Life Has It's Ways: A Speculative Evolution RP(IC)

by **Exalted Inquellian State** » Tue Nov 24, 2020 7:54 pm

The IC for the Speculative Evolution RP, Life Has It's Ways. This is where you write the average day for your animal in it's environment, and I pop in to tell you how it's going sometimes, or to play a crow. Reminder there's an ice age coming.

Link to OOC
Link to Close Encounters

by **Exalted Inquellian State** » Tue Nov 24, 2020 8:06 pm

50,000 AD
Florida

Above the runny swamps of where a proud city, named Tallahassee, once stood, a lone crow flew. This one crow, a male, hadn't lived in Florida all his life. Indeed, it was his seasonal home. When the north that was Virginia got cold, he migrated here. It was the only escape from the freezing snow, where food was rare, and where life was hard in the winter. The crow flew above the swamps, examining everything meticulously. Then, it saw, out of the corner of it's eye, a small mouse. Quickly, the crow dove downwards, through the thick canopy. But before it could get the mouse, another crow grabbed it. The two chased each other through the trees. The crow that we have been following, let's call it A, had more experience diving through trees than the other one. Crow A may have lived in Virginia, but it was on the coast, far from the mountains. B lived in the high peaks, where trees were scarce. And so, eventually, A caught him. But the crow refused. B clawed at A, until finally, he broke A's wing, sending him plummeting through the ground. But A saw something of use-a stick. He grabbed it with his beak, and with furry stabbed it through the other crows head, freeing A. B fell to the ground, dead. And A got his dinner, but not in the mouse- it survived, and ran away. No, he turned to the crow itself.

And millions of years later, the fossilized remains of B were found-and the first murder known recorded.

by **Witiland** » Tue Nov 24, 2020 8:07 pm

(OOC so is it for now a day for our creature of choice?)

by **Witiland** » Tue Nov 24, 2020 8:26 pm

50,000 AD
New York,New York

The leaves were just changing colors from a dark green, to a shade of yellow, red, and orange. The air was filled with the sounds and sights of what a human would call “fall”. Now near a stream was a grey wolf, who happened to be the alpha male of his pack drinking water. He felt safe and protected as no one dared to bother him while he drank. However out of no where a wolf form the sudden side of the river snarled at him, signaling he wanted to fight the wolf. Now the first wolf (wolf a) growled back in return defending his land. However wolf b swam across biting wolf a’s leg. Luckily it did not break the skin as wolf a howled for back up. The rest of the pack came to defend against wolf b as wolf b have up and ran back into the woods. A couple pieces of fur were left which millions of years later, was said to be a relic of the age before the new rise of civilization....

by **UniversalCommons** » Tue Nov 24, 2020 8:27 pm

50,000 A.D. Deep Sea Thermal Vents.

The mother octopuss did not have a name. It was an octopuss like other octopi. It liked the warm water near the hydrothermal vents where it could bask and sit. It watched its egg carefully. Octopuss had pushed some of the rocks a little bit making a mound where she had laid her eggs. Her color had changed to the grey of the rock which she was sitting on. She was slowly starving to death. She had eaten her mate, male octopuss, which had given her a little extra energy to watch her eggs. She had a dream of swallowing his soft brains providing the pleasing energy that would provide her the energy to watch her eggs. It filled her with warmth like the thermal vents. Her skin would streak a tiny bit with red splotches when she thought of it.

She would occasionally clean her eggs with her tentacles and watch for any fish that would try and eat her eggs. She did not move very much. Occasionally she would sleep dreaming of the time when the baby octopi would come out of their shells swimming away in the ocean. She would wave her tentacles a little bit while she dreamed of baby octopi. Her life was slowly fading. She would die soon and her babies would swim away. Some would stay near the vents seeking the warmth and hunting fish and sea creatures in the depths.

A warmth filled her as she blew on the baby octopi pushing them out to sea. It was the last bit of her energy. She pulsed with different colors, blue, green, grey, purple. It was her death dance. She blew on as many baby octopi as she could. The flapping of her gills would send the babies away and give them her life force. Not many of the babies survived because of the heat. There were only a few, but this was a good place if they grew.

Her life faded and she closed her eyes. A few of her babies stayed next to the mound of rocks. There was enough space in the mound where one of the babies could hide in a hole in the mound. It had hid from a large fish that had chased it. Another of the octopi watched the baby octopuss hiding in the mound and pushed several rocks together obscuring a hole in the sea floor.

