Name: Ent'ender “Grennach”

  Ent'ender are a colony organism, comprised of multiple members capable of independent action, which enrich soil ecologies.

  Ent'ender appearance varies by individual, development stage, season, and ecology. The most common appearance is that of a tightly woven bush or shrub, which mimics central trunk and branch development of Ankarran trees.

  Foliage may or may not be present depending on season — nearly all spectrums of radiation are absorbed to some degree by various structures. Lack of foliage is neither a positive nor negative indication of disease, or ability to photosynthesize.

  Very young sprouts tend to be bulbous in nature, consisting primarily of a large central root bulb, with short limbs and low self-directed mobility.

  Adventitious sprouts tend to be larger, up to a meter in height, with supple limbs that lack firm woody bark-like texture and strength, but no set body plan.

  Mature members of a genet established near a Human settlement will tend to take on anthropomorphic structure in order to facilitate communication and cooperation. Those in proximity to non-humanoid Ber'Duun, will similarly mimic quadrupedal or even winged body plans.

  Notably, they are composed of woven clusters of limbs, rather than a singular central trunk with branches. Roots are not limited to lower extremities, but may be present anywhere.

  Ent'ender have three primary tissue types, despite lacking a set body plan. Mature members tend to be less flexible, but more durable — covered in a woody, bark-like extrusion. Adolescents lack the woody covering, and are primarily comprised of pliable branches which permit body plan adjustment. Young are soft, with limited strength, though they are far from delicate as their tissues lack significant differentiation.

  Varies widely based on individual for adults — one to three meters in height, based on mimicry of local populations is common. For the overall colony, size is more accurately measured in square meters of coverage, rather than as a measurement of central mass.

  Capable of operating within any temperature bounds which permit collection and retention of liquid water. Highs are tolerated so long as they do not immediately ignite foliage, and lows as long as liquid water can be collected with reasonable energy expenditure for warming. In warmer climes, specimens will dehydrate, becoming brittle and woody. In cooler climes, specimens become lethargic, utilizing the majority of collected energy for acquisition of water.

  Ent'ender are primarily present in temperate, hospitable zones of Enkoet, but may be found attempting to effectively terraform desert or underdeveloped areas for future habitation. While water is a significant concern, salinity is not, and they may be found on fresh, brackish, or salt water shores. Any colony found in a desert locale is sure to be in proximity to a water source, be it underground or mountainous runoff.

  It would be unusual to find an Ent'ender not partnering with other species. At their most basic, these partnerships ensure ready access to sufficient liquid water, via heat generation or condensation. Soil enrichment is their usual mechanism of trade, but as almost all colonies are effectively Ber'Duun, even if not technically awakened, they are usually participants in local economies via trade goods, often farming or animal husbandry in nature.

  Other than a small amount of mineral material, all that is required is access to a suitable source of solar or other suitable radiative energy, sufficient liquid water, and an atmosphere or soil with bioavailable carbon — either free or accessible via chemical processes.

  They are not restricted from consuming other foods, but find little benefit in them and will do so only for the experience.

  Ent'ender are believed to be an amalgam of three or more species, and there is some debate over whether they are re-engineered to such a significant degree that they effectively qualify as a synthetic organism rather than Ber. No credible information is available regarding the originating species.

  Sprouts are newly budded children, with limited mobility and communication capability. A sessile or inactive sprout may be referred to as a seed — they will form a hardened outer layer which minimizes moisture loss and increases survivability.

  Adventitious sprouts are those which have gained significant mobility, but still remain close to the parent colony. These may be considered juveniles or young adults, and have complex cognition, but limited experience.

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  Mature buds are effectively adult individuals, and are what most will encounter, as a given colony might have as many as thirty mature individuals, but only one or two young at a time.

  The final stage is entrenchment — the singular body plan is no longer maintained and instead the organism spreads out, in order to establish itself — potentially over square kilometers of land. At this phase, it is capable of reproduction by generation of new buds.

  Ent'ender are opportunistic hemiepiphytes during their adventitious and mature phases — though they operate as such only in a symbiotic manner and never as a parasitic organism. Some individuals will spend a significant amount of their life conjoined with a singular individual, though some rare instances occur where an Ent'ender will use the behavior as part of an overall migratory strategy for establishing a new colony, moving from host to host.

