Charnlit

The Charnlit split off from the braided litusfoi and has become fully multicellular. They evolved as a result of some braided litusfoi forming upright colonies, which proved effective in capturing the lituswush and litustar— as well as any piece of detritus that comes in contact with it.

The charnlit consists of four types of cells: The epidermis, the holdfast, the generative cells, and the core. The epidermis originated from the cells on the outside of the colony. In the proto-charnlit, these cells were inverted, with the digestive portion protruding outwards. These cells are tasked with capturing and digesting anything unfortunate enough to stick to it. They also expel waste exuded from the core, holdfast, and generative cells. These are then brought into the core, which are tasked with transporting nutrients, water, and wastes across the charnlit. The generative cells are an undifferentiated mass of cells that make up most of the holdfast. These cells will eventually either develop into epidermis or core cells. The holdfast cells are derived from epidermis cells, and stick the charnlit to the substrate they reside on.

These four cell types form two types of tissue, which make up the holdfast and the isomers. The holdfast is a narrow, stem-like structure that sticks the charnlit to the ground and produces new isomers. The isomers themselves will consume and transport resources around the charnlit.

Charnlit reproduce by releasing the uppermost isomer into the water column, where it settles down and metamorphoses into a holdfast. From there, the holdfast will produce new isomers, and become a new charnlit. If a charnlit is torn apart, the bottommost isomer on the charnlit fragment will become a new holdfast, which will grow into a new charnlit.