Mutation 1: Size Increase
Mutation 2: Size increase
Mutation 3: The ability to “filter feed” as a way to supplement my diet, allowing me to eat creature I normally wouldn’t be able to eat (those two sizes smaller than me (and even smaller, though that isn’t applicable yet))
This will mean that while I still can hunt other sky organisms, attacks from above on larger land bound organisms will likely become more frequent
Mutation 1: outer ear for better hearing
Mutation 2 : better legs with feet , for better movement on land
Mutation 3 : claws at its feet
M1: Colour vision time
M2: stronger jaws for stronger attacks
M3: become smarter and develop better hunting strategies
U. volitans:
S. radicatus
Sorry for the long wait!
Round 15 - 150 Million Years
As herbivores in the Southern Wetlands browse on Spiropteris, an even taller plant has evolved to stretch beyond their reach. But is it rising too close to the sun?
Species
doomlightning - Hydrobullus scutellus - LC
Medium Herbivore
Habitat: Lowlands, Southern Wetlands
Mutations: Centaurism (+1 Walking Speed), Ganglia, Antennae (+1 Stealth)
Hydrobullus’s anterior has adopted an erect posture. This has granted it a taller stature and freed its front two pairs of limbs, while its remaining limbs have strengthened to compensate. In addition, a patchwork of ganglia runs from its head to its limbs. This grants its limbs fine motor function and also allows mothers to communicate properly with their offspring. Furthermore, it interfaces with new antennae on Hydrobullus’s head, which are more suited to air than its old chemoreceptor.
Stats:
4*2.0 = 8 Stealth (+2 Protective Brooding)
2 Speed (Water), 4 Speed (Land)
4*2.0 = 8 Strength (Venom-Resistant)
Preys On: Marchantinella colliosa, Porcusetum convolutus, Spiropteris coroneta
Predated By: Legendicus transitorium
fralegend015 - Legendicus transitorium - LC
Small Omnivore
Habitat: Rivers, Lowlands, Southern Wetlands
Mutations: Hearing Apparatus (+1 Stealth), Gliding Wings (+1 Flight Speed), Ambulatory Breathing
Legendicus’s head now sports derivatives of the gills that are sensitive to vibrations in the air. Meanwhile, the gills themselves have retreated further behind their spiracle-like openings, which now have complementary openings in the mouth. A pair of diaphragm-like organs force air through the opening in the neck, allowing Legendicus to breathe freely when on the move.
Meanwhile, two digits on Legendicus’s arms have lengthened - together with lengthened and broadened feathers, they give the arms much more surface area. When they are fully outstretched, Legendicus is able to catch enough air to slow its own descent.
Stats:
4*2.5 = 10 Stealth
4/8/1 Speed
4*1.5 = 6 Strength
Preys On: Chlorogyra filamentosa, Marchantinella colliosa, Hydrobullus scutellus, Testificatus relictus
Predated By: N/A
aah31415 - Hexapinna verrucosus - LC
Tiny Herbivore
Habitat: Rivers
Mutations: Internal Fertilization, Eggshells, Legged Adults (+1 Juvenile Swimming Speed, +1 Adult Walking Speed)
Hexapinna’s life cycle now begins with internal fertilization, which produces a clutch of shelled eggs. Upon hatching, the young resemble the previous iteration of this species, only more suited to live in submerged tunnels. However, once they reach adolescence, their middle fins develop into legs, giving up swimming proficiency for improved walking. Adults are much more adept at traversing land than their juveniles, and prefer the food sources there as a result.
Stats:
7*3 = 21 Stealth
7/3 Speed (8/2 Juveniles)
4 Strength
Preys On: Chlorogyra filamentosa, Bryodea nodula, Porcusetum convolutus
Predated By: Minacia chirodropoides
Nonametoseehere - Aclaronomenus ascendilus - NT
Tiny Mixotrophic Herbivore
Habitat: Global Ocean, Coasts, Rivers, Lowlands, Southern Wetlands
Mutations: Abstraction Nodes (have Ultimate Brain), Social Constructs, Caste Selection
An improvement on Aclaronomenus’s cognitive nodes has come about in the form of abstraction nodes. More than taking in memories and drawing patterns from them, they scrutinize the basis of those patterns - even in the act of thinking - and simplify them into empirical laws. Taking the node castes’ capacity for theory of mind to the extreme, the cognitive nodes grant this species feats of metacognition and self-recognition. In addition, Aclaronomenus has developed the capacity to select the castes of newborns, preventing the species from being oversaturated with redundant caste members.
