TheGryphonPrince
King
I'll change my points to help the trilobites survive the massive volcano.
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The Long Game
- Thread starter Daftpanzer
- Start date
Danwar
Warlord
Okay, last orders edit. If it's possible to spend a point for a species to just generically survive, then I will spend the fluctuating point on that instead.
Summary:
1 point into Tetrapod communality
1 point into volcano survival (or into ocean habitation if volcano survival is too unspecific)
Summary:
1 point into Tetrapod communality
1 point into volcano survival (or into ocean habitation if volcano survival is too unspecific)
Daftpanzer
canonically ambiguous
Thanks for the input guys!
I'm not going to reply to everyone about how they are breaking the rules - you can read them for yourself
just FYI if you are going outside the rules, I reserve the right to interpret your orders to 'best fit'.
ALSO: in future, if you could please edit your posts rather than posting new updated orders. I will tend to work through the thread post by post when putting together ideas for the update.
Thanks to Ninja Cow, we now have a discord channel if you want to ping me there about anything - #longgame
I've been very busy this week so I haven't put any 'stats' up yet - might not be useful at this point in the game, but I plan to keep track of who has impacted what. I'll work it out when I'm back from Scotland on Sunday (if I make it back - long boi train journey).
SALUTE
I'm not going to reply to everyone about how they are breaking the rules - you can read them for yourself
just FYI if you are going outside the rules, I reserve the right to interpret your orders to 'best fit'.ALSO: in future, if you could please edit your posts rather than posting new updated orders. I will tend to work through the thread post by post when putting together ideas for the update.
Thanks to Ninja Cow, we now have a discord channel if you want to ping me there about anything - #longgame
I've been very busy this week so I haven't put any 'stats' up yet - might not be useful at this point in the game, but I plan to keep track of who has impacted what. I'll work it out when I'm back from Scotland on Sunday (if I make it back - long boi train journey).
SALUTE
Angst
Rambling and inconsistent
+1 to volcano. :3
Also the "soft shell limb" trilobites I evolved before, if they exist, will try to make it through the volcano disaster. If I am unable to do this, another +1 to volcano instead.
Also the "soft shell limb" trilobites I evolved before, if they exist, will try to make it through the volcano disaster. If I am unable to do this, another +1 to volcano instead.
thomas.berubeg
Wandering the World
Suggestion that the mountain that cometh and forges Moddier be known as Mount Erniart; this is going to be a magnificent volcanic eruption!
This kind of supermassive eruption doesn't really form a mountain... it's going to be a Flood Basalt formation
Immaculate
unerring
- Joined
- Jan 22, 2003
- Messages
- 7,623
This thing starts out undersea?
thomas.berubeg
Wandering the World
Ailed did specify NW corner of the map, which looks pretty oceanic
Daftpanzer
canonically ambiguous
Epoch 2 - The Great Dying
This is an era in which budding diversity was suddenly and brutally snuffed out. It seems that for millions of years, sluggish movement of the continents had allowed a large amount of heat to build up in the planet’s upper mantle. Now one particularly massive volcanic hot-spot broke through a junction of ocean plates, in an area known as the Moddier Rift.
Beginning as an unremarkable area of volcanic smokers on the sea floor, the Moddier eruptions soon spread out and grew by orders of magnitude, until gigantic volcanoes rose kilometres above the waves - spewing out huge volumes of lava, gas and ash. At the height of the event, super-volcanoes were erupting almost every year, sending frequent tsunamis against the shores of the continents and devastating coastal biomes. Compounding the effect was the simultaneous opening of a rift between northern and southern halves of the Topican continent, causing further volcanism and creating another new volcanic island arc. The planet had not seen volcanic activity on this scale since long before complex life had evolved.
Ongoing for millions of years, the combined effects were devastating. A stratospheric layer of ash, frequently renewed by new eruptions, blocked sunlight, putting huge stresses on plant life and on plankton in the oceans. Poisonous volcanic gasses were dissolved in the water and spread by ocean currents around the world, putting further major stress on marine life and working their way into the atmosphere. A sharp spike in greenhouse gasses caused the global climate to heat up to dangerous levels, despite the lack of sunlight; equatorial water temperature soon exceeded 40 degrees celcius, which by itself killed off many forms of life and left the surface waters deficient in oxygen; the tropical regions became battered by near-constant hurricane-force storms, ripping up any large plants which still grew; in other areas, heavy rain and flash floods simply washed away plants and animals. The increased weathering of rocks by the extreme weather caused many areas of shallow water - previously the most bio-diverse habitats - to fill in with sediment, while also drawing down oxygen from the atmosphere through chemical reactions with the exposed rock. Combined with the reduction in plant life, oxygen levels plummeted - killing many large insects and arthropods - while carbon dioxide levels grew ever higher, encouraging the growth of poisonous anoxic microbes which only add to the cycle.
