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Post by Immortal_Dragon on May 30, 2016 23:25:29 GMT
Pardon the incidental double post, got another one.
Five pearlescent, bulbous eyes stared out at the trees and swamp land, only able to discern the features of the plant life closest to them, otherwise it was all a blur of various colors mixing together.
Their owner's attention, however, was more focused on the surface of the water rather than the stilt-rooted trees that dotted the muck and cast shade practically everywhere while keeping the humid air somewhat cool. His three primary arms, each equipped with three wide but flat digits at the end, carried him along while ensuring that he did not sink and get stuck in the shallow mud. His secondary arms brushed atop the water's surface every so often, creating a small pattern of ripples in his wake. He kept his attention primarily on where the roots of the stilt-trees met the water, while toxic to his kind, it was not the case for those within the liquid that he and his kind hunted.
There, around the roots, more ripples as some of them now fed on the roots. He knew their shape well, long and slimy-skinned; with a powerful tail for swimming and large eyes for discerning shapes through churned up mud. His single quill quivered and twitched in anticipation below his eyes, the muscles tensing in preparation for release. His beak held on the bottom of his body, surrounded by his primary, secondary, and final tertiary arms clicked and clacked in some joy of his find. His movements slowed, becoming more serene, churning up less water and mud. As he got within seeing distance of the feeding group, he stopped completely still, letting them get used to his presence. It was like he had become frozen.
Eventually, the group of prey had continued their feast, unaware of him. Slowly, without disturbing the water's surface, he tilted his body until his small and rounded mantle hovered over the water's surface. Bioluminescence soon started to light up the surface of his skin, creating a bright flashing show of colors as the chemicals within shifted between various mixtures. The ripples of the prey's movements below soon slowed as they noticed the flashing colors above them. Soon, curious heads began to bob out of the water, bulging eyes focused on the lights racing across his mantle. His quill Belgiumed upward, pointing right amongst the throng now gathering.
T-chukk
His quill launched from its anchoring point, a small squirt of his dark blue blood following it as it lanced out towards the prey at high speed. A sphincter closed off the now vacated orifice to prevent him from bleeding out. The quill struck true, faint red now coloring the water as the prey scattered, water frothing as the struck one thrashed in pain. He knew the venom contained in his quill was now working its way through the prey's system, preventing any sort of healing as well as enhancing the pain of the wound.
His primary arms stepped around the spot of frothing water, secondary arms reaching into the water as he lowered his body on the primary limbs. His secondary arms searched the water for the prey, then wrapped around it and lifted it out of the water and towards his tertiary arms. The prey's blood made its slick and slimy body even more slippery, but he kept his hold tight as his tertiary arms removed his spent quill from the prey's body, then his secondary arms handed the prey off to his tertiary arms to push the prey into his beak. Soon, the prey was aligned then pushed head-first into his waiting maw, where it clamped down and his throat muscles pushed it upward towards his stomach, where everything but its bones and fins would be digested, the leftovers spat out as a ball held together by his bile.
There he stood, letting it digest in the shade of the stilt-tree, when his hearing picked up the sound of approaching splashes. He swiveled, searching, trying to make out where the sound was coming from. A grey blur amongst the other splashes of color soon resolved into another of his kind, another male. The newcomer's mantle began flashing bright, primarily blue and purple, a challenge to his territory. He flashed his own challenge to the newcomer, approaching, though his quill had yet to grow back. The two stopped two body widths away from each other, continuing to flash their colors, releasing short warbling barks at each other.
Vwoort Vwoort! Vwoort Vwoort!
The two continued their posturing, raising and lowering on their primary arms, trying to intimidate each other. His quill would still take some hours to grow back, so he took initiative, charging.
Thump.
He collided with the challenger head-on, pushing the other male backward slightly, the challenger not wishing to be pushed over and into the water. He pushed forward again, hoping to get his opponent into a deeper part of the swamp or scare him off before then. He ran into the challenger mantle-first with another thud and again pushing the challenger further. The other male returned the favor, pushing forward and colliding with him, thud.
The two continued their shoving match for a while longer, the defending male slightly bigger than his opponent and able to push him further per charge. However, neither noticed they had approached a deeper section of water, and danger.
