Future Evolution: Brainstorming Creatures for "Three Worlds"

[Xeviat]

Hi all. It may appear that I have stopped working on my setting; that isn't so, I've simply been working on stuff that I'm not ready to show yet. With 4E out, I'm back in crunch mode, working on new takes on classes as I've talked a little about here. I've recently decided that it isn't in my best interest to completely change too many things (such as making my own casters) since that causes more work for my players. Instead, I'm going to be working on "system proof" elements, such as history, geography, and biology. This thread is about biology, specifically the fauna of my world.

My setting takes place on Earth, 50 million years in the future. Several cataclysms have taken place between now and then, including a pole shift, an ice age, and even an alien infiltration. In an ultimate show of their adaptability, man has survived, but many new life forms have evolved, including other sentient races.

I've been following research such as The Future is Wild and books which speculate on the future paths evolution can take. Many scientists agree on which animals will probably not make it into the future; mammals are suposed to take the biggest brunt of the hit, with the loss of most sea mammals, cats, dogs, bears, and other large mammals. I don't want to fully change the fauna, but I do want enough newness an imagry to make the world suitably alien and fantastic.

The fact that my setting is Earth in the future is a formula for it's creation, not a massive point of the setting itself. While there will be clues in the setting and my future novels, the stories will all center around this information. I'm also a fan of the notion of the 'collective conscious', which is why I'm fine using the names of mythological creatures: when people see a small green humanoid, the name "goblin" springs forth from the collective conscious, just like "dragon" springs to mind when one sees a large winged firebreathing reptile.

I will be creating stats for these creatures within 4E. The types of suggestions I'm looking for are as follows:

1) New origins for existing animals (new Orders or Families). For instance, since projections say cats, dogs, and bears will probably die out, perhaps Bears will be replaced by mustelids (badgers, wolverines).
2) Believable explanations for mythological creatures. For instance, I'm creating a new order of birds who evolve from a single ancestor species which evolves a third pair of limbs. This six limbed (two wing, four leg) bird evolves into two families, dragons and griffons. Dragons grow incredibly large and revert back to a more reptilian appearance (such as how some scientists suspect that crocodiles were once closer to birds since their hearts have 4 chambers at one point in their fetal development), while griffons remain small (and specialize into carnivorus griffons and herbivorus hippogrifs). Further more, the humanoid species of Valkyries has its origins in this order of birds. (The magic of dragons comes from the quantities of magic present in the world itself during the time of the setting, not largely a function of evolution.)
3) Entirely new creatures, who aren't replacing existing animals or mimicing mythological creatures. For instance, I've imagined a large bat (medium in d20 game sizes), who has lost its eyes and wings. It has retained long fingers, now used for climbing the craggy walls of caves. It has retained its echolocation and even refined it into a sound based weapon; by sending a concentrated pulse of sound that scrambles their prey's equilibrium, leaving them vulnerable for ambush. They will live and hunt in groups, and are intelligent enough to be trained.

In addition to as much description as you want to come up with, please give a general level range for the creature you have in mind. For the most part, animals are heroic level threats in D&D 4E, but some could be in the low Paragon levels for very fantastic creatures. You don't need to give numbers, just say low (1-5), medium (6-10), or high (11-15).

Thanks all. Hopefully this can be a fun exercise.

[Llum]

Alright, since your familiar with The Future is Wild I'm going to guess you've seen most of the pages that link off it in wikipedia. Your bat creature is similar to something found in a show called Primeval, a creature from the future similar to what you describe makes it to present day England.

Alright for some ideas of my own, there is a species of in the Hydrozoa class named a Hydra. The creature has this name because it has true regeneration, it can regrow any part of its body (similar to starfishes) and it can go into a hibernative state where it goes to a previous stage in its life cycle, essentially it makes itself younger with no known side effects.

Creatures evolved from his could post a significant threat, being as they're almost impossible to kill. I know that they've currently infected every ocean/major sea in the world. Level ranges would probably start medium-high and could be in high Paragon or Epic tier due to their incredible regeneration powers.

I'm guess Valkyries are winged humanoids?

For the dragon I don't know if you're aware but Discovery(I think) did a special on how Dragons could have previously evolved. Initially it was a wyvern-like creature, then it gained 6 limbs and split into three sub species, water dragons which were very long and had vestigial limbs/wings. Forest dragons that live in bamboo forests and mountain dragons, large dragons who lived in the high mountains around Tibet and mated in the air like some Eagles and Falcons.

For others I would say something cephalopod-related could be a potential menace in waters, something medium level. Turtles and jellyfish I can also see possibly gaining a niche for low level creatures.

