Now when the children of Nectarius had grown,
Each claimed their realm with purpose strong and true.
The paths they'd walk would soon be clearly shown,
As kingdoms spread beneath the ocean blue.
From Plantus and fair Cortica's embrace
Came children who would rule the verdant earth.
While Animus and Opima's hunting race
Would bring the gift of movement to its birth.
But first let's sing of Plastidus the green,
First son of Plantus and Cortica wise.
His chloroplast bride, fairest ever seen,
Sweet Chlora, blessed him with her bright surprise.
From their great union came three children fair:
Bold Glauca of the ancient, simple way,
Wise Alges with his scientific flair,
And Alga, who'd advance from day to day.
Now Glauca, eldest daughter of the line,
Kept close her mother's old-fashioned dress
Of peptidoglycan sequins fine,
She chose the path of clonal success.
"Why should I wed," proud Glauca declared,
"When I can bear daughters on my own?
No husband's weaknesses need be shared,
My perfect line shall stand alone!"
Her daughters spread like wildfire through the sea,
Billions upon billions, strong and bright.
Each one a perfect copy, wild and free,
Yet bound by ancient ways, both day and night.
But though her numbers swelled beyond all count,
Her simple methods held her back in time.
Without love's gifts that marriage could amount,
She'd never reach complexity's bright climb.
"The future," Glauca said with stubborn pride,
"Belongs to those who keep the ancient way."
Yet even as her children multiplied,
The world moved on to more complex display.
Meanwhile brave Alga cast tradition down,
And stripped away her peptidoglycan dress.
She built instead a solar, golden crown
Of thylakoids in sophisticated dress.
"I'll not be bound by mother's ancient ways,"
Fair Alga spoke with wisdom in her voice.
"The light demands new forms, new nights and days,
Sophistication is my willing choice."
She wed her brother Alges, keen and bright,
Together they would revolutionize
The capture of the sun's life-giving light,
And make their solar kingdom truly rise.
From their blessed union came two children bold:
Great Rhodes, the red algae's mighty king,
And Vert, whose green descendants would unfold
In forests where the songbirds love to sing.
Now Rhodes possessed accessory pigments rare,
Phycoerythrin's pink and red so bright.
He caught the deeper wavelengths in the air
That others missed in depths beyond their sight.
"The shallow waters," Rhodes proclaimed with pride,
"Are not the only realm where light may dwell.
I'll delve beneath the surface, far and wide,
In crimson depths I'll thrive and prosper well."
His children spread through every coral reef,
Their red and pink pigments blazing bright.
In tropical waters beyond belief,
They painted the seas with pure delight.
But Vert chose green chlorophyll as her guide,
And captured blue and red wavelengths true.
"On land," she said, "my children shall reside,
And paint the world in every verdant hue."
From Vert would come the great terrestrial line,
The mosses, ferns, and mighty forest trees.
Her simple algae first would intertwine
With fungal partners, mastering the breeze.
But while the plant kingdom found its start,
Fair Hacroses, second child of Plantus' line,
Would play a very different, vital part
In evolution's intricate design.
Hacroses bore two sons of great renown:
Bold Haroses and wise Haptistus strong.
Their legacy would shake the ocean down
And sing a very different kind of song.
From Haroses came three mighty lords:
Great Heterokon, master of the brown,
Alveolus with his swift-sailing hordes,
And Rhizar, bearer of the spiky crown.
Now Heterokon bore three sons so bold:
Brave Ochros of the golden algae bright,
And Oomy with his spines of liquid gold,
And Bigyres, swimming in the morning light.
But Ochros was the cleverest of all,
He saw fair Rosa, daughter of great Rhodes.
"Come to my house," he heard love's call,
"And share with me photosynthetic codes."
He stole away sweet Rosa from her kin,
And wed her to his cellular embrace.
Within his cytoplasm, locked within,
She found her new endosymbiotic place.
"Now I possess," declared triumphant Ochros,
"The power of the sun's life-giving ray!
My chloroplast bride, fairest of the roses,
Will feed my line throughout each golden day!"
From this great theft came children without peer:
Fair Diana of the silicon art,
Great Kelpus, forest-builder without fear,
Sweet Synura and Chrysanthema's heart.
Diana wed great Silicon the strong,
And mastered glass as none had done before.
Her diatom children sang their crystal song,
From Arctic ice to tropical warm shore.
"In shells of glass," Diana proudly spoke,
"My daughters shall be beautiful and bright.
No storm or wave will see my lineage broke,
Protected by their armor, pure and white."
Her glassy children filled the ocean wide,
Their geometric beauty without end.
In symmetry and art they took such pride,
That even mathematicians could not comprehend.
Great Kelpus chose a different path to fame,
He built great cities in the ocean deep.
His kelp forests earned eternal name,
Where countless sea creatures come to sleep.
"My cities," boasted Kelpus with delight,
"Shall tower high like redwoods on the land.
My children, reaching toward the golden light,
Will build the greatest forests ever planned."
His brown algae grew tall as mighty trees,
Creating underwater forests vast.
Through their great fronds swam creatures of the seas,
A living world that ever would last.
But jealousy stirred in the hearts of those
Who lacked the power of photosynthetic might.
