Qingcheng:Huanxiangmiaoshi

Huànxiǎngmiàoshì is effectively a cosmic nature preserve created and maintained by Xiangdeng Tiandao, and could be considered roughly analogous to Gensoukyou. It stretches across most of Titan’s southern hemisphere, and unlike Gensoukyou, is not directly shielded by a barrier, but does have a form of magical protection preventing it from being easily detected.

It was originally created to serve as a base of operations for the Yaoguai of Perspective, from where it could observe the work of the celestial bureaucracy on Earth. It has since populated the region with a wide selection of fauna and flora from across the cosmos.

In addition to the many strange creatures, Huànxiǎngmiàoshì is also home to a small population of Yaoguai, several of which directly serve Tiandao and manage the place in its absence.

Geography
Being located on Titan, Huànxiǎngmiàoshì is dominated by vast plains and great hydrocarbon lakes, with relatively few significant geographical features beyond that, although the terrain does become rather hilly in places.

There are several locations of specific interest, however.

Notable Locations

 * The Spire: The remnant of some vast, spacefaring craft, impaled into the ground by the Perspective Yaoguai. It rises more than a kilometre into the air, and parts of its outer hull can be used as observation platforms and walkways. Having a commanding view of the surrounding region, it serves as the effective “capital” of Huànxiǎngmiàoshì.


 * The Vast Plains: Surrounding the Spire, and making up just over a third of Huànxiǎngmiàoshì’s total area, this vast expanse consists mainly of gently undulating terrain, with any more severe features having been washed away by seasonal methane rains. It is home to great herds of wildlife.


 * The Sky-Forest: Dominating the western regions of Huànxiǎngmiàoshì, the “forest” is in fact a large grove of Flying Treeweeds, containing some of the oldest specimens on the planet. Consequently, it is home to a great number of flying creatures.


 * The Lakes: Located near the equator, at the very edge of the region that defines Huànxiǎngmiàoshì, these vast hydrocarbon lakes effectively mark the border of this cosmic nature preserve.

Notable Flora
There are comparatively few plant species in Huànxiǎngmiàoshì, as for the most part they are only “imported” as needed to support specific species of animals.

Flying Treeweed

By far the most notable plant to be found on Titan. Growing from a seed firmly anchored into the ground, saplings grow fairly large “wings” that are capable of catching the wind and providing lift. As they grow older, the plants drift up ever higher into the sky, tethered to the ground by relatively thin, flexible trunks.

Particularly old specimens, that have survived for several hundred years, can have wingspans close to a kilometre across.

From the winged tips, they dangle numerous clumps of thick foliage, and it is amongst these branches that their long, torpedo-like seeds are grown. Once mature, a seed will detach from the plant and plummet to the ground, hundreds, if not thousands, of meters below, striking like a missile and embedding itself deep into the soft soil, eventually growing into a new tree.

Razorgrass

A fairly common plant, found across much of Huànxiǎngmiàoshì. It tends to grow in thick clumps, several meters across. The individual “blades” of grass can grow to between one and two meters in length, and are notably hard and sharp-edged, being comparable to swords. This forms part of the plant’s defensive mechanism - when any blade is significantly disturbed or broken, such as by something trying to eat it, the others will automatically rotate around to point in that direction, presenting a near solid wall of prickly spines.

A single animal - the aptly named Armourdog, is adapted to eating Razorgrass, as its thick carapace allows it to push through the blades, crushing them, and then eating the resultant pulp.

Bombweed

Found growing sparsely in great fields, especially around the edges of hydrocarbon lakes and rivers. They are fairly tall, reed-like plants, each topped with a vaguely ovoid seed capsule, above which grows a few thin leaves.

Their name comes from their method of scattering seeds - a great amount of pressure builds up in the seed capsule over the plant’s lifetime, until the capsule walls can no longer contain it. At this point, the capsule bursts with significant force - comparable to a small explosive, capable of scattering seeds for many hundreds of meters in all directions.

The capsules can also be detonated prematurely if tampered with, such as by some unfortunate animal trying to eat them. For this reason, most of Huànxiǎngmiàoshì’s wildlife avoids the Bombweeds.

Whipmoss

A peculiar type of fungus that’s often found growing on decomposing plant and animal matter. It gets its name from its manner of growth, forming coiled, tentacle-like stems that can expand rapidly if disturbed, striking with significant force. In the case of younger specimens, this will likely only hurt, but older and denser coils can strike with enough force to shatter bone, making them quite dangerous.

