Chivrel - a Psychrophile Microorganism

Ravenna's eastern coast is covered in mountains. The mountains are jagged, rocky, and cold. Along the sea shore, erosion from the sea has formed caves. If one were approaching Ravenna from the east from the sea, they would see a large dark grey and brown rock faces with fissures and caves close to the ground.   When the large landmass split apart millions of years ago, five continents were formed. The largest was Autauga. To Autauga's East lay Ravenna. If one were to compare the two continents side by side, the two could be viewed like puzzle pieces. It was easy to see the western coast of Ravenna fit with the eastern coast of Autauga.   A creature from the very depths of the sea can be found inside the fissures and caves. There are hundreds of trillions of them and as they spread they colonize the land they have adapted to. For they are microorganisms, extremophiles that have mutated over milions of years. Most microorganisms are helpful to animals, including humans and humanoids but the Chivrel as its discoverers will name it in the future, have grown into enormous colonies that are rapidly spreading. Chivrel is frost in nearly every sense of the word. It is, different from the frost that appears on cold mornings however. It is alive.   Chivrel coats the inside of the caves on the western shore of Ravenna. The layers grow thick and become what some might call permafrost if it weren't for the air that hits it. Chivrel turns to ice, more chivrel forms atop the ice and it grows upward and onward. Once relegated to the ocean depths, the microorganism has found its perfect ecosystem. The more ice that forms as the communities of Chivrel expand, the cooler the air.   In the last thousand years, Chivrel has reached beyond the mountains to the less hospitable land where animals and humanoids live. The Chivrel's first attempt to colonize land went unnoticed. It appeared to farmers in the south that there was more frost than usual that year but they thought little of it.   Over the last 200 years, Chivrel has coated almost all of the mountain range, leading to cooler temperatures that were more hospitable for their growth and they began to colonize the land closest to the mountains first. The humanoids who saw it began to pay attention as it seemed that frost was creeping ever inland.   Ravenna had been a thriving diverse world but within a matter of a century or so, sheets of ice began to cover what used to be arable fertile land. People were forced to move away from the encroaching ice and resources were fought over. As the Chivrel crept silently inland, the Ravennites' desperation to survive led to wars for resources. Currently, the western and most northern areas of Ravenna are the most hospitable and inhabitable by humans and most mammals. Ravenna's very civilized world has broken down and the population that remains fights for their existence on a day by day basis.   Someday in the future, it will be discovered that the Chivrel, the ice that seems to grow over everything is a living organism.