Duncan Haldane
Explorer
Various light spells could be used to provide suitable growing areas for surface plants - I can see drow with sunglasses for working in these rooms.
Duncan
Duncan
What do they eat down there? or the Secrets of Underground Gardening
- Thread starter Tonguez
- Start date
diaglo
Adventurer
Krieg said:
i am the king of poop. i am a clinical microbiologist. i know what goes where and what happens afterwards.
some people today still "fertilize" the old fashion way.
but people still cleanup after themselves. otherwise they won't be around too long.
diarrhea/ diarrhoea is still a major killer.
visit my website if you want to learn more: www.cdc.gov
NarlethDrider
First Post
diaglo said:i am the king of poop. i am a clinical microbiologist. i know what goes where and what happens afterwards.
visit my website if you want to learn more: www.cdc.gov
Hey diaglo, do you work for the CDC in atlanta? My Uncle Bill use to work there (hes retired now)
diaglo
Adventurer
NarlethDrider said:
yes, yes i do.
back to topic. perhaps, another thing to try with an Underdark farming idea is the thermal vent example on the bottom of the ocean.
of course you lack the high pressure and adaptation involved but you can still run with the idea.
i don't have The Deep but i'm curious if they included this information inside.
The Fertile Underdark...
The Underdark is home to many strange creatures. What does an Umber Hulk eat? (Anyone he can!) Let's confine ourselves to the more mindane, however.
There are any number of giant bats, rats, and spiders down there. We know this from the Monster Manuals. Now while rats & bats are great survivors, and rats will eat just about anything but rock, spiders are all "carnivorous". They eat insects, and the giant ones in the MM eat larger things. The biggest can run off with a full-grown Halfling!
So what do they eat? Giant insects, of course. In one pre-3e monster manual, there were giant cave-crickets. The usual giant insects in the MMs are all lethal sorts (arachnids, myriapods, giant purple worm & beetles), but all of them exist. Giant ants, etc. feed the giant spiders.
These giant insects can feed many races, including Humanoids, if they wish. If not, envision a herd of anteater-style insectivores raised for food. The giant insects also feed the bats, most species of which feed on them (fruit-bats would be rare, in the underdark).
These feed larger things, like the rats. The bats and rats feed still larger things, like cave fishers (and people). The Rothe (from another pre-3e MM) feed on lichens and fungi, and feed many intelligent species, which in turn feed the Illithid.
Of course, life requires water, as well. Most underground waterways bring in some small life from the surface, and many underground streams and pools are inhabited by blind fish and crawdads, etc. Whatever can catch'em feeds on these... and they feed on the unsuccessful hunters. (Y'all be careful when goin' for water... and take someone withya, now, hear?)
Bat & rat droppings, the drained husks left behind by spiders, Humanoid and Rothe manure, etc., etc., ad nauseum, all guarantee a steady supply of decaying organic material to insure the growth of lichens and fungi. Plant Growth also helps, and never rule out the judicious use of a Permanacy on a Daylight spell for growing crops, even underground.
In short, the Underdark is not endless halls of barren stone, but a thriving ecosystem. Thank you all for your kind attention. This concludes Dungeoneering 101... Next time: Seas of the Underdark!
The Underdark is home to many strange creatures. What does an Umber Hulk eat? (Anyone he can!) Let's confine ourselves to the more mindane, however.
There are any number of giant bats, rats, and spiders down there. We know this from the Monster Manuals. Now while rats & bats are great survivors, and rats will eat just about anything but rock, spiders are all "carnivorous". They eat insects, and the giant ones in the MM eat larger things. The biggest can run off with a full-grown Halfling!
So what do they eat? Giant insects, of course. In one pre-3e monster manual, there were giant cave-crickets. The usual giant insects in the MMs are all lethal sorts (arachnids, myriapods, giant purple worm & beetles), but all of them exist. Giant ants, etc. feed the giant spiders.
These giant insects can feed many races, including Humanoids, if they wish. If not, envision a herd of anteater-style insectivores raised for food. The giant insects also feed the bats, most species of which feed on them (fruit-bats would be rare, in the underdark).
These feed larger things, like the rats. The bats and rats feed still larger things, like cave fishers (and people). The Rothe (from another pre-3e MM) feed on lichens and fungi, and feed many intelligent species, which in turn feed the Illithid.
Of course, life requires water, as well. Most underground waterways bring in some small life from the surface, and many underground streams and pools are inhabited by blind fish and crawdads, etc. Whatever can catch'em feeds on these... and they feed on the unsuccessful hunters. (Y'all be careful when goin' for water... and take someone withya, now, hear?)
Bat & rat droppings, the drained husks left behind by spiders, Humanoid and Rothe manure, etc., etc., ad nauseum, all guarantee a steady supply of decaying organic material to insure the growth of lichens and fungi. Plant Growth also helps, and never rule out the judicious use of a Permanacy on a Daylight spell for growing crops, even underground.
In short, the Underdark is not endless halls of barren stone, but a thriving ecosystem. Thank you all for your kind attention. This concludes Dungeoneering 101... Next time: Seas of the Underdark!
At the macro level, how much is it a closed system? What are the inputs and outputs and how is a relative equilibrium maintained? To the extent which it is closed, the system can recycle the energy within itself, so stuff eats stuff that eats other stuff and energy is recycled.
In the predominantly hard stone environment I don't see many carbon sinks as it seems every scrap would get scavenged and would be easily recovered by resourceful organisms. Energy loss from heat radiating outward toward the surface would need to be replaced (thermal vents would do something but would ultimately be far insufficient IMO). Energy could be brought back down from the surface in several other ways too, such as fauna that live in the caves but hunt in the surface at night (ala bats), the energy from these creatures then eventually being filtered down to the lower depths by deeper creatures who travel to the higher depths to feed on the transitional fauna as well as other organisms utilizing the waste products of the transitionals. I think this would also not be sufficient input though, so I would favor some kind of magical source of energy to sustain the ecosystem.
It seems to me that energy would be a precious commodity and creatures would evolve to be highly efficient. Maybe some creatures would be able to enter very low-energy states, a torpor, until an energy (aka food) source presents itself. Others could have highly efficient and diverse digestive systems that allow themselves to eat opportunistically and produce little waste.
I think that once the energy finds a way to get down to the depths and replenish what is lost, then the ecosystem can start to work itself out. I do think that ultimately it needs to be fantastic/magical in nature though.
In the predominantly hard stone environment I don't see many carbon sinks as it seems every scrap would get scavenged and would be easily recovered by resourceful organisms. Energy loss from heat radiating outward toward the surface would need to be replaced (thermal vents would do something but would ultimately be far insufficient IMO). Energy could be brought back down from the surface in several other ways too, such as fauna that live in the caves but hunt in the surface at night (ala bats), the energy from these creatures then eventually being filtered down to the lower depths by deeper creatures who travel to the higher depths to feed on the transitional fauna as well as other organisms utilizing the waste products of the transitionals. I think this would also not be sufficient input though, so I would favor some kind of magical source of energy to sustain the ecosystem.
It seems to me that energy would be a precious commodity and creatures would evolve to be highly efficient. Maybe some creatures would be able to enter very low-energy states, a torpor, until an energy (aka food) source presents itself. Others could have highly efficient and diverse digestive systems that allow themselves to eat opportunistically and produce little waste.
I think that once the energy finds a way to get down to the depths and replenish what is lost, then the ecosystem can start to work itself out. I do think that ultimately it needs to be fantastic/magical in nature though.
Last edited:
Similar Threads