In other news, Minacia armataevigil has grown significantly in size and strength and has become very difficult for colonies to fight off, let alone stray individuals. Between this and the flying predator’s near-invisibility, these mixotrophs are often forced to hitch on to their mover castes and flee into the winds.
Stats:
4*3 = 12 Stealth
3 Speed (Water), 4 Speed (Air)
4 Strength
Missile Caste (Small): 7.5 Stealth, 3/4 Speed, 9 Strength
Preys On: Chlorogyra filamentosa
Predated By: Legendicus transitorium, Minacia armataevigil
TeaKing - Evolumia jormengandri - LC
Tiny Omnivore
Habitat: Coasts, Rivers
Mutations: Color Vision (+1 Stealth), Stronger Jaws (+1 Strength), Intermediate Brain
The eyes on Evolumia’s head now have the cones needed to distinguish wavelengths of light, giving them the ability to process color. Meanwhile, the jaws beneath them have become more robust. The cranium above and behind these organs has expanded to process the sensory and motor nerves needed to make use of them. Not only that, its enlarged brain gives Evolumia greater emotional sophistication - pairs no longer mindlessly coexist, but have begun to share lifelong bonds.
Stats:
8*3 = 24 Stealth (Electric Organ)
7/3 Speed
7*1.5 = 11.5 Strength (Toxin Glands)
Preys On: Chlorogyra filamentosa, Bryopsis digitata
Predated By: Iocusis myriadus
UndyingHazard - Minacia chirodropoides - NT
Small Omnivore
Habitat: Rivers, Lowlands, Southern Wetlands
Mutations: Increased Size (Small) Extra Heart Chambers, Gill Vascularization (Gill-Lungs)
In response to fierce competition following it from the sea, Minacia has gotten significantly bigger. Its new size and strength give it an answer to Evolumia’s cooperative hunting. To maintain its greater mass, its pair of simple hearts have compartmentalized into distinct chambers. Blood is set apart by oxygen concentration, so that, for instance, energy is not wasted pumping oxygen-rich blood back into the gills. As for the operculum-covered gills, they are now more optimized for absorbing oxygen from the air.
Evolumia is still its better on land in most respects, but Minacia’s narrow advantage in strength has secured its survival there for the time being. Both species have reached a tense equilibrium.
Stats:
7*2.5 = 17.5 Stealth (+3 Aposematic Coloring)
6/1 Speed
8*1.5 = 12 Strength (Peptide Venom-Resistant)
Preys On: Chlorogyra filamentosa, Bryodea colliosa, * Hexapinna verrucosus *, Testificatus relictus
Predated By: Evolumia jormengandri
Chiori - Caedotops scolopendra - NT
Small Herbivore
Habitat: Coasts (Shore)
Mutations: Outer Ear (+1 Stealth), Footed Legs (+1 Walking Speed), Clawed Digits (+1 Walking Speed)
Caeodotops’s long-utilized sense of hearing has been further enhanced with a proper ear structure. An auricle and ear canal on both sides of its body focus ambient vibrations, giving Caedotops a chance to detect approaching threats. Elsewhere, its limbs have developed to improve its gait on land. Their overlapping chitin segments now end in tarsi, which terminate in load-bearing claws.
Its vigilance and scuttling charge leave Caedotops with no threats on land, but now finds itself vulnerable to the flying Minacia armataevigil. This near-invisible predator has gotten bigger while adapting to specialize in smaller prey - Caedotops included.
Stats:
5*2.5 = 12.5 Stealth
5/4 Speed
9*1.5 = 13.5 Strength
Preys On: Chlorogyra filamentosa, Ulvopsis digitata, Kisthos thalassena, Marchantinella colliosa
Predated By: N/A
willow - Umbralysia volitans - LC
Tiny Mixotrophic Herbivore
Habitat: Global Ocean, Coasts
Mutations: Blood Cell Chloroplasts, Blood Cell Budding, Photoelectric Symbiosis
Umbralysia’s single-celled blood stream has adopted some more unusual properties. If separated from the rest of the body, such as after severe lacerations, but still alive, it will gradually reform into a clone of the original Umbralysia. As endowed with nuclei as a Xenophyophore, a unique membrane allows them to be compartmentalized into individual stem cells. In order to survive during the regeneration process, the blood cell now has a reserve of chloroplasts matching the skin. Thanks to Umbralysia’s rapid healing, regenerating from the blood cell is an uncommon resort. However, because Minacia armataevigil prefer to hunt on the wing, recovering blood cells aren’t too infrequent a sight in surface waters.
