EDIT: This generated loads of awesome discussion, thanks y'all! I've drawn a potential undercolony, it's at the end of the OP, Speaking of the awesome discussion, I've added a section near the bottom of the OP highlighting some ideas on the thread, but really there's more discussion than I can link, so consider reading through! I also did a few 3D scenes for the rootbed and a painting of a root city. Prototyping of fungal warrens is ongoing.
EDIT 2: someone found the thread!!! Thank you! I don't have time to clean it up right now, but here's a pinglist. It'll be for general discussion, so you'd get pinged for lore dumps here and related questions (ex: "How do you think seasons might affect the rootbed?"). Love y'all!
So some of us for sure have noticed that Nature's lost its cliffs in the new map update. Theory:
This is supported further in the update, since we can now see the Behemoth's roots poking out of the soil in GRAND form even on the south of the Labyrinth's "island". We knew the Behemoth is big, but this is our big tree buddy on a whole new scale! Contrast what we knew of its size before:
The implications of this are amazing! For one, given the thickness of the roots, I could see them continuing quite a distance further...attempting to invade other Flights, perhaps? It might explain the water barrier. We are supposed to be aggressive in our growth....
And what about beneath Nature itself? Right now, the underwater layer is, well, underwater only. But the staff mentioned they might do more with it. If it became an underground layer, can you imagine how crazy Nature could get?:
Honestly, I feel like the Behemoth "being" the Labyrinth (rather than just being a particularly big and important tree) would work so, so well with our Flight theming, us existing in this state of a territory-wide holobiont. Heck, who's to say that some of the trees aren't just sprouts of the Behemoth's roots? I mean, the heaviest known organism is a tree just like that...
Okay that's enough of me frothing at the mouth. Ideas?
EDIT: People have absolutely delivered on the ideas front. Here's just a few (chronological order)!
Reference time! Shivering Isles root dungeons are nearish the aesthetic I'm imagining, dunno bout y'all. Probably more green and greenery though, rather than the reddish-orange, which skews more Plagueish, but imagine the area between our Flights...and @Dreamcoyote has greatly improved the ref pool by suggesting some really gorgeous visuals from Guild Wars 2 that I think are a perfect match, I'll only add two here for the sake of post length, but you should check out the rest! @vasilyssa has made another great addition--the fungal warrens and water purification aspects have some serious Nausicaa vibes. You should check the rest of their pictures here, I think this is pretty darn dead-on! Again, don't want to include all in this post for length reasons, but they're great!
Oh, and how did I miss that the Behemoth is burying the Pox Consulate?
Look at that li'l root! Seems to me like we've got evidence that the Behemoth is actively spreading its roots around, yeah? I wonder if it happened slowly, or like, exploded out of the ground like a sandworm from Dune.
Map of an undercolony! Not a particularly big one, certainly not "The Behemoth" as in the biggest part of the tree. You'd see a settlement like this around one of those protruding roots big enough to support houses, though.
There's twenty points of interest on this map, each one documented at the Rootbed lorebook wiki entry. If you settle in the rootbed, please consider adding your clan to the list at the end of the article! <3
EDIT 2: someone found the thread!!! Thank you! I don't have time to clean it up right now, but here's a pinglist. It'll be for general discussion, so you'd get pinged for lore dumps here and related questions (ex: "How do you think seasons might affect the rootbed?"). Love y'all!
So some of us for sure have noticed that Nature's lost its cliffs in the new map update. Theory:
Nature's topography is the Behemoth. It's roots all the way down.
| That's the reason we're so smooth except at the shore. We do have hills and the like, but they're overgrowth on top of roots. Massive clods of earth dislodged by roots. Dirt trapped by and solidified around a root network (you can see the Behemoth roots go right into the ocean to the east). I've circled the really big roots, but these are only the ones large enough to show on an aerial map. |
___
|
This is supported further in the update, since we can now see the Behemoth's roots poking out of the soil in GRAND form even on the south of the Labyrinth's "island". We knew the Behemoth is big, but this is our big tree buddy on a whole new scale! Contrast what we knew of its size before:
The implications of this are amazing! For one, given the thickness of the roots, I could see them continuing quite a distance further...attempting to invade other Flights, perhaps? It might explain the water barrier. We are supposed to be aggressive in our growth....
