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| The Novacene Project | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Nov 24 2013, 03:44 AM (992 Views) | |
| Sheather | Nov 24 2013, 03:44 AM Post #1 |
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Flamethrowing Walrus
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![]() The Novacene Project a speculative Earth evolution group project (that's a mouthful) concerning the possible ways life on our Earth could evolve over the course of the next 40 million years. It is presented in two forms - a story-like manner, concerning the gradual exploration of the world, and in an encyclopedic form, describing the world and its life from a later point in the world's study when most is known about it, after many years of study. The project is still under development and some things may change as time goes on. All major continents, plant, and animal groups will be developed in time. This is merely the introductory paragraph. Beginning of an Era Early on in the year 2046, a time anomaly opens within the interior of a Manhattan shopping center, only a few years after the world is recovering from a brief but intense global war. Russia and its allies hadn't gleaned access to the country, but countless lives and dollars had been lost in what was mostly a naval war lasting over 2 years. An enormous governmental cover-up results as the mall is evacuated, witnesses heavily compensated - and threatened - to stay quiet, as the center is fenced off and converted into a makeshift research station around it as - after a long period of global strife as the various world powers argued over the rights to the "rift", teams were assembled to explore this strange and unknown new world that has appeared at their doorstep. Everyone remembered the moment it all changed; at precisely 6:56 AM Eastern time, April 27th, 2042, the Big Apple was struck by a magnitude 4.5 earthquake - unheard of in New York City and completely unexpected. Buildings immediately crumbled, aging infrastructure that had never been built to handle such stresses at their newest. A small shock wave followed by an electromagnetic pulse appeared shortly after in quick succession, frying much of the city's power grid instantly and bringing the entire stock market to a standstill, plunging the global markets into chaos that would take over a decade to fix. The sound of the blast reported was said to be incredible, like the thunderclap from hell, setting off car alarms for radius of 2 miles, shattering millions of glass windows all around the city and causing permanent hearing damage to thousands of people located near it. People gathered in droves on clogged roadways with no idea what had happened, fearing another attack - for after two stressful years, the war had just recently come to a close as Russia, China, and their allies made a retreat, having narrowly been kept from entering the country. For some time, paranoia was great as the war raged over Europe; it was a miracle a nuclear winter had been avoided. The government did not reveal what it was that occurred though after a time it became apparent that the explosion's epicenter could be traced to the center of a massive, sprawling indoor shopping complex in uptown Manhattan. Authorities took every precaution as they entered the building while tensions grew higher outside. Within the shopping center, there was no bomb, no terrorism, no rapture. Rather, there had appeared something all the more unfathomable: something that seemed straight out of a science fiction movie. At first, authorities had no idea what it was. The whole of the main of the lobby had been charred and burned, apparently by an incredible heat, and the roof above had been blown away by what must have been an impossibly strong force. Around the rift lay great piles of melted, splintered debris, charred black, surrounding what, at first glance, an enormous glowing sphere of light which nobody could believe they were actually seeing. Approximately 25 by 18 feet in size, they say it was, it was a roughly hexagonal shape, emanating light into the room, almost like a movie screen. It appeared to be a large window; though it was not appearing on a wall but rather in the center of the room. Going around behind it, it vanished from sight entirely and could even be walked through - but viewed from the front, it appeared to be a portal, giving a clear view to what appeared to be a patch of charred woodland approximately 200 meters in width, with a great stand of conifers behind. Immediately the site was closed off from the public, and those who had seen the event were hastily evacuated from the building and heavily compensated - and threatened - to keep their mouths shut. Conspiracies abounded as, forced out by silent but forceful officials, nearly half a million people were shut out from their homes and received no governmental assistance; armed, silent men in dark suits appeared... nobody quite knew who they were. For several blocks in all directions of the epicenter great barbed perimeter fences were hastily constructed, and every few feet along these borders was posted an armed guard; the chaos was unlike anything seen ever before as hysterical crowds gathered in protest, demanding answers, and were dealt with with chemical warfare, issued from government officials whose great armored trucks had quickly clogged the streets. The "rift", as it was promptly nicknamed by early researchers, was an absolute wonder to the lucky few granted a chance to behold it. It was most definitely a spectacle; a massive, seemingly stationary portal - something absolutely unbelievable, but which was right there before their eyes - and it lead into what appeared to be a rather mundane patch of boreal forest; but nevertheless, it was not a patch of forest that had been there before. The immediate question was not what the rift was - that could be dealt with later - but rather where it had opened. By the initial looks of it, it appeared somewhere in the taiga forest of the North. However, for nearly a year, expeditions into the rift were inhibited by an impromptu