tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10601519559250351892024-02-28T18:41:58.025-05:00SeedwareA blog of fantasy, scifi, and horror.Steven Wallacehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16279453884845188769noreply@blogger.comBlogger420125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1060151955925035189.post-82161750747046837812022-06-16T14:19:00.001-04:002022-06-16T14:19:26.642-04:00Greater Homunculus, MalformedA greater malformed homunculus is a tortured creature, controlled by an overpowering conviction that they are incomplete. They wander the world, seeking new body parts to add to themselves.<br />
<br />
<b>What it wants: </b>New body parts. They will take anything new, cutting it from its former owner as best they can (with whatever claws, pincers, or fangs they have already acquired) and attaching it to themselves. Attachment is simple, as their blood has a mysterious way of melding flesh. The homunculus needs only to slice itself open and jam the new part into the wound, and the blood will rapidly clot and bind. When the wound heals, the new organ will be perfectly integrated into the homunculus.<br />
<br />
<b>What it needs: </b>Food. Greater homunculi have prodigious appetites that only grow stronger as they add to themselves. Their mismatched bodies have strange nutritional needs, needs that can change seemingly at random as their metabolisms shift.<br />
<br />
<b>Morale: </b>Cautious. They will only fight if they believe they can win, and will not hesitate to flee if they begin to lose. They do not feel pain, but sense damage and seek to avoid it.<br />
<br />
<b>What happens if you eat it: </b>Greater malformed homunculi are made entirely out of flesh, and so are as edible as any animal. What animal any given part was originally part of can be impossible to determine, however, making for a challenge for chefs, a delight for the culinarily adventurous, and a toxic surprise for the unlucky. <br />
<br />
<b>What can be crafted out of it:</b> Greater homunculi blood is the basis of many powerful medicines. Note that in its raw form it is highly dangerous, able to fuse flesh to flesh even in small amounts. Many foolhardy adventuring parties have had to be surgically separated after being inadvertently conjoined by blood.Steven Wallacehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16279453884845188769noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1060151955925035189.post-28442589700110381672022-06-09T12:36:00.001-04:002022-06-09T12:36:18.741-04:00Chisel Poem<p> Noah awoke in the dark, no lights being required for a ship whose occupants were all supposed to be in suspension. He lay there for an unmeasured length of time, until he was sure that no one else would awaken, that it was only him, that there had been a mistake, and that he was now the sole resident of a light-hugging sarcophagus filled with those sleeping so deeply they were legally dead.<br /><br />After the sobbing, the praying, and the screaming, he sought only to escape. He drowned himself in fiction of every medium, the more colorful the better, for decades. Until finally he realized he was closer to the end of his life than the beginning, and considered he could still leave some sort of legacy. He found a power tool leftover from the ship's construction behind a bulkhead, and began to engrave his thoughts into the surface of the ship. Every floor, ceiling, and wall became his parchment as he wrote a single massive poem encompassing his life, his thoughts, and the dream that had been denied him.<br /><br />The other passengers awoke to find their ship transformed, and they took his poem with them onto the new world.</p>Steven Wallacehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16279453884845188769noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1060151955925035189.post-72789104010357908002021-07-05T21:37:00.005-04:002021-07-05T21:37:27.998-04:00People of the Solar System<p>In Sol it is whorls of nuclear energy that became people. They are called angels, for their perfect society long ago solved all problems of morality. They do not interact with the rest of the system, but occasionally exile the imperfect, sending them burning through the ether to land on some planet or asteroid or moon and become djinn.<br /><br />On Mercury it is rocks that became people. They are slow, methodical beings who spend their time in contemplation, for they do not die and require nothing to live. Their powers of introspection and self-control are second-to-none but convincing them to accept you as a student will require incredible patience.<br /><br />On Venus it is plants that became people. Stately and always flowering, they prize the colors of their leaves and petals. Their movements are slow, deliberate, and carefully practiced so that they are always in an elegant pose. Their understanding of beauty and grace is perfect, but they will not allow you in their society if you will ugly it.<br /><br />On Mars it is lizards that became people. They spend 4/5 of their lives asleep, and the remainder in frantic action, performing maintenance on the automated machines that run their society. Martian machines are valuable trade goods and trade ships carrying them will be welcomed throughout the system.<br /><br />On Ceres it is fish that became people. They evolved under the ice, in total darkness, but they and their cousin animals are bioluminescent. They build aquariums out of asteroids and travel the system in glass spheres. They do not like to show themselves, but display alluring lightshows, for which they are nicknamed sirens.<br /><br />Around Saturn it is birds that became people. They fly between Saturn’s many moons on mirror wings, snatching up shards of ice and bringing shiny rocks to their nests. Their culture is centered on vendettas; each bird can recite a list of who has wronged them and how.