My next chapter spread for Call of Cthulhu 7th edition is for 'Alien Artifacts & Devices'. I read through the entries in the rulebook, and the Yithian Temporal Communicator sounded interesting, and I really like the Great Race of Yith. It's a device which allows two parties to interact via an audio/video link, sort of like Skype but with holograms... and it can cross time and space! I hear Apple will be coming out with them soon. It is described to be made of bronze, and the crystal glows red while in operation. Here is the thumbnail illustration from the book, scaled up 400%:
Sad to say, I don't know who created this illustration. A lot of artists worked on that book, and often small pieces like this aren't signed, I think perhaps as to not distract from the art. If anyone knows who made it, please let me know, hopefully he or she approves of my interpretation of their design:
My first question was where/when would this take place? I would assume the recipient would have to be pretty special and worthy to be allowed this access, someone with great intellect and talent. I thought rather than go for the obvious choice (yours truly 
), why not give some of the spotlight to lesser known folks such as renaissance artist-slash-inventors?? I was tempted to put in a lot more of Leo's famous things in there (flying whirlygigs and the like), but I felt like the idea of the communicator was a bit demanding of the viewer already, and the left side needed to be relatively blank for all the text. I wanted to focus more on the idea that it is projecting a hologram, showing some of it's translucency to reinforce the idea, all while realizing that not everyone is going to recognize the alien within the projection. I like to make puzzles for myself it seems!
), why not give some of the spotlight to lesser known folks such as renaissance artist-slash-inventors?? I was tempted to put in a lot more of Leo's famous things in there (flying whirlygigs and the like), but I felt like the idea of the communicator was a bit demanding of the viewer already, and the left side needed to be relatively blank for all the text. I wanted to focus more on the idea that it is projecting a hologram, showing some of it's translucency to reinforce the idea, all while realizing that not everyone is going to recognize the alien within the projection. I like to make puzzles for myself it seems!