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| Umbriel; A tiny world basks in the warm red glow of a dying sun. | |||||||||
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| Topic Started: Nov 26 2014, 06:12 PM (8,959 Views) | |||||||||
| Picrodus | Nov 26 2014, 06:12 PM Post #1 | ||||||||
:Ominous Wind:
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Three billion years in the future the sun has swelled up as a red giant to the orbit of Earth and nothing is left of the inner systems former glory. The once lush planet Earth now a burnt cinder orbiting only about 13 million miles from the sun. However there is still a shelter in the solar system where life has taken hold. However because of the red sun's massive and super heated form, this haven no longer exists in the inner system but the outer system. Towards the end of the age of humanity 3 billion years ago the humans set up ark ships that which were in fact glorified seed banks meant to seed the many future water worlds of the outer solar system in hopes that in the far future they would wake and colonize these worlds. These ships blasted off from Earth off towards many targets in the outer solar system where they would bury themselves in the primordial wasteland of the planet/moon that was their target and await the time when the shipboard sensors detected an atmosphere suitable for life to inhabit. Although feeble atmospheres did form on a few worlds of the outer solar system, only one ark stood the test of time and remained functioning throughout the eons. As can be expected from technology. Who expects 100% efficiency from machines especially ones that are now billions of years old. The ark that stood the test of time was one located on Umbriel, a moon of Uranus. Umbriel by this point had formed a feeble atmosphere with oxygen, and useful amounts of carbon dioxide due to large deposits in the ice and primordial outgassing, as well as a few other trace elements. Its loss of atmosphere was also almost negligible due to its orbit lying within the gargantuan magnetosphere of its parent. The Ark ships carried two components. One component, or the first stage, was to release seeds of trees, plants, and crops kept fresh by the ship when enough carbon dioxide was found to be present. After the plants were released they would work to create a sustained biosphere and with that a stable atmosphere and eventually produce enough oxygen for animals and humans to be released from the ark as stage two. Sadly, (or not depending on your view) there was never enough oxygen/atmospheric pressure for stage two to be initiated. Because of this life on Umbriel has not turned out the way the terrans expected. Here the plants took a very shocking turn in evolution. Now Umbriel is a world dominated by a new type of creature. Umbriel is a rather cold world with the climate being retained at about 50° fahrenheit at the most and -30° at the least. Because of this, of the plants released only the hardier mountain dwelling species survived. With the most successful being Conifers, it is no surprise that they gave rise to the new creatures. The Planimals. Umbriel rolls on its side through the universe due to it orbiting on the equatorial plain of a planet with a 97 degree axial tilt. Its poles alternating between 40 years of day and 40 years of night. The trees and plants, to escape either extreme, would follow the terminator by developing movement or risk death. The development of locomotion was the first step towards becoming Umbral animals. And many plants did die in the early stages of colonization. However this terminator was extremely forgiving, taking 40 years to switch from pole to pole. Plant seeding occured 500 million years ago when Umbriel was still warming. The current date is 3 billion years hence. The earliest divergent Conifers developed locomotion by dragging themselves along by their roots which remained underground. They were the first plants to do so though other groups later followed suit and broke the barrier into becoming more than plants, they were planimals. Similar locomotion can be seen in today's primitive monopedal fur trees. When the humans created these Arks they imagined that they would wake up to beautiful worlds prime for colonization ripe with crops to upstart civilization once again. Unfortunately a less than useful species took the dominant role...and on a world colder than they had expected.... Welcome to Umbriel the Conifer moon!
