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Genesis; GM in the year 2261
Topic Started: Jan 24 2010, 10:48 AM (1,813 Views)
Ddraig Goch
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Ar hyd y nos

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The planet Genesis was a strange one, indeed.

By the twenty-third century, humanity ran an established empire, comprising twenty-six star systems, thirty two planets, and numerous space-stations. Culture and economy flourished - it was the Golden Age of Mankind.

During its’ exploration of the Orion Arm, man discovered that it was not alone. By 2234, seven other sentient races had been found, and in the years that followed, many more were contacted.

In the year 2256, an alliance was struck between The Terran Empire, and four other space faring races;

The Olo‘s, a hexapod species, which walked on four of their legs, and used the other two as arms. They heralded from Kharak, a warm planet, covered in vast, sweeping plains of a grass-like “plant”.

The Nathaner, from the desert world of Nathanuk. They were invertebrates, with ten limbs, used interchangeably as arms or legs.

The Imgar, tripods (two legs, one arm) which lived on the planet Ava - a watery world, with small continents, and predominantly coastal and ocean habitats.

And the Sk’yr, from Sk’. They were bipeds, like humans, although they had five limbs - two legs, and three arms, one of which was positioned close to the mouth, and acted as a feeding aid.

All five planets were, from a human perspective, Earth-like. They all had very similar gravities, and atmospheric compositions. It was from these similarities that the project sprung.

Although they were all allied, there was still some tension between the races, particularly between the Sk’yr and the Nathaner. The diplomats of Terra knew that something had to be done. And so, they suggested Genesis.

All five species were very close to nature (Humans, since the Great Cetacean Extinction of 2076, had renewed ties with nature, in a bid to stop anything similar happening again). As such, it was decided that a inter-species project, based around nature, would be ideal. After many suggestions, eventually, the Genesis Project was approved, and agreed to by all five nations.

The idea was simple - create a new biosphere on a new planet. At the time, genetic modification was quite easy, as the technology had been made effective by the Olo’s, and spread amongst the alliance. A suitable planet, quickly dubbed “Genesis”, was found, with an “Earth-like” atmosphere and gravity. Within a decade, the planet was terraformed, and seeded with GM-Flora from all five homeworlds.

By the twenty-fourth century, Genesis was home to many GM-Fauna, again from the five homeworlds. Each nation took a different habitat - Humanity did the forests, the Olo’s did the plains, the Nathaner, the deserts, the Imgar, the oceans, and the Sk’yr, the mountains. The idea was that the GM-ed species from each habitat would begin to integrate, and evolve, producing a planet full of new and interesting species. Also, as such a project required a lot of collaboration, relations between the Sk’yr and the Nathaner improved. Everything was going just swimmingly.

However, war with the Corp-Magnus several decades later brought the project to a halt. Eventually, the Corp destroyed the Imgar, and conquered the rest of the alliance.

Genesis lay forgotten.

But not finished.

Because life goes on. And, eleven million years later, when even the mighty Corp-Magnus were long gone, the planet begat a sentient life-form.

And so, the Orion Arm, which for three million years had been without intelligence, once again held the glimmer of sentience.

The aim of this project is to create the GMed lifeforms living on Genesis, along with their habitats and ecosystems. I shall provide more information on the sentient races, along with their home worlds, shortly.
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Ddraig Goch
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Ar hyd y nos

Thanks for the tip.

And, no; the Na'vi are Homo pandorus, and so I assumed that the term homo could refer to any sapient species.
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Empyreon
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Are you plausible?

It seems that the general rule around here is, with very few exceptions, that taxonomic names need to be distinct from real-world taxonomy. If a creature isn't literally part of a specific classification of life (in this case the genus homo) then it's needs a different name.

Honestly, I don't fully understand the justification for this stipulation...
Edited by Empyreon, Jan 28 2010, 12:59 PM.
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food for thought
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T.Neo
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Translunar injection: TLI
 *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *
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the Na'vi are Homo pandorus


[rant]

See!?

They even have the same genus name!

[/rant]

Quote:
 
It seems that the general rule around here is, with very few exceptions, that taxonomic names need to be distinct from real-world taxonomy
.

Well, for example, in real-world taxonomy, two organisms from two different kingdoms can have the same genus name. See Euhelopus.

