Arboreal pircio

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Arboreal pircio
(Pethra anthimus arborus) 
 

 

Origin
Arboreal pirci are small animals originated on the planet Furioh, a rocky celestial body located in a far solar system that rotates around a red star: the Lilyar System.
This species, originated and mainly present around the area of the Big Puddle, collects in itself a series of traits that makes its survival to this day a real mystery. However, from a series of fossil findings it was easy to estabilish that this is actually a relatively ancient species, descending from the pirciocyon, an ancestor that sported charactertistics apparently much more useful to its survival in nature. How it happened that the pirciocyon had later evolved to become this poor creature constitues another logical challenge for the researchers, still unsolved.

Etymology

The arboreal pircio owes its name to the furiohus physicist Arboreus, which discovered this species and the force of gravity at once when he literally stumbled upon it.

“Pethra”, the Latin name that distinguished its family, comes from their habit to sleep balled up that, due to their gray color, ends up making them look like stones.“Anthimus” is a Latin word that only indicates the arboreal pircio, and it means "one that doesn't like to stay on the ground". When pirci are on the ground, indeed, they're clumsy, and easy prey of their natural enemies, the Shabatt. Their problem is that they don't fare much better on trees.

A single individal is called a "pircio", more than one are "pirci".

Average life span
The exact life span of a pircio is unknown, since these small animals have never been bred in captivity and get predated, or die of non-natural causes, all the time before the natural conclusion of their life cycle. Studies about it will soon get conducted.

Appearance
The pircio is a small sized animal, which scores from five hundred grams to a kilo of weight, for twentyfive-thirty centimeters of max length, including its slim, long tail covered in thin hair. This tail doesn't get used for balance at all, being the pircio completely devoid of it. Normally, indeed, it keept it slightly lifted from the ground, and he moves it only when it's scared or in an alarmed state. The real use of the pircio's tail will be revealed only later on during its biological cycle, only for a certain period of its life: it's used to cling to other pirci in the water, when the current is very strong and threatens to drag them away.
Although potentially both the male and the female could reach a good size, males are more often able to reach the maximum dimension of the species.
The profile of its rounded body is reminiscent of the one of an animal from the Arvicolinae family, but its muzzle is thicker and heavier, ending with a strongly pigmented nose and characterized by big, black eyes (the white of the sclera isn't visibile). Although a pircio can seem related to dormice at first glance, it's actually genetically closer to a canid.
The pircio is covered in a thick, partially hydrorepellent gray fur, which fades to white on its belly and to brown on their back, and which isn't considered useful nor precious in the fur sector.

Behavior
The arboreal pircio, despite its name, is terrible on the ground and is completely inept at climbing. To avoid falling while it walks, the pircio adopts a typical slow, cautious gait, that become arythmic and wobbly when it goes faster.
On the other hand, the pircio is a splendid swimmer, a skill that helps it survive n his favorite environment but is otherwise useless seeing its lack of memory, intelligence, and sense of direction.
Pirci are famous for their phobia towards blonde people, probably traceable up to the terrible Shabatt, a predator from Furioh that occupies the same habitat as pirci: these animals are covered in a blonde fur and are easy to find at a certain height, clinging to trees. This generates some confusion in the pircio's mind, which probably sees the hair of blonde people as Shabatts ready to devour them.
Arboreal pirci aren't bred as pets, both because they seem to be totally uninterested in creating bonds with species other than their own, and due to how hard it is to make them survive (even if they're fairly hardy, they're virtually unable to understand the dangers surrounding them and avoid them). It has been observed in nature that their social life can only be focused on one species at a time: the specimens that have been raised by other species, like the young pirci stolen from the amisci owls, show no attachment to their species of origin.
So, nobody wants them in their home.

