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| The Biologis Arcadia; Guide to creatures of Arcadia | |
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| Topic Started: Sep 14 2008, 06:35 PM (187 Views) | |
| Bellflower | Sep 14 2008, 06:35 PM Post #1 |
Shotgun Hero!
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The Biologis Arcadia By E. P. M. Sadlanar It is with great excitement, albeit with some trepidation, that I undertake upon this noble and worthy task - a task that I feel will undoubtedly prove of benefit to any aspiring scholar, or to any learned lady or Gentlemen. Though I regret that compared to such seminal works as Borodoirs Life of the Loopers or Ernstmann Von Ghastlings Creatures of the Valuan Skies, my humble text may appear to be concise and lacking in detail, I feel that it provides a basic and accurate description of most of the creatures that any Man or Woman of Valua is likely to encounter throughout the skies of Arcadia. I do not pretend either that this work is complete, I fully expect that there remain creatures throughout the world which as yet remain undescribed by the hand of man, and many more which are likely to remain as such for some considerable time. Nonetheless, I feel that I have done my best within the possible time constraints to produce this volume to a standard befitting the nature of this endeavour, and hope that you, the reader, find it useful in the identification of any creatures you encounter throughout the skies of the world. I would like to dedicate this novel to my family. To Mother and Father, who provided me with both the inspiration to put ideas and dreams into words and the resources to do so, and to my brother Marcus, without who I feel I would have lacked the nerve to undertake my journey of discovery. But my dedication is especially for Lorna, a sorely missed sister and friend. Rest in peace, wherever in the skies you have been taken. Thank you customer for your purchase, and may the Moons bless you and your endeavours! |
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| Bellflower | Sep 14 2008, 06:36 PM Post #2 |
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Shotgun Hero!
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Flying Fish Upon passing through the island passage to Mid ocean, we almost immediately stumbled across a shoal of the slow moving creatures simply known as flying fish. Purple coloured creatures, Piscinus lagulla are slow moving at most times, possessing only short fins. They are bulky creatures, taller then they are wide, and have no tail fins to speak of, rather their bodies just taper off. However, they are not without defences their scales are both thick and barbed a combination that deters all but the most aggressive and relentless predators. They are slow, relatively peaceful creatures, feeding only on sky plankton and the eggs or larvae of other organisms. Flying fish also tend to congregate around the underside of waterfalls, snapping up any aquatic creatures unfortunate enough to go over the falls and unable to take to the skies. The Life cycle of the flying fish is also relatively simple, with adult females releasing hundreds of small eggs into the skies before fertilisation. After fertilisation, the fry tend to remain amongst the sky plankton where they feed as they grow, until joining up with a mature shoal once they reach a quarter of full adult size. |
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| Bellflower | Sep 14 2008, 06:37 PM Post #3 |
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Shotgun Hero!
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Sky Sardis It was in the skies near a small mid-ocean community known as Windmill Island that I first encountered Sky Sardis in their natural environment. A Light blue skyfish with a forked tail and a pair of elongated fins, one to each side of the body, Sky Sardis (Sardi sardi ) are a staple of the Mid-Ocean diet due to their abundance, frequency, large size and their reasonable taste. Sky Sardis travel in shoals of large numbers, each shoal often accompanied by one larger, red fish that is commonly known as a Red Sardis. However, the Red Sardis is, as my research and studies have shown, in fact of the same species. The difference in taste is produced by a mixture of the age of the Red Sardis individual, and by the fact that the Red Sardis is actually the dominant male of the group. The Red colouration of the individual makes it easily visible against the blue skies of Mid-Ocean, which attracts Sky Sardis, all of which are Female. Indeed, all Sky Sardis are born female, hatching from a layer of floating eggs laid in the upper layers of the clouds by the parent shoal. Upon reaching maturity through a diet of sky plankton and small insects, the Sardis leave their homes in the clouds in new shoals. These new shoals are often joined by an elder individual from another shoal, who changes colour from Blue to Red and Gender from Female to Male. Upon the removal of the current Male from the shoal, the eldest Sardi within the shoal starts to undergo a series of chemical, physical and biological changes. Within a matter of weeks she will have become a he, and the new dominant individual within the shoal - until the bright red colouration allows 'his' subsequent easy identification and subsequent capture by predators. |
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| Bellflower | Sep 14 2008, 06:38 PM Post #4 |
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Shotgun Hero!
