Editing Icelus (section)

=Icelus Flora and Fauna=

==The Gilliflower==
The sweet Mother-of-the-evening rises from the sun-parched earth in small patches where the harsh pollutants of Icelus are sparse. Her soft graces are coveted by young aspirants; lives are taken in her name, fortunes spent for the sake of her delicate beauty. As sought after as the position she represents with the Emperor's Nightmare, the softly mottled purple-and-white flower holds young men in thrall, a thing of singular beauty amongst desolation and monotonous wastes.

Though she is the heart and soul of Icelus and its warriors, she is from Terra. Like her protectors, she is a conqueror, as sensual and frail as they are devoted and fierce. She is the Emperor's justice, unbearably beautiful, righteous and radiant, visited on the galaxy; where she grows, the Imperium flourishes. Adit Aurora Alata Ardens, fair Nightmother. Stand sentinel, sleepless, 'til the blazing sun.

==Salt Creeper==

A bizarre organism, this slug-like creature lives on the salt flats of Icelus, this creature is particularly suited toward existence in its chosen habitat. Where there is little food to be found, the Salt Creeper survives much as a plant, using a large black or brown organ along the top of its body to collect sunlight, and numerous "pores" along the dermis to intake salt and other minerals from the ground. It is an effective scavenger, able to "vomit" a digestive material from these pores and absorbing the resulting slurry, allowing it to ingest any organic matter it happens upon. It moves by shifting the liquid within its balloon-like skin in the direction it wishes to travel. Prized by locals for its digestive fluid, used in the treating and tanning of hides, and its nutrient-rich "blood" is an effective meal replacement (though highly unpalatable due to the high salt content).

==Magnum Nephropsal or "giant salt lobster"==

These crustaceans dwell in the vast salt flats of Icelus and as adults can measure up to several meters long with a very flat ground hugging profile. This flat profile allows them to lay flush against the ground, or dig shallow pits out, to hid in plain sight with the utmost ease. They can lay in wait for months on end as they wait, listening to vibrations in the ground for prey to come close. When they sense prey they burst forth with amazing speed to eviscerate their prey with their claws, and just about anything counts as prey. These beasts rarely need to drink and can subsist on what scant condensation and moisture from their prey they can collect.

While the flesh of the salt lobster is highly toxic for human consumption, the hepatopancreas of it (or digestive gland) can be fermented to produce a powerful stimulant. Their eggs however, are quite the delicacy if a clutch can be found... and successfully raided without either of the parents goring the would be thief.

==Ash Raptors==

Ash Raptors, sometimes referred to as "Owl Dogs" by off-worlders, are a species of quadrupedal avians endemic to Icelus. Owing to massive dust storms in the stratosphere (believed to have occurred some time after a warp storm isolated the planet and an unknown "calamity" began to destroy the world's life-sustaining capabilities), the Ash Raptors' wings developed slowly into forearms, as they were forced to spend more and more of their time on the ground. Mostly nocturnal, they possess large eyes capable of detecting even the smallest movement from dozens of meters. Accompanied by large, pointed ears, capable of hearing vibrations produced by prey burrowing beneath the surface, as well as powerful claws and a hooked beak, male Ash Raptors are adept at hunting small prey.

Female Ash Raptors typically live in small groups and are capable of hunting larger prey. Using their hind claws, they are able to tap out rhythms of varying intensity on the parched soil. These small vibrations are interpreted by other members of the pack. The higher the frequency of the tapping, the closer an individual is to prey. Highly intelligent, but not sentient, Ash Raptors in captivity often bond to the nomad beastmaster who raises them. They display the fierce loyalty of their masters, necessary for survival in Icelus' unforgiving wastes.

Ash Raptors lay eggs once per year, and spend an unusual amount of time in the mother's body before being deposited into a small den in the ashy surface, where they are nurtured for at most two weeks before hatching. In the wild, Ash Raptor young typically travel with their mother's flock until they are drawn away by other Ash Raptor young at two to three years of age. These young Ash Raptors will pair off and travel for a number of years until breeding, at which point the female will seek a new flock. It is believed that in captivity, the fiercely loyal bonding of Ash Raptors to their masters replaces this relationship, and interrupts natural mechanisms that would normally drive the individual to its next stage of life--lonesome, wandering males and small flocks of females. 

Bred for aeons for intelligence, obedience and hunting ability, Ash Raptors are ideal companions for the wandering Icelians. Due to a hodgepodge of chemicals in their diet, Ash Raptors' feathers and skin may range in color from their natural spectrum of grays, browns and cream-white to bizarre combinations of iridescent oranges, purples and greens. Ash Raptors, if fed correctly and treated with respect, can live for sixty or seventy years. Upon the death of their companions, many Icelians craft ornate shrines in the desert, arraying their feathers in patterns behind their skulls. Small offerings are always left at such shrines when they are encountered, often consisting of dried meats, incense or shiny trinkets--which the creatures are drawn to. Ash Raptors that outlive their masters have been known to attach themselves to individuals who were close to them, most frequently wives, sons or daughters. 

