Old Gaiad/21

This is the chronicle of Cnider

Cnider sat on a rock and made on each side a row of mouths with tentacles down a great column on the rock

Cnider’s city Cnider built a line of fishermen, a Siphonoglyph down each mouth

Siphonoglyph Cnider made a covenant with Luna. By her blessing, he bore two sons on the full moon: Anthus and Anaxydros

To this day the sons of Cnider and the daughters of Nettle bear children by the light of the moon

Anthus was traditional while Anaxydros was innovative

Anaxydros begat Pompom and Meduson

Anthus Pompom Pompom became the ancestor of the stalked Jellyfish, he bore two sons: Conos and Stauros

Conos Stauros Meduson budded off a new city that floated in the sea, and so became the ancestor of the jellyfish

Meduson budding At first Meduson floated aimlessly. He just picked up what he could find.

He drifted through the sea, but soon he had an idea. He pumped his body and swam wherever he wished

The sons of Anthus multiplied across the seas. Among them are the Anemones and the Corals. With their Zooxanthellae and Zoochlorellae they farm across the seas

Coral Anemone Sons of Anthus Meduson begat Diplos and Jelly

Jelly begat the two great lines of jellyfish: the Cubozoans, the box jellyfish who have eyes, and the Scyphozoans, the “True Jellyfish”

The sons of Scyphos were numerous each polyp bore a myriad children

Pacific Sea Nettle

Cubos was a caring father. He bore few children and acted as a great father to them

We pray to Cubos for fatherhood

Eyes of Cubos He built a great priesthood, 24 eyes

Each polyp produced only a single Medusa. So the alternation of generations ceased in his line

Diplos believed in lean manufacturing and a simple business model, he simplified himself removing his mesoderm.

Diplos settled on a rock and built a single polyp.

Then he built some more from it

The city of Diplos Diplos grew rich and prosperous through lean manufacturing. His prosperity so great the prophet Haeckel saw

The vision of the prophet Haeckel Diplos bore two sons: Hydros and Paras

Hydros kept to the traditions of his fathers and built a great city of his own

Paras was a lazy lout. He lived in his brother’s city and stole from him.

Soon Hydros kicked Paras out of his city. And so Paras released a horde of Jellies

Among his countless sons there were Polypodius and Buddenbrock

The sons of Polypodius live in eggs and eat them from the inside. They emerge as polyps and bud off a million jellies.

The sons of Polypodius Buddenbrock simplified himself further. And so he became a long ball of cells, like Volvox-Choan before him. No mouth, no stomach, no tentacles. Stingers on the outside and amoebas on the inside ready to consume all.

Buddenbrock He writhed through the sea and whenever he touched a city his skin stung it and his army of amoebas invaded.

Myxos son of Buddenbrock was even worse. He made spores to spread himself and lived every cell for himself, cells only cooperated to build spores. This is the fate we must all avoid. For we share most of our genes with Myxos.

Life Cycle of the sons of Myxos And this is how an animal became unicellular

The degeneracy of Myxozoa The sons of Myxos cause whirling disease today. A curse upon our fisheries

The sons of Hydros built great cities

The sons of Hydros were numerous

Hydrozos bore two sons: Meduson and Anaxydros

Meduson bore many children, all were jellyfish. Among them the Sowerbii the clan from the Yangtze who spread to all lakes and rivers.

Freshwater jellyfish (Craspedacusta sowerbii) Anaxydros begat Anthus and Siphonifer

The sons of Siphonifer took upon themselves many great forms, they built great empires

Among the sons of Anthus there were the Fire Corals and the Hydra and many more who built great cities

Hydra Fire Coral And so this is the story of the sons of Cnider, rulers of the Ediacaran

The world dominated by the sons of Cnider But soon their reign would come to an end, and the sons of Cambrius would conquer Terra