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| Stardust: Apocalypse; The Ecology of Apocalypse | |
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| Topic Started: Mar 27 2010, 05:10 PM (1,017 Views) | |
| The Kiat | Mar 27 2010, 05:10 PM Post #1 |
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This is another one of my source books, only unlike Hypnale, Apocalypse is colonized by humanity. Thus the source book focuses far more on society than ecology. For the case of this website, I will only post the ecological part of the source book, which will be rather small since native animals are background extras for the story itself. 1) The World Apocalypse was once a wetter world, with seas extending down towards to equator. Now, it is but an arid world, with surface water found only in the polar regions. The equator is a barren waste land of sand and rock, where only the hardiest extremophiles live. Humanity settled the world more than fifteen thousand years ago, building their colony around the North Pole and the planet’s remaining sea. Over the centuries that the Atlantian Star Empire ruled the world, four space elevators were built, spaced evenly, along the planet’s equator. Comets were brought in from the outer system, and dismantled in synchronous orbit, where then the water was sent down through a pipeline. The project to terraform Apocalypse ended with The Fall and the Civil War. Civilization was reduced to primitive levels and the space elevators remain, unknown to the human inhabitants of the planet. 1.1) Physical World Apocalypse is an arid world with very little land for human inhabitation. Most of its surface consists of various types of deserts and whatever lifeforms can carve out a living upon them. The planet orbits close enough to its star to make the equatorial region uninhabitable. The world is a quite harsh place to live; even the polar regions are not quite ideal. Water exists at both poles, in the form of a sea at the north, and marshlands at the south. Arable land is scarce and trees even more so. This fragility of the ecology has forced the humans to create various rules of warfare sparing property and land from destruction. E. Indi II (Apocalypse) Type: E (12%) Gravity: 9.2 m/s2 (at poles) (0.938 Earth) Pressure: 1.200 b (at poles) Atmosphere: 78% Nitrogen 21% Oxygen Distance: 0.4 AU Temperature: 307 K (at poles) Diameter: 12000 (0.940 Earth) Mass: 0.828 Terran Units Volume: 0.835 Terran Units Density: 0.991 Terran Units Surface Area: 0.886 Terran Units Composition: Silicates Axis Tilt: 0 degrees +/- 8 degrees Moons: 4 captured asteroids in synchronous orbit Day: 27.000 hrs Year: 105.300 days Population: 28 min (human) 7 min (gobli) 6,371 (dragon) Settled: AY 3340, circa 13000 B.C.E. Level: Iron Life Level: Reptile/Conifer |
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| The Kiat | Mar 27 2010, 05:11 PM Post #2 |
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1.1.1) Geology of Apocalypse Composition: Due to the composition of the Polar Sea, the shores and sea floor are one of the few areas on the planet were limestone, and even some ancient marble, can be mined. Even in the polar region, most of the crust is covered by a top layer of sand stone. In regions of running water, rivers carve their way through the sandstones down to layers of basalt and granite. Layers: The crust of Apocalypse is made from various silicates and light minerals. Basalts are common across the planet. However, these ancient volcanic rocks have long since been covered by silicates, mostly in the form of sand or sandstone. Beneath fifty kilometers of crust lay a slightly molten mantle of mostly silicates. At the center of the planet is the standard liquid outer core and solid inner core. EM Field: The rotating core gives the planet an electromagnetic field which shields it from its weaker sun. With a density similar to Earth, the energy generated by the rotating core is more than enough to protect the planet. Since humanity lives around the North Pole, infrequent solar flares cause spectacular auroras. Orbit: Apocalypse orbits Epsilon Indi at 0.4 Astronomical Units, completing one orbit in almost twenty-seven hours even. The planet has a slight axis tilt, which does allow for a day-night cycle at the poles, with both periods expanding and contracting during the planet’s orbit. Orbiting the planet are four asteroids, parked into orbit thousands of years ago by the Atlantians in order to anchor four giant space pipelines in orbit. These pipelines were intended to bring down large amounts of water from comets, part of an ancient plan to make Apocalypse a little more Earth-like. Activities: Volcanism is active in the middle latitudes and equatorial region. Dormant volcanoes exist in the polar regions, none of which that have erupted in millions of years. The northern polar region itself is situated at a lower altitude than the planetary average, leading to theories that the region was created by an impact event.. It also has similar proportions in light and heavy elements as Earth, though finding the mineral deposits in the polar regions can be challenging. Continental Drift: The lack of water impacts more than life. It also hampers plate tectonics. The plates of Apocalypse are still active, but without a lubricant, such as water, they move very slowly and stay stuck for hundreds of thousands of years. When the plates finally