FLORA & FAUNA
FLORA:
Plants - Plants fall under two types in this setting; Chloroid and Non-Chloroid.
Chloroid Plants - Green-leafed, requires specific, expensive care and special lighting. They are grown in only the wealthiest of hydroponics facilities that can afford the seeds (namely, UniClassers). These plants have been extinct or domestically grown for thousands of years, as they no longer occur in nature. Common inside the Toride, extremely rare everywhere else.
Non-Chloroid Plants - Plants that do not require light to live, and can thrive in a broad range of harsh climates; from clinging to the upper levels of skyscrapers, to hanging over a boiling river of magma, these organisms find incredible ways to survive. When someone mentions plants, they are almost speaking of this vegetation- leafless, often colorless or striped with bioluminesence, the average plant draws nutrients from dirt, corpses, or even the materials in structures, in order to sustain itself. Very common.
Actinian Plants - A type of Non-Chloroid plant. Actinians sway and move their petals/tendrils like that of a sea anemone, and grow in the wild, mostly in the Undercity. Doesn't need light to grow, like most Non-Chloroids. Often considered quite beautiful. The Night Lotus, a Flower considered holy to The Cult of the Golden Lotus, is an incredibly rare and unusually beautiful species of Actinian. Uncommon.
Fungi - Refers to a broad range of mushrooms, molds, and even semi-sentient growths that pepper the Undercity and parts of the Midcity. Fungi are often large and have bioluminescent properties. They do not require light to grow. Different from plants in that fungi have a different process of procreation, generally by dropping a powdery substance called spores from structures called gills, to fertilize the ground around them. They tend to have a softer consistency than plants, and are often used in cooking. There are many different strains, including a high percentage of toxic species. They are found especially often in damp, cool areas, like the caves of the Undercity or basements of derelict buildings. Very common.
FAUNA:
Chirper- The Chirper is a tiny (no longer than four inches from nose to tail) gliding pest animal. Its soft, velvety skin is a dull grey in color, and four mostly useless milky-colored eyes adorn its tiny skull. It hangs from the walls of caves, but can also be found through civilized areas, where it uses its fixed baleen-filter mouth to eat microscopic particles from the air, its long throat and strong lungs working as a sort of filtered vacuum. It has no vocal chords- its name comes from the unique sound it makes when it rubs the bristled hairs on its front feet together. Its bones are made of an incredibly light, hollow, quartz-like material. This causes their bodies to vibrate with the unique echoing ambient call, and while it's both unnerving and noisy, it also interferes with radio transmissions because of the wide range of incredibly low and high frequencies it covers. Because of their habits to create massive swarms, they are generally kill-on-sight for any group. Their meat is tough and fishy tasting, and generally unpleasant, but obviously preferable to synth-meat. Their clear bones and baleen are used for jewelry. Gender dimorphism is minimal, the females being slightly heavier-set than the males.
Sightings: Common.
"Cow"- Refers to a broad range of similarly shaped pack and meat animals. There are a large variety of unrelated animals that fall in this category. The Hua Yaw Cow, for instance, is a large, six-legged pack animal, generally with several sets of curving black horns coming from the sides of its neck. It has thick, shaggy gray fur that hangs down to the ground. There's also the Redscale Cow, which is a broad-shouldered reptilian animal with brown and red patterned scales, two tails, and no eyes. Generally, anything that's larger than a person, and can be used as a docile beast of burden or a food source, can be called a cow in Einheit.
Sightings: Common.
Drummer Crab - Otherwise known as Drummers, or usually just "Crab" when referring to the meat. A medium-sized (three feet tall when reared back) animal with violent tendencies. Drummers are known for the unique sound they make. Their gut is actually a bioluminescent sac, which they fill by breathing in through large spiracles lining all the way around the base of their blue and yellow shell. This causes a wailing, quavering inhale as the sac bloats up underneath them, and then they use their eyestalks to beat on the sac like a drum before deflating it again with a siren-like howl. After waiting for a response, they'll fill their sac and begin the cycle again, until the potential mate- or enemy- is within range of the crab. Both males and females do this territorial act, and both are highly aggressive against any shapes they deem threatening. Poor eyes mean that any remotely glowing or moving shape is fair game to a flurry of aggressive blows, tackles, and kicks from sharp hooves- locals know to stay away from their mating areas unless they're going to hunt the beasts.
The adults don't have mouths to eat- their only function being to mate the moment they shed their last molted casing. They make their home deeper into the Undercity, where rubble is common, their hooves uniquely matched for the treacherous cliffs and rock scrambles. Attempts to keep them as pets have ended poorly, between the animal's near-constant, deafening noise and violent, destructive behavior (a drummer crab can trash any fence that holds them within minutes). They're a favorite among syndicates for cockfighting, though the winner is often quickly slaughtered for its meat. Crabmeat is pale and colorless, but if the crab is young enough the meat can be shot through with beautiful bioluminescent veins, making it a favorite gourmet meat for those willing to pay the extravagant prices. Almost all parts of the crab are worth something on the markets, especially its decorated "drum", its eyestalks, and its hooves. Its shell is commonly used for makeshift armor among the braver, more tribal gangs of the Undercity.
