Pokémon Creativity Exercise - Day 8
Fairy Types are those which have evolved to weaponize their bioluminescence via biominerals known as Fairy Phosphors. These substances are poorly understood and research suggests that they stem from ancient impactors due to containing notable rare-earth elements within them. As a resource, they are identifiable as lustrous, silvery-white, heavy metals that can be found in fairy bioluminescent organs.
The weaponization of light used by these animals relies upon two foundations. The first is the production of biological photosensitizers, light absorbers that act as catalysts for photochemical reactions. The second is the development of Fairy Phosphors, robust bioluminescent structures that can emit a wide spectrum of light wavelengths, including ultraviolet radiation.
Photosensitizers can come in many forms, though usually as oils secreted from the fairy type which, when a target is exposed to them, induces photosensitivity. Volatile oils can make sunlight exposure painful, causing redness, swelling, and burning sensations. Non-volatile oils secreted onto the target's body readily cause urticaria (hives) when exposed to any human-visible light. These oils can also be harmful to living organisms by generating reactive oxygen species and other free radicals, leading to tales of fairies causing people to age rapidly when disrespected.
Bioluminescence is ubiquitous among fairy types, acting as a means of communication, defense, and subduing prey. As well as typical reactions between a substrate (usually) luciferin and the enzyme (usually luciferase), fairy phosphors are able to both generate bright flashes of light and absorb light for later emission. On photosensitized targets, these can cause seizures and, if UV light is emitted, radiation burns.
The source of the oils that fairy types wield come from the elaiophores, oil-secreting organs, of plants. For smaller animals, these oils can be their primary nutrient source as well as a means of gaining photosensitizing chemicals. Mutualistic relationships between flowers and fairies are quite common, with the flowers having pollen transferred throughout a habitat by the foraging of the animal. Some plants bear seeds which are also a source of the necessary oils, though fairies rarely engage in granivory due to being unable to handle the variety of toxins the plants use for their defense. Nectarivory, however, is quite common among fairy types and tends to go along with their elaiophagy.
A frequent difficulty fairy types must face in getting their daily bread is their great diversity of toxins and pathogens they are exposed to in their feeding. Many plants wield toxins as chemical defenses against herbivory. Further, many plants are host to pathogenic microorganisms whose secondary metabolites are near-invariably toxic; In some cases, they can be as severe as inducing gas gangrene. These factors are distinctly more perilous for fairy types due to how, compared to their non-fairy counterparts of closely-related species, their immune systems are quite weak. The cause for such convergent immune weakness is unknown, but it is thought to be associated with their reliance upon fairy phosphors.
Phosphorescent fungi are the source of fairy phosphors. They live alongside hyperaccumulators, plants adapted to highly metalliferous soils or waters, and store absorbed metals in their foliage. Mycorrhizal fungal mutualists produce proteins that bind the phosphors and thereby decrease their bioavailability, enabling fairies and other species vulnerable to metallic poisoning to eat the foliage and gain access to the metals themselves with minimal deleterious health impacts. From the consumption of the phosphors, rarity types gain not only greater bioluminescent ability, but are able to produce germicidal radiation. Such ultraviolet light is able to inactivate microbes by damaging their genetic material, thereby inhibiting their capacity to carry out vital functions. By irradiating pathogens, they can significantly minimize the amount of diseases they are at risk for when foraging.
A secondary benefit of increasing their radiant ability is that some fairy type species are able to emit photosynthetically active radiation. While more limited in scope than a glow light, species co-evolving with nectariferous plants often specialized in producing a range of wavelengths that aid the plant in their own growth and longevity. As most fairies are primarily nocturnal, perhaps as a result of their luminescent specializations, they can provide additional energy to their plant mutualists at times of day when energy availability is restricted.
Because of their reliance on luminescence, these fairy types are commonly nocturnal. However, they tend to have fine eyesight and are most active on moonlit nights. Predatory fairies tend to keep their bioluminescence hidden so as to ambush prey, while the preyed-upon fairies are much more likely to display their light as a warning signal. Due to the greater visibility when the moon is at its brightest, Dark types are especially vulnerable and often become a main source of food for carnivorous Fairy types.
Oleaginous microorganisms are another frequent mutualist of fairy types. They are microbes that accumulate lipids as a normal part of their metabolism, oftentimes a wide array of different lipid compounds, including polyhydroxyalkanoates, triacylglycerols, and wax esters. These microbes are typically bacterial or fungal endosymbiotes that provide lipid byproducts in exchange for the nutrients ingested and a mobile host.
Notably, fairy phosphors have deleterious effects on Dragon types, denaturing their Dracoglobins when exposed to their flash, leading to the dragons avoiding fairies. Such flashes also eliminate the abilities of Dark types and disrupt the concentration Fighting types need to not accidentally hurt themselves when they use their hysterical strength. Ghost types are quite dangerous to them because of the reduced immune systems of fairies, though the germicidal radiation the fairies can emit also makes them lethal to ghosts. However, Poison types and Steel types both are prone to killing fairies with animal toxins or toxic metals respectively.