do move, they release enormous amounts of energy, with earthquakes that shake the ground for hundreds of kilometers. Since no plate boundaries are located near the North Pole, earthquakes are not a high worry for humanity. Biomes: The first impression of Apocalypse from space is that it is a rather dry world. The surface of Apocalypse is dominated by various types of deserts, including sandy, rocky, wind carved and salt deserts. The sandy deserts and vast expanses of dunes. Some sand is so fine that it acts similar to a liquid. Dunes of sand flow across the surface, constantly shifting, and reminding one of waves of water in the middle of an ocean. Rocky deserts are te driest and hottest of the deserts. These are located around the equator where atmospheric currents do not flow, and thus no sand can be deposited. A band of barren rock expands on both sides of the equator up to five hundred kilometers away. This is the part of the world where the space elevators are anchored to the planet. Wind swept deserts are naturally carved cities in the middle of the desert. Giant wind-etched pinnacles of sandstone, called Cathedrals by the locals, stand in the middle of the desert. Arches, towers and other natural formations, similar to desert formations in the North American southwest deserts on Earth. Some of these formations located near aquifers can be colonized by pygmaeus and carved into real cities. The last type of desert are the salt deserts. Long ago, these were seas but hundreds of millions of years ago they dried up. They are low lying deserts covered with salt dunes scattered around the temperate region. A few natural springs exist in the region, but are so saline that only bacteria can survive near them. Only at the polar regions, where surface water is plentiful, is there an vegetation coverage. The southern polar region is mostly a giant bog. The lack of elevation differentiation allows standing water to build, and dense vegetation to sink its roots into the swamp. The northern polar region has a greater abundance of biomes. Aside from desert, there is dry savanna, open woodlands, wetlands near rivers and the sea, and even cloud forests at high altitudes. |
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| The Kiat | Mar 27 2010, 05:12 PM Post #3 |
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1.1.2) Hydrology of Apocalypse Composition: Apocalypse has a large sea of liquid water that is proportionially richer in salts than Earth’s oceans. The sea is saltier than what Terraforms are use to, plus it has a higher proportion of magnesium chloride, calcium chloride and ammonium chloride. Coverage: Hydrology is one thing that Apocalypse almost lacks entirely. Only twelve percent of the entire planetary surface is covered by water, and virtually all are in the polar regions. Currents: In the northern polar region, currents in the Polar Sea flow against the rotation of the planet, at least until it hits the Vestral Isthmus. This landmass, part of the Kessl Peninsula which expands all the way past the North Pole, prevents a perfectly circular flow of water. The currents strike the lands and are forced to flow around, creating more of a crescent shape for the lone sea’s currents. It also creates desert conditions on the western side of the Isthmus. Rain: In the south, water evaporates, saturates the air, and falls back down as rain. Clouds are rare in either polar region, and in the south, the water vapor seldom moves more than fifty kilometers from where it evaporates. Rain is a very seasonal event, occurring when the planet is farthest from its sun and the north pole pointed slightly away. |
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| The Kiat | Mar 27 2010, 05:18 PM Post #4 |
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1.1.3) Atmosphere of Apocalypse Composition: Outside of the polar regions, the atmosphere of Apocalypse is virtually devoid of water vapor. This gives the planet a constantly clear sky for most of its surface. Anyone standing between the polar regions would have an almost constant clear blue-green sky above them. Currents: The only time the sky is obscured is during the dust storms that wrack most of the planet. The wind currents never cross the equator, leaving it eerily still. Because of the aridity of the planet, there is a constant convection of wind between day and night. A temperature difference of fifty degrees between the baking day and frigid night are quite common, with greater extremes periodically. Color of the Sky: With less blue light output of the star, the sky is given a more greenish tint. Even in these parts of the world, there are extremes between day and night. Color of the Sun: In the polar regions, the sun is always relatively low on the horizon, and is never directly over head. All over the planet, E. Indi appears to be yellow-orange due to atmospheric scattering of light. Weather/Seasons: At the South Pole, where most of the area is covered by wetlands and swamps, there is the only part of the planet where temperature differences are at the lowest. Only around the Polar Sea and the rivers of the north is there a consistency in the temperature. Storms are rare in the north, and there is a clear wet/dry cycle in the seasons. During the night, due to proximity to magnetic poles, weak auroras are a common enough event not to draw much excitement. Climate: One word sums up the