Intro

 

As well as the vast continent of Terra Incognetia, there are also a wide range of smaller landmasses around it, particularly islands. One of the most prominent of these chains is the Diika Diika chain, approximately the length of Italy with the main islands, and even longer considering the small islands beyond in either direction. The largest island is only slightly larger than Cyprus, and the rest are smaller still, so giant mega fauna are certainly not a main sight here. Nevertheless, the fauna, consisting of a mixture of dwarfs, giants and relics compared to their mainland relatives, as well as some unique oddities, is very interesting.

Branch-Tongue

 

One of the island’s unusual forms of fauna is a form of licker, though not one which has many similarities with its mainland relatives. Its ‘scales’ (really formed from hardened hairs) are relatively huge compared to their relatives, resembling bird feathers. The animal has a relatively long neck for a creature of its kind, though not as long as those of the triskelids. This beast is known as the branch-tongue (brachioglossius diikinus) named for having a tongue like no other. It is unusually large even for its kind, and it branches off into a structure resembling some form of hand, with about 6 ‘digits’ in it. It uses this tongue, which can grow to over half the animal’s body length easily to capture food and send it straight into its mouth. The branch-tongue’s actual head is very unusual, with the eyes near the front of the head, a feature caused by an environment with almost no predators for it, reducing the standard pressures of being a herbivore. Nevertheless, the ears, at the back of the head still give it a good sense of hearing to alert it to any threats, particularly from any aerial predators. The animal is not particularly large in size, with a body similar in size to that of a red kangaroo, and a 3m length including the tail although with a much larger head and arm like tongue. The colour of its ‘scales’ tends to be a rock like sandy colour, while what scarce hairs it has around its ears and head are a much darker brown colour. Branch-tongues make on of the most common herbivores on the island chain, and despite a relatively long gestation for their size, manage to thrive.

Enormass

 

Of course these strange herbivores are not the only types of animal here on the islands. One of the most iconic herbivores of the island chain is the enormass (allassinus divergiformus ). The most eccentric of all the enormacentaurs, it is believed this creature diverged from the others even earlier than the trojan, proably more than 30 million years ago. It is by far the smallest of all the enormacentaurs either living or in the fossil record. Not only this, but it is also the most sexually dimorphic. An adult male stands 1.9m tall, 3.4m long including the tail and weighs in the region of 400kg. The female on the other hand is no more than a metre tall and weighs about 120kg, lacking the blunted canines and flashy tail as well. It has the largest ears in proportion to its body, and it bears a strange resemblence to some kind of donkey, adapted to the more arid climate of the islands. They are covered in layers of thick, shaggy fur that both insulates them in the hot weather and gives their skin shade, along with an even thicker mane used for display. The claws are relatively huge and help it grasp large amounts of vegetation, or dig for roots and bulbs depending on its hunger. Its most unusual internal feature is that it has developed an ectothermic lifestyle, similar to the ancient goat myotragus of Earth. The males have a thick membrane between the prongs in the tail, which is filled with bright colours of yellow and orange spots, used for sexual display and signalling. The trunks on the lower jaws are quite simple and are no more than tentacle like extensions, with a rough upper layer that can scrape plants and make them easier to consume for the herbivores, who have relatively small teeth overall. The teeth besides the canines are quite strange, with rabbit like incisors and almost impossibly large molars, with just two pairs in each of the 3 jaws. They are found throughout the southern third of the island chain, and the population at any one time rarely goes above 7000 overall, making their position somewhat precarious. A predatorless habitat may be good for many herbivores, but in the end it becomes a very dangerous situation from an evolutionary standpoint.

