Chimarion - A speculative evolution communty project about chimeras

Here is some tale:

If anyone wants to, they can make some art of my creature that would fit, if they want to, would be cool I think.

Credits are at at the bottom to not spoiler.

Her Tale

Her Tale

Her Tale
It was cozy, with closed eyes, she was lying as embryo would lay - in safety of utero. But it was just the time for moments of coziness to end, for it was time to leave.
And soon, with the first flash of brightness penetrating her skin, there she was - juvenile in this harsh world.

She wasn’t the only child there though. There were her two siblings. One a bit taller - probably older. He had a white stripe on his back.
The other one, smaller, had big eyes, almost out of proportion. He looked cute.

The newcomer, the daughter was small, to say the least. At the moment she wasn’t hungry, but that would soon change - desire to eat soon would strike. Fortunately, mother’s milk would supply the newborn with enough nutrients for her to survive. But as she was sipping the milk, mother had to eat to sustain her, and her children.
Capiticrimena Gelidvultusa were omnivorous - they could digest plants just as well as meat. They lived in southern, colder climates. Vegetation was quite scarce at the moment. Many other creatures starved to death just trying to find something to eat But this would benefit our family. Carcasses found lying upon the ground would serve as the ultimate food source, and with cold climates preserving the valuable meat, it would last for many months to come.

4 months old, young female had episode of hunger, alongside her family. Most carrion they happened to stumble upon was long frozen, unbitable. But a bit of luck made them encounter a herd of Bootleg men. They haven’t noticed the family, well that was until big-eyed child began to run towards them…
Bootleg men appearently didn’t run away - they wouldn’t stand a chance in a running competition for life and death with our fellows. Stoic attitude of the prey staggered our young individual. Maybe that wasn’t the best idea?
Penguin-like creatures started to approach him, very possibly without friendly intentions.
That’s when the mother comes in. Bootleg men, who lost their focus for sake of the young male started to run in panic.
Soon they regained the shape of their herd, and that’s when the older white-striped siblinbelgiumted young creatures protected by a wall of adult males who were willing to sacrifice themselves for sake of the youngest.
But hunger was too high to retreat now. Big-eyed tried to keep defenders focus on him - for mother and the older stroke from nowhere. Young female didn’t risk it.
Too young to do so… probably.
One penguin was really beaten hard, they focused on him, even a single one would benefit them with enough source.

Another day, where the battle took place, all that remained was Bootleg man’s body. Lying on the frozen ground, it fueled the family to push forward, another day.

Next 3 months were quite safe with only a few dangerous encounters from other species. Food reserves of dead creatures who starved to deatg were running low by now.
After many days of wandering without anything to fulfill the need to eat. They found a carcass. At least what remained of it since it wouldn’t be an easy meal - someone was already feeding on it.

A majestic Icthyoraptor was enjoying his meal. Just as well as our protagonist, it didn’t eat for a long time. It, previously starving, under control of instincts, had one thing in the mind - eat. Eat more.
For she was carrying eggs and would soon lay them, the more food you have, the greater the chances of survival. Survival of you and your offspring.

Odds were seemingly against the lonely raptor, but that would soon not be the case - a blizzard was coming. Cutting the vision out, loner disappeared in the storm of snow. Where was it? Or where was the big-eyed? He got lost.
And won’t find its way back for soon his screams can be heard, somewhere from behind the snow curtain. He was gone.
Mother, grieving from within tried to at least save the remaining children.
They tried to run - mother following the children.
Something grabbed her and she was fighting back. Blizzard soon reached her and all that remained was sounds of fight. Children in panic ran. Ran as fast as they could.

Young female wakes up. No sign of her sibling. He was adult afterall, she also was anyways, and he had greater chances if they split up. Noone around her. But it was time to move forward.

