While I’m busy working on the topology map, here’s a sketchy preview of an updated design for the akada.
I tried tweaking a few of the design elements that weren’t really working, like getting rid of the segmentation of the shell, making it clearer how the arms attach to the body, and reshaping the face to look less human. Feeling more satisfied with this.
Also, here's the paper mockup I used to figure out what the continents' configuration was before they started drifting away from each other so I could know what direction they would realistically be moving in. Very skillful craftsmanship.
Guess what, I'm doing spec bio stuff again. I'm taking a hiatus from my hiatus.
Like on Earth, Almudian life is divided into many different groups. Realistically, akada biologists would have developed a completely different system for categorizing organisms than the DKPCOFGS system we have on Earth, but that can be ignored for now. Please don’t think about it too hard.
Lots of text below cut. No drawings. Don't say I didn't warn you.
PLANTS
They're cyan, if that's important. It can be hard to do spec bio plants in a way that feels unique enough to be interesting while still being plausible, but I feel like I've struck a good balance here.
Caerulalgae (“greenish-blue algae”) - Typically single-celled aquatic plants that can coalesce together into a unified blob to share nutrients with other individuals. Cross-species biofilms are a common occurrence.
Undulaphyta (“wavy plants”) - Aquatic plants, akin to kelp, except actually related to other plants this time instead of just being a very plantlike protist. Their bodies are more amorphous than they may look at first glance, able to separate and reform in a similar manner to clay.
Endovitria (“inside glass”) - Comprises the vast majority of large land plants. Descended from a species of undulaphyte that adapted to grow on, then inside of, a group of animals called vivitrians, which are described in more detail further down.
Liberaphyta (“free plants”) - Another group of plants, also an offshoot of early undulaphytes, that independently evolved to live on land, though this time without the help of any symbiotic partners. They tend to grow low to the ground or otherwise be rather small, lacking the robust vascular anatomy of endovitrians.
ANIMALS
Almud's animal kingdom has a roughly even blend of groups easily comparable to species found on Earth and groups that are nothing like what can be found here. These are divided into the greatest number of phyla, mainly because they’re the most interesting kingdom to do worldbuilding for. Zoocentrism strikes again.
Nodovellis (“tangled hair”)
Oceanic filter-feeders with bodies made of fragile, tangled clumps of string. Most of their reproduction is carried out through fragmentation, though they can reproduce sexually. They are believed to be the oldest animal phylum, or at least the most similar genetically to the first Almudian animals.
Chiforma (“x-shaped”)
Aquatic animals with four-way radial symmetry. About half of them are sessile, either latching to the ground/larger creatures or simply sitting still on the seabed. The rest jet around in a similar manner to octopuses.
Planagelattae (“flat jellies”)
Transparent microfauna that tend to inhabit dark and damp environments. Their bodies are surrounded by vacuumlike siphons that suck in food, which also act as legs or tentacles in some species.
Cornivermia (“horned worms”)
Hardy, segmented worms with chitinous spades lining their bodies from head to tail. These growths serve different purposes in different species, but are most often used as shovels or drills to push around dirt, or alternatively, weapons with which to fight off other animals. Movement is typically done through twisting the entire body to cut through soil in a drilling motion.
Terebracorpus ("drill body") - Their spades are arranged in a corkscrew pattern along the lengths of their bodies, specialized for spinning through water, soil, or, in the case of parasitic species, host creatures' flesh.
Cultrocauda ("knife tail") - This group's spades have a simpler arrangement, being lined up straight down their bodies. Their spades have a greater range of motion than those of the other classes, acting somewhat as legs. Bodies are often broader and flatter than the more cylidrical shapes of the other two classes.
Aeriterebra ("sky drill") - Thanks to some specializations in the structure of their lateral spades, these cornivermians have become one of only two Almudian animal classes to achieve active flight, performed by spinning so quickly that they generate lift. They are also the only cornivermians to have eyesight more complex than simple light detection.
