NESLife VI
- Thread starter Lord_Iggy
- Start date
North King
blech
- Joined
- Jan 2, 2004
- Messages
- 18,165
300x180 is still a perfectly acceptable map size. 
Daftpanzer
canonically ambiguous
My opinion: I really like the maps, but I think its cool to bring them out only, say, every mass extinction or so I think we can all go by a rough description of the world. If we know there are two oceans, or one or two main landmasses, I think that is enough.
I think we can all go by a rough description of the world. If we know there are two oceans, or one or two main landmasses, I think that is enough.
thomas.berubeg
Wandering the World
14 new evolutions. When are you cutting it off?
Arisian Ocean
Organism: Free-floater
Ancestor: Drifter
Selective pressure: Crawling things can't fly guyz, also competition sucks.
Mutation: Using special gas sacks the Free-floater forms dense living 'mats' that float just above the sea floor. This removes it from predators, whilst also giving it enough mass to ride out all but the strongest storms and currents. If that fails, the Free-floater can temporarily 'pop' its sacks and sink to the relative safety of the bottom. Freed from predators and 'above' the competition the Free-floater sits serene as the Vegetative King of theArisian Free-Floating Ocean. In another departure from the norm, the Free-Floater produces only a small number of glass fibers it uses to 'tie' itself to its kin.
Organism: Free-floater
Ancestor: Drifter
Selective pressure: Crawling things can't fly guyz, also competition sucks.
Mutation: Using special gas sacks the Free-floater forms dense living 'mats' that float just above the sea floor. This removes it from predators, whilst also giving it enough mass to ride out all but the strongest storms and currents. If that fails, the Free-floater can temporarily 'pop' its sacks and sink to the relative safety of the bottom. Freed from predators and 'above' the competition the Free-floater sits serene as the Vegetative King of the
Sejessian Ocean
Organism: Slicer
Ancestor: Curatol
Selective pressure: Growing competition for the same type of food
The Sejessian Ocean had a general lack of predators after the great extinction. As Curatol's competed for the same type of food some took to eating their own kind. The legs on each side of the body grew into large pinchers that can easily crush the armored Curatols. Given the lack of eyes to locate prey the Slicer instead relied on fine hair like protrusions along its body to detect movement and locate prey.
OCC: Hopefully, I got this in on time.
Organism: Slicer
Ancestor: Curatol
Selective pressure: Growing competition for the same type of food
The Sejessian Ocean had a general lack of predators after the great extinction. As Curatol's competed for the same type of food some took to eating their own kind. The legs on each side of the body grew into large pinchers that can easily crush the armored Curatols. Given the lack of eyes to locate prey the Slicer instead relied on fine hair like protrusions along its body to detect movement and locate prey.
OCC: Hopefully, I got this in on time.
tuxedohamm
Disguised as crow.
Spoiler :
Organism: Holonus
Ancestor: Hobo
Selective Pressure: Limited predation combined with the opportunity to feast beyond the immediate needs of the organism.
Mutation: The Holonus is lengthwise increased in size with a sizable amount of fat reserves along this length allowing the Holonus the chance to gorge itself when food is available, but then lazily travel without food for extended periods of time.
Daftpanzer
canonically ambiguous
Go Hobo, go Hobo, go!
Epoch VI: The Hobonian Epoch
With the Graderian Mass Extinction fading away into the past, life on Lambda underwent an explosive diversification the likes of which had not been seen since the initial flourishing of complex life some 50 million years prior. Of all of the recovering lineages, none underwent such a dramatic explosion as the Hobo and its descendants, who give this Epoch its name. While Hobo-descendants become the dominant swimmers in both oceans, the gradual invasion of land continues, though it remains very closely tied to the shore. Some Mawie-derivatives have even taken to gliding, in order to predate upon the vast wealth of floating plants that remain just out of the reach of most other lifeforms. Overall, the Hobonian Epoch is a temporal oasis of ecological stability, serving to nurture the diversification and specialization of life.
Sejessian Ocean
Free-floaters have descended from Drifters, adapting a new method of avoiding predation. Instead of remaining vulnerable and attached to the seafloor, vast, interconnected networks of Free-floaters float in suspension in the open Ocean. By reducing the amount of glass fibres contained within them, they are also more energy efficient, allowing them to completely outcompete and replace their ancestors.
