File: Dossier Eldritch Evo 4 pt.pdf (1.07 MB, PDF)

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How to play:
• Open an image of a species in MS Paint, or your editor of choice
• Make one evolutionary change to that species (try to turn off anti-alialising when drawing)
• Save as .PNG!
• Post your new species in the thread with a description of what evolution you've added and why.
• Details indicating what the generation of your species is important. Please indicate. (Base Organisms are Generation 0)
• Details regarding a creatures size or name aren't necessary, but are encouraged.
• Nothing too outlandish. Anything incredibly silly or outlandish will not be considered a canon species 95% of the time.
• Between evolutions using 'Null Light' (see bellow) any given ID should try to make at least one evo without it. This is not a hard and fast rule, but it's a suggestion meant to prevent power creep.

Notes:
• Unless stated explicitly, no species ever goes extinct. Old species can still evolve, even if they're not on the latest "chain"
• Try to make your evolutions gradual and realistic in biological standards.
• This includes 'supernatural' evolutions, which must flow naturally from what has been established before, just as normal evolutions would. It is not permissible to just say 'and now they can shoot lightning' without internally and evolutionarily consistent explanation.
• From time to time I will update an Phylogeny Chart so you can track your progress
• Also from time to time, random world events will occur
• Rules for Extinction will be supplied with extinction events


Supernatural stuff:

• NULL LIGHT is the source of everything supernatural in this evo game. It can be converted into usable energy through photosynthesis and is passed on when the plant is eaten.
• There are so far TWO known effects of Null Light ingestion: Generation/Access to pocket dimensions and The physical manifestation of consciousness (rudimentary as it may be) as ectoplasma. Pocket dimensions are generally corossive for biological matter in them. Ectoplasma is a white, gooey substance slightly lighter than water which flows freely in conscious beings and quickly decomposes into Null Light when no longer in a living organism. Ectoplasm is the material side of the consciousness coin.
• Most evos utilize these strange abilities. Utilize them and evolve their use as you evolve your creatures!
• Additionally, there are the supernatural biomes of THE FLESH and THE PYRAMID. The Flesh is a writhing mass of Flesh and mouths and hosts THE WOMB which brews something unknown. The Pyramid is a structure on the pole(s) which does not adhere to euclidean geometry. Their traits can be used by creatures which incorporate part of this ecosystem into them
• DON’T make up unrelated magic powers. The idea of the game is to evolve supernatural abilities, not invent new ones without evolution. If you do add supernatural stuff out of nowhere, your evo will not be counted.

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FAQ:

Q: Where can I get the pictures to edit?
A: pic related.

Q: This is a magic evo! Can I just throw in my own magic powers?
A: No. This is foremost an EVO and if you wanna evolve something, you will have to use a sensible evolution of the already established rules.

Q: Does every evolution have to involve null light?
A: No! There should be multiple mundane evos for each supernatural ones. Evos consisting only of small adjustments to an organism aren’t just allowed, they are encouraged!

Q: How does ectoplasm work?
A: Ectoplasm is the material aspect of consciousness. Changing consciousness means changing ectoplasm and vice versa. If an organism expels ectoplasm, it also expels part of its consciousness. For more details, see the Dossier.

Q: How do Portals work?
Portals can be generated by organisms with dedicated organs. They adhere to the geometry of realspace: one meter in the portal is one meter in realspace, forward is forward. They are spatially finite and they break slowly break down matter in them. This process goes equally for all molecules, so it doesn’t move from outside in. For more details, see the Dossier.

Q: How does The Flesh work?
The Flesh is as much ecosystem as organism and as much predator as prey. It is actual flesh which can be eaten for nutrition and has actual mouths which eat organisms for nutrition. It houses The Womb which is hub for all psychophages. The excretion of The Womb are invigorating and energizing. For more details, see the Dossier.

Q: How does the Pyramid work?
The Pyramid is a structure on the North and South Pole where euclidean geometry doesn’t apply. This means a line is no longer the fastest way between A and B, rooms can be bigger on the inside etc. It is made of a porose, magenta stone, which, can be incorporated into organisms to make use of its unique geometric qualities. For more details, see the Dossier.

Q: How many Pyramids are there?
There is but one Pyramid.

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And lastly, a template to use for easy access to important information of your organism.

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>>4410326
It has been brought to my attention that this does not include the Flesh Simp. So pick pic related.

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>>4410326
Due to the recent extinction event that wiped out most of their prey, some Hunters have looked upwards to find a new source of food. Rising sharply from the deepest parts of the Ocean stand the Obsidian Isles, on the shores of which lie the Pangla Forest, a potent food source htat has gone utapped for generations.
To reach this untapped niche, the Hunter has developed two main adaptions: The first is a series of nails made of hardened flesh which grow from the center of their many toes. It uses these claws to scale the Obsidian and Pangla. The second is an improved epidermis which allows the Hunter to leave the water for long periods of time. Thanks to these adaptions, the Hunter is able to dominate the forests despite the fact that their hydrostatic skeleton doesn't work well out of water. Due to the migration of the Hunters to the Pangla forest, the Sweet Mold has once again been reintroduced to the Forests, allowing them to once again gain sugar and Arcane Sugar from their symbiotes, greatly improving the health of the forest.

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>>4410326
The hammerhorse, in absence of anything tastier, takes to preying upon the immobile larvae of it's cousin species, the bonestrich. To such end, it has developed a thicker neck and skull, now using it's entire head assembly as a hammer to shatter the larva's exoskeleton.

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>>4410319
The pinta of Sai'hu, specifically the ones growing around the shore of the lake which OP has allowed me to name Strigh, have evolved a secondary set of leaves which only emit photon-light and do not photosynthesise.

These begin relatively small and weakly-glowing in the first species, the pluripinta I, and the major leaves retain in large part their emitting quality. As it evolves into the pluripinta II, its minor leaves glow more and its major ones less; and in the pluripinta III the major leaves do not emit any light at all with that role completely assumed by the "minor" ones. This being a more efficient method, each later species is able to grow larger than the one before.

These are not chronospecies, in that the pluripinta I and II do not become extinct. Instead, each progressive species outcompetes in predecessors in the eastern range, and the more basal species "migrate" west. By the end of this process, Lake Strigh is entirely encircled by pinta grassland: the western stretches are mainly made up of basal pinta, then as we travel east we will encounter more pluripinta I, then II, then II.

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>>4410548
My bad, this is the correct image

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>>4410326
The Rockmelter, at least in appearance if not behavior, is itself mostly identical to it's ancestors; it is it's symbiotic algae that have changed drastically. As the levels of null light in the depths steadily rise thanks to the nets of the spikegravs, the algae begins to make more arcane sugar than ever before; now, the Rockmelter hurls thick globs of the stuff instead of thin, stringy streams, and thanks to catalytic chemicals now accompanying the arcane sugar, these globs can quickly melt through rock and bone alike, thus earning the creature it's new name.
It hunts Hsmyx by melting "hunting pits" in the ground and just waiting until one falls in, and hunts Spikegravs by simply shooting upward and just waiting until one falls down.

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>>4410326
the talking imash has taken a sudden turn, completely abandoning its emotional coating as it only made them more noticable, and was a waste of energy. They have changed coloration to better blend in on the Bismuth beaches. Other than that, the males and females have had a division of labor, with the male gaining a stronger, faster body, quickly darting and filling up with water to give to the female they want to mate with. The female stores her fetuses inside her water sac instead of spawning them freely in the ocean.

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>>4410319
The basal pinta, now pushed to the western fringes of its ancestral range, evolves into a new lineage that becomes successful on the northern and northwestern shores.

The pintabole has a ring of leaves; the inside produces light whereas the outside produces less -- this both increases the amount of light received by the pintabole and decreases that absorbed by its competitors.

In the pintabol, the exterior leaf-side produces no light at all.

Finally in the pintabolt, the interior leaf-sides also begin to abandon the role of photsynthesis, passing it to a dedicated leaf which does not produce light. This partitioning of roles allows the ring-leaves to put more of their surface towards light production, in turn increasing the amount of light received by the central leaf.

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>>4410326
The scissorhorse has switched to a herbivorous lifestyle, keeping itself fed off of the plentiful Plnta. Due to it's new diet lacking any ectoplasm, it can no longer maintain high ectoplasm levels in it's hydraulic motile system, and thus moves very slowly.

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>>4410319
Taller pinta are less vulnerable to the scissorhorse, and so fair better. However, being flimsy and vulnerable to the strong winds that come down from the northern mountains, they are restricted to the southern shores of Lake Strigh.

The pintol I is simply a tall pinta. The pintol II, on the other hand, has undergone a leaf-flip -- the "active" photosynthesising and light-emitting side now points downwards. The reason this proves successful is that the pintol can absorb the "photonic background radiation"; that is, the cumulative volume of small amounts of light wastes by many pinta on the ground.

Having not yet evolved it away, the pintol II re-emits a significant amount of this wasted light back onto the ground, where it is absorbed by small pinta. Those pictured amongst its roots are having to vigorous expel excess energy. Pinta communities around pintol groves are particularly verdant.

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>>4410553
The pluripinta (I) find a different way to combat predation by the scissorhorse. In the pintrap, excess null energy is stored in the minor leaves. When the plant detects grazing, it suddenly converts the null energy into photon energy to produce a bright flash, startling the scissorhorse and hopefully persuading it to go away. Whilst this is often enough, in some cases the scissorhorses are persistent enough to continue eating, and it is for this reason that the pinferno was able to evolve.

The pinferno stores a small layer of flammable sap in its minor leaves; when it releases the photon energy, the leaves burst into flame and deal the scissorhorse a burn. The pinferno usually then burns to the ground, but the effect of this adaptation is to dissuade the scissorhorse from attempting consumption in the first place.

The pinferno is able to achieve a cosmopolitan distribution around the lakeshore. This is turn boosts the population of pintraps and even harmless pluripintas, due to their similar appearance. A knock-on effect on this is an improvement in the intelligence of the scissorhorses, which benefit from identifying the edible pluripinta II and III.

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>>4410687
>>4410687
moving away from the psycophages was an unexpected gift. Over several generations the scissorhorse stopped the characteristic weep from it's nostril pits, and was able to breath easily.

Ectoplasm could come from within, is it spent its days richly enjoying life, and freedom on the open fields.

Though meandering at a slow pace, the creature is capable of speedy busts that consume it's ectoplasm, leaving it temporarily stupefied.

It is possibly the only creature on the planet that is happy and not in pain.

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>>4410326
The Stomping Spinetaur has replaced the extinct Flesh Ant, their main previous prey, for small Flesh Simp males. It has evolved thick frontal feet for crushing the simps, often stomping on them repeatedly before swallowing them, to prevent being its innards from being cut.
Additionally, its bone structure has become slightly more robust, and its height has increased marginally, due to their increased caloric intake. Its spine is now more articulate, and has grown a stubby tail-like protuberance.

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>>4410326
In response to the hammerhorse's predation of its young, the Flinging Bonestrich adapts a more aggresive lifestyle. The creature begins defending its larvae, hitting predators' kneecaps with its legs, rapidly flinging them as if they were hockey sticks.

Their limbs become longer, but grow in a wider angle, leaving the creature at the same overall height, but with legs that pack a much harder punch. Their necks have bent, giving frontal facing nostrils from which they may occasionally shoot ectoplasm as a last resource.

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The Dwarf Bonestrich, on the other hand, has opted to reduce its size and lifespan, in exchange of producing a much more plentiful litter. (Outnumbering it's cousins 10 to 1.)

Many of the offspring end up eaten by the Stomping Spinetaurs before reaching adulthood, and the ones that make it have experienced odd lateral growths on their spines.

