#tricularia

[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

[humansbgone]

I noticed that the plants that most life forms are living in are quite high in the atmosphere, possibly even above the ozone layer. Now, I realize earth's magnetic field protects against most UV rays and deadly radiation but it can only do so much. So how do the plants and animals survive this?

Plants additionally generate their own magnetic fields--bees can sense them to track down flowers! With the additional help of the Unknown Nature, this is enough to deflect the most harmful effects. (Whenever physics in doubt, the answer is usually "it's the Unknown Nature.")

[revretch]

My brain is once again full of the orbital network of mega bladderworts with ecosystems and societies in them.

Between that and the concept of Dyson trees friendship, ended with cold metal space infrastructure living space infrastructure is my new best friend.

I need to incorporate these ideas into the next time I start worldbuilding for fun and/or tabletop. (Sorry if this comes across as me just rambling in your inbox!)

Only found out about Dyson trees later--Dyson bubbles were actually my inspiration for Tricularia! I had a lot of fun with the concept, glad it inspires you!!

[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.