Umbralysia has also taken up a symbiotic relationship not too different from the one Salixelysia radicatus has. However, rather than injecting its bacteria into enemies, Umbralysia retains them in the blood cell. These bacteria, which naturally metabolize on electrons excited by sunlight, are housed in vacuoles. The vacuoles store toxic metals rejected by the roots of the metallic teeth, repurposing them as electrically conducive substrates for the bacteria to live on.
For all Minacia armataevigil’s bulk and power, the small and alert Umbralysia is able to flee at the smallest sign of danger.
Stats:
6*3 = 18 Stealth
6 Speed (Water), 4 Speed (Air)
3 Strength
Preys On: Chlorogyra filamentosa Kisthos thalassena
Predated By: Minacia armataevigil
zenzonegaming - Iocusis myriadus - LC
Tiny Omnivore
Habitat: Coasts (Shore)
Mutations: Bipedalism (+1 Walking Speed), Ultimate Brain, Self-Awareness
Iocusis is enjoying a period of security now that its only feasible predator, Vigintiseptem, has vacated the coasts. Without any pressure to remain evasive, it has evolved to assume a posture that favors stamina over short bursts of speed - bipedalism. This bears Iocusis’s body weight on its hind legs and tail, freeing up its front two pairs of legs. However, these limbs offer no dexterity in their current state.
Furthermore, now that Iocusis swarms are no longer forced between fight and flight, they have been able to take up more sentimental and analytical ways of thinking. Its brain-to-body-mass ratio now rivals that of apes and corvids, and it has the intelligence to match. The complex interrelations within swarms are more complex than ever, and there are even differences among swarms in what behaviors are most prevalent - the beginnings of distinct cultures. However, because larvae are so small, passing ideas on to the next generation begins with adolescents - given the short lifespans typical of small animals, this severely restricts the flow of ideas.
(You were already one tier below the ultimate brain, I didn’t know what else to put for your second “Improve Brain” vote :/)
On the downside, falling into complacency has allowed its competitors to outmatch it in other departments.
Stats:
4*3 = 12 Stealth
8/2 Speed
6*1.5 = 9 Strength (Poisonous, Venom-Resistant)
Preys On: Chlorogyra filamentosa
Predated By: N/A
Cha - Testificatus relictus - LC
Small Herbivore
Habitat: Lowlands, Southern Wetlands
Mutations: Ootheca, Circulatory System, Three-Chambered Heart
Testificatus now lay eggs outside the water, in ootheca egg cases resembling those of mantises. Pregnant adults will lay three to five in a single mating season, then leave them in a nest of plant matter for better protection. These eggs are sired by the dominant T. relictus of their area, who acts as the de facto male.
On the inside, Testificatus now also has a circulatory system and accompanying heart. The heart has three chambers - one accepts oxygenated blood from the book gills, one accepts deoxygenated blood from the rest of the body, and the last pumps the blood back out in a mix.
Testificatus is able to fend Evolumia off more often than not due to its slim advantage in raw power. However, Minacia’s resistance to this herbivore’s venom forces individuals in the water to flee ashore.
Stats:
3*2.5 = 7.5 Stealth
4/3 Speed
8*1.5 = 12 Strength
Preys On: Chlorogyra filamentosa, Bryodea nodula, Marchantinella colliosa, Porcusetum convolutus, Spiropteris coroneta
Predated By: Legendicus transitorium, Minacia chirodropoides
sci0927 - Vigintiseptem tetrapoda - LC
Small Omnivore
Habitat: Eastern Desert
Mutations: Salt Storage, Water Storage, Advanced Brain
After millions of years of predation, Vigintiseptem has made numerous adaptations to flee the coasts entirely. Its ability to tolerate desiccation is now complemented by modified adipose tissues in the base of its dorsal fin. Much like urban legends about camels, these tissues are able to store water. Meanwhile, a set of kidneys regulates excretion, allowing Vigintiseptem to retain water and salts depending on the circumstances. Thanks to these adaptations, Vigintiseptem is the Easter Desert’s first permanent animal inhabitant. It ekes out a lean, but stable existence on a diet of Pleopodella moss wherever fog accumulates.
