Garden World in Camelopardalis, Solar Dominion |
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A distant view of Macrystis and Lontis, taken by the first exploratory probes |
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.
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"
a basic visual overview of the organisms on Macrystis |
Image from Martin |