Sightings: Uncommon
Deep Ant - Large, often colorful colony-based insectoids, Deep Ants are capable of amazingly intelligent ambush and trap tactics against their prey- which sometimes, turns out to be an unwitting person. They have a notoriously voracious appetite, and if food is scarce they turn on one another for sustenance. Their colony is headed by an intricate hierarchy consisting of several layers of dominance, topped by three elite organisms: the alpha soldier, which controls the lower-level Deep Ants and carries the patriarch on its back; the sporegiver, which enables fertilized eggs to begin developing; and the patriarch, who is responsible for fertilizing the rare female Deep Ants of the hive. These predators are large, usually averaging two feet in length, and their antler-like mandibles are capable of holding a person in place while the inner mandibles saw at their limbs. Additionally, they excrete powerful pheromones when killed that alert the entire hive to an attacker in a mile-wide radius, causing the unknowing victim to crush one pesky ant, only to be swarmed by twenty seconds later. Highly, mindlessly violent, these are best to be avoided, though their "antlers" fetch a high price with trophy collectors.
Sightings: Common in the extremely deep, undeveloped areas of the Undercity.
Ice Wurms - One of the dominant Nightlands predators. The average ice wurm is an eyeless monstrosity covered in dark grey carapace-like plating, having a tri-segmented mouth full of hundreds of jagged, inward-pointing teeth, and can sometimes be heard producing a long, drawn-out howling sound. Young ice wurms are typically 5 meters in length, and do not stop growing so long as they live. Adults grown as long as 85 meters have been officially recorded, while Nightlander rumours claim of a few wurms over 125 meters in length, aged in centuries. Although extremely dangerous and requiring heavy weapons to kill, ice wurms are easily driven off by very bright light due to their extremely photosensitive carapace. Ice wurms are one of the world's main predators, though their few numbers due to rare reproduction have kept them from being numerous enough to destroy most other Nightlands wildlife.
Sightings: Never seen inside Einheit City. Only in the deeper, less traveled regions of the Nightlands.
Manta - A type of wild airborne creature native to the world's skies. The typical air manta is a large, fin-winged creature with a diamond-shaped body plane and a long tail. Adult mantas have been recorded growing as large as 60 feet across. Several variations have been noted between different species of manta, as some have been observed to possess glowing bioluminescent properties, electrical generation capabilities, and an aggressively predatory disposition, while more docile species appear to feed soley on microscopic air spores, and have been observed curiously gliding alongside skyships. Some have been noted to travel together in pods, while other species appear to be more solitary. Unlike most Nightlands wildlife, air mantas seem intrigued by artificial energy signatures and small or dim lights, yet are very easily driven off by intense illumination, which is harmful to their photosensitive skin. Air mantas primarily use biosonar/echolocation for navigation and communication, their long, drawn-out wailing songs a common sound in Nightlands skies. Air manta meat, though somewhat expensive due to the risks involved with Nightlands hunting and the Ministry's extremely tight restrictions over Nightlands travel, is one of Einheit City's most favored sources of non-synthesized food, being noted for its tender texture and lending itself well to a wide range of cooking styles. However, it is extremely expensive, often out of the price range of outer classers, and is seen as a special commodity even among the UniClass.
Sightings: Very rare in Einheit City, though sometimes seen from the Vorhang or from high altitudes.
Snortbull - A quadruped Nightlands Predator. Snortbulls are pack animals, who are known to hunt very efficiently, coordinating their group to outflank, sandwich or trap their prey. They are heavy bodied creatures with thick plate of carapace over an insulating layer of fat, and strong bones and muscle. Even the smallest variations of the Snortbull can kill a grown person. Though rare, a few examples of Snortbulls held as pets or guards have been known. Snortbulls are migratory creatures, and move in elaborate patterns trough their territory. This can lead to them disappearing from a specific location for months on end, and wherever easy food sources appear, snortbulls tend to flock. Due to this, they are rarely encountered. They often appear in multiple packs of sizes anywhere between three and thirty individuals. The Animal derives it´s name from the grunting and snorting noises it makes to communicate with its kin, and with which to impress and scare potential attackers and prey.
Sightings: Uncommon
Snowrunners - A non-sentient predator present in the Nightlands outside city walls. Due to their extremely deadly and stealthy nature, there are very few reliable eyewitness accounts of snowrunners, and none have ever been captured alive. What few images have been captured of them suggest that snowrunners are large, predominantly white-furred, four-legged carnivores with a somewhat draconic appearance, partially covered in plate carapace, and having no visible eyes. Snowrunners are thought to operate in a pack hierarchy.
Sightings: Never seen inside Einheit City.