Vigintiseptem has also gotten significantly more intelligent in the past few million years thanks to its enlarged brain. Like an elephant, it relies on its intelligence to remember the locations of water sources.
Stats:
6*2.5 = 15 Stealth
5/3 Speed
3*1.5 = 4.5 Strength (Electricity Resistance, Polycyclic Toxin Resistance)
Preys On: Pleopodella resiliens
Predated By: N/A
TwilightWings21 - Minacia armataevigil - LC
Medium Omnivore
Habitat: Coasts (Ventures Inland)
Mutations: Increased Size (Small), Increased Size (Medium), Small Game Hunting
Minacia armataevigil’s size has increased dramatically in the past few million years, such that its wingspan now rivals Earth’s largest eagles. Not only is it more durable against Aclaronomenus’s counterattacks, its throat laser has increased in intensity enough to inflict severe burns in an instant.
In order to continue feeding on the small, sparrow-sized creatures it shares the skies with, its tentacled mouth has become narrow and dexterous. This allows it to sustain itself on abnormally small prey for its size, but precludes it from hunting all but the smallest and youngest Salixelysia radicatus.
Stats:
8*2.0 = 16 Stealth
5/4 Speed
8*2.0 = 16 Strength (resists Heat)
Preys On: Aclaronomenus ascendilus, Umbralysia volitans
Predated By: N/A
willow - Salixelysia radicatus - LC
Large* Mixotrophic Herbivore
Habitat: Global Ocean, Coasts (Ventures Inland)
Mutations: Carbon Shaping, Decreased Density, Enlarged Hydrogen Bladder (Large*), Upper Troposphere
Salixelysia radicatus has developed unique proteins that can manipulate carbon atoms. These operate on the same principles that allow neurons to send electric signals. In addition, Salixelysia’s hydrogen bladders have changed into larger, leaf-covered forms. This has greatly increased this creature’s profile, though its main body is not significantly larger than before. The contents of the bladders, meanwhile, have become significantly less dense. This allows Salixelysia radicatus to rise much higher above the surface. As high as it can safely fly, the air becomes so thin and cold that wings are significantly less useful in chasing prey, though the cold and turbulence present risks of their own to Salixelysia avoiding danger.
S. radicatus’s tendency to ascend beyond Minacia armataevigil’s flight range combined with the latter predator’s specialization in small prey has significantly reduced the pressure this species faces.
Stats:
3*1.5 = 4.5 Stealth
5 Speed (Water), 3 Speed (Air)
5*2.5 = 12.5 Strength
Preys On: Kisthos thalassena
Predated By: N/A
…
NPC - Chlorogyra filamentosa - LC
Tiny Producer
Habitat: Coasts, Rivers
Chlorogyra grows in fresh and salt water with plenty of sunlight. Its box-shaped cells line up in long filaments, their chloroplasts forming distinctive spirals. While colonies can survive anywhere in the water column, they form clusters at the surface and floor when undisturbed. In still waters, Chlorogyra can form a green carpet over rock and silt alike.
NPC - Ulvopsis digitata - LC
Small Producer
Habitat: Coasts
Ulvopsis is a marine alga that forms a thin, vertical sheet. It sprouts from well-lit sands swept by gentle currents, where entire fields of it sway. Its stern structure protects it from herbivores that lack jaws or mandibles.
NPC - Bryodea nodula - LC
Small Producer
Habitat: Rivers
Bryodea is a freshwater alga that grows in long, thin strands. It grows near the edges of rivers and lakes, where more sunlight can reach the bottom. If allowed to grow, its colonies weave together into tangled messes that are difficult to pull apart.
NPC - Kisthos thalassena - LC
Small Producer
Habitat: Global Ocean
Kisthos is a free-floating relative of Ulvopsis. Its “leaves” are much smaller and grow in chains. With the aid of minute air bladders, this alga resembling green Sargassum can maintain buoyancy at the ocean surface. This has allowed it to expand into the global ocean, where the seafloor is too deep for light to reach. Great mats of it can form wherever the currents converge.