The Farfilter has moved into a niche once occupied by its now-extinct cousin, the Luask. Using the same buoyancy modulations developed by its Sinker ancestors, the Farfilter lazily jets its enlongated body around, giving itself access to just enough additional food to justify the energy cost of such motion.
Tramps, descended from the common Hobo, lacks its ancestor’s characteristic slime, and makes use of primitive photosensitivity to find various floating photosynthesizers and filters upon which to feed. While its relatively expensive adaptation renders it an ineffective competitor against Hobos which graze upon Growers on the ocean floor, they are much better adapted to pursue and feed on Farfilters and Sinkers, which has allowed them to survive, although not in the same numbers as the still-thriving Hobos.
Parahs, close relatives of the Tramps, have specialized to predate upon the abundant Growers of the Sejessian. With sucker-like mouthparts and internal cartilaginous ridges for defense, these grazers are thriving on an abundant food source, with no threats beyond old age, overpopulation and predation by some of the more aggressive lineages of Hobos.
The Holonus is another Hobo descendant, which makes use of large fat reserves to store energy, allowing it to go for long periods between feedings. This strategy has allowed it to maintain its ancestral role as a generalist, and additionally allows for the adoption of seasonal migratory patterns, where Holonus will migrate from feeding to site to feeding site, crossing lifeless voids to access isolated food sources.
Devourers have descended from Sejessian Curatols, and feature a fearsome collection of mouthparts which can tear apart any plant, corpse, or other Curatol they come across. Their jaws have proven most useful at breaking the cuticles of their close relatives, and at crushing the unpleasant spicules of photosynthetic Drifters and their kin. The introduction of a predator on Curatols (who, while adapted for scavenging, are more than capable of grazing when) has done much to bring this benthic organism’s population under control.
Placebols, having the same evolutionary origin as the Devourers, specialized on a different food source: the filter-feeding Svis. By developing an ability to compartmentalize and excrete the toxic nitrite generated by Svis, Placebols became able to live around, and ultimately feed upon these previously untouchable organisms.
Slicers, another descendant of the Curatol, failed to achieve the success of the Devourers. Slicers possessed claws on their legs as offensive tools, rather than biting jaws. Additionally, they made use of vibration-sensitive hairs to hunt. However, above the ocean’s surface, this was relatively ineffective, and claw-legs rendered them slightly slower than their competitors. While the evolutionary battle between these two lineages was hard-fought, by the epoch’s end the Slicers were driven to extinction, and Devourers reigned as he apex predators of their habitats.
Arisian Ocean
Roototils have developed an elabourate root system, with an underground tuber for long-term energy storage. Coupled with larger light collection systems, which we’ll agree to call leaves, for simplicity’s sake, these photosynthesizers have thrived.
Discs evolved from the same Shooteroids that spawned the Roototil lineage, but developed a single compact disc for photosynthetic activity. While this left them worse at photosynthesizing than the Roototils, who made up for slightly lesser efficiency with a much larger collecting area, their compact shape did make them more resistant to predation by Arigogues. However, the advent of Harvesters, with their effective herbivorous mandibles, ruined this one advantage that Discs held over their relatives, thus consigning them to a slow decline into extinction.
Zebedis abound in the Arisian Ocean. With their digestive sacs retreated further back into their bodies, and a series of excretory lateral vents positioned along their outer surfaces, these organisms are capable of quickly extracting nutrients from their food. Additionally, their external spines have been adapted into an internal structure resembling a series of interlocking skeletal tetrahedra, allowing for slightly more effective muscle anchoring.
Gangers have expanded upon the social tendencies of their ancestors, developing several morphological variations which vary in frequency according to various pressures. Reproducers were nearly identical to the ancestral Friendlies, although they were capable of releasing pheromonal signals promoting the development of larval Gangers into large and threatening guards, tentacle laborers, and sugar-accumulating storers, depending on their needs. While the Gangers are often outcompeted by Zebedis on an individual basis, their sociality allows them to maintain a niche of their own, and additionally has granted them an ability to thrive in more marginal environments that would discourage unspecialized Friendlies or lone Zebedis.
Zeph have continued in the tradition of their Ith ancestors, specializing more and more to predate upon the Zeppus and Rangipus that hover over the Arisian Ocean. With little to their bodies but two propulsive wings, two eyes and two predatory spikes, these predators surge out of their homes in the coastal shallows, gliding briefly through the dense atmosphere with the hopes of taking down their vulnerable prey. When a floating plant is punctured, the whole Zeph tribe will take turns huddling around its remains, defending their capture from other species and rival tribes, as they complete the slow process of externally digesting and absorbing their prey.
