#whalefall on the net!

[hnting]

Old-timey netrunners whose interface plugs have melted and fused into their skulls, who were discovered long after their deaths by scavengers or some other sort of opportunistic feeder at the bottom of the barrel. Their corpses still moving and shambling about like emaciated dogs on short chains, not strong enough to pull themselves free. Writhing and shuffling on the floor as if in pain, begging to be put out of their misery, you would think the dead were truly re-animated— and many of those who found them like this could have sworn that was the case, giving birth to all sorts of legends and superstitions. When in fact, it's all smoke and mirrors. Nothing more than stray electrical impulses still firing aimlessly and bodyweight suits highjacked by some nasty piece of programming. Still, there will always be those who are convinced the consciousness of netrunners killed this way still roams the net, haunting old and forgotten pockets of cyberspace.

[soylent-crocodile]

Faller (Monster)

(ISOPOD by Anastasia Berseneva)

CR9 TN Medium Monstrous Humanoid HD12

(As the name may suggest, these were built from the ground up as an terrestrial whalefall specialists, with the various giant beasties of pathfinder substituting for whales. I actually used fallers as a placeholder name but got attached to it, so here they are! They're up there in CR so that a caravan of five of them puts up a genuine threat for someone who might fight an Adult Red Dragon.

Also I don't love this art for fallers, but it was the most buggy of the bipedal isopods i could find.)

Fallers are wandering nomads who specialize in feeding on the carcasses of great beasts, such as giants, dragons, and large dinosaurs. They live in family groups of up to a dozen individuals and have no leader, employing an anarchic decision making process that may see these groups splitting and reforming as different individuals take different paths. A faller caravan’s lifestyle consists of divining the location to various monster falls and then traveling, possibly hundreds of miles, to such a banquet. Upon reaching such a corpse, they will claim it, defend it, and slowly harvest and feed off it until such a time as it grows thin and they must move on to fresher falls. It’s noteworthy that, due to their powerful innate divination magic, a group of fallers may set camp for a death before it occurs. Generally, these divinations hold true, and fallers find a warm corpse at their destination, but twists of fate are not unheard of, and fallers are generally prepared for battle if need be. Fallers are frequently seen ushering giant flies, which serve as a combination of pet and mount, enabling them to engage flying enemies and scout high-up or hard to reach places. These flys are surprisingly docile and loyal in a faller’s hands. 

Fallers are known to come into conflict with adventuring parties over the spoils of the latter’s conflicts; adventurers regularly stake claim to the loot and parts of a particularly dangerous foe, but fallers consider themselves owed the rewards of such a struggle, and practically speaking, are often unable to relocate to a new corpse before the threat of starvation looms. Unfortunately for many adventurers, fallers are trained combatants, and a particularly undiplomatic group of them may spell doom for an adventuring party soon after a proud triumph. Finally, fallers have been known to come into conflict with the cultures dragons and similar great beings surround themselves with; claiming the corpse of a lone dinosaur is one thing, but disassembling and eating a corpse may be less welcome when it’s the corpse of an important leader or respected member of a community. For this reason, cultures led by dragons frequently adopt a kill-on-sight principle for fallers, and kobolds in particular are known to litter a faller’s anticipated path with the most lethal and cruel traps they can manage. 

Despite this, faller’s oracular abilities are also known to a few peoples, and some cultures seek out such beings to ask questions, sometimes deliberately luring them by killing a large animal. Fallers are a practical and isolationist type, however, and must be provided some benefit to expend their divining abilities; especially since such abilities are necessary for their way of life.

Fallers' endonym is a series of rasps and hisses unpronounceable to the average mammal or reptile.

This hunched over biped has a hard, segmented shell on its back, a number of segmented limbs, and large black eyes.

Misc- CR9 TN Medium Monstrous Humanoid HD12 Init:+4 Senses: Perception:+22 Scent, Darkvision 60ft Stats- Str:22(+6) Dex:19(+4) Con:23(+6) Int:15(+2) Wis:24(+7) Cha:16(+3) BAB:+12/+7/+2 Space:5ft Reach:5ft Defense- HP:138(12d10+54) AC:24(+4 Dex, +2 Armor, +8 Natural) Fort:+12 Ref:+12 Will:+15 CMD:38 Resist: Acid 10, Cold 10 Immunity: Disease Special Defenses: DR2/Bludgeoning Offense- mwk Glaive +19/+14/+9(1d10+9/x3) or Net +18(Entangle, 10ft) or 2 Claw +16(1d6+6 plus trip) CMB:+18 (+2 Racial bonus to trip) Speed:30ft Special Attacks: Studied Target +3 (Attack, Damage, Bluff, Knowledge, Perception, Sense Motive, Survival; Move or Swift Action) Feats- Great Fortitude, Endurance, Point-Blank Shot, Vital Strike, Power Attack (-4/+8), Quick Draw Skills- Climb +15, Knowledge (Dungeoneering) +14, Knowledge (Geography) +14, Knowledge (Nature) +14, Perception +22, Ride +13, Survival +22 Spell-like Abilities- (Caster Level 11, Concentration +14) Augury, Invisibility Purge, Sanctify Corpse 3/day Dispel Magic, Find the Path 1/day Divination 1/week Special Qualities- Ferocity Ecology- Environment- Any Languages- Faller Organization- Pair (2), Caravan (4-6 Fallers, 0-3 Giant Horseflies) Treasure- Standard Special Abilities- Studied Target (Ex)- A faller may use the Studied Target ability as a 10th level Slayer.

[maileater]

My ideal internet is one lived on obscure channels and unused websites that nobody outside of them knows about. Like a deep sea fish that feeds off of whalefalls (memes funny enough that they floated down to the deeper/less inhabited parts of the net), and is never looked at directly because it flees from the bright lights of submersibles.

Coincidentally my ideal internet is also full of crabs.

[bbeelzemon]

all my whalefall fishies so far! 🐟🐠