Update 4 - The Galgatrosian Epoch
This epoch is named after the
Galgatron, the first true freshwater plant, that flourished at this time and left behind some immaculate fossil traces from sediments laid down in sheltered inland lakes and riverbeds, where no scavengers could yet disturb them. Observers at this time would see the first hints of something resembling plants reaching up out of the waters.
The climate warmed throughout this era, as there was a buildup of methane from volcanic sources as well as from the new swampy ecosystems that were forming far inland - this helped to counteract the ongoing loss of carbon from the atmosphere. At the same time, there was a diversification of scavenging animals and a recycling of nutrients and carbon. Although not returning to the previous norms, there was now less pressure on the tropical biomes. Nonetheless, this epoch is notable for the first notable round of significant extinctions in the fossil record, as the last survivors of several sub-groups finally flickered out.
Cold-adapted fife continued to flourish from the subtropics to the poles, where there were particular blooms of life during the long days of polar summers, followed by epic migrations and die-offs during the long dark nights. A few broken ice caps remained in the southern hemisphere, helping to nourish the freshwater systems there.
The aforementioned
Galgatron was a divergence from cold-adapted plant-like forms of the previous era, and continued to flourish in brackish, mixed waters amidst estuaries and tidal lagoons. Galgatron set itself apart by being able to grow directly in freshwater rivers and lakes. Still without any means of propagating itself beyond budding off and growing outwards in its immediate surroundings, it nonetheless seems to have gradually spread inland and upstream as a result of occasional storms and floods. Galgatron was also adapted to survive for short spells out of water, and could thus tolerate fluctuating water levels, which seems to have been a key to its success. Indeed, with nothing to eat away at the Galgatron growths now far inland, they tended to build up along riverbanks and lakebeds to form vast swampy biomes, rich with microbial life.
These plants set the stage for the appearance of
Snifahol, the first animal adapted to tolerate a degree of fresh water. As a slithering bottom-dwelling scavenger, vulnerable to passing predators, Snifahol would have had the relative sanctuary of estuaries and lagoons which other animals could only venture for short periods, and where it could slowly eat away at accumulated plant material. As another key advantage, it seems Snifahol also had the ability to detect scents in the water - an adaptation previously seen only in the Bigster family - which was particularly helpful in murky waters, and would help it save energy by moving directly towards food, and perhaps away from danger.
Meanwhile, there are signs of further spread of complex life along marine shorelines of the tropics and the vast tidal flats that often surrounded the landmasses. The versatile
Fjordzord is the first animal genus known to have been specially adapted for surviving short spells out of water, and once fully-grown are likely to have lived all of their short lives in the tidal zone. Although their soft fleshy bodies would not be able to survive in direct sunlight for very long, they were perhaps able to slowly crawl between tidepools and sand banks, feasting on the bounty of trapped plants and animals regularly brought in by the tides. In an example of convergent evolution, they show the same pattern of mass reproduction via tiny spore-like offspring as seen in other members of the Crawlzord clade, likely released at high tide back into the sea.
Almost unnoticed among the fossils of Fjordzord and the mixed-up remains of various sea plants and animals is the
Corsus. Although to this day the fossils are faint and ambiguous, the general consensus is that this represents an evolution of the fungus-like Moldus, and seems to have been adapted to life in the tidal zone and coastal marshes, with stronger and less delicate hyphae-like growths. Corsus would have been able to recycle nutrients from otherwise-stagnant saltwater lagoons and marshes, and likely had a mutualistic relationship with coastal plant life, further aiding the evolution of species in these biomes.
Another Crawlzorid, a distant cousin to the Fjordzord, made an appearance during this era -
Horgazorg built on the versatility of its ancestors which had evolved a form of symbiosis with photosynthesising bacteria, and an ability to swim above the seafloor for short periods, as well as a tendency to congregate in groups. Now they became the first branch of the Crawlzords to be equipped with something resembling a jaw, with various sharp biting mouth-parts in place of the tentacle-mounted barbs seen in their relatives - but in another example of convergent evolution, they also evolved an internal stomach that was almost identical to that seen in the Flailzord lineage. Horgazorg was a versatile genus with a varied toolkit for obtaining nourishment - from near-sessile filter-feeder, to blind ambush predator, to scavenger - though far from dominant in any single approach, it seems to have had a large population all across the tropics, and clustered groups of these creatures regularly show up in the fossil record.
Although the climate was gradually warming during this era, still more species were adapting to cooler climates, if only to take advantage of the lack of competition found there. Most prominent of these is the
Falgophage, part of the successful Xerophage family - free-swimming animals equipped with basic eyesight, biting jaws, and a primitive stomach able to digest a variety of food. Unlike its relatives, Falgophage was able to feast on the vast growths of marine Falgatron in cooler waters that had previously been out of reach of herbivores. Falgophage also added a further breakthrough, as it evolved to lay eggs as a means of reproduction, rather than an inefficient and sometimes-dangerous budding process. These eggs were larger and fewer in number than the ‘spores’ seen in other animal forms, but could be laid in areas with food and shelter for the emerging larvae, to great success.
