Pax RP

This is an old RP concept that has always been a particular favourite of mine, but with Blackstar gone unfortunately both 'New Worlds' and 'New New Worlds' have been lost. In a nutshell, you roleplay an entire world and everything within it. That's not a great explanation, but hopefully I've drawn you in with it

<div class='spoiler_toggle'>For those of you unfamiliar with the concept...</div><div class="spoiler" style="display:none;">The idea is that you create a world and some life forms to go in it. Your world and all that dwells within it will change over time, either naturally if you are happy to simply document these changes for the rest of us to read or unnaturally if you roleplay a character in your world who is consciously choosing to make certain changes, and all of our worlds are simultaneously moving towards a certain goal. What makes this RP most unusual is that it is a multi-generational RP - unless you're roleplaying as a character that doesn't belong in your world, you can expect the inhabitants of your world to die... a lot&#33; Evolution doesn't happen in a single generation, after all.

I think the goal in the original 'New Worlds' thread was to ultimately have whatever is living in your world discover and learn to use magic. We don't have to do that here though, and I'd rather that we didn't, as I recall having great difficulty figuring out just how magic was going to suddenly appear in my swamp world populated by tiny squidfolk without me doing something that seemed completely out of place. In addition to that it kind of made me feel a bit restricted in what I did, and I think it put some people off participating, which is a shame because it was a really great thread. I think that we changed this for 'New New Worlds' (correct me if I'm wrong on this Swix, as I'm sure you'll know it better than I do), so I don't think anybody will mind keeping the change for 'New New New Worlds'.

I'm quite open minded for what to do about these goals but for now so that we actually have something to work towards let's put our first goal at creating and learning how to use some kind of tool - in other words, we're trying to have at least one species reach the Paleolithic Age. Anthropologists have long held that tool use was a crucial step in human evolution, and it's what helped us to dominate the food chain (among other things), and I believe that this should allow everybody plenty of freedom in how their planets and the inhabitants change.

One more thing I'd like to alter in the old rules is to encourage more interaction between roleplayers. In 'New Worlds' and 'New New Worlds' we all talked about how we'd like to link up our worlds (by which I mean create some sort of method through which a creature could travel from one world to another) and have our primitive peoples interact with each other eventually, but we never got that far into it. I'm not saying that we have to force everybody to link their worlds up straight away, but I'd like to see our worlds receive a bit more influence from each other... whether we like it or not >:D

So what I propose is something a bit like the Celestial Winds (if I were to name it I'd call it the Capricious Breeze ), but a little more controlled. For your first post here, you'll get to specify one thing that must appear in everybody else's world. This can be whatever you like - animal, vegetable or mineral - and other roleplayers in this thread must fit it into their world somehow. They are free to alter it slightly if necessary to fit into their world (for example, if you specify 'mammal' a person with an aquatic world may create dolphins, while a person with a person with a world covered in dense jungle may create a monkey). If you have selected something that cannot exist in their world (for example, a fish in a world with no water) however then they are allowed to ignore it.

That's just for starters though. What I propose after this is an additional bonus, to encourage people to post regularly. Whoever gets the first post of a new page is allowed to do this again, but only to one specific roleplayer's world (not your own, obviously). This can be something that will help them (eg: a new source of food, a plant with medicinal properties, etc.) or hinder them (eg: a new predator, disease, etc.), but you cannot control it once it's in their world. Feel free to get detailed with this one, but try not to create some kind of gamebreaker.</div>

<blockquote class='quote_blockquote'><dl><dt>The Rules</dt><dd>&nbsp;</dd></dl><div>How to start:
1. On your first post here you must introduce (a) your world, (b) some things to live in it and (c) "one thing" that is to occupy all worlds. This "one thing" can be whatever you like.
2. You must incorporate each roleplayer's "one thing" into your world, even if you don't want to. It does not have to play a major role in your world, and you can wipe it out if you play your cards cleverly, but it must exist in some way for some amount of time. If you find that this "one thing" cannot possibly exist in your world in any shape or form then, and only then, can you ignore this rule.
3. If your post is the first of a new page you may create "another thing" (as for the "one thing", this can be whatever you like) and tell one other roleplayer of your choice that they must introduce it into their world. You may not control it once it is in their world, and they must accept it as per the conditions laid out in the previous rule.