Objectives: A gathering of Octopi near the sea thermal vents, Octopi mounds for laying eggs and protection. Octopi architecture if enough time passes.

by **Zjaum** » Tue Nov 24, 2020 10:14 pm

50,000 AD
Chesapeake Bay

The orca blew air out of his hole. He got too greedy, and now he was shored up on a pile of sand. As the harbor seal bounced away from him, he began to think about his situation. It was absolutely certain that he would not have lunch today. He had challenged his prey close to high tide, but a little after. That meant that he'd be able to touch the waves next at roughly this time tomorrow. The sun beat down on him; as humid as the weather might have been, twenty-three hours' patience would simply not do. He'd be long dried up, assuming that creatures of the land didn't tear into his flesh before then.

He breathed again. Even if the tides did come to around his place the day later, they probably wouldn't come in large enough quantities to carry him away. He was much too big for a small puddle to free him. Not to mention that he was heavy enough to cause a divot in the sand. He felt it with his flippers. He saw it with his eyes. If water came around, he'd be submerged in sediment.

The whale took note of his surroundings. It wasn't that far to the ocean. His lunch had already plopped in and begun swimming. He certainly wanted to live to challenge the seal again. He summoned all his strength, the strength of his tail fins, and perhaps some muscle he had yet to exercise, and he pushed himself upward. He weighed six metric tons. As impressed as he was by his current attempt, he was severely lacking. Still, the effort wasn't completely fruitless. The whale made the same effort, this time shifting his weight sideways towards the ocean. It worked. He was exhausted, but it worked. He stopped for an hour before doing a little more. Then more. He could feel the waters now. Soon he was home free. Delighted at his achievement and enlightenment, he swam off to share his story with the others.

by **The Frozen Forest** » Wed Nov 25, 2020 12:00 pm

50,000 AD

South Carolina

Loud squawks, screams and whistles echoed through the forest. The noise traveled along the roof of the forest and moved towards the edge of the trees and towards a small river than ran through the territory. A racoon raced away from the calls, his heart racing and his instincts driving him to move faster and faster despite his exhaustion. The trees were no longer safe and neither was the forest floor thanks to wild dogs and cats that frequently prowled there. His senses were on high alert as he scanned the area in front of him for threats. He had been caught in a bad position, being woken by the noise of dozens of tree demons closing in on him, such was his confusion that he was now lost and in unfamiliar territory.

What was that sound? Was it the sound of rushing water? Yes! From somewhere to his left the Raccoon noticed a shadow swinging along into another tree. It was followed by more shadows and ear-piercing screams and the Raccoon shot forwards with renewed energy. He burst from a bush to find an unfamiliar body of water and without much hesitation jumped headfirst in. He began to paddle and felt his feet leave the soft soil of the riverbank. He felt himself stopped suddenly and swam harder but to no avail. He was being drawn back towards the shore, Whipping around he saw three small creatures gripping onto his tail, pulling him back to land where more of their kind moved about erratically. As his feet touched land the Raccoon sprang forwards and sank his teeth into one of the creatures shoulders, tasting blood in his mouth. The creature let out a scream and the other creatures surrounded the raccoon and began to scratch and bite him until the world went black.

Objective: Expansion of the Ring Tailed Lemurs diet from insects and fruit to include small mammals like Raccoons, Mice and Squirrels. Lemurs have begun to develop simple group hunting tactics.

by **UniversalCommons** » Wed Nov 25, 2020 1:29 pm

60.300 A.D. Deep Sea Thermal Vents

The sons and daughters of the first mother octopuss had thrived. There were small mounds of rocks with holes in them. Some had grown bigger as the octopi aged. Where the bottom of the sea had been flat, now it had small rolling hillocks of grey stone. Purple, orange, and green anemones had grown near the mounds as well as sea coral. Small fish darted in and out between the mounds. Piles of empty crab shells, and clam shells could be seen near the entrances of the small underwater caves and occasionally if you were a fish if you got too close you could see octopuss eyes peering out at you.

A young male octopuss had caught a crab and turned it on its back. He cracked the shell and ate the crab. When it was done, it left the empty shell in front of its lair to let the other octopusses know that the lair was occupied. He had left piles of shells from creatures he had eaten. It was his hole. His hole alone. Occasionally, he would swim around looking at the other holes. The other octopi would change color when he got too close.

Objective: Scavenging piling up carcasses and shells to build up their mounds.

by **Exalted Inquellian State** » Wed Nov 25, 2020 1:49 pm

60,001 AD
Caribbea

For thousands of years, the islands of Hispaniola, Cuba, and their neighbours remained separate from each other, neighbours forever alone in a vast ocean. But no longer. For thousands of years, the ocean depth increased. Winter had slowly come to the Earth. An new ice age would dawn soon, and as it came, the water went into the ice. Now, many islands in the Caribbean became one humongous one-Caribbea.