Baleengo

 

Along the island chain’s beaches, there are various small crustaceans drifting around which form a large food source for passing animals. Roaming these beaches is a flightless megadraconian adapted to a life not too different to a flightless flamingo. This strange creature is the balleengo (ballaenognathus ssp.), an unusual creature of seemingly eccentric proportions. It has a thin long neck like a swan’s that allows it to bend over and scoop up large quantities of crustaceans, a long head which is nearly all mouth, and spindly but muscular arms which can catch and tear apart larger crustaceans and even clams to get at what’s inside. The strangest feature about its face though is its lower jaws, covered with what looks like whale baleen. This is not some fine teeth arrangement, but actually fine hairs locked into a sieve like structure, designed to filter feed as many prey items as possible in one scoop. It has a pouch under its chin that allows it to collect this. The body is compact and covered in course, waterproof fur, while the legs are almost bald, and very long, with no nails at all. The tail is non-existent except for a small crest used to signal to others of its kind. The wings are still fairly large, but are too thick to do any flying or even gliding, and are used to display to others of their kind, or to assist with grooming as they lay down. An adult ballengo stands about 1.5m tall overall, about 90cm tall at the shoulder and weighs in the region of 35kg. New-borns are unusually large and can weigh 6kg or more, being a great burden to give birth to. The abundance of these, present in the thousands across each of the islands, hints at their relative success here, and despite an almost predatorless environment, they are capable of adapting to a wide range of habitats, whether beach, desert, scrub or even forest. As a result, there are several different species and sub-species throughout the chain, with one even making its way to the Seahorse island.

Slowcoach

 

Alongside the larger herbivores lie packs of slowcoaches (folidon dimunitivus), a derived form of saurodont that has done away with the fast and agile insectivorous ways of its ancestors and become a slow, turtle like herbivore. Like the enormass, it is an ectothermic creature, but unlike that creature, it is extremely low bodied, with thick legs and a compact body covered in hardened hairs forming a shell. It resembles some kind of mammalian tortoise, except it is 8 legged, as the arms have almost completely atrophied into little more than stumps. The convergence to the mainland rocktripes is beyond remarkable in this regard. They are found in large groups following one another across their habitat, though their speed leaves something to be desire for. Their shells hide a very curved up spine, making room for a large gut capable of digesting grass and other tough vegetation. They no longer chew their food, but instead they use their split lower jaws to open wide and simply gulp down as much food as they can, at a slow pace of course. Adult slowcoaches measure about 1m long including the short tail, measure up to 40cm above the ground with their shell and weigh in the region of 30kg. once again, an environment absent of major predators makes for some interesting bedfellows, and so these creatures regularly roam together with the larger enormasses and other herbivores seamlessly. Their low intelligence does not hinder them, but helps them expend minimal energy in such a dry and food-scarce habitat.

Spearmouth

 

With a relatively empty ground, another form of interesting threat roams instead. Terrestrial predators may lack, but the skies are home to another type of creature entirely. The spearmouth (smilocheiritherium giganteus) is a much larger relative of the sea-bird analogues known as coast-dragons that roam the coasts, that has adapted to preying on terrestrial prey. Like them, it uses its arms to help steady each of its four wings, while its arms are tucked in and used to grab prey in place while it’s powerful head delivers the brutal deaths. The animal’s jaws are a quite unusual shape, being hooked and with large incisors, yet almost non-existent canines, a symbol of its fish-eating ancestry, though it is now used to stab and tear chunks of flesh out of the prey. It uses its beak to tear out meat off the prey’s back while it is still alive, powerless to shake it off, thus making it an extremely dangerous animal for the herbivores here. Even young enormasses are at risk, and it can use its surprisingly powerful arms to flip over slowcoaches and get at their exposed bellies. Despite their savage tendencies, they have fascinating colour schemes on their tail flaps supported by the old flukes of their distant ancestors, usually a shade of blue, contrasting with the grey fur over the animal and its brown skin. No two shades are the same on each individual and so it helps individuals communicate with one another. They are highly protective parents, as the risks of attacks from smaller relatives, or even cannibalism are very high. They are not creatures to be tested by any means, measuring about 70cm tall at the shoulder, 1.2m overall given their neck and with primary and secondary wingspans of 2.7 and 2.1m respectively. A normal weight of about 17kg is fairly standard, though obese individuals can exceed 20kg and still be able to fly, though more rarely like an Earthly bustard. Vision is its primary weapon for killing and so its eyes have very strong brow ridges, giving them an almost binocular like appearance. It also has tufted ears which give it good hearing, but a poor sense of smell to balance out- it is certainly not an animal specialised towards scavenging in this regard, though it obviously won’t hesitate if given the chance. A pack of them will often feast on whatever ends up washed up on the beach, particularly the carcasses of marine giants, or simply animals washed up by the storms that batter the coasts.