<br /><br />Around Jupiter it is insects that became people. They fly between Jupiter’s many moons on transparent wings, devouring each other and anything that enters Jovian orbit. Their society is without morality, as they are unable to feel any sort of pain. <br /><br />On Uranus it is coral reefs that became people. Their bodies sprawl across the shallow zones, feeding on radioactive plankton and thinking vast, slow thoughts. It is assumed that their philosophies are filled with unique insights, but their language has never been translated.<br /><br />On Neptune it is the ocean that became a person. The water ammonia mix of its seas carve channels in the ice, inscribing perfect memories and flowing in patterns of perfect thought. Neptune wants nothing more than to bring itself closer to the sun and awaken the other planets.<br /></p>Steven Wallacehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16279453884845188769noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1060151955925035189.post-92227723031297608732021-06-27T08:35:00.001-04:002021-06-27T08:35:26.079-04:00Hollow MenHollow men are all skin and bones. They have no eyes, only empty holes in their skull to match their mouths, noses, and ears. Their skin has become a hard shell. 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<![endif]--></p>Steven Wallacehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16279453884845188769noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1060151955925035189.post-6608038709279479232021-06-17T07:46:00.003-04:002021-06-17T07:46:40.206-04:00The Queen<p>A colony of of ants lived on the edge of town, just where the overgrown yard of Ms. Jones gave way to the woodland that went up the mountain. The queen of the colony was, above all else, bored. Ant queens, you see, are not actually in charge of their colonies, but only lie in its depths and lay eggs all day, being fed and cleaned by her handmaidens. The queen had been told by one of her handmaidens about Ms. Jones, who the handmaiden had heard of from one of the colony's soldiers, who had heard of her from one of the workers who often left the nest looking for food. Apparently, Ms. Jones did everything for herself.<br /><br />The queen was tired of having everything done for her, so she decided to become Ms. Jones. But even to leave the colony, she would need the help of the colony.<br /><br />"You cannot go,"said the handmaidens. "If you leave we will have no eggs to take care of."<br /><br />"Let me leave," said the queen. "If I lay no more eggs you will have no more work and will be able to do as you please. You must carry me to the house."<br /><br />The handmaidens agreed that being able to do whatever they wanted would be better, and so they picked her up and carried her to the entrance of the colony, where they were stopped by soldiers.<br /><br />"You cannot go," said the soldiers. "If you go, what we will have nothing to guard."<br /><br />"Let me leave," said the queen. "If I lay no more eggs you will have nothing to guard and will be able to do as you please. You must escort me to the house."<br /><br />The soldiers agreed that being able to do what they wanted would be better, and so they surrounded her on sides to protect her from the wildlife of the yard. Soon they met a worker, carrying a seed back to the colony.<br /><br />After the situation was explained to the worker, he was overjoyed. "If you go, I'll be able to eat all the food I gather. Let me clear a path for you!"</p><p>The worker began clearing a path to the house, and more workers joined as they came to investigate the noise. Soon the entire colony had formed a procession, following the Queen as she was carried through the gap at the bottom of Ms. Jones' door, through brightly painted rooms and towards the bedroom where Ms. Jones was sleeping.<br /></p><p></p><p>The ants all cheered as the queen crawled into Ms. Jones' ear, their cheers turning to screams as Ms. Jones began screaming and writhing around on the floor, crushing ants beneath her. Then Ms. Jones grew calm, stood up, and shouted "I did it! I can do as I please now!" Even more ants were crushed as she jumped for joy.</p>Steven Wallacehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16279453884845188769noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1060151955925035189.post-15037751660837762612020-09-09T20:30:00.006-04:002020-09-09T20:30:53.992-04:00The Book of Flies<p>The book is black, an inch thick. On its cover is a gold-leaf design of seven circles, arranged in a hexagon. Inside each circle is the image of a fly. There is no title.<br /><br />Every page inside is blank. If, however, you write a name into the book, you will find that one of the flies is missing from the cover. Open it again, and you'll see a table of contents, with the name you wrote as the first entry.<br /><br />Turn to the corresponding page and you'll see that name as the chapter title. Wait, and eventually you will see a description being written, of the activities of the named person, written as if from the perspective of a small, flying observer.<br /><br />These descriptions are thorough, containing descriptions of all activities, transcriptions of conversations, and copies of anything the target reads.<br /><br />Seven names can be written in the book.<br /></p>Steven Wallacehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16279453884845188769noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1060151955925035189.post-76374201814078103112020-07-23T07:49:00.001-04:002020-07-23T07:49:13.515-04:00The HorsesThe people of the five-tongued river breed horses descended from the celestial horses of Snowcloud mountain. The horses can walk on the water of the river, but no other river, lake, or sea will hold them. The people live along the northern stretch of the river, from its source at the base of the mountain, and as far south as Icefall ravine, where cold steppe gives way to cold desert.<br /><br />The river is a road to its people, a natural causeway wider than any built by mortals. The people ride their horses along it, and hitch the horses to large barges that can carry far more cargo than a cart. <br /><br />Their settlements sit at each fork and curve, long towns and villages whose buildings sit at the water's edge, hiding from the wind in the small river valleys. The nearby lands are used to raise hardy crops, tough enough to survive the cold and the dry, but tough enough to break teeth too. The low hills further out are the pastures for the horses, as well as herds of pale pigs that grow wool and unusually round goats that produce massive volumes of milk.