overall planetary climate: dry. A vast majority of the planet simply never sees anything different than clear skies and dry winds. The North Pole, where humans live, is a rather Mediterranean climate; dry and warm most of the year with occasional rains during the wet season.The constant warmth throughout the year means that Apocaforms are cold blooded animal. It also mean that warm blooded Terraforms can potentially overheat even at the polar regions. Only a few lush vegetated areas exist on the planet, and those are mostly the Cloud Forests of the Heretic Mountains, with the rest on the banks and in the deltas of the few majestic rivers. The South Poleis the greenest area on the planet’s surface, with its patch work of lakes and swamps.The planet is not an overly seasonal one, despite its slight axis tilt. In the polar region, this translates mostly into longer days or nights, depending on Apocalypse’s location in its orbit. |
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| The Kiat | Mar 27 2010, 05:19 PM Post #5 |
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1.2) Ecological World Biochemistry: Apocaforms are carbon-based, water solute, oxygen breathing animals with iron-based blood. Forms: Apocaforms are lifeforms native to the world of Apocalypse. Apocaforms are well adapted to living in arid habitats. Land animals on Apocalypse almost all have sails on their backs. Some of these sails are permanents while others are retractable. These sails deploy during the morning hours to allow the animals to better absorb the heat from the sun. Because they live on such a dry world, even the parts where water flows freely upon the surface, Apocaforms produce no liquid wastes. These animals on this planet see the same spectrum of light as Terraforms. However, they have a far stronger sense of reds and weaker senses of violet. Because of this, red is the most common color used for display in Apocaform males. Since mammals have not evolved on Apocalypse, Apocaform predators develop serious health complications from hairballs in their stomachs. Terraform predators have no problems eating Apocaforms. Terraform plant eaters tend to avoid the conifer plants native to Apocalypse with their scale-like leaves, and native herbivores can not digest the grasses that came from Earth. Native animals have one disadvantage to Terraforms, and that is that they lay their eggs in burrows and underground nests, then abandon them. Small Terraforms, such as badgers and rats, often raid the nests, and destroy the clutch. Color of Plants: Flora native to Apocalypse tends to have a slight bluish tint to it. |
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| The Kiat | Mar 27 2010, 05:19 PM Post #6 |
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1.2.1) Polar Sea The first area to be explored on this arid world will be its lone sea. The Polar Sea wraps around a lone peninsula that sticks up past the North Pole. Almost all of the planet’s surface water is locked away in the Polar Sea by volume. The sea is salty, with a combination of sodium and magnesium salts. The content of magnesium chloride within the Polar Sea is enough to make the sea uncomfortable for Terraforms and to prevent Terraform fish from completely taking over, at least in respect to aquiculture. Humans living on Apocalypse have to eat the native fish, which themselves are saltier. |
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| The Kiat | Mar 27 2010, 05:21 PM Post #7 |
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1.2.1.A) Spearfish Size: Depending upon species, they range from one to six meters in length. As their name suggests, their overall structure is reminiscent of a spear. This hydrodynamic form allows them to glide through the water with the minimal of effort. No matter the planet, marine vertebrates tend to follow the sam strategy in adaptation. Head: They get their names from their snouts, which are long and pointed, ending just like a spear. Despite their nasty headgear, these are actually filter feeders, feeding upon shrimp and brine that choke the Polar Sea. Instead of teeth, they have a thousand small baleen filters. They catch the small prey items in these baleen, allowing water to pass through and into the gills. They have large tongues that scrap the food from their baleen. They have large, round eyes on the sides of their heads, allowing them better vision in deeper water. Body: Spearfish have a muscular body and a wide-finned tail. The tail swings left and right in order to propel the fish forward. Their flippers are used to give them increased agility to catch their small and quick prey. They are difficult to spot in the water owing to their light blue scales. Aside from the long spear nose, there are no appendages breaking up the hydrodynamics. Internal Structure: The skulls of the spearfish are heavily armored, capable of withstanding high speed impacts. Their brains are also protected by layers of shock-absorbent material. Their tongues have hundreds of small hooks upon them, used for scraping up plankton. Diet: The spearfish, one of the largest fish native to Apocalypse, feeds upon some of the smallest marine animals (protist as hatchlings). Lifespan/Cycle: When hatched, the mighty spearfish is no larger than a minnow. They will spend most of the first year in the estuary where they hatched, feeding upon the much smaller algae. Only when they are