Let's assume that the contact happened before the Ruin Haunters' sun expanded. If the Killer Folk highlighted their Star People heritage, could they have convinced the Ruin Haunters of their "family ties?" I'd like to think anything's possible! Let's hear your thoughts. The Killer Folk still go on to contact the Satyriacs next.
In the All Tomorrows book, in the Snake People's description, Köseman states that their world had "slithering swimmers, herbivores and predators," as well. This is my imagining of what those posthumans could be like.
With the return of forests, grasslands, savannahs and prairies on the Worm homeworld came the rise of herbivores: various invertebrates and Worm descendants. On the Bronto-Snake continent, a particular Worm predator evolved alongside the giant herbivores. At first, these killers were no bigger than the rest of their Worm kind: now they're the size of lions. Still tiny compared to the Bronto-Snakes that they feed on, but that's why they hunt in packs. Hammerheads got their name from their eye stalks, which evolved to be able to rotate 360°. The ability to grow teeth lay deep within their ancient Star People DNA. In the predatory Hammerheads, this resulted in hooking, lamprey-like teeth inside of a jawwed mouth. Hammerheads can live up to 50 years, but most of them will only survive for about 30 years or so.
Hammerheads hunt in groups by surrounding Bronto-Snake herds and identifying the most vulnerable individuals. They will do their best to silently slither their way close, until they can all strike from different angles. Hammerheads can leap over twice their body height; they hook onto the hapless Bronto-Snakes like big furry lampreys, wriggling their bodies to leave devastating wounds. Until the Bronto-Snake bleeds out or dies from shock, however, the Hammerheads are still in danger. The Bronto-Snakes can enact a "reverse death roll," which could easily squish any hooked Hammerheads to death. As the Bronto-Snake takes its last breath, the Hammerheads will already be tearing into its innards.
The Hammerhead anatomy is quite a bizarre one! They are completely serpentine, lacking any limbs whatsoever. Hammerhead genitals and anus are protected by a pouch resembling snake skin. While relieving themselves or mating, this "cloaca" will open to reveal both genitals and anus. They are much hairier than the rest of their fellow Worm descendants. Males grow a lionlike mane in addition to fine, dark body hair. Both sexes grow hair on their heads. There isn't much difference between males and females as far as appearances went, but there were clues to their sex. Healthy adult males sport a bright red-orange belly, while the females are only slightly smaller, have gray underbellies, and the development of breasts. Hammerheads typically give birth to twin young, which nurse from the mother for about 9 months while both parents teach them how to hunt. Females will typically remain in their mother's packs, while the sexually matured males set out to form their own packs.
Part 2 of 3 of my mini series on the Snake People's homeworld. I'll link Part 1 in the comments.
The Killer Folk and Sail People to have met in-person & combine forces
Or...
The Modular People and Symbiotes to have met in-person & combine forces?
These two teenage Symbiote males are best friends. One of them is a 'Round Eye' variant, which are currently at war with the Symbiotes with more traditionally oval-shaped eyes. The two tribes are fighting over healthy Host populations, which have become scarce in their areas. One morning, the teens decided to skip school and go off exploring a nearby savannah instead. After all, there's tons of delicious lemon-like fruit trees - the Hosts crave the fruit, and the Symbiotes are more than happy to guide them straight to the source!
*translated from the Symbiote language:* "Whoa... Dude, there's a pyramid over there, look!"
"Dude, it's HUGE! Let's go check it out!"
"You don't have to tell me twice!"
As it turns out, the two teens discovered some derelict-looking Star People technology that was confiscated by the Quhanim eons ago (and then, curiously, forgotten about). Suddenly, it projected a massive hologram after one of the teens pressed a strange looking button! The tech projected two different images: a Star Person and a Quhanim. The teens couldn't understand a word that either of the projections were saying, but they were FASCINATED with the imagery! This discovery united the two warring tribes: they put their differences aside in order to combine forces so they could unravel this mystery!
Many years later, the Symbiotes decoded what these two projections were saying: it was a timeline of the Star People's successful repelling of the invading alien Quhanim. Afterwards (in the recording), the Quhanim punished the Star People by remaking them into two different species - parasitic and foodstock. Astonishingly, this piece of equipment kept functioning after the fall of the Star People, and actually captured footage of the Quhanim's victory and subjugation over the (newly parasitic) posthumans. These revelations sent shock waves throughout Symbiote society, but eventually, they would come to embrace and celebrate their Star People heritage. Such revelations also inspired the Symbiotes to develop technology to enable them to live independently of the Hosts, thanks to the development of synthetic blood.
