1.1 Discovery of Morozko

As with all our expeditions to parallel Earths, the initial incursion to Morozko occurred in orbit. Morozko represented the first such incursion after the unfortunate incident with the initial Gigas mission, which sent a sphere of superheated rock ripped from Gigas’s mantel freefalling toward the Earth. The makeshift meteor posed no real danger to any earthly inhabitants, as it disintegrated in the atmosphere much to the dismay scientists who hoped it might offer a clue to Gigas’s bizarre geology. The company has since made it a priority than any first survey occur at a distance much farther from the Earth, in case any other alternate world is of greater size.

The next scheduled expedition, after having been delayed for three years, began with the launch of the Jack Spriggins on October 1st. Upon reaching high-earth orbit, the transfer device was activated, sending encased module to what would come to be called Morozko. Following another instance of successful trans-dimensional travel by our company, the probe automatically oriented toward the planet and snapped several photos, before calculating a landing sequence. The three photos only revealed a world equal in size to ours dominated by white, with intermittent patches dominated by blue, gray, and brown.


Fig. 1. Second Image of Morozko from the Jack Spriggins

The probe’s parachutes deployed successfully, landed in what would be Saskatchewan on our Earth. In the immediate, and predominately desolate environment, low but survivable temperatures were recorded and all other atmospheric values were within Earth-normal. The decision was made to continue with a manned mission as planned, as proper cold paraphernalia could be procured within the scheduled time frame. The probe and main facility established a permanent connection and, thus, a manned six-day mission was sent on December 17th on our Earth to investigate the immediate area. Fortunate for the initial expedition, they entered the world in what roughly corresponded to Morozko’s late April, as temperatures did not reach the low extremes possible during the winter months. The next satellite scouting, entering into low Earth orbit revealed that the world was similar to modern earth, though large ice caps covered much of the planet’s surface. Using this geographical data, further surveys were planned.

2.1 The Geography of Morozko

When the Earth-analogue Morozko was first discovered, all that was obvious was that the world had almost entirely frozen over, except for the steppes and unfrozen ocean girding the equator. Scattered evidence of human inhabitance can be found, but when and how this world diverged from ours was not obvious and of little consequence at the time. The universe has also been suggested as a direct possible future of our own rather than diverging earlier in our history. Its exact temporal relation to our own is unclear; estimates range from as little as 5,000 years in the relative future to as much as 5 million years. Please note, some of these estimates are old and do not take all current information in account. Of course, as with all alternate worlds, the flow of time synced up following the initial incursion so that 1 second on Earth is equivalent to approximately 1 second on Morozko, depending on more traditional relativistic effects.

2.2 The Climatic History of Morozko

Based on the most current research, Morozko froze over in the blink of an eye in geological terms; whether this means that it occurred over the course of one year or a hundred is impossible to determine at the moment. Obviously, a catastrophic cause is likely. While it is easy to imagine it to be the result of human activities, perhaps a misguided attempt to curb global warming as described in many works of science fiction, little evidence has been described in support of any hypothesis. Massive volcanic or bolide impact events could have thrown enough dust in the atmosphere to significantly decrease the surface temperature, and large-scale glaciation could in theory trigger a runaway feedback loop of cooling. If human activity is to blame, nuclear weapons are the most likely cause. Whatever the disaster, remnants of Earth’s biosphere survived. Aquatic ecosystems near the equator thrive on Morozko, while on land, frozen forests covered in ice are more common than any extant life.

While its ice caps have expanded over its seas, Morozko has experienced surprisingly little terrestrial glacial buildup. Many areas, especially far from the coast, might reach only a meter of icy build up at their maximum. The widespread dry conditions mean that little precipitation occurs. Light snow and icy pellets are quickly swept clear by the strong unobstructed winds. While in many regions frozen plant matter, unchanged from the pre-icy time period, are broken and packed to the ground, in vast swathes of land, frozen trees miraculously still stand, a hallmark to other days. These frozen forests suggest a younger Morozko in comparison to younger evidence. Though sheltered from the extremes of the elements and protected from decomposition by the low temperatures, the fact that some of these woodlands are still evident is bordering on miraculous, forming an environment unknown on Earth. In the ice forests of North America, these conditions have fostered the appearance of a new, bizarre ecosystem, based around one species of fungus.

