Does Wormwood recycle resin?

[Braden Campbell]

I'm a Wormwood hero who dies and is buried by my friends. I am laid to rest, as guys in all fantasy settings apparently are, with all of my stuff.

Years later, a PC party opens up my crypt. What do they find?

Wormwood will recycle my body, and my angelhair clothes. But will it recycle my cast and molded resin armour and sword? Is the grave empty, or should someone find themselves a nice new suit of plate and chain?

[asajosh]

I'd say yes, the resin items should be broken down and re-absorbed by the Planet. I don't have my copy of Wormwood in front of me at the moment, but doesn't the Planet absrob the corpses of the dead as well? If your friends came back years later and "dug" you up, they'd find nothing I should think.

[Aramanthus]

I'd have to agree with Asajosh on that one too.

[Carl Gleba]

I can see it going both ways actually. I'd have to say the majority of the time the items are probably recycled. On the other hand say you're some legendary hero who died and maybe the "living wormwood" wants a new champion. Perhaps the planet can choose not to recycle the armor and hold it for the next great champion? Sure would make for an interesting campaign.

Just a thought. Really good question Braden.

Carl

[Braden Campbell]

I'm thinking that resin items which have been magically enchanted afterwards are not reabsorbed. So a suit of full plate armour would be, but a suit of weightless full plate would not.

Could make grave robbing a full time profession on Wormwood...

[Spinachcat]

I assumed that Wormwood recycles everything...but if the planet is suddenly recycling selectively, then MANY possibilities open up for scavenging.

The question becomes how intelligent is Wormwood. Can it recognize a magical suit of armor or fully charged Naruni plasma rifle and know that it should be delivered to the hands of those heroes trying to save the planet?

Does the planet just know that these items are inedible and simply moves them to caves full of indigestible junk...waiting like treasure troves for anyone to find? Kinda like when you open up a shark and find all sorts of weird stuff in the belly.

Hmmm....

[Aramanthus]

Hmmm.. Some more interesting point of view. Cool! I'll have to check my Wormwood book over too for more details.

[Spinachcat]

A trash collector / grave robber campaign could be VERY cool and very different. Less of a power kill campaign and more of a sneak about and investigate.

Since the planet simply reforms over grave sites, how would you be able to find a specific grave or even any grave except by accident?

[Braden Campbell]

You can ask Wormwood to leave a raised marker with the Create Burial Place prayer. I'm also envisioning that powerful people (kings, high priests, Sainted heroes, etc) would have a sarcophagus, placed in some kind of elaborate tomb.

Eventually, Wormwood would figure that it was OK to break down the body (100 years, maybe?) and anything else that was in there.

[Aramanthus]

That is pretty reasonable for a time limit.

[Rallan]

Wormwood resin is an MDC substance, and one of the few bits of the living planet you can actually take with you to other dimensions (since unlike parasites and symbiotes, it's not actually a living thing). All in all, it looks like the stuff isn't likely to just break down and vamoose all by itself.

So it really all depends on whether you want to say that the Living Planet has a means of reclaiming resin items that have been sitting around unused and away from human settlements for a long time.

[Greyaxe]

I'm a Wormwood hero who dies and is buried by my friends. I am laid to rest, as guys in all fantasy settings apparently are, with all of my stuff.

Years later, a PC party opens up my crypt. What do they find?

Wormwood will recycle my body, and my angelhair clothes. But will it recycle my cast and molded resin armour and sword? Is the grave empty, or should someone find themselves a nice new suit of plate and chain?

Empty grave.

[Braden Campbell]

Empty grave.

Realistically, I agree. But the Game Master in me thinks that that would be no fun.

Our bodies don't recycle mucus... it gets rid of it. So maybe Wormwood expunges itself of resin, and has no more use for it.

[Aramanthus]

Yeah, but for the most part mucus is secretion that contains something that generally needs to be gotten rid of from the body.

[Astral Pantheon]

I believe wormwood can break down the resin. I go to the minor super power Resin (PU_page 37 to 38 ) and use that as an extended guideline. In the book, a being with the resin power can releash an enzyme that will dissolve even harden resin in one melee round.

