Turn 16EventStrength Dice: 2
Temperament Dice: N/A
...
Team PancakeNaturegirl1999:
absent...Kilojoule Proton:
absent...Demonic Spoon: Limiting the length of the branches: 3+1=4
Stout PlatetreeThe natural selection went to save the day once again. Platetree's no longer grow their branches to the point of unsustainability. Instead the branches eventually stop their growth.
The branch falling is a thing of the past now. But they share the dry land with someone else after so long, and their strange habits affect them.
Status: LC
Description: A green plant shaped like a flat, rough circle supported by a long, fuzzy stem that is about 5 meters long on average. This stem ends with dozens of fragile branches that all terminate with a single large circular leaf shaped like a pan. A deep and extensive system of roots at the bottom of its stem dig into the soil and harvest it for water and minerals. It reproduces by producing and shedding a puffy coat of small, perfectly airborne seeds that cover its stem. The walls of its cells are very durable and sturdy. It has a cavity filled with oil inside its stem, which used to store water and nutrients for the mean times. A system of veins course through its every tissue, and transport water and other essentials. It lives like your regular tree, forming vast, dense growths.
Habitat: Almost everywhere on the local continent.
Team Pasta VēlōcisA_Curious_Cat: Making the spinal collumn less elastic: 2+2+1=5
King Zultan:
Supports A_Curious_CatSexual Selection vote: A pair of electroreceptive lines on the sides of the animal: 3
Athletic BlishThe natural selection has been at play again. The blishes spine has been not only fixed, but improved on, do now it is much more controllable, while still being elastic, allowing the blish to make some fast maneuvers to escape danger.
This ability is partially aided by an oversensitive sense of electro reception that first appeared as an aid at finding mates, but then got refactored into a proper sense. But as it is a bit too sensitive, Bliah often panic because of nothing, and try to evade something that is not there.
A true predator is finally around. You have senses you can trust, and the predators attacks usually end in failure as its tactic has flaws, but you are still being hunted. The sense of smell is too archaic to be useful at detecting foe.
Status: VU
Description: An aquatic animal that is 50 centimeters long. It moves along the sea floor and above with a flagella-covered tail and digests any organic debris it can find through its mouth that leads to its complex, three sectioned digestive system, which leads to an anus. It has 10 black dots on its very front, 4 of them larger then the other 6. The smaller six form a hexagon that surrounds a square that is formed from the bigger 4, which surrounds a single jawless mouth. It uses these dots to smell the water around and act according to them, approaching or avoiding alike. These dots and everything this animal has as parts are connected to and commanded by a ganglion, which stands on the start of a spinal chord that runs from front to back of the animal that branches out to the rest of the body. It is close to a rod of cartilage that supports its body, and has an extension on its front that grants the animal a sense of airflow. Both of these are separately encased in a set of cartilage vertebrae, that form a backbone.The nerves also course the animals skin, and along with specialised sensors there, they provide a sense of touch. Along with normal skin, two distinct darker stripes of electroreceptive skin that allows it the sense the presence of other beings, albeit a bit unreliably. The ganglion is surrounded by 12 interlocking rings of cartilage. A fluid-filled internal cavity surrounds its digestive system and acts as a hydroskeleton, which is also surrounded by a net of zig-zag muscles that aid in its movement. A mane of thin and short crimson strands surround the head region, and functions as gills and ammonia disposal, along with a set of pairs of slits that function as additional gills. A system of blood-filled veins course through its body, powered by a single muscle pump. It reproduces by external fertilisation of eggs performed by two distinct genders. The fertilised eggs hatch into tiny juneviles, which reach full size and sexual maturity not too long after.
Habitat: Benthic waters.