Fig. 2. Surveyor’s Sketch of Early Stages of Ebony Rot (Psychrostroma zwartepieta) on a Tree Branch (Unidentified)

As might be expected, the ebony rot consumes dead plant matter like many of its Earth relatives. The ebony rot, however, consumes millennia-old frozen plant matter. Coating in thin layers the outside of its food, its namesake black coloration allows it to slowly defrost the plant matter by capturing the energy of the sun. Of course, the ebony rot needs many adaptions to survive in the cold climes of Morozko, though these adaptions are not unprecedented.

3.1 Earth’s Psychrophilic and Psychrotolerant Fungi

Fungi are found in almost every environment, including the icy, Morozko-mimicking climes of Antarctica. Many of our Earth’s psychrophilic fungi are microscopic, though due to the colonial nature and simplified structures of the ebony rot, these strategies are adaptable. As an adaption to low temperature, fungi alter the composition of membrane lipids by increasing the unsaturation of its fatty acids. Fungi will also produce organic solvents, typically trehalose, to complement water under desiccating and freezing conditions. By using these and other, more obscure methods, fungi can grow in below freezing conditions.

If large psychrophilic fungi are so feasible, then why are they not found on Earth? Obviously, Morozko possesses an abundant food source that Earth’s cold reasons lack. Psychrotolerance is much more common on Earth as these frozen environments are often highly variable, requiring that the adaptions to stresses be on command. Antarctic ice free habitats are characterized by wide temperature fluctuations. Only in stable frozen environments, such as Earth’s polar ocean and those inhabited by the ebony rot, can strategies be fully adopted, recurring distinct physiological differences. Finally, Earth’s Polar Regions are characterized by high levels of UV radiation which may damper fungal diversity. Indeed, many Antarctic fungi have notable specific adaptions to UV radiation. Tibet, in contrast, has a much more diverse fungal population.

3.2 Biology of the Ebony Rot

Despite its name, the fungus could actually be best described as a sort of white rots, named not for the color of the fungus itself but its effects on the wood it is digesting. The ebony rot, and other white rots, favor breaking down lignin rather than cellulose, leaving the lighter colored cellulose behind. For the ebony rot, this discoloration is covered by its outer shell. Based on research into Earth fungi, melanin is utilized in Antarctic fungi to combat desiccation, which melanoized cell walls commonly present in psychrophilic and tolerant fungi. Though melanin is not the only pigment that lends the ebony rot its color, it could conceivably have been the first step in the evolution of its solar harvesting mechanism.

The ebony rot prefers to grow on these long-dead trees important as it is thus able to clear the boundary layer of still air close to the ground, allowing it to spread its spores quicker. Of course, such frozen forests are uncommon, and the majority of ebony rot grows on compacted matter on the surface of the ground, where it must spread slower, though the stronger unobstructed winds are still a great aid. Indeed, the ebony rot has spread to every continent on Morozko excluding Australia, somehow bypassing miles of frozen ocean. This is not unprecedented however. For instance, our own wheat leaf rush can spread spores over an incredible distance of up to 2000 km.

While the described collection of species below can be found in the ice forests of North America, one should not assume that it is a representative look at the continent as a whole. Vast swaths are covered by thick ice sheets, and while the ebony rot might be found elsewhere, it is not the rot of the ice forests. In most areas the fungus is the sole survivor, eking out a living on wide, flat plains. The rot is only periodically released from freezing and allowed to grow further. Indeed, if much of the ebony rot was not currently frozen in literal suspended animation, it would not be able to achieve its widespread distribution visible from orbit.

4.1 The Rot Rat


Fig. 3. An Adult Rot Rat with a Skadibird on Its Nose

One of the few remaining solely terrestrial mammals of Morozko, the Rot Rat is, as it name suggests, a rodent of Muroidea. The rot rat is xylophagous, eating the wood of long dead trees. However, it relies on the ebony rot to both deice and soften this wood for consumption. Without the fungus, the rate could not survive in its current range, though the rat can and will consume frozen wood to some success. It was for this reason that the species was assigned a common name that according to researcher Mark Faulkner “it based on an idea that might work but simply fails in execution.” Another name, bore weasel, was also suggested. Regardless of the name, the actual ancestry of the rot rat is clear. Though in many superficial ways the rot rat resembles the lemmings of our Earth, genetic tests have shown it to be descended from the incredibly common brown rat. Unfortunately, however, given the role humanity played in spreading the rat worldwide on both our Earth and Morozko, its exact evolutionary history is somewhat obscure.

