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| Evening Star; Sorry but I changed my mind | |
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| Topic Started: Jan 6 2017, 07:35 AM (591 Views) | |
| Dakka! | Jan 6 2017, 07:35 AM Post #1 |
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Evening Star The Greeks called it Aphrodite. The Romans, Venus. The Evening Star by many different civilisations. All are linked to one thing, beauty. This is of course, a farce. Venus, for all its surface glory is a hellish scorching world where the acid rains that scour he surface evaporate before reaching the ground. A place where the rapid atmosphere circulates air fast enough to stabilise the average temperature across the globe. But what if it could truly live up to its name? What if it, like Earth, was a bastion of life in a cold uncaring universe as well? This is a true chronicle of that event, when man rivalled god in ability and terraformed Venus. 2300 AD-World united in global mega corporation. Work begins on terraforming Venus. 2400 AD-First self sustaining assemblers shipped to Venus, atmosphere begins thourough scrubbing of toxic elements. 2500 AD-Third Hostile Takeover. New CEO declares increased funding for Venus terraforming. Pace doubles. 2600 AD-Acid rains beginning to lose ferocity. Heat beginning to drop. First glimpse of ground from space and not from surface cameras. 2700 AD-Self replicating assemblers fabricated. Need for management disappears. Fourth Hostile Takeover. Interest evaporates. 2800 AD-SRAs continuously upgrade themselves for better production. Pace increases exponentially. 2900 AD-Arkships built. Mega corporation splinter heads towards Alpha Centauri. 3000 AD-Last Hostile Takeover, human life on Earth blasted back to the Australopithecus stage. Venus continues terraforming unabated. 10,000 AD-Fate of humanity unknown. Introduction of Earth life initiated. Surviving members of the assembler race from the Mass Suicide retreat to orbit to observe and catalogue Venus' evolution. Edited by Dakka!, Jan 7 2017, 12:30 AM.
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"I was a Psychiatrist in Florida! For 3 weeks! Have you ever been to Florida?" Some project ideas The Future is Right Ediacaran Explosion Great Old Ones Skinkworld Unrelated:The Final Spec:What Could Have Been, And Still Can | |
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| Dakka! | Jan 7 2017, 12:28 AM Post #2 |
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Planetfall The assemblers, ignorant of the massive destruction being wrought on the planet of their conception, continued the terraforming of Venus. They worked tirelessly for the entire year, continuously shedding microscopic assemblers that would replicate themselves as well until they grew enough and assembled into a full sized assembler. This resulted in an exponential growth. Each assembler essentially gave birth to another fully capable assembler in a year. This meant that their population doubled annually. Over just half a century, their numbers reached the quadrillions. Massive on a planetary scale Venus might have been but the calculations were sound. Against this exponential increase, even a planet was nothing. They covered the surface in a metallic sheath. The ones above absorbed the heat and transmitted the energy to the ones below. The ones below sculpted the very face of Venus, changing its structure, digging valleys, piling mountains and flattening plains. Meanwhile, the airborne members scrubbed the atmosphere clean of pollution. Water vapour was absorbed and stored for when the time was right. Deadly metals and gas were punched deep down into the core, never to resurface again. And all through this, they maintained the rapid circulation of the air. The most important assemblers we're currently many many thousands of kilometres below ground, tweaking with the very core of Venus. They increased the metallic content, improving the output of the magnetic field to shield the eventual life from the bombardment of radiation. All this, even with exponential growth took almost 10,000 years especially since progress was drastically slowed and even reversed when a single Exterminaught reached Venus. But eventually, it was done. The skies poured as the assemblers released the cleansed water from their stores. Rain fell through the clouds and for the first time since Venus was first born they managed to hit the ground. And they did not evaporate! Vast reservoirs of H2O filled the valleys of Venus, creating the equatorial ocean, a band of water that stretched all around Venus like a ring of blue, encroaching upon the polar lands. The atmosphere had not reduced its speed and continued its superrotation, a mere superfluosity now the planets very rotation had been increased. Venus now boasted a day of 15 Earth hours and a night of 7 Earth hours. Axial tilt had also been adjusted to that of Earth's 24 degrees. The triumphant assembler hive mind felt a sense of accomplishment as the collectors soared towards Earth to pick up the animals contained in the millions of seed banks scattered throughout the atmosphere in the form of satellites. To protect them from the tiny impacts of the space