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Cave Biome


Revenant

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CAVE BIOME

 

I figure the actual cave roof and walls couldn’t be included, unless they were made to be “see-through” like the trees upon being closer. I figure instead it would be a bit like an inverted mountain biome. There would be an island surrounded by water with a high beachy area and then a progressively sunken, shady area. The tiles would be stony, plain dirt, and mud for the most part, with “spotlights” that had debris, like the leaf/twig tiles in the jungle, and possible plants (maybe poison berry, twiggy berry, and twig bush). Besides that, the tiles would be darker, a bit like the reddish filter on the savanna, and they’d only have fungi and stone formations. Fungi: poison mushrooms (needs fangs or poison body), normal mushrooms, truffles (or roots, require digging), and bioluminescent fungi--like a tree trunk, sight is added when in ring of glowing fungi. Stone formations could include existing rocks, plus ripple-marked rocks, stalagmites (growing up from ground), and flowstone “waterfalls”. Permanent nests should be near spotlights. As the islands get harder, the beach’s upper grassland would get less, forcing you to survive in the cave.

 

As well as normal ground, there will also be pools and “disappearing” streams, unconnected to the ocean. These would be generally shallow and cool. In fact, the caves in general would be colder--and could offer a damage possibility either in lack of vitamins (requiring moving out of the shady area to sunny area, like spotlights) or occasional coldness (like the mountain). Otherwise these bodies of water would have their own unique prey. These could include crayfish, cave fish (fish swarm: albino), and/or salamanders, or some variation thereof, all blind and pigmentless. These live in the cave only and near water. Colored animals with sight, such as variations of the bats, salamanders, spiders, snakes, and other notable cave fauna, could also be present as possible hybrids. Obviously not all of these would live in or near water, unlike the more aquatic albino species. Stag-moles would sometimes pop up in dirt patch tiles, generally near spotlights, and rabbils may sometimes wander on the beach (in medium cave biome).

 

As for our predators, we could have bearyenas that wander in and out of the caves, hunting prey as they do. There would also be at least one special cave predator (assuming you all don’t like the idea of some sort of spider, snake, or vampire bat predator). This predator should be unassuming and only live in the cave: small, albino, and almost or completely blind. Unfortunately, this predator is also quite dangerous, surprisingly so, with large, digging-type claws and sharp (maybe poison) fangs. It should also have bat-like ears and a large nose, somewhat like the hearing and smelling apes. However, I do not think it should have a particularly long lifespan; it can just do a lot of damage. This predator could also be some kind of carnivore, similar to our nichelings enough to breed. Special features inherited could include its special claws (similar to bearyena claws, include digging), big fangs/poison fangs, bat-like ears, and whiskered snout. Here’s the fun part. This hybrid would have two features to counteract blindness or near-sighted vision: the bat-like ears and whiskered snout. With these, blind eyes or near-sighted eyes act like either near-sighted eyes or normal eyes. Hybrids would also sometimes have a smell cover, as they are closer to the scent of this predator, confusing them into thinking they may be a mate instead. As this predator, your bigger danger than bearyenas, is based around only hearing and smell, you have some existing strategies towards apes available. For hearing, you can go with stealth, and with smell, you can roll in mud or have stinky tail. As for cave camouflage, I’d think gray or pale brown (white/moss brown, cream/moss brown) could be best, but wouldn’t absolutely be required for much except maybe avoiding bearyenas or other sighted predators.

 

Also when we gain wings, these might be useful to avoid a disaster idea I have: also common in karst formations, where caves grow, are sinkholes. I think these could either be permanent, like a meat-eating plant and most visible with hearing/smell, or they could move around like wildfires, requiring your nichelings to escape the danger (maybe gliding over if encircled with bat wings) or save other nichelings from underground (digging skill/attack skill important).

 

Altogether, those are my main thoughts. I really have tried to research my local caves for coming up with this biome. Others might have ideas based on caves in their locations that could make this biome even better, so please share. :)

 

I also have an idea building off of this, which would be underwater caves. These would also not have a roof, but perhaps walls of water-healing plants/rocks and with one to two entrances. A permanent underwater nest could be inside, guarded by some sort of anglerfish-like “dodomingo” perhaps? I think also algae would be common, but also maybe an edible permanent plant: kelp or similar. It would be an absolutely wonderful location for your sea-dwelling creatures. Problems do exist, of course. As fish and clams are common here, as are predators. Leeches and razorhinas would be the big issue in starting underwater cave regions, but beyond that, I’d love to add this to the overall idea of making the oceans more lifelike and interesting. Another idea I have is some sort of pufferfish-like prey, only edible to those with poison body/gills or poison fangs/water body, otherwise it does damage/poisons like a poison berry bush/poison mushroom. Obviously I’d also like to see larger predators too, such as seal/orcas, barracuda/sharks or eel/sharks, and maybe crocodile/snake type monsters, varying based on biome temperature.

 

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Gotta say, love the amount of detail you've put into this. Got a few suggestions.

 

As for the cave entrance, there could be a different port for it, instead of being stepping stones it could be a hole that caves in when you go down, and progressing through you've either go through different caves, having them cave in behind you, or go up onto another island. It could branch into a whole set of biomes this way.

 

The other thing I'm thinking of is your predator. From what you've said I think something like a molebat, with vampire bat-like fangs and ears, and a moles snout and claws. Fangs could cause bleeding instead of poison.

 

That's about it, great suggestion, and I hope this gets some attention.

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Thanks for the replies and suggestions. :) As for cave warmth, it depends on location (outside biome) and size. A smaller cave will hold body heat well, whereas a larger cave with a icy cold stream could get quite chilly.

 

The port idea could definitely work! Plus, yes. We are probably looking at something that appears much like a molebat, so blood loss would make more sense. I would still like it to be feline/canine enough for hybridization, of course. :P Also considering if blind eyes would get a camo bonus in caves...some sort of benefit to this trait, since it is so common in cave-dwelling animals.

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