So I don't see why organisms on different planets couldn't have the same genus name. And names like "homo" for example need not be limited to sophonts- any organism could then be called "homo".
A hard mathematical figure provides a sort of enlightenment to one's understanding of an idea that is never matched by mere guesswork.
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Ddraig Goch
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Alright then; Homo ava ora it remains.

And T.Neo - whilst I appreciate any input you have for this project, I must ask you to kindly keep all Avatar-related rants to one of the many threads on the subject.
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Holben
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Rumbo a la Victoria

*raises eyebrow*

Well, we do have- is it three projects?- on it, but they really don't have an excuse.
Time flows like a river. Which is to say, downhill. We can tell this because everything is going downhill rapidly. It would seem prudent to be somewhere else when we reach the sea.

"It is the old wound my king. It has never healed."
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Empyreon
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Are you plausible?

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Alright then; Homo ava ora it remains.

Out of curiosity then, why was the name homo assigned to the genus? How does it reference the homo we're familiar with?
Edited by Empyreon, Jan 29 2010, 01:40 PM.
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Holben
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Rumbo a la Victoria

It seems probable it was a reference to their sapience.
Time flows like a river. Which is to say, downhill. We can tell this because everything is going downhill rapidly. It would seem prudent to be somewhere else when we reach the sea.

"It is the old wound my king. It has never healed."
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Ddraig Goch
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Indeed - you are correct, Holbenilord.

Although, now that you come to mention it, I was just going to label all of the sentient lifeforms "homo"... that's not going to work, is it?
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Are you plausible?

If they're on the same planet, and are all closely related, then it would be very appropriate. If not, and they all have the same name, then a good explanation of the nomenclature would justify it just fine, IMO.
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Holben
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Rumbo a la Victoria

You could reference homo in their species names- homavis, or homosaurus, perhaps?
Time flows like a river. Which is to say, downhill. We can tell this because everything is going downhill rapidly. It would seem prudent to be somewhere else when we reach the sea.

"It is the old wound my king. It has never healed."
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Ddraig Goch
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Ar hyd y nos

Thanks for the tips, I'll take them on board.

I'll probably get round to typing up the Sk'yr tommorrow.
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Canis Lupis
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Dinosaurs eat man, woman inherits the Earth.

If you want a taxonomic name that refers to sentience, I suggest using our species name sapiens. Our scientific name (Homo sapiens) means "wise human" (or is it wise man?).

Perhaps you could name them (using the Olo as an example) Sapiolos kharakinsis ("wise Olo from Kharak"?
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Holben
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'vir' is latin for man.

Maybe they could have their own taxonomic systems? Or perhaps they would have ascended to cladistics?
Time flows like a river. Which is to say, downhill. We can tell this because everything is going downhill rapidly. It would seem prudent to be somewhere else when we reach the sea.

"It is the old wound my king. It has never healed."
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Empyreon
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Are you plausible?

If the aliens have their own system of self-classification that's great, but if it's something that we as humans would have a hard time following, then I'd rather have a system we can understand. :)
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Ddraig Goch
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Yeah, I think that a human method of classification would be better.

Sk'yr
(Sapioskyris sordicus)

One should note that the species know nothing of their human taxonomy, although it is quite appropriate. Fortunately, the Sk'yr are unable to read. This is because they have no eyes.
What they have instead are fleshy noses with a powerful sense of smell, "collapsable" ears (giant ear membranes that fold away whilst hunting), and long, sensitive whiskers. They navigate using a form of echolocation, like that used by all Sk' vertebrates.
The Sk'yr are semi-bipedal, as they drop down to all fours whilst hunting. They have two legs, two arms, and a small feeding arm. This is used to pass food into their "mouths", which are roughly circular in shape, and are lined with teeth. Sphincter-like lips can seal up this maw. Their skin is covered with a thick, yet soft, fur. Even so, they are still described as "repugnant" by those who meet them.
Sk'yr rarely leave their homeworld. It was a stroke of luck that they came across a Terran vessel. Their main reason for staying planet-bound are their feeding habits. They do farm a large, pig-like species, and they do grow some crops, but they still hunt. This is partly for tradition, and partly because they enjoy it - it is almost "sport". They never use weapons on these hunts - they prey is caught and killed with the Sk'yr's considerable claws.
It is worth noting that the male Sk'yr have their feeding-arm on the right side of their mouths, whearas females have them on the left. The reasons for this are not at all clear, although they do make identification by Terran diplomats a lot easier.
Edited by Ddraig Goch, Feb 4 2010, 11:31 AM.
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