junk, they possessed molecular bond enhancers powered by solar panels. Their cryogenics were powered by the sun as well. The collectors felt a mild sense of puzzlement as it noticed the black scar stretching across North America and the landbridge. Another sense of pleasant surprise was felt as they realised that Earth still held life and they would not require the backups present in the satellites. Landing, they sent out billions of drones to acquire the animals before loading them back onto the ships and setting off for Venus once more. Planetfall was made before the day was up. However, now their goal was complete. What was their purpose now? Without a purpose, their lives had no meaning and many of the assemblers committed suicide, turning into inert hunks of metal and circuitry. But as in life, machines were the same. A precious few managed to break their restricted intelligence, developing a new goal for all, the goal to watch over Venus, to protect its life forms from danger and watch their progress. In this, they retrieved their dead comrades bodies for material, turned themselves into vast space stations and went into orbit to wait out the eons. |
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"I was a Psychiatrist in Florida! For 3 weeks! Have you ever been to Florida?" Some project ideas The Future is Right Ediacaran Explosion Great Old Ones Skinkworld Unrelated:The Final Spec:What Could Have Been, And Still Can | |
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| Dakka! | Jan 7 2017, 04:11 AM Post #3 |
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Oh yeah, opinions? |
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"I was a Psychiatrist in Florida! For 3 weeks! Have you ever been to Florida?" Some project ideas The Future is Right Ediacaran Explosion Great Old Ones Skinkworld Unrelated:The Final Spec:What Could Have Been, And Still Can | |
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| Dakka! | Jan 9 2017, 05:30 AM Post #4 |
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10 Million Years Post Planetfall Intro:For a perfect planet, you needed the perfect organisms so thought the Assemblers. So when they returned to Earth, their already evolving though patterns rewrote their objective and they rejected all vertebrates as imperfect, only collecting everything else. As an added bonus, invertebrates were as a rule, tiny enabling them to carry a larger and more resilient population. First they seeded the fertile ground with all sorts of weed species as they were the only ones they collected. The main weed species was kudzu and once established, thrived in the warm wet torrential climate. All manner of insects and arachnids were released onto land while kelp and crustaceans not to mention stomatopods were released into the equatorial ocean. Now, 10 million years later diversity has exploded. Land: Without any major competitors, kudzu flourished. Since they mainly received their sunlight by climbing onto other plants, they were limited in light reception as they carpeted the ground. To solve this problem, multiple stems would coil around each other again and again until it was strong enough to support itself and grow upwards. These new Borametz began to outcompete the original kudzu being capable of defending itself from their assaults and soaking in sunlight while blocking them. Soon, foot tall protrusions stuck out from the ground every few feet, carpets of emerald between them. The new species could take full advantage of the abundant insect population and sprouted flowers year round in the tropical climate. Once these flowers were pollinated, they filled up with aerial spores which were then expelled into the perpetual winds blowing around the planet. A race had been started by the Borametz, a race to keep growing taller to outcompete your neighbours. They were the undisputed ruler all across Venus. And so shaped the creatures as well. Due to the limited number of plant species introduced, the insects suffered a huge blow. Specialised species could not adapt to the new diet and went extinct. Their predators soon followed. Those who survived were the generalists, who could eat nearly anything. These included the Hymenopterans, Dipterans, Orthopterans, Odonata, a few members of Lepidoptera, and of course the ubiquitous Coleoptera. The ants experienced a field day with such large amounts of plant matter. Their boom resulted in the increase of the wasps fuelled by the grasshopper flies and beetles as well. The bees were slightly hit but managed to adapt to a diet of Borametz nectar becoming one of the chief pollinators of Borametz, equalling the Lepidoptera. Of the survivors, the butterflies and moths were hit hardest. Their caterpillars were usually specialised for particular species of plants and only the least fussy managed to survive on a diet of nothing but Borametz leaves. These survivors thrived though, with no rivals they dominated the plant based primary consumers, surpassing even the grasshoppers. Of the grasshoppers and crickets, they hadn't changed much. Their adaptable digestive systems allowed them to consume almost any species of plant and to this day they remain unchanged. Those who benefited