Birth and growth
Pirci's lair are small holes in the ground, that have a use only during the raising of their babies, and in the last months of the mother's pregnancy. These holes are dug almost under the roots of plants that produce nuts or berries, in order to hide and cover their lair with leaves and easily find food at the same time; the shrubs under which it's easier to find them are the hay spheres, tasty berries that have overabundant nutrients that will sustain both mother and offspring during the cold seasons. Due to this, the hay spheres have also gained the name of pirci-spies, because it looks like they're always peeking inside the holes dug by these animals.
The burrows of arboreal pirci are simple, because otherwise, seeing their scarse sense of direction, they wouldn't know how to come out of them.
Baby pirci are born in the cold season, after four months of gestation. It's usually two puppies at a time, that the mother will have to care for on her own since, once their reproductive season in autumn is over, males forget about having a family and leave.
However, pirci barely manage to bear the cold, and the mother, which has trouble even in finding food for herself alone, isn't able to keep alive both the puppies. Usually, the weakest of the two doesn't reach the two months of life; sometimes, though, they're found by amisci owls, which are famous for taking care of young that aren't their own, that will bring them away and care for them.
The fight between mother pircio and owl doesn't happen at all, alas, since the mother is not even able to go after her opponent.
Even after the family is being lightened from a vulnerable member, one way or the other, it's still hard to overcome winter due to the food competition with the terrible pikadons and the predators always lurking.
After three months, the little survivor starts to waddle outside of the burrow and the loving mother runs away, leaving the pup on its own.
Even if it lacks the support of its parent, it's now instinct that helps the little pircio, indicating it to search for water, in which it will be able to move freely. However, for how helpful instinct may be, the sense of direction of pirci is still pitiful and it will force the baby to wander for months before reaching any spring, river, or lake.
They usually manage to reach water in the middle of summer, during which waters become a gray swarming of pirci. For a young arboreal pircio, this is the first occasion to see another adult of its kind that isn't its mother.
Since they usually gather in the rivers of a certain area, which have notoriously strong currents, pirci get dragged away easily; their youth and lack of experience doesn't allow them to resist it. It's now that they use their tail to cling to other pirci and stay in the same point of the river! Due to their poor organization skills, though, the only change operated will be that they will now be dragged away in block.
This is how pirci unknowingly help the distribution of their species in all of their area and in the close valleys, avoiding overpopulation.
But even when they're in the water, the environment in which they feel safer, dangers aren't over: here wait their aquatic predators, the cocofunsies, and many pirci are killed by fisherfolks that confuse them for little stones and pass over them with their boats, often unaware of their mistake.
However, this moment of their life is relatively less dangerous than the rest, and even having a cocofunsie invade their territory is a pretty rare event.
After spending the last half of summer splashing in the water, dealing with not being the last survivors of an extinct race, being dragged away by water, and meeting possible lost siblings (which, having been raised by amisci owls with rodents, have become bigger, aggressive and prone to cannibalism, and will have a very short life because too much meat is bad for them), finally autumn arrives.

Courtship and reproduction
During this season, after recovering from the dismay of leading a life in group, pirci start looking for a partner among those left, and, once found, they get out of their beloved water in favor of the mainland, on which they're clumsy and uneasy. Here, away from the risk of floodings, they will dig their burrow together.
Pirci courtship isn't particularly spectacular. They just try to convince a pircio of the opposite sex to follow them, and the first to accept will be their mate for the season. It' fairly common that the couples will be composed by the first pircio of the opposite sex of which one specimen has clung to with their tail in summer.
At the beginning, scholars tried to understand why there was no form of sexual selection or valid courtship from any of the two partners, but, to be fair, even reaching the end of summer is already proof enough of the worth of the pircio and makes it a veteran.
At the end of summer, the male will go away and search for water again, while the female will follow his example only when the puppy will be able to go out of their den on its own. Due to their horrible sense of direcion, both of the parents will have forgotten the water's location, and they will probably find it again only in the middle of the next summer.

 
Habitat and diet
The habitat of the pirci varies depending on the season, but in general it's easy to find them not too far from water, unless you have a sense of direction worse than the one of a pircio.
These tiny animals are omnivores, with a strong herbivore tendence. This means that they're able to digest meat, which they're only able to find in nature by stumbling upon animals that are already dead, but they're absolutely unable to make of it their main food source.
They have a sweet tooth for berries instead, of which their favorites are, of course, the hay spheres. They favor berries that don't have a strongly sweet taste, and they also eat small, unripe fruits that fall precociously from trees.

