Genius Loci: Difference between revisions

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* ''[[Eureka Seven]]'' gives us {{spoiler|the Scub Coral planet itself, a kind of [[Starfish Alien]] that communicates via [[Instrumentality]], but seeks another way through the Coralian title character.}}

* Nagi from ''[[Kannagi]]'' describes herself as one of these, since she spawned from a carving Jin made from the sacred tree that used to be outside his shrine.

* Heavily implied in ''[[Clannad]]'', because of the story that Akio tells to Tomoya before Nagisa gives birth:{{spoiler|When Nagisa was near death, he prayed that she would be saved. It seemed that since then, Nagisa's health would be linked to the town's. Ushio also inherits this link in the world where Nagisa, Ushio, and Tomoya all die}}.

* Heavily implied in ''[[Clannad (visual novel)|Clannad]]'', because of the story that Akio tells to Tomoya before Nagisa gives birth:{{spoiler|When Nagisa was near death, he prayed that she would be saved. It seemed that since then, Nagisa's health would be linked to the town's. Ushio also inherits this link in the world where Nagisa, Ushio, and Tomoya all die}}.

* The Shikima realm, at least in the newest ''[[La Blue Girl]]'' series, is very much this trope (it's described as "self-regulating"), and the parts of it are actually described corresponding to a body. The appendix is apparently a prison, the brain may just control the entire universe, and it has an anus. I will say it again, of course: it's a world * with an anus.* On the other hand, this self-regulating world that maybe controls the universe has also decided that it likes the local clan of demons with [[Naughty Tentacles]], so.

* In ''[[Angel Sanctuary]]'', after Lucifer rebelled against God {{spoiler|because ''God said so''}} and retreated to Shioul, he and his follower fallen angels found out that it was a barren wasteland, so Lucifer had to merge with the plane itself in order to support any possible life, thus making Hell a Genius Loci. {{spoiler|Except for the fact that Luci's soul was sealed into Alexiel's sword somewhere between that and Alexiel's own rebellion, so Hell isn't much sentient anymore.}}

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** The Dark Tower is the ultimate example.

** The eponymous villain of ''[[IT]]'' is often equated with Derry, the town It inhabits.

* In William King's ''[[Warhammer ~~40000~~]]'' [[Space Wolf]] novel ''Grey Hunter'', a temple is so permeated with evil that it is capable of possessing the minds of people who come there.

* In William King's ''[[Warhammer 40,000]]'' [[Space Wolf]] novel ''Grey Hunter'', a temple is so permeated with evil that it is capable of possessing the minds of people who come there.

* The eponymous planet from [[Stanislaw Lem]]'s ''[[Solaris]]''.

* In the [[Faction Paradox]] books, there's mention of the City of the Saved, a huge galaxy-sized colony in which every human being ever to exist lives again. And yes. [[Captain Obvious|It's sentient.]] Not so bad, and even quite nice... until you find its {{spoiler|"son" infested parts of its structure, transforming really nice places into industrial nightmares with specialized factories for the processing of human beings. }}

* The shellpeople of [[Anne McCaffrey]]'s ''[[The Ship Who]]'' series are starships and cities that exhibit all the signs of a Genius Loci, because they have [[Brain In a Jar|human brains running them]].

* The shellpeople of [[Anne McCaffrey]]'s ''[[The Ship Who...]]'' series are starships and cities that exhibit all the signs of a Genius Loci, because they have [[Brain In a Jar|human brains running them]].

** Another Anne McCaffrey series, the ''[[Petaybee]]'' series, features the titular sentient planet that communicates via echoes and lightshows in caves, and changing the climate/topography of the land when it's so inclined to benefit its inhabitants or drive off bad guys.

* In [[Graham McNeill]]'s ''[[Warhammer ~~40000~~]]'' [[Horus Heresy]] novel ''Fulgrim'', the Laer temple makes Julius think that it's alive.

* In [[Graham McNeill]]'s ''[[Warhammer 40,000]]'' [[Horus Heresy]] novel ''Fulgrim'', the Laer temple makes Julius think that it's alive.

