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Nereus; A place for exploration and adventure!
Topic Started: May 27 2009, 04:26 PM (72,193 Views)
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Okay, I’m working on a project where humans send a colony ship to a planet discovered orbiting Eta Cassiopeiae, a star known traditionally as Achird. Named Nereus, after the Greek Titan who fathered many beautiful daughters, the planet is appropriately abounding with exotic life forms.

Nereus is roughly 60% the size of Earth, but due to undetermined astronomical events in the planet’s formation, it is roughly half again as dense, leaving it with a surface gravity of 0.91 g. The popular theory is that Nereus actually started its development as a gas giant, but the early gravitational perturbations of sister planets shifted it into a closer orbit, where many of the lighter gasses were drawn away. Such an event would also explain the unusual level of Neon in the planet’s atmosphere, a characteristic that, along with the marginally lighter gravity and otherwise dense atmosphere, allows for some truly impressive aerial life.

A majority of the planet’s biology follows a pattern referred to as ‘tetrabrachia’, consisting of four limb-like elements. Many specimens, both aquatic and terrestrial, exhibit a radial, tetrahedral formation, while others have reconfigured into a more Earth-like bilateral symmetry.

That’s most of what I have for now, but I plan to post some maps, pictures, and explanations of a few specimens I’ve figured out so far. Suggestions? Anything sound interesting enough that I should put more work and focus into it before moving on to other things?
Edited by Empyreon, Sep 14 2009, 05:27 PM.
Take a look at my exobiology subforum of the planet Nereus!

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ATEK Azul
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i like the idea of this world and i would love to sea the flying organisms truthfuly.

great job so far and keep going.
I am dyslexic, please ignore the typo's!
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Sounds good! At the moment I have a few aquatic specimens, some land creatures and a couple of flyers. I'll see what more I can come up with in the air department!
Take a look at my exobiology subforum of the planet Nereus!

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Pictures could really help make this project even cooler :) .
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You want pictures? Here's your steenking pictures!!! ;)

Nereus features four major oceans: Austral, Boreal, Brilliant, and Medial. They separate the planet's continents: Altai and Kaldaz, a paired continent known for their mountain ranges and glaciation, respectively; the heavily forested Muraina; Palissa, a narrow strip of land with a variety of climates and biomes; Vacivus and its vast highland deserts; and Vibuvolar, which gets its name from from the majestic reptile-like creatures that fill its skies.

Edit: There is one other landmass of note. While not large enough to be considered a continent, Frigus is a large polar island and home to the noteworthy dominoes.

So what do you think of the names? At this point I consider them acceptable, but subject to change.
Attached to this post:
Attachments: Map_Template_small.jpg (191.49 KB)
Edited by Empyreon, May 29 2009, 10:19 AM.
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Common Fish Dragon

Kingdom: Nereozoa
Phylum: Tetrabrachia
Class: Tarsoparia
Order: Draconiformae
Family: Aeronadae
Genus: Pelorus
Species: Piscator

One of the planet's most iconic lifeforms, the dragons are most prolific over the continent Vibuvolar, but they can be found in other parts of the world. They are carnivorous and often occupy the highest niches of the food chain. Some particular species live in groups, but others are solitary.

Dragons achieve flight through massive undulations of their membranous wings and tail. They glide low over the surface of a sea or lake, and upon spotting their swimming prey they swipe their tail into the water and spear their meal. The dragons will either swing their food up into their mouth (found below their pectoral muscles) or will take it back to their coastal nests to feed offspring.

Nereid dragons have a very low hearing threshold, possibly due to living among Nereus' dense-- and therefore nearly deafening-- winds of the continental coasts.

So what do you think? Questions? Ideas for improvement?

Edit: I've added a .gif that better shows how the dragons move, as well as pictures of the dragon with its limbs folded up to walk, and another to illustrate how it catches food.
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Attachments: Dragon_in_Flight_small.jpg (68.2 KB)
Attachments: Dragon_on_ground.jpg (51.86 KB)
Attachments: Dragon_Fishing_02.jpg (52 KB)
Attachments: Dragon_in_Flight.gif (108.42 KB)
Edited by Empyreon, Aug 25 2009, 03:32 PM.
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Treble Trout

Kingdom: Nereozoa
Phylum: Tetrabrachia
Class: Radiopiscis
Order: Heliundae
Family: Strepteuthida
Genus: Lepturae
Species: Riparius

Heliundas are a class of aquatic life found in nearly every biome on Nereus. Their are radially symmetrical, omnivorious, and species range in size from a few centimeters to at least two meters long.

Three ribbon-like fins facilitate high speed movement and an incredible level of maneuverability. And three eyes thrust forward in an equilateral formation on rigid stalks aid in zeroing in on food, which the heliunda will then maneuver between their fins and slurp into a tubular mouth.

It's believed that the first creatures to crawl from the water to live on land were ancient heliundas. It would explain why some terrestrial creatures maintain a radial symmetry.

Anything I should include in this? What more would you like to know about them?

Edit: I've added a .gif that shows how they swim. It's pretty rough, but you kind of get the idea.
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Attachments: HeliundaSwimmingsmall.jpg (66.58 KB)
Attachments: Heliunda.gif (286.77 KB)
Edited by Empyreon, Aug 25 2009, 03:40 PM.
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ATEK Azul
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Great job I like the creatures though the map is good. I like how the dragons are kinda kite like and how the heliunda are alien looking.
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Very nice!!! How did you create the images?
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I used a program called SketchUp, mostly because I wanted to do 3D animation with them, but since I don't think movies can be uploaded here, I just posted stills. For the map I just used Photoshop.

So does anybody see any problems with the designs or details of the creatures so far? I'm hoping to benefit from the scientific expertise of the forum to help me develop these into plausible creatures.
Take a look at my exobiology subforum of the planet Nereus!

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ATEK Azul
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The only potential problem I see is that there is no legs on your dragon which means it slithers most likely and that can rip the wing membranes.
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The wings and tail are actually jointed in such a way that they can be used as feet. I'll put up a picture of how that works.
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Oh okay i did not notice that please post the image so i can imagine it better it sounds good.
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Okay, I've added new images. Check out the respective posts for updates!
Take a look at my exobiology subforum of the planet Nereus!

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Awsome those new pics explain things well thank you!

Also the dragon is even cooler now that I have seen its positions.

I think you might have named the links in the post switched but I might be wrong.
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