<br /><br />One of the princes of the coasts sent an envoy hoping to buy some of these water-walking horses. He had hoped to use them against his enemies, reasoning that ships do not expect to have to defend against cavalry. He was most displeased to learn that the horses can only walk on some water, and petitioned his god for celestial horses of his own.<br />Steven Wallacehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16279453884845188769noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1060151955925035189.post-48997918368149752032020-04-18T21:06:00.004-04:002021-04-29T16:47:53.482-04:00Ollivander's“Ah yes,” came a voice from the back of the shop, sneaking to Harry's ears so softly it took him a moment to realize someone was talking to him. “Yes, yes. I thought I’d be seeing you soon, Mr. Potter.” The voice was followed by the soundless movement of long, thin fingers around the end of one of the stacks. The fingers were attached to a pair of arms, long and thin, with no hands in between.<br />
<br />
“You have your mother’s eyes,” said the voice, although its own eyes were still nowhere to be seen. “It seems only yesterday she was in here herself, buying her first wand. Rose gold and an index finger. A wand for a rare talent.”<br />
<br />
The fingers began to trace Harry’s body, fingertips trailing up his legs, counting his joints so gently he couldn’t be sure if he was actually being touched.<br />
<br />
“Your father on the other hand, had a wand of steel and a ring finger. A wand for a warrior.”<br />
<br />
The fingers moved up to his torso, sketching it in the air.<br />
<br />
"...Fingers?" asked Harry, afraid to break the silence but more afraid to let it linger.<br />
<br />
"The fingers of Merlin."<br />
<br />
Harry looked at the boxes stuffed onto the shelves, stacked on the counter, piled on the floor, each one a wand. Each one a finger.<br />
<br />
"He... must have had a lot of fingers."<br />
<br />
"He did. He does. His body still grows them, on occasion. He was not alive in the same way that we are alive, and did not die in the same way that we will die.”<br />
<br />
The fingers reached his head. They traced along his jawline, and found the scar, the jagged line of tooth-marks that cut across his face on their way round his skull, as if a giant had tried to bite his head in half.<br />
<br />
“And that’s where…”<br />
<br />
The fingers began to trace the scar, tapping lightly on each tooth mark.<br />
<br />
“I wonder…”<br />
<br />
The fingers suddenly withdrew, pulled by the arms back among the shelves. There was tapping and rustling and murmuring that might have come from multiple voices and then the fingers returned, clutching a slender box.<br />
<br />
“Bronze and a little finger. Strong yet pliable. A wand for a survivor.”<br />
<br />
The fingers presented the box. Harry took it carefully, avoiding touching them. Opening it he found a rod of black bronze, as thick as his thumb and as long as his forearm. The handle was engraved with a geometric pattern which had been burnished brown. He took the handle in his hand, and it was like…<br />
<br />
…like a pins and needles feeling in his soul. A limb he had forgotten was missing had been reattached. He was greater than whole. This would be every tool he would ever need.<br />
<br />
Harry remembered that he was standing in the shop, holding the wand. He had lost track of time and the long fingers were once again investigating his scar.<br />
<br />
“Curious… curious…” drifted the voice from the back of the shop.<br />
<br />
“What’s curious?” said Harry.<br />
<br />
“All wands eventually return to me, Mr. Potter. A successful alchemist will find that their own fingers become enough, and they no longer need to borrow one of Merlin’s. The wands come and go from this shop, generation by generation. And this wand… this wand was last used by the man who gave you that scar.”<br />
<br />
Silence hung amongst the dust in the air.<br />
<br />
“Seven galleons,” said the voice. Harry put the coins on the desk and left. Hagrid was sitting on a bench outside. He grew concerned when he saw Harry’s face.<br />
<br />
"Don't let Ollivander worry you. He's one of the oldest of us, most are still more human than that."Steven Wallacehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16279453884845188769noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1060151955925035189.post-10428237237375394052020-03-25T22:14:00.000-04:002020-05-29T19:42:05.168-04:00Le RoiThe swamp swallows whole. 10 years gone, a wooden house will be overgrown. 20 years, it begins to sink into the mud. 30, and it is a framework of petrified wood. Even stone sinks.<br />
<br />
Le Roi is a city of stone. It was designed after Paris, with wide avenues, magnificent monuments, and dense blocks of apartments.<br />
<br />
The city is now 100 years old, and is 2 stories below sea level. Having sunk for a century, no building stands straight. The avenues have become canals, populated by gondoliers and alligators. Balconies have become entrances. Parks have become marketplaces, stalls built on rafts tied to the tops of drowned trees. In summer it is like a great simmering sauce pan, baking the stone. In storms the city seems already drowned and howling for breath.<br />
<br />
The youth are fond of jumping into the water from the rooftops, or diving into the flooded ground floors, hoping to find left behind treasures. The city council has attempted to stop these activities do to injuries and parasites, but with little success. Among adults fishing is a common pastime, often done out of windows. Most are the businesses of smuggling guns and rum.<br />
<br />