* In [[Terry Pratchett]]'s ''[[The Dark Side of the Sun]]'', the First Sirian Bank is a sentient planet (naturally occurring) who happens to be the godfather of one of the main characters. There's also a sentient ocean and a living sun. They're looking for an intelligent gas cloud to round out the elements. Maybe they could get that one from ''[[Star Trek: The Next Generation]]''?

* In the ''[[Discworld]]'' series, it is revealed in ''[[Discworld/Wyrd Sisters|Wyrd Sisters]]'' that the kingdom of Lancre is alive and aware. It is seen as capable of communicating (in a manner) through the native wildlife, and grows irate under the reign of a monarch who doesn't care for it. It is also implied in ''[[Discworld/Lords and Ladies|Lords and Ladies]]'' that part of the reason the [[The Fair Folk|Elves]] can't remain in Lancre for very long is because the kingdom rejects them.

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== Tabletop Games ==

* At least a couple of sentient cities and complexes have cropped up in ''[[Warhammer ~~40000~~]]'', usually due to the Adeptus Mechanicus or Chaos. Titans are so enormous they may also qualify.

* At least a couple of sentient cities and complexes have cropped up in ''[[Warhammer 40,000]]'', usually due to the Adeptus Mechanicus or Chaos. Titans are so enormous they may also qualify.

** The Machine God of the Adeptus Mechanicus' [[Single Biome Planet|Forge World]] of Mars is one of these. There is considerably in-universe speculation that it may, in fact, be the [[Cosmic Horror|C'Tan]] known as The Void Dragon.

*** As of ''Mechanicum'' {{spoiler|it's official that the Dragon is locked in a special prison on Mars.}}

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** And the first real enemy in the quick start scenario is {{spoiler|a spirit of laziness and apathy that possesses an abandoned baseball stadium. And is actually capable of causing a [[Total Party Kill]].}}

** Also, in the original ''Mage'', there was a Merit-Flaw combination (Manifest Avatar/Phylactery) that could turn your soul into one of these. Meaning that you had to be standing in that place (and somehow make it obvious that it was important) to be able to cast, but it would act as a Genius Loci on its own. Since [[Our Souls Are Different|the soul has a semi-distinct personality from the mind]], this might get... interesting.

* ''[[Dungeons ~~and~~ Dragons]]'' has multiple examples:

* ''[[Dungeons & Dragons]]'' has multiple examples:

** Fossergrims and Oreads are to waterfalls and mountains (respectively) what Dryads are to trees. Dryads can't really be called an example of this trope, unless you consider a tree a place.

** The monster called a Spirit of the Land is the spirit of a particular geographical area, such a valley, desert or river. They can transform in an elemental form to defend the terrain feature they're associated with.

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** And in 4th edition, the Warlock spell "Vestige of Land's Soul"' allows the Warlock to wake up the spirit of the land around them and order it to kill one of their enemies.

** The land of Rashemen in Forgotten Realms is implied to be a living being.

** Module [[wikipedia:Master of the Desert Nomads|X4: ''Master of the Desert Nomads'']], for original [[Dungeons ~~and~~ Dragons]], features a swamp with a sentient area called the Malakaz: "It is not a monster, but an evil force. The hut was once the home of a particularly evil female wizard. When she died, the hut and the area around it became filled with the essence of all her evil."

** Module [[wikipedia:Master of the Desert Nomads|X4: ''Master of the Desert Nomads'']], for original [[Dungeons & Dragons]], features a swamp with a sentient area called the Malakaz: "It is not a monster, but an evil force. The hut was once the home of a particularly evil female wizard. When she died, the hut and the area around it became filled with the essence of all her evil."

* In ''[[Shadowrun]]'' the fact that the earth has a presence on the astral plane is seen by some as evidence that the planet itself is alive.

** Shamans can also summon a ''Hearth Spirit'', literally the Genius Loci of wherever they happen to be: in a nightclub you might get a spiritual bouncer or barman (depending on the kind of nightclub you are in), for instance.