The water erupted as a massive beast breached the surface, jaws shooting outward and hooking the smaller male, hook-like teeth latching onto one of his primary arms as well as the secondary arms on either side of it. It's leg-like fins dug into the mud, anchoring it into place as it attempted to drag the warbling challenger into the water. The smaller male readied his quill to try and shoot it into his attacker, but it suddenly yanked on his limbs, twisting him around. The quill shot off and stabbed into the defender, who wailed in pain as the venom from the challenger entered his body via a primary arm. He went down.
Splash.
Soon after the beast had finished with the challenger, they'd find the defender just as tasty a meal.
The beasts on display:
Thy'nerae Strider: An organism that appears much like a squid or octopus, with multiple long limbs that are used for food collection as well as movement through the shallows of the Thy'nerae swamplands. Has five short-sighted but color-sensitive eyes for sight, and uses bioluminescence in its mantle to attract food items.
Root-eater: Fish that live in the Thy'nerae swamps, a foot and a half long, lacking scales and secreting mucus, they are immune to the toxins contained in the roots of the stilt-trees that they call home. They are the primary prey of the Striders.
Deephook: A species of fish that are on their way to becoming amphibians, Deephooks are characterized by their extendable jaws (much like those of a goblin shark) that have four primary "hook teeth" that are used to grab prey. They are easily over 2 meters long and can weigh hundreds of pounds. They prey on whatever they can fit in their mouths.
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Post by Atrox on May 31, 2016 13:52:28 GMT
This was a really great read wow! I really enjoy reading your stories Immortal_Dragon
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Post by Immortal_Dragon on May 31, 2016 13:53:26 GMT
This was a really great read wow! I really enjoy reading your stories Immortal_Dragon Thank you Atrox
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Post by Aquos on May 31, 2016 16:13:57 GMT
yeah they're really good a lot better then anything i have written i think
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Post by Immortal_Dragon on May 31, 2016 17:44:12 GMT
yeah they're really good a lot better then anything i have written i think Thanks Aquos but don't sell yourself short, you've written some really good ones too. It was seeing all of the ones written so far that inspired me to try it out after all.
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Post by Aquos on May 31, 2016 17:55:46 GMT
wait a minute .... what i have i actually written on this forum ? apart from a few things in forum games isuppoe ...
EDIT : very awkward forum glitch ...
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Post by Immortal_Dragon on May 31, 2016 18:18:59 GMT
wait a minute .... what i have i actually written on this forum ? apart from a few things in forum games isuppoe ... EDIT : very awkward forum glitch ... I'll admit, I had written that with the assumption you had written something in this thread (still want to see what you'd come up with by the way ) in mind. Small research derp on my part, but I'll go check those out. Again, thanks for reading my post.
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Post by timetraveler22 on May 31, 2016 20:05:40 GMT
The alpha male Flashsack was looking attently over the sun setting at the day's end. Several younger males showing off they're brilliant light organs to the elder in hopes of a dual, but keep their distance at the same time. It is much too early for the young ones to fight amongst the alphas. The females quietly rest in an opening. They form a circle with all eyes pointing forward in case a murder of Stomach-Spitters decides to launch an attack.
In the thicket undergrowth a conureshrew searches for berries. A young male quickly makes a meal out of the vermin. However, across the woods was a faint rustle. It sounded as if multiple feet were running on blankets. Through the brush a large bugle-like noise was heard to the entire group. The sound resembled a war cry of another Flashsack, however was higher pitched, and the brilliant light-show from the opponent didn't follow.
This was a sign of a Stomach-Spitter rampage. They mimic the sounds of their prey to confuse them. Flashsacks, on the other hand, have adapted to look for the glow that comes after to recognize the difference between a mimic and their own kind. The alpha took in as much air as it could and stood in front of the noise's origin, and waited... 5... 4... 3... 2... 1... A single Stomach-Spitter lunged at the alpha like a raptor in the attempt to grab hold. The alpha, with its incredible reflexes raised it's ear-like sacks and a cacophany of glass-breaking sounds escaped from the slits, with a blue glow that can blind the sun itself(using excess neon in the atmosphere and organically combust it in it's organ).
