Achievements

Ectocean Expansion: As a Saltwater Aquatic Civilization, make a settlement outside of the ocean.

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So close yet so far: Become an industrial amphibious civ

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Creatures from the Lake - Become a Freshwater Amphibious Civilization.

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Big water = scary: Abandon water techs due to beliefs that the waters are haunted (by monsters for example).

Scylla and Charybdis - Become sapient, amphibious sea monsters that live in narrow straits.

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So would you need a population of 1 for this achievement?

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The real Charybdis is a whirl pool that briefly closes at highest and lowest tide. No idea what inspired Scylla. She is seemingly the most unrealistic part of the Odyssey.

The cows whose intestines moved had bad worms. The land of the dead was a settlement of banished criminals. Pig also means β€œa dirty, gluttonous, or repulsive person”, so a β€œwitch” giving sailors alcohol and turning them into pigs makes sense. The sirens were sea lions whose barks were being distorted by rocks. Giant sheep use to be a thing. I can think of several possibilities for Polyphemus the cyclops, for example, he could have been born with two eyes and lost one later. The lotus was some type of drug, and the sailors just spent a year getting high. No idea where Ogygia is/was, but an unknown island is not unplausable. But Scylla? No idea.

I love Greek mythology.

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Ectoine - Have high salt, high temperature, and high UV tolerance.

Also, @Poodelicus, according to Wikipedia, one possible explanation is

…Greek mythology sited them on opposite sides of the Strait of Messina between Sicily and Calabria, on the Italian mainland. Scylla was rationalized as a rock shoal (described as a six-headed sea monster) on the Calabrian side of the strait and Charybdis was a whirlpool off the coast of Sicily…

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Weren’t cyclops inspired by dwarf elephant skulls on some islands?

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Mycelial: Connect your species in an underground root system
Celestial Navigation: Learn to navigate using the stars

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Cog: Evolve to have gear-like bodypart(s)

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How would a skull have a conversation with Odysseus or eat his men? If we assume Odysseus was a historical figure whom had an unfortunate run in with someone named Polyohemus, during a trip that, with the notable exception of Ogygia, can be mapped out on a modern map, with most of the magical things explained as listed above, than an elephant skull doesn’t work. But again, there are several possibilities for Polyphemus the cyclops. My personal favorite, Neanderthals were still alive and living on that island, called cyclopes because they had a thick brow ridge and eyes close together. Or perhaps he had the same birth defect as β€œOne-eyed Willy” from The Goonies. But a normal person having lost an eye, or perhaps a smith covering an eye just in case sparks cause the loss of the one they are using the other would be safe, seem more likely.

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I meant more that elephant skulls were likely behind cyclops arising as mythical creatures.

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The hunter becomes the hunted: Evolve to be a predator, then get driven to extinction by another predator

Greek fire: Create a powerful weapon, and then forget how to make it

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Malaria: Be an ectoparasitic hematophage carrying a disease.

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Isn’t napalm pretty much the successor to greek fire?

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That’s the current leading theory, but the truth of Greek Fire is still disputed.

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Well we do know it existed. Maybe some history/chemistry researchers could find out if the suspected recipe for it really works as it was described but that could also be seen as a huge waste of money…

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Roman concrete: Rediscover a lost technology

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Myths gone real: Create a mythological hybrid (e.g. minotaur, chimera) a long time after they were accepted as mythology and not sudo-real stories.

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