Considering there wasn’t much food left in desolate deserts of snow, she decided to move to warmer regions, to the north.
Soon she stumbled upon a forest. It used to look beautiful, but now, as it is becoming colder and colder it starts its… other life.
It is the Dødshorden forest.
Withered plant matter hangs from trees, which survive somehow, even though it is seemingly cold and dark. How it lived here for so long is a dark twist…

Now adult female walked alone. Chills from the creepy atmosphere climbed her back as she ventured through the fog. She ocassionally heard some weird noises, like if something was walking there, just under the cover of the mist.
It didn’t take long for first skeleton-looking lemur being, standing nearly 2 feet tall emerged from the dark, and after trading sights for a few seconds, it attacked. Trying to climb her, this little boney man wanted to cut into her spinal cord. Luckily the long fur served thick protection layer.
As female started to run in panic, she noticed she wasn’t the only one who fell prey for the dark forest. Some creatures, some dead, were getting overwhelmed by the amount of creatures attacking them. They would soon serve as a fuel for the forest, to keep it going for years to come.
She was running, not paying attention on her surroundings, for that didn’t really matter now. She just wanted to escape. Just running.
As trees started to become less densely packed, she soon left the forest, but she triped on something, presumably some rock. The lemur attached to her has been smashed by her body - it doesn’t pose a threat now. She successfuly escaped the forest and moved on.

As she is now mature, there was no time to waste - it is time to have some offspring.
She began broadcasting hoping for a reply, but for several days - unsuccessfuly. That was, until one day a young male emerged from horizon. Soon after, the act was done and their ways separated. Now the female is pregnant.

For next ten months, the female played safe - she still had to find food, but didn’t risk embryo getting killed by external blunt force. It wasn’t too hard though - sometimes carcasses would lay on the ground, sometimes small prey could be hunted, somewhere sometimes tasty fruits would appear on trees, and, as she is an omnivore, she could eat all of that.

But it was finally time to give birth. After few minutes of struggling, baby was finally out in the open world. He - because he is male - would feed on the mother’s milk for few months to come. The female is now a mother.

4 months later, the small family would wander around. They ventured into an open, snowy area. Quite unfortunate - a blizzard. Bad memories came into the mind on the female.
Blizzard was too fast to try to run away from it. But that wasn’t the biggest concern - something was running in the distance. It was running towards them.
Eventually blizzard reached them. Fear filled the family, as they knew something was out there, but they didn’t know what. The female then felt the pain. A strong, burning pain on her torso.
It was Icthyoraptor. The very same species who killed her mother and sibling, it now had her herself on its sights. And it already dealt the hit.
She was bleeding. Soon next strike would come, with her unable to do anything due to short eyesight range. Her vision started to black out, but in last effort to at least save her child, she tried to locate the aggressor.
And she heard.
She heard footsteps from the left, getting louder - it was preparing to attack yet another time.
But this time she fought back. single bite from her was enough to hurt Ichtyoraptor who soon fled, quite slowly as she broke his bone, but still.
Unfortunately the female lost a lot of blood. She felt she was running out of energy to even stand still and - she fell.
She was lying, and lying, blacked out, lying…

She remember the light she had seen. She remembers her mother. She remembers her brothers. She remembers the death. She remembers the life. She remembers the danger. She remembers the safety. She remembers her mate.
She remembers her own child.
She remembers she is, and that she must continue.

She continues.

She stands up. Her child right next to her, glad that she did it. She was glad too. They rubbed each other, and moved on.

Featuring (Credits):

In world of Chimarion by doomlightning

Creatures by community:

Capiticrimena Gelidvultusa by C009
Icthyoraptor by Lithornis
Dødshorden by TwilightWings21

Thank you

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Neocharnia reef

With little in the way of competition, Neocharnia has quickly managed to establish colonies in shallow to midwater areas. Any soft bodied chimeras like the unfortunate Little Goober in the bottom middle are snagged and stung to death by the venomous nematocysts coating the surface of Neocharnia’s body, nutrients being absorbed into the organism as the body decays through a series of small openings on the frond that lead to a series of internal filtering chambers. More heavily armored chimeras, such as the crabipede are immune to the venomous stings and may find shelter among the fronds.

Feat:
Little goober by Arrowhawk
and crabipede by Just-a-fossil.

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that beautiful pieac of art!
I like that!

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They are becoming quite iconic

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I have a few small stories in the works, unsure if I’ll end up submitting them or not

In the mean time, here’s some more creatures

Organisms
Gravendespyd

Name: Gravendespyd

Ancestor: Volant Deer

Description: A fossorial descendant of the Volant Deer, the Gravendespyd has adapted so that it can live in almost any inland environment through the use of burrowing and general hardiness adaptations.

