by Solomon and rejected by Muhammad, he soon found himself forgotten by the world.  His prison was eventually to find itself lying beneath Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan's Dome of the Rock.  After being freed from his vase by Col. Veyour, and learning that he has failed to prevent the New Testament from happening; Duqat vows to destroy modern Israel - and take out his revenge on the entire world.


 * Nurge: Duqat's default second-in-command. Named after the Sumerian god of the underworld, he is absolutely ruthless when dealing with an opponent.  He views Aliyan with contempt, despising the fact that the latter attempts to have fun doing what the former takes very seriously.


 * Mesan: One of the central guards. He has a penchant for raping his victims before killing them.


 * Akalam: Duqat's secondary central guard. He loves to mutilate his victims.


 * Enmebe: Built like a tank, Enmebe is for the Ethermangs what Mishtam once was for the Ice Chimps.


 * Aane: One of the most revered foot soldiers in Duqat's army. Not as brutal as Enmebe, he is all the same able to be for the Ethermangs what Aqhat was for the Ice Chimps.


 * Enli: Named after Enlil, a Sumerian wind god, he is enamored with pneumatic and gas-based weapons. His favorite is tear gas.


 * The 13 Lessers: They are of near-equal rank in Duqat's eyes with the Ice Chimps and Pyrangutans, but they are respected slightly more. In spite their Ethermang abilities, they are mere minions.  Some of them begin commanding ranks of Ice Chimps while the Pyrangutans commit to their suicide mission of destroying all Gorilla divisions.
 * Ashu: Joins the Ice Chimps in attacking Jordan. He wants to make the river run red with blood.
 * Natum: Also part of the Bethlehem invasion. He doesn't talk much; but most of his comments consist of wishing death on his enemies in as few words as possible.  Similar to another villain in Dozerfleet Comics.
 * Telip: Part of the Bethlehem attacks. He specializes in terrorizing families with small children.
 * Tudhal: One of the Ethermangs who attacks Bethlehem. While the others all have something going for them as far as a personality, he is almost exclusively defined by his hatred of the Jews.
 * Piluli: An Ethermang who attacks Bethlehem. His fantasies revolve around his own insides being a pit of Hell, where he gets to torment souls forever.  He dreams of sucking souls out of victims.
 * Annit: An Ethermang sent to attack Haifa. He loves air strikes.
 * Arnuwan: Attacks the city of Haifa with Annit and a few others. Before joining Duqat's army and invading Ethiopia, he was once a priest of Moloch.  As such, he delights in threatening pregnant women.  If not so bent on world domination, he would have joined Planned Parenthood.
 * Katu: One of the Ethermangs who attacks Haifa. He loves to make himself invisible, and use fake-out maneuvers to take out his enemies.
 * Maradu: Another Ethermang who attacks Haifa. He's gay, aggressive about it, and extremely intolerant of anyone who has a problem with it.  He delights in molesting male victims, but stays focused on the mission of killing rather than molesting when the mission calls for it.
 * Tarhun: Part of the crew that attacks Haifa.  He delights in watching others suffer from disease, and considers himself the incarnation of one.  He abducts Hadara, a new bride, and delivers her to Mesan just so he can watch her in agony from being raped.  His drive for this cruelty is what blindsides him to how close the Gorillas are to zeroing in on him.
 * Lubarna: One of the 13 Lessers who joins Enli in attacking the city of Eliat. He is loathed even by some of his own teammates, due to his fondness for bestiality.
 * Tasul: Also joins in the assault on Eliat. He specializes in attacks on women and groin attacks.
 * Piyam: The third of the 13 Lessers to attack Eliat. He is infamous for decapitating victims and eating the flesh off their skulls.

Humans

 * Prime minister of Israel
 * Palestinian band of kidnappers
 * Hostage Israeli family
 * Capt. Reggie Warrin: An unofficial liaison to the Gorillas.
 * Hadara: A young bride taken hostage by the Ethermangs.
 * Yinon: Hadara's new husband.
 * Hamas captain
 * Israeli army
 * Palestinian army

Development
The premise of Beneath the Golden Dome took a lot more time to flesh out than either of its predecessors, largely due to the fact that it takes place in the Middle East. Also, having names for all 20 Ethermangs required extensive research on names Canaanites may have had; going way beyond what would have sufficed for the few actually-named Ice Chimps in the original. Rare Jewish names were also researched, in order to give the extra sense that the premise was thoroughly thought through. It was during research for this that it was decided to make a poster actually depicting Col. Flix wielding his guan dao. This is also the first time any other Gorilla features in the cover art; as Akilina, BB, Burrpatch, and Pawel all make it on the cover.

Music
As with the other two stories, this one got a soundtrack. And like with the other two, the main song featuring is a song by Shinedown. The Shinedown song for this one is "Through the Ghost" off their album Amaryllis.

Sequel
On November 5th of 2012, a sequel was proposed titled Q-Basic Gorillas: Civil War. While technically a 2012 project, the story idea is listed as the first project of model year 2013. This is due to the fact that model year 2012 ended on November 4th of 2012, and there was no desire to rebuild the sheet list for only a single extra project.

Civil War deals with Col. Flix and the other Topaz Gorillas gaining new recruits Hagedorn and Relish; as they must deal with the consequences of Qilanta's kingdom ending up at war with itself due to dissent that the Anti Transmogrin was destroyed in Jerusalem - and with it, several Gorillas' hopes of becoming human.