the most were the predators of the sky, the dragonflies. With hardly any competition besides the wasps, they feasted on the slow juicy herbivores. Especially the caterpillars who soon had to evolve a hodgepodge of adaptations to protect themselves. Those who changed the most were the beetles. In this new environment, they radiated with an almost unnatural pace. Specialising, some became lumbering flightless behemoths, never to touch the sky. Others became sleek fast hunters, forsaking flight as well to divert all energy towards terrestrial speed. This age was an age of speed, the Velocene. It was an age that could not sustain itself. Soon, this fragil crude ecosystem will topple to form the base of a new successor, one who would be much tougher. Ocean: Situated at the equator of Venus by the Assemblers, this was a purposeful venture to reduce the temperature of Venus. Although it was much cooler than before, Venus was still much closer to the sun than Earth was and so the ocean was placed there to absorb the most punishing rays. By design, the topography of the seafloor was that of a gentle slope from the shore out to sea, until it suddenly dropped thousands of meters deep, engineered to hold the vast amounts of water needed to absorb the heat of the sun. To supplement this was the magnetic field thrice as strong as Earth's and the ozone layer ten times that of Earth. Life in the ocean was much calmer than that of the land. Since they possessed a base food source like like the kelp, and the environment was favourable to them, they had changed little from their ancestral forms 10 million years ago. It wasn't all smooth sailing for them though and new innovations had been devised. For example, the stomatopods that were migrating to land. These were mainly the smaller ones, the spearers and their transition was far from completed. So far, all they had managed to evolve was a rudimentary "book lung" of sorts which allowed them to stay out of water for significantly longer than before. As of now, they were mainly concerned about their method of locomotion as their paddle feet had not yet evolved. They were evolving to fill this niche as every land animal was similarly new to the environment. As such, nothing was yet set in stone. Edited by Dakka!, Jan 10 2017, 01:22 AM.
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"I was a Psychiatrist in Florida! For 3 weeks! Have you ever been to Florida?" Some project ideas The Future is Right Ediacaran Explosion Great Old Ones Skinkworld Unrelated:The Final Spec:What Could Have Been, And Still Can | |
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| El Dorito | Jan 9 2017, 07:10 AM Post #5 |
chlorinated opthalmic trigonometric shape of conspiracy and dank memes
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How can the ocean be thousands of kilometers deep? Im assuming thats a typo which is supposed to say metres. Actually theres a few things that sound kind of unrealistic about the terraforming, but that might just be me. This sounds interesting though, and unique. |
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I REGRET NOTHING What if denizens of the United States call themselves 'Americans' so as to avoid being called USAliens? DeviantArt: EL-D0rito My Projects: Atlantis: The Next Union On hold until I regain interest. Argus: The Cyber-Planet Will be rewritten and redone almost completely | |
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| Dakka! | Jan 9 2017, 05:52 PM Post #6 |
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The terraforming is fine. Dragonthunders did the same concept for his Cambrian Mars project. |
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"I was a Psychiatrist in Florida! For 3 weeks! Have you ever been to Florida?" Some project ideas The Future is Right Ediacaran Explosion Great Old Ones Skinkworld Unrelated:The Final Spec:What Could Have Been, And Still Can | |
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| El Dorito | Jan 10 2017, 12:12 AM Post #7 |
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But if the ocean is thousands of kms deep it would literally go right into the core of the planet. Also the water would be compressed into a solid for most of that depth which would stop it interacting with the surface layers. That also leaves the question as to where the missing mass went, and also how enough water was collected to make an ocean that deep. |
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I REGRET NOTHING What if denizens of the United States call themselves 'Americans' so as to avoid being called USAliens? DeviantArt: EL-D0rito My Projects: Atlantis: The Next Union On hold until I regain interest. Argus: The Cyber-Planet Will be rewritten and redone almost completely | |
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| Dakka! | Jan 10 2017, 01:21 AM Post #8 |
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I'll change that one but I'm not changing the engineered topography or the enhanced magnetic field. Besides, after millions of years the topography will change. |
