Parting of the Ways (Fortune: Evolution Game)

"Parting of the Ways" is the sixth chapter in the evolution game run by FortuneHost. The name is a reference to the lyrics of an Irish protest song, but also refers to the splitting of the continents that has occurred. For now, these are tentatively named Alpha, Beta, and Delta continents. Unlike other games, Part 6 is split into regions, with a thread dedicated to each area rather than the world as a whole, as now creatures are separated and should evolve differently in their varied environments.

Forests

The forests are a temperate wooded region covering the majority of Delta continent. It possesses four seasons of spring, summer, autumn, and winter. Trees grow in thickets all over Delta, sometimes so thick that sunlight only barely filters through, but also spreading into clearing in other areas.

Webspinner

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 jungles of Alpha continent. Someday these may develop into a distinct species all its own, though for now it is identical to its Delta cousins.

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.

Silverwyrm (Arctic Serpent)

Arctic Serpent

The Silverwyrm is an arboreal mammal whose main diet consists of insects and prefers forests with a cold to temperate climate. They are found in the region known as the Forest Region.

The Silverwyrm is one of Fortune's few mammals, giving live birth and with lactating females. While their ancestors burrowed underground to escape the cold, since the meltdown, they have returned to their arboreal routs, hanging in the boughs of trees in groups of up to a dozen. Here they eat the many insects that are (surprisingly) common in Fortune's colder regions. The Silverwyrm is one of the few species on Fortune displaying sexual dimorphism; males possess a 'hood' on their necks, which can be opened to appear larger and intimidating, this is enhanced by their thick mane. An average male is probably about the size of a large dog, like a Great Dane, while females are generally a little smaller.

Barkworm

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.

Tunnelsinger (Howling Snake)

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.

Gardenback

The Gardenback is an aerial terrestrial herbivore found in the Forest Region of Delta Continent. The Gardenback is covered in green fur reminiscent of dense foliage and its belly is the colour of stone, all the better to blend into copses of woody trees and undergrowth. This is especially aided by the growth of plants on the creature's back. Like its cousin the Rainbow Blimpie, the Gardenback possesses a modified stomach, open to the air in the form of a bowl. Here, rainwater collects and quenches the creature, rather than the more familiar process of drinking. In this small pond, the seeds of small waterborne plants can fall and germinate, to decorate the creature. While the main benefit of this garden is blending into surroundings (very important, as the Gardenback floats at a leisurely pace, even at its fastest) it can also provide a quick snack should food prove scarce. There are even reports of Greenbacks picking and intentionally planting shoots and saplings into their pond-bowl, using their split-trunk like a clumsy manipulator.

Heater Bug

On the left, the Bull caste, on the right, three members of the Kamikaze caste.

Heater Bugs are thumb-sized subterranean herbivores that live in underground nests similar to ants. They only leave their homes to find food, snipping off bits of leaf and returning them to the hive, where they are stored for the group as a whole. Ice Bugs possess on their abdomens an orange organ that radiates heat, and this is what allows them to live at the temperatures that they do.

Heater Bugs are split into two castes, the bulls, which are akin to workers and soldier ants, and these are the majority of the colony besides the bloated queens. The second caste is the kamikaze, filled with an irritant acid that they spray at predators. These suicidal beetles can also willingly explode. The combustion doesn't hurt predators, but it's painful as all Hell and will quickly discourage further intrusion onto the hive.

Wood Beetles

Wood Ants and their various castes.

(Copypasted from the threads)The Wood Beetles of Delta continent are scavenging terrestrial insects. They develop a rough row of keratin 'teeth' and claws over their mouths and on their 'hands', respectively, which they use to scrape every last scrap of flesh from a carcass' skeleton. Regions of the forest where Wood Beetles reside are littered with pearly white bones.

Snow Beetles develop a node on their rears which, despite its colouring, emits heat and a soft glow.

