10/16/2023: The Prehistoric Animal Stage is underway! Anyone may vote. We're an avian now, so it's time to find our flock... or go solo... depends on what the voters decide.
The bacterium in question is as long as an adult man's finger, with all the bits and pieces inside that an amoeba needs to survive the new world's shenanigans.
Predators and Prey
Predators and prey have not been determined yet, but they soon will be, based on your actions!
Environment and Society
When the bacteria becomes an animal and later becomes sapient, information will go here detailing its background.
A quiet blue-green planet, third from its star, slowly rotates in the blackness of space. The planet is vibrant, full of things like plants and trees and oxygen, but no other life to speak of.
No life, that is, until a huge asteroid out in the inky void is pulled off course by a gas giant's erratic orbit further out and comes streaking full speed into view. Unable to stop it hits the planet at a harsh angle and explodes, sending multiple huge boulders of itself all through the atmosphere. One of these boulders explodes miles above the surface, revealing an unusual payload.
An oblong white object with obvious windows and a small nozzle, not natural by any means, plummets to the planet's surface once it is free from the boulder. The nozzle activates autonomously, spraying like a firehose and spreading unusual compounds throughout the area.
The unusual compounds at first ooze hypnotically toward one another... then they unite to form the first bacteria on the planet. A small, narrow bacterium no more than the length of a finger emerges from the ooze to begin to search for others like itself. Whether it's either to eat them, incorporate them, or grow to rule over them, is yet to be seen.
All right, folks. Time for this bacterium to evolve into the dominant form of life on this planet.
Here's how this is going to go down. Each post I make will document 100,000 years of evolution, until we hit 3.5 million years and then we begin the rise to sapience. I want you to suggest evolutions to this bacterium, and others like it will evolve aloongside and compete for supremecy. Along the way I'm going to be using Random.org to roll percentile dice for each evolution you suggest, in order to dictate its chances of success or failure. Low rolls just mean it can't compete with various aspects of other bacteria, while high rolls mean it will outstrip the others and advance that much faster into sapience.
If the bacterium successfully grows to maturity... well, you'll see. Heh. If it doesn't, there's always what does survive, or we can just try again.
But first...
Where does the payload drop? The ocean? A forest? A desert? The frozen poles? Its location will have an impact on how it evolves from its environment. A desert landing might give it a strong and resilient cell wall, the better to retain water, while in the ocean it may find an abundance of food in plankton and other things and thus grow quite quickly. Tell me your decisions! Where do you want our story to begin? Start commenting, and when I have five or more responses, we'll kick things off.
+Dull Brown color
+Multiple Legs
+Tough
+Winter Spore/Chrysalis
+UV Shielding
+Salt Barrier Defense
-Poison Weakness
-Electric Weakness
Predators and Prey
Bacterium 1: The first predator bacteria is spherical, with a smooth, yellow exterior. Small hair-like flagella protruding outwards intermingle with longer tentacles equipped with poisonous stingers. At one end is a large bulbous protrusion containing digestive enzymes to break down prey. Its interior contains scattered organelles and a good deal of genetic material. Overall diameter is about 2 micrometers. MAIN THREAT
Bacterium 2: The second one is a rod-shaped bacterium which has a rigid, red cell wall akin to a turtle-esque shell. Short hair-like appendages extend from each end that seem to be pulsing as a neuron would, flickering with electricity. Its interior is densely packed with coiled genetic material and ribosomes. It measures 5 micrometers long by 1 micrometer wide.
Bacterium 3: The final predator is a filamentous bacterium which is forming long chains of oval cells. Each cell has a flexible green membrane and contains a large circular organelle. The cells are approximately 3 micrometers long and are connected end-to-end up to 50 micrometers in total length. It hunts by constriction, much like a snake would. KILLED BY THE ENVIRONMENT
Bacterium 4: Another spherical bacterium, this prey species has a smooth, reflective glassy cell wall that is difficult for predators to grasp. Its interior contains scattered organelles and genetic material. Several long flagella allow it to dart quickly to evade predators. Diameter is about 1 micrometer. PREFERRED PREY
Bacterium 5: This oblong prey bacterium is encased in a hard, spiked capsule made of organic minerals. The protective coating shields it from harmful enzymes while allowing nutrients to pass through small pores; the spikes serve both as defense and offense given they're coated in defensive chemicals. It measures 2 micrometers wide by 4 micrometers long.
Bacterium 6: This filamentous prey bacterium forms long flexible chains of bead-like cells; these stiffen extremely hard (mostly to stop the advances of "predator 3" above). Each translucent cell contains coiled DNA and tiny granules. When threatened, the chain can rapidly fragment into individual motile cells to confuse predators. Cell length is 2 micrometers. KILLED BY THE ENVIRONMENT
Note that if you have names for these bacteria, either latin or otherwise, I'm all ears and will use them.
Environment and Society
When the bacteria becomes an animal and later becomes sapient, information will go here detailing its background.
The meteor slams into the ground, the shockwave obliterating sand, stone, and the occasional prehistoric cactus. As the chemicals splatter all over the freshly-warm ground, the area around the landing site begins to dry out, and with it the bacterium immediately adapts to try to stay alive. It shrinks, to conserve water and mass, a long tendril emerging from one side to act as a heat sink to radiate any additional hot air away from the creature. The bacterium then hardens to hold onto what it does have, adopting a dull brown color in order to absorb less heat from its surroundings.
For 100,000 years it develops as best it can. It shrivels up and becomes tough, in order to continually conserve water. In the colder winter it develops a chrysalis (well, a spore) to shield itself. For temperature control it adapts its cell wall to form "exhaust ports" to expel waste heat as well as breathe. In the meantime it also develops eight small tendrils, four to either side of its body. At the end of each tendril is a tiny cell designed for holding onto things; much like a spider, it learns to use these tendrils to move towards food. With these tendrils it reaches trapped pockets of food and algae that other bacteria cannot, gaining a massive evolutionary advantage.
In order to compete, it begins taking in all sources of food it can detect. It favors exotic organics in the planet's silica, nearby plants for a water source, and Bacterium #4, listed above. Bacterium #4 is hard to catch, but when it is caught it is a genetic and protein-rich windfall for our "hero." Various other bacteria have evolved in challenge to us, and larger surface area proves to be some species' downfalls as they lose too much too fast to survive. One bacterium strain evolves electrical synapses to stun prey, and the warm air is conductive to electrical activity, making it a potential threat.
Finally, our microbe evolves radiation shielding from the harsh sky. Its outer cell wall takes on a salt-encrusted rainbow color, the better to stop the intense UV radiation found as the area turns out to have only a thin ozone layer. It begins to take in what radiation it can as an additional source of energy when other foods are scarce, and the radiation is used as a "jumpstart" for escape when Bacterium #1 manages to envenom it with its stingers. The salt shell also prevents others from getting close without drying up.
