Planet:Virlisia

"Home is the heartwood of us all"

- Ancient Virloyd proverb

Virlisia is the homeworld of the Virloyds and the center of the Virloyd Stellar Complex, in the center of Virloyd space. It is one of the central planets to the Perseus Coalition of Worlds and is a hub for politics and economy as well as science, and especially culture and the arts. The planet is just under 3.5 billion years old and life has existed on the planet for 3.1 billion years. Almost the entire surface of the planet is covered in vegetation which has earned it the nickname "The Green Planet".

Astrography
Virlisia orbits Kijani A, a yellow-white, main-sequence star in an S-type binary configuration with Kijani B. Virlisia is the second planet from Kijani A and is the furthest out of the inner planets. Although it is 1.4 AU from its parent star, Kijani A's increased brightness means that the planet receives as much as 166% the sunlight the Earth does. This orbit takes 512 Earth days or 948 Pnolthanian Days.

Hyacidus
Main Article- Kayna Tol

Hyacidus is the major moon of Virlisia and is the closest of the planet's two moons. The moon is large enough to reach hydrostatic equilibrium and is spherical in shape although close enough to be tidally locked to Virlisia so the far side is never seen from the planet. The moon is massive enough that it stabilizes Virlisia's axial tilt, moderating the seasons and making life possible.

The moon is large enough that it supports many Virloyd cities across its surface which house a significant portion of the Virloyd population and a majority of the Virloyd population in space. The world also serves as the main port into the Virlisia system for ships both from other worlds in the Kijani system and around other stars.

Innoxia
Main Article- Kayna Tol

Innoxia is a very small moon that is only a few dozen kilometers across. Due to this, the moon is highly irregularly shaped. The body was an asteroid in the nearby belt that was captured in the ancient past by Virlisia's gravity.

Innoxia hosts a large mining operation with a base that extends over much of the surface. An orbital grid is in place o allow for easy movement of materials across the surface of he world as well as to hips which regularly dock for supplies and cargo. Despite being much further from Virlisia than Hyacidus, Innoxia was actually visited first by the Virloyds since it much lower gravity made it much easier for a return trip to take off from its surface.

Kijani B
Although at an aver age distance of over 360 AU from Virlisia, the light from Kijani B does have an impact on environment of the planet. The orbits of boths stars in the binary are elliptical however and so distance between the planet and the second star do vary greatly. At its farthest approach, B has an apparent magnitude of -12.5 and so appear about equally as bright as the moon does in Earth's sky. At it's closest approach however, Kijani B has an apparent magnitude of -14.7, appearing 7 times brighter than the moon in the sky.

During the time of year that Virlisia is in a such a position in it's orbit that Kijani A and B line up, both stars will appear in the sky next to each other. Kijani B is bright enough that it is visible during the day, even when at its maximum distance from Virlisia. When during the time of the year when the stars are on opposite sides of the planet, Kijani B is not visible during the day and is the brightest thing in the sky at night. it takes many years for the two binary stars to orbit each other so the time of year when these celestial events occurschanges very slowly. From the perspective of a person on the planet, Kijani B appears to slowly circle the world. through this cycle.

Composition
The internal structure of the planet is layered with a solid core in the center composed of mostly iron with smaller amounts of nickel and cobalt. The inner core is surrounded by an outer core of molten rock and metals that can reach temperatures of over 3500 °C. Swirling currents of the ferromagnetic metals in the core create a magnetic field around the planet which shields the surface against the stellar wind from Kijani.

Petrochemicals
The crust nearing the surface is heavily stratified due to the the death and decomposition of the large mass of plants on the surface creating carbon-based minerals. At the lowest organic layers of the crust, a large amount of diamond is found due to the intense pressure and heat on coal from higher layers. Oil is found on the same level as coal as well as petrochemical gasses. On the highest layers is several kilometers of peat at various stages of transition to coal. At the highest level is an organic mat of dead vegetation that is too early in its decomposition to be called peat, this is where the transition between what is the crust of that planet and what is the biosphere is made.

