#project melo

[project-melo]

Arali Sarobo reference be upon yee! Very happy that I can yeet her on Art Fight!

[octahedral-chaos]

Pleaseeeeee ramble about the Thylaraptors, they sound very neat. I assume they're the sapient species on Melo?

Yep! They're the sapient species of Melo!

Their ancestors were basically these wacky chimeras of many marsupials and birds that humans made, and after Humanity left Melo, they ended up becoming the sophont/ sapient species. They can move either bipedally or quadrupedally, but prefers to be bipedal due to the leg-wings.

They also have REALLY good eyesight, being almost comparable to an eagle. Similarly, they can also see in ultraviolet light, and they DO have UV markings, like a lot of real-world marsupials!! However, a whooping 35% of the current population is actually blue-yellow colourblind. It's unknown why this is such a common mutation, but it seems to be linked to a few recessive genes.

As for other senses, they have excellent hearing and a decent sense of smell. Likewise, they have whiskers on their faces, which helps with touch and helps with communication.

The little extra "thumb" on the hand isn't an actual digit, but is instead modified wrist bones, like yapoks/ water opossums. It helps with grabbing onto things. Their hind talons have 4 digits, with the outermost toe being used to support the feathers of the wing, while the two "side" toes act like thumbs. Because of this, they can very easily climb and grab onto stuff with ease.

They are omnivorous, but prefers meat. They do practice farming, but not to the scale of modern day humans.

Oh and they tend to be VERY playful and adventurous.

[project-melo]

Map of Melo

Melo has three continents; Edla (Left), Revo (Top Right) and Zurva (Bottom Right).

Edla is mostly tropical rainforest, with a few grasslands and deserts to the South. The Barusai Island chain is also located to the West of it.

Revo is mostly Temperate rainforest and Woodlands, with a few grasslands. The Northern portion of it has taiga and tundra.

Zurva is mostly deserts and grasslands, with some rainforests near the Southern Coastline. The Ninua Islands are also located to the Northwest, while Denuso is located in the Southwestern seas near Zurva.

As seen in the map, Melo has a much wider tropical region than Earth, due to the axial tilt being 14.5°, much less than Earth's 23.5°. However, Melo's orbit is slightly inclined (15°) from the elliptic, and is a bit eccentric, resulting in seasons being a bit more pronounced than on Earth.

Bonus Map with Tectonic Plates under the cut

[project-melo]

Plants of Melo: Domesticated Grains/ Cereals

Like humans, Thylaraptors have domesticated many species of plants to use as food. These are a few of them, namely grains and cereals.

The Blue Featherstalk is a Triticale descendant, grown in dry conditions, usually in the grasslands regions of Zurva and Revo. The grains are used to make flour and the leaves can be boiled to make tea.

The Sooty Oak is a descendant of genetically modified Avena nuda, and grows in tropical climates, usually in the extremely rainy areas of Edla and the Barusai Island Chain. Also can be used to make flour, but the grains are usually cooked.

The Swamp Rice is a descendant of GMO Asiatic Rice, and grows near shallow waterlogged soil, not swamps. However, they grow in Subtropical regions, and are extremely hardy. They are usually cooked as rice.

The Neomaize is a descendant of the humble corn. Incredibly hardy, can bear mulitple times and can thrive in harsh conditions, it is unsurprising that they managed to survive for so long on Melo. The kernels and tassels are highly bioflorescent, showing off in UV light to Thylaraptors, but appears white in (Human) Visible Light. Can be eaten raw or cooked, and are usually grown in tropical regions.

[project-melo]

Welcome!

Project Melo is a speculative biology/ worldbuilding project that I started. Essentially, Melo is a dwarf planet located in an Asteroid Belt around the star Passera, a relatively calm red dwarf. However, humans have terraformed it and seeded it with all sorts of genetically modified organisms. Oddly enough, these humans left, and after a long, long time, Melo has become a haven for bizarre creatures and other such oddities.

