Diaemus Project - Biology

[Lindel he/him]

Just adjust them to house colonies of lumuoles, rather than a single lumuole. They can still serve the same purpose, and perhaps some of your species have developed a less than perfect symbiotic relationship with their lumuoles, which leads to their colonies dying off at intervals. This would require them to replenish their lumuole colonies from time to time, which would replace the, "once a lumuole is used up they replace it" mechanic you seem to have used.

 

EDIT: To avoid double posting, here are a couple of the species found in the Kashora'an Desert.

 

Dunestriders: Dunestriders resemble massive brown beetles, standing over three meters tall and eight meters long. There are cavities in base of their front legs which house colonies of blue lumuoles. These lumuoles grant the creatures the ability to sense the presence of water deep beneath the sand, a valuable asset on the dry dunes of the Kashora'an Desert. When Kashora’an nomads are looking for water, they simply watch where the dunestriders dig. Local tribes rely on dunestriders in many ways, not just using them to find water, but also building huts from their shells and living off their tough meat. Domesticated dunestriders aren’t exactly common, but they aren’t unheard of either.

 

Charbacks: Medium-sized Ceratopsians, Charbacks earn their name from the colonies of red lumuoles imbedded between the plates on their backs, which are used to reflect excess heat back into the air. Enough heat is absorbed to maintain an ideal body temperature, but any excess heat is stored up and released over time, creating a powerful heat shield around the Charback. Charbacks have limited control over the intensity of this heat, increasing it when they feel threatened or lowering it when calm. Directly touching a Charback’s scales causes severe burns, and even coming too close can be dangerous if their heat shield is flared. Domesticated Charbacks must be carefully trained to never flare their shields unless commanded. Charbacks are often used as pack animals in caravans or ridden as mounts, though riding one requires a thick leather saddle. Charbacks have an additional use when the sun sets, providing welcome warmth during the freezing desert nights.

Edited October 7, 2015 by Lindel

[DanTheSeamonster he/him]

I hope no one minds my presumptuousness, but I've put together a potential diagram of lumuole cell mechanics. This is just a suggestion, mind you, so nothing I brainstormed here is set in stone.

 

I'm no cellular biologist, so let me know if there are any glaring holes in the mechanisms I describe below. Also, I've been writing a lot of educational material lately, so apologies if I shifted into lecture mode anywhere in this crudely drawn presentation.

 

 

I am perfectly okay with this! 

 

Sorry I haven't been posting a lot lately guys, school's been kicking my butt. 

[Kobold King he/him]

The dunestriders and charbacks are uber-cool, Lindel.

 

 

 

Update on the Lumerna:

 

Phyllum: Apicomplex

Kingdom: Protist

 

The problem is, Protists are larger than bacteria. They'd need to be smaller than the Lumoles for the mechanism I had in mind to work. Any suggestions?

 

What's the mechanism you have in mind? There's no getting around the relative sizes of the two organisms, but I'm sure we could find a way for the two to interact. (Even if that means letting the protists absorb lumuoles into their cells and use them like organelles.)

[Kobold King he/him]

...Do protists lay eggs? I've never heard of egg-laying single-celled organisms.

I don't like to sound defeatist, but you're right. There's really no way to have a protist invade a cell as small as a lumuole, any more than a mouse could fit inside a grasshopper. Could you perhaps modify the concept so the protist infects animals with lumuole colonies? I'm not much of an expert on pathogenic protists, but I'm pretty sure having the protist invade lumuole cells directly is far less plausible than having it attack a multicellular host.

[Curiosity he/him]

I'm pretty sure they aren't all single cellular.  

 

But yeah. That's probably a better idea. 

 

Protists are mainly single-celled. However, this means that they really can't attack a bacterium-sized organism, especially since eukaryotic cells run roughly 2-1000x the size of prokaryotic cells. 

 

I think that a protist "hijacking" lumuoles is a better idea. Since multicellular lifeforms often have lumuole symbionts, it would make sense that there would be pathogens that would take advantage of them. Maybe they can send chemical signals that change the lumuole's temperament or something, so that the power is used against the host organism and changes it to be a more ideal habitat for the parasite. 

Edited October 11, 2015 by Curiosity

[Curious Anamaximder he/him]

Shockback (Pacifos Mortifero): 

 

Located in the Asohos region, this large gentle creature roams around, eating grass and leaves. A Shockback is about 13 feet long and weighs 4,000 lbs. They have a dullish brown mixed with forest green skin and and a large head with a prominent snout. Like I said, they are mostly vegetarians, and eat grass and hedges. 

 

Shockbacks travel in herds spread over several miles, but they gather in a home nest, usually dug out by them. The children stay in the nests while the males and females gather food. Every full moon, the Shockbacks pack up and travel to find a new nest. They will travel as far as they need to go in Asohos to find a nest. 

 

How do Shockbacks use lumoles? In the pores of their bodies colonies of electricity lumoles reside. On command, Shockbacks can release an EMP like blast for show and protection against smaller predators. This blast can stop smaller animals hearts. 

 

The Shockback are hunted by the Nixos for their skin and meat, so the population is thinning out, only about 20,000 Shockbacks live in Asohos Region. 

 

Can you add this to the main page of Biology, Seonid? 

[ChickenPlague he/him]

So i have been creating some animals for my region and i wanted to ask whether i should put them here or in the main thread so they can be discussed.

[Seonid he/him]

Alright, I added Dunestriders, Charbacks, and Shockbacks. I've been out of commission for a while, but I'm going to try and keep up better with this project, even if I'm not going to be adding more stuff of my own for a while. ChickenPlague, go ahead and post your ideas here, I'll get them into the OP.

