Re: Journal of Sociology [S!6] - [Signups Open~]
04-24-2012, 06:03 PM
Originally posted on MSPA by The Deleter.
Username: The Deleter
Name: Triticum Messor
Gender: N/A
Race: Self aware, ambulatory plant
Colour: #996633, the smell of burnt straw
Description: Three specimens of Triticum Messor have been entered into this battle.
Weapons/Abilities: Whilst Triticum Messor has not been fully researched and its full capabilities are still unknown, several major facts have come to light
Biography: Whilst its origins are a mystery, Triticum Messor is speculated to be extraterrestrial in origin, arriving either via spores floating through space or on a meteor impact. Since then, the plant has taken a virulent hold on the ecosystem of our planet. Cases of Triticum Messor have been reported mostly in the southern US, particularly in Kansas and other crop-growing states, and in South America, where it has found a home in the rainforests of Brazil. Whilst efforts to curb the plant have been successful in the US, it runs rampant in South America, and cases are being reported worldwide as wind dispersal carries spores to other countries.
Outbreaks should be treated with liberal application of fire, as Triticum Messor is highly resilient to other forms of attack and instinctively flees from fire. All known breeding grounds should be patrolled and regularly salted to prevent further reproduction.
Writing Sample
Username: The Deleter
Name: Triticum Messor
Gender: N/A
Race: Self aware, ambulatory plant
Colour: #996633, the smell of burnt straw
Description: Three specimens of Triticum Messor have been entered into this battle.
SpoilerShow
Triticum Messor is a highly invasive and persistent plant, aggressively choking out other forms of life in its overriding goal of reproduction. Members of Triticum Messor resemble upright bipedal forms, made out of corded lengths of material resembling straw and green vines. Their height ranges from five feet six inches to six foot seven inches, and they are covered by ragged clothes grown from their bodies in a manner akin to leaves. Their overall appearance resembles earth scarecrows. Triticum Messor moves slowly in a shuffling gait, and they are usually completely silent save from the rustling of their bodies.
An individual member is approximately smart as a chimpanzee, with several caveats. Whilst they have humanoid appendages with numerous “fingers” at the end of their arms, their dexterity is relatively poor and they cannot accomplish complex tasks that would require an opposable thumb. They are capable of using simple tools and can fashion crude weapons from sticks, but are more likely to scavenge tools from their environment. Due to the nature of their reproduction cycle, they prefer sharp tools, and seem to be attracted to curved objects or tools such as scythes and billhooks. Members often group together in small troops, usually to solve tasks beyond their scope or in mass reproduction efforts, but are ultimately solitary creatures. Their thought processes, if they have any, are inscrutable.
Other biological processes, such as how they feed their comparatively large mass and how they see and hear, are unknown at this present time. A particular mystery is how members communicate with each other, although researchers theorise pheromone signals may be utilised.
An individual member is approximately smart as a chimpanzee, with several caveats. Whilst they have humanoid appendages with numerous “fingers” at the end of their arms, their dexterity is relatively poor and they cannot accomplish complex tasks that would require an opposable thumb. They are capable of using simple tools and can fashion crude weapons from sticks, but are more likely to scavenge tools from their environment. Due to the nature of their reproduction cycle, they prefer sharp tools, and seem to be attracted to curved objects or tools such as scythes and billhooks. Members often group together in small troops, usually to solve tasks beyond their scope or in mass reproduction efforts, but are ultimately solitary creatures. Their thought processes, if they have any, are inscrutable.
Other biological processes, such as how they feed their comparatively large mass and how they see and hear, are unknown at this present time. A particular mystery is how members communicate with each other, although researchers theorise pheromone signals may be utilised.
SpoilerShow
The primary danger that Triticum Messor represents to any ecosystem is its highly destructive and invasive method of reproduction. Members of Triticum Messor will stake out an area, usually an acre or so in size, as their territory. Within this area, they will tear down plants and small trees and flatten the land out, occasionally with the help of other members. The owner of this “field” then seeks out more plant material and living animals, killing them and using the dead material as “compost” for their fields. This is usually accomplished by stealth, as many animals do not register Triticum Messor as a threat and are often swiftly brought down.