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Ghastling The Ghastling (Ghastus vulgaris) is a bright red creature, with an ovoid body that tapers off into a point on the underside. Astride this body sits a circular head approximately one third the length of the body, and crowned with a series of extendible tentacles. It is these tentacles which the Ghastling feeds, either by drawing small prey close enough to devour or by latching onto and draining vital fluids from larger organisms. The Ghastling naturally floats, and propels itself about by a pair of tall, thin fins that run across almost the entire length of the body. The blue band across the midsection is used by Ghastlings to display to each other during territorial conflicts and courtship displays. Ghastlings are translucent, through their bodies can you not only see objects on the other side, but also their brainstem and stomach. Ghastlings are surprisingly social animals indeed, they are very rarely found alone. This sociality extends to their young, for upon secreting hundreds of eggs into some rocky crevice in the underside of an island, the female Ghastling will stay with the eggs until they hatch, fanning them to maintain heat and deterring predators. However, the Ghastling female exhausts itself upon rearing the clutch to maturity, and promptly dies allowing the newly hatched Ghastlings a first meal of her own corpse. Do not sympathise, however Ghastlings are viscous despite their frailty, and are quite capable of making a meal of an unprepared child. |
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| Bellflower | Sep 14 2008, 06:38 PM Post #5 |
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Shotgun Hero!
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Marocca The Marocca, (Gastropodus marocca) is a shelled creature, possessing a hard, curved spiral shell from which the soft creature itself dangles. The foot of the Marocca hangs directly under the body, and it is with this foot that the creature often latches itself onto the sides of ships, rocks or even islands. The two tentacles that reach forwards from each side of the Marocca are used to grab hold of prey, and to manoeuvre the items of food into the Maroccas beak. The Spiral Shell is not only protection for a Morocca but also the means by which it remains airborne the Marocca traps a series of lighter then air gasses in the dome of its light weight, hollow shell, using them for buoyancy. The shell itself is usually brown, with pale green stripes indicating the location of interior joins within the shell.. The rear of the shell tapers off into a pointed tip, it is suspected though not confirmed that Maroccas use this tip to provide additional leverage into surfaces. The Marocca has good eyesight, and is reckoned to be quite intelligent by the fishermen who make a living hunting them for their flesh and shells. Maroccas are capable of spraying a substance comparable to ink at opponents when threatened, though this is not a mechanism for escape, but rather a thin film of digestive juices. |
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| Bellflower | Sep 14 2008, 06:39 PM Post #6 |
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Shotgun Hero!
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Flestik Flestiks, Icrylus slumbosta, are blue serpent-like insectoid creatures, with two tails formed from an ancestral single rear fin, and a shell like covering of the head formed from atrophied wings. They have a pair of antennae that spout from the front of their head and curve backwards, these are purple in colour. They have a black underbelly, which they undulate to move around on land. Flestiks are a terrestrial species, sky-travelling abilities being entirely absent in most adult Flestiks. The scales of the Flestik contain a large quantity of secreted toxins that are able to induce drowsiness and unconsciousness in most known species. Flestiks are a colonial species, rearing their young and larvae together in large communal nests, which they build in holes in the ground inside many mid-ocean islands, reefs and ruins. These nests are looked over by some constant guardians, whilst other Flestiks venture out in search of food. Occasionally, Flestik colonies throw up a few individuals with actual wings beside their head instead of the hardened carapaces of the masses these individuals are a reproductive caste thrown up by the colonies that, upon maturity, fly off to mate and establish a new colony of their own. |
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| Bellflower | Sep 14 2008, 06:40 PM Post #7 |
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Shotgun Hero!
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Loopers Loopers (Looper zyvlosis) are probably the most common sight throughout the whole of Arcadia - not for their great concentrations, as they are often solitary but for their presence throughout the entire world. Indeed, it is scarce to find an environment without at least some form of Looper in residence. The Looper is a Tear-shaped organism with a rounded dome head and a pointed underside, floating by means of a pair of small, stubby fins that it uses to propel itself around. Most Loopers throughout Arcadia are members of a single species despite the diffrerent terminoligy used depending on their location, accordingly they will be covered in completion at a later date. |
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| Bellflower | Sep 14 2008, 06:41 PM Post #8 |
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Shotgun Hero!
