settled-reach/docs/design/alien-ecology-vocabulary.md

Alien-Ecology Vocabulary — micro-habitat naming layer (D-247 / D-246 / T-1085)

Authored by Miri (T-1085 workstream 4), 2026-07-03. This is the naming / rendering layer that skins the mosaic's semantic micro-habitats (T-1084, D-246). The mosaic selects D-228 axis-triples (terrain × vegetation × water); this table supplies the display names per climate-biome × register × niche, so a "canopy" niche in a temperate forest reads as vane-cane stand (native-mirror) or dense stand (introduced-Earth). Names are derived labels (D-228) — never stored on the voxel. Co-maintenance with Araminta for visual grammar (per the T-995 ObjectTag precedent).

Governing canon: D-247 (native biospheres + chirality), D-246 (the mosaic that consumes this). Determinism: this vocabulary is part of the deterministic input surface once wired — fix it before the mosaic generates its first world.

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Methodology

Niche spine (the cross-biome authoring scaffold — reinterpreted per biome)

The five niches are roles, not literal "trees exist here" claims — each biome reinterprets them (a grassland's "canopy" is its tallest grass stratum):

• canopy — the biome's tallest/densest cover stratum. Full overhead concealment where the biome has one; the thickest topmost growth otherwise. Blocks sightlines + weather; sets the movement-sound baseline.
• understory — the layer beneath/within canopy, or a secondary partial-cover stratum where there's no true canopy. Partial concealment, filtered light.
• wet-hollow — moisture-conditioned low point, tied to the voxel_relief micro-thalweg (D-246). Slows movement; sound and smell carry differently.
• pioneer — colonizing / disturbed / regrowth ground; first-succession or edge margin. The "in-between" transition zone.
• bare-ground — minimal-to-no cover, exposed substrate. Best sightlines, least concealment, fastest movement; the biome's "clearing"/"pan" default.

Register naming

• Introduced-Earth — ordinary recognizable agricultural/ecological English (orchard, pasture, hedgerow): warm, human-scaled, legible at a glance.
• Native (alien) — built from a small recurring invented growth-habit lexicon (the alien equivalent of "tree / grass / moss / reed" as informal field terms, not formal taxonomy — Solandar's "five kingdoms" stays deliberately unnamed at the formal level).

The native growth-habit lexicon

Root	Fills the role of	Typical niche
cane	tall, upright, single-or-clustered stalks	canopy / understory in wooded biomes
vane	broad, blade-like, often iridescent structures	canopy (the richest biomes)
wrack	low, spreading, mat-forming growth	bare-ground / pioneer / understory
husk	bulb/pod-bearing, clustered near water	wet-hollow
drum-root	colonial, ring-spreading root-network	pioneer (recurs across Grassland/Tundra/Savanna)

A few names deliberately recur across biomes (husk-fall tangle, lichen-scald flat, scorch-bloom flush, the drum-root/ring motif) — intentional coherence: it reads as one designed ecology, not eleven unrelated ones. This is the Bobiverse "convergent-but-alien niches" touchstone made concrete: the same growth-habit fills the same niche across biomes, as oak/pine/baobab all fill "canopy" on Earth without being the same species.

Sensory discipline — the achiral seam (D-247) stays intact

Native water is always safe to drink, ground always safe to mine/walk, biomass always safe to burn/build. Every note flavors strangeness (smell, sound, texture, footing), never danger, for those actions. Where hazard flavor appears it is mechanical/ textural (brittle husks giving way, thorns, uneven footing) — never biochemical (Mirror life can't infect or poison; Compatible hazard is an authored option, flagged as a hook, not exercised on any specific world here).

Scope

This table fills climate-biome × register, richest on the six vegetated biomes, lighter on the five extreme ones (niches merged where they don't naturally apply). A full climate-biome × surface-class × register cross-product is a future pass; the D-246 Sand/Rock/Gravel/Lava surface-class rows already carry register-neutral flavor.

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Rich biomes

TropicalWet

The Solandar register — hot, wet, maximum biomass, fast decomposition. "Twelve thousand species, five kingdoms."

