Remove ads

From The Primordial Soup

Reader mode
Remove ads
400k
  • Threadmarks
    • Our Evolving Creature...
    The bacterium in question is now 10 micrometers long. Painted in bright warning colors like a bad tie-dyed shirt, both ends have a trumpet-shaped needle that "breathes" out waste heat while taking in oxygen and nutrients. On what might be considered the head, there is a small node that pulses with electrical activity at every movement. Six spider-like legs (two for pulling, two for pushing and two for stability) allow it to move from place to place. It is coated in a silica-based aerogel that filters nutrients out of water during breathing and can "sprint" for short periods by unwinding its cell mitocondria.
    BenefitsWeaknessesSpecials

    Bright warning colors (Camoflage + Poison Warning)
    Multiple Legs (Speed)
    Tough (Resiliency)
    Toxic (Plant Poison)
    Winter Spore/Chrysalis
    UV Shielding    		Poison, ToxinsElectricity Immunity (Silica Aerogel)
    Multilayered Mitocondria (Multiple Sprints)
    Electrical Sensor on "Head" (Genetic Marker)
    Predators and Prey
    Note that if you have names for these bacteria, either latin or otherwise, I'm all ears and will use them.

    MAIN THREAT: Soglik Toxicaii: The first predator bacteria is spherical, with a smooth, yellow exterior. Has grown two pairs of "legs" that allow it to move, and a small pincer on its rear that grabs targets and feeds it to its "mouth". Its mouth is a large bulbous protrusion that opens outward, used to "engulf" its target and "swallow" it into a poisonus digestive chamber/stomach. It is immune to poisonous enzymes and has armored itself against piercing damage. Salt resistant. Overall diameter is about 12 micrometers.

    LESSER THREAT: Kratholith Microshockii: 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 actively convert silica to glass. Its entire body pulses with brief electrical activity that melts sand, stuns prey and deters predators. Its pulsing now includes micro-magnetics as well, allowing it to course along iron-rich rock in order to gain energy from it via acidification of the iron and consuming the resulting mess. It measures 9 micrometers long by 5 micrometer wide.

    NEW THREAT: Rorjak Spinii: This is a circular predator that lies motionless near cactii. It's three layers of nastiness, with two "buns" and a meaty center; imagine a 7-micrometer hamburger covered in spines. When it senses prey it jumps by flexing its body and impaling it with its spines, which break off and dissolve through salt barriers. If its middle is pierced it explodes in a nasty chemical spray, killing its attackers.

    PREFERRED PREY: Glassi Reflectivus: Another spherical bacterium, this prey species has a smooth, reflective glassy cell wall that is extremely thick, preventing much movement but also preventing many organisms from penetrating it. Its lens-like body focuses light and chemicals into flashbangs, stunning anything that gets close. ENDANGERED.

    PREY: Kapsula Multicornum: This oblong prey bacterium is encased in a hard, spiked capsule made of organic minerals. The protective coating shields it from salt while allowing nutrients in the air to pass through small pores on each end. The minerals form "synapses" powered by the energy given off when water is absorbed by salt. It measures 3 micrometers wide by 5 micrometers long. It doesn't seem to be evolving much anymore and the synapses are failing due to the plant toxins. STRUGGLING.

    PREY: Ovalinii Solarii: This is a weak cell whose body is jelly-like, mostly so that if something touches it it can then bunch up and move away. Its membranes have gotten thin, the result of a lack of positive evolutions. There ain't no way this is gonna stay viable for very long unless it moves into a rocky area where predators cannot reach. STRUGGLING.
    Chances of Survival
    I'm tallying the rolls and using an average. When we hit 3.5 million years (because I ain't doing evolution through billions of years, no) I'll roll on Random.org and see what we get.

    99+70+11+93 / 4 = 68% of Survival, +10 for one Critical = 78%



    400,000 years have passed since our organism first generated.

    Kratholith has evolved micro-magnetics and is essentially ruining any iron it comes across when it uses its digestive acids. It seems to be leaning away from being a carnivore and is instead becoming a metallivore. If this keeps up, the planet will end up metal-poor early in its life cycle. Meanwhile the other two predators seem to be at odds with one another, although neither has the upper hand. Soglik is immune to most of what Rorjak can throw at it, while Rorjak's explosiveness is proving to be a double-edged sword and it may very well chain-explode itself into oblivion.