Carniherbae (“meat plants”)
You know those animal-fern things from the Ediacaran era? These are just those, but not extinct.
Vivitria (“living glass”)
Soft, feathery insides protected by a crystalline silica shell. Many species in this phylum are colonial, which tend to look like floating geodes. These colonies often have surprisingly complex sensory capabilities, and some have been found to be about as intelligent as Earth cats. Typically found in large bodies of saltwater, especially crowding around places rich in minerals.
Sologemma ("lone gem") - The only class of vivitrians that are always only one solitary zooid. Body forms are about as varied as carved gemstones.
Monilemorpha ("necklace-shaped") - Colonial vivitrians which form single-file lines. Sizes can range from under a centimeter to several kilometers. Most possess some degree of bioluminescence.
Insulageodis ("island geode") - Much larger colonial organisms that form into the shape of a saucer. Most of these are connected to the ground, but a few species are freefloating in the water, filling a similar niche to Earth's large filter feeders while being more structurally akin to a coral reef. Often times, one individual can sustain an entire ecosystem in and around its body.
Xylovitria (“wood glass”)
Terrestrial relatives of the vivitrians, all of which are colonial. The defining feature of this phylum, besides their terrestriality, is their symbiotic relationship with endovitrian plants. The xylovitrian colony forms a protective, glassy wall around the plants' branches and stems (save for an opening at the top to allow access to light), as well as a system of feathery roots beneath the soil which serve to both gather nutrients for their plant partner and exchange gametes with other colonies to create new, empty xylovitrians for the plants' seeds to land in. In return, the plant gives the colony some of the byproducts of its photosynthesis.
Virtriarbora ("glass tree") - The most basal of the xylovitrians, and the ones that most closely fit the above description.
Conjunctaphyta ("together plants") - An offshoot from the vitriarborans which have developed more complex internal anatomy, with the plant and animal parts now being entirely inseparable from each other, being too tangled on the inside to say definitively where one ends and another begins. This carries over into their reproduction, where the zygotes for both the plant and animal are contained within a single seed-egg.
Ampullarbora ("bottle tree") - Thinner, smaller xylovitrians whose plant parts are entirely enclosed in glass, save for some microscopic pores for gas diffusion. These ones are more common in extreme environments where the delicate plant material needs additional protection from the outdoors. Also known as blown glass plants, as many of them resemble giant living sculptures.
Sapocorallium ("soap coral") - Xylovitrians which have abandoned their plant symbionts in favor of becoming massive basins of highly basic chemicals which dissolve small animals and falling debris into nutrient mush. These chemicals are sometimes harvested to make cleaning products.
Ordopoda (Row-legged)
Soft-bodied velvet worm-esque-ish animals with hydrostatic skeletons, most notable for their single row of legs on the underside of their bodies. This is the most diverse terrestrial phylum on Almud, filling a similar role to Earth’s arthropods.
Paxillida ("paddlers") - The aquatic representative of this phylum. Bodies are compact, with a column of paddling fins in the back to propel them through water.
Eudiproboscida ("true two probosci") - The most populous and diverse class of ordopods, which, as the name implies, have two tube-mouths for grabbing food and manipulating objects. They are an offshoot group from the paxillids, which adapted those paddles from before into the phylum's distinctive single row of legs. Typically somewhere between bear- and weasel-sized.
Microdiproboscida ("small two probosci") - Another offshoot of the paxillids that independently evolved the same general leg structure as eudiproboscids, though with some minor anatomical differences (most notably a simpler hydrostatic skeleton) that prevent them from growing to as great of a size. Them being a separate group from the eudiproboscids is a fairly recent discovery among Almudian biologists.
Duosseus (“two skeletons”)
Almud’s closest equivalent to vertebrates. Its first members were fishlike, with calcified plates covering the outside of their bodies and a netlike cartilage mesh supporting the inside. The outer skeleton is softer in the terrestrial members, taking on the cartilaginous makeup its internal skeleton once did, giving them more mobility, while the inner mesh has hardened to give their heavier bodies more support.
