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Coolsteph Atoll

Creator: MNIDJM
Week: 26
Habitat: Soma Temperate Coast

The Coolsteph Atolls are a small collection of low island limestone outcrops that are the remains of the eastern seaside cliffs of the extinct Coolsteph Island. They can be found throughout the Soma coast, but by far the largest collection can be found 5 km off the western shores of Ramul. They are low elevation, rarely reaching higher than 30 m above sea level. They have provided a refuge for many ancient lineages that once inhabited the Coolsteph ecosystem, allowing them to not only survive, but survive long enough to establish a foothold on Ramul. Geological scans of the surrounding oceans and landmasses show that these islands were more common going back to the earlier centuries after the loss of Coolsteph. Scans further show that the north western shores of Ramul have limestone deposits consistent with those found in Coolsteph, leading to the theory that Ramul has in fact merged with a few of these low islands. Whether this merger allowed for the survivors of Coolsteph to reach its shores, or if island hopping lead to the seeding is as of yet undetermined

Location or largest atoll:

How remarkable----I, too, was thinking of a series of tiny islands that remained of Coolsteph Island, although my idea was coral reef-based islands built on top of de facto seamounts of the tallest parts of Coolsteph Island.

"lost of Coolsteph" should be "loss of Coolsteph".

Since you're not on the alpha discord I'll post my WIP of the image here:

I've been working on descendants of the Seashrog for next gen, and I sketched up some concept art for a nest constructed by one of them.



The fact that what's basically a purple unicorn otter lives in an elevated house by the river feels like the most stereotypically Sagan 4-ish thing I have ever done, even though I explain it extensively in the description.

Unfortunately, there's no way to make spoilers on Sagan 4 Alpha. If these seem ludicrously large, know that the original images were much, much larger.
These were all made years ago. Some of the organisms have since been submitted, so one can use those to make a rough timeline of when I made each sketch page.


"Fermisaurs" and Fermi Grayflora


Mostly Dundis and Pukais:


Flora, Filter-Feeders and a Rejected Dundi:


Curals, Sunlogs, and More "Fermisaurs":


This post has been edited by Coolsteph: Nov 27 2020, 10:29 AM

Usually, as I work on a species' description, there's only one copy; even if it was originally completely different, it slowly morphs into the final version, rather than being rewritten. However, there is one exception: the Seashrog.

The Seashrog currently holds the record for longest species description in Sagan 4 history, and it's split into headings and subheadings like a Wikipedia page. What I haven't really shared is that this was not the original goal. I had written a normal semi-organized description more like the ones I do for most species, but then realized it was too long to parse and opened up a new doc to rewrite and reorganize it. Because of that choice, the version of the description that I had written up to that point is still intact in my main Week 26 doc. Here it is in its entirety:

