Animals — Legacy Forums — Strolen's Citadel

Animals

#41

About Insects: http://www.rpgcitadel.com/guild/index.php?topic=509.0

Okay - A couple of things

1) Cube Square law- Increase in size has a cubic increase in volume. For every doubling of size, there is a 2 to the third increase in mass. If we take a approximate 2 meter tall human that weights 100 Kgs, then 4 meter tall human would weigh 800 Kgs. An 8 meter tall weights 6400 Kgs. This square to the cubic holds for most bilaterally symetrical creatures that have a main axis to double. So it works for just about every animal except squid/ octipi, but they have a smiliar law.

2) Most creatures can lift their own body weight. So while an Elephant seems strong, if you shrunk him down to a human size, he would be able to lift barely 100Kgs. An 800 lb animal should be able to pull/ lift 800 lbs easily (more when pulling, because rest friction). Hence the reason why there are very few tiny draft animals.

3) Muscle Tissue has the same tensile strength be it for huge creatures or small ones. I believe the number of 200 newtons per decameter, but I can't find a good source for that. So yes insects can lift a huge mass with one .1mm of tissue, realtive to their size. An Elephant can life several tons because it has several meters of muscle tissue supporting its lift.

4) Giant Insects don't happen in the real world for two reasons.
a) The exo skeletonal carpaces are so heavy that they would collapse under their own weight. Excluding that, after about 1 meter/3 feet in size, there is no way muscle tissue contained inside of it could move it.

b) Energy and oxygen burdens are too great at larger scales. Insects don't have real lungs, so they can not extract enough 02 to support their energy needs.

All this aside: You Dog Sized Spider-ish creature (which would have a light external carpace and an internal skeleton) would be about as strong as a Dog. Your Brown Bear sized spider woudld be about as strong as a brown bear, maybe even less (bears have an incredible strength to mass ratio). of course the spider would be more viscious as it has more armor and sharper claws.

For the record: Most spiders lift 40 times their own weight. Wolf Spider and other conventional large spiders (tarantulas) can lift only 12 times their own mass. Increased mass, increased internal weight to move, not a proportionally increase of muscle mass. These are numbers off my head, but I have seen them enough other places that I feel comfortable with them.

Of course we live in a fantasy world, so giants don't sink in the ground and can move normally. Giant insects are the size of trucks. Guys get bit by radioative/ magical spiders and stick to walls and lift 30 times their own mass.

I will come back with more info...

Animals

#42

This is why he is the master, Grasshopper

He is the master of Google-Fu

Animals

#43

Why is 100 lbs seem a little on the unusually low side?

I meant 100lb per leg, because much of the muscular structure is located in the legs on a spider as opposed to the body (as it would be in, say, a mammal).

Animals

#44

This is why he is the master, Grasshopper

He is the master of Google-Fu

Actually this one did not require Google-Fu (or very little). This one is directly the result of too much time watching educational TV, Nature programs, leafing through dictionaries, and of course actually paying attention in class. (Actually most of the information applied to this subject came from Comic Books and a couple of really bad insect movies.) I have found over my (long) life that knowing a little something about almost everything can save your bacon and make your life much easier.

Besides if you know a little bit about everything, you can make really cool game worlds that have great verisimilitude. That is what you need... the illusion of completeness. That is what the settings that great novels have. So that is what I want in my game worlds.

Animals

#45

Here's something else to ponder, since the maximum weight issue for insect exoskeletons are based on weight rather than mass, that maximum changes in proportion to gravity. Thus, on Mars, insects could grow to three times the size--imagine dragonflys with two meter wingspans...

The Gar Eeel

#46

Gar Eeels live in the large,weed choked rivers and lakes that cover much of the Powi lands,are are revered as godlings by these primitive people. Many shamans say that the power to control the rains,rest with the Gar Eeel or Messengers of the rains,as they are known by the tribes.

A solitary wanderer that takes great care to never intrude into the relam claimed by another of its kind,the Gar Eeel is a massive aquatic creature that measures 20 feet from the tip of its elongated hooked tail,to the nose of the monstrous black head. Mostly black in color with milky brown stripes running down their flanks,they devour all kinds of river life with their gaping mouths. But despite their massive size,these shy,elusive creatures have never benn known to attack any human that has fallen into the domain of this river king. On the contrary,there are many stories of how devout Powi have beens saved from the vicious jaws of a crocodile or alligator by the sudden appearance of the Gar Eeel that is said to allow no lesser creature of the waters to harm any of its devotees. To experience an encounter of this nature,is said to be extremely fortunate,as the human saved has now been blessed by the sacred Gar Eeel and will have good fortune with anything water related in the years to come.