Acusstoma ("needle mouth") - The earliest representatives of the duosseans. They feed through an extendible, vaccine-like proboscis that can get them stuck onto larger prey for extended periods of time, allowing them to continually suck out nutrients. The rest of their body is covered in scaly armor.
Armipinna ("armored fins") - The needle has been reformed into a single claw which can be extended out of their mouth to drag in and crush up food. Their bodies are a more recognizable fish shape than those of the acusstomans, having fins and distinguishable heads. They also have flatter, plated exoskeletons rather than the scaly armor of their ancestors.
Labopinna ("flappy fins") - Another aquatic class, but with softer bodies, reducing the scaly armor to thin spikes instead of armor.
Scutumpellis (“shield skin”) - The most similar order of duossean to the first ones who lived on land, both retaining the hard exoskeletons of their ancestors and evolving more rigid internal meshes. Members of this class are typically on the smaller side, as although the twin skeletons do give them a lot of structural support, the increased weight places a very strict limit on how big they can get. They, and all terrestrial duosseans, are tripedal, and retain the same oral claw as the rigipinnids.
Cartilaminus (“leather-plated”) - A much thinner, softer exoskeleton and a more solid endoskeleton. Larger and more nimble than the scutumpellids.
Forescauda ("door tail") - You know how I said all terrestrial duoseans are tripedal? I lied. These ones only retain the front two legs, while the back leg has been specialized into a hatch for carrying around its developing young. Usually very fast runners.
Parvolito ("little hoverers") - Bugs, basically. The front two limbs have become wings, while the back leg is a stabilizing tail. With no legs, they have instead adapted some plates on the underside of their body into essentially a suction cup they can perch onto solid surfaces with. This is the other class that has achieved active flight alluded to in the aeriterebran section.
Xenigmalus ("strange, mysterious things”)
The second most diverse animal phylum. Body plans vary wildly, but are almost always some combination of fins, tentacles, and a big translucent sack. They mainly inhabit deeper waters where aquatic duossei are less common.
Lutumtheria (“mud beasts”)
Soft, slimy animals whose bodies are almost entirely solid muscle, wrapped in a mineralized, stony shell. They inhabit both aquatic and terrestrial habitats, although terrestrial lutumtherians require copious amounts of water in order to avoid drying up. This phylum contains akada, the only known sophont on Almud.
Amiculida ("capelike") - Soft muscle on the underside, hard shell on the back, and sensory tentacles in the front. Legless beings that move by slowly undulating said underside muscles to slide along the ground. Definitely not just snails.
Claustrapinna ("barrier fin") - Their bodies are H-shaped, with elliptical fins formed from their shells coming out of each side of their body. These fins cannot move, with the organisms instead propelling themselves with jets. Often fill aquatic predatory niches.
Vapulapilla ("squirm pill") - The smallest lutumtherians, with this class' largest representatives being no bigger than a grain of rice. They eat exclusively through extracellular digestion by excreting acidic slime. Their shells are reduced to a thin membrane around their bodies.
Lithospongia ("stone sponge") - Barely even recognizable as animals, with most of their body being comprised of shell tissue. Another class of sessile aquatic filter feeders.
SLIMES
Rather than there being a direct analog of fungi, Almud has slimes, which roughly fill the same role of decomposers but with a more active approach, being able to move around to varying degrees to find areas with the most nutrients.
Eulimus (“true slimes”) - Form in bubble-like clumps around any dead or decaying matter. Movement is mainly limited to gradually moving the location of their nucleus-dense cores to a different area of the broader slime clump network. They explode when they reach maturity, spreading their spores to new areas.
Siccolimus (“dry slimes”) - Require much less water to survive than eulimans thanks to a thicker barrier on the outsides of their cells. Each individual clump is also much smaller, with colonies having a texture more akin to dust. These are more common in areas poor in water, such as deserts or tundras, and take on an essential producer niche in said environments. They are the least motile out of all slimes, moving only when blown around by the wind.