Composition
The Virlisian atmosphere is roughly composed of 55% Nitrogen, 31% Oxygen, 11% Methane, 2% Neon and 1% Other gasses including Carbon Dioxide. The high percentage of oxygen is due to the massive vegetation volume which also accounts for the very low CO2 content of the atmosphere. The high concentration of methane in the atmosphere is caused by the gas being released by the decomposing kilometers thick biocrust that extends all over the planet. These gasses would normally result in a beep blue sky but the presence of airborne microscopic plants tints it more towards tuquoise. During heavy blooms of this algae the tint can change even further towards green.

Temperature/Humidity
Although farther from Kijani A than Earth, the climate on Virlisia is warmer. Although there are lesser levels of CO2 in the atmosphere, the presence of methane still create s significant greenhouse effect that warms the planet. This, combined with the fact that the star is much more luminous than average leads to an average global temperature of 30 °C with highs of up to 70 °C in some regions and lows of 10 °C near the poles. Nowhere on virlisia does it get cold enough for snow to form. The atmosphere is very humid due to water vapor released by the vegetation and the air can feel thick and muggy to a person on the surface.

Weather
As almost all the water on the planet's surface is locked up inside flora, the water cycle is rapidly paced. Water is continuously cycled from the ground and into the flora which is shortly emitted into the atmosphere, increasing the humidity in local regions. This causes global rain on the planet almost every day. At the cooler poles rain is less frequent due to the lower floral density.

Biochemistry
All life on Virlisia has its genetic information encoded on on a polymer called Polyalkylcitranucleic acid (PCNA). This polymer is made of a string of monomers called citro-nucleotides that are composed of a citrate molecule bonded to two simple alkane polymers, one ending in an OH group while the other is bonded to a Arsenate ion (AsO₄⁻). Each citrate is also bonded to one of four nitrogenous bases; Adednine, Uracil, Wurstine or Vyroxine. The negative charge on the Arsenate group as well as the citrate gives the overall strand a negative charge as well as acidic properties, acting as a stronger acid than either DNA or XNA Hydrogen bonding between the remaining OH groups on the citrate molecules causes the strand to fold in such a way that it takes on a pleated shape. These monomers will bond to each other at the alkyl chain, Aresenate to OH group to form the PCNA polymer. This process can occur spontaneously but is greatly accelerated by the presence of specialized enzymes.

The genetic information encoded by these single stands is basic and only found in simple lifeforms. Each 'codon' is only made up of one base; A, W and V each coding for one amino acid and U acting as a stop code. This means that as the PCNA is read, only polypeptide chains of three different amino acids can be created, leading to very simple proteins. This type of code is only found in very simple, single celled lifeforms and viruses.

Due to hydrogen bonding between he nitrogenous bases, two single strands of PCNA can be attracted together to form a double-strand. In this, due to the different number of hydrogen bonds each base forms, A can only pair with U and W only with V on opposing strands. In slightly more complex single-celled organisms a similar system to this is used except the citrate group in the monomer is replaced with isocitrate, a similar molecule with the OH group shifted one carbon down, forming Polyalkylisocitranucleic acid (PINA). Due to the different placement of this OH group, the isocitrates have a different geometry of the hydrogen bonds between them, causing the double stranded molecule to coil into a double helix. The negative charge of the arsenate group prevents the inner part of the strand's backbone from becoming entangled with the backbone of the opposite strand.

