He answered most of my questions, but he would not tell me why he was out here alone, nor how long he had been wandering The Night. It must have been some time, judging by the worn state of his gear. I ended up agreeing to stop at his very own hovel to assess the situation properly before continuing towards Sector 2.
I asked if he had woven the baskets himself. He said he had made a few, but most of his belongings were acquired through trade. We began to discuss the trading economy of The Night.
In Paradise, there is the Onyx Market, one of the largest official marketplaces in the world, second only to the shopping centers in Ankh. While currency dominates inner-society, trade remains a global language. Icecream confirmed that he trades with wild district objects for many of his supplies, spending most of his days searching for things of value.
In The Night, these valuable goods include furs, food, furniture, bones, raw materials, and occasionally art. He confirmed my theories about most wild district objects living underground and said they are not very aggressive people. It sounds very unlike Wet Wilds in Paradise.
I speculated that this difference might be due to the scarcity of apex-predator assigned animals here. Wet Wilds has a competitive ecosystem, breeding some very confrontational carnivores.
Most carnivores in The Night, however, are quite small and reserved, according to Icecream. He explained that larger carnivores mostly feed on rodents and fish, and that some hibernate for most of the year. The largest of them are said to live on the “icebergs” far to the northeast, beyond the fourth sector and closer to the arctic sea. That is unmapped territory for us– to be honest, I didn’t know there was an ocean up here at all.
Apparently, the seas are scattered with floating ice formations where some bestial objects make their homes. I am fascinated by these people who can swim in freezing water and, in some cases, spend their entire lives beneath the surface.
I decided to save my questions about Morrigan for when we reached Icecream’s abode. Much like the dens and burrows I had seen before, it was a hollow beneath the ground at the end of a long tunnel. As we approached the living area, the air grew warmer. Not warm, but warmer.