The living world may even be able to absorb/destroy Rune Weapons as a Magic Cauldron of Destruction can (Like our bodies fighting an infection).

There is a lot of room for house rooms or at least until a second book comes out and changes things

[Rallan]

Yeah, but for the most part mucus is secretion that contains something that generally needs to be gotten rid of from the body.

Except that Wormwood resin is just called mucus because that's what it kinda resembles when it's fresh, and it's clearly being oozed out for the benefit of the living planet's inhabitants rather than as a way of expelling waste. If the Living Planet generates any waste byproducts at all, they haven't been mentioned in the book. For all we know it probably does all its waste processing internally and hangs onto all the byproducts until they can be reconstituted into something useful.

[Aramanthus]

Well that is true. Good point Rallan! But I think I'm going to stick with it being recycled by the planet.

[Astral Pantheon]

Well to start, that was a good point. However, in the table of contents: Resin Mountain ....page 34. Yep, first line called mucus and the very next line its called resin then down a little: Hammer Town cuts and digs chucks of resin. Then we travel to PU2 page 21 under eugenics. Resin Ducts (chimera):A character can exude a resin equivalent to the Resin minor power ~~What do you think its exuding...resin is a special mucus and the special mucus is the resin.


"My Brain my be fried but My Logic Cannot Be Denied!" ~Maz

[Rallan]

Well that is true. Good point Rallan! But I think I'm going to stick with it being recycled by the planet.

If I had to make a call on it (I probably never will, since it's such a trivial detail), I'd probably have to agree. Wormwood's pretty much a closed system (apart from energy, which it can get in abundance from its sun). There aren't any other plants and animals that it can eat, because the entire ecology is basically one gigantic organism. This means that it has to support itself and its humanoid guests almost entirely by its ability to recycle what's already in the system.

Which means it probably has ways of eventually reclaiming virtually anything that looks like it isn't needed by the inhabitants living on its surface. Resin items, foodstuffs, dead bodies... rocks and plastic and metal rifted in from other dimensions, everything's gonna get picked up by a parasite sooner or later and dragged away to the mysterious bowels of the planet to be chewed up and turned into nutrients.

[Aramanthus]

That does make total sense Rallan.

[Spinachcat]

This means that it has to support itself and its humanoid guests almost entirely by its ability to recycle what's already in the system.

What if (a) Wormwood is photosynthetic and (b) Wormwood is actually slowly diminishing in size through self-cannabalism over the many centuries?

If a planet were to lose 1% of its mass per century, how long until the populace actually noticed?

[glitterboy2098]

except that the planet would accumulate a lot of matter from space dust and debries that hits it. 100 tons of space dust hits our atmosphere every day, and the amounts of micrometeoriods and other such material is almost as large. not alot, but its something.

plus down in the caves of the planet you have portals and such to other worlds, so how do we know that wormwood isn't drawing sustinance and materials from other worlds. (elemental planes?)

[Spinachcat]

so how do we know that wormwood isn't drawing sustinance and materials from other worlds. (elemental planes?)

How do we know that Wormwood isn't drawing sustinance from the constant bloodshed and battle?

Maybe Wormwood isn't so nice after all. Maybe it helps the humans to keep the corpsegrinding war at its maximum for as long as possible. Keeping the demons in check means the fighting never stops.

[Astral Pantheon]

so how do we know that wormwood isn't drawing sustinance and materials from other worlds. (elemental planes?)

How do we know that Wormwood isn't drawing sustinance from the constant bloodshed and battle?

Maybe Wormwood isn't so nice after all. Maybe it helps the humans to keep the corpsegrinding war at its maximum for as long as possible. Keeping the demons in check means the fighting never stops.

I like it A twist and a revolution in that the Church would have you silenced for spreading the message. Who would believe you if your group found out (maybe the Demons) but who would help you....I love the idea

[Aramanthus]

Maybe its one of those demon planets we've heard about. Just stuck in another dimension.

[Astral Pantheon]

Maybe its one of those demon planets we've heard about. Just stuck in another dimension.

