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Post by hengest on Mar 17, 2022 18:24:17 GMT -5
Bigger than the mini-hooks here, smaller than project-size, with no tonal limits. One post per idea. |
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Post by hengest on Mar 17, 2022 18:40:46 GMT -5
The Clown Queen
Her outfits are a mix of regality and silliness. She never utters a word in public. Visitors might take her for a simple jester, tolerated or favored by an unseen monarch who allows her to sit on the throne. Neither pretty not unattractive, her features are largely obscured anyway beneath her caked-on makeup. Those who observe her face up close may note that her eyes never "flick" from object to object in her field of vision. They always move smoothly, as if following an object along its path.
She juggles quite well and often does so when speaking with emissaries.
The closest she comes to speaking is an apparently unskilled "lip-synch" to the voice of an only passable singer, who is perfectly visible.
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Post by hengest on Mar 17, 2022 18:48:48 GMT -5
Wild Chest
A rectangular wooden chest, a kind of medieval foot locker. It moves about sometimes on its own. It may bite. Its bite grip is quite strong.
The only advantage the owner has that a would-be thief does not is that the owner knows the ways of the chest and how to cow it into accepting or giving up a desired object. There is no key or magic word to know. The chest remains wild.
It is nourished by interactions. When used (accessed) regularly, it may produce a child-chest once a year. This little chest could become tame if socialized early.
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Post by hengest on Mar 17, 2022 19:04:29 GMT -5
Pickle Powder
Smells like nothing at all. It is not salt.
Sprinkled on nonliving organic matter, it has an immediate pickling effect without a salting effect. Food becomes very unlikely to rot. Any food can be 'pickled' in this way. Flavor is reduced to a non-salty 'pickle powder' flavor.
Sprinkled on a living being, it does not cause undeath, but a kind of extended life with unusual hardiness. The usual scrapes and illnesses to which everyone is prone no longer apply to this being. Only rather severe injuries will have any lasting effect (loss of limb, decapitation).
Cognitive effects include a kind of slow-moving single-mindedness. Not obsession, but dedication with reduced initiative. This feature increases as the 'pickle' ages.
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Post by hengest on Mar 17, 2022 19:54:14 GMT -5
Wonderwicker
A technological marvel from out of time, understood by no one in this world.
The bin is a little hard to look at. At a glance it seems to be a wicker bin for rubbish. Carefuly inspection exhausts the viewer's vision. It does not really fit into the world.
Rubbish tossed into it will sit there for a time, then disappear. Some time later, the bin will "cough up" a functioning item, perhaps quite novel in its function, of the same general type as the input. Varied input dropped in at the same time may be fused together in some strange way. The functions of these technological / magical products of the bin are sometimes remarkable, sometimes just everyday, sometimes hard to understand.
The limits of its power, if there are any, are unknown.
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Post by hengest on Mar 17, 2022 22:09:01 GMT -5
Cunning King
The king and his disloyal minister are the same person who has a minor shapeshifting ability. The ability is most effective between the top of the head and the pharynx. These changes can be sustained indefinitely. Changes to bone length and visible muscle mass are much harder to maintain.
The ability is known to one member of the king's inner circle, who aids in maintaining the deception and sometimes plays the 'minister' for distant appearances with the king. There may be a long history of association here.
The king is aware of the ability but does have some cognitive / personality strain built up over the years.
The source of the ability is a tech-magic item absorbed by the king around puberty.
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Post by hengest on Apr 1, 2022 23:34:53 GMT -5
(Follow-up on a phrase from a private brainstorming post.)
The Dry Ones
No blood to bleed, no sweat, very little saliva. When there is heat to shed (after eating cooked meals, after strenuous activity), they voluntarily cast it off through what may look like minor fire magic. Extended strenuous activity might result in combustion. Unknown whether this is a race or a limited set of folk changed by some magic or curse.