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Whirlpool Spinroots have evolved to be much larger and longer than their ancestors. These plants owe their size to their high caloric intake, product of small to medium whirlpools that entrap and violently buffet sealife in them, leaving behind nourishing carcasses that fertilize them.

The whirpools are caused by the Spinroot's ability to amplify seacurrents as they are swayed by them. Their long stems spin around, generating waves that coincide with the ones produced by the currents, generating a constructive interference.

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>>4410326
Long ago, there existed the Spectral Imash, an Imash with the ability to generate spectral clones of itself using ectoplasma. Over time this Imash eventually evolved into the Frantic and Stalker lines, the later of which lost the ability to shed its ectoplasma in favor of a protective coat. The Standing Stalker has, through a random mutation, regained the ability to create specters, now weaponized thanks to the Stalker's superior mind and the reality breaking power of the Pyramid stone. These specters act as a disconnected version of its ectoplasma coat and limbs, with which the Stalker can attack from a distance without a worry of being injured. It also uses blobs of fear infused ectoplasma to cause its opponents to panic and more easily fall to the Stalker's specter. The Standing Stalker is named as such due to it's tendency to stand dead still when using its specter, silently observing the unfolding slaughter.

>>4411238
I have an idea but where I live has been Rangebanned.

The idea I had was that some of these Standing Stalkers would become sedentary, and use the energy they are saving by not moving at all for more Big Brain Think.

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>>4411010
The Clawed Spinetaur has developed "heels" on it's back knees, allowing it to grab Flesh Simps with it's feet and carry them to it's mouth. As this species of Spinetaur no longer needs to bend it's head down to feed, it's neck becomes shorter in order to conserve nutrients and minimize risk of infection.

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>>4410379
some select Simps which find themsevles outperformed in the struggle for territory cannot sustain the amount of males necessary to clean the matriarch of tumors.

These simps make the natural move against psychovores: they lose their cognitive functions, thereby becoming invisible to the ectoplasm-homing psychovores. Females now stand alone for most of their life, but burst at the end of their reproductive cycle to release small males which, like their ancient ancestors the Flesh Ant, transform into a female and graft unto the ground when they hit fertile soil.

Not only does this strategy mean the Sedisimp is immune to psychovores, it also makes them far more energy efficient, making the nutrients from the Flesh more than enough for a long life.

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>>4410723
Some pintols, now called pintatami, evolve branching trunks, each one developing its own leaf clump. This makes them more resistant to grazing by the scissor horse, since if some of the leaves survive it's possible for the plant to survive. The branching also capitalises on their "habit" of growing together in groves: nearby pintols will now natural interlace into a thicket, making them much less vulnerable to wind and providing more protection from grazing.

The pintatami II advances its branching proclivity and further defends itself fro grazing by reducing the size of its leaves, making the plant less energy-efficient to graze. The pintatami II, especially, sees success on the border of the grassland in the southwest where it thrives in the exposed conditions.

>>4412198
*in the south-east

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>>4410654
A pocket of pintabolt in the south-eastern grasslands of Strigh adapts to life within the tangled thickets of pintatami. Over the course of two species, the parapint I and II, it becomes smaller; its ring-leaves shrink and become completely non-functional (the parapint taking all its light from the pintatamis); and it develops thick, grasping roots to hold it onto the branches.

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>>4410775
As the pintatami groves expand west, dotting the south-eastern grasslands of Strigh, this has an effect on the local population of scissorhorses. A community of these develop smaller heads and nostrils (yeah, I realise now that those aren't eyes) allowing them to better reach into the pintatamis to browse on their leaves.

Unfortunately, the reduction in cranial space also reduces their intelligence, which makes it harder for them to differentiate the harmless pluripintas from the irritating pintraps and pinfernos. They don't even bother grazing on these, leaving them for the more basal scissorhorses.

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>>4410775
The sister lineage specialises further in grazing, with their feeding tentacles elongating. They also develop a head crest for species recognition; being sightless, they feel one another with their tentacles

Although this species evolved in the south-eastern grasslands of Strigh, their distribution has become cosmopolitan around the lake.

>>4412338
oh woops, looks like I forgot something

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>>4411669
Clawed Spinetaurs' tails grow longer and more articulate, allowing the animal to use it in counter-balancing movements. These come in handy when using their back claws, which have since developed joints, to grasp unto food.

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>>4412342
There we are

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>>4410379
Male simps with a larger wingspan have an easier time avoiding predation. Mutated individuals with unusual patterns and coloring in their wings are common.

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>>4410554
Spout melters have fused their back cannons, making their shots much more accurate and powerful.

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>>4412346
Some spinetaurs migrate east, through the mountain passage that I'll presumptuously call the Straits of Skra. Arriving in Strigh, they find a new niche as scavengers and predators of young scissorhorses, removing the organs of their prey using their heels. Some especially large and intelligent individuals in the south--east even attempt ambushes iof adults n thicketed areas where they have some cover, but this is risky.

Their tails are now longer and are held aloft, improving their balance even more.

The peaceful days of the Strighian scissorhorses are over...

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>>4410319
The Seekers living at the poles have quickly shot up from some of the least numerous to some of the most numerous of their brethren, thanks to beginning to utilize pyramid stone in their construction instead of obsidian. Thanks to the stone's unique properties, the Pyramid Dwellers are extremely lightweight and agile, capable of bending their bodies in all kinds of unnatural ways, and even temporarily "dipping" into their own surface thanks to a malfunctioning pocket dimension organ. This "dipping" is more of a curse than a boon however; due to how entangled the Dweller bodies are with themselves, damage sustained by the submerged parts quickly spreads to the rest of the body - and often the bodies of their parents, descendants and siblings, too.

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>>4410527
Some Hammerhorses, due to the intense headbanging involved in their hunting, end up ripping the walls separating their nostrils and their esophaguses. Normally this doesn't do much but increase the risk of choking, but a few Hammerhorses with stomach ulcers have been using the newly made pathway to belch stomach acid straight through their nostrils, removing psychophage infestations.

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>>4412391
Those aforementioned large and intelligent spinetaurs, hunting amongst the pintatami thickets of southeast Strigh, shift further away from the hunting strategy of their ancestors (which was to run down juvenile scissorhouses).

These ambush predators, now called the chunky spinetaurs, have evolved a larger club: their modus operandi is now to spring out suddenly from behind cover and smash an adult scissorhorse's skull, killing or at least subduing it with brain trauma.

As this method of predation is relatively dangerous, their front limbs have become more robust to prevent breakage. The chunky spinetaur also grows larger generally.

>>4412430
you forgot to change the habitat

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>>4412430
For reference, this is how I envisage the bounds of the grassland of Strigh. If you think it's too large then say so, I don't have any special privileges from the QM or anything.

>>4412433
There was no habitat field on there, I just left it how it was. If I evolve it again, I'll add the habitat.

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>>4412433
>>4412437
Oh, I'm dumb. Changed.

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>>4412441
And the Gen is wrong, should be 4... RIP me

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>>4412346
The neck has been lost completely, and all teeth with the exception of the front two have become rounder and flatter to better grind up Flesh Simps.

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>>4412315
It's business as usual for the smallhead scissorhose, the diet of some populations shifting from the leaves of the pintatami to the parapints living inside the thickets.

Their heads grown even smaller and so do their nostrils, these moving further backwards on the head to minimise damage. The shrinkage of their heads continue to inflict loss of intelligence, and their diminutive nostrils restrict their oxygen intake, making it impossible for them to maintain a sprint -- this makes them the easiest prey for the Strighian spinetaurs, for which they compensate with a relatively high rate of reproduction.

The knock-on effect of this is a relaxation of predation pressure on the other scissorhorse species of Strigh.

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>>4411238
Generally, most creatures on the planet, and that includes the Stalkers, don't really have a complex enough worldview to see their different behaviors all as a subset of "survival" as a concept, and realizing that different bodily makeups would necessitate different survival methods; thus, you'd think that they would not be capable of creating a ghost capable of surviving for more than a short while.
If you ever met a Ghostalker, you'd realize you were dead wrong - if the encounter left enough memories in your head for you to remember the concept of realization, that is.

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>>4412470
Due to a genetic throwback, some smallheads begin growing disconnected strands of muscle on their bones. While these strands are completely useless, they're tastier, more filling and easier to reach than the horse's insides, so attacking Spinetaurs will often forego killing the horse in favor of simply tearing off the muscles.

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>>4412346
The Leaping Spinelynx, being outcompeted by its cousins, shifts from preying on Flesh Simps, to attacking Sedisimps.

Their hind lengs become longer and more muscular, and their frontal claws become sharper. This makes them the perfect physique to jump and violently claw-climb their way into the juicy innards of the towering female Sedisimps.

Their tail becomes longer to aid further aid their balance.

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>>4412352
>>4412338
>>4412352
Over time, the Grazing Scissorhorse digestive system proves to be too unefficient in extracting energy from the Pinta Fields. Its successor, the Ruminant Scissore develops a new organ that helps fix that problem, by hosting different microrganism that braek down the plant matter, and by producing a spittable bile that neutralizes the Pinferno's combustive properties.

With this higher caloric intake, the beasts grow in size considerably.

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>>4410723
The pintol are now under some pressure from the grazing scissorhorses, which themselves are unpredated as adults and becoming quite numerous.

So, it's no surprise that this particular mutation lands on its feet: the rigid stem of the pint-o'-pond splits into several potions and then reforms, the resultant gaps permitting currents of water to pass "through" the plant, reducing the amount of pressure placed on it and mitigating snappage. As such, it's able to thrive in shallow water along the southern coasts of Lake Strigh, becoming the planet's only freshwater plant. With no predation or competition, it becomes commonplace.

>>4412541
> the grazing scissorhorses, which themselves are unpredated as adults

I misspeak here, this is not true for the communities of the south-east, but is for those of other areas, including the ones consuming the pintol on the lakeshore.

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>>4412541
The pintol continues to evolve, changing from the pint-o'-pond into the pintry. The pintry has reverted to being a terrestrial plant, albeit one that prefers damp conditions. It once again increases in size, and its branching morphology grows more extreme -- having many "stems" makes it less vulnerable to the comparatively windy conditions, since the snapping of one or two will not cause the plant's collapse.

The pintry is not found on the lakeshore, but only on its three islands which (if I may take the liberty) I name from left to right Gill, Gull, and Gall.

The pintry

i am not sure the bone horse creatures actually has a brain in the skull and instead of in there organ sack?
as a original creator i have been thinking of the organ sack being the center of the intelligence? but sure this interpretation works also

>>4412638
but i am loving what you guys are doing while i really should be sleeping

>>4412640
oh, in that case my whole arc about the smallhead scissorhorses getting dumber doesn't work... perhaps we can slip some sort of hypothetical evolution somewhere back in the chain to keep it all valid.

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>>4412520
The ruminant scissore migrates into the southwest, to some extent outcompeting its ancestors there.

With their population increasing, the role of the crest develops from its original purpose of species recognition into herd recognition, with each herd having a distinctive crest. On encountering another herd, the individuals pause from grazing and feel the strangers' crests, learning who are entering the area.

The ruminant scissore being larger than its ancestors, from a young age even the juveniles are too big to be killed by the western spinetaurs. This has increased predation pressure on the more basal scissorhorses, exarcebating their decline.

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>>4412723
Male Scissores prefer to breed with females of their own herd/pride, often excluding those with different crest types from the sexual pool.

This has lead to females head-bashing eachother in hopes of breaking off their crests, rendering them into strangers in the eyes of unsuspecting males.

Same-herd females do this to sabotage their competition, and when fighting, tend to focus on defending their own crests rather than breaking off their oponents'

Foreign interlopers, on the other hand, are much more violent, with their goals being causing as much harm to the herd they are invading. This is because if every female has
unrecognizable crests, the males will breed with the first mate available.