Swarmers enjoyed less success, adapting to a pack hunting strategy in the open ocean. With a body plan ill-suited to swimming, or any degree of predation on hard-bodied organisms, Swarmers were mercilessly outcompeted and wiped out by the various descendants of the Hobo.
The Harvester descended from the Arigogue, and specialized in predation upon land plants. Though its digestive system was little more than a simple pharyngeal sac behind its mouth, it possessed a complex slicing and chewing jaws structure that allowed it to break down all extant land plants with ease. The Roototil in specific has become a mainstay of the Harvester’s diet.
Preventing Harvesters from completely defoliating the Arisian coastline, however, are their close relatives the Hunters. Lurking in the coastal zones near zones of herbivory, Hunters leap upon and bite through the carapaces of Harvesters returning to the ocean, using jaws very similar to those of their herbivorous cousins.
Notras evolved to withstand critical losses of food supplies by entering into extended periods of hibernation. However, the epoch’s climate proved to be extraordinarily stable, especially in comparison to the upheavals of the Graderian. Thus Notras, who lacked the feeding adaptations of the Harvesters and Hunters, were outcompeted by specialists better adapted to thrive in times of plenty.
Notes: Daftpanzer, you gave the Zebedis an excretory system, circulatory system, skeleton and gills all at once. This felt like too much of a leap. Thus, I simply went with the more complex digestive system, and a skeletal system based on the pre-existing spikes. At this body size, you’re approaching the upper limits of what diffusion can do, so a proper circulatory system or some method of complex gas exchange might be good traits to pursue in the future. Also, propelling yourself backwards doesn’t make a ton of sense when you have a bit, ribbon-like tail that’ll get in the way.
With the Graderian Mass Extinction fading away into the past, life on Lambda underwent an explosive diversification the likes of which had not been seen since the initial flourishing of complex life some 50 million years prior. Of all of the recovering lineages, none underwent such a dramatic explosion as the Hobo and its descendants, who give this Epoch its name. While Hobo-descendants become the dominant swimmers in both oceans, the gradual invasion of land continues, though it remains very closely tied to the shore. Some Mawie-derivatives have even taken to gliding, in order to predate upon the vast wealth of floating plants that remain just out of the reach of most other lifeforms. Overall, the Hobonian Epoch is a temporal oasis of ecological stability, serving to nurture the diversification and specialization of life.
Sejessian Ocean
Free-floaters have descended from Drifters, adapting a new method of avoiding predation. Instead of remaining vulnerable and attached to the seafloor, vast, interconnected networks of Free-floaters float in suspension in the open Ocean. By reducing the amount of glass fibres contained within them, they are also more energy efficient, allowing them to completely outcompete and replace their ancestors.
The Farfilter has moved into a niche once occupied by its now-extinct cousin, the Luask. Using the same buoyancy modulations developed by its Sinker ancestors, the Farfilter lazily jets its enlongated body around, giving itself access to just enough additional food to justify the energy cost of such motion.
Tramps, descended from the common Hobo, lacks its ancestor’s characteristic slime, and makes use of primitive photosensitivity to find various floating photosynthesizers and filters upon which to feed. While its relatively expensive adaptation renders it an ineffective competitor against Hobos which graze upon Growers on the ocean floor, they are much better adapted to pursue and feed on Farfilters and Sinkers, which has allowed them to survive, although not in the same numbers as the still-thriving Hobos.
Parahs, close relatives of the Tramps, have specialized to predate upon the abundant Growers of the Sejessian. With sucker-like mouthparts and internal cartilaginous ridges for defense, these grazers are thriving on an abundant food source, with no threats beyond old age, overpopulation and predation by some of the more aggressive lineages of Hobos.
The Holonus is another Hobo descendant, which makes use of large fat reserves to store energy, allowing it to go for long periods between feedings. This strategy has allowed it to maintain its ancestral role as a generalist, and additionally allows for the adoption of seasonal migratory patterns, where Holonus will migrate from feeding to site to feeding site, crossing lifeless voids to access isolated food sources.