How to play:
4. Aside from the rules mentioned above you may not influence another roleplayer's world in any way yet, unless they have specifically given you permission to do so.
5. You must work all "one things" and "another things" that are applied to you into your world as soon as possible.
6. Keep in mind that the aim of this roleplay is to acheive certain goals. These are outlined in the section below.
7. You may have one or more of your characters interacting with your world on your behalf if you wish. For the purpose of this roleplay, your character/s can be immortal if you like (to prevent them from dying before they get to see a few generations of life). They can also leave and enter the world as they please.
8. All discussion for this thread is to be done in the appropriate place. If you feel that you must raise something here please use spoiler tags.

Goals:
i. Creating and learning how to use some kind of tool - at least one species in your world must reach the Paleolithic Age.[/quote]

<blockquote class='quote_blockquote'><dl><dt>So far your world must include the following:</dt><dd>&nbsp;</dd></dl><div>All: An underground water source (from 3kul)
All: An Ancient Alien Artifact, of any size, that does things when activated by physical contact (from Tav)[/quote]

I'll be making my world soon, but if you're interested and want to beat me to the punch in creating the first New New New World then feel free to

My "one thing" will be... an underground water source. I've decided that I'll be kind to start off with and give you all something that can really only be beneficial

<div class='spoiler_toggle'>Old description of 3kul's World</div><div class="spoiler" style="display:none;"><big>Pyroch</big>

Description: A colossal red planet orbiting very close to the sun in it's system, the surface of Pyroch is nothing more than desert, and far too hot for anything to live on. Underground, however, is much cooler for the most part, and there are many caves and waterways (underground water source) that run beneath the planet's surface, which is where the vast majority of life forms live. That said, there are also plenty of volcanoes, both above and below ground, that are active and a constant danger. Aside from these there are few notable geographic formations on Pyroch, save for a long trench close to the south pole, where a large piece of an alien spacecraft crashed many years ago (ancient alien artefact). Pyroch has three tiny moons, though none are capable of supporting life at the moment, and no other planets in its solar system.

Lifeforms:
Slyrup: Scavenger slug-like creatures that feed on whatever remains Garvexes leave behind. They secrete a slippery mucus (which also allows them to cool by evaporation) and are capable of flattening themselves against cave walls and floors to avoid being swallowed up by the gigantic snakes that tear through. They are effectively blind, but have two long antennae that allow them to feel their way about and two small antennae that can sense nearby movement. They are at the bottom of the food chain, but with very few predators directly preying on them Slyrups live under the radar, and they are gradually becoming more intelligent...

Garvex: Large carnivorous snakes that move quickly throughout the many underground tunnels and caves on Pyroch. They dominate the food chain and swallow up anything that they run into, relying on smell rather than eyesight to hunt in the darkness. Due to being cold-blooded creatures they must venture up to the surface every few hours to warm their naturally cool blood, and with Pyroch's high surface temperature the risk of burning alive if they remain out of the caves for more than a few minutes is great. Conversely, if they venture too deep into the caves, they will fall into a coma and die. They are terribly inefficient and require large amounts of food to survive, and as such they are also fiercely territorial and fight with each other often.

Keel: Herbivorous bat-like creatures that feast on the moss and fungal vegetation that grows in the tunnels. They are quite large, travel in groups and make easy prey for Garvexes, but they are also prolific breeders and, being warm-blooded, can live much deeper in the caves than Garvexes can. They communicate by sound and their screams travel a long distance through caves, which helps immensely as they rely on pack members to find food to eat.

Belris: Slender carnivorous fish with bioluminescent lighting that helps them to hunt. They have eye-like patterns on their tails to confuse prey and make it difficult to tell which direction they are coming from or going to in the darkness of the caves. They usually hunt Laetre as well as anything small, young or weak that approaches water where they live.

Laetre: Small soft-shelled crustaceans that have struggled to evolve here on Pyroch, and are the preferred prey of Belris. They're herbivores, and feed off algae that grows along the bottom of the many underground rivers and lakes on Pyroch. They are not exactly large in number, and are at risk of extinction.