==Greele-gnats==

Medium sized [about an inch in length] flying insects with 4 sets of wings. They thrive in the hive sumps and slag pools of the wastes, feasting on the hydrocarbon slurry. They like to make nests in extremely hot and wet places, which are the perfect conditions for their larva. Because of this they often set up in the boilers of idle trains, causing severe damage as they construct their carbonized nests throughout the trains plumbing. They are vicious defenders of their territory making extermination a real hassle for workers.

==Oriffs==

Oriffs are lobsters covered in millions of thin "hairs," and live in deep trenches and subterranean caves. The individual hairs are designed to trap motes of organic particles when the lobster wafts its claws in the air and also serve as a sensory bank for locating large predators and potential prey. They are though, if fished out of their horribly toxic dwellings with sugary food products, rich in protein and a nutritious staple foodstuff for nomads. The claws and shell are also traditionally used in castanet fashion though the practice is deemed old fashioned and sometimes laughable given to the appearance of the wielder.

==Durna==

The Durna are small (think cat size), relatively docile tardigrade organisms. With a set of small feeders at the front they are incredibly hardy, one of the few creatures that will quite willfully ignore a dust storm and bury a tough proboscis like foot into the ground and latch on. When the storm has subsided the foot it drawn back and the Durna continues its slow, plodding existence. They seem to be able to handle both heat and cold and breed voraciously under certain conditions and are considered a mild irritation as many a nomads lasgun has had the stock dissolved off by them.

They make excellent target practice

==Ash Jelly==

Dwelling in the ash wastes of Icelus, the ash jelly is another of many strange creatures that have adapted to survive in the world's hostile climate. Ash jellies begin life as small polyps about the size of a grown man's hand and have a hazy purple-gray or blue-gray color with two concentric circles of anywhere from 5 to 25 tentacles around the creatures mouth. The inner tentacles are often bio-luminescent and used as lures to draw in small creatures. The outer tentacles are lined with tiny barbs that inject a venom that causes hallucinations and eventually death. In addition to whatever it can catch with its tentacles, the jelly also consumes the ash particles and the very ground it rests upon to feed the chemosynthetic bacteria that dwell within its gut.

As they age, the ash jelly slowly accumulates a supply of methane that is a by product of the bacteria. Once it has a sufficient supply, the upper portion of the polyp will transform in an umbrella shaped structure called a medusa and detach to float off into the sky thanks to its methane filled pouch at its core. This lights up the ash filled skies with glowing lights as they drift about before finally coming to rest on the ground to return to their polyp stage once again to start its own life separate from the polyp it detached from.

Ash jellies are edible through out their life span and have a pleasing taste provided its properly prepared by washing it in alcohol. The polyp form is generally regarded as a delicacy however it extra care must be taken to ensure none of its stinger tentacles are consumed (the stinger tentacles are inactive in the medusa stage).

==The bogs of Icelus==

The bogs of Icelus, covered in a thick layer of algae and industrial oil, harbor a surprising life-form--bacterium that convert the oil into usable energy by transporting it into the depths of the bog. Buried under tons of decomposing plant matter and industrial runoff, the oil undergoes combustion, driving reactions which create mild neurotoxins, which filter to the surface. These neurotoxins build up in pockets beneath the algae and oil on the surface, and are released slowly in small jets, visible as a thin stream of iridescent gas. This gas, referred to as The Sleepless' Breath, causes severe whole-body numbing, insomnia and psychosis.

==Nightmother's Fingers==

Growing up to one meter below the ash-covered, wind-swept surface, Night Mother's Fingers spread in five long, finger-like tendrils into the barren soil. Covered in a thick, wax-like coating, the Night Mother's Fingers are an ancient fungus that has managed to survive for thousands upon thousands of years. Each of the typically five "fingers" of this fungus fluctuates in thickness with the amount of water stored in its central chamber. This water, because of the selective waxy membrane coating the fungus, is remarkably pure, and for generations beyond counting has provided a source of water for the nomadic tribes of Icelus. Occasionally, small outcroppings of flora--including, rarely, the gilliflower--can be found growing amidst the ash plains, their roots lodged firmly in Night Mother's Fingers' water chambers, some specimens of which grow close enough to the surface to permit this parasitic relationship.

==Trench Feather==

While commonly referred to as a plant because of its deceptive appearance, the Trench Feather is actually a hardy form of tube worm that dwells in the deep trenches of Icelus's salt plains. It's body consists of a resilient, almost woody, tube that is anchored securely in the rock by burrowing root like structures. At the end of the tube is a large majestic plume that bears striking resemblance to a feather slicked in shimmering oil and is typically a vivid red in color but both purple and gold are not unheard of. This plume is used to catch the numerous varieties of tiny insects that swarm maddeningly along the chasms. The trench feather subsists not only on the swarms of insects but it also lives in symbiosis with a chemosyntheic bacteria that can consume the toxic fumes that are heavy in the air. Trench feather's reproduce asexually through their roots, once distant enough from the main body it will turn to the surface to sprout a new tube, forming vast colonies of the creatures along the walls.

The trench feather is extremely toxic for human consumption however it can be used to make vivid, iridescence dyes.