Why the Quhanim had left this piece of "incriminating evidence" behind was never solved. Perhaps, in the aliens' hubris, they assumed that parasitic organisms would never develop sapience on their own. After all, why do that when Host blood provided them with everything they needed? In the aftermath of all these discoveries, some of the Symbiotes ended up worshipping the Quhanim, others began worshipping the Star People, some worshipped both, and others went insane and offed themselves. Then there were those cynical Symbiotes that didn't care one way or another - they just wanted to live their lives in peace.
After their race joined the Second Galactic Empire of Man, the Symbiotes attempted to remake the Hosts into sapient beings once more, after they learned the art of genetic manipulation. Unfortunately, the Quhanim's tinkering with the Host's brains resulted in an outcome not unlike the Lizard Herders. The Hosts' cerebellum was irrevocably altered, they would never think again.
This illustration depicts two semi-sapient Flyer males performing an elaborate mating dance for an eligible female. She hovers in place while the males compete for her attention and approval. The males have orange wing membranes on their front-facing side that contrast wonderfully with their tanned skin. On the backs of these wings, a beautiful brown wing membrane covered in fine hairs that protect these posthumans from UV radiation.
Ordinarily, the male's inner wing membranes are pure orange, but variations do occur, such as the star of our show here: a 4 year old male named Blackdot. This striking yellow and black spotting gives his wings an intimidating, masculine appearance that drives the ladies WILD! Blackdot has already fathered 6 children in his brief life thus far, and he's bound to succeed again here today. Blackdot's spotting also serves him well against his enemies: larger, nonsapient apex predator Flyers. By rapidly flapping his wings, he can make the illusion of large yellow eyes, which scare away the would-be predators.
Blackdot controls beachfront territory on and around a tropical island along his world's equatorial region, including the airspace above it. When he impregnates a female, she will raise her fledglings here. Flyers must nurse from their mothers for 2 months to grow and build their flying muscles, after which both parents will teach the fledglings how to fly, and then how to navigate. Typically by their 8 or 9 month mark, the now-sexually mature fledglings have "flown the nest" to find their own ways in life. Lives which run their course over a 16 year span of time - and that's only if they die from heart failure at this geriatric age (for the Flyers)!
Help me out please lol
Without the Qu around to keep them in check, the Lopsiders radiated into a variety of niches, including swimming forms such as the Ambush Lopsiders. Living underwater was a more benevolent environment than the crushing gravity of the surface. To swim, they rapidly kicked their back feet-hands (with their fingers spread to expose their webbing) while steering with their much larger left hand, and pulling themselves along with their muscular arm. Their upwards-facing eye was perfectly positioned to keep a lookout for animals floating on or above the waterline. While submerged, they didn't need to blink at all.
Ambush Lopsiders inhabited the rivers, streams, ponds and lakes of freshwater on their high gravity homeworld. Their most commonly used hunting strategy was to gather along the water's edge, with their right arm laying in wait just beneath the waterline. Ambush Lopsiders can hold their breaths for several hours in a sedentary position while they wait for prey (including their terrestrial Lopsider relatives) to come down to the waterline to drink. The gripping scales on the palms of their right hand are sensitive to touch and vibrations, despite its appearance. Whenever a hapless animal came within grabbing distance, the Ambush Lopsiders grabbed ahold and yanked the prey underwater. The Ambushers would then perform a death roll until the animal drowned or died from blood loss.
Ambush Lopsiders were capable of spending very brief times on the ground, by contracting and releaxing their abdominal muscles and pulling themselves with their strong arm. However, this was a very cumbersome task for them; they only came ashore to have/raise their babies and to sleep in the safety of their earthen dens, which were never far from the water. After a rapid pregnancy, mother Ambushers would dig a den above the high tide line and give birth to up to 2 offspring at a time. Father Ambusher hunted for his mate during this time, bringing food to Mother's den (and cohabitating with her during this time as well). Baby Ambushers were born without knowing how to swim or hunt; they had to be taught over a year long period. Once the babies were strong/skilled enough to hunt for themselves, Mother chased them away and Father left in search for another mate.
Ambush Lopsiders were semi-sapient, but due to their aquatic adaptations, they couldn't expand onto land. Terrestrial Lopsiders gave them wide berth; indeed, they had many cautionary tales about how they needed to be careful along the edge of any water source. Ambushers were some of the few animal species to survive the Assymetric People's orbital bombardment of the Lopsider homeworld. Due to their partially ectothermic nature, Ambushers could survive long periods without food or needing to surface. Much like how the crocodilians on Earth survived the End-Cretaceous mass extinction, Ambush Lopsiders survived and adapted to new food sources: any surviving native animals, and the Assymetrics themselves (if they weren't careful!). Ambushers survived all the way until the Gravitals exterminated all life on this world.