Bourbon's Twiglet

 

While there are not many plants to sustain larger herbivores, smaller ones are perfectly capable of living off the drier plants, as well as some of their fruits. Flower bearing descendants of cacti, shrubs and grasses roam the drier parts of the island and further inland a more lush forest is present, similar to those of Southern Italy. Climbing between the small branches for flowers is a strange type of organism. It is one completely unrelated to the arachnimimids so present elsewhere, nor is it a derived form of saurodont, but is actually a strange flightless avidraconian. This is the Bourbon’s twiglet (nanonis bourbonei) a strange semi-nectivorous creature. The lack of competition from other groups allowed groups to evolve both unusually quickly and into very different forms. The ancestors of the twiglets were likely smaller leaf and seed eating draconians which ended up being blown here by storms. This group quickly evolved the way of Darwin’s finches and the Honeycreepers of Hawaii. This particular species moves from plant to plant, using its long tongue to feed on sweet nectar. It does not however consume the pollen, but instead rubs itself with the pollen onto its Velcro-like fur. The animal will then climb to another flower and repeat the process, helping pollenising of most of the Island chain’s flora. Long and thin legs help accurately manouver a twig like body through the plants quickly. The former wings are green in colour and resemble leaves, helping them to hide from airborne predators. Female twiglets are over 3 times the size of the males, though that is not saying much considering they are only about 20cm long including the short tail, about 8cm tall at the back when on the ground and with 4-5cm long wings. The arms help guard a pouch under the chest in which they keep their young, similar to marsupials, but they are also helpful in the other part of their lifestyle, which involves holding onto leaves to nibble, or to capture small insect larvae, similar to catapillars. But not all of these are willing to be eaten so easily.

Frogworm

 

A creature even more unusual than the endemic onis here is a form of soft creature- a bizarre form of insect that has abandoned many of its old routes. The frogworm (novochordia serpentis) is an incredible form of neotonic catapillar which roams wetter environments. While its skin is watertight, it has a great preference to being around aquatic environments, allowing it to swim between rivers and ponds, while also perfectly capable of walking. Frogworms retain their ancestors form of locomotion to some extent, but their legs and ‘false legs’ are much larger and in the latter case more developed, allowing them to gallop at times when they need to travel fast. One of the more interesting elements of the creature is a piece of former exoskeleton which has developed into a chord on the back, similar to the terrateuths that are absent here but flourish elsewhere. The end piece fans out beyond the flesh, forming a form of tail which works as a fluke while the creature swims. As an arthropod, it undulates like a whale while swimming, but on land it is surprisingly agile and aggressive, particularly towards other members of its kind. Their skin is often soft and leathery, but is also covered in sensitive hairs which mean if touched will cause an allergic reaction. While vertebrate predators are infrequent at best, there are larger forms of spider, scorpion and beetle than elsewhere, and so these can pose a threat to the young of these incredible creatures. An adult frog-worm can reach lengths of up to 32cm in length, and weigh in the region of 120g or so. They lay dozens of eggs around nests in the reeds to protect them from predatory insects, but abandon them as soon as they start to hatch, leading them to be quite autonomous creatures compared to the overly dependent vertebrate fauna of the islands. A relic in two ways, this remarkable offshoot of the arthropod group is unique to these islands, and while it has a lot of potential, it is the future of the islands themselves which will determine whether or not these creatures are destined for greatness.

