"walking across the bottom of the spore sea is not outside my abilities"

[king of nowhere]

Quote

While I don’t relish the idea of walking across the bottom of the spore sea to reach safety—particularly with him tagging along in his current state—that is not outside my abilities.

this is what ulaam tells tress for why he's unconcerned of the ship sinking.

but is it true?

As a kandra, I suppose he could seal his body cavities, be perfectly dry so the spores don't set off. Ok.

Then he has to walk through the bottom of the ocean. I'm not sure how difficult it would be, how much resistance the spores would exhert. heck, the pressure alone may crush him. But ok.

he still has to breathe. As far as I know, kandras suffocate like anyone else without air, though they can get creative with their breathing apparatus. the spore oceans have air that keep them fluid, yes. Although how he can breathe that without also taking in a lot of spores is beyond me. And in any creature I know, the gas exchange requires some humid surface. But assume that he can breathe the air through the spores

what about the seethe? the air flow will stop at random times, and the spores become solid. ulaam will be encased in solid sand. maybe even for a day. how does he plant to breathe?

finally, there is the rain. Suppose it rains above him - which, since he will walk slowly and will take a lot of time to get out of the crimson, will be a near certainty - the spores will grow, then sink. Ulaam would get crushed by a solid wall of interlocked spikes. That would completely shatter his bones, immobilizing him. It may even mangle his body in many parts, separating his spikes from him. 

there is also the life support issue. as far as I know, kandras need to eat and drink like everyone else. they may be able to survive longer by slowing their methabolism, maybe become smaller and eat some of their excreted biomass to sustain themselves, but for how long? we're talking weeks and weeks without any drop of water.

kandras have all manner of nifty shapeshifting abilities. But they do still need to breathe, eat, and drink. crushing them under a great pressure immobilizes them, making them more susceptible to the aforementioned life support issue. physical damage may even make them lose their spikes, disabling them. They are not immortal.

How does ulaam plan to survive walking on the bottom of the ocean for a prolonged time?

unless he's also invested, but we have no evidence for it.

[cometaryorbit]

I had the same question. Kandra can definitely starve to death, it's one of the ways they were executed in Era 1 (along with acid). Though it might take far longer than we'd expect, depending on how much they can alter their metabolism - some reptiles can go months between meals.

But he could quite possibly have abilities other than just being a kandra, either "internally" or through something like a medallion (a bendalloy medallion would probably solve the food/water issue).

He might also have silver in his body. If I were a kandra on that planet, I'd put silver deposits in my skin, the way that can happen when a human drinks too much colloidal silver.

Also, kandra we see in Era 2 - especially MeLaan - seem far more capable than in Era 1, they've learned a lot with more freedom to experiment. Tress is way later than Era 2, Ulaam's capabilities might be way beyond what we've seen so far. We don't know what a kandra with a SF-tech-era understanding of biochemistry could do. Could they get around the no-bone limitations by making super strong polymers? Could they give themselves carbon nanotube weave skin so Crimson spikes couldn't pierce them? Ulaam might be able to move through spores far faster than we'd at first assume.

He might breathe by creating a huge number of gas exchange openings smaller than an individual spore, so no spores can enter, rather than a few large openings like our nostrils and mouth.

 

Edited February 16, 2023 by cometaryorbit

[king of nowhere]

45 minutes ago, cometaryorbit said:

I had the same question. Kandra can definitely starve to death, it's one of the ways they were executed in Era 1 (along with acid). Though it might take far longer than we'd expect, depending on how much they can alter their metabolism - some reptiles can go months between meals.

But he could quite possibly have abilities other than just being a kandra, either "internally" or through something like a medallion (a bendalloy medallion would probably solve the food/water issue).

He might also have silver in his body. If I were a kandra on that planet, I'd put silver deposits in my skin, the way that can happen when a human drinks too much colloidal silver.

Also, kandra we see in Era 2 - especially MeLaan - seem far more capable than in Era 1, they've learned a lot with more freedom to experiment. Tress is way later than Era 2, Ulaam's capabilities might be way beyond what we've seen so far. We don't know what a kandra with a SF-tech-era understanding of biochemistry could do. Could they get around the no-bone limitations by making super strong polymers? Could they give themselves carbon nanotube weave skin so Crimson spikes couldn't pierce them? Ulaam might be able to move through spores far faster than we'd at first assume.

He might breathe by creating a huge number of gas exchange openings smaller than an individual spore, so no spores can enter, rather than a few large openings like our nostrils and mouth.

 

all well and good - though in some points a bit of a stretch -

but none of that would help him if a wall of grown spores fall over him because it's raining above, pinning him and his spikes under thousands of tons of weight

[HSuperLee he/him]

We're told there's a complex ecosystem at the bottom of the spore seas. While I suppose that might all be microscopic, if there are any larger animals, Ulaam could easily kill and then replicate one, which would provide him the perfect tools for surviving down there. That's assuming he doesn't already have a plan in place. Based on everything we've heard about the spore seas, I imagine that a well designed reptilian body with a body-plan than maximizes buoyancy could swim in it, allowing him to stay near the surface. Think some combination of turtle and snake. I don't know if kandra can make scales, exactly, but they can probably make a watertight replacement for skin and the transparent layer some snakes have over their eyes. I think in general, if a creature bigger than a rabbit can survive in a given environment, I'd put odds on Kandra being able to survive there too. It really just comes down to what initial resources they need for a body.

Edited February 16, 2023 by HSuperLee

[cometaryorbit]

27 minutes ago, king of nowhere said:

all well and good - though in some points a bit of a stretch -

but none of that would help him if a wall of grown spores fall over him because it's raining above, pinning him and his spikes under thousands of tons of weight

Do we know if that happens? If the seas are quite deep, I'd expect the effect of rain not to be nearly that dramatic at the bottom (the spikes would break up and be slowed by falling through lots of unactivated spores, so they'd reach the seafloor as slow moving spikes scattered over a large area, not as a single massive block).

@HSuperLee is right  - there's life down there, Xisis is studying it. So the conditions there are presumably survivable for some life forms.

[Koloss17 She/They]

Man, this makes me want to get more stories on Lumar. I know it’s unlikely, but learning about whatever Xisis is studying would be soooo cool.

[king of nowhere]

2 hours ago, HSuperLee said:

We're told there's a complex ecosystem at the bottom of the spore seas. While I suppose that might all be microscopic, if there are any larger animals, Ulaam could easily kill and then replicate one, which would provide him the perfect tools for surviving down there.

that's actually a good point.

Still, I don't think it would be particularly safe.

I'd really like to ask brandon how ulaam was thinking to survive under the spores, and how safe it is

[lacrossedeamon]

18 hours ago, cometaryorbit said:

He might also have silver in his body. If I were a kandra on that planet, I'd put silver deposits in my skin, the way that can happen when a human drinks too much colloidal silver.

I wonder if Lumar has high percentage of people with argyria.

Also we don’t really know what the spines are made of and how fast they sink or how durable they are.