The manors built along the shore are hardest hit by the shores and were quickly abandoned by the rich and seized by the poor. Isolated families live in attics, surviving on what they can fish from the sea.Steven Wallacehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16279453884845188769noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1060151955925035189.post-88063072994871333742020-02-29T22:17:00.000-05:002020-03-19T23:30:40.926-04:00The Kingdom of FirefliesThe king of the Kingdom of Fireflies is a sickly man. He has never seen the sun and it has harmed his health more than any of his subjects. It is all he can do to reach his throne room, and he must survey his kingdom from his castle windows.<br />
<br />
The kingdom is small, built into the sides of the cavern containing the underground lake Bluelight. Everyone lives in carved out spaces in the walls, lit by glowing blue-green lichen. Some are alcoves with patches of dried lichen too sleep on. Some are as fine as a palace on the surface, or so their owners boast, despite no one having seen the surface in living memory.<br />
<br />
Open spaces, side passages and islands in the lake, are reserved for agriculture. The people of the Kingdom of Fireflies grow grubs, planting them upright in the gravel with only their shiny black heads showing. The grubs are fed all manner of organic waste, slowly but surely growing fat. A farmer must judge, without digging up the grub, how close it is to pupating and maturing into an firefly. The closer to pupation, the fatter the grub, but the fireflies are inedible. A portion of each crop is allowed to mature, the fireflies swarming above the fields pulsing frantic mating signals, and under this light the people hold their harvest festivals, gorging themselves on grubs until the fireflies fall, then splitting them open and collecting their eggs for the next planting. The king looks for clusters of wandering lights, so that he can know his people will be fed.<br />
<br />
Mermen live in lake Bluelight. They are not like the mermaids of the surface the King has read about. Cave mermen are pale, with semi-translucent skin that has a shiny, slimy look. They no longer have eyes, although they still have eye sockets. Instead of legs they have tails like eels, long and sinewy. They trade silverfish scales and steelcrab shells for tools, which they struggle tomake themselves. The king sees them sometimes, from his bedroom window, silhoutted by glowing algae.<br />
<br />
The king's castle is carved out of a rocky promentory jutting out above the lake. It was created to closly imitate the childhood home of his grandfather, who grew up in a castle on the surface. It contains many artifacts of the surface, although few of them have escaped rust or rot. Visitors marvel at the workings of metal their ancestors had wrought. They themselves only know how to craft leather, chitin, stone, and bone.<br />
<br />
Someday they will reclaim the surface from the evil that banished them, but the king knows he will not live to see that day.Steven Wallacehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16279453884845188769noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1060151955925035189.post-26285452515930330362019-11-13T21:47:00.000-05:002019-11-14T21:23:53.047-05:00Dread HiveBee queens may be sentient. This is demonstrated by the use of necromancy by some honeybee queens. Some maintain that the necromancy exhibited
by some bee queens is merely a natural magical ability, and does not
necessarily prove sentience. But most naturalists believe that the queens are sentient, and like all sentient life, can investigate things men (and bees) were not meant to know.<br />
<br />
In a dread hive, all but the queen are undead. The queen no longer lays eggs, but dances rituals to raise the exoskeletons of dead insects. Her tireless workers haul in spell reagents and exoskeletons, and arrange themselves in complex patterns to
amplify, always fueling the continuous expansion of the hive rituals.<br />
<br />
Dread hives differ from living ones in one obvious way:
they are too large. The workers collect natural spell reagents, which they purify into dread honey, a powerful spell reagent. The interior of the hive is laid out with
geometric precision, in accordance with geomantic and numerological
principles. <br />
<br />
<b>Where it comes from: </b>Like all sentient beings, honeybee queens occasionally delve into forbbiden knowledge.<br />
<br />
<b>What it wants and needs: </b>Dead insects. Their exoskeletons will be raised and join to the colony. The queen wears parts of insects as her armor, and can control them. Her
colony incorporates the risen corpses of other insects; while most are
still worker bees, everything from wasps to centipedes can be expected.<br />
<br />
<b>What it will fight for: </b>They will fight other insects to kill them and incorporate their bodies. Otherwise, they fight only defensively. <br />
<br />
<b>What happens if you eat it:</b> Dread honey is made from purified natural reagents. Eating it can awaken magical potential, cause prophetic dreams, or make for a bizarre death.<br />
<br />
<b>What can be crafted out it: </b>Dread honey can be substituted for many other spell reagents, making it a very valuable substance. Candles made from dread wax reveal the presence of ghosts.<br />
<b></b>Steven Wallacehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16279453884845188769noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1060151955925035189.post-35952466205253192552019-10-29T16:45:00.000-04:002019-10-29T16:45:14.852-04:00Armor with a life of its ownA necromancer hired a bodyguard, a giant of a man who boasted of his skill in combat. The bodyguard died at the first sign of trouble, an arrow to the throat. Chiding himself for trusting the foolish living, the necromancer turned to the steadfast undead. With one spell, the bodyguard's body was skeletonized. With another, the bones rearranged themselves, becoming a suit of armor with an extra pair of bony arms extending from the shoulders. The bodyguard's arms are far more effective in death than they were in life, holding shields in the necromancer's defense, leaving his hands free for spell casting.<br />
<br />
