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Necromancers Guide to the Undead, Thursday, Period 1

Prompto had been kind enough to go digging through the Danger Shop's files for her last week to see if he could find any of the Ravnican simulation she had programmed into the wretched machine. Most of her program had been corrupted, but he managed to salvage what he could and she'd managed to salvage some measure of grace to thank him for his assistance.

As such, the class once more met in the Danger Shop, Liliana having arrived several minutes early to whisper the most viciously creative threats she could to the stupid machine if it dared play anything other than the simulation she'd programmed. Either Prompto's skill or her own threats had worked and rather than a suburban yard filled with giant, bobbing plants, they were in a circular tunnel, the walls overgrown with lichens, mosses, and various fungi. Above them, lights streamed through holes in the ceiling, from where it looked like cobblestones had fallen in and not been replaced. With those holes, the air was surprisingly fresh, smelling like green growth with only a faint scent of decay.

Once class had arrived and put on their protective gear - Liliana had eschewed such things, but that's because she was skipping out on the 'full experience' she was gifting to her students, you're welcome class - she gestured to the tunnel. "So, due to last week's...difficulties...we are regrettably left with only a small percentage of the simulation - though a very interesting one, which is fortunate. However, this section of the simulation will deal with the treatment and disposal of the dead. If you think this will be too distressing for you, or if you have some kind or moral or religious taboo against such things, you're free to go to the library and begin writing a ten page paper about funerary traditions of a culture other than your own, due by next week."

She waited for anyone to leave who was so inclined, and then turned back to the matter at hand. Or, specifically, the tunnel. "As you remember from last week, the Golgari Swarm is in charge of both widespread food and also sanitation. The first part of our simulation had intended to be following a chapter of the Street Swarm as they cleaned up a neighborhood. That part of the simulation didn't survive, so instead, we're beginning here, on their trek down to the Undercity. Much of the trash that is either inorganic or still salvageable is taken to other parts of the sewer to be separated and catalogued. Down this way is where they bring much of the organic filth, and any dead bodies they have collected. The plant-life - not that fungus is specifically a plant, but we're categorizing it that way for ease - is a general marker that we are using a Golgari sewer tunnel, as is the relative cleanliness. Most people would see a dry, overgrown sewer and assume that this had been abandoned, but they would be wrong. The holes in the ceiling were placed deliberately, to allow for water and light to enter the tunnel to encourage growth, and if you had time to examine the plant life, you would find bioluminescent plants to allow for travel in the dark; different colors and species of lichen to act as signposts for various areas and warnings for Guild defenses; and several species of fungus that reinforce the walls and ceiling against decay not sanctioned by the Guild, and others with vast mycelial networks to provide information to Golgari shamans, fungus-binders, and other fungal constructions who are capable of interpreting the signals the mycelia provide."

She began to move forward, leading the class further into the tunnel. Keep up, class. This was only a simulation, but you probably didn't want to be left behind.

"The outer tunnels are mostly for surveillance," she explained as they walked. "Any number of non-Golgari folk can end up in the sewers - explorers, looters, criminals, people seeking shelter from the elements, et cetera - and most surface Golgari tunnels have forks and junctions built in leading back to the surface." She stopped at one such, the right side with more of those semi-evenly spaced holes for light and a gentle slope upwards. The left one had fewer light-holes and quickly descended into shadows, the plants thicker and darker. "The assumption is, of course, that most innocent people will take the right-hand path and either take shelter there or leave the sewers entirely." So, of course, they were heading down the left past, into the gloom.

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Once more in a sewer!

Charlie Gale

Stark

Listen to the lecture, consider the ways the Golgari protect themselves, examine the plants.

Also, for those inclined to leave and write that essay, this is the time to go!

Here, water dripped, the walls going slimy. The bioluminescent plants were far and few between, most of them wrapped around corpses that were occasionally propped against the walls. There were skittering noises around them now, along the walls and across the ceilings - rats, perhaps, or very large insects. Liliana called up a ball of light to continue to show the way - and also to show additional interesting guardians the Golgari employed. "These bodies are simply dead allowed to molder and serve as beacons - again, the assumption is that anyone innocent coming this far down would see the bodies and retreat. But around here, we also begin to see more creative guards and patrols." She sent the light up towards the ceiling, where the skittering noise had been a moment ago, and instead of rats or insects, it illuminated a skull with mushrooms growing out through the bone. It moved on slithering vines, the skittering noises coming from times the skull was briefly dragged across stone. "A slitherhead," Liliana identified. "This type here is only for observation; somewhere further in the tunnels, the shaman or necromancer who created it would be watching through it and taking note of whomever is coming through - numbers, assumed strength, arms and armor, attitude, that kind of thing. A response would then be released based on their judgment of what would be most appropriate to handle them."