The Snow Beetles retreat underground and heat the area above them en masse, inviting more wildlife during the winter months, which they monitor from below by detecting vibrations. Once they sense a creature dying above their nest, scouts emerge from the various tunnels hidden around the area, pull and saw (Scouts have evolved saw-hands, shown in the drawing) chunks of the carcass apart and drag them underground into food storage.

Scouts grow saw-like claws which are used to cut and drag carcasses to bring them back to the nest. Workers grow shovel-like claws to aid in digging and expanding the nests. Caterers guard the food storage and dispense it around the colony, workers usually get the majority share though successful scout parties are rewarded with first pick of their spoils. Scouts and workers tend to be male and caterers female, though this is merely a trend, rather than an absolute.

Cleaner Tick

Cleaner Tick

Evolving from groups of Snow Ticks whose usual lifestyle was impeded by Bloodsucker Lichen covering their host, these herbivorous insectoids adapted to a drastically different niche.

They use their strong punchers to peel Lichen off from the skin of their hosts, feeding upon it while keeping the host healthy. They are welcomed by most animals on Fortune, and will occasionally gang up and fight off other tick species from their hosts.

They typically get attached to one host and may spend multiple generations on just one creature, slowing the advance of Bloodsucker Lichen heavily, but never outright stopping it. If their host fell to a predator, they will attempt to spread to said predator, otherwise they will spread out, looking for the nearest creature to attach to. They use their wings in order to keep up with a host, including the occasional blimpie. They favour furred hosts, as they will often lay their eggs in the fur, using the host's warmth to incubate them. Cleaner Ticks are a dark green, being visible on the hides of most animals, scaring away other parasites.

Grey Wretch

Grey Wretch

The Grey Wretch is a carnivorous terrestrial repto-mammal that makes its homes in Fortune's cold to temperate forests and plains.

Grey Wretches are grizzly bear-sized solitary predators of the north, though they are also sometimes seen in pairs. Interestingly, Grey Wretches (like their ancestors) only seek breeding partners near the very end of their lives (somewhere along the last few months or so), and when they spawn, their death soon follows (similar in this respect to Earth's salmon population). Outside of this, Grey Wretches are highly territorial, duelling via their large horn and head plates. Though their thick shells will generally keep their heads safe, the horn can be quite fatal if the wretch chooses to target a different spot, and casualties are not uncommon among more aggressive wretches. Generally cannibalism is only practiced among the younger specimens, however.

The female lays up to a dozen or more football-sized eggs, burying them in a large pile of dirt or snow-drift. When the young hatch, they are about the size of a chihuaha, and stick together for safety, catching insects and other small prey, until they are old enough for larger game. Once they reach 60% of their adult size, the juvenile Wretches part, leading solitary lives, though by this point, there is rarely more than 5 of the original clutch left.

Forest Tick

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

The Forest 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. Grey Wretches 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 Forest Tick leaves its host, hibernating inside a tree hollow or under a rock until it hungers again.

Forest 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.

Highlands

Tunnelsinger (Howling Snake)

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.

Highland Tick

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

The Highland 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. Brown Wretches and Mountain Trolls 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 Highland Tick leaves its host, hibernating inside a tree hollow or under a rock until it hungers again.

Highland 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.

Jungles

Tunnelsinger (Howling Snake)

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.

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.

Prairie

Prairie Tick

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

The Prairie 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. Demolishers and Camelbacks 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 Prairie Tick leaves its host, hibernating inside a tree hollow or under a rock until it hungers again.

Prairie 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.

Swamps

Forest Tick

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

The Swamp 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 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 Swamp Tick leaves its host, hibernating inside a tree hollow or under a rock until it hungers again.

Swamp 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.

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Pickle Island

Pickles

A pickled cucumber (commonly known as a pickle in Australia, Canada, and the United States or generically as gherkins in the UK) is a cucumber that has been pickled in a brine, vinegar, or other solution and left to ferment for a period of time, by either immersing the cucumbers in an acidic solution or through souring by lacto-fermentation.