Challenge #04489-L105: Deep Down Farming

I'm a half-human with an unusual gift. Who am I? Oh just a simple farmer. What do I raise? Cattle? Oh no, too many monsters, though I can hunt those for food, giant boars and huge deer taste good. I raise Dire Spiders. The silk ensures clothing, money, and my gift? I can understand their feelings so I know how to ensure they have a comfortable home. -- Anon Guest

People up on the surface always make the same mistake about the Everdark. One of the most popular ones is its eternal darkness. I mean, it is right there in the name. And sure, lots of the Everdark is as lightless as promised, but there's illuminating fungi, crystals, and varying permanent light spells along the safe pathways.

They are correct in that the Everdark is dangerous. The world around us was made for Dragons, so the caverns and chasms were also made for Dragons. Enrichment for them is... well. Dangerous for anything not a Dragon.

If you know what you're doing, or are with people who know what they're doing, the Everdark is easy to live in. Relatively speaking. For halfbreds like me, there's little that's easy.

It helps to have a gift. It helps to have an important skill. It helps to help people. The Everdark is cruel and harsh, but those who live in it don't have to match it. Because of my Wudzgaad heritage, I'm decent with growing things, but I'm better with the spiders of all sizes.

Yes. I said Wudzgaad. You thought I was this hairy from my Human side? Cute. I'm definitely not this large from my Human side. And I'm not answering questions about which parent was which. I have a very few Druidic capabilities, but... not the full range. I can sort of encourage crops a little bit, but I can very easily speak to and understand spiders.

That's why I farm the Dire kind.

Yeah, yeah. Two sunsiders made this hairy lunatic who lives in the Everdark and talks to spiders. Isabella? No... Down.

Sorry about that. Isabella gets jealous when I talk to others too long. C'mere, darling. See? Scritch her just behind the mandibles and she's putty in your hands.

I can see the life of a spider farmer isn't your deal. They're wonderfully useful creatures. The venom has more than the obvious use. The silk is pretty much a staple fibre in Everdark. M'lady Isabella is trained to the spool. All she needs is a Dire Pollie to suck on and she'll give me a whole reel.

You just walked past my Pollie pen, friend. Those were not pigs. Up on the sunside, they're a lot smaller. Yes. Dire Rolly Pollies. Farmed giant isopods. Many folk use 'em to stir up farm soil and get out all the toxins. Natural ploughs. The good thing is they breed and fatten up fast, and my spiders have got to eat. And they're good eating for people, too. Though... I much prefer our version of chickens.

You hear all kinds of stories about the Deepfolk who go up to the sunside of the world. Lots of them become heroes of legend and lore. You don't hear much about sunsiders who go down into the Everdark and make a life there.

Maybe it's because we don't become heroes. Or maybe it's because most people don't want to hear about the Everdark.

After all, it's dangerous, hazardous, and full of spiders.

[Photo by Quinn Mackay on Unsplash]

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