Whether by starvation, suffocation, poisoning, drowning, overheating, or the physical action of extreme weather, life has been devastated throughout the ocean and on all continents. No large animals or plants now survive outside of the deep sea. Most families of life were able to survive thanks to a few hardy species - almost all now concentrated in polar regions - but some have been lost altogether; the various Giant Fungus of Nessaria are completely extinct, as are the global lineage of Armoured Fish (including the recent crocodilian-like forms), Sea Scorpions (ancient, fearsome-looking aquatic predators), and many ancient reef-building species are also casualties, leaving the seas currently without anything resembling coral reefs.
Trilobites have been severely culled, losing most of their amphibious species - survivors only in isolated mountain lakes of Panzerna - and surviving with only a few, small, simple filter-feeders throughout the oceans, along with a few larger species adapted to life on the deep seafloor. On land, insects and arthropods have been severely thinned out, with no large arachnids surviving. As for the promising Tetrapod family, almost all species are now extinct - only a few hardy amphibious species survive globally, and the newly-separated region of North Topica is home to the only surviving Tetrapods which have by now adapted to live permanently on land, with thinly-shelled eggs; these are small, lizard-like creatures with very low energy demands, adapted to low oxygen levels and solitary lifestyles. More complex Tetrapod relatives had begun to appear before the extinction, with higher metabolisms and social behaviours such as shared burrows, but these creatures could not survive the turmoil of the last few million years.
While still appearing greenish from space, much of the land is now a warm, wet, windswept heathland, with hardy moss making up most of the vegetation. Deserts have shrunk, and the land has been fertilised by a dusting of volcanic ash, but there are no more forests; small vascular plants - with a mix of survivors from different families, seeds and spores now scattered all across the world - only grow in sheltered locations, and sheltered lakes are home to the last few remnants of kelp-like plants - though again, more complex forms of kelp that had begun to evolve have already gone extinct. Storms, floods and gigantic mudslides remain major problems for all surface biomes. Many inland lakes are completely anoxic, full of poisonous microbes. Microbial blooms have also taken over across the equatorial waters, which are now too warm and too low in oxygen for most complex organisms to survive.
For some species, there is an opportunity however; many new species of tiny insects and arthropods have adapted to low oxygen conditions and to exploit the new warm, moist heathland habitat. There has also been a surprise revival of velvet worms - ancient arthropods, among the first colonists of the land - along with relative newcomers, many species of terrestrial molluscs - both with and without shells - that now slither through the swamps and moss. In the northern and southern oceans, with a thinning-out of fish and ammonite species, squid-like creatures from the deep have begun to adapt and compete for these niches. The deep sea vents, in places where they remain stable, are home to heavily-derived trilobite species and large annelid worms, making up the largest animals alive at the moment - living in coolest and most oxygen-rich waters that remain, while benefiting from volcanic minerals that have filtered down through the surface waters.
As this era draws to a close, the eruptions are beginning to cease, but the planet remains on the brink of a runaway greenhouse effect - the oceans are already on course to start slowly evaporating. Even as the ash haze in the atmosphere begins to disperse, the stormy hot climate is not conductive to large-scale plant life, without which the atmosphere will remain suffocating to any large creatures.
Nessaria and Imperia have now merged to form the continent of Nessperia, with a huge mountain chain hosting some of the last deposits of ice on the surface of the planet. Western Panzerna has already begun to merge with this continent. South Topica is sliding past Panzerna in the opposite direction, heading east, while North Topica continues a relentless march to settle ontop of the north pole. The new micro-continent of Moddier (largely comprised of dramatic landscapes of solidified flood basalt) is largely stationary.
This is an era in which budding diversity was suddenly and brutally snuffed out. It seems that for millions of years, sluggish movement of the continents had allowed a large amount of heat to build up in the planet’s upper mantle. Now one particularly massive volcanic hot-spot broke through a junction of ocean plates, in an area known as the Moddier Rift.
Beginning as an unremarkable area of volcanic smokers on the sea floor, the Moddier eruptions soon spread out and grew by orders of magnitude, until gigantic volcanoes rose kilometres above the waves - spewing out huge volumes of lava, gas and ash. At the height of the event, super-volcanoes were erupting almost every year, sending frequent tsunamis against the shores of the continents and devastating coastal biomes. Compounding the effect was the simultaneous opening of a rift between northern and southern halves of the Topican continent, causing further volcanism and creating another new volcanic island arc. The planet had not seen volcanic activity on this scale since long before complex life had evolved.