Ponon: Four-limbed omnivorous fish-like creatures capable of venturing out of the water for up to an hour at a time. They are quick and hunt in packs underwater, feeding on Laetre and Belris, but are clumsy and awkward out of the water, and have great difficulty hunting if they aren't swimming. They migrate to warmer waters closer to the planet's surface to breed, and when out of the water they feed on Slyrup eggs, moss and mushrooms, but they tend to get eaten by Garvexes very easily.</div>

A soft green Slyrup looks up from his meal - a rotting Keel carcass - to feel to air about him... Something is amiss. His mate, a pale orange Slyrup, has not yet noticed this, and so the green one waves his antennae frantically to try and warn her in time. The cave began to shake and a low hissing sound could be heard, indicating that the danger was swiftly approaching. The green Slyrup backed away from his meal quickly and pressed his body against the ground, hoping that his mate was doing the same.

In a matter of seconds an enormous Garvex rushes through, hissing ferociously as it tears down the tunnel. It's heavy body presses down hard against the green Slyrup, but it slips right across him thanks to his slimy secretions and flexible boneless body. Of course, the crushing sensation is unpleasant, and almost enough to make him want to regurgitate his meal, but thankfully it is over in a matter of seconds. He looks back over to where his mate and meal were... only to find both gone. He squeaks in shock, moving closely and feeling about with his antennae, desperately searching for her, but all he finds is a bloody smear where the carcass once was, and the faint smell of her...

He mews pathetically, blowing bubbles to indicate his sorrow at having lost her. While he is incapable of shedding tears, he is capable of primitive sadness, and feeling a sense of loss. A rare and unusual mental development that has only just begun to show in this species, and it does not seem to be a terribly helpful one at that. He begins the lonely trek back to his nest, his stomach full but his heart empty. She is gone now, and he soon realizes that he must care for their clutch of eggs on his own. He is not intelligent enough to know what else to do, aside from to ensure the survival of himself and his progeny...

My One Thing will be "Ancient Alien Artifact, of any size, that does things when activated by physical contact."

<blockquote class='quote_blockquote'><dl><dt>Tav's World</dt><dd>&nbsp;</dd></dl><div>((I'll name it once actual language shows up.))
<big><big>Description:</big></big> The moon of a large, volcanic world with no life, gravity is very low on this planet. A large crater on one side of the planet is filled with a lush forest. Small lakes are plentiful, making up for the lack of oceans on the world. There is a deep ravine, where water springs up to the surface (Therefore fulfilling 3kul's 'One Thing'). There are very little species on this planet as of yet, with only two races of non-plantlife that exist on land.

<big><big>Lifeforms: </big></big>
<big>
Crater life:</big>
Hivemind:
<Data classified>
<small><small>Muahahaha</small></small>

Trees:
Tall trees that live only inside the crater.

Vines:
Small vines that seem to be covering the surface of the large metallic orb in the center of the crater. They have no known method of reproduction.

<big>Ravine life:</big>
Seeing as the ravine is filled with water, these creatures are aquatic.
<small>(To be filled later)</small>

<big>Other life:</big>
Bushes: Growing around the lakes, these bushes have shiny green leaves. Their leaves are tasty. Om nom nom nom.
Grass: The grass is very dark green-blue, and is very soft.

Grazers: Warm-Blooded herd creatures, these are small quadrupedal canines that travel in groups of 15 to 30. They eat the leaves of the small bushes that surround the lakes. Hairless and scaleless, their skin can be any color on a scale from red to brown. Each Grazer has a single eye, and can see clearly. 6 to 12 small studded spikes sticking out of their haunches. They have some sort of mental link to one another, allowing them to communicate and see through the eyes of their flock mates. Other than the minds of the grazers, there is some sort of 'communal consciousness' that each flock has, made up from the consciousnesses of the grazer flock. This 'communal consciousness' chooses where they travel, and what to do in case of emergencies. In larger groups, the consciousness is smarter and faster to react. The grazers have small bone nubs on either side of their chin, which they use to batter any hunters that are on the ground.

Hunters:
Large insectoid flying creatures shaped like manta rays, the hunters have six segmented legs that they use to swoop down and snatch grazers. They can sense heat, and are electroreceptive. The 'tail' of the hunter will stab into snatched prey, and then inject enzymes that will pre-digest and dissolve all organs, nerves, and tissues of the creature. After holding it for some time, waiting until the enzyme has done it's work, it will drink the slushy made of dissolved tissue and blood over a period of 6-10 hours, and then drop the husk. Hunters rarely land, using gases stored in the wings to fly. When injured or unable to fly, the hunter will land, and slowly eat grass to turn into more gas, in order to float. Hunters are very solitary creatures.