"One such potential response would be a second type of slitherhead, this one called a deathcap marionette." The light bobbed down towards one of the noises from the base of the walls to show the second type; the fungal protrusions were more numerous, the supporting vines thicker and stronger. "This type of slitherhead is more aggressive, drawn to movement and bodyheat, and is more of an active guard than a passive one." It scuttled forwards towards them and released a cloud of spores into the air. "Deathcap marionettes come in three varieties, based on the type of spores released," Liliana said. "Some are soporific, intended to put trespassers to sleep, where they will them - usually - be moved to another tunnel and left to awaken. Other spores are poisonous; trespassers will become feverish and weak, their joints will ache, they will vomit up even the memory of food, and in, all, have a very miserable few hours. The last kind are, of course, fatal."

She brushed through the spores that hung in the air and moved on. "There is a fourth kind of deathcap marionette, but those are not used for guards. Their spores are hallucinogenic." A little further down the tunnel, two more guardians seemed to pull themselves out of the vegetation that hung heavy on the walls: a zombie and a skeleton.

"Now then, we've covered both skeletons and zombies in class. Feel free to examine both of these fine specimens and tell me what you notice about them that differs from the undead we've discussed before and how that would change your strategy with dealing with them, if it would. What inferences can you draw about the Golgari from them and also from the defenses we've seen thus far?"

Stark was quiet as they walked except for murmuring something under his breath that could have been a prayer or a blessing.

He was taking it all in though. Of course he was. And when they reached the zombie and skeleton he was carefully looking them over.

Liliana gave him a full minute to examine them before prompting, "Ideas, Stark?"

Curious at what he'd noticed and what that made him consider.

"They're still helping sustain other life," Stark said. "With the plants. It's just different from the others we've seen."

She gave him a smile full of approval. "Correct," she said. "One of the Golgari specialties is the creation of plant and fungal zombies, a melding of green and black mana, though they are 'enemy' colors and do not, traditionally, work well together. These are excellent examples of the Golgari belief that life and death are equally natural and equally essential and do not need to be considered opposites, but rather extensions of the other.

"I look forward to the rest of your opinions today, Stark."

Once the discussion of the defenses had wound to a close, Liliana continued the tour forward. Soon they made their way out of the sewer tunnels and into the Undercity proper. They traveled through long halls and by ancient buildings, all liberally covered with vegetation and mushrooms. "The Golgari are not the only residents of the Undercity; Rix Maadi, the Guildhall of the Cult of Rakdos is down here, and many Gateless who, for one reason or another, cannot find homes in the Upper Cities make them down here. Once we've ventured this far into the Undercity, we start seeing signs that we're in Golgari territory--" She pointed at a sigil that glowed on a tower which had seemed to be built upside down "--which means that you'd better either be part of the Swarm, or have a damn good reason to talk to the Guild leader. Or, are skilled enough to go exploring without getting caught."

Three guesses no prizes for which one described Liliana.

Entering into one of the buildings, they found themselves face to face with truly towering mushrooms. The floor was covered in muck and standing water and all around were slightly firmer places with more mushrooms and plants growing on them. "This is a rot farm and it's from here that most of the foot that the Golgari prove comes from. It's a cheap, plentiful, nutrient-packed gruel made primarily from mushrooms and other vegetation, and then usually eggs and meat from insects are added to add more calories and various nutrients you can't get from plant life alone." She pointed into the distance where a stag beetle covered in fungus and the size of an ox was pulling along a cart. "When that dies, for example, its exoskeleton will be repurposed for armor and shields and then it will be butchered to be added to the gruel."

A table appeared next to them, full of a thick grayish-brown sludge with the occasional flecks of green and chunks of white. "The Golgari gruel," she said. "Enough to keep you going. There are multiple Golgari charity kitchens throughout Ravnica where you can go daily to receive a bowl of this, though those who can afford to do so will usually buy a day's supply for their family and bring it home, either to supplement other meals or to at least add additional ingredients and seasonings to make it more palatable." She gestured. "Go on, try some if you'd like."

It wasn't particularly good, but it wasn't bad either. Solidly bland, with the occasional chunk of meat for a change in texture. Anyone who ate it could understand why people would bring it home for seasoning if nothing else.

