#worldbuildinggenetics

[pandoramusicbox]

Orcs and Apes

so I think I have mentioned that evolution is a bit of a factor in a lot of creatures in pandora’s music box.and I have been thinking about it recently. (this is a Wip idea so its subject to change but I like where its going) so what this idea boils down to is that most of the modern species of the world can be traced back two to different clades of animals, monkeys and pigs. monkeys slowly gave way to become prehistoric humans, who with the influence of magical mutations became the modern humans and human kin in the world. similar to what we are more familiar with on earth, but our other close ancestors like Neanderthals and the small ones did not die out in the same way. these mostly make up human kin.  pigs on the other hand, unlike our real world had another branch on their family tree. where some of them gained a lower hips (somewhat like how German shepherds are breed) and their hooves became more scoop like claws. one of these groups became the modern orc, a creature that is a bit reminiscent of the giant ground sloth, but pig like and not sloth... either way orcs are a lot like how our modern Apes are to us. What is important for this is the species that eventually became the orcs also gave way to a creature called the Glosen, a tailed creature that walks on two feet.  the only place in the world that glosen survive to the modern day is on the continent of Kaliwafitsu and the volcanic islands that form the far iles. what really is important is that they are the ancestors of large parts of the creatures in anima kin. they are related to all of the giants family (trolls, giants, and long ears) they are also related to the Noria (in turn they are related to gobies, goblins, kolbolds, Kamon, and raqunokil to name a few.) making up a good third or so of anima kin.  at this point they are about as related to pigs as we are to old world monkeys.  this idea is still a work in progress, but this is more or less the idea.

[pandoramusicbox]

demilion i’ve talked a lot about these guys but never given a clear answer on what exactly they are.       Demilion are a hive mind of amorphous shape shifting creatures. their main strength is the fact that they can adapt quickly to any environment they encounter. they do this through a mix of their shapeshifting capibilities and thier strange reproduction.         They have a form of asexual reproduction, where a demilion brood-mother, will make a copy of themselves, by a growth that will form into an identical copy of themselves, or alternatively the demilion brood-mother could rearrange the genes so that dormant genes from previous iterations of the family are present. neither of these are commonly done. Generally only occurring when a demilion has been separated from their hive for some reason and seek to establish a new hive. this is also what makes brood-mother demilion exceedingly rare.        The demilion normally use a form of sexual reproduction. though most humans and other creatures would hesitate to call it that. it involves a disgusting mix of genetic slurry often keep in large pools somewhere within the demilion hives. these spawning pools are often introduced with new genetic material that the demilions gain from the creatures of the surrounding habitats. how they obtain this material varies. Though when involving other intelligent it occurs from love affairs between a demilion and the other species where they agree to give  up their genetic material to the pool. this is why a lot of hives tend to have such diverse appearances. some of the least diverse hives exist in kaligrafi.  demilion brood mothers can also do this by gaining other creatures dna, through eating or other means. where their genetic copy will have features of that creature.       Once the demilion squamous offspring form from the pool (or separate from their brood mother), they crawl off the spin themselves an egg where they can properly grow and mature into younglings. these “eggs” or “cocoons” are care-taken of by demilions who have the role of “child-gardeners” that see them mature from younglings into adults. as soon as the demilions hatch from their cocoon can they start to communicate telepathically with the other demilions of the hive. though this telepathy is more like empathy and understanding of emotions rather than communication its only as adults they can communicate telepathically with words and images.   this telepathy actually allows the demilions of the world to communicate to each other even if they don’t understand languages as they can still project ideas and emotions. the telepathy links up all demilion who are within 50 ft (15 m) of each other.  most demilion tend to all share the same name of their hive, though the names tend to be spelled differently. their names generally start with a C or K sound, names like Cassandra, Kim, Kathrin, Clevon, Kit, Cay, Kat, Caitlin, Carol, Karl, King, Clever, Clemont, Caroline, Kristopher, Creep, Korn, Cassy, Katla, Catalina,  ect... as for the question of what would happen to a demilion in a vacuum, like space, well they would go the way of a water bear (tardigrade) and shrivel up until presented with a suitable environment. where they would re-hydrate.