An elf wanted to protect his woodland home. He begged a dryad for strength, so she cut open his chest and planted an acorn beside his heart. The acorn took root and began to grow into a might oak, reinforcing him like a tree strengthens a stone wall. He patrols the borders of the woods, walking more slowly each season. One day he will join the trees he has protected. <br />
<br />
The ogre was going to eat the gnome, but the gnome kept explaining how he should be cooked until the ogre found himself with the gnome on his shoulder, being directed to find herbs in the forest. He grew used to the situation quickly, and before long the gnome was dictating all aspects of his life from a seat on his shoulder.<br />
<br />
Even dragons grow old. When its scales began crack and fall of, one dragon began to replace them with the shields of those that had tried to slay it. The colors of heraldry are a riot across his body. When he next went ravaging across the countryside the survivors told only of an army that ate towns.Steven Wallacehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16279453884845188769noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1060151955925035189.post-19098954287089972922019-09-04T21:42:00.002-04:002019-09-04T21:42:25.456-04:00Hummingbees<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<![endif]-->To the unfamiliar, hummingbees are not easily distinguished from hummingbirds, their close relatives. The big giveaways are their bright plumage in bright violet and deep black, and their longer, thinner beaks, which get longer and sharper as they grow older. <br /><br />Hummingbees live in colonies of a few dozen, building large nests out of thin sticks and mud in the crooks of trees. All their eggs and young are raised collectively. The birds are thus willing to sacrifice themselves in the defense of their nest, knowing that their young will still be cared for. They attack intruders one at a time, oldest bird to youngest. They attack by darting quickly and powerfully at the enemy, piercing soft tissue with their needle-like beaks, aiming most often for the eyes. The wounds inflicted are small but deep and can often kill through blood loss or infection. Most animals have learned to avoid hummingbee nests. <br /><br /><b>Where it comes from:</b> They are born from small blue eggs and raised by all the adults of the colony. <br /><br /><b>What it wants and needs:</b> Hummingbees eat both for themselves and for the young in their nests. They eat massive amounts of nectar, supplemented by small insects. <br /><br /><b>What it will fight for:</b> Hummingbees will always fight in defense of their nests. <br /><br /><b>What happens if you eat it:</b> Delicious! <br /><br /><b>What can be crafted out it:</b> Their beaks can be used as needles, awls, or shanks.Steven Wallacehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16279453884845188769noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1060151955925035189.post-35584520113856375582019-08-05T21:13:00.001-04:002019-08-05T21:13:07.497-04:00NootropicsThe stuff isn't addictive, per se, but I promise you'll never go back. Because my stuff works. Genius in a pill, take one a day.<br />
<br />
Suddenly the world is simple. Everything is obvious. You'll have so many ideas.<br />
<br />
Don't go off it. You'll remember being smart, remember enough, that, when you quit, you'll feel pitiful, slow, damaged. The thoughts will come slow and arrive half-formed. You'll know you can be better. You'll <i>know</i> it, but its just not coming together. Not without my help.<br />
<br />
Or maybe you've been taking it for years. You've built a career. An identity. You won't be able to keep up without it. You'll be drowning in your own life.Your coworkers will wonder what happened, why you can't get anything right anymore. Your dreams of inventions, discoveries, or artistic masterpieces? Impossible now. Unless you take another dose.<br />
<br />
First time's free.Steven Wallacehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16279453884845188769noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1060151955925035189.post-22600759674706627642019-07-30T21:25:00.001-04:002019-07-30T21:25:36.951-04:00Zombie Troll
Zombification is a disease, passed through saliva like rabies. Trolls are
large humanoid monsters known for their ability to rapidly heal. When a troll
contracts the zombie disease, a fierce stalemate results, the disease
continually spreading and the troll continually recovering.<br />
<br />
<b>Where it comes from: </b>It is not easy for a troll to catch the zombie
virus, as they are both strong and fast. Usually it happens when a zombie
stumbles upon a sleeping troll.<br />
<br />
<b>What it wants and needs: </b>To eat. Half the monster is a zombie, and
half is a troll, and both are hungry. The troll pursues prey, the zombie bites,
and so both creatures are fed. The hunger never leaves, however, and it will
eat soil if nothing else is available.<br />
<br />
<b>What it will fight for: </b>Food. A zombie troll will not stop trying to
eat, no matter what. It does not feel pain or fear. It can be distracted,
however, by a more convenient meal.<b> </b><br />
<br />
<b>What happens if you eat it: </b>Your death will be complicated and
agonizing. The zombie tissue will cause food poisoning, abdominal necrosis, and
possibly zombification. The troll tissue will attempt to reform itself inside
you, absorbing your flesh to create more of its own. You may be turned into a
new zombie troll, as the zombification of your flesh is matched by the growth
of the troll, or you may be slowly torn apart, as your flesh is killed by
zombie toxins and your body burst open by a troll teratoma. Or both.<br />
<br />
<b>What can be crafted out it:</b> If sterilized, dried, and powdered,
zombiefied troll flesh is a powerful addition to healing potions. The hide of a
zombie troll is very tough, albeit uneven, and requires a great deal of work to
be turned into leather.<br />
