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--- monsterology [2018/09/16 20:43]
gm_tom created
+++ monsterology [2018/09/30 09:46] (current)
gm_tom
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 > //“Welcome to the Academy. How can I help you today?”//
->
+> - Archivist Quill, Ecology specialist.
-> Archivist Quill, Ecology specialist.
 Monsters. They're a basic fact of life for anyone living in or around Bastion. So, what exactly do we know about them?
@@ Line 11: / Line 10: @@
 Here you'll find some of the basics you might learn on an Academy course.
-Over the years, Monsterologists have created an extensive taxonomy of monsters - multiple, even. Monsters have been listed and classified by colour, by shape, by size - this is the most useful one, as it determines [[championships|Championship division eligibility]] - and by a host of other things.
+Over the years, Monsterologists have created an extensive taxonomy of Monsters - multiple taxonomies, even. Monsters have been listed and classified by colour, by shape, by size - this is the most useful one, as it determines [[championships|Championship division eligibility]] - and by a host of other things.
 People have tried classifying them by whether they seem more like mammals, lizards, fish, birds, rocks, or plants, too, but every time someone thinks they've got a definitive system, something shows up that doesn't quite fit it.
@@ Line 19: / Line 18: @@
 ====What can a Monster do?====
 Pretty much anything. Don't ever get complacent around one, just in case it [[monster_strengths_and_weaknesses#evolving|does something unexpected]].
+Monsters react to the world around them in a variety of ways -- too varied to bother cataloguing. The one thing that we know for a fact affects the majority of Monsters that it has been tested on, biological or technological, is Xenon. Xenon is a fast-acting anaesthetic used by the Network to pacify surviving Monsters at the end of a fight. Its miraculous ability to knock out even the most tenacious Monster makes it quite literally priceless -- it is impossible for Xenon to be bought, sold or won through legal channels, and the consequences for Xenon theft are dire.((The Network has made no comment on the significant overlap between people accused of Xenon theft and people appearing in the Arena as first-time Gladiators the following Season.))
+Xenon does have the slight downside of only being effective for around 30 seconds at a time, so people are encouraged to move quickly when extracting sleeping Monsters from the Arena. And since Monsters are never simple, some just [[monster_strengths_and_weaknesses#anaesthetic_intolerant|don't respond very well to the stuff]].
 ====What does a Monster look like?====
-Pretty much anything. A lot of the best-known ones are big scary stompy things with spikes on, but something small and fluffy, like a rat but cuter? That could be a monster too. Or a glowing cloud, or a ball of spikes.
+{{ ::scorpion.jpg?400|}}
+Pretty much anything. A lot of the best-known ones are big scary stompy things with spikes on, but something small and fluffy, like a rat but cuter? That could be a Monster too. Or a glowing cloud, or a ball of spikes.
+One thing is pretty much for certain, Monsters can usually be classified into either "technological" or "biological", though often biological is seen as a catch-all for anything that's simply "not technological".  If it's not made of metal and wires then chances are it's a bio-Monster. And if it doesn't seem to object //too// much to being interfaced with an assortment of [[archaeotechnology|Archaeotech]], it's probably a tech-Monster.
-One thing is pretty much for certain, Monsters can usually be classified into either "Technological" or "Biological", though often Biological is seen as a catch-all for anything that's simple "Not Technological".  If it's not made of metal and wires than chances are it's a Bio-Monster.
 ====So, what ARE Monsters?====
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 Obviously, not //everything// is a Monster. I'm not a Monster. You're not a Monster (probably). A dog is definitely not a Monster, under [[fights#popular_additions_and_amendments|Amendment 9901]]. Unless it's a Monster that looks a lot like a dog...
-There's one surefire way to tell if something's a Monster or not.
+There's one surefire way to tell if something's a Monster or not. Kill it.
-Kill it.
-You kill a Monster, it pretty much disappears. Sometimes it'll leave an empty carapace, or shed horns, or something like that, but the meat of it? Poof. No-one's ever found a way to keep a whole Monster corpse around for long enough to study, and believe me, people have tried.
+You kill a Monster, a lot of it just disappears. Sometimes it'll leave an empty carapace, or shed horns, or leave sludgy remains that are an absolute //pain// to clean, but the internal structures? Poof. No-one's ever found a way to keep a whole Monster corpse around for long enough to study, and believe me, people have tried.
-And before you get any ideas, cutting them open while they're //alive// doesn't work too well, either. First off, that's a good way to get yourself mauled. Secondly, it also just doesn't work, much as the Monster Healers would like to have something other than trial, error, and intuition to go on.
+(The one good thing about biological Monsters going all sludgy after they die is that it becomes a lot easier to separate the vaguely fleshy bits from the pointy, inedible bits. Yes, [[skills#creativity|people cook Monsters]]. Some of them even taste okay!)
-These things just defy classification.
+And before you get any ideas, cutting them open while they're //alive// doesn't work too well, either. First off, that's a good way to get yourself mauled. Secondly, as much as the Monster healers would like to have something other than trial, error, and intuition to go on, Monsters are just too unique for even the broadest anatomical guide to be formed.
-But that's what makes them so exciting!
+These things just defy classification... but that's what makes them so exciting!
-Most of the Monsters we know are, ultimately, of more or less similar power levels - if it's huge, maybe it compensates for that by being about as smart as a box of rocks (or, literally being a box of rocks). Even that's not a hard-and-fast rule, though. There are rumours of legendary Monsters, in the far reaches of [[the_wasteland|the Wasteland]], that are more powerful than any of the Monsters we know.
+The majority of the Monsters that have passed through the Arena have been, ultimately, of more or less similar power levels -- if it's huge, maybe it compensates for that by being about as smart as a box of rocks (or, literally being a box of rocks). Even that's not a hard-and-fast rule, though. Every so often, the Arena will be introduced to a Monster that seems to play by a completely different set of rules, usually captured from the far reaches of [[the_wasteland|the Wasteland]] where being exceptionally tough is required for survival. Even the most analytical, statistics-obsessed [[fans|Fans]] are at a loss when it comes to these legendary Monsters -- which, of course, makes them incredibly popular.
 =====Staying Safe from Monsters=====

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