The range of killing methods varies. The most common method is strangulation or suffocation via invasive vine growth, especially for smaller animals. Larger animals are brought down in groups, or via use of weapons. Some specimens have been observed with thorns or nettle-like stings on their bodies, causing speculation that large or especially resilient prey may be brought down via powerful toxins. Occasionally, members have been spotted stalking wounded prey in a manner similar to the Komodo Dragon.
When an area is sufficiently composted, an act that takes a week or two, the field’s owner then constructs an array or stand made of wooden branches or similar materials, and affixes themselves to it. The plant then expires, releasing thousands of spores into the air that sink down over the fielded area. The spores are highly resilient, able to survive in hostile conditions for up to a year, and require little other nourishment. They soon grow into what appears to be a field of corn carpeted by green vines. These vines eventually bind the stalks together and create new Triticum Messor, which disperse to find new areas to cultivate.
This is not the only way Triticum Messor can reproduce. In cases where it would be inefficient or time-consuming to create a field, individuals can undergo binary fission, splitting into two units. This process takes an hour or so, but results in a loss of mass for both units, resulting in generally weaker specimens. As a result, this practice is rare, and as a species it avoids it when possible.
Isolated reports indicate that members of Triticum Messor are showing increased organisation, going so far as to organise in troops akin to primates and appointing leaders. This is false. There is no documented evidence or scientific study that confirms or even suggests behaviour of this nature. Triticum Messor is solitary, and does not have the higher brain functions required to enact this behaviour.
The range of killing methods varies. The most common method is strangulation or suffocation via invasive vine growth, especially for smaller animals. Larger animals are brought down in groups, or via use of weapons. Some specimens have been observed with thorns or nettle-like stings on their bodies, causing speculation that large or especially resilient prey may be brought down via powerful toxins. Occasionally, members have been spotted stalking wounded prey in a manner similar to the Komodo Dragon.
When an area is sufficiently composted, an act that takes a week or two, the field’s owner then constructs an array or stand made of wooden branches or similar materials, and affixes themselves to it. The plant then expires, releasing thousands of spores into the air that sink down over the fielded area. The spores are highly resilient, able to survive in hostile conditions for up to a year, and require little other nourishment. They soon grow into what appears to be a field of corn carpeted by green vines. These vines eventually bind the stalks together and create new Triticum Messor, which disperse to find new areas to cultivate.
This is not the only way Triticum Messor can reproduce. In cases where it would be inefficient or time-consuming to create a field, individuals can undergo binary fission, splitting into two units. This process takes an hour or so, but results in a loss of mass for both units, resulting in generally weaker specimens. As a result, this practice is rare, and as a species it avoids it when possible.
Isolated reports indicate that members of Triticum Messor are showing increased organisation, going so far as to organise in troops akin to primates and appointing leaders. This is false. There is no documented evidence or scientific study that confirms or even suggests behaviour of this nature. Triticum Messor is solitary, and does not have the higher brain functions required to enact this behaviour.
Biography: Whilst its origins are a mystery, Triticum Messor is speculated to be extraterrestrial in origin, arriving either via spores floating through space or on a meteor impact. Since then, the plant has taken a virulent hold on the ecosystem of our planet. Cases of Triticum Messor have been reported mostly in the southern US, particularly in Kansas and other crop-growing states, and in South America, where it has found a home in the rainforests of Brazil. Whilst efforts to curb the plant have been successful in the US, it runs rampant in South America, and cases are being reported worldwide as wind dispersal carries spores to other countries.
Outbreaks should be treated with liberal application of fire, as Triticum Messor is highly resilient to other forms of attack and instinctively flees from fire. All known breeding grounds should be patrolled and regularly salted to prevent further reproduction.
Writing Sample
SpoilerShow
*Recording begins*
Um, i-i-is this on? There’s, there’s the light…
M-my name is Adam Rodeburg. I am- I, I was a, a researcher at – no, there’s no point in lying, not on this tape. I, I was a doctor, at the Kansas Institue for the Study of Extranormal Activity. I, I don’t think I’m gonna be that for much longer. A researcher, I mean. Or, or an institute. You ever see those, those pictures that guy did, about how New York would look after humanity was gone? A-all grown over? It’s, it’s gonna be like that.
