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| Palkira; Another Lost Island remake project: Alternate Mesozoic Critter experiment ground | |
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| Topic Started: Nov 25 2010, 11:09 AM (1,282 Views) | |
| Cephylus | Nov 25 2010, 11:09 AM Post #1 |
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Torando of Terror
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This is a mini-project about a hypothetical island which is a lost island randomly located in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. The island chain of Palkira is a strange landmass located in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, someplace Southwest of Hawaii. It is a relict from the past which lies deep in the middle of the ocean untouched by modern civilization. A tropical/subtropical island chain, it is a rather large landmass for an island, slightly larger than the size of all the New Zealand islands put together; almost a subcontinent. Palkira consists of one large island (takes up about 80% of the entire landmass) and a few small offshore islands closely attached to the main island. Palkira is an old island chain, first isolated from mainland during the late Cretaceous in the Maastrichtian, split off from the prehistoric supercontinent Laurasia. When the K-T event struck the entire world, Palkira was affected as well; the intense volcanic activity from the Deccan Traps and all the ecological tumults caused by the Chicxulub asteroid itself badly effected the island, its ecosystems falling. However, due to the heat from geothermal activities Palkira managed to keep many of its Mesozoic fauna and flora. During the Cenezoic, the island faced various changes, such as killoffs from oceanic volcanic activity, the Eocene-Oligocene maximum thermal event and the invasion of immigrant fauna and flora from the mainland (when the island moved close to New Guinea, animals such as rodents, saltwater crocodiles, mekosuchines and monitor lizards immigrated into the islands, and when the island moved closer to South America a land bridge formed, causing an inflow of native American fauna such as xenarthrans and notoungulates). The biggest ecological impact that the island received was the arrival of human relatives. Humanoid sophonts closely related to the Flores hobbits set their foot on the islands, quickly building a colony and establishing a civilization with several cultures ranging from tribal societies relying heavily on hunting to support themselves to an advanced culture the combination between Mesoamerican and early Indian cultures with their own complex religious belief systems (actually, there were two settlement attempts but the first one failed due to tribal wars, diseases, natural disasters and food shortages killed off the first settlers). The human arrival killed off a lot of megafauna in the island chain as expected (humans brought some of the mainland megafauna as well, such as domesticated pygmy stegodonts), but still a lot of megafauna managed to slip through, as the impact of humanity wasn't as serious as other places on Earth for some reason, allowing the islands to keep unique animals and plants found nowhere else on Earth. so, what do you think? I will do niche map shortly after if I get time. |
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| Kamidio | Nov 25 2010, 11:12 AM Post #2 |
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The Game Master of the SSU:NC
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Sounds too much like Palkia. |
SSU:NC - Finding a new home. Quotes WAA
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| Ook | Nov 25 2010, 01:30 PM Post #3 |
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not a Transhuman
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sound too much like Okal,which i never abandoned,just freezed for some time(landbridge to SA,notoungulates,xenarthans and dwarf human species,related to both homo erectus and flores human,with civilisation)
Edited by Ook, Nov 25 2010, 01:31 PM.