<big>Miscellanea:</big>
Senses: The primary senses of this world are Visual, Psychic, Thermal, Kinetic, and Electroreceptive. Electroreceptivity, Psychic, and Kinetic senses are the only global senses that all lifeforms have. Hunters are the only beings that have thermal senses, and Grazers are the only beings that can see.

Conflicts: While diving, the hunter will do a mental 'screech' that will cripple the psychic sense of the grazers, limiting them to only their own perspective. The Flock Mind, however, will still be conscious, and will attempt to command the grazers to try and save the prey.

When attacked by a hunter, and lifted into the air, the grazers will arch their back, then slam their haunch into the underbelly of the hunter, over and over again, hoping to break loose. They break loose once every five attacks, but there is also a chance that they will not survive the landing. Rarely, a Hunter will be stunned, and crash into something, and fall to the ground. If it's able to take off again, it will usually turn about and snatch another grazer. Because of that, the entire herd will attack the hunter, smashing them with the bone nubs on their chin, or the spikes on their haunches.

Reproduction: There is no noticeable genetic exchange between creatures. Instead, said exchange is psychic. therefore, a creature can die, and then their leftover psychic emanations can father a child.

Grazers, when pregnant, do not birth children until a portion (Usually about 25%) of the flock is also pregnant, in which case the flock mind calls for a 'camp'. When a Camp is active, the non-pregnant grazers establish a circle around the camp, attacking any flocks or hunters that come near. The pregnant grazers dig a dirt shelter, where they give birth to pups. Said camp stays there for a few weeks, while the pups eat grass that is brought to them by the mothers. Then the camp moves slowly to a nearby lake, where the pups are weaned from grass to bushes. Any Grazer that births a pup while a camp is not active, will either have to leave the Pup, or will have to sever their connection to the flock, and become a stray.

The flock-mind is the 'father', which sends off the psychic signal that is caught by it's flock.

Hunters, when pregnant, leave eggs inside a husk, which they drop off half-full. The father can be any other Hunter on the planet, as a Hunter can circle the world in a single day-night cycle.
[/quote]

The green Slyrup continues his lonely slither through the underground caverns, drawing ever closer to his nest. He stops for a moment to allow another Garvex to roar past, then scrounges about for any meat scraps it may have dropped. There's not much, but Slyrups are not big eaters, and a few smears of old meat are enough to keep him going for a few more hours. He moves on, turning down a tunnel too small for most predators to travel through.

Here is where his clutch is. A dozen eggs, though only a third of these will probably hatch if he is lucky. Through a rather unfortunate evolutionary development, Slyrup larvae eat the other eggs in their nest as soon as they hatch. This ensures the destruction of competing gene lines as well as provides the young with a highly nutritious meal that boosts their growth and development greatly. They will be adults in a matter of weeks, though they will live for another two to three years after that.

Unfortunately Slyrups, being scavengers, do not possess the biological weaponry necessary to kill each other, and so this process of hatching often results in larvae being brought into the world prematurely. Those that live are significantly disadvantaged as they are not yet properly formed, and suffer from a wide range of disabilities, from impaired senses to lowered intelligence to poor mobility. Consequently, such disabilities are very common in Slyrups, though they are rarely genetic disorders.

Normally about a quarter of every clutch survives, and only half of those survive long enough to reproduce. However, this particular Slyrup had developed a rather clever way of avoiding this problem, by fertilizing these eggs at different intervals. Four of these eggs should hatch soon, another four would normally not hatch for another week or so, and the last four have not been fertilized at all. If he can separate the eggs into four piles of three, giving each larvae one fertilized and one unfertilized egg to eat, he should, the green Slyrup hopes, end up with four perfectly healthy larvae to carry on his genetic material.

The eggs are close to hatching, and so he begins to separate them carefully. Larvae move quickly and are voraciously hungry, but unfortunately his scavenging earlier had gone quite poorly, and he didn't have much else to satiate their hunger with. Were he more intelligent he might have decided to cut his losses and go for three healthy larvae instead, dividing the leftover three eggs between them, but as things were this plan in itself was far more advanced that what the average Slyrup concocted. Once he had separated them into four small piles he regurgitated small amounts of rotting meat near them, hoping that this would prevent them from devouring the other piles of eggs containing their siblings.