It was late in the spring. The weather in the north should have been warm now. Already, the crows were leaving. These crows had further and further into the water. They ate much, to keep their energy constantly ready in case they needed to flap above it. They also tried to stay near the water, where it was warmer, but the ice age and the further moving of the tropics contested that, and as such the need could arise to go back inland within the far future.

Longer and longer, they continued leaving. By this point, only a tenth of the ones that came in autumn remained. One such crow was walking on the shore that day, the warm sun making her wings glisten. The crow fellow travellers were bobbing up and down in the water, gulping the fish which lived there greedily. And, out of the corner of her eye, she saw a crab. Before she could eat it, however, it had went into a hole. The crow's wing was to crooked to get in. So it used another method.

With it's leg, the crow grabbed a stick. It flapped in the air as the stick was pushed into the hole. The crab crawled up on the stick, towards the crow. She then brought the stick to it's mouth, and pecked the crab of in an instant. She continued searching. More food would be needed to nourish her fully, so as to come back to North Carolina satiated and ready.

by **Zjaum** » Wed Nov 25, 2020 3:37 pm

60,002 AD
Cape Cod Bay

She was faster. She was nimbler. She may have weighed four tons, but she was ready for action. She was a direct descendant of the great Fweo, he who showed his kin to wiggle on land. She wondered if she was chasing a descendant of Fweo's arch nemesis, the reason why the harbor seals would forever remain the enemy of orcas. She would relive the ancient battle off these shallow shores. The lessons her ancestor had bestowed upon her would not go to waste.

She had expected the harbor seal to head for shallower waters; they were cowards and betrayers like that. She accepted the challenge, swimming as fast as she could and launching herself onto the sand, flipping her tail over such that she was facing the ocean. The fiend galumphed parallel to the sandy coastline, hoping to find an opportunity to return to the sea and leave its pursuer to rot in the cold. The whale for her part shifted her weight methodically. The pain she felt in her sides was nothing; she was already developing a resistance to it. Through careful balance, she kept pace with the flustered seal. Still, the seal always had an out. The orca watched with one eye, wondering when the seal would break for the sea.

She witnessed a more timeless bounty. She noticed how the seal lifted its weight upwards and pushed forward with its fins and breast. So that was the secret to moving with forward eyes, a technology long lost to the orcas. The desperate seal finally threw itself into the ocean. A lateral shift would have been a poor counter. Rather, she moved as her enemy, throwing her tail up and thrusting her breast forwards. The momentum caught both predator and prey by surprise, and the seal found itself caught in the teeth of the orca. This was a triumph. The hunt that had taken the lives of countless generations was now over. The war still raged on, but she, Kua, had avenged Fweo. Both landed in the deep water, and Kua swam away to share her double-prize in knowledge and meat.

by **Zedeshia** » Wed Nov 25, 2020 6:31 pm

50,000 AD
Southern Montana

A frigid wind blew across the many hills and mountains of a quiet land, flying past seemingly endless tracks of frozen landscape. As the wind moved on the green needles of the pine trees rustled and swayed slightly. The light of a pale winter sun shone through the foliage onto the snowy ground below. All was quiet, and for a time no other sound echoed across the vast forest except the lonely whistling of the wind. But then, a soft, muffled sound of paws treading across ice and snow slowly grew louder and louder. From the shadows that surrounded the great pine trees' trunks emerged a canine figure. It was a solitary coyote, thin and starved, with its coat of grey-brown fur clinging tightly to it's body. The animal would need to find sustenance soon, and in yet another attempt to find something to eat raised it's nose to the air and inhaled deeply. Suddenly, the sharp smell of fresh meat and blood rushed to the coyote, and surprised, the animal sprung to the air and rushed forwards, compelled by its ravenous hunger. Pushing past the many dark green trees and bushes that stood between the beast and its meal, the coyote sprinted into an open clearing and caught sight of what it had smelt. Lying across the clearing laid the rotting trunk of some ancient tree, its roots upturned, and crushed beneath was the corpse of an elk, seemingly untouched by any scavengers. The coyote approached the body of the elk, and without a second thought began to tear into it viciously. Suddenly, there the was the clear sound of a branch snapping apart, and the coyote raised it's head from its meal. On the other side of the clearing stood another coyote, white in color, who while approaching the elk released a high pitched cry. The other coyote watched on and then returned to its meal. It was sure that the second coyote would cause it no harm. Without any resistance the other coyote began to feast as well. Soon, both beasts were finished with the carcass, and the second coyote slowly began to retreat once more into the trees. The original coyote watched on, and for a moment hesitated. Then, it began to follow the other creature, attempting to shake away the bitter cold that hung in the air. It would better if they were allies rather than enemies.

