What about me?
Whoops, sorry, here you go:
Garzakins: Your kind begins in one of the higher areas of the thermal zone, stricken by famine. The current nest is barren, and you have left to find a new home in greener pastures. You have the advantage of large numbers however, and you can be confident that predators will avoid you in search of easier prey.
What about me? I'm playing humans, btw.
Sorry, but humanity would be entirely unable to survive in a subterranean environment. You're going to have to write up a new species.
The Nests must adapt. Food is scarce; as the heat rises, so will we. The Old Nests will remain, to gather the softened material for insurance against future starvation. Meat rots; metal does not. So has it always been, and so shall it be.
You search for days, time measured by the rhythmic pulse of the Earth, growing warmer and colder like the tide. You ascend Coldward in search of new food, and manage to locate a massive worm slowly tunneling it's way through the rock. It's gray and slowed with age, but you still feel it could be dangerous. If killed, it could feed your nest for hundreds of days. You have also found a nest of smaller, voraciously hungry Dartlings. They are colored brightly as if to display a poisonous quality, but your kind knows that truly lethal poison is rare and hard to maintain, requiring exotic minerals from the deep earth. It's not unlikely they are faking toxicity to scare away predators like you. Both choices present risks.
The Graxid mill around restlessly. They defend their cavern aggressively and send out scouting parties in search of a new home.
You've located three possible spots. One is a series of caves in the wall of the massive cavern, more stable than your current location. There might be other creatures, more dangerous, dormant within, however. Another is a high-up plateau, completely uninhabited. Your scouts feel that, being so high up, it is perhaps dangerous-the sky can be seen, just barely, and the creatures of the Radiation Belt have instinctually learned to avoid open sky. The third location is in the open, in the middle of the huge cavern. Food there would be especially plentiful, and you may have the numbers to keep yourselves safe from normal predators. However, your oldest matriarch has expressed extreme distress whenever this location is suggested. Thirteen Graxid have been killed defending the nest against predators.
Have a few of the pack hide outside the nest. While more go out searching for other prey.
Eyul: Your few ambushers have no luck finding their nest. They are, for now, very well-hidden. Your scouts have better luck; you've located a couple of targets. One is a massive and aged stone-worm; these creatures are large enough to feed you all for months, but it would be difficult to kill even in it's advanced age. The other is a nest of tiny invertebrates, numbering in the thousands. The scouts that arrived there earlier were able to kill several of these creatures without reprisal.
Yrb: For now, expand outside the main cavern, colonising the maze of twisty passages, all alike. Strengthen the [aversion] psychic impulse to more strongly deter predators.
The power of your [aversion] seems to increase with the size of the colony, and it's already stronger here than it ever was in the past. However, the Salandrians are growing irritated at your presence in their tunnels, as you are making an already-difficult navigation of the tunnels even more difficult. The heat in the cave has increased slightly.
Kuyeth: Continue to expand in all directions with their high level of reproduction.
You have seemed to reach the limits of your expansion Coldwards and Hotwards without any further evolutionary adaption. You do make some progress towards the center of the thermal belt, but your young are quickly devoured by the numerous hostile animal species.
Salandrians: Send males to scout for new housing, or at least food.
You have no luck with finding a new home, but you do manage to locate the nest of the Eyul. Long-time predators of your species, they seem to be unable to locate your current home.
You also locate a large dead Borak. It seems to have been scalded to death after falling in the magma and dragging itself a short distance onto shore. It will feed you for a short time.
a suggestion or the players, to make keeping track of who does what more easily: post the name of your race at the beginning of your suggestions.
Ixid: breed and multiply. Have a few attempt to catch rides on the dirigids, for funsies.
I'm guessing that ATHATH's Boraks are in the thermal belt, as they ingest magma and fire it as a weapon.
The Dirigids indeed prove able to levitate your species, with one held in every hand. There is currently no way of controlling their direction, and they flail about wildly in bursts of gas and motion in attempts to dislodge you.(note: after the dirigid's recent action, they have grown more docile and allow you to float about with them.) They seem none the worse for the wear, however. Your numbers have grown by 50.
Dirigids: multiply (which they do asexually, btw), designate some sort of communal gathering place. Investigate the Ixid that are attempting to catch rides on us, and generally be cooperative with their attempts.
You stop struggling when they attempt this behavior, and it indeed becomes a lot less stressful. You are barely capable of pushing the Ixid-Dirigid bundle in one direction with your gas jets, but perhaps if you could generate more force it would be easier. You begin to gather on a plateau, one frequented by small lizards. You float slightly above the plateau's surface for safety. If you remain too long, you may attract larger winged predators, however.
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In an effort to provide me with unbiased options for your attempts to find food and nests, I am implementing a travel system. You may travel Coldward(upwards), Hotward(downwards) or in any of the other cardinal directions. Just announce which one you are traveling in with your action.
Also, to any new players, we need more people in the Radiation Belt. Just make an application and you can join immediately.
Beyond that: I am presenting the focal feature of this stage of the game:
EVOLUTIONSEvery time I reply to one of your actions(if it is of sufficient length and complexity) you will be given an evolutionary point. This will be good for one small change: for instance, if the Yrb wished to begin emitting a sticky secretion, that would take only one evolutionary point, as it is a relatively small alteration. If, however, the Dirigids wished to become radiation-resistant enough to venture outside the ground for a short period, that would take three evolutionary points-it would be more if they were not already radiation-resistant. If the Salandrians wished to develop a psychic connection with the Yrb, that would take 5 points, as it is an extreme departure from their current biology, but is at least helped along by their proximity. If the Kuyeth wished to grow into huge tunneling-worms like have been previously mentioned, that would take 10 evolution points, as it is essentially remaking the entire species.
After this post, simply announce your planned evolution in your action-set. I will inform you of it's completion if it took only one point, or of how many points it will need if it takes more.