Altamaran Trees: rough concepts:

I cannot lay things out in a visually pleasing manner to save my life.

But right, here's some rough sketches ect of what trees (or the tree equivalent really) would be like on Altamara... I want to make something where people can go 'oh right yep definitely trees' but they're still noticeably alien... I probably need to work on that more, but for the first time I actually feel like I might be going in the right kind of direction?

Essentially, they're evolved to, whenever two of the same species come into physical contact, twine and merge together making one tree superstructure. A single seedling on it's own can still become a fully fledged tree, but those that merge will almost invariably have: Wider root coverage for nutrients and water, better anchorage into the ground, and a sturdier trunk structure to allow them to grow taller. Basically the more trees involved, the better.

Different species are probably adapted around this idea differently, with some relying on large scale seed production and a lot of luck, and some perhaps packing many tiny seeds into a few larger pods, that burst into colony structures the moment they germinate.

What with the Altamaran species being naturally inclined towards bioengineering, I've no doubt they'd try to work the trees from their native forests/jungles/ect into their architecture and general living conditions. How they'd go about that beyond basic tree-formed frames I'm not sure yet... I still have a lot of work to do. X'3

If anyone has any input on the matter they think might be useful, (biological notes, relevant references ect) feel free to throw it my way. XD

_{© me.}