OOC: Sorry for being so late. But it would not be a valid update without a deadline missed by at least several hours. It is part of our cultural traditions.
Era 13: The Amphoric Era
This era is named after a group of famous, well-preserved Flying Amph fossils which date from this time period (it seems some flew over land into shallow, muddy pools, perhaps to breed, though some were unable to escape). The stomach of once such fossil was found to contain the fossilised bones of Cloudfish, Propelled Finners and Slitheries, and surprisingly several fin bones from a Grey Hunter, as well as something else that may be the poison tentacle of a Tentalux (swallowing this could easily be the cause of death), though some scientists claim that the fossil really shows traces of a Jet-Spike embedded in the underside of the Flying Amph (no complete fossils of Jet-Spikes have ever been found to collaborate this theory).
There are few signs of any natural catastrophes occurring in this era. The climate stayed relatively warm and stable, and many species were able to thrive.
New Evolutions:
Winners:
With the evolution of a bony skeleton (by no means the first species to evolve this), the
Cloudfish gained several advantages over the Squigglies and soon replaced them in all areas of the ocean. The Cloudfish had a nice combination of protection, senses, movement and digestion efficiency. It was however getting more and more complex, and although it soon had enormous populations (especially in cooler, plankton-rich waters), it was not able to spawn in as great a number as the legendary Wavys had once done.
The
Slithery already looked doomed at the start of this era, but by the end it had a stable (if small) population. As its descendents got more complex and energy-demanding, the Slithery was better suited to some quieter and poorer areas of the ocean.
Flying Amph took flying to a new level. With both gills and lungs, it could fly for hours without returning to the water. It remained the fastest predator and the one best suited to catching fast-moving prey. Though its high energy needs kept it confined to areas with the most prey.
Propelled Finner was very successful, having lots of sea plants to eat, and being fast enough to avoid predators most of the time. Its gills were the most developed of any animal yet seen, allowing the Propelled Finner to burn energy at a very fast rate when needed. Combined with a good swimming ability, it was easily the fastest animal in the ocean during this era. It was only limited by its dislike of cold waters, which had many more plants waiting to be eaten...
The
Garbage Eater was able to compete with the other scavengers like the Da and Dibbler MkIIs, partly due to its swimming ability (letting it search larger areas for food), and partly due to its simplicity. It was completely defenceless against predators, though it tended to be ignored due to its small size and lack of nutrition.
Carpets of hardy
Proto-Fern soon covered even greater areas of land than their predecessors, the majority of which was still too dry and too harsh to support any land animals. In terms of land-area covered, this species was the dominant plant on the planet during this era, beating all of its cousins. The older Proto-Moss species still survived in smaller numbers.
The
Big Fanel V2 was rather successful, but only replaced its predecessor, and didnt greatly expand the area covered by large plants (the forests). But more importantly, the new variety produced a lot more fruit to feed land animals (obviously the climbing Scensurytes gained most benefit).
Efficient Zeeboo remained a very complex and adaptable plant, with much bio-chemistry going on within its cells. Although it could take a century or more for the plants to reach full size, they produced abundant spores and off-shoots, and remained the only species able to survive in certain kinds of terrain. By the end of this era, dense patches of regenerating Zeeboos (with some plants being thousands of years old) covered a large portion of drier and more mountainous land areas, remaining completely undisturbed by any animals.
Venatoryte became the most complex land animal and a successful hunter, though it did not have it easy - its claws gave no guarantee of success against its well-defended prey, especially the tough Terradids. It was also the first species to re-evolve a true walking ability after the extinction event #1, though its legs were still less developed than the legendary Dreadnoughts.
Mudvalions were yet another successful offshoot of the Valion genus, this one an evolution of the Simplavalion which took to life in coastal areas and swamps. With its powerful bite, it was a danger to all land animals, though it was more of a laid-back ambush predator, and didnt clash with Venatorytes too often.
Jubblerus Maximus did very well on its isolated continent. With its flying ability, vision and sense of smell, it was usually the first scavenger to reach fresh carcasses. By the end of this era, it was beginning to spread further across the planet (perhaps carried hundreds of miles over the oceans by storms).
Large numbers of brainy and versatile
Quadruplers were to be seen living on the shallow sea floors, especially in colder waters. They were a good meal for predators if they could be caught in the open, though their brain power made them more alert, and their new skeletons made them a bit less pleasant to chew on.
Grey Hunter is worth a mention as it remained the most numerous and widespread predator, and was the main reason for the final extinction of the War Deathrex.
However the
Sociavalion MkII became the new competitor against the Grey Hunter in the warmer waters. The battle between these two lines of evolution became fierce...