That is actually feasible. The writer hinted at if all the humans died so would the world. But what is not known is the planet feeds off the suffering and PPE releash of both sides. The world just needs the humans there something like the way God(dess)s need followers...no followers no god. No wormwood humans not enough suffering and death..so world dies. I really like this idea (might need to do a slight rewrite on wormwood history to make work or the Church has truely done an amazing job at hiding the truth... )

I wish Palladium would also come with 1-3 book series for Alternate Universes (So, many possiblities so little book space)

[Rallan]

This means that it has to support itself and its humanoid guests almost entirely by its ability to recycle what's already in the system.

What if (a) Wormwood is photosynthetic and (b) Wormwood is actually slowly diminishing in size through self-cannabalism over the many centuries?

If a planet were to lose 1% of its mass per century, how long until the populace actually noticed?

Well of course its photosynthetic. It has to get energy from somewhere, or it would've died ages ago. Like I said, Wormwood can't live like a conventional plant or animal by getting most of its nutrients from external sources: it has to recycle its own waste in a closed loop indefinitely. And the only way its gonna be able to do that is if it has an abundance of excess energy. And since it's clearly not gonna be getting that energy from its diet (the laws of thermodynamics make it pretty obvious that if you keep consuming, excreting, and reconsuming the same materials over and over you're gonna lose energy from the system with each ccle), then it has to be getting its energy from somewhere else. Which pretty much means that its either drawing energy from the sun, drawing mystic energy in some unexplained (and unmentioned and therefore presumably undetected) way, or both.

As for consuming itself, why would it diminish in size? Earth's entire ecology is consuming itself, but it doesn't decrease in mass (at least not except when external forces like natural or manmade disasters upset the applecart). The same amount of matter is always there, being endlessly cycled through the system. The only way Wormwood would lose a humungous chunk of its mass every century would be if that mass left the planet somehow.

And as for how long it would take? Not that long. Stuff would get lighter. Projectiles (bullets, catapult stones etc) would travel further. The air would get thinner. People would jump higher. Now these things wouldn't be discernable to the average layman overnight, but it wouldn't take too long for scholars, researchers, and people who frequently travel to other dimensions to notice. Oh and I'm sure Temporal Raiders would be all over that sorta thing, since 1% of a planet's mass disappearing every century would have a measurable effect on the curve of spacetime in the local area.

[Rallan]

Maybe its one of those demon planets we've heard about. Just stuck in another dimension.

That is actually feasible. The writer hinted at if all the humans died so would the world. But what is not known is the planet feeds off the suffering and PPE releash of both sides. The world just needs the humans there something like the way God(dess)s need followers...no followers no god. No wormwood humans not enough suffering and death..so world dies. I really like this idea (might need to do a slight rewrite on wormwood history to make work or the Church has truely done an amazing job at hiding the truth... )

I wish Palladium would also come with 1-3 book series for Alternate Universes (So, many possiblities so little book space)

You'd think all the wizards and priests and demons and visiting psychic demons would've noticed an entire evil planet under their feet though. Plus the existence of stuff like the Apok and the Battle Saints and other stuff that radiates supernatural goodness would be a bit hard to explain away

[Aramanthus]

Then do you think there could be angel planets to balance the universe against the Demon ones. Just a thought......

[Astral Pantheon]

Maybe its one of those demon planets we've heard about. Just stuck in another dimension.

That is actually feasible. The writer hinted at if all the humans died so would the world. But what is not known is the planet feeds off the suffering and PPE releash of both sides. The world just needs the humans there something like the way God(dess)s need followers...no followers no god. No wormwood humans not enough suffering and death..so world dies. I really like this idea (might need to do a slight rewrite on wormwood history to make work or the Church has truely done an amazing job at hiding the truth... )

I wish Palladium would also come with 1-3 book series for Alternate Universes (So, many possiblities so little book space)

You'd think all the wizards and priests and demons and visiting psychic demons would've noticed an entire evil planet under their feet though. Plus the existence of stuff like the Apok and the Battle Saints and other stuff that radiates supernatural goodness would be a bit hard to explain away