Distribuzione e conservazione
Somehow, this isn't an animal under threat of extinction. It's found in every area near the Great Puddle, and despite the huge demographic fluctuations, the pirci population still manages to remain rather stable, most likely thanks to the intervention of the amisci owls.

 
Magic
Probably none.

Trivia 

• The arboreal pircio is without a doubt the most unlucky one among all Pethra:  in fact, several rethoric figures are inspired by it, among which "throwing pircio", which is a synonym for casting the evil eye, sending bad luck someone's way, and "to dance like a pircio" or "to walk like a pircio", referring to the wobbly walk of this creature, is of course used to describe someone that lacks grace and balance.

• A block of pirci that are holding each other by the tail and getting dragged by the river's water together are called "mattula".
  

   

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Nighttime Moss

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Nighttime Moss

(Bryum horanoctis)

The nighttime moss is just one of the sixty thousand species of magical moss that cover the surface of the planet Furioh (the known planet that host the greatest number of bryophytes, namely plants devoid of vascular tissue, in the universe).

This is a moss with a pleasant smell that forms very short plant clusters (1 centimeter or 0.4 inches) colored of an intense blue-green hue, and tiny capsules suspended upon very thin, little stems purple in color, in which are produced and that, once mature, emit spores or store energy.

The lack of a system of conduction for the nutrients hinder the developing in height, hence the nighttime moss keeps quite a small size with an horizontal growth habit, but this doesn't prevent it from expanding on huge extensions of land.

The nighttime moss can reproduce both sexually and by vegetative multiplication.

The main peculiarity of this plant is in its ability to cover kilometers of surface, growing during the night on rocks, wood and ground, killing by suffocation the other mosses: the nighttime could be the only bryophyte species existing on the planet, if it wasn't also the favorite food of a great number of animals, among which there's the voracious romulan woodwormrat, that adequately resize it.

The magic

The nighttime moss is able to collect energy from the diurnal aster through photosytesis and turn it into magical energy, of the dark kind, that it conveys inside some of its capsules assigned to the storage of magic; those are however virtually impossible to distinguish to the naked eye from the capsules that hold the spores.

During the night, the plant uses the energy that it has saved during the day time to grow rapidly and suffocate the other mosses.

A magic user that needs a small stock of dark energy can easily draw it from this plants during the day, before they start transforming it to start their spectacular and rapid nocturnal growth; however, it is tradition that after using the nighttime moss one should gift it something in exchange, like some water, saliva or even (if they have been massively exploited) a couple of droplets of the magic user's blood, to "restore the balance".

In the popular culture

The nighttime moss is commonly used by the populations of Furioh as a furnishing accessory for non-underground houses (and equipped with windows from which sunlight can penetrate) where it's used to cover entire walls, soundproof rooms and perfume rooms thanks to its delicate fragrance known under the name of "azurenight".

The inhabitants of the underground houses that don't have to possibility to cultivate this moss, often buy (or produce, collecting the wild nighttime during the coldest months to distillate the essential oils) the azurenight and spray it in domestic environments: it is traditionally believed that this essence can gift serenity and mental stability.

Other than as pure essence, the azurenight is sometimes used in perfumery to give body to composition, or as an incense mixed with the crystallized sap of the kolra tree.

The inhabitants of the south believe that the nighttime moss grows faster where someone died serenely, while in the north it is more widespread the belief that putting a "patch" (a simple clod) of nighttime on the forehead of a terminally ill person that allows them to leave the mortal plane witouth suffering or regrets: in any case this plant is associated with death in positive terms, other than with long, regenerating sleeps.

Someone even eats the nighttime moss as if it was a salad! Even if this plant has a very intense flavor, acrid even, it possesses relaxing, sedative, tonic and anti-stress proprieties. It also seems that someone likes its strange taste...