And what about beneath Nature itself? Right now, the underwater layer is, well, underwater only. But the staff mentioned they might do more with it. If it became an underground layer, can you imagine how crazy Nature could get?:
- Roots are storage/transport networks. You could have gigantic root caverns with carefully-managed "taps" allowing Nature clans to symbiotically exist with the Behemoth without ever setting foot on the surface. Fungi clans, perhaps???
- If the Behemoth is the center of Glademom's power, then its deep roots could be the nesting-grounds for all kinds of spontaneous Nature horrors. We've got growth oozing outta the walls!
- Dead roots? More like hollowed-out carefully tended root cities! Maybe we've got our own archivists! Someone's gotta store the plantcare sheets.
- Oh you just KNOW we're doing stuff like #128. Where might we hide it? Why, way down in the depths, where all the power's stored up in the Behemoth's big, healthy roots...
- Root tunnel maze root tunnel maze walk to other Flights through our ROOT TUNNEL MAZE don't take a wrong turn or you'll NEVER GET OUT, ROOT TUNNEL MAZE
- @Aikka has some really cool ideas about root graveyards and Nature funerary practices! Also see @Nelsothy's post right after about Imperial disposal, it's excellent.
Honestly, I feel like the Behemoth "being" the Labyrinth (rather than just being a particularly big and important tree) would work so, so well with our Flight theming, us existing in this state of a territory-wide holobiont. Heck, who's to say that some of the trees aren't just sprouts of the Behemoth's roots? I mean, the heaviest known organism is a tree just like that...
Okay that's enough of me frothing at the mouth. Ideas?
EDIT: People have absolutely delivered on the ideas front. Here's just a few (chronological order)!
- @Metalhead's idea of living architecture
- @Gryphling's take on an interesting bit of potential symmetry between the Behemoth and the Wasteland's meat dirt
- @Pyruvae and @Nelsothy on "Gladekeeper as the Labyrinth" which is something I LOVE (headcanon dump on a few posts down from theirs, plus Nelsothy's followup!)
- @MirageTheShadow and @Avessa speculating on our ancient. Perhaps a root-dwelling worldserpent?
- @Flyteofheart points out that, according to the loretext, the Behemoth might be even bigger than this post makes out.
- @GingerSolstice's absolutely adorable idea about Glademom-Behemoth checking in on hatchlings
- @HypoTheBognapper on other Flights encountering our "architecture"
- @Dreamcoyote's excellent expansion on the potential uses of "flower language" in Nature.
Reference time! Shivering Isles root dungeons are nearish the aesthetic I'm imagining, dunno bout y'all. Probably more green and greenery though, rather than the reddish-orange, which skews more Plagueish, but imagine the area between our Flights...and @Dreamcoyote has greatly improved the ref pool by suggesting some really gorgeous visuals from Guild Wars 2 that I think are a perfect match, I'll only add two here for the sake of post length, but you should check out the rest! @vasilyssa has made another great addition--the fungal warrens and water purification aspects have some serious Nausicaa vibes. You should check the rest of their pictures here, I think this is pretty darn dead-on! Again, don't want to include all in this post for length reasons, but they're great!
Oh, and how did I miss that the Behemoth is burying the Pox Consulate?
Look at that li'l root! Seems to me like we've got evidence that the Behemoth is actively spreading its roots around, yeah? I wonder if it happened slowly, or like, exploded out of the ground like a sandworm from Dune.
Map of an undercolony! Not a particularly big one, certainly not "The Behemoth" as in the biggest part of the tree. You'd see a settlement like this around one of those protruding roots big enough to support houses, though.
There's twenty points of interest on this map, each one documented at the Rootbed lorebook wiki entry. If you settle in the rootbed, please consider adding your clan to the list at the end of the article! <3