Needlesparrows share an almost symbiotic relationship with Whipmoss - making their nests in the centres of the coils, where the plant serves to protect the eggs. In turn, when hatching and first taking flight, the birds disturb the coils enough that they unwind, scattering their spores into the wind.

Notable Fauna
Huànxiǎngmiàoshì is home to a great number of different animals, having been brought to this place from all over the cosmos by the Yaoguai of Perspective. Over time, these creatures have evolved to become more suited to their new environment and to each other.

Flying Creatures

Emperor Jellyfish

The largest living things in Huànxiǎngmiàoshì. These immense, floating creatures can, when fully grown, measure several hundred meters across, and resemble large blimps. They move through the air by “swimming” with their several pairs of pectoral fins, while remaining aloft by means of gas-bladders.

They are primarily herbivores, using their ventral tentacles to pluck foliage from Treemoss as they pass. Larger specimens can even pick up and carry off entire trees. When food is short, however, they will also resort to attacking animals, floating low over the ground and snatching up anything that crosses their path.

They have also evolved a unique response to their main predator, the Jethawk. They grow several layers of fatty tissue on their outer surfaces, devoid of nervous or vascular systems. This allows them to sustain attacks from Jethawks without pain or significant damage, as the outer tissues can easily be regrown.

Jethawk

Cruising through the skies above Huànxiǎngmiàoshì are the sleek, dark forms of the Jethawks. These creatures spend their entire lives in the skies, having no need to land. They fly be means of what are essentially biological ramjets in their wings, allowing them to cruise at speeds approaching three-hundred miles an hour. Their six eyes allow them to observe vast swathes of the sky, spotting prey at great distances. Once they find their intended target, they climb to several miles and dive, approaching mach speed. In their dives, their tails curl forward beneath their bodies, bringing the long blade on the end into position to slice through their prey.

The females are slightly larger than the males, with full grown adults having wingspans of up to sixty meters. They also have a second pair of legs, with webbing between them, that allows them to hold their eggs while in flight. The males fertilise these eggs while the female holds them, and the young hatch without any need for the female to touch the ground or build a nest.

Needlesparrow

Smaller birds, measuring only a meter or so in length, that can often be found in great flocks. They have slender bodies and long, needle-like beaks, hence their name. Their wings, of which they have three, with one acting as a dorsal fin, can be folded up tightly against their bodies, which they do in dives, allowing them to attain great speed. Their wings are only used for steering, while propulsion is provided by a single biological ramjet similar to those of the Jethawks.

Their beaks are actually fused into a single syringe-like tube, with only a small opening at the front. They feed by impaling animals and injecting them with digestive juices, before sucking out the resulting “soup” and filtering it through gill-like organs, with excess liquid being drained through a series of ventral flaps.

Incredibly aggressive when feeding, they attack in large groups, and are capable of overwhelming even the largest terrestrial creatures, draining them of nutrients in a matter of days. They will often return to the site of a kill, once Whipmoss has begun growing on the carcass, and make their nests there.

Cloudsprite

Appearing as dark clouds, crackling with electricity and moving erratically through the air, these are in fact colonies of several different types of smaller creatures, that use bursts of electricity as a signalling system, allowing the swarm to function as a single entity.

They feed primarily off decomposing plant and animal matter, but larger swarms can sometimes attack still living creatures. While the individuals making up a swarm are not particularly capable of inflicting damage, the strong electrical currents in a larger swarm can literally roast most creatures alive, with the exception of the Emperor Jellyfish, which can often devour whole swarms in passing.

Terrestrial Creatures

Armourdog

Despite its name, the Armourdog is actually a wormlike creature, characterised by its thick, segmented carapace and patient demeanour. Shuffling across the surface of Titan, they primarily seek out Razorgrass to eat. They accomplish this by slowly and deliberately pushing their way through a clump of Razorgrass, letting the spiny grass align against their carapace before snapping it with carefully applied pressure - they can then eat the broken pieces of grass that fall in their path.

As they cannot see through their carapaces, they use a form of echolocation. They force their carapace sections against each other, producing a high-pitched shrieking noise. They then use a specialised section on the front of their carapace to pick up the echoes and sense nearby food.

As they get older, they reproduce asexually, burying their young in the soft soil as they pass. The young will often follow in the wake of older individuals, not necessarily the one that spawned them, and eat any fragments of Razorgrass the adult missed in its path through the plants.