I, I better tell whoever finds this – if, if anyone finds it – what we were doing here. But um, it’s gonna be kind of obvious. We were looking at, at the scarecrows. Cutting them open and stuff, trying, t-to find out what made them work, how they moved, how they thought, If they thought. You know, science stuff. I- I never really got to do much, to be honest. I was there to, to look after the staff, not those, those things. But, um… rumors got out. I guess.
It wasn’t hard to get a scarecrow. All of Kansas is, like -
[SECTION CUT]
- but you’d just find them, sort of, shuffling around, or you could pull one off of the little racks they made for themselves. So it can’t have been that hard to, to get one. But cutting it open, or whatever they did, that must have b-been something else. They’ve got, like, thorns, see? So touching them cuts you up. And I, I think they have poisons and stuff too, so…
I- I don’t even know what they look like on the inside. H-how do they even w-walk?
A-Anyway, I’d been stationed here f-for a couple of weeks. I was assigned to Medical, to look after the s-security teams. They’d do perimeter sweeps around the f-facility, making sure the area was free of the corn. Sometimes they’d, they’d find a scarecrow, and then they’d g-get the flamethrowers out and b-burn it because that meant they w-were trying to spread out.
So it was, maybe my sixth week there, and one of the guys s-said that the corn was growing faster th-than normal. Like, he said, it was growing back faster, and they h-had to keep cutting it back e-every d-day. I, I didn’t believe him, I thought he was crazy. B-but then the others were saying the s-same thing, the corn was growing faster. So they kept cutting it back. Bu-but then it got t-to the point where it was b-beating them, it was growing inwards faster than they c-could prune it, s-so they got the flamethrowers out. And all the while we kept bringing scarecrows back and c-cutting them up and g-god knows what.
And th-then, after a few weeks, it, it was getting harder to burn the corn up to a certain point, it was becoming all, sort of, waxy, and I know because one of the guys g-gave me a bit t-to look at. They went out for like, five hundred yards, and all the corn was t-the same, all w-waxy like that. So they, they were getting old chainsaws and m-mowers and stuff out of the storerooms, but t-they were getting clogged up, and the corn k-kept growing inwards. And we s-stopped finding scarecrows so near the place, and then, then they were too far out. It, it got to the p-point where you just had this, this ring, of hung-up scarecrows around the place, and one of the guys swears he –
[SECTION CUT]
- and we didn’t know what t-to say to that. We all thought we, we weren’t gonna get out. We, weren’t gonna get out, like, maybe we’d walk a few yards and then one of them would get us. So, we all, we all decided to stay.
And then, and then Billy got cut. One of the bastards fell out of the corn and got him, across the forearm, with an old billhook, and I, I treated him for infection and sent him away but, but they must have put something in, in his blood because –
[SECTION CUT]
- and it was MY FAULT, I didn’t check, I could have done something, anything, I could have SAVED him, but instead he just walked out there to die and we could have stopped him and we didn’t and it’s MY FAULT, IT’S MY FAULT, I COULD HAVE -
[SECTION CUT FOR BREVITY]
I, I’m sorry. I, I lost control of, of…
They attacked in the night. The corn was right up to the door, it wouldn’t burn anymore and they wouldn’t burn, so we got shotguns and pistols and when we didn’t have ammo we were cutting at them and, and Marcia went down and I had to, had to do, what I could, and then we burnt her body so they couldn’t take her away, and then...
I think I’m the last one left.
...
Maybe they, they heard. You know? Like, like they heard their, their friends, all being cut up or something, maybe they knew what we were doing down here. I sure as shit didn’t. And that, that’s stupid, but I was talking to Billy one day, after he, he got, and he said that he heard one of the scientists talking about –
[SECTION CUT]
- so maybe they –
I c-can hear them. At the, the door. I, I’m not sure it’s g-gonna h-hold much longer.
I- I’m g-gonna turn this o-off now.
P-please don’t t-tell mom they got me.
