Soylent Gem!

[athelind]

A year or so ago, jordangreywolf and I pondered the necromantic implications of LifeGems: industrial diamonds made from the cremated remains of a human being as an "eternal memorial".

This is one of the most disturbing, morbid, freaky, and strangely cool concepts I have ever encountered. When I first stumbled across this company, my brain immediately came up with half a dozen Modern Fantasy/Modern Horror/High Fantasy/Sci Fi plot lines.

All things considered, you could visit the web site of a company that makes tombstones, and it would be *morbid*. There's just no avoiding it. But that's MERELY morbid. There's no Steal Your Soul resonance in there. No thoughts of Really Disturbing Ways to make Psychic Power Crystals. No thoughts of, gee, if they can make over a hundred LifeGems from one person, but you can only afford to buy one or two, how do you know that the rest aren't being channeled into some Infernal Device?

Since I often refer to good "adventure seeds" as "gems", this is especially appropriate. Consider this a Jewelry Store version of the Night Gallery, where frozen fragments of nightmare take on a tangible form...

• Me: Nothing says you have to limit yourself to a SINGLE BODY. Many souls squished into one! Like The Devil's Rain, only worse!
  
  
• Greywolf: A cursed gem, made from all the victims of this psychopath....
  Maybe he's this occultist who chose his victims because of various supernatural hand-wavey details (blood type? Birth sign? "harmonic resonance"?) -- otherwise seemingly chosen at random -- to be "components" for the "perfect stone".
  
  
• Greywolf: Imagine some guy who's obsessed with beauty. His obsession is this actress, say. Movie star, even. But she's getting older. Well ... he finds a way to ensure that her beauty will never be spoiled, never fade ... *forever*....
  
  
• Greywolf: Say, it's the future, and this place went out of business ages ago. Perhaps some big economic crisis hit, and the place just shut down, like that, owners gone. Much later, the place is being torn down, and someone finds this cache of diamonds. Hoo! Diamonds! Nabs them, pawns them off. They get put into a necklace. Some unwitting fellow makes this lovely necklace as a gift for his bride to be. But little does he know that there are spirits trapped in the gems, and they aren't very happy....
  
  
• Me: Someone who's STILL ALIVE, but has PART of their body turned into a Lifegem. Maybe someone in an accident whose limb gets amuputated. Or maybe someone does it on PURPOSE, for reasons left to the class.
  Possible reasons a living person could have for lifegemming his own body parts: Maybe it makes a much more powerful Magic/Psionic Power Stone. Or maybe it lets him control a Phantom Limb, like the Long Arm of Gil Hamilton.
  
  
• Greywolf: A freaky new collectible game for kids of the future: summoning battling gem-spirits! Yes, YOU can have your very own Soul-Gem^TM that has within it the trapped spirit of a Battle Beast^TM, or a mighty Soul Warrior^TM! "Call them forth to do battle in the Crystal Arena^TM, in the ultimate Battle for the Fate of the World^TM!"
  (Batteries not included. Each sold separately.)
  
  Me: Oh my, that's even NASTIER, if you think of it as Some Nefarious Mystic Plot for a Modern Horror-Fantasy Game.
  
  
• Me: The Necromantic Diamond Optical Computer.
  
  
• Me: Components for a Portal into the Spirit World.
  
  
• Me: Holograms etched in the crystal! Soulograms!!
  
  
• Me: How do you know the stone you're getting really belongs to your relative? It might be some OTHER person -- or THING. And the stones might have an agenda of their own. This works well with the "body parts" idea, above -- perhaps the sorcerer who's sacriviced a limb to create these crystals can use them to sense what's around them -- or even to influence or possess those who wear them. This works exceptionally well in a Cyberpunk setting with magic, as the "sacrifice" of a limb can be replaced...

Me: The technological/technomantic aspects are part of the weird appeal. Just having a "Transmute Person Into Soul Gem" spell isn't nearly as intriguing. It's almost gotta be Modern Horror or Steampunk or something, or at least that Great Huge Furnace out of the Two Towers. I think part of the horror is making it an IMPERSONAL process.

Greywolf: It's the pseudo-science/mysticism process that makes it so creepy. This is so MODERN, made possible through TECHNOLOGY ... yet the conceit seems so basic, primal.


Feel free to contribute your own Creepy Ideas.

Comments

[hydra-velsen.livejournal.com]

I want to become a diamond when I die!

[rikoshi.livejournal.com]

Eternity:
The all-new jewelry collection from Amalsand Jakoba.

Available at reputible retailers in all major cities, now!

[tephra]

Am I weird for sort of liking the idea of my remains being made into a gemstone? No way in heck anyone I know could afford having a bit of crystal me around though.

I suppose admitting that I thought of making sculptures with remains (a la Mt. St. Helens ash sculptures) would be even weirder. I'd be made into dragons of course.

Though being used for infernal purposes after death would suck. On the flip side, I could curse people that mis-use my tangible remains and bestow luck on those that treat 'me' well.

[athelind.livejournal.com]

No, no, I sort of like the idea, too. In a morbid kind of way.

But, wait -- I AM weird.

[tephra]

All the interesting people are weird. :)

Must admit, I like the cyber-punkish idea of sacrificing a portion of yourself to make a gem. Especially if there were an age-linked 'power' or 'talent' that could be preserved by sacrificing the limb while at the peak of power and youth.

[ssthisto.livejournal.com]

I like the idea too - but I don't WANT to be a yellow diamond.

If they can make me into a blue one, though...

[bfdragon.livejournal.com]

On the most pedestrian level, I can easily imagine that in a few generations, selling and trading of the gems of famous people might be not-uncommon. You know, perhaps a distant kin looking for some quick cash. Certainly, this has happened to things such as family artwork, and it seems just about as likely that such a diamond could hold some value in the future. Perhaps a piece of jewelry made from a 'collection' of people, say, a good part of a cast a famous movie or what not.

(frozen)

[musewoozle.livejournal.com]

That's very odd in a way. I have to wonder, though, about the significance of it.

I read a bit about it, and the diamons are made from the carbon from the cremated person's ashes.

However, if I remember my chemistry right, carbon is carbon. There isn't any distinction in it regardless of the source. So, is such a diamond REALLY poor, old grandpa? It wouldn't be different from a diamond made in a similar process with carbon from another source.

[mythos-amante.livejournal.com]

This is The Coolest. Post. Evarrrr! I get shivers!

[kitarra.livejournal.com]

You are right. This is inspired.... just....not inspiring of sanity.

*shiver*

[snobahr.livejournal.com]

My friends are freaks. And remember, Kitarra, you are one of my friends... <evil laughter>Tee hee!</evil laughter>

[kitarra.livejournal.com]

And I relish every moment of it!