large enough to swallow mouthfuls of plankton without choking do they venture out to open sea, joining the school when it departs that year from its spawning. The fish do not begin to spawn until they reach ten years of age. Spearfish have a relatively long lifespan, the largest being over a hundred years of age. Reproduction: During the "winter months", spearfish schools swim into deltas and estuaries to spawn. It is believed the extended nights drive the spearfish to spawn. There is no competition for mates, not directly anyway. Both genders release their genetic material at the same time, littering the river bed with hundreds of thousands of eggs, both fertilized and not. Many more eggs are laid than can be fertilized. This is a strategy evolved by the spearfish to divert small egg-eating fish and to increase the odds of the egg lasting until hatching. Sociability: They travel in schools numbering into the thousands. These schools are usually spotted by the commotion of birds above. Spearfish are rather docile, with an instinct to flee at danger. Their reinforced skulls does mean they will defend themselves from attack, most likely from an extinct, crocodilian-like predator. Range/Habitat: Spearfish are one of the more numerous families of fish living in the Polar Sea. They have no territory save their own schools. Instead, they are a migratory fish that grazes for plankton all across the seas. There is an order to their migration, with them returning to the spawning ground of their birth each year. Communication: It is not known precisely how spearfish communicate, but they have a very strong schooling instinct. When one fish moves one way, the rest of the school simply reacts. Competition/Enemies: Spearfish feeding tend to drive shrimp towards the surface, where sea birds prey upon them. Fishing boats use these birds to locate their quarry. They are usually taken by nets or spear. Aside from humans, there are few animals that can take the larger spearfish. |
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| Canis Lupis | Mar 27 2010, 05:45 PM Post #8 |
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Dinosaurs eat man, woman inherits the Earth.
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Very detailed, I must say. So, quick question: are all the creatures on Apocalypse descended from Earth animals, or are they all native species (save for the humans)? |
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| The Kiat | Mar 27 2010, 06:40 PM Post #9 |
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Huh? Oh, no, no, no. Apocaforms are the lifeforms native to the planet. They evolved there and have no relations with Terraforms. Save DNA and some biochemistry, they have nothing in common with creatures from Earth. There are four types of Forms on Apocalypse; the natives, the imports from Earth, the sextapods and the gobli. Since the gobli constitute the society part (and are found mostly around the South Pole) I won't go into much detail on this thread. As for the sextapods, the dragons are in the society part as well, but one form of sextapod will be covered. In short, there is a variety of life from four different evolutionary sources on Apocalypse. In the Stardust Sequence (which I've been writing for, for more than a decade) wherever humans colonize, Terraforms have the habit of crowding out the natives. On some primative worlds, they simply replace them completely. Being an arid world (E Type in my classification system), the native animals are capable of holding their own. I hope I answered you question. |
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| The Kiat | Mar 27 2010, 06:41 PM Post #10 |
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Oh, and thanks! I always strive for detail and accuracy. 1.2.2) Volga Delta The rarest of the biomes on Apocalypse are those of the wetlands. Swamps cover the southern polar region, but that region is not of immediate interest. In the northern polar regions, wetlands only exist along the banks of the great rivers and in the river deltas. The Volga Delta is home to many Terraforms, including hippos, beavers and penguins. They are also home to both Greens and Blacks. Much of the wetlands around the world have been destroyed by human activity, as they are the ideal areas for agriculture. Swamps are drained, but the rivers are not dammed, for it is the annual floods that replenishes the soil. These regions are also home to more than half of Apocalypse’s native floral species. |
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| The Kiat | Mar 27 2010, 06:55 PM Post #11 |
