I Like Your Art. It Is Such A Beautiful Place And I Can See Veteris Being A Wonderful Place To Explore

This is an aerial ecosystem inhabited by floating creatures that utilize gas sacs within their bodies to stay aloft.

Pelagic predator pen sketch. More on this soon.

The Garden of Unearthly Delights

Biodiversity in Glow Forest Communities

Down on the floor of the Glow Forest, a startling array of lifeforms has evolved in the cool dark mist. The creatures that comprise the main structure of this biome are known as Vela, and they stretch skyward, consuming all the available sunlight and allowing none to escape below. This species won an evolutionary arms race long ago, and as a result its photosynthetic competitors were pushed to extinction. However being a successful monoculture has its disadvantages. Autotrophs form the base of the food chain in most environments, and now the Vela is the only one. This means it is now the main food source for many other species who would otherwise have more choices. Its main nemesis is the Stragulum. This amorphous creeping wrinkled blanket infects a new Vela pseudopod nearly as soon as it touches the ground. It rapidly takes hold and covers every inch of the surface, slowly digesting it. This in turn attracts a cadre of new organisms which consume the flesh of the Stragulum. Predators are then drawn to the area, and as the number of species grows, a self-perpetuating cycle of increasing biodiversity takes place. Eventually, the Stragulum becomes too much of a burden to the Vela and it severs its pseudopod in order to rapidly grow another nearby. But the biomass of the parasite still lingers for quite some time, feeding a plethora of bizarre and unique organisms scrambling for their share of the resources in this oasis of light amidst the darkness.

The climate in this region is usually hot and dry, punctuated by sporadic torrential downpours. After such events, the ground flourishes with a dense interconnected web of growth taking advantage of the temporary hydration. Once all the water dissipates, the soil is left to crack in the heat of the day. During these times Ponderosus are on the move, searching for the last remaining vernal pools. They used the times of plenty to fill up on nutrients, but now during a drought they switch primarily to photosynthesis to meet their energy needs. The smaller, dish-faced Lanx are not so lucky. Embedded in the ground unable to move, they must simply go dormant if the rains do not arrive soon enough. For now they point their open frills at the sun and gather energy while they still can. A Stealthspring prowls the scene looking for unfortunate small creatures who may not be faring well in the heat. Their predominant walking style requires a different gait for front and back sets of legs, but if needed their whole body becomes a giant spring, allowing them to burst forward for great distances. In an environment where major features like the ponderosus can move, it can be difficult to navigate from day to day, so the stealthspring must be ready to take flight at any time, should danger come calling.

Here is a nocturnal view of a habitat in which the inhabitants have evolved extreme forms of bioluminescence. The vertical glowing blobs are the reproductive bulb form of a species with a complex life cycle (to be elucidated in following artworks). The groove-backed, ravenous creatures at the bottom are of the same species as the glowing blobs, but at a different life stage. At center is a rather placid, slow-moving consumer of the bulbs- one who has incorporated its own form of bioluminescence into its respiratory apparatus as a means of camouflage. Names and descriptions will come as soon as possible.

World Eater

In the murky ponds on the floor of the Glow Forest lives a surprisingly diverse community adapted to the near total darkness. Decaying organic material releases methane gas which is harnessed by towers of colonial microorganisms. Upon this bedrock of the food chain, a plethora of creatures creep and crawl about their daily lives while trying to avoid the pond’s top predator - a massive leviathan blindly devouring everything in its path.

This is the native habitat of the megamyriapod (at center). This slow-moving, placid beast is about twenty feet tall and feeds primarily on the purple wave carpet organism that is spread across the floor of this scene- gathering it up with its anterior grasping appendages (at left). Other creatures lurk here, including the greenish motile floating feather duster gourds, the yellow/teal walking platter life-forms, and the purple pilantir balls. Growing around and above these smaller living things are the gargantuan lineated gold air-sponges - the megaflora that constitute the main physical features in this environment. All these creatures obtain energy from a combination of photosynthesis and physical consumption of soil nutrients or living tissue. Basically, the strict division of heterotroph/autotroph (plant/animal) that is exhibited by Earth-life simply does not apply here. Rather there is a gradient between those creatures who gain energy exclusively from light, and those who must consume others to survive. The majority of creatures here utilize both approaches.

Luminous Oppugno

Submarinus luminare

Named for the Latin word for 'attack', the Luminous Oppugno is a crafty aquatic predator. Primarily nocturnal, it uses its bioluminescent-tipped rods to attract prey. Once within range, the main grasping appendage shoots out and arrests the unsuspecting victim with vigorous tenacity. Being fully aquatic (dwelling rather deeply at that) as well as nocturnal, the oppugno rarely comes into contact with sunlight, and thus has lost the capability of its ancestors to harness energy from photons. Thus, the creature must rely exclusively on its skill as a predator to meet its energy requirements. An adult oppugno usually tops out at around 5 feet long.

High Above Saturn This portrait looking down on Saturn and its rings was created from images obtained by NASA’s Cassini spacecraft on Oct. 10, 2013. It was made by amateur image processor and Cassini fan Gordan Ugarkovic. This image has not been geometrically corrected for shifts in the spacecraft perspective and still has some camera artifacts.The mosaic was created from 12 image footprints with red, blue and green filters from Cassini’s imaging science subsystem. Ugarkovic used full color sets for 11 of the footprints and red and blue images for one footprint.

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute/G. Ugarkovic

A Universe Below

Almost no sunlight penetrates the thick canopy of the glow forest. As a result, organisms in this ancient biome have evolved a massive array of survival strategies using bioluminescence. Some emit light to attract mates or warn against predators. And some, strangely, illuminate themselves in order to be eaten.