Well I said you might have a little writting to make it work. In the Demon controlled areas you couldn't tell...Evil everywhere. Elsewhere, I'll go with the easy way out; since the Psychics (psionics) are not natural to people of wormwood, thats because, there is a energy coming from the planet the stunts psi-development. Also, the energy is like a cloaking of psychic (and magical sensing). I know I took an easy way out but don't forget the planet can generate crystals/stones that can do many things including block magic spying

[Braden Campbell]

I have a very difficult time beleiveing that Wormwood has any kind of ill feeling towards its Human inhabitants. If was just some kind of hungry organism, then why would it bother to try and protect the humans by creating things like deserts, mountain ranges, and Battle Saints?

Wormwood loves and cares for the Humans (such as it is able). That is why it was created. If the people all die, then it has failed in its task... and it will suffer some kind of catastrophic error and crash.

[Aramanthus]

Maybe we need to create an "Angel" planet to balance the scales with the demon planets! As I said before.... "it's just a thought."

[Astral Pantheon]

I have a very difficult time beleiveing that Wormwood has any kind of ill feeling towards its Human inhabitants. If was just some kind of hungry organism, then why would it bother to try and protect the humans by creating things like deserts, mountain ranges, and Battle Saints?

Wormwood loves and cares for the Humans (such as it is able). That is why it was created. If the people all die, then it has failed in its task... and it will suffer some kind of catastrophic error and crash.

Well, since this are just ideas ther is no harm in them. He say Wormwood cares for the humans...well, it could be said that it only cares for them to keep itself alive or its an automatic response (a complexed computer)...there are a lot of ways one could go. Lets just hope sometime Palladium will rewrite (new edition with added info) or print a 2nd wormwood book And I personal want to know what is inside the spaceship that crushed in the Demon area ( Could it be a Mechaniod force in statis????...Page 153 The Unholy Desert).

[Aramanthus]

Good question. Some more info I'll have to look up when I get the chance. I don't remember the starship wreckage.

[Astral Pantheon]

Good question. Some more info I'll have to look up when I get the chance. I don't remember the starship wreckage.

As I wrote, Page 153 The Unholy Desert, but you will be disappointed for its a mere sentence long ...

[Spinachcat]

I wish Palladium would also come with 1-3 book series for Alternate Universes (So, many possiblities so little book space)

That is a rocking idea!!

Plus the existence of stuff like the Apok and the Battle Saints and other stuff that radiates supernatural goodness would be a bit hard to explain away

Do they radiate supernatural good? Hmm, what if the Wormwood organism was not a single intelligence, but several with different agendas?

If was just some kind of hungry organism, then why would it bother to try and protect the humans by creating things like deserts, mountain ranges, and Battle Saints?

Kinda like why we don't kill everything at the farm. We want the cows to breed and grow and live because that's how we make cheeseburgers. Our eventual goal for the cow is to become a cheeseburger, but until the time for slaughter is best for us, we take great pains to keep the cow alive and well.

In a campaign where the planet Wormwood would be an devourer of blood, the motivation to keep humans alive is the need for continued strife against the demons. It is the neverending war that provides the blood and PPE expenditures - anything to perpetuate that war would be considered good farming! If the demons win, there will be no more tasty human bits. If the humans win, there won't be a continual flow of human blood. Balance is the key to long term blood-letting.

and it will suffer some kind of catastrophic error and crash.

Hmm...that posits the idea that (a) the planet was created with a purpose to sustain human life and (b) that the planet's intelligence is some kind of logic based computer...which in itself is an interesting idea.

[Aramanthus]

Hmmm What if as I said before there were counters to the Demon planets. Something that balances the universal scales.

[Spinachcat]

Hmmm What if as I said before there were counters to the Demon planets. Something that balances the universal scales.

Could demons corrupt an Angel planet? Wouldn't an angel planet have the energy and ability to repel / destroy and demonic infestation on its surface?

[Aramanthus]

Unnless it was say weakened in some sort of way. Say by said spacecraft craash on its surface. Wouldn't they sort of balance each other. Sort of like matter and anti matter.