*recording ends*
Um, i-i-is this on? There’s, there’s the light…
M-my name is Adam Rodeburg. I am- I, I was a, a researcher at – no, there’s no point in lying, not on this tape. I, I was a doctor, at the Kansas Institue for the Study of Extranormal Activity. I, I don’t think I’m gonna be that for much longer. A researcher, I mean. Or, or an institute. You ever see those, those pictures that guy did, about how New York would look after humanity was gone? A-all grown over? It’s, it’s gonna be like that.
I, I better tell whoever finds this – if, if anyone finds it – what we were doing here. But um, it’s gonna be kind of obvious. We were looking at, at the scarecrows. Cutting them open and stuff, trying, t-to find out what made them work, how they moved, how they thought, If they thought. You know, science stuff. I- I never really got to do much, to be honest. I was there to, to look after the staff, not those, those things. But, um… rumors got out. I guess.
It wasn’t hard to get a scarecrow. All of Kansas is, like -
[SECTION CUT]
- but you’d just find them, sort of, shuffling around, or you could pull one off of the little racks they made for themselves. So it can’t have been that hard to, to get one. But cutting it open, or whatever they did, that must have b-been something else. They’ve got, like, thorns, see? So touching them cuts you up. And I, I think they have poisons and stuff too, so…
I- I don’t even know what they look like on the inside. H-how do they even w-walk?
A-Anyway, I’d been stationed here f-for a couple of weeks. I was assigned to Medical, to look after the s-security teams. They’d do perimeter sweeps around the f-facility, making sure the area was free of the corn. Sometimes they’d, they’d find a scarecrow, and then they’d g-get the flamethrowers out and b-burn it because that meant they w-were trying to spread out.
So it was, maybe my sixth week there, and one of the guys s-said that the corn was growing faster th-than normal. Like, he said, it was growing back faster, and they h-had to keep cutting it back e-every d-day. I, I didn’t believe him, I thought he was crazy. B-but then the others were saying the s-same thing, the corn was growing faster. So they kept cutting it back. Bu-but then it got t-to the point where it was b-beating them, it was growing inwards faster than they c-could prune it, s-so they got the flamethrowers out. And all the while we kept bringing scarecrows back and c-cutting them up and g-god knows what.
And th-then, after a few weeks, it, it was getting harder to burn the corn up to a certain point, it was becoming all, sort of, waxy, and I know because one of the guys g-gave me a bit t-to look at. They went out for like, five hundred yards, and all the corn was t-the same, all w-waxy like that. So they, they were getting old chainsaws and m-mowers and stuff out of the storerooms, but t-they were getting clogged up, and the corn k-kept growing inwards. And we s-stopped finding scarecrows so near the place, and then, then they were too far out. It, it got to the p-point where you just had this, this ring, of hung-up scarecrows around the place, and one of the guys swears he –
[SECTION CUT]
- and we didn’t know what t-to say to that. We all thought we, we weren’t gonna get out. We, weren’t gonna get out, like, maybe we’d walk a few yards and then one of them would get us. So, we all, we all decided to stay.
And then, and then Billy got cut. One of the bastards fell out of the corn and got him, across the forearm, with an old billhook, and I, I treated him for infection and sent him away but, but they must have put something in, in his blood because –
[SECTION CUT]
- and it was MY FAULT, I didn’t check, I could have done something, anything, I could have SAVED him, but instead he just walked out there to die and we could have stopped him and we didn’t and it’s MY FAULT, IT’S MY FAULT, I COULD HAVE -
[SECTION CUT FOR BREVITY]
I, I’m sorry. I, I lost control of, of…
They attacked in the night. The corn was right up to the door, it wouldn’t burn anymore and they wouldn’t burn, so we got shotguns and pistols and when we didn’t have ammo we were cutting at them and, and Marcia went down and I had to, had to do, what I could, and then we burnt her body so they couldn’t take her away, and then...
I think I’m the last one left.
...
Maybe they, they heard. You know? Like, like they heard their, their friends, all being cut up or something, maybe they knew what we were doing down here. I sure as shit didn’t. And that, that’s stupid, but I was talking to Billy one day, after he, he got, and he said that he heard one of the scientists talking about –
[SECTION CUT]
- so maybe they –
I c-can hear them. At the, the door. I, I’m not sure it’s g-gonna h-hold much longer.
I- I’m g-gonna turn this o-off now.
P-please don’t t-tell mom they got me.
*recording ends*