Stratummuco (“mucus blankets”) - Spread out in a flat sheet instead of smaller clumps. They serve a major role in the processing of soil nutrients, growing out across forest floors to reuptake things like animal waste or fallen leaves.
Fameslimus (“hungry slimes”) - Fully motile slimes capable of slowly wandering around at will, absorbing whatever decaying matter happens to be around them. In ancient times, they were incorrectly believed to be close relatives of lutumtherians, sometimes thought to be born from the bodies of akada.
MICROBES
You probably get the idea of what these are like, at least externally. Although the internal functions and processes of cells on Almud are quite different from those of Earth, having evolved completely separately, there's not really much interesting spec bio stuff to be done here. Maybe someday I'll go into further depth, but right now I can't think of any details that people would care to read about. It's just cells. Use your imagination.
Thank you for actually reading all of this. More actual art will come eventually.
In another art slump. Sadly, catching up on Smaugust is going to be even harder now that classes have started up again. I’ll still try to finish what I can though.
Every year, near the end of summer, crowds of male Hotshot Blowscorchers (Ignisputum immensus) can be spotted lekking around clifftops, shooting plumes of multicolored fire into the air in hopes of attracting a mate. The males of this species, influenced by strong sexual selection, have adapted their flame glands for fashion over function, reducing how hot they can burn in exchange for being able to shoot their flames further out and produce a wider variety of chemicals, all of which burn different colors. The females of this species are very particular about which flames they consider the most desirable, and only the males with the biggest, most colorful flames will be able to sire offspring. Anything short of perfection will be rejected.
To put into perspective how competitive this species' mating scene can be, this male here, as impressive as his flame may look to a human outsider, is actually on the lower end in terms of attractiveness by his own species' standards. Typically, a male's breath should be able to go quite a bit further up than this, and would contain a few more colors than what this specimen is capable of. These flaws, again, may seem fairly meaningless to us, but it is enough to cause most potential mates to pass on him. As such, it is sadly unlikely that this individual will ever wait what is that
what
oh god it's one of those things, what is it doing here
wait why is it
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I feel like an equal amount of questions have been answered and opened by this.
While at first appearing to have nothing particularly noteworthy about it, the Teal Splittail (Ruptuscorpus fragilis) possesses regenerative abilities far beyond anything seen in any other vertebrate species. It, presumably with the help of magic, has adapted the regrowth mechanisms all lizards have in their tails to their entire bodies, allowing them to recovery from any injury, no matter how severe. Furthermore, this regeneration is much more complete than in most regular lizard species. Any part that grows back will be a near perfect replica of the one it is replacing, unlike related species, where there will typically be noticeable imperfections or deformities. On top of that, the process is near instantaneous. A Splittail can lose half of its body and, using magically-boosted chemosynthesis, regrow it all in a matter of minutes, no matter how many vital parts it lost or how much energy reserves it has left. Finally and most importantly, though, is the fact that all of the broken-off parts have these same exact regenerative abilities, too, and, given enough time, will grow into clones. The result is that, any time a Teal Splittail is injured in any way, it increases their population, which will compound as each of those Splittails get injured, and so on. As if that wasn't bad enough, due to the presence of fracture plates along every joint in its body, even the slightest touch can make these dragons' bodies shatter into pieces, all of which will grow into new Splittails. The only things preventing this species from fully overtaking the island are the abundant predator population of Dragamida and that its regeneration stops working when exposed to stomach acid. Despite this, the fact that magical alterations were so close to creating a species with the capability of completely destroying the ecosystem in a matter of weeks is very worrying.
Explanation of why this isn't just a regular gliding lizard below cut
The Black-Eyed Flying Dragon (Draco euvolans) was the first dragon species to arrive on Dragamida and the ancestor of all extant Dragamidan dragons. Believed to have first settled on the island around 1.5 million years ago, the species saw quick success due to a lack of competition and underwent impossibly rapid adaptive radiation, giving way to dozens of new clades. This success did not last for long, though, as the competition posed by these offshoot species was too much to keep up with, quickly leading to their extirpation. Although small populations of this species still exist on some small islands near Dragamida, none remain on Dragamida itself.