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 My Deviantart A work in progress. Other Liked Quote: "The "habitable zone" will expand along with the Sun. This will warm once-frozen planets and their moons, bringing a brief springtime after a 10-billion-year winter." | |||||||||
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| Picrodus | Nov 26 2014, 07:27 PM Post #2 | ||||||||
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:Ominous Wind:
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Climate Although Umbriel lies towards the center of the sun's habitable zone, its low gravity struggles to hold onto its tenuous atmosphere. And because of this, it is colder than one would think retaining a climate similar to subarctic boreal forest. Because of this the most numerous group of plants currently residing on Umbriel are conifers although other plants still survive. The only reason its atmosphere is as thick as it is is because of the plants that now call the moon home. Sea level is equivalent to an Earth atmospheric pressure of 13,000 ft in elevation. Geography In the case of Umbriel, because of its obliquity, It has an east and west pole because (A) it is tidally locked to its parent Uranus. and (B) because of its extreme obliquity. With these two factors combined Umbriel experiences a rotation, that, in respect to the sun, actually it makes it seem that the moon rotates in respect to the sun in a South to North fashion. Though, of course, this is not the case as the moon is tidally locked. But with the sun traveling from South to North ever so slowly across Umbriel's sky, it actually does begin to seem that this is so. Umbriel Geographical Map of Eastern Hemisphere (Simple) The Western (Leading) Pole is in the Eastern Umbralu Sea. The Eastern (Trailing) Pole is in the mid Wunda Sea. With Much of the Western less lush Hemisphere facing towards Uranus. Umbriel Global Map: Needs Renovation Basically the east and west poles are more like false poles as they would not exist should the moon not be tidally locked. (For example Uranus Because it is not tidally locked to any celestial body, it does not have these false poles) I hope I am getting my message across here. Update: The west pole is the leading pole [Hemisphere] and the east pole is the trailing. Colored Biome Map (Eastern Hemisphere) Umbriel may have a thin atmosphere, but it must be taken into account that its gravity is extremely light. Because of this, particles of dust, pollen and other such things take much longer to find their way to the ground. Thus this choked atmosphere remains rather opaque. Real Color Map (Eastern Hemisphere)
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My Deviantart A work in progress. Other Liked Quote: "The "habitable zone" will expand along with the Sun. This will warm once-frozen planets and their moons, bringing a brief springtime after a 10-billion-year winter." | |||||||||
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| Nyarlathotep | Nov 27 2014, 06:11 PM Post #3 | ||||||||
The Creeping Chaos
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So basically, only the hardier mountain dwelling plants or plants that have evolved to cope with the conditions are able to survive here? I imagine fauna with powerful air-sac filled lungs would be in the most beneficial position in this ecosystem as well. | ||||||||
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| Picrodus | Nov 28 2014, 01:00 AM Post #4 | ||||||||
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:Ominous Wind:
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The Fur Trees The Fur Trees are the some Oldest moving animals of Umbriel. They are far derived from their ancestor Pseudotsuga menziesii the Douglas Fir Tree by about 500 million years. Meaning that effectively there are few relations at all, mostly in similar respitory and reproductive processes. But what really makes these creatures special was that they were also some of the first to break the barrier between plants and animals. Being the first terran plant to do so. Fur Trees are characterized by having needles that vary from a deep black to rusty red color due to photosynthesizing in the light of a red giant star. Their "trunk" still retains they silvery color of a young fir tree and rightly so as they basically evolved from the young fir trees who evolved movement to move out from under the suffocating shadow of their parent and find their own patch of sunlight. Fur Trees have a primitive system akin to those of terran animals. These creatures instead of wood underneath bark now have flesh under skin much like many of the other animals of Umbriel. Their brain is located in the main "cone" which they are grown from. This particular group must scavenge the remains of the dead to supplement their movement as photosynthesizing will only do so much for them. The white "fur" is actually very similar to mammal fur. It is believed to have evolved to keep these organisms warm when they developed more towards an animal like life form and therefore had less cold tolerance than a tree. These creatures are monopeds using their rootlike tentacles to pull them along the ground. It is believed that Conifers were the first and only plant to create such beasts as they themselves had roots that did not dig very deep into the ground. The tentacles usually stay emersed under the soil drawing in nutrients like roots as they drag along the rest of the body above the ground. Tracks are characterized as being basically a thin ditch rather than any sort of print. When a Fur tree finds carrion one or two tentacle/mouths will come above the soil to feed on the carcass. Carrion is important as without it the Fur Tree could not survive on photosynthesis and ground nutrients alone. Reproduction occurs in a similar form to many conifers. A female cone is pollinated by a male. They usually do not grow more than two cones for either gender. Male cones do not fall of the "males" but female cones do and so are regenerable. Then the cone drops to the ground and begins to grow into a baby. However, the mother Fur tree will stay with its baby until it grows large enough to move on its own which usually take about three months as the baby is immobile until its roots grow strong enough. Fur trees can be considered to have genders as they have evolved to become dioecious either having only male or female cones. The reason being that it was easier for them to form ranks in their family groups and aided in their ability to produce complex interactions. A family group usually consists of a dominant male and a harem of two or three females. There are many different species and they are a very widespread and succesful group. They may have many different color variations with some patterns being surprisingly similar to some African fauna of old Earth. The largest species, the Zebra Fur tree shown above, reaches about 11 ft in height. |