QUOTE

SEE OTHER DOC - Seashrog (Lutrasorex dracops) Creator: Disgustedorite Ancestor: Tamjack Habitat: Size: 2 meters long Diet: Omnivore () Reproduction: Sexual (Male and Female, Live Birth, Pouch and Milk) Seashrog replaced its ancestor and developed omnivory and tool use. Originating as an accidental discovery, the Seashrog learned to craft spears by cutting sticks at an angle. Initially, these were used for self-defense, but before long the Seashrog started using them for something new--spearfishing. It was able to develop the dexterity to accomplish this as an inevitable conclusion of its existing advanced nest-building skills. The majority of the Seashrog’s changes from its ancestor are a direct result of it developing spearfishing. The most immediately obvious of these is the change to the Seashrog’s nests--instead of floating squashed spheres made of one type of wood, they have a half-sphere shape and are made from a mixture of different wood types. Though the Mainland Fuzzpalm is a favorite, they will use any kind of wood. The new shape of the nests serves two major purposes: first, and most importantly, the new shape is bottom-heavy and does not easily flip over during storms or when hit by a large sea creature. Second, and related to the Seashrog’s new hunting method, is that the addition of a flat deck gives the Seashrog more stable footing when hunting. If the nest had a curved roof like its ancestor’s, then it would not have the stability necessary to stab aquatic prey, let alone pull it aboard, without losing its balance and falling into the water. As far as the new construction of the nest goes, the beginning is relatively the same--the Seashrog chops down trees such as the Mainland Fuzzpalm and Obsidibend which have flexible trunks and bends them to form ribs for the nest. However, instead of bending them into half-circles, the Seashrog only bends them part way so that when they are joined on one end they don’t meet on the other. Once the ribs have dried, the Seashrog then lays a few long straight logs or strips of wood on top in one direction to form support, then lays down more perpendicularly to them to create the deck. The deck has a hole in the center, which serves as the entrance to the nest. The entrance is covered by a simple lid constructed of sticks. If at this stage some part of the deck is too weak, additional pieces of wood may be brought inside to serve as vertical support beams. The preferred wood for the deck and support beams are generally that of denser material, such as Cocobarrage wood. All parts of the nest are sealed together using saliva and Mainland Fuzzpalm berries. While its ancestor coated the exterior in various flora, the Seashrog coats the interior as well to serve as padding during rough storms. Inland Fuzzpalm leaves are preferred for their insulating properties. The deck has no flora covering it to reduce exposure to potentially harmful microbes, with the exception of the part surrounding the entrance to help keep the lid in place during storms. Outside of nest changes, another adaptation related to spearfishing is in the Seashrog’s forelimbs. Though its marsupial-like nature somewhat restricted what it could do with its forelimbs, in this case it actually did not run into trouble at all--the changes were actually advantageous to newborns climbing into the pouch. Its forelegs are considerably more flexible and dexterous, though not anywhere near a primate-like level; it just needs to be able to move heavy logs and thrust a spear really hard, so that is what it can do. When presented with finer tools, such as a dagger, the Seashrog would not know what to do with it, and even if it did it would be rather clumsy with it. It’s simply designed to work with spears and nothing else. Although its architectural and tool-using capabilities cause it to take on a highly sophisticated aesthetic, it is very important to note that the Seashrog is not sophont. Though it is indeed intelligent and even self-aware, and it is certainly possible for it to produce a sophont descendant, the Seashrog itself is only as advanced as a chimpanzee in that department. Further, as it does not live in groups, the Seashrog is actually rather lacking in social intelligence; as a result, even if it were to develop sophonce, it could never produce a recognizable civilization. Apart from spearfishing-related adaptations, the Seashrog has a handful of other changes of note. Its pouch can now be sealed shut, allowing females with pouch young to swim without risking drowning them. The pouch is also now present in males, serving to protect their genitalia and streamline their bottoms. It no longer has scales on its underside, as these made mating difficult and weren’t very important for defense anyway. All of its scales, including the tail axe, now have bone cores to increase their strength at only a minute weight cost; its fluffy fur retains air enough to keep it afloat without hollow scales anyway. This does come at somewhat of a cost in swimming ability, as the tail is now very heavy, but a heavy tail is advantageous for chopping down flora and for balancing while spear-fishing, not to mention the core means it remains strong even while soaked. Like many Terran fauna with defensive spikes on their backs, the Seashrog mates belly-to-belly. The Seashrog has advanced its ancestor’s habit of storing Fuzzpalm berries into general food and supply storage. A section of the nest interior is dedicated to stockpiling food, nest maintenance supplies, and spears. Nest maintenance supplies consist of Mainland Fuzzpalm berries, driftwood, leaves, and leftover pieces of wood from the nest’s original construction. Parts of spears can also be used to repair damage to the nest in a pinch, though this is not preferred as the Seashrog won’t be able to construct more spears until the next time its nest washes ashore. Effect on Other Species The Seashrog’s use of other types of wood has caused various flora to spread, either through intentional transport or through spores getting caught in its fur and nest material. In particular, Cocobarrage, Obsidibend, and Mainland Fuzzpalm have spread to all beaches throughout its entire range. Though it initially used both the Fuzzpalm and the Mainland Fuzzpalm for wood and adhesive, when the Mainland Fuzzpalm spread it outcompeted the original Fuzzpalms present in its range. As a result, the original Fuzzpalm is now extinct. The same has occurred with all remaining beach populations of the Obsiditree, as a result of it spreading the Obsidibend. The Seashrog retains a partnership with the Cleaner Borvermid, which keeps its nest clean of harmful vermees and epithetic flora. As such, the Cleaner Borvermid has also spread throughout the Seashrog’s entire range.

Notably, I also have a descendant of the Seashrog in the works that this happened to as well--except I had already started out with using headings and subheadings for it. I might post its before-rewrite version here as well after I submit it next gen.

This post has been edited by Disgustedorite: Mar 20 2021, 09:37 PM

(The real sketch is much bigger.)

