World Building Opinions/Ideas on this lovely World Build? The Blooming Dead (apocalypse)

[Quinnigan]

First and foremost, I have to give credit to the original tumblr user otherwindow that came up with this prompt and the concept art attached. This idea is brilliant and I'm having so much fun borrowing the concept! For the world my friend and I want to play, we've changed it quite a bit from what the original poster has come up with. Here's my version so far

The Rot​

In this apocalypse setting, the zombies (or the "Rotten" as I'm calling them) are scent-driven creatures that become docile when covered in fragrant flowers or herbs. These plants grow out of their bodies and turn them into peaceful "Overgrown" zombies. This process I'm calling "Blooming". Conversely, they are drawn to "bad" smells like human odor, smoke, chemicals, etc. (More elaboration on that to come.)

The Rotten attack and feed on exclusively humans and "infect" them upon bite, scratch, or sometimes just close proximity (depending on the type of Rotten). It's unknown by humanity what exactly the Rot is and how exactly it spreads. Though it's relatively accepted that any product of a Rotten can infect (including bodily fluids and plant products such as spores, pollen, berries, and oils.)

From the omniscient point of view, the Rot is a vague "something" that developed in nature as a way to rehabilitate the decline of the world. In my setting, humanity has destroyed the ecosystem and is on the path of complete ecological collapse. The Rotten are essentially walking fertilizers that are attacking and turning humanity (the biggest threat to nature) into more walking fertilizers to repopulate the world with plants and turn it into a lush green world again. Hence, they become docile when in a lush environment (or covered with pretty flowers!). With enough time, they would eventually die peacefully. As if by instinct, just before death they seek out a patch of earth to lie on and decompose back into the soil. Leaving behind a lovely patch of plants.

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There's a lot more I could include in this but this should be enough to give you an idea of what we're working with! Let me know your thoughts, what you liked and what challenges you can see with this. Plot ideas and critique is always welcome, I just HAD to share this idea because I enjoy it so much.

Thanks for reading!​

 

[GojiBean]

Hoyo!

It's an interesting concept, to be sure.

You mention "there's a lot more I could include," and I would like to invite/encourage you to include all you can. Though I find the concept interesting I find a lot of open questions are left hanging such as the following:

1) How and why did the world determine that it needed something like The Rotten to help restore itself versus something else like pushing animals to evolve differently or simply letting the natural process of human self-destruction take root and let them kill themselves off enough for the world to slowly start healing naturally the old fashioned way?

2) How does the Rot actually work? You mention that it needs a bite, scratch, etc, so I'm presuming it takes root (no pun intended) in the bloodstream, and/or when it reaches a certain major organ(s) via the blood stream?

3) How and why do The Rotten eventually Bloom? What's that process, exactly, and how does it work in a human body when our bodies aren't biologically engineered or designed to support the growth of plant life?

4) When they seek out a patch of Earth to lie on and die to let their bodies decompose back into fertilizer, do they seek out any old patch of dirt, even if there's already grass or other plants growing? Or do they specifically seek out dead soil so they can fertilize life back into it?

I would ask more, but I'm about to head off to work and I think you get the point. Lol.

Overall a good idea and an interesting concept, to be sure! Props to otherwindow for the og idea, and to you and your friend for whatever changes you've made along the way.

Cheers!

 

[White Masquerade]

The idea is a novel one. Besides in one other place, I haven't seen anything that sounds remotely close. The only issue I see ya'll having is deepening the roleplay's lore and story. The idea is so novel, that there's no guide on how a story like this might or should go. For example, who's the villain/antagonist? The Earth itself? Is there a central place the rot comes from or will humans lose eventually because there's no way to fight against it?

The challenge will be making lore that makes sense for this from scratch with no guidance.

 

[Quinnigan]

Hoyo!

It's an interesting concept, to be sure.

You mention "there's a lot more I could include," and I would like to invite/encourage you to include all you can. Though I find the concept interesting I find a lot of open questions are left hanging such as the following:

1) How and why did the world determine that it needed something like The Rotten to help restore itself versus something else like pushing animals to evolve differently or simply letting the natural process of human self-destruction take root and let them kill themselves off enough for the world to slowly start healing naturally the old fashioned way?

2) How does the Rot actually work? You mention that it needs a bite, scratch, etc, so I'm presuming it takes root (no pun intended) in the bloodstream, and/or when it reaches a certain major organ(s) via the blood stream?

3) How and why do The Rotten eventually Bloom? What's that process, exactly, and how does it work in a human body when our bodies aren't biologically engineered or designed to support the growth of plant life?

