R'lyeh

Wild planet covered in cold temperatures, inhabited by powerful mutated barbarian tribes, The forests of R'lyeh are not made of wood and leaves but of bones and meat.

Home planet of the BloodFolk, Unfleshed, Nymorphs and Osseous.

## Description

### Geography

   The geography of R'lyeh is rocky and full of irregular paths of black stone, the coasts are full of smooth black sand and turbulent waters.

### Flora

lthough initially given a tentative position as some sort of terrestrial sea pen-like cnidarians, closer inspection quickly discarded this notion. Based on the variety of traits the penephytes exhibited, it was seen to classify them within their own kingdom of life, as one of the closest known relatives of animals. However extreme this taxonomical position may seem, it has continued to be supported by most modern studies, a few of which have suggested a possible sister taxon relationship with animals, and at least one with fungi. They appear to have diverged from other eukaryotes roughly seven hundred million years ago, with R'lyehian fossils suggesting at a major point of radiation for the first modern-type diversity on the landmass at approximately 500-450 MYA, with continuous evolution from this point forth, although they have not become quite as successful as the animal flora that dominates R'lyeh's surface. Comparisons with fossils known from between this time span across the world have put forth that penephytes are the modern representatives of a group of marine eukaryotes that were widespread during the Ediacaran: they are the last of the rangeomorphs, and likely descended from some *Charnia*-like ancestor that became isolated in the inland pools of proto-R'lyeh, before forming a symbiotic relationship with photosynthetic microbes that allowed the sessile organisms to derive nutrients out of the water.

Despite their isolation to one lonely landmass upon the underside of the world and competing with the nemozoans and arthrophytes, the penephytes have achieved moderate success more than five hundred million years after they became extinct elsewhere. Although most do not reach extravagant sizes or forms, they have nonetheless managed to carpet large regions where the jelly-mould and tentacle grass do not dominate, particularly high up upon the barren slopes the ring the island. Although similar in appearance in general appearance to tentacle grass there are some differences to distinguish between the two. Penephytes always have a central stalk from which the fronds radiate from, while the degenerated pararthropods are only segmented. Having evolved from mobile animals, tentacle-grass often retain eyes and vestiges of appendages, which are of course entirely absent on penephytes. When uprooted tentacle-grass will writhe and coil upon itself, while a penephyte usually does nothing. One of the biggest differences is from the method upon which they photosynthesize; while most true planimals utilize chlorophyll and therefore have reddish or yellowish lobe colours, penephytes photosynthesize using the compound retinal, often giving them a purplish or magenta hue.

## Society

The sapient species that inhabit R'lyeh are of tribal customs and little developed, although some have the ability to star travel through the aether, they do not usually leave because the regular habitual worlds are uncomfortable for them.

They are generally based on mutual trust for survival and prosperity, some are fearsome warriors others simply seek to survive but no society is in any way defenseless.