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Sky Anemone Sky Anemone is a generic term applied to an entire order of soft-bodied invertebrate animals, the Anemona. Each is easily recognised by means of their shared basic physical appearance, that of a blob-like cone of jelly when closed, and that of a writhing mass of tentacles when held open to feed, tentacles that usually resemble a flower in some form or fashion. All of the Anemona are primarily carnivorous, though some species are known to have green spots under their skin which are caused by a symbiotic algal strain. They are also stationary, for aside from a brief period as a free-flying larval form the Anemona will spend their entire life in a single place. The sky anemones can be roughly divided into two main groups, the florensa which attract prey by releasing a sweet-smelling aroma, and the gorgona which rely instead on their longer tendrils and a more powerful sting to catch and paralyse prey that wander too close. The florensa are by far the more common of these two main groups of sky anemone, found almost everywhere throughout the skies (except under the lands of ice). The florensa also include the bulk of the common anemone species likely to be familiar to any resident of Valua, Nasr or Mid-Ocean. Some well known examples of florensa are: Amphetia petulia, the aptly named Little Anemone. The smallest of all known sky anemone species, Amphetia petulia are orange or green creatures the size of a Childs thumb, and will grow on almost any boulder in mid ocean where the drifting winds take their young. They feed almost exclusively on small pollen drinking insects, though they have a sting so weak it is barely noticeable to all but the smallest child. Thrions necris, The Deaths head anemone are slightly larger sky anemones, about the size of a hand and found mainly in the Ixatakan jungles. They range in colour from bright red to purple, and have only a few rings of stinging tendrils - their centre is almost bare. Their most notable feature is their stench however, for they reek with the smell of decomposing flesh. This attracts flies by the hundreds to attempt to lay their eggs on the open central patch, and these are eventually consumed when necris closes. Thirona bella, or the Honeydew anemone has perhaps the sweetest scent of all sky anemones. Growing in the deserts of Nasr, bella is pale, ranging in colour from a light yellow to a creamy white. The size of five year old child when fully mature, bella feeds upon Scarabees and other desert insects. Caporl tsira, the Golden anemone is a huskra-sized anemone with a rich yellow colour, and grows throughout the Valuan continent. Open for most of the time, transplantation experiments have shown that they only open during the hours of darkness. Their scent is strong and musky, and this attracts the Tsirats on which the anemone will infrequently feed. A closely related species, Caporl satosa, is found in the lands under the green moon but is otherwise almost identical. The Giant Anemone, Aikas gigans, is the larges species of Sky anemone in Arcadia. Aside from the preposterously huge size of the creature, Aikas gigans conforms to all standard florensa behaviour. However, the huge size of these creatures mean that they are as likely to endanger small ships in their native south ocean as they are their usual skyfish prey. The gorgona are not as well spread, and are entirely absent both from the Valuan regions, the frontier lands and north ocean, whilst Domingus latl remains the only specimen of the order ever discovered in Ixata (Though it is suspected that further species remain hidden by the Ixatakan jungles.) However, there are some gorgona as famous if not moreso then any of the florensa. The Reef anemone, Bheldar pyres, is found on most of the stone reefs throughout Nasr and Mid-Ocean. With a wide range of colouration varying from silver to green and blue to red, the reef anemone is perhaps the most colourful member of the family. It provides shelter to a number of tiny sky fish which appear to be immune to its toxin stings. Predators of these fish are not immune, and it is on these, as well as excretions passed by the sheltering fish, on which the Anemone feeds. Misclus aquis is perhaps the oddest of all known sky anemones. A leg-sized native of Yafutoma, this strange member of the family spends its entire adult life submerged in an aquatic environment within Yafutoman lakes. It is there that it feeds on fish just as strange, only sometimes emerging above the waterline as a juvenile when seeking out a different body of water to feed in. The Green-spot anemone, Sacrus verdins, is the sole known member of a third group of sky anemones. It is infrequent everywhere, though it is found in all lands bar Nasr and Glacia. The spots are symbiotic algal growths, and these seem to provide verdins with almost all of its nutrition. verdins is a slow grower, and has been known to bud rather then to reproduce sexually. |
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| Bellflower | Sep 14 2008, 06:42 PM Post #9 |