These behavioural changes have led to Scissores developing thicker necks and leg bones, so as to survive their violence. Females ' crests have brittle 'tumors' growing on them, these pieces serve as discardable armor used in their head-bashing competitions, that can be broken off without rendering them unrecognizable in the eyes of males.

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>>4412352
As aforesaid, due to the arrival of the ruminant scissores, predation pressure on the more basal grazing scissorhorses has increased.

Evolution has responded in three ways. Firstly, they have become smaller, distancing themselves from the large herbivore niche now occupied by the ruminants.

Secondly, a chance mutation has bestowed unto them a duplicate windpipe; this means that to kill one of these scissorhorses, the spinetaur must rip out both of them.

Thirdly, their elbows have become larger -- as the spinetaur rips at the scissorhorse's first windpipe, the prey tries to smack its assailant's skull with these clubs.

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>>4410326
Due to the pressure put upon them by the Standing Stalkers ranged assaults some Smolmunchers have been forced out of the Grasslands and into to their ancestral home, the Icey plains of the poles. To survive out in the Stalker infested wastes the Smolmunchers had to develop camouflage to hide from the much larger and dangerous Stalkers. A surprisingly easy task due to the uniform color of the ice and the fact that camouflage is oddly rare on SII-2453-0 and thus very few creatures have developed counter measures to it. The Icemunchers spends most of it's life scavenging for scraps of flesh and ectoplasma, spending the rest of it's time hiding in the snow. If any creature discovers it the Icemuncher will let out a burst of fear infused ectoplasma giving it a chance to run away.

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As the grasslands around Lake Strigh have changed almost beyond recognition with the passing of time, the isolated plains of Munder on the eastern coast have remained in a primitive state: long fields of pinta stretch out over the horizon, untouched by the feet of beasts... until now.

The fekk, in search of ever more food to fuel their herbivorous stage, have ventured into this new terrain. Eventually, access to the plains becoming an important advantage, they have grown "boots" or "hooves" over their feet, from the same material as their shell -- this protects their soft flesh from abrasive dirt and stones. The ecto-homing capabilities are also improved.

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>>4410326
The Towering Windleaf is a Fruiting Windleaf that has redeveloped its lignin producing capabilities, allowing it to form a much sturdier stem made up of wood. This makes the stem virtually inedible and helps it form leaves higher up. Instead of forming multiple bulbs the Towering Windleaf forms one large bulb. These bulbs tend to be pollinated by female Treerinocts hiding in them.

>>4412482
>>4411238
As I don't see any justification for why these ghosts would not simply evaporate into null light as any ectoplasm would, I will simply count it as another form of pyramid stalker spectres which can be used for a short while but which evaporate just as any other ectoplasm.

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Phylo chart time!

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>>4413126

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>>4413130

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>>4413131

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>>4411225
Some Spinroot stems, due to their violent spinning, have ripped themselves off their roots. They now float in the open ocean, serving as a potential food source to the fish living there.

>>4413117
They prevent themselves from evaporating because they still have the hunting instincts from back when they were alive but when they try to eat something they end up just absorbing the prey's ectoplasm instead of it's flesh, which is good for them since the extra ectoplasm staves off their death.
Do note though that for now they still can't be called "true" lifeforms: they don't reproduce by themselves, they are only born when a Standing Stalker dies with it's specter still deployed, and they're poor at managing their ecto so they dissipate naturally when they've sucked too much non-stalker animals and ended up replacing most of their thoughts with foreign gibberish

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>>4410319
The irristeps obsidian casings have recently started growing, thanks to them being able to pierce its skin and feed on its null light. The obsidian doing this is known as vampire obsidian and it is unknown how it grows (however, it is known it needs null light to grow).

This has led to a terrible fate for irristeps, as obsidian near its horn has started leeching a small amount of null light by going inside its veins (which are very near the nervous system, which it also touches). This doesnt affect the horn too much, but leaves the irristep in horrible pain. The irristep now can barely hunt, but the advantage is the obsidian can barely be cracked and it is nearly impossible to kill

>>4413237
its barely killable where the obsidian resides, nowhere else*

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>>4412491
the leaping spinelynxs' legs become even more muscular, and it gains a second pair of claws for better balance

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>>4412855
the icemuncher has gotten fur to cope with the cold better

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>>4413283
and even more so!

>>4413301
the icemuncher has gained more fur, and the tongue is also more camoflaged.

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>>4413305
i have forgotten the image. shameful

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>>4411238
Okay this is pretty embarrassing but I just realized that the brain for the Standing Stalker is the wrong color. Here's the correct image.

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Okay, let's roll for an event.

This will not be resolved until AT LEAST 24 hours. So don't wait for the event to hit before you post an evo you want to post.

Roll me a 1d8. The event will be:

1 - a bad one
2 - an old one
3 - a new one
4 - an unforeseeable one
5 - a foreseeable one
6 - a good one
7 - a weird one
8 - a really weird one

Rolled 1 (1d8)

>>4413612
Please be good.

Rolled 6 (1d8)

>>4413612

>>4413624
well it seems we came in the wrong order

>>4413624
Shoot.

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>>4412541
the Pintopond has developed gamete-covered fronds. During the mating season, the gametes will fall off, and drift along the river currents until they meet the fronds of other Pintoponds, at which point they will merge and fertilize.

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>>4412173
The Sedisimp female has transformed it's former fins into a "flower" of sorts around it's reproductive organs, allowing males to easily see what they're supposed to pollinate. The colorful nature of the organs helps, too.

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>>4412173
Other sedisimps, instead of rediscovering complexity, simpify themselves even further: the remnants of the fins are all but gone now, as is a dedicated womb; this Sedisimp can now bear children from any portion of it's skin.

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>>4410326
The Treerinoct has developed an elongated "beak" similar to a rodent's teeth on it's mask, allowing it to gnaw through the stem of Flowering Windleaf and sever it's delicious seedpod.

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>>4410326
Other Treerinocts have redeveloped their Null Light Flasher back into a lamp, which makes finding Flowering Windleafs much easier.

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>>4413657
The Feetpig will sometimes grow an arm from which a new clone-queen will rise, the connecting ´'umbilical cords'' eventually break off.

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>>4413650
Sedisimp females with larger petals and more attractive patterns become common

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>>4413711
The Fleerinoct has developed a discardable tail used as psychovore bait. It emits a tasty aroma that attacts them, and can be separated from the body at will, as well as regrow later on.

While this works relatively well to avoid death-by-tumors and slightly limit the spread of parasites (as the tail quickly necrotizes), it is a double edged blade, since females will often rather lose their tails than endure a male's company.

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>>4411238
Perhaps the most unusual feature of the Stalker lineage is their strange ability to consume ectoplasma as a viable source of substance. This is due to null-photosynthetic organs placed through out its body, primary in the stomach, which absorb the null-light generated by decaying ectoplasma. This particular species of Stalker has developed it's organs to the point where it can live off just the null-light produced by the Pyramid, when fully matured. In its juvenile stage it acts oddly passive for a stalker, merely feeding on whatever plants or corpses it can find, with a strong preference for ectoplasma. Once it reaches maturity it settles down in a warm spot and begins its metamorphosis. It begins to grow null-photosynthetic organs all throughout it's body to the point were it skins becomes so thin that it splits in some places and the organs begin to grow out of the body. Then it's respiratory/digestive system begins to grow massive, growing new extensions all over the body. Finally it's nervous system expands through out the body, occasionally breaching the skin with an eye. Despite it's horrid appearance this species is harmless and sessile, only moving when in need of addition nutrients from the surrounding plants. They exude a dense form of ectoplasma from their base to feed there young when they are born.

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>>4412856
As stalkers begin to appear in the grasslands, some chunky spinetaurs migrate eastwards to the coastal plains (which, now being part of Strigh, can lose the name I gave them). Here, a smaller percentage of their diet is made up of scissorhorses and more of the fekks, the shells of which they smash with their clubs.

The fekk, in response, evolves into the "great fekk", a larger animal. with a correspondingly thicker shell. The juvenile fekk are now raised on a small oceanic island called Maddenmark where they are safe from predators, and the species evolves longer legs with joints in their boots to help them clamber about the rough surface.

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>>4414535
some of these dudes simplify, losing their stone-organ and reducing their nervous tissue harshly, both in brain and eye matters. This simplification gives them more energy to grow, and so they do.

Long having lain dormant, their portal-creating organ manifests once again. They grow their young within themselves now, keeping them safe from predators, such as the spinetaurs, until they have grown large enough to not be vulnerable to the tiny fellas anymore. Because they don't ahve any large organ to expell their babies however, they use pocket dimensions to birth them, opening one portal into it in their womb, and another outside of them.

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>>4410319
The Becoming Hsmyx achieved something resembling homeostasis with their multicites, dwelling along the drier coasts, and eventually brancing out into a primarily land dwelling species, returning to bodies of water only to spawn.

Gifting Hsmyx continue the simple process of feeding matter into their lower maw (located between all their legs), and exhausting waste in the form of heat and smoke out the top of their body. The only significant variation in this process is that periodically they will use their binary portals OUTSIDE their body, attempting to reach into another organism and GIFT them a multicite. The process is near mindless, and almost reflexive as the Hsmyx are herd animals and this is a form of diversification for the 'cyte colonies within the creatures. It is rare that a predator or wandering organism will approach the lumbering behemoths for warmth and risk infection.

Older and more unstable Hsmyx risk imposion or explosion as their bodies structure requires the heat and pressure of the binary portal within them system for support; so it is very rare to see an unwell Hsmyx in the herd.

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>>4415571
Hsmyx with a bony internal structure tend to funnel most explosive force upwards, thus they live longer, and thus they pass their genes on more. A curious side effect of this is that as the Hsmyx ages, it's expulsions of waste become stronger and stronger, eventually becoming powerful enough to launch a multicite at a velocity of up to 70 meters per second.

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>>4410319
The Yushas Mentat has adapted over the eons, encasing its brain in a cartilidge like cover that is also rich in blood flow and nerve endings. More often than not the creatures can be found on the oceanic floors, away from their more "active" cousins.

Their focus on pain is masochistic, and their carefully cultivated tumors show how capable a potential mate can be of experiencing pain. Too much can kill, too little leaves a stupid and confused creature.

This particular strain of mentat can be seen engaging in creative portal "play", carving odd shapes and patterns into their environment for no useful reason at all. Often their prey is grappled by an ectoplasmic hand, and then sliced in half via precision portal closures and openings.

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>>4410319
With plants being scarce in the open ocean, herbivores too become scarce, and so the Mentat leaves for the coasts in hopes of finding more food. It's circulatory system connects with that of it's Wrinkly Psychophage parasites, using them as tumorous, externalized "lungs", and it uses one or more discarded shell as a "cowl" to prevent itself from dessicating too fast, so that it may both avoid death and extend the pleasurable pain it feels as it's skin cracks in dryness.

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>>4410326
The open ocean Obsidian mentat has endured the ages well. In endlessly seeking more suffering, the creatures began using ectoplasm less and less, preferring to use a specific tendril to reach through portals and maim their prey with obsidian shards; the portal rot being another source of agony.

Over time the symbiotic partnership with the psychovores was abandoned in favor of using their obsidian shells to form inward facing spines that generate pain without a loss of resource to the parasite.

The culmination of these two choices has resulted in a marked increase in intelligence which the Obsidian Mentat uses to draw out the deaths of it's prey for apparent entertainment.

>murder dolphins.

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>>4410326

A strain of Windleafs evolves, more adapted to living in wet and humid areas. These Riverleafs can be found along riverbanks and coastlines with brackish water, grown both above and below the waterline. Their fruits are capable of floating until the flesh becomes decomposed to the point of losing bouyancy, allowing their seeds to be carried by the streams.

