Moritudi

Moritudi is one of the oldest recoverable evogames on the r/evogames subreddit. It was a pixel evogame took place in a ocean pocket under an ice sheet with volcanic vents at the bottom. The original name of the thread Moritudi started from was "Evo-Games in hardmode: Northern Sea Expanse"

Opening Post
In this game I want to try an additional ruleset that is supposed to simulate that the creatures live in a more hostile environment and resources are scarse. For you there won't be too much changes, all the additional work will be on my part. Future installations in this setting will have the tag [Moritudi]

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The General Rules are as follows:

• Only evolve creatures you have been provided with.

• Don't evolve any one creature twice in a row.

• If any person (even yourself) has posted an evolution to a creature you are allowed to submit a different evolution carrying a changed name. Conversely If anyone has posted an evolution to a creature carrying a different name you are allowed to Post a different evolution carrying another changed name or one carrying the original name.

• Don't post joke organisms. What constitutes as a joke organism is up to my discretion.

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This game will have this additional house rules:

• Creatures may go extinct in this area. This means that they will be unavailable to further evolve in this game, but will be added to the wiki like any other creature, and can be used in other games.

• To facilitate this I will keep track of a few hidden "creature stats" that quantify the creatures survivability and fittness. Each evolution will be appointed stat changes by me. These stats, and the way I apply them has been determined beforehand.

• To make that easier, describe not only what the creature has gained in your evolution step but also where it has made concessions that have made possible the new abilities. If there are concessions mentioned and I deem positive impact of the evolution minor enough I will ignore them when determining the new stats, if they are missing and I determine the evolution should have drawback I will choose one of the worse ones myself. Do you want to risk that?

• Whenever a creature is on the brink of extinction, I will post a warning, along with a vague description of what to do to avoid that fate.

• If after a day the creature has not successfully adapted to stave off extinction, then I will declare it extinct.

• While I will participate in the game and post evolutions, I will never post evolutions that will either save a creature from extinction nor one that may cause a creature to face extinction.

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Lastly a few words of advice:

• There still is no way of "winning", this will only allow us to "lose"

• We are still playing together, not against each other.

• Having creatures go extinct may be able to cause other creatures to face extinction as well. Going out of ones way to drive a creature to extinction is a bad Idea.

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Now to the setting and its creatures:

This evolution game will take place in a plot of sea completely covered by an Ice cap. This means animals will not be able to migrate onto land. It also means that nourishment is sparse and difficult to come by, evoking fierce competition between the lifeforms trying to make this inhospitable landscape their home.

The AGis a highly specialised kind of aquatic plant. It freely floats between the seafloor and the ice cap, relying on currents to sweep it close to the seafloor rich in minerals before being swept back up to the Ice where it uses the meager light penetrating the Ice to photsyntesize. Once it has accumulated enough reserves it will start to bud. It can either be found floating or accidentially frozen to the ice.

EK (Moritudi) is a crab living on the oceanfloor, burrowing into the ground to lay its eggs. Its Diet mainly consists of JI, which it dismembers with its mandibles, but due to their thick carapace they are also able to prey on UL.

FO (Moritudi) is an aquatic Mushroom which is incredibly cold resistant, growing on the oceanfloor or on the underside of the Ice cap. Mostly it feeds on dead matter in form of frozen AG or the cadavers of creatures.

GNA (Moritudi) is a worm that lives on the underside of the ice cap. Its diet consists mainly of Ag, though some individuals have been seen dangling from the ice in an attempt to catch ZUs coming near them.

JI (Moritudi) is a proto-seastar. Living on the oceanfloor its diet consists mainly of FO, though it will not shy away from eating Cadavers it encounters. Despite not being the main prey of UL, the JI has developed a thick skin making it more difficult for the predator to inject its venom.

UL (Moritudi) is a free floating Globular jellyfish. Relying on its near invisibility in the water it preys on any creatures it comes in contact with, piercing it with nettles before injecting its digestive fluids and sucking out the slurry.

The ZU (Moritudi) is a proto-fish swimming freely in the water, feeding on AG. Due to its habitate it is the main prey of UL, which has led to it developing first rudimentary eyes helping it to avoid collisions with the predator sometimes.

And here Is an Overview how far the species have come: Evolution Tree

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God Post 1: Tectonic activity has opened deep sea vents which serve as a source of mineral rich hot water.

Due to heavy predation from increasing numbers of natural enemies, the JI-Population begins to dwindle. They will either have to find ways to weather the attacks of their predators, or find a way to escape them.

God Post 2: JIs and PIs new natural defences allow them to overcome the looming threat of extinction.

EKS, now averse to JIs poison and unable to overcome PIs armor takes increasingly to eating its own young, starting to negatively impact their numbers.

The FO population is now unable to sustain both JI and PI populations, leading to a slow decline of numbers.

Lastly UL now is hunted by EK with increasing agressiveness, leading to declining numbers.

God Post 3: The FO and UL populations have been wiped out. With the possibilities of prey being narrowed down EK begin to severely affect FUL population as well as having to hunt JI again, despite the poison making them undesirable prey. This may lead to decline in the populations of either EK or JI, depending on which species adapts first.

EKS has, with new hunting strategies, managed to find enough prey to abstain from eating its own eggs enough so that extinction is no longer an immediate threat.

Transcript
Ordered by Oldest Post

[–]linnaeus12 2 points 6 years ago*

GNA evolves a longer body to catch ZUs better.

[–][deleted] 2 points 6 years ago

GNA develops stronger claws for easier attachment to harder ice.