Embedded in the middle of the Gar Eeel's forehead,lies a massive red stone the size of a human heart. Local folklore claims that the stone contains rare powers of immortality. Of course,any attempt to slay a Gar Eeel for its fabled stone is considered a great sin,and any offenders are put to death.

Ever year,prior to the harvest season,whole roasted pigs are thrown into the waters where the Gar Eeel resides,a simple thank you from the Powi to their aquatic benefactors.

The Acquan Man-O-War

#47

The Aquan-Man-O-War is a feared creature, a blob of transparent jelly the size of a full grown Manta Ray, with tentacles on the sides tipped with deadly stingers, along with less dangerous but still painful stinging cells all along the tentacles.Where jellyfish drift with the waves, this creature has several fins that it uses to swim whereever it wants.Where jellyfish eyes are almost useless if indeed they exist, this creature can see far ahead in clear water.The most deadly thing about this beast is that it cannot be seen until it is really close to it's prey.It races up, kills it's prey and drags it into the depths to eat. Few creatures will eat it because it tastes horrible and is not worth the effort.

Animals

#48

The Cleaner Fish is a small bright red fish that no other creature in the whole ocean would willingly eat beause it eats the parisites and fungi that bedevil many sea creatures, even the biggest and most dangerous.It can be seen cleaning sharks, squids and everything in the ocean that needs a clean, including Merpeople,swimming willingly into the most toothy jaws,knowing it will return unharmed.Though not much to look at, it has a vital role to play in preventing sickness in other creatures.

Animals

#49

Ok. I am responding to this one a little late. Thanks Moon... that hurt my head for a few minutse but I think I broke through the barrier called the english language and uinderstood most of what you said.

I will keep that in mind. I may in fact alter my creatures based off the concepts you wrote above.

The Orc Tick

#50

A disgusting bug twice the size of a regular tick,and ten times as voracious,these odious parasites are very common among the unwashed orcs. Not that the orcs mind them greatly,having gotten used to their presence. Some even go so far as to say that the ticks help to keep them healthy by purging their bodies of toxins. Ill orcs have sometimes sworn that it was the presence of these little blood suckers that have rescued them from otherwise fatal diseases. Wether this orcish belief is actually a reliable cure for the orcs,or just mere superstition,none know for certain.

What people do know,is that the ticks carry a virulent blood transmitted illness that only orcs are immune to. Any human who has the misfortune to be bitten by one of these ticks,will suffer a painful death within the space of a week,as was hediously demonstrated during the siege of the border town of Hulart. The wily orc war chief who besieged the town,succeeding in causing the deaths of hundereds of townsfolk when he had his warriors launch numerous clay vessels filled to the brim with the deadly ticks,over the city walls.

Sunfire Laerti

#51

Sacred bird of Raelis, the Sunfire Laerti is a bird of prey, a perfect flyer and fearless predator.
Its wingspan is seven to nine feet, its frame sleek, and the plumage a mix of radiant red, blazing orange and golden yellow.
Despite its swiftness and ferocity, the Laerti relies on a trick to catch prey unaware - its feathers conduct light, thus it does not cast a shadow. Most useful is this when it charges directly from the sun, becoming effectively invisible - thus the popular expression that it "charged right out of the sun".
Also, its feathers store some of the sunlight, and the bird can release it when threatened, thus causing a bright flash of light that blinds those who wish it harm.

The Sunfire Laerti lives in mated pairs, preferring warm and dry climates. Its prey are other birds, as well as small animals. A Laerti that is hungry and does not manage to catch its normal prey will attack even a far larger animal, and rip out a chunk of its flesh and escape nimbly afterwards. Experienced ones will aim for the neck to cut arteries, and let the prey bleed to death.

Darbeast

#52

Darbeasts are fearsome jungle beasts. They thunder through the jungle defending their territory from any perceived threats. They swim through the rivers and lakes, their massive bulks buoyant, eating grasses and spearing fish. Their strident calls are known to cause other beasts in the jungle to run.

Darbeasts are fearsome jungle beasts. They are some of the most aggressive herbivores known to humankind. These massive beasts are armed with long ivory tusks and short horns on the forehead and along the spine (technically they are spines, but they are exactly identical to the short, round horns upon their heads.) backed up by their huge mass. That which is not stabbed, are trampled under those broad feet. They are highly territorial, each family unit (one male,one to three females, and all kids under the age of seven, will attack any other Darbeasts or any creature they feel threatened by in their territory. Protected by their thick greyish skin, they actually fear very little. Given they can live for up to 40 years in the wild, their cunning and pack coordination instills fear in many other animals.

An approximately 20-year-old Darbeast weighs 3500 - 4500 kg on average, and measures around 2.6 metres at the back. It has large floppy ears, a short snuffly nose, a very thick skull, a broad round body, and a tiny snub tail. While they will thunder through the jungle at speed up to 35 kph, they are quite able to swim in rivers and lakes. In fact, they are quite adroit underwater.

