Editing Parting of the Ways (Fortune: Evolution Game) (section)

== Jungles ==

===Webspinner (Jungle)===
[[File:Webspinner_01.png|200px|thumb|left|An adult specimen, seen from above.]]
Webspinners are terrestrial insectoids that prefer cool, damp spaces and are commonly found in the shade of the trees. A separate population of these creatures also lives in the forests of Delta continent. Someday these may develop into a distinct species all its own, though for now it is identical to its Alpha cousins.
[[File:FunnelSpider - Nest 05182012.jpg|100px|thumb|The web of this Funnel Spider is a good approximation of what a Webspinner nest looks like.]]
Webspinners are predatory creatures about 3 inches long and make their homes in the boughs and shade of trees. It is here that they build their nests, spinning them into tightly woven funnels, held between two small branches like a sideways hammock. While Webspinners do not build web traps like many Earth spiders, the Webspinner can, however, fire a sticky mass out of their abdomen (the same area from where their web comes from, incidentally. Usually this is used to bind the webbing of their homes to the bark of a tree, but it is also how the creature catches prey. The aim has to be precise, but once a smaller creature gets stuck within, there is little escape. The prey is either glued to the tree branch or, if flying, falls to the ground. 

Should the fall not kill the flyer, the Webspinner will soon put it out of its misery. Shooting a creature out of the sky is far more difficult than firing at a target situated on the branch, so the Webspinner usually prefers to hunt more land-bound food as an ambush predator, sneaking up and pouncing on the prey (or immobilizing it with sticky goo) before it has time to escape or react at all.

===Barkworm (Jungle)===
[[File:Barkworm_00.png|200px|thumb|Barkworm]]
'''Barkworms''' are omnivorous insectoids that make their homes inside burrows carved out of tree-trunks. They are found wherever there are trees, and so are most common in the regions of the '''Forest Region''' and the '''Jungle Region'''.

Barkworms are a creatures that has changed very little in millions of years. They inhabit the inside of trees, helping to clean out dead bark and rotten roots, the way cleaner fish pick dead skin off larger fish on Earth. The Barkworms will also not hesitate to eat deceased animals either, provided they are not far from the creature's burrows (such burrows are either bored into the tree itself or are in the dirt beneath its roots).

Barkworms are about the size of a human hand.

===Garden Crab===
Garden Crabs are omnivorous terrestrial crustaceans with a tendency to grow their own food.To support their lifestyle, the crabs stay at the equatorial regions near rivers or bodies of fresh water.

An average full grown garden crab can reach up to half the size of an adult male human measured from the base of their grabbing arm, and can be twice as long. The crabs have thick plates of light green carapace covering most of their bodies except their eyes, which have a yellow sclera and normally small red pupils. They are octopedal, where the 6 back legs have 3 limbs each, allowing the crab to easily stand up to reach its flying prey; while the front two legs allow the crab to keep balanced allowing it to move forward.

Though they are crustacean, the gardening crab lays eggs more like a turtle does, digging a hole in the ground, laying its eggs, burying the eggs to keep them well insulated. The male garden crab will usually keep vigil on the egg mound for six months, when it dies. The eggs will hatch not long after, using their already developed spades to pry open their father's shell to digest the meat- all instinctively. The mother will return from hunting to teach the kids how to farm, using its bounty to fertilize the plants. Garden crabs mature after ten years, during that time, one would learn how to garden, fish, and hunt.

===Tunnelsinger (Jungle)===
[[File:howler.png|200px|thumb|Tunnelsinger]]
Tunnelsingers are subterranean mammals with an omnivorous diet (roots as well as insects).

The Tunnelsinger lacks eyes, its head instead being covered with a number of short digging arms, each ending in a fingernail-like structure, which they use to dig their extensive warrens, not unlike those of Earth's prairie dogs.

To compensate for their lack of eyesight, the Tunnelsinger has developed extremely powerful hearing, and a flute-like structure on its face capable of creating a wide range of sounds, used for echolocation, communication and defense.

When a dangerous creature enters a Tunnelsinger family's territory, the first snake to notice will let out a deep warning bugle, with other snakes passing it on and retreating into the warren. They will proceed to let out frequent high pitched 'hoots', attempting to scare off the predator.

They use other, more specialized cries for communication, such as mating calls. They will occasionally 'sing' in groups for seemingly no reason, an entire warren spontaneously launching into noise, possibly as a method of exercise for their 'voices'. They also use hard thumpers on their tail to create a somewhat drum-like beat by banging in against the walls of their burrows.

These creatures give birth to live young, about 2-4, and upon emergence, sniff out their mothers teats, and survive on a diet of milk until about 3 months, after which their mother weans them onto insects and roots. They live in small family groups, consisting of around 10-20 individuals.

In terms of size, Tunnelsingers are around the length and thickness of a human arm.

===Rainbow Blimpie===

===Smiler (Jungle)===

The Smiler, or Smiling Chomper is a herbivorous terrestrial repto-mammal found in the the Highlands, Jungle, and Swamp regions of Fortune.

The Smiler is a gorilla sized herbivore that travels in family groups not unlike Earth chimpanzees. The troop is led by a leading mated pair, and child-rearing is overseen by all females of the group. They are most at home in grasslands, but the species does well in forests too. Smilers are well known for their use of tools, unique on Fortune. They use the spikes of the Spineroot plant to dig up large roots and tubers as an alternative to their regular diet of grasses. It should be noted, though, that there is no sense of ingenuity or invention in this, and that it is almost purely instinct. For now, the Smiler's intelligence has plateaued.