This species is notably more similar in appearance to other members of the Draco genus than any other dragon discussed thus far, but there are two major differences which set them apart. First, their wings. As previously mentioned, their patagia have been adapted into fully functional wings, which allows them to fly upward rather than being relegated to just falling in style. Not only did this allow them to beat out related species when competing for food, but it's also what allowed them to reach Dragamida in the first place. Second, fire breath. Some of their salivary glands were adapted to produce and shoot out chemicals which combust upon contact with the air, allowing them to create small bursts of fire to snipe insects out of the air mid-flight. This adaptation, though less foundational in their ability to establish the Aladraconinae subfamily, still plays a major role in the lives of dragons on Dragamida, especially those with a similar insectivorous lifestyle to their founding species. Even those who don't have found other uses for them, primarily as either display structures or defense against predators. The Black-Eyed Flying Dragon may have vanished from Dragamida over a million years ago, but this species' influence will still always be felt by its current inhabitants.
With how slow and feeble it looks, you'd assume that the Chocolate Sloggoth (Brachiptera taediosum) would have some sort of secret magical way of defending itself, but, for once, this species' appearance isn't deceiving at all. This creature, which spends most of its life climbing trees looking for fruit, moves incredibly slowly and cautiously, as if even the smallest misstep could cost it its life. It's not like this fear is unfounded, though. Due to its large size and lack of true wings, having instead adapted them into additional climbing appendages, it has no way of landing safely if it ever were to lose its footing, making clinging on at all costs its highest priority. Additionally, Sloggoths are the preferred prey of many other dragon species, not helped by the fact that their high-sugar diets apparently make their meat taste delicious. These claims have not been verified, however.
This is not to say that this species is without its strengths, as clearly demonstrated by the fact that it has remained so widespread for so long. Though they are no longer useful for flight, its wing-arms, with the help of some new joints in the middle of the wings' "fingers", can help grab fruit out of trees from far away, making it an incredibly efficient forager. That, combined with how slowly they move, means they are never at risk of starvation, and can reproduce safely without any worry over energy cost. In spite of all the threats it faces, this species is in no danger of becoming endangered any time soon. Still, the lack of magical alterations is odd. Surely a species like this could use the boosts more than any of the others, right? Maybe not. Who knows. Maybe it's just too lazy to use them.
Recently, I've gotten into the habit of making origami dragons (Repenscharta plicata) out of old research documents. Now that we know that Dragamida's ecosystems are being influenced by magic, all of the papers we wrote pre-discovery are completely useless, at least as far as actual publishing goes, since we know that everything in them is wrong, and this seemed like a better use for them than just shredding them. I have about two-ish dozen of these things lying around my desk right now. I'm a lot better at making them than I was when I first started, but most of them still come out a bit mangled. This is the best one I've been able to make so far. I know that it's not technically true origami due to the wings just being taped on, but all of the real dragon tutorials were way too complicated, and it made a lot more sense just to slap wings onto a normal lizard. I'll probably keep practicing though. Even if all the failures are frustrating, it gives me something to do between expeditions. Plus, these heaps of debunked papers aren't going to clear themselves out.