With nothing else to do, he waits and watches. He sees some of the eggs moving, and knows that they will hatch soon...

-----------------------------------------------------

On the scorching surface, a large piece of a derelict alien spacecraft lies in ruin. Judging by its condition it has been there for many hundreds, possibly even thousands of years, and there are no signs of life on board. This massive ancient alien artefact lies completely untouched, for nothing that lives on this world can last long enough on the surface to get close to it... yet.

The grazer herd of 19 was not having a good day.

The day awoke with the breaking of a grazer camp; But the pups weren't strong enough yet, and quickly fell behind. The flockmind persisted, driven by some unknown instinct. The mothers split off from the group, sticking with their children. 7 down, 12 remaining.

The ones left were picked off, quickly. It was almost as if the Hunters noticed that they had decreased numbers. There were five attacks in a single hour; Three of them were caught, one grazer broke free, but broke it's legs on the ground. The flockmind ignored the last one, still driven by an odd instinct.

Approaching the odd crater, the seven remaining walked around the edge of the crater, looking for a way down.

---

With a mental screech, a hunter swooped down, noticing a single grazer that was too far away from the rest. Prey.

The grazer screamed mentally, twisting in the hunter's claws to no avail. As the hunter flew over the crater, the flockmind was shattered, as the grazer was torn too far away from the rest of the herd. It twisted in agony, and one of the legs of the hunter fractured with the stress. The hunter, in pain, didn't notice a tree that was stretching a bit higher than the rest of the canopy.

Smash. The hunter's hard carapace shattered against the trunk of the tree, and it dropped the grazer, into the center of the crater. Falling through branches, the soft canopy of the trees caught the grazer, who landed, almost unhurt. A flockmind, made out of the single stray, was dim and barely conscious, so it left the grazer to do what it willed. The small canine walked around the core of the crater, noticing an odd spherical artifact, large and metallic. Trees and vines grew around it, gripping it tightly. The grazer started snacking on a lower leaf, when it's wagging tail tapped the metal artifact. The flockmind burst into agony, thought, and most importantly, sentience. It had the mind of a few plants, a few trees, and a single grazer. It searched out the confines of the artifact; wondering exactly what it was.

Hmmm, my one thing, will be, a luminescent cave system. I have another thing, but I'll save that for later

<blockquote class='quote_blockquote'><dl><dt>Swix's World</dt><dd>&nbsp;</dd></dl><div>

<big>Glashans</big>

Description: A slightly larger than Earth sized world orbiting the sun in the centre of it's binary system, though it's land is riddled with active volcanoes replenishing and adding to it's atmosphere the surface is too cold and hostile for any life bar the tiny algal planlife that has begun to spread from the warm waters bubbling up from the underground (thus fulfilling 3kuls "One Thing"). The large bodies of surface water are covered with a thick layer of ice, protecting the lifeforms that dwell below in the planets single ocean. Glashans is a world of no truly dark night, for it's companion star orbits the centre in such a way that it is always facing the planet, making Glashans nights only a bit darker than it's day thanks to the light of the secondary star.

<big>Lifeforms: </big>

<big>Natrell:</big> A creature on the lower end of the food chain, with only the tiny plantlife below it, this creature is a shoaling organism and is always accompanied by thousands of it's kindred. It's limbless and gets around by moving it's tiny body like that of an eel, it's sides are also flattened to allow better movement. Natrell are blind, relying on their 'taste' receptorrs that cover their bodies rather than a sense of sight or touch, this allows them to tell where food and predators are as the traces are carried to them through the water. They feed on the algal plantlife that floats around Glashans where water can be found. Natrells skin colour is varied, vibrant and myriad, however the blue and white ones are slowly becoming more numerous as they are harder to pick out by predators.