Just a smidge larger than its ancestor, this creature has adapted its hooves on its forelegs to have small, claw-like protrusions, which are useful while it burrows, and has lost all of its flight feathers. Instead of said feathers, it has specialized it’s upper limbs into spear like appendages, which are helpful when hunting and defending itself, their jointed nature helping fight in the tunnels while their ability to also lock those joints allowing it to bring more force to bear if necessary.

It spends most of these time in its burrows, creating an ever expanding labyrinth of earthen tunnels for their slekt. They create a myriad of small openings to allow decent airflow, but usually only have a few entrances large enough for them to easily run out of. They find most of their food in these burrows, chewing on the root systems of various plants, but also opportunistically hunt a variety of small, invertebrate like chimera when outside of their burrows.

Diet: Small invertebrate-like chimeras (Fernroach, Leatherwing Humming-Ant, Crabipede, Superworm, Mousphid, Lobster Hornets, Ultrafly, Fake Fernmoss, Colonial Scarabs, Flyfly, Tree-eating Tarantula, Lettånd, Boblebad (adult), Pine Pest), roots (Rainbow Ginkgoleaf Snapflower, Mushroom Cloud Tree, Matting Liongrass, Flowering Fire Foxtail, Guava Fleshy Gum, Clover Lettuce, Purple Needle Carob, Vine Sunflower, Contrarea Harenaortuma, Cyclone, Dødshorden, Rovdyret, Skalatre, Piceaome, Fodder Tree, Sprouting Crab, Fodder Shrub, Fodder Stick, Fodder Crown), fungi (glowing fingers of darkness, huge champagne), carrion

Size: just over three feet long and a foot and a half tall

Environment: burrows in all inland environments but the coldest of polar biomes

Other: Thicker fur-feather coat, heavier head armor, digging claws, wings lose flight feathers and capitalize on spear-like properties, burrowing, locking spear joints

Skyggemimikk

Name: Skyggemimikk

Ancestor: Purple Lyrebittern

Description: basically a bird that hides in the shadows of the canopy and mimics other things to hunt them

Diet:

Size:

Environment: Tropical Rainforest

Other:

Flytendeøy

Name: Flytendeøy

Ancestor: Parathesian Warship

Description: These large ocean giants are in fact huge colonial organisms, and have adapted to not only have symbiosis with their own kind but also a wide range of other species.

They act as floating islands, making symbiotic relationships with many kinds of flora and fungi and allowing a wide variety of life to sun themselves on or live their entire lives upon their backs. These creatures are largely inactive, just going where the wind takes them using their giant sail, and tending to avoid shallow waters if at all possible.

However, this does not mean that they are just passive photosynthesizers. If at any point, an organism nearby shows a sign of weakness or infirmity, the Flytendeøy can strike out viciously, dragging them amongst its stinging tentacles and into their watery graves. This applies even to their symbiotic plants, uprooting them out of the thin layer of soil they collect on their back to consume.

These fascinating creatures can form a diverse array of largely independent ecosystems, and due to the near never ending lifespan of a colony as a collective, could eventually be the foundations for new ecosystems and evolutions.

Diet: Photosynthesis, Plankton (Minature Mushant Raft, Red Caulerpa, Glowing Krillcrab, The Flying Spaghetti Monster’s Crown (juvenile), Red Sea Tree-Fern (spores), Sea Onyx, Omniphage, Town of Onyx (larvae)), Herbivore (Town of Onyx, Sea Hyacinth, Red Sea Tree-Fern, Sprouting Crab (larvae)), Carnivore (Thick-Headed Nevallyt, Little Goober, Big Goober (juvenile), Big Goober (opportunistically), Flame Petrel, Oceanic Flat Lantern, Bootleg Man, Crawling Baslkei, Giant Sliceradula, Swimming Star, The Flying Sphaghetti Monster’s Crown, Clown Krill, Echosaur, Himmelgiganten (opportunistically), Hulekjeve, Havraseri (juvenile), Snøfare, Snøpust (juvenile), Søkendegigant (juvenile), Stjerneprins, Ungtarbeid, Shapeless Sun Eater, Parathesian Warship, Timoremedusa Styx, Spiral Stars, Killer-Ott-Ox), Carrion, Detritus

Size: Grow infinitely with age - adults usually range between 30 feet (~ 10 meters) to about 100 feet (~ 30.3 meters)

