Author Topic: Where to hide your Eldridge Abominations  (Read 8337 times)

Offline Darkshore

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Re: Where to hide your Eldridge Abominations
« Reply #15 on: August 18, 2012, 03:21:51 AM »
Considering that Seoul is pretty darn ancient, there should be ruins under ruins under ruins to work with.  Old construction, old cellars and suchlike with things like apartment buildings built over them...

My thoughts exactly. But even if there somehow isn't? I couldn't see many people knowing enough about it to call you out on it. Fiction is fiction, even if it has some connections to reality.

Offline Paynesgrey

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Re: Where to hide your Eldridge Abominations
« Reply #16 on: August 18, 2012, 03:48:42 AM »
Depending on your theme and tastes it's fun finding obscure antiquities nobody thought mattered to tie into your Big Bad.  Something that brings up a faint recollection of some old historical quirk of trivia, and then ratchets it up into the Oh Shit! bell.

Did some wikipeeking, and saw that Seoul is 2,000 years old.  A lot of material to work with.

Offline superpsycho

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Re: Where to hide your Eldridge Abominations
« Reply #17 on: August 18, 2012, 03:49:08 AM »
I haven't been to Soul since the late sixties but when I was there they had large flood control canals like L.A.
At the time there were shanty towns of wood and cardboard all along it in some areas. Some of the lines feeding the canal where pretty big. Either would serve as a hiding place during the day.  Of course it would depend on the time period of the story and prosperity of the area being used.
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Re: Where to hide your Eldridge Abominations
« Reply #18 on: August 18, 2012, 03:50:35 AM »
My thoughts exactly. But even if there somehow isn't? I couldn't see many people knowing enough about it to call you out on it.

Heh.   I can totally see a full third of northern Virginia screaming 'You stupid cretin - Seoul was all wooden farmhouses until the war and then it got flattened flatter than Hiroshima and burnt crispier than Dresden just to eliminate enemy hidey holes'.    If they believed it they'd do it, whatever the facts might be.
« Last Edit: August 18, 2012, 03:55:09 AM by o_O »

Offline trboturtle

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Re: Where to hide your Eldridge Abominations
« Reply #19 on: August 19, 2012, 02:12:30 AM »
What about the possibility of A forgotten bomb shelter that connects with a pocket dimension?

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Offline the neurovore of Zur-En-Aargh

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Re: Where to hide your Eldridge Abominations
« Reply #20 on: August 19, 2012, 03:03:17 AM »
Heh.   I can totally see a full third of northern Virginia screaming 'You stupid cretin - Seoul was all wooden farmhouses until the war and then it got flattened flatter than Hiroshima and burnt crispier than Dresden just to eliminate enemy hidey holes'.    If they believed it they'd do it, whatever the facts might be.

yeah, what the good folks of rec.arts.sf.composition used to call the Tiffany problem.  (Tiffany is actually a name we have documented evidence of from the 14th century, but just because that's real doesn't make it credible.)
« Last Edit: September 06, 2012, 01:46:30 AM by the neurovore of Zur-En-Aargh »
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Offline Nickeris86

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Re: Where to hide your Eldridge Abominations
« Reply #21 on: August 24, 2012, 02:27:00 AM »
Okay I have the little bastards nailed down to a location and even how they can move around the city without causing to much suspicion.

Now I have another question for you. I want to throw in a twist at the climax of the story where the big bad that all the lesser bads worship as a dark god actually isn't malevolent at all but has been forced into this role due to circumstances that it is not at all pleased with. This being is still mind shatteringly powerful and beyond human comprehension that even being in the same general area of it can drive you mad. The nightmare fuel it inspires in people that it comes in contact with are its cries for help. However, because it is what it is and the circumstances that led it to its current position it can't really be gentle about it.

However its true intentions and motivations are left to mystery.

