Flora and fauna of Aethis

Notable Flora

• Silmei tree - red-leaf tree which grows bunches of shiny, bright orange-yellow fruits similar to apples. The word silmei also describes the rather distinctive colour of these fruits.
• Iarantiiri Silmei tree - red-leaf tree native to parts of northern Isaana which grows bunches of shiny, bright yellow-orange fruits, somewhat smaller but otherwise very similar-looking to the silmei. The leaves of this tree, however, are of a very different shape, and the tree is in fact not related to the true silmei.

The Iarantiiri Silmei fruit's rather curious-looking seeds, with their red stripes and wavy, yellow discs surrounding the central seed body, are the subject of the latest iteration of the centuries-old Aethi tradition of "weird thing; your argument is invalid" memes, originating in an odd case of parallel memetic evolution with both Earth and Veridias Prime. The flattened, colorful seeds form a vertical 'stack', attached by stems along one side of the fruit's central cavity.

• Isaar tree - brown-leaf tree with distinctive heart-shaped leaves, which grow directly from the trunk. Bark easily peels off in sections, and can be chewed on. Taste is comparable to minty sugar cane, with a slight hint of almonds perceptible to humans.
• Ilsanya - a running vine with bright crimson leaves.
• Jaiethesi - brown-leaf shrub with large blue-violet flowers, whose shape resembles that of wild ginger flowers on Earth.

Notable Fauna

• Kelzhaia - Bioluminescent stinging insectoid from the southern foothills of the Silver Mountains in Yien Vuura. Has a blue light on its tail, and tiny yellow lights along its wings.
  • A class of unarmed warp ship currently in service was named after the Kelzhaia.
• Ajir - Scaly but Manta Ray-like sea creature of the Crescent Sea between Isaana and Yien Vuura. Also written Aajir.
  • The Ajir-class Destroyer was named after a famous Isaani naval destroyer, which was in turn named after these creatures.
• Arkanras - Black, furry mammalian with an armadillo-like shell. When rolled up, the arkanras is capable of surviving very long falls.
  • Earth's armadillos are sometimes referred to in Aethi as "Terran arkanras" - taeri'arkanras.