Friday, June 8, 2012

More Previews of C6

Alien Dinos: A herd of alien lifeforms that look like long-legged, soft shelled turtles, are grazing on the dark, spicy fruit of the tall umbrella trees that fill much of this hex. One of them has been tagged by some other survey team, and the group are wary around aliens (i.e. there is a 1 in 6 chance they will charge).

Androids: A band of the silver-faced androids from Crux 12 has set up shop here. They purport to be doing a scientific survey, but their equipment is outdated and mismatched, and they seem as though they are hiding something. In fact, they are religious cultists and worshipers of the Worm - a 22nd century computer virus that targets computer systems and artificial intelligences. They seek out computer systems and do their best to infect them.

Danglers: This hex holds one of the more unusual life forms on the planet. Strips of amino acids that look something like gossamer threads drape the Y-trees here. They are not dangerous, and when (or if) ingested in the proper sequence (this could be determined by a biologist with the proper equipment and a genius for creative thinking) put people into a waking trance that allows them to view, from a deep, biological perspective, the evolutionary history of the planet. There is always a chance, though, that the strings are poisonous to some aliens, and that they might play havoc with the DNA of others.

Tripods: The woodlands give ground to rolling plains of orange onion-grass and white feather-fronds. Amidst this natural beauty there are hundreds of alien monuments that look like tripods about 20 to 30 feet tall made of amethyst-colored glass. This glass substance is extremely durable, and actually behaves more like metal when damaged (i.e. it bends and dents, rather than shatter, but can be scratched). Each tripod has three legs (obviously) that join a ring. The interior of the ring carries a strange static charge. What this means is a mystery. (P.S. -Amethyst Tripod would be a great name for a band).

Canyon of Bones: A canyon here, with rugged walls (many hand and toe-holds and small, shallow burrows of the local petting-spiders) is filled with thousands upon thousands of bones. Most are animal in nature, but there are many humanoid bones mixed in as well, representing most of the intelligent species native to the planet. Kaiser-dogs burrow through the damp ground at the bottom of the canyon (it appears to have once been the bed of a small river) and the native bacteria seems to have given them a dim sentience of their own. Those who spend the time to dig deeper into the muck might find strange beings with large heads and small, bony bodies curved into a fetal position buried in the muck. These creatures appear to be carved from ivory, but are in fact a profoundly powerful species of psychics in suspended animation, awaiting the return of the river. Many of the locals regard them as sleeping gods, and make sacrifices to them (i.e. the bones).

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