4) When they seek out a patch of Earth to lie on and die to let their bodies decompose back into fertilizer, do they seek out any old patch of dirt, even if there's already grass or other plants growing? Or do they specifically seek out dead soil so they can fertilize life back into it?

I would ask more, but I'm about to head off to work and I think you get the point. Lol.

Overall a good idea and an interesting concept, to be sure! Props to otherwindow for the og idea, and to you and your friend for whatever changes you've made along the way.

Cheers!

So sorry this took so long to reply, for some reason I missed the notification that you'd left a comment. SO GLAD I looked back!

Thanks for your questions! (Finally) Here are some answers:

1) How did nature determine that THIS was the way to do it? Honestly, there was no "decision" by nature. As with most apocalyptic settings, the whole "how" can be really vague. To be honest I don't see the exact "how" as much as important as the "why". But to give some sort of justification as to why I decided this, it's just because plants seem the most compelling to me. They're the bottom of the food chain, so they'd affect everything above it. They're HIGHLY mutable, even more so than bugs because they grow limbs and drop fruit and leaves every single day. But like I said, the concept of "why" matters more to me than the technical "how". But if you have ideas I'd love to hear them!

2) How does the Rot take root? Essentially, yes, it's a bloodstream thing. I imagined it like a poison. Like how the thorns, berries, or oils of a plant can be toxic or lead to necrosis or paralysis? I imagine zombies as a comatose-state; you're not conscious but your body still lives. So would transmit like any plant-toxin AND/OR bodily fluid. Which is why it's so intensely infectious. Pollen? Dead. Contaminated berries? Dead. Bitten? Scratched? Poked? Dead dead dead. We love pseudo-science!

3) How do the Rotten bloom? It can happen several ways. They're walking fertilizers, so any seed or spore that gets inside of them will start to grow. There's nothing special that happens to the body itself, other than it begins to rot. Decomposing material is just great for plants. That's really all it is. Natural Rotten do happen, but since the world is covered in concrete and ruined habitats they aren't common. It's become a survival strategy to implant Rotten with plants to create them manually. Seed bombing, stabbing saplings into them, and covering them with spores (among any other creative methods) are all common.

4) Do they specifically seek out dead soil? If possible, yes. LIke how a cat will try find a quiet corner to pass away in, but doesn't always necessarily? Their evolutionary purpose is to fertilize so instinctually that's what they'd do!

If you have any other questions, please ask! And share any ideas! I love the opportunity to take in and develop new ideas.

Thanks again for the questions!

 

[Quinnigan]

The idea is a novel one. Besides in one other place, I haven't seen anything that sounds remotely close. The only issue I see ya'll having is deepening the roleplay's lore and story. The idea is so novel, that there's no guide on how a story like this might or should go. For example, who's the villain/antagonist? The Earth itself? Is there a central place the rot comes from or will humans lose eventually because there's no way to fight against it?

The challenge will be making lore that makes sense for this from scratch with no guidance.

Agreed! Though I think we can follow the same general apocalypse formula, just tweak it for context.

We have plot contact for cultivating and trading seeds as a form of currency, so purely from a food standpoint there's going to be lots of interaction with other groups/people.

We're also starting early enough that we have to find out HOW the Rot works. Then of course there's learning WHY it developed and then the eventual plot arc of saving the world. This will probably be the central plot, because... well, obvious reasons. But yes, the Rot will die out once the world is restored.

Villains are going to be mainly other people, but also the destructive natural-disasters and basic survival. So yes, the Earth is the antagonist primarily!

Thanks so much for your questions! I appreciate the opportunity to flesh out more details of the world. I'd love to hear any ideas if you have them!

 

[White Masquerade]

Agreed! Though I think we can follow the same general apocalypse formula, just tweak it for context.

We have plot contact for cultivating and trading seeds as a form of currency, so purely from a food standpoint there's going to be lots of interaction with other groups/people.

We're also starting early enough that we have to find out HOW the Rot works. Then of course there's learning WHY it developed and then the eventual plot arc of saving the world. This will probably be the central plot, because... well, obvious reasons. But yes, the Rot will die out once the world is restored.

Villains are going to be mainly other people, but also the destructive natural-disasters and basic survival. So yes, the Earth is the antagonist primarily!

Thanks so much for your questions! I appreciate the opportunity to flesh out more details of the world. I'd love to hear any ideas if you have them!

Okay, that sounds good. Be mindful of including these villains and natural disasters often as adventuring and roaming aimlessly (at least in a written RP) can become extremely disengaging for players very quickly. If y’all can address that, I’m sure this will turn out to be an interesting commentary on nature for those who join.