"The Golgari provide this gruel to a good...seventy to eighty percent of Ravnicans, from those who use it to round out their diets to those who solely subsist upon it. So...why mushrooms? Why insects? In the ten thousand or so years that the Swarm has been in existence, why have they decided that this was to be the foundational food of Ravnica?"

"Mushrooms and insects are easy to grow," Stark said. "Especially in...this sort of environment."

It all made sense. Life that fed on death and then that life died to feed other life.

"And they keep the dead things from being too much. It's...it's a good system, I think."

Liliana nodded. "One of the best I've seen, especially in a plane that is one giant city," she said. "It takes advantage of the environment to create food that is plentiful and nutritious for a city that houses...multiple tens of millions, if not more."

"They seem to be taking care of their people," Stark said. "Are they? really?"

Liliana considered that carefully before answering. "On the whole, yes," she said. "I believe so. I mean, keep in mind I am a visitor to Ravnica and a wealthy and powerful one at that. But I know they are less exploitative than, say, the Orzhov, and less interested in making sure that the people they're helping are being held to some kind of specific standard, the way the Boros and the Selesnya are."

"Good," Stark said softly. "I'm glad. Nothing is ever perfect but this seems better than many places I've seen."

It was a very low bar to clear, mind you, but a bar nonetheless.

"Well, there's one last thing to see," Liliana said. "We'll see if you continue to feel this way after you see it, hmm?"

Once everyone who wanted to try the gruel had, Liliana led them closer to the giant stag beetle, where people were industriously unloading the cart. As they got closer, they could see that all of the people were zombies, not all of whom were human, but all of whom were covered in fungus. Some were only lightly covered, others appeared to be more fungus than ghoul. Several of them were unloading the contents of the cart, others were digging in the fields, turning over rich, dark soil, and various other farming chores.

It didn't take long to realize that what was being unloaded from the cart were corpses, neatly shrouded, and carried over to the soil where they were placed in shallow graves. Once settled, the shroud was opened and a zombie poured a thick sludge over them. "That is a mushroom substrate," Liliana explained. "The corpses are left for a week or so to allow the mushrooms to take root, as it were, and cling to the surface, and then a necromancer will come by and raise them up, where they can join their brethren working on the rot farm, either this one or one just like it in need of workers. Eventually, when a zombie is so overgrown with mushrooms that it can barely move--" she nodded to a one of the mushroom-covered zombies "--it will lay down in a designated area to allow them to continue growing. The more zombies in one place, the bigger the colony grows, until you have ones that size over there." She gestured to the mushrooms that towered over all of them.

"I've asked you many questions today, but these are the most important. Why? Why do this? What does this serve? What can this teach us? Is this cruel? Is this moral? Is this disgusting? What conclusions can you draw about Ravnican life and culture from this? Don't just kneejerk answer, I want you to think."

Edited 2024-03-21 10:06 (UTC)

"Do they know this will happen, before?" Stark asked. "Do they agree to it?"

"I don't know," Liliana said. "These are the bodies that are just left, the ones who die anonymously or unclaimed by relations, but are not in debt to the Orzhov. Some of them are sold to the Golgari by the surviving families. Though if I had to guess, likely not. The Guilds are very keen on sharing information with outsiders." She looked at him and arched an eyebrow. "What would you do with them?" she asked. "Every inch of viable land and potable water is necessary for the living residents. A single cremation puts hundreds of pounds of pollutants in the air."

"I just think people should have a say in what happens after they cross over. If they can. Or at least they ought to be aware."

Stark frowned slightly, brow furrowing. "I don't know what I would do. I'm not in charge of so many lives and I never have been. Or will be. I just...I feel like bodies ought to be laid to rest however that may look. But perhaps, for some here, this is what that looks like. I don't know. How could I know, I've barely seen anything of this place or these people."

"I think that's a nice viewpoint," Liliana agrees, "and in optimal conditions, I can see your argument bearing weight. But in the face of what is best and safest for the living, why do the already-dead matter? What is more important? The honor of the dead or the survival of the living?"

"Survival," Stark said. "Of course survival. Keeping someone safe and whole is more important than what happens to their remains."

It wasn't even a question, Liliana!

"And if this is the way that that can best be done?" Liliana asked, with a gesture.

As if she hasn't talked enough today.

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Necromancers Guide to the Undead, Thursday, Period 1

Sign In 03/21

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Listen to the Lecture

Golgari Defenses

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Golgari Rot Farm

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Here There Be Corpses

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Talk To Liliana

OOC