  The reproductive cycle of Ent'ender consists of two distinct processes.

  The first — Colony growth — occurs only via asexual, clonal budding, which closely resembles vegetative reproduction in Ankarran plants. This produces genetically identical members of a given genet — referred to as sprouts. It is important to note that individuals within a colony may share similar personality traits, but can be strikingly distinct.

  The second — colony genesis, or establishment of a genet — may require as few as two, or up to ten participating donor colonies or organisms. The mechanism to determine viability of a new genet is poorly understood, with most inquiries being returned with a variation of the cryptic ‘The seed chooses’. The seed itself bears no resemblance to an Ankarran seed, being instead a small, independently mobile entity, capable of simple communication. They may remain dormant for centuries, or actively migrate, before spontaneously germinating and establishing a colony. At this time, the seed becomes sessile — and begins the process of generating additional sprouts of its own. Additionally, some genet ancestral lines require participation of a mediating species, whereas others may simply occur without outside involvement.

  Of special note — while rare, mature colonies may fracture, with a singular individual or small group undergoing a partial return to the generative phase — parallels to gynodioecy are apt. This offshoot will then mutate or return to a fertile state, capable of integrating additional ‘genetic’ material, before forming a secondary colony. Of note, the word genetic is used, but not particularly accurate, as a sufficient shift in perceptual paradigm can result in a genetically distinct organism incapable of communicating directly with the parent. There is no meaningful difference between genetics and memetics in Ent'ender. To wit, for an Ent'ender, to think sufficiently different will result in an incompatible organism which may either remain isolated, or establish its own colony.

  Barring catastrophic environmental destruction, the colony organism itself cannot be killed in a manner which is meaningful, barring massive ecological disruption — however this does not pertain to the cognitive collectives, which are unique. Reconstituted organisms will bear similarities to the originating genet, but will identify as a different colony once a new gestalt quorum reforms.

  Individuals have no maximum lifespan, as any sufficiently advanced individual will eventually in time establish a colony, rendering it effectively immortal. Death is a choice for a colony, which may be chosen in order to reduce competitive pressure, or for other reasons.

  Ent'ender are symbiotic to the extreme, in that they actively seek to fill ecological niches of local species — adjusting growth rates, foliage levels, and fruiting body selection in order to better support the surrounding ecology.

  Individual sprouts of a given colony may exhibit dramatically different attitudes, especially when subject to environmental stresses. This is believed to be a survival stratagem, as the colonies are gestalt decision makers.

  Observable intelligence of a given varies widely based on the individual, however when considering overall intelligence, it must be measured against the colony as a unified organism, as most difficult or meaningful problems are handled via gestalt quorum, where the individual entities are partially subsumed into the colony for the length of time to decide critical issues, in order to lend their distinct viewpoint to the items under consideration.

  As with all multi-mind entities, it is strongly cautioned against treating individuals as separable from the whole. The human instinct to confide to a singular member, believing them somehow isolated, has resulted in multiple documented cases where an entire colony has turned suddenly against an entire Human organization, believing their opinions to be strongly representative of the entirety. While Ent'ender are more tolerant of divergent viewpoints, they tend to treat all viewpoints with similar weight, unless specific expertise or consideration has been demonstrated. Thus, the word of a farmer may be treated with the same seriousness as that of a governor — resulting in mismatches of expectations.

  This is perhaps best summarized by a recent case, where a farmer complained about the fertility of his fields and negotiated with a colony in exchange for one of his five fields. The nearby town, of which the farmer was a resident, was surprised to find that one fifth of their land had thus been summarily claimed. The negative opinion of the exchange was somewhat lessened when all the farms of the township increased productivity by roughly three times in the following years.

  An established colony which loses all of its mature individuals may choose to uproot and re-establish itself, but even with increased overall mass, the loss of the individuals essentially lobotomizes the colony, and overall intelligence may be reduced below establishment levels of the parent individual. It is not known if the root structures simply do not contain cognition-capable structures, or the loss of the individuals somehow damages the progenitor.

  Some hemiepiphytic individuals elect to bond with other species in order to replace functionality of lost limbs or musculature — there are documented cases of paralyzed individuals having mobility restored by a full-body synthesis of the two. Limb replacement notably does not require the individual remain bonded, nor does the limb itself contain remnant intelligence, even when nerve connections are among the restored functionality.