The Lilyar System

The Lilyar System
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The Lilyar System is a planetary system composed of celestial bodies that are attracted and kept in orbit by the gravitational force of the star Lily.
The Lilyar System has a diameter of about 180-200 UA (i.e. astronomical units, equal to the average distance between Sun and Earth), making it a little more compact than our solar system, which instead presents itself with 240-260 Astronomical Units.
It is located in the constellation of Gemini, at a distance that measures around 34 light years from our Earth.
It consists of Lily, six planets (four internal rocky planets, three of which in the habitable zone, and two external gaseous planets), their respective natural satellites and many other minor bodies. The latter category includes comets, interplanetary dust and meteoroids (i.e. rocky and/or metallic fragments of sizes varying from a grain of sand to a boulder), residues of the condensation of the nebula from which the Lilyar System was originated.
In order from closest to farthest from Lily, the six planets are: Solton, Wyrm's Lair, Furioh and Mimmum, Ditto, and Letigo; the planetary system has no dwarf planets.

History
The Lilyar System was formed as a result of the compaction of the beautiful Gecko Head nebula, around 3.7 billion years ago.
This planetary system is full of small anomalies. 
Once the number of planets that gravitated around Lily amounted to at least eight, but two of these planets have been "lost": one destroyed or devoured by the creature that dwells in the Wyrm's Lair, the other expelled from its planetary system and become an orphan interstellar planet.
It is speculated that it was an unfortunate play of gravitational forces that projected that now orphan planet out of its orbit; it may have been driven out by the second gas giant Euryphaessa - the other lost planet, which was later destroyed by the Wyrm - and thrown away by the disposition of the other celestial bodies, which has morphed into completely different orbits than those that they were settling in during the formation of the Lilyar System, an event apparently inexplicable by scientific observation alone. The sentient races of Furioh and Mimmum unanimously give the "merit" of what happened to the creature that inhabits Wyrm's Lair.
The majority of the system's minor celestial bodies (interstellar dust, meteoroids and comets) are concentrated in a band just beyond Letigo, where comets remain in a stable situation due to very low temperatures, without "invading" the interstellar medium of the rest of the system; it thus forms an external ring to the planetary system that delimits it called the Belt of Enzadus.
Another rather obvious anomaly can be found in the twin planets Furioh and Mimmum, which are actually less similar than they seem: although the two share the same orbit and roughly the same size, Furioh could be the oldest celestial body of the whole planetary system.

Structure and celestial bodies

· Lily – Center
Mother star of the Lilyar System, it is a larger and brighter yellow dwarf than the Solar System's Sun, albeit not much.

· Solton – First orbit
Ferrous planet, the closest to Lily. It has almost reached its end, demolished by the attraction force of its star.

· Wyrm's Lair – Second orbit
Mysterious planet in the habitable zone. Its rocky surface appears barren and pitted, lined with huge furrows and cavities. It is said that the Wyrm lives inside it and that unimaginable wealth is found there.

· Furioh – Third orbit
Rocky planet in the habitable zone, "twin" of Mimmum. Organic life and various sentient species developed on it. Most of its surface is covered in water.

· Mimmum – Third orbit
Rocky planet in the habitable zone, "twin" of Furioh. Organic life developed on it, including only one sentient species, but the rest of the creatures that inhabit it are pretty coloured and varied.

· Ditto – Fourth orbit
Gas giant, big about four times the size of the Earth. The rings of dust surrounding it were destroyed by an external force.

· Letigo – Fifth orbit
Frozen planet on the outer orbit of the system, it appears a magnificent streaked blue from the outside. Its surface consists mainly of methane, ethane and nitrogen.

Il Sistema Lilyare

Il Sistema Lilyare 
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È un sistema planetario composto dai corpi celesti che sono attratti e mantenuti in orbita dalla forza gravitazionale della stella Lily.
Il sistema lilyare ha un diametro di circa 180-200 UA (cioè unità astronomiche, pari alla distanza media tra Terra e Sole), risultando un po' più compatto rispetto al nostro sistema solare che si presenta invece con 240-260 Unità Astronomiche.
È situato nella costellazione dei Gemelli, ad una distanza che misura attorno ai 34 anni luce dalla nostra Terra.
È costituito da Lily, sei pianeti (quattro pianeti rocciosi interni, di cui tre nella zona abitabile, e due gassosi esterni), dai rispettivi satelliti naturali e da moltissimi altri corpi minori. Quest'ultima categoria comprende comete, polvere interplanetaria e meteoroidi, cioè frammenti rocciosi e/o metallici di dimensioni variabili da un granello di sabbia ad un masso, residui della condensazione della nebulosa da cui si originò il sistema lilyare in origine.
In ordine dal più vicino al più lontano da Lily, i sei pianeti sono: Solton, Tana del Wyrm, Furioh e Mimmum, Ditto e Letigo; il sistema planetario non presenta pianeti nani.


