Dylan Edwards – Page 16 – Valley of the Silk Sky

The creator of this here comic

Flora and Fauna: Melaine Mushroom

December 16, 2018 Dylan Edwards

Valley of the Silk Sky - melaine mushroom

Melaine is a carnivorous fungus that typically feeds on insects or small animals like birds and rodents (the size of the prey depends on the size of the mushroom). Prey are lured in by the sweet-smelling ball bait at the end of a hair trigger. The treacherous ball is extremely sticky, and the struggles of the stuck prey trigger the hair to yoink them forcefully into a bowl of viscous digestive juices. The larger the melaine the more potent the goo, and the larger melaine specimens can eat away at human flesh.

For humans, it’s a “better safe than sorry” situation. If you see (or smell) a patch of melaine, give it a wide berth, lest you accidentally step in one and get splashed with a caustic substance.

Since the digestive goo is viscous and sticky, getting it off once it’s on you is a challenge to say the least. As with poison ivy oils, sometimes efforts to remove the substance just spread it over you even more. You will, at the very least, wind up with some lovely chemical burns, if not open sores.

The Daraz Harcos have significantly thicker and less sensitive skin than humans, so they aren’t as likely to be harmed by the melaine’s digestive juices. They have discovered that a small mushroom isn’t potent enough to do significant damage to the skin, but instead acts as a disinfectant for wounds, and the sticky nature of the goo helps stop bleeding by sealing the cut. Instead of avoiding melaine at all costs, the Harcos seek it out as an important tool in field medicine.

Flora and Fauna: Carnivorous Plants

December 16, 2018 Dylan Edwards

Valley of the Silk Sky - carnivorous plants

The Valley in which the Provinces of Pocalo sit is ringed by a range of high red mountains. The poor nutrient content of the red soil, coupled with the erosion issues on the cloud spider web structure (and low sunlight in many areas), make it difficult for many species of plants to take root.

As a result, several of the more successful plants in the region are ones that had evolved to draw their sustenance from the delicious flesh of insects, and other things (cough, ahem) larger than insects. Birds, perhaps. A rat or two. Maybe, I don’t know, a human sometimes? Who’s counting, really?

Sticky tendrils, grasping appendages, alluring lights, digestive juices: the flora of the Valley have a wide range of adaptations for ensnaring and devouring hapless fauna.

Several of the plants, like the melaine mushroom, have useful medicinal applications, provided one can harvest them without being eaten.

Flora and Fauna: Blue Beetle

December 16, 2018 Dylan Edwards

Valley of the Silk Sky - blue beetle Ah, the humble blue beetle, such a common sight in the Valley it gets the most obvious possible name. It’s also one of the main sources of animal protein for the citizens of Pocalo. So delicious, so nutritious.

Humans typically cook these insects prior to eating, as the texture of raw bug is not especially appetizing (similar in consistency to raw poultry). At the same time, “appetizing” is a luxurious concern for one who hasn’t had anything to eat in awhile, and humans can eat the beetle flesh raw if need be.

Daraz, meanwhile, aren’t accustomed to cooking food first (they can’t have fires in their underground cities or they’d all die of asphyxiation). But, whether raw or cooked, Daraz don’t typically care much for the taste of blue beetle and only tend to eat it out of necessity. The Rovari name for this particular insect translates roughly as “edible, I guess.”

Humans don’t just use the blue beetle for food. The shells are collected and ground into powder, which is then made into fabric dye. This particular dye is called “blue beetle blue,” JUST in case you were confused about the color or the source. Any dyed fabric is fancier than un-dyed fabric, but blue beetle blue still doesn’t rise much above “better than nothing.”

Geography: The Rift

December 16, 2018 Dylan Edwards

Valley of the Silk Sky -The Rift

There’s a decent amount of seismic activity in the Valley. Pocalo is generally highly resistant to earthquakes, as the construction-grade cloud spider silk is slightly flexible and highly shock-absorbent. But a particularly severe quake with just the right combination of vibration and shear forces got the better of Pocalo, and the next day people had to wonder, “Where did that giant rift come from?”

The Rift stretches for several miles across the Muru interior, and plunges several hundred feet down into Eradu, the province immediately below Muru.

This major geographic change also altered the course of the Red Silt River, forming a lake known as The Flood, which drains into Eradu in the form of a huge waterfall. During dry times this can cause the river to stop flowing further south from The Flood, causing water management problems for folks downstream.

Both The Rift and The Flood have made any form of travel across Muru a bit of a challenge. Boats can no longer ply the course of the Red Silt River. And the one crossing point, the Cashel Bridge, is in the process of sloughing off into the Rift.

Because The Rift appeared overnight, the Cashel Bridge was put up in extreme haste, with the idea that a better, more permanent solution would be implemented later. After only a few years it has begun to fall apart, but there’s little incentive to build a more permanent crossing. Most people have opted for more reliable alternatives, and have abandoned the pre-Rift routes that took them past this region.

Flora and Fauna: Sweetberry Bush

December 15, 2018 Dylan Edwards

Valley of the Silk Sky - sweetberry bush

Sure, giant mudbats can be scary if you’re in the wrong place at the wrong time, but by far the most dangerous thing in this picture is that massive green shrub, the sweetberry bush.

As the name would imply, the bush produces a delectable fruit. It’s quite edible and nutritious! Some enterprising soul who encountered the bush in its native habitat thought, “Why don’t I bring this lovely, innocent little plant back to Pocalo with me, that I may cultivate its delicious produce?”

