#they kinda did my girl rilla dirty by making her seem bad at science sometimes

[echidnacht]

Thoughts on the Ecosystem of the Western Wastes

Does anyone else think too much abt the inaccurate science in the travellers guide (specifically the bestiary). Cuz. They were wrong. This might just be me being obsessed with ecology but there is so much potential with the whole idea of the Everdeads in the Western Wastes but then they hit us with this:

Which is just? not true??

(This is from a free reward on patreon titled "How to Slay Monsters, by Sir Caroline (and the herbalist, I suppose)", you can look it up on patreon to read it in full)

While they do get the spirit of death being the foundation of all ecosystems, they don't seem to understand that this is the case for every ecosystem. Being at the bottom of the food chain is a completely normal and natural thing. That's just the producer level organism in an ecosystem. Grass does not go extinct because it is eaten- it's very existence as a species relies on the curbing of overpopulation, giving of nutrients and spreading of progeny that herbivores provide.

I love the world of Second Citadel, and I love this idea- of death being the sacred thing that supports all life, taken literally. So I want to go through and indulge my "erm, actually" instinct to correct some stuff in here.

The Everdeads are described as dead, but still regenerating. Any cut-off branches or leaves will regenerate, but they apparently don't photosynthesise or take up nutrients, though they provide constant resources to the ecosystem. If the largest flora species doesn't photosynthesize the smaller plants would likely have a higher rate of photorespiration or else the carbon cycle in the Wastes would be pretty weird. (Also, I imagine, since the Everdeads were presumably once alive (?), the trees themselves provide a pretty hefty solid carbon store).

(Putting the rest under the cut, this got long)

Regarding nutrients: the soil in the wastes is described as completely barren, lacking any nutrients. However, there is also described to be a layer of leaf litter and detritus from the Everdeads. This is also soil! Just the top layer. Depending on how long the Everdeads have been around, say a few thousand years, this nutrient rich soil would be maybe ten centimeters deep. Not that much, but still!

As for why there isn't any nutrients, I think this could be for a couple reasons- one is that its just bad land, but the fact that the soil is "resistant to adding any" nutrients implies there's something else. Maybe it was a devestating magical event many centuries ago, or (spoilers) maybe it was another early attack by the humans using anti magical metal which now discourages all life.

It's my headcanon that the Everdeads have roots that can reach deep enough into the inhospitable soil that it can reach some kind of source of magic that it feeds on and uses to provide for the rest of the wastes.

Another interesting note is that "the Everdead population crept east one thousand years ago"- possibly the universe's reaction to the mirrored plains? (I could be wrong about the dates here). Either the universe reacting to the spread of death by spreading "death", or wanting the Everdeads to help heal that area. No idea.

Other fun things: The fact that the primary contribution is detritus means the blooming of saprophytes like microbes and fungi. There's probably lots of mushrooms growing out of Everdeads and in shady places under them, which I think adds to the "fall aesthetic". Insects would likely also thrive in the leaf litter. I imagine Everdeads to be like giant redwood trees. I imagine a similar ecosystem to that as well- smaller shrubs and a few grasses and mosses in more sunny patches, as well as epiphytic ferns and plants growing on the Everdeads themselves.

One other thing is that since prety much all of the Wastes (a pretty big area) has the exact same producer and therefore the same niche, there can't be that much biodiversity. That would only come from things like mountains, water, and climate changes. I assume the Wastes are pretty temperate if not tropical, seeing as there's dinosaurs there, though its unclear how much rainfall there is. I imagine it takes after more barren ecosystem like deserts and tundra, with few species and maybe one or two top predators (the predator here being the T-rex, i imagine). There's also mentioned swinging mice, which are presumably monkeys- probably herbivores feeding on the plants and fruits the Everdeads allow to grow. Maybe the wastes are known to be barren due to the lack of diverse species and not just the fact that cultivated plants can't grow, who knows.

Another headcanon is that Everdeads do not have a latin name because it is impossible to track their lineage as they do not die. We know latin names are a thing in Second Citadel because Sunny Budkin says this:

Though they don't seem to be in common use in the Citadel as we never hear Rilla use any. Possibly a monster thing, possibly something from a lost previous civilisation (Sunny is like 50 thousand years old after all). Everdead seems to be more a state of tree than a species anyway.

Thank you for reading this tangent, I have so many thoughts about the second citadel world. I could also go on about the implications of Arum creating creatures in his swamp and their theories of evolution, though that is explored a bit more in canon (the sweetfrog story is accurate enough, though I could still nitpick one or two things) and I've half drafted an in-universe research paper on the Numb-Cap written by Rilla and Arum. I do love that ecology has something of an important role in SC, seeing my subject represented is nice to see.

If anyone has any additions or corrections I would love to hear them!