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>>4410326
Similarly, a strain of reachroot evolves than is more adapted to the river systems of the eastern continents. Particularly those found in and near the Hoya forests. Their reproductory strands become longer, and flatter; allowing giving them more area to compete for light and null light in a place that is more cramped for space. Their roots grow longer and more durable, allowing them not to get moved in rapidly moving bodies of water. Generally, they can be seen covering the bottom of rivers, the Reachroots' strands painting them green.

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>>4410326

In the Hoya forests, the hoya trees compete in order to get a Spot in the starlight and capture as much solar energy as possible. Due to this, a certain strain evolves, becoming significantly taller and thus reaching above their competitors with their canopy-things. The Spire Hoyas are mainly found in the more central and flourishing areas of the Hoya forests on the Eastern landmasses.

>>4410326

A different strain of Hoya tree instead evolves roots more resistant to water and a structure of hunched over trunks. These Hoyas can be found growing along rivers and other bodies of water, primarily in the Hoya forests. Their canopy-things hang out over bodies of water and in general they take up a larger area of the space surrounding the plant. This allows it more space to capture sunlight in and limits competing hoyas to grow too close to it. Growing over bodies of water also aids in reproduction, by carrying the fruits along to places for the River Hoya to sprout.

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>>4415740

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>>4413307
The Icemuncher has grown even more fur to better disguise themselves as snow. It's body has grown longer to better facilitate running and grown bigger eyes to better see the light given off by most Stalkers.

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>>4413612
Event resolves: >>4413624 - 1 - a bad one

For some time now, the Bismuth extension has been a global hostpot ofr earthquakes. this has lead to some geological shifts and the occasional vulcano outbreak. but even so, the explosion of the Extension traps are unprecedented in the history of SII-2453-0.

The Extension traps are a large chain of underground supervolcanos, smushed together by the meeting of continental plates around the Bismuth Extension. This preassure has reached its literal boiling point, and the greatest explosion in the planet's history has occured, changing the shape of the subcontinent forever, and spewing ash, rock, and copious amounts of shattered bismuth into the atmosphere, which quickly is picked up by air currents produced by the sudden influx of heat around the Extension, where great rivers of lava emerge from a seemingly inexhaustible source. In both directions, great tidal waves, high as small mountains, are sent out and submerge the coastal areas of Southern Shai'hu and Eastern Ghatpratatvi in saline water, far inland.

In the subsequent years, the sky is blocked out by ash and pulverized bismuth, blocking out much of the starlight, and trapping some of the null light coming from the core, resulting in a net warming effect. Ash and Bismuth rains all across the planet are a common occurence for decades after.

The creatures of SII-2453-0 have some time to adapt, but an extinction event seems inevitable.

Note: This will be a partial extinction event. Its specific rules will be posted later, when the actual extinction will occur.
Partial extinction events are less harsh and more limited than the end-of-thread extinction events. Their severity is relative to the severity of the event causing them, and they may be limited to certain ecosystems or kinds of animals.

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>>4414062
To deal with the sheer amount of bismuth dust in the air, the Sneezing Fleerinoct has developed muscular "valves" around it's nostrils, lined with dust-catching hairs. The valves can contract with overwhelming force, sending the dust flying out and keeping the air pathways clean.
Unfortunately for the ground-dwelling males, the dust levels get higher the lower you go, and even sneezing isn't enough to save them. Thus, in coastal areas, where the dust is most plentiful, the only surviving males are those with a genetic deficiency preventing them from producing enough testosterone, causing them to exhibit a morphology similar to the females.

>>4416264
I've thought about it and I think it's only fair that I already tell you that the main organisms affected will be those in the bismuth habitat and photosynthetic plants, whereby there will be mitigating circumstances for certain evolutions. Any organism with a specific evolution that happened AFTER this event and was explicitely to counter-act its effects will not be in danger of extinction.

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>>4416264
With devastation wreaked so close by, the effect on the plains of Strigh is more severe than in most parts of the world. In general, flora and fauna become poorer in both number and biodiversity, and the the three dominant species of Strighian scissorhorse must evolve to cope with these challenges.

The grazing scissorhorse is the most common species in the north and west. They have remained solitary and asexual, and have become more territorial. Their ancestral horn, which was originally for the purpose of species recognition against their basal ancestors, has lengthened: the longer the horn, the greater the show of fitness to deter incomers looking to usurp their grazing area. If visual effect is insufficient, the incumbent will have to defend his territory in a "pulling battle", which the two scissorhorses interlock their heads and tug on each other's necks -- it can be difficult to disengage and so these contests have a surprisingly high fatality rate.

Their more derived relatives, the ruminant scissores, are the most common species in the south. However, they have been afflicted by a destructive circle of herd collapse. Triggered by the initial decline in plant density, herds split into smaller groups; the greater number of herds demanded more variant in crest form and thus larger structures; the energy demanded for making larger crests furthered grazing requirements, again splintering the herds, and so on.

Finally, the smallhead scissorhorse is the most common species in the east. As temperatures dropped, their decoy musculature took on a new role as an insulator and grew larger, now covering some of their internal cavity and trapping warm air. To achieve a favourable energy balance, though, bloodflow in the muscles had to be reduced, so much so that is not uncommon for the flesh to become necrotic.

>>4416515
In the first paragraph, read * her territory.

>>4416515
>In the subsequent years, the sky is blocked out by ash and pulverized bismuth ... resulting in a net WARMING effect

oh damn, I guess the smallhead muscles expand to better protect their organs then

>>4415387
A mutation causing a layer of there null-light seeing eye-shell to grow on there legs have had a suprising benefit to the creature. while making there legs more durable that is not the main benefit, this nullight interfering layer when they have retracted into there shell has the ability to hide there ecto and making them just looking like a purple rock both to ecto and most visual inspections. (note being covered in whats basically eyes gives them a 360 field of vision when retracted)

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>>4416537
forgot the picture

>>4416537
>>4416538
oh also they are growing some shell from the mouth parts making chewing more effective

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>>4416538
The destruction of their offshore breeding colony disorients many great fekk, who wander bemusedly inland through the Strighian plains. A significant number of smashed up and eaten by chunky spinetaurs, but a viable population make it to Lake Strigh.

The lake turns out to be a good home: the shores are thick with pint-o'-ponds, never consumed by herbivores; and there are no predators either. The fekk thrive here, growing larger and living a carefree, slothful life in the warm water. Often their hunger for ectoplasm is fulfilled by corpses washing in from the rivers, but occasionally they do need to venture onto land. In this case, they first check that the coast is clear by raising their right eye above the surface of the water, the stalk of which over time has become greatly elongated in its use for this purpose.

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>>4410319
As the Scissores >>4416515 roaming the grassland expose more and more flesh, they become the main prey for the Psychocrawlers there. The problem is however, that even though they are small, the psychocrawlers are smaller, and the flesh they want to infect is high up on bone stilts. So some psychocrawlers develop strong arms with which they propell themselves up at a scissore's actual body (the organ sack), to infect them and reproduce in this way.

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>>4410319
Basal fekks near Maba, their population perhaps disturbed by the bismuth eruption, start to transition further into terrestrial life.

The curious thing about this group is that, in their herbivorous form, they reserve every alternate leg (for which reason they are called altifex) for passing food from the ground to the mouth, each morsel being handed upwards leg-to-leg. They do not walk on these legs in the herbivorous stage, but do in the hunting stage.

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>>4416691
The feeding limbs of the altifex continue to specialise, becoming longer, thinner, and more flexible to better pick up and pass the small species of food. As a result, it becomes inconvenient for them to be used in the hunting form and so the altifex elevates them at all times.

>>4416710
* pieces, not species :P

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The bismuth dust in the air becomes intermingled with the Surface Psychophages, and over time they learn to integrate it into their bodies; becoming the so-called "Bismuth Flakes". When a Bismuth Flake lands on a creature, it creates a sort of protective bismuth shell, almost akin to the now-extinct Armor Psychophages. However, this boon is in truth an insidious curse; as a creature's bismuth armor grows, it will eventually encumber it to the point of immobility, and then further cover it's body until all that remains is a pile of rotten entrails covered by a beautiful bismuth shell, after which the Bismuth Flakes disperse from it and begin the process all over again.
As the Bismuth Flakes spin on their two rotorblade-like wings, the air fills with wondrous, curiously spiraling sparkles of every color imaginable.

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>>4415803
The Windmuncher is a variant of the Icemuncher that has finally left the desolate wastes of the icecaps and migrated to the bountiful Windleaf grasslands. The Windmuncher generally spends its days wandering around aimlessly looking for leaves and flesh covered seeds to eat. Due to their underdeveloped digestive systems the Windmuncher is unable to digest the seed, merely the flesh surrounding it. This generally results in them spread the seeds around the surrounding area.

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>>4416751
Living in the windleaf grasslands occasionally puts the Windmunchers at odds with the much feistier Treerinocts and Fleerinocts, thus those living nearest to Hoya Forests evolve into Windpunchers. They are virtually identical to their ancestors in all but behavior and minor cosmetic features. The males use their forelimbs to fight off Treerinoct males.

Okay, extinction event time. As this is a partial extinction event, evolutions during it are allowed, includinv evolutions to save endangered species. I'll keep the rolling up for the night.

The way this works is that I give you a formula for calculating your organism's target number, which you then, using a 1d8, need to roll OVER.

The things in danger are these: Photosynthetic plants and anything living within the bismuth biome. Exempt are members of those groups which are specialized against that event, AFTER that event happened.

The initial target number is 5. Every ID has 3 rolls. You may reroll organisms you have failed to save.

If the plant is on the Western continents, subtract 1.
If the plant produces its own light, subtract 2.
If the organism is made of Bismuth, subtract 1.
If the organism is in a dedicated symbiosis with or dedicated parasite to a saved or non-endangered species, subtract 1
If it's a plant which can also use null-photosynthesis to a significant degree, subtract 1

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>>4416824
>>4416824
Here are pre-event charts where those endangered are marked with a red spot. If I missed any, do tell

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>>4416834

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>>4416837

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>>4416842

Rolled 5 (1d8)

>>4416824
Cautious first roll for the pintry >>4412611, rolling to get above 2.

>>4416824
Rolling for the pintatami >>4412198

Again, trying to get above 2.

Rolled 2 (1d8)

>>4416969
Woops

(also, I've been told OP changed his mind and it's in fact 2 or above.)

>>4416969
>>4416972
To specify, that was the pintatami II I was rolling for, the second one on that pic.

>>4416824
Spending my final roll on the pluripinta III >>4410553

I only just realised that these things are a lot bigger compared to the bonehorses than I thought, huh...

Rolled 2 (1d8)

>>4416999
dammit

I shouldn't have six posts in a row in this thread ;__;

again rolling for 2+

Rolled 1, 6, 2 = 9 (3d8)

>>4410553
III

>>4410326
shrub

>>4415744
this boy

>>4416824
by "roll over" I mean the mode of meassuring success. High is good, not low. Hitting the target number counts as hitting the target, counts as saving the thing. Anything target number and above is good.

Apologies for the confusion

Rolled 6 (1d8)

>>4416824
rolling for eyelash weed

Rolled 2, 8 = 10 (2d8)

>>4416824
Rolling for both strains of Talking Imash

>>4417184
First value, Beige Talker, second Value Pink Talker

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>>4416571
>>4413638
A simple ecosystem ventures, generation by generation, slowly westwards from Lake Strigh -- gradually, through pools and ponds, through muddy and swampy ground, out through the Straits of Skra: from the verdant grasslands into a forgotten pocket of rough wasteland between Strigh and the Bay of Flesh, bounded to the south by a great lake. These are the Skralands, and the lake is Gorgon's Gulp.