Continental drift has resulted in the formation of new lands across the Hedonist's world. Mountains, rolling hills, forests, savannahs, deserts, and everything in between now lay before the Hedonists' eyes... the few of them that remained, that is. Most of their kind died out with the formation of these new lands, unable to adapt to the change. But not this male, "Greenstripe!" His striking blue irises and yellow-green leg and belly stripes are a clue to a deeper change within him. Greenstripe's sperm is much faster, stronger, and more potent than other Hedonist males, and resulted in a pregnancy *every single time* that Greenface mated.
Greenstripe was born no different than the other Hedonists: he hatched from a large seed-like "egg" buried deep in the clay by his mother. Pregnant Hedonists dig a hole underground and lay this egg when it's about the size of a grapefruit. As the fetus grows within, the egg swells with it, until the fully-adult Hedonist bursts through and digs its way to the surface. Greenstripe's first meal after emerging from the clay was a raspberry-like fruit and some bacterial slime growing along a nearby stream. Immediately after that, he started walking in search of females to breed with.
Greenstripe traveled far across the new lands, never wavering in his quest for female Hedonists, food, fresh water, and a comfortable place to sleep. He succeeded, of course - fathering a whopping total of 437 offspring! A major factor in Greenstripe's success was his striking physique. He didn't have to worry about raising any of his children, since they were also born fully-developed. Greenstripe's legacy spread exponentially, and was a vital genetic factor into the evolution of the Satyriacs!
It is a time of peace and unparalleled growth for the Asteromorph Empire, following their defeat of the Gravital and subsequent creation of both the Terrestrials and the New Machines. Recall the iconic "Subject On A Leash" image: on that planet, corpses remained of these doomed beasts in the aftermath of the war. A team of "lobotomized" Gravital (controlled from afar by the Asteromorph Gods) collected as much intact DNA samples as they could, and then returned to the Astero-Gods' nearest Mothership.
The Gods then began work on two projects simultaneously: resurrecting this Subject lineage and giving it a much more benign existence, and the creation of a Terrestrial tasked with supervising the progress of this new species. The Astero-Gods gave their creations a few new life forms to cohabitate with, as well. Biomechanical plants with nutritious organic fruit, biomechanical insect-like animals of various sizes loaded with protein and flavor, and native slime molds that grew to the size of Great Danes. Native microorganisms would break down and absorb any remaining detritus.
The Astero-Gods created the **SDD Subjects,** a new Subject race that contains echoes of the Temptors' existence. But unlike those ancient creations of the Qu, both SSD Subject sexes developed sapience. Much to The Terrestrial's surprise, this mental awakening happened naturally. His first clue was when the SSD's began domesticating the largest of the slime molds to assist them in their bio-insect hunts.
The male SSDs spend most of their time walking on all fours, although they can occasionally rear up on their hind legs to give their grasping arm appendage an extra boost. This grasping arm was created from the "leash stump" of the SSD's predecessors, and given four prehensile fingers. The big-headed female SSDs begin life as ambulatory creatures, but with the onset of puberty, their limbs atrophy as their bodies swell. She lacks the grasping arm of her male counterparts, but in return, she has a prehensile forked tongue that can extend up to 10 feet, or about 3 meters. By combining grasping arm with grasping tongue, the males can carry the females around from place to place. She also has a kangaroo-like pouch that houses her cloaca; her offspring develop in this pouch and are carried around in the same manner.
The Terrestrial was created with the knowledge of how his predecessors' petty God-like treatment of previous sapient Subject descendants led to mass revolt, insanity, and eventually, extinction. Wisely, he chose to benevolently cultivate the SSD Subjects as they developed from stone age to "modernity." This decision was made of his own free will, but he was also motivated by knowing that the Astero-Gods were watching him **closely.**
Can't wait to see what you all have!
Taken from the All Tomorrows Wiki page. The second set of wings (now a flange) and the presence of what appear to be little legs. The tail ends in a claw-like appendage, too.
Even as the very first truly sapient Tool Breeders were being born, these aquatic posthumans had long since formed symbiotic relationships with *many* different sea creatures. One day, the Tool Breeders will master genetic engineering, but for now, the sea snails crawling over this beached male are the equivalent of his pets. He is in no danger - there are no terrestrial animals on this world. He ate his fill of mussels, and then settled on the sandy ground along with his sea snails. Seemingly guided by invisible forces, they crawl and slide all over the Tool Breeder's body, covering him in a thin slimy layer that helps keep his skin moist. In return, the snails get their fill of any algae or barnacles growing on areas of the Tool Breeder's body that he cannot reach on his own.
