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| The evolutionary wars; Acrid vs Komora vs Paleids | |
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| Topic Started: Mar 9 2010, 11:49 AM (298 Views) | |
| Dorylus | Mar 9 2010, 11:49 AM Post #1 |
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Level 20 Formic Commander
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I have an idea, to replace holosia, arcton and mestrios with a war project, but the topic description should show that you may have misinterpreted the nature of the topic. Here is the story(please don't complain about implausibility, and especially unlikeliness because unlikeliness still leaves a margin for possibility, merely say without hostility or malice). Two islands develop a near-sapient hive race, both on a little-bigger-than-insects level. One is an insectoid hive named the acrid, and the other is a reptilian race named the komora. The islands collide resulting in massive evolutionary competition. Before the dust settles, another hive species known as the Paleids that is mammalian in nature arrives on floating sea debris, as do natives from the same island, and begins colonising aggressively. Thus an evolutionary arms race between three hives and the natives caught in the crossfire begins. I haven't decided who will win though. Below is a brief description and advantages and disadvantages and the castes before the war for each faction: Acrid: Acrid have the best architecture of the three factions and have the most individuals and class diversity. However, each class is specialised to the degree that they are usually not effective outside of a certain field. Also, acrid units tend to be worse than their' equivalents in the other two factions where there is an equivalent. Acrid are like termites in that the society is a mixture of sterile males and females with a single fertile mating pair. Castes: Queen: Fertile female caste that spawns the many acrid in service. Exerts a chemical control to stop further queens developing in it's general area. King: Fertile male caste that fertilises the queen and exerts a chemical control that stops further kings developing. Controls what caste each egg will grow into. Worker: The basic all-round task force, small and numerous. Does menial tasks but also is the main hunting force. Lead by lancers. Lancer: Like a larger worker that guides workers to where they are needed, but in the event that it is a hunt lancers join the attack after the initial worker attack wave. In a hunt lancers usually follow a racer's chemical trail to the prey. Racer: A fleet-footed caste with heightened senses used as a scout by the acrid hive. Racers lead the whole acrid column both in hunts and hive movements, the latter because they pick the destination. Constructer: A caste that has retained it's wings, and has more dextrous digits. Constructors are the most intelligent class and they are used to build hives and outposts. Soldier: A burly acrid caste with disproportionately large heads, mandibles and forelimbs. Soldiers protect the flanks of a marching acrid columns. Carrier: An acrid type with a distended abdomen used to carry a honeydew-like substance extracted from sap-sucking aliens to feed the king and queen and acrid in a protracted engagement or migration. Komora: This faction exhibits the lowest architectural prowess, and has the fewest numbers by a small margin. However, they are regimented, brutal and adaptable wielding the best field units into skirmishes. There isn't much the other factions can conjure up that can take out komora units one on one. Komora have the advantage of widest distribution, but numbers are as aforementioned lower in each colony. Castes: Spawner: Fertile female individual which exerts a chemical control over female Komora. Mates with devastators which are all male and non-sterile(but very uncommon; a hive will usually have about three of them). Skirmisher: The basic field unit of the Komora, well-rounded and higher in number. Skirmishers are brutal attackers that swarm prey and rival hive battalions with slashing claws and a razor tail. Infiltrator: Komora type that is not very common, and is slower and weaker in proportion to skirmishers(though it is overall big enough to be a little stronger than skirmishers). It has the advantage of concealment however, even in the open, as infiltrators have photochromatic camouflage like that of Terran chameleons. This combined with sharp senses makes an infiltrator the scout of the Komoran forces. Devastator: Male skirmishers may grow into devastators when the queen selects them(based on physical attributes, skill and experience) and gives them a certain pheremone. Devastators become fertile after their' transformation and are legends among their' ranks. Paleids: The paleid hive is the most balanced of the factions, with moderate architecture, distribution and individual quality. Castes: Matriarch: The mother paleid that gives birth to her' field units. Fertilised by any male she chooses. She makes that individual pheremones that cause it to become fertile(but only with males). Drone: The smallest most common unit of the paleids, notable for an appearance that is somewhat Darwin 1V-ian theme, with a rough charcoal skin. Used as an all-round task force that is more adept at construction than skirmishers but less effective in battle. Obsidian: Equivalent to an acrid soldier, with less physical strength but an extremely strong skin and bone density that renders an obsidian more enduring(hence their' name). Edited by Dorylus, Mar 10 2010, 01:01 PM.
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| Holben | Mar 12 2010, 03:54 PM Post #2 |
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Rumbo a la Victoria
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Whew information. Acrid(Loving the name): The caste system is a proven, but surely there would be just one construction and fighter class? Komora: Up against mammalian vision, chameleon camo isn't so good. Paleid: So they spawn troops in the battle? |
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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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| Dorylus | Mar 12 2010, 05:27 PM Post #3 |
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Level 20 Formic Commander
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No, the matriarch serves as a typical hive queen. It is just noted she births live young instead of laying eggs. Also, on such a small scale the paleid eyes are not much better than insect eyes, and a smaller body for the infiltrators is easy to camouflage. The camouflage is a bit less effective against paleids than acrid though. Also, workers are a general task force. Constructers are much better at building because they have longer, slender and more flexible toes(acrid have three toes that point in very different directions: One can form an almost equilateral triangle by connecting the tips of the toes with a line). For one thing constructors are flight capable(but have very hard tear-resistant wings), and they have better vision and intelligence. I wondered how long it would take for someone else to post. Thnx for the questions. |
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| Holben | Mar 13 2010, 05:22 AM Post #4 |
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Rumbo a la Victoria
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Busy life keeps me away from the computer. I really need to do some reorganising. The viviparous queen lives in a hive 'chamber', right? If the babies take a while to learn to walk, it's gonna get crowded... ![]() These toes seem rather brittle, surely the actual limbs themselves would be used for carrying? |
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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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| Dorylus | Mar 13 2010, 05:38 AM Post #5 |
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Level 20 Formic Commander
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The carrier is called a carrier because it transports a honeydew like substance that it carries in it's abdomen. It extracts this from a "sap" drinking creature as ants do. Though in actuality, i designed the acrid months ago during my graphics coursework. It is part of a planet named Geonex, a planet that doesn't include Paleids or Komora. I haven't put up my ideas in plain form because of fear of ideas being stolen. I put up a Geonian creature to see what happens to the idea.
Edited by Dorylus, Mar 14 2010, 08:24 AM.
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