[X] The Fire Gardens. Fungi, mushrooms and ratflesh. Slain bats and cooked slimes. Was there ever a diet more horrible? More tasteless? But in disgust there is opportunity. The people of this city are traders, mainly, swindlers some, but few were farmers. But some were, and others have seeds anyway. No where in the dark, baring heavy magical intervention, could a garden of surface plants be grown. But Twilight isn't in the dark, is it? Under the burning light of the earth's blood, the first gardens were made. And while the first crops were of food, in times to come wood became seen as the true harvest of the Fire Gardens.
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It has been many days since the original settlers were thrown down into the Deep Dark, but who knows how many? Here, in the depths beneath the earth, there is no sun to tell time with. In the caves and tunnels beyond the city, all is dark outside the flickering lights of torches, and the city itself is constantly lit by the ruddy light of the volcanic chasms it is built around.
People slept as they willed, and spent their 'days' likewise, for how could time be tracked?
But now things have changed. Because the people sent back to Fort Salvation, and the Pit of Loss it is built so nearby to, have reported something new within the shadows. A clocktower! A cunning design, of gears and pendulums to track the hours and tell the days. While the benefits it will give to Twilight directly are few, not being built within this lava lit town, it means that the people of the tunnels now have years and days of their own.
A new calendar has been created, dated on the founding of Fort Salvation as year zero... or at least what they think that date was, the clocktower not being built until just recently. Still, that close to the Pit of Loss they have had some ability to track the days and nights as the sun shines down that pit, so it's probably somewhat close. At the very least within the right month. Probably.
In any case, the people of Twilight now know that the year is, for it is the year AB 1! Or, After Banishment One.
Closer to home, other changes have been happening.
Soil, created by the decomposing fungi attracted to the light of the lava has been collected. Special rooms, light brightly by the burning blood of the earth designed and carved out with brute labor and the bribe of getting some of the harvests once there is one. Seeds, collected from those who'd saved and preserved them for whatever reason, and then planted within the soil.
The first green of new growth is already visible.
Pollination is yet an issue, being as the underground lacks the normal array of friendly insects, bees and otherwise, but it is one that is being worked on and hopefully a solution will be found soon.
...And if nothing else manages to solve the problem, pollination by hand remains a (very tedious) option.
Still, such issues are more then worth the results. The crops might be a bit strange, as there was only a limited collection of seeds, but if plum trees are the only option they by the gods people will eat plums. And pumpkins and beans and if people can get them growing corn, but for whatever reasons the fates work by the only tree seeds to be found were for plums. Still, people are already planning what to do with that oh so precious wood now that everyone has had a year to try to make houses out of stone and hollowed out giant mushrooms.
It turns out those materials do not make the most comfortable or easily built houses.
But there is other important news that the expedition to Fort Salvation brought back was the news of new cities. Twilight has not been the only new settlement founded within this year, for two more groups have found homes of their own, and the news of the success the settlers for those cities and Twilight have found is encouraging even more people to set out to seek places of their own.
Tibero's Bastion was the first of the two new cities to be founded, as many of the warriors, champions, and other heroes of the resistance apparently decided that living so close to the Pit of Loss, the obvious point of invasion should the Empire decide the new civilization being created down here should be brought to heel, is a tad to exposed for their taste.
To be honest, from what the travelers said and saw the new settlement isn't that much farther away from the Pit, and certainly not as far as Twilight is, but it is far less casually found should an army come down to visit. The bastion was established inside a large cavern that circles a vast underwater lake. The lake itself is full of fish, and replenished by a great waterfall from the ceiling, so with fresh water and food the bastion could probably hold out from any invaders for a long time... well, once they get some defenses up.
But what they do have may be just as important as the Fire Gardens in the long term, for a new guild has been created. The so called 'Hunter's Guild', also being called the Adventure's Guild by others, is an organization dedicated to mapping out this new underworld that they now live within, and understanding and learning about the native life that lives within said underworld. While they do mean to study all forms of native life, already they have supposedly learned some very interesting things about the more monsters forms of said life...
Meanwhile, the more magically oriented of the people banished down here have gone in search of a place to call their own and work some real wonders in. The new city they call Belltower is built in a vertical cavern of great length. While horizontally speaking it is no more then the size of a (quite small) town, vertically it is as big as any city, and several other caverns of like nature are close by. It is also almost in the direct opposite direction from the Pit of Loss and Fort Salvation that Twilight is in, so few people expect to see much magic wonders making it to their city soon.
But more interesting, the reason for the new city's name is the wonder that hangs on it's top. The Bell of Sanctuary is an ancient artifact that was for some reason thrown down into the pit with the order that safeguarded it instead of being melted down like normal (perhaps the empire hoped it'd crush a lot of people when it landed), but has now been fixed up and given a new home. The bell's magic might not be blatant, but it is powerful and subtle, and all citizens who hear it mark the mornings and nights with its ringing are placed under its aegis.
And when you are experimenting with magic 'not being blown up' is always an important concept to remember.
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While the majority of the population of Twilight consider the peoples of Tibero's Bastion to be plain out paranoid, as if the Empire had any reason to believe the exiles were managing to stay alive down here they'd probably stop throwing people down the Pit of Loss, it must be admitted that force of arms is an important concept in these new lands. Not because of any enemy army, but because the wildlife is as one mind towards the exiles thrown down here.
Sadly, that one mind consists entirely of the thought 'man, those people look really tasty'.
As such, the defense of the city must be something considered from these most early days, as no one enjoys having an arm taken off by a Cave Worm or being attacked by a Giant Spider.
However, the discussions on how to provide that defense were not noted for their agreement...
[ ] A Branch Office of the Hunter's Guild could potentially be established within the city. Already, the hunters of the guild are known for their skill and bravery, and the presence of such heroes (as well as their habits of seeking out monster nests) could do much to prevent the native wildlife from troubling the people of the city. Of course, some question the wisdom of having the city's first line of defense be part of an organization headquartered in a different city altogether, as effective as it could be...
[ ] Other people think that is
Murderhob... er, adventurers are the solution, there is no need to involve the Hunter's Guild when the city has plenty of metal to pay said adventurers with (and perhaps more importantly/bribey some very tasty crops) when the city can just set up an Adventurer's Hall. Such a building would coordinate and oversee the hiring of adventurers for both official tasks and any task a citizen could scrap up the wealth to pay for. Of course, Adventurers might be noted for their skill and luck, but they aren't always the most reliable of folks.
[ ] Yet more people think that Twilight should just eat the expense and organize a proper civic guard to defend the city, armored and armed with the city's own products and manned with the people who live in the city. Naturally, their loyalty to the place they live in would be generally unshakable and they'd be far more reliable then your average sellsword, but generally speaking townsfolk aren't anywhere near as perilous a foe as those who make a living by the edge of a blade.
[ ] The last option to be discussed is that of simply designing and building some very thick city walls, caving in some of the smaller passages, floodiing a few others with lava, and then hiring a far smaller force to defend the remaining entrances. While this would certainly make Twilight a target too hard for the average monster, and make the average citizen far safer then the other options, it wouldn't do a thing to make the outside wilderness more safe. Of course, some people consider the idea that if someone wants to attack you they'll have to deal with all the monsters as a bonus. Others consider the potential effect on trade and general travel as unacceptable.