Objective: Further development of pack behavior and cold resistance among coyotes.

by **Witiland** » Wed Nov 25, 2020 9:34 pm

60,002 AD
Washington, D.C.

It seemed that this place was traveled before, he could clearly remover it. The trees and the bushes, even though it was slightly different. Unlike like his ancestors he could temper slightly more and retain the memory for longer. It was not too much of a change as a drastic change would leave the poor wolf lost, but it was less common to see almost wolf in the woods. As well as increased memory it seems that the vision has become better. Although not by a landslide, his senses were more sensitive to the surroundings while also being less aggressive towards other wolves. Once rival wolf packs became part of much bigger Wolfpack’s and gained in numbers.

Objective: Become more sensitive to the environment and also being more sociable and friendly towards its species

by **Ralnis** » Wed Nov 25, 2020 9:58 pm

Jellyfish Bloom,
60,002AD

The world's oldest complex species. Outliver of the dinosaurs and humans. Outliver of the climate change without them and with them. These are the most diverse of the oldies and part of a city under the sea. They are the jellyfish. One of the most hardiest creatures in the ocean, been the same drifters for millions of years. Feeding on the same things that they always have and been one of the greatest mysteries to nature until the fall of man. However things had became different.

From some strange reason or another, jellys had started to make more groups of smacks across the world. This came at the response of lower reproduction cycles during the lowering of the temperature. While the incoming ice age doesn't really matter to someone who has survived it before, this time was different. Many of the jellys had been shown to be making towards social communities. Smacks and blooms are often signs of explosive population uptakes when the globe started to warm but this was different. Many species of jellys had started to float with each other in specific groups. Some of those were from the same family of jellys, others were doing advance forms of collective hunting.

More predator types of jellys had been seen with something akin to proto-hunting packs. Actively swimming in groups to hunt for larger fish schools. This sort of social gathering is in the most rudimentary form but it was start of something that's beyond what would expect of the ethereal drifters of the sea.

Action: Jellyfish start to develop proto-pack tactics and social communities.

by **Kasa Tkoth Sphere** » Thu Nov 26, 2020 2:10 pm

North Atlantic, near Newfoundland
63,750 AD

330-464864795530-1103 was a bit of a freak. Not by that much, statistically, else she would not have survived long enough to switch testes and start carrying fertilized eggs. But, as an excited human zoologist might have said if their kind still walked the Earth, her exoskeleton's thickness was two standard deviations above the mean, and that was enough to matter.

It slowed her down — well, it was more fair to say that her muscles and fins simply weren't enough to push her along at the usual speed, and the calcite plates were in a bit of an awkward position that made them stick together a little too much. She'd spent three days migrating along the Grand Banks to a suitable hole to lay her eggs where it might have taken another of her species only two. But so be it; she was here at last. Before 1103, deep under the water, lay a pile of stones with a neat little hole forming an entrance, and while there wasn't exactly much in the way of space to swim around in there, she could at least cram it full of eggs. She swam down to its level, drifting along the sandy seafloor and paddling against a slight current, nothing too much to handle.

Her eye saw motion to the left, and just below, but it was too late to react. A cloud of sand coughed out all around her, and up lurched a crab nearly twice her size, claw swinging madly and clamping down on her sides. The crab held 1103 tight, threatening to snap her in half, but after a frenzied moment of struggle she found that it was not cutting in all the way. Her heavy shell was splintered, and her muscles underneath no doubt injured, but thanks to its protection she was still alive, kicking her tail and finally wriggling all the way out of the crab's grasp.

With the last of her strength she darted for the rocks, slipping into the hole and then drifting to a stop.

East Pacific, near California

The eous subspecies was in danger here. With the gradual temperature drop slowly starting worldwide, the bulk of the population had been forced out of the Arctic Circle into slightly warmer waters — some near eastern Asia, and some here. And one subgroup was having it rough.

The massive CO₂-induced spike in ocean temperatures early in the Holocene, combined with their mass harvesting by Homo sapiens, had dealt a number on their population that, thanks to the increase in activity from their natural predators like California's exotic mound-building octopuses, they had never fully recovered from. With the recovering populations of larger creatures living near their migratory routes along coastal water, many migrating shrimp had simply been eaten before they arrived in their favorite estuaries.

There were a few strategies that nature threw at the problem — none of this by any intent, only by trying everything at once, as it ever did, and seeing if anything got through. One subclade, 331-464864802313, had it better for a time by moving slightly more at night where they could not be spotted, but when day came their pink shells were clear to see and they were consumed. Another, 331-464864806617, moved slower around rocks, giving them more time to see oncoming predators, but their gentle strolling was not enough to meet the year's migrational demands, and they were left behind when their estuary froze one winter.

