Pandyssia: where the Garden of Eden meets the Tomb of Horrors

[NRSASD]

Hey everyone!

The video game Dishonored is a great game, but one of it's strongest aspects is its setting. Humanity clings on to a small island chain, but far in the distance is the fabled continent of Pandyssia, a place of terrors and wonders that has stoutly repulsed any attempts to colonize or even properly map it. Most of the truly "evil" things in Dishonored can be traced to Pandyssia, but so can many of its greatest inventions and discoveries. It's also renowned as the place full of stupidly dangerous wildlife, ancient ruins, and black magic. In other words, the perfect place to launch an exploration campaign.

Said exploration campaign would be rather old-school in style, where the adventuring party is a small army of retainers and heroes and deaths are frequent and cheap. The goal would be to reach the center of the continent because the plot needs you to (Macguffin, etc.), and then escape the continent. With the dark magic, there's going to be a definite vibe of "secrets humanity was not meant to know"/Lovecraft.

What I'm looking for is things to place on this continent. They can be weird, deadly, mysterious, or most likely, all of the above. Also, since this place is the largest landmass by far, it's very doubtful that it's uninhabited. That being said, it's also doubtful that any civilization can truly be described as thriving, limited to one tightly controlled city at best.

According to Dishonored, here's what we know about the enigmatic continent, Pandyssia

• It's staggeringly big. Lots of jungles and deserts, possibly mountains too. No one has managed to get out of sight of the shoreline and live, so who knows what's there.
• The Pandyssian Bull Rat and the Rat Plague: Known as "the Doom of Pandyssia", this rat and plague is like the Bubonic Plague but much worse. Civilization as we know it came to an end briefly when an outbreak of this plague occurred in the islands. Swarms of rats literally devoured those unlucky enough to not escape from them. Victims of the plague itself were transformed into "weepers", people who bled from the eyes and spread the disease with terrifying speed, frequently killing those who tried to help them.
• Swarms of carnivorous flying fish with a fondness for open-decked ships
• Venomous eels who paralyzed their prey in less than a minute with the clouds of mucus they exude
• Culture of humanoids: mentioned in passing in the game but never encountered, there is at least one tribe of humanoids living alongside the coast. Since the game has a very Victorian England vibe, said tribe is referred to as "subhuman". No idea if they are actually a different branch of humanity, or if that's just Victorian racism cropping up. Either way, there's definitely a humanoid culture native to the continent.
• Large, venomous, highly aggressive ant colonies: one unfortunate explorer fell into the nest and was unresponsive almost immediately. Died from poison not long after he was recovered by the rest of his team
• Bloodflies: Sparrow sized, colonial parasitic wasps who view anything people-sized and down as prey.
  Spoiler: Not for the easily squeamish

  Show

  Being parasitic wasps, they raise their young in the paralyzed prey while it's still alive. In certain cases, the young will hijack the host's nervous system and use it to defend the hive, will still using it as an incubator/food source. Bloodflies are nasty
  After zipping around and murdering people for a bit, they lose the wings and burrow underground, where they prove extremely valuable for agriculture. Many valuable medical compounds have been derived from their venom.
• Rumors abound of land-whales, flying serpents, giant lizards, and carnivorous sentient apes
• Occasionally, strange winds blow off the continent. These can be anything from unseasonably cold, to causing sudden and terrible storms, to driving the ship's crew violently insane.
• The only explorer that we know of who went deeper into the island and survived became a very powerful dark magic user thanks to what she found in the ruins there. It made her immortal, but she might have been possessed by evil forces as well. Hard to tell.

I'm looking for creatures, hazards, dungeons, cultures, weather, anything that can convey that Pandyssia is:
a. stupid deadly
b. really weird, but plausibly so
c. full of potential treasure, if you know what to look for and can make it home to enjoy it

Feel free to build away! No absolutes please.

[Jonagel]

Fantastic idea! I'd love to see where the game goes with Pandyssia!

Some random ideas:
1) Creature:
a) Black Frog or something - It's a poison dart frog, but full males get to 45 pounds, and will hunt/kill anything really. Oh, and it's nearly all black, with massive eyes, opting to hunt at night and sleep submerged in water/mud during the day. Killing one will quickly reveal it's not exactly cold blooded like a frog should be...
b) Whale Flies - Large flies, the size of human nose, which carry oil (very similar to Whale oil). They use the oil in several ways: (1) the can secrete it from their abdomen to mark territory or cover eggs to ward off other insects. (2) they can secrete it around their but and ignite it to attract smaller prey or mates (not sure which) (3) they can secrete it to set traps, and then ignite the small amount of oil to kill and cook smaller prey. It seems they have a penchant for cooked and even outright burnt meat.

2) Plants:
a) Rose Tears - A flower, that looks very close to a normal rose, but excretes a deadly toxin along the stem and leaves. If pricked by a thorn, the infect person has an hour before they begin bleeding from their orifices, the first of which is typically the tear ducts. (poison and medicine options!)
b) Some kind of Vines! - A species of vines that are known to local cultures as being not only exceptionally strong, but apparently sentient. When treated with respect, appreciated, and given nourishment, the vines are seen helping establish bridges, infrastructure, and even traps for hunters within the jungles. When hacked away by a foreign explorer, or neglected, one can expect to find bodies hanging in the air with a vine wrapped about the neck.

