CCHemmo
CCHemmo is the combined Hemmoian/Orcish name for the secluded island continent located in the middle of the Great Sea on Orceron. It was at this location where the first primitive ancestors of the Hemmoians, the Terrahemmionids, first emerged from the sea to spread their spores on land, and subsequently evolved into sentience and mobility. The continent became the homeland of the Hemmoian Unity, the first recorded pan-Hemmoian alliance.
Due to the ring of impassable mountains surrounding its shores, the continent was thought for thousands of years to be uninhabitable and insignificant by the Orcs, the other dominant species of the world.
Major cities on this continent included Lenveliak and Foniak.
Prehistory
At some point in their evolution, through some twist of fate, a Pre-Hemmionid strain adapted to living on the shores of the forest continent of CCHemmo, slowly evolving into a species of their own, known as the Terrahemmionids. The diverse forest environment of CCHemmo provided a boost for their evolution, forcing them to adapt to work with a complex ecosystem with countless different types of life, as opposed to their previous ocean environment where only a handful of different species prevailed.
The Terrahemmionids of this time were symbiotic life forms, forming relationships with trees and other plant life, exchanging nutritients and growing vast multi-kilometer mycelium networks, interwoven with the roots of other plants. The fruiting bodies formed by the mycelium were slowly increasing in size in this period, as there were no limiting factors for their growth.
The mycelium networks, allowed to grow freely deep into the soil, soon became unbelievably complex. Flowing with various chemicals, nutritions and digestive enzymes alike, forming colonies and breeding grounds, they began to develop a new feature; bio-electric pulses running through auxiliary "neural hyphae" that could transmit crude packages of sensory input from one part of the mycelium network to another, helping it coordinate its growth and organization. The first Hemmoian nervous system had been born, and along with it, the new species of Neurohemmionids.
For thousands upon thousands of years the Neurohemmionids flourished in the forests of CCHemmo, spreading their influence all over the continent. At this point, the fruiting bodies could easily reach heights in excess of two meters from the ground, and developed additional sensory organ-like growths, like membranes that could analyze light stimuli, just like eyes.
Environmental changes
Yet another new leaf was turned over in Hemmoian evolution when the CCHemmo tectonic plate entered a period of increased seismic activity. The massive shifts caused catastrophic volcanic activity in the seas around CCHemmo. Young new volcanoes would rise from the oceans and explode with incredible rage, raining down fire and ash that would darken the entire continent and set it ablaze.
Food chains were breaking down as whole species became extinct in the CCHemmoian forests, their old habitats turning into pools of molten lava, and the sun in the sky no longer providing them with energy or warmth. The mycelium network was in constant pain. The Neurohemmionid nerves spread around the mass of land would feel every earthquake and every explosion as they rocked it around, writhing in agony. Large portions of mycelia were severed, forming isolated islands.
The cataclysmic events would continue for untold millions of years. It was during this time that the single most important stage took shape in Hemmoian evolution. The mycelia, no longer an interconnected network, was reduced to small mycelium islets that covered an area only a few meters in diameter, and even then, the mortality rates were high. The Neurohemmionid species was on the brink of extinction.
During this era of disarray, some of the isolated northern races started showing signs of adaptation. The chitinous surface of their fruiting bodies became tougher and tougher over time, and soon it was rigid enough to allow an incredible feat to be performed - moving. The fruiting bodies, once mere launching platforms for spores, became protective vessels for the mycelium instead, as it withdrew its hyphae from the soil. The Hemmoian mycelium nervous system had found itself a body, with each fruiting body containing a self-contained mycelium of its own.