Devourers have descended from Sejessian Curatols, and feature a fearsome collection of mouthparts which can tear apart any plant, corpse, or other Curatol they come across. Their jaws have proven most useful at breaking the cuticles of their close relatives, and at crushing the unpleasant spicules of photosynthetic Drifters and their kin. The introduction of a predator on Curatols (who, while adapted for scavenging, are more than capable of grazing when) has done much to bring this benthic organism’s population under control.
Placebols, having the same evolutionary origin as the Devourers, specialized on a different food source: the filter-feeding Svis. By developing an ability to compartmentalize and excrete the toxic nitrite generated by Svis, Placebols became able to live around, and ultimately feed upon these previously untouchable organisms.
Slicers, another descendant of the Curatol, failed to achieve the success of the Devourers. Slicers possessed claws on their legs as offensive tools, rather than biting jaws. Additionally, they made use of vibration-sensitive hairs to hunt. However, above the ocean’s surface, this was relatively ineffective, and claw-legs rendered them slightly slower than their competitors. While the evolutionary battle between these two lineages was hard-fought, by the epoch’s end the Slicers were driven to extinction, and Devourers reigned as he apex predators of their habitats.
Arisian Ocean
Roototils have developed an elabourate root system, with an underground tuber for long-term energy storage. Coupled with larger light collection systems, which we’ll agree to call leaves, for simplicity’s sake, these photosynthesizers have thrived.
Discs evolved from the same Shooteroids that spawned the Roototil lineage, but developed a single compact disc for photosynthetic activity. While this left them worse at photosynthesizing than the Roototils, who made up for slightly lesser efficiency with a much larger collecting area, their compact shape did make them more resistant to predation by Arigogues. However, the advent of Harvesters, with their effective herbivorous mandibles, ruined this one advantage that Discs held over their relatives, thus consigning them to a slow decline into extinction.
Zebedis abound in the Arisian Ocean. With their digestive sacs retreated further back into their bodies, and a series of excretory lateral vents positioned along their outer surfaces, these organisms are capable of quickly extracting nutrients from their food. Additionally, their external spines have been adapted into an internal structure resembling a series of interlocking skeletal tetrahedra, allowing for slightly more effective muscle anchoring.
Gangers have expanded upon the social tendencies of their ancestors, developing several morphological variations which vary in frequency according to various pressures. Reproducers were nearly identical to the ancestral Friendlies, although they were capable of releasing pheromonal signals promoting the development of larval Gangers into large and threatening guards, tentacle laborers, and sugar-accumulating storers, depending on their needs. While the Gangers are often outcompeted by Zebedis on an individual basis, their sociality allows them to maintain a niche of their own, and additionally has granted them an ability to thrive in more marginal environments that would discourage unspecialized Friendlies or lone Zebedis.
Zeph have continued in the tradition of their Ith ancestors, specializing more and more to predate upon the Zeppus and Rangipus that hover over the Arisian Ocean. With little to their bodies but two propulsive wings, two eyes and two predatory spikes, these predators surge out of their homes in the coastal shallows, gliding briefly through the dense atmosphere with the hopes of taking down their vulnerable prey. When a floating plant is punctured, the whole Zeph tribe will take turns huddling around its remains, defending their capture from other species and rival tribes, as they complete the slow process of externally digesting and absorbing their prey.
Swarmers enjoyed less success, adapting to a pack hunting strategy in the open ocean. With a body plan ill-suited to swimming, or any degree of predation on hard-bodied organisms, Swarmers were mercilessly outcompeted and wiped out by the various descendants of the Hobo.
The Harvester descended from the Arigogue, and specialized in predation upon land plants. Though its digestive system was little more than a simple pharyngeal sac behind its mouth, it possessed a complex slicing and chewing jaws structure that allowed it to break down all extant land plants with ease. The Roototil in specific has become a mainstay of the Harvester’s diet.
Preventing Harvesters from completely defoliating the Arisian coastline, however, are their close relatives the Hunters. Lurking in the coastal zones near zones of herbivory, Hunters leap upon and bite through the carapaces of Harvesters returning to the ocean, using jaws very similar to those of their herbivorous cousins.
Notras evolved to withstand critical losses of food supplies by entering into extended periods of hibernation. However, the epoch’s climate proved to be extraordinarily stable, especially in comparison to the upheavals of the Graderian. Thus Notras, who lacked the feeding adaptations of the Harvesters and Hunters, were outcompeted by specialists better adapted to thrive in times of plenty.