Strands of PINA come in different forms depending on the angle of the nitrogenous base due to the order on the two alkyl groups and the isocitrate in the monomer. Pictured are t-PINA and r-PINA respectively. In more complex organisms, both of these types of PINA are present. Due to the difference in angle of the bases, double strands of r and t type PINA can intersect so the center of each of the 'ladders' lies in the same space, forming a quadruple helix. Organisms with this type of genetic code are called dilexal while organisms with only a single strand are called monolexal. When being transcribed, organisms that have evolved both types of PINA separate the strands down the relatively weak hydrogen bonds in the relevant section and then read the exposed bases. A t-type strand will always have the adjacent r-type strand bonded to it at the arsenate groups so that the two strands cannot be separated. This is accomplished through the Oxygen double bonded to one of the arsenates being removed and the central Arsenic atom being bonded to the Oxygen of the adjacent arsenate. This is done because both the base bonded to the t-PINA and the adjacent r-PINA are read together as part of a to-part codon that translates to an amino acid to be part of a protein. Only one t/r pair is read while the other simple acts as a template strand to be used during PINA replications. As each of these codons contains two bases, there are 16 possible codons, giving dilexal organisms access to a much wider range of amino acids and so the ability to create a wider variety of proteins and become much more complex organisms.

Additionally, there is a third form of PINA called l-PNA where the nitrogenous base extends from the bottom of the nucleotide at an angle. Organisms with t, r and l type PINA, like the Virloyds, are called trilexal and, as the adjacent bases of the r, t and l (read in that order) are read simultaneously in a single codon, has 4³=64 possible codons. This grants an even wider variety of amino acids able to be used and so an even wider variety of proteins, leading to a potentially exponentially more complex organism than what is possible with dilexal code.

As they only posses t-PINA, monolexal species can only produce the amino acids listed in the darkest gray. Dilexal species have codons with two bases and so the code diversifies into more amino acids. Different evolutionary clades on different parts o the planet use different codon combinations to produce the same amino acids. Trilexal organisms like the Virloyds are able to produce all 36 amino acids pictured on the table and, as they all descend from one common ancestor, use the same code to produce each one.

The long strands of PINA are organised into chromasomes. The PINA is coiled around structural proteins called speirones which are in turn coiled further to produce a much shorter, thicker strand of genetic material. This is then attached by other enzymes to a larger structure composed of proteins and independent PINA called the gyromere at five locations along the length of the strand, creating five loops of genetic material around he gyromere. The trailing end of the PINA is left free of attachment.

When PINA replicates, an enzyme will travel down the center of the helix and create a new strand of PINA complementary to the bases of the strands being read by the enzyme. This is done using prefabricated nucleotides made elsewhere in the cell. mistakes can be made in this process where the incorrect nucleotide is paired with a base, creating a copy that is not exact. This is a mutation in the code. PINA has a greater tendency for mutation to have an effect on the organism than DNA or XNA due to the fact that there are less redundant combinations for the same amino acid in the code and so it is less likely that a change in on letter of a codon will result in another codon that codes for the same amino acid by chance. This effect is more pronounced in dilexal and monolexal organisms as the redundancy is almost 0. One detrimental effect of mutations are insertion or deletion mutations where one base in simply omitted. This causes a frame shift where all subsequent codons will be read incorrectly. However, the abundance of stop codes means that it is less likely that such a mutation will result in a polypeptide chain drastically too long. This reduces how detrimental insertion and deletion mutations are.

Energy
Almost all energy used by life on Virlisia comes from the sun. This has lead to an evolutionary arms race between different flora to gain access to the most light, usually by trying to grow as tall as possible. Flora that grows under the canopy where there is diminished light either have adaptations to maximize photosynthesis in more light-poor conditions or sap energy from other organisms with a greater access to light.

Creatures on the planet either gain their energy from consuming flora or by consuming creatures that have consumed flora. Many creatures and live on the forest floor where there is no light but a massive supply of dead vegetation which is used as a food source.

Many plants on Virlisia are mobile. This consumes a very large amount of energy, more than is provided sustainably by photosynthesis. Because of this, most mobile plants will only be active for a short period of a few day or weeks and then hibernate for an extended time to build up energy through photosynthesis in starch reserves to be used during the active period. The Virloyds are mobile plants but do not need to do this however.

