Wednesday, August 31, 2016

Pharming Monsters

While many of the new creatures produced by the Mi-go mutagen are aggressive, and most are hazardous in at least some way, some are also useful. In particular, many produce useful biological compounds, including medicines. Humanity is not in any position to turn these down, however strange the source.

The parasite resembles a short centipede, with long stringy mandibles. It will latch itself to an appendage and then insert its mandibles, seeking major veins or arteries. While one mandible feeds on it's hosts blood supply, the other secretes a mixture of steroids. As a result host animals are stronger, more aggressive, and more fertile, but have shortened lifespans. The parasites have become sought after as sources of the steroids they secrete, as well as experimented with as a means of augmenting soldiers.

Ghost cows have moist, translucent, ghostly white skin. The moisture, which their skin continuously secrets, is actually an antiseptic and antibiotic. The skin is relatively weak, tearing easily, but the trade off is virtual immunity to infection, as well as resistance to many parasites and diseases. A collaboration of enterprising individuals across the world are attempting to capture, tame, and raise these cows as a source of antibiotics.

Numb worms are large, snakelike leeches. They hunt by sneaking up on a target if it is still, or, if desperate, leaping at it if it is moving. Once they bite into an animal, they inject it with an anticoagulant and an anesthetic while sucking out as much blood as possible. With the bitten area rapidly numbed, the animal with struggle less, lessening the risk of it injuring the worm. Unlike leeches, numb worms do not attach themselves for as long as possible, instead voluntarily detaching once full. The potential for numb worms to be farmed as a source of anesthetic is being explored.

Tuesday, August 23, 2016

Biograph

Cursed the ground where dead thoughts live new and oddly bodied, and evil the mind that is held by no head. Wisely did Ibn Schacabao say, that happy is the tomb where no wizard hath lain, and happy the town at night whose wizards are all ashes. For it is of old rumour that the soul of the devil-bought hastes not from his charnel clay, but fats and instructs the very worm that gnaws...
HP Lovecraft, The Festival

The mind of a wizard is a restless, living thing. It is not the same mind as its body was born with, but is given to the wizard in life in exchange for his soul after death. It is always seeking to find and exploit secrets, and has a tenuous bond to its new owner. It is not at all uncommon, after a wizard's death, for his mind fail to die, and to seek new vessels. Many strange and unique cases of possession often follow the death of a wizard, and children born nine months after such a death always regarded with suspicion.

The mind of a wizard can be captured, however, and bound. A book, written by ritual, on vellum made from the wizard's skin, by ink made from their blood, will hold the mind, limiting its influence to those who read it. A stream of consciousness manifesto, autobiography, and spellbook, these tomes often find ways of being lost by their caretakers, then found by those more impressionable. Many wizards began their careers by finding one of these books.

Sunday, August 14, 2016

USA

There are many parallels between the USA and the USSR. The United States were forced to abandon the west coast as the Rocky Mountains turned into one of the world's largest red zones. The federal government will not give up on reunification, but their control is spotty west of the Mississippi, and nonexistent west of the Rockies, with California now all but independent.

Much of the Midwest is also approaching red zone status. A new dust bowl, firestorms, and a seven year cycle of locust swarms all compete to destroy vital farmland. Well-to-do settlements in these regions are built underground, protecting them from these many disasters. Most of these are typical bunker complexes, but the most distinctive are the silo towns, built in decommissioned nuclear silos.

Most major cities contain white zones in the form of domes or arcologies, the most well known of which are the Manhattan Enclosure, the National Mall, the Chicago Towers, and the Orland Stilts. Aside from the Rockies, the largest red zones are the Louisiana bayou, the Florida everglades, and many sections of the Appalachian mountains.

America refuses to be defensive. No established politician will publicly give up on reunification. The less able they are to guarantee internal security, the more aggressively they advocate it.

Monday, August 8, 2016

Sin Eater

When I was young, my sister went missing. There was a terrible blizzard, yet she went out of her hutch and into the storm. I was the sin eater, so the people told me I must spend my life well if I died finding her. I followed her trail and found her when the storm cleared, on her knees, staring up at the aurora with tears in her eyes.

Soon, she gave birth. The people told me to erase the crime of the aurora by eating the sky-child. This was their mistake. I had been fed on the weaknesses of the people, but the sky-child was strong. After I have eaten the rest of the people, I will go out and find greater strengths to devour.