The Skralands are a hostile, desolate country. The terrain is rocky and bare, save for a sparse plane of stunted pinta, which in turn provides for a scattering of grazing scissorhorses; which live in fear of roaming predators like spinetaurs, hammerhorses and worse.

There are two parts to this ecosystem: the flagifex and the tangeal. The flagifex is a larger, tougher variety of the freshwater fekk: its second eye has been lost and the stalk has become longer and stronger. If a predator attacks it, the flagifex will grapple with its assailant, grasping at tearing at organs and limbs. Losing an eye has given it a large blind spot, though, which intelligent predators can exploit -- when startled from its blind side, it becomes irate and will attack even harmless scissorhorses.

The tangeal is a hybrid of the pint-o'-pond and the pintry, and can grow larger than either. Its branching structure can be complex, tangled and unpredictable and it can quickly create thick vegetation. Both the flagifex and tangeal eventually reach Gorgon's Gulp and establish populations in the lake, whilst smaller and less stable pockets remain in wet parts of the Skralands.

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>>4410527
In the Skralands, the arms race between the hammerhorse and its would-be prey the flagifex heats up.

To shield its organs from counterattacks by the flagifex's stalk, the side teeth of the hammerhorse migrate further back in the mouth and become longer, serving as a primitive shield. Being so long, they can no longer be used for feeding.

The hammerhorse also grows somewhat larger.

>>4417326
should link back to >>4412422

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>>4410326
The Plains Stalker is a species of Stalker that has grown much more complex behaviorally. These Stalkers have forgone the cannibalistic urges of their ancestors in favor of basic pack mentality. They tend to form groups of three to six Stalkers and travel and hunt together. Their preferred hunting tactic is for a single Stalker to assault the prey with fear ectoplasma, generally causing them to run away the Stalker right into the spot where the other Stalkers are lying in wait. The Plains Stalker tends to use it's ectoplasma much more efficiently, generally forming a limited number of strong limbs. Every year the Stalkers will migrate back to the Pyramid and collect small Pyramid stones to take back to their nesting ground to give to their children.

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>>4412611
Plntrens are adapted Pintols. Taking advantage of the bismuth and ash, the latern like plants form virtual cages for their own emissive light synthesis. These dimly glowing baubbles dot the landscape of their home island.

Within their protective center, smaller organisms might find shelter and safety, while the plant itself uses the reflective ash and dust to better collect it's own emission.

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>>4410319
>>4410326
the already valuable and protected seeds has a new strategy, instead of growing the second they drop off from the plant they instead await the optimal conditions in a kind of half way hibernation, inside the seed pod where it rely on nullight for nutrition allowing them to even survive sunken deep in the soil, stuck in a rock, floating in mud or being blown with the violent wind, the silicate shell is porous enough to absorb and retain moisture(like a eggshell or jade stone ect.) while they can germinate and sprout after alot of time they become less and less viable the longer it takes for it to sprout or just sprouting too slow and dying or the conditions being to unfavorable for too long

Rolled 3 (1d8)

>>4410326
Rolling for Palm Bismuth.
Target 2

Rolled 4 (1d8)

>>4410326
Quartz Pangla
Target 4

Rolled 8 (1d8)

>>4410326
Pangla Shard
Target 3

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>>4410326
To combat the increased temperature and ash rain causing fires in the Hoya Forest, the Hoya Tree has developed fire activated seeds. The flesh in the Hoya Tree's fruit has become quite though and prevents the seed from growing til something eats the fruit or a fire happens. The intense heat cooks the fruit to the point where it cracks releasing the seed into rich soil and cleared area, letting the seed grow in optimal conditions.

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>>4415727
Due to the lack of starlight the Spire Hoya has taken a simple approach to rectifying this problem. It's head has developed folds that let it gather significantly more starlight despite the ash clouds blocking a large portion of the light.

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>>4415740
The River Hoya has relocated their fruit to a safer location to protect them from the ash. Said location being the bottom of their stem underneath their low hanging canopies. After the fruit reaches maturity the fruit's flesh will begin to fermentate within a few weeks, due to chemicals present in the fruits flesh. This fermentation causes the build up of gases eventually resulting in the fruit exploding, sending the seeds flying into the nearby water. There the seeds will be kept safe from the ash til they are ready to grow.

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>>4415709
The Riverleaf's fruit's buoyancy has changed to the point where the fruit now sinks to the bottom of the river, but it's still light enough that it can be carried along by the river. This protects the fruit from the ash while still letting it spread through the river.

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>>4412883
Instead of adapting to deal with the problems caused by the ash directly, The Towering Windleaf has developed a way to ignore the problem. Their seeds now posse a resilient coat that protects it from fire and animals, however this is not it's main purpose. It's main purpose is to allow the seed to stay dormant for a very long time, ranging from one to five years for the seed to finally sprout.

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>>4416737
The bismuth psychophage has changed the way it armors the creatures it surrounds. It now has fewer outcroppings and sticks to the body of the creature better. This is good for both the psychophage and its victim, as the psychophage can suck the creatures ectoplasm better.

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>>4410326
The Flowering Windleaf has gained a coating around it's seed that inhabits growth until it breaks down. Starlight causes rapid degradation of the coating.

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Okay, extinction event ending. The creatures which survived are detailed bellow. In the next phylo charts, I will mark exactly which organisms went extinct. In case you still have evos you are currently working on, for extinct organisms, it's fine to still post them.


Of the endangered organisms these have survived:

Spineroot Myelin - Turns out it’s actually primarily Null based.
Pintry >>4412611
Pintatami >>4412198
Pluripinta III >>4410553
Bismuth Shrub >>4410326
Eyelash Weed >>4416824
Talking Imash >>4410577
Palm Bismuth >>4410326
Quartz Pangla >>4410326
Pangla Shard >>4410326

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>>4418307
I thought I'd give my impression of where the different organisms are mainly located in North Shai'hu right now. Of course, this isn't canon, just a suggestion and an aid if you want it. Stalkers are cosmopolitan, I guess, unless anyone thinks otherwise.

1. Far-eastern Strigh (green): pluripinta, pintatami, smallhead scissorhorse, great fekk, chunky spinetaur

2. Eastern Strigh (lime): All of the above except the great fekk

3. Southern Strigh (orange): pluripinta, ruminant scissore, spinetaur, psychocrawler

4. Western Strigh (beige): pluripinta, tangeal (rare), grazing scissorhorse, flagifex (rare), spinetaur, psychocrawler

5. Skralands (brown): sparser populations of pluripinta and grazing scissorhorse, similar populations of spinetaurs and psychocrawlers, larger populations of tangeal and flagifex, plus hammerhorse

6. Gorgon's Gulp (crimson): tangeal, flagifex

7. Lake Strigh: tangeal, freshwater fekk

8. Gill, Gull & Gall, the Isles of Strigh (purple):pintry, pintren

Now time for me to move onto somewhere else, perhaps, more than my abortive attempt at evo'ing on Maba...

Rolled 7, 8, 1 = 16 (3d8)

>>4410326
Talking imash
I again forgot to role but this time due to digging a pit in the yard

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>>4417277
Since the tangeal colonised Gorgon's Gulp from the north, the vegetation is thickest and brightest in the lake's northern reaches, and the further south one goes the sparser and dimmer it becomes.

As the tangeal expanded south, it was followed by the flagifex, until a new species emerged, better suited to its current circumstances. There being no predators in the lake, it has less need of a relatively stout and muscular weaponised stalk -- their stalks become still longer and more finely attuned, now functioning as feelers to guide them in the low-light conditions.

Their eye grows larger, with the stalk simultaneously regressing into the body -- the muscular process responsible for extruding the stalk in the hunting stages now pulls back skin to reveal even more of the eye. Again, a large eye of course is a useful adaptation to a dim environment.

Still in pursuit of the spreading clusters of tangeal, this species migrates through the river system into the smaller lake to the south, called the Teardrop. The land here is even more barren than the Skralands to the north. The country all around the south, west, and east of the lake is almost completely lifeless. The little piece of land between Gorgon's Gulp and the Teardrop, though is a swamp called Muddmarsh -- here the tangeal have begun to grow, and in turn are consumed by the flagifex.

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>>4416515
Herd collapse continues to wreak havoc on the ruminant scissores, and eventually the social structure of many herds or herd remnants completely breaks down and the scissores go their separate ways as solitary animals.

Some of the newly solitary males, wandering south-west Strigh, are through unclear means able to interbreed with the grazing scissorhorse (which has traditionally been thought asexual).

The result is a hybrid, the zizzie. The zizzie largely resembles an especially robust variety of the grazing scissorhorse: it is slightly larger, with a more massive headcrest and a much thicker, stronger neck. It has lost the enlarged shoulders of the grazing scissorhorse but retained its basal digestive system and duplicate windpipe.

Because of its sturdier neck and crest, a zizzie will usually beat a pure-bred grazing scissorhorse in a neck-pulling fight, or more likely deter its opponent from even contesting for grazing land. As such, the zizzie becomes more common in the western and south-western plains at the expense of the grazing scissorhorse (which remain uncontested in the north.)

There are two sexes of zizzie: females, who produce sexually with fertilisation; and hermaphrodites that fertilise the females and also produce asexually themselves.

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>>4416515
Meanwhile, other grazing scissorhorses in the Skralands migrate south to the northern shores of Gorgon's Gulp, and shift from grazing on plurapinta to eating the tangeal in shallow water and wetland.

Since there are no longer any grazing rights to be competed over, the neck-pulling contests are forgotten. And since it's really unfun to get your windpipe caught on a submerged branch, both of the Gorgonian scissorhorse's windpipes become fused to a big blog of flesh attached to the neck; which raises them up to a safer height.

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>>4412611
From the isle of Gall, the easternmost island of Lake Strigh, the pintry and pintren spread gradually out along the banks of the great river that connects the lake to the eastern ocean: the river called Synder.

Over time, the size and density of their population grows out in a wide swathe along each side, all the way down to the sea. Whereas the southern reach of this forest does not stretch far south of the river, the northern part advances far outwards into the wasteland -- this part of the world is known as the Synderwood.

As well as the pintry and pintren, there develops a third species derived from the former: the pintrum. As consumption pressure emerges from northerly populations of smallhead scissorhorse (which are now found throughout the synderwood), an adaption was made to the sapling stage of the plant. Whereas the early leaves of the pintry can be easily grazed on, those of the pintrum are protected by a small "cage" of sorts. When the pintrum is more mature, it will put out adult leaves from its top and the juvenile ones are dropped off, the cage eventually growing over and often leaving a small hollow.

>>4418933
I call it a forest, but all the pinta are still pretty small compared to the animals... they're getting bigger, but slowly.

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>>4416515
In the Syndwood of North-East Strigh, populations of smallhead scissorhorse slowly rise until a niche partitioning takes place.

A smaller species, the smolhos, emerges adapted to browsing on juvenile pintrum leaves and other low foliage. Continuing the tradition of its ancestors, in order to feed through ever-smaller gaps its head becomes yet smaller, and its teeth also greatly reduce. As it diminishes in size through the smolhos I to II, its outer flesh takes on a new role as an insulator against the cooler northern weather: these sheets regain bloodflow, becoming "blood blankets". The smolhos can toggle the amount of bloodflow permitted through the blankets so as to warm or cool itself depending on the surrounding temperature, often heating the organs at night and cooling the bloodstream in the day. You can think of this adaptation as being somewhat like elephants' ears.

In the smolhos II, not a lot changes. The neck grows a little longer to help with feeding. Spinetaurs have begun to migrate into the forest, and so the ancestral small nostrils of the smolhos (which limited its running speed) have again expanded to increase oxygen flow for a quick getaway.