Environment
Almost 100% of Virlisia's surface is covered by vegetation that extends an average distance of 3 km high from the surface of the planet. The environment is highly stratified with flora arranged into reasonably discrete layers depending on how much light reaches the layer from the strata above. Most flora of a higher layer will germinate and grow directly on the flora from the layer below, not requiring the planet's surface as a substrate. The irregular nature of the planet's surface means that the thickness of each layer will vary depending on where it is on the planet. The latitude greatly affects the kind of flora found in each layer depending on where it is on the planet due to differences in temperature and seasonal sun exposure. Sky Flora= Virlisia has many species of airborne flora. These often cluster together into large expanses called sky forests, each with its own unique and independent flourishing ecosystem. Sky forests usually are found about 20,000 ft above the canopy with little variation in height between individual forests but are highly variable as to their exact geographical position due to being constantly moved by wind and weather patterns. The advantages of growing in the sky are that it is incredibly unlikely that a smaller plant will be overshadowed by a larger one, allowing for maximum light exposure and so maximum photosynthesis.

One of the most important families of flora to the sky forests is Vesica. These plants are mostly made up of a giant, gas-filled bladder with a tough membrane a few millimeters thick. This bladder is filled with methane produced by a genus symbiotic bacteria called Bombulus bacteria, each species of vesica having its own unique species of bacteria associated with it. As methane is lighter than air, this allows the bladder to give lift to the plant. One genus, the giant vesica can reach up to 10 meters in diameter, so large that other, non-buoyant plants can be supported in the air by growing in its aerial root system. Vesica plants like these act as the backbone of skyforest and provide most of the support needed for them to remain airborne.

Sky gardens are similar to sky forests in that they are supported by buoyant plants but are different in that they are much smaller and grow at much lower altitudes. The smaller vesica plants that support these clusters of flora have a lesser lift to weight ratio, keeping the gardens at a lower altitude. This also means that a smaller percentage of the garden plants are non-buoyant as most plants will need to support their own weight independent of a vesica. And example of such a plant are those in the No genus, commonly called Bauble Bushes. These buoyant flora are only 1-2 meters across have lots of smaller gas bladders instead of one large one. Buoyant flora unrealated to vesica plants like the Bauble Bush are common throughout the sky.

Lightning is devastating to a sky forest as if just one vesica is struck, its methane will ignite in the high-oxygen atmosphere and the bladder will explode. This can start a chain reaction of ignitions large enough to destroy an entire sky forest. This is a rare occurance however since the absence of large bodies of water on Virlisia makes large storms virtually impossible. Lightning is more common at latitudes further from the tropics however and so the airbourne plants at these latitudes have adaptations to increase their survival chance.

Flora in the Nidor genus are the most common airborne plants at more temperate latitudes as they use ammonia as their lifting gas rather than methane. Ammonia is much less flammable than methane and so if the lifting-bladder is struck by lightning, it will be destroyed but fire will not spread to adjacent plants. There are some drawbacks to the use of ammonia as a lifting gas however. Ammonia is denser than methane and so nidor plants need larger bladders to support the same amount of weight as a plant that uses methane. Additionally, the bacteria that produce the gas need an anaerobic environment. To accomplish this, nidor plants germinate and being their life cycle on the surface of a pool of stagnant water on the surface, where the majority of the ammonia they will need over their lifecycle is produced. This has the added advantage of ensuring that the canopy overhead is less dense when the plant matures lifts off, increasing the chances of the nidor making it to it's final altitude successfully. The lower lift to weight ratio provided by ammonia actually has a benefit in more tropical latitudes. Although nidor are less common there, their different lifting gas to the majority of plants allows them to however measurably lower in the sky, allowing the plants to exploit a different neiche to flora in the sky forests.

