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The Bilgewater Black Market Organ Trade

Dreamspitter·7/28/2015, 7:46:59 PM·6 votes·3,506 views

#Slaughter sheds "After a successful sea monster hunt, the slaughter fleets return to the slaughter docks to render the massive creatures down to meat, bones, and armored hides inside these enormous sheds. A lucrative trade in glands, organs, and secretions harvested from the serpents thrives in Bilgewater."

http://www.surrenderat20.net/2015/07/bilgewater-burning-tides-act-two.html

I was reading about this, and it made me think.

http://i.imgur.com/nT0xIA6.jpg

What sort of things do people use these sea monster organs for?
Is there such a thing as..."Ionian Medicine"?
Is Ionia one of the customers such concoctions and potions might be shipped to?
Or are they a competitor exporting preserved monster parts to mainland nations like Demacia?
Does anyone like Janna want to make such products illegal to save the dragon-sharks, and other creatures from the Slaughter Fleet before they become an endangered species?

7 Comments

RiotBioluminescence7/28/2015, 8:21:17 PM6 votes

I have such a soft spot for that scene (and similarly, the cryoto-zoology scenes in Guillermo del Toro's Hellboy movies, and the brain-jar scenes in Caro and Jeunet's City of Lost Children and, and, and...) and I love cabinets of curiosities and the like as well. Like the gruesome assemblages of artist Alex CF (icky, slightly NSFW).

I imagine that a lot of the monster parts are mostly being used for very practical reasons - sea monster hide for clothing and armors. They may even use them to create the watertight outer of smaller row-boats or canoes - all the better for dissuading smaller sea-creatures for attacking them!

Much like Nashor's Tooth is an item, I'd suspect that teeth and claws and the like are used as tools and weapons down at the Slaughter Docks. When slicing them up for parts, I imagine there are few tools better suited to cutting those hides than the very teeth of their competitors or predators.

That's not to say the more exotic items don't find enthusiastic buyers in the markets of Bilgewater and beyond. I can imagine Zaunite scientists eager to see what splicing a deep sea monster's liver into a living surface dwelling creature might do. I also imagine Piltover scientists (like Bubbs, the shopkeeper) are keen to categorize and study specimens - whether live (in Bubb's case) or preserved.

Ebonmaw Dragon7/28/2015, 7:51:43 PM4 votes

{quoted}

What sort of things do people use these sea monster organs for?

Does anyone like Janna want to make such products illegal to save the dragon-sharks from the Slaughter Fleet before they become an endangered species?

Well, Mr has the answer for that... Food.
OF COURSE! We have to save the Dragon-Sharks!

2nd Fiddle7/28/2015, 8:03:40 PM2 votes

Singed "I require certain ingredients in large, consistent, and--most importantly--discrete, shipments."

SSJTribe7/28/2015, 8:32:35 PM2 votes

OP's pic reminded me of this Ziggs statue

Sharjo7/28/2015, 8:46:58 PM2 votes

Considering the mythical connotations of sea monsters (children of a god like being known as the Mother Serpent) I could imagine a similar situation as in the real world where "medicine" can be made with their parts. Think rhino horns but from giant sea creatures.

I could also imagine certain areas of Valoran prizing their organs in the use of all manner of concoctions, from alchemical substances to perfumes. Ever heard of ambergris folks? Like that.

Bilgewater itself would likely get a lot out of the creatures themselves; meat, hides, organs, bones, teeth, whatever they can get from their bodies could be used for food, equipment, medicine as described above, hell even building materials or ornaments. There's probably a few buildings in Bilgewater with a serpent mouth for an entry way, or with shark skulls hung up on the walls. While we can joke about this the Blue Flame Isles likely lack a ton of natural resources, so not only can the sea monsters provide but they could be traded for resources with other parts of the world. I'm sure there's been a fair number of pillocks from the mainland fooled by a silver tongued Bilgewater business man selling squid hearts and shark gall bladders.