Planktas are odd. Bestiary
5 describes them as “stony creatures formed from the shattered remnants of
ancient island civilizations devastated and inundated by natural or magical
cataclysms”—okay, check, we got that—“and given life by unleashed magical
energies and the anguished spirits of those lost in the tragedies.” Makes
sense. Except…planktas do not remain creatures of unleashed energies and
spirits—in other words, they are not outsiders or fey or even undead. Instead,
they become aberrations—true mortal creatures, albeit alien ones.
Of course, becoming such a creature also means having the
drive to procreate…and in the plankta’s case, that means destroying more island
civilizations. It’s a grisly life cycle to say the least.
None of that will probably ever come into play at your game table, unless you’re really deeply
exploring themes of climate change and island cultures. And even the choice to
make them aberrations probably had to do more with behind the scenes math—“We
need X number of aberrations in this book, and we only have Y, so get
brainstorming.” But once the monster is in print, I find it super interesting
to wrestle with the implications of what’s in the stat block.
One more thing about planktas: They are described as animate
jumbles of buildings and rock, and the illustration makes them look vaguely
hermit crab-like. But that’s by no means made explicit in the text, so their
forms might be even more outlandish, depending on the nature of the cataclysm
that formed them…
A band of adventures
began its career in the shadow of an exploding volcano, ferrying passengers
out of the doomed city of Hestius. Now the Hestian Beast, a plankta born of
Hestius’s destruction, threatens their adopted home of Sanctis. Now far more
experienced and with a clear enemy in sight, this time they resolve to fight
rather than ferry.
Ships have been
disappearing along Giant’s Foot Strait. A clan of deep merfolk has been
blamed, but the truth is a plankta has been raining boulders (and its own discorporated
rocky body) on the passing ships. Investigating the mystery may uncover the
hitherto unknown sunken city whose destruction birthed the plankta, as well as
unlock a runic alphabet that has had researches stumped for years.
The Ringwrack is
a vast chain of archipelagos circling the Sea of Rage. Planktas are more common
here than anywhere else in the world, thanks to the extreme level of volcanic
activity in the region and the destructive procreation of the planktas
themselves. Planktas that were fathered rather than arising spontaneously tend
to resemble their sire. Those that resemble stony hermit crabs were born from
Old Karg, those that resemble weeping whales made of marble were sired by the
White Witch, and those that resemble massive iguanas seem to trace back to a
mystery progenitor near the equatorial line.
—Pathfinder Bestiary 5
195
I have feelings
about 2019. I have feelings about the last decade. I’ll save them for another
day, but suffice it to say I’m ready for 2020 in a big way. Happy New Year, everyone.