Throughout all of Virlisia's atmosphere, there are microscopic algae cells of various species that are able to free-float due to the greater density of the atmosphere and the lower gravity. This algae produces a significant fraction of the planet's oxygen supply. When the orbit of Virlisia coincides with Kijani A and B being at their closest approach to each other so that both stars appear overhead during the day, this increase in sunlight promotes what is called an 'Omega Bloom' where the algae multiplies at an exponential rate. This turns the skies dark green.

Sky forests also support a rich animal ecosystem with many different species. Most animal species that live on sky islands are small winged insectoids as they are light and can easy move cross the forest without the risk of falling. However, there are some sky forests that support non-flying creatures. Ancestors of these populations were either brought up to the sky forests by creatures with wings such as predatory Griffinflies or originally had wings but gradually lost them through evolution and adapting to exploit the niches exclusively on the forests. All sky forests are reasonably isolated from each other so all but the best long distance flyers tend to be completely endemic to one sky forest and not found on others.

Canopy= Rather than just being the upper surface of the forest, the canopy is considered a complete stratum of the environment extending from the actual canopy of the forest to the tops of the tallest trees that emerge above it. This takes an average depth of 60 meters. The surface of the canopy, due to receiving the most intense sunlight of the whole planet, has the most intense floral competition for light. This leads to the surface being very dense, allowing it to act as a semi-stable surface for many species to live on.

Only the largest and strongest flora are able to push through the surface of the canopy and extend above it. Lignolith trees, are among the tallest on Virlisia, taking root on the forest floor rather than using trees lower in the forest as an anchor and extending dozens of meters above the canopy. These trees serve as major structural support for all strata in the Virlisian environment. The foliage of the trees themselves are so large that hey host their own micro-ecosystems that often contain flora and creatures completely unique to any individual tree. The trees can grow to be over 1.5 kilometers tall with a trunk diameter of 200 meters.

The airspace above the canopy surface is considered part of the canopy layer to a height of about 60 meters and is home to many flying lifeforms. This includes insectoids from the Giganeura genus, aerial hunters that attack by swooping down on prey at a lower altitude. Their four wings give giganeura unparalleled agility in the air which make out-maneuvering them virtually impossible. Giganeura also have 360 degree vision both horizontally and vertically due to their four eyes which allows them to watch for prey below while staying at a reasonably high altitude. This arrangement also allows the giganeura to watch for predators above simultaneously, however their near 2 meter wingspan leaves them with few natural predators.

Twilight Forest= The Twilight Forest is a stratum with a mean thickness of 100 meters that acts as the understory below the canopy. The region itself is bounded at the top by the massive increase in foliage density that is the beginning of the canopy and at the bottom by the dense foliage of trees that take room in the layers below. This region is so named because the average amount of sunlight received is equivalent to that of an overcast day or at early dusk, even if in some parts it can be much brighter or darker. The Virloyds evolved and mostly live in this region of the forest.

The floor of the twilight forest is not built from solid ground but is instead extremely dense foliage. This vegetation is so dense that most of the floor can be walked on without fear of falling through and can also act as a substrate for other flora to grow on, including the majority of the flora that makes up the Twilight forest. One important family of flora to maintaining this structure is Linea. These plants take the form of a dense web of vines that grow in the Twilight forest floor, intermittently sending up tendrils to foliate and absorb solar energy. These structures are key in binding the Twilight Forest floor together and ensuring its structural integrity is enough to hold up the higher parts of the forest.

Due to there being little soil on the twilight forest floor, the substrate is exceptionally poor in nitrogen. Because of this, much of the flora that inhabits the Twlight forest is carnivorous, extract the needed nitrogen from eaten insectoids and other invertibrates. An example of a floral apex predator is the Devastoid. These Floostiums can grow to have a bloom of 2 meters in diameter and are active for periods of weeks at a time during which they efficiently hunt and consume many insectoid creatures to gain its nitrogen. Devastoids can have between 4 and 10 rear claw-tipped tendrils which are mobile and used to propel the plant through the forest with great speed by grasping branches and thrusting forward. This speed cements the devastoid's ecological role as a pursuit predator; chasing its prey until they are either exhausted or it catches up and overwhelms them. The prey is gripped by the plant's thorned talons and either devoured whole by the mouth in the center of its flower or torn into pieces and then consumed. A devastoid may grow up to 6 or 7 eyes on the end of stalks that are essential to pursuit of prey due to the depth perception they afford.

