So I'm a big fan of H.P. Lovecraft, a really important horror writer from the 20s-30s. After my most recent re-reading kick, I decided to try to outline a few ideas for "lovecraftian" fortresses. I haven't (yet) implemented any of these ideas, but I figured I'd put them out here for feedback, as well as for additional ideas or even to inspire fellow Lovecraft fans. If you plan on reading the stories but haven't, the following may include spoilers...
Exham Priory from "The Rats in the Walls" (pretty simple)
"A large above-ground fortress with a handful of noble dwarves as well as their servants and such. They all live above ground in the castle, but below lies catacombs, caverns, and even darker secrets."
- Above ground castle is reasonably large and is home for all nobles, a handful of other "chosen" dwarves who will partake in the luxury, and also a handful of servants to farm, cook, etc.
- Under the castle is the catacombs - deep and winding passages filled with the tombs of the ancestors. Somewhere in this maze lies the passage into the ..."under."
- The "Under" city will house as many dwarves as can be supported. They will live in squalor to produce the silken goods and other products needed by the castle-dwellers, but these dwarves will never see the light of day.
- Bones should probably be scattered everywhere, and, of course, there needs to be an eerie pit of some sort...with something terrifying lurking below.
- Burrows will probably help a lot in separating the nobles from the servants from the under-dwellers.
- Bonus points for somehow modding dwarves to be butcherable and thus use as a food source for the under-dwellers.
Innsmouth from "The shadow over Innsmouth" (a bit tough, but doable)
"A strange and aloof town, filled with those who have somehow acquired the "Innsmouth look"...as well as a terrible secret."
- An above ground fort, structured to look like a small coastal town - houses for families, workshops, taverns/grocery, etc., located along a waterfront of some sort.
- The innsmouth "look," though traditionally a reference to being something half-man and half-fish, in this case refers to the fact that ALL dwarves must learn to swim.
- To this end, all of the residential quarters should be connected underground into a large meeting hall that is partially flooded. In this way, all dwarves will spend their free time either learning to swim (thus acquiring the "look") or drowning and thinning the herd.
- To "outsiders," the town must look completely normal - all entrances to the underground tunnels must be well concealed.
- Perhaps burrows can be used to separate those who can swim from those who cannot.
- Bonus points for constructing an underwater "temple" of some sort for dwarves to worship their dark fish gods.
R'lyeh from "The Call of Cthulhu" (megaproject!)
"This place is madness. It is Chaos. It is Death."
- This fort is meant to be an embodiment of a place that simply should not be. The geometry is wrong, and the layout is alien.
- All structures, no matter their purpose, must be HUGE. Jutting protrusions, long winding halls, massive towers, and other seemingly nonsensical architecture should be the rule, not the exception.
- On account of the insane and counter-intuitive layout, life for the dwarves will not be easy, and the pathing issues probably mean that life for your CPU won't be either.
- This place is, by definition, beyond any real description. It's best left to the imagination of the creator, but the point is that it's massive, and built for (and by) beings that are beyond mortal comprehension.
- Bonus points for either 1) digging the entire city out of the earth from the top down 2) building it entirely out of green blocks 3) casting if from obsidian 4) some combination of the previous 3
Other ideas I had but haven't fleshed out yet: The City of the Elder Things (build a fort that covers a mountain range!), and Arkam (an above-ground fort with lots of weird crypts, temples, and other "forbidden" type goodies)
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Topic: The Lovecraft Challenge! Which one will you try? (Read 2671 times)