Perhaps using polar Falgatron growths for breeding grounds, Falgophage seems to have roamed all across the oceans following currents and seasonal winds, being an opportunistic predator as well as mass-devourer of plant growths, and entering tropical waters to compete with animals there, although many would fall prey to their relatives the Harpazo in particular. Still, in terms of numbers and living biomass at any one time, the Falgophage genus was perhaps now only rivalled among animals by its relative, the filter-feeding Coolster, which continued to thrive in vast numbers in polar regions.
More humble than these was the
Mandreg, diverging from the Lochoreg - small wormlike scavengers that burrowed through the seafloor. Mandreg became the first scavenger able to tolerate cold water, and gradually spread all across the southern polar regions, where it was isolated for now. Mandreg may also have played a role in warming the climate as it distrubed polar coastal sediments and dug through accumulated plant remains which had lain dormant for some time. Mandreg also seems to have had an unusual reproductive process, with budding offspring remaining attached to their parent until they were rather large and well developed, acting somewhat like extra limbs, before detaching to face life on their own.
While the Falgophage was making an appearance, the Falgotron also began to face predation from its own relative in tidal biomes - the
Kleptotron was a branch of Falgotron that evolved to steal nourishment from its neighbours, using invasive parasitic tendrils. Kleptotrons also had an important development in the form of internal tubes - vascular tissue - that both offered structural support, and allowed nutrients to passively filter throughout the organism. Kleptotrons could thus grow up and above the Falgotron and other plant growths, smothering them in the process. This naturally led to a boom-and-bust cycle - where Kleptotrons killed off the local plant competition, they would not always be competitive as primary producers, and other species would gradually reappear, before the cycle repeated. Kleptotrons nonetheless helped with cycling nutrients, encouraging diversity of species, and equally provided food and shelter for animals like the Falgophage where their range overlapped.
Developments from the Bigster clade round out the evolutions from this era.
Flapmellester was a further evolution of the already-big and relatively-complex Lamellester. Unlike all its relatives, Flapmellester had the ability to actively swim against the current, and towards faint chemical scents indicating concentrations of plankton. Remarkably, it also seems to have had a form of ‘live birth’, in the form of an internalised chamber filled with nourishing fluid. Instead of its offspring randomly budding and breaking off from the underside of the creature, it seems they would now ‘bud’ interentally into this brooding chamber, where the offspring could mature in safety. When a suitable plankton swarm was encountered, the youngsters could then be released to feed on their own, and repeat the cycle.
It was a strategy that put more metabolic costs on the ‘parent’, but gave the offspring a head start and allowed the Flapmellesters to gain a bigger market share of plankton blooms, which they could devour very efficiently - while the sheer size and mild poison of their skin made them almost immune to predation. Still, although very successful, they were not able to monopolise the plankton food chain in the same way that Coolsters did in polar waters, due in part to slower growth rates and the sheer number of sessile and non-sessile competitors now found in the tropics.
Finally, the
Treester is notable for its mode of reproduction, seemingly originating from a degenerate budding process. Although closely related to Flapmellesters, appearances would suggest otherwise. Treesters were now largely sessile, growing attached to the seafloor. They were essentially a series of interlinked disc-shaped individuals, growing as a colony in a sequence, one on top of the other, eventually forming a stacked ‘tree’ of poisonous filter-feeding tissue. If distrubed, the individual parts could detach and function much like their ancestral Biggersters, perhaps to re-attach themselves to the seafloor to repeat the process. Treesters seem to have been moderately successful, and together with their relatives the Tubesters, and entangled plant growths, began to form something resembling reefs in some of the shallow tropical biomes with reliable amounts of plankton and nutrients.
Species List + Stats
Notes:
I’m not sure ‘Sexual Reproduction’ fits as a ‘gene’, as it’s a complex area and I’d quite like to leave it ambiguous. I think egg laying, or reproducing via spores, tends to imply some form of sexual reproduction or hermaphrodism. Although there is parthogenesis in lizards so… yeah
For this reason, I changed the Mandreg to have ‘egg laying’. If this is not suitable
@North King, I’ll be happy to retcon this in the update.
This update was a bit rushed, I may have skimmed over some things in species description, if so I will retcon later this week. Also I still haven’t decided on a ‘bonus’ system, will think a bit more about that, but please do continue to let me know your thoughts, either here or on discord.
My evolution: inspired by AN FOOTBALLS
Dodecaster - Daftpanzer
Evolved from: Blobster (Era 5)
Genes added: 1x Exoskeleton, 1x Filter Feeding
Description: the ancestral Blobster lineage had not stood still over the past few million years, continuing to change in subtle ways. A radical new evolution appeared at this time, featuring flat, polygonal hardened plates arranged around it’s exterior in a seemingly oddly inorganic, geometric pattern - various different shapes and configurations existing throughout this genus. Though not invincible, these armour plates provided decent protection against predators and parasites of the era. In grooves and hollows behind these plates, open at the joints, are now to be found multiple feeding channels, lined with more powerful cillia to drag in plankton and trap the food particles for digestion. With extra weight, the Dodecasters have less ability to maintain their buoyancy and desired depth, though they now have some protection if either falling to the seafloor or washed up on shore for short periods.
or other reactions.
, anyways think of the lancer as something like an aquatic assassin bug