The most widely accepted theory of how the rat evolved follows. Though the initial cooling of Morozko was swift and deadly, the outcome was still that of a warmer planet than currently evident. Brief paleoenvironmental surveys have suggested that massive boreal forests eventually sprung up in northern South America, following massive die-offs of vegetation. While much of the native forest organisms died off in the millions of barren icy plains required for any massive vegetation to appear, the brown rat thrived as much as any organism could. The brown rat, also known as the Norwegian rat, is highly adaptable in regards to both climate and food sources. When eventually the forests reappeared in new forms, the rat faced little competition. One of its specialized descendants took to consuming wood.

Modern rats are already known to gnaw on hard surfaces such as wood to keep teeth worn down. It is not hard to imagine that a rat species might turn to this as a food source. The only barrier is the actual digestion of the plant matter. However, the rat merely turned to a solution many other herbivorous mammals have utilized, the inhabitants of their guts. Studies in the beavers of Earth have shown a high number of Methanosphaera stadtmanae in their microbiome, strongly suggesting its role in digesting lignocellulose. However, this same species of bacteria has been found in the guts of mammals as varied and divergent as the gray kangaroo and our own species. Evidence seems to suggest that this archaea is found in at least most mammalian herbivores and omnivores in varying amounts. The rot rat has a much greater percentage of Methanosphaera, just as its hypothetical ancestor would have. Unfortunately for this ancestor, however, a gradual shift to cooler and drier climates worldwide spelled the end of the South American forests. Of the many descendants of the brown rat, only one managed to survive in the harsh new world.

One of the noticeable traits of the rot rat is shrunken hairless tail. Normally kept close against the body, covering the rear orifices and nestled within the thick surrounding hair of the body, it is not as great an impediment to the Arctic conditions as one might think. The thick body, small ear, and insulating fur are all also obviously adaptions to the cold conditions it inhabits. The rot rats tend to form what has been termed semi-colonies; though there is little social interaction, the rats will cluster together to conserve heat. The rats will also cannibalize the corpses of their dead, or occasionally just the weak, for precious fat resources, which not only are a source of energy but can be broken down for water in an environment with little sitting liquid water.

The existence of the rot rat, obviously very distinct from the brown rat, it often used to argue for a relatively older age of Morozko. Indeed, the rat seems vary derived, though this seems to conflict with the continued existence of the still standing remnants of modern forests. However, later analysis suggests that only a few key genetic differences exist between the two rats. Extreme environmental change may have required quick adaption than might be observed in Earth’s paleontological history. Hopefully, further research will illuminate the true history of Morozko.

The rot rat teeter on the edges of extinction, depending on a finite source of biomass for consumption and requiring much more energy that most of the terrestrial life of Morozko. Their chances are not helped by certain members of the most recent expedition team. Though the process of their digestion does release copious amounts of methane, please remember that they cannot be made to explode by holding a lighter to their anus.

4.2 Coprophagous Insects


Fig. 4. The Skadibird and Its Characteristic Behaviour

One of the most successful terrestrial groups on Morozko is, predictably, the insects, While many insects will feed off the various lichens and fungi found on Morozko, the Skadibird, named in reference to jotunn and Norse goddess of winter, relies on the feces of the rot rat. The skadibird is presumed to be a descendent of the convergent lady beetle, though the behavior which links the two may in fact be convergently evolved, no pun intended. The convergent lady beetle is much more wide-ranging and predisposed to disperse during the warmer points of the year in comparison to much lady beetles, which may have allowed it to migrate south and escape the initial freezing of Morozko. Several scientists have argued this is simply not feasible, however. Regardless, the beetle is immediately obvious as a derived member of Coccinellidae.

The convergent lady beetle is a specialized aphid-eater, though consumption of soft plant matter when food is scarce is common. However, the consumption of aphids is a trigger necessary for reproduction occur. For the skadibird, the feces of the rot rat actually seems to mimic the altered or remaining physiological or chemical cues enough, perhaps through consistency or nutrient composition, allowing the skadibird to reproduce. Just as with its presumed ancestor, the skadibird prefers to consume this food source, but will also consume the ebony rot itself.


