Terra 2: A Second Tree Of Life

The Okiinan Riverlands

15 Million Years Post Establishment

Warm, wet and wild. These three words are what best describes the Okiinan Riverlands, a 500 mile long shore of rivers and deltas spanning the entirety of the north east Okiinan coast. This area, thanks to its high temperature relative to other parts of the planet, is home to a myriad of strange and unique forms. Further south, in the air above the Subcontinental Gulf, an air current blows warm air directly up through the Median Sea, where it picks up water vapor, and is carried to the riverlands, keeping them incredibly warm and humid. The average annual temperature is over 29°C and is the only place on Terra 2 that has no snow or even hail all year round, instead experiencing heavy and frequent rainstorms. As a result, life has diversified greatly in these parts as they take advantage of this oasis in a cooling world. A stunningly complex ecosystem has arisen, full of plants, plant-eaters and plant-eater eaters or....predators.

Bamboo, especially, has thrived in these tropical wetlands. Further specialising in the wormwood family has allowed them to conquer this not-so-new frontier (the Okiinan Riverlands have been around ever since the early Archi Epoch, first forming over 14 million years ago). Five million years ago, wormwoods were seeing the beginning of a symbiotic relationship with another subterranean bamboo species called the ophids, which had migrated nearly completely underground. Everything but their canopy had transitioned below ground, leaving their leaves and branches to become slithering tendrils of floral matter, entangling all objects it could grow onto like vines, including the wormwoods with which they eventually paired. Now, 15 million years PE, the wormwoods have special cavities in their stems to allow ophids to grow directly within them, exchanging nutrients. The roots of both plants became connected and their reproductive cycles synchronized, allowing them to be together from the start of their life to the very end. Wormwoods often live their lives on riverbanks or near the beach, where their roots can supplement their primarily sunlight driven metabolism with water. Tranboo, too, is present in the riverlands, though these species are more adapted to a wet, soggy existence having evolved diminished root-trunks in order to maximize their subterranean rhizomes, which gather water and minerals from the soil. Their leaves have broadened and rose symbiosis is practically gone in this region, not that it really had any noticeable presence prior. So while the tranboo loses it's symbiosis in the riverlands, the wormwoods have essentially become one with the ophids, the two rarely ever being seen without the other, although ophids can sometimes leach off of other bamboo and dandelion species if the need arises.

Flowers, such as tulips and dandelions, have gained a sturdy foothold in the riverlands. Specifically, dandelions have undergone quite a remarkable transformation into incredibly efficient foliage. Their roots have specialized for soaking up water and have swelled so that, even though there are multiple stems, they appear as one huge, rotund mass of greenery. Similar in shape but different in function to a cactus and lacking the spikes, these Hydroblooms are masters of utilizing the nutrient rich water that flows through the rivers to maintain their large size of 3 meters tall, 1 meter wide. A complex network of veins transports the water from the hydrobloom's base up and throughout the plant. To gather additional energy they still possess their flowers, often taking on a pink or yellow colouration to attract the bumblebeetles. Bumblebeetles are species of pollinating beetles who, surprisingly, have taken on the same fuzzy coat and striped colouration of Earth bees in an example of convergent evolution, although they are striped blue and black. They, along with many other new beetle descendants, have become the dominant arthropods of the Okiinan Riverlands, filling a variety of niches and roles in the larger ecosystem. Ants are largely absent from the riverlands due to the high moisture in the soil that makes it harder for them to create their underground nests, which would collapse under their own weight. While the bumblebeetle does not have a stinger, they do possess an irritating substance that coats their fuzz, which can cause an intense iching sensation to any individual who foolishly attempts to eat them. The hydroblooms that bumblebeetles pollinate have very short lifespans for such a large plant, not exceeding any more than 20-30 years. There is also only one species and it is unique to the riverlands, though its cousins can be found all over Okiina's various swamps and riverbanks, as well as a certain few less water dependant relatives in the open grasslands called Twizzles.