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>>4419711

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>>4419713

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>>4419714

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>>4419715

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>>4419713
fixed a little thing here.

also, small treat, one organism had an ecosystem-defining response to the Bismuth eruption. Roll a 1d3, or, if you have a strong opinion, choose which one:

1 - a wiggly one
2 - a wobbly one
3 - a rocky one

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>>4411119
The flinging bonestrich begins to use its long stride to migrate out of the dangerous Flesh biome, which has many predators, into the relatively safer Skralands to lay its larvae. The larvae grow into juvenile bonestriches and migrate back into the Flesh. The further south the bonestrich ventures, the smaller the population of nomadic Flesh species such as hammerhorses and spinetaurs, that follow the herds of grazing scissorhorses and happily take an opportunistic slow-moving snack.

Eventually, the migration of bonestrich mothers each laying season makes it all the way to the shores of Gorgon's Gulp, where the larvae are laid on the muddy bank where spinetaurs rarely venture for fear of getting stuck. Initially they are poor swimmers and a significant portion of each cohort, in fact, are drowned.

However, gradually, evolution morphs their segmented bodies into a form more suitable for swimming -- they become capable swimmers, if still not very fast. They are, however, still air-breathers: they usually linger in shallow water, hiding amongst the tangeal from the flagifex, which feast on them greedily. Being carnivores with no smaller animals in their ecosystem, their main source of food are younger larvae, a diet they supplement with carrion.

Rolled 2 (1d3)

>>4419717
Let's see where the dice fall.

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>>4417277
The diet of the typical modern, relatively aquatic flagifex in Gorgon's Gulp is about 10% bonestrich larvae, 10% carrion, and 80% tangeal.

A new species emerges, more predatory, which a diet of around 30% larvae, 70% tangeal, and no carrion at all. They hunt in pairs, having evolved two morphs: one with a "club" stalk, which beats the tangeal to drive out the hiding larvae; and the other with a "hand" morph that catches them, sharing the plunder with the club-morph.

They are still asexual: a club-morph mother will produce a hand-morph daughter, and vice-versa. Hunting pairs, as a result, are often mother & daughter, but sometimes sisters or even unrelated individuals will form pairs.

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>>4419739
Some Wandering Bonestritch develop paddle like leg bones to improve their ability to swim.

>>4420027
So where are the paddle like bones? Because I can't find them.

>>4420126
They are the lowest leg bones. I made them slightly thicker.
I'm not sure I did a good enough job at making them look like paddles, but since I wasn't sure about the range of motion in the Bonestriches legs, I went with "Larger surface area=more forward pull.".

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>>4419810
The Flagifex becomes dimorphic due to a haploid/diploid population split: the clubbers retain their original 24 chromosomes while the handers now have 48. Alongside obvious morphological modificiations, this change also results in the two morphs being unable to interbreed; thus, the population enters a cyclical pattern, with each stage of the cycle reproducing homosexually with members of their own morph to produce the members of the next stage's morph.
This, as a side effect, solidifies the parent-offspring hunting dynamic and almost fully abolishes the brother-sister and mate-mate dynamics.

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>>4410548
For the first time in a while, the pluripinta evolves and expands its range, moving onto the lower slopes of the two great mountain ranges that mark the western bounds of the Strighian plains, which gaze onto each other across the Straits of the Strigh -- to the north, Craken; and Craic to the south.

Growing up the Strighian faces, the podd makes it home. Having transitioned from asexuality to hemaphroditism, like all the trendy kids are doing these days, they have evolved a simple reproductive organ: a multipurpose, porous, titular pod which can both produce and receive pollen.

It's worth noting that the higher a podd is, with a fair breeze the more partners it can inseminate, fueling a strong evolutionary to advance higher and higher up the slopes.

>>4420447
* the Straits of Skra

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>>4420447
* evolutionary drive, also corrected the gen. number

:|

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>>4420456
The podd further specialises its reproductive strategy. The seed pod, after fertilisation, is now enhanced with sap -- inside are around a hundred seeds.

When the seeds are mature, the seed pod detaches and, either immediately or with the right wind, falls down the hillside, bouncing down the slope until eventually, inevitably, dropping off a particularly steep precipice and smashing down onto the ground. The force of impact shatters the pod, which explodes outwards in a shower of seeds covered in the pod's energy-rich sap; the seeds will be dispersed widely by the wind.

The podds' pods are possibly the only sweet thing on SII-2453-0. We would not find them particularly appetising, though: they are blandly sugary with no particular flavour of any kind, much like a cheap store-bought sponge biscuit. This are delicious enough, though, that those podds which do survive their fall and land unbroken in the lowlands are quickly gobbled up and, quite unintentionally, function as fruit.

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>>4416515
Thus far in the history of their species, the ruminant scissorhorse have progressed through the stages of Primitivity, Sophistication, Collapse, Interspecific Promiscuity, Further Collapse, and finally, now, Civilisation.

All the solitary ruminant scissorhorses and splinter groups have either gone extinct, with too small a gene pool to sustain them, or interbred to disappearance into the zizzie line. There is left remaining only one great herd, ceaselessly migrating around the southern plains of Strigh. These are of a new kind: the Imperial Caesarhorse.

In stark contrast to the antisocial attitudes of nearby barbarians like the grazing scissorhorse, the caesarhorse live in a well-ordered, peaceful social system with infrequent conflict. It works by means of three genders: male, female, and replicator.

There is only one male in the herd, called the Emperor. He does not usually mate with the females, only with his "harem" of replicators, which constitute around 1% of the herd. The Emperor's semen imprints its genetic code onto the replicator, which from then onwards produces a copy of the Emperor's sperm as its own (until reimprinted by a different male.) The replicators are the ones to mate with the females and thus greatly magnify the Emperor's genetic reach.

When the Emperor dies, the harem spar in head-butting contests for days or even weeks until one replicator emerges victorious. The winner becomes the new Emperor, his body entering a sort of "puberty" that transforms him into a male. He first reimprints all the other replicators, ensuring they propagate his sperm and not that of the previous Emperor. It will also be his duty to maintain a sufficient harem by fertilising females with a second variety of sperm, which causes them to produce a replicator.

[What can I say, I love complex sociosexual setups...]

>>4421185
By the way, the "primitive horn" of the main diagram is the crest of a juvenile, these being the same for all genders.

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>>4412453
The Knucklewalker Spinetaur learns to walk on it's front two legs, which frees up it's clawed back legs for such activities as ripping prey in half. It must still assume it's ancestral, quadrupedal position when digesting food or giving birth, however.

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>>4419796
>>4419717
>>4415571
One of the great innovators during the Bismuth eruption were the psychovores who incorporated the growth of bismuth into their genome. Since their mode of feeding is injecting cells of their hosts with their DNA to replicate themselves, it only took a freak accident, whereby a fleet of Bismuth flakes transfered an incomplete genome incapable of reproducing itself as flakes into a Hsmyx, to pass this innovation on.

this had two consequences for the Hsmyx: For one, the multicites left its body, taking it for infected and fleeing a sinking ship. And for another, it began to build up the kind of Bismuth structures the Bismuth flakes develop. On land, this means it cannot move and quickly dies. But in the water, the counterbalance of the crystal to the oxygen in the Hsmyx' lungs makes it perfectly level at any altitude.

Born are the Wysmyx, great, slowly rotating beasts encased in Bismuth, often found in the coldest regions of the Ocean, where they produce huge amounts of heat as they feed anything they can get their tentacles on into their portal furnaces, and provide warmth, but also shelter, for smaller animals which make their nests in the nooks and gaps of the Wysmyx' armour.

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>>4414040
some of these sedisimp use psychovores as a means of polination.
They redevelop their brains - not to a complex extent, but in relatively large quantities - which lies dormant most of the time. Only once it is ready to shed its zygotes, it begins thinking.

It then consciously strains to pump its zygotes into its brain, where it keeps them until psychovores come, attracted by the null light emissions of extruding ectoplasm. They then graft onto the large petals and onto the brain, filling them with psychovore young, killing off the brain, which causes the Sedisimp to throw off the petals and the brain. Once psychovores hatch, they are covered in mature zygotes, which they carry to the next Sedisimp.

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>>4420601
In the last evo, I said that "those podds which do survive their fall ... function as fruit." This is not strictly true. Although they fulfill a similar dietary niche to the animals that consume them as fallen fruit on Earth, the podd's seeds usually do not survive the herbivore's digestive system. As such, it is very important that the seed pod breaks open and scatters the seeds, preventing them all being gobbled up at once.

The latest species, the podd iii, produces a proportionally larger seed podd (as well as being a slightly larger plant on the whole.) Its key adaptation, though, is an increase in the sugar concentration of the sap that is supplied to the pod. This sap is very sugary, so much so that the excess sugar seeps into the tissues of the seed podd, completely saturated it and producing a "glaze".

The great amount of sugar in the seed pod makes it brittle and is now much more likely to smash on impact (good) and that at higher elevations (also good), allowing for a greater dispersal of the podd's seeds.

The taste of the seed pod has changed from a cheap store-bought sponge biscuit to essentially the same but brittler, sweeter, and with a thin layer of glaze -- like a trifle sponge, or perhaps an old, dry doughnut.

[The previous species should have the gen. number 5, btw.]

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>>4410319
a bonsai version of the classic Palm Bismuth(TM) has taken advantage of all the spinetaurs descendants social activities, to spread and pollinate by growing effigy heads with reproductive strapped too it. When a spinetaur species goes in too either just identify its horn after smelling its very vague but still clearly the scent of a member ready to mate or just to wildly fuck it will get sprayed in colorful glitter like pollen, that will allow the giving head to spread.
if no spinetaurs are available this easily disturbed pollen glitter will fly with strong gusts of wind.

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By request on Discord, a new and comprehensive biome map of North Shaihu. Completely subject to contradiction by OP and anyone else. Hope this helps.

Stalkers and psychocrawlers are cosmopolitan.

Far-Eastern Strigh (green):
Pluripinta III >>4410548
Pintatami II >>4412198
Smallhead Scissorhorse I >>4412315
Smallhead Scissorhorse II >>4412470
Chunky Spinetaur >>4412430
Munder Fekk >>4412856
Great Fekk I >>4415387
Great Fekk II >>4416538

Eastern Strigh (lime):
Pluripinta III >>4410548
Pintatami II >>4412198
Smallhead Scissorhorse III >>4412490
Smallhead Scissorhorse IV >>4416515
Chunky Spinetaur >>4412430

Synderwood (olive):
Pintatami II >>4412198
Pintrum >>4418933
Pintren >>4417504
Tangeal >>4417277
Smolhos I & II >>4419706
Clawed Spinetaur III >>4412391

Lake Strigh & Isles:
Tangeal >>4417277
Pintren >>4417504
Freshwater Fekk >>4416571

Southern Strigh (orange):
Pluripinta III >>4410548
Ruminant Scissore I >>4412520
Ruminant Scissore II >>4412723
Ruminant Scissore III >>4412765
Imperial Caesarhorse >>4421185
Clawed Spinetaur III >>4412391
Chunky Spinetaur >>4412430

North-West Strigh (beige):
Pluripinta III >>4410548
Grazing Scissorhorse I >>4412352
Grazing Scissorhorse II >>4412780
Grazing Scissorhorse III >>4416515
Zizzie >>4418531
Flagifex I >>4417277
Clawed Spinetaur III >>4412391

Strighside Mountain-Slopes:
Podd I >>4420447
Podd II >>4420601
Podd III >>4421891

Northern Skralands (rusty):
Pluripinta III >>4410548
Grazing Scissorhorse III >>4416515
Gorgonian Scissorhorse >>4418584
Clawed Spinetaur III >>4412391
Wandering Bonestrich I (migratory) >>4419739
Wandering Bonestrich II (migratory) >>4420027
Flagifex I >>4417277
Skralands Hammerhorse >>4417326

Southern Skralands (brown):
Gorgonian Scissorhorse >>4418584
Wandering Bonestrich II (migratory) >>4420027
Gorgonian Scissorhorse >>4418584
Flagifex I >>4417277

Gorgon's Gulp System (including the Teardrop and Muddmarsh), crimson / pink:
Tangeal >>4417277
Larvae of Wandering Bonestrich I >>4419739
Larvae of Wandering Bonestrich II >>4420027
Flagifex I >>4417277
Southern Flagifex >>4418438
Northern Flagifex >>4419810
Diomorphic Flagifex >>4420147

>>4422159
Oh, there are also populations of first-generation scissorhorses in the Skralands / North-West Strigh, since they were never made extinct.

