Desolate and Dining in the Demon Wastes

Over the last few years, I’ve posted a variety of things on Livejournal (which I haven’t used for over a year), the original Bossy the Cow site, and any number of message boards. In the interests of gathering these in one place, I’ll be posting one or two of these old articles here on HDWT. Here’s the first.

So, for today’s question, Rechan wants to know about the Demon Wastes. Page 163 of the Eberron Campaign Setting provides an adventure hook about Cyran refugees attempting to resettle the village of Desolate. Given the extremely barren and inhospitable nature of the Demon Wastes, Rechan wanted to know what the people of Desolate would do for food – and for that matter, how ANY non-fiendish creatures living in the Demon Wastes survive.

DINING IN THE WASTES
Before Desolate, let’s look at what the Wastes themselves have to offer. Most of the inhabitants of the Wastes prefer to dine on other inhabitants of the Wastes. The Demon Wastes include a high percentage of fiendish creatures (which account for most of the “fiend” population in the nation description). While these creatures can reproduce, many reproduce in very unusual ways. Fiendish vermin simply reproduce at an astonishing rate, while eating less than their natural counterparts. There are fiendish wolfpacks who emerge from pools of blood on any night with a full moon (and in Eberron, that’s almost every night). The Ghaash’kala in particular hunt fiendish creatures, both to eliminate the threats and also to sustain their people. So essentially, the ecosystem of the Demon Wastes ISN’T natural; fiendish creatures reproduce at a rapid rate but are held in check by the hunger of the other inhabitants of the wastes. Taking creatures like the blood wolves, even if left alone, their numbers never increase beyond a certain threshold; even if they are left alone, they fade away when struck by rays of the sun.

There are a few other options. While the land doesn’t support much vegetation, there are a few forms of mold that thrive there; like the fiendish creatures, these spread rapidly. Olladra’s Pus is a good source of protein, but tends to produce boils and running sores on those who eat it – ugly, but not especially debilitating. Gray Rage is another sustaining mold, but it amplifies aggression in all who consume it and will cause anyone beyond the adult age category to go mad. Despite this, both of these are popular choices among the barbarians of the Carrion Tribes, when they can’t find other creatures or people to eat. There’s also a few oases – manifest zones linked to Lamannia, which are sources of all manner of fruits. These are fiercely guarded by the local tribes or beasts.

OPTIONS FOR DESOLATE
What’s that? You’re a weary Cyran refugee and you don’t want to hunt fiendish vultures or eat gray paste that will cause you to kill your friends? Wimp. So with that in mind, how DOES Aundair plan to support their little Cyran experiment?

This is Aundair we’re talking about, and that means magic. In the Fallen district of Sharn, there is an artifact called Olladra’s Cauldron, which produces gruel every day, based on the Create Food & Water spell. It would be a big expenditure, but if Aundair was determined to create an outpost in a truly inhospitable area, they might create a central Create Food & Water “well”. It would limit the size of the community to the size the well could feed, but at that point, they’ll have to eat mold or fiendish bugs.

Alternately, House Vadalis or The Twelve may have been breeding animals or developing crops specifically tailored to thrive in difficult conditions. Vadalis doesn’t only create beasts for riding or fighting; by the numbers, the peace of Galifar lasted far longer than the Last War, and during the peace Vadalis was devoting most of their efforts to beasts of burden and livestock. So the Vadalis magebred brood hen lays a truly astonishing number of eggs each day, and so on. Perhaps someone has managed to come up with a variation of Olladra’s Pus that DOESN’T cause the reactions. Of course, if you want to keep it interesting, that someone has, but it’s Mordain the Fleshweaver – can you convince the mad transmuter to share the secret of his bountiful mold with you? It could be the key to colonizing the Demon Wastes and the Mournland!

So, normal crops won’t thrive in the Demon Wastes. But the key is that in Khorvaire, people turn to magic to solve their problems – so consider magical solutions.