<big>Sharashi:</big> These creatures are distantly related to Natrell, with their long, flattened bodies and the way they move around, however the similarity ends there. Though they are omnivorous and will also eat the plants, these creatures small sharp teeth inside their long narrow maws show they have a darker side as well. Sharashi hunt in small packs when they come across Natrell, signalling to each other with the colours on their skin in order to coordinate their attacks and make the Natrell confused, so the chance of their snatching one of the tiny eel like creatures when they take turns diving into the shoal is much greater. Sharashi have black pupilless eyes with a nictitating membrane as well as eyelids, to protect them from the sharp teeth of their brethren in case of accidents. To help them with turning quicker than their prey, and also to help them escape when the Wrollon catches them off guard, Sharashi have two pairs of thin fins near the front of their bodies and about two thirds of the way down, making them turn far quicker. Sharashi also share the Natrells taste receptors that cover their bodies, and like the Natrell this sense can be overwhelmed and confused.

<big>Wrollon:</big> The Wrollon is the current alpha predator of Glashans, it's body is covered with a thick layer of skin so it can go closer to the ice sheets than the others, thus making it an ambush predator. Unlike the Natrell and Sharashi it doesn't possess a long tail, but rather two pairs of large fins, the front being larger than the back. This makes it's acceleration formidable but it's turning clumsy, as it's body does not have the flexibilty of it's two prey. It's eyes are smaller than that of the Sharashi, as it's territory is much closer to that of the bright surface. Though it's neck is short but powerful it's jaw is long, narrow and filled with recurved teeth that make it almost impossible for prey caught to escape. The Wrollon is a solitary creature and highly territorial, so seeing two is rare unless it's mating season. Wrollons skin is coloured dark blue, giving them some semblance of camouflage.

[/quote]


In the warmer waters that exist below Glashans ice sheets, a small group of Sharashi were on the hunt for Natrell. The family pod had been following the blind eel like creatures near the frozen coast until they moved away from the land and into more open waters, where flashes of bright red from the alpha leader signalled that it was time to spread out. The pod of 24 separated into four groups of six, one group headed above the shoal, the second below, and the other two surrounded the sides. Each group moved around the shoal in cooordinated confusion until the Natrell completely lost their sense of where the threat of predators were coming from and where the safety of the shoal was, for Sharashi even went so far as to dive through the seething mass without snapping up any of the tiny creatures.

The hunt was going well, too well in fact, for in this confusion a large, dark shadow passed over the herbivores and omnivores. A Wrollon was on the prowl, and only a few of the more experienced or curious Sharashi noticed this before the large beast came hurtling down into the depths, it's jaw snapping Sharashi that were too slow to notice the warnings of their fellows and Natrell alike, soaking the waters with the taste of blood.

The scattered creatures however, at least the Sharashi as they were a naturally curious species also caught the taste of something else. The Wrollons dive had dislodged a boulder, letting out the scent of warrm water and other strange things from a newly uncovered underwater cavern. Even so, their first instinct was to survive, and this would be very hard to do should they decide to stick around the much bigger creature so most scattered into to the massive ocean whilst a few went straight for the glowing cavern.

Inside was just as bright as outside despite the fact it was surrounded by earth, not because of the light from either sun but because these rocks were glowing luminescent blue, giving the pair of separated Sharashi a good view of the strange new place.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

In Glashans atmosphere a tiny nechanical object burned as it fell through, the heat and light seen by nothing and noone. The apparent meteor hit the ground at such a speed near one of the bodies of warm water that welled up from below that the crater it caused, making the water overflow and then freeze as the object underneath it cooled. A shallow lake has been formed on the surface, and the ancient alien object would not unfreeze or be discovered until much, much later.

This looks real interesting. My thing will be a large crystal jutting out from the ground.

<blockquote class='quote_blockquote'><dl><dt>Aequor's World</dt><dd>&nbsp;</dd></dl><div><big><big><big>Ame</big></big></big>

<big>Description:</big> A planet whose land is split between two twisting continents surrounded and separated with an ocean studded with islands. Rainforests cover most of the equator, pierced with great mountain ranges. To the north is a great desert that leads to rocky plains that stretch out up to polar icecaps, while the south is a great land of snow and perma-ice. A cluster of mountains appear crystalline (large crystal). There is a noticeable small crater in the rocky wastelands of the north where something has clearly crashed into the planet (alien artefact). The mountains of the equator are pierced with caves, sometimes just small dead-end caverns, sometimes long tunnels into the depths of Ame, revealing great lakes of underground water (underground water source) or luminescent cave systems that can guide one through the dark of the underground (luminescent cave system).