Intro

 

The vast island sub-continent of Martinia is the largest completely cut off piece of land on Ao-Oni, with an area of 1.62 million square kilometres. Unlike many of the other islands, it is quite recent, and has a similar history to Earth’s Zealandian area. That is to say, it has had several varations of going from a chain of islands, to a landmass, to sinking almost completely. A few limited remnants from past times remain, but most of the fauna is the descendants of flying draconians of many migrations past which have evolved in the lack of competition, although they are not alone of course. The landmass is very horizontal in picture, and so the climate tends to be quite similar except for its far western peninsula which juts out of it, which is cooler and drier than the rest of the island, and thus has more open habitat to it. This includes a small basalt plain, which is a habitat not found anywhere on Earth, formed by volcanic basalt eruptions of the past, similar to the far larger ones of Mu. The general part of the peninsula mixes between open forests, savannahs, full forests and even rainforest. It is the latter of these habitats that we shall first explore.

Tree-wyvern

 

Most of the plants that grow in this part of the world are the distant descendents of small flowering plants such as dandylions, grasses, self-seeding plants, ailainthus and cacti, with some ferns and horsetails amongst them. This means there are no conifers, gingkos, true bamboos or oak descendents unlike most of the mainland. As a result, the flora here boasts a substantially different look towards it, with the feather-trees dominating much of the canopy. These are immense descendents of dandylions, the largest of which can reach up to 60m in height, and the trees themselves can weigh in excess of 500 tonnes. Below them are fern and ailainthus descendants forming an intermediate layer. It is in these that our first creature lives. These strange animals are known as tree-wyverns (acroikitherium saurimimes). Tree-wyverns are remnants of an ancient group known as the wyverns that once thrived in Triberia to the north of them, and found their way to the pre-Martinian island chains and flourished there, coming in many different shapes and forms. When they almost completely sank, very few of them survived, and as draconians colonised the islands before the plateau once again resurfaced, they were stuck in a limited availability of niches. However, the trees are one habitat in which these creatures thrive. They have a very reptilian appearance to them, and are indeed ectothermic, having derived from the rest of the Ao-Oni fauna a significant time ago. Thus, what was once their hair is limited only to particular regions of their body, such as on the back and around the joints. The rest of the animal’s skin is leathery and green, resembling some kind of pelicosaur. The limbs of the animal are all quite long, which is unusual for their kind, and they help it swing between different branches easily, with the back legs having atrophied almost entirely. The bodies, as the name suggests are long and flexible, with a reasonable length neck and tail as well. The head has large red eyes, enabling stereoscopic vision, which allows it to move safely and effectively, as well as to help find its food. It is an omnivorous animal in lifestyle, feeding primarily on insects and small saurodonts which make their home here, as well as leaves and seeds, plus the occasional fungus. The lower jaws remain split, allowing it to swallow larger prey whole. The front teeth are sharp and bite into either flesh or leaf quite easily, while its molars grind and crush any food that isn’t taken apart by this. The ears remain external and classically mammalian in design, giving them a resemblance to some early ideas of dragons. Adult tree-wyverns tend to measure around 1m in length, be about 20cm at the shoulders when on the ground and weigh in the region of 7kg or so. Newborns are much smaller, usually less than 100 grams, and with proportionally larger heads and smaller limbs than the adults. They are quite communal animals and are surprisingly intelligent for ectotherms.

