Mention a random quirk of your world

A character is disappointed when powers are handed out and he gets heart. He feels much better when he figures out this means the power to make people's hearts explode... like a hand grenade.

edited 25th Aug '14 12:02:32 AM by matti23

I can just imagine a character carrying around a jar of pickled human hearts for use as weapons. :D

Oh jeez that's totally better than what I was imagining, which was people just spontaneously exploding.

Reality Storms turn people into werewolf-like beings (not the actual name), and happen much more when the sea of chaos has been released, which the previous protagonists unknowingly did by slaying underground demons that also control the balance of the elements.

edited 1st Sep '14 8:48:24 AM by ReaccuringExtra

Dragons keep their hoards in their stomachs, and can vomit it on their opponents as a desperation attack.

Any living creature can be tainted by necromancy to create a half-undead version of it. These tainted individuals breed true. It doesn't make them hateful of the living, however, but Creepy Good/Dark Is Not Evil, since necromancy is more along the lines of The Sacred Darkness than Dangerous Forbidden Technique.

Gifted with the same type of magic are differently powered based on gender. This is due to genetic stuff between their x and y chromosomes:

Males are more of a Magic Knight/Kung-Fu Wizard sort, being very strong, tough, and fast but with less destructive spells. They primarily use their magic to boost their physical abilities or use elemental blades/punches.

Females are only as strong and fast as a regular Terran while being slightly more durable. In terms of magic they're essentially walking Doomsday Devices who can cast area-wide destructive spells via thought.

edited 1st Sep '14 11:18:56 PM by ironcommando

Although rayguns have fallen out of style for the rest of the world, the various conspiracy organizations use whatever strange technology they can. Rayguns themselves have a bit of Magikarp Power going for them. The basic raygun needs quite a bit of modification and tinkering to surpass firearms in effectiveness, but one they do the only reason to switch to a regular handgun is because you're operating in an area populated by the Tsivily, and even then the government mind control satellites can cover your tracks a bit.

edited 4th Sep '14 5:21:22 PM by MaxwellDaring

The story takes place in an alternate 1846, there are only 1.5 billion human inhabitants of earth, but there are also a species of human aliens in residence simply known as sorcerers, they have a male to female ratio of about 20:1, so there aren't many of them around. There is another species, called the Dracain, they have basically no rights and are slightly telepathic.

Humans aren't the only ones who call the refuges home. There are a number of non-human sentient races including the Wingfolk, a race of humanoid hawk people. They are typically considered to be a wise and noble people and are regarded as being one of the more knowledgeable races.

They have no arms, instead they sport a set powerful wings which allow them to fly. They manipulate the world around them with their feet which are taloned, yet dexterous. Their feet are as intricate as the human hand. However, holding a conversation with them can be annoying because they're constantly swiveling their heads.

The Gruuvok, a smarter and rather more civilized offshoot of ogres, have a tradition of ritual cannibalism, where the dead are consumed by their surviving family members. They are constantly amazed by how much that squicks out other races. The story's heroine, a Lizard-Woman, takes this in stride (because her own people have a broadly similar tradition) which goes a long way towards endearing her to the Gruuvok clan the protagonists encounter.

The planet the story takes place on has some very interesting environments. Notable examples include:

• A temperate forest which is always in a state of fall weather.
• An expansive rainforest which is also part Artic tundra.
• A Lethal Lava Land/candy based Level Ate with various sugary liquids as lava.

edited 5th Sep '14 6:31:46 AM by DarkbloodCarnagefang

Some technology, houses, buildings and even power grids on the planet are powered by the mana "produced" by Gifted. Essentially they'e living batteries that give off energy which doesn't need to be forcefully extracted.

A few cities with them have implemented mana-absorbing devices to absorb and transfer it into the power grid. Some homes and buildings also have this, being powered by the mana that the owner gives out. Magical equivalents to handheld devices can be easily charged by the user's mana.

In my Insane Robot series, the sun is a sentient being who is a bit miffed that people have pretty much stopped sacrificing people to it. There are a few secluded tribes and secret cults who still do the sacrifices, but it just isn't the same.

When Morokoth invaded the Pyrrhekski homeworld, they launched numerous nanoswarm canisters at a major military base, transforming it into a massive structure of definite techno-gothic style. They were confident enough in their invasion that they established a complex array of shrines and cathedrals to celebrate their seemingly imminent victory. When Morokothi forces were repelled from the homeworld three years later, New Pyrrhius also claimed the megastructure they called the Giga-Church. They eventually chose to pile religious dissidents into it until the political climate calmed. Eventually, the religious migration twards the Giga-Church became an entirely voluntary affair and the hype surrounding it turned it into an instant holy ground, known today as Nova Jeru.