Fig. 5. The Convergent Lady Beetle Displaying Its Namesake Behavior.

The skadibird will cluster to spend nights and hibernate during the colder periods of the year. Its supposed ancestor also notably hibernated in such exposed clusters. The skadibird is much hardier on account of the presence of antifreeze chemicals within its body in comparison, however. It appears that, rather than utilizing antifreeze proteins like the flat bark beetles, it has converently evolved the antifreeze molecule xylomannan also found in Upis ceramboides and certain red seaweeds. A combination of a saccharide and fatty acid, it inserts directly into the beetle’s cell membranes.

The skadibird has a gray or silver head and thorax. Producing noxious chemicals within its body, its bright red elytra alert the rot rat and prevent its consumption. These elytra are fused as in ground beetles. The hindwings were lost entirely, as in the windswept plains of Morozko, flight would be generally uncontrollable and wings can quickly lose heat. Structural coloration leaves the elytra iridescent in certain locations; the distribution of iridescence seems to be related to genes involved in black spots in other lady beetles.

4.3 Terrestrial Flora

Though much of the observable terrestrial plant life is long dead, green is not an unseen color on Morozko. The Holly Moss is a coprophilous moss that is most commonly seen growing on the droppings of rot rats. Its red bulbous sporophytes mimic clumps of skadibirds, helping to protect the plant from the consumption of the rot rats themselves. It is believed that chemical defenses may also play a role in protecting the plant from insectile herbivores, though at this time no detailed chemical survey has been performed. The moss’s relative scarcity is its greatest defense against consumption in the icy expanses of the north; most of the animal life there had specialized into the consumption of other food sources before its appearance, and there is little incentive currently for other organisms to work around its defenses.

An early recolonizer of the higher latitudes is the moss known as the Whistle Twig. The whistle twig is one of the few northerly organisms that thrives independently of the ebony rot. The moss typically grows on hard surfaces such as rocky outcroppings, but will also grow on the exposed dead plant material that has yet escaped the ebony rot. Encountering the whistle twig has been observed to actually trigger courtship and mating among the rot rats, as it suggests the prevalence of new, unconsumed wood to be used as a food source while pregnant.

Extant examples of angiosperms, mainly in the form of grasses, and gymnosperms can be found closer to the equator.

Fig. 6. The Initial Survey Site, as well as A Small Hibernating Skadibird Colony

Ironically, the first full survey of Morozko lasted from December 17th to 23rd, coinciding exactly with the dates of the Roman holiday Saturnalia established by the emperor Germanicus, more commonly known as Caligula. A winter harvest festival, the event was an important predecessor of the Christmas holiday, though similarities between the two are sometimes overstated, with Christmas also drawing from, among others the Germanic Yule, legends surrounding the Byzantine Nicholas of Myra, and the natural evolution of other Christian traditions. One of the major Saturnalian traditions was the reversal of slaves, who formed the backbone of Roman society, and their masters. During the festival, slaves were allowed to speak back to their masters and their masters were expected to serve meals to them. Though no true shift in power occurred, and the festival definitely occurred in bad taste, it created the illusion of a society flipped upside down. The same seems to have happened with the food chain of the ebony rot ecosystem. The fungus is the primary “producer”, while plants eke out a living on the waste of herbivores. Just like saturnalia, however, this state of existence cannot last.

Regardless of the trivialities of calendrical coincidences, the future of terrestrial life on Morozko is in doubt. While the ebony rot has acted as a backbone for a variety of unique ecosystems, including that described above, it cannot continue indefinitely. The rot is drawing from an ancient finite resource, and sometime, the last of the frozen plants of the Anthropocene will be used up. Without it, life out of Morozko’s oceans will be limited to sporadic mosses and minute insects. However, this frozen future may not be Morozko’s fate. It is commonly believed that ice sheets may actually act to further cool the planet. The albedo (reflectivity) of the ice is very high in comparison to liquid water or unfrozen land, meaning sunlight is being lost to space rather than being absorbed. The massive frozen spread of ebony rot, which first may be seen as a blemish on the face of Morozko, might be its only hope. Indeed, a recent warming trend appears to be taking place on Morozko, though a link to the fungus has not been confirmed. This unimaginably long but ridiculously close race of sorts, of whether Morozko will again warm or the ebony rot die off, is too close to be called.