#Drawlloween #Inktober 23 - Gore

The Darkhive is a savage and dangerous place, especially when one wanders away from the larger settlements or off the main trade routes. Gore is a common site, and a tactic used by many uncivilised groups across the hive as a signalling method.

It is rumoured that many castes of Shellbrood feed off strong emotions, and the darker ones such as fear and anger are easier to incite than lighter ones such as love or pride. The theory continues by saying that the Shellbrood deliberately leave the bones and other remains of their victims on the outskirts of their warrens to invoke these emotions in people who might come too close. This works as both a warding tactic to keep away those who are frail of heart, and as a feeding mechanisms for the warriors who might defend the hive. Those who attack are rarely unmoved by the sight of viscera and entrails, and those who continue to approach the Shellbrood warren have typically either steeled against their fear, or gain strength from their righteous outrage. Either way, they feed the Shellbrood with psychic emotional energy.

Shellbrood aren't the only group who use gore in this manner. Bandit groups sometimes hide in hive cells surrounded by others filled with bone and viscera, Some do this to make nearby towns believe that a Shellbrood warren is nearby (and thus scare off any lesser law enforcement officials who might come looking for them). Other bandit groups are actually hidden blood cults, possibly focused around a vampire, or some other dangerous creature that has become caught in the Darkhive, in these cases the bone and viscera may simply be the left-over remains from regular rituals, thrown away in nearby cells to quickly dispose of them.

The next most common reason for finding gore in a hive cell might simply be the fact that this cell (or an adjacent one) is the home to some kind of predatory creature. The remains might simply be what is leftover once the creature finished its meal.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Guide to Geomorphs (Part 7)

Image
A working computer and scanner...that means it is time to get back to work on the geomorph sequence. A lot of the discussion in this set of tutorials has been focused around square geomorphs. They're the easiest for most people to wrap their heads around.  But my preferred form of geomorph is based around the hexagon, these tend to produce more organic and interesting shapes. This is true for natural environments, but it's no less true for urban environments. The example set of geomorphs above as a simple two-phase system. One edge type is plain, the other edge type has a road piercing the centre. There could be dozens of combinations and permutations for each of the two phases around the hexagonal edges, but a quick look at the variety of buildings and road shapes shows that there could literally be hundreds of possible options when drawing these map fragments. But you certainly don't need to create hundreds of designs for the system to be effective. Usin
Read more

A Guide to Geomorphs (Part 1)

Image
After numerous requests to get back to map tutorials, it's time to start our new series. This time focusing on the concept of geomorphs, modular map fragments that can be mixed and matched. We'll start with a couple of theoretical tutorials before sinking into a few more practical posts. I'm predicting a dozen or so posts in this sequence, but let's see how long it lasts.
Read more