>>56188035Originally the lack of dreamwort in space /vnug/’s meant to be part of the tragedy but since I’m detaching it from the main setting I guess there’s no longer a reason to not have dreamwort in the space setting. The fire thing’s inspired by something I read once about some trees in Australia (because of course) making use of bushfire as part of its life cycle, so I decided that some dreamworts also do that now. It’s interesting but I’m mostly fascinated by the imagery. If you live near dreamwort meadows (which is most places on Despina outside the glacier and desert) and you poke your head out of the bunker following a solar flare, you might be able to see the air filled with burning sparks of dreamwort leaves and droplets being blown across the city, carrying new seeds and bulbils (assuming they’re light enough to fly… maybe they have evolved structures to fly like dandelion seeds?) to repopulate the wasteland with new life. I guess for Despina, fire doesn’t just mean death but also life and rebirth after all
I haven’t decided on the properties of individual dreamwort species but I imagine moonworts glow because they’re more chuubanitic than other dreamwort species (as they’re the only plants that can grow on the nightside tundra caused by ocean currents) and the light also help attract pollinators. Nowadays they’re bred to glow brighter and in prettier colors for decorative purposes. As for the sunwort they’re probably extra resilient to both drought and flares because they live in the cloudless desert (Welwitschia taproot can apparently survive for centuries in the Namib desert). I think they’ll have even longer taproot to absorb water from deep underground and their bulb’s juicy enough to sustain people. You can also probably make some good root beers from them too