Niche	Native-Mirror	Introduced-Earth
Canopy	Vane-crown stand — towering oil-sheened vane-blades interlock into a solid ceiling; understory twilight-dim at midday. A thick sweetish rot-and-sap smell that never clears.	Cacao shade-block — planted tree-crop under managed shade canopy; rows just regular enough to give away human hands.
Understory	Wrack-drape thicket — wet curtains of wrack draping from the canopy; clings and slows movement, leaves a faint chemical tang.	Shade-coffee row — broad-leafed cultivars beneath the plantation canopy.
Wet-hollow	Husk-seep hollow — bellied husk-growths at a warm standing seep; water runs faintly opalescent with alien tannins — safe to drink, unmistakably not Earth's water by the smell.	Rice-paddy terrace — flooded cultivated wet-ground rows.
Pioneer	Scorch-bloom flush — fast alien color-succession flooding a canopy-fall light-gap within weeks, before slower vane-forms retake it.	Cassava clearing — a slashed-and-fallow plot gone to quick Earth pioneer weeds and root crops.
Bare-ground	Salt-crust flat — mineral-crusted open patch where nothing native roots, by chemistry not disturbance; wrong-colored crust crunches underfoot.	Threshing yard — bare packed earth cut into the plantation.

TemperateForest

Niche	Native-Mirror	Introduced-Earth (existing D-246 baseline)
Canopy	Vane-cane stand — cane trunks crowned with stiff, faintly metallic-blue vane-fronds; a dry clicking rustle, not a hiss — it doesn't sound like a forest.	Dense stand
Understory	Wrack-frond undergrowth — knee-high tangle, cool and slightly rubbery; brushing it releases a sharp resinous smell with no Earth analog.	Fern undergrowth
Wet-hollow	Husk-reed run — husk-reeds trace the brook's micro-thalweg; husks pop and refill audibly as current passes — heard before seen.	Brook
Pioneer	Husk-fall tangle — collapsed cane-husks, brittle and hollow rather than woody; lighter to move than deadfall but sharper underfoot (a footing hazard, not a fire-fuel one).	Deadfall
Bare-ground	Bloom-scald clearing — kept open by an allelopathic wrack that poisons competing roots (achiral-safe to walk, just barren); faint bitter-almond air.	Glade

TemperateGrassland

Niche	Native-Mirror	Introduced-Earth
Canopy	Cane-tassel sweep — waist-to-shoulder cane tipped with heavy seed-tassels; moves in slow grass-like waves, but the tassels chime softly against each other.	Tussock
Understory	Wrack-bloom understory — a low flowering layer threading between the cane-tassels; a sweet "almost right" smell that unsettles Earth-register visitors.	Wildflower
Wet-hollow	Husk-line seep — the ephemeral channel lined with squat husk-forms that only surface after rain — a visible tell of where the water runs even in dry season.	Dry wash
Pioneer	Drum-root knot — a knotted ring of colonial root-growth pushing up through the grass, spreading centimeters a year; the ring's center is always slightly bare.	Scrub island
Bare-ground	Hardpan scald — a mineral-crusted bare patch; the ground rings slightly hollow underfoot.	Grazing pan — bare-trodden earth from stock.

BorealForest

Niche	Native-Mirror	Introduced-Earth
Canopy	Rime-vane stand — slow, frost-hardy vane-cane holding a permanent rime-like bloom even in summer; dim, cold, nearly silent — a "wrong" quiet.	Spruce-shadow stand — conifer-analog, deep cold shade, needle-duff footing.
Understory	Wrack-moss carpet — thick spongy wrack holding meltwater like a sponge; boots sink and release a cold mineral smell.	Bilberry scrub
Wet-hollow	Husk-bog muskeg — waterlogged cold ground where the tussocks are husk-forms; each step risks a hollow husk giving way.	Muskeg fen
Pioneer	Husk-fall tangle (shared with TemperateForest)	Deadfall — cold-climate blowdown.
Bare-ground	Lichen-scald flat — thin pale native crust over permafrost-like ground, ancient and slow; disturbing it outlasts a human lifetime.	Burn scar

Tundra

Treeless, thermokarst. Thin biomass; niches all present but small.

Niche	Native-Mirror	Introduced-Earth
Canopy (dwarf)	Husk-heath brake — the tallest native growth is ankle-high, a dense husk-mat; reads as heath at distance, clearly not-leaves up close.	Dwarf-willow brake
Understory	Wrack-lichen mat — a thin crust; grows so slowly that a season's footpath shows a decade later.	Moss-sedge mat
Wet-hollow	Thermokarst husk-pool — a collapse-and-thaw pool ringed with husk-forms that emerge only in the brief thaw window — seasonal in a way no other biome's wet-hollow is.	Thaw-pond sedge
Pioneer	Drum-root ring (shared motif, at tundra scale — centimeters across after decades)	Gravel scar
Bare-ground	Lichen-scald flat (shared with Boreal — here over patterned-ground polygons)	Frost-heave flat

Savanna

Warm, seasonal, grass-dominant with scattered tree-copses.

