Zyr'tsera Hard Rock Erosional Caves

History

Geography

. Below the Yaroi Sea Cliff lie the Zyr'tsera network of erosion caves. The Yaroi Cliff was formed due to the separation of two large landforms, caused by a fault in the tectonic plates in the area and formation of another island that moved away from the first landform. The sea waves of this area soon started to accumulate water and high pressure air in the small places of the walls of the cliff, causing wear and tear and conditioning of the rocks until soon cavities started forming in the area. These cavities with accumulated conditioning via flow of wind and water soon formed collapsed structures and by repetition of this process, the Zyr'tsera Erosion caves were formed. The cave's walls still hold several cracks and spaces that hold air spaces and form air pockets. These cracks form a network that forms a blowhole at the top of the cliff. High pressure air along with particles flow out of this hole and contribute to the soil of the upper slope. Constant waves also contribute to this network by forcing water up these cracks and spaces. The temperature in this area is affected by the land and sea wind. The day and night experience completely different directions of wind due to the difference in temperature of air. During the day, the soil of the cliff and the sand near the sea warms up, causing the air above it to heat up too and rise upwards, causing the cooler air from the sea to flow towards the land. The land's temperature is easier to change and hence the water warms up for throughout the entire day, causing the same effect in the other direction where the cooler air of the land flows towards the sea. The roof of this cave is supported by several stacks and columns naturally formed by the conditioning. The carved out spaces soon collapse at the weak points, spreading debris in the sea but the stronger parts and rocks that were less affected form a column that prevents the entire part of the cliff wall to collapse. The caves obviously lie very close to the sea at the base of the cliff wall but not exactly at the sea level. They lie in a splash zone where the tidal waves do not directly hit the entry of the cave but the water still reaches the area in the form of splashes. This water alone often suffices in the conditioning of these rocks. This cave has an exceptional arrangement of spaces that when combined with the flow of air and amount of water entering, cause a loud howling sound throughout the entire system. This sound is constant, meaning it goes on continuously from day to night till the air flows through it. This causes the animals in the network to be essentially deaf and reliant on other sensory methods. The diorite soil of these caves are not very fertile due to the continuous natural conditioning and loose nature. Plant life exists in smaller cracks where proper soil accumulates and has a very good adaptability.

Plants

The soil of the network of caves does not have a good water retentivity, making the plants survive on very little to no water. The plants in these areas do not grow on the soil directly but in smaller spaces where conditioned rocks and course soil accumulate and form a compatible environment for growth.

Ymore Ymore is a leafy plant with a swollen stem base that helps anchor the plant into small crevices and spaces within the walls of the cave. It contains brown pigments that absorb a special radiative form of heat in order to produce energy by breaking down inorganic elements they absorb from the porous and course soil via small holes in their roots. Their roots do not serve the purpose of anchoring the plant to the soil but only mineral absorption and that is how they acquire their nutrition. They use special pockets that contain seeds generated by the means of spontaneous fertilization, also called parthenogenesis where a seed is fertilized and can generate a fruit without a male gamete. The splashes of water that enter the cave receive these seeds and carry it to either the sea or to other parts of the cave where they can turn into a new plant. These plants can also rely on salt in these waters under malnutrition by causing ionic differences in their own body to generate the same radiative heat.

Oany Oany are creeping plants found around the mouth of the cave. They have high mechanical strength and ability to endure prolonged physical stress caused by the tides as they hang low near the sea level. They grow around larger rocks where they anchor their roots and coil around in order to fixate themselves on those structures. They then continue growing towards the sea water by using salt trail maps. They rely on the microbes in the sea and on the basal cliff walls for their nutrition. Their highly complex and developed absorption system allows them to draw a very large amount of energy even from such a small source. They grow flowers that release spores that have ability to germinate when coming in contact with isogamous spores in the water. Due to the entropy of their method of reproduction they need to produce a large amount of spores or else their population would decrease.

Yrisy Yrisy is a type of bush that is found around the blowhole of the cave. they have a very small body with almost no anchorage but they give rise to other plants on the top of the cliff near the area of the blowhole. The female Yrisy releases gametes in the blowhole where its dispersed into the air and carried to the male plants that live on the surface. The plant's only purpose is sexual reproduction as the male carries the zygote in special pouches after fertilization. Their stems have high tensile strength as they tolerate high pressure winds from the blowhole. Their life span is very short and they spread their population by vegetative reproduction where they form cell aggregates that turn into new gamete forming structures. Their nutritional source is the dead remains of their parent plant but they are highly sensitive to lack of nutrition and can very easily die.

Animals

The fauna of Zyr'tsera caves consists mostly of small animals that can traverse through the area without less difficulty and most of these animals have a very weak sense of hearing due to the prolonged howling sound of the winds carried by the network of crevices in the cave. This causes develop different other senses for traversing the area.

Rothr Rothr is a species of very small aerial animals that travel using a small set of wings. They are usually no larger than a centimeter and are very fast in traversing the cave network. They rely on dead and decaying plant and animal matter and the bacteria that thrive on such substances for their nutrition. They rely on their vision for navigation and have compact eyes that allow them to see every angle around them. They do not have any natural predators in the area but have a very short life span. They reproduce sexually where two parents, one male and one female is required. The fertilized female lays thousands of eggs that hatch to give rise to young ones. There is always a chance that several of those eggs might not hatch or may be damaged hence the high number of off-springs. The young ones are very fast growing as their life span is often very short, not more than 3 days.

Thyz Thyz is a ground dwelling species of beaver-like animal that has very sharp claws and no vision but very sensitive skin that can sense winds and changes in the environment. They use these claws to dig through weaker rocks and areas to carefully travel through the ground for their needs. They eat the plants available to them but have a very inefficient digestive system with low absorption. They need to eat almost the entire day and often do not survive starvation. Their species survives only due to the large amount of off-springs that they can produce in a singular term. Being hermaphroditic, they can give birth to 7-8 young ones at once and reproduce sexually. They can give birth in every 40-50 days, causing their population to skyrocket very often. Their low adaptability however balances their high population.

Kelh Kelh are omnivorous, four legged wall climbing animals that reside in the cave systems. They have an excellent eyesight and pray on Thyz for nutrition along with other plants in the area. They are the dominant species of the cave due to their highly developed vision, digestion, energy absorption and intellect. They can also swim and hunt in aquatic environments. They reproduce sexually where the male carries the off springs. But their population remains extremely low due to their infant mortality rate being significantly higher than any species in the area. In several cases, their off-springs are also killed by colonies of Thyz as their sheer number can easily outnumber a young one of Kelh. Thats why they attempt to give birth in areas that have stronger walls that the Thyz can not dig through or enter easily.

Template:Controllers