I'm a big fan of the Lost Omens Travel Guide, has that delightful touch of "normal stuff" within a fantasy setting, answering questions about travel, communication, holidays, food etc. Unfortunately it can't include everything in its sections, because the world's pretty big, so I'm coming here for advice instead. What do you figure people eat in the Sodden Lands?
My first thought, especially in settlements like Hyrantam, is fish. And that's probably true most places in the region, but it can't be their only food source. The constant storm makes most forms of farming that Yamasa once did basically impossible now; I'm wondering if there are other crops that are viable? Even fantasy food. Or especially fantasy food. Figure they likely also can eat the various hydras and what haves you that are abound, provided they can kill one. Beyond that, I'm not sure. I barely know enough about food in the real world, so this is giving me some difficulty. If anyone has guidance on this matter (or even thoughts on dishes and drinks) I'd love your input.
Think of all the kelp and seaweed washing up on shore for one's veggies. My first thought was harvesting mold and other methods required for bare sustenance in what's essentially an ongoing apocalypse. Hence the exodus and an utter collapse of civil order. One could imagine a Mad Max story, with pockets of survivors fighting ravagers.
I wonder if the storm drops fresh water or simply tosses up seawater? That might be another problematic necessity (as well as vitamin D, maybe others depending on breadth of diet).
And who knows how nature spirits like Kami & Fey are reacting, both for good & evil purposes. And churches, other magical institutions. Hmm. Who's taking advantage of the chaos and who's rebuilding?
ETA: Accept I'll have erred as I'm behind on my Sodden Lands lore, having ignored it after Skull & Shackles!
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It's a magical permanent cyclone, so it probably rains like a regular one? Hang on, climatologists have been really helpful and done maths. A cyclone will cause, on average, 863 mm (33.97 inches) of rain per day within 56 km (35 miles for you USAmericans).
Now, real cyclones move, so that number is more complicated in real life, but conveniently the Eye doesn't move, and is also a very large cyclone (meaning the area that experiences rainfall is larger), so probably the entire Sodden Lands has been experiencing that much rain daily for, uh, the past 120 years. Maybe with brief periods of less rain if the winds push the outer clouds westwards over the ocean, but like, wow, the entire region is saturated - there's literally nowhere for the water to go! (Saturation is genuinely a huge problem in flood regions - once the ground's at capacity any more water just sits there until the rivers can take it down to the sea.)
So, if I'm correct about the rain being actual rain, that would mean that fresh water is abundant, as long as you've got a container to put it in, and also that everything in the ocean there has abruptly had to adjust to a huge swing in salinity. There must have been massive die-offs of fish in the immediate aftermath, and that would cause catastrophic algal blooms (made worse by all the detritus getting washed into the ocean by the rain, and any fertiliser from agriculture). But, it's been more than a century, so people must have at least tried to adapt.
Anyway, I would like to suggest a slightly oddball option for agriculture in the Sodden Lands: mangroves! They're found in the corresponding bit of real-world Africa, they tolerate shifts in salinity very well, they're evolved to survive getting flooded all the time, and they have a number of edible parts. Roast the stems, drink nectar from the flowers, eat the fruits, and also there's a kind of clam (not very clam shaped) called a shipworm, mangrove worm, or tamilok (many other names too) that eats sodden wood, and is apparently very tasty (like oysters).
Besides that, I'd expect to see crab pots, seaweed, and probably hunting of sharks (bull sharks tolerate freshwater very well, so I'd expect they'd thrive in the Eye). Many fish trap structures probably don't work so well in such a flood-prone region, but line or net fishing should still be workable. And of course, there's a few varieties of edible seaweed that can be dived for or washed up, or possibly even intentionally grown. It doesn't surprise me that there's more lizardfolk than humans in the region, though, as being able to hold your breath as they do would be extremely helpful. (Honestly I am really baffled by the prevalence of boggards, because IRL amphibians are so bad at saltwater that there is literally one species that can tolerate it at all, and that only briefly.)
Thanks both of you! These are very helpful in making the region feel a bit more realised. Man the Sodden Lands have had it rough.
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For carbs (and I'm making up fantasy nonsense here) I imagine a region unique substance; Wood Gruel all the heartier trees and such that still couldn't cope with the Eternal Storm have been beaten and battered. but instead of just wearing down, larger chunks have broken down from the constant lash of water. They can be juiced, and so long as the pulp is extracted, the resultant liquid can be dried in smoke houses into a gel or powder that is high in basic carbohydrates, but lacking the indigestible parts of wood (basically it's cellulose). It lacks flavor other nutrients of it's own, used to stretch meals usually,
There are areas where they will import various wood logs sticking them at just the right point where they won't blow away but get the constant lashing of water needed to be converted.
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For carbs (and I'm making up fantasy nonsense here) I imagine a region unique substance; Wood Gruel all the heartier trees and such that still couldn't cope with the Eternal Storm have been beaten and battered. but instead of just wearing down, larger chunks have broken down from the constant lash of water. They can be juiced, and so long as the pulp is extracted, the resultant liquid can be dried in smoke houses into a gel or powder that is high in basic carbohydrates, but lacking the indigestible parts of wood (basically it's cellulose). It lacks flavor other nutrients of it's own, used to stretch meals usually,
There are areas where they will import various wood logs sticking them at just the right point where they won't blow away but get the constant lashing of water needed to be converted.
You don't even need to reach much. In an area as wet and boggy as the sodden lands there should be plentiful things like cat tails many of which have edible starchy roots. You would also likely find things like wild rice thriving in that kind of situation and probably other stuff like cran berries or other bog tolerant species.