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Rosharian Biodiversity


Vander

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The creatures that live on Roshar are curious things. Many of them resemble those in our own world, with perhaps some additions, while others are wholly different. However, I haven't really seen a thread to discuss the general wildlife, and how it interacts with the world around it.

 

So, I started one.

 

Basically, the discussion I want to propagate is as such: What are the different confirmed and speculated types of animals on Roshar? From an anatomical perspective, how do they work? From an evolutionary one, how did they become as they are? What can they DO?

 

One that I'm really interested in is the Skyeel: while it resembles eels on our quite closely, it seems to arbitrarily be able to fly. So, WHY does it fly? What makes it fly? How does it deal with highstorms, what with it's lack of an apparent crustacean shell?

 

Oh, and of course, if there is already an active thread for this, do point me toward it.

 

Edit: To clarify, speculated species CAN be posted.

Edited by Vander Honorsworn
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I believe the wildlife of roshar was native to roshar before the Shards arrived.

 

When the shards ( cultivation mainly ) arrived they terraformed roshar to be earth like. But repeated storms, desolations, and odiums Hijacking ( or void binding perhaps ) of the wildlife* has slowly over the millenia stripped the earth like terraforming back and allowed the natural rosharan life to reestablish itself, and every time the terraforming is stripped back closer to shinovar odium gets closer and closer to reaching cultivation.

 

See: Shinovar the only earth life place remaining on roshar is on the side of the continent furthest away from where the storms arrive. ( the alethi, the natural warriors being on the side of the continent where storms and presumably desolations also begin ) and the shin are generally obsessed with farming and general "cultivation", plus i would seem the place at the start of the way of kings where the heralds were fighting their last stand against the voidbringers was shinovar. as it is the shin who seem to have recovered the honorblades left behind by the heralds.

 

 

So i think the different types of rosharan wildlife is gonna become REAL relevant REAL fast.

 

*voidbringers which look suspicously like chasm fiends and midnight essence sound suspicously like axe hounds.

Edited by Full Metal Rithmatist
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The skyeels can fly because of those so-called luckspren, I'd say. The same spren congregate around chasmfiends, who really are way too big to be the way they are. I think that they're really anti-gravityspren or something (maybe straight-up gravitationspren, lashing part of the creatures' weight against the force of the planet). Yes, I know that the gravity is less than Earth's on Roshar, but it's still not enough for a creature like a skyeel to fly or a chasmfiend to run around without getting crushed under its own weight.

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The different types of Greatshells are definitely important.  Shallan seemed to connect the type in the water (santhid?) with a chasmfiend she sees by the arrow shaped spren around them.  Maybe these arrow shaped spren are what let the chamfiends move so surprisingly fast for something so big.

 

I am just waiting for the Everstorm to roll around and turn them all into different voidbringers muahahahaha

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The skyeels can fly because of those so-called luckspren, I'd say. The same spren congregate around chasmfiends, who really are way too big to be the way they are. I think that they're really anti-gravityspren or something (maybe straight-up gravitationspren, lashing part of the creatures' weight against the force of the planet). Yes, I know that the gravity is less than Earth's on Roshar, but it's still not enough for a creature like a skyeel to fly or a chasmfiend to run around without getting crushed under its own weight.

Sky eels have some kind of air sacks under their fins to 

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I believe the wildlife of roshar was native to roshar before the Shards arrived.

 

When the shards ( cultivation mainly ) arrived they terraformed roshar to be earth like. But repeated storms, desolations, and odiums Hijacking ( or void binding perhaps ) of the wildlife* has slowly over the millenia stripped the earth like terraforming back and allowed the natural rosharan life to reestablish itself, and every time the terraforming is stripped back closer to shinovar odium gets closer and closer to reaching cultivation.

 

See: Shinovar the only earth life place remaining on roshar is on the side of the continent furthest away from where the storms arrive. ( the alethi, the natural warriors being on the side of the continent where storms and presumably desolations also begin ) and the shin are generally obsessed with farming and general "cultivation", plus i would seem the place at the start of the way of kings where the heralds were fighting their last stand against the voidbringers was shinovar. as it is the shin who seem to have recovered the honorblades left behind by the heralds.