Their call, called a shriek, is quite loud and can carry for up to six KMs in the jungle. Many animals are instinctively on edge the moment they hear one.

Darbeasts are the "totem animal" of the WarLord in the city of Thierry
http://www.strolen.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=22401#22401

Surabuya or Ocean Crocodile

#53

Unique among crocodilians,these massive,sea-going reptiles are no longer sole dependent on their lungs. Through some quirk of evolution,these once estuary dwellers were endowed with gills eons ago,enabling them to leave the muddy waters of the mudflats and venture out into the vast blue waters of the ocean,long the preserve of ravenous sharks.

Now they are as much a part of the ocean's eco-system as its other denizens. Making their homes in lush coral-reefs teeming with every imaginable kind of marine life,they dwell hidden among the living shoals,their odd turquoise hide enabling them to blend in among the blue corals that sprouts everywhere,and lie in wait for some unwary victim to stray too close to their ambush spot,moving quickly to grab it with their powerful toothy jaws. Big enough to devour just about anything,they are not fastidious eaters and will just about choose to eat any living creature,be it an overly curious crab or an unwary reef-shark.

And at times,each other. As delightfully cannibalistic as their fellow crocodilians of other species,giant males will attack any of their own kind that stray into the spot of prime reef that they have marked out as their domain. Hatchlings and incautious juveniles often suffer a heavy toll as the large males consider them to be easy pickings. Only the wisest and most effective hunters among the brood of these saurians,survive to become adults,thereby ensuring that the Ocean Crocodile retains its spot as one of the top predators of the ocean.

So much so,that in some places where they have either been accidently introduced through an unwitting oversight on the part of man,or invaded aggresively though their own accord,they have devastated native shark populations,pushing many of them towards the edge of extinction. Though the latter are often powerful hunters in their own right,there is nothing they can do against a creature that sometimes push twenty-five feet when fully grown. Only the rare and fabled ''whale killing'' White Shark can challenge the dominance of the Ocean Crocodile.

Genuine sightings of conflict between the two levethians have been very rare,since both are usually careful to stay well out of the path of the other,but when they do occur,they are fearsome and awesome spectacles. Legend even has it that the the bustling port city of Surabuya is actually the old Agorian word for ''sea lizard'' ,and was named by its founders in honor of a particularly humongous Ocean Crocodile that attacked and devoured a White Shark close to the bay where they city now stands.

Animals

#54

Mind if I transplant surabuya into some of my settings, Maggot? I think it's fantastic.

Animals

#55

Go ahead and have fun with them,Captain. :wink:

Animals

#56

Raraharanx: The Ranger's Enemy

This creature much resembles a goat with short, yellow-grey hair and sharp black horns that curve inward instead of outward.
It is called the ranger's enemy because it magically, and for no known reason, changes the shape of it's feet at random. This phenomena obviously makes the job of a ranger much harder. remember those footprints from the dwarf the goblins kidnapped? he's a Dragon now... you get the picture. :twisted:

The Giant Mussel

#57

Giant Mussels live in packs of 100 or more, in the shallow waters. A few are known to have large pearls in them that can grow to the size of a human fist or even larger in rare cases. They feed on plankton and will never attack anything that leaves them alone. If bothered they defend themselves with their sticky *feet*. Each *foot* can put a blob of sticky and very strong glue on whatever it touches, and they can glue down unwary attackers, leaving them unable to move. Humans trapped in this way will quickly drown, and anything else, if not rescued in some way, will slowly starve to death. There are some Merpeople who use a bed of these Mussels as a public execution ground, placing the culprit upon them and leaving him or her to starve.

The Ice Snake

#58

The Ice Snake, despite the rumours, does not live in icy areas, but it can survive when the tempreture is as cold as +5 Centigrade.It has a soft green fur that looks like moss all over it's body, and it lives amongst old tree trunks and leaf litter. It can store it's body heat like a battery,and strike out at a time when other snakes would be either dead from the cold or in a torpor. It can grow up to fifteen feet long and two feet wide, although most snakes are not as wide as that, and it's poison is deadly if it enters the bloodstream. One big meal will sustain it for up to three months before it really needs to eat again. When not mating or eating, it only moves to escape danger or to drink.

Re: Animals

#59

I hereby declare this thread CLOSED. If I didn't transfer your post, it was probably because it was too short to make a full submission on the citadel. Feel free to did up the post, add some material to it, and post it up in the lifeforms section.

Re: Animals

#60

These can all now be viewed and added to in the lifeforms section of the main Citadel.

GO HERE

http://www.strolen.com/content.php?page=4