    Other predators and prey are responding somewhat neutrally to a new tactic: swarming. Different variations of this tactic are used, from pheromones released like fire ants, to changes in air pressure as a warning sign to launch an assault, to a vibration signalling to swarm like angry bees. So far no one tactic has worked over the others, but it at least allows a niche to be carved out around the oasis. You don't own the place (the plants and their toxins do) but you survive just fine.

    While you survive, the others are having problems. Kratholith is out-competing Glassivus, as it's utilizing its micromagnetics to pull individual proteins apart, rupturing the latter's lens... these micromagnetics might eventually become bio-magnetics. Kapsula is falling apart in the meantime, as its organic chemical shield is being demolished by the plant toxins when Soglik doesn't get to it first.

    Ovalinii made it into crevices and cracks in the new stone exposed (especially in holes left by Kratholith), but Kratholith has capitalized, devouring it wherever it shows. The iron it is devouring is giving it quite the defense against both Soglik and even Rorjak, and it is very well on its way to becoming the first microbe visible to the naked eye if the situation continues.

    Attempting to evolve a superior means of electricity has run into a problem. The aerogel interferes with the electricity generation... it looks like the resistance goes in both directions. In order to attempt an electric eel offense and defense, you'd likely have to drop the aerogel layer... and with it, the heat protection and electricity immunity. You could attempt to "suck in" the aerogel into your cell and *then* pulse electricity to preserve it, or evolve tendrils out as shocking feelers akin to another pair of legs and concentrate all the electricity outside and away from your aerogel layer.

    Our organism is low on food and resources.

    Next post will include a Genetic Marker... a footprint that will be present on the final bacteria (and future animals of our species).

     
    Last edited:
  • Threadmarks
    • Waters-The-Water said:
    Electric Field: 22 (Nope, though the attempt will be documented)
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    Why does everything i make fail.

    [X] Try to get the "electric field" evolution done right without having to drop the aerogel.
    -[X] Write-in: Exploit the insulating effect of aerogel to transform our cell wall into a capacitor. Charge will build up inside the bacteria until the dielectric of the aerogel breaks down and an enormous amount of charge exists the bacteria, shocking everything around it.

    fuck let go.

    Edit: deleted other vote
     
    Last edited:
    Nepcalibur said:
    Why does everything i make fail.
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...

    If it makes you feel better, I've already made most of the "post rolls". We're gonna have a LOT of ups and downs in the posts. Heh.

    If you're going to vote for more than one choice, suggest how you want to do others rather than flat pick -- otherwise everyone would pick every vote every turn, so. If you pick more than one "main list" choice, I'm counting only the first choice -- if you want more than one, suggest *how* you want it done instead. :)
     
    Last edited:
    [X] Try to get the "electric field" evolution done right without having to drop the aerogel.

    Fuck it, we ball.

    [X] Follow streams underground and reclaim our storm-lost resources and food, taking a cavern-esque evolution path.

    Becoming subterranean also sounds fun.
     
    [X] Follow streams underground and reclaim our storm-lost resources and food, taking a cavern-esque evolution path.
     
    [X] Make the bacteriophages specialized for specific types of bacteria, making them more focused and streamlined in their purpose.
     
    [X] Follow streams underground and reclaim our storm-lost resources and food, taking a cavern-esque evolution path.

    I think it's time to flee. Our prey is struggling. Let the predators overconsume and then turn on eachother.
     
    [X] Try to get the "electric field" evolution done right without having to drop the aerogel.
    -[X] Write-in: Exploit the insulating effect of aerogel to transform our cell wall into a capacitor. Charge will build up inside the bacteria until the dielectric of the aerogel breaks down and an enormous amount of charge exists the bacteria, shocking everything around it.

    Well, long time no see, Aegis. I didn't think I'd get to play FtPS again. Thank you for this. Using my undergraduate education in materials science, I have proposed exactly how we could weaponize electricity with our aerogel shell, exploiting the natural capacitance such an evolution has provided.
     
    [X] Try to get the "electric field" evolution done right without having to drop the aerogel.
    -[X] Write-in: Exploit the insulating effect of aerogel to transform our cell wall into a capacitor. Charge will build up inside the bacteria until the dielectric of the aerogel breaks down and an enormous amount of charge exists the bacteria, shocking everything around
     
    gutza1 said:
    Well, long time no see, Aegis.
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...