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Drill Squid Drill Squid (Todaropsis mechanicus) are molluscs lacking an external shell, and found in windy areas of the sky. Close relatives of the smaller Spear Squid (Todaropsis sagittatus), Drill squid are one of the few sky-based creatures known to exist in the wind-blown wilds of South ocean. They are powerful enough to fly even amongst the harshest of south-ocean winds with little or no problems, and have enough suction with the cups of their tentacles to keep hold of the scattered islets or drifting flotsam in any conditions. The Drill Squid are triangular in shape, possessing a pale body with thin tentacles trailing behind the conical head. They move by driving themselves forward with a pair of flattened tentacles that stream out behind, one on the top and one on the underside of the creature, whilst the tentacles to the left and right are their powerful grasping tentacles. They hold in the sky due to the concentration of moonstone-dust found within their internal shell. The high level of blue moonstone-dust within this shell is thought to enable Drill squid to counter the harsh winds of their native habitat, and to manoeuvre freely no matter in which direction they find themselves heading. Like the spear squid, mechanicus are scavengers, feeding on wind-blown debris swept from the forests of Ixataka. They will also pluck sessile animal and plant life from floating rocks or islands, often attracted by the flowering stems of South Ocean plants in bloom. Indeed, they and drill squid are the primary means of pollination in the South Ocean area of the skies. Drill Squid are edible, and as they are larger then Spear Squid they are well know for making a decent meal for those brave enough to sail the South Ocean. They are often eaten raw and well known for being safe to eat in this condition, as the south ocean winds quickly extinguish any fires lit by hungry sailors. Drill squid reproduce by laying hundreds of eggs, which are concealed within crevices in rocks or driftwood during mating. Young Drill squid grow quite slowly to maturity on a diet of scavenged material and the young of the spear squid - but in hundreds of studies, despite the ferocity with which juvenile mechanicus gourge themselves on juvenile sagittatus, adult mechanicus have never once been observed eating a mature specimen of sagittatus. |
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| Bellflower | Sep 14 2008, 06:43 PM Post #10 |
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Shotgun Hero!
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Graver Graver (Ghastus sylvus) plague the wind-blown region of South ocean in great swarms. Dark grey with mottled light grey spots, they possess an ovoid body that tapers off into a point on the underside. Astride this body sits a circular head approximately one third the length of the body, and crowned with a series of extendible tentacles. Gravers, unlike their Ghastling cousins, are capable users of natural silver magic and it is this which a Graver will often use to immobilise and kill potential prey. This prey, or scavenged foodstuff found on the winds of South ocean, is grasped by the tentacles of the Graver and then slowly digested as the Graver consumes it piece by piece. A Graver floats naturally due to moonstone secretions stored within their body, and propels itself about by a pair of tall, thin fins that run across almost the entire length of the body. The mottled spots across the body of a Graver are used to display to each other during courtship disputes. Gravers are translucent, through their fragile bodies can you not only see objects on the other side, but also their brainstem and stomach. Gravers are surprisingly social animals indeed, they are very rarely found alone. This sociality extends to their young, for upon secreting hundreds of eggs into some rocky crevice in the underside of an island, the female Graver will stay with the eggs until they hatch, fanning them to maintain warmth and safety from the south ocean winds and deterring predators. However, the Graver female exhausts itself upon rearing the clutch to maturity, and promptly dies allowing the newly hatched Gravers a first meal of her own corpse. This behaviour is also similar to that of a Ghastling, and the two distinct species are thought to be very taxonomically close indeed. It is thought that divergence between the two was bought about at the formation of the Sky Rift between Mid and South ocean, as since the Soltis incident Gravers have been sighted in the more southerly regions of mid-ocean, apparently doing well in competition against the weaker Ghastlings. Ghastlings themselves been sighted in fewer numbers in the southerly end of their range. Several mid-ocean communities have already placed bounties on Gravers (collectable only by ships without rift-engines), though it is yet unknown how successful this strategy will be in controlling these dangerously lethal animals. |
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