Storia
Il sistema lilyare si è formato a seguito della compattazione della bellissima nebulosa Testa di Geco, intorno a 3,7 miliardi di anni fa.
Questo sistema planetario è ricco di piccole anomalie. Una volta il numero dei pianeti che gravitavano attorno a Lily ammontava almeno ad otto, ma due di questi pianeti sono andati “perduti”: uno distrutto o divorato dalla creatura che dimora in Tana del Wyrm, l'altro espulso dal proprio sistema planetario e divenuto un pianeta interstellare orfano.
Si specula che sia stato uno sfortunato gioco di forze gravitazionali a proiettarlo fuori dalla propria orbita; potrebbe sia essere stato scacciato dal secondo gigante gassoso Eurifessa – l'altro pianeta perduto, che fu in seguito distrutto dal Wyrm – sia essere stato sbalzato via dalla disposizione degli altri corpi celesti, che è ora migrata in orbite del tutto diverse rispetto a quelle che si stavano stabilendo alla formazione del sistema lilyare, in modo apparentemente inspiegabile dalla sola osservazione scientifica. Le razze senzienti di Furioh e Mimmum danno, unanimamente, il “merito” dell'avvenuto alla creatura che abita Tana del Wyrm.
La maggioranza dei corpi celesti minori (polvere interstellare, meteoroidi e comete) è concentrata in una fascia poco oltre Letigo, dove le comete rimangono in una situazione stabile a causa delle bassissime temperature, senza “invadere” il mezzo interstellare del resto del sistema; forma così un anello esterno al sistema planetario che lo delimita, chiamato Cintura di Enzadus.
Un'altra anomalia piuttosto palese si può riscontrare nei pianeti gemelli Furioh e Mimmum, che in realtà sono meno simili di quanto sembri: anche se i due condividono la stessa orbita e all'incirca le stesse dimensioni, Furioh potrebbe essere il corpo celeste più vecchio di tutto il sistema planetario.

Struttura e corpi celesti

· Lily – Al centro
Stella madre del sistema lilyare, è una nana gialla più grande e luminosa del Sole, seppur non di molto.

· Solton – Prima orbita
Pianeta ferroso, il più vicino a Lily. È quasi giunto alla propria fine, demolito dalla forza di attrazione della sua stella.

· Tana del Wyrm – Seconda orbita
Pianeta misterioso in zona abitabile, il secondo del sistema planetario. La sua superficie rocciosa appare brulla e bucherellata, tavolta con solchi e cavità enormi. Si dice che al suo interno viva il Wyrm e che vi si trovino ricchezze inimmaginabili.

· Furioh – Terza orbita
Pianeta roccioso in zona abitabile, “gemello” di Mimmum. Su di esso si è sviluppata la vita organica e diverse specie senzienti. La maggioranza della sua superficie è coperta d'acqua.

· Mimmum – Terza orbita
Pianeta roccioso in zona abitabile, “gemello” di Furioh. Su di esso si è sviluppata la vita organica, compresa una sola specie senziente, ma il resto delle creature che lo abitano solo colorate e varie.

· Ditto – Quarta orbita
Gigante gassoso, circa quattro volte la grandezza della Terra. Gli anelli di polvere che lo circondavano sono stati distrutti da una forza esterna.

· Letigo – Quinta orbita
Pianeta ghiacciato sull'orbita più esterna del sistema, appare di un magnifico blu striato dall'esterno. La sua superficie è costituita principalmente di metano, etano e azoto.

