Cosmic parasites: inspiration for names?

[Khisanth the Ancient]

I've been thinking up some ideas for Epic-level and higher creatures that act as parasites (of life force/biosphere on a smaller scale, of reality itself on a larger scale) on a regional, continental, planetary, or bigger scale, but I'm stuck for names for all the bigger-scale ones ("Asteroidal Leech", "Vampire Planet", "Eater of Reality" etc just don't cut it). The only name I have nailed down is "Mountains of Voices" (loosely derived from the old William Hope Hodgson novel The Night Land) for the regional/national-scale ones. (They're immense mountainlike structures/beings/entities which emit a mysterious call that draws living beings from the entire region towards them, where they are killed and drained of life & soul.)

Does anyone here know of any mythical/legendary/old-enough-to-be-out-of-copyright fictional inspirations for names for this kind of thing? Or any other good names? I'm considering "Cosmophage" for the biggest scale one, but that's not that great...

 

[Upper_Krust]

Hiya mate!

I've been thinking up some ideas for Epic-level and higher creatures that act as parasites (of life force/biosphere on a smaller scale, of reality itself on a larger scale) on a regional, continental, planetary, or bigger scale, but I'm stuck for names for all the bigger-scale ones ("Asteroidal Leech", "Vampire Planet", "Eater of Reality" etc just don't cut it). The only name I have nailed down is "Mountains of Voices" (loosely derived from the old William Hope Hodgson novel The Night Land) for the regional/national-scale ones. (They're immense mountainlike structures/beings/entities which emit a mysterious call that draws living beings from the entire region towards them, where they are killed and drained of life & soul.)

Does anyone here know of any mythical/legendary/old-enough-to-be-out-of-copyright fictional inspirations for names for this kind of thing? Or any other good names? I'm considering "Cosmophage" for the biggest scale one, but that's not that great...

Can you wait until after the Vampire Bestiary is out...there could be a few in that which might help, but I don't want to give too many spoilers just yet.

 

[Alzrius]

You could always have a "galac-tick."

 

[Khisanth the Ancient]

Hiya mate!



Can you wait until after the Vampire Bestiary is out...there could be a few in that which might help, but I don't want to give too many spoilers just yet.

OK, sure. I don't want to copy any names you're using in that one, though.

And frankly, they're not going to turn out that vampire-like; if you've read The Night Land, they're more like the evil powers in that book. More soul-eaters than blood-drinkers.

 

[Belzamus]

It doesn't seem unreasonable to me that there'd be a cosmic point where vampires progressed from driking blood to drinking souls...U_K might have different ideas, though.

 

[Khisanth the Ancient]

It doesn't seem unreasonable to me that there'd be a cosmic point where vampires progressed from driking blood to drinking souls...U_K might have different ideas, though.

True... but these are tied to Entropy/destruction (of things that would otherwise be eternal = souls). Well, I'll write them up and worry about names later...

 

[Omeganian]

Alukot, Taphil, Zolelim, Meroknim (Hebrew).

 

[Upper_Krust]

Hey all!

It doesn't seem unreasonable to me that there'd be a cosmic point where vampires progressed from driking blood to drinking souls...U_K might have different ideas, though.

I have been thinking along those lines myself...a temporal vampire might drink your 'life-force' by stealing your 'time'..."BWAHAHA I've just stolen your Action Point!"

 

[Khisanth the Ancient]

Would it be better to go:

Paragon Tier solo (Epic Tier equivalent) - Huge/Gargantuan - Boulder/Cliff Sized
Epic Tier solo (Legendary Tier equivalent) - Mega-scale - Hill Sized
Legendary Tier solo (Immortal Tier equivalent) - Giga-scale - Mountain/Asteroid Sized
Immortal Tier solo (Sidereal Tier equivalent) - Tera-scale - Planet Sized

or does it need to be scaled up to:
Epic Tier solo (Legendary Tier equivalent) - Huge/Gargantuan - Boulder/Cliff sized
Legendary Tier solo (Immortal Tier equivalent) - Mega-scale - Hill Sized
Immortal Tier solo (Sidereal Tier equivalent) - Giga-scale - Mountain/Asteroid sized
Sidereal Tier solo (Eternal Tier equivalent) - Tera-scale - Planet Sized

The first sounds better, since an Eternal-equivalent should be the equivalent of an universe, not a mere planet: but is that right?

 

[Upper_Krust]

Hiya mate!

Would it be better to go:

Paragon Tier solo (Epic Tier equivalent) - Huge/Gargantuan - Boulder/Cliff Sized
Epic Tier solo (Legendary Tier equivalent) - Mega-scale - Hill Sized
Legendary Tier solo (Immortal Tier equivalent) - Giga-scale - Mountain/Asteroid Sized
Immortal Tier solo (Sidereal Tier equivalent) - Tera-scale - Planet Sized

or does it need to be scaled up to:
Epic Tier solo (Legendary Tier equivalent) - Huge/Gargantuan - Boulder/Cliff sized
Legendary Tier solo (Immortal Tier equivalent) - Mega-scale - Hill Sized
Immortal Tier solo (Sidereal Tier equivalent) - Giga-scale - Mountain/Asteroid sized
Sidereal Tier solo (Eternal Tier equivalent) - Tera-scale - Planet Sized

The first sounds better, since an Eternal-equivalent should be the equivalent of an universe, not a mere planet: but is that right?

Currently there are 6 sizes above Gargantuan, or rather, six size modifiers.

Mega from 31, Giga from 39 and Tera from 47 have all been discussed

Continuing that scale

Peta = Sun sized, from 55
Exa = Nebula/Solar System sized, from 63
Zetta = Galaxy sized, from 71

Theoretical extension would see

Yotta = Universe, from 79
Xona = Super-Universe, from 87
Weta = "Real", from 95

However, I don't want anything higher than 71 because you cannot conceivably support more than three additional tiers to 4E (31-60). Supporting even one more tier will be a challenge.

Which means beings like Time Lords will only be about the Size of a Sun/Star up to a Solar System.

When you leave the 'Universe' the laws of physics no longer apply, so Size is somewhat relative really...probably relative to power I'm thinking. Additionally, because physics laws are irrelevant, universes may be bigger on the inside than on the outside (which is a nice in-joke).

Furthermore, size 'rules' are not as math intensive as in 3E, so you don't really need to work out negative AC penalties and strength bonuses anymore.

Size basically isn't that important, which is why I'm having simple 'general' guidelines for really big monsters and enemies (Castle-sized, Mountain-sized, Planet-sized etc.) rather than going into the specifics of how many feet exactly.