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| The Dodo | Nov 25 2010, 07:19 PM Post #4 |
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Prime Specimen
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What type of Mesozoic fauna and flora is on Palkira? I assume there is going to be some type of Champsosaur. |
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| Cephylus | Nov 26 2010, 02:46 AM Post #5 |
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Torando of Terror
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maybe I didn't explain enough. Palkira was inspired by Okal and Tim Morris's Skull Island, but it has almost no dinosaurs (except birds and maybe a few dromaeosaurs, titanosaurs and ceratopsians) in it. I'm trying to change something from the regular 'lost island' projects. And I didn't actually know about that landbridge to SA thing, it was just coincidential. I did that landbridge thing because I really wanted to include Terror Brids in this island, but if I decide there should be gastornids instead then no landbridge. You never mentioned the landbridge to SA with xenarthrans and notoungulates. But you did inspire me with that hobbit thing, 'cause I wanted to make this island Skull-Island-y with the ruined cities and 'savages', and hobbits seemed the human lineage most likely to reach the island (this project is actually a skull island re-make). Having sophonts around is always interesting. what I was thinking was a place with mesozoic relicts from the past, but mostly no non-avian dinosaurs but still with some interesting fauna. There are pterosaurs, azhdarchids, anurognathids and ornithocheirids. Some are flightless, and some are flighted, but almost all are inland animals rarely venturing out into sea (the fish-eating seabird-like ones are extinct; gulls and some pseudodontorns fill the niches). There are also some surviving ancient crocodilian lineages, peirosaurids (large predators, but not true apex predators since terror-bird pterosaurs are the apex predators), notosuchids (mostly herbivorous animals) and mekosuchines (only a few species; some semi-aquatic predators in the island's rivers and wetlands, but they don't have a very bright future because of saltwater crocodiles). Birds are also present in abundance, some middle-sized herbivorous ducks (similar to moa-nalos in hawaii), large raptors (related to hawks and owls) with some birds also present in other parts of the world (tropicbirds, gulls, barn owls) and also a lineage of enantiornithes serving as crow analogues. There are large scavenging birds, either terror birds or gastornids. Maybe some surviving plesiosaurs as apex marine predators, with some oddities like choristoderes and Ichthyodectids as predators as well. There are mammals, with didelphid metatherians serving bear and wolf rolls, some monotremes and xenarthrans (mostly small, pig-ish critters). Herbivorous mammals are mostly small goat to boar sized, and they are either oreodonts or notoungulates. Lizards are present in abundance, with a diversity of geckos (tiny gecko-sized to honey badger-sized) and some iguanas (corytophanids sound interesting) and some large tree-climbing snakes. |
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| Kamidio | Nov 26 2010, 03:04 AM Post #6 |
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The Game Master of the SSU:NC
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Funny how no one has done an Ice Age island. |
SSU:NC - Finding a new home. Quotes WAA
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| Ook | Nov 26 2010, 07:57 AM Post #7 |
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not a Transhuman
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there are lot of them,Sri Lanka,many islands in indonesia..and many,many of others BTW cephy, its Ok Edited by Ook, Nov 26 2010, 08:00 AM.
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| Scrublord | Nov 26 2010, 09:27 AM Post #8 |
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Father Pellegrini
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Maybe I will |
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My Projects: The Neozoic Redux Valhalla--Take Three! The Big One Deviantart Account: http://elsqiubbonator.deviantart.com In the end, the best advice I could give you would be to do your project in a way that feels natural to you, rather than trying to imitate some geek with a laptop in Colorado. --Heteromorph | |
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| Cephylus | Nov 27 2010, 10:33 AM Post #9 |
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Torando of Terror