[pandoramusicbox]

the endless forest (land portions) the endless forest is not just some name given to some very large forest, no this is as close to endless as such things can be, this is a massive forest that circles the entire planet. its not a perfect circle, and it stretches a bit in an odd form when it can, but with one  creature made exception it is an unbreaking circle. the forest continues under water but this is only covering the land portions. the endless forest is found on several continents. how much of the forest takes up the continent vaires per continent. sometimes it just barely grazes the side of continent like with suungorath. other times it covers almost the entire continent like with fayler (wip name),  other-times it splits the landmass in half like scalipia or just covers a bit like mergo.  the continents it goes through, Mergo, Scalipia, Aukilir, Fayler ,and Suungorath. though length wise it is technically endless it is not endless width wise. the width of the forest fluctuates across the world though is roughly simular on average. the deeper you go into the forest the stranger becomes. its generally divided into four depths, though on occasion a fifth or even sixth layer is added. though these regions generally only exists in pockets of space. the First layer or the outer edges are rather familiar forests, they generally have thiner trees though some larger trees are often around. sometimes if a mundian forest is nearby a person could walk into this part of the forest and be unaware they have entered the forest. the first layer has some creatures in it that wander from the deeper layers living in it and it has creatures from outside the forest wander into it. if a creature can sence the presence of magic they may notice that there is a slight, ever-precent radiation of magic. the Second layer is considered the forest proper and is also the largest bulk of the forest. the trees in this part of the forest are still varied, with some of them growing in thickets so tight it is impossible to get through, other times the ground vegetation is nothing but ferns and moss. it could be compared to a tropical jungle, this region also hosts the trees that grow to large size, most of them stay to be roughly the size of large tree like redwoods of jungle trees on earth but even here in the second layer some trees of even larger size. the second layer plays host to a lot of creatures. but notably this is the layer that most of the forest bound civilisations are found in. notably where the fairies make their hive colonies. the second region is often basked in a much more dim light obscured in the shade of the leaves, this dose not  the Third layer is not as large as the second layer but its the second largest region. this layer is the layer that hosts trees larger than any that can be found in real life, or at least close to the size of the largest tree in the world. this area is in perpetual twilight. there is a lso a lot of mist that comes in and out of this region, this mist is plesent to be around but dangerous as it sometimes causes hallucinations. the fourth layer is constantly in darkness or near darkness, the creatures within this region are wild looking and strange, many animals and plants appears to be bioluminescent or have spots of light. traveling through the forest can be a rather perilous journey. least of which can be the multitude of wild beasts that roams the entire forest, there are other dangers as well. these dangers include hallucinations, magic afflictions, and emotional distress caused by the forest increasing the potency of emotions. other dangers are things such as being possessed or becoming lost and transforming into some kind of monster. the shifting borders and near darkness of some regions of the forest make getting lost easy.  theres also the chance of wandering into  the void and being unable to come back.  then there is the high chance of permanently becoming changed from entering the forest, well not entering, entering is easy enough it is leaving or going between higher and lower levels of the forest too quickly that can be greatly damaging to the body and or mind of a person. though most of the time peoples travels through the forest is unaffected by this as. they stay on “channel or gap paths” through the forest that shield people from these affects, as long as one stays on the path and dose not stray they should be safe. heart of the forest is a small magical glade. in the center of the glade is a decently large tree, this tree has a pale grayish white trunk. Sometimes theres a purple scaled dragon named Yggdrasil sleeping below the tree, they sleep in a bed of toxic flowers. other times people report having seen a “ghost bird” that lives in the  branches, people will ask the bird to give them advise as it says it has great wisdom. The heart of the forest is constantly moving, once the sun sets the glade moves to a new random location within the endless forest by day break of the next morning.  head of the forest, this location is thought of as the head of the dead god who’s body is thought to make up the endless forest. if that is to be believed. this location moves around the forest as well, but unlike the heart that moves randomly every day, the head moves slower and predictably through the entire forest. it will circle around to the same spot once every year.  in the center of this Vally is a small lake with an island in the middle. this “eye” houses the guardian pandora when she sleeps. the Vally houses a lot of gods and nymphs. the darkness of the forest grows deeper and more permeant the further you travel in. Creatures of the forest -Gods, large and powerful spirit creatures.they are found all throughout the forest in all shapes and sizes, though they can often choose what form they take, their shape is often imperfect as they can not change their eyes, like that of the stary night sky or a ragging sea or burning sun. -Nymphs, imature or incomplete gods. -emotion eaters, these large birds resemble peafowls, their main diet is that of ivelar and other spirits. they do not have the mouth parts to talk human languages but can speak telepathically and empathically.  