Team Lagus Blobflazeo25: Keratin claws and teeth: 2
The Canadian kitten:
absent...Maxinum McDreich:
absent...Sexual Selection vote: Isolative keratin scales: 6
Scaly LagurasThe feet and mouth of Laguras are a bit incomfortable rigth now, due to their new teeth and claws. The claws and the adult teeth, which come out after and under the smooth and small baby ones, don't ever stop growing. So, unless Laguras do not use these often, they risk injury to their feet and mouth. Laguras now learn to always grind their teeth to the hard objects, such as the hard bark of Platetrees, which may die due to too much damage being done to its stem.
The permeable skin of Laguras have also changed. Laguras now possess a jagged armor of keratin that. This protects them from any outside element and it is a decent defense too. But it is a bit too heavy for Laguras. So they are now slower and heavier.
Status: NT
Description: A mammal-like animal 80 centimeters in length and 40 centimeters in width. It slowly strides along the forest floor and eats the plant matter there, but also eats corpses. It has a tail resembling of a fish, which is vestigial, and it also has two pairs of short legs to walk on land, which terminate in sharp keratin claws that never stop growing. Covering the body is smooth skin covered with jagged scales made of keratin, which it uses to feel touch and protect itself from danger and elements, respectively. And under that, there is a skeleton that keeps it rigid and provides pathways for its mucscles to work, also supporting cartilage that allows the bones to move smoothly. This is further augmented with a net of nerves just beneath the outer layer, which also controls its movement. This net of nerves converges into a lump in the head, which is a brain that houses a sex-crazed mind. It has a defined front side with a head, which has two giant, organised patches of heat sensitive proteins, kind of like heat eyes, that allows it to detect the amount of ambient and directional heat, and a jawed mouth with ever-growing keratin teeth that leads to a full digestive tract that also handles the ammonia disposal by sending it to an urethra that is integrated to the sex organs. 6 pairs of fleshy protrusions on its head function as sweat flaps. A set of veins and a heart transport nutrients and oxygen throught its body. Just above the eyes two long and flexible tendrils reside, and these end with fleshy orbs that produce heat, which equals to strong glow in their vision. These orbs also have cone and rod cells inside, which allows these orbs to function as primitive eyes capable of percieving shape, they can even change the amount of heat they produce to send messages to one another. It reproduces by the internal fertilisation by the peepee of Eral, and the 3 month pregnancy by Alur, who then gives birth and takes care of the juneviles.
Habitat: The Platetree forests.
Team Friendly PancakeKashyyk: Sea floor rakers; 5+1=
capped at 5Sexual Selection vote: Longer connections for better structural support: 6+1=7
Scourge HivecakeA presence has appeared along the depths of The Crater Sea. A large, monolithic structure that reaches from the sea floor to its surface, harvesting the sea floor off of its nutrients. The monolith is not actually a single extension, but thousands.
Its a hivecake colony, but with a new caste that uses its single, extremely long tendril to reach to the sea floor. This special tendril ends with a stump that houses a bunch of waterraker tendrils, which filter the soil they are put onto.
The depthraker is the name of this caste. They have powerful water pumps to transport the nutrients up tens of meters high.
But in the sunny side of thing, it could be better. An overexpressed but beneficial gene have wrecked havoc on the hivecake collectives. The connective tendrils that keep the colonies in shape are now growing long, like intended, but they do not necessarily do that one way, and usually in a very spindly way. The result is a spagetti like view that decreases the structural stability a ton.
Status: NT
Description: A complex of plants shaped like a flat circles with varying sizes. Long sturdy tendrils are used to form connections with others of its kind to transfer nutrients. Surrounding the edges of the pan is a coat of bonding proteins that allows it to stick to others of its kind. It's tissues are tough and supported by a framework of lignin to prevent injuries. It lives permanently stuck to the sea surface through the dozens of tiny oil-filled pimples across its body, which only some plants have. It can be found as mats numbering several tens of thousands plants, and never alone, as they die if they are separated. It features specialised subtypes. It has the ability to let others know if it is low on or has too much nutrients, or if its in pain by using the communal nervous system, which others will act accordingly by either giving or taking nutrients, or pulling their brethern away from danger and retaliating if possible. On every caste there are small tendrils specialised on chemoreception .The nutrient transfer is accomplished by a communal circulatory system that spans the entirety of a given hive, and it is powered by the beating of tens of thousands of internal water pumps. It reproduces by asexual budding from their pans edges to expand their colonies, and by incubating settlers, which are made by a process that makes them genetically distinct, when creating new colonies.
