I'm a marine biologist, work on coral reef for many years, been playing Destiny since the beggining of time it seems. Nice topic but getting all academic and stuff there is some small flaws in your theory: corals live in a close relationship with its algae (the zooxanthella) so it needs sea water, warm sea water but not too hot and without too much UV light; also it needs nomal sea water salinity (30-35). In this way, the algae helps the polyp with the bulding the calcium carbonate skeleton. In conclusion: is highly improbable that corals could prosper in Mercury landscape. Unless the Traveler (God ?) intervene. It is good to talk about something differnt in this forum. Kudos to you my friend.

As much as I love analyzing science fiction and trying to give speculative explanations based in real science, Destiny is just too far on the fiction side for such analysis. I wouldn’t even call it science fiction, it’s truly just future-fantasy. The Traveler’s terraforming is used to hand-wave so much that there’s no reason it couldn’t be used to justify literally anything. Like, looking at your analysis here, Mercury’s atmosphere is [i]unbelievably thin[/i], so thin that it basically doesn’t have one for all intents and purposes. So, the traveler wouldn’t be able to use preexisting elements in the atmosphere to terraform the planet because there aren’t enough there in the first place to do anything useful with. But it also wouldn’t need to. We’ve seen the traveler do a lot more with a lot less. Although, I’m pretty sure the past that the infinite forest takes us to is long before the traveler’s terraforming anyway. The Vex time traveled to millions of years in Sol’s past to start their own terraforming (or... [vex homeworld]forming...) and the traveler arrived no later than A.D. 2014.

Nice work! We need more scientific topics like this in Destiny's universe so that we can have more fun. For example. How in the -blam!- does a throne world actually work with our current understandings of physics, metaphysics, and dimensions?

Needs sea water with specific salinity, 1.20-1.30 ppm and specific temps. Not likely to naturally occur based on proximity to the sun. Also, side topic, where is all the water on Mercury? There is water everywhere in Destiny (for reasons still unknown) but not there.. Hmm

This is literally how I picture Ikora talks to people on the same level if intellect as her. To other's she'll just keep it mystical cause it's easier and gets us back to being productive faster.

Wasn't Mercury transformed by Vex for their own devious purposes (or was it Nessus? I can't remember). If Vex were involved, they could have done stuff to coral as the vex are scientifically very advanced in their own league.

But you still can't drive a sparrow on Mercury.

[quote]So firstly, yes, I am bored. Secondly (and arguably more important), i do not claim to be a biologist or marine biologist. I’m running off of website and forum data. So if you’ve been to the simulant past, you’ve noticed the planet has beautiful plant life. However you may not have realised that it’s trees are in fact coral. Or at least a ‘coral-like colonial tree structure’. So I would like to propose a theory as to how this is possible [b]IN GAME[/b] (and not just, “Oh a pretty planet”). So what is coral? [quote]coral’s are marine invertebrates within the class Anthozoa of the phylum Cnidaria. They have a calcium carbonate skeleton, and reproduce using polyps. Corals get their energy through photosynthesis as well as catching small fish and plankton using stinging cells in their tentacles. (This specifically applies to zooxanthellae coral types.[/quote] So in order for the Mercury coral to exist it would need to develop the ability to exist on land. Now in looking up the question “can coral grow on land?” I found a forum comment explaining as to how it’s possible, coupled with the traveler’s powers I may have found a scientific way to say it’s possible, using said explanation. [quote] If a photosynthetic form of land coral evolved, it could grow to large size using a built substrate consisting of the skeletal remains of previous individuals. You might get a coral-like colonial tree structure, raising the individual phytocoral higher that their rivals in a quest for sunlight. More like a land stromatolite[/quote] It also goes onto suggest: [quote] the phytocoral would need to obtain water and minerals from the soil. So the land phytocoral would need to have fluid transport systems similar to xylem and phloem in its structure; it may just be possible for colonial organisms to form specialised tissues capable of nutrient transport alone. Carbonic acid could form and eat away the coral- unless it was protected by a living outer skin.[/quote] The post also goes on to suggest that it may be out-competed by woody trees. So now we have a basis, what do we need to consider? Well we can actually answer these very simply: 1) is there sunlight? [spoiler]mercury is the planet closest to the sun. So there is sunlight galore. [/spoiler] 2) is there a water source? [spoiler]yes. Multiple in fact. IRL scientists have found that a source of water is located within the ice at the planets poles (which we can assume applies to the ingame universe). There’s also mountains on Mercury’s surface, created by terraforming, which would possibly have snow at the high altitudes, which melts into water. Both hydrogen and oxygen (which is in the chemical structure of water) is present in the planet’s atmosphere. Also if you climb the root minds spire, you can see a large water source (either a large lake or the sea). [/spoiler] 3) is there a way for the coral to evolve/develop quickly? [spoiler]the traveler can help it evolve and develop. We know it can create life. This can be seen by examining the bulb plant in the simulant past, which can only be found there, and in the Dark forest below the shard of the traveler. This proves the traveler has the ability to develop plantlife. [/spoiler] 4) is there a way to protect against Carbonic acid? [spoiler]yes. The acid would specifically attack the coral. However the coral on Mercury has a bark layer surrounding it. This could provide protection against the acid. [/spoiler] 5) is there any competition? [spoiler]no. The coral is the only “tree-like” organism/structure around. This suggests that there is no competition. [/spoiler] So here is my theory: - the Traveler arrived on Mercury. - it converts the hydrogen and oxygen, from the atmosphere, as well as from the poles ice, into a fluid/liquid water source. Regulating evaporation by introducing a hydrological cycle, providing precipitation. - it creates a polyp that spreads and forms a coral reef. - the traveler then begins to properly terraform the planet, creating soil and land, as well as an air based plankton or algae. - the coral slowly makes it’s way to the surface, and is evolved by the traveler to survive on land, creating energy through both photosynthesis and absorbing the air-born algae or plankton. - it slowly develops resistance against the carbonic acid by growing bark around its “skin”. - precipitation and Ground infiltration provide the required water for the coral to survive. I was planning on trying to explain the reason for the ”grass” feature atop the coral, but the required neutients for grass to grow, aren’t contained within coral. Anyway that’s my proposal. Again, I do not claim to be a biologist at all. So to any out there, feel free to critique (just please keep it civil. I’m a fragile creature). Also large thanks to user superskybro for the optimism and support whilst researching and writing this post.[/quote] Isnt the coral on io