Era 4: The Cipherous Era
This era is named for the sudden appearance of the first structural shells that survived from this period.
This Era is noted for a sudden increase in global temperature. Possibly due to abnormal stellar fluctuations. This caused climatic havoc and affected most notably plankton levels, though changes in the light spectrum reaching the surface also affected photosynthesizers slightly. Numerous species of plankton died out completely, particularly the most nutrient and energy dense species. Effects were felt up the food chain. This led to the multi-cellular creatures needing to be more efficient in design or risk extinction.
Those affected by the change in plankton composition were:
Tailus Smellus, where only the most dedicated feeders could maintain enough energy to get around to reproducing;
Introvaaus, which had a similar problem and was forced to spend more time closer to the surface; and the
Tailus Numerous which slowly died out after appearing, unable to maintain enough energy to regularly reproduce successful offspring.
All the plants continued to survive in the adjusted light though changes in populations did occur. In the polar climates, the
Indagator took longer to grow and bud off offspring. This provided opportunities for the less complex
Frozen Slimer to rebound in numbers, as it was able to grow faster and reproduce sooner. In warmer waters similar events occurred.
Peregrinor and
Haptor numbers decreased due to slower growth, though were still doing fine overall; however, this led to a rebound of
Slimer Secondus growth and to a lesser degree
Slimer Stabilius. With more light reaching the sea floor, some Frozen Slimers started moving back into the region. The
Spector took longer than any other plant to grow, but with its odd mix of traits it could target regions of higher animal activity or better sunlight and managed to survive. The
Coastal Slimer was the first plant to successfully move out of the water. With no competition for space and no predators on land, it was able to grow unchecked. This provided some much desired shelter for the early land creatures.
In the warm shallows, the plant eating
Tailus Bentus struggles to pull enough energy out of the plants it eats. It is possible the change in light has changed the energy density of available plants. However it is currently not facing too much direct competition. The Senatros and Oratros occasionally make an appearance, but spend most of their time in cooler waters.
The
Passenger and it descendants increased in population. Though easy prey, their lack of complexity allowed for faster growth and increased numbers. The Passenger found new homes all across the sea floor and couldn't be eaten fast enough to limit its growth.
Tendrilled Passengers did well without a host also, but found greater success when latched onto one of the crawling creatures. The
Tendrilled Manipulator didn’t grow as fast, but still found success with rudimentary tentacles which allowed it to choose a host, or lease a host. The
Condenser was able to survive outside of water for short periods of time, but at the moment unless it was the Artropodia Sufessia, the host creature couldn’t draw enough moisture from the Condenser to survive out of water.
The
Artropodia Nessia and
Artropodia Clanessia held similar numbers after the climatic change. Artropoda Nessia grew quicker, but was an easier target for predators, the Artropodia Clanessia continued to be slightly more dominate with better defenses and the underwater ‘Killing Fields’ continued to exist albeit with more sunlight. The
Artropodia Sufessia was a new member to the family and spent much of its time in the same areas as the Artropodia Clanessia, but it could also be found venturing for short moments out of water, foraging the washed up corpses. However, a lot of time had to be devoted towards foraging and so its numbers suffered. A Artropodia Sufessia with a Condenser (or other member of the Tendrilled family) on it, was a near certain casualty.
Pockets of
Clawer Pheremoni continued to exist. They could maintain a population, but heavy competition and predation kept their numbers low.
The
Cutter suffered increased competition and became a mostly solitary hunter. It needed to spend less time seeking food compared to the Swarmer, but would have to back down from any competition that wasn’t the
Vampira Stomachus who was evenly matched. However, the Vampira Stomachus needed even less time seeking food so its numbers were slightly more.
The
Swarmer spent more time seeking food, but had advantages in its numbers. Localized food shortages could cause havoc with Swarmer numbers and quickly cause a small group to become no more than one or two.
The
Vampira Lapsus began to make the jump from bottom dweller to mid-level swimmer. Tailus Bentus became an easy food source for a lazy Vampira Lapsus, but all the swimmers were potential prey. Though it could swim, it wasn’t found often in the open sea.
The
Tailus made a come back with the decline of the Tailus Smellus, but the Tailus Absorbia had the largest numbers of the Tailus descendants. It was more efficient at getting energy from the altered food supplies and filled a void left by the Tailus Smellus.
The
Orophulas remained a widespread swimmer found in the polar climates and in warmer regions, though it faced greater pressures there. The
Cipher could be found in warm or cold seas. It could survive the predation risk in the warmer waters better than the Orophulas and so more Ciphers could be found there.
The
Oratros continued to do well on a mixed diet that included plants and plankton. The
Senatros was able to find plants when plankton was scarce and survive leaner times when the Oratros would just suffer.
The
Barbed Eater continued to have low numbers. It produced faster, but heavy competition from its descendants made life difficult. The
Webed Eater suffered most. It was more complex than the Barbed Eater, but wasn’t able to find prey any better than it.
The Eater however was able to better sense prey around it and trigger its swimming more efficiently. The Eater was the top predator of the open sea.
The
Sea Drifter and the
Sun Drifter both continued to survive, but the Sun Drifter continued to block access to the sun from the Sea Drifter whos numbers continued to decline.
Far in the deep sea, the
Thermal Miner continued to thrive. The
Kato Skavoun’s numbers began to decline and the
Kato Toxicanum went extinct. The
Altum Comedentis and
Altum Carnem both continued to do well.
The
Tidal Skavoun maintained superiority of the land along the water’s edge. The addition of the Coastal Slimer provided shelter and tiny holes were common in the dirt along the edge of Coastal Slimer growths.
Finally, though not the least off, the
Thermus Minara lived a slow existance on the cold shallows floor. It is possibly the most simple organism alive during this era and thrived in the uncontested poles.
Creature List
BONUSES:
+1 gene to Northen Wolf for the Coastal Slimer's success on land.
+1 gene to Daftpanzer for Orophulas increased success.
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@All: I am sorry for the delay. In my excitement I went too fast on those first few updates and allowed myself to burn out. I stepped away for a moment and spent my time with Dwarf Fortress, Simutrans, Celestia, Kerbal Space Program, NES and SNES emulators, and relaxed over the holidays. I also spent some time revising how I would handle complexity and energy needs. I think I've worked things out for now. As far as future updates, they won't be every other day; I don't want to burn out again. My goal is to have one every couple weeks. Hopefully that will meet your satisfaction.
@filli_noctus: I adjusted the gene to water retention for now. Your creature can survive near shore out of water, but transferring the moisture to others would be a bit much without more genes.
@North King: You had added two new genes. Based on the description I think you wanted the eyes. I left the plankton eating for now because it might not have survived without it with my changes since I couldn't also add the extra plant eating you had added.
@All
AGAIN!: Because of the changes and as a test, I will allow
TWO new genes to be added this turn. (Plus a bonus if you have one).
(Creature stats may not be updated until Monday so please be patient if possible). EDIT: Creature List updated.