In the age when Choanos ruled the sea,
The Earth was wild, uncivilized, and young.
The learned call this time Proterozoic,
When no great cities yet their praises sung.
But Choanos was a fertile lord,
Who bore many children to his name.
His lineage would strike a chord
That echoes still in evolution's game.
He gazed upon great Volvox' sphere,
That perfect ball of green and gold.
"Why should his kingdom be so dear,"
Said Choanos, "while mine grows old?"
"I'll build a better realm than his,
With order, beauty, and design.
My children shall know greater bliss
In cities that are truly mine."
With fair Chana by his side,
A maiden with a collar bright,
Together they would turn the tide
And bring forth multicellular might.
From their blessed union came
Two children of renown:
Mebarasi bore the name
Of future's golden crown.
And Corona, daughter fair,
Would seek a different mate.
She wed Silicarius with care,
A union blessed by fate.
Silicarius was no common lord,
But retrovirus, strange and wild,
Son of Diana's silicon hoard
And Retar's artistic child.
From Corona's marriage came
Diana the Augmented, bright,
While Mebarasi claimed his fame
Through Loricus the Strong's might.
Now Diana wed Loricus true,
And from their love was born
A nation blessed with silicon's hue,
That would greet each coming morn.
Their first two children, bound as one,
Were Sibhozo and Embili fair.
Four cells together, work begun,
"E Pluribus Unum" was their prayer.
"From many, one," they sang with joy,
"United we shall stand.
Our strength no force can destroy
When we work hand in hand."
They wove a net of living thread,
To catch the fish that swam nearby.
"Together we shall all be fed,"
They sang beneath the sky.
From Sibhozo and Embili
Came Trios and Tetra bold.
Their net grew wide and free,
A sight to behold.
The sons of Choanos spread their art,
Attaching to the rocks below.
Each built his city, played his part,
In evolution's ebb and flow.
Their cities stretched like fishing nets,
Long strands of living cells.
No finer architecture yet
Had graced the ocean swells.
With each generation came
A doubling of their host.
Each leader earned his fame
By ruling twice the most.
Sibhozo ruled eight cells with pride,
While Hexadex commanded sixteen.
Their cities spread both far and wide,
The finest ever seen.
When Eudorinus took the throne,
He ruled thirty-two with skill.
But food was scarce, he stood alone,
Until he found the will.
"I need a wife," Eudorinus said,
"Who knows the secrets of the light.
My people must be daily fed,
To grow in strength and might."
He found fair Zoe Xanthella,
Princess of Dinoflagellus' line.
Her beauty was like stella,
Her wisdom was divine.
She glowed with inner fire bright,
A golden, living flame.
"I'll teach you farming's sight,"
She said, "and bring you fame."
Their marriage was a sight to see,
The first symbiotic bond.
"Together we shall always be,
Our love will stretch beyond."
She taught him farming's ancient art,
To capture sun's bright ray.
Her light became his beating heart,
His strength from day to day.
"Behold!" cried wise Eudorinus,
"I am the first to farm!
My crops will always shine on us,
And keep us safe from harm!"
They formed their clan into a sphere,
A perfect, living ball.
Their partnership was crystal clear,
United, one and all.
From them came Sexagesmus,
Who ruled sixty-four with might.
His kingdom was tremendous,
A truly wondrous sight.
But trouble came to his domain,
A bacterial invasion fierce.
His people cried in pain,
As foes their borders pierce.
"Rally up!" brave Sexagesmus called,
"My women, brave and true!
Though we may be enthralled,
We'll see this battle through!"
The women of his noble line
Cast off their flagella bright.
They changed their forms by design,
To join the coming fight.
They became like eggs with arms,
Pseudopods reaching out.
Protected from all harms,
They faced the enemy's rout.
"We are the shieldmaidens bold!"
They cried with voices strong.
"Our story shall be told
Throughout the ages long!"
These warriors drove the foes away,
With amoeboid might.
