Sporeshower Jungle

The Sporeshower jungle is a hot, humid region of Distal D4 known for being dangerous to explorers of all races before the advent of certian specialized equipment.

Geography

The Sporeshower Jungle lies in the lowlands near the commissure leading into Distal C2. Beneath the thick layer of duff lies rich, loamy soil good for growing plants; the bedrock is craggy, creating bumps and hillocks throughout the forest floor. The densely-interwoven system of gas spore plant roots just beneath the surface helps arrest erosion and creates its own terrain. On rare occasions, very strong winds have been known to cause the trees to become levers against the soil, in turn causing the entire forest floor to roll and heave in response.

Ecosystem

The Sporeshower Jungle is a tropical forest that lies in the shadow of rainforests in the higher elevations. The region is densely-packed with a huge variety of Distal plant and animal life, much of which remains either undiscovered or not fully understood due to the significant difficulties involved with visiting the area for any extended period of time (see Tourism). Ground cover extends all the way to the commissure and even spills down along the sides towards the micro-gravity layer, only prevented from spreading into the adjacent cube by increasing rock density and salinity (see Climate). The ecosystem of the Sporeshower jungle is of interest to biologists because of this biodiversity. Importantly, while none of the wildlife is edible by non-Distal creatures, the region does serve as a potent 'air filter' for the atmosphere of the wider Manifold Sky setting, syphoning prodigious amounts of carbon from the atmosphere in the course of booming plant growth.

Ecosystem Cycles

Because of the heat and moisture within the jungle proper, only the highest of gas spore plant pods ever become cold and dry enough to float away to distant locations. Lower pods continue to grow and become increasingly thin-skinned as their life cycle progresses, making them susceptible to bursting. Growths of methane-producing Distal bacteria within the spores accelerate this process and break down the cell walls of older pods, causing them to fill with water than further ballasts them. Eventually, either the envelope becomes too turgid and drops from the tree or it bursts with a spectacular boom and a miasmic cloud of plant decay byproducts. Nevertheless, this still serves to propagate gas spore plant seeds along the surrounding forest floor, allowing the plant to complete its reproductive cycle - albeit in a way that makes the jungle more crowded than most gas spore plant forests.
A particular danger presented by this change in the gas spore plant's lifecycle within the Sporeshower Jungle is that both these pods and the debris created by them attract Distal polyp colonies. Masses of polyps can be found both atop the pods - raining down on unsuspecting passers-by when one bursts on the limb - and within the ruins that litter the base of the plants. These colonies would otherwise be well enough satiated by the duff to lose the drive to hunt, but have also bred so quickly that new piles are quickly consumed. Moreover, because of the polyps' natural tendency to avoid high population density, colones are constantly on the move to find new, open ground to reside in. All of these factors make the Sporeshower Jungle a significant threat to travelers, who are more likely to encounter the parasitic polyps by misadventure or act of nature despite the usual precautions.

Climate

While the location of the jungle in the Distal Tesseract and association with the Rostral Tesseract imply a hot, dark environment, the additional humidity of the region is provided by a combination of circumvection from the Western-adjacent C cube on the other side of the commissure and the rain-generating effects of the jungle plant cover. Water falls from the oceans of Distal C into the commissure, atomizing such that it vaporizes easily once it reaches the hotter Distal D side. A crust of crystalline salt along the walls of the commissure around the micro-gravity layer is evidence of this natural distillation process that keeps the Sporeshower Jungle moist through most of the year.
Fall marks the start of the rainy season because the cooling of the air causes it to become over-saturated with water, forcing the humidity to start condensing as rain from both the clouds overhead and along the surfaces of plant life. Even in the depths of winter, little to no snow falls even on the adjacent peaks; the hydrological cycle is entirely driven by rain and dew, the humidity approaching 100% nearly year-round.