international law; immediately nations argued over who owned the portal - and the rights to study it. It had appeared on American soil, but many argued this was too important a breakthrough to keep private. Tensions rose again between the nations as it was settled how the rift would be divided, all the while denying any mention of its existence to the public. In the time being, a wall was erected in front of the rift, to inhibit the entrance - or exit, of anyone or anything into it or out. It would not be for nearly a year that the first research teams - consisting of trained men and women from across the world - were finally granted access to the new world. What they would find would amaze them. Time Goes By Over the decades the nation and the economy recovered - but it was a slow process, and followed a long global recession. Over time a sizable and ever more heavily-guarded base had been constructed around the epicenter of the rift as the city evolved and was rebuilt around it. Generations grew up just knowing it was there, not what it was or why, and accepted it without much interest, though there were always those - particularly old-timers - wondering just what it was and what the government was doing with it. Never would it be revealed, however, for as research on it increased with every day, it became more and more apparent that the rift opened up somewhere far more incredible than had ever been figured: a pristine world, alike ours, but very much different... for all intents and purposes, it was Earth: 40 million years in the future. To this day, there is much we do not know. Though our knowledge of the world and its lifeforms increase each day, questions still remain: is this Earth in our own timeline, or another? What happened to human beings? These are questions we may never know; at least not with our current technology. Whatever the case, however, it's a truly amazing thing to behold, a glimpse into a new era, something that has never been seen before. This is the Novacene Project, where all of the research we've gleaned thus far in 145 years of intensive study of this para-Earth, termed "Novacene", has been put together in an intensive bestiary and encyclopedia of the new world. It has been a turbulent age of exploration marked with controversy, global tensions, and near-wars. Enormous disputes have developed in recent years concerning the primeval world, including most notably an interest by many to utilize for our own uses as the resources of our own polluted world crumbles further down each day and as civil wars divide nations and new world leaders come to power; but equally strong are the opposing opinions - those which I personally share. These would be that despite the problems of our own era, this world be kept free of them and to the best of our ability maintained free of substantial human urbanization, modification, and exploitation. Only time will tell what the Novacene's future holds, however - though as we continue our studies of it and expand the project, I can only hope it remains as it is now, verdant and wild, for generations to come, provided the rift remains. We hate to say, but even after so many years of study, we do not fully understand the rift, and as far as we know, it could one day vanish as quickly as it appeared. A sad day that would be; but perhaps, it would be for the best to protect it from what has so damaged our own era; ourselves. I only hope that in the event that does one day happen, it's after I'm dead and gone. You are now entering the future - and it is wilder than you could ever imagine. ![]() |
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| Sheather | Nov 24 2013, 03:56 AM Post #2 |
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Flamethrowing Walrus
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Now, the Novacene does have a site where I have a lot in development and eventually the site will probably be made visible, but I don't think enough is ready yet. I'm not entirely sure how active this forum is but if I get any responses I'll probably show some of the concepts here and hopefully get some opinions and whatnot on them. Most animals in human era Earth survive into the Novacene, with the exception of elephants, rhinos, hippos, bears, the largest big cats, horses, cetaceans, and great apes. Mustelids, foxes, felids, ungulates, corvids, gulls, waterfowl, ratites, lagomorphs, even-toed ungulates, crocodillians, squamates, and passerines are all very abundant. Humans are presumed to be killed off before or around the year 3,000, perhaps as soon as 2,500, through an epidemic of disease and starvation in conjunction with world war, but it's not heavily touched upon, at least for the time being as it's not of major importance to this project. --- North America and Eurasia are similar in megafauna, consisting of the boreal hyenas, foxes, large bear-like badger descendants, deer, horse-like maras, rheas, swine, and large rhinoceros-like rodents among others. Africa is little-developed, but is rich with antelope (mostly duiker and springbok descended), big cats, canids, viverrids, and the volant pterosaur-like prosimians known as flutterfoxes. Novacene South America is not at all developed save for a few groups including large, plantigrade bear-foxes and horse-like maras. The Antarctic is a very bizzare world of predatory petrels, flightless cursorial megabats, giant belly-sliding penguins, and macaque-like microbats. In Novacene Australia, isolated from most of the rest of the world, there has evolved a lineage of sapient magpie-derived corvids with a primitive stone-age culture and technological level. These birds are roughly human-equivalent in intelligence. Alongside them are many forms of emu-derived ratites including carnivorous forms, as well as foxes, wallabies, many camellids, aquatic and semi-aquatic rabbits, and predatory possums. Australia is minimally developed currently. -- I'm doing the vast majority of this project myself, but there are a handful of other people assisting me with certain animal groups and ecological regions. Edited by Sheather, Nov 24 2013, 06:12 AM.
