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Macrystis (Garden World)

Garden World in Camelopardalis, Solar Dominion

Mac5b Macrystis And Lontis
A distant view of Macrystis and Lontis, taken by the first exploratory probes

Macrystis - Data Panel

OverviewName: Macrystis
Orbital characteristics:
- Semi-major axis: 508.8 Mm
- Orbital period: 3.51 days
Physical characteristics:
- Type: Videntian Macrobiotic HydroTerrestrial Lapi-Rhean Lacustrine Tundral AquaGaian Satellite
- Mass: 0.813 earths
- Radius: 0.935 Earths
- surface acc: 0.93G
- Albedo: 0.39
- Density: 5483 kg/m3

Macrystis is a Garden world, the largest moon of Lontis, a temperate gas giant. Macrystis has about 35% ocean coverage, much of it in an ocean on the side opposite from Lontis, along with a few shallower oceans on the Lontis-facing side. Most of the habitable land is tundra, as well as significant savanna, though the polar highlands can experience winters cold enough for carbon dioxide snow. Along continental margins, life thrives in temperate areas, while there are only tiny patches of tropical climates below sea level within tectonic rifts.


Macrystis's orbital period and day length are identical at 3.51 Terran days, as it is tidally locked to Lontis. Climate is subject to significant daily temperature swings, in some areas resulting in a daily freeze-thaw cycle, and much of the world experiences highly seasonal rainfall.

Macrystian life originated over 3.1 billion years ago, and macrobiotic life first evolved about 545 million years ago. Microbial and macroscopic colonial life with a common ancestry to Macrystian life exists on Lontis as well; although abiogenesis is a rare event on gas giants, life can sometimes be transferred from a life-bearing moon to a suitable jovian or neptunian world. While it is unknown whether Macrystian life reached Lontis via natural panspermia or was placed there by ancient xenosophonts, Lontis's trojan planetoids are unusually carbonaceous, suggesting that Lontis could have been naturally enriched in carbon via impacts billions of years ago, which would have provided a route for life to get a foothold on arrival.

a basic visual overview of the organisms on Macrystis

Macrystis tree of life v2
Image from Jay the Tardupod & TSSL

Noteworthy clades on Macrystis include:

-Veritalids: worm-like fauna, usually armored, sometimes with many legs, including some megafaunal apex predators such as the swimming lion-dragon worm
-Poleworms: A type of veritalid that have a symbiosis with photosynthetic algae (usually tawny) and now grow into the most widespread trees and grass-like flora.
-Pterogams: fuzzy flying chitinous organisms with hydrostatic limbs and mouthparts, a single sex, and the ability to link together neurally.
-Cthuloroids: Blind and soft-bodied deep sea organisms with stinging tentacles, whose life cycle involves multiple individuals merging together within a biomineralized cocoon.
-Quads: A diverse group, originally with four-way radial symmetry, walking on four limbs.
-Papercutters: A family of mite-sized quads often gengineered to be biobots, post colonization. More information.
-Tardupods: A type of quad that have developed bilateral symmetry, with endoskeletons and two or three legs (or fins), constituting most of the Macrystian megafauna.
-Sponge Flora: Relatives of quads with orange photosynthesis, which often resemble shrubs and cacti but have sponge-like flesh.
-Tawny and black flora: The main true flora on Macrystis; one variety of black flora creates a unique regional biome known as the "mangrove taiga"
-Demikaryota: A domain of organisms characterized by the presence of a proto-nucleus (a simple membrane around the DNA). Demikaryotes diverged before full nucleus development. In the current period, most demikaryotes are pseudoalgae: microbial phytoplankton that produce oxygen during photosynthesis. Some minor methanogenic clades also exist, many of which are anaerobic.
-Bilin Novas: Bilin novas are a major clade of demikaryote flora, which create hard accretions and grow photosynthetic surfaces above them. While often found as pioneer species or in dry environments, they can exist in most biomes. Many are burgundy, but they come in various mixes of blue, red, and brown hues, such as wine, tan, and indigo.
-Amplikaryota: Amplikaryota is the domain equivalent to Earth's Eukaryota. They are named for amplifying parts of their genetic material via extra copies, and their reproductive method involves amitosis rather than meiosis. Their equivalents to mitochondria are mitohelices, which have a spiral shape. Most single-celled amplikaryotes are members of Paritria, which has developed paired chromosomes.
-Filamentomycota Macrystian mold can be found decomposing dead matter both on land and in water. They typically grow as long filamentous structures called hyphae. Unlike Earth's fungi, their cell walls consist of cellulose rather than chitin. Most have a distinct mold form and a smaller reproductive form. Sprinkle molds are one major variety whose reproductive form appears as a tiny sprinkle, which disperses by sticking to fauna. Tuft molds are another major clade in which the reproductive form becomes a windborne ball of fluff. Filamentomycotans come in a profusion of vivid colors which vary by species and the material they decompose. More details here.

Filamentomycota
Image from Jay the Tardupod
Filamentomycota

 
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Appears in Topics
Caretaker GodsMiddle Regions/Hinter-regionsSolar Dominion
Systems & Worlds M - NXenobiology
 
Development Notes
Text by Original short article by Steve Bowers 07 December 2011
for additional credits see below
Initially published on 01 January 2024.

Expanded 2020-present (2024) By Banelord, Salty, TSSL, Jay the Tardupod, Schwefel Kamm, Worldtree, DocViviLeandra, Dangerous Safety, Destructules, The Astronomer, Everything4404, Cube67, Andonis, Oofles, MajGenrelativity, Teris, Dinomaster337, Cynognathus823, Nikolai- Prince of Denmark, Not Applicable, A Human

You can download a printable 3d model of a Tardupod liquivore HERE, model by Andrew P
 
 
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