    I'd of gone back to it once or twice but I'd have had to delete the archive and started fresh in order to clear my own head. I tried making a different subreddit for a similar thing once but every place I went for self promotion was beyond filled with bots so couldn't get the word out and it dried up after 6 posts and I deleted it all. So when I heard about this place I thought I'd bring it back.
     
    Waters-The-Water said:
    I'd of gone back to it once or twice but I'd have had to delete the archive and started fresh in order to clear my own head. I tried making a different subreddit for a similar thing once but every place I went for self promotion was beyond filled with bots so couldn't get the word out and it dried up after 6 posts and I deleted it all. So when I heard about this place I thought I'd bring it back.
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...

    I honestly think SV is a much better host for this kind of thing than Reddit ever was. Glad to have you here.
     
    500k
  • Threadmarks
    • Our Evolving Creature...
    The bacterium in question is now 10 micrometers long. Painted in bright warning colors like a bad tie-dyed shirt, both ends have a trumpet-shaped needle that "breathes" out waste heat while taking in oxygen and nutrients. On what might be considered the head, there is a small node that pulses with electrical activity at every movement.
    Six spider-like legs (two for pulling, two for pushing and two for stability) allow it to move from place to place. It is coated in a silica-based aerogel that filters nutrients out of water during breathing and can "sprint" for short periods by unwinding its cell mitocondria.
    BenefitsWeaknessesSpecials

    Bright warning colors (Camoflage + Poison Warning)
    Multiple Legs (Speed)
    Tough (Resiliency)
    Toxic (Plant Poison)
    Winter Spore/Chrysalis
    UV Shielding
    		Poison, ToxinsElectricity Immunity (Silica Aerogel)
    Multilayered Mitocondria (Multiple Sprints)
    Electrical Sensor on "Head" (Genetic Marker)
    Predators and Prey
    Note that if you have names for these bacteria, either latin or otherwise, I'm all ears and will use them.

    MAIN THREAT: Soglik Toxicaii: The first predator bacteria is spherical, with a smooth, yellow exterior. Has grown two pairs of "legs" that allow it to move, and a small pincer on its rear that grabs targets and feeds it to its "mouth". Its mouth is a large bulbous "trunk" covered in an antibacterial agent it is immune to. It is immune to poisonous enzymes and has armored itself against piercing damage. Overall diameter is about 14 micrometers.

    THREAT: Kratholith Microshockii: The second one is a rod-shaped bacterium which has a rigid, rust red cell wall that is effectively made of iron atoms. Short hair-like appendages extend from each end that actively convert silica to glass. Its entire body pulses with brief electrical activity that melts sand, stuns prey and deters predators. Its pulsing now includes micro-magnetics as well, allowing it to course along iron-rich rock in order to gain energy from it via acidification of the iron and consuming the resulting mess. It measures 12 micrometers long by 7 micrometers wide.

    THREAT: Rorjak Spinii: This is a circular predator that lies motionless near cactii. It's three layers of nastiness, with two "buns" and a meaty center; imagine a 9-micrometer hamburger covered in spines. When it senses prey it jumps by flexing its body and impaling it with its spines, which break off and dissolve through salt barriers. If its middle is pierced it explodes in a nasty chemical spray, killing its attackers.

    PREFERRED PREY: Glassi Reflectivus: Another spherical bacterium, this prey species has a smooth, reflective glassy cell wall that is extremely thick, preventing much movement but also preventing many organisms from penetrating it. Its lens-like body focuses light and chemicals into flashbangs, stunning anything that gets close. DYING OUT.
    Chances of Survival
    I'm tallying the rolls and using an average. When we hit 3.5 million years (because I ain't doing evolution through billions of years, no) I'll roll on Random.org and see what we get.

    99+70+11+93+26 / 5 = 60% of Survival, +10 for one Critical = 70%



    We did it. 500,000 years. Where has the time gone?

    The aerogel layer is being a finicky thing. While it has not de-evolved, it has not evolved to a point where it can be useful while we have our tendril focusing our electricity. Rather than get the aerogel right, what our bacterium has done is withdraw the electrical node inside itself, then pulse the electricity outside our cell wall through means of holes not protected by the aerogel -- four on its bottom, four on its top. That leaves weak points others can use if they tank through the pulse, as if electricity can get out, hostile proteins can get in.

