Farside Gildring

The farside gildring split from its ancestor, the gildring, moving into the formerly uninhabited Mason Tundra. Like its ancestor, it grows in round, flat colonies that continually grow outward. Its photosynthesizing "leaves" are wide enough to enclose the insides of the colony, the top enclosing water that fills the colony between cells, heated by the sun. To survive in the tundra, with its boiling days and freezing nights, its upper layer is now many cells thick, protecting the interior. Scattered at uneven intervals between the cells, hitchhiker nitroids and their decedents are cultured to provide fixed nitrogen for the colony. Its ring shaped is cause by its method of reproductive methods. As the cells near the center of the colony use up the available nutrients in the soil, they will release their grip on the soil and float away, starting new colonies elsewhere. This gives them a unique ring shape, although the individual pictured is old and is broken up by various rocks and other obstacles that disrupt the pattern. While individual cells are microscopic, colonies can grow meters wide, helping break down rock into soil.