NPC - Marchantinella colliosa - LC
Tiny Producer
Habitat: Rivers (Shoreline), Lowlands, Southern Wetlands
Marchantinella grows in thin, fine strands. This plant is adapted to survive outside of water, and individuals coil together into a soft bed wherever they grow. Dense masses are able to cover the ground beneath them from the sun, slowing down the evaporation of water. However, they still need water to transfer gametes, so they can only grow on soils regularly saturated with water.
NPC - Porcusetum convolutus - LC
Small Producer
Habitat: Lowlands, Southern Wetlands
The stalk of Porcusetum houses vessels of xylem and phloem, allowing it to grow taller. About as thick as a grass stalk, individuals grow in wide curves that readily coil together. Their specialized roots are shallow and weak, so individual Porcusetum use this curving growth pattern to support one another. Hip-high thickets of this plant form in much less strict conditions than Marchantinella, even on hilltops whose soil collects little rain. Porcusetum allows its leaves to grow longer at the top when it finds support, but its stalk always has a spore-bearing head.
NPC - Pleopodella resiliens - LC
Tiny Producer
Habitat: Great Mountains (Dry side), Eastern Desert (Coasts)
This tiny, unassuming moss evolved in the wake of a mass extinction event. Unlike Marchantinella, it favors areas where rain is scarce. Instead, its bristly coils are able to trap precious moisture from fog. Pleopodella can be found growing on the mountains’ eastern slopes, where mist is sometimes swept in from the rainy side, as well as in areas of the desert that ocean fog settles over.
NPC - Spiropteris coroneta - LC
Medium Producer
Habitat: Southern Wetlands
Spiropteris is a spore-bearing plant that reaches as high as a human head. Unlike its relatives who independently support one another, Spiropteris emerges from its roots as two separate stalks, united at their tips. Both stalks coil around one another for support, growing long, bristly leaves away from their points of contact. These quill-like leaves grow longer toward the top, just as in Porcusetum. This plant’s spore-bearing head is wide and short, resembling a crown.
NPC - Rhizodendra arciforma - LC
Large Producer
Habitat: Southern Wetlands
To support its size that begins to rival Earth’s trees, Rhizodendra pushes the limits of what this planet’s coaxial flora is capable of. Instrumental to this is a mutation that places its spore-bearing head on the outward-facing side of one of its stems. After the first few months of growth, rather than continue to grow upward, the tip bends down to the ground, supporting the center and keeping the head elevated. Thus, the plant grows in the shape of an arch. The leaf quills grow to an even length away from the base and grounded tip, ensuring that the head and its spores have enough room at the center.
Habitats
Global Ocean: A vast ocean spanning the entire world.
Flora: Chlorogyra, Kisthos
Fauna: * Umbralysia*, Aclaronomenus, S. radicatus
Coasts: Warm, saline waters surrounding the supercontinent. The floor lies as deep as 150 meters beneath the surface.
Flora: Chlorogyra, Ulvopsis, Kisthos
Fauna: Aclaronomenus, Chemorecepta, Caedotops, * Umbralysia*, Iocusis, M. armataevigil, S. radicatus
Rivers: A network of waterways found all over the supercontinent, but especially the West and South.
Flora: Chlorogyra, Bryodea
Fauna: Hexapinna, Aclaronomenus, Legendicus, Minacia
Lowlands: Flat plains and rolling hills spanning much of the supercontinent.
Flora: Marchantinella, Porcusetum
Fauna: Fulgurmortis, Legendicus, Aclaronomenus, Testificatus
Southern Wetlands: A rainy, humid land that the majority of rivers snake through. Its lowest areas are prone to floods, and even dry areas are pockmarked by oxbow lakes.
Flora: Marchantinella, Porcusetum, Spiropteris
Fauna: Fulgurmortis, Legendicus, Aclaronomenus, Testificatus
Great Mountains: A jagged wall of mountains at the heart of the supercontinent.
Eastern Desert: A vast rain shadow desert on the eastern half of the supercontinent.
Flora: Pleopodella
Fauna: Vigintiseptem
EDIT: Here’s the food web.
At this point, I was thinking that the forum game would just die. Good to see it come back!
