Been skimming over A History of Ashes again. This being one of my favourites of the AP issues. Fantastic adventure, awesome land (I'll be stealing ideas liberally for the badlands in my homebrew) interesting write up of the inhabitants a fantastic beastiary, heck I even liked the fiction (though I always like the fiction). Not so often that I am enthused with every single feature in an issue.
OK on to my main point, which is what the heck do the Aurochs and Scrub Rats eat? Especially the Aurochs. When reading over the ecology of the land the whole thing kind of made a lot of sense until we got down to what the main prey creatures subsisted on and then that was just kind of never answered. I have a hard time figuring out how the Cinderlands can support herds of Auroch, what they drink is another big issue - though I could kind of fathom a type of Auroch that retains water and travels from one water hole to the next (whole hers could probably deplete such a water hole in the course of an afternoon devastating the local ecological system until the next rains came).
I'm also a little iffy on 8 inches of rain in a place with Auroch though just maybe this is sustainable.
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Maybe the aurochs fur/hide collects morning dew, then channels it to the mouth.
Don't the plants grow really quickly in the Cinderlands? Scrub rats can eat the fast-sprouting grasses, then scuttle underground when the flames comes. The grasses would also provide their water.
Good question, though ;)
Maybe the aurochs fur/hide collects morning dew, then channels it to the mouth.
Don't the plants grow really quickly in the Cinderlands? Scrub rats can eat the fast-sprouting grasses, then scuttle underground when the flames comes. The grasses would also provide their water.
Good question, though ;)
Yeah - the scrub rats are a little easier to fathom. They are a lot smaller so its possible for them to subsist on a lot of things including plant roots. Since their are a lot of plants whose survival strategy is to remain dormant until conditions are right for a fast bloom this is one source of food for them. They are also likely to be really good scavengers, picking over carcases long after the larger prey have gotten what they can of a kill and moved on.
Its the Aurochs that really perplex me. I just can't really see how whole herds of the things, even fairly small herds, can survive in this environment. Rodents live in deserts and badlands in the real world but large herd animals? I'm no expert in this field or anything but I can't think of any that do except maybe camels - and camels are highly adapted to desert like conditions.
Creative Director
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Plants do grow fast there. The soil is volcanic and as a result RICH in yummy plant power. There's a lot of grasslands in the cinderlands also (can't have seasonal grassfires without grass!), and that's primarily what the aurochs and scrub rats eat. And also, aurochs are probablly migrators; they don't just stay in one spot in the Cinderlands. I doubt they stay in the Cinderlands, in fact, and wander into Belkzen or the northern Storval Plateau as their stomachs demand.
As for what they drink, there are plenty of rivers running through the Cinderlands, but the main one (the Yondabakari) is probably where the majority of the aurochs travel along. The other, smaller streams aren't shown on the map, but the aurochs know where they are.
Plants do grow fast there. The soil is volcanic and as a result RICH in yummy plant power. There's a lot of grasslands in the cinderlands also (can't have seasonal grassfires without grass!), and that's primarily what the aurochs and scrub rats eat. And also, aurochs are probablly migrators; they don't just stay in one spot in the Cinderlands. I doubt they stay in the Cinderlands, in fact, and wander into Belkzen or the northern Storval Plateau as their stomachs demand.
'Tis truth. Central Oregon has a lot of volcanic soil and east of here is pretty good scrub and grasslands. :D
Plants do grow fast there. The soil is volcanic and as a result RICH in yummy plant power. There's a lot of grasslands in the cinderlands also (can't have seasonal grassfires without grass!), and that's primarily what the aurochs and scrub rats eat. And also, aurochs are probablly migrators; they don't just stay in one spot in the Cinderlands. I doubt they stay in the Cinderlands, in fact, and wander into Belkzen or the northern Storval Plateau as their stomachs demand.
As for what they drink, there are plenty of rivers running through the Cinderlands, but the main one (the Yondabakari) is probably where the majority of the aurochs travel along. The other, smaller streams aren't shown on the map, but the aurochs know where they are.
So then is there a rainy season that attracts migrating herds? I suppose this would make some kind of sense if there are areas (say beside rivers and larger streams) that have constant grasslands that this could support Aurochs. Also if the land blooms at a fairly regular point each year then migrating animals might include the region in their travels.