What are commonly called the Virloyds, Vireo artifexia, are not the only sapient species on Virlisia. Although called Fernoyds, the species Vireo turpis falls into the Vireo genus and so are technically a second species of Virloyd even if not common referred to as such. The Fernoyds are native to the more temperate lattitudes of Virlisia in the Southern Hemishpere.

There are clear physical differences between the artifexia and tupis species. Fernoyds have a much higher concentration of the pigment Rubrin in their petals, making them a far more vibrant and darker shade of red. The Fernoyd body is shorter and stockier than that of a Virloyd, giving them greater physical strength but reduced agility and ability to finely manipulate objects. Like the Virloyds, Fernoyds different individuals can have different numbers of limbs and eye stalks in different arrangements. However, genetic differences to the Virloyds lead to, on average, individual Fernoyds being less symmetrical in terms of eye and limb placement than Virloyds. Like all plants in the Vireo genus, the nerve cluster found in the heads of all floostiums has developed into a small second brain in Fernoyds. This brain is 7% larger than that of a Virloyd but the main brain located in the abdomen is 18% smaller than that of a Virloyd, especially in the Meditatial Cortex, the part of the brain responsible for abstract reasoning.

Fernoyd culture has been drastically impacted in regions of the planet where it overlaps modern Virloyd cities. But in areas isolated from Virloyd influence, there is a distinct and ancient culture that varies between groups. Body painting is common with different colors and patterns being used either for artistic expression or as a means of distinguishing individuals from different tribes.

The only other extant species in the Vireo genus is Vireo pilosus, commonly referred to as the Sefimoyds. Sefimoyds are taller on average than Virloyds and due to genetic differences, have a slightly higher inclination for their existant mobile tendrils to branch rather than growing additional tendrils. The Seimoyds are native to more temperate latitudes of Pnolthanus where the sunlight is less intense. As a result, they have adapted to gather additional solar energy my having leaves cover a larger percentage of their torso and by growing foliating tendrils earlier in their life cycle. In addition to containing higher concentrations of rubrin in their petals, Sefimoyd petals contain an additional pigment called caerulin in smaller concentrations. the Combination of these two pigments gives the Sefimoyds their distinctive purple petal color.

Both the main and cephalic Sefimoyd brain are approximately the same size as those of the Virloyds on average. However, the brains are different in neurological structure on the microscopic level with the Sefimoyds having a slightly smaller meditatial cortex but much thicker corpora callosa. This makes mean Sefimoyd intelligence approximately equal to Virloyd but with a much greater variance; so there are more Sefimoyds with above average intelligence than there are Virloyds but also more with below average intelligence.

Both Fernoyds and Sefimoyds can cross-pollinate with Virloyds but the resultant offspirng will usually be sterile and may have health complications due to their inter-specific DNA.

In depressions in the foliage that forms the Twilight Forest floor, rainwater can collect to form ponds and even small lakes. As the large trees that form the canopy need a substantially solid substrate to grow on, the canopy above these bodies of water is always at least thinner than in other parts of the forest and sometimes forms a a complete hole over some of the larger lakes. For this reason, smaller airbourne plants tend to germinate in such lakes sothey can easily enter the air unobstraucted when they reach maturity. The water of such pools is usually green/brown due to high population of oppertunistic algae and tannen that has seeped inot the water from fallen dead vegetation.

