Jamming with His Majesty, Part 1
So as I mentioned in my first post, I wish to take part in the Worm Jam and have plans to make a dungeon for it. Since I'm a lazy bum I want this to be a dungeon that will be useful to me personally so I'm going to make it for my underwater sandbox that I've been plucking away at for a while now, but I imagine with some imagination most should be able to slot it into any large enough bodies of water or strange whimsical places where the next level of the dungeon being inside a giant fish submarine may be delightfully surprising rather than off putting.
The Location
As above the dungeon will be the inside of a rather sizable fish which an ancient civilization turned into a mind-controlling prison barge-cum-cutting edge military dreadnought which allowed its overlords to become the greatest military power in the region. Also it's a Barreleye fish because I think they are weird and cool.
The Backstory
The fish itself used to be a wild Leviathan of the Santis depths that relied on assimilating other lesser creatures to become its servants. This, when the creature still lived as a wild Leviathan came with some rather gruesome transformations, that completely changed the physiology of anyone or anything effected by it in a matter of days. Eventually the ancients nowadays only remembered as the Enlightened managed to subdue the creature and through their advanced sorcery and technology modified it to serve them. Initially it was meant to be a way for them to secure the seas around their underwater city the Pearl, but once they realized they could use the assimilating power of the Barreleye they quickly adjusted to getting political enemies exiled under false pretenses to serve on the Dreadnought. Over the centuries the ship built up a rather sizable crew which were immortal servants maintaining the in and outside of their home. Eventually the empire of the Enlightened fell and disappeared overnight. Leaving the Dreadnought to simply carry out its patrols eternally for a thousand years to come.
Themes
I love me some guiding themes for a dungeon and the Dreadnought has plenty that jump out quite easily.
- Stagnation vs. Chaos: The Santis Depths are a region of untamed wild fighting for survival between some of the most dangerous living creatures, just below the surface of a dark sea. The Enlightened tamed it for a time or at least tamed the parts of it they cared about, but over a millennium after their empire's fall most of the region returned to its natural state of utter chaos. Most, but not the Dreadnought, a creature originally just as wild and chaotic as its fellow Leviathans, it now spends seemingly eternity patrolling the same routes it had a thousand years ago.
- Machine vs. Nature: The Dreadnought was once a creature near the top of the food chain. A titanic, majestic force of nature. Is there anything still left of the creature it once was? Or is it simply a machine with the trappings of a flesh and blood creature? If there is, what to do with it? If players could take control of it, it could undoubtedly be a giant boon to them, but will they really be able to control a beast far more powerful than them with technology they do not understand? Finding a way to free it, if at all possible would likely be the moral thing to do, but doing so would be incredibly unpredictable and possibly rather dangerous. Will they even care for the creature?
- Remnants of a Bygone Age: The crew of the Dreadnought are possibly the only remnants of a people now believed to be extinct, however they are just as brain-washed as their vessel and unlike it, freedom isn't a likely possibility for them anymore. Even if the fish were to be freed, it is unlikely to simply return them to normal, possibly dooming them to an eternal mindless servitude. Beyond them the ship is also equipped with incredibly advanced technology and arcane facilities, the likes of which the players couldn't even dream of, nor really understand most likely. If they can harness it somehow, it could turn out to be one of the greatest discoveries of their age.
Conclusion
Alright, so that's the general idea for the dungeon. The next steps will be figuring out the actual meat and potatoes of the whole thing. I don't really have a clear idea for the size of this place yet to be honest, but by dungeon standards I imagine it'll turn out to be sort of in the middle in terms of size. I need to figure out some active factions and what actually calls this place a home. The Crew are certainly going to be the main group of interest active within but a thousand years of mindless servitude is quite a long time, I wouldn't be surprised if other things managed to sneak in and set up shop within. For now that will be all though. Next time I'll be working on a monster for the dungeon most likely.