Drhogon

 

In the forests below, more typical creatures of Martinia exist, being the flightless descendents of the draconians that arrived here millions of years ago in various waves. The creature below is one of the more ancient waves of draconian to arrive, imaginatively named ‘martiniatheres’ due to their prevalence and establishment there. The time in which they arrived was likely when Martinia was a chain of islands, or even under the previous landmass era. These are the drhogons (xenosuipus communis), a strange group of omnivores found throughout these thicker forests. They almost completely lack their wings that their ancestors once had, and instead move around on four equal sized legs, with feet similar to those of a tapir or rhinoceros, but legs more like those of a pig. The arms are fairly large and the hands have the standard radial structure of four fingers, each equipped with a relatively well sized claw allowing effective grabbing of both objects and other hands in displays of power. The neck is thick and horse like, seamlessly fusing the head and body. The head is long and seemingly bird-like in structure, with a large pair of fused primary incisors resembling a beak to forage, while the secondary incisors and canines form eight small tusks. The molars are almost singular and are used to crack open either large nuts or crabs on the beaches. The ears do somewhat resemble those of pigs as well, while the eyes are close to the skull and have thick eyelids, protecting them while they feast on insect mounds, formed by the distant descendants of termites, ants and even eusocial beetles. The tail, like the wings is non-existent, though a deposit of fat exists on the rump, giving the appearance of a very thick tail. There is a significant amount of sexual dimorphism present in these creatures- the females are much larger than the males, measuring about 1.5m in length, measuring 95cm tall at the shoulder and weighing about 110kg, while the males are only 1m in length, 60cm tall and weigh 40kg. They also have proportionally larger tusks than the females and a crest on their forehead shaped like a butterfly, similar to basal giraffids. The fur of both genders is a general auburn colour, with small patches of white on the juveniles, to help them camouflage better, as these creatures have strong parental instincts, and once they form mating pairs, they pair for life to look after the offspring.

Flutterfly

 

In a forest full of strange flightless beasts, one would expect there to also be flying forms that are very prevalent here. And indeed they are. The small avidraconians have produced many flightless forms just like in New Zealand, but this is not one of them. These small creatures are known as flutterflies (beautorniforms ssp.), a common group of small insectivorous avidraconians that thrive on the various small insects and other foods that live on this landmass, and come in a range of diversity similar to the finches of the Galapagos. One species (b. unidontus) uses huge incisors to crack seeds like a rodent. Another (b. dimunitivus) has a thin snout it uses to ease out grubs from under bark which it scratches away with its claws. A radical one (b. terriblis) has small incisors and large canines, used to viciously tear at other flutterflies and feast on them. Other species are specialised to feed on moths, beetles, nectar, grasses and small leaves. One species (b. vampiricus) has a vampire bat like strategy of feeding off the blood of large herbivores, which are surprisingly prevalent in the forests, though much of this is because of migrating through them. Most flutterfly species are quite small, measuring about 12cm excluding the tail flukes and with 20 and 13cm wingspans, although b. terriblis is almost twice this size. They all get their names from their brightly coloured wings, which are often used in sexual display or to disorientate predators. The colours each species have are different to each other as well, allowing these remarkable creatures to be an iconic part of the ecosystem despite what they lack in size or even population.

Gummy-beast

 

Being a rainforest, there are naturally large areas of wetland and even swamp located within, creating a thriving environment for semi-aquatic fauna to exist. Alongside the drhogons are some more derived martiniatheres adapted towards this lifestyle, almost resembling giant terrestrial ducks in niche. These strange creatures are known as the gummy-beasts (hadrocheilis aquaticus), a group of herbivores that feeds off underwater vegetation, including but not limited to algae and reeds. They get their name from having extremely large lips which resemble superficially the bill of a platypus, only much more flexible. The actual upper jaw is small and flat, with no teeth, while the lower jaws are over twice as long, though still have a fair bit of lip to them as well. They use these thick extensions to selectively pick and strip plants from the bed, as well as to filter algae. Any larger or harder plants are crushed by the lower jaws’ molars. The eyes and nostrils are high up on the animal’s head like those of a hippopotamus. In these animals the former wings are noticeable as little bumps on the animals back, though they are hardly recognisable anymore as what they once were. The arms are spindly and with webbed hands, which they use to grab the larger vegetation, as well as to groom, hold their offspring and fight off predators. They are much larger than their pig-like relatives, measuring about 2.3m in length, 1.1m at the shoulder and weigh about 400kg due to their robust physique. They are mainly wading animals, though they will still paddle in the water. Their fur is a much darker, almost black colour and is waterproof to boot as well.

