Flora & Fauna of the Stone Horizons
The world of Stone Horizons is nearly totally covered in the constructions of the ubiquitous castle. This has had far reaching effects on the sort of wildlife (and indeed domesticated animals) that can be found within its walls. Large areas never see the sun, are damp and shadowed or are built atop geography that didn’t support much in the way of wild creatures in the first place. The effect this has had is to make insects and invertebrates much more widespread. Not only that, but many of them have grown to huge size in order to take advantage of the ecological niche provided by the castle. The meek, or Vermin (the catchall term used for insects, rats and arachnids) as they are collectively known have indeed inherited the earth. Countless shaded corners and subterranean passages contain unknown numbers of these pests, many of them grown to huge size. The sewers that honeycomb the earth beneath each Horizon supports huge numbers of scavenging rats, spiders and parasitic life forms. These conditions also gave rise to the Ratlings, descended from King Rats, Rafters, who may be descended from crested lizards and Wall-Crawlers, whose arachnid origins are obvious for all to see.
If you want to see creatures that won’t either eat you or the waste you produce, you have to visit the small walled open spaces or clamber over the roofs and spires that look down on you. On the rooftops, you’ll still find many species of birds, mainly small flighty specimens that feed on hatching insects; there simply aren’t enough vermin on the rooftops to support large populations of raptors. Basking lizards, the occasional grasping monkey in the tropics and a unique species of fox that has made a living here is about your lot. The rest have been subsumed by the castle or have adapted to live within it rather than without.
Open parkland still contains small numbers of game birds, deer, cattle and sheep (although goats are more commonly herded for food) and the hunter can make a decent living by carefully hunting these creatures.
Apart from the very rare stables that rear horses, the main domesticated animal in the Horizon is the dog, which is bred for ferocity and endurance. Regional varieties abound, but the basic hound template can be seen in all breeds.
If you want to populate an area with fauna choose one or two species from this list or roll randomly. Most of the creatures on this list are rare in the extreme and only live in certain, threatened environments.
Flora has likewise suffered from the universal presence of the castle. Yet, like the fauna, some plants have grown to dominate the environment. Mosses, lichens and fungi find the shade and damp of the castle ideal for their growth and indeed, just like vermin, some fungi grow to gigantic size. Countless varieties of these plants grow in the Horizons; some unique to a certain feature, others found the world over. Botanists and professors have their work cut out for them in cataloguing them all. Medicine, food, and even building materials are garnered from these plants and without them life would be almost unbearable. Cereal crops are the losers in this story. Without large tracts of land in which to grow, only paltry crops can be grown where the castle yields its grip on the land for an acre or two. These harvests are jealously guarded and those living nearby can ditch the staple of fungi made bread for the delicacy of real bread.
Some trees and shrubs have adapted for life within the castle (especially in the tropics), but are mostly almost leafless affairs, their spindly limbs a reflection of the grasping roots searching for nutrients under the flagstones of the Horizon. One notable exception is the iron oak, the bark of which is resistant to both blade and fire. These behemoths sometimes pierce the towers and roofs of a Horizon. How they have adapted is anyone’s guess. Flowering plants and fruiting trees are likewise rare, preferring to grow in the small walled gardens that can be found every few miles or so.