Jak Sandrow
"Nobody cares for the woods anymore."
- Common examples of JS-STEM
OUT OF CHARACTER INFORMATION
- Intent: To create a multi-purpose, adaptive plant species, able to be grown and controlled by Jak
- Image Credit: Image found here, by BlindCorvid on DeviantArt
- Canon: N/A
- Links: Plant stem cell, cell potency
- Name: JS-STEM
- Homeworld: None, created on Ithor, on The Farm
- Other Locations: Can be grown in any environment; will automatically adapt to the climate needs, sometimes undergoing radical physiological changes.
- Classification: Evergreen flowering vine
- Average Growth Cycle: 10 minutes to full size; remains alive for centuries provided it is has access to necessary resources
- Viability: Completely viable in any and every natural environment.
- Description: JS-STEM is a vine composed entirely of plant stem cells. It creates and recycles plant stem cells continuously until any and all nutrient sources have been dried up. Once it reaches full maturity, it is almost entirely self-sustaining, able to withstand the harshest environmental hazards. Adapting to its particular environment, it will shift in shape, coloration, and function as weather shifts around it - a hot, arid climate will make it retain more water, bulking up and becoming cactus-like, whereas a cool, temperate climate will make it spread out more, becoming more deciduous-like.
- Average height: 1-5 m (variable based on environment)
- Average length: 20-50 cm diameter (variable based on environment)
- Color: Variable based on environment; commonly deep brown/purplish tint at the base, fading to a green-blue hue near the top.
- Nutritional Value: Minimal; the single flower it produces when fully grown is sweet to the taste and provides enough nutrients for a single meal.
- Distinctions: Short and squat, appears to be a mass of ever-shifting vines.
- Resilient - Able to withstand almost any adverse effects, physically changing to directly combat new hazards and shifting climate conditions.
- Adaptive - Even after the plant has rooted and adapted to its current climate, drastic changes will not destroy it; it will adapt itself to better survive its new, altered environment.
- Burn, Baby Burn - Despite its adaptive powers, like all plants it is susceptible to damage from fire.
- Non-Reproducible - Like most plants engineered on the farm, it is incapable of reproduction.
The JS-STEM is Jak's attempt at creating a self-sufficient, semi-immortal plant species. By storing and producing plant stem cells (almost exclusively), it is able to adapt within minutes to changing environmental factors.
Jak's bio-engineering reached a new peak when he managed to create stem cells that actively adapt to their environment while still in a stable plant form. By simply tossing a small seed onto any natural surface (soil, grass, water, etc), the JS-STEM will spread out roots, sinking deep into its new foundation, and growing to full size within mere minutes.
While this is not an exhaustive list, some common examples of adaptations are:
Carbon-dioxide-based atmosphere:
- 'Standard' appearance: green hues, brown tinges near base
- Absorbs carbon dioxide, produces oxygen
- Approx. 2 m in height, 30 cm wide
- Redder hues; creates large yellow glowing 'fruit' on its branches
- Absorbs methane, produces hydrogen which it stores in glowing yellow 'fruit'
- Approx. 4 m in height, 20 cm wide; has an extensive branch system
- 'Standard' adaptability speed; will change within 30 minutes to its new environment
- Low adaptability speed; will change within 1 hour to its new environment, and will remain in a 'protected' state till fully adapted
- Grows thin tendrils down to the mud below the surface, and will be more flattened on top, similar to a lily pad.
- Becomes stocky and bulky; vines will not constantly shift as they do in other environments.
- Grows thorns in addition to its other adaptations; this is due to it storing water within itself.
