marcopolonian

Origin of Species

Well, I'm still here as well.

Origin of Species

Watching its newly handcrafted instrument, the Composer saw another type of organism swimming alongside the Cup. These organisms resembled a single cell of the Cup, but produced no bubbles. They seemed, rather, to consume other cells. Perhaps these organisms were a remnant of the original colony, before the Composer came along?

No matter. What did matter was that they threatened the Cup. When the Composer noticed them, they had already eaten enough of the Cup for it to no longer resemble a cup at all! It was torn into two, in fact, and these organisms showed no signs of stopping their feast.

First, the Composer tried to influence its creation to get it to fight back, to no avail. Then to move away, which also proved unsuccessful. So the Composer instead influenced the aggressors themselves - to simply prefer other cells over the Cup.

Slowly, the aggressors withdrew. The damage had already been done, however, and the Cup was now split in two.

But the instinct to group together that the Composer had already placed there still remained. One end of each piece sought the other end, and joined with it. This process formed two separate Cups. This, the Composer would later realize, would be the main form of reproduction used by the Cups.

The Composer

24% - The Cup(s), emitting a certain chemical.
5% - the aggressors (name TBD), being repelled by a certain chemical.
1% - unused
70% - undeveloped

When the Composer compelled the aggressors to avoid the Cup, what it actually did was compel the Cup to emit a certain chemical, and compel the aggressors to want to avoid that chemical. This chemical isn't used for anything else, yet.

Origin of Species

Sorry if I seemed inactive, I was just waiting for other players (and didn't notice the don't-wait rule). I'll most likely post today.

Origin of Species

Something that I don't know how to clarify IC was that the original change from eating other cells to photosynthesis left a few of the original, heterotrophic cells behind as a separate species. My own explanation is that my entity hasn't noticed yet, but bringing it up now wouldn't be very graceful, given the time that has passed...

Origin of Species

A wave crashes over the sound of a gurgle and a slosh. The Composer looked proudly at its expanding creation. Two different types of its cell had developed, a deeper, gurgling cell and a more shallow, sloshing cell. Not only an aural effect, its organisms were now a visual effect as well; where its organisms lived, the bubbling water was a distinctly different shade of blue.

But the Composer had little time to celebrate, as the bubbling began to decrescendo. The gurgling was the quietest, but even the sloshing was waning. Looking closer, the Composer saw why; its creations were being starved out by a byproduct of the increased fertility rate. A surface-dwelling variant on its undersea amoebae had developed, rising there for the increased sunlight levels, and began to monopolize it. Hardier and sturdier to accommodate for the surface, it was clearly more fit to survive, but that didn't matter to the Composer, who could only see them as mute defects.

They were different from the sloshing cells - more so than the sloshing cells were from the gurgling cells. And the Composer could feel its influence on the cells in general begin to split in two, as speciation began to take hold on the surface-dwellers. Before that could happen, it knew something had to be done.

But the Composer held a certain fondness for all its creations. Their muting effect lowered that slightly, but the surface-dwellers still were its creation; if possible, the Composer preferred a non-lethal solution to the problem.

A radical change, the Composer noticed, had already occurred in a number of lifeforms throughout the world. Cells were attaching to other cells, creating structures that benefitted all within them. It was a radical change that this situation needed.

So the Composer focused his power into forming a cup - the bubble-making cells underneath the water forming the bottom of the cup, and the surface-dwellers on the top, forming the rim.

The resulting "cup" was more of a net, as sealing it up completely was unfeasible at the moment (and water needed to flow through anyways). Each cell in the structure expanded sideways and following the fertility rates already given to them, and as such the cup expanded horizontally at a constant rate. Eventually the "cup" would resemble a dish, the Composer foresaw.

For now, the Composer was satisfied by its new creation. A nice bubbling was finally secured, and it was time to move on to other things. At least, that was what the Composer hoped...

The Composer

The bubble cup - 24%
Unused - 1%
Undeveloped - 75%

An autotrophic cup (more of a net), created specifically to form bubbles. It (the structure as a whole) lacks an immune system of any kind, which will definitely come back to bite the Composer, perhaps even next post.

Origin of Species

Ugh. I hate to be saying this, but I won't be posting for another day. Sorry...

Origin of Species

I'll post as soon as I can, so tomorrow morning (it's 1 in the morning here, so that won't be too long). Sorry for my temporary lack of activity.

Origin of Species

A wave crashing, and the faint noise of gurgling. The world now sounded a little more interesting to the Composer. There was still much for it to do, of course, but it would get to them in time. At the moment, it wondered, what exactly did it do to the microbes underneath the water?

So the Composer looked closely at its pets, tiny little jumbles of organelles swarmed into a large mass. There was a new type of organelle there, one which the bubbles seemed to stem from. They were a food source, it would seem. And since they only produced bubbles in the day, the Composer concluded that they derived energy from the Sun.

But the Composer could find no creative solution to the main problem it found with the gurgling: namely, that it was too quiet. So, the Composer resorted to the least creative of solutions, making more of the bubble-producers. To that end, the Composer focused its power on increasing fertility rates.

A long time passed. The Composer stopped only when he noticed that a third sound - more of a slosh than a gurgle - had come into being.

The Composer

18%- Increased fertility rates
2%- unused
80%- undeveloped

The increased fertility rate requires more energy for a greater and more active population. The initial aggregation is deep in the water, and not enough light reaches the amoebae there to make enough food for such a large population. So the overpopulated aggregation split, between an aggregation in the initial place and a new aggregation lying just underneath the surface of the water. The aggregation in the original position still creates a gurgling sound, but now the aggregation just beneath the surface is creating a sloshing sound due to being closer to the surface.

Origin of Species

antarctic termite said
Other than prokaryotes and any castaways we might have created (as of now, just the Forgotten and the colony species I ditched earlier, I think), no, we are the only life. If another player chooses to enter, a new simple species will be created for them.

I see. How often should castaways be created? Only when the entity desires it? Or accidentally and every so often? (or somewhere in between the two?)

An unrelated question: has an ozone layer already formed on this planet? How safe is the surface?

Origin of Species

Are there organisms swimming around that aren't and have never been under anyone's influence, just doing their own thing? Or are our entities' taxons (and the taxons that separated from them, like the Forgotten) the only living things on the planet?

If the former, would we be allowed to begin influencing those things?

I don't (think I) need to know this for my next post, I'm simply curious.