Notes: Daftpanzer, you gave the Zebedis an excretory system, circulatory system, skeleton and gills all at once. This felt like too much of a leap. Thus, I simply went with the more complex digestive system, and a skeletal system based on the pre-existing spikes. At this body size, you’re approaching the upper limits of what diffusion can do, so a proper circulatory system or some method of complex gas exchange might be good traits to pursue in the future. Also, propelling yourself backwards doesn’t make a ton of sense when you have a bit, ribbon-like tail that’ll get in the way.
Spoiler Extant Organisms :
Daftpanzer
canonically ambiguous
This may be a cliché, but: great update 
The new Hobo family gives me a warm glow
Alright, time to get back to basics. Think I'll go for a simple plant this time.
The new Hobo family gives me a warm glow Alright, time to get back to basics. Think I'll go for a simple plant this time.
filli_noctus
Hmmn
- Joined
- Nov 22, 2010
- Messages
- 2,221
Name: Burrower
Ancestor: Arisian Curatol
Selective pressure: Increasing predation and competition for food
Mutation: The forelimbs of the Burrower have adapted to be suitable for digging in the seabed and tidal regions. They can venture away from the saes provided they remain buried in damp soils. Their main source of nutrition are the roots and holdfasts of seabed and coastal photosynthesisers, especially the tubers of the roototils.
Ancestor: Arisian Curatol
Selective pressure: Increasing predation and competition for food
Mutation: The forelimbs of the Burrower have adapted to be suitable for digging in the seabed and tidal regions. They can venture away from the saes provided they remain buried in damp soils. Their main source of nutrition are the roots and holdfasts of seabed and coastal photosynthesisers, especially the tubers of the roototils.
Daftpanzer
canonically ambiguous
The cycle is repeating! Here I am thinking of how to get plant/filter feeder symbiosis going again. Here goes:
Ancestor: Sinker (Sejessian)
Selective Pressure: energy costs and predation associated with drifting in open seas
Mutation: Sinkers would often encounter floating swarms of Freefloaters in the Sejessian of the Hobonian era. Many would become snagged in these floating masses. A few would be able to feed and reproduce while embedded in the tangled branches. Over time, certain traits came to the fore; chiefly, the ability to morph and squeeze into pockets of silicate cover within the Freefloating branches. Thus the Nestler was born.
Hoping that Nestlers and Freefloaters can benefit from each other's waste products etc
Organism: Nestler
Ancestor: Sinker (Sejessian)
Selective Pressure: energy costs and predation associated with drifting in open seas
Mutation: Sinkers would often encounter floating swarms of Freefloaters in the Sejessian of the Hobonian era. Many would become snagged in these floating masses. A few would be able to feed and reproduce while embedded in the tangled branches. Over time, certain traits came to the fore; chiefly, the ability to morph and squeeze into pockets of silicate cover within the Freefloating branches. Thus the Nestler was born.
Hoping that Nestlers and Freefloaters can benefit from each other's waste products etc
thomas.berubeg
Wandering the World
Can we have a division of what's on land and not?
tuxedohamm
Disguised as crow.
I know the descendants of the Arigogue (Hunter and Harvester) are amphibious and the Roototil is a coastal plant. The entire Protlaepish line (Protlaepish, Zeph, Ith) jump out of the water to get the hovering(?) plants with the Zeph being the family that gets the farthest out. But they don't really go on land from what I can tell.
So your list would probably be:
Primary Producer:
Roototil
Spinators:
Harvester
Hunter
All coming from the Arisian Ocean.
So your list would probably be:
Primary Producer:
Roototil
Spinators:
Harvester
Hunter
All coming from the Arisian Ocean.
Roototils, Hunters and Harvesters all live on coastlines, but Hunters and Harvesters can only briefly go on land, they have to regularly return to water. All three of these organisms live in the Arisian Ocean. Zeppus, Polypus and Manipus hover over the water, while Rangipus are able to, on rare occasions, get blown over land. Thus, Rangipus have been able to disperse between the Arisian and Sejessian. This dispersal has brought Growers with them, due to Rangipus picking up Grower spores when they refresh their ammonia stores.
EDIT: And yes, all of the Protlaepish line can briefly jump out of the water.
EDIT: And yes, all of the Protlaepish line can briefly jump out of the water.