I had a loose idea for a largely black, panther-like, nocturnal Terrorbeak descendant that lived in rainforests and was good at pouncing on prey. With the Argusraptor Complex surely making the Terrorbeak instinct once it's approved, I had to speed up the Terrorbeak descendant's development. Unfortunately...I'm not sure how to design it to fulfill its intended concept while logically co-existing with the Argusraptor Complex. I had an idea of making it nocturnal (if the Argusraptor Complex isn't nocturnal), semi-arboreal, or both, but I'm not sure how to modify it so it can climb trees well enough to get away from the Argusraptor Complex and not compete with them. It doesn't have arms, after all.

So far, I gave it a long tail, like a jaguar, a small flap on its neck for heat dissipation (since I planned for it to live in blackflora-dominated forests, which would be fairly hot), big eyes (for vision at night), and a strong, short neck with a deep beak with a hook at one end, so it could use its neck and beak as a sort of third limb. Unfortunately...I'm not sure if there are any trees in good environments (e.g., Javen Tropical Rainforest) that it could plausibly climb.

Does anyone have any ideas?

This post has been edited by Coolsteph: Feb 27 2021, 08:30 PM

While in Beta, species could still be evolved from in the same gen they were replaced or outcompeted, this is not the case on Alpha. (this dates at least as far back as week 14). It would be simpler to make this a descendant of Terronooga.

That said...many birds climb trees by using their beak as a third leg.

I know how it can climb: "and a strong, short neck with a deep beak with a hook at one end, so it could use its neck and beak as a sort of third limb. Unfortunately...I'm not sure if there are any trees in good environments (e.g., Javen Tropical Rainforest) that it could plausibly climb."

My concern isn't that it can't climb, but that there may not be any trees both big enough for a 70-130 cm (ideally on the bigger scale) kakapo-jaguar to climb and allow it to escape from the Argusraptor Complex/establish a distinct niche. In my concept, it's good at jumping, but it seems a lot of useful trees are nearly vertical, and I can't make it anything better than semi-arboreal in one jump. I'm not sure whether it makes sense for it to be dependent on dense growths of saplings.

I realize that, with three continents merged together and super-long organism lists in some places, making organisms with particular niches like this in highly biodiverse environments is time-consuming. Perhaps, once the Week 4 Beta ecosystems page is completed, the Alpha page could be re-organized, too, to make it more apparent what kind of flora there is, and at what sizes.

This is a sketch page from years ago, before the hiatus.

Some of these (the Luroxal, Tamybara, Corkscrew Krugg, and Guhnuh) have already been released. The "Fermisaur" near the top, with two pictures, is nearly done. The one at the upper right is impossible to make now, since its ancestor, the Pearback, went extinct.

Can I get any help on how to make this one more interesting? I had a false start earlier, partly because I forgot its intended ancestor. (This was a sketch from years ago.)

---


Dixon Tropical Scrub
Ancestor: Prongoli

Quillboll

Short, thick fuzz-leaves which grow in cottony clumps. Vestigial, gritty thorns among its leaf clusters. Grows best in soils high in sand.

Quillbolls have dense, fibrous stalks, like weak, lightweight wood. Quillbolls live for two years, reproducing with spores in the second year. Quillbolls grows best in nitrogen-rich soil with good drainage.

It stores nutrients at its thick, swollen stem base, hidden underground, which fuel its rapid regrowth when herbivores eat it or when fires periodically burn its habitat.

Coincidentally resembles Quaxacas.

(I wonder how to make those Quillotestudo flora develop sexual reproduction..I'm surprised they still don't do that.)


----



I also have an old, unreleased sketch of a Syrup Ferine descendant/relative. It's inspired by red maples, and it's meant to have foliage that changes color. However, I'm having trouble
finding a habitat for it. I'm not sure whether something inspired by red maples, but much smaller, fits in the Drake Polar Woodland, Drake Taiga, or both. In some possible habitats, a tree/large shrub 1-2 meters tall might have trouble growing in environments dominated by far taller trees probably better suited for cold, dry, windy conditions (that is, crystalflora trees). Should it be taiga to woodland, and be somewhat uncommon in the taiga?

Since I don't have any description of it (at least none that survived my computer going kaput around August 2020), it shouldn't be too difficult to rewrite the concept, though.

Hey, so I merged these two topics, since they are functionally the same

Does anyone have anything to say about the Variegated Ferine and Quillboll?