Many small plants do grow on the surface of the water. One such example are a family of flora called Cygnus or Swanweed, the tiny, densley packed leaves of which form an opaque barrier over the waters surface to absorb as much sunlight as possible. Occasionally, creatures will mistake this layer for solid ground and plunge into the water. Another common kind of flora found are pond lillies. These plants have large flat leaves that float on the surface of the water and make homes and hunting grounds for many insectoids flowers that open seasonally and float in a similar manner. Some species, like the Callosal Lily can have leaves up to 5 meters in diameter, enough to support 3 or 4 kilograms of weight if positioned in the center.

There are many species of creature that exploit the ecological niches created by the pools. On such type of creature are freshwater cephlapods. Having high intelligence and superb eyesight, they are able to wait on top of lily pads and quickly slide off to grab prey they see below in their eight tentacles. There are also many species of small crustecean in this habitat, often scavenging the shallow parts of lakes for the dead remains of other arthrods and sheltering from larger predators in the dense roots that line the edge of the water.

Funem ovium or 'Cable Weaver' is a species of giant arachnid that has been key in the technological development of the Virloyds. Weavers produce a silk that is stronger than steel and easily worked into a variety of shapes. It was for this reason that weavers were domesticated over 100,000 years before the present. Over that time, extensive selective breeding has lead to substantial genetic changes in the species. Weavers are found in many different breeds with different productivity, silk composition and temperaments but many traits across all breeds have been changed completely. Venom was selected against until it is no longer present in the species as well as reduced agility and climbing ability to make the spiders easier to handle and contain. Most breeds of modern weaver are also nearly twice the size of the original domesticated wild species. The genetic manipulation has taken place for so long that domesticated weavers are now completely unrecognizable when compared to their wild counterparts and can even breed with them. This has lead many scientists to classify them as a completely different species to their wild ancestors.

Nightwoods= The Nightwoods is the stratum layer that lies beneath the Twilight Forest and has an average thickness of 200 meters. The top of the layer is bound by the thick canopy of the largest trees that take root on the Nightwoods forest floor; the same dense vegetation that makes up the floor of the Twilight Forest. The Nightwoods has a similar floor to the Twilight Forest in that it is not composed of soil but of very dense vegetation in which various forms of flora take root directly The orest floor here is much thicker however. The Nightwoods gets it's name from the fact that even at noon, the brightest parts of the level are only as bright as a clear night. The floral density in the body of the Nightwoods above the floor is much lower than that of above layers.

One adaptation many of the species of flora that grow on this layer have to collect the maximum amount of light possible is the utilization of Umbraphyll. Umbraphyll is a photosyntheitc pigment that can produce glucose from energy from the sun, water and carbon dioxide like the chlorophyll used by plants in higher strata. The different is that umbraphyll utilizes a much wider part of the electromagnetic spectrum, allowing it to gain more energy from the multi-wavelength sunlight hitting it. However, this versatility comes at the cost of the molecule being much larger than chlorophyll and so much more expensive for a cell to produce. In flora of higher strata with much more light available, the diminished benefit provided by the pigment's better glucose production is outweighed by this high production cost and so umbraphyll doesn't provide an adaptive advantage and use of it is naturally selected against. To to it's ability to absorb more wavelengths, the leaves of flora that utilize umbraphyll appear dark blue or black.

Due to its shorter wavelength, ultra violet light can make it into the Nightwoods more easily than visible light. Kijani A outputs a much higher percentage of ultra violet light than the average star due to its higher temperate. Both of these factors lead to the evolution of a second, much rarer photosynthetic pigment called ultraphyll that can make use of these wavelgths. As stated above, species of flora that make use of this pigment are rarebut due provide a refuge to the darkness of the Nighwoods as some of the UV light that hits the plant is not absorbed but is instead flouresced at a blue/violet color.

Arboreal Abyss=

Detritosphere=

Behind the Scenes

 * Hyacidus is named after a fictional plant of the same name from the Botania mod for Minecraft.
 * The idea of Innoxia being visited first and the configuration of the moons comes from Kerbal Space Program where is is easier to visit the smaller and more distant moon Minmus.