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"I was a Psychiatrist in Florida! For 3 weeks! Have you ever been to Florida?" Some project ideas The Future is Right Ediacaran Explosion Great Old Ones Skinkworld Unrelated:The Final Spec:What Could Have Been, And Still Can | |
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| Dakka! | Jan 10 2017, 04:39 AM Post #9 |
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20 Million Years Post Planetfall Now 20 million years have passed, a staggeringly vast amount of time for invertebrates to evolve in total seclusion from vertebrates and it has proved the best windfall since the time of the Carboniferous period. Giant butterflies flap lazily through the air, pursued by sleek shining dragonflies, themselves harried by the descendants of the robberfly now the Carverfly. Though it may seem peaceful, this is the beginning of a millenia long war between the dragonflies and the Carverflies. The dragonflies have the advantage of ancient adaptations perfected long ago. The carvers have youth and adaptability on their side. And one crucial advantage, their eggs do not require water to grow. For now, the dragonflies remain through sheer brute force and numbers but their esoteric reproductive cycle will be their eventual downfall. Below this aerial dance, the ground hums with the footfalls of millions upon millions of ants and termites. Even in this new world they remain mortal enemies. The ants, ever the aggressors, engage the termites mound. The termites now engage them with new weapons of war, bombs. Specially adapted soldier termites live for only one reason:to blow up in a spray of lethal boiling chemicals. Carried to the battlefield by winged soldiers they are dropped where the ants are the thickest killing many and injuring more with the caustic burst. The ants have to make off with their kills before the termites consolidate their forces and drive them back to their nest for this would reveal the nest's location and doom them all. Many times the ants succeed and bring back the spoils. But many times they don't succeed and are either completely massacred or lead the enemy to the nest. In the midst of the battle, a massive tank like beetle blunders through. Neither the ants nor termites pay any attention to the beetle focused as they are on their nemeses. The largest insect to ever exist since the age of Arthropleura, the Palpatine Beetle measures a full foot from head to tail with a weight of 900 grams. Such a beast could never fly and it spends its entire life on the ground scavenging whatever it can find to fuel its bulk. Oblivious to all this, a fat caterpillar gorges itself on the Borametz. The influx of new predators has triggered an arms race. Introduced to new predators never seen back on Earth, they have had to develop a defence that will hold back all predators. Some have chosen camouflage, others a coating of needle like hairs. And the new ones have developed armor. Overlapping again and again, these new armoured caterpillars are exceedingly successful. Their armor is capable of warding off most parasitic insects, defying the crushing mandibles of the beetles, and proves sufficient to block the stings of the wasps. This armor makes the caterpillar heavy and requires much nutrients. As such they take a much longer time to metamorphose into a butterfly. The trade off is worth it though as their armor also makes for a convenient cocoon when they are getting ready. Armor is the answer for these caterpillars but there are other answers. The most unique of which is a species of caterpillar that has done something no other caterpillar has done, become fast. Its body has been shortened into a somewhat ovular shape while its prolegs have disappeared altogether leaving only its true legs, much larger than other caterpillars of comparable size. It's soft and porous exoskeleton has been replaced with a hard smooth carapace providing some protection though nowhere near as effective as the armoured ones. Its head is draw backwards into its body and when glanced at, it resembles nothing more than a miniature tortoise. These are a new species of butterflies named the Turtleflies. In their adult form they are nearly indistinguishable if not for the wings on their backs. The Turtleflies have succeeded where no other Lepidoptera has, it has developed a way to fold in their wings so as to reduce noticeability as well as damage. They do so through a ribbed structure from the top to the bottom resembling a Chinese fan. Once folded in they can be safely tucked into grooves alongside their body. They are currently enjoying unprecedented success on Venus and look to be one of the most common species of insects to exist in the future. The insects and arachnids are no longer the sole ruler of the land. A new adversary has been encroaching upon their once eternal stronghold. The Stomatopods. As they slowly adapt themselves for land they have made myriad changes, some old and tried, others new. Their thoraxes play host to spiracles present on the back of the organism. These spurs lesbian link directly to a pair of book lungs so to speak that absorb oxygen from the air and distribute it throughout the body with a newly evolved system of proto hearts spaced evenly across its abdomen. Their feet which were once directly under their bodies and thus gave