Muschio nottetempo

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Muschio Nottetempo

(Bryum horanoctis)

Il muschio nottetempo è solo una delle sessantamila specie di muschi magici che ricoprono la superficie del pianeta Furioh (il pianeta conosciuto che ospita il maggior numero di briofite, ovvero piante prive di tessuto vascolare, nell'universo).

Si tratta di un muschio dall'odore gradevole che forma grappoli di piante bassissime (un centimetro) di colore verde-blu intenso e piccole capsule sospese su sottilissimi fusticini di colore viola in cui vengono prodotte e, a maturazione, emesse spore oppure immagazzinata energia.

La mancanza di un sistema di conduzione del nutrimento impedisce lo sviluppo in altezza, perciò il nottetempo mantiene dimensioni piuttosto ridotte e con crescita generalmente orizzontale, ma questo non gli impedisce di svilupparsi su estensioni di terreno enormi.

Il muschio nottetempo mostra sia riproduzione sessuale sia moltiplicazione vegetativa.

La principale particolarità di questa pianta sta nella sua capacità di ricoprire chilometri di superficie, crescendo durante la notte su rocce, legno e terreno, uccidendo per soffocamento gli altri muschi: il nottetempo sarebbe l'unica specie di briofita presente sul pianeta se non fosse anche il cibo preferito di un gran numero di animali, fra cui il vorace tarloratto romolano, che lo ridimensionano adeguatamente.

La magia

Il muschio nottetempo è capace di raccogliere l'energia dell'astro diurno attraverso la fotosintesi e trasformarla in energia magica di tipo oscuro che convoglia all'interno di alcune delle sue capsule addette all'immagazzinamento della magia, ma virtualmente impossibili da distinguere a occhio da quelle che contengono le spore.

Durante la notte, la pianta utilizza l'energia che ha conservato nelle ore diurne per crescere rapidamente e soffocare gli altri muschi.

Un mago che abbia bisogno di una piccola riserva di energia oscura potrà facilmente attingere da queste piante durante il giorno, prima che inizino a trasformarla per dare il via alla loro spettacolare e velocissima crescita notturna; tuttavia è tradizione che dopo aver usato il muschio nottetempo si debba regalargli qualcosa in cambio, come un po' d'acqua, di saliva o addirittura (se le si è sfruttate massicciamente) un paio di gocce del proprio sangue, allo scopo di “ristabilire l'equilibrio”.

Nella cultura popolare

Il muschio nottetempo è comunemente utilizzato dalle popolazioni di Furioh come complemento d'arredo per le case non sotterranee (e munite di finestre da cui possa penetrare la luce solare) dove si utilizza per ricoprire intere pareti, insonorizzare le camere e profumare gli ambienti grazie alla sua delicata fragranza conosciuta con il nome di “azzurronotte”.

Gli abitanti delle case sotterranee, che non hanno la possibilità di coltivare questo muschio, spesso comprano (o producono, raccogliendo il nottetempo selvatico durante i mesi più freddi e distillandone gli oli essenziali) l'azzurronotte e lo spruzzano negli ambienti domestici: tradizionalmente si crede che quest'essenza possa donare serenità e stabilità mentale.

Oltre che come essenza pura, l'azzurronotte viene talvolta usato in profumeria per dar corpo alle composizioni, o come incenso mescolato alla linfa cristallizzata dell'albero di kolra.

Gli abitanti del sud credono che il muschio nottetempo cresca più rapidamente dove qualcuno sia morto serenamente, mentre al nord è più diffusa la credenza per cui sia invece mettere una “pezza” (una semplice zolla) di nottetempo sulla fronte di un malato terminale a permettergli di andarsene senza soffrire e senza rimpianti: in ogni caso questa pianta è associata alla morte in termini positivi, oltre che a lunghi sonni rigeneranti.

Qualcuno, addirittura, mangia il muschio nottetempo come se fosse insalata! Sebbene questa pianta abbia un sapore molto intenso, persino acre, possiede proprietà rilassanti, sedative, toniche e antistress. Sembra anche che il suo strano sapore a qualcuno piaccia...