The Garbage Dump of the Planes?

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VikingLegion's picture
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The Garbage Dump of the Planes?

I'm not sure if this topic has ever been discussed. I'm wondering if somewhere, in all the vast variety of the multiverse, there exists something akin to a gigantic landfill of trash and refuse. This line of thought was spurred recently while watching Star Wars. The trash compactor scene always gets me wondering about what that monster is that we see only a small portion of. I always think of some kind of otyugh offshoot, and that invariably gets me thinking if the D&D setting, with it's ability to magically solve mundane problems, has a location that would fit.

I know we've discussed, at some length, the 2nd layer of Acheron as being a bit of a waste dump - but I don't think that quite fits the character of what I'm looking for. That's more of a scrap heap of rusting war machines and the detritus of war, as opposed to simply garbage.

I'm thinking more of a trash heap that spans the size of prime continents (or even worlds). I suppose some societies might simply deposit a great deal of waste through portals to the Elemental Plane of Fire, which is a nice and quick solution, but offers little in the way of recovery. I'd like to think there's a "Trash World" - maybe a burned out prime planet, now run by a massive clan of nezumi or wererats (I know... cliche) who run the dump and are able to locate things - for a sizeable fee of course.

Alternately, this could be placed on the paraelemental plane of Ooze - which might make an ideal location as the indigenous life forms would be perfect for breaking down the trash - making this sort of like the "recycling bin of the multiverse".

Jem
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Re: The Garbage Dump of the Planes?

Ooze is in fact the garbage dump of Sigil, and yes, I think any organic matter in the trash will be broken down quickly by a riot of fungi, algae, molds, bacteria, and many, many other lifeforms that find the rich soup ideal.

For a trash Prime, might I suggest the opposite of Ooze: an icy, airless Prime world that underwent some cataclysm in the past that blew off its atmosphere and extinguished its sun. Now unsuited for humanoid settlement, the conditions are extremely preservative. Organic items freeze instantly, metal items have no air to rust in, etc. Great place to dump something you probably don't need, but might just possibly want in the future. It could be run by a few wizards with a lot of constructs, or one of the construct races, or just a bunch of guys with necklaces of adaptation.

A second alternative could be a simple blip in the fabric of the Prime; a mostly empty crystal sphere, with a small sun and an air-filled solar space, and a tendency to interfere with portals across the Multiverse so that occasionally, stuff gets randomly dumped here. Over the eons, the junk has collected itself under the force of gravity and is now a moon-sized heap of garbage. Most of the incoming stuff is junk; occasionally it is people, who are either stuck, or wait around for another random portal to get them off. Some of them have stayed, and make a living picking through the random fall of goods hoping to find something valuable. They often eat what falls (sometimes while it's moving), or use organic mass to compost a small farm area. Sources of water, and spellcasters who can create it, are valuable assets.

Hyena of Ice's picture
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Re: The Garbage Dump of the Planes?

Actually, a better Prime World garbage dump would be a desert planet; those tend to be a tad easier to work on than tundras for most races.

Acheron's second layer is a garbage dump for machinery, clockworks, siege weaponry, weapons, armor, and magic items.

ripvanwormer's picture
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Re: The Garbage Dump of the Planes?

Is this thread inspired by Dr. McNinja's Earth-4 (whose origin was recounted here)?

Or by the HOL roleplaying game?

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Re: The Garbage Dump of the Planes?

The creature you're wondering about is the dianoga.

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VikingLegion's picture
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Re: The Garbage Dump of the Planes?

I can always count on the cutters at this site to deliver both fantastic ideas and a wealth of information.

Jem - your "Trash World" is a fun concept worth exploring. I thought my wererat/nezumi stewards were pretty boring and cliche, but I like how you've sucked out the atmosphere and used constructs and/or wizard controllers as the keepers of the trash. I can even see them having everything all cataloged nice and neat, sending out their golems to numbered sectors on a vast grid for retrievals. I think Kevin Costner would like to make a movie around it. Trash-free land is not a myth... I've seen it!!!

Rip - I've never heard of Dr. McNinja or whatever that was, seems pretty bizarre but thanks for the link.

Bob - dianoga, good to know.

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Re: The Garbage Dump of the Planes?

HōL all the way, but beware of the Wastits, the Sodomy Bikers, Fleshtenders and anything else that wants to take your eyes out with a sponk...

RainOfSteel's picture
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Re: The Garbage Dump of the Planes?

For the ecologically inclined, wouldn't using Limbo be a good idea? I would think that inanimate matter would be destroyed fairly quickly.

Jem
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Re: The Garbage Dump of the Planes?

Hah, that's pretty good.

Armoury99's picture
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Re: The Garbage Dump of the Planes?

RainOfSteel wrote:
For the ecologically inclined, wouldn't using Limbo be a good idea? I would think that inanimate matter would be destroyed fairly quickly.

Actually that's a pretty nice image: Garbage bursting out of the portal in a torrent. Some of it harvested by various traders and local residents, some clumping into islands of trash being grazed on by gargantuan limbo beasts or malfunctioning constructs in need of parts, and other bits eventually spinning off into Limbo and transforming into cold flame, pockadot bunny rabbits, or whatever.

RainOfSteel's picture
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Re: The Garbage Dump of the Planes?

Your version is more interesting than mine.

I thought the "primordial soup", as Planes of Chaos refers to it, would just dissolve the garbage. (I call it the Chaos Ocean, personally, just to give it a name.)

Hyena of Ice's picture
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Re: The Garbage Dump of the Planes?

^^That's also what I assumed.

Zimrazim's picture
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Re: The Garbage Dump of the Planes?

In a typical medieval society, you'd have far less trash to deal with in the first place. You'd mostly have organic materials to work with, and most materials would be reused in some fashion.

Even Sigil, probably a larger 'trash producer' than many places in the multiverse, may not produce as much trash as you'd think. Even, ahem, sewage would be worthwhile on other planes as fertilizer, as icky as that may be to modern sensibilities.

You also have a large bunch of Hivers and Lower Ward sorts providing work at very cheap rates, so salvaging what others might think of as 'trash' would be worthwhile to them.

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Idran's picture
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Re: The Garbage Dump of the Planes?

Keep in mind, though, that Sigil, and Planescape as a whole, is far from a typical medieval society, especially considering that the way of life on most planes seems far more akin to a just-barely-pre- or early-Renaissance society than Middle Ages. Between alchemists, artificers, magical researchers, and other such occupations, there's likely to be a good deal more waste than in an actual medieval society of equivalent size, and a significant portion of it is likely to be the D&D-equivalent of toxic or radioactive waste too, mostly because of those occupations. Though still much less garbage overall than in the modern day, true.

Hyena of Ice's picture
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Re: The Garbage Dump of the Planes?

Vacuum and the Negative Energy Plane adjacent to a lot of voidstone would also be ecologically sound choices, granted portals to both planes are very dangerous (esp. with Sun Sing running around)

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