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| Sheather | Nov 24 2013, 06:23 AM Post #3 |
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Flamethrowing Walrus
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Some random stuff: first a biome (not entirely my idea, the base concept was developed by another teammate and good friend of mine but was developed and written up by me. The Floating Forests The sargassum species profiled in-depth. Tree Sargassum And, their most notable fauna: The Sea Rabbits |
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| Olympianmaster | Nov 24 2013, 09:07 PM Post #4 |
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Wow! I've searched a long time for the novacene project, but couldn't find it and gave up; and now it's here ![]() I really like the floating forests, especially the Sea rabbits. Good job! |
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| martiitram | Nov 25 2013, 12:49 AM Post #5 |
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I had an idea for floating islands made out of mangroves , which would be inhabited by a few rodents , lizards and birds (I mostly thought of parakeets) , but I don't think I'll use them. |
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| Sheather | Nov 25 2013, 01:13 AM Post #6 |
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Flamethrowing Walrus
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UNFINISHED: But critique welcomed. ---- The Pseudopterids The Volant "Lemurs" ![]() -Kingdom Animalia ---Phylum Chordata -----Class Mammalia --------Order Simiaptera -----------Family Pterosciurdae ------------------Passersimius (sparrowmice) ------------------Volamys (pygmy flutterfoxes) -----------Family Pseudopteridae ------------------Vulpepteryx (Lesser flutterfoxes) -----------Family Pterosciurdae ------------------Pseudopteryx (Sugar lemurs) -----------Family Tenuinaridae ------------------Prosimiavolans (Twigrunners) -----------Family Azhdarchomimidae ------------------Velociverox (Gleaners) ------------------Brontovolamus (Greater flutterfoxes) The pseudopterids are a truly unusual line unlike anything alive in human-era Earth. At first glance, these often large, colorfully-crested flyers have an eerie resemblance to the extinct flying reptiles of ages past - the pterosaurs. Indeed, this resemblance goes so far as the animal's wing design, which through convergent evolution has developed almost identically to that of the pterosaur line, equipped with a single extremely oversized flight finger which supports the wing membrane entirely by itself. But don't be fooled; despite their superficial resemblances, a close examination of the animals would reveal a body covered in fine fur, a jaw with varied dentition, external ears, and most importantly, mammary glands. These creatures are mammals - like dogs, cats, or man - and are in fact the very highly derived ancestors of galagos; small African primates also known as "bush babies". Small and nocturnal, galagos were active, omnivorous, nocturnal primates abundant throughout the forests of Africa. In the time of humans these creatures were already very agile, skilled jumpers, and due to their small size, ability to adapt to suburbia, and unintrusive nocturnal habits, experienced no real difficulty surviving alongside, and past, humanity. Over time, compelled by the same need for easier locomotion that elsewhere produced gliding possums, squirrels, and colugos, gliding forms of these primates developed, over time developing increasingly wide patagiums of skin, increasing their surface area and loft time during leaps. Able to negotiate their environment more easily, these individuals with these traits more frequently passed on their genes. These first primitive gliders closely resembled flying squirrels. Over time the animal's outermost phalanges (their "pinkie fingers") increased in length and stature, increasing their surface area and therefore their flight potential. Within 20 million years the first small, primitive but volant forms had appeared in the forests of Southeast Africa. Capable of a weak but entirely self-propelled flight, the animals found themselves suddenly much more able to use their environments efficiently; capable of flight, food was far easier to obtain. Once the initial hurdle of flight was accomplished, the pseudopterids truly were able to diversify; and diversify they did. The forests and rainforests of the region proved incredibly fertile habitats with seemingly limitless niches, ripe for filling. Nocturnal, these early forms largely avoided competition with other small omnivores like many birds and monkeys. From these basal rainforest forms there later evolved the narrow-winged, soaring species which diversified over the grasslands. Already considerably more opportunistic and carnivorous than their ancestral species even these basal forms exhibited elongated jaws and markedly enlarged canines adapted to a diet of slow, easily subdued insects; particularly large crickets and locusts found near ground level. In some of these open country species, carnivorous habits refined still further as these animals fed with increasing frequency upon larger prey; rodents, and upon carrion, relying initially upon gulls and other scavengers to locate it. With extremely keen eyesight as well as an increasingly powerful sense of smell, these initially small creatures diversified rapidly into several rather large forums that were soon more than capable of actively competing with the scavenging birds, day or night. Species continued to spread, going down separate evolutionary paths which would result in almost wholly herbivorous creatures no bigger than a robin to eagle-sized carnivores of the open savannah. Volant, and with a particularly energy-efficient wing design suited to travel over long distances, little could stop the creature's spread as they established themselves throughout Asia, these populations probably originating as isolated vagrants, which finding little competition, managed to find a place for themselves. Why the crests? The first thing anyone notices on a pseudopterid is the pair of conspicuous crests upon their snouts which in some species are quite large and often very brightly colored with blues and greens (the blue is entirely structural, for mammals cannot produce blue pigments. Similar patches of color are found on many species' faces, wings, testes, and tails as