Question about weather influences on different materials over time

[Wonzling]

Hi! I'm currently preparing a new campaign arc for my 3.5 Forgotten Realms group and could use some help with a certain matter.

Part of the campaign takes places in a mountain fortress/monastery from the time of Netheril. There was some kind of catastrophe in the fortress during that time and no living soul has been there until the PCs enter it in the present. The fortress is under some kind of magical field which regulates weather (among other things). The field keeps away precipitation and strong winds but doesn't regulate temperature, which somewhere below freezing for the whole time. Now my question is this:
How would such climate conditions over about two thousand years influence building materials like wood or the condition of dead bodies (e.g. mummification)?

 

[DEFCON 1]

For a quick, fairly uneducated guess... my thoughts are that if indeed the temperature has remained below freezing the entire 2000 years, that things would be pretty well preserved. Wood tends to degenerate because it expands and contracts repeatedly in the move from hot to cold temperatures. If it always remains cold (and thus contracted) I would imagine there would be less stress on the wood and thus stay in better shape.

Likewise... corpses tend to rot in the heat because microorganisms are born and burrow and digest the flesh, decomposing it over time. If the body is perpetually frozen, the number of insects and organisms that could remain alive to decompose the bodies would be much less. They might be in a good mummified state in that regard.

 

[Ed_Laprade]

For a quick, fairly uneducated guess... my thoughts are that if indeed the temperature has remained below freezing the entire 2000 years, that things would be pretty well preserved. Wood tends to degenerate because it expands and contracts repeatedly in the move from hot to cold temperatures. If it always remains cold (and thus contracted) I would imagine there would be less stress on the wood and thus stay in better shape.

Likewise... corpses tend to rot in the heat because microorganisms are born and burrow and digest the flesh, decomposing it over time. If the body is perpetually frozen, the number of insects and organisms that could remain alive to decompose the bodies would be much less. They might be in a good mummified state in that regard.

As far as I know, this is correct.

 

[Kelvor Ravenstar]

What the previous posters wrote is largely true. Lack of precipitation does make for better preservation, as does freezing temperatures. But the best examples of preservation come from anaerobic (that's lack of oxygen) environments. That's why you can get great preservation at the bottom of an ocean (think the Titanic) or other bodies of water, or beneath bogs, which can create natural mummies.
For a great example of preservation in frozen temperature look up the news stories of Otzi the Iceman, who was frozen in the Alps between Italy and Switzerland for more than 5000 years. However, the Iceman would have better preservation than the situation you're describing, since without precipitation there would not be enough ice buildup to create the anaerobic environment necessary for prime preservation.
So depending on many factors you'll likely have preservation of fabric, wood, and the bodies of the monastery's inhabitants, but for the corpses you may have less preservation and only find their skeletons.
But remember, you're the dungeon master, so the level of preservation is ultimately up to you. Magic doesn't always follow our laws of physics or nature.
If you have more forensic or archaeologically minded players in your group, they may enjoy trying to figure out why the preservation is different than they would expect given the conditions.

 

[S'mon]

Below freezing the whole time = icebox = very good preservation. Think of the edible mammoths they occasionally find in the Siberian permafrost.

 

[DragonLancer]

This might help with regards to bodies/organic material in such conditions and timeframe.

Ötzi the Iceman - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[Celebrim]

Unless one of your players is an expert in forensics, you own best educated guesses should pass tests of believablity. That you are addressing the question in your own mind is usually indication that your answers are good enough. DM's run into problems only when they don't ask these questions of themselves, and then find the players doing so.

 

[Wonzling]

Thanks so far for the helpful suggestions!

Unfortunatly two of the players are policemen, at least one of which always has at least one eye on forensic details

 

[DEFCON 1]

Thanks so far for the helpful suggestions!

Unfortunatly two of the players are policemen, at least one of which always has at least one eye on forensic details

I look forward to hearing your forensic policeman player's reaction when he finds the frozen corpses.

"I guess he took it literally when I told him to...

...FREEZE."

(puts on Starlight Goggles)

YEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!!

 

[Cor_Malek]

Pro tip: the whole reason why biomass is preserved so well while frozen like that is lack of oxygen. But once access to it resumes - it tends to catch up mighty fast, and wood that survived for hundreds of years crumbles in matter of days. The mummies would start liquefying in matter of hours if exposed. I think the best example of how those would look would be Oetzi:
Ötzi the Iceman - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

"The body was at first thought to be a modern corpse, like several others which had been recently found in the region."
This is pretty much a running joke with bodies from oxygen deprived sites. One of famous from Poland was when a sacrificial body was found in marshes. It's origin wasn't clear, but dating was. Before archaeologists made any statements though... one of locals admitted to murdering his wife and dumping her body there.

BTW, the "mummy" reference could sound a bit off - imagine a body of bones and skin; flesh and intestines sucked out.