Anyways, time for phase 3 of landfall, or rather… THE AIRFALL!
Mutant 1: More control over the camouflaging ability, allowing Hexapinnids to better blend into terrain or background
Mutant 2: The now-freed 1st and 3rd pair of Hexapinna’s fins in adults develop a membrane between extended claws, creating surfaces on which adolescent ones can glide.
Mutant 3: The gliding surface extends further, allowing Hexapinna adults to use powered flight in order to find new pastures, places to live or carcasses to feed upon.
Note that adults still should be able to use burrows created by their fellow juveniles, and perhaps expand them thanks to claws they possess on their legs.
Two pairs of wings should give adult Hexapinnids an advantage over the arosen and rising aerial predators.
Good to see you mate and it is nothing take your time.
Mutation uno: a more back bones to form a tail
Mutation dos: Herding behaviour (During the time mating season isn’t active they form a large group of different ages of relictus and when mating season returns the most dominate relictus adults will form harems in a area of the herds land)
sub mutation: Thagomizers along the entire tail to give protection from attacks from behind.
Oh wow, I thought this was over. Since me and Zenzone are sapient, are we just not playing?
If you already would be to win the game, everyone else would be finished aswell.
Vote 1: thumbs
Vote 2: increased size
Vote 3: increased lifespan.
Also I meant for myself to be only partially bipedal, with dedicated hind legs but interchangeable mid and front legs/arms.
Mutation 1: Flute-like organs used to communicate
Mutation 2: Legendicus starts forming groups
Mutation 3: Caste and type-caste system, each individual will be part of a cast and type-caste
Mutation 1: Lobed fins
Mutation 2: Higher intelligence
Mutation 3: Pack hunting/schooling social behavior for greater defense.
i almost didn’t notice this updated
U. volitans
S. radicatus
Nope, I was away from home and planned to bring the word document I write rounds on in a flash drive, but ended up forgetting it. Then I took embarrassingly long to finish the round.
There’s a good few evolution games out there that continue even after someone makes an intelligent species. Maybe technology is stagnant for some reason, maybe you develop space flight multiple times between rounds and each generation avoids interfering with the next.
i feel like sapience should simply add an action point or two so as to make it more balanced and maybe the time scale gets shrunk a bit and everyone gets to get more MP mutations because of the time skip length lowering and decreasing the MP amount, either that or gaining sapience transports you to a new game and until that is open(or if it isn’t made) those who acheived sapience get to either decide to keep playing as their current species or leave it where it’s at and split from a different species(if they leave it where it’s at it should be described as disappearing somehow assuming they get transferred to a new game) but i personally think something like the former should be used
Might be wrong but there exist no trees on this world yet correct? Only plants that grow comically tall upon each other to avoid being eaten.
mutations
there are two things taking different routes to tree type thing but i don’t think there are trees yet
Interesting that I can’t eat larger prey any more because of my narrow mouth, not what I intended (more intended still having broad mouth - like whales, but not feeding on as small prey) but I guess it makes sense. Prolly should have gone with something that let me specifically extract more nutrients rather than be vague but what’s done is done. I don’t like having a narrow jaw but I can change it in a future round ig.
Mutation 1: Salt Retention, allowing myself to traverse inland (as I already use the clouds to breathe anyways)
Sub-mutation: Perhaps something like a ‘purifying gas’? Salt is known to spread ions that clear pollutants and can have health benefits like decreasing symptoms of asthma, allergies, and some illnesses. So perhaps my creature could build up salt in its body if it so wished it could hyper stimulate these ions and disperse them as a cloud from its mouth, temporarily creating an aoe that could help with illnesses or other health related issues? From a survival perspective it could also be used to cure rotten meats and the like so that it can eat them with less chances of getting ill.
(This is entirely speculation of an effect that I’m trying to create cause I couldn’t think of anything to make a sub mutation lol. But I think it might be barely plausible enough to work? Let me know y’all’s thoughts. In the future the plan is to make my creatures smarter and this could be used to help other races/species)
Mutation 2: Increased anti-flame oil production (also allows me to fire more lasers before having to wait for oil to regenerate)
Edit: Also, Mito, do I still have to make a jaw mutation? I can’t remember/don’t know if I got that as a part of skeletal structure/eating smaller prey or not