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<![endif]-->Steven Wallacehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16279453884845188769noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1060151955925035189.post-71296838945185890312019-07-19T21:27:00.003-04:002019-07-19T21:27:55.725-04:00AnteatersThe eusocial arthropoids of Sirius are not ants, and the mammaloids that prey on them are not anteaters, but that it what they were called by the rushed survey team, and that is what stuck.<br />
<br />
Neither species truly resembles ants or anteaters. The "ants" are usually about a centimeter long and half as wide, with translucent, slightly shiny exoskeletons. They spend as much time as possible in their underground colonies, hiding from the sun. The "anteaters" have six limbs, but only walk on four. Their front two limbs are asymmetric: one is strong and has large claws to break open colonies, and one is long and dexterous for snatching up ants.<br />
<br />
It turns out the anteaters are sentient, something the survey team missed on their first visit. In their defense, the anteaters have no technology. Their social structure, however, is sophisticated, and their politics fast-paced and lethal. Everything revolves around the care and breeding of the ants, which they have domesticated. Leadership is equated with ant farming; their autocrats are expected to "farm" their society like they do their ants.<br />
<br />
They have no tools, but their digging claws and organization are enough for them to construct city-scale burrow complexes. They do not use fire, but they practice eugenics. They are breeding themselves to excel even more at their social games, getting smarter and more cunning, yet specialized and incomprehensible. What would happen if this primitive but intelligent species were suddenly introduced to technology? The sector governor has decided to leave that question unanswered.Steven Wallacehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16279453884845188769noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1060151955925035189.post-62859364859445775442019-07-13T22:37:00.001-04:002019-07-30T21:25:54.702-04:00The Swarm the CountessThe countess was a clever girl, <br />
she wrote a grammarie of bees,<br />
stole family jewels from an old earl,<br />
a tuneless hum is on the breeze.<br />
<br />
She grows her children in the wall,<br />
they stare and glare and grow so tall,<br />
her husband's useless as her thrall,<br />
he sells strange honey at a stall,<br />
his knight's their vows they don't recall,<br />
they fight with splinters one and all.<br />
<br />
Now she her thoughts are many thoughts,<br />
her people work for her all day,<br />
they choose who dies by drawing lots,<br />
but from their labor they can't stray.Steven Wallacehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16279453884845188769noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1060151955925035189.post-11114799766032821872019-07-06T21:20:00.002-04:002019-07-07T09:35:47.041-04:00StunsnakeA genetically engineered self-defense tool, stunsnakes are a combination of electric eels and vipers. They have a viper's fangs made of a copper alloy. When they bite, their fangs create a circuit with their target's flesh, working like a stungun. A stungun that will automatically attack movement, penetrate light armor with their metal fangs, and wrap themselves around a target so that it can't escape. Stunsnakes are thicker and shorter than ordinary snakes, with shiny black skin.<br />
<br />
<b><b>Where it comes from: </b></b>Stunsnakes are the flagship product of biotech company <i>Practibeasts</i>. The company ultimately went out of business, but not before they produced a run of ten thousand stunsnakes, which have found their way all over the world.<br />
<br />
<b>What it wants: </b>Stunsnakes are engineered to be as easy to care for as possible. They spend most of their time in a light doze, from which they can wake at a moment's notice. <br />
<br />
<b>What it needs: </b>Stunsnakes are obligate electrovores. They need electricity not only to shock their targets, but to live. Providing them with a sufficient charge is easy: their tails plug into any standard AC outlet.<br />
<br />
<b>What it will fight for:</b> Stunsnakes will attack any movement. Familiarizing them with your smell is necessary to prevent them from attacking you.<br />
<br />
<b>What happens if you eat it: </b>Stunsnake skin contains layers of rubber, and is inedible. Stunsnake flesh, if it carries a charge, will shock your mouth as you chew. If uncharged, it tastes like bland fish.<br />
<br />
<b>What can be crafted out of it: </b>The electrocytes of a Stunsnake, if removed correctly, can be used by any bio-fabricator with a fuzzy logic module to make batteries. The skin is a great electrical insulator, and can be made into protective gloves or shoes.Steven Wallacehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16279453884845188769noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1060151955925035189.post-78294031116350942712019-07-05T21:18:00.001-04:002019-07-05T21:18:08.554-04:00PsysquitoThese hand-sized mosquitoes use their steel-hard proboscis to penetrate skulls and suck out cerebrospinal fluid. The droning of their wings induces a hypnotic trance, allowing them to feed in peace. As both adults and gestating larvae they can sense sentient minds within 200 meters. The feeding is rarely lethal on its own, but the hole made in the scalp, skull, and meninges can easily develop a lethal infection.<br />
<br />
<b><b>Where it comes from: </b></b>Psysquitoes grow in stagnant water, much like mundane mosquitoes. Unlike mundane mosquitoes, they can gestate for decades, only hatching when they sense sentient minds.<b> </b>Once they have fed for the first time they will lay their eggs, and then seek out more fluid to feed their young.<b> </b><br />
<br />
<b>What it wants: </b>Psysquitoes do not need cerebrospinal fluid for themselves, but feed it to their larvae. The larvae drink as much as they can before going into gestation, and that is all they will ever eat. Adults can usually last for one to two months before dying of starvation, depending on their level of activity.<br />
<br />
<b>What it needs:</b> larvae need ccerebrospinal fluid to grow, and will take in as much as they are given. As adults they do not eat at all, and live to serve their larvae.<br />
