Drakevarg
Troubadour
So last year thereabouts I started a thread about living with megafauna, specifically in regards to how to a civilization might design sailing ships when faced with the fact that there are creatures that might mistake their vessel for food in the same manner that a shark might mistake a surfer for a seal.
Today I'm contemplating a tangential problem: in a world where humans are very much on the menu, how do people travel and make camp? Now I know that for much of history (and to a small extent, even today), this was an actual concern - but the odd starving wolf or bear isn't really the same thing as a T-Rex or a spider the size of a tree. Maybe back in the Ice Age.
In a world of monsters, humans have two real legs up as I see it: numbers and fire. Most creatures are averse to fire and this would likely remain true. But some, I'd have to imagine, would see fire as little more than a dinner beacon. Though I suppose from a non-human-centric point of view, a fire isn't a sign of intelligent life, it's a hellscape waiting to happen. And humans being what they are, I wouldn't be surprised if given the choice between being dinner and burning the forest down for the chance to flee, the forest loses more often than not.
Numbers, too, are an asset that I could easily see backfiring. To most creatures a big pack of humans might be a risk, but to some it might be as a beehive is to a bear - a conveniently packaged feast. A risk worth taking perhaps, or just a push for even greater numbers - turning merchant caravans into entire nomadic towns with a rotating populace.
In terms of smaller-scale tactics there are plenty of possibilities. Sleeping in trees, perhaps - giant spiders might be up there but at least the escape route is obvious. Or foxholes, sort of reverse-pit traps surrounded by spikes to keep things from wandering close. Or maybe just carry around a big, Spartan-style shield and curl up under it at night. I dunno, this is mostly a spitballing thing.
Thoughts?
Today I'm contemplating a tangential problem: in a world where humans are very much on the menu, how do people travel and make camp? Now I know that for much of history (and to a small extent, even today), this was an actual concern - but the odd starving wolf or bear isn't really the same thing as a T-Rex or a spider the size of a tree. Maybe back in the Ice Age.
In a world of monsters, humans have two real legs up as I see it: numbers and fire. Most creatures are averse to fire and this would likely remain true. But some, I'd have to imagine, would see fire as little more than a dinner beacon. Though I suppose from a non-human-centric point of view, a fire isn't a sign of intelligent life, it's a hellscape waiting to happen. And humans being what they are, I wouldn't be surprised if given the choice between being dinner and burning the forest down for the chance to flee, the forest loses more often than not.
Numbers, too, are an asset that I could easily see backfiring. To most creatures a big pack of humans might be a risk, but to some it might be as a beehive is to a bear - a conveniently packaged feast. A risk worth taking perhaps, or just a push for even greater numbers - turning merchant caravans into entire nomadic towns with a rotating populace.
In terms of smaller-scale tactics there are plenty of possibilities. Sleeping in trees, perhaps - giant spiders might be up there but at least the escape route is obvious. Or foxholes, sort of reverse-pit traps surrounded by spikes to keep things from wandering close. Or maybe just carry around a big, Spartan-style shield and curl up under it at night. I dunno, this is mostly a spitballing thing.
Thoughts?