New UVG Map - The Carnibotanic Disaster Zone

Dear Heroes,

I have to say, weeks fly like rockets now that I've got two rather than one little childrens. I've done plenty of work on the VLG, lots of pieces of art and all sorts, but I wanted to share something different first, not just peppering you with art as we go. I'll post those shortly, and if you want to see them day by day—join the stratometaship discord: https://discord.gg/vRvxyEHstn

Now, for this week—that map you voted for a few weeks ago: Carnibotanic Disaster Zone.

Back to the fictional show,
—Luka

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Report 73-D on the D.R.U.I.D. Cleanup Operation of the Carnibotanic Exclusion Area

SUMMARY:

Pursuant to report 68-E, building on rebuttals 68-Eii and 70-Ai, and confirming the results of report 72-A, the Comentality of Fiesser, Fiesser-VI, Fiesser-VII, and Bernadine Schmalzentreffer (COFFFS), has come to the conclusion that the aftereffects of the departmental fallout remain contained and pose little danger to the structural safety of the permanent human flourishing project (P.H.Flo.P.).

Fig. 1.: Map as codified in Valentine 25-ork by Bernardine-C replication. See attachments for full resolution maps.

COFFFS arrived in the region in the early fall, departing the Darklight Passages in good order with only minor losses suffered by their drone replications. The main body of the caravan, to whit the comentality triple-backup armadillowagen, remained mostly intact and unmutated.

COFFFS set up operations near the long-abandoned post-human settlement of [Hollow Tree—original name redacted], taking control of a giant barrel-cactus fortress. Fiesser-VI dubbed it Thorntooth, but the others insisted on calling it simply "The Fort" or, in a poorly thought-out pun, "Die Fort".

The next seventeen time units were spent cataloguing the ongoing degradation and permutation of the carnibotanic zone in the aftermath of the Dendric Recovery and Uplift Implementation Department's (D.R.U.I.D.) non-compliance event.

COFFFS recorded:

• an ongoing background mutation rate 74-times permitted levels

• 742 cases of animal-plant hybridization including 14 cases of human-plant hybridization

• ongoing autonomous meat harvesting operations on the western edges of the zone, even though meat demand from the Western Human Settlement Region [Black City] has been flat at 0.0 million imperial tons per annum since at least Report 24-AD

• repeated attempts at corporate-ecological hybridization by entity avatars in the area of the Incubator

• ongoing reincorporation attempts by the integrated board of directors of the D.R.U.I.D. in the Mount Sung Pung chemical suppression region. The suppressor [locally named the Paineater by current survivor gatherer communities] continues to function within acceptable parameters

• [redacted] but now all is well with Fiesser-VII

• incursions by void-light mentalities continues in the Green Lumen region and path-suppressors have been released, destroying all roads in that region. One survivor gatherer community, calling itself the Better Flesh Transcendence Moon Cooperative, was scattered in the process.

• various humorous episodes involving root vegetables

• a pseudo-sentient pod-plant species may be a promising target for generating a medium-grade chemically compliant work force. Sprayed with various pheromones, they behave much like humans in the throes of [sports passion ERROR]

• returning caravan of surviving visitors to the Western Human Settlement Region. These were neutralized as per the Extragarden Quarantine Protocols of the Reports 36–51 Era.

CONCLUSION:

Reaffirming the conclusions of reports 68, 72, et al, report 73-D strongly urges the reapplication of Sterilization Agent D to the whole area prior to the reactivation of Jubilee protocols. Absent baseline Karda-0.95 technical proficiency, the reset humans could be expected to fail to successfully prune the carnibotanic exclusion area, resulting in an unpredictable metaforestation event and - potentially - the success of the D.R.U.I.D. maximalist goals, setting a dangerous precedent for future cycles.

ADDENDA:

Fig. 2.: Fiesser claims these modified trees are humorous and photographic representations could be used to create humorous greeting cards.

Fig. 3.: COFFFS found a new type of ruinpalm leeching minerals from leftover ruins and scavenge piles. Properly cultivated, they could be used to reclaim resources wasted by excess human activity.

Fig. 4.: COFFFS recorded more and more instances of gigafauna symbiotes, the animal components of the colony creatures grown to the size of small hills, supporting numerous plant colonies and distributed chemical thinking engines. Fortunately, this vector of carnibotanic spread remains slow to reproduce and easy to manage. It may prove a useful replacement for the aging buildertech facs in some locations (see VILE).

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Other News

So, what's been happening?

Well, the big and really only thing has been that I've been rounding out the Vastlands Guidebook with new spot art and rounding out the missing edges. I'll have a whole post about it soon, but here's a spread to hwet the appetite:

Also, behold — I had some spreads left over and one thing I've added (restored?) are the wards. Items to boost saving throws and ... uh ... help life find a way [to survive]. 

I'll share all the art that's happening on that front as well.

Finally, I think I'll be back to working on the OGA and finishing up the lands from next week.

The rest of February and half of March is going to be pretty flakey in terms of updates, however, since we're still juggling and figuring out childcare with the two child-humans.

If there's interest, I'll share some of the cute creatures I've been drawing for the Eggy, like this dragon shrimp gobuki:

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Next Map

I'll set up a poll for the next place in the UVG (or other games / places) you'd like to see a map of. I don't know the style yet, but ... there ya go.