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| Picrodus | May 28 2015, 06:01 PM Post #5 | ||||||||
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:Ominous Wind:
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The Tumble Trees Derived from the same stock of and a sister group to the fur trees. The family known as the tumble trees are a group of derived monopeds that have evolved to locomote in a forward rolling fasion by balancing on a precarious point on their trunk (as shown in the image below) The end of the trunk, instead of going straight into the ground as in fur trees, actually connects back to the main cone in a full circle formation that actually supports the proportionately enormous main cone. The main cone is so big and beautiful because this is how males and females select their mates. Through display and feel. (Natural selection has caused this main cone to become much larger and pleasing to the eye over time. Eventually coming to it's present day form which resembles a terran christmas ornament. When in fact it is just a very specialized cone. Thus they evolved their top heavy form into a strange form of locomotion where they actually are able to move rather quickly.(Up to 15 mph) Quick for a monoped that is. They will still use their sensory root tentacles much like a fur tree. However, the root tentacles are in fact attached to the head cone and unremovable. So a tumble tree cannot actually eat until it lays on the ground. Thus they do not feed on ground nutrients unless they are resting and may still subcontiously/involuntarily absorb nutrients when asleep. They, however, need more protein as they must use much more energy in their locomotion. And in their troop of up to 7 individuals they willwork together to roll into/ram large prey with their bodies until it dies from blunt force trauma after which members of the troop will lay down to feed from in heirarchal order. Or when prey is scarce besides ground nutrients they will eat fruits and sometimes compete with fur trees for carrion.  Family life and Reproduction A tumble tree troop is lead by a dominant alpha male and consits of his wives and daughters plus one son for added protection and help with care of siblings. (Whom which the alpha will drive off should the male show that he is insubordinate at a young age. He will also drive the young male off by the time the male reaches the age of two. The age of which he becomes sexually mature.) Much like their sister group the fur trees, tumble tree males and females both grow two mating cones from their body. And again the males' cones are not regowable and do not fall off simply being used for reproduction. The females, again like the fur trees, have regrowablecones that fall off when impregnated of which the cone will grow into a new tumble tree. Growing firmly from the ground. Their early stages of life are much like a furtree to the point that their only distinguishing feature as an infant is their vibrant green cone. The infant is sessile and survives on nutrients alone while the ever watchful mother keeps guard from predators. Until two weeks of age whereapon its root tentacles have grown up from the ground to attach to its face. At this point the infant is ready to move about and is almost starved due to the roots leaving the ground to attach to the main cone. Due to this fact a troop will usually be ready with a fresh meal to help the mother to help the mother to take care of her starving young and to welcome the infant into their family. |
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| Jackson | May 28 2015, 07:10 PM Post #6 | ||||||||
Infant
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Will u put fauna in as well |
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| Check out my terraforming project Celeri! | |||||||||
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| Picrodus | May 28 2015, 08:22 PM Post #7 | ||||||||
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:Ominous Wind:
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I may not have made it clear before so here it goes: All of the fauna on Umbriel are descended from terran flora. These creatures are essentially animals though they retain many of the characteristics of their evolutionary conifer [Plant] ancestors. Essentially they are [planimals]. So to answer your question: No. There are no terran fauna just Umbral fauna evolved by many billions of years from terran flora. |
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| Sayornis | May 28 2015, 08:34 PM Post #8 | ||||||||
Neotenous
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Weird and wonderful idea for a setting. I've been wondering recently how life would fare on a planet with such an extreme axial tilt as Uranus (or its moons), and walking plants seem like a plausible outcome. | ||||||||
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| Picrodus | May 29 2015, 06:55 PM Post #9 | ||||||||
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:Ominous Wind:
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Thanks Sayornis! Yeah i'm interested in the idea of worlds with such an extreme axial tilt as well. Though i haven't thought about the climate quite in the same way that you have. Check out my update on the geography of Umbriel. Complete with a new map as well as an explanation of how the axial tilt affects the climate and geography of Umbriel. Its right here in post #2. I'm open to comments and constructive criticism from anyone. Thanks all! |
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| Sayornis | May 29 2015, 07:12 PM Post #10 | ||||||||
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Neotenous
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That's an unconventional map projection, but I can see how it works for such an odd world. As for the premise, I'm not sure whether the sun would be hot enough, as a red giant, to place Uranus within the habitable zone. But there's some controversy about just how large and bright it will get. According to this, all of the planets beyond Jupiter, and even the Kuiper Belt, will be within the red giant's habitable zone: http://www.universetoday.com/9472/outer-planets-could-warm-up-as-sun-dies/ |
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| Picrodus | May 29 2015, 08:02 PM Post #11 | ||||||||
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:Ominous Wind:
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(Wow this response was a long time coming.) For the most part yeah. Its mostly just cold hardy and mountain dwelling species. And even then mostly Conifers. Though there will be other species represented as well. Especially the volant types.
