Sanctuary is a place of scarcity. One might expect that in a world that has been overrun with both demons (and some angels) who are constantly trying to kill off the people who live there. What started out as a paradise, and an escape for renegade angels and demons who wanted to opt-out of the Eternal Conflict, has become a dangerous, desperate, place.
As such, the people who live in Sanctuary have difficult lives. The farms that produced food for everyone have been abandoned. The farmers who stayed aren’t able to grow food anymore, due to an infestation of monsters on their land. What are the people of Sanctuary going to eat now? I suggest they turn to a new, and plentiful, food source – Boggits.
The idea of Boggits as a food source is one that I briefly discussed on episode 62 of the Shattered Soulstone podcast. (The episode ended up being titled “Hot Boggits”.) Since then, I’ve had the time to think more about the concept, and can now elaborate on it here.
Boggits are plentiful. Anyone who ventures into The Paths of the Drowned can quickly find himself or herself surrounded by small, feisty, Boggits. Run, and the whole mob of them will follow you. They make themselves very easy to find.
Boggits are roughly the height of the chickens one can find walking around some of the abandoned chicken coops in the Highlands areas. However, the chickens are much scrawnier than the Boggits are. The people of Sanctuary could hunt and harvest the Boggits for meat. Each one would produce more food than a chicken would.
So, how would this work? The process would have to start with a Hero – because they are the only people in Sanctuary who have earned the ability to use a portal. There must be some Hero out there who has grown tired of the adventuring life. He or she could change careers and help feed the people of Sanctuary.
This Hero (whatever class he or she may be) can venture out to The Paths of the Drowned, or the Blood Marsh, rather easily. The Hero can slay a bunch of Boggits, pick them up, and portal back to town with them. Ideally, he or she will be able to find a former farmer, who knows how to properly butcher animals for food.
The Hero can sell the Boggits to the former farmer. This transaction would enable the Hero to earn enough gold to have his or her armor repaired. The former farmer can then become a vendor and sell Boggit meat to the people in a town – who are undoubtedly starved for protein.
After that initial portal has been set up, an enterprising Hero can take things one step farther. He or she can create a party of former farmers and bring them safely to The Blood Marsh or The Paths of the Drowned. The Hero can slay a bunch of Boggits (and clear away the other creatures that get in the way). The farmers can stay out of the way until the Hero kills everything, and then rush over and safely pick up the dead Boggits.
The farmers could use the portal to get back to town and leave the party. Heroes can charge a certain amount of gold for this service (that will cover their repair costs.) Farmers can return to their profession, in a slightly different way.