well). These crests, present only on males, are the result of intense sexual selection and are actually a fairly recent evolutionary development in the line, appearing only about 30 million years after humans - but still early enough on to be present in all but one pseudopterid family. Pseudopterids are extremely social and highly intelligent animals and most species live in very closely-knit family groups; generally a male and his harem as well as the dependent of offspring of several years. These crests are put to use both to attract mates as a handicap device (look at me! I'm so healthy I can survive even with this heavy rainbow flag on my face!), as well as to intimidate other males without actual physical contact. Pseudopterid Skulls Pseudopterid crests are composed almost wholly of cartilage, as these graphics reveal, and only a few species exhibit any skeletal support at all. As a result they are quite lightweight and do not substantially affect the animals in flight, although they do reduce the animal's line of sight and make them more vulnerable to predation. Unique Aspects of Biology and Behavior In their 40 million year evolution, the pseudopterids have adopted a number of unique traits to further assist them in flight including a cartilaginous, roughly diamond-shaped disk at the tip of their long tails, improving their aerodynamics in flight, and in several genera, a unique backwards-pointing spur on the radius bone of their wings, functioning similarly to the pteroid bone in the pterosaurs to further support the propagatium. The wings themselves, these membranes, are not merely skin; while quite thin they are heavily reinforced with miniscule, stretchy, flexible yet durable protein-based "braces", arranged in a roughly honey-comb-like pattern throughout the membrane, leaving it in fact quite sturdy and durable, able to put up with the creatures' rigorous flapping and strong enough to remain intact even when negotiating through dense canopies in the forests many species call home. Pseudopterids also exhibit many adaptations unrelated to flight; much like their ancestors, pseudopterids retain thumbs, which in all species have become entirely opposable and quite dexterous, especially in highly arboreal species. Unlike birds but much like pterosaurs, pseudopterids are quadrupedal and very effective at terrestrial and arboreal locomotion, folding up their extended wing bones alongside them to free the hands to grasp. The legs of the animal are only halfway attached the pagatium, which attaches at their knees. All species of this group save for the genera Brontovolamus and Velociverox also lack claws; on every digit except for the thumb (where a crude "grooming claw" is generally present), they are reduced to mere nails, no longer particularly needed for the animal's lifestyles. In the Brontovolamids and Velociveroxids, claws have redeveloped upon the forelimbs, an adaptation to these groups' highly carnivorous habits. P. coeruleus Skeleton Another very unique aspect of pseudopterid biology, and one which can undoubtedly be attributed to their incredible success as a lineage, is the fact that within a social group, both genders of the animal lactate to feed the offspring. While in almost all modern mammals the mother, and rarely an aunt or sister, is the sole provider of milk, in a pseudopterid clan all adult individuals can conceivably lactate, and following the birth of young into the clan even males are stimulated into milk production. This enables the animals to feed their surprisingly large litters (in some species, up to eight pups) despite each individual animal carrying only two nipples, and also practically negates the risk of orphaning. In the event a pup's mother dies, it can count on its father, aunts, and cousins to feed and care for it. In fact, the maternal instinct among females of many species is so strong during the breeding season that they will adopt and mother even quite unusual animals including kittens, young antelope, and even nestling birds - animals they'd quite normally be more inclined to eat than nurture. Pseudopterids generally raise their offspring for long periods of at least a year and in some species up to three, for these animals are heavily dependent on learning rather than instinct for survival and thus require long childhoods much like modern apes. Females typically remain with their home colonies for life, unless they bond with a lone male and dispatch to start their own colonies, but males almost always leave around sexual maturity ( 3 - 5 years of age), although in some species some may stick around as non-breeding "uncles", helping to raise the other's offspring. Pseudopterids retain a very primate-like brain and are highly intelligent animals, more so than their ancestors although perhaps not quite as much as some modern monkeys. They are highly crafty and able to make use of simple tools in their environments, some smaller species being very proficient using twigs to spear grubs in rotting trees or to obtain termites from their mounds much like chimpanzees today. ![]() --- Not all or even most pseudopterids are carnivores and not all have the long jaws; these species are the largest, however. |
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| Komodo | Nov 25 2013, 04:44 PM Post #7 |
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Pretty cool, a bit like Life of Pi. Hmmmm, Pislands? |
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| Sheather | Nov 26 2013, 12:52 AM Post #8 |
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Flamethrowing Walrus
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I have never seen the movie if you're referring to something within it. |
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| martiitram | Nov 26 2013, 01:02 PM Post #9 |
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So you've seen life of Pi too! |
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| Citrakayah | Nov 26 2013, 09:13 PM Post #10 |
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He is referring to an island that is, basically, composed of a collection of plants. It lures travelers in, and at nights the roots (and the water) begin to release digestive enzymes. The branches are safe, and meerkats live on them, but the ground is not. Would you mind if we added this to the Wiki? You would receive credit, of course. |
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