Ans one of the most unique are Melo's very own sophont, Thylaraptors.

Unlike my other attempts at worldbuilding and speculative evolution, I am hoping to keep this one more "loose" in terms of following reality, as well as being moreso for fun. Inspired by many other speculative evolution, xenofiction and worldbuilding projects, Project Melo is essentially me finally feeling inspired and determined to make an original world after a rough year, as well as wanting to try to develop it after losing motivation on other SpecEvo/ Worldbuilding projects of mine.

So come on down and let's learn about this strange world together!

Rules for Asks

Please, no NSFW/ 18+ stuff. I'm uncomfortable with it and want to keep this blog PG13. However, there may occasionally be mentions of reproduction in some anatomy posts, but nothing graphic.

Also no Bigotry or anything of that sort. This is a worldbuilding blog, we don't want any Real-World politics nor drama here

Please be civil! And don't forget to have fun!

Tags

Melo Lore - Anything written about Melo or Thylaraptors

Melo Art - Any artworks of Melo or Thylaraptors

Melo Asks - Asks of course! Can be about worldbuilding, speculative biology or anything of that sort

Melo Aesthetics - Posts that reminds me of either Thylaraptors or Melo/ Passera System

Thylaraptors - Everything regarding the sophont of Melo

Passera System - Everything about Melo's star system

OCTA speaks - Basically any non-Melo posts made by me!

[octahedral-chaos]

Little map concept for Melo, AKA the Terraformed Dwarf Planet project. Going to tag it as “Original Project: Melo” from now on, until I get a better name for it-

[octahedral-chaos]

Shoutouts to the “Terraformed Dwarf Planet” concept for getting stuck in my head to the point I doodled a somewhat wonky diagram to illustrate the idea-

Essentially, this is just a somewhat average-sized Red Dwarf (Potentially around 0.5 Solar Masses) with several planets; A small terrestrial planet similar to Mercury, a Gas Giant that is slightly larger than Jupiter and a somewhat small Ice Giant. However, there are two asteroids belts (Kinda like our own solar system), with several dwarf planets. Only one is seen here, and it’s the one that has been terraformed, and is currently called Melo. No other celestial bodies here have names as yet, as it’s still a WIP idea. Plus I’m fully aware that I may have made some mistakes here, so… yeah.

Might expand on this probably-

[project-melo]

how diverse is the climate/weather on Melo, does that affects Thylaraptors?

Melo's climate is pretty diverse, with similar biomes that can be found on Earth. However, there are a few differences.

Namely, the Tropical Region is much wider than on Earth, thanks to the milder axial tilt. Thus, the Climatic zones look like this;

Tropical: 0-40° North/South

Subtropical: 40-50° North/South

Temperate: 50-70° North/South

Polar: 70-90° North/South

Tropical rainforests and grasslands dominant the Tropical and Subtropical zones, with a lot of deserts in the interior areas. The Temperate zones are mostly broadleaf woodlands and coniferous forests, with a few Temperate grasslands as well. Closer to the polar zones, there are taiga and tundra, then true Polar climates especially close to the poles. The only landmasses that are truly close to the Polar zone are the Northern tip of Revo, as well as the "Polar Islands" close to this tip.

In regards to weather, it's pretty similar to Earth, the only "true" difference is slightly weaker hurricanes and a wider "storm belt," both thanks to Melo's gentle axial tilt and Passera's cooler temperatures. Likewise, as Melo travels along it's orbit, the weather does get MUCH wamer (or colder) depending on how close the Aphelion/ Perihelion is, thanks to both the mildly eccentric orbit and orbital inclination. This affects weather quite a bit, resulting in snow for both Temperate and occasionally Subtropical areas AND the Rainy Season for Tropical.

In regards to Thylaraptors, they are pretty much affected by this! As they adapted to the places they settled, they developed traits that are better for their respective climates. This resulted in the several basic ethnicities that I will introduce soon. Likewise, it also affects their culture and society.