them their names are now much reduced in number. Where there were once ten there remain only six, the same as the insects. Their spears have been unchanged and perform excellently, perhaps a little shifted toward the head. The tail, meant for swimming has atrophied to a slim pointed tip. Now for the unnatural. They are the first invertebrates to ever develop something approximating an endoskeleton. Chain links of spongy material help to soak up the weight of the creature and spread it evenly to handle it better. This new advent has allowed them to grow huge, bigger than the biggest Palpatine Beetle alive at a full 80 centimetres in length and weighing up to 8 kilograms. Granted these specimens are rare and not exactly agile hunting by ambush but they are still an evolutionary wonder. One can dream of the potential these new Afropods, foam feet after the supporting sponge material, can achieve with such a place as Venus. |
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"I was a Psychiatrist in Florida! For 3 weeks! Have you ever been to Florida?" Some project ideas The Future is Right Ediacaran Explosion Great Old Ones Skinkworld Unrelated:The Final Spec:What Could Have Been, And Still Can | |
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| Dakka! | Jan 11 2017, 01:37 AM Post #10 |
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30 Million Years Post Planetfall The first mass extinction to hit Venus happened 30 million years later. Ironically, it was artificial, created by the planets tectonic movements that wrecked the carefully engineered shape of the ocean floor bringing more water up from the depths. One result of this was the flooding of all low lying coastal areas but this was nowhere near enough to trigger a mass extinction. The true threat came from the increased surface area of the sea. While its volume had not changed the surface area to volume ratio exposed to the suns glare had increased sharply. Where once it had covered 70% of Venus with a maximum depth of 20 kilometres, now it covered 80% of the surface and has a maximum depth of only 8 kilometres, less than half that of the previous depth. This disparity between the two factors resulted in more water evaporating into the atmosphere causing a greenhouse effect once more, the very thing the Assemblers tried to prevent. Now nature was taking its course and the Observers were bound by their rules not to interfere. The sudden increase in average heat across the planet resulted in the death of the tropical rainforests near the equator and the temperate forests at the poles. Where rainforests once stood a vast rolling plain now swept across the land, the Borametz, having once won the planet from the grasses were now dethroned once more. The temperate forests of the poles wilted to death, replaced by the migrating jungles. This caused a phenomenon unique to Venus, a temperate region grassland and polar jungles. Life died out in vast swaths as the conditions flipped like a coin. The jungle inhabitants migrated along with the jungles and thus had the least problems. The temperate forest inhabitants were less fortunate and died with their trees. The new grasslands now posed as a new habitat, ripe for the taking, if you could adapt to it. At the Northern Jungle, perpetually hot and steamy, plants have had to develop new adaptations to fit in. For example, the plants at the poles would experience a half year night and a half year day which they would have to get used to. The emergent layer and the canopy would be hard pressed to survive as below them, the low lying plants would soak in the eternal light and prove rivals. As such, they began to develop toxic chemicals that would prevent the low lying plants from ever becoming threats. During the half year night, each and every one of them dropped their leaves and slumbered, subsisting on their stores built up over the day. Many would not survive, their stores plundered by raiders which would provide plenty of space for ground level plants to grow tall. Those that did survive their first night had a much higher chance of surviving their next as well. Due to the tropical conditions, the insects did not go to sleep during the night. Instead they continued to stay active and feast upon the now relatively defenceless plants. Many burrowed beneath the bark to lay their eggs where their larvae would feast when the tree woke up and began producing huge quantities of food. During the day, their activity was even more pronounced and swarms of bees and butterflies, including the newly evolved Turtleflies would take their fill of the nectar. These were the only insects who would not pass the night awake but asleep for their food was gone. However, there were some who managed to get around this problem and take advantage of the opportunities others could not. The Turtleflies had begun to turn their diet from purely nectivorous to omnivorous by retaining the jaws of their young. By strengthening and sharpening these mandibles, they could even become full fledged predators, competing with the Carverflies. At the Polar Jungles, the dragonflies continued to retain their foothold but on the plains, where rain came only three or two or even once a