[–]Insertrandomnickname[S] 3 points 6 years ago*

GNA -> GNAL

GNAL begin to incorporate Chloroplasts from the AG they feed on into their cells, allowing them to photosynthesise. They grow fiercly territorial, claiming spots where the ice is thinnest.

[–][deleted] 2 points 6 years ago

GNAL

Due to excess sugars from photosynthesis and competition for territory leading to weaker individuals being killed, GNAL become bigger and more aggressive.

[–][deleted] 1 point 6 years ago

GNAL

In order to defend itself from intruders, GNAL develops two sharp prongs at the end of it's tail. in the event of an attack or invasion, it will thrash about until the assailant is deterred or in some cases killed.

[–]Insertrandomnickname[S] 2 points 6 years ago

GNA

The GNA develops a Calcified headplate, allowing it to dig into the Ice to get to the mycelium of FOT with more impunity.

[–]linnaeus12 2 points 6 years ago*

ZU evolves a "beak" and learns to feed on EK eggs.

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[–][deleted] 2 points 6 years ago

ZU

ZU eyes develop to better see food on the dark sea bed.

[–][deleted] 1 point 6 years ago

ZU

Develops 2 tentacles to navigate and feel its way around the ocean floor

[–]linnaeus12 2 points 6 years ago

AG evolves a sac which it stores the nutrients from the seafloor.

[–]linnaeus12 4 points 6 years ago

UL > FUL evovles a mark which is similar to the AG which it uses to bait and eat ZUs.

[–]TotesMessenger 1 point 6 years ago*

This thread has been linked to from another place on reddit.

[/r/speculativeevolution] Which species will survive? Which will go extinct? Decide over the fate of an ecosystem in this Evolution Game!

[/r/worldbuilding] An evolution game with extinction!

If you follow any of the above links, respect the rules of reddit and don't vote. (Info / Contact)

[–][deleted] 2 points 6 years ago

UL

Evolves a small bioluminescent organ to attract prey.

[–]Vulcan-Hobbit 2 points 6 years ago

FO> FOT

Individuals on the bottom of the ice cap evolve longer stalks, allowing more flexibility when reaching for food frozen in the ice.

[–]jcksncllwy 5 points 6 years ago*

EK -> EKS

Gustatory receptors on soft inner mandibles used for determining edibility overdevelop into chemoreceptor antennae.

EKS can "smell" food over long distances and begin actively hunting the UL by the distinctive smell of their digestive fluids.

EDIT: Forgot evolutionary "concessions". Especially hungry EKS males have begun using their chemoreceptors to sniff out and consume other EKS eggs.

[–]linnaeus12 2 points 6 years ago

EKS

EKS' develop longer legs to reach more ULs and ZUs.

[–]jcksncllwy 1 point 6 years ago

How thick is this ice cap? Is it water ice? Are there seasonal partial melts?

[–]Insertrandomnickname[S] 1 point 6 years ago

The Ice isn't very thick. For the moment consider it "too thick to break through, but thin enough to allow light to pass through." Which would roughly translate to roughly one or two meters of solid Ice.

Yes, the Ice is good old frozen water.

Not at the moment.

[–]jcksncllwy 2 points 6 years ago

Thanks!

I'm thinking that patches of the ice cap might have a rougher underside and more AGs would stick there. GNAs would be more abundant in this area and a colony that is routinely scraping AGs off the underside of the ice cap could actually thin the cap over centuries, increasing light, drawing more AGs and allowing for larger GNA colonies.

A whole inverted ice-reef micro-biome could develop in such areas over time.

[–]Insertrandomnickname[S] 1 point 6 years ago

Sounds interesting!

[–]jcksncllwy 1 point 6 years ago

Sorry for noob Qs, new to the Evo Games thing.

Do we just keep commenting on this post?

Do all the evolutions that people have posted get incorporated into the environment? Or does OP pick the ones that move on?

[–]Insertrandomnickname[S] 1 point 6 years ago*

Yes, simply keep commenting. I will put an explicit "this game has ended" disclaimer into the OP once I don't want to maintain this one anymore.

All creatures get incorporated. That is unless you make a joke creature. But as long as you keep it politically correct and PG 16 I will see no reasons to remove any creature.

edit: If you are asking how I am handling extinction: I have a few values for each creature that are supposed to model if it can catch enough prey/ escape its predators

[–]linnaeus12 1 point 6 years ago

Do we lose when the predators consume all the prey/food?

[–]Insertrandomnickname[S] 1 point 6 years ago

Basically yes. If the predators have consumed all their prey species or all prey species have evolved insurmountable defences they will begin to starve. The only surefire way to lose with my current mechanics is to kill all plants, since they are the main source of biomass. Other extinctions might be very damaging, but there could be survivors.

[–]linnaeus12 1 point 6 years ago

Ok thanks for the clarification.

[–]linnaeus12 1 point 6 years ago*

JI

JIs store the poison from ULs and their dead prey, which makes them poisonous. This deters ZUs and GNAs.

[–]linnaeus12 1 point 6 years ago

AG ---> AL

ALs stay near vents. They gather minerals directly from the mineral rich water thus needing less time on the seafloor.

[–]linnaeus12 1 point 6 years ago

JI ---> PI PIs arms have fused and have evolved armor to protect them from predators.

[–]Vulcan-Hobbit 1 point 6 years ago

I made a species catalog (Moritudi) of all the organisms here for you guys.

[–]Insertrandomnickname[S] 1 point 6 years ago

Sorry guys for not updating the main post for a while, I will do that more regularly again from now on! Everything should be up to speed now!