GLoGtober 2: Slimes (Hypogeum)

 

In the Hypogeum, the wise Folk say, everything is made of three things: Stuff, Life, and Magic. Stuff is solid, life is liquid, and magic is normally a gas. Stuff makes up things like rocks, people, etc. Life and magic can be absorbed in certain kinds of stuff, like a sponge. They disagree on whether these elements can be created, or whether they simply change into one another. 

Most creatures have both life and magic in a framework of stuff. Cooking something normally drains the life out of it, making it drier. This is good, because too much life in a steak might mean it starts kicking around your stomach, making you sick. Stuff without any life in is much harder to digest though, sometimes even impossible. Life tends to stick to one shape, regenerating the kind of stuff its in. That's why your blood stops your wounds, while other people's blood makes you sick (unless you are a vampire). 

But if cooking evaporates the life, then you can put a condenser over the top and distill it. Distilled life doesn't have this "memory", and is normally called a health potion. But there is an easier way.

A slime is the simplest form of creature. Its basically just a blob of life keeping its shape. There's almost no stuff in it. It rolls over other organics and digests it, its own life-memory overcoming theirs. Most of the time, it leaves behind all the other stuff that can't be digested. In this way, it is pretty dangerous.

However, life memorizes stuff. It has a much harder time memorizing life. That is to say, slimes are easy to pop, and only a light simmer makes high quality health potions.

Some slimes are more advanced, and have incorporated other materials into their bodies. These slimes are valuable, because the materials they contain are very easy to extract. However, they are also more dangerous, as their life-memory is much stronger, and thus, they are both harder to kill and quicker at digesting. Magic slimes are the easiest and most common variant.

It should be noted that life memorizes the first life-filled thing it comes across. Drinking life that already has a memory, even a weak one, has side effects. Stay safe out there.

Life comes in Green, Red, Black, and White flavors. Magic, Blue, Purple, and Yellow.