#angion

[humansbgone]

Check out this gorgeous fanart in the style of a travel brochure from Potion Seller on YouTube! (Unfortunately, the heavy radioactivity might ruin your vacation.)

Potion Seller

chillin

[rainbow-visionz]

Simpatico sparklings! Luminary is a microscope like Perceptor, and Angion is a jet like Brainstorm.

[humansbgone]

Do Macrovolutes have a concept of aliens? Like alien bugs from other planets.

That's a good question! I haven't done a lot of thinking on the state of their astonomy, but I know it lags behind their biology tech a fair bit.

Going up and perching on the "sky" (ceiling of the bladder) is a pretty big thing for flying insects, though, especially ones that just became adults (got their wings). With their nearsightedness, they can't really see the stars with the naked eye. And there's no actual moon, either. However, each bladder has a point that focuses starlight to simulate a moon, and there are smaller points of focus that can be used as stargazing portals once you're up there.

They do have "space travel" to a degree--a space rail system for traveling between the bladders. Macrovolutes can even survive in the vacuum of space for (very) brief periods!

Attempts have also been made to visit Angion before, so they're very aware what a planet is.

So yeah, there are most likely some macrovolutes that dream of life beyond the stars, and planets with bladders just like Tricularia! (How else could it sustain life, otherwise?)

[humansbgone]

Do any species (macrovolute, protocule, or demivolute) live on the planet's surface? If so, what challenges do they face?

Plenty of radiotrophic fungi! Afraid I can't say more than that.

[humansbgone]

(This is content for Humans-B-Gone!, an animated sci-fi series about a giant praying mantis who works in pest control--those pests including humans. Watch it on YouTube here: https://youtube.com/c/humansbgone )

Pictured: Tricularia in orbit over Angion.

Angion is an Earth-like planet, orbiting a single sun on a cycle only slightly longer than Earth's. The surface is uninhabitable to most lifeforms, apart from radiotrophic fungi and bacteria.

Tricularia is the site of our story, a giant mutant bladderwort growing out of Angion. An actual bladderwort is a carnivorous plant, and the bladders trap and digest unfortunate little animals that bump into them, such as water fleas. Tricularia, however, works as a sort of massive organic space station.

Each bladder (each about the size of a small country) contains and tightly controls a unique ecosystem, from forests miles deep to jeweled glass deserts, and even more bizarre. There are 86 bladders (not counting sub-bladder systems) spread out in orbit around the planet, with more bladders growing still. All minerals must be pumped up by Tricularia from the planet below. As a result, the only soil is humus, the place isn't old enough for most rocks, and most abiotic substances are very rare.

Because of the small size of the bladders, there is no gravity (or at least, so little gravity as to be virtually nil) apart from the gravity-like effects of the Unknown Nature. If not for the bladder walls, all oxygen would escape into space! The bladders also circulate air, creating wind currents by "breathing."

On the bladders live not only macrovolutes, but such lifeforms as forest octopuses, huge flying microbes, weasels with prehensile organs…and of course, human beings.

[humansbgone]

Is there life on the surface of Angion?

Yes--plenty of radiotrophic fungi and bacteria!