This is the final planned entry in a series of Wandering Titans, which are part weather, part giant monster.
Previous parts with more titans: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3
The Plague of Flame
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| AI Generated via Bing. "Roman Tile Mosaic of a Rat kaiju towering above a burning city." |
On the horizon (visible in neighboring hexes)
: Smoke rising from burning forests or villages.
: Flickering apparition of a colossal Rat, wreathed in smoke.
Behavior / Desires
: Hungry. Devours/burns fields, food stores, forests, and wooden buildings.
- Pyromaniac Rat Cultists. Skin pockmarked and burnt. Constructs of flame or smoke fill their wounds, replace missing limbs, and grant a sort of manic undeath fueled by arson.
- The smoldering vermin sometimes contain valuable exotic chemical substances within their bodies. More common is that they contain nasty exotic diseases.
- Exotic fires and unusual forms of heat, which can be bottled by a skilled arcane technician. Floo, Bale, St. Elmo's, an unnamed species of flame that burns songs as fuel...
- Regular fire, too, if that's what you're into.
The Frigid Scapegoat
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| AI Generated via Bing. "Roman Tile Mosaic of a giant sheep or goat creature towering above a frozen city. People pray to it." |
: Giant Ram with horns like icebergs. Flurries of snow drift out between matted locks of tangled wool.
Behavior / Desires
: It seems to take a fascination in random things, tilting its head and fixing its eyes in place for hours at a time. Sometimes it takes the things, and not just a fascination. It lets out a massive breath, a downburst of bitter frigid air, causing collateral damage and knocking things aside, leaving only the object of the Scapegoat's interest sitting in a wind-blasted patch. This object - which is always perfectly intact whether it be a a statute, a mural, or something abstract - is then delicately picked up with teeth the size of warships and tucked deep into its fur.
- Ancient treasures tangled in its locks.
- Ancient people too.
- Also something called "slood", which no longer exists anywhere else.
- Petitioners beseech the Scapegoat to take their sins and obligations. If they attract its attention, it is often willing to oblige. It takes one of their limbs, too, frostbitten and broken off by its terrible breath.
- A caravan of frozen corpses. They corpses in question were people dying of something else, and will become so again once they leave the zone of cold. Their caretakers are trying to hitch a ride towards a specialist magical institution which can help them, but the Scapegoat is currently headed in the wrong direction.
- Lots of ice. Quite valuable in some settings.
And here are a couple bits of human-made giant goat artwork I found inspirational: "The Stilted Ram", by Michael MacRae, "Summoning a god", by Calder Moore, and "Giant Goatman and his bridge", by Esteban Hernandez
The Fluffy Floppy Megabunny
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| AI Generated via Bing. "Hyper fluffy giant bunny seen from below. Titanic rabbit towering into the sky. Tiny angry beady eyes. Ancient Painting." |
On the horizon (visible in neighboring hexes)
: The horizon and clouds in that direction look faintly blurry, as if seen through some lenses of the wrong prescription. Occasionally, a large white cloud seems to rise and then fall.
: Like an opaque cloud that leaps and bounds high into the air before slowly drifting back down.
Behavior / Desires
: Oh how it hates! It yearns in its heart to tear apart the pathetic creations of mortals. To trample their farms, and bring their empires to ruin, to lead mindless armies into pointless slaughter, and to hear their lamentations. Of course, none of that is obvious from its vast vacant expression. It just seems to bounce around harmlessly and at random.
- When the titan lands on top of you, it's said to be quite a relaxing experience, "like a fog made of hugs". It impairs visibility a bit, but doesn't impair movement and only lasts a few minutes at a time.
- Occasionally, patchs of "fluff" can get caught on brambles. These can be magically spun into a something like silk which is bouyant in air.
- Although the softening aura of the titan impedes the function of some devices, it enables forms of otherwise impossible crafting. A train of artisans follow the Megabunny in mobile workshops, creating ornate and durable artifacts out of materials which are difficult to work anywhere else.
- This train has grown over the years into a Wandering Festival which is part carnival and part trade show. In the big top, trapeze artists perform stunts without a net, jugglers juggle swords by the blade, and big dudes punch each other in the head while laughing.
- Because blades and bludgeons are blunted, the most effective means of dealing with ne'er-do-wells (besides hiring a wizard) is via grappling. A tradition of wrestling has developed in the Wandering Festival, and the greatest wrestlers from all over the world come to demonstrate their prowess. Elaborate costumes are not required to enter the tournaments, but are appreciated by the crowds.
- Lots of happy people.
The Wretched Ape
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| "monkey" |
On the horizon (visible in neighboring hexes)
: Clouds of dust. Faint tremors and distant echoes of loud noises.
: Big monkey. (Not actually an ape.)
Behavior / Desires
: It's a big monkey that knocks things over and shakes its fist at clouds. When it jumps around, it causes earthquakes.
- Things which have been knocked over by a big monkey.
Bonus points to anyone who identifies the pattern loosely followed across these twelve titans.
ReplyDeleteTraditional Chinese zodiac?
DeleteYep, that's the main thing! There's a bit more on top of that, though, more obscure.
DeleteThe only other thing I can think about is unified field theory but I don't think it fits that much.
Delete