FROM THE "OVERHEARD IN MY LIVING ROOM" FILE
My wife was quizzing my daughter on ancient China, and one question about what the called the trade route from China to the west had as a possible answer "The Polyester Road". Brainstorm.
Imagine post-apocalypse America. In this case, the apocalypse in question is a new ice age. The planet is colder and drier. Canada is under a sheet of ice, the U.S. Midwest is a sand sea desert and the Mississippi a mere trickle. Two population centers survive in North America. On the west coast you have folks living and farming from Southern California into Mexico, with almost all farmland going to grow food. On the east coast, you have large settlements from Virginia to Florida, with the most powerful and wealthy settlement being the city-state of Kinston (in what we now call North Carolina). Why is Kinston so powerful? They alone know the secret of making polyester. Yes, for societies that now wear two hundred year-old rags and animal pelts, that have to push all their resources into growing food, there is no more valuable material than polyester, the fabric of kings. Since the destruction of the Panama Canal, it has made economic sense for the merchants of California & Mexico to make their way across the Void Zone at the heart of North America along the famous Polyester Road to Kinston.
I'm picturing the well-to-do in leisure suits, the legions of Kinston in fiberglass/polyester armor, the city-state ruled by the Lords DuPont, etc.
FROM THE "DANG, THAT'S ONE BIG APE" FILE
That would be French singer Sylvie Vartan with Kong on the Champs Elysees. I can't tell you the last time I had a chanteuse sit on my stomach in the middle of the street. Them big guys get ever'thin'. Via Kippage - NSFW
FROM THE "WHAT THE?" FILE
Nathanial Clark, "I approach the cavern." Via Super Punch.
FROM THE "INTERESTING PLACE TO VISIT" FILE
Freeride Mountain Biking, via Super Punch.
Ice Glacier Caves, via Super Punch.
Blue Arabian Desert via Astro_Soichi, my favorite astronaut.
The Human Planet from the BBC. Honestly, if I could pack a billionth of the wondrous-ness of this video into Nod, I'd be a happy man.
FROM THE "DREAMING OF WONDER WOMAN" FILE
Perhaps my most aptly named file. Via Super Punch. Yeah, I like Super Punch.
FROM THE "THEY READ MY MIND" FILE
Victorian Nurse-Bot by Doktor A. via Super Punch. Looks like the automatons I pictured running the Empire of Vex in the PARS FORTUNA setting.
Has HCC #1 been released yet? The Frog God site indicates a February release, but I don't see a purchase button. The hex map sample reminds me of a section of the Mississippi/Missouri rivers. Is the setting influenced by the exploration of the American west? If so, I might have to check it out. :)
ReplyDeleteNot yet, but soon. It was originally scheduled for February but was pushed back to March.
ReplyDeleteThe hex map is based on the area you're talking about, but the hexcrawl is not. Pure fantasy. Think of it as an homage to EGG's use of the North American continent for his original Greyhawk maps.
HCC #2 goes a bit up the river and HCC #3 goes even further north across an unwholesome black sea.
That's an awesome Kong pic. And that automaton is cool, too.
ReplyDeleteHow many more pictures do you have in your Dang that's a big ape, file? That's some category.
ReplyDeleteHmmm - how many pictures in my Dang That's a Big Ape file - sounds like a challenge.
ReplyDeleteWow, love the mutation of silk road to polyester road. Certainly could be a power in some sort of far past bomb day situation, and it helps to underline the value of clothing in earlier times.
ReplyDeleteLate to the party, but I LOOOOOVE the "Polyester Road" idea.
ReplyDeleteWhat about hemp , a very hard wearing fibre ?
ReplyDelete