While the Grey Hunters focused on pack hunting, the Sociavalion MkIIs were more social in other areas the sharing food and rearing of young. They were also much more intelligent (comparatively speaking, as no species was especially smart at this time), and thus were able to work out the habits of their neighbouring animals, and how to exploit them. They also had a slight edge in terms of weaponry, though this didnt matter too much both species could easily kill the main prey animals like the Cloudfish. Meanwhile Sociavalion MkIIs eyesight (the Grey Hunters still being more or less blind) gave them the advantage at hunting during the day, though the Grey Hunter had more senses overall, and was particularly successful at night. The Sociavalion MkIIs could however retreat into much deeper waters if threatened. Finally the egg-born young of the Sociavalion MkII retained their ancestors ways of feeding on plankton until they moulted into adults, giving them a somewhat easier, though longer time of development, while the live-born young of the Grey Hunter were flesh eaters from birth, and were much more efficient at extracting energy from flesh.
Despite the close competitors for prey, both species were different enough that each still had its own place in things, at least for the time being.
Endangered Species:
Intellavalion was on the sidelines during this era. Although the most intelligent species yet seen (allowing it to plan traps for its prey), its population remained small, as the Sociavalion MkIIs and Grey Hunters took over the main hunting niches. Lacking any properly-developed gills, it was at a disadvantage against its more active cousins when chasing the ever-faster prey.
Terranoplang depended on animals to spread its seeds, and thus remained roughly confined to where herbivores lived. This gave it a much smaller range than where it was actually adapted for surviving, and left it competing directly against all the other plant species, with no real advantages over any of them. Though producing fruit gave some other benefits (like attracting a herbivores attention away from the main body of the plant), this species was becoming increasingly rare by the end of the era.
Small groups of
Brown Hunters survived in isolated lakes, estuaries and inlets. But the species seemed to be on the way out, as they were replaced by Grey Hunters wherever the two mixed.
After their ancestors spent millions of years trying to be avoided by other animals, the
Yuckius Yummius had difficulty in becoming a predator. Their complete lack of offensive weapons didnt help. They were however surprisingly fast, had eyesight (which was still quite a rare sense for predators) and could spend time rooting around for small defenceless animals like the Das, Zibblers and Garbage Eaters (things that more energy-demanding predators tended to ignore), while still being avoided by other predators themselves. However, the population remained dangerously low, a tiny fraction compared to the numbers of the Yuckius Lookus that were still floating around the ocean.
The
Super Yucky Finner and
Jet-Spike clung on for another era.
Extinctions:
The
War Deathrex went extinct after endless battles with its better-armed and stronger rivals.
New evolutions caused all other extinctions:
Mining Zeeboo,
Jumping Zibbler,
Prime Finner II,
Flying Ace,
Socivalion,
Tripler,
Shellster Planktovorapod,
Big Fanel,
Squiggly,
Early Zeeboo, and
Nitros Chewus.
Planet Map:
The isolated continent known as Oroseph is on a collision course (at the speed of continental drift) with another small continent coming from the west, one that contains all the usual land animals. Meanwhile the main super-continent is continuing to break up, though island chains and land bridges should allow the spread of animals for some time to come yet.
Warm Shallows:
Cold Shallows:
Open Ocean:
The Deep:
Nothing much has changed here, again.
Cold Land:
Temperate Land:
Oroseph Continent:
Large plants, Respirytes, Scensurytes and Venatorytes are still missing from this continent.
Bonuses:
Plant award: Big Fenal V2.
TerrisH gets +1 gene bonus.
Animal award: Quadrupler.
C&cciv3 gets +1 gene bonus.
Innovation award: None this time!
Survival award: Dibbler-Ice.
Splime gets +1 gene bonus.
Story award: Lord Iggy gets +1 gene bonus this time.
Species Stats: (please check before evolving etc)
*Stats post link*
Problems:
@Splime, I kept crawling for the Jubblerus Maximus so it could land gracefully, and manouver itself on land, like a fly. Else it would need to fly constantly.
@cvlowe, I counted the teeth as improvement to the jaw.
@ erez87, sorry you are not allowed to request that a species doesnt go extinct, there wouldnt be much point to the game if that was so
plus it would be unfair on the other people who have already lost many creatures. The propelled finner was too good for the old version to survive too.
A note about scavenging and flesh eating (not directed at anyone, just wanted to clear this up) For this game, eating dead things is being adapted to eat rotting flesh/vegetation, things loaded with harmful bacteria that other creatures couldnt handle. Flesh Eating is being adapted to get the most nourishment from raw flesh of other animals. Things that can eat dead things could also be the ones to kill their food, but they wouldnt get as much nourishment without flesh eating.
thanks for the story!
BTW shouldn't you be working at work? 
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