Basilisk

 

Amongst these various herbivores and omnivores, there are almost certainly guaranteed to be a substantial number of carnivores. Along with tree-wyverns which take a niche similar to small carnivorans, there are also predatory members of the flightless draconian clades. This animal is not a member of the ancient martinian line but of a more recent arrival, descended from some relative of Triberia’s saurodont eating predators. This animal has adapted from taking smaller prey into taking much larger creatures, including drhogons and even gummy-beasts, becoming the forest’s apex terrestrial predator. This is the basilisk (rhizodontodracos orcas), a powerful beast evolved to take on some of the forests terrestrial herbivores and omnivores. The animal’s teeth are sharp like those of their relatives, with razor sharp molars to shear flesh, and spike like incisors (12 of them mind you) that they use to stab and grip into their prey. The canines are only present in the lower jaw and somewhat resemble tusks, though they are ideal for eye-based attacks, like with Earth’s jaguars with their prey. Unlike the other lines of predatory draconians here, the neck is still relatively long, with a smaller head-a symbol of its more recent ancestry. It is therefore not as robust as its prey items and instead relies on speed and agility to maim its prey and then kill them quickly. The animal’s bite force is quite powerful and allows it to crack the shells of molluscs and other such creatures, but isn’t very useful against the bones of large animals, being mainly designed to bite out large chunks of flesh and allow the prey to bleed to death. It has fairly long legs for good running, but they are also very muscular at the back to allow jumping onto the backs of prey. The long arms are also muscular and equipped with 5cm claws, allowing it to grip onto the prey’s back before it fatally bites its prey in the neck or skull. The canines will go into the eye ideally and through the brain, leading to a quick fatality, allowing it to eat its food quickly before other predators arrive. Basilisks are quite large predators, measuring about 2m long excluding the 1m long crests on the tail, measure 1.3m tall overall and weigh around 150kg. the flukes on the tail that were once used for aerodynamic abilities are now used to balance the animal as it runs, and also to signal to other members of their species. In mating times, the males flukes fill up with blood and become red to attract mates. The rest of their fur tends to be a dark brown, with black stripes to help them camouflage in the thick undergrowth. They are not the only predators in this forest, but are nevertheless one of the most common large ones.

Anapodaconda

 

In the waters lies another type of threat entirely. While the group’s arrival has been relatively recent on the evolutionary scale, the anapod diversity has greatly sky-rocketed, and it was only a matter of time before they reached Martinia from island rafting. And here, they have thrived. In fact, their largest member makes residence here, being a powerful semi-aquatic predator, the anapodaconda (pseudoboa martinius). This beast retains the light coatings of fur of its smaller relatives, but this is far more waterproof, and its external ears are now gone in favour of aquatic movement. It is overall an omnivore, but holds a strong bias towards prey, using sharpened horizontal jaws to capture their prey as they suffocate it using their muscular body. Anapodacondas measure up to 6m in length and can weigh up to 80kg when well fed, so they are powerful enough to take on most smaller herbivores and even some larger ones when need be. The competition with basilisks is common in these forests, just like it was on Earth between the jaguar and anaconda, and is equally brutal. These beasts however are more aquatic creatures, and tend to prey on small aquatic draconians as well as juvenile gummy-beasts. The leaf-brown skin and darker fur help it camouflage in with both the undergrowth and the murky waters in which they make home. What makes them particularly dangerous is that unlike anacondas, they are quite sociable creatures and can and will attack in groups, though this is more common in juveniles admittedly. Nevertheless, they are some of the most formidable predators of any rainforest on Ao-Oni.

Outro

 

The cramped and moist conditions of the forest allow for a large amount of biodiversity, but it also means poor soil quality and an absence of room for larger herbivores to make their home here. Elsewhere on Martinia though, this is a different story, and some more bizarre forms of flightless draconian are present in these regions. You will see them next time!