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| Demeter; world of extreme seasons | |
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| Topic Started: Oct 17 2008, 01:14 PM (747 Views) | |
| Canis Lupis | Oct 17 2008, 01:14 PM Post #1 |
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Dinosaurs eat man, woman inherits the Earth.
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Before I joined this forum, I was working on a world design project. I will post it on this site so I can get your opinions, critiques, and suggestions for it. The planet's name is Demeter. This planet, now the size of Mars, used to be a moon orbiting a gas giant. When it orbited the giant, it was the size of Earth. When its parent star went nova, the atmosphere of the giant was drastically reduced, making it use its gravitational hold on its moons. Demeter was flung towards what used to be the inner solar system where it was held in orbit by the new pulsar star. A fragment of one of the former inner planets colided with Demeter forming a small moon. This moon, named Persephone, counteracted the tide-lock effect. This prevented Demeter from being tidally locked, but caused it to have a slow orbit and rotation. One day on Demeter lasts 240 hours, meaning it has a 120 hour night and a 120 hour day. Because so much time is spent on each side fo the planet, a day is sometimes called a summer and a night is called a winter. Demeter takes 20 Demeter days, or 200 Earth days, to orbit its sun. I'll send a map as soon as I can figure out how to put pictures on my posts. |
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| Saxophlutist | Oct 17 2008, 06:14 PM Post #2 |
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Adult
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Any organisms yet? |
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| Canis Lupis | Oct 17 2008, 10:33 PM Post #3 |
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Dinosaurs eat man, woman inherits the Earth.
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I've got a few ideas. But with my lack of drawing ability, it will take a while to put on paper. Here's the map.![]() Red=desert, only with the problems of low altitude. Orange=grassland, where red sticks grow out of the ground. Blue=seas, which completely freeze during the winter hours. Gray=mountains, formed by the forests moving toward the grassland. Brown=forests, where red trees dominate due to the somewhat constant temperature. Edited by Canis Lupis, Oct 30 2008, 06:19 PM.
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| Canis Lupis | Oct 19 2008, 05:12 PM Post #4 |
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Dinosaurs eat man, woman inherits the Earth.
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I've finally designed a creature! ![]() This is a plant-like creature, active during all hours of the day, but most notably the summer hours. Scientific name: Funderis Haeranen. Common name: Flastree. It lives in the large rift valley, known as Vallaes Daepenaris. It is not a true tree as it does not use chlorophyl. Instead, they use floridean and phycobiliproteins (used by Earth's red algae). This allows the Flastree to make full use of the red light emitted from the planet's sun. It has two parts to its morphology: the food producing "head", which protrudes from the valley wall and the clinging "foot", which is really a root system embedded in the valley wall. While the Flastree cannot burrow by itself, another organism named Frigidarius Staticurra does the burrowing for it. The animal and this mutual behavior will be described in my next post. During the winter hours, the "head" splits from the "foot". The "head" cannot survive the winter hours, so better to discard it than to waste metabolic energy on it. The "head" does contain seed-like pellets, so when Frigidarius Staticurra eats the "head' it also swallows the seeds. This will also be described in my next post. Edited by Canis Lupis, Oct 30 2008, 06:10 PM.
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| Canis Lupis | Oct 30 2008, 05:29 PM Post #5 |
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Dinosaurs eat man, woman inherits the Earth.
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![]() I first mentioned this creature in my description of the Flastree. The creature eats the Flastree. Scientific name: Frigidarius Staticurra. Common name: Stizard. To the untrained eye, the Stizard would be a lizard. But this is impossible considering the remoteness of Demeter. Based on its physical characteristics, it would be like a lizard/bird/mole/electric eel. It lives in Vallaes Daepenaris, the location where the temperature changes are the most prevalent. Unlike most of the other denizens of the rift valley, the Stizard is active during the winter hours. It hibernates during the summer hours. To combat the cold temperatures, it eats a lot of food during the winter. Most of the resulting energy is transferred to the nervous system, which connects to a long series of muscles along Stizard's back. This produces an electrical charge. The charge builds up during the summer and is steadily released during the winter. During winter, the electricity is transferred to the vital organs (brain, heart, lungs, and digestive system). This warms them up, causing them to function normally. As stated above, the Stizard eats Flastrees. As you know, the Flastree's "head" falls off during the winter hours. This is what the Stizard consumes. As you also know, the Flastree's "head" contains seed-like pellets, of which the Stizard unwittingly swallows. During hibernation, the Stizard lays these seeds in a fertile mess of dung. This dung is formed in the back of the burrow. During the resulting days, the pellet sprouts into new Flastrees. As they grow, they leave the Stizard homeless. The Stizard then goes off to make himself another hole. Stizard reproduction is not so complex. Males and females mate in the earliest minutes of summer. Like all animal species on Demeter, the Stizard is a hermaphrodite (an organism containing both male and female sex organs). The Stizards stubby tail is really a fold of skin which protects its reproductive organs from the cold. The mating individuals line up, tail to tail, reveal their reproductive organs and release their reproductive material. The gestation period is two summers and one winter long. During the second winter, the Stizards lay their eggs in the inedible parts of the Flastree's head. Baby Stizards can consume these parts and therefore are able to store enough food for the summer. However, since competition is so high, only one, out of a litter of five baby Stizards, survive to see their first summer. Edited by Canis Lupis, Nov 4 2008, 08:38 PM.
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| Canis Lupis | Nov 4 2008, 09:20 PM Post #6 |
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Dinosaurs eat man, woman inherits the Earth.
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![]() This creature, native to Vallaes Daepenaris, eats the Stizard. Scientific name: Cnidarius Missilungue. Common name: Hexacoon. This creature goes through metamorphosis, so I will divide this post up into sections. LARVAL STAGE: This creatures larval stage (the smaller creature) is similar to Earth's weevil. It has no eyes. Instead, it uses tiny, microscopic hairs on the side of its noses to "see" the world around them. They have six, spindly legs which are only useful when they emerge from their eggs and before they begin burrowing. The dark spot on its back contains a fluid rich in nutrients. This is what it uses for energy. The creatures nose spews out a mixture of water, sugar, and rock-eating bacteria. The combination of these substances is enough to bore through the canyon floor. Once it finishes burrowing, it grows a hard shell, effectively turning it into a cocoon. It is active during the summer hours. ADULT STAGE: This creatures adult stage (the larger creature) is just a cocoon in which the head has burst through. The six spikes are what keeps the adult anchored in the soil. The proboscis of the larva has split into three parts: the male reproductive tract, the female reproductive tract, and the tongue. The male reproductive tract produces sperm, the female reproductive tract produces eggs, and the tongue produces digestive enzymes. The tiny hairs on the upper side of the reproductive tract are one-inch long hairs. If a creature brushes up against these hairs, the tongue is shout out of the adult's mouth and is promptly injected into the unsuspecting creature. The digestive enzymes, which are produced by the tongue, are injected into the prey, turning the prey's insides into a liquid, which the adult then sucks out. It is active during the winter hours. REPRODUCTION: As I mentioned, the adult has a male and a female reproductive tract. During the late summer, sperm and eggs are expelled from these tracts. These float across the canyon floor and join together in mid-air. They form a zygote and land on the floor. They will lay dormant until the first snow falls. When the snow falls, the zygote begins to go through mitosis, until it becomes an egg with a fully formed embryo inside. In the early summer, the eggs hatch and the larvae emerge. They then bury themselves into the soil and transform into a cocoon, which transforms into an adult. This process is then repeated. P.S. Sorry about the multible double posts. Edited by Canis Lupis, Nov 15 2008, 02:54 PM.
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