The Hidden Lives of Monsters

The Valley of Life and Death

Rotten Vale, New World

Day breaks as the sun climbs over the horizon, its golden rays illuminating everything they touch while also chasing away the night's darkness. It's a beautiful morning for those living on the surface, and high up in the coral highlands, creatures of all shapes and sizes are enjoying the pleasant weather; however, far below this colorful paradise is a world of stark contrast.

Shrouded in thick layers of fog and shade, the surface of this landscape may receive some sunlight, but it's nowhere near the amount that its neighbor receives, and due to the region's position, even on cloudless days most hours are spent in the shadows of the mountain range and colossal Mega-corals. Adding to the land's gloomy appearance are the millions of corpses littering the terrain, with every one of them varying greatly in size, appearance, and state of decomposition.

In the new world, almost every animal that manages to survive to old age will migrate to this place once death approaches, their bodies dropping into the rotten vale and adding to the mountains of decaying bodies. Even elder dragons come here to die, and when they do, the bioenergy they release gives the entirety of the continent a massive nutrient boost. This is thanks to the fact that the valley is located on top of a major intersection in the Everstream, and the thermal updrafts created by decomposing bodies sweep the nutrients up.

So despite the fact that the valley is shrouded in death, its unique location and the millions of dead and dying organisms provide life to the rest of the continent. This incredible process shouldn't be sustainable due to the slow speed of decomposition, yet it works because of two very special species that are indispensable when it comes to the maintenance of this ecosystem.

Deep in the underbelly of the caverns and tunnels of corpses, a thick, yellowish-white fog spreads out across the terrain, the fumes envelope the rotting bodies and seep into every opening. Although it may seem like these clouds are unimportant, this couldn't be further from the truth. The smog found below the surface is, in reality, swarms of microbial organisms known as Effluvium, and despite their size and very simple body plan, they're the reason why there's a steady outpour of necronutrients to be sent throughout the continent in the first place.

These flesh-eating bacteria break down the carcasses that fall into this land of the dead, turning tissue and nutrients into aerosol particles that are easily blown away by the wind, unintentionally nourishing the other environments of the continent. But Effluvium doesn't distinguish between living and dead meat, so the colonies can be very dangerous to other organisms, especially if inhaled.

Many of the creatures that are native to these lands have evolved both physical and behavioral adaptations to get around this danger, such as attaining a way of filtering out Effluvium and stopping it from entering the respiratory tract, or possessing some sort of natural immunity to the pathogen, or simply staying on the surface where these microbial organisms don't gather; but sometimes, even this isn't enough. During times when there's an especially large amount of corpses, the bacteria can experience an explosion in their population due to the abundance of food.

If the microbiomes become too numerous, then they can overpower the native fauna despite their adaptations, as well as lower oxygen levels which in turn causes colonies to cannibalize each other, making their numbers drop to dangerous levels and ultimately causing a catastrophic collapse of the environment's balance if the population boom is not stopped. Unfortunately, this is currently happening in this part of the rotten vale, but luckily, there is a species that possesses the capabilities needed to keep such booms under control. Deep below the ground and decaying bodies is a chamber whose walls and ceiling are held up by a gargantuan ribcage and spine; the floor is covered in hundreds of corpses, with some areas transformed into small hills of skin, muscle, and bone.