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Post by hengest on Apr 9, 2022 22:42:21 GMT -5
Travel Documents
What kind of travel documents or other "passports" could there be in a setting?
-folded document / letter (with wax seal)
-magical mark to be checked under certain conditions (glows in the dark)
-magical mark to be demonstrated by bearer (rubbing hands together causes sound of waterfall or something else associated with country issuing "passport")
-item that "expires" (signet ring like the queen's, evaporates or turns to dust when expires)
-nonmagical specialty foodstuff that is "valid" as long as it can be eaten ("The Lord's own goat's milk! Have a taste!")
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Post by hengest on Oct 1, 2022 9:12:42 GMT -5
Wow, it turns out I am insane.  Okay, let's see... Soup CityThe watchman at the gate is too busy eating his piping hot soup (it smells good) to bother asking you questions. He just waves you on and you enter Soup City, where it turns out that everyone only ever eats soup. Soup is not the only topic of conversation, but it does come up a lot. Nearly everyone mentions soup to you if you talk for more than a minute or two. There are more soup establishments than anything else. In the middle of the city is a giant crater filled with gently bubbling soup, or soups. The liquid has various appearances that move through each other but do not appear to mix. The smallest "blob" is roughly the area of two open hands together. You see some people coming and dipping a bowl to get one type or two types together. A bell rings and everyone looks up. "Stew Day tomorrow!" a clear voice calls. |
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Post by hengest on Oct 1, 2022 9:18:15 GMT -5
Flip-me-not
Like a lily pad that grows on land, the flip-me-not appears harmless at first, but if you look at the underside of one of the leaves, it shows you a terrible image of yourself, something you really would have preferred not to see. Several large rings of flip-me-nots surround the ruins of the ancient fortress. You can see from a distance that those near the walls are really quite large.
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Post by hengest on Oct 1, 2022 9:26:52 GMT -5
Gold-Dust Woman (inspired by Fleetwood Mac, or at least the title of a song)
She looks young but rather windblown and weathered. Her clothing is strangely layered, more than one blouse and apparently many skirts. Her outermost blouse was once white, and her outermost skirt is a strange patchwork pattern. From head to toe, she and her garments are covered thickly in gold dust, save her hands, which look wet.
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Post by hengest on Oct 1, 2022 9:30:04 GMT -5
Prong Sniper
An old man, surely a soldier from some forgotten war. He hides in a tree stand well above the ground, but sometimes you can see him peeking down. He aims a kind of pronged weapon at passers-by, but never throws it at them.
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Post by hengest on Oct 1, 2022 10:24:05 GMT -5
Wild ChestA rectangular wooden chest, a kind of medieval foot locker. It moves about sometimes on its own. It may bite. Its bite grip is quite strong. The only advantage the owner has that a would-be thief does not is that the owner knows the ways of the chest and how to cow it into accepting or giving up a desired object. There is no key or magic word to know. The chest remains wild. It is nourished by interactions. When used (accessed) regularly, it may produce a child-chest once a year. This little chest could become tame if socialized early. Okay, I think this is maybe the most nuts of all my posts. |
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Post by hengest on Oct 14, 2022 9:51:06 GMT -5
Insect Harvest
Strange locusts have come and eaten the crops, but lost their wings while doing so and now cannot easily leave the area. As you enter the village, you find the locals collecting great basketfuls of locusts for food. Some eat them raw and some try drying and grinding them into flour. Perhaps this is the beginning of a dietary shift, or a one-off event triggered by some unknown cause.
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Post by hengest on Oct 14, 2022 9:53:56 GMT -5
Savage Stealth
Paradoxically, this berserker power allows one to move and attack silently while in a battle frenzy. Opponents have referred to fighting a "ghost" that made them feel powerless.
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Post by hengest on Feb 6, 2024 21:29:03 GMT -5
Frigid Mouse
The creature is always covered in frost, its eyelids always blue with cold. It darts about, always trying to keep warm. When you sleep you will hear its teeth chattering as it skittles by.
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