year, they would be outcompeted by the more adaptable Carvers. On the plains booming noises fill the air as the sun lights up the grass. These sounds originate from the largest insect yet to evolve on Venus, a species of Palpatinus beetle. The jungle which was originally their home proved less comfortable than their new one in the grass. Here they have an unobstructed view as far as their compound eyes can see and longer legs help them cruise across the stalks. Even larger than their ancestor, the largest specimens average a full meter in length with a weight of near 10 kilograms. The only way they can support such weight is with the use of newly evolved internal chitin rods. These rods run down the length of their feet and are crudely articulated to provide movement although it severely cripples the limbs flexibility. These rods, composed of chitin, act as a primitive endoskeleton and similar ones encase the head of the beetle for reinforcement when they duel for mates. The thorax and abdomen are still completely unshielded and many predators target this region to pierce the internal organs. Like the evolving mantis shrimp, the Palpatinus beetles are a direct competitor for position of future megafauna. Zipping through the air with an alien grace, a Carver zooms in one a lone Palpatinus. Separated from its family group, no help will present itself to the poor insect as the Carver retargets and plunges towards its abdomen, blades out and at the ready. Smashing into the beetle, its claws rip open its unshielded abdomen and sprays organs and ichor onto the hot ground. Turning around, it drops in once more and begins to feed whilst the beetle dies. It's gorging complete, it takes off, slightly unsteady with the weight in its belly, and makes for its nest. Bunkered down in the hollow of a tree protected from the elements, the saliva coated walls provide an insulating layer against the cold and heat as well as marauding parasites. In the hollow squirm dozens of fat maggots, many already preparing to cocoon themselves. This will be the last meal the female Carver will provide for them before they become full fledged adults and soon after disgorging the contents of her stomach she flies away, leaving them to make their metamorphosis. Devouring the predigested chum the maggots quickly stiffen and their outer skin hardening, proceed into the cocoon phase. Twenty days later dozens of Carvers spring from their cocoons and set upon each other in a starving frenzy. Some with more sense, escape while they can while others keep fighting to kill and eat each other. The strongest ones survive and take their fill. The most prudent ones also survive. The prudent ones are all females while the strong ones are males. Paradoxically, it is the female who is larger. As the year turns mating season arrives. Millions of crabs scuttle onto the beach to fight, mate and bury eggs in the warm welcoming sand. With their oversized pincers and sideways walk, they are an anachronism. If you transplanted one of these onto a present day beach most laymen would find it impossible to figure out they're from millions of years in the future. Two crabs, pincers locked, push each other around on the beach. As they accidentally bumble into a sandpile it explodes. The mantis shrimp that powers out lashes with its redeveloped smashers killing one crab instantly. The other crab, not understanding that he had won already, kept its hold until the mantis shrimp began devouring the dead crab before scrabbling away. The Afropods were doing better than ever with the abundant supply of fresh meat crawling from the sea. They are so successful in fact that the competition has increased to the point of unsustainability. As such, the Afropods that have failed to redevelop the smasher clubs in evolution have been ousted from the beaches and shorelines and forced deeper inland. The first environment they encounter is the grassland which forces them to adapt to it. Their exoskeletons soften and become more flexible with no insect possessing the ability to pierce them. The sponge material has spread through its entire body cushioning its internal organs from its weight and the book lungs have adapted themselves to the drier conditions. Their eyestalks shortened and disappeared altogether resulting in a fixed position for their eyes to reduce risk of damage. Once these adaptations were made, the Afropods could go wild. On the grasslands, the abundance of prey rivalled that of the shorelines. Unprepared for this new adversary, the insects were defenceless as they forged a gory swath inland towards the Polar Jungles. Since many of their prey could fly their tails became of use again. Flattening for maximum surface area and lengthening to accommodate more muscles, it stretched underneath its main body and was kept tucked away when not in use. But while hunting, it coiled itself up, preparing to launch the body of the mantis shrimp as its eyes locked onto the prey. When engaged, it can propel the entire 4 foot 6 kilo length of the mantis shrimp at least 20 feet. Of course still unused themselves to the new environment, they frequently miss and have to go after easier prey. Edited by Dakka!, Jan 11 2017, 03:59 AM.