That is in fact, the very same article I have seen before. What do you think about the idea of the east and west poles? |
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| Sayornis | May 29 2015, 08:43 PM Post #12 | ||||||||
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Neotenous
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The concept of east and west poles does make sense of a tidally locked moon-- I assume one pole is the point directly facing Uranus. Though apparently those are called near and far poles, in addition to leading and trailing ones defined by the moon's orbital path: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poles_of_astronomical_bodies#Near.2C_far.2C_leading_and_trailing_poles On a related note, how does the light of Uranus affect the flora/fauna? |
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| Picrodus | May 30 2015, 05:12 PM Post #13 | ||||||||
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:Ominous Wind:
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I'm expecting that most of the flora and fauna will be affected by Uranus but in a way similar to the way the light of the moon affects the earth. It will create a lot of extra light on the side that faces it being that it will appear 20 times the size that the moon appears in our sky. Although obviously it will create a lot more illumination. To quote Dromaeosaurus in response to a question that I asked long ago:
Most species on Umbriel are migratory to escape the extreme cold of the night side. However, it is conceivable that some very specialized sessile flora and fauna could survive the long ride across the night side. I would imagine that the light from Uranus could provide extra photosynthetic sustenance for an organism that has chosen such a path of evolution. |
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| Picrodus | May 31 2015, 11:44 AM Post #14 | ||||||||
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:Ominous Wind:
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Dawn on The Northern Horizon Here lies Umbriel, a moon of Uranus, as it will appear 3 billion years in the future. This orbital view conveys the best view possible of most of the Umbral Northern hemisphere as it takes its turn to bask in the elderly sun's warm red glow. Take a moment to look down on the beautiful Plains of Albreich in all of its globe girdling glory. Then look on West towards the leading-western polar sea of Umbralu, nurturing the darkness that is the Finnish Southwestern forest, sheltered from the vast Minepan tundric expanse. Or take a trip east towards the trailing-east pole where the north most edge of the Isle of Clubs can be seen as it makes its way into 42 years of darkness on the Wundan sea. To the northwest lie the foreboding spires of the Àcôtéwundan mountains. South and west of this lies the Kanaloan tundra as its vast expanse of ice vies with the Northern and Southern Kanaloan Forest for every mile of land. Lucky viewers may look straight down from orbit and see the lushness of the Wokolan basin nurtured by Lake Wokolo and sheltered by the Peri mountains. Looking further south will lay the eyes upon the northern half of lake Setibos as it disappears across the terminator. Those that have braved the vast expanse of the Gobi Badlands will be pleased to see lake Skynd on the Northern horizon. (Confused? North is left and south is right and so on. Still confused? Look up facts on the Uranian System.) |
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| Picrodus | Jun 2 2015, 07:25 PM Post #15 | ||||||||
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 So I decided to go ahead and try my hand at what Umbriel would look like with an atmosphere and in real color. What do you guys think? I colored it in reference both to the color of the sun and the Uranian system's extreme distance from it. Or do you believe it would be brighter? |
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