Cuttlesloth

Medium-sized tree-climbing animals that live primarily amongst the branches of Flying Treeweeds. They have fairly compact, leaf-shaped bodies, featuring an internal shell, or cuttlebone, that protects them from Needlesparrow attacks. They have six short legs on their undersides, as well as sixteen facial tentacles, which they use to reach for fruit and leaves amidst the branches of the trees.

Capable of going for long periods of time without food, it can take them the better part of a year to climb to the tops of Treeweeds, slowly shuffling their way up the plant’s trunk, gripping it with their legs as they go. They often climb backwards, allowing them to defend themselves from others of their kind who may follow them.

Fiercely territorial, they live in small social groups of between eight and thirty individuals. These packs claim treetops as their own, and will fight to defend their food source from others who might think to climb the same tree.

Netcrawler

Massive, hammerheaded creatures that grow up to twenty meters in length. They crawl slowly across the ground on six pairs of short legs, moving carefully to avoid sinking into the soft, putty-like soil of Titan.

Their name comes from their four pairs of “nets” which extend from their heads. These are coated in a slightly sticky substance and produce a sweet smell, attracting small birds and Cloudsprites, which then become stuck on the nets. From there, the ‘crawler will fold its nets around beneath its head and lick its prey from the nets with its long, prehensile tongue.

They live in communal packs of as many as a hundred individuals, slowly roaming from the edges of the Hydrocarbon lakes, all the way to the southern polar regions.

Coilrockets

Small predatory creatures that, despite their size, are capable of bringing down far larger prey. They normally live on the backs of Armourdogs, giving the worms the appearance of bristling with short, slender spines.

When they catch sight of prey, they use their long, prehensile tails, which are coiled beneath them, to launch themselves into the air like darts. They are strong enough to propel themselves up to sixty meters through the air, and once they hit their target, they bite into it with their strong mandibles, burrowing into the creature’s body and eating it from the inside out.

Pale Striders

These creatures seem far larger than they actually are, due to their four, long, reverse-jointed legs, which makes them seem rather imposing, as they stride across the plains, hunting most other types of terrestrial animals.

Being fairly tall, they have developed soft pale, fur, in shades of orange and yellow, that help camouflage them against Titan’s cloudy sky. This allows them to go unseen by their prey until it is too late.

They attack by means of two long, bladelike tusks, which they impale their prey and forcibly tip it over, being capable of generating significant leverage with their legs. They can even attack Armourdogs in this manner, but tend to shy away from those that have a thick coat of Coilrockets.

Silver Capes

Huànxiǎngmiàoshì’s apex predator. Despite their delicate appearance - looking like little more than bands of silvery cloth, with wide, flat heads, they are deceptively strong and incredibly fast, easily capable of overwhelming just about any creature they can get their hands on.

Physically, they have four long arms a short distance below their heads, while most of their body consists of a semi-transparent, ribbon-like form. From the ends of their “capes” trail a number of retractable strands, which are their main weapon. Using their arms, they spin themselves rapidly across the ground, letting these strands whip out and wrap around their prey, at which point they can contract them with enough force to slice clean through an Armourdog’s carapace. They feed by holding segments of their prey between their large, toothed mandibles and nibbling slowly at it with their sharp teeth. Their saliva is highly acidic and helps to break down food before it is swallowed.

Highly intelligent, they are capable of making use of rudimentary tools - such as razorgrass leaves, to create traps, and herd prey. Normally solitary creatures, they only seek out others when mating. Curiously, they have three “genders”, rather than two. Their complex genetic structure also allows for comparatively rapid changes later in their lives, allowing them to more easily adapt to changing conditions.

They are the only animal in Huànxiǎngmiàoshì known to become Youkai at this point, with one such individual, Yzrissi-azyrakushma, also known as Piaoliúshàngxiéyángyúnshàngsheng, being a Shikigami of the Perspective Yaoguai, and the effective steward of the planet.

Entry Requirements
In order to visit Huànxiǎngmiàoshì, one must not only be able to leave Gensoukyou, but also to travel across the solar system to visit the cronian moon where it’s located.

Hence, it’s pretty much a given that one would require either the assistance of Xiangdeng Tiandao or Yukari Yakumo if you wish to visit this place.

Trivia
(( Coming soon. Grmbl ))