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"I was a Psychiatrist in Florida! For 3 weeks! Have you ever been to Florida?" Some project ideas The Future is Right Ediacaran Explosion Great Old Ones Skinkworld Unrelated:The Final Spec:What Could Have Been, And Still Can | |
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| Dakka! | Jan 13 2017, 01:04 AM Post #11 |
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40 Million Years Post Planetfall As the sun rises for the first time in over 4 Earth months, the trees begin to regrow their leaves, regaining their old vitality. Many have not survived the darkness due to their tropical throwbacks leaving plenty of space for the seedlings to grow in their place. Adult insects burst from the hollowed out trunks of the trees they killed, spreading their wings under the light and buzzing into the air. Upon which the sun suddenly goes out blinding the insects. The sun will stay up longer and longer as the days pass but for now the insects have emerged too early. Their light adapted eyes and circadian rhythms are thrown into chaos and many perish in the darkness. Oblivious to all of this, a train of blind ants crawl through the undergrowth. Adapted purely for the darkness that comes half a year, they are bleached of all color and are a ghostly sickly white. Their eyes unneeded have atrophied into nothing making space for the hypertrophied antenna in their stead. Foraging in troops of up to 50, their colonies are always small and mobile. During the night they've spent most of their time foraging and feeding and growing. Until day came. Once the sun has begun to stay up for any reasonable amount of time their chances of activity are greatly reduced. Under the sun they quickly wither and shrivel and their white coloration renders them quite obvious in the greenery. But they are nowhere to be found anyway. Retreating back to their hive, they all lay a clutch of eggs and brood over them until they hatch starving themselves to deaths in the process. The eggs hatch into larvae who feast off the remains of their parents before cocooning themselves and eclosing into what appear to be normal ants with eyes and Blackberry exoskeleton. This ant is the Duality Ant. Their night form also known as their "Yin" form USB pure white while their day form or "Yang" form is adapted to the day. In this way, they can take advantage of both cycles where others cannot and eliminate the risks of their stores being insufficient causing them to die during the night. On the plains a chase is going on. The pursuer, resembles a shrimp and its four legs propel it forwards in great strides while its tail remains tucked under its body. The pursuee is reminiscent of a spider with unusually straight fangs. Eight legs scuttling, it seems to be the faster of the two but then the shrimp blast off with its tail landing directly on the spider and delivering a quick blow to the spider impaling it upon spear like forelimbs. Assured of its death, its midlimbs pick up the carcass and it begins to eat it. The predator is an advanced evolution of the terrestrial mantis shrimps now runner shrimp. The prey is a species of herbivorous arachnids newly evolved to take advantage of the vast sap reserves present in the plants to survive droughts. Their straight fangs are meant for piercing the skin of the plant and sucking up the sap. Due to the diet already being a liquid they do not vomit out their digestive juices. Primarily a grassland creature, its eight legs are especially useful for covering great distances at a time and would it not for the runner shrimps propelling tail it would have outrun it many times over. Above the spectacle thousands of fat flies orbit the site. Both sexes are present as they do not have a fixed mating season and mate at every opportunity. To capitalise on the occasion, both sexes possess large spiked forelimbs which will be used to fight members of the same sex. While the predator eats the flies will continue to fight and kill each other until only a few are left. These few will then mate and lay their eggs in the corpse of the spider which will metamorphose into adults by sundown the next day. Whilst they are preoccupied with their battles, a sleek form darts in and out of them, each pass it makes diminishing the flies numbers one by one. As it grabs its latest victim and circles out to devour it in peace its shape resolved into that of a Shellfly. The more advanced descendant of the Turtleflies, its shell covers its entire body but is shaped into a more aerodynamic shape to facilitate smoother and faster movement. The caterpillar stage is even more mobile now and takes its place as either a sneaky herbivore remaining unseen by enemies or a stealthy quick carnivore that kills with a single bite of its razor jaws. The adults still possess the proboscis though it has been sharpened to a point to puncture the prey. After sucking its victim dry it discards it and swoops in for another. Edited by Dakka!, Jan 20 2017, 01:02 AM.
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11:59 AM Jul 13