I know it contrasts with the general concept of Cosmic Horror but there is not happy ending in this story, or at least its a very dark grey ending. I took my inspiration from the fact that angels, the messengers/warriors of the Almighty are freaking terrifying to behold. Whether the creature in my story is an angel or something else is up to the reader in the end.
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Offline Darkshore

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Re: Where to hide your Eldridge Abominations
« Reply #22 on: August 24, 2012, 02:52:23 AM »
I'd read it and probably enjoy the ending. Life isn't sun-shine and rainbows and art imitates life. I want to read about things that make me think, wonder, and maybe even scare me a little. Write the ending you want and let the readers react accordingly.

Offline Aminar

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Re: Where to hide your Eldridge Abominations
« Reply #23 on: August 24, 2012, 02:21:48 PM »
Okay I have the little bastards nailed down to a location and even how they can move around the city without causing to much suspicion.

Now I have another question for you. I want to throw in a twist at the climax of the story where the big bad that all the lesser bads worship as a dark god actually isn't malevolent at all but has been forced into this role due to circumstances that it is not at all pleased with. This being is still mind shatteringly powerful and beyond human comprehension that even being in the same general area of it can drive you mad. The nightmare fuel it inspires in people that it comes in contact with are its cries for help. However, because it is what it is and the circumstances that led it to its current position it can't really be gentle about it.

However its true intentions and motivations are left to mystery.

I know it contrasts with the general concept of Cosmic Horror but there is not happy ending in this story, or at least its a very dark grey ending. I took my inspiration from the fact that angels, the messengers/warriors of the Almighty are freaking terrifying to behold. Whether the creature in my story is an angel or something else is up to the reader in the end.

I like the idea so much I've half been using it for half a year now.  Only half thankfully, its a great idea.

Offline Quantus

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Re: Where to hide your Eldridge Abominations
« Reply #24 on: August 28, 2012, 12:48:48 PM »
Okay I have the little bastards nailed down to a location and even how they can move around the city without causing to much suspicion.
OK, i know you said you had this, but I had already come up with a suggestion, so maybe you'll find some other use for it:  if they are as efficient as you say about tearing down older construction and putting up new within weeks, it would stand to reason that they are generating a lot of construction waste, which has to go somewhere.  Maybe there is a landfill somewhere with all this stuff that baddies set up shop in, proping up chunks of wall and scrounging old piping, or digging out modest tunnels throughout as they excavate for useful cast-off.
Quote
Now I have another question for you. I want to throw in a twist at the climax of the story where the big bad that all the lesser bads worship as a dark god actually isn't malevolent at all but has been forced into this role due to circumstances that it is not at all pleased with. This being is still mind shatteringly powerful and beyond human comprehension that even being in the same general area of it can drive you mad. The nightmare fuel it inspires in people that it comes in contact with are its cries for help. However, because it is what it is and the circumstances that led it to its current position it can't really be gentle about it.

However its true intentions and motivations are left to mystery.

I know it contrasts with the general concept of Cosmic Horror but there is not happy ending in this story, or at least its a very dark grey ending. I took my inspiration from the fact that angels, the messengers/warriors of the Almighty are freaking terrifying to behold. Whether the creature in my story is an angel or something else is up to the reader in the end.
That sounds awesome but Im not seeing your question.  I have a few though:  How did such a powerful being get forced into said role?  Ancient Mystical Binding spell?  Did he make a bargain and get the shaft? Is there some even more Uber entity out there antagonizing him?  Did humanities growth/presence inadvertently screw something up and somehow trap him?  If he is shouting for help, how will such relatively tiny and fragile creatures be able to help him?
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Re: Where to hide your Eldridge Abominations
« Reply #25 on: August 28, 2012, 07:09:43 PM »

Now I have another question for you. I want to throw in a twist at the climax of the story where the big bad that all the lesser bads worship as a dark god actually isn't malevolent at all but has been forced into this role due to circumstances that it is not at all pleased with. This being is still mind shatteringly powerful and beyond human comprehension that even being in the same general area of it can drive you mad. The nightmare fuel it inspires in people that it comes in contact with are its cries for help. However, because it is what it is and the circumstances that led it to its current position it can't really be gentle about it.

However its true intentions and motivations are left to mystery.