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>>4416571
From the mountains of Craic two rivers flow north into Lake Strigh, nourishing the plains. The northern flow, after which the lower river is also named, is the Omite; its tributary is called the Olver. As the freshwater fekk gradually spread outwards from the lake, along the river systems, the Omite and Olver are particularly appealing due to their warm water and are quickly colonised.

However, in this relatively isolated population cut from the main gene pool in Lake Strigh, a detrimental mutation occurs: many of these fekk become trapped in their hunting stage. This prevents them from easily feeding on their primary food source, the tangeal which grow along the riverbanks, or even from coming onto land to graze on pluripinta.

As a result their secondary food source, carrion, grows in importance and forms the majority of their diet. But still, there is only so much carrion to go around, and the local fauna of scissorhorses and spinetaurs have little meat on them.

Thus the freshwater fekk gradually transitions into a new species, the Osonose. This species is specialised to process bones, wandering through Southern Strigh in search of one of the many ancient overgrown scissorhorse skeletons which dot the grassland. Often the bones are so old and dry that it requires quite little bite force to crack them into pieces, which the osonose does.

Having broken off a piece of skeleton, it swallows the bone fragment, which goes into an expanded, highly acidic stomach that extends into the front of its body. There the bone will be separated into a coarse powder which the osonose will cough up like a fur ball, and the marrow inside (where are all the nutrients are) will be digested.

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>>4422261
Forgot to add the size.

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>>4421891
the podd petlining saga continues

That small, bustling pocket of Shai'hu we (or least I) call Strigh is bounded to the west by a great gash in the mountains, the Straits of Skra; to the east by the crashing ocean waves that roll unbroken from Ur'Myrkyr; to the north by cool, empty deserts beyond Synderwood -- and to the south by a long, languid, lazy river called Riongo.

South of this river is a warm, muggy land with little to interest the tourist. An isolated place, it is almost devoid of animals and plants' and, unusually for this part of the world, quite free of the ubiquitous plurinpinta.

With a whole new world before them, the populations of podd (which have spread gradually south along the eastern face of the Craic range), begin to colonise the lowlands. To maintain their reproductive strategy in face of slackening slopes, the podd grows taller to increase the seed pod's initial drop distance and a good chance of breakage. With no herbivores, though, to consume the seeds, unbroken seed pods put out dozens of saplings with only one or two getting to a rooting stage.

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>>4418438
After a long time, the first species to be infested by Multicites since the Hsmyx are the Flagifex which occasionally ingest multicites when scavenging the riverbeds.

Their brains replaced by multicites, they are no longer able to go into hunt-mode, which means their ectovoric capabilities are diminished, and that their shell can no longer be used to see. This does not keep the Becoming Flagifex from hunting anything around, as its multicites command both flesh as well as an early death of their host, so that they may be consumed by further scavengers.

Their native eye, as part of their brain, eaten out by multicites, they develop the trademark extra eyes that an infection seems to give around the feet, open also in their hiding form, which they now no longer use to hide from predators, but for ambushes.

They are now much more aggressive and much less complex in their behavior, and they spread multicites on death - putting them in danger of completely overwhelming the ecosystem around the Teardrop, branching out from there upriver to the Skralands and downriver to the Bismuth Shores.

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>>4413237
To cope with the bismuth shards flying through the air, the Cursed Irristep has (through moving null light to those places) made new obsidian coatings. The ones on the mouth are able to filter out most of the bismuth while letting air in, while the ones on its feet let it walk easier. The effect of this is that its horn is weaker.

The irristep has also lost its fin (again because it was an easy target for the bismuth and parasites of this world ) becoming more tail without the needed fin

>>4423200
*uneeded fin
also i am posting this for a range banned pal

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>>4416815
The male windpuncher, in order to better defend against fleerinocts, has developed hard calcium deposits on it's front legs and it's belly, acting as weapons and armor respectively. It has also grown slightly larger.

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>>4423200
The Short-faced Irristep prefers to use it's hardened knuckles to crush prey rather than it's jaws. Thanks to this, it's head shrinks, and it's horn gains a much more advantageous position, now being used as the weapon of choice when it comes to killing.

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>>4410319
The multicites are split along behavioral lines: There are the Baiting Multicites which focus on being eaten: they sit at the bottom of rivers and on the shores of lakes, extending single multicites, pretending to be Tangeal-branches to be swallowed by herbivores, or simply by carnivores who find them to be good meat.

The Drilling Multicite is more direct: They are colonies of multicites which organise to form drills with their horns/teeth on the outside which drill into animals, such as the Irristeps, and forcefully infect them.

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>>4422265
Some osonose migrate south into the River Riongo, and from there into the expanding podd forest -- Craicway -- to chomp down on some seed podds; although their primary diet is still bones gathered in Southern Strigh.

Eventually they evolve a new method of reproduction, which gives their juveniles a head start in development. When they encounter a fallen seed pod, they tear a gash into it with their legs and then lower down their eye to the hole.

When this position, they "cry" into the wound, transfering tiny eggs in mucus into the pod; for which this species are known as weepers. The eggs will hatch and consume the pod's sugary tissues and seeds until they are juveniles, whereupon they will journey back into the Riongo and switch to an adult diet north of the river.

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>>4416710
Just when you'd forgotten they existed, the elusive altifex of the sleepy island of Maba evolve again. The rearmost of their tentacles on each side of their body become specialised for self-grooming, to scrape off psychophages; these appendages elongate and extrude a set of teeth which can be dragged along the skin.

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>>4416296
the sneezing fleerinoct with few predators and herbivores to compete against have focused most if not all there energy into competing with each other for territory and trees with females. There bodies becoming bigger more muscular and lumpy and growing MORE armor to take hits from each other and its claws growing longer sharper to deal damage with slashing and stabbing and gripping there back lumps and face for savage attack.

when they compete and will go all out until one of them detach there tail and the winners feast upon the tail as the loser flees to recover and regrow its tail and losing a tail can be a death sentence as this tail is a get away from death card when dealing with predators

and then there are the female looking males that lives simply by climbing the trees and escaping the notice of the big male and looking as much as a female as they can without getting fucked.

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>>4423366
As the Craicway Forest grows, the weeper is able to form a greater portion of its diet with unbroken seed pods, now going as far as to pluck immature pods from their host plants. They also feed on congealed, sticky masses of seed pods that are blown into the river by the occasional strong wind and glue together like sugar puffs in milk; these "sweetbergs" can be very large, as much as twenty metres in diameter, and attract many weepers to feed.

With the pods so sugary, some way of rejecting excess sugar is required, and the weeper manages this by secreting sweet "tears" from its small-stalk eye. Still, it consumes so many of the saccharine seed pods that its blood & flesh become sweet; the weeper II tastes largely of caramelised onions and is the most delicious living thing on this planet.

Unfortunately, using both of its eyes for unrelated processes puts this species at a particularly high risk of blindness. Most weepers advance through this life cycle:

1. Egg is laid in a clutch into a seed pod
2. First-stage juvenile hatches, consumes seed pod
3. Second-stage juvenile feeds on fallen pods until adult, then enters River Riongo
4. Adult mainly eats bones in southern Strigh, supplemented by sweetbergs in the river
4. Older adult gradually becomes partially sighted and, unable to find bones, returns to the Craicway to feed on fresh pods.

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Phylocharts up until here >>4423916

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>>4424538

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>>4424539

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>>4424540

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>>4424541

Alright, another event roll. This might be resolved only in some days time, as I will be away over the weekend. But you can roll already!

Roll me a 1d8. The event will be:

1 - a bad one
2 - an old one
3 - a new one
4 - an unforeseeable one
5 - a foreseeable one
6 - a good one
7 - a weird one
8 - a really weird one

Rolled 7 (1d8)

>>4424619
weird i hope

Rolled 1 (1d8)

>>4424619
Rollan for even weirder!

>>4424622
Son of a fuck.

>>4424622
>>4424626
hmmmm

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The Eyelash Weedgrowth becomes neotenous, which is to say it retains it's decentralized, tangled structure for it's entire life instead of metamorphosizing into a traditional plant. The Eyelash Tumblegrowth now uses wind to propel itself across the plains, entangling and digesting any animal unlucky enough to cross it's path.

>>4424628
Well what can I say except AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-

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>>4410326
The Calcium Spikegrav, after the extinction of it's Longroot partners, has largely led a nomadic existence, blown across the seafloor by currents. However, due to a mutation that resulted in them no longer severing their connections after their neighbors have died, the Spikegravs have managed to return to a sedentary existence; anchored to the seafloor by the corpses of those less fortunate than themselves.

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>>4424534
As the sweetbergs continue to flow east, down the River Riongo from the poddlands, they accumulate in the the rivermouth. Here they clump, cluster, clog the water; sweat and stew in a sticky, sugary way in the tropical heat, forming hilly deltas and islands.

The only creature that can tolerate this sickly realm is a new species of weeper, which migrates down the river. With so much sugar to excrete, and so much pressure thus placed on the left eye, it gives up the ghost and becomes non-functional. The weeper III is not just large but also obese, with big stores of fat in its right eye. To the odd ruminant scissore grazing by the riverbank, to see one surface is like seeing a breaching walrus.

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>>4423240
>>4416751

Due to more available food in the plains, the wind-muncher starts to deposit calcium. Similar to their wind-puncher cousin. However these deposits appear in the fur, turning it into stiff bristles. The beginning of spines. This makes it less appetizing to predators. It appears to favor defense to aggression. The snout grows shorter, and it shifts in color.

It's now called the bristle-muncher.

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>>4416630
The leapcrawler becomes a more specialized hunter. The tail lengthens, and the nodule at the end becomes wider and flatter. The beginning of a foot. This helps it balance and adds some "kick" in addition to their leaping arms. ((like the tail of a lobster)) Some leapcrawlers with barbed spikes are more effective at grappling organ sacks, giving higher chances of success.

Behavioral: Some Leapcrawlers have also been observed to time their leaps simultaneously. Perhaps rudimentary pack tactics? Perhaps indication of a shared mind?

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>>4422507

Some lowland podds develop a new dispersal method for their seeds. Lacking animals to eat the pods. It keeps the podd attached to the stem, and grows a smaller number of seeds to larger size, turning them into "kernels."

These kernels then sprout, still attached to the pod, and swell into pimple like blisters. When the wind picks up they pop! A tiny kerneling ((seedling)) is sent flying in the wind. This ensure better distribution of their seeds in the absence of herbivores.

The roots have grown larger to better support the heavy pod. The vulnerable kernals sometimes attract ectoplasmic fungi which infect them.
It is now called the "Kernel Podd"

A bit of worldbuilding with no evo attached:

When the sugar deltas of Riongo's estuary are struck by lightning, the top layer is near-instantly shocked into a caramelised "lava" which flows down the delta's sides, streaking into the water. Over time, what remains gradually thickens again in a denser structure, becoming a very hard toffee -- the waves slowly wear these "toffee stacks", breaking pieces off, which are further broken up, rounded and smoothed by the ocean.

