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Description

Made some stuff in May on specevo subreddit challenge, decided to post here as well. It was written only in English, so may be worse than my usual translated to English text or idk never written solely in English before.
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As humans started exploring and studying their star system more, they inevitably discovered another life. It wasn’t really far this time, after all.

Titan was a place only for quite hardy organisms to survive here. Hothouse effect made by humans themselves many thousands of years ago allowed the life in hidden depths of this moon to come onto land, but it still was a challenge to survive here. Organisms here evolved rather convergently to Earth life, but had several major dissimilarities in their biochemistry. The changed Titan was a warmer place to sustain the carbon-based life which at first developed in the methane lakes, but as humans came, with them came changes which most of native live couldn’t handle anymore.

Eventually humans left Solar system, but life – either on Earth or Titan – did not.

Organisms that colonized Titan formed multicellularity, and came onto land only half a billion years after humans’ leaving Solar system, when Sun became brighter.

The falsewater/blacktrees is, perhaps, the biggest of such organisms.

This type of life is analogous both to animals, plants, and fungi, being autotroph in their sessile and sexual life stage (blacktrees), but heterotroph in their mobile and asexual life stage (falsewater).

The ‘animal’ part of them is that their ‘nervous’ system is quite convergent to that of primitive animals like hydras and jellyfish. Also, much like jellyfish, these organisms have ‘polyps’ and ‘medusas’, though their mobility is opposite that of actual animal.

Their ‘polyp’ life stage is highly analogous to slime molds, as they even digest food they find the same way. If two falsewater meet, they may try to eat each other if they don’t recognize member of their species. If they will, then both or more organisms will spread ‘seeds’, which then mature into blacktrees, and they will mate. Such a complex way to create new generation is possible because of the absence of other more competitive organisms on land. Also, otherwise, they are able to reproduce asexually if hadn’t met another organism of their species for a long time.

The blacktrees, ‘medusa’ life stage and plant analogue, are black to absorb all light that comes to the surface of Titan. When both ‘medusas’ of the met falsewater mature, they may be male or female, but able to change their sex if both had same. Males would spread their gametes, which are spread by winds, to females, and die very soon after that, but females may stand and create new generations of falsewater up to fifteen Earth years. They may meet many other falsewater which may spread their ‘seeds’ and which would also ‘mate’ with them. However, falsewater of other species will eat them, as much blacktrees don’t really have defense against them.

Pictured the three blacktrees, two of them mature, a darker falsewater which is the same species as the blacktrees, and a closely related falsewater, which is still a different species and pose threat to both blacktrees and darker falsewater.

Description

Made some stuff in May on specevo subreddit challenge, decided to post here as well. It was written only in English, so may be worse than my usual translated to English text or idk never written solely in English before.
________

As humans started exploring and studying their star system more, they inevitably discovered another life. It wasn’t really far this time, after all.

Titan was a place only for quite hardy organisms to survive here. Hothouse effect made by humans themselves many thousands of years ago allowed the life in hidden depths of this moon to come onto land, but it still was a challenge to survive here. Organisms here evolved rather convergently to Earth life, but had several major dissimilarities in their biochemistry. The changed Titan was a warmer place to sustain the carbon-based life which at first developed in the methane lakes, but as humans came, with them came changes which most of native live couldn’t handle anymore.

Eventually humans left Solar system, but life – either on Earth or Titan – did not.

Organisms that colonized Titan formed multicellularity, and came onto land only half a billion years after humans’ leaving Solar system, when Sun became brighter.

The falsewater/blacktrees is, perhaps, the biggest of such organisms.

This type of life is analogous both to animals, plants, and fungi, being autotroph in their sessile and sexual life stage (blacktrees), but heterotroph in their mobile and asexual life stage (falsewater).

The ‘animal’ part of them is that their ‘nervous’ system is quite convergent to that of primitive animals like hydras and jellyfish. Also, much like jellyfish, these organisms have ‘polyps’ and ‘medusas’, though their mobility is opposite that of actual animal.

Their ‘polyp’ life stage is highly analogous to slime molds, as they even digest food they find the same way. If two falsewater meet, they may try to eat each other if they don’t recognize member of their species. If they will, then both or more organisms will spread ‘seeds’, which then mature into blacktrees, and they will mate. Such a complex way to create new generation is possible because of the absence of other more competitive organisms on land. Also, otherwise, they are able to reproduce asexually if hadn’t met another organism of their species for a long time.

The blacktrees, ‘medusa’ life stage and plant analogue, are black to absorb all light that comes to the surface of Titan. When both ‘medusas’ of the met falsewater mature, they may be male or female, but able to change their sex if both had same. Males would spread their gametes, which are spread by winds, to females, and die very soon after that, but females may stand and create new generations of falsewater up to fifteen Earth years. They may meet many other falsewater which may spread their ‘seeds’ and which would also ‘mate’ with them. However, falsewater of other species will eat them, as much blacktrees don’t really have defense against them.

Pictured the three blacktrees, two of them mature, a darker falsewater which is the same species as the blacktrees, and a closely related falsewater, which is still a different species and pose threat to both blacktrees and darker falsewater.