 

 

So i think the different types of rosharan wildlife is gonna become REAL relevant REAL fast.

 

*voidbringers which look suspicously like chasm fiends and midnight essence sound suspicously like axe hounds.

A good speculation. I look forward to seeing if this is true.

 

The skyeels can fly because of those so-called luckspren, I'd say. The same spren congregate around chasmfiends, who really are way too big to be the way they are. I think that they're really anti-gravityspren or something (maybe straight-up gravitationspren, lashing part of the creatures' weight against the force of the planet). Yes, I know that the gravity is less than Earth's on Roshar, but it's still not enough for a creature like a skyeel to fly or a chasmfiend to run around without getting crushed under its own weight.

Hmm... but then the question arises as to why Rosharans think they are luckspren in the first place, no? I mean, it would take a very specific situation for gravitationspren to be taken as luckspren.

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Sky eels have some kind of air sacks under their fins to 

Do they? I don't really remember that, but that WOULD give them a boost against gravity. Still, gravitationspren and air sacs counted, I hardly think that is enough to let an eel fly. 

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Do they? I don't really remember that, but that WOULD give them a boost against gravity. Still, gravitationspren and air sacs counted, I hardly think that is enough to let an eel fly. 

theyre pointed out on the page near the start of the WoK that has the drawings of skyeels.

 

also they have fins like gliding animals and i imagine roshar is VERY windy. i imagine they lift themselves on heavy winds then glide around.

Edited by Full Metal Rithmatist
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theyre pointed out on the page near the start of the WoK that has the drawings of skyeels.

 

also they have fins like gliding animals and i imagine roshar is VERY windy. i imagine they lift themselves on heavy winds then glide around.

Hmm... maybe. However, the winds travel east-to-west, and Shallan cataloged Skyeels flying in Kharbranth, which is set against a stone face. Of course, their maximum altitude is to be accounted for, but as I have stated elsewhere, they cannot go TOO high lest their mucus freeze. (Assuming, of course, that they HAVE a mucus layer.)

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Yeah, I'd say that they're more or less gliders. However, with access to something akin to gravitation Lashings and lift from the air sacs (which must be some kind of lighter-than-air gas they produce or something), what they're doing probably would be a whole lot like flying. I think it's a gas for lift because Shallan says that she "noticed some sort of pouch under each wing that deflates as it dives."

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Yeah, I'd say that they're more or less gliders. However, with access to something akin to gravitation Lashings and lift from the air sacs (which must be some kind of lighter-than-air gas they produce or something), what they're doing probably would be a whole lot like flying. I think it's a gas for lift because Shallan says that she "noticed some sort of pouch under each wing that deflates as it dives."

Hmm... so you are suggesting that they can use Stormlight in some way? 

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I don't know. I mean, I assume that the chasmfiends and other huge Rosharan creatures have their gemhearts so they can store up Stomrlight to fuel their anti-grav. It would stand to reason that the skyeels must have small gemhearts as well. On the other hand, there probably is some ambient Investiture somewhere. The tricks windspren play on people seem to rely on the Adhesion Surge. Yes, they could be getting that from spheres the person had, but I would think that people would eventually connect their spheres going dun with windspren pranks.

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I don't know. I mean, I assume that the chasmfiends and other huge Rosharan creatures have their gemhearts so they can store up Stomrlight to fuel their anti-grav. It would stand to reason that the skyeels must have small gemhearts as well. On the other hand, there probably is some ambient Investiture somewhere. The tricks windspren play on people seem to rely on the Adhesion Surge. Yes, they could be getting that from spheres the person had, but I would think that people would eventually connect their spheres going dun with windspren pranks.

 

Voidbringers are also believed to be able to hold stormlight perfectly. Like a gem. A gemheart.