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1.2.2.A) River Scutters Size: Living on the riverbanks of the various rivers and lakes in the north polar region is one of the more populous of Apocaforms, the River Scuttler. They live semi-aquatic lives, much like the Terraform hippo. In fact, they are roughly the same size as a hippo, though considerably longer. They max out at six meters in length. Head: Their roundish heads support powerful jaws that are used to crush shelled animals and bone. Sticking from the upper jaw in the place of canines in mammals, the River Scuttler has a pair of tusks, roughly the same size as would be found in a hippo. Set around their throat is a large sack capable of holding and forcing air through like a bag pipe. When inflated, the bag much resembles that of a toad or frog. Body: Their bodies are reminiscent of a crocodile, with harden scales on their light blue armored back and long tails that aid in swimming. Their sails are retractable, allowing for easier maneuvering through the water. It stays retracted while submerged and during the heat of the day. The only time they extend their sails, mostly as dark green as their normal scales, yet with flushing red spots, either in the cool of the morning to heat up, or males will during the mating season. Limbs: Their limbs are short and stout, protruding sideways from their body instead of directly below. In this respect they are not like hippos at all, but rather like crocodiles. They are more for propelling the animal on land than for supporting their bulk. Between sets of foot prints, one will almost always find a shallow trench dug out by their dragging body. At the end of each limb are three digits, webbed feet tipped with claws used for gripping slippery surfaces. Internal Structure: River Scuttlers have a rather primitive internal structure compared to Terraforms. Their kidneys are larger and capable of dealing with more salt. Their muscle tissue can store excess oxygen, allowing the Scuttler twenty to thirty minutes time between surfacing. Their most obvious trait, and difference from many other Apocaforms, is that the River Scuttler has a three-chamber heart. Or rather the third and fourth chambers are not completely sealed off from each other. Diet: Scuttlers eat primarily crustaceans they dig up in the rivers, but are also known to scavenge, eating the corpses of drowned animals. Scuttler jaws are so powerful, they can also crush coconuts, which scuttlers will eat on occasion. As hatchlings, they eat what ever bugs they can catch, along with various seeds scattered across both surface and aquatic thickets. Life Cycle: They start their lives by hatching from a green egg the size of a grapefruit. The female will lay her clutch in hollow logs and dense undergrowth. Once laid, the female moves on, having no further role in the life of her offspring. These clutches of eight to twelve eggs hatch at roughly the same time, and scuttlers do not immediately seek out shelter in the water. They stay in the undergrowth for many weeks, growing large enough to survive in sheltered water. During this time, their diet comprises of any arthropods they can catch on land. Reproduction: To attract a mate, males will call out, using an air bag in their throats to produce a rumbling sound. Males will then attempt to intimidate their rivals with their sails, which are their highest at the front, and gradually tapper off to end near the end of the tail. Should that fail, they will fall back on their tusks, ivory spikes as long as a hippo’s tusk, to settle their disputes. Sociability: River Scuttlers are not social animals, spending most of their lives plying the waters in search of food alone. The only time they appear in groups is during the mating season. Fighting is used to settle territorial questions, when another scuttler enters the, on average, two square kilometer piece of real estate a scuttler calls home. Habitat: River Scuttlers spend most of their time in the brackish waters of the Volga Delta, but have been known to swim up river almost as far as the ruins of Nestra. Scuttlers, when on land, never leave the range of lush vegetation. They will never be seen on the open plains, unlike hippos which can walk over open land. Communications: They communicate warnings, threats and lures via the sack beneath their throats. As stated before, it appears like that of a frog. It also generates a croak like a frog, albeit much lauded and deeper. During the mating season, the shorts of the Volga Delta echo with such calls, making conversation between humans difficult, with each human shouting over the croaks. Competition: Because they share their habitat with hippos, scuttlers often come into conflict with the beasts. Despite being roughly the same mass, hippos have much bigger mouths and tend to have a meaner disposition than the normally apathetic scuttler. The reptile seldom wins such fights, and will swim away. Scuttlers have been recorded as living for more than eighty years. Though scuttlers are fast in the water, their crocodile-like gate can only give them short bursts of speed on the land. Scuttlers are not seen as food or a threat by humans, and are seldom bothered by them. Thus, unlike hippos, scuttlers almost always ignore humans. Scuttlers are really only in danger of predation while they are small. Crocodiles, birds, and other Terraforms will feed upon them, as will Apocaform fish. Once they reach a certain size, and their jaw muscles mature, they are safe from predation. |
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| The Kiat | Mar 28 2010, 12:47 PM Post #12 |