Ongoing for millions of years, the combined effects were devastating. A stratospheric layer of ash, frequently renewed by new eruptions, blocked sunlight, putting huge stresses on plant life and on plankton in the oceans. Poisonous volcanic gasses were dissolved in the water and spread by ocean currents around the world, putting further major stress on marine life and working their way into the atmosphere. A sharp spike in greenhouse gasses caused the global climate to heat up to dangerous levels, despite the lack of sunlight; equatorial water temperature soon exceeded 40 degrees celcius, which by itself killed off many forms of life and left the surface waters deficient in oxygen; the tropical regions became battered by near-constant hurricane-force storms, ripping up any large plants which still grew; in other areas, heavy rain and flash floods simply washed away plants and animals. The increased weathering of rocks by the extreme weather caused many areas of shallow water - previously the most bio-diverse habitats - to fill in with sediment, while also drawing down oxygen from the atmosphere through chemical reactions with the exposed rock. Combined with the reduction in plant life, oxygen levels plummeted - killing many large insects and arthropods - while carbon dioxide levels grew ever higher, encouraging the growth of poisonous anoxic microbes which only add to the cycle.
Whether by starvation, suffocation, poisoning, drowning, overheating, or the physical action of extreme weather, life has been devastated throughout the ocean and on all continents. No large animals or plants now survive outside of the deep sea. Most families of life were able to survive thanks to a few hardy species - almost all now concentrated in polar regions - but some have been lost altogether; the various Giant Fungus of Nessaria are completely extinct, as are the global lineage of Armoured Fish (including the recent crocodilian-like forms), Sea Scorpions (ancient, fearsome-looking aquatic predators), and many ancient reef-building species are also casualties, leaving the seas currently without anything resembling coral reefs.
Trilobites have been severely culled, losing most of their amphibious species - survivors only in isolated mountain lakes of Panzerna - and surviving with only a few, small, simple filter-feeders throughout the oceans, along with a few larger species adapted to life on the deep seafloor. On land, insects and arthropods have been severely thinned out, with no large arachnids surviving. As for the promising Tetrapod family, almost all species are now extinct - only a few hardy amphibious species survive globally, and the newly-separated region of North Topica is home to the only surviving Tetrapods which have by now adapted to live permanently on land, with thinly-shelled eggs; these are small, lizard-like creatures with very low energy demands, adapted to low oxygen levels and solitary lifestyles. More complex Tetrapod relatives had begun to appear before the extinction, with higher metabolisms and social behaviours such as shared burrows, but these creatures could not survive the turmoil of the last few million years.
While still appearing greenish from space, much of the land is now a warm, wet, windswept heathland, with hardy moss making up most of the vegetation. Deserts have shrunk, and the land has been fertilised by a dusting of volcanic ash, but there are no more forests; small vascular plants - with a mix of survivors from different families, seeds and spores now scattered all across the world - only grow in sheltered locations, and sheltered lakes are home to the last few remnants of kelp-like plants - though again, more complex forms of kelp that had begun to evolve have already gone extinct. Storms, floods and gigantic mudslides remain major problems for all surface biomes. Many inland lakes are completely anoxic, full of poisonous microbes. Microbial blooms have also taken over across the equatorial waters, which are now too warm and too low in oxygen for most complex organisms to survive.
For some species, there is an opportunity however; many new species of tiny insects and arthropods have adapted to low oxygen conditions and to exploit the new warm, moist heathland habitat. There has also been a surprise revival of velvet worms - ancient arthropods, among the first colonists of the land - along with relative newcomers, many species of terrestrial molluscs - both with and without shells - that now slither through the swamps and moss. In the northern and southern oceans, with a thinning-out of fish and ammonite species, squid-like creatures from the deep have begun to adapt and compete for these niches. The deep sea vents, in places where they remain stable, are home to heavily-derived trilobite species and large annelid worms, making up the largest animals alive at the moment - living in coolest and most oxygen-rich waters that remain, while benefiting from volcanic minerals that have filtered down through the surface waters.
As this era draws to a close, the eruptions are beginning to cease, but the planet remains on the brink of a runaway greenhouse effect - the oceans are already on course to start slowly evaporating. Even as the ash haze in the atmosphere begins to disperse, the stormy hot climate is not conductive to large-scale plant life, without which the atmosphere will remain suffocating to any large creatures.
Nessaria and Imperia have now merged to form the continent of Nessperia, with a huge mountain chain hosting some of the last deposits of ice on the surface of the planet. Western Panzerna has already begun to merge with this continent. South Topica is sliding past Panzerna in the opposite direction, heading east, while North Topica continues a relentless march to settle ontop of the north pole. The new micro-continent of Moddier (largely comprised of dramatic landscapes of solidified flood basalt) is largely stationary.