Excellent...but the implication here is that, in spite of it's awesome power, 'circumstances' can bring this being to violate it's own wants or desires.   

IMO You almost have to write some back story here for yourself only, just to nail down some bounds and limits of what your super-critter can do.   EDIT: I see Quantus posted some of the same concerns.

Offline Nickeris86

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Re: Where to hide your Eldridge Abominations
« Reply #26 on: September 04, 2012, 03:47:39 AM »
Well the question was answered without me asking it.

The question was does a twist ending like the suspected big bad turning out not to be really evil have warrant within a published work calling itself Lovecraftian?

OK, i know you said you had this, but I had already come up with a suggestion, so maybe you'll find some other use for it:  if they are as efficient as you say about tearing down older construction and putting up new within weeks, it would stand to reason that they are generating a lot of construction waste, which has to go somewhere.  Maybe there is a landfill somewhere with all this stuff that baddies set up shop in, proping up chunks of wall and scrounging old piping, or digging out modest tunnels throughout as they excavate for useful cast-off.
Well Korean law has it set up where most everything is recycled in some way. there are a few places where there are mounds of garbage and waste, but they are realtivly small in comparison to the size of the city. I probably will use them in some context but not as the main hiding place. Possibly foraging grounds for food or followers.

Quote
That sounds awesome but Im not seeing your question.  I have a few though:  How did such a powerful being get forced into said role?  Ancient Mystical Binding spell?  Did he make a bargain and get the shaft? Is there some even more Uber entity out there antagonizing him?  Did humanities growth/presence inadvertently screw something up and somehow trap him?  If he is shouting for help, how will such relatively tiny and fragile creatures be able to help him?

I a little torn on how it got stuck where it is. I have two ideas. The most logical would be that it was already imprisoned here centuries ago and humanity discovered it and its jailors (the lesser abominations). They were driven mad by the revelation of finding this place and mistook it for a fallen god and the jailors saw no reason to dissuade them and in fact played along in order to spread corruption. What actually imprisoned it would be left to mystery which should inspire fear given how strong this thing is and there is something out there that bitch slapped it into a jail cell. The other is that the creature was imprisoned by the mortals who now worship it, though most of them are unaware of this fact. They managed this because the creature has something that already partially binds it to the world, something it has to protect. The cultists used this to force it into a binding.

In either case the creature does have something that it is protecting that is key to the story.

As for back story, o_O, the creature is very powerful but it also has a job and can only act within the confines of performing that task. It is otherworldly but is cut of from that other place from which it spawned. Thus its choices in asking for help are very very limited to what is around it. Humans or animals. It is also not the only one of its kind though this will not really come into play much in the story. Most of these others are not imprisoned but many are. I think the city infrastructure could be used as part of their bindings and dive into the conspiratorial cults and secret societies that have influenced the construction of several major cites in the world.
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Offline Quantus

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Re: Where to hide your Eldridge Abominations
« Reply #27 on: September 04, 2012, 12:56:19 PM »
Well Korean law has it set up where most everything is recycled in some way. there are a few places where there are mounds of garbage and waste, but they are relatively small in comparison to the size of the city. I probably will use them in some context but not as the main hiding place. Possibly foraging grounds for food or followers.
Ah, ok.  Here the landfill has a whole separate section for construction waste (bricks, piping, torn lumber, chunks of wall, etc) vs the more traditional piles of bagged garbage.
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Re: Where to hide your Eldridge Abominations
« Reply #28 on: September 04, 2012, 02:38:42 PM »
If you want to make this totally awesome in the way I see awesome, make the big abomination way beyond the understanding of the lesser ones.

Offline The Corvidian

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Re: Where to hide your Eldridge Abominations
« Reply #29 on: September 06, 2012, 01:20:32 AM »
Do they recycle building materials? If so, you could couple that with the pocket dimensions. The pieces of material that these places are tied to tend to find themselves incorporated together, into new buildings. Perhaps some of the lesser eldritch abomintions can also make themselves look like humans, or they ride humans.
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