CastesSuncatcher: The green hivecakes with larger pans and the only ones that have oil pimples in their body, along with only having vestigial water pumps and their tendrils ony being connective ones. They compose the upper surface of a given colony. Their job is to photosynthesize and keep the colony afloat.
Waterraker: The pale white hivecakes with almost non-existant pans and non-existant pimples. Their water pumps are still external. Their job is to filter the water for any essentials and store nutrients in their cells. They do this by specialised filtering tentacles shaped like wide, long feathers.
Incubator: The specialised caste of hivecake that neither photosynthesizes or filters water. Instead, it produces genetically distinct settlers that grow into new colonies inside its oil filled womb, and eject them by turning inside out. It requires one or more drones to fuse into it everytime it makes a new settler. They have specialised tendrils that secrete a sticky nectar with drones in it.
Settler: The ones that produce new colonies by horizontally splitting into one suncatcher and a waterraker. They resemble both of their offspring, and are made.
Drones: This tiny, perfectly round caste specialises solely to be genetic carriers between Incubators. They are produced by Incubators and are placed inside the nectar until an animal eats the nectar, which then they hitch a ride find another Incubator and fuse into it, carrying the genetic material into the mix.
Strangler: A caste of highly modified waterrakers with a single purpose; catching live prey. Their tendrils are longer and have the ability to curl up very fast. They are also covered in a toxin that shuts down gills. They suffocate, then consume the prey, then send the nutrients to the rest of the complex.
Depthraker: A very derived waterraker that uses a single very long tendril to harvest the sea floor. Its water pumps are very powerful.
:Open sea
Team EraclitoLeonardo8: Cheeks: 1+2= 3
GOTOTOTOE:
Sexual Selection vote: An improved sense.of smell: 3+1= 4
Sealed EelsihThe Eelish no longer drop what they just ate thanks to a new fleshy coating that allows it to control its mouth better. These cheeks really do not add anything else. They are distinct though, but not as an another change.
One.can notice the lack of dots on the Eelishes face. Yep, they have been outphased. Instead Eelish use a set of four nostrils that line the cheeks, each connected into an internal cavity that is covered with chemoreceptive cells.
Eelish are now capable of smelling better.
A predators here, and even though it is not a big threat now, doesn't means it won't be. There are some casualties though.
Status: NT
Description: An serpentine, aquatic, mucus covered animal that is a meter long. It swims inside the colonies of hivecakes with slithering motions of its muscular body and tail fin and chews pieces from the said plants through a giant, vertically opening jaw lined with flesh that leads to its large gullet that it uses to store food, and then its three segmented, efficent digestive tract with a stomach and intestines, which leads to an anus. It moves in large troupes numbering up to a hundred and can hold complex communication with pheromonal signals. Its anus is also connected to a chain of gas bladders it uses to control it buoyancy and give its body its shape. It has 4 nostrils that allows it to read pheromonal signals or smell its environment. These dots and everything this animal has as parts are connected to and commanded by a chord of nerves that runs from front to back of the animal that branches out to the rest of the body. This cord of nerves is connected to a well developed brain. Two stripes of thin and short crimson strands course through the animals sides, and function as gills. Derived from these, a system of bloodfilled chambers and muscular valves pump blood through the animals body through thousands of thin veins. A set of glands that produce an antipoison to protect the gills. It is adaptable to many marine environments. It reproduces by external fertilisation of eggs performed by two distinct genders. The fertilised eggs hatch into tiny, neotenic, single segmented juneviles, which reach full size, shape and sexual maturity not too long after.