But there was much more still to try. Evolution, much like war, after all, selects only who is left.

by **Ralnis** » Thu Nov 26, 2020 5:07 pm

63,750AD
Northern Australia Seas
The Box Jellyfish

While jellys across the world were starting to develop the semblance of advance intelligence, they were still the same. Drifters and moving land mines who more like stealth hunters than anything else. Despite the groups of smacks starting to become a more permanent status among jellyfish generations and even have started to show an increase of further development in the future. However one species of jellys had started to develop further than even what had been studied.

To the northern continent of Australia lived the box jellyfish. The most sophisticated of the jellyfish that was recorded. It could move, had dangerous venom and had the more eyes that were like humans. The ice age had not been kind to this species as they were restricted to the warmer climates and the borders of heat were getting closed in to those that had volcanoes and ocean vents. Due to these limiting amounts of heat, the box jellyfish populations had dwindled. The desperateness of the jellyfish forced them to become smarter and to join each other in communities. The jellys were developing this as a norm but the box jellyfish were those that advanced it even more for their species.

Many of these advancements focused more on their predatory abilities. Actively using their eyesight and other markers to form the first sights of packs that sought to hunt large schools of small fish and shrimp that they found. Many of these had shown more sophistication towards group mentality in the advent of surviving the ice age. This allowed them to increase their size and keep their populations from dwindling further for now. However, as the global temperature continues to drop there will be less box jellyfish and other warm water jellyfish would be seeing their populations to decline further.

by **UniversalCommons** » Thu Nov 26, 2020 10:28 pm

70,000 A.D., California, Deep Octlantis

The drifting creatures slowly headed south as the northern waters froze over. Whales and orcas and seals once more were swimming in the waters of California over the thermal vents. Many died drifting to the bottom of the ocean to be scavenged by octopus, eels, boneworms, and sharks. More sharks came in to scavenge the detritus falling from above. They also came to hunt the mound octoupuss, seeking after them as prey.

The less intelligent and aggressive octopi became food as the dominant octopi pushed the less aggressive or tricky octopi out of their mounds. The sharks would get them in a cruel twist of fate. The mound Octopi were capricious often unpredictable creatures, scavengers, and hunters of crabs and shrimp. There were more shrimp, but they were harder to kill with thick shells or habits of hiding in nooks and crannies. The octopi would change colors and wait quietly for the armored shrimp ambushing them. The shrimp were harder to catch. They would also spend time poking around in holes looking for the tunnel shrimp.

The mounds became more complex, sometimes having more than one level, or having twisty tunnels with more than one entrance. The older the mound, the more cracks and crevices there were. They had a twisty slap dash appearance to them. There were holes that had nothing in them, or holes with just crab shells, or holes with rocks in them.

It was easier to catch crabs, but there were less of them and the octopi would sometimes fight over the larger crabs changing different colors to scare each other away. They still piled up crab and shrimp shells and shells from clams and other shellfish raising the seafloor higher.

Detritus drifted down from the upper ocean, algae, and bits of animals and plants. This attracted scavenging fish, eels, bottom feeders, and other creatures. Coral grew in abundance as well as anemones, starfish, and sea urchins. The ocean floor was rich with life. Tube worms also grew near the thermal vents. The mound octopi liked to grab them as they emerged from their tubes and carry them off to eat in their mounds.

The mound octopi multiplied thriving in the warm waters near the vents. They spread out to other vents in the sea floor, multiplying in numbers. It was a time of growth.

Development: Natural capriciousness, meanness, trickery, and unpredictability. Spread of mounds and growth of population.

by **Exalted Inquellian State** » Fri Nov 27, 2020 12:25 pm

70,000 AD
Panama Canal
This was it. The peak of the ice age. This period would likely last tens of thousands of years, before ending in 18,000 and unfreezing this earth. This will be the farthest frontier the crows will go to for a long time. The Panama Canal. Or at least, what once was the canal. The ice age sucked it dry.

To get here, the crows had to begin changes. Their wings started growing ever slightly wider. They flapped them slowly, but forever. This gave them such great mobility in the air they could set their course and fly wherever needed with no breaks except to eat and sleep. But it came at a cost. Ravenous hunger. That was all the crows knew after they arrived. Flapping constantly made them need food. They needed to eat. EAT.

And so, one night on the 21st of September, a crow flew through the woods, hoping from tree to tree. And through the moonlight, it saw a strange creature. A capybara. The crows only started coming at the tip of the ice age, and that was only reached a thousand years ago. The crow thought it looked fat. Delicious. And so it attacked. The crow lunged for the capybara's eye, gouging it out. The creature, however, shook it's head, knocking the crow down, and ran. But before it could disappear into the clearing, another crow blocked it's way. It darted around the creature, distracting it. The first crow attacked it's legs, scratched at them, before being kicked. A third crow came to fill it's place. As the capybara cried, more and more crows came, scratching it, pecking it, distracting it, until a dozen stood on the poor creature as it fell to the ground.

