warehouses

Differences

This shows you the differences between two versions of the page.

Link to this comparison view

warehouses [2021/07/21 19:38]
gm_sophia created 		warehouses [2021/07/28 23:23] (current)
gm_sophia
Line 27: Line 27:
 In the infinite reaches of the Warehouses, strange ecologies and cultures have developed and emerged. Some are friendly to travellers, some hostile, some inexplicable, but very few of them are meant to be here. In the infinite reaches of the Warehouses, strange ecologies and cultures have developed and emerged. Some are friendly to travellers, some hostile, some inexplicable, but very few of them are meant to be here.
  
-  * The __Coo-coos__ are a secretive group of bandits, partisans, and highwaymen who roam the aisles, demanding tolls and conducting low-intensity warfare against store security. Clad head-to-toe in armour scavenged and repurposed from the detritus of the store, they remain a mystery to customers and employees alike, something rendered still more confusing by the fact that their demands include ‘light conversation’ and ‘small talk’. +  * The **Coo-coos** are a secretive group of bandits, partisans, and highwaymen who roam the aisles, demanding tolls and conducting low-intensity warfare against store security. Clad head-to-toe in armour scavenged and repurposed from the detritus of the store, they remain a mystery to customers and employees alike, something rendered still more confusing by the fact that their demands include ‘light conversation’ and ‘small talk’. 
-  * The __‘kin (short for 'Potemkin AI')__ are the quasi-feral remnants of an attempt to automate Emporium’s workforce. If object-headed Implements make excellent workers, why not make the whole worker out of the object? Hardy, non-sapient, and dedicated, they found some initial success, but were quickly abandoned as their lack of initiative and habit of misinterpreting instructions made them more trouble than they were worth. Still, they keep their numbers up by building new __‘kin__ from goods filched from the shelves, and often gather round visitors to the Warehouses, waiting for instructions. +  * The **‘kin (short for 'Potemkin AI')** are a population of non-sapient store automata made from scrap, damaged merchandise, and other detritus found around the Store. The quasi-feral remnants of an attempt to automate Emporium’s workforce, they were abandoned for being more bother than they were worth. Still, they keep their numbers up by building new **‘kin** from goods filched from the shelves, and gather round visitors to the Warehouses, waiting for instructions. 
-  * __Cryptids__ is a catch-all term for the monsters, mutant flora and fauna, and less-identifiable entities that lurk in the Store and its Warehouses. Some are recognisably Glories, Chimerae, or Implements gone rogue, changed by their time here; others, like the False Friend or the Were-House, seem to be emergent beings evolved, uplifted, or created from Emporium’s own stock (life finds a way, after all). Many Cryptids nest or lair in the Warehouses, but there’s a sizable population that make the Store proper their homes, as well. +  * **Cryptids** is a catch-all term for the monsters, mutant flora and fauna, and less-identifiable things that lurk in the Store and its Warehouses. Some are recognisably Glories, Chimerae, or Implements gone rogue, changed by their time here; others, like the False Friend or the Were-House, seem to be emergent beings evolved, uplifted, or created from Emporium’s own stock (life finds a way, after all).  
-  * __The Drilling__ is a mystery. You hear it sometimes - never twice in the same place, coming from a direction you can’t quite put your finger on - but no one in Emporium’s hierarchy seems to know who authorised major excavation work in the depths of the Warehouse. The Drilling doesn’t seem to care, though. Someone is blasting, and tunnelling, and hammering, out there. Old hands say it’s getting louder.+  * **The Drilling** is a mystery. You hear it sometimes - never twice in the same place, coming from a direction you can’t quite put your finger on - but no one in Emporium’s hierarchy seems to know who authorised major excavation work in the depths of the Warehouse. The Drilling doesn’t seem to care, though. Someone is blasting, and tunnelling, and hammering, out there. Old hands say it’s getting louder.
  
 ===== The Deep Stockrooms ===== ===== The Deep Stockrooms =====
Line 36: Line 36:
 Entities spending long enough in the Warehouses quickly realise that, while ‘distance’ is an elastic concept in there, it is possible to go ‘further in’. The Deep Stockrooms, as these are sometimes referred to, house strange conceptual goods, abstract principles, and tightly coiled spools of time. Few venture down here - visitors sometimes come back changed, or don’t come back at all - but rumours abound of treasures and secret wisdom to be found, and there are always the brave and foolhardy willing to risk it all in pursuit of their dreams. Entities spending long enough in the Warehouses quickly realise that, while ‘distance’ is an elastic concept in there, it is possible to go ‘further in’. The Deep Stockrooms, as these are sometimes referred to, house strange conceptual goods, abstract principles, and tightly coiled spools of time. Few venture down here - visitors sometimes come back changed, or don’t come back at all - but rumours abound of treasures and secret wisdom to be found, and there are always the brave and foolhardy willing to risk it all in pursuit of their dreams.
  
-===== Notable NPCs ===== 
- 
-  * __Eska__ is an elderly Glory who, in its words, is looking for the End of the World. It came here a long time ago, but, in the aeons of its presence, has yet to muster up the courage to take what it’s looking for and head back - for to do so would be, well, the end of the world. Wallowing in quiet grief and terror, Eska’s haunted the store, looking for a way out of its predicament. Of late, it has wondered that it might find its grail at the the end of the world - that is to say, the furthest point of the infinite warehouse. It eagerly pursues any scraps of knowledge about what might be the edges of Emporium … but surely that’s impossible, given its infinite size. Right? 
-  * __Amanda Marker__ is an Implement - her head an abstract mane of torn catalogues and ticker-tape - tasked with managing supply, and keeping Emporium’s stock managed. This is, as she will cheerfully admit, utterly impossible - the long echoing aisles and sub-warehouses have a mind of their own, that resists any attempts to comprehend it - but she takes to her task with gusto. Leading hand-picked teams of Emporium staff, 'kin, and even a few customers, Amanda leads raids into the warehouses to locate and retrieve particularly hard-to-obtain items. She seldom gets exactly what she was heading out for, but moves in with such vim and vigour that people seldom have the heart or spine to tell her. 
-  * __Kerral__ is an ambassador and diplomat from the Coo-coos, who occasionally visits the Warehouse Staging Area to parlay with Emporium staff and customers under an uneasy flag of truce. They’re shrouded in mystery - literally, as noone has ever seen their face under the enormous and magnificent hat they wear - but they often linger after their work is done, quizzing customers and employees alike with barrages of personal and seemingly inconsequential questions. 
  
  • warehouses.1626896286.txt.gz
  • Last modified: 2021/07/21 19:38
  • by gm_sophia