Endless Horizons: Magic Ecology

[Xeviat]

Hey everyone!

I'm taking a tiny break from crunch to think about the ecology of my setting. I've always approached my setting from a sci-fi perspective, wanting the world to be believable (not exactly realistic) and to play with all of the "what-ifs". I have some big handwaves, such as magic and the spirit world and fey creatures and ignoring the square cube law for dragons and giants, but I still want some believability in the setting. For really large creatures, I assume they make their bones out of something more resilient than calcium carbonate, calcium phosphate, and collagen (aluminum/aluminium bones would be tough indeed).

My setting, though, is Earth in the far future, about 50 million years in the future. In that amount of time in the past, birds and mammals exploded into the multitudes of animals we see today, so the sky is really the limit on things I can make. I'm going to be making some assumptions about how current extinction rates are going to play out, basically taking out most, if not all, of the large mammals. I'm introducing a new group of animals, called Drakes, which evolve from birds who revert back to reptilian traits as they get larger to take over the gaps left by the extinct mammals; at some point, whether through magic or genetic tampering, drakes got a third set of limbs. The first drakes were griffons and hippogriffs, and they explode to become things like wyverns and psudodragons and all manner of other creatures.

But, for now, I've been coming up with creatures here and there without any real direction, so I was wondering if anyone knew of any resources that give some structure to what niches are present in different ecosystems? My google-fu is weak, but I've been watching tons of nature documentaries to get ideas (especially Future Earth, which I highly recommend for fans of speculative fiction). The first obvious thing is that I killed off the current large predators and large grazers, so those holes are going to need to be filled. I do know that rodents and mustaelids are going to take over some of those spots, but I'd rather birds and drakes take over more, simply to make the world look different.

So, do you have any thoughts?

[O Senhor Leetz]

An interesting route to take, while keeping a fair amount of handwavium, could be the potential negatives of genetically modified organism over the course of millennia. Maybe the tomatoes that where modified with fish genes (antifreeze) eventually evolve into deadly sentient aquatic nightshades. Or chickens designed to be as meaty as possible get out of hand and exponentially evolve into something like monster Akira - a violent fleshy mass.

[Xeviat]

Dude! I like that! Definitely consider the mobile aquatic nightshade stolen. Heck, a whole kingdom of animal/plant hybrids could have come about through genetic engineering.

[LoA]

OOOHhhh!! Me! Me! Me!

I love speculative evolution! So who are the primary predators in this world? After Man has the rodents taking over the Carnivores. The mustelids take over as top predators in Future is Wild. Do you have anything special in mind?

[horseradish]

OOOHhhh!! Me! Me! Me!

I love speculative evolution! So who are the primary predators in this world? After Man has the rodents taking over the Carnivores. The mustelids take over as top predators in Future is Wild. Do you have anything special in mind?

I was going to mention Future Is Wild! There's nothing like bats with 8-metre wingspans to get the heart racing! And octopuses that fly through the trees like monkeys!

Personally, I think taking out the biggest predators was probably your best idea. I may use it to some degree in my setting, if that's okay. It gives you a lot of space to really have a think about what makes something into an efficient predator, and then you can exaggerate those features.

There are lines in Jurassic Park and Jurassic World about how nature gave us the most efficient killing machines/predators a hundred million years ago.

But, in truth, the most efficient predators we have alive today are humans, and none of the things that make us so efficient are as obvious as claws and teeth.

We have big toes which make us incredible runners. We cool by sweating, not panting, which means we can move faster while cooling just as efficiently. And we have opposable thumbs.

If you want truly awe-inspiring apex predators, I'd think of something that doesn't make your creature better at killing, but something that makes it better at hunting.

[Xeviat]

The top preditors in the world are likely the Drakes. A group of birds, corvids or raptors (I haven't decided) started to get big after the large mammals died off. At some point, they grew a third set of limbs. The first true drakes were griffins and hipogrifs. From there, they got larger, and started to become more reptilian. Some grew into what are known as "true drakes", including drakes and wyverns. Some grew small again, like paudo dragons. None have breath weapons.

If a hunter is what you're looking for, here's the night stalker.

The night stalker is a four legged creature that crawls close to the ground. It is nearly six feet long, and stands about 2.5 feet tall at its shoulder. Its rear feet loosely resemble clawed human hands, and it has incredible grip with them. It's face has a snub nose and a short but broad jaw, with a mouth full of cutting teeth. It has large forward facing ears, and its eyes are mere light sensitive black dots. It's most unique feature are it's incredibly long fingers, reaching nearly three feet. The fingers are webbed near the hand out to about a foot, and the long fingers have numerous joints.

The night stalker sees via echolocation. It is capable of emiting an inaudible shriek that induces nausia and disorientation. Using its long fingers and handlike feet, it climbs along cliffsides and cave ceilings. It uses its shriek to stun its prey and then grabs them with it's long claws before biting at vulnerable spots like the eyes and neck.

Definitely, rodents and mustaelids have diversified, becoming large grazers and catlike midpreditors. But it is the drakes that rule.

[Xeviat]

And I have both "Future is Wild" and "After Man".

So, how are humans still here? Well, at some point, humans technology allowed them to avoid a grand cataclysm. In the world's mythology, passed down by the ancient dragon worshipping faith, the goddess of dragons destroyed the ancients for turning away from her. Maybe the dragons were an alien invasion. Maybe it was just a meteorite or climate change or a plague. Either way, humans escaped and dwelled in space. Over millions of years, they evolved into faceless, seemingly genderless, large eyed beings which the people of the world now call Angels. Their psychic power and advanced technology would make them potent adversaries, but they are distant and removed.

It was the angels, evolved humans, which reseeded the world with humans. In their absense, other races evolved. The newly awakened magic of the world, brought on by a reconnection with the spirit world, seemed ro have caused evolution to explode. Dwarves evolved from badgers, retaining their penchant for living underground and their fierceness in defending their families. Halflings evolved from spider monkeys, retaining their prehensile tales and deft limbs. Valkyries evolved from griffins, a tall birdlike race with arms, legs, and large wings (at nearly 7 feet tall, I've estimated something like a 16 to 20 foot wingspan, so one feature their stats will have is a psudo large size where they suffer some of the disadvantages of being large, since opening their wings makes them a large target). Ifrit evolved from gilla monsters, their venom becoming volatile to the point of igniting when mixed (they have two glands that produce separate venoms). Tritons evolved from new saltwater salamanders, retaining their gills and developing camouflaging chromatophores.

Elves, goblins, gnomes, sylphs, salamanders (the big fire snake things), and undines are fey creatures. Elves adapt to their surroundings within a few generations, and many have adapted to the material world.

Giants are humans that were experimented upon. Ogres are half-human, half-giant.

[Yodra]

Have you considered drake intelligence? You mentioned corvids as possible drake progenitors, and corvids include some of the smartest animals known to mankind. It could be interesting if drakes are more technologically advanced than your other races, since they seem to have evolved first.