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1.2.2.B) Sail-back Fisher Size: The Sail-back Fisher can grow to lengths of three meters, and have a mass of several hundred kilograms. Head: They have long and narrow heads. In Earth terms, they resemble a Baryonyx. They have hooks mouths filled with long, conical teeth used for catching slippery prey. Their eyes and nostrils are much further back on their heads, allowing them to stick their snouts into the river without worrying about drowning on dry land. One weakness in the fisher is the lack of spare teeth. When they lose their teeth, they are gone for good. Body: The Fisher is mostly length in terms of their body’s shape. They can be divided into thirds: one part neck, one part body, one part tail. Their long necks allow them Their green scales allow them to blend in easily with the vegetation, especially the greener Terraform flora. They are streamline in shape, and have a fixed sail upon their back. The sails start at the base of the skull and end at the tip of the tail. Their long bodies are carried on short, stubby limbs that are tipped with hooked claws. Their feet anchor them to slippery surfaces while they fish. Diet: As the name suggests, fishers are just that; fishers. They feed exclusively upon the various species of fish found in the Volga Delta. The only time when they do not eat only fish is during the first several weeks of life when they are too small. Lifecycle: Fishers are somewhat short-lived animals, seldom living more than ten years. They start their lives as a clutch of eggs buried in the undergrowth, where their first challenge is to dig their way to the surface. Being laid in dense growth, and having a green body, the hatchlings are sheltered from predation. Unlike marine and semi-aquatic animals that bury their eggs, fishers do not have to worry about the mad rush to the safety of water. For the first several weeks after hatching, until they are large enough to tackle even minnows, fishers are scavengers. Fishers grown throughout their lives adding up to three hundred millimeters to their length per year. Their lives are limited to how long they can keep their teeth. This may be a detrimental attribute in terms of evolution, but because of large clutches of eggs, the fisher simply outnumbers its competition. Reproduction: There is no remarkable courtship displays or rituals with the fisher. A female will mate with any males she comes across. This increases the genetic diversity as the eggs would be fathered by different fishers. The female, once ready to lay, will slide into the undergrowth, dig a hole, and lay up to fifty eggs. The eggs are small, and the fishers are as well when hatched. Sociability: These solitary fishers plod the beaches and tend to ignore anything that is not a fish. Habitat: Fishers call the shores and islands of the Volga Delta home. They seldom venture into the water, and only when crossing from one island to another. They can move much farther inland than other fish-eating animals. The fishers thrive during the height of the dry season, when water levels of the upper delta region are at their lowest, and schools of fish are trapped in evaporating pools. Competition/Enemies: Normally, they have no natural enemies in their specific biome. However, some prides of lions have moved into the marshes and will take a fisher unaware.Fishers must also contend with parocophants and crocodiles for the limited supply of fish in the Volga Delta, as well as human fishermen. |
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| The Kiat | Mar 28 2010, 01:00 PM Post #13 |
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What follows is a species [i]not[/i] native to Apocalypse, but represents the Sextapods, and can found on most worlds humans live. 1.2.2.C) Parocophant Origins: Parocophants are sextapods, animals with six limbs instead of four. The most famous of the sextapods are the dragons. Parocophants obviously came from the Dragon Homeworld. Dragons brought them, along with gryphons to all the new worlds they colonize. Parocophants are weary when dragons are near by, but dragons never preyed upon parocophants. Dragons are just fond of the beasts, and brought them along as quasi-pets. Size: The parocophant reaches ten meters in length, stand two meters tall at the shoulder, and have a mass of one tonne. Males and females are the same size. They have somewhat stout, wide bodies, much like an elephant, though not quite as fat since they do not eat vegetation. Head: The parocophant skull is an almost solid muscle mass. Muscles attaching the jaws to the skull give the animal a powerful bite, capable of killing prey by crushing it. Parocophants have frills behind their heads made of thick bone and protected them from some predators in aeons past. Ear holes exist on the sides of their head. The internal structure of the ear allows them to hear above and below water. Their eyes are placed on the side of their heads, facing forward, giving them some binocular vision. Their brains are not overly large, but in structure are more parrot-like than crocodile-like. Body: Not only do they have a head similar to a crocodile but their other end as well. The parocophant’s tail is built like a croc’s and is used in the same way; propelling them through water. However, the bulk of their body is more like an elephant, or in the aquatic sense a hippo. Like both mammals, parocophants tend to just plod along through the water, in no hurry. Their tails give them burst of speed when chasing prey. Limbs: The first two pairs of limbs of the parocophant, legs and feet, are similar to an elephant, and almost as large. They are not intended for speed, but to keep the animal standing. Parocophants are very efficient walkers, which is one of the reasons they have been domesticate by humanity. Only their diet limits their range and where they can be used. Parocophants do not have claws, but rather hoof-like nails sticking from each of their toe bones. The most