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Dialga Palkia... Haha that's funny Fakey In Palkira, there is a long mountain range running down the island, kind of looking like a 'backbone' of the entire island. A single large river runs through the main island. The Ruined City - Field Rat - Malger - Hairy Dog - Barn Owl - Palkiran Junglefowl - Wemocoo - Wataraguluk - Tik-Tibby-Cik - Terrow - Beside-Crow - Ibik - Miitee - Cutta-Weta - King Armadillo The Coastal Waters - Bottlenose Dolphin - Palkiran Dugong - Saltwater Crocodile - Oceanic Whitetip Shark - Green Sea Turtle - Tiger Shark - Tropicbird - Frigatebird - Gannet - Seagull - Imperial Man O' War - Paltik - Itoobu - Kwanihwa - Pelophinne - Warakarulii - Morograe Tropical Dry Forests - Wemocoo - Wataraguluk - Tik-Tibby-Cik - Malger - Miitee - Crobb - Dwarf Kong - Oapf - Goni - Giant Squirrel - Mooa-Nalo - Lemon Parrot - Woogana - Squig - Shrat - Barn Owl - Beside-Crow - False Peacock - Mara-Kapi - Shagmoth - Cutta-Weta - Killer Centipede - Boar Hound - Palkiran Junglefowl - Cara-Kea - Forest Roc - Waramaraka - Bumbo - Camaterra - King Armadillo - Egg Pard - Bat Pard - Greater Pard - Crested Pard - Kongamato - Various Fales-Primates Alpine Grasslands - Forest Roc - Mountain Roc - Barn owl - Mountain Squig - Bamfterra - Mountain Zlu - Alpine Mara-Kapi - Boar Hound - Gulpher - Pancake Armadillo - Warating - Red-tailed Fawk - Mountain Dragon Wetlands - Ibik - Egret - False Anaconda - Warambele - Swamp Drak - Crociguana - Iguanaiman - Waranarulaii - Pittcroc - Waramaraka - Waratlu - Warating - Waramooa - Needle-Tooth - Duckdragon - Crocodile Perch - River Serpent Savannah - Waramooa - Ghukumatzlu - Saddlebill Marabou - Bamfterra - Warrapelta - Warating - Golden Fawk - Horned Mara-Kapi - Barn Owl - Waramaraka - Zemadal - Savannah Shrat - Woogaraka - Ibik Lowland Rainforests - Hummingbird Snatcher - Goni - Miitee - Bumbo - Camaterra - Kongamato - Great Rainforest Zlu - Crobb - Rainforest Gastorn - Mooa-Nalo - Forest Roc - Palkiran Junglefowl - False Peacock - Giant Kea - Cara-Kea - Lemon Parrot - Barn Owl - Woogana - Wemocoo - Wataraguluk - Tik-Tibby-Cik - Malger - King Armadillo - Oapf - Giant Squirrel - False Bear - Tapir Dog - Squig - Shrat - Mara-Kapi - Shagmoth - Cutta-Weta - Killer Centipede - Pruffled Fawk - Egg Pard - Hummingbird Pard - Bat Pard - Greater Pard - Crested Pard - Waramaraka - Various False Primates - Various Hummingbirds Clouded Forests - Goni - Kongamato - Miitee - Bumbo - Great Rainforest Zlu - Dwarf Zlu - Camaterra - Mooa-Nalo - Forest Roc - Palkiran Junglefowl - False Peacock - Giant Kea - Cara-Kea - Lemon Parrot - Barn Owl - Woogana - Wemocoo - Wataraguluk - Tik-Tibby-Cik - Malger - King Armadillo - Shrat - Crested Pard - Pruffled Pard - Egg Pard - Bat Pard - Warating - Dwarf Abelisaur - Dwarf Warrapelta - Forest Warramooa - Priscus Dragon - Dwarf Kong - Kong - Waramaraka Coasts - Snapper Crab - Beachdragon - Island Warrapelta - Shrat - Tropicbird - Frigatebird - Gannet - Seagull - Imperial Man O' War list may be edited. Edited by Cephylus, Nov 27 2010, 08:09 PM.
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| Ook | Nov 27 2010, 12:54 PM Post #10 |
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not a Transhuman
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thats a lot of critters |
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| Cephylus | Nov 27 2010, 06:39 PM Post #11 |
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Torando of Terror
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some of 'em are real life critters, some that may reach the island a lot of them has 'wara' in their names, which means 'crocodile' or 'large reptile' in native language. Edited by Cephylus, Nov 27 2010, 06:42 PM.
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| Kamidio | Nov 27 2010, 07:32 PM Post #12 |
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The Game Master of the SSU:NC
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Too late. I've got dibs on the idea. |
SSU:NC - Finding a new home. Quotes WAA
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| Cephylus | Nov 27 2010, 08:12 PM Post #13 |
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Torando of Terror
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What about an Oligocene island? Trassic Island? Permian island? Eocene island? Completely bird-dominated island? completely reptile-dominated island? |
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| Kamidio | Nov 27 2010, 08:34 PM Post #14 |
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The Game Master of the SSU:NC
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A bird-dominated island would be the a reptile-dominated island. |
SSU:NC - Finding a new home. Quotes WAA
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| Ook | Nov 28 2010, 03:44 AM Post #15 |
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not a Transhuman
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precambrian island? |
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