Falconers Hall is a huge old house on the outskirts of a busy little town, since it was built in 1920, it has had over 30 owners, and everyone has had some tragedy befall them and eight of the people who died in the house or on the land haunt it. A young couple named Chrissie and Felix have just bought the house, Chrissie is psychic, and the ghosts are definitely not going anywhere at all.

A long time ago, it takes decades to learn how to cast a run-of-the-mill fireball, and as magic channels differ from people to people, so that learning period doesn't get any shorter. It took a seriously talented mage and a scorched subcontinent to make people realize that magic can actually be quite awesome. It was the right push that led to the development of standardized magic channel layouts, and later (during the rapid militarization before the largest war happens), the Spellshard system, that enables people to easily use, and more importantly, wield spells like how we use a gun.

edited 11th Sep '14 9:45:50 AM by FlowingCotton

Due to the use of War Organisms and Synths in major military operations, many post-cataclysm worlds are now littered with these things, making the climb out of post-apocalyptic conditions much more difficult. However, these beasts provide materials that make for excellent armor or other piece of equipment. Genome slayers in particular love to adorn themselves in a hodgepodge array of exotic leathers and chitin. Some cover themselves in the rubbery, inorganic skin of the synths they slay.

The idea is still in its infancy, but I'm collaborating with a friend of mine on an idea for a series of novels partially inspired by Zones of Thought, intended to reinterpret the entire Bible as a science-fiction series that Faded to Myth and became stories in the Real Life Bible.

The quirk: God is a Virus in code form that can run on any platform, ranging from computers to sentient organic creatures, but He rapidly burns out and destroys any platform that He runs on. All of the events in the series (re: The Bible) are predicated by His ongoing efforts to create a state of being where He can exist and propogate indefinitely, without individual platforms burning themselves out — i.e., Heaven.

Also, love is a symptom of infection, because God is Love.

edited 11th Sep '14 11:18:33 AM by SolipSchism

That sounds like an awesomely morbid post-apocalyptic setting I'd love to play/watch.

edited 11th Sep '14 11:20:40 AM by Avenuewriter

One of the two groups of Mons, called Psybers, are artificially grown beings made en masse in vats, with psychic powers. After they are grown, they have to go through the horrifying process of having their skin removed and replaced with metal, along with getting cybernetic enhancements added to their bodies. Of course they have to go through therapy before they go on the market, lest they become a danger to themself and others.

Reminds me of my Metamorph idea, who are artificially grown in vats and given superpowers.

Metamorphs are artificial humans/other sentient race grown in vats by Metas (extradimensional alien Energy Beings) of the Enforcer faction. A Meta is placed inside them and attached to their soul. The Meta will start modifying the human host's body every now and then, slowly giving it superhuman powers, but at the same time it starts to take over their soul and eventually makes them a thrall to the Enforcers. Eventually, the Meta will grow and take over completely, destroying the human host and emerging as a full-fledged Meta. (Hence Metamorph, as it metamorphosizes them)

Metamorphs are usually used as infiltrators and spies, as it's extremely hard to detect the Meta growing inside them (a soul scan will reveal that they're human). If a Metamorph is killed, the Meta inside will immediately grow to full form and wreak havoc on the killer before continuing the orders of the Enforcers.

Advantages of Metamorphs: by being part Meta, they're completely immune to reality warping, time-space attacks that would harm them, disease and poisoning, mental attacks, and being copied via doppelganger/shapeshifters. This is one way to expose a Metamorph- use one of this on them.

Disadvantages: They're 2x weak to most supernatural attacks (magic, psionics, ki, etc), and they need an internet/radio connection in order to sustain their powers.

edited 12th Sep '14 11:39:10 PM by ironcommando

Similar to the Napoleon situation in real life, dwarves are often seen as shorter than they actually are due to the short by dwarf-standards king having a bodyguard who's tall by human-standards pose with him in photos and paintings.

edited 12th Sep '14 11:02:57 PM by BiggerBen

Excaliburs are Black Box weapons left over from The Precursors and ammount to a Lightsaber with solid magic comprising the blade. The reason this is black box Manatek is that this flies in the face of conventional sorcery. This has required the instating of a theoretical "Seventh Branch" of magic. Excaliburs are State Property-owning one without the Emperor's express sanction is punishable by death-and-burial (being ritually consumed and zombified is considered to be the proper way of doing things, as mentioned in another Random Quirk post of mine).

edited 31st Oct '14 9:34:59 PM by dvorak

Though Space-Whales aren't endangered, there are laws against hunting them, as their internal gas that allows them to float/used as propulsion is highly toxic. That said, they are still hunted as their blubber has many uses.