Dungeon Ecosystem: Sprites

Waitomo Glowworm Caves

Ecosystems need producers. On the surface this niche is mainly occupied by plants, which take in energy from the sun. Herbivores eat plants, and are eaten in turn by omnivores and carnivore. Some smaller carnivores are eaten by larger carnivores. Eventually things die and become food for decomposers. It typically takes a lot of plants to sustain one herbivore, and a lot of herbivores to sustain one carnivore.

Down in the dungeon there is little to no sunlight, but there are lots of monsters, many of which are carnivorous. What's happening down there? What are they all eating? The answer is sprites.

Sprites

Castle in the Sky (1991)

Sprites form the bottom rung of the dungeon food web. Near-microscopic elemental spirits that feed on ambient mana, sprites are everywhere, including the surface. However, they are particularly drawn to the large concentrations of mana found in the deep earth, as well as certain mineral deposits and subterranean waterways. Sprite colonies in very old dungeons can grow large enough to be seen with the naked eye, resembling scatters of tiny glittering lights in the rock or water. Dead sprites enrich the soil as well, allowing dungeon plants to take up greater quantities of mana than their surface counterparts.

Castle in the Sky (1991)

Experienced delvers can learn to commune with the sprites. If you douse all of your lights and listen intently in the darkness for a time you can begin to see the faint pinprick lights of the sprite colony, and with patience come to hear their tiny voices. A sprite colony's thoughts often appear childlike and simple, for their individual lives are very brief. Sprites are keenly attuned to moods, magic, and minerals, however, and the colonies that make up a dungeon's system are in constant communication with each other. Sprites can describe the general layout of nearby rooms in terms of airflow, water, light, heat, concentrations of mana, and from those signs they can deduce the presence or absence of living creatures.

Castle in the Sky (1991)

Wisps

Howl's Moving Castle (2005)

Where large sprite colonies form, arcanovores follow. Most arcanovores are miniscule elementals, but also include dungeon molds, lesser slimes, insects, and tiny cave fish. The most common and colorful arcanovore, the wisp, is the size of a small insect. Wisps are a key food source for a wide variety of dungeon-dwellers, including filter feeders such as phosphorescent fungi or dungeon mollusks, as well as predators like bats, lizards, and winged snakes. These miniature predators, along with salamanders, crayfish, and the greater slimes, become food in turn for many of the larger monsters that trouble prospective dungeon delvers.

Tony DiTerlizzi