Jellies

Cheap. Efficient. Awfully bland.

The two kids managed to slip through the tight monitoring of their guardians. They were certain to be severely scolded after that, but the reward was worth the outcome. The girl had already seen a Blooming, but it was a first for the boy. They were both from the Llonari lineage, brother and sister and partners in crime. The idea was hers, she wanted her little sibling to experience his first Blooming in a way she didn't.
Access to the fields was forbidden, as the sudden hatching could be dangerous even to adults. But if youth's recklessness knew a limit, it wasn't danger. She took his arm and guided him through the varech forest, telling him to pay attention to the glowing bulbs on the ground. Rounded shapes crowned most of them, like bubbles about to break free from their anchor. They heard in the distance somebody calling for them. Of course, their little trip wouldn't go unnoticed. But it was too late anyway.
The water shook, and the bulbs around the kids trembled. Ina breath, the strange bubble popped, and the shape they were hiding unfolded. Millions of white gleams filled the water and began to ascend. The boy wasn't sure if it was because of the life in them or the reflection of the water, but they seemed to be glowing brightly, far from the translucent dish he used to eat reluctantly. He reached an arm to the closest, already opening his mouth. The sister almost stopped him, but let him go. They were harmless, and it could be a valuable lesson. Instead, she raised her head to the sky, admiring the show, millions of dots floating away, and the nets that cast a huge shadow over them. It will be a long time before the next, and they savored every moment.

When looking at jellyfishes, it is unbelievable that beings composed for the major part of water could be the main diet of most species in the Expanse. But it would be disregarding the fact that jellies are far from ordinary jellyfishes.

by Anne Nygård

A most perfect supply

Being able to feed oneself is the greatest challenge that exists in the Expanse. Life is very rare, but there is not much choice. After all, only life can sustain life. And while the most abundant species are jellyfishes, there is almost nothing to feed off them. They are made almost entirely out of water, and their venomous stings are a pain to remove. Jellies, on the other side, lack any means of defense and are very nourishing. Adding their very quick reproducing rate and planktonic behavior, they make for the best livestock possible. And this goes without mentioning the nonexistent cost of growing them.

A cycle-long achievement

Jellies don't exist outside Sphere's cultures. They are the fruit of a desperate attempt to produce a reliable source of food that kickstarted a whole field in science. The Glloern lineage was one of a kind during the bloody age of wars. It actually cared about the people on a long-term scale. They saw where the bloody madness was driving the whole Expanse and devised a way to eradicate the need for Wars. A team of elite scientists worked for cycles to find a way. They underwent many trials and failures, but eventually came up with biomancy, a brand new science.

As true farsighted people, the Glloern recorded thoroughly their process. Unfortunately, these works were lost in the turmoil of time, as both speech bubbles and witnesses Memories were destroyed. The downfall of the lineage was the death blow of this legacy. All that is now known is records from the very beginning of the research, the most important part is lost forever. They picked up a kind of small jellyfishes, known for having few but deadly venomous stings, and modified them to be harmless. This is where the clues get blurry. Whatever they did, they managed to change the very life cycle of the species, and even its anatomy.

Modified beyond the natural

by pxfuel

Most jellyfishes of the Expanse spend exist only in the medusae form, and the others only fix themselves on Sphere's shells for a brief period. Although they breed quickly, it depends heavily on the resource they have access to as they can also live in a still phase for a long time. Jellies differ greatly on this point. They have a permanent polyp stage, constantly hatching new medusas. To do so, they require a great amount of energy that few substrates other than a Sphere's inner shell can provide.

The offsprings are what is generally referenced as jellies, and have a very short lifespan. Their mesoglea is rich in various proteins they can't produce on their own, and even if they had access to plenty of food, they can't absorb enough nutrients to sustain themselves. The fat layer makes them way heavier than regular jellyfishes, and they would be immediately crushed if they set a tendril outside the Sphere's regulated medium.

Harvesting the bounty

The process of harvesting jellies is a tedious and continuous one, as new ones are produced in permanence, and they must be killed and conserved before they wither and consume all their precious proteins. On small Spheres, cultivators collect jellies one by one, but it is impossible to do so on larger ones. There, tight nets are set not far over the polyps and replaced once they are full. During the replacements, it is not rare to see jellies escape and ascend like a flock to the membrane of the Sphere. To prevent the waste, some cultivators put their livestock farming on two layers, with Primals above jellies, reducing the cost of feeding them at the same time.

by pxfuel

Taste the perfection

Despite the great accomplishments of the Glloern, one thing escaped their grasp. A handful of jellies may supply enough nutrients for a time, but they taste awfully bland. No matter what species eats them, they just taste nothing, like chewing on water. Many have attempted to tackle the issue, but the secrets of biomancy have long gone forgotten. The only way to actually feel something while eating jellies is to consume algae or varech as a side dish.

by pxfuel

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by pxfuel

The Blooming

The polyps spawn medusas at an irregular rate which depends on many factors. Hence the constant attention they require to not be missed. However, once in a while, a majority of the polyps get synchronized, hatching simultaneously from thousands to millions of jellies. Although a cultivator's nightmare, this event called the Blooming is known cycles ahead of time. It is a spectacle few want to miss, and great scale gatherings can be seen a few moments before the prophetized Blooming, waiting for the show.

by pxfuel

Consuming the flesh

Not everything is edible in jellies. The arms and tentacles, though harmless, have very poor nutritional value and feel unpleasant in the mouth. They are usually ripped apart by the cultivators or other workers before the upper body is shipped to be consumed. Since the most important part is the mesoglea, wealthy lineages and gourmets ask for the epidermis and gastrodermis to be removed. A single jelly is rarely enough to sustain an individual for a very long time. But depending on the species, the number of jellies required to do a decent meal varies.

Only a few Spheres are able to farm jellies, and they end up with an overwhelming stock, where others are in dire need of supply. A network of specialized skips was created, exporting the excessive production of Spheres like Oblogga to the ones lacking food. This vital trade is dreaded by the buyers, as it puts them in an unbalanced relationship with the suppliers. The research of a way to overcome the need for jellies is trending in Oppollln, without many results thus far.

by pxfuel

The Obloggian perspective

Well, it beats starving anytime, but that's about it. They are full meals by themselves, but sometimes I wish I could peck on something... consistent, you know? At least, in our Sphere we can afford a bit of diversity, putting Primal meat on the plate from time to time. Or regularly, depending on your wealth.

Now, considering the farming, we may have the largest farmlands of all Spheres. And optimized at that! We use the same surface to cultivate varech and jellies, and that's a big space. It comes with pros and cons, we can admire incredible Bloomings, but at the same time harvesting them is a tedious task. Luckily we have among the better cultivators, and less than a handful of jellies is lost each time.