It does seem odd that a fully aquatic posthuman would purposefully strand itself in an intertidal zone. This male is here because he enjoys the scenery - he approaches these "strandings" with the excitement and anticipation of a Homo Sapien child going to the beach! He's done this ever since he was a child himself, after his parents showed him this spot at low-tide. It may have even been the location where he was born!
Note his exposed blowhole: at this point, the Tool Breeders have yet to design the oxygen-filtering crustaceans that allow them to breathe underwater. However, there's no risk of any snails crawling inside! He can open and close his blowhole at will, like modern dolphins and whales.
The Worms' very sun went through a dramatic reduction in intensity following the Quhanim's vanishing. It returned to the state it was more or less in before the aliens' tampering; this resulted in much more tolerable temperatures on the Worms' homeworld. First came the rain - it rained for 2 million years straight, with rivers, lakes and oceans forming. The few crystalline plants that existed on the remaining landmasses grew into trees once more, and animals that were once confined to life beneath the soil emerged and evolved into a plethora of niches. Most of the animal life was insect-like, as the Worms were the only surviving vertebrates.
The Worms themselves expanded into a variety of new species: there were large herbivorous grazers, aquatic ambush predators, and a new tree-dwelling animal with one singular, rather human-like hand. The nude, flame-wielding female in my illustration is an early example of the Snake People. Her kind has yet to descend from the trees, and for good reason: large predatory spider-like and centipede-like animals stalk the ground. These early Snake People don't grow as long as their SGE-era descendants, nor are they currently as intelligent, but that will soon change!
The female in my illustration calls herself "Sassie," and she's pregnant. Sassie has learned how to make fire, by rapidly striking a dry stick against the scales along her back. She's about to light a few of these leaves on fire & breathe in the smoke - it produces a high akin to peyote. You may be wondering, "how will this affect Sassie's pregnancy?" As fate would have it, her children will be born with even greater mental capacities than herself! This behavior became widespread, and actually helped the Snake People's brains develop fully sapient minds.
A mere million years after the Quhanim suddenly left our galaxy, what remained of humanity was starting to evolve into sapient beings once more. The Ruin Haunters, the Titans, and the Bone Crushers were the earliest to do so. For the Bone Crushers, intelligence was a result of having to figure out how to survive on their own. After all, they used to be pets of the Quhanim - and they used to be much smaller than 9 feet tall! The vast majority of the Bone Crushers' ancestors died out without their caretakers, but those who survived became one of posthumanity's first success stories. Some of these former pets became herbivorous, using their tooth-beaks to crack open hardy seed pods and the toughest of shrubbery. As for the Bone Crushers, they are technically scavengers, feeding only rotting flesh exclusively.
The male Bone Crusher in my illustration is among the first of his kind to have a truly sapient mind. He does not intend to eat the lizard that he's carrying - she's not even dead, despite appearances. She is his pet Fainting Lizard, and he's cared for her ever since the day that she hatched. She's an insectivore, so he doesn't even have to share any of his meat with his pet. They roam the badlands that they call home together, in search of the basics: food, water, shelter, adventure, and companionship. But in this male's lifetime, he has yet to meet another Bone Crusher as intelligent as his parents were. He's not about to give up, though - he longs for *someone* to talk to.
...
Several years later, the male Bone Crusher's patience has paid off. He found a sapient female Bone Crusher living deep within a forested area, and they partnered up seamlessly. He still has his pet Fainting Lizard: she's got a few eggs in a nest. The Bone Crusher female is currently pregnant with a litter of 6 - each of them will survive, and their family tree will multiply exponentially. By the time of their heydey, a1 in every 10 Bone Crushers could trace their DNA back to the male individual in my drawing!
Mere centuries after the Qu's sudden disappearance, some of the Titans' behaviors were changing, becoming more 'human.' This grieving young male has just finished burying his deceased mother, using only his lip-hand. Though he is overcome with loss and sorrow in this moment, he will find comfort by remembering all of the good, nice, and pleasant moments that the two of them shared. His mother was one of the 'Smart Ones,' Titans who had the capacity to remember, and she passed this trait on to her son. In his life, he will father *many* children of his own.
---
Almost a billion years into the future, The Author arrived on the Titans' long-forgotten homeworld. During his investigation, he found a massive mountainside that was dotted with Titan fossils. Many of them were in near perfect condition! As it turned out, the Titans' funeral practices were the reason why so many individuals were so well preserved. I can imagine the Author standing next to a fossilized Titan skull, dwarfed by comparison, yet beaming with excitement and awe!