Palea

Palea is a little bit larger than Earth’s moon, with a radius of around 2,000km and gravity of approximately 0.75 g. Like much of Ostrov, Palea owes more to art than to science, and you are reminded not to think too hard about how the physics work.
There are no mountains on Palea, but some of the hills rise quite high near the poles. The temperature is uniform, and ranges between 0 and 20 degrees Celsius. It never snows or rains, but water can be be found aquifers just below the surface which feed the plant and animal life. They bubble to the surface in rivulets and puddles, which never stay for long, but are also never too hard to find. There is no water cycle, but the moon never seems to run dry.
By far the most striking feature of Palea is the Tree. It stands on the equator of the lunar side facing away from Ostrov. If you tried to stand around the base of the tree and wrap your arms around its trunk you would need a dozen people to completely encircle it. Its branches rise high into the sky, and are covered in trailing leaves, similar to a weeping willow. The leaves are bright silver, but are neither metal nor stiff. When the light hits them just right the sparkling can be dazzling. The Tree has been on Palea as long as anybody has been there to see it. What purpose it serves, if it has a purpose beyond its simple existence, remains a mystery.
It is not advisable to cast Speak with Plants on the tree. It is old, and slow and vast and the words it speak are not words mortal (or even semi-divine) minds were meant to hear. If you wish to listen to it, listen for the sound of the wind in its leaves and the sap climbing its great trunk. You can, of course, speak to it whenever you wish, but it’s hard to tell if it’s actually listening or not.
Palea only has one inhabitant from among the sentient races of Ostrov: Ammit the Brass Dragon. They spend the majority of their time watching, guarding and tending its plant and animals. When asked why they do this, they will only say that they are getting the place ready. Ready for what they do not know, and do not seem bothered to find out. Ammit is fond of profound silences and questions with no answers. If one comes to visit Palea, Ammit will be gracious enough provided they do no harm to the creatures there, and that they remain polite. Were someone to threaten the lunar landscape they would be most displeased and would probably feel the need to dispatch them with extreme prejudice. Ammit is, after all, an ancient dragon.

Fauna & Flora

Much of Palea is dominated by tall, fern-like plants, that can reach up to two and a half meters tall. They grow in thick clumps whose roots tangle together in complex webs not far beneath the moon’s surface. These ferns possess bioluminescent properties, and glow faintly, particularly when their side of the moon is in shadow. They appear to be constantly swaying, as if in a gentle breeze, even when no wind can be felt. Amid these fields of moon-grass a myriad of small creatures make their homes. The fauna of Palea is less diverse than of the world below, but she has her share of strange an magical creatures that have been seen by very few mortal beings.
Moon Mice live mostly in and around the Tree, and spend much of their time tending it. They are the largest animals on Palea, about the size of baboons, and their fur is always white. They are excellent climbers and have no difficulty reaching even the highest branches in search of a leaf in need of tending or a twig out of place. Their relationship with the Tree is believed to be symbiotic, but as so little is known about them, what each gains from the arrangement is unclear.
Lunar Beetles are the color of obsidian, and a herd on the move is a truly spectacular sight when the light catches them just right. They prefer the more open plains of lunar soil, where the vegetation is sparser and they are able to run freely. Growing to about a hand span wide, they are round and flat in shape. They cannot fly.
The Dark Felines are the most elusive of lunar creatures. There are only ever three of them, no more and no less. When one feline decides to depart, a decision each of them makes about once every 362 years, they venture into the lunar hills to find the deepest cave, in which will be found the new feline. Once it is found, the departing feline will send it on the path to the tree, where it will meet the other two felines for the only time in its life (they remain strictly solitary otherwise). The departing feline meanwhile is able to set forth into the cosmos, although what it will do there is a mystery. The felines do not speak, but based on the way they look you can tell they’re silently judging you. They look like ordinary black cats.
Sky Rabbits aren’t capable of true flight, but their powerful leaps propel them high enough into to the air, that if they fan their ears just right they are able to catch a current of air and glide significant distances. Their ears are larger than terrestrial rabbits, and while they can tuck them down when not in ‘flight’ they can also be fanned out wide to catch as much wind as possible. Sky Rabbits are more colorful than many of the other lunar beasts, but their hues are still muted compared to terrestrial animals. They come in a variety of pastel shades and those who have observed them closely believe that the yellow ones are usually in charge.
The Tiny Wolves vary in color from white, to dark grey, with bright silver eyes and pitch black muzzles. The largest of them can grow to a full six inches from nose to tail, but most are smaller, averaging 3-4 inches. They scurry around through the fields of ferns, making their dens in shallow holes or under small overhanging bits of soil and rock. They are very quiet, and make noises usually only audible to each others' sensitive ears. The pups camouflage so well in the stalks that they can be almost impossible to see if they want to remain hidden.
Moon Jellies float through the lunar sky in groups of two to ten, waving their tendrils and shifting their luminous bodies to propel themselves through the atmosphere. On still nights, their humming can be heard, creating harmonies across the starlight sky.

Type

Planetoid / Moon

Owner/Ruler

Ammit