The crows feasted that night, their cries heard through the forest.

by **Ralnis** » Fri Nov 27, 2020 11:28 pm

California,
70,000 AD,
Box Jellyfish

The Box Jellyfish finally manage to get to the warmer parts of the world. Many had died to get to the point but this was a promise land for the active movers. They had started to further develop their social structure to have the first true hunting packs and even a proto-community that was more decentralized instead of centralized. Many of these are mostly centered around hunting and reproduction so their use isn't permanent in design but not entirely limited. These structures were the most advanced in the jellyfish species. Many of them forming group dynamic thinking when it comes to ambushing schools of fish and shrimp with their powerful venom.

Food was still plentiful despite the wales and octopi living in the same space. This came that the jellys, despite their microevolutions were still eating the same. Plus not all of the Jellys were in the same area to begin with many other species were still drifting in the cold seas during the peak ice age. However none had the dramatic advancement like the Box Jellyfish. This had made their population to become more stable to the ice age. Warm waters made them be able to have an increase of the more smarter and tactical box jellyfish, making them the apex of the species.

When the ice age finally goes away, the Box Jellyfish will have a amazing future.

by **Zedeshia** » Sat Nov 28, 2020 8:51 am

70,000 AD
South Dakota

The frigid winds of the North raged above, wildly twisting and howling in the air with a ferocity once thought as impossible in the long-ago era of mankind. The Earth had ever so slowly arrived at this moment, this narrow time of transition of heat to cold. The arrival of a new ice age had begun, and what this would mean for all life on the planet was yet to be seen. Across the now chilled plains and prairies of the Dakotas much had changed. As great cold began to slowly encroach southwards much of northwestern America gradually became an almost barren place, with many creatures either slowly migrating to warmer areas or suffering immensely. But what remained in these lands would soon grow to great prominence, and become the major players in a new environment.

A lone deer burst through through the trees, landing solidly on the frost-laden ground of the prairies. The animal, panicked, sprinted forwards with sudden speed, but the poor creature's bloodthirsty pursuers followed quickly behind. The wild barking and howling of a coyote pack echoed across the plains, as the beasts emerged past the thin forest and pursued their prey with a ferocious intensity. The coyotes were eight in number, their thick fur seeming to ripple in the wind. The young deer caught sight of beasts, and began to move even more quickly, kicking up loose dirt and fragments of ice. For a moment, it appeared that this would prove to successful, the deer's pursuers slowing for a moment as it lengthened the distance between the pack and itself. However, this would not be the case. The pack's prey began to tire and slow, and without a moment of hesitation the beasts picked up speed once more. Soon, it was too late. The bloodthirsty coyotes surrounded the deer, and attacked it from all sides, biting at the stomach and legs. The animal cried out in pain as it fell to the icy ground, but this was quickly silenced by a killing blow from the pack's alpha. The victorious howls of the coyotes rang out across the plains that day. They had started to become faster, stronger, more capable of surviving in the bitter cold, and most importantly: even deadlier.

Where other species may suffer from the new age of ice and cold, the coyote shall undoubtedly thrive.

by **UniversalCommons** » Mon Nov 30, 2020 8:46 pm

California, Deep Octlantis, 80,000 A.D.

The deep octopi grew in numbers. They had time to watch each other. They would change colors and swim around, red, green, purple. Sometimes, they would go look at the other octopi's lair. If they approached too close, the Octopi would try and intimidate each other by changing different colors. They perfected their camouflage changing the background colors to sneak up on shrimp, lobsters, and other crustaceans.

Some of the octopi began to live a little longer, instead of a few years, they lived up to five years. This gave them more time in the world. They had time to begin to understand the color changes in the different octopi, different colors began to have meanings, red-- danger, yellow-- love, green-- envy, brown-- hunger. Simple emotions tied in with different colors.

With more time, they sought out more places to live. There was a definite dislike of having too many neighbors, they were territorial, quirky animals. So they spread out more. Their mounds grew and spread over a wider area. They also sought out different colored things, shells, rocks, and things to decorate their mounds.

Changes: Recognition of colors, association of colors with emotion. Extended lifespan.

by **Exalted Inquellian State** » Mon Nov 30, 2020 8:54 pm

80,000 AD
Texas

The crows had fully changed. Wingspans of a meter. Length of half a meter.They had done it. By this point, little time was needed to walk, bar nesting. Their wings flapped slowly in the air, but constantly. But their hunger was ravenous. They needed to eat. And eat they did. The crows hunted everything, horses, mice, and bears. They needed food.

