Earth 93 - The Deep

## Ecology

In the distant past, humanoid creatures discovered an underground
ocean that connects many cave systems. Because of high radiation (due to
 submerged isotopes) and high temperatures (due to nearby magma flows)
the Deepsea produces a lot of light through Cherenkov Radiation. This
light in turn feeds a great deal of algae (and thus indirectly cave
fish) and also feeds a variety of lichens and plants within the caves
and also provides a lasting supply of air for the many creatures from
here. As a side effect, the radiation feeds a variety of mushrooms and
other fungi. Cave animals eat the plants and each other.

The Dwarves grow food in the Deepsea's light and hunt/herd cave animals.

built smaller outposts until they eventually, around 2000 BC they rediscovered the surface and
 begin trade with humans and elves, which gave them a significant reason to
build more cities further up.

A large dwarven city consists of a set of tunnels and rooms
 carved into rock near/above the Deepsea, with lots of buildings
constructed from the stone they excavated from the tunnels. They city
would probably be surrounded by mosses, lichens, and even shrubs. The
bigger cities would probably have small canals and irrigation built to
bring water from the sea into the city's/farm's heart and provide
cheaper lighting and more bountiful harvests.

Cities further up are similar systems of houses and
 tunnels. Some have brought up water and radioactive minerals from
 the Deepsea to form an artifical pond at the center of their
settlements around which they would grow food in suspended fields and
conduct buisiness. The advent of electrical light would make cities
further from the Deepsea a lot cheaper.

#### Culture

They have a similar relationship with metals as we do
with wood. They make every day items out of metal since it is abundant
 while wood is rare. They value precious metals for the
 same reason humans do. While wood is almost as rare and valuable
as silver by weight, but is a less effective commodity because it
decays. In ancient times, the most valuable coins were polished chips of petrified wood.

Dwarves have their own Adam and Eve story and consider the Deep Sea to be a holy land.

The two most popular religions among the Dwarves is a
monotheistic faith called Jahvehianism, and an anscestor worshiping
polytheistic faith called The Path of the Deep Gods. They believe that
seven of the 14 Deep Gods have prepared Afterlives for various Dwarves.
The disciples of the Path worship Zhalkav the God of the Deepsea who
they believe favors Dwarves above all others, Rezvarka, Goddess of the
Deep Forges who they claim is Zhalkav's favored child, and the various
Dwarven ancestors who they claim hold honored positions in the
afterlife.

## Goblins

#### Abilities and Characteristics

Small, quick, and clever, the Goblins were originally a race of
scavengers. They were scavengers of the Dwarves' and Trolls' society,
and some were even kept as pets like dogs. That
 leads to centuries of racism.

Unlike Dwarves, Goblins are reptilian. They are fast and clever where the dwarves
 are strong and honorable.

The Goblins can climb walls like geckos.

#### Culture

The Goblins valuable commerce and re-use as much as the Dwarves value production and craftsmanship.

Many Goblins also follow the faith of the 14 Deep Gods. They
honor Zhalkav's wife Shaan, who they say was the true creator of the
Deepsea, and they prefer her first child, Clokzul god of traders, thieves, and others who live by their wits.

#### Economy

Many Goblins live in small villages centering around pools of water
taken from the Deepsea. Others live in ghettos built in houses carved in
 tunnels and Stalactites above Dwarven cities. Goblins grow and eat fungus much like the Dwarves. They have also domesticated many types of bugs which they used to hunt for regularly. In particular they domesticated a cousin of the mosquito which they bred to be larger and have smaller wings so that now it can't even fly. Other goblin cultures focus their culinary attentions on domesticated cockroaches.

Many goblins work as traveling merchants, moving between towns and villages carrying supplies and goods.

There is also a thriving Goblin criminal underworld, both below and above the ground.

### Trolls

#### Abilities and Characteristics

Trolls evolved in the Deepsea, an ecosystem in which
there was both prey they had to fight, explaining their moments of
aggression, and prey that was so fast that they had to ambush, explaining their
 patience and stony camouflage: Dwarves and Goblins.

They are very big and clearly predator/combat oriented. This is
because they adapted to an ecosystem with an abundance of large prey
they had to hunt and compete for.

Trolls are so ridiculously patient that
 they can stand still for so long that they are mistaken for statues,
and evolved for colder conditions and are thus cold to the touch and are
 very heat efficient, which led many people to historically believe them
 to be walking stone statues.

Trolls were originally shorter and less strong. They preyed
on herbivores of the Deep Sea Caverns. The Dwarves had a
pre-agricultural independent civilization before they discovered the
Trolls. The Goblins adapted to be scavengers to both civilizations. When
 the three all came into contact the Trolls adapted to eat the Dwarves
and Goblins, becoming better fighters and better ambushers for each type
 of prey.

#### Economy

Trolls have a very small population. They have only one major city:
"Trullunheim" though they had many small villages. They maintain
imperial control of other cities and villages where they have Dwarves,
Goblins, and Salamanders herd animals for them. Dwarven propaganda
claims they eat the residents of these cities but for the most part it
is untrue.

#### Culture

Trolls follow a similar Pantheon of Deep Gods, though the names are very different.

## Shared History of the Deepsea Inhabitants

The Goblins resented the pet status imposed on them by Dwarves and
Trolls, a grudge extending to all current living goblins, which are the
descendants of those Goblins
domesticated by the Trolls.

Around the time agriculture was developed the
Dwarves became better able to defend themselves and the Goblins began an
 uprising. The Dwarves hate the Trolls because they preyed on them for
centuries. The Trolls consider the Dwarves inferior upstarts who took
the Deep Sea away from them. The Trolls regard Goblins as little more
than cattle while the Goblins obviously hate the trolls for treating
them like animals. The Dwarves see the Goblins as scavengers and thieves
 and probably have some examples of atrocities in their early history to
 justify later hatred, while the Goblins resent the Dwarves for not
helping them and not letting them have land on the Deepsea, the Goblins
consider themselves to be the ones that history never gave a real chance
 to.
When agriculture was invented they all needed access to the
limited area that borders the Deepsea because that's the best place to
grow food. The Dwarves control 70% of the land area around and in
islands within the Deepsea. The Trolls control 25%, the Goblins only
control 5%.

## Mythology

All three mainstream cultures traditionally believe the deep sea was created by the Earth Mother and the Deep Father, often translated as Gaia and Tartarus.