<br />
<b>What it will fight for: </b>A<b> </b>Psysquito will only attempt a fight if starving. Otherwise, they always attack from ambush. If their drone does not work and their target fights back, they will attempt to flee, but will usually attempt another ambush.<b> </b><br />
<br />
<b>What happens if you eat it: </b>Psysquito exoskeletons incorporate significant amounts of metal, and are thus inedible. The metal also allow their exoskeletons to be used like kettles; you can cook a psysquito into a thick nutritious soup simply by throwing it on a fire.<br />
<br />
<b>What can be crafted out of it:</b> Drunk raw, partially digested cerebrospinalfluid is a minor stimulant. It is also used as the base for many potions that affect the brain.Steven Wallacehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16279453884845188769noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1060151955925035189.post-49614672782455801572019-06-08T21:20:00.000-04:002019-06-08T21:23:59.998-04:00The Town of Blue in the DesertThis town was built around a prosperous market on a busy trade route, but the sand has swallowed the roads and most of the town too. The houses are half filled with drifts of orange sand, preserving carved wood furniture and brightly colored frescoes. Bright blue lizards sun themselves on cracked rooftops during the day, then fill houses with warm sand to sleep in at night.<br />
<br />
The lizards are very intelligent, but reluctant to speak to visitors. They can be tempted into conversation with gifts of rare meats and liqueurs, and when drunk will wax philosophical about the cycles of life and history. They keep many secrets, buried in the sand, and cannot be persuaded to part with them, but their eyesight is poor and their hearing worse. If you can present them from smelling you, records of ancient empires, strange and beautiful artwork, and books with no other copies might be dug free.Steven Wallacehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16279453884845188769noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1060151955925035189.post-17473286213854025102019-06-07T21:39:00.005-04:002021-01-27T19:06:13.766-05:00Psionic LichA being with incredible willpower, perfect focus, and endless patience, can make their way through the ordeals necessary to become a psionic lich. The only way to kill one is by destroying its mummified corpse, without which its mind will dissipate in the astral.<br />
<br />
<b>What it wants: </b>Inscrutable. Many liches act in ways that seem random: observing unimportant doings, making seemingly inconsequential adjustments to the world, or simply wandering, gazing implacably at whatever they encounter. Others pursue obsessive tasks, building labyrinths, shifting rivers, experimenting with animals. A few have understandable goals, such as protecting nations or eradicating certain monsters.<br />
<br />
<b>What it needs: </b>Nothing.<br />
<br />
<b>Where it comes from: </b>Potential psychics must practice meditation. If they have the talent, diligence can uncover it. Once their talent emerges, they must continue their meditation to refine their power. To become a lich, they must gain perfect self-knowledge. When they believe they have have succeeded, they must prepare their body. They will drink nothing but a special tea, containing toxins that polymerize the body, shutting down a preserving organs one by one. When this process is complete they will be paralyzed, and must be sealed in clay and buried in an unmarked hole. If their self-knowledge is truly perfect, their psychic power will allow them to survive the death of their body. They will be trapped in their mummy, but their mind will persist. After centuries of constant meditation, they will learn to create an avatar of pure willpower, with which they can interact with the world<b>.</b><br />
<br />
<b>What it will fight for: </b>The avatar of a psionic lich will engage in combat only if it doing so is interesting to it. Otherwise, they will leave. The exception is if its body is threatened, in which case the lich will not retreat and continually escalate the fight, tearing apart the area with psionic force.<br />
<br />
<b>What happens if you eat it: </b>The flesh was toxic when buried and its time beneath the earth has not improved it. Also, this would be cannibalism.<br />
<br />
<b>What can be crafted out of it: </b>Mummy leather blocks psychic influence, making it useful for shields, armor, and wallpaper. The dirt surrounding the mummy is often suffused with psionic energy and is prized by psions as a stimulant.<br />
<b></b>Steven Wallacehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16279453884845188769noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1060151955925035189.post-19149151367115886732019-06-03T19:44:00.002-04:002019-06-03T19:44:52.621-04:00MillisnakeMillisnakes are snakes with hundreds of tiny, gecko-like legs along their bodies, as well as oversized, viper-like vampire fangs. Their legs allow them to cling to any surface. They hang from branches or ceilings, then drop on to the backs of passing animals, biting down and sucking as much blood as they can before the animal manages to dislodge it. Excess iron is suffused into their scales, giving them a rust-red color.<br />
<br />
<b>Wants: </b>When one has eaten enough, it will attempt to find a mate. Millisnakes hide their eggs by attaching them to the undersides of objects, and both parents will protect them until they hatch. Once hatched, the male usually leaves, while the female stays with her young as long as possible, feeding them regurgitated blood.<br />
<br />
<b><b>Needs: </b></b>Blood. Millisnakes are hemovores, gaining almost all of their necessary nutrition from blood, occasionally supplemented with small insects.<br />
<br />
<b>Morale: </b>Millisnakes are ambush predators. If their ambush fails, they will attempt to flee. If they mange to cling to you and bite down, however, they will not release until injured or full.<br />
<b></b><br />