Niche	Native-Mirror	Introduced-Earth
Canopy	Vane-crown copse — an isolated stand, the only real shade for kilometers; mistakable for a gallery copse at distance, but the bark-analog is smooth and faintly warm.	Gallery copse
Understory	Husk-thorn scrub — thorny native scrub, identical obstruction/concealment to acacia; the thorns are hollow and whistle faintly in wind.	Acacia scrub
Wet-hollow	Husk-pan waterhole — seasonal flood-and-dry; dormant husk-forms visibly "wake" within days of the first rain.	Seasonal waterhole
Pioneer	Scorch-bloom flush (shared with TropicalWet — succession by seasonal fire)	Burnt-grass flush
Bare-ground	Drum-mound flat — a hardpan clearing built by colonial drum-root activity; bare, sun-baked, faintly warm underfoot even at night.	Termite-pan clearing

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Lighter biomes (extreme classes — niches merged/noted where they don't apply)

Desert

Niche	Native-Mirror	Introduced-Earth
Canopy ("tallest thing here")	Cane-spire stand — sparse deep-taprooted spires, each commanding the horizon with a thin moving shadow.	Date-palm draw
Understory + pioneer (merged)	Wrack-thorn scatter — sparse widely-spaced domed clumps hoarding moisture.	Scrub flat
Wet-hollow	Husk-spring hollow — a rare seep ringed with water-swollen husk-forms; the local landmark. Water fine to drink; nothing in the ring looks edible.	Wadi oasis
Bare-ground	served by the D-246 Sand/Rock rows (dune crest, hardpan, outcrop, scree) — bare rock/sand carries no register.	(same)

Alpine

Niche	Native-Mirror	Introduced-Earth
Canopy (treeline fringe)	Wind-cane fringe — wind-flagged, permanently bent one way; the flag-shape wayfinds like krummholz, the material reads wrong up close.	Krummholz fringe
Understory + pioneer (merged)	Wrack-cushion field — tight ground-hugging growth, faintly warm to bare skin (a metabolic-heat tell Earth cushion plants lack).	Cushion-plant field
Wet-hollow	Husk-melt seep — seasonal meltwater seep, husk-forms present only weeks a year.	Snowmelt sedge
Bare-ground	served by the Rock rows (outcrop/scree/talus/ledge/lichen — lichen doubles as this biome's dominant cover).	(same)

Volcanic

D-210 flags this the least data-grounded biome; the Lava surface-class already has the richest table. Kept light.

Niche	Native-Mirror	Introduced-Earth
Recovering slope (canopy/understory collapsed)	Husk-root slope — pioneer husk-root colonizing cooled ash, first native life back after a flow.	Ash-orchard slope — Earth fruit trees on fertile volcanic ash.
Wet-hollow	Husk-vent seep — a geothermal seep, the hardiest husk-forms in the register; warm, safe to bathe in.	Hot-spring terrace
Pioneer + bare-ground	served by the Lava rows (fresh sheet, weathered crust w/ Lichen, tube collapse, pioneer scrub).	(same)

Wetland (climate-biome)

Heavily overlaps the surface-class Wetland table (richest baseline). Native mirror given for symmetry; kept light.

Niche	Native-Mirror	Introduced-Earth (existing D-246 names)
Canopy	Husk-crown copse — water-rooted husk-trees hung with drip-tendrils.	Copse
Understory / bare-ground	Wrack-flat clearing — open wrack-carpeted shallows.	Meadow / Clearing
Wet-hollow (×3)	Husk-bog / Husk-marsh / Husk-run — the marsh variant's reed-analog hisses faintly when disturbed, a natural detection tell.	Bog / Marsh / Creek
Pioneer	thin/underdeveloped (same gap as the baseline)	(same gap)

CoastalLowland

Niche	Native-Mirror	Introduced-Earth
Canopy	Vane-palm fringe — salt-tolerant, leaning permanently seaward; same visual tell as a coastal treeline, different material.	Coconut fringe
Understory + pioneer (merged)	Wrack-tangle scrub — salt-hardy tangle; smells of ozone and brine-that's-not-quite-brine.	Dune scrub
Wet-hollow (tidal)	Husk-tide flat — husk-forms seal shut at low tide and visibly "breathe" open as water returns — a legible tide-state tell.	Salt-marsh flat
Bare-ground	Husk-shard beach — the tideline wrack is broken husk-fragments instead of shells; the wrong shapes up close.	Shell-sand beach

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Open hooks (Miri, T-1085)

• Five kingdoms — Solandar's "twelve thousand species across five kingdoms" is left formally unnamed (deliberately-vague canon). Naming the kingdoms is a future hook.
• Compatible-world hazard — a Compatible (levo) biome (TropicalWet, Savanna) is the right register for a future authored native pathogen/toxin (D-247 §"coupling permits but doesn't force"); a hook, not yet exercised.
• Full cross-product — climate-biome × surface-class × register (this table is climate-biome × register only) is a future pass.