distinguishing feature of the parocophant are the third pair of limbs. They are not limbs in the tradition sense, but have fused into giant crests protruding from their upper shoulder some three meters into the air. Like the crest, it was once used for defense. Now both tend to be used more for display. Plumage: Parocophants are covered in bright feathers like a parrot. The biggest difference between the two are that the females (riki) are covered with green feathers, whereas the males (peri) are covered with red and orange feathers. Internal Structure: Parocophants have a tough hide of interlaced tissue, making it difficult for an adult to suffer puncture damage. Between their skin and muscle is a lay of subcutaneous fat, which serves both as an energy reserve and as buoyancy. To lower their overall mass, the bones of parocophants are hollow. The most impressive structure inside a parocophant is on the cellular level. They have TNA, tri-ribo nucleic acid, which packs in considerably more genes than DNA. TNA, despite being more complex, can replicate itself more efficiently than DNA and far longer before error have a chance of occurring. Their genetic material is so sturdy that sextapods never suffer from the decay of old age. Diet: Fish. Parocophants will only eat fish, and only live ones. Attempts by humans to feed them salted, dried or even freshly thawed fish have failed. When a parocophant grows hungry, they charge straight for the nearest watering hole. Once submerged, they will gorge themselves on up to, and over, fifty kilograms of fish, enough to last them at least two days. Lifecycle: Parocophants, like all sextapods, have extremely long lifespans. They will always outlive their humans, even if they happen to be pygmaeus. Parocophants will ultimately die due to injury or disease. Barring either, they could easily live for over one thousand years. Parocophants hatch ready to face to world. As soon as they dig their way free, they bolt for the closest source of water and feed on minnows. Even at hatching, they display the characteristic shoulder protrusions, making it difficult that prey on the likes of turtles and such to feed upon newly-hatched parocophants. Even so, it is not uncommon for half the clutch to parish before reaching the water. The hatchlings grow fast, reaching adult size within a decade. However, within a year of hatching, there are few predators that will bother them. If they can survive the first year, a parocophant is almost guaranteed a long life. Reproduction: Parocophant are not a violent animal, not even when it comes to mating. Males tend to size each other up and force the other to back down by displays of plumage and shoulder crests. If this fails, they will line up against each other and proceed to swing their heads into each other. Their heads are solid enough that no damage is sustained, and the fight ends when one male grows tired. Longevity means that sextapods reproduce infrequently. On average, a riki will mate once a century and lay a clutch of eight to twelve eggs. After burying the eggs, the mother walks off to never see her offspring again. Sociability: Parocophants have a very agreeable temperament, making them easily tamed. This is believed to be a lingering side-effect of domestication and selective breeding done by dragons millions of years ago. Humanity uses parocophants on the world where they exist, as beast of burden. They are as strong as elephants and much easier to work with. They also eat less often. Parocophants are limited in range due to their diet; fish. Every other day, parocophants return to the water to gorge on fish. Handlers must always unhook the drawn cart before feeding. Parocophants have been known to drag cart loads of goods into the water in their search for food. Habitat: Parocophants live in wet environments, never a day’s walk away from a body of water. This is to satisfy their diet. They live in marshes, swamps, jungles and any place that has adequate year-round water sources. Just like hippos and crocodiles, the parocophant spends most of their time in the water. There is a certain average temperature, 290K, that they will tolerate. Areas colder than this will not find parocophants. Communications: Parocophants are rather quiet animals, considering their size. They can produce both growls and surprisingly high-pitched chirps, but rely more upon subtle visual cues, such as posture and eye contact. Competition/Enemies: They have no enemies as adults, but are wary of dragons. As hatchlings, anything that can swallow them will eat them. Parocophants do not thrive as well in regions that have crocodiles or hippos, mainly because of competition for space. The parocophant’s docile nature means they tend to move out of the way. In the Volga Delta, they have to contend with sail-back fishers, who compete for prey from the beach. |
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| The Kiat | Mar 28 2010, 05:17 PM Post #14 |
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Adolescent