<b><b><b>What happens if you eat this monster: </b></b></b>They taste like metallic snake-meat. They are not poisonous, but eating too many of them can lead to toxic levels of iron in your blood.<br />
<br />
<b><b><b><b>What can be crafted out of this monster's body:</b> </b></b></b>Millisnake hide is an excellent material for belts. Millisnake meat, cooked in a stew, is a traditional remedy for bloodloss.Steven Wallacehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16279453884845188769noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1060151955925035189.post-20527638336148125692019-05-29T15:17:00.001-04:002019-05-29T15:17:50.231-04:00The Warrior-MonksOur monastery was on the eastern slopes of Pavonis Mons, so that it was illuminated in the morning by a soft blue sunrise, only to fall into shadow in the early evening. It was in the blue light of dawn that we practiced the traditional forms of our ancient martial art.<br />
<br />
We, the students, were all young women, pleased by our strength and eager to test it. After our exercises, we would often gather to relax and chat, discussing rumors we had heard from the lowlands. We had just heard about the fall of the Olympian Dictatorship, and the tumult that was following.<br />
<br />
"Couldn't we help?" Arbella was saying, "We may not be masters, but we know how to fight."<br />
<br />
"We could take bandits, I'm sure. Not much, but it would be better than nothing," Yen agreed.<br />
<br />
"Or beasts. I've heard several geneticists had their workshops destroyed and their wares escaped and have started breeding. We could help a lot of people by hunting them down," continued Arbella.<br />
<br />
Our teachers seemed ageless, and infinitely patient. They never raised their voices in anger, but only as a means of focusing our attention. So, when the voice of Teacher Scythe suddenly cut across our chatter, we immediately stopped talking and listened.<br />
<br />
"Do not fool yourselves. What we do is not practical. You would not survive real combat."<br />
<br />
"Surely it cannot be useless," objected Arbella, but was quickly overruled.<br />
<br />
"You have learned how to fight unarmed against other unarmed humans. That is all. Do you think you could even survive in a fight with a man in a hoplite suit? A manticore? A sentient weapon? We practice to keep tradition alive, nothing more. We are monks, not warriors."<br />
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<br />
He paused, seeing that some of us still weren't convinced.<br />
<br />
“Tomorrow you will fight a boar. It will be given no means of escape, and that will make it desperate. It will attack you however it can. It will not care about pain. It will not fall for feints. Few of your techniques are of use against a four-legged animal. I do not expect you to win. I expect you to learn."Steven Wallacehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16279453884845188769noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1060151955925035189.post-19102697430431494112019-05-24T22:41:00.001-04:002019-05-24T22:43:08.398-04:00Hamun-ranSouth of the mountains streches a great salt desert, white dunes as far as the eye can see and a wind that stings the eyes. It is not hot, but rain never falls, and the air is drier than anywhere else in the world. There are no rivers, but there are oases, where water bubbles to the surface. The greatest of these springs is surrounded by the palace of the god-king Hamun, which is surrounded by the city of Hamun-ran, "Hamun's Household," built entirely out of salt.<br />
<br />
Hamun has absolute control over the spring. Not a sip is drunk in the city without his blessing. It is his terrace-tower gardens that supply all food. It is his masked and voiceless guard who keep the peace, it is they who prevent any from leaving the city.<br />
<br />
Hamun's wife, the Queen of Birds, keeps watch over the people through the eyes of vultures. She alone lives in a building not made of salt, but a gilded stone tower whose shine becomes painful to look at when the sun has risen. No one has seen the Queen of Birds, and it is rumored that there have been many Queens, discarded and replaced at Hamun's whim.<br />
<br />Steven Wallacehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16279453884845188769noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1060151955925035189.post-72889865965074113022019-05-07T21:47:00.001-04:002019-05-07T21:47:28.406-04:00Making Use of an Empty ThingAt the north side of the steppe, where the great grey mountains that birth the ten rivers rise out of the grass, there is an ancient, isolated nation where they practice an ancient and terrible tradition called <i>Making Use of an Empty Thing</i>. They do not believe, or do not care, about the warnings and proscriptions applied by all civilized nations to necromancy. They had convinced themselves that as long as necromancy was practiced on beasts, and not on people, they were not doomed. As a servant of the Saint, it was Allix's duty to save them from themselves.<br />
<br />
Allix had seen a military parade where the necromancers displayed their masterworks. Steppe crabs, killed with poison and then animated, riveted with steel plates and painted yellow-gold for the parade. They carried howdahs of black lacquered wood with tall banners and seats for two crab-knights, one armed with a pike, one with a long-barreled musket, and both in black chitin lamellar. <br />
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Allix had fled the parade as fast as he could without attracting attention, and returned to the boarding house where he was staying, hurrying to his room and latching the door behind him. He felt for the burlap bundle beneath his bed and pulled it out, unwrapping it to check the contents. The larvae had almost finished off the pig carcass they had been living in, but it was no matter. Soon they would mature, and then the parasitic wasps they grew into would seek dead flesh, eating and growing and multiplying until no dead thing could last and every undead beast were devoured from the inside.Steven Wallacehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16279453884845188769noreply@blogger.com0