[Stormgate he/him]

Lumuole bush. Grows lumuoles in all colors bar white, which fill the stems and leaves of the plant. Very common, and while it usually produces all varieties in equal amounts, external pressures can influence it to change the ratios. Found in Archynmerin. (See maps and cartography board.)

Flameweed. While most plants struggle to survive in the cold, this plant cannot grow unless underneath a large amount of snow or ice. It feeds off red lumuoles produced by the Lumuole bush, and generates an aura of heat not unlike a fire. It's berries contain red lumuoles, providing the consumer with heat and warmth for hours, as well as the nutrition that they need for about a day in a large handful. Rarely grown for from Lumuole bushes, which generate far more red lumuoles when close to the flameweed. Naturally found in Archynmerin.

Edited December 21, 2015 by Stormgate

[ChickenPlague he/him]

Hope you don't mind me stealing the Lumuole bush.

[Stormgate he/him]

Fine by me, just don't overwater it.

There's also the Sapwolf. Using yellow lumuoles, it neutralizes the lumuoles of other creatures. Using green ones, it silences all noises, becoming masters of stealth. Name not constant, and open for suggestions.

Edited December 27, 2015 by Stormgate

[Master Elodin]

Can humans mutate if too many of their bloodlines mess with lumuoles? I wanted to make a humanoid race.

Edited February 22, 2016 by JerleShannara

[ChickenPlague he/him]

Can humans mutate if too many of their bloodlines mess with lumuoles? I wanted to make a humanoid race that worships lumuoles.

I'm pretty sure that a single bloodline could have demigods with physical transformations. Also, I don't quite understand how having mutations would cause you to worship their cause.

[Master Elodin]

I didn't mean lumuoles. Oops.

[ChickenPlague he/him]

What did you mean?

[Master Elodin]

Nothing. I was just tired and typing things.

[Clockwork he/him]

I was wondering, how advanced are the humans Diaemus?

[ChickenPlague he/him]

Homo sapiens sapiens. Or do you mean something else?

[Clockwork he/him]

I meant in technology- medieval, futuristic, (have they lost or gained technology since they first landed)- this does relate to biology. Biology requires technology.

[Kobold King he/him]

I meant in technology- medieval, futuristic, (have they lost or gained technology since they first landed)- this does relate to biology. Biology requires technology.

 

 

The study of biology requires technology; life itself goes on quite neatly without it.

 

 

But for your question, I believe most human Diaemites are at either a tribal a primitive medieval level.

[Clockwork he/him]

Ahhh... I believe I will make so that on my island I will add a group that lost most technology except for a few weapons that can be used on Gauldur, as their civilization was destroyed by their experimentation on them... Mikill Einn just don't seem natural...

[Mckeedee123 he/him]

I was wondering, how advanced are the humans Diaemus?

 

By 1000 CE, what we'll use as our functional present, technology has reached about the premodern era (although it's not a 1/1 correlation, and there's regional variation.) Gunpowder hasn't been discovered (or, at least, isn't in common use,) but there are large, sailing ships, perhaps the printing press, stuff like that. You get the impression that Diaemus is just on the cusp of a technological renaissance, but isn't quite there. If we were to let people take their regions' histories into the future, I suggest that we go steampunk instead of full modern, but that's just me.

 

By the way, what's the mechanic that makes your island float?   I'm sort of interested.

[ChickenPlague he/him]

.

 

 

But for your question, I believe most human Diaemites are at either a tribal a primitive medieval level.

  

By 1000 CE, what we'll use as our functional present, technology has reached about the premodern era (although it's not a 1/1 correlation, and there's regional variation.) Gunpowder hasn't been discovered (or, at least, isn't in common use,) but there are large, sailing ships, perhaps the printing press, stuff like that. You get the impression that Diaemus is just on the cusp of a technological renaissance, but isn't quite there. If we were to let people take their regions' histories into the future, I suggest that we go steampunk instead of full modern, but that's just me.

 

By the way, what's the mechanic that makes your island float?   I'm sort of interested.

Guys, This is confusing. Those time periods are pretty far apart. Are the technology levels simply drastically different in different regions?

[Clockwork he/him]

The Island is a magically enhanced lodestone-turned-superconductor. Magic keeps enormous underground lakes of liquid nitrogen liquid, which turns the lodestone into a superconductor. This allows it to float.

 

But about biology, in the main article I was talking about a new race called the Gauldur Boretha. They had subsets; though I really only said two, there are three. The first, and most common, are the average Gauldur. They have the intelligence of, say, a dolphin, and are five or six times stronger and 3 times faster than a human. The second are the Greindur, which have the intelligence of a human and the same strength. These two are natural. The third, and final, are the Mikill Einn. They have great magical abilities, (though not like wizards- the only one they can control actively are their illusion) and are several times stronger. They are genetically modified. The humans on the island were once advanced, but they lost their technology when most of them were slaughtered by the first 6 Mikill Einn. They are currently in a state of constant war with the Gauldur. One of their advantages is that Gauldur can only have child once every two years. A new Mikill Einn only comes about once every 10. Also, these humans value fire above all else, as it can easily kill Gauldur, so Pyrotechnics and Pyromancers usually lead their cities.

Back to the Gauldur, they practically explode when on fire (like gasoline) and the normal 2 types digest most lumuoles; it is how they gain their strength & speed, but makes it so that they can't use magic.

 

Those are the Gauldur Boretha. Thank you for your time.

[ChickenPlague he/him]

I remember you saying something about the lodestone being 15km off the ground. If there are humans there how do they breathe. Wind magic or what?