[SilvercatMoonpaw]

You mention "The Future is Wild", but have you ever encountered After Man: A Zoology of the Future?

[Loch Belthadd]

I'd imagine invertabrates would still be around...Cockroaches could have re-evolve into the giant monstrosities they once were...or mabye even gain sentience!!!

[Xeviat]

Llum, that Hydra creature is very interesting. I wasn't aware their regeneration and aging was so spectacular. Unless you come up with one, I'll definately look at some aquatic regenerative creature, and it might be a similar enough biome to use them as "Hydras" in game terms. Very interesting.

Silvercat, I have read up on After Man. I'm probably going to pick up a copy of it. But I need to use things as inspiration and not wholesale copypasta; you know that whole copywrite issue and all that.

Cheeto, invertabrates will definately still be around. Cockroaches, though, won't really become anything more than they are. Over the years on earth, they've simply grown smaller and adapted to new climate. They've been around forever and haven't become anything more than they are now, so I'm not going to be doing anything new with roaches.

If I were using "fallout evolution", I definately would. Heh.

[Loch Belthadd]

I would think that after several catyclysms they would have changed a little. Like maybe growing short wiry hair for the ice age.

[Elemental_Elf]

Do Octopi still roam the land? If so, it would be cool to have some sort of amphibious, sentient Octopus creature. perhaps the Aliens fused Human and Octopi DNA together to create it! These little guys would probably be Heroic tier enemies, though Dire versions (perhaps a Male in his reproductive prime?) could be low Paragon.

Terror Birds would be a lot of fun to see re-evolve! Maybe they grow even larger, like Allosaurus-size! You could use these super Terror Birds as futuristic equivalents to the many carnivorous Dinosaurs! Obviously these guys would be mid to high Paragon level of difficulty.

[BlueSilence]

Are we talking only about animals? I cant take out of my head this fungi creature. You talked about aliens and I thought about the Mi-go in the Cthulhu Mythos. What about an evolved carnivorous plant able to move around, bigger in size and really vicious, at leat it can do something about the roaches.

[Xeviat]

E_E, I loved the land octopi. A show I was watching about really early evolution talked about an evolutionary animosity between vertibrates (fish) and invertibrates (scorpions in this example). That got me thinking about how alien we see insects, squid, and other invertibrates. I'd love for there to be an animosity between them.

Oh, and the aliens that had invaded a long time ago are lovecraftian style aliens, terrors from beyond the stars, and are my worlds aberrations. Many are sleeping, others are awake, but none of them are a functioning part of any ecosystem.

So yeah, land octopi would be cool.

I'm not looking only for animals; plants and fungi are cool too.

[Llum]

Another couple ideas, first something akin to a large electric eel that evolved to survive in a larger range of habitats. This would be a mid-Hero level creature, it would have its one stunning attack (knocking prone possibly) that would be somewhat dangerous, but nothing special aside from that.

Another creature could be related to humans in some fashion, basically its humanoid in shape. Pack hunters the creatures run down their prey over long distances, being able to chase pretty much anything that can't fly away into exhaustion. Currently, humans are probably one of the best long distance runners on the planet, in nearly all climates. People can outpace horses, antelope and other creatures over long distances.

[SilvercatMoonpaw]

Silvercat, I have read up on After Man. I'm probably going to pick up a copy of it. But I need to use things as inspiration and not wholesale copypasta; you know that whole copywrite issue and all that.

:huh: When did I mention stealing from it?  I just think it's a neat book for what you want.

Also, though this may sound weird, I find that other peoples' custom Pokémon designs are very inspiring for new creatures.  Here's a gallery with some good ones:
http://darksilvania.deviantart.com/gallery/

[Xeviat]

Heh, pokemans.

I didn't mean to imply you were telling me to steal.

And I like the electric eel. Should it have evolved to come onto land briefly, like to bask on the riverbed?

[Llum]

The only problem with that (which was my original idea, like a river Behir) is that how well would its electric organ function out of water? I've never heard of a land/air animal having the electric capabilities of some fish.

Another idea I had is for some kind of mobile crustacean, probably cat-dog sized. It developed from the pistol shrimp, so it has the ability to snap its pincer together so quick it creates a kind of stunning blast in the water. This would be a strictly aquatic creature.

The eel thing I see being a lurker most likely. Being able to hide in the water.

A larger Bombardier beetle could fill the role of natural artillery quite well.

[Elemental_Elf]

Maybe the Eel can pass electricity through his teeth into his victims, you know to shock/stun them into submission?

[Llum]

The main problem with that is the main material that composes teeth (enamel and ceramic type compounds) are non-conductive, they really don't conduct electricity very well.