The end result of this process is that swirling around the ocean are millions of grains, rocks, and pebbles of toffee which wash up all around the world. In many places they are a rare find; in others, especially in the western hemisphere, so many land ashore that they form whole toffee beaches, which are a lovely deep golden-brown.

>>4425832
i expect there to be lumps washed up seasonally not enough to be a beach but more like someone who is using too much fertilizer and its just flowing down into the water but not enough for whole beaches as it will probably dissolve in water eventually

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>>4416630
The Leapcrawler develops a retractable sleeve over it's mouth to prevent it from getting clogged with dirt and debris.

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>>4410577
the female Talking Imash has converted two of it's four now-defunct waterjets into extra water storage, used to resupply it's offspring with water on the go.

>>4425832
I like that.

>>4426144
Anus-crawler.

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>>4417504

Plntren sometimes collect ash and water inside of its leaf cavity. Concentrating into an alkaline paste, it kills and dissolves tiny creatures which find shelter inside. This goo and ectoplasm in turn attracts more small critters with its vile aroma and decomposing warmth.

The slurry of ectoplasm, rot, and null-synthetic cells in time begins to glow. Providing the Plntren with not one, but two extra sources of energy. Absorbing the slurry, and the generated light.

The latticework around the leaves grows tighter to prevent the escape of small creatures, except for a slit opening at the top. ((like a pitcher plant))

It grows larger and stronger.

It is now called the Amphora Plnten

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>>4410379

Some female simps eat their male counterparts during mating. When to male gonads are absorbed, the females occasionally gain the ability to self reproduce ((like a angler-fish)). While not yet true hemaphrodites, these "female" simps birth offspring which already have both gonads.

Male simps continue to try and mate with these new hermaphrodites, and become a supplementary food source.

The new organism is called the flesh cuck.

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>>4417504
The pintren produces a new species which is sexually reproductive, and dimorphic at that.

The male form detaches from the bank and floats downstream until washing ashore. Hopefully with a female close at hand, the male releases his pollen from an organ at the top of the plant. The female is fertilised, creates the seeds, and releases them when the wind is blowing upriver, transporting the seeds back and restarting the cycle. The accuracy of the female plant at identifying variable wind gradually improves in each different river over evolutionary time, since this pintren has been able to spread through the entire river system of Strigh.

The name, umbra-bella, refers to the pretty-looking shadows cast by the floating males on the river's surface, and most definitely not to their shape.

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>>4415803
The Icemuncher has finally found a niche it can flourish in, as a scavenger on the icy wastes of the poles. Now that they have a stable niche some Icemunchers can begin moving into some empty niches. For centenaries now the waters around the poles, and indeed across the whole planet, have been without a secondary consumer, a creature well suited to hunting the Imash that lurk the waters and in turn to be well suited prey for the Mentats. The Icemuncher with it's newly developed flippers and beak fits that role well. Waiting on the edges of the caps the Icemuncher waits for a school of Imash to pass bye, and when they do the Icemunchers will dive down and release a blast of ectoplasma potent enough to disorientate the Imash long enough to kill a couple through chomps to the cranium. A tacit typically enhanced by the presence of other Icemunchers doing the exact same thing, though some times they hit each other and cause a fight to break out. There new acatuitic bodies also help with running from Stalkers, do to the vast majority of Stalkers being unable to figure out how to create limbs that work in water.

>>4426577
>do to the vast majority of Stalkers being unable to figure out how to create limbs that work in water.
That's a point.

How dense IS Ectoplasm relative to water?

>>4427063
It is slightly less dense than water, though it becomes less dense during dispersal. That means the longer ectoplasm is away from organic sources the lighter it gets.

For more of these questions i recommend joining the discord: https://discord.gg/NUkmtfm

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>>4410319
>>4410326

The water stirs.

To become means to embrace. Many find their resolution in the Hsmyx’s grasp.

A strain of Becoming Hsmyx have migrated from the coastlines up and into the rivers and lakes of the eastern continents. As it has come to live in shallower and often quickly moving water, its orientation has changed back to that of its ancient ancestors; a memory but long forgotten. This, together with powerful legs allows it to walk the bottoms of rivers and lakes.

In this new environment its feed on whatever sediment flows into its maw and the kelp of Sweetroots >>4415722 . It has also developed the behaviour of lying with its mawsjust above the water’s surface, releasing ectoplasm that is carried on the smoke of its internal furnace into the surroundings. This ectoplasm is that of Multicites, and very similar to the mucus that used by the multicites to interact. Thus, when a Forest-dwelling Fekk or a Treeinoct come down to the river to drink or eat the variety of fruits available, they will find an overwhelming urge to go down into the water. From their perspective they themselves are waiting there, after all.

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>>4423325

An off-shoot of the Drilling Multicites, the Forest Nairolthoxicte has adapted to slowly force and burrow their way into larger plants; In particular, the Hoya trees. Here they are kept humid and fed by leeching of the tree, until a hungry animal, suchs as a Fekk or Irrinoct-species, comes along and finds the Nairol den as they search the plant for goodies. Thus the Nairolthoxicte gets eaten and the unsupecting victim infected.

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>>4410319
>>4410326


Another species of the Becoming Hsmyx has further mutated, becoming larger and hungrier. The Behemoth Hsmyx can be found near bodies of water on the eastern continents. Their bodies incapable of holding moisture for long, they spend most of their time partly submerged in the water. Using their powerful appendages, they tear loose branches or even whole plants, such as the Hoyas, and fling them into the burning hell within their maws. As organic beings are more effectively / easily harvested for their nutrients, this allows the Hsmyx maintain its large body size.

Near the end of their lives, when the reaction within the Hsmyx starts to become unstable, it will usually leave the water and in a mad rage tear and consume its surroundings. As the reaction within is unstable burning debris is flung out of its maw, setting fire to that which it touches; starting great wildfires. In a way this acts similar to here on earth, vitalizing the soil and providing a source of renewal.

Well at least some Multicites haven't got into The Flesh yet!

Hehahuh!

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>>4416296

>>4416264
>>4418258

During the great die-offs in the Hoya forests of the Eastern continents, many Treerinocts found themselves pushed further and further out of the forests in order to scavenge resources. These eventually came to make their home in the weedgrowth grasslands and borderlands of the Hoya forests.

With a change of environment came a change of diet. The Sprintinocts came to be mainly herbivores; feeding on weedgrowth plants, young hoyas and fruits. However, due to the lack of certain nutrients that this diet provided, they became unable to develop the same tough body armor. Instead the Sprintinocts came to use running speed in order to avoid preditors and display superiority in competitions for mates.

The Sprintinoct's eggs are carried until a few days before they begin to hatch. Due to their slightly larger size it is the males that have instinctively taken this task upon themselves. Unfortunately its not uncommon for a male to compete for mates while still carrying an egg; more often than not ending up with a scrambled egg, as the egg falls out of the male's grasp.

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>>4427193
For most creatures, having absolutely no fear response would be a death sentence: after all, there are tons of hungry bigger fish always on the lookout for you. For the Pulling Hsmyx however, this is not the case - because they ARE the bigger fish. And by imbuing their ectoplasm with an utter disregard for danger, they are capable of turning the river they wait under into an inescapable death trap. They don't even need to rush at their prey to catch them - all they require to make the charmed prey go under the waves is a gentle push of their multicite tongue.

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>>4416296
The Small Fleerinoct, rather than compete with other species over normal Windleaves, has instead chosen to specialize on Towering Windleaves, climbing them like it once climbed Hoya Trees.
Due to being smaller than their ancestors, punchy males often lost fights and thus failed to claim harems, while the climbing males had much success due to being more easily able to blend in with the females. Eventually, the punchy males died out completely.
Due to their small size, the Small Fleerinocts reproduce and mature much faster than their ancestors as well.

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>>4421185
With sweetbergs regularly washing ashore in Southern Strigh, the caesarhorse takes advantage of the new food source. The females harvest the waterlogged seedpods using their crests (which have become spoonlike), pile them up and allow them to ferment in the heat.

Without added liquid, there is never anywhere near full fermentation, but still over the course of a month the sugars in the seedpod (which would, in raw form, overload the blood of the caesarhorses) have been partially converted to alcohol. The result is a liquid with the consistency of honey, the colour and taste of dark rum, and an alcohol content of 8 -- 12% depending on the temperature of its production and amount of available moisture. This licquor is called traiclewein and is shared freely between the herd, individuals consuming it from the ground or the walls of the mound.

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>>4427761
A split emerges between the nomadic caesarhorses >>4421185 which only eat pluripinta on the plains; and those that remain by the riverside, which increase their consumption of traiclewein.

This latter group become the bacchanalios, a large species with a big, drooping stomach which is filled with water. The bacchanalios can drink much more traiclewein than their ancestors, because its sugar is diluted in their stomach and released into the blood more gradually. Consuming so much 'wein, they are perpetually drunk to the tune of 3-5 pints on a human adult -- it catches up with them, though, and their main cause of death is alcohol-related organ failure.

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>>4423325
The Landtrap Multicite is a Multicite born with two heads: a piercing head and a digging head, the latter used to dig burrows in which to conceal itself, and the former used to penetrate the feet of anything unlucky enough to step on a Landtrap's burrow.
Unlike most multicites, the Landtrap is a solitary creature, content enough in the company of it's two heads. It only interacts with others of it's kind during the mating period.

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>>4420027
Two rivers feed the lakes of the Skralands: Scylla to the north, supplying Gorgon's Gulp and, of course, Charybdis draining into the Teardrop. But have you wondered from exactly where these rivers flow?

The origin of these streams lies underground: beneath Northern Shai'hu is an extensive system of lakes & rivers, running cold and clean through twisting tunnels and vast lightless caverns, running headlong over great waterfalls and into deep, dark, pools. These are the Caves of Calamity.

Until recently, this hidden world was sterile, untouched by the fruits of evolution. Recently, though, this changed. Strong westerly winds, aided by an incoming tide, are able to blow floating seedpods upstream against the Riongo's slow flow, back to the river's source -- the Caves. Having entered the subterranean system the seedpods are distributed widely, becoming a common occurrence in the rivers.

For a time now, some wandering bonestriches have been spawning not on the shores of Gorgon's Gulp, where they are vulnerable to spinetaurs and flagifex, but instead in the River Scylla. What happens next is predictable: the small percentage of larvae that swim into the Caves and would normally starve to death are now able to eat the seedpods and survive, this eventually becoming the more common behaviour in a new species.

The larvae of this new species, no longer being carnivorous, lose their teeth -- the pods they feed on have usually been floating for so long that they are mushy in consistency, like a day-old bowl of cheerios. Lovely mental image there. However, the larvae require protein to grow, not just energy -- they hatch with this, in the form of a nutritious marrow stored in their first, much enlarged, vertebra.

On nearing metamorphosis, the larvae search for an exit from the caves. They may find this exit in many different places: some reappear in the Scylla, others in the Charybdis; some emerge in the Riongo, the Omite, the Olver, or even further afield. About half the young adults, accordingly, never make it back to the Flesh -- they wander unfamiliar lands until starving to death or being preyed upon. However, the much lower larval mortality rate of this strategy (by avoiding the flagifex) still results in a greater proportion of larvae returning as adults to the Flesh.

>>4428182
Male umbra-bella can also be found in the Caves, but the larvae don't (yet) have the digestive setup to feed on these.

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After the bismuth incident, many seekers were left buried under sand, dirt or even rock by the explosive shockwave. Most perished, but a select few learned to use their portals for contact with the outside world and the wider seeker society.
The portals are used both for food and for exporting their offspring, and while the seekers are usually able to safely deliver their children to the surface, mishaps do occur and further seekers are sometimes produced underground, and thus the Buried Seeker lineage continues it's subterranean lifestyle.