But, as they consumed more, a strange transformation began to occur. The surplus food was flowing into their legs and brain more. For now, the changes were small. Slightly faster and more muscular scratching legs, slightly better vision, with only good betterments being for night. But the signs were there. The crows feet grew stronger, and their understanding of their surrounding better.

And soon enough, they would begin recognizing not only more about their prey, but themselves.

by **Houyhnhnm Cities** » Tue Dec 01, 2020 7:05 am

80.00 AD

Palestine
Life was always hard for the hyrax colonies in the Gaza Strip. Not only they were hunted by a moltitude of predators, but the ground would often shake with sudden explosions, signs of a conflict so much bigger that they could comprehend. Then, as suddenly as they appeared the explosions stopped. Only the predators remained, ever threatening. But the hyraxes were wary and cunning, and only became more so, generation after generation. And they needed to be, because the Great Cold was coming.

While the middle east wa spared the extremes of cold that ravaged the Nord, the cold was felt keenly even there. Other species became bigger and tougher, each individual relying only on themself to survive in this harsh world. But this was not the way of the hyraxes. Their looks did not change much, a bit smaller to survive on meager food, a but fuzzier to better retain heat. What truly allowed to survive was their complex societies.

Their songs, already so complex to have their own syntax kept improving, allowing them to communicate a variety of concept in a concise and precise manner. Their groups became bigger, their societies even more organized. They never lost the egalitarianism that characterized them, if anything thay became even more so, but now the tasks were coordinate much better. The hyrax now did almost everything together, from foraging to standing guard, often huddlled together to preserve body heat. They brought back grasses to their dens, to serve as a reserve of food and thermal insulation. They were still small, vulnerable creaturess. But the thrived in the only way they knew how: together.

Development: Hyraxes become a bit smaller and fuzzier, but their social behavior is where the main improvement happens: their ability to communicate, organize their society, build their dens in a manner more suited to the cold is what improve the most. Basically, they become smaller, fuzzier and socially smarter.

by **Zedeshia** » Tue Dec 01, 2020 6:56 pm

80,000 AD
Idaho

The new ice age had at last arrived, and as the bitter cold winds raged throughout North America the lands of what was once known as southern Idaho laid dormant in the dark night. Now even in the peak of summer the ice and cold remained, freezing the vast landscape. But the north was by no means lifeless, as lying under the thick snow there hid a vast array of plant life. For any creature capable of reaching this greenery at the feet of great glaciers there was almost for certain a great feast, and because of this there were many herbivores yet, whether it be a lone rabbit burrowing in the snow or an immense herd of deer, elk, and moose. But with every herbivore in an environment there is also a predator, and the coyote, now greatly changed, would serve this role with a ferocity none would have expected.

An elk stood amongst the deep snow of the frigid valley, its head buried so deep in search of plants to graze that only its antlers were visible. The beast's head slowly raised from the icy earth, and began to observe its surroundings as the animal swallowed the deep green grass it had found. The elk had unintentionally distanced itself from the rest of its herd, who were searching for sustenance many meters away. The animal returned to the ground below it, believing that this would be of no concern. However, its head flew upwards as it heard the distinctive sound of wild howling and barking and the trampling of snow by many paws. The animal glanced about wildly, attempting to catch sight of its hunters, but at first was unable to. Then, it recognized swift movement to its left. A large pack of coyotes, their thick fur now colored white and light grey were approaching the elk extremely quickly, and were much closer to their prey than the poor animal had at first realized. The beasts were at first glance invisible among the brilliant white landscape, but as they grew closer and closer became easy to distinguish. The elk let out a panicked bellow, and began to sprint towards the herd, gaining speed quickly. However, it was far too late. The bloodthirsty coyotes swiftly pursued their unfortunate prey, and within a blink of an eye leaped onto the elk, knocking it to the frozen ground. Soon the fearful cries of the pack's prey grew silent as the beasts tore into its flesh. In time the pack slowly retreated from the elk's carcass, now a pile of bloody fur, flesh, and bones. The coyote had changed rapidly, filling the empty niche of top pack predator in many places in the north, becoming faster, larger, and more suited to the now frigid environment.

Southern Forests, What was once the Gulf of California

Like many other places in the world, the waters of the Gulf of California had ever so slowly fell as the earth cooled. Now all that remained of the Gulf was a few small lakes and rivers that resided at what was once the deepest parts of a vast body of water. Taking the place of the gulf there now was a great stretch of land, covered with dense forest to the south and empty plains to the north. Here, many of the changes that occurred in the north had no effect. In the warmer climate a coyote had no need for thicker fur nor any reason to hunt larger prey. Where within the last few generations in the north white camouflage had become a prevalent trait the opposite prove true for those in the south, which grew a darker and darker brown as every year passed. Only one trait remained true between both breeds of the creature: they were ever so slowly growing larger in size.

