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Originally Posted by AndrewH
I would consider re-writing this. 'The truly amazing detail' is too much like an 'as you know Bob' speech.
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*grin* this is the unedited version. I'll be going over that paragraph a few times and making it read smoothly.
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I'm probably alone in this, but I'd be curious to know more about these underground plants. Do the crystals act as natural light tubes from the surface, or generate their own light? Or do the plants operate on something other than photosynthesis? Chemosynthesis? (Cold seeps, hydrothermal vents, and whale falls are quite interesting.) Thermosynthesis? Magic-synthesis? Caves on earth are low-energy ecosystems, and without sunlight you're not going to find much more than maybe some algae or lichen on the walls.
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Please keep in mind that I'm not a scientist, and I'm not trying to convince a scientist of anything. I'm explaining enough that a casual reader can say, "okay, I'll go with that"
These are excerpts that kind of explain it, basically, it's a magically enhanced bio-luminescence much like in a firefly. Their blood/sap glows and they have transluscent skins:
The temperature became gradually cooler as the party traveled deeper into the ground. Soon plants began to appear on the walls and ceiling of the tunnel. These plants were extremely rich with oxygen, which made it possible to breathe the air.
The plants glowed as well. Bioluminescent fluids moved slowly through them. It was similar to the glowflies in the forest, but much more powerful. They were different than plants on the surface. Their powerful roots dug through rock easily, but at the same time, it secured the stone so that ribs and braces were no longer needed to keep the tunnel secure.
Plants that grew in the ceiling and walls of caverns and tunnels tended to be unfit for human consumption, though Rojuun could eat many of the varieties. The roots collected nutrients from deep within the rock. This made them metallic and heavy in a way that humans could not digest. The floors of Rojuun caverns often had softer and more fertile dirt brought in by extensive underground rivers flowing throughout the world of Ryallon. The ceiling and wall plants often ground rock to dust, which fell to the floor adding more dirt.
From this softer dirt grew plants edible to humans. They glowed and produced copious amounts of oxygen as well, but were softer than their hanging counterparts. Animals of all sorts fed upon them. Meanwhile; other animals fed upon those animals. When the animals died, they lay in the soil adding their nutrients to it. It was a vast cycle of life underground that had taken thousands upon thousands of years to develop. From that life came the Rojuun, later than humans had developed upon the surface, but perhaps that was the way the gods intended it.
“So, do you know why the animals underground all glow?”
“Of course. It’s so they have light to see by. Why else would they glow,” Vevin replied, rolling his eyes again. The liquid silver rippled in a circle.
“Ahh,” Sir Danth said, nodding. “That makes complete sense.” Tathan and Liselle nodded too, after all, why else would the creatures glow.