Young Alveolus, seeking to dispose
Of Ochros' monopoly on light.
He stole fair Okra, Ochros' daughter true,
And made her his endosymbiotic bride.
"Now I too have the power," he said with glee,
"To harness sunshine's energetic tide!"
From this alliance came two children strong:
Bold Cilliofer with his beating cilia,
And Myzo, vampire all along,
Who'd drink the blood of cellular familia.
Cilliofer built cities of his own,
With thousands of cilia beating as one.
His trumpet-shaped descendants, fully grown,
Would dance beneath the early morning sun.
They formed new ways of joining, strange and new,
Called conjugation, mixing genes with art.
Their bell-shaped children, beautiful and true,
Would play their symphony, each playing part.
But Myzo took a darker path indeed,
A vampire drinking cellular blood.
He taught his children how to intercede
And drain the life from others' vital flood.
From Myzo came dark Dinoflagellus,
Whose children wear armor, plated strong.
And grim Malarius, so treacherous,
Who'd bring disease and suffering long.
Dinoflagellus built great armored knights,
Who'd glow with bioluminescent fire.
They'd light the oceans through the darkest nights,
But also bloom in blood-red funeral pyre.
"We are the lights," these warriors declared,
"Who chase away the darkness from the sea.
But we are also warriors who dared
To turn to blood and carnivory."
Their algae fed the corals with their light,
Yet when they bloomed, the waters turned to red.
A paradox of beauty and of blight,
They brought both life and death to ocean's bed.
While grim Malarius chose parasitic ways,
His children gave up photosynthetic power.
Instead they'd steal from others all their days,
Malaria their gift in fever's hour.
"Why work," sneered Malarius with spite,
"When I can steal from others what I need?
My chloroplasts have lost their power bright,
But I'll survive through parasitic greed."
His apicomplexan descendants still
Invade our blood and bring us disease.
They bend the world unto their evil will,
While honest workers toil without ease.
Meanwhile the Solar Coalition formed,
As those without the light sought ways to gain
The photosynthetic power they had scorned,
But now desired to ease their hungry pain.
Rhizar the spiky, Oomy with his spines,
And Haptos of the haptophyte clan
United their three evolutionary lines
To steal the sun's power if they can.
"We are the sun!" their battle cry rang out,
As they took on a radial shape.
"The power of light we'll win, without a doubt,
From this monopoly we shall escape!"
They built themselves with spines like solar rays,
And called themselves the sun animalcules.
Through many generations, many days,
They'd fight to break photosynthetic rules.
Haptos built himself armor bright and strong,
While Helios his son consumed with greed.
The mission was both dangerous and long,
But they were driven by their desperate need.
At last young Haptos Junior found success,
He stole a daughter of great Ochros' line.
The haptophytes could finally progress
With stolen chloroplasts so fine.
But many failed in their ambitious quest,
And Rhizar's children mostly went astray.
Though some would later find their own success,
Most abandoned the solar way.
Yet from their failure came a gift most strange,
For Rhizar's children learned to test and probe.
Their amoeboid forms could rearrange
And explore every corner of the globe.
Meanwhile, far from these struggles for the light,
Great Animus and Opima's line
Pursued a path both different and bright,
With movement as their gift divine.
From them came bold Ozymandias,
Who ruled the unikont domain.
His children would be glorious
And spread through every terrestrial plain.
Ozymandias bore two sons apart:
Great Podius of the flowing form,
And bitter Metamon, with hardened heart,
Who'd face life's every storm.
Poor Metamon, consumed by bitter pride,
Refused to wed or take a loving mate.
"I need no mitochondrial guide,
I'll face alone my solitary fate!"
His children, born without their mother's gifts,
Could only live where oxygen was rare.
In anaerobic depths and poisonous rifts,
They'd eke out life with metabolic care.
But Podius chose the path of love,
And wed fair maids with mitochondrial might.
His line, blessed by gods above,
Would prosper in the coming light.
From Podius came the noble strain
That would divide in generations hence.
One branch would build the fungal domain,
The other, animals with mobile sense.
But this great splitting lies ahead in time,
When complex bodies would at last unfold.
For now, let's end this lengthy rhyme
With kingdoms established, strong and bold.
The children of great Nectarius true
Had claimed their realms in ocean, land, and air.
Each lineage, with their retinue,
Would shape the world beyond compare.
The plants had learned to capture solar fire,
The protists filled the seas with forms diverse.
While animals would soon acquire
The gift of movement through the universe.
The great supercontinent Rodinia
Rose from the sea like some vast dream.
Upon its shores, the children of Aster's line
Would build their kingdoms supreme.
Yet even as these realms found peace at last,
Dark Hilluhengweh plotted from afar.
The golden age would not forever last,
He'd bring again the chaos and the war.
But that is tale for future songs to tell,
Of how the kingdoms faced their greatest test.
For now, in prosperity they dwell,
Their lineages forever blessed.
So honor Nectarius and his bride,
Fair Ambrosia of wisdom true.
Their children's gifts would never hide,
But shine forever, bright and new.
From their great love, both proud and strong,
Came every living thing we see.
Their legacy lives on in song,
Throughout all eternity.