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On a side note, I believe Roshar doesn't have cows and pigs. No wonder why Hoid somewhat dislikes the place.

the only earth like animals that roshar has ( or has left ) seem to be some fast breeding things or that which the shin farm.

 

"Other more earth-like creatures include hounds, rats, fish, snails, insects, pigs, etc..

 
Fauna unique to the nation of Shinovar include horses and oxen, as well as winged creatures (e.g., chickens). Further, there are no spren in Shinovar."
 
TtzCbBt.jpg
Edited by Full Metal Rithmatist
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Well, I'm fairly sure the spren don't cause lashings or anti-gravitation, because spren are attracted to what their named after, they don't cause it, like windspren or gloryspren.

. . . not that we actually know that for a fact.

I mean look at the Stormfather, who is apparently similar enough to forge nahel bonds with people. Spren are also clearly crucial for fabrial science in some way, though it's unknown how. But I find it questionable that the metal and gems would do more of the work than the spren would when the stormlight is put in.

Edited by natc
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. . . not that we actually know that for a fact.

I mean look at the Stormfather, who is apparently similar enough to forge nahel bonds with people. Spren are also clearly crucial for fabrial science in some way, though it's unknown how. But I find it questionable that the metal and gems would do more of the work than the spren would when the stormlight is put in.

Additionally, I seem to remember Kal noticing adhesionspren (or something in that line) sticking rocks to the chasm wall when he used a Lashing.

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The skyeels can fly because of those so-called luckspren, I'd say. The same spren congregate around chasmfiends, who really are way too big to be the way they are. I think that they're really anti-gravityspren or something (maybe straight-up gravitationspren, lashing part of the creatures' weight against the force of the planet). Yes, I know that the gravity is less than Earth's on Roshar, but it's still not enough for a creature like a skyeel to fly or a chasmfiend to run around without getting crushed under its own weight.

It's not just gravity.  The greatshells are closest to crustaceans,  which have very simple respiration systems.

The respiratory system

Many of the smaller crustaceans, such as the copepods, have no special respiratory organs. Gas exchange takes place through the entire thin integument. The inner wall of the carapace, facing the trunk, is often rich with blood vessels and may in many groups be the only respiratory organ. Gills, when present, are formed by modifications of parts of appendages, most often the epipodites. These thin-walled, lamellate structures are present on some or all of the thoracic appendages in cephalocarids, fairy shrimps, and many malacostracans. In mantis shrimps (order Stomatopoda), for example, gills are found on the exopodites of the pleopods. In euphausiids the single series of branched epipodial gills are fully exposed. In decapods the gills, protected by the overhanging carapace, are arranged in three series at or near the limb bases. As an adaptation to aerial respiration, the branchial chambers are greatly enlarged in certain land crabs and serve as lungs, the inner membrane being richly supplied with blood vessels. In isopods the respiratory function has been taken over by the abdominal appendages; either both rami or the endopodite become thin and flattened. Most sow bugs and pill bugs have, in addition, trachea-like infoldings in some of the exopodites.

http://www.britannica.com/animal/crustacean/Form-and-function-of-internal-features#toc33810

 

Something the size of the greatshells wouldn't be able to get enough oxygen without help.

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It's not just gravity. The greatshells are closest to crustaceans, which have very simple respiration systems.

Something the size of the greatshells wouldn't be able to get enough oxygen without help.

Stormlight can partialy substitute oxygen, maybe because of its restorative properties, as seem for how long Szeth and Kaladin often hold their breaths.

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Additionally, I seem to remember Kal noticing adhesionspren (or something in that line) sticking rocks to the chasm wall when he used a Lashing.

There is a direct quote from WoK about Syl and Kal discussing bindspren and then there is talk if windspren cause the wind or if the wind attracts windspren and if rotspren cause infection of wounds or if they're simply attracted to it.

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Stormlight can partialy substitute oxygen, maybe because of its restorative properties, as seem for how long Szeth and Kaladin often hold their breaths.

Yup which to me says that the spren that are around the greatshells are doing something with oxygen and stormlight as well as gravity.  

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