they are naturally enemies with basilisks, not found in the ocean region. -basalisks, large snake like creatures. they prey on a lot of animals that live in the forest, they never stop growing. and as they grow they become less intelligent. -chryostophi, massive slug like creatures, nocturnal predators. their appearance depend on the region, with shells, manes, antenna, blooms, tendrils, or horns. they are all blind but can sence vibrations. this along with a good sence of smell make them formidable predators. luckily for everything else, they are rather restricted to the boarders of the forest. -star beasts, these large creature are considered spirts as they constantly shift between being corporeal and incorporeal depending on how much light they are exposed too. they appear simular to the many kinds of astora. they are often dark colors that reflect the night sky  - astora, they are like star beasts that are unable to have any form os semi-physical body. so what they do is to cohabit another creatures body. this is a symbiotic relation as the stellan (the spirit creature themselves, Astora is the name given to the host and creature together) provide the host with powers, protection and relation. the host provides them with a home. They appear only near the forest. the hosts have elaborate birthmarks (that can glow). they will stay with their host from birth till death. the stellan speak a strange unknown language that their hosts can understand.  some people belive these spirits are as old, if not older, than the great spirit that was the world serpent.  (famously the current princess of the Neptonian empire is an astora) -shades, live in deeper levels, they are malevolent and violent often attacking those who travel. they cant stand hell hounds or magic cats. are thought to have been created from infested ivelar posessing animals and this infestation carried on as a genetic trait. they look as if an animals shilluet came to life and had glowing eyes. the danger the shade possess can be determined by the color of its eyes, they are drawn to those experiencing negative emotions. they are technically spirits as well but have a semi-physical body as their bones are solid. -plant beast, considered relatives of the fay, but are not fay themselves, they appear as a great number of animals, birds, squirrels, lizards, deer, horses, bears and so on so forth that appear to be made of plants or have plants growing symbiotically on or in them.  -ivelar, they are the most common kind of spirit kin. they are able to posses and influence other creatures. but when they do this there is a chance that the host influences the ivelar itself turning them into “corrupted” ivelar. -willowisp, people are not really shure what they are. some people think they are the souls of the dead, others think they are small collections of magic that is visible due to the forest. other people think they are the yet to form fragments of gods or the remains of dead gods. they are often mistaken for the fairies called wisps. like glowing balls of light, the color of the light changes on the region. -light snakes, they are thought of as memories of former lives. they are incorporeal glowing spirits. they live deep in the  -night turtals, also called black turtals. they absorb light, and envelop the world in fog. they can induse amnesia if eaten and also turn other creatures into trees.  - magic cats, a diverse and odd sort that look a lot like kashi. all magic cats are rather small in size, generally not larger than three feet (91.44 cm). the magic cats are heaven kin all having some sort of unique magical abilities special to their individual species. all magical cats can soul bind others.  - hell hounds, large dog like creatures. they are semi-centiant. they are very found of hollies and dragons , some say they where once the precious pets of those creatures. they have a very diverse looks. they are often gray scale in fur color.  some hell hounds can soul-bind. - faires, theres a lot of diffrent kinds of fay they are mostly divided into the types of fay. the greater fay or high fay and the lesser fay. - abyss forest critters, strange glowing spirit creatures that are only found in the deepest darkest parts of the forest. bizarre to look at in the best of cases horrifying in the worst - tailed, these creatures are shapeshifters that grow more tails as they age. they make werewolves -dolls, broken off pieces of dragon and holly souls. they seake bodies as they dont have any of their own. - colossal insects, not just insects but also other inverdibray. they are thought to grow this large as the enviorment in and near the forest is oxygen rich and highly suited for the additional size of these invertibrey - elemental spirits, elemental spirits are creatures that adapt to the inate magic of the environment around them. the  - the lost beasts, these beasts are creatures that became lost  - echos, disjointed memories of someone of something that passed through an area. -Rhephim, large twisted creatures that are found usually  around level three, they adapt forms that are frightful to those who they have encountered, rarely removing features only adding. A bit in the same way a corrupted ivelar of Phobia dose. lots of things eat these creatures.  (all photos are stock photos and are used only to help in visualization, if a photo is not a stock photo it was not known to me)

