Food
The diet of the Obsidian Warren centers around odo root, the starchy tuber of a plant that grows wild around the hot springs and swamps of the Warren, though it was long ago brought into cultivation resulting in a bright, deep red, vaguely sweet tubers that are much larger and more nutritious than their wild counterparts. In flavor and character (though not color, obviously) it very much resembles the yams of the surface world. It’s color is so profound that some strains have been bred for use in dyes, rather than for food (though these tubers are also edible- they are simply tough and bitter enough to be undesirable as food)
It is also possible to find other sorts of grain in the rare places the water is pure. Due to the nature of the available starches, it is difficult for the drow of the Warrens to make leavened bread of any kind. However, they do create a wide and interesting variety of flatbreads ranging from soft, pliable structures used as wraps to thin, crackery constructions that serve as vehicles for flavorful dips.
Much of the food available to drow in the Warrens is bland, lacking in variety, or less than palatable, which has led them to making heavy use of seasonings, spices, and highly flavored sauces to disguise the nature of what they are eating. They also make extensive use of pickling both as a preservative technique and a manner of further introducing variety and flavor into their diet.
This is supplemented with various vegetables and fungi, some gathered wild from the swamps of the Warren, others cultivated in gardens and on farms. Some common examples:
Avranti: A wild grain famous for a profusion of long-lasting, beautiful cymes of brightly glowing blood-red flowers, which mature into conical masses of seeds that are similar to millet, except that they are pale pink and faintly luminous. The grain can be used as a sort of natural scrub (the seeds are covered in a thin, waxy layer that serves well as a soap with the grain itself providing grit) or boiled (once the waxy coating is thoroughly washed away) and served much like rice or pasta. While Avranti grows only near pure water and is therefore rare in the wilds of the Warren, it has been cultivated as a luxury food for the noble houses of Cissilith for many years.
Corpseblossom: The evocative name of this plant describes both the scent and appearance of its flower which is large, fleshy, and an unsettling shade of mauve. As if that weren’t bad enough, it also exudes a scent identical to that of rotting flesh which attracts scavengers from miles around which root in the center of its blossom, collecting pollen in fur and on insect wings to disperse throughout the swamps. Despite its rather repulsive natural state, this plant is extremely popular among those drow not of noble birth for one reason alone: The nobility consider it disgusting, and therefore the entire supply of it is readily available to anyone of less discriminating tastes. this makes it one of the cheapest botanical foodstuffs available in the Warrens. The fleshy petals are gathered in their thousands each year when the foul perfume of the corpesblossom rises throughout the swamp. Then, they are cut into strips, stuffed into jars with copious amounts of vinegar and a secret blend of spices distinct to each family, then buried for months. Through the natural processes that ensue, the disgusting scent of the flowers is transmuted into something special- or so say the drow which feast upon it. It’s... and acquired taste.
Mushrooms: A wide variety of mushrooms and other fungus are cultivated and harvested from the Duskmere, and are prized by cooks throughout the Obsidian Warren. Indeed, it's difficult to find any dish that doesn't contain at least some variety of fungus. The rarer species of wild mushroom are a delicacy and fetch a very high price at market, the rarest in private auctions. Many drow make their living searching only for these. Other, more common varieties are grown on farms, but are still favorites. The drow aren't picky about whether their fungus glows or not, but the glowing species are often used in spectacular culinary displays and to add to the visual appeal of dishes.
Wild mushroom hunters must be careful, however, as there are thousands of species of fungus growing in the Duskmere and a great many are poisonous; often the safe ones bear an uncanny resemblance to their more dangerous cousins.
Bonewhite: For most of the year, this woody plant looks quite dead, sticking up out of the swamp like the twisted skeletal remains of some sort of strange beast. While the seemingly dead, dry wood makes excellent fuel for a fire as it is soaked with flammable oils, this plant has more important uses.
Firstly, when its bark is ground and properly prepared, it has a bleaching effect that can purify disease-tainted water or whiten cloth (indeed, the harvesters of this plant, regardless of what they are harvesting it for, usually wear white clothing as anything else would be ruined).
Secondly, for but one month out of the year, the Bonewhite trees burst into bloom. The huge, purple blossoms are sought after for their beauty, but also have a perfumed, spicy flavor and are valued as a delicacy, favored by the nobility. Imperfect blooms, unfit for noble tables, are used to produce a pale lavender dye. Some blooms are always left on the trees, though, because once the pollinators of the Warrens have done their work, a new crop emerges.
The third important use of the bonewhite tree is this. From the cores of the remaining blossoms, huge clusters of bright black berries grow. They are the sweetest naturally occurring food in the swamp, and are made into candy, preserves, cakes, and pies for the few weeks they are available- those that are not shipped straight to the nobles’ table. While it doesn’t do to draw too much attention from the nobility or seem to be shirking their tasks, there is nevertheless a festival aire among the non-noble drow of the Warrens when the bonewhite trees are fruiting. Despite its value and importance and many attempts, nobody has ever been successful in growing bonewhite trees in captivity and so they are never farmed, though the harvesters do take care to scatter a few berries every harvest season to ensure the species continues.
