Bladderbird
Welcome to Solaris, traveller! This is a slower-than-light science fantasy set in our own solar system.
About Solaris | Guide to Solaris | Prologue
About Solaris | Guide to Solaris | Prologue
A strange animal that floats through the cities of Saturn. Considered to be an iconic part of saturns cities, although many just see it as a nuisance.
Kinda looks like a bag caught by the wind. That's actually more or less what they are, living bags travelling through the air until they land somewhere they can sprout a nest. Although some people don't consider them to be living, because there's not really any sign of sentience.
Bladderbirds are considered an urban pest. Not so much because they eat stuff, but they can get caught on vehicles and do pretty significant damage if they're caught in a wheel or engine. They can also damage outdoor equipment, it's a very common problem to have a bladderbird infestation on your air conditioning unit.
You could technically use them as handleless bags if you really wanted to, or tear their sides a bit to make handles. Most people would consider that to be pretty cruel behaviour. Even if there's nothing that suggests they feel pain, it's just the sake of it.
They're as transparent as a thin plastic bag, so if you catch one and look closely you can see their organs.
The bladderbird is actually last stage of their life cycle. For most of its life the bladder bird is more like a plant. It looks like a succulent, like a stack of leaves growing on top of eachother. Each of these leaves will become a future bladderbird. It can grow in any direction, though tends to fall over without support. A particularly big bladderbird plant will look like one long vine. It isn't technically a plant, but most people call it one anyways.
Usually some shade of purple, although some are probably closer to blue or pink. Even as a plant it is somewhat translucent.
Plant Mode
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