Re: F&SF that I Read in 2007: W

Graham Woodland wrote:
> Sea Wasp wrote:
> 
>> robo wrote:
>>
>>> Not just architectural styles... Characters spout idiomatic 
>>> expressions, drive tracked vehicles, and use weapons that fire slugs.
>>
>>
>>     Those have GOT to be the slowest bullets EVAR.
>>
> 
> No, those would be cnidarians -- present company excepted.  Even the 
> sluggish lifestyle stops short of actually getting mistaken for 
> vegetation.  Cnidarians do have a better area of effect, though.
> 
> Except for the sea-tank raids in John Wyndham's _The Kraken Wakes_, I 
> can't think of any yarn where they're actually the ammunition of choice.
> 
> 

	Sea-wasp venom has actually been extracted in real life for covert 
operation weapons. Don't remember if it's ever been actually deployed, 
though; I don't recall if it's sufficiently stable as a toxin to be 
used that way. (I always use it fresh, so I have no real need to know 
the shelf life)

	There was a guy in one Rolemaster campaign I played in who had a 
moderate-level summon spell that he had slightly modified to bring in 
the creature with a lateral velocity. Squidbolt and Jellyfishbolt 
spells, in effect. The creature would come through, flying through the 
air at the target, and as it was under his control would wrap 
tentacles around the target on impact.

-- 
                      Sea Wasp
                        /^\
                        ;;;	
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