Environment: Open Ocean surface, more common closer to the equator

Other: Large Size, Photosynthesis, Massive Stinging tentacles, plant symbiosis, large sail, strikes at infirmities, avoids shallows, incredible growth/lifespan

Soppskip

Name: Soppskip

Ancestor: Mushant Raft

Description: A ship like, macroscopic Mushant raft, where the spores act as sailors

Diet:

Size:

Environment: Open Ocean surface, all temperature ranges except polar

Other: Mobile spores (?) that travel across the Soppskip to help maintain it, acting as the crew of the ship,

Plantenebb

Name: Plantenebb

Ancestor: Purple Lyrebittern

Description: big herbivore bird that mimics things to scare away predators

Diet:

Size:

Environment: Tropical Rainforest

Other: Large, Herbivorous diet,

Fiskangriper

Name: Fiskangriper

Ancestor: Green-tailed Anteater

Description: aquatic fish eating anteater

Diet:

Size:

Environment: Shallow Seas (particularly the Siren Sea)

Other: Skull separation, tongue luring tactics, semi-aquatic behavior, increased lung capacity,

Sumpvandrer

Name: Sumpvandrer

Ancestor: Kosmikotechne

Description: Alligator / Bigfoot-esque kosmikotechne

Diet:

Size: 12 feet (~ 4 meters) standing straight up, though they usually have a hunched figure

Environment: Swamps and Wetland environments in Tropical, subtropical, and temperate regions, particularly in northeastern Gryphon and southwestern Typhon

Other:

Dyplinjal

Name: Dyplinjal

Ancestor: Timoremedusa Styx

Description: Kraken like being living in deep sea brine lakes

Diet:

Size:

Environment: Brine Seeps

Other: Able to survive and thrive in the intense salinity of the brine seeps,

Sjøkongelig

Name: Sjøkongelig

Ancestor: Flying Spaghetti Monster’s Crown

Description: just a bigger spaghetti monster’s crown? Idk haven’t thought about this one much yet tbh

Diet:

Size:

Environment: Sunlight and Twilight Zones in all but polar waters

Other:

Solsvelger

Name: Solsvelger

Ancestor: Shapeless Sun Eater

Description: neotenic, giant eft that lives in the ocean

Diet:

Size:

Environment: Open ocean, usually found near Flytendeøy. Prefer to avoid subpolar and polar waters, but some groups are present.

Other: Neoteny, larger size,

Sirenessverm

Name: Sirenessverm

Ancestor: Svermtre

Description: underwater shallows svermtre

Diet: Photosynthesis, Decomposition

Size:

Environment: Shallow Waters (particularly the Siren Sea)

Other: Fully Aquatic, shorter,

Vulkanreir

Name: Vulkanreir

Ancestor: White Sea Mold

Description: basically a mix between a volcano, anthill, and wasp hive, made out of mold and spores

Diet:

Size:

Environment:

Other: Hive like structure, motile spores, explosive defense mechanism,

Skogsvandrer

Name: Skogsvandrer

Ancestor: Photochordyceps Bilatera

Description: basically a leafier version of its ancestor

Diet:

Size:

Environment: Tropical and Subtropical woodlands

Other:

Solnedgang

Name: Solnedgang

Ancestor: Mushroom Cloud Tree

Description: mountain adapted puff like descendant

Diet:

Size:

Environment: Mountain Slopes

Other: Decreased size, flexible trunk, puff shaped canopy,

Glødendemunn

Name: Glødendemunn

Ancestor: Glowing Fingers of Darkness

Description: Bear trap like fungus

Diet:

Size:

Environment:

Other: Trapjaw-like plant “muscles”,

Edit: Still editing the list. Current Progress: 2/15

I’ll ping you in this message when I’m done adding everything doom

Edit 2: Accidentally posted without even finishing the first one lol

Edit 3: real barebones description of everything added, will come back later whenever I feel motivated to finish

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Neocharnia evolutions
False Anemone

Ancestor: Neocharnia

Description: This descendant of Neocharnia has developed multiple fronds coming out of a single holdfast, granting it a superficial resemblance to a sea anemone or perhaps more accurately, the enigmatic Cambrian sea anemone-like organism Xianguangia. It uses it’s multiple fronds much like the animal it convergently evolved to resemble, to capture food. Furthermore, each frond is capable of releasing digestive enzymes to break food down quicker. Crabipedes tend to hang out around false anemones for a chance at free food, being immune to the false anemones stings.