Habitat: The Hivecake collectives and the deep sea floor, and everywhere inbetween.
Team AkınMagmacube_tr
1) A water jet derived from gills: 1+1=2
2) A carnivorous digestive system: 4+1=5
3) A swim bladder: 3
Sexual Selection vote: Neural development: 5+1=6
Lunging LarlarinA sudden shift in the Amaranth lineage has occured overnigth. A predator is on the loose.
Only if it could move properly though...
A very strong and capable water jet has developed from the last gill chamber, which can launch the Larlarin straigth at prey, but Larlarin has no fins, so if they miss, which they usually do, they lose. Water pump itself is not enough. So the Larlarin usually just crawl with their ancestral stubs to around to move, as the water jet is too erratic.
But it does have some compensation for its troubles, because if they
do get their target, they usually win. They owe this to a very sharp and durable pair of chitin mandibles that help them get a grip on their prey and dig into a major vein. This mandibles lead to a digestive system adapted to digest meat, which ends just below the mandibles.
To not have it struggle to stay afloat, a swim bladder has developed. But it is not very useful due to there being no fins, or other reliable way of getting up in the first place.
And finally, perhaps the biggest change was done on its mind. The frontmost ganglion is now a brain, which coordinates its hunting endevours. It originally appeared from ones with better perception surviving better against threats. But it is still basal, and the three ganglions that control the bodily functions are a mess, as they are simply not enough.
Status: NT
Description: A semi-oval, predatory animal 30 centimeters in length. It crawls along the sea floor by using its six small legs and stalks any prey that it can get its mandibles in. These mandibles lead to its digestive tract that is adapted to digest meat, and ends just below the mandibles with an anus, forming an 'U'. On the empty space in this 'U', there is a swim bladder connected to the intestines. It has a long and thin, constantly wavering hump on its back that has seven internal chambers that it uses as gills, which also functions as the ammonia disposal. A eigth chamber is also present, but it is instead a strong, but unhinged water jet. It has a nervous system that controls its bodily functions, which converge into a chain of three ganglion, with a brain on the front. Six small protrusions line its mouth, and are used to smell around. It has a primitive, closed circulatory system that distributes the essentials inside its body. A skin layer surrounds the animal, giving it the sense of touch. It posesses two sets of eyes, one foward-looking and the other is on the sides. It reproduces by imternal fertilisation of females by other females sending exploding, minuscule male drones inside their wombs, and sibling squishing followed by the birth of 2 or 3 smaller Larlarin.
Habitat: Everywhere along the lake, wherever it can find prey.
EnvironmentOn the southern hemisphere of the planet Aqautico, on a continent named Samel, a giant warm saltwater crater lake called The Crater Sea resides.
Surrounding the sea, a verdant forest of Platetrees cover the flat ground far as eye can see. Its surface is covered with a layer of fluffy seeds that look and act like snow. It is silent for the most part, but a bit flashy and filled with high pitched wheezing and guttural sounds due to the communication and the sprawling walking style of the animal inhabitants, The Laguras that eat the seed snow and plant matter.
Through the east side, four rivers called The Harbringers follow curved, close-by paths to The Crater Sea, coming from a tall mountain range called The Snowtipped Wall. The mountain range is also very close to an active volcano. Along with the four rivers, there is a dry river bed, a remnant of a time when there were five of The Harbringers.
A smaller and much younger freshwater crater lake is also nearby, residing by the north of The Crater Sea. It is connected to the it by a small stream that used to carry toxic, heavy metals from the lake it comes from.
All these are on the continent Samel, which is surrounded by an ocean called The Big Blue.
Multicelluar life is abundant and complex. Vast collectives of "eusocial" plants can be seen along the deep sea. Sparse algal growths exist along the shallow shores as well, and used to be much more widespread than they used to be.
It is also very clearly present on the flat land surrounding The Crater Sea, as the Platetree forest.
Author
Topic: Competitive Evolution (Turn 18) (11/15) (Read 36910 times)