A pair of mating coyotes stood amongst the seemingly endless foliage that covered the expansive forest, a warm summer breeze passing through the trees. The beasts scavenged through the shadowy forest turf, until encountering a massive plant holding multiple bunches of berries, whose bright red color appeared to cut through the darkness of the woods. The coyotes let out excited cries and rushed towards the plant, feasting eagerly. Though they preferred meat, after many days of nothing eating vegetation was by no means above them. The pair soon ate every last berry that could be reached and with renewed energy rushed away, searching for some small mammal to dine upon.

Developments: As the ice age lasts on coyotes begin to split into two different species, one almost solely carnivorous and suited to the immense cold in the north and one mainly omnivorous and adapted to survive in the much warmer climates of what was once Mexico and Central America.

by **Zjaum** » Wed Dec 02, 2020 12:52 am

80,000 AD
Mobile Bay

Fweo the Wiggle-Master. Kua the Seal-Slayer. Now it was Raowaek's turn. He refused, though, to let fate fall in his lap, like it did the others. No, he would be old and fallow by then. He needed to seize fate in his jaws, to clamp down on it and feel the taste of glory in his mouth. His pack had become much more comfortable setting themselves up on the beach, waddling backwards, forwards, and side-to-side. They would wait to be caught at low tide, bumble around for a little bit, and return to the sea when high tide arose. For them it was more of a fashionable thing to do, rather than a practical application of their newfound talents.

Raowaek vehemently disagreed. For him, movement along the beaches was not a hobby but training for a much grander endeavor. He could see that the land away from the shore was different in color and height from that they frequented on a regular basis. He would be the one to find it. On one cold summer day, he left his friends behind to see what lay at the top of that land. He waddled up the shoreline, into the odd bristle-like things that sprouted up off the ground. He plopped on top of them. It felt too limp to be bristles. The orca inhaled a deep breath at the new sight he saw.

He witnessed packs of four-legged beasts roaming the earth for their next meal. He beheld giant black creatures swimming through the air, as easily as he could in water. He saw large spikes thrust out of the earth, and beyond those the earth's folds themselves. This was the world that awaited the orcas, should they choose to ascend. The ambitious whale moved forward a few steps further, taking care to not fall into a compromising position. He observed the animals there; he would not be their food, nor would they be his. For now, at least. Perhaps his children would develop rivalries with them, just as they did the seals so many years ago. Raowaek slowly manuevered himself around to share this information with his pack. Perhaps they would be so enlightened as to journey with him on future endeavors.

Developments: Build up of muscles along the bottom of the orca, just below the center of mass. Splayed fins. Regrowth of the hind leg bone.

by **Ralnis** » Wed Dec 02, 2020 9:13 pm

California,
Box Jellyfish,
80,000AD

The advantages of the Box Jellyfish were many but nothing started to make them more deadly than the use of a fully structured hierarchy. For the first time in their long, long history as a species. Theirs was the greatest among the jellys and it had made it even more as the generations went on. The apex species, though lower in number to those who were able to tolerate the cold better than them or prospered in the ice sheets and multiplied beyond their former numbers. However, competition and the evolutions of their food made the Box Jellyfish become even more coordinated and aggressive to keep up. The very Box Jellyfish had developed something a kin to a decentralized wolf packs.

Due to the sexual and asexual reproduction of the Box Jellyfish they were not the normal variety of hunting packs seen in nature. However one did divided itself into tribes or groups of hundreds of Jellys that had groups of families migrating and carving out parts of the Californian waters to hunt. These groups would also see the first time of inter-species combat against migrations tribes for hunting rights, many eating their own for food. However, the Jellyfish population still rose because of this organization, food was plentiful for the active hunters and those tribes who didn't were dead, broken apart, or used as food.

This sort of battle and fighting came from them also raiding and eating entire schools of fish, shrimp, and plankton while reproducing more than the average warm-tolerated jelly. This would make them experience the first large-bloom in California had seen but it was still slowed down due to the ice age still affecting the jellys worldwide.

Actions: Box Jellyfish establish the first ever permeant groups and fight over food as much as they eat their usual diets. Populations explode for Box Jellyfish establishing a minor bloom in the California waters. Still migrate around the warm parts of the West Coast US but California has the largest number of Box Jellyfish in the world now.

Life Has It's Ways: A Speculative Evolution RP(IC)

Life Has It's Ways: A Speculative Evolution RP(IC)

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