3) Weather anomalies:
a) Boiling Rain (maybe not quite boiling, but bad enough that a naked human caught in the open is probably gonna die after awhile)?
b) Acid Hail - Think acid rain, but big hail stones that once they melt typically eat away at the surface they landed on

[NRSASD]

a) Black Frog or something - It's a poison dart frog, but full males get to 45 pounds, and will hunt/kill anything really. Oh, and it's nearly all black, with massive eyes, opting to hunt at night and sleep submerged in water/mud during the day. Killing one will quickly reveal it's not exactly cold blooded like a frog should be...

I can totally see a gang or tribe naming itself the "Night Croakers" in honor of their lethal amphibian mascot

b) Whale Flies - Large flies, the size of human nose, which carry oil (very similar to Whale oil). They use the oil in several ways: (1) the can secrete it from their abdomen to mark territory or cover eggs to ward off other insects. (2) they can secrete it around their but and ignite it to attract smaller prey or mates (not sure which) (3) they can secrete it to set traps, and then ignite the small amount of oil to kill and cook smaller prey. It seems they have a penchant for cooked and even outright burnt meat.

Whale oil, like the stuff in Dishonored? The stuff that's, when refined, one part petroleum, two parts nitroglycerin? Anyone who swats a whale fly is going to be in for quite a surprise!

b) Some kind of Vines! - A species of vines that are known to local cultures as being not only exceptionally strong, but apparently sentient. When treated with respect, appreciated, and given nourishment, the vines are seen helping establish bridges, infrastructure, and even traps for hunters within the jungles. When hacked away by a foreign explorer, or neglected, one can expect to find bodies hanging in the air with a vine wrapped about the neck.

Awesome concept! I especially like that it might not be obvious to foreigners what the locals are doing. "Oh, they're just making an offering to the spirits of nature... how quaint." Three days later... "Wait, those offerings were to the vines!?"

Glad you enjoy it! I personally love the concept of Pandyssia. Not sure when I'll have the free time to campaign there, but I definitely want to. Here's an additional critter:

Lesser Shatterpelt Macque: This small, long brown haired, cat sized monkey lives most of its life in the trees, rarely setting foot on the ground. Generally very peaceful, bands of Shatterpelts defend their terrority with hurled fruit and small stones. If frightened or attacked however, they release clouds of fine grey urticating hairs from their dense underpelts. Said hairs are very irritating, hard to spot, and dangerous as they have the consistency of fiberglass splinters and are as sharp as razors. A wouldbe predator gets a face full of spines for its trouble, and a lung full can cause extreme pain or even death.

[Lleban]

hmmm Sounds fun

Clawed Parrot Hawks- Hawk like flightless birds that are abnormally intelligent. Clawed Parrot hawks can be distinguished by their sickle claws, proclivity for pack hunting, and their ability to imitate a prolific variety of voices. Normally these parrots roam the forest floor in solitude, pursuing small rodents, insects, and snakes. However, packs have been observed laying traps for larger animals by imitating the sounds their prey use. Less fortunate explorers, have frequently been trapped by parrots imitating the voices of distressed humans.

Rainbow sparrows- Bright Mono color sparrows that range from violet to red that frequently inhabit the forest canopies. They mainly subsist on,toxic worms, fruits, and nuts. Unfortunately for the prospective explorer, the feathers of the Rainbow sparrow contain an extremely potent narcotic generated from consuming the toxic tree worms. One feather is capable of putting 5 men to sleep for near 4 days.

[Jonagel]

1) Love the "Night Croakers" tribe, it fits with the world of Dishonored so well!
2) The flies are particularly nasty. I imagine some humans have found ways to use them as resources (harvesting them for their "oil") maybe?
3) The Shatterpelts sound great, I'm imaging all sorts of terrible devices could (or would) develop based on these things (and everything else being listed!).

One more idea:

Blossom Beetle: Not really a beetle, but certainly an insect, the name stuck despite the inaccuracy. The insect is much like like a typical "stick bug", but instead it looks just like a large blossoming flower. The bugs come in a variety of colors -- blues, reds, purples, yellows, oranges, pinks, etc., and when lying 'flat' they appear to be a beautiful blossom flower about 6 inches in diameter. The insects are typically found on vines, trees, or other plants masquerading as a bright flower to attract other insects to devour. They will bite at any larger animals who come within range, but only in an attempt to injure the perceived threat before running away.

Their stingers (lining the 'petals' of their flower) are have a paralytic poison. It would likely take a several 'bite' to incapacitate an adult human male. The truly dangerous, beautiful, and bizarre spectacle is when someone stumble upon a group or 'swarm' of these beetles. Dozens to hundreds of bright colors flowers, varying in size and color, decorate a tree of canopy like deadly rainbow. If a creature stumbles into such a grouping, the slightest wrong move may result in a panicked swarm biting the creature and reaching paralysis in seconds given the volume of beetles. Shortly afterwards, given the volume, the beetles are known to them converge on, completely cover, and eat the creature alive (can't pass up a free meal!).