>>68681358Yeah exactly, it's basically the unsung hero of the ecosystem, like white-rot fungus which helps turn dead wood in forests into useful soil. The higher concept is basically that this lets an environment that is normally as dead as naturally possible have a lot of life going on. The churning of the ice and snow and microveins probably helps distribute the nutrients more evenly, and also aerates the snow so that underground lifeforms can breathe.
I have some ideas for the underglacial tunnels too, since the increased activity should make those more common and they're really cool, I'm thinking they could parallel the catacombs deadbeat dig into the stone of the mountains, but instead of being the place you go when you die, it's the place you go to face death, since they're extremely dangerous, with the frequent cave ins, risks of flooding, slippery surfaces, potential predator life etc.