Well, it turns out birds took a liking to the berries and cheerfully dispersed the seeds in their poop, and the sweetberry bush really, REALLY took a liking to the province of Muru in particular. It spread explosively, and has choked out countless native species in its rampage across the landscape.

Economic and Social Effects

Muru’s economy has long been heavily dependent on the collection and sale of the various rare medicinal plants that grow throughout the province. Runners who specialized in a particular species found themselves out of work after the sweetberry bush showed up in their region and destroyed the indigenous flora.

The resulting economic instability has led to a significant increase in crime throughout Muru, with many former runners becoming bandits. Meanwhile, the extinction of numerous medically beneficial species has caused a resurgence in various previously-treatable diseases, resulting in waves of epidemics throughout Pocalo as supplies of medicines have run out. Social services are stretched thin dealing with both the crime and the epidemics.

The Poison Marsh

Attempts to control the bush have ranged from the ineffective to the utterly disastrous. The worst of these was an experiment with an herbicide whose runoff collected into a low-lying area, rendering a whole region dangerously toxic. This area is now simply known as the Poison Marsh.

Worst of all, the herbicide not only failed to kill the bush, but destroyed various other plants, opening up even more of the landscape to colonization by … THE DREADED SWEETBERRY BUSH.

Pocalo Economy: Runners

December 15, 2018 Dylan Edwards

Valley of the Silk Sky - Chadsen - Runner The unusual geography of the Valley makes it a host to countless microclimates, which in turn means there’s a whole bunch of rare flora, many of which may only be found in one small area.

Many of these plants have valuable medicinal or industrial application, and they can often be difficult or impossible to cultivate. So how do you get ahold of them if, say, you’re a pharmacist and you need that berry extract for a wound treatment salve? Why, you hire yourself a runner.

The harder a plant is to get, the more it costs to retrieve. So, while you can certainly do a little bit of business as a runner in the upper provinces, the real money is to be had collecting items from the lower three provinces. All you have to do is avoid being killed by whatever is between you and the thing you’re trying to collect. Simple!

Pretty much anyone can become a runner, but you’ll have an easier time getting hired if you’re licensed by the Pocali government. Licensed runners have had training in correctly identifying desirable plants (you do not, for example, want to hire a runner who can’t tell the beneficial berry from the nearly identical poisonous berry).

Of course, the services of licensed runners are more expensive. Use an unlicensed runner at your (or possibly your client’s) own risk.

There is a standard set of runner’s gear that includes the shirt, trousers, bracers, gaiters, shoes, belt, and vest. The outfit is designed to be modular, and there are multiple variations tailored to the preferences of the particular runner. Are you looking to enhance speed and flexibility (go with the wraps), or are you worried about snakes chewing on your ankles (you’ll want those gaiters)?

You’ll be able to pick up a set of gear if you attend a runner’s academy in the course of pursuing your license. If you didn’t go to academy, you can make your own gear, or you can scavenge it from wherever you can find it. If you got it off the last runner who died in pursuit of that extremely-difficult-to-retrieve medicinal, maybe keep that fact to yourself.

Pocalo Economy: Medicine

December 15, 2018 Dylan Edwards

Valley of the Silk Sky - pharmaceutical lab

Probably the single biggest reason Pocalo is a cultural melting pot and a destination worth traveling the world to get to: their medical science is unparalleled.

People come to the Valley to seek cures for their own ailments, or to buy medicines to sell elsewhere in the global market, or to study the practice of medicine. No surprise, then, that researching and cultivating medicinal flora is a big industry.

Pocalo is home to a huge number of microclimates, which in turns means there are countless rare plants that only grow in specific (and sometimes dangerous or hard-to-reach) places.

Valley of the Silk Sky - medical research center Botanists are always looking for species that can be domesticated and grown on demand to reduce production costs. Places like the Pharmaceutical Research Center in Uttara City typically have greenhouses that cultivate whatever useful species can be grown in the area. The modular nature of the building helps prevent unwanted cross-pollination of the plants being cultivated, or escape by potentially invasive species.

The Research Center forms the economic hub of the area, and specializes in plants found locally. The plants and medicines produced by the Research Center are traded to other regions in Pocalo, who in turn trade their own plants and medicinals to Uttara. This network of pharmaceutical centers across Pocalo defines the layout of intercity and interprovince trade routes.

Pharmaceutical scientists like Amihan, Beneke, and Rosse study newly-found species in hopes of discovering new medicines. Of course, not all species can be domesticated or cultivated, so runners like Chadsen go out to find them in the wild.

Daraz Society: Writing

December 15, 2018 Dylan Edwards

Valley of the Silk Sky - Daraz writing systems

The Daraz have a tactile written language, since their infrared vision can’t detect ink on paper or print in a book.

They have two main systems of writing:

1. Cord notation: This format is similar to quipu, though the actual implementation is a little different. Size and distribution of knots, as well as weave of the cords, is used to convey information.

2. Wax notation: Knotting and weaving is a slow process, so the corded language is more for information that needs to be archived. These cords are typically transcribed from a writing system that uses a stylus to deposit dots and dashes of hot wax that mimic the knots and weaves of the cords.

The pot of wax is kept warm and liquid by storing it in a rivulet diverted from a hot spring. While it is still warm the wax is visible to the Daraz, so as they write with the stylus they have a visual impression of what they’re writing.

Once the wax cools and is no longer visible, they read the raised parts via touch.

This system is also useful for written communication with humans – while humans are not physically capable of speaking Rovari, they can certainly read it. Objects that might need to be read by both Daraz and humans, like containers of shared medicinals, will often be labeled in both Pocali and Rovari.

Economic and Social Effects

The Poison Marsh

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