    Kapsula Multicornum and Ovalinii Solarii have both gone extinct. Glassi Reflectivus is coming apart at the seams, as it's run into a new problem. Its cell wall lens is working both ways and the very sun is microwaving it from the inside out when Kratholith's not busy becoming downright violent to it. Meanwhile, Soglik and Rorjak are at war, as Soglik is trying to claim its cactii for its own food sources. While they're having a political disagreement, you're left to colonize the spaces they leave as the majority of cactii are away from the oasis thanks to the local plant toxins.

    Streamlining the bacteriophages works in the short term, making short work of threats and speeding Ovalinii to its demise. Unfortunately, the bacteria that do survive become a bit resistant. Kratholith's iron armor is more than protection enough, while Soglik Toxicaii evolves a antibacterial agent unique to itself. It loses its ability to poison because of it, but its "protrusion" has become an elephant-like trunk of proteins at one end of its cell. This trunk sweeps from side to side, laying waste to whatever touches it.

    Boosting the potency of your electricity has had mixed results. Most of the time, trying to build up a charge ends up blowing out the aerogel layer when it goes off, leaving you somewhat defenseless. Over time our bacteria has evolved a second node -- where the head has the electricity "sensor" and discharger, our "ass end" is beginning to evolve a series of biological "capacitor" structures to hold on to the energy and discharge it through the holes without damaging the layer. With work, photosynthesis perhaps, maybe the bacterium can store larger amounts.

    Kratholith has evolved a "drill" protein, and it is now tunneling into rock. Where it moves, it converts sandstone and other soft rocks with its electrical pulses, resulting in the formation of "glass rocks" as it coats its territory in chemically-transmuted glass. When Ovalinii goes extinct, Kratholith goes full-tilt metallivore, devouring not just the iron in the rock but other trace metals as well. Fortunately it does not go into the ground, as it needs sunlight to survive.

    The local plants are saturating the oasis with their toxins as the outflow to the oasis has become blocked through erosion. At the 700,000 mark, the oasis will be less "water" and more "poison pit" that will no longer be viable for colonization and the plants will die out. The climate is becoming drier and more arid, but the storms that routinely move through have kept the area lush with plants and trees, establishing a strong root network that can resist the effects of the constant biblical floods. Many trees in the area evolve capsule-like hollow points all over their bodies to store soil washed aside by the rains or blown into the air by the storms.

    Our organism is dangerously low on food sources. The plants are too toxic.



     
  • Threadmarks
    • [X] Attempt one last time to make the aerogel behave. If this fails, you're not getting another shot.

    The hill i die on.

    The dice dont like me lol.
     
    [X] Attempt one last time to make the aerogel behave. If this fails, you're not getting another shot.

    Fuck it we ball
     
    [X] Take the fight to the predators, perhaps assimilating some of their key features in the process.

    "This place is not big enough for all of us. Have at thee!"
     
    [X] Attempt one last time to make the aerogel behave. If this fails, you're not getting another shot.

    We ball.

    [X] Take the fight to the predators, perhaps assimilating some of their key features in the process.
     
    Constenanto said:
    [X] Attempt one last time to make the aerogel behave. If this fails, you're not getting another shot.

    We ball.

    [X] Take the fight to the predators, perhaps assimilating some of their key features in the process.
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...

    How do you want to take the fight to the predators? Suggest how, instead of posting two votes :) I'm only counting the aerogel vote in the final tally if the second vote isn't a suggestion...
     
    [X] Attempt one last time to make the aerogel behave. If this fails, you're not getting another shot.

    Genetic Marker Suggestion: The ability to change our skin colors and patterns, like an octopus.
     
    is the metallic 'exo skeleton' more conductive to electricity?
    are any of the poisons flammable?
    does our electric sensor detect iron breaking magnetic fields?
    can groups of bacteria generate a large cumulative charge?
    can they sense the electricity nodes of others of our bacteria?

    should we evolve to be like a mycelium network for the plants
     
    [X] Switch biomes now before the oasis is done for (Flee into Mountains)

    With how toxic everything is becoming, I don't think there be even much thing that can be a food left.

    Also, Aerogel is a gel right? Instead of having that up all the time, can it be adopt it to wash away the toxic? Maybe only exude when being attacked to make us slip out?
     
    Reader mode
    You must login or register to reply here.
    Remove ads
    Back
    Top