For Urbis, I'm currently trying to detail a city (http://urbis.wikidot.com/gruengarten) which is renowned for its agricultural prowess and is generally a bit more obsessed with plants than healthy - they have even outlawed the sale and consumption of meat.
So now I'm trying to come up with some new ideas for this city, and I'd like your help. This is essentially a brainstorming session, so please write anything that comes to your mind in association with the word "plant" as long as it could be connected to an adventure or would otherwise make an interesting setting element. After that, I will see what I can fit into the setting.
"Plant" is a verb as well as a noun, and something that an agricultural society would be doing frequently, right? Are there any special planting-time festivals, rituals, or observances that visitors would be surprised by? Are there unusual calendars to track the precise planting, tending and harvesting times for a variety of crops? If visitors stop by at planting time, are they allowed to join in? Does some sort of sacrifice (fruits, incense, prayers, songs, something altogether more sinister) prepare the fields?
Quote from: Luminous Crayon"Plant" is a verb as well as a noun, and something that an agricultural society would be doing frequently, right? Are there any special planting-time festivals, rituals, or observances that visitors would be surprised by?
Good point. Kortus (http://urbis.wikidot.com/kortus) is the main deity of agriculture in the setting, and I've already established some unusual rituals (like the "God's Field" funeral rite for those who die without children). So, who can think of any unusual customs for that?
Quote from: http://urbis.wikidot.com/oberweilerOberweiler[/url], the main agricultural district within the city has a lot of fences around its fields...
QuoteDoes some sort of sacrifice (fruits, incense, prayers, songs, something altogether more sinister) prepare the fields?
Hmmm... I think you are onto something there. Any suggestions?
Green
Growth
Flowers
Nature
Wood
Vegetables
Gardening
Herbs
Seeds
Fruits
Foliage
I could easily go on..
Monstrous psionic mutant orchids infiltrate households, produce zombie slaves via fragrant mind-control spores.
Brambles sharper than steel (steelthorns? bladebriars?) are used for military fortification purposes or for home security.
Fruit nurtured with alchemical water provide mild augmentation/enhancement effects to those that consume them - or transform them into other creatures entirely.
Enormous fungous organism beneath the city actually controls city rulers.
No buildings are made of wood; tree-cutting is a criminal offense; consequently, stone-masons (dwarven?) are disproportionately rich/powerful.
Moss considered a sign of divine favor.
Major cult of plant-worshippers believes that animal/human sentience is inferior to the gloriously imbecilic purity of vegetable life; schism sect feeds human sacrifices to horrific man-eating tree.
Capital punishment involves being used as fertilizer.
City interrogators utilize pain-inducing "torture-blossoms" to extract information.
Buildings are tall and densely constructed; city is built vertically rather than horizontally to prevent the necessity for deforestation; each level contains numerous gardens.
Fires are always magical in nature (no firewood!). Pyromancers are thus very common.
Underground group believes that city authorities have it backwards: eating plants rather than meat should be illegal. Butchers' Guild strongly object, as their revenue is created entirely by the Meat Prohibition; furious clandestine wars ensue.
Dendrophilia is distressingly common and/or considered psychologically healthy.
Symbiotic plants cultivated on the backs of gigantic crustaceans, or tortoises, or some other beastie.
Magic used to speed up plant growth to ludicrous speeds.
The city's slums are totally overgrown, more a dark forest than a city. The poor live amongst the roots of trees; thugs use whittled spears and wooden shivs.
Poisonous sap a common assassination tool.
Hallucinogenic sap a common recreational drug.
Verdurous plant elementals supplement city police force, army, labour force.
Fibrous, symbiotic plant-tendrils cultured in arcane greenhouses are used as prostheses.
Flowers are ubiquitous fashion accessories.
City slang is mostly plant-based: to be "wilted" means tired, or sometimes drunk, "bark" refers to one's skin or clothes, "sap" is slang for blood or spirit, "weeds" are social undesirables, "blossoming" refers to puberty, "seeds" to infants, and "green" means lucky, fortunate, or happy/healthy.
Quote from: SteerpikeCapital punishment involves being used as fertilizer.
Brilliant. I lol'd.
Quote from: SteerpikeCity slang is mostly plant-based: to be "wilted" means tired, or sometimes drunk, "bark" refers to one's skin or clothes, "sap" is slang for blood or spirit, "weeds" are social undesirables, "blossoming" refers to puberty, "seeds" to infants, and "green" means lucky, fortunate, or happy/healthy.
Not that my opinion is the one that really matters here, but I for one think that this is totally awesome. In this line I would also like to propose the alternate possibility of "Sprouts" for infants. To me "seeds" sounds more like children in the womb than those already born.
Good point Seraphine - sprouts is far better.
Other possible plant-based slang:
Petal = comely young girl, term of endearment, "little beauty"
Deciduous = moody or fickle, as in "he was of a deciduous temperament"; less slang than a different use of an existing word
Puffball = an arrogant individual; someone full of themselves
Pollinate = a somewhat prissy euphemism for the sexual act; compare "fornicate"
Thanks for your suggestions so far! I've been preoccupied with other matters in the last few days, but I've finally gotten around to working with your ideas.
The idea of using the condemned bodies of criminals as fertilizers stuck with me, so I came up with the following:
Elendsacker (http://urbis.wikidot.com/elendsacker)
The Elendsacker is the main prison of Grüngarten, and it contains a large farm on which the inmates labor. It is infamous for its compost heaps, where the bodies of animals (exterminated urban pests like rats, farm animals caught on secret meat farms, and so forth) as well as the corpses of condemned criminals are left to rot, generating a truly vile stench persisting in both the prison itself and the surrounding areas in Grimmelfelden. Once the remains have decomposed, they are used as fertilizers on the fields, on which the inmates grow soybeans and lentil to feed the urban poor of the city. However, some of the fertilizer is sold off to certain plantation owners who swear by its unique properties (as they call it).
And here is another entry, deriving from the "pollinate" euphemism:
Pollination Row (http://urbis.wikidot.com/pollination-row)
"Pollination Row" is the popular name for the main red light district of Grüngarten, as "pollination" is a common local euphemism for sexual intercourse. This name also reflects a common local fetish, as in many brothels both prostitutes and some of their callers dress up as bees. Also popular are half-elven prostitutes, as well as human prostitutes magically altered (either via temporary illusions or more powerful permanent spells) to look like elves, sidhe, or even dryads.
I would think that if plants are so sacred, you would not sully them with nasty criminals. Shouldn't it be an honorific to give yourself over to them even after death?
M.
Quote from: Cancerous CheI would think that if plants are so sacred, you would not sully them with nasty criminals. Shouldn't it be an honorific to give yourself over to them even after death?
I'd say this is seen as giving criminals one last shot at "redemption". Also note that the food grown to these fields is given to the
poor (and did anyone notice the pun?) - the
good stuff is grown on other fields.