Ideas for living planets have been tossed back and forth these last few days, and I feel like expanding on one of my specific ideas; The concept of a large organism living under the planet and influencing the world around it. The Genius Loci Cerebrum is a massive psychic organism, living deep underground. Shaped like something between a brain and a Portugese Man O War, it feeds off of the heat from the planets core via a massive root laden stem projecting down from underneath it. It is NOT a living embodiment of the planet it is buried in, just an ancient life form that has taken root in the world, one of many that reproduces rarely and proliferates slowly between planets. Generaly, the Genius Loci Cerebrum is not hostile, but if you start to dig too deeply it may become agitated and attack, disrupting your plans to mine for resources or complete a certain mission. A majority of a GLC's attacks come from an avatar, a glowing, colored spark that follows the player around and acts as the source for the telekinetic and telepathic attacks you must endure. Attacks from the avatar include: -Sudden, powerful explosions, with the avatar as the epicenter -Telekinetically thrown rocks -Psychic attacks that slowly drain your HP for a period of time -A telekinetic push that knocks the player off course. these attacks become more powerful the closer you get to the GLC itself, and the Avatar Spark's color changes, turning redder and redder as you get closer. The spark is initially located overland, and at first, follows you curiously. It can be shooed away, or disrupted for a few minutes with weapons if it attacks you. While peaceful, the Avatar can be used to speak to the GLC if you have the proper tech, since the Avatar acts as the GLC's eyes and ears and other senses (it is susceptible to certain stunning attacks). Usually the Avatar will request that you not dig too deeply, or ask you to leave the planet in peace, but the personality can vary, as some GLCs are horribly evil and happily torment the other living things on the planet. If you have the nerve, skill, and technology to dig all the way down to the GLC's body itself, the situation gets worse. Tendrils from the GLC's body and stem will stab out through the rocks and soil at you at any time, giving little warning, and the GLC's body itself regenerates extremely fast, rendering it nigh impossible to kill at first. If you dig beneath it though, you can attack the stem, which feeds from the planet's core and fuels the GLC's metabolism. The stem regenerates much more slowly, and is thickly armored, but it can be severed with judicious application of explosives and anti-armor weapons. Once the GLC's stem is cut, the entire planet shakes, and you hear a powerful telepathic roar as the GLC's attacks against you become even more furious. Despite it's efforts to kill you becoming even more intense, you can defeat it now, as it's regeneraton will be a fraction of what it once was, and the main brain is much less armored than the stem was: any weapons can hurt it... it just has lots of HP. Upon defeat, you can salvage psi crystals, exotic liquid metals and neural fibers from the GLC's corpse. These materials would be for high tier technologies, and sell for a pretty penny to boot.
Sounds like an adventure I would definitely enjoy. What if the Genius Loci actually has some control over the environment, triggering earthquakes, rapid plant growth, or adverse weather conditions if it becomes hostile?
Absolutely. I figure it's psychic control would extend to other living things native to the planet. It might attract indigenous life to go after you as well.
Sounds great, but how does it repruduce because it would be awsome to get a egg or something and grow it on your home planet as an ally!
What if they had different "ages" (Power/planet control levels)? The lower the "age" the deeper you can go without attack, the weaker it is and less impact when you kill it. And, when you kill one, it's "age" decides how much the planet is affected, ranging from the ground rumbling ever-so weakly to earthquakes, to new caves being formed, to giant chasms in the ground, to volcanos being formed, then, when you kill one that is very "aged" , the world becomes unstable, falls into itself, and implodes. Good idea?