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1.2.3) Cloud Forests The Cloud Forests of Apocalypse sit on hill tops and mesas within the Heretic Mountains. They are called cloud forests, because the tops of the mountains are surrounded by a lay of clouds. These clouds are rich in moisture, and at that high altitude, more than 2 km above sea level, the cloud forests are biologically rich areas. The forests offer patches of green in an other wise brownish landscape. Below the cloud forests, are often steep cliffs plunging into canyon rivers. Waterfalls cascade from the hills and mesas, dumping excess water into the canyons. Cloud forests are notoriously difficult to reach, often requiring the navigation of steep paths winding across the mountain face. The forests themselves are small rain forest havens among the clouds, with isolated populations of Apocaforms. The isolation has allowed for some diverse evolution among the local wildlife. The only Terraforms that can call the cloud forests home are those that can fly up to the sanctuaries. Numerous rails make these isolated jungles home. These forests are home to both Greens, as well as jaguars, monkeys and other jungle creatures. |
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| The Kiat | Mar 28 2010, 05:27 PM Post #15 |
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Adolescent
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1.2.3.A) Tree Serpent Size: They grow up to one meter long and are a light weight animal, with a mass of only a few kilograms. Head: Their spear-like skulls allow for power jaw muscles to be attached, allowing the tree serpent to crush bone. Tree serpents have hundreds of small, sharp teeth lining their jaws. Their eyes are located on the tops of their heads, giving them excellent view of all that happens above them. This is an adaptation of living pressed into a cliff face, and the necessity of keeping an eye open above for food and hunters. Body: Tree Serpents are mostly length, with a bulge where their torso is located. In a sense, they are already on their way to evolving into snake-like animals, if not for the steep surfaces they inhabit. Since they move about vertically, their sails are fully retractable, allowing them to squeeze through tight spots, either to stalk prey or avoid predation themselves. Limbs: Their limbs and their tail are disproportionally long for an animal of this size, as well as spindly. They do not move around so well on flat ground because of this, and spent almost all their time vertical. Small hooks tip each of their long fingers’ claws, giving the tree serpent excellent gripping power. They can even sleep while firmly anchored to a tree or the side of a cliff. Color: Their red-brown hides help them blend into the rocks, which suggests they evolved in the mountains and later migrated into the more verdant areas. Internal Structure: Tree serpents are not only hollow-boned, but have many air pockets in their bones. These are filled through parts of their bodies where the skeleton touches the skin and air is absorbed. This lightened their body further, and gives them the ability to jump greater distances between cliffs and trees. They will also fill their lungs before taking any big leaps. In the forests, where leaping is more common, sub-populations of tree serpents are developing skin flaps connecting limbs to body. Diet: Tree serpents feed upon small animals in their domain, including recently introduced Terraforms. They develop severe health complications when eating mammals as their digestive tract is not capable of handling hair. When they do spot something tasty, they will lunge at it with their head, clamping down with an unshakable bite. They use their crushing bite to kill their prey quickly, before it can move to a terrain where the tree serpent will be at a disadvantage. In mountainous areas, where they camouflage, tree serpents act as ambush predators. However, they tend to stick out in the cloud forests and have adapted to become more proactive predators. Lifecycle: When hatched, the hatchlings quickly scatter from their nests. At this small size, they hunt mostly insects and other bugs. Even at such a small size, their jaws are incredibly powerful. They are another short-lived animal, living only five to eight years. Most will fall to predators, but those that survive will take up their own face of the cliff, or branch of the tree, and live there quietly. Their whole lives are often lived without ever coming into contact with the ground. Those that do, tend not to survive the experience, falling to predators that can move far easier than tree serpents. Reproduction: Males will mate with whatever females wonder into their territories. They hold these pieces of land through display, flashing their sails at intruders. A female will produce up to twenty-three eggs. They even lay their eggs in niches and crannies in cliff faces Sociability: They are solitary, and somewhat skittish animals. Habitat: The tree serpent is the most abundant Apocaform in the cloud forests. and range not only in the forests, but all across the Heretic Mountains as well. Enemies: Simply put, they will flee from larger animals and stand to fight smaller ones. Tree serpents are relatively low on the food chain. Since the arrival of humanity on the planet, birds have become an omnipresent danger. With no flying predators before 15,000 years ago, the tree serpent population has suffered a crash as they fell victim to birds-of-prey. Since then, they have recognized the threat and tend to scatter when anything flies over. This has favored the forest serpents over the cliff ones, for they can use branches for cover despite the fact their coloration sticks out. |
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9:24 AM Jul 11