Smilers get their names from the creepy looking grin that, because of their jaw structure and musculature, is permanently etched onto their faces, enhanced by facial markings superficially resembling large teeth.

===Skullroot===
The Skullroot (Osmunda meloidogyne) [Osmunda is the name that a lot of ferns that grow Fiddlehead Ferns, which is actually a curly green, take. I thought it appropriate due to the Skullroots connection to the Curly-Q line. The Meloidogyne is based from the Root-Knot Nematode what the Skullroot was originally based on as a parasite. Both add into the Skullroots evolution it very subtle ways.]is an exclusively female specie that relies heavily on the Asparagus Trees for their continued survival as a specie. The parasites have thus developed a relationship with the tree that is putting them in the place of a glorified walking fruit that regurgitates the seedlings, and young, to continue the Equatorial Jungles Asparagus Trees line alive and fruitful. The young Skullroot spends three cycles(3 years) within the Resin Packets that the Asparagus Trees produce in order to grow to their maximum size of 2'9" and capture the maximum amount of Tadseeds (male sperms) for future usage. When it has reached maturity the Skullroot is expelled from the Resin Packet and crawls down the side of the tall trees with its 5 tendrils and 2 arms. Once reaching the ground it begins its first task, to begin reproducing. Once finished the Skullroot travels and once deeming a spot acceptable will dig a spot and essentially "throw-up" its young with the seedlings to ensure mutual continued survival. The Skullroots do this for the next 3 to 4 years, eating small bugs to help it produce more Resin, its lifeblood and throwing up the remains as fertilizer. When the Skullroot has spit up its final off spring it will die within the next 2 weeks and likely finds a spot and digs in its tendrils thus allowing the plant on its head to take over and grow a new Asparagus Tree.

Facts:
Skullroots do not hear, they rely heavily on camouflage and the dark of the underbrush.

Skullroots are incredibly high in protein due to their resin blood, and thus a lovely snack for predators.

Skullroots are incredibly terrotorial and will kill others on site to ensure their own lineages continue.
 
Tadseeds are glorified sperm cells that once attached to the Skullroot fuse into her body until only their gonads remain. The have highly functional eyes that hep the Skullroot develop their 4 easier and quicker.

===Deathmasque===

[[File:Deathmasque_00.png|200px|thumb|A Proboscis Scorpion infected with a Deathmasque.]]
A divergence from the main line, the '''Deathmasque''' is a variety of '''Skullroot''' that, instead of infesting '''Asparagus Trees''', infects an insectoid host, turning its head and face black with red markings (hence the name). As the fungus-like parasite spreads, it kills the host, but the body remains, so the Deathmasque grabs the reins of the creature's nervous system, creating a walking corpse. Now the Deathmasque is running out of time, it must mature and spawn before the host's body decomposes. The Deathmasque must reach a certain "critical mass" of infection to reach reproductive age, and once it does so, it "drives" the zombified victim to the highest point possible, like the top of tree, where the Deathmasque dies, spreading its foul seed on the wind.

===Saltspike Frog (Jungle)===

The Saltspike Frog, or simply Saltback is a terrestrial amphibian that dines almost exclusively on the Salt Cactus, a plant that, despite its name, grows on the banks of freshwater bodies in warm to tropical areas as well as swamps and wetlands of a similar climate. Thus it is that the Saltspike dwells here also, being native to the Swamp region of planet Fortune.

While the creature has lost its shell since evolving from the Shellfog, the Saltspike does retain a decoration of sorts, an assortment of salt crystals adorning its back (hence the name). This is the result of the creature's body filtering out the high sodium content of its diet, too much of which will dry the Saltspike out like a slug. As the frog matures, some of the crystals lengthen and sharpen, forming protective spikes making the frog unpalatable for most predators.This display is sometimes used in courting rituals, as a thick crust of the stuff indicates the individual is well fed, and a large number of spikes is generally a sign of a creature that will avoid predation.

Saltspikes are small, the biggest are around the size of an outstretched palm. That said, these small critters are a prolific bunch, not to mention loud. During the mating season (anywhere from late spring to midsummer), males and females will croak to each other, and within these chirps and ribbits, the health, size, age, and gender of the frog making them is made apparent (to other Saltspikes, anyway).

When a frog hears a mate that it likes, it will follow the sound to the caller and try to initiate the courtship dance. If the other accepts, they will mate and lay a foamy mass of around 700 of eggs. The pair will then separate, not to see each other again, except perhaps next season. The young are but miniature version of the adults, unlike Earth frogs, though they do breathe through gills at this stage, eventually, these gills will be replaced with lungs as the young mature.

===Jungle Tick===

Jungle Ticks are terrestrial bloodsucking parasites common to Jungles of the the Alpha Continent of Fortune. Jungle Ticks are currently identical to other Tick species in everything but colour, discounting the Blood Ants.

The Jungle Tick takes advantages of the many large animals in it's habitat, using it's sturdiness and strong claws to cling to their skin, while an adapted leg siphons blood from it's host. Smilers and Rainbow Blimpies are their most common hosts. As it feeds, it grows bloated and ever so slightly more fragile as its skin stretches to accommodate the fluid within. Once full in this manner, the Jungle Tick leaves its host, hibernating inside a tree hollow or under a rock until it hungers again.

Jungle Ticks spend a great deal of their lives asleep. Long slumber (3-4 days) punctuated by gorging themselves on a host and the occasional mating (sometimes done on a host if that's where they meet) comprises the entirety of their lives. Gross to humans, from the viewpoint of the tick (if it had one as a nonsentient) life is good.