Explanation of what these silly little dudes are doing below cut
The Spotted Leozard (Felacerta rosetta) (left) is one of the most fearsome predators on the isle of Dragamida. Armed with some of the strongest bites, the most powerful minds, and the highest stamina levels of all dragons, it is able to effortlessly pursue and maul prey with a shockingly high success rate. They are also notable for their complex social structures, forming prides around the rocky seaside cliffs that surround the island, sharing their hunts with their families, coordinating attack plans with other members of their group, and communicating with each other over long distances using what sounds like purring but is actually small combustions produced by their fire glands. Meanwhile, the Speckled Draguar (Oncacerta maculosa) (right) is... also all of that? Somehow, what is essentially the same exact species seems to have evolved into existence twice from entirely different lineages, both competing for a hold on the same niche. The two species usually stay separate from each other, with Leozards inhabiting the island's western shores and Draguars being relegated to the east, but in the rare cases where they do meet, it inevitably results in inter-pride wars breaking out. Some areas of territory near the far northern and southern shores have been passed back and forth between the two species over the generations, sometimes going much further eastward or westward as one species threatens to totally overtake the other, but always getting pushed back at the last moment. It it not believed that this cycle will end any time soon. Like many aspects of Dragamidan ecology, this is not something which should ordinarily be possible, at least not for as extended a period of time as these species have existed for, but, because it's Dragamida, we know what the explanation is. Time to get the scanners.
Scanning these creatures for signs of magical alteration has revealed something interesting: Although the Leozard has nearly no residual magic anywhere in its body or genome, the Draguar is absolutely brimming with it. Nearly its entire body gives off strong magical signatures when scanned, save for its wings, which are the only parts of its body that are meaningfully different in structure from its rival species. Based on this discrepancy, we can conclude that the Spotted Leozard evolved mostly naturally, while the Speckled Draguar was somehow magically altered into a copy of the former, likely starting as a much smaller, weaker species. Like always, though, we're still not totally clear yet on what's going on with this whole magic thing, or how it was able to reshape the species in this way. We'll have to examine many more species than this to even begin formulating hypotheses.
Sorry for falling so far behind on the Smaugust stuff, I've just been running a bit low on motivation. I'll try to get everything done, even if it ends up extending into September a bit.
Biology stuff that kind of makes sense if you squint below cut
The Umbershoot (Salasa obake) has a notably different body plan from most Dragamidan dragon species, standing on only its back legs and rarely, if ever, using its front limbs for anything other than grooming. As strange as this body plan may be, there is a reason behind it. This species has convergently developed a similar hunting style to that of the Black Heron, wading around in shallow areas of water and using its wings to cast a shadow which lures in fish, then feeding on whatever gets within biting range. Its bipedal gait and extended legs make walking through the water without disturbing fish much easier. While in canopy formation, it stays so perfectly still that you could almost mistake it for an old umbrella someone left floating in the water, though the distinctive eye-like spots on its wings do give the disguise away a little.
A few days ago, this is where my analysis would end. However, now that we know there’s something magical going on on this island, we took it upon ourselves to investigate whether magic had any part in making this dragon look and act so differently from its relatives. After setting up some of those magic scanner things around a lake where a population of Umbershoots was present, we were able to detect some signals which indicated there was some sort of magical energy stored in their bodies. If I'm understanding the readings correctly, which I apparently am according to the people who made these things, whatever the magical energy is seems to be concentrated around their legs and snout, and given that these are the parts of their bodies that most set them apart from other dragons, this would make sense. Dragons have been present on this island for far too little time for something like this to evolve naturally.
Despite these findings, we still have a lot of unanswered questions about this species. What did this species look like before being magically altered? Did they use a similar hunting strategy to this, or is this canopy feeding something entirely new? How long ago did the alterations happen? How did the magic know to target these traits? How long has this magic even existed for? Although we've been able to figure out a lot so far, I can't help but feel like we've barely even begun to take in what's really going on here. These coming days are going to get very difficult.
Now that any semblance of normalcy has been thoroughly obliterated, we've taken it upon ourselves to try and figure out what sort of magical interference has been making Dragamida's biosphere act so strangely. The first step we’ve taken has been setting up these sensors around the island. We're not totally sure how they work, but according to the people who built them, they should be able to detect some kind of magic signal? Not sure how they managed to make these when we only just discovered magic is real, though. Unless it’s been known about for a while, but in that case, how did we not know about it? Surely we’d have heard something about it already. It’s best not to think about it too much. I don’t know what to think about anything anymore.
dededos
turnnoffyourmind
origamiaround
snowghoul
discoholicmusic
jbbartram-illu
yousharknotpass
areudirty