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The mireworts are a species of small (piglet sized) motile (snail paced) autotrophs that have a high degree of intelligence and sociality. They gain energy solely through photosynthesis, and consume only small amounts of material to obtain minerals not found in the air and dust they breathe.

As small and slow and edible and available in feast-sized settlements, lots of (unitelligent) predators on their planet would like to eat them such as the direworts (a wolf like creature).

They are epiphytes so I thought might form colonies on protective walls they have built. But for the mireworts, who are photosythetic, walls might blot out the light they need to feed if they are on the inside. And being on the outside, well...

What alternative systems could these mireworts construct to protect themselves?

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  • $\begingroup$ You say they are epiphytes, do they ever leave the surface of their host plants? $\endgroup$
    – M S
    Jun 3 at 23:17
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    $\begingroup$ Without defining the threat that the fortifications are supposed to protect against and the technology available it is impossible to decide what fortifications are appropriate. A Maasai boma is appropriate in one situation, the ditches the Roman legions dug around their camps each night is another, chain link an/or barbed wire fences are used today. There is no one answer that will cover all threats and tech levels - more detail required. $\endgroup$
    – KerrAvon2055
    Jun 4 at 2:06
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    $\begingroup$ I agree with @KerrAvon2055. All the answers are suspect because no one knows what the mireworts are defending against. Worse, you've provided no real info about your mireworts. "autotrophic zoophytes" means nothing more than a photosynthetic critter half-way between a plant and an animal. How large, strong, mobile, dexterous? Worse still, walls came long after using rivers, hills, and other geology for defense, so why must there be an alternative? ... (*Continued*) $\endgroup$
    – JBH
    Jun 4 at 6:05
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    $\begingroup$ ... No matter the nature of your critters, if they're land-based, stone and wood will always figure in the defense - unless that's not available, which you also haven't defined. What's they're tech level? What does "highly intelligent" mean? VTC:Needs More Details. (And for the record, hiding behind a wall has almost no effect whatsoever on access to the sun.) (And are they epiphytes or zoophytes? A brief review of the definitions suggests they must be one or the other, but not both.) $\endgroup$
    – JBH
    Jun 4 at 6:05
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    $\begingroup$ What are they defending against? And how large are the mireworts (1mm? 1m)? And do they have hands? And how strong are they (5kg? 100kg)? And how quickly can they move (0.1 m/s? 1 m/s?)? And what weapons do they use? And what terrain are they building in? And what building materials are available? And how much sun do the mireworts need? $\endgroup$
    – causative
    Jun 4 at 7:11

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Much depends on what they are defending against. Some creatures, they would have no choice but walls. Their only alternative would be ditches (including water-filled ones, moats).

They may adapt by having their walls be not so high as parts of their city/town. Building your wall around a hill gives you the hill to sun on; in fact, humans, who do not sun themselves to eat, have been known to use this technique. Towers within the town are another possibility. Ditches, of course, can be used to make the walls more formidable while not so tall.

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Epiphytes grow on trees. As such, I would imagine mireworts still live in the trees. To which I say: ants.

At the scale of the mireworts, or any scale really, ants are your biggest problem. So what's a species with a high degree of intelligence and sociality to do? Why, befriend the ants of course! Where do you think dogs came from? I would suggest the weaver ant, as they naturally build magnificent complexes among the trees, and are also quite fierce about protecting their territory. It shouldn't take too long to tame a colony, and from there domesticate it.

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