[pandoramusicbox]

Magical Difference

so beyond physical differences there are some magical differences between human kin and anima kin. when human kin expresses magic it is generally random, though sometimes it has some particular reoccurrence in some families, but its at around 15% consistent, and a 85% random for human-kin with magic. as for the anima-kin they take after heaven kin has the opposite, creatures of the same species  will often have the same kind of magic if they express any.  each species tends to have between 1-3 diffrent kinds of magic they can express but theres also still that chance that it is random. for them it its ~75% inherited and 25% random but this vaires with species. long ears are for example much more close to human with a 48% chance that it is truly  random. 

[pandoramusicbox]

Ellera: the scorched lands Acthemy scorched the lands, cutting a long crack through it and splitting the tallest mountain of the Alta nebula, forming the forbidden pass. the place is infested by wild horned wyverns. theres a lot of gyseres in the north. the forbidden pass, a long vaguely more straight forward pass between Ellera and Aemulatus. it takes about a week and a half to travel as opposed to taking routs through the Alta Nebula mountains, though the people of Ellera call them the Darath tsi sijd or the teeth of the dread. the pass is full of creatures that makes travel a bit more difficult to travel. first of all there are horned wyverns who nest along the shear melted cliffs that  run along each side of the pass, with their sharp teeth and acidic spitting venom. but if you try to go through the mountains instead you get to deal with the mountain angelics, with their grey and tawny brown wings unlike the lighter colored wings of their stone tree cousins.They like all the angelics possess natural magic of light, healing and luck. this makes the region’s locals hostile towards them.  there are also prey creature like mountain goats, moose, deer and large birds. other animals like the snow wasset, that sleeps and grazes  most summer and hunts beneath the snow during the winter and the six-legged mountain cats called wampawas. the dark-eyed humans are known to live near the mountains. though likely hood is that they where inpart forced there sometime in the past as they live in a pocket apart from other dark-eyed humans. the scorched lands are hot, and cold and filled with magic. it is roughly the size of yellow-stone park in the united states.because the place is one of the most magic radiated areas of the ellera region a lot of locals refuse to go there because by the common belief of the region the land is cursed and innately evil. a lot of people who are cursed or witches will go to the region because of its bad reputation, this only worsens the reputation. the local humans who are from nearby the region are known to often have distinct red and maroon hair often paired with pale skin and golden orange eyes. the area has a lot of wildlife that lives around there. As hunters refuse to go close to it and those who do are thought of as fearless, foolish or fiendish. there are deer, moose, wolverines, wolfs, bears, large bovine like creatures,  wild horses, hares, and other small creatures. but mundane creatures are not the only ones found as a lot of magic creatures are around too, things like ant-lions, glass animals, doll souls, fire and smoke spirits, fire salsmanders who bask in the guysers and a large number of fire foxes and phonix live here too.  (all photos are stock photos and are used only to help in visualization, if a photo is not a stock photo it was not known to me)

[pandoramusicbox]

so human kin. very diverse, very wide spread, and here are a few examples. humans come in all shapes and sizes, especially in scalipia, julilner and aulkyili.  so humans are known to be quite adaptable, but still somehow rather homogeneous, which is what separates them from Animakin, that and how magic interacts with them.  even so human kin can be quite diffrent looking. they can have a vast range in skin colors, though often towards a darker brown tone, though a more red-ish or yellowish done is not unusual depending on region and what chemical they have as pigment, some humankin even have grayish tone to their skin, especially around the blue forest.  humans can have horns, strange skin, fangs, strange ears, mouths or eyes and still be considered as human as the next. they can not have excess limbs or tails and still be human.  this is what excludes things like the long eared, vicker, a lot of trolls and jiants from being considered human.  theres a reason the subcategory of phodo-human or human-like is a category of anima kin the main sub-categories of human kin are  Rim- categorized by their small size, they are not to common in scalipia or aulkyili and are more common in julilner. usally between 3-5 ft (91.44-152.4 cm) in hight. Humans- the standerd look, im just going assume one knows what a human vaugely can look like. Elv- so the most common attribute that they are said to have are strange ears, often pointed. this is not actually why they are in their own category. they are in their own category because of sexual-dimorphism. the elv are thought to have possibly been the result of human and fairy mixing, but if thats the case it occurred so long ago no one can confirm. what this essentially boils down to is that substancial parts of their population are hemephrodites like the fay. or have other things going on. the percentage can range with extremes like the Hively at the most where near 100% of their population are hemehprodites to the Eln  with the least where ~5% are true hemephrodites and everything else is messy. they are currently a bit of a wip.  Eyed- theses guys are way more simple, so they either are born with more or less eyes than humans., these eyes dont exclusively appere on the face but that is where it is most common.the majority of eyed  a number of eyes between 3-6. less is rare and more is uncommon. monoculars (one eye aka cyclobs) are rare and often said to have magic to see into the future. this is both true and untrue. eyed can an have been born with two eyes, though they are often not in the standard alignment, but there have been a few cases where a human has married  an eyed unknowingly only to find out when they had kids with a strange number of eyes. they can also be born without eyes at all, but  thats a one in million chance., polynocular is the wide category for any eye with more than 7 eyes. the record for the individual with the most eyes is 23. Orge- larger size than normal humans. 6.5-10 ft (198.12-304.8 cm) witches- so witches is the name given to those of human kin born with magic. for both humankin and animakin inate magic is a recessive trait. generally carried on the X chromosome for humans. (its actually more common in people with two x chromosomes because of that.)  unlike anima- kin where most of the time you could guess what kind of magic you would have by your species, its just russian rullet of supper powers for human kin (and also a lot of phodo-humans). this is also evident for mages that are not born with power, as they develop a power unique to them.  thats an overview of humans, and this mostly focused on the central hemisphere. though the rules and groups are rather simular in the other two hemispheres.