The Afaguzddavenuv: The Time of Fire Life
During the Afaguzddavenuv, Eclek's landmass was united in a single supercontinent, albeit one in the process of separating. It was a geologically active time, with many geothermal pools that were stable over tens of thousands of years. Little but Cabava could survive. While Quareya was present during this time period, it only existed as microorganisms in the margins of a few of the cooler pools.
Eclek has had four atmospheres, and during the Afaguzdavenuv it was on its third. While the second atmosphere, formed by impact, had been transformed by the activities of photosynthetic life into the third, it was very different from the Earthlike atmosphere Eclek has today. Oxygen was scarce, but carbon dioxide from outgassing and hydrogen from the respiration of dzeCabava life were major components of the atmosphere, along with nitrogen.
The only macroscopic biome present during the Afaguzddavenuv was the hot spring. Distributed along the major fault lines, they were dominated by dzeKilawana, a group of distantly related genera of ñåich. Their only herbivores were various amoeboid grazers, descended from a variety of much simpler single-celled organisms.
Were one to venture to one of the hot springs at this time, it would appear to be nothing but a carpet of blue. Upon closer inspection, one would see that the "carpet" was really millions of tiny, individual plants, each nothing more than a strand. They would appear to be all identical, and one would have to have keen eyes to spot their grazers, but in fact there was great diversity--if you knew not to look for it with the naked eye. Hot springs are a much more varied environment on the level dzeKilawanav were operated at than one might think, and different genera preferred different temperatures, pH, ratios of dissolved gases, and substrates. With the right equipment, astounding variation would have become apparent.
Kilawana: A common sight in the geothermal springs of the Afaguzddavenuv onwards, dzeKilawanav were a form of ñåich. Nothing but short, photosynthetic filaments, Kilawana nonetheless became one of the most widespread organisms on the planet. Almost every hot spring at this time had a carpet of dzeKilawanav.
DzeKilawanav utilized a variant of c-phycocyanin. This served adequately as a photosynthetic pigment compared to chlorophyll, but more importantly, it was stable at extremely high temperatures. In combination with a variety of other pigments which protected them from ultraviolet radiation (Eclek in this time had a much reduced ozone layer), this rendered them dark blue. As with all dzeCabava autotrophs, they absorbed CO2 and H2O, and transpired H2.
The very first dzeKilawanav reproduced asexually. The filament broke apart, and each fragment developed a holdfast wherever random chance happened to take it. Sexual reproduction evolved from the horizontal transmission of genes. Kilawana had always had the ability to exchange genes, having retained it from microbial ancestors, but only had the opportunity to when one fragment came in contact with another.
Several derived dzeKilawana lineages had secondary filaments, which would detach and be dispersed by current. Chance resulted in a group that had haploid filaments. When these haploid filaments came into contact with the haploid filaments from another primary filament, the two haploid fragments would swap genes and become diploid.
Natural selection favored filaments that were smaller and smaller, and pre-existing trichomes were exapted into flagella. Before long, dzeKilawanav were releasing free-swimming gametes through pores that studded the filament. The precise arrangement of the pores could be used to tell the different genera apart. Once fertilized, spores were released through the same pores. Brownian motion would ensure that they traveled at least a little distance from the parent filament.
While this worked well for dispersal within the pool, it made colonization of new geothermal areas an infrequent event. There were periodic floods that could transport the spores, and in this way dzeKilawanav managed to spread across most of the supercontinent. But this took a great deal of time, and as the climate dried towards the middle of the Afaguzddavenuv, all but three genera of Kilawana went extinct: Senyo, Yeyasechetais, and dzePrunutayada. Having previously evolved a filament that could endure brief exposure to the air, these genera developed part of their filament into a fruiting body that extended above the water level. Wind would disperse their spores.
The descendants of these three genera still exist today. Through them, some of the genetic legacy of other lineages is also preserved, for they never lost the ability to conjugate.
DzeCabava amoeboid grazers: Not a monophyletic group, dzeCabava amoeboid grazers were a group of single-celled organisms a few millimeters in diameter. Most were equipped with a radula that they scraped across dzeKilawana filaments, and they used pseudopods to engulf the resulting fragments. A few had needle-like structures that could pierce the cells of dzeKilawanav and suck up their contents. Different groups had subtle variations in the morphology of their feeding structures, but the kraqrelk do not enjoy a detailed enough fossil record to know this.
As with all dzeCabava heterotrophs, they got their carbon and oxygen from food, and absorbed H2 from their surroundings. They generated CO2 and water as waste products.
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