Diet: Any small aquatic chimeras it’s stinging cells can kill.

Size: between 5-10 inches in length and between 6-15 inches in width.

Killer seagrass

Ancestor: Neocharnia
Description: A descendant of Neocharnia that has evolved an endosymbiotic relationship with algae, enabling it to photosynthesize to gain energy in shallow waters. However, it also supplements it’s diet with other organisms captured with it’s fronds.

Diet: Any small aquatic chimeras it’s stinging cells can kill.

Size: anywhere between 4-8 inches in length.

Phantomweed

Ancestor: Neocharnia.

Description: A deep-sea dwelling offshoot of Neocharnia that has lost the majority of it’s aposematic coloring due to the surrounding darkness, rendering it a ghostly pale. More specialized for feeding on planktonic life, the Phantomweed has evolved microscopic barbs and hooks along it’s surface, similar to those seen in deep sea carnivorous sponges to complement it’s stinging cells.

Diet: Any small aquatic chimeras it’s stinging cells can kill, planktonic chimeras.

Size: up to 26 inches in length.

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parasitic ashmouse

name: parasitic ashmouse
mutations:
1: drastically smaller size
2: lower hair density
3: drastically decreased neuron size
4: neuron stem cells are produced from a separate genome from the rest
5: hooked claws
6: book lungs modified to breathe blood
6: pedipalps modified to be able to take sensory input from host’s neurons using mycelia-like pseudopods that return to finger shapes if the host’s brain dies
7: forceful dopamine regulation of hosts when in brain
8: shortened tail
9: increased neuron density with neuron count unchanged
10: hair modified into straw pili
11: eggs are excreted after fertilization
12: no eyes

body length: 15mm
tail length: 8mm
height: 6mm
tail thickness: .5mm
brain size: 2mm*4mm

description: the parasitic ashmouse is an extremely small mammalian amoeba that uses its hairs to stab individuals cells and suck out their insides to supplement the energy and resources gained from taking resources and gasses from blood.

parasitic ashmice generally don’t reach their host’s brain, but when they do, they dig their claws into the skull, extend their pedipalp pseudopods into structures like the hyphae of a fungus, and move around their hyphae until they’ve dug them into the visual cortex to form connections with the cortex’s messenger cells and thus see out of the host’s eyes.
typically around a week or two after that they have their network of hyphae constructed to have the first 4 pseudopods on each pedipalp used for taking information from the host’s brain, and the last one on each pedipalp is used for sending information to the host’s brain and regulating their dopamine levels

parasitic ashmice reproduce extremely quickly, and typically mate in their host’s arteries, heart, or intestines,
and are spread through many things, including, but not limited to, blood contact, eating infected meat, getting infected blood in your orifices, etc.

despite their extremely small size, parasitic ashmice are as smart as, if not smarter than, the black mouse amoeba. this is mainly due to having the same amount of neurons but not processing visual information , and instead taking already processed visual info from their hosts when they can, and otherwise relying on other senses for finding their way around

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frendly raminder to myslfe:

after the test about cancer and aptosis, fill all what missed and start working on the polar zone

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Mutations
Plicatilis Vulgaris

Change: Higher Population of individual colonies, now rising from 50-100 to 200-500.

Fabula Inmortalis

Change: The Jaws become stronger and change in shape, now being more like large therapod jaws rather than crocodile jaws. Some subspecies derived from this pioneer also started adapting to become more land-based.

Volans Terrent

Change: It now lives in permanent packs/groups with up to 20 members, allowing better socialization and spread of hunting techniques.

Auritus Unfamiliaris

Change: The ears become smaller to avoid causing drag when flying. The front pair of beetle-like legs gets lifted off the ground, with many different specializations occuring in different subspecies, such as turning those limbs into arms that allow the specimens to lift up heavier objects when flying.

Fodiens Viridis

Change: The digging abilities of this species got greatly improved, and the tail (which was previously relatively large due to crocodile genes) is greatly reduced in size. Intelligence also improved somewhat.

Mephitis Psychtherium

Change: Subspecies are specializing to target specific chimeras aswell as generally improving their range of maximum spore spread.

I hope that’s what it’s supposed to be…
I may also write a story like others did.

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Is it possible to still submit applications?

Its not longer possible, sry

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