Beneath Alien Waves

[rust]

Since "building" an entire biosphere is a real long-term project, my colonists
are always on the lookout for potentially interesting (and non-dangerous)
creatures to introduce to Pharos IV.

Apart from algae and the usual small creatures (plankton, corals, invertebra-
tes, etc.) they have already introduced some marine mammals (dolphins, du-
gongs, wrillabees, Bryde's whales), quite a lot of fish (including several whale
sharks, the "heraldic beasts" of the colony, and tunas, the first non-mammal
predators) and some small reptiles.

Cats have been introduced as the traditional seafarers' pets, and some rats
have managed to immigrate without permission.

And then there are the native deep sea animals ("snails", "worms", "octopoids"
and some others), which are now protected by a law that prohibits the intro-
duction of new species which would inhabit the sea beyond a depth of 1,500
meters.

So, (almost) all of the ecological niches have now been filled, but there are
still very few species in each of the niches - often only a single species.

Therefore, if you have any ideas of what could be added, please let me know
- any proposals would really be most welcome.

[sdavies2720]

My quick brainstorming (and seed for each):

Sea bottom (Nutrients from stuff raining down from above)
* Trilobyte - derivatives adapted for deep sea, big armored tanks
* Sea trees: Probably derived from coral, but able to root in the deep sea (for nutrients) and expand up near surface (for energy). Possibly exploit temperature differentials for transport & energy, and maybe have expendable tops (grow back fast) to weather storms.
* Varient amoebas that wander the sea bottom
* There are a couple of aquatic carnivorous plant types -- one of which entangles worms, and another that creates a vaccum in a pouch so that when the hatch opens it can suck in passing creatures
* STarfish are carnivorous. And can regenerate. Make them move fast enough, make them bigger, and that's pretty scarey


Surface (Nutrients from other animals or anchored at upwellings, energy from sun)
* Colony: Rift off Man-o-war, but a colony of animals and plants that is able to defend itself (stingers), float on the water, take advantage of best of air and water living. Storms would shred them, but each part would then regrow into a new colony
* Polyps of other species: It could be fun to have a poisonous/dangerous difference between the larval and adult states of animals.
* Philip Jose Farmer invented Wind Whale that stayed up through bouyant lighter-than-air sacs. You could do something like that to populate the sky without requiring land
* Free-floating sponges that clog intakes, or are big enough to be interesting
* Branched coral that has enough symbiotic species that it is protected against predators
* Giant rotifors that are big enough to create whirlpools when they are feeding, and can suck man-sized (or bigger) into their maws (Charybdis)

I'm sure you've run through variations of the interesting fish as well (sea horses, pufferfish, cows, skates, rays. Sea turtles?

Steve

[rust]

Thank you very much for the many interesting ideas, I think I will put most
of them on my "To Introduce" list !

I especially like the amoebas (something new to "discover" for the scientist
characters) and the idea with the poisonous larvae (someone forgot to ask
the right questions when introducing the adult forms).

Some of the other species could "immigrate" to Pharos IV through an as yet
undiscovered "Gate" at another abandoned station of the "Builders", which
could make for a nice advenuture: Find out where those strange critters co-
me from, discover and explore an abandoned (?) alien deep sea base ...

I considered sea turtles, but unfortunately they need at least some land to
lay their eggs. However, this might well be different with non-Terran spe-
cies ...

Edit.: I have just introduced your Sea Trees, as a native species of the pla-
net Donen 19, to Pharos IV. They will become a part of the artificial Barrier
Reef near the capital Avalon City in the year 90 n.L. (after landing). The ARC
(Avalon Research Center) has decided to introduce them in order to expand
and stabilize the reef, which serves both as a protection of the capital from
tsunamis and as a leisure area for the Avalonian divers (and, hopefully, a fu-
ture tourist attraction).

Again, thank you very much !

[sdavies2720]

Have the sea turtles lay egg cases like skates (I think -- the dark brown/black hard rectangular things you find on the beach). Gotta have turtles. If they need oxygen to hatch, make the cases lighter than water.

[Dredj]

Out of curiosity, what are the adventures going to be like on this planet? What will the main themes be?

[rust]

Originally Posted by sdavies2720

Have the sea turtles lay egg cases like skates ...

Another very good idea, thank you again !

Now I only have to make these egg cases taste terribly, in order to keep the
dolphins from eating them ...

[rust]

Originally Posted by Dredj

Out of curiosity, what are the adventures going to be
like on this planet? What will the main themes be?

Our group has been playing characters involved in the development of the co-
lony for 9 real months / about 80 game-years now.

The adventures are based upon the "axis events" of the colony's history. The
first adventure was the discovery of the planet, then came its exploration,
the search for finances and colonists to establish the colony, the construc-
tion of the first floating settlement, and so on.
At the moment we still have a mostly unexplored planet, the relics of the Buil-
ders and conflicts between the various groups of colonists as potential ad-
venture themes.

Apart from these colony-based adventures there are many (nowadays most)
adventures dealing with the offworld relations of the colony.
Pharos IV is on the very edge of the known space, so there is an entire sec-
tor to explore, there are new trade routes and pirates, there is diplomacy to
deal with the established regional powers and their rivalries and occasional
wars, and so on.

With the colony as the background, and the development of the colony as
the "reason" of the game, we can play almost all kinds of science fiction ad-
ventures you can imagine - even "urban" adventures, although until now
only on other, more developed planets.

[Daefaroth]

Weather is going to be a real issue. There's no land to cause hurricanes to lose their power.

[rust]

Originally Posted by Daefaroth

Weather is going to be a real issue.

Yep, weather is a real issue.

Cyclones and extremely heavy rainstorms are quite common on Pharos IV,
so all floaters and water vehicles have to be designed and built according-
ly. For example, most of the major ships are SWATH catamarans:
Small Waterplane Area Twin Hull - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

In the long term, all the major settlements except the surface spaceport
(there is also an orbital spaceport) will probably be seafloor settlements.
The colony's capital, Avalon City, already has a sizeable deep sea quarter,
Avalon Deep or "Downtown", where now all the vital installations of the
colony are located.

[Dredj]

Does Pharos IV have polar regions? If so, pycrete might be useful:
Pykrete - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

There was mention of using lasers for recreating the ozone layer, but you said that there wasn't enough energy. Maybe SPS could be a solution:
The Space Settlement FAQ by Mike Combs

or
Ocean thermal energy conversion - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Salt water as fuel? Erie man hopes so--this latter one could even be used as a weopan!

Maybe even orbital colonies for growing things like fruits and vegetables for the colonists along with space elevators:
Space elevator - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Hope these help.