<big>Lifeforms:</big>
Kearo: A small reptilian creature with six legs that inhabits the underground of Ame. With a short and stubby body, long snouts and sharp teeth, they move quickly, hunt in large packs and tear up anything they come across. With a single eye that can see in the darkness below ground as well as able to sense movement and with a good sense of smell, they are the undisputed masters of the underground, able to take down entire prides of Avars, and can sometimes even venture out of the caves. They feed mostly on Hohs.

Hoh: A tiny skittering insect that lives underground. With a circular body like a shield and ten thin legs, along with a single tentacle that senses movement and pheromones. The Hoh are perhaps notable for their unique hive structure. Each Hoh belongs to a specific hive, and when another hive is found, both hives try to annihilate each other, the winner then takes the corpses of the fallen from both hives, taking it and storing it in their hive where it is chewed, spat out and formed into a paste to be used as food. This is their sole source of food, the Hoh are an exclusively cannibalistic species. Once a hive grows large enough the queen of the hive lays another queen egg, and this egg is taken away with a single Hoh to form a new hive. The mother hive and the new-formed hive are enemies from the moment the new hive is formed, with the new hive's queen having a different pheromone meaning that she and any Hoh she lays will be considered enemies by the old hive and if they meet each other, the two hives will kill each other for food. Already suffering from population troubles due to their cannibalistic nature, the Hohs are also the staple of the Kearo diet, endangering them.

Avar: A huge lumbering behemoth. They walk on three legs, and feed on the leaves of plants in the forests of Ame. They retreat to caves at night, which leaves them prey to packs of Kearo. With a long triangular body, one leg at the front and two at the back, they have a very stubbyy neck which ends in a spheroid head with several tentacles ending in eyes. They rear up on their back two legs to eat leaves from the trees. With very thick skins and tending to live in small social groups, their only predator are packs of Kearo which swarm them.

Madain: With a thin slender body with four legs, and a great tail that curves up, ending in a stinger, along with two arms with prehensile paws, Madain's are tree-swingers, living up in the canopy of the forests of Ame. Omnivorous, they are fine with feeding off dead Avars or on plants. Perhaps one of the more developed species on Ame, they are a dangerous foe due to their agility and position up in the great tree canopy.

Lorelian: Winged creatures that form eyries high in the mountains of Ame. The have three limbs, a stout leg to stand on, and two arms linked to their feathered wings. Their heads are long snouts with four eyes and sharp teeth. Scavengers, they feed on whatever corpses they can find. They have been known to trick creatures into chasing them and then leading them into predators and eating whatever the predator leaves. Very social creatures, they often form groups of up to twenty Lorelians.

Jiril: A huge serpentine fish with six fins that swims the oceans of Ame, eating entire schools of Rengi every day. They are extremely dangerous, willing to eat whatever they find in the ocean, be it their usual Rengi meal, or an unfortunate Lorelian floating on the water. Their mouths are huge gulfs that swallow tons of Rengi and water, and then with their teeth as filters, spew the water back out by making their way to the surface, leaving the Rengi and whatever else couldn't get through the teeth to be swallowed. Their backs are patterned like algae, to help them lie on the seabed, waiting for Rengi to approach them. The Jiril are the undisputed masters of the planetary food chain, eating anything and dying only from disease or old age. They are solitary creatures, meeting only to mate.

Rengi: A tiny fish with a long fin that is spun round like a propeller in order to propulse the fish forward. They are transparent, with their organs suspended in a membrane full of water. The live in huge schools of at least ten thousand, feeding off the algae of the oceans. Some are also found in the lakes of Ame. The preferred food of Jiril, the only thing that has kept them from extinction is their quick, asexual reproduction, with an individual Rengi able to lay a clutch of up to two thousand Rengi eggs every month.[/quote]

The Hivemind grew rapidly. Anything that made contact to it's. . .core would instantly become part of it. It sent off it's grazer, The grazer was able to evade the hunters enough to approach a group of strays, and forge a new Flock. But this flock was different, in that all the other flocks had communal group-think. This one just had an overriding command to touch the artifact.

And so it did.

The hivemind, if it could express anything, would have grinned.

---

Meanwhile, on the other side of the world, there was a landslide, uncovering what looked like some sort of giant crystal, jutting out of the ground. Below that was an entry to a cave, which seemed to have light coming from it.