Muck Dweller Civilization

By Dyson Logos at Dyson's Dodecahedron

Muck Dwellers are one of many underground humanoid civilizations that are based around underground waterways, lakes and oceans such as the chaotic Kuo-Toa. They possess cruel and alien culture and art, with little science and practically no interest in hedonistic persuits.

Setup
Draw constructions of the Muck Dwellers in green. Muck Dwellers prefer round and ovoid shaped rooms and curving passages near underground water.

If you don’t have an underground river or aquifer, roll on the following table for the appropriate water source to be added:

Muck Dweller represent soldiers, nobles and priests, while  represent food, minor treasures (such as beads and pearls), tadpole muck dwellers and artworks. Muck Dwellers require to support their civilization.

Pick a spot adjacent to a water source for the Muck Dweller city. Draw two living quarters for and one tadpole pond for  – as many as possible should be in direct contact with the water source. Place 2 and 1  in these chambers. This is the city of the Muck Dwellers – give it an interesting and hard to pronounce name like “Bloop-dil’ubloong” and write it on the map in pencil. It is now year zero of the Muck Dweller civilization.

The Muck Dweller Year
Any time you move beads from the city to a pool, you must leave at least 1 and 1  behind. If you can’t do this, don’t move the beads. If the Muck Dweller city is depopulated without a civilization-ending calamity, the largest pool attached to a water source claims one treasure from the ruins (or 1 if the city had no treasures) and becomes the new city.

Spring
In the spring, Muck Dwellers reproduce and care for their tadpoles. If there are at least two more than  in the city or pool, remove 1  and add 1.

Summer
In the summer, Muck Dwellers harvest the bounty of the water and raise their tadpoles. Add 1 to the city or pool if it is attached to a source of water. Muck Dweller cities or pools within one thumb of a source of ore or gems will dig out a mine the size of one thumb to collect 1 of ore, or collect 1  of gems.

Fall
In the fall, Muck Dwellers travel to spread the word of the fish gods. If the city has 2 and 2  or more, Muck Dwellers work to expand the empire.

If the city is on a river, they travel until they are at least one finger length down the river from the nearest city or pool and create a new pool there using 1 and 1  from the city (they may travel further if this gets them to a source of ore, as no two cities or pools can start within a finger length of each other).

If the city is not on a river, but there are other sources of water on the map (such as a river, lake or aquifer), then the Muck Dwellers dig a tunnel up to one half-finger length towards the water source.

If the city has the population to expand but is no more room for expansion on the water and no mining to be found within 1 thumb of any existing city or pool, the city becomes stagnant and loses 1.

In either case, if an expansion group of Muck Dwellers passes within a thumb of gold, mithral or gems, they will stop and immediately create a dry pool at that location to mine the ore or gems.

Winter
In the winter Muck Dwellers retreat into their cities and build. Tally the population of the entire Muck Dweller civilization and draw in any Muck Dweller Constructions marked at that population level that have not already been built – they can be built at either the city or the pools, at your discretion.

If there are more than  in a city or pool during the winter, remove one.

End of the Muck Dweller Age
If the Muck Dwellers dig a tunnel to the surface, they panic at the sight of the sun and retreat under the leadership of their priests, abandonning their ‘contaminated’ cities and pools.

If the Muck Dwellers dig a tunnel beyond the bottom of the map, they discover things that were never meant to be uncovered by such lowly slime-covered creatures and are destroyed.

When the Muck Dweller Age ends, remove all Muck Dwellers and  minor treasures and tadpoles from the map. In each city and pool, place 1 (Tadpoles that grew to maturity without the guidance of their culture and religion).

Muck Dweller Construction
Here's a sample map from using the Muck Dweller Civilization to represent Kuo-Toa: