Fenrisian ecology

[MonSTeR]

OK, everyone knows Fenris is an icy deathworld. It's depecited that way in the pictures and the stories. We also know that its surface is in frequent dissarray as the landmasses shift and change.

 

But...

 

It's one that has a human population and that has several top tier terrestrial predators including wolves (of varying species) and bears. I recall reading that there are elk or deer on fenris and I recall reading that they' munch on lichen and similar.

 

Where are the forests that are used to make the longships of the fenrisian tribes? How long do these trees have to grow to sufficient size as to be useful to make sizable structures? where are the plants that support the herbivores for the carnivores to eat? Or is Fenris more stable than the stories suggest?

 

Anyone got any ideas or more importantly point me to fluff to support this?

[hendrik]

like everything else most likely the fauna too is adapted to the climate. remember it's not always freezing on fenris too. every summer it get's smoking hot, with streams of lava etc melting away most of the ice, releasing fertile ground etc. one of the most commonly used materials is bone as well i believe.

prospero burns contains quite a lot information about fenris and its native people actually, might be worth checking out :tu:

[MonSTeR]

like everything else most likely the fauna too is adapted to the climate. remember it's not always freezing on fenris too. every summer it get's smoking hot, with streams of lava etc melting away most of the ice, releasing fertile ground etc. one of the most commonly used materials is bone as well i believe.

prospero burns contains quite a lot information about fenris and its native people actually, might be worth checking out ;)

 

If the fauna is adapted to the climate, I'd ask how?

 

Fenrisian years are 2 earth years long, suggesting a summer of approximately 6 standard months. For 18 months of the year what do the large herbivores eat? That's a heck of a lot of lichen?

 

What makes the newly exposed soil fertile? where's the organic matter rotting into the soil to do this? The nearest I can come up with is algal bloom washed ashore or as the landmasses shift. That still doesn't give much time for the establisment of large flora from which boats and ships can be made.

 

I found that novel to be somewhat lacking in explanation really and somewhat at odds with some of the other fluff on the SW. A fun read, but my xenoecological curiosity is still not sated.

[hendrik]

well i was thinking of adapting in the way some fauna is able to survive getting washed over by the salt sea for a prolonged period etc but something more frost related. algal bloom might verywell be a reason that gets things fertile andmaybe, who knows even some gene fidling with the fauna's DNA? maybe magnus ment to say "there are no threes on fenris" but then decided wolves sounded much more dramatical?

in all honesty i don't know though, but given the fact that the original settles dwelled many years/centuries underearth after unleashing their gene altered creations on fenris i find it suitable to believe algal bloom and the plenty of water make it suitable for fauna to rise and exist. it won't be much and it'll make the existing wood very esteemed and guarded. on a side note it seems most/quite of lot of fenris inhabitants are predators themselves who could easely hunt on other predators

[Arez]

OK, everyone knows Fenris is an icy deathworld. It's depecited that way in the pictures and the stories. We also know that its surface is in frequent dissarray as the landmasses shift and change.

 

But...

 

It's one that has a human population and that has several top tier terrestrial predators including wolves (of varying species) and bears. I recall reading that there are elk or deer on fenris and I recall reading that they' munch on lichen and similar.

 

Where are the forests that are used to make the longships of the fenrisian tribes? How long do these trees have to grow to sufficient size as to be useful to make sizable structures? where are the plants that support the herbivores for the carnivores to eat? Or is Fenris more stable than the stories suggest?

 

Anyone got any ideas or more importantly point me to fluff to support this?

Have you ever read the Ragnar series?if no read it.it contains alot of useful information

 

the long boats are made out of drake bones and hide.Wood is extremely rare and precious.

the trees grow on Asahiem.thats also where alot of the animals live to.Asahiem is the only continent that doesnt sink.it is also where the Fang is.

[styygens]

like everything else most likely the fauna too is adapted to the climate. remember it's not always freezing on fenris too. every summer it get's smoking hot, with streams of lava etc melting away most of the ice, releasing fertile ground etc. one of the most commonly used materials is bone as well i believe.

prospero burns contains quite a lot information about fenris and its native people actually, might be worth checking out :lol:

 

If the fauna is adapted to the climate, I'd ask how?

 

Fenrisian years are 2 earth years long, suggesting a summer of approximately 6 standard months. For 18 months of the year what do the large herbivores eat? That's a heck of a lot of lichen?

 

What makes the newly exposed soil fertile? where's the organic matter rotting into the soil to do this? The nearest I can come up with is algal bloom washed ashore or as the landmasses shift. That still doesn't give much time for the establisment of large flora from which boats and ships can be made.

 

I found that novel to be somewhat lacking in explanation really and somewhat at odds with some of the other fluff on the SW. A fun read, but my xenoecological curiosity is still not sated.

 

You won't be satisfied with the "Rule of Cool" as an answer, will you?

[Grey Mage]

Boats arent made from wood on fenris, ye whelp, theyre made from the bones and hides of Dragons and Kraken, large carnivorous beasties with tough hides and alot of skeletal structure.

 

Volcanic soil can actually be quite responsive to plantlife- you dont need to have generations of plants dying to grow new plants, just the nutrients and a bit of anaerobic bacteria to help the process along can do the trick. Alot of modern crops are grown on such soils as Galestro, Llicorella, or Terra Rossa- any of wich can be created underneath an shallow ocean, as large parts of Fenris surely are.

 

Alot of the larger animals are known only to be found on the great continent of Asaheim, or on more stable large islands. Please note- not all the landmasses on fenris are constantly raising and dropping from volcanic activity, but rather many of them are being slowly crushed by glaciers or smashed by asteroids, or being uncovered from sheet ice thats built up over a couple hundred years. While individual villages may become uninhabitable over night because of a falling part of a comet doesnt mean that the entirety of that landmass becomes inhospitable to flora at the same time.

 

It should also be noted that many of the fauna mentioned on fenris are similar, atleast in name, to those present on earth during the iceage. Back then elk were nearly twice the size of the ones we find in north america today, and Red Deer for example could get 12' high (4 meters) without much difficulty. Aurochs, Mammoths, Giant Sloths and maybe even Glyptodonts are all likely part of the food chain, and many of these creatures survived in the shadows of large glaciers during the wurm glaciation until the mass extinction at the end.

 

Large fauna, or Mega-fauna as we like to call them, on a planet like Fenris would likely have particularly evolved gestation periods and the ability to survive in a semi-aquatic fashion for a month or two at a time if need be. These adaptations could occur naturally, or perhaps as part of the bio-engineering process that is hinted at in some SW literature. Heck, many of them may be omnivorous, consider the advantage of a wooly mammoth that can catch fish with its trunk! *shrugs* In any case such adaptations would allow them to survive where similar terran species would die out within months.

 

There is no reason why the Fenrisian eco-system cant work we take a moment and use a bit of imagination. Not everything in life needs to be- or should be- handed to us on a silver platter. I encourage you, if this subject truely interests you, to investigate the life cycles and needs of cold weather mega-fauna and the flora that sustains many of them as it really is a fascinating subject.

[Blacksad]

and this is why I love this forum: you could take the effort to post a well laid out and comprehensive reply to a thread, but you can also just wait for Grey Mage to post.

[Wulf Vengis]

Grey Mage or Valerian either one will put the rest of us to shame.