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** Also, if it will negativity impact Planet, be careful with your actions, since otherwise you will likely get Planet to spawn the Mind Word army from hell on you. Basically, building map improvements that create a ton of resources or mass use of Planet Busters will do it.

* In the ''[[Neverwinter Nights 2]]'' [[Expansion Pack]] ''Mask of the Betrayer'', one of the bosses is a Genius Loci who even uses the name.

** The Genius Loci, in fact, is a ''[[Dungeons ~~and~~ Dragons]]'' monster, appearing in the Monster Manuals of the 2nd and 3rd editions of the game.

** The Genius Loci, in fact, is a ''[[Dungeons & Dragons]]'' monster, appearing in the Monster Manuals of the 2nd and 3rd editions of the game.

* ''[[Silent Hill]]'''s eponymous town, though debatable as it may simply be haunted.

** This may require some elaboration: The whole town of Silent Hill is alive with a mystical force that takes your nightmares and fears and brings them to life, whether in monster form or in the form of a location (like a building or something). If Silent Hill wants you, you will end up in the town, either by being called to it or having an unfortunate accident in or near the town and ending up stuck in that Hell-hole. Later in the series, the power of the town grows to consume its neighbor, Shepherd's Glen.

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* According to the flying future-dolphins, the ocean becomes this in the good future of Earth in ''[[Ecco the Dolphin]]: Tides of Time.''

* The [http://gillen.cream.org/thecradle.pdf Shalebridge Cradle] in ''[[Thief]] Deadly Shadows'' housed an asylum and an orphanage. {{spoiler|At the same time.}} Fueled by the sheer amount of brutal, institutional cruelty inflicted by the staff before a fire killed most of its inhabitants, It remembers things, likes to keep the things it remembers so it can play with them, and soon after you enter it...it remembers ''you''.

* ''[[~~Earthbound~~]]'' has Dungeon Man, a maze builder who opted to be literally turned into a giant walking dungeon.

* ''[[EarthBound]]'' has Dungeon Man, a maze builder who opted to be literally turned into a giant walking dungeon.

* In ''The 11th Hour'', the sequel to ''[[The 7th Guest]]'', the mansion has apparently become the physical incarnation of Stauf himself, eg. one scene in the backstory involves two girls being ''raped by the house'', and one of them producing an [[Enfant Terrible]] as a result.

* ''[[Portal (series)|Portal]]'' is the [[Spiritual Successor]] to a game called ''Narbacular Drop'', which is set inside a sentient dungeon named Wally.

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* [[Megas XLR]]: Coop once fought a gargantuan organic planet that ate radio waves.

* The Foggy Swamp in ''[[Avatar: The Last Airbender]]'', location of [[The World Tree]]. The Avatar themself is the human form of the World Spirit, which explains their connection with all four lands; [[All There in the Manual|this is not actually said in the show, but it is implied]].

* "[[The Fairly ~~Odd Parents~~|MIKE, THE]]''[[The Fairly ~~Odd Parents~~|EVIL LIVING BUILDING]]''!''

* "[[The Fairly OddParents|MIKE, THE]]''[[The Fairly OddParents|EVIL LIVING BUILDING]]''!''

* The first "Treehouse of Horror" episode on ''[[The Simpsons (animation)|The Simpsons]]'' had a sequence where the Simpson family moves into a haunted house that turns out to be self-aware. The house tries to scare them off because [[Too Spicy for Yog-Sothoth|it can't stand them]], but eventually gives up and simply [[Driven to Suicide|implodes]] rather than live with them. A later Treehouse of Horror had them install an AI with [[Pierce Brosnan]]'s voice into their regular house, who [[Mars Needs Women|desires Marge's bod]].

* In the ''[[Futurama]]'' episode "Godfellas", Bender encounters what appears to be a sentient ''galaxy'', which initially speaks in binary and may or may not be God.

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[[Category:Alien Tropes]]

[[Category:Index of Fictional Creatures]]

[[Category:~~Genius Loci~~]]

[[Category:{{PAGENAME}}]]