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This evolution of life is the richest on the planet and therefore, in the Empire. It is unlikely that Earth before the technological extinction boasted a biosphere like this one. Thirteen kingdoms of life, three of them macroscopic, three of which are photosynthetic with chlorophyll, one of which is photosynthetic with rhodopoids, making them purple like lonoids.
Several major classes and even phyla in this evolution have become extinct thru human intervention. The great stryders were hunted to extinction, the phylums known as grubs and slugs were exterminated biochemically, taking two classes of crops and two classes of hangleaves with them.
The predators in this evolution are much more active, intelligent and dangerous then all but the kranjan and foeth in the four nucleotide evolution. The styders were so dangerous that they were hunted to extinction by daring men against long odds. The theiropsoids are the most dangerous predators on the planet, but humans have not been able to hunt them to extinction in spite of concerted efforts. They could be exterminated biologically, but after the disasters of the early interventions of that magnitude, legitimate labs are reluctant to do that today and in fact counteract any contagion release by a rogue.
One cannot live on soom alone and there are important domestic species in this evolution. Sixty percent of the staple crops and ninety percent of the meat in the diet comes from this evolution. As well as food, this evolution furnishes housing, most natural fiber, a great deal of the water filtration and waste diposal.
The most important human companion on Kassidor, the keda, is a member of this evolution. Nearly every tourist to Kassidor will meet a keda. Once you are beyond the tubes, you are probably moving by your muscle power or theirs. They have personalities, a sense of humor, a sense of duty, and a sense of honor. They are highly social, hermaphroditic, unaging, vegetarians so their society is far different from humans. They are intelligent enough to learn reading, writing and elementary arithmetic. They seem to believe that civilization is theirs and humans are their servants, who they love dearly in spite of their strange personalities and hobbies.
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