james_davis_nicoll | Not even half-jelled whalefall idea

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TTFRPG setting where from time to time the corpses of vast, incomprehensible beings float down to the surface. These and the irreplaceable resources they contain form the basis of thriving communities... until they're used up. At that point, the communities better hope for another godfall within migration distance because there is no way to sustain the communities as they are accustomed on the mundane resources of the land around them.

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From:

metahacker

Hmm, could be cool. Feels very Max Gladstone to me.

From:

armiphlage

Maybe civilization hibernates in periods of scarcity, somewhat like "A Deepness In The Sky", with a few caretakers tending to their sleeping relatives while peering upwards waiting for riches to fall.

From:

ba_munronoe

Also makes me think of deep sea thermal vent communities, which flourish and eventually die out as the crustal currents shift, with often extensive stretches of inhospitable sea floor between them.

Edited Date: 2024-04-12 01:49 am (UTC)

From:

jessie_c

Maybe they'll start thinking of hunting the next one...

From:

matgb

Have you been reading the science reports about whalefall again?

From:

james_davis_nicoll

Someone mentioned it in passing.

From:

dragoness_e

If those corpses were nickel-iron meteors, this might describe Sudbury.

From:

roseembolism

I am seriously imagining something along the lines of Kill Six Billion Demons for this, at least as far visuals.

From:

scott_sanford

Every moderately prudent civilization would send out long range scouts in hopes of finding a newer, fresher Godfall before the current one is exhausted. (Reality demonstrates how few societies are prudent about things more than a few years in the future, but still.) It's an obvious job for player characters to go out as far as possible and poke their noses into everything.

"If there's something exciting and adventurous out there, definitely poke it with a stick and see what happens! After that, at least some of you should come home alive and tell us about it."

From:

andrewducker

What kind of parasites do these corpses carry? The fun kind, I hope!

From:

badger

_Distantly_ reminiscent of the graphic novel We Only Find Them When They're Dead.

From:

ffutures

Could work as a slightly less grimdark version of Worm - instead of triggering, you get powers by eating bits of a godwhale. You would need other food sources though or everyone would be a cape.

From: (Anonymous)

Cauldron capes get powers in Worm by eating bits of a space whale.

From:

rwpikul

The easy fix is that it has to be the right bits. Depending on how those bits are distributed, you could get various patterns of empowerment and ability of the powers that be to control who gets it.

From: (Anonymous)

I believe in the MCU's Guardians of the Galaxy series there is a community living in, and scavenging, the corpse of an Eternal. I think it's called Knowhere.

-Awesome Aud