Fauna & Flora

The most visually striking part of the Sporeshower Jungle ecosystem is the incredibly dense forest of gas spore plants that make up the tree cover. This density is in part attributable to the unique way in which the weather affects the reproductive cycle of the gas spore plants (see Ecosystem Cycles). The heat, humidity, and spore debris all througout the jungle drive a food web based primarily on scavenging and decay. Fungi of both the bioluminescent and mundane varieties grow in the region, many of these species being toxic to hominids and local wildlife alike. Distal polyp colonies live in perfusion on, in, and amongst the gas spore plants. Urticators are also major detritivores in the area. Distal insect and spider analogues crawl and hang in buzzing clouds throughout the jungle, pestering any animals with no natural defenses to them. Flashraven flocks live in the highest parts of the gas spore plants as well as in the adjacent foothills, largely subsisting on bugs and fruits.

Natural Resources

The mineral and potential biopharmaceutical resources of the Sporeshower Jungle remain largely untapped. The significant expense and personal danger entailed in exploring the Distal Tesseract in general - and the jungle in particular - have prevented major industrial development.
Soil samples suggest that native mycorrhiza may be useful in the creation of new terrestrial plant cultivars capable of coexisting within Distal ecosystems. This has drawn the attention of both legitimate Petalcap Vale University researchers hoping to improve crop yields back home and members of the Verdant Order hoping to create racemic verdials. Dr. Julian Pelforth and his Scions Ambidexter are very interested in this prospect. However, environmental conditions make such expeditions difficult to carry out without preparations that would show these groups' hands to the Petalcap Vale Customs Authority, who are known to have bounties on Dr. Pelforth and others within the organization.
A sample of spores local to the Sporeshower Jungle may have been involved with unconfirmed secret projects by the Manifold Conservation Society to study - and perhaps weaponize - billowing hate spores aboard the MCSV Celestial Praxis. Billowing hate spores from the Sporeshower jungle are known to be virulent even when removed from the local environment, though not capable of reproducing at the same rate, so their use as a biological warfare agent is plausible - if radically unethical - for a faction with the right technology to handle them.

Tourism

Even if the region of the Sporeshower Jungle was of interest for exploitation by one of the several nearby powers (i.e. the Rostran Archipelago Confederacy), the climate and local wildlife (see Ecosystem Cycles) combine to make the jungle unfavorable to all extant sentient species that might make the attempt. The heat of the region is hostile to verdial] biology, as, though the region has plenty of fresh water sources, the tendency of the weather in all but winter to wring sweat from the body would rob a verdial of its much-needed hydration. All other hominid species, including human and especially rostrans, would be better equipped to deal with the heat, but there is still the problem of the agressive Distal polyps. Ovinex explorers would suffer from serious pest-control and heat management problems due to their wolly coats - matters they normally deal with by occasionally taking a swim in their native Rostral C oceans to beat the heat. This is all in addition to the usual issues expeditions might face, such as the lack of edible wildlife and issues with mobility owing to the press of fast-growing jungle plant life. On top of everything else, the jungle is suffused with the stench of decay during the summer months in particular, dissuading those with a weak constitution; toxic fungi and molds grow well in the hothouse climate, including the much-feared Billowing Hate in some shaded pockets of the forest floor.
Despite all of these issues, particulary brave explorers and biologists have come up with ways to visit the Sporeshower Jungle - or, at least, catalogue its rich biodiversity from afar. Aerial photography is a popular means of getting a closer look at the Sporeshower Jungle. Aerostat reconnaisance drones and specially-adapted entertainment floats equipped with cameras and telescopes respectively have proven invaluable for this purpose. Explorers may also abseil into and out of in the adjacent corner mountain ranges with the aid of airships, approaching or entering from a more favorable position. HC-1 "Meantwig" Hazardous Condition Auto-Armor and specially-equipped MF-A2 "Kirie" Traversal Auto Armor may be useful for both clearing routes into the area and surviving once one gets there.

Type

Jungle

Location under

Distal Tesseract