They saved the kingdom's day,
And won the crucial fight.
"You are the mesoderm," he said,
"The middle layer strong.
Your sacrifice has led
To victory's sweet song."
"You'll be our muscles and our blood,
Our white cells and our milk.
You'll stem the crimson flood,
And make our bodies silk."
While Choanos' sons remained
The endoderm within,
Their flagella never waned,
Their fishing would begin.
They'd clean the breathing spaces wide,
And help the food absorb.
Their villi would provide
The nutrients orb.
The shieldmaidens would tend
The golden dinoflagellates,
While fishermen defend
The city's outer gates.
"This is the birth," Sexagesmus said,
"Of specialization true.
From this day forth we're led
By what each cell can do."
The kingdom grew in power vast,
As generations passed.
Their glory would forever last,
Their die was truly cast.
Pleodoron ruled one hundred twenty-eight,
While Bytos commanded twice that score.
Each ruler met his fate,
Building more and more.
When Bytos wed fair Vala bright,
Their love produced a son.
Volvox-Choan saw the light,
With five hundred eleven.
Volvox-Choan ruled five hundred twelve,
A mighty sphere of cells.
He'd delve into himself
And cast his potent spells.
"I am a hunter great," he said,
"Before Lord Mithra's throne.
My kingdom shall be led
By wisdom mine alone."
But power brought its burden dark,
As kingdoms often do.
He made his fateful mark
With castes of different hue.
"There shall be two classes here,"
Declared the mighty king.
"The Germlings I hold dear,
The Somatics serve my ring."
"Only the Germlings noble-born
Shall reproduce their line.
The Somatics, though worn,
Shall serve my grand design."
The Germling shieldmaidens rose
To duchesses of might.
They ruled with iron prose
From morning until night.
But in the depths below,
A Somatic maiden dwelt.
Carcinoma felt the blow
Of inequality keenly felt.
"Why should the few command,"
She cried with righteous rage,
"While we who work the land
Are trapped within this cage?"
"I have no royal blood,
But equal worth I claim!
I'll start a mighty flood
To end this tyrant's game!"
Her rebellion shook the sphere,
As Somatics rose as one.
The king trembled in fear,
His reign was nearly done.
"O mighty Mithra, hear my plea!"
Volvox-Choan cried in pain.
"Is this the end for me?
Has multicellular life failed to reign?"
"Why have you forsaken me
In my hour of greatest need?
Is this confederacy
Doomed to fail indeed?"
"Is the multicellular dream
Just hubris and conceit?
Must every kingdom scheme
End in bitter defeat?"
But even as the kingdom quaked,
And civil war ran red,
The lessons that it made
Would never be struck dead.
For from this ancient time
Came specialization's art.
The rhythm and the rhyme
Of each cell playing part.
The endoderm would always be
The gut that feeds us all.
The mesoderm would always see
To muscle, blood, and call.
And though Carcinoma's name
Lives on in cancer's blight,
Her revolution's flame
Burns for cellular right.
For every cell should have its voice,
In body's grand design.
When tissues make the choice
To work in perfect line.
The sons of Choanos taught us well
That many can be one.
Their legacy will always tell
Of battles fought and won.
From simple collar-bearing cell
To complex bodies vast,
Their story will always dwell
In memory unsurpassed.
So honor brave Choanos,
And Chana by his side.
Their children's grand ethos
Lives on in body's pride.
The fishermen and farmers,
The warriors and the wise,
Each played their part as charmers
Beneath the ancient skies.
And though their kingdom fell to strife,
Their gifts live on today.
In every form of complex life,
Their patterns show the way.
From Neoproterozoic seas
To modern times so bright,
Their cellular decrees
Still guide us in the night.
For when the many become one,
Through love and sacrifice,
Great wonders can be done,
Beyond any price.
The age of Choanos shows
That evolution's art
Is not how the strongest grows,
But how we play our part.