| Class: | Coral; colonial invertebrates, realistic to bizarre |
| Hab: | Marine or land |
| Fre: | Common to rare |
| Num: | Innumerable millions or trillions of individuals per colony |
| Lair: | 100%; sessile |
| Size: | 1-10,000 miles across, 20' to 2,000' thick; limited only by extent of suitable environment |
| Move: | Sessile; none |
| Def: | Strong synthesized stone, some polyps sting |
| Att: | Varied "organs"; stinging polyps and allied sea creatures |
| Int: | None, or possibly divinely wise, as a living terrain-god(ess) |
| Spec: | Creates landscape; cultivates and is cultivated by "tenants" |
| Posns: | Varies widely, as do those of tenants |
Mountain reefs build up stony structures that grow to be small hills or vast mountain ranges. It is likely that most undersea mountains are grown at least as much of marine mountain reef as by any geological processes. In some areas above sea level, this may also be true of terrestrial hills and mountains. These land coral mountain reefs are not limited to humid areas, as might be thought, because their deep roots can often find water even in the dry desert; such desert land coral mountain reefs often have especially thick walls to shelter their cool, often damp interiors from water-robbers.
Coral castles are simply cultivated forms of mountain reef.
Mountain reefs differ from lesser, more primitive reefs in that the hundreds and even thousands of different species of corals and sponges, sessile shells and other building organisms cooperate more closely. This results in larger growths of more varied material. This also provides opportunities for extremely specialized - and sometimes rather bizarre - members of the community.
The reef gains its materials from three sources. One is simple calcium, used to build limestone much as ordinary corals do. The mountain differs in that it can produce a wider range of materials, including pure marble. A second source of material is sand. The reef builders use the sand directly, building sandstone supports, or digest the sand to form compound minerals. Mud, which may overwhelm and drown lesser reefs, is likewise absorbed and synthesized, adding new ingredients to the reef's repertoire.
A more intriguing material incorporated by some reefs is the harder parts of animals. These may be from tiny fish or shells that some of the polyps dine upon or they may be derived from the corpses of larger creatures. What ever their size, the reef absorbs them to utilize as part of its structure. In mana-rich environments, these incorporated elements continue to grow, often becoming more beautiful as they are customized to their new use. Most fantastically, the reef may incorporate such parts into an area where the reef is synthesizing a formation of Fossiliferous Birthing Rock, which SEE.
More exotic reefs have been known to utilize metals, absorbing ores and producing strengthening infusions. These can be staggeringly beautiful when combines with complex crystalline growths. This is more common in areas with higher ambient mana levels, but has also been observed in alien seascapes and landscapes as well.
The reef grows extensive root-analog networks in to the earth below and around it. These are used to extract a wide range of minerals. The reef is then able to reproduce the original sort of stone or synthesize a new material from its range of ingredients. Because of this, the upper structures of the reef may, in materials, reflect the composition of strata of stone far below. This furthers the mistaken impression of some that the reef, or parts of it, is of geologic rather than biologic origin; perhaps the attempt to distinguish these two means of mountain building, geological and biological, is a false distinction.
Outwardly, mountain reefs can look very like any other mountain or hill. Indeed, it is very likely that many a landscape of rolling hills or range of high mountains above or below the waves, such as are generally presumed to be of strictly geological origin, are, in fact, vast, living mountain reef colonies (or their dead remains).
There is no limit to how wide a reef colony can grow; a single interconnected reef could underlay the bed of an entire sea, or comprise the upper layer of bedrock of an entire continent. The greatest height of any measured specimen is 1,700 feet; there may well be larger specimens elsewhere.
The interiors are quite varied, but in common they are sturdy. Some surfaces are remnants of old surface, with appropriate coral and sponge skeletons. The weight of the mass able may inspire the reef to build bracings, whether delicate ribs like Gothic vaulting or organic tree trunk- and branch-like formations. If softer materials start to crumble, interiors may be sheathed in harder stuff; this may look as though the stone was plastered on or it may look paved.
The interior of the reef is fully inhabited. The cooperation of many sorts of organisms keeps water and / or air circulating throughout the structure. All sorts of beasts shelter within. The line between symbiotic colony member and tenant is quite blurred.
Most of this air is kept fresh by microbial action, but some pockets are stale and sleep-inducing. Others may contain strange gasses with weird effects.
Barnacle Hills, which SEE, often incorporate themselves in to a greater reef mountain structure when the barnacles, reaching maturity, become sessile.
Coral corrals are also known in land coral varieties of mountain reef. These are often fronted by V-shaped fences that serve to guide animals in to them. Within, pit traps catch the unwary, sending them down slippery chutes to digestive pits below. Many a Delver first discovers the realms below by falling down such a chute; they had better be able to shed excess equipment quickly in order to clamber out of the digestive pit and in to the tunnels.
On land coral mountain reefs, these ripple sponges are often called wind-fingers, forming strange growths upon the hillside, neither bush nor fungus.
Often, the top of a magma tap root is a great chamber, filled with magma. Here, the magma pool - or even lake - waits to be channeled through canals to where the reef needs it. In some cases, bizarre microbes keep the magma hot.
| Vladpup Home RPG Home Bestiary Index | Last update Apr 4, 2006 |