Dairy is also available, but not in quantity. Most herd animals do not do well in the heat and humidity of the Warren, so those that do survive are only kept through great expense. Chickens are a rare sight, too, as they do not thrive in the darkness favored by the inhabitants of Cissilith.
Meat, however, is in ready supply. Some animals that are either farmed or hunted for food include:
Rock Iguana: A certain species of large, herbivorous lizard found in great numbers around the hotsprings and swamps proved easy enough to raise in captivity, though the individuals remain quite wild. Including the tail (which is quite long and whiplike- indeed, is often used as a whip by the animal itself) they are as long as a drow is tall, and produce mild but palatable meat.
Chikkiri: a ground-dwelling, long-eared, soft-furred creature with a long tufted tail that hops about on its hind legs. Named for the chittering sound it makes, it is prized for its meat and fur though it is also sometimes kept as a pet by those with the disposable income to feed it. Some attempts to farm it have been made, but none have proven successful as the stress of such conditions proves lethal for the delicate creatures.
Frogs: Are plentiful near the water. Their legs are delicious fried, but some species are poisonous. As a general rule, if it croaks and it glows, it isn't edible.
Turtles: Not dissimilar to frogs, several species both bioluminescent and otherwise are found along the river. None are known to be toxic, and are often enjoyed in soup. Turtle eggs braised in wine with mushrooms is a rare delicacy.
Crabs: Huge shoals of these creatures (most no bigger than a drow’s hand, but some growing titanically large in the hot, algae-rich water of certain springs) swarm around the steam vents and rocky pools of the Warren. Some enterprising drow have managed to farm them in a rough sense: An area around a suitable hot spring is fenced off. Crab eggs are hatched in sheds full of heated buckets of water where they will be safe from predators. The farmers then release them into the spring once they have a good head start. Then, the animals are allowed to breed, the eggs are collected, and the adults are sent off to market.
Fish: There are some startlingly large catfish in the river, all blind and pale, but tasty. More rarely albino trout can also be caught. There are also freshwater mussels and clams that can be collected in sandy parts of the warm streams that run through the Warrens.
Insects: The drow of the Warrens are not shy when it comes to eating critters that crawl. Spider, especially the large ones that grace the swamps, tastes a whole lot like crab when cooked, and the death’s-head centipede is a delicacy when properly prepared (and deadly if cooked improperly). Crickets and grasshoppers are common fare, as are a variety of grubs.
Fowl: Birds are not altogether common in the Duskmere as it does not share the Silverweald’s profusion of luminous plants and fungi. Some things glow, yes, but not enough to provide light to see by. However, a few species of flightless bird have managed to make a home there, and they do provide an alternative source of protein for drow willing to hunt them.
The one class of food the swamps provide no shortage of, it seems, are spices and seasonings. There are any number of plants whose seeds, flowers, or stems can be used to enliven a dish, and the drow of the Warrens make liberal use of them.
Especially common spices include:
Vrak bark, which, when ground lends a subtle heat and sweetness to dishes. It is most often used in desserts.
Sweet Jessamine, the brilliant yellow blossoms of which are collected once a year in great quantity. They can be used fresh, in which case they lend a sweetly perfumed aroma to dishes, or it can be dried. Once dried, it can be used as a dye, but imparts a wonderful, savory flavor and distinctive yellow color when ground and added to food as well.
Demon Tongue, a kind of succulent with black, spiky, fleshy leaves, is diced and added to food to add heat to dishes. The outer skin is the spiciest part, and enthusiasts compete to develop more and more concentrated preparations of the skin, and to breed varieties that offer more intense heat. The spines are usually removed, but can be used as fancy toothpicks if desired.
Rarer spices include:
Purple Cote: This is a delicate, sweet oil derived from the bark of a tree that is not found in the Warrens. It is a favorite among the nobility in large part due to its scarcity and expense (being able to serve it at a party is an excellent way to subtly rub your guests’ noses in your wealth). Because the tree doesn’t grow locally, it must be traded for, and the market for purple cote bark is one of the few reasons nomads are allowed into and out of the city of Cissilith at all.
Silversheen: This substance is less rare than it is astoundingly difficult to produce. A common mushroom, the ghost puffball, produces copious spores a few times a year when conditions are right. This is usually accompanied by an outbreak of watery, itching eyes, sneezing and coughing among the Warren drow, as these spores are uniquely irritating. Somehow, someone (probably an alchemist trying to create a poison) discovered that, if carefully collected and very carefully prepared, the chalky white spores take on a metallic silver sheen that is highly decorative for use in fine desserts and tastes sweeter than even the berries of the bonewhite tree.
