From my Weird Stuff That Won't Get Played file:
Beanstalk - The climbing vine of any of a large variety of legumes.
Beanstalk - SF geek slang for a space elevator.
This one's both. It's not exactly natural, but it is alive. It isn't exactly an elevator as such - more of a bridge. If you've got the time and inclination, you can walk all the way up the stalk to the counterweight. This would generally take about three years to get to the main station at the halfway point (14,625 miles or so). The thing about large foot bridges is that they are seldom unoccupied. No, not trolls (mostly). Medieval bridges were lined with shops and houses like any other street, just moderately cleaner (just as easy to chuck the refuse in the river as in the gutter) and often with mills in the stream. The main stalk is hollow and has a horizontal cross section about 250' across, or about the same area as one of the original World Trade Center towers. The assorted "floors" vary in height, but are usually less than 30 feet. There are various types of passageway that allow access between levels - it's a living plant, but was designed by wizards (or someone sentient and a bit off, anyway). There are also access points to the outside, where leaves the size of small baronies become archipelagos in the sky linked to the main stalk by their tendril.
The takeaways:
Beanstalk - The climbing vine of any of a large variety of legumes.
Beanstalk - SF geek slang for a space elevator.
This one's both. It's not exactly natural, but it is alive. It isn't exactly an elevator as such - more of a bridge. If you've got the time and inclination, you can walk all the way up the stalk to the counterweight. This would generally take about three years to get to the main station at the halfway point (14,625 miles or so). The thing about large foot bridges is that they are seldom unoccupied. No, not trolls (mostly). Medieval bridges were lined with shops and houses like any other street, just moderately cleaner (just as easy to chuck the refuse in the river as in the gutter) and often with mills in the stream. The main stalk is hollow and has a horizontal cross section about 250' across, or about the same area as one of the original World Trade Center towers. The assorted "floors" vary in height, but are usually less than 30 feet. There are various types of passageway that allow access between levels - it's a living plant, but was designed by wizards (or someone sentient and a bit off, anyway). There are also access points to the outside, where leaves the size of small baronies become archipelagos in the sky linked to the main stalk by their tendril.
The takeaways:
- Live, plant-based wizard's tower. Height not measurable by conventional means. A little under 30,000 miles if you must count.
- Surface area roughly that of Australia.
- There's stuff living there. Some of it's a little strange.
This is a very cool concept. It brings to mind "The Bridge" by Iain Banks, and the megastructures from "Biomega" by Tsutomu Nihei. I'm going to have to steal your idea, though I don't think it will ever be played in a game on my end either...
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