Spoiler World Map :
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Immaculate
unerring
- Joined
- Jan 22, 2003
- Messages
- 7,623
Good stuff!
thomas.berubeg
Wandering the World
1) the Highlands lakes Kelps continue to evolve their great rising cycle. If the sun is barely visible at surface level, rise above what's blocking it during the day, and at night sink back down. As such, the Kelp lose their anchors, rising up during the day and sinking at night to re-hydrate.
2) Tetrapods are on the backfoot, sure, but don't count them out yet! Some families of these hardy little buggers, have developed the ability to regulate their temperature internally, rather than being dependent on the obscured sun.
2) Tetrapods are on the backfoot, sure, but don't count them out yet! Some families of these hardy little buggers, have developed the ability to regulate their temperature internally, rather than being dependent on the obscured sun.
Danwar
Warlord
Tetrapod have survived the catastrophe - that's what matters. From here, the species can recover and grow once more.
With a major cooling down of the atmosphere by others, I will no longer need to spend a point on cooling. With a recovery of the atmosphere and a lessening of its stormy and unstable tendencies, hopefully the Tetrapod will be able to once again have enough sustenance to feed communities. Spend a point on resurfacing Tetrapod communal genes and another on beginning to evolve intelligence.
With a major cooling down of the atmosphere by others, I will no longer need to spend a point on cooling. With a recovery of the atmosphere and a lessening of its stormy and unstable tendencies, hopefully the Tetrapod will be able to once again have enough sustenance to feed communities. Spend a point on resurfacing Tetrapod communal genes and another on beginning to evolve intelligence.
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Immaculate
unerring
- Joined
- Jan 22, 2003
- Messages
- 7,623
Chemotrophs Bioluminescence-based Communalism
All the energy being released by the increasingly active geology of the planet has been a huge boon for chemotrophs clustered around sea vents. They will begin evolving strategies for primitive cooperative behavior (derived from the quorum-sensing evolutions from last turn) based on bioluminescence. Most of the lifeforms here are like coral-derived filter feeders at this point and cooperation basically means territorial control and perhaps some resource-sharing to cover territory further from active vents to capture more total energy even if at lower efficiencies.
Accelerate Evolution of Squid Species
With primary prey disappearing, new pressures are forcing the various squid-like species to compensate. Some are moving towards more omnivorous diets, feeding on kelp and moss species as well as worms and mollusks, while others are learning to hunt remaining fish more effectively by becoming ambush hunters using kelp nests for concealment.
They are increasingly, across the species, evolving more complex sight, smell, hearing/sonar, and electroreception to make them better hunters/foragers.
All the energy being released by the increasingly active geology of the planet has been a huge boon for chemotrophs clustered around sea vents. They will begin evolving strategies for primitive cooperative behavior (derived from the quorum-sensing evolutions from last turn) based on bioluminescence. Most of the lifeforms here are like coral-derived filter feeders at this point and cooperation basically means territorial control and perhaps some resource-sharing to cover territory further from active vents to capture more total energy even if at lower efficiencies.
Accelerate Evolution of Squid Species
With primary prey disappearing, new pressures are forcing the various squid-like species to compensate. Some are moving towards more omnivorous diets, feeding on kelp and moss species as well as worms and mollusks, while others are learning to hunt remaining fish more effectively by becoming ambush hunters using kelp nests for concealment.
They are increasingly, across the species, evolving more complex sight, smell, hearing/sonar, and electroreception to make them better hunters/foragers.
Omega124
Challenging Fate
1. With the enviroment returning to normal, the amphibious trilobites will start to expand once more outside of their mountain lakes, to repopulate Panzerna. With the mass culling of tetrapods and arthopods, there shall be less overall competition for this ancient and proud clade. We will rebuild, and we will make trilobites great again.
2. Meanwhile, in the oceans, a younger clade will use this opportunity (panzer willing they actually survived the mass extinction) in order to assert its dominance in the ocean: the coelacanth. These bony fish are (realtively for this age) agile predators, and while not as armored as the now-extinict armored fish, still are resiliently bony.
2. Meanwhile, in the oceans, a younger clade will use this opportunity (panzer willing they actually survived the mass extinction) in order to assert its dominance in the ocean: the coelacanth. These bony fish are (realtively for this age) agile predators, and while not as armored as the now-extinict armored fish, still are resiliently bony.
TheGryphonPrince
King
In spite of the hardships endured in the last few million years, the amphibian trilobites are starting to heal their wounds from the massive volcanic explosion, especially considering the lack of any competitors (1 point) and some hardier species are starting to look for food beyond the oceans (another point)
thomas.berubeg
Wandering the World
Marcher Jovian
Emperor
- Joined
- Jul 12, 2013
- Messages
- 1,242
1. Vascular plants begin to adapt to the changes and encroach upon the heathlands.
2. A few vascular plants take to the lakes and become freshwater aquatic plants.
2. A few vascular plants take to the lakes and become freshwater aquatic plants.