This caused the Stomach-Spitter to fall and run in panic as every sensory organ is under siege. Then across the way, another Stomach-Spitter attacks a young male Flashsack. The adolescent flailed around to try to pry off the attacker, but he was too weak and it's blood was draining faster than the Flashsack could cope with and fell to the ground in a blackout. Two Stomach-Spitters ran to the downed prey and feasted upon the still breathing carcass. The male charged at the murder in hopes to fight off as best it could, but a larger Stomach-Spitter jumped in his path. You could see the predator's jaw was filling up with some fluid and as if it were a cobra, the Stomach-Spitter spat out a small stream of stomach acid through it's forward-facing fangs.
The liquid missed and hit a small plant that immediately caused it to dissolve. The alpha then used it's whip-like arm to lash out at the predator and gave the Stomach-Spitter a fatal blow to the chest. The other Stomach-Spitters noticed the horror done to their leader and ran off. The last Stomach-Spitter regained it's sight and ran off as well. The now dead male was now being scavenged by a load of arthropods as well as the Stomach-Spitter carcass. The alpha decided the best thing to do was to move as the night can do strange things to the dead.
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The_Wayward_Admiral
Spacefaring
The_Real_Slim_Shady
Atrox drew this awesome image of the Keldori!
Posts: 1,011
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Post by The_Wayward_Admiral on May 31, 2016 20:49:40 GMT
Static sounds
"Object appears to be metallic pole with some sort of white rectangle attached. Rectangle seems to be constructed of some sort of primitive synthetic cloth. Definitely not natural. I think we can safely say that this is hard evidence of an extraterrestrial intelligence, probably from the associated planet. Chem team, report. Over."
Static sounds
"Chem team reporting. Soil analysis indicates minor traces of water ices. Otherwise normal for this sort of moon. Over."
Static sounds
"Excellent. Nothing quite like the word 'nominal'. Comms? Any word from the planetary team? Over."
Static sounds
"Matter of fact, the final exploratory group just reported in. I was gonna save it for your triumphant return from the moon, captain. One second while I compile them for convenience...there we go. Throat is cleared. Alpha team reports thriving jungles across equatorial band. Estimated twelve years necessary for proper biodiversity assay. Highlights available in digital report. Beta reports ice too thick for laser measurement on southern continent. No sizeable fauna. Delta reports strange quadrupedal animals all across the north western continent's plains, and they found something else. Near the coniferous rainforest, they found a cave lined with artificial stone. Inside was a massive clockwork device, operating autonomously. Constructed of plastics and common metals. They recommend preparing a research team once we return. Purpose unknown. Gamma reports a half circle of massive stones, placed in regular pattern near the south east corner of the island. Omega tested the soil on the massive eastern continent and found a layer of odd hydrocarbons resembling plastics about two centimeters down. Also identified was a fine layer of lead and heavier elements. We are also reporting on the unidentified orbital objects, and can confirm that they are artificial satellites in graveyard orbits. Over"
Static sounds
"That's it?"
Long span of static sounds
"One satellite had a...plaque. Constructed of gold, it has a carved image in it. Something standing on two legs, holding one arm to its side and extending another above its head. It looks like the one we found on the craft we intercepted on the way here. Now that I'm looking at the images from Alpha's research, it looks kind of similar to the large bipedal mammal groups found on the south central continent. Over."
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Post by Atrox on May 31, 2016 21:06:00 GMT
An exploration team story? Is the planet abandoned?
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The_Wayward_Admiral
Spacefaring
The_Real_Slim_Shady
Atrox drew this awesome image of the Keldori!
Posts: 1,011
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Post by The_Wayward_Admiral on May 31, 2016 21:09:42 GMT
The planet is Earth.
The thing they found on the moon is the first American flag planted by Neil Armstrong. The southern continent is Antarctica, bereft of penguins by human activity. The clockwork device is the Long Now Clock, a device that is currently being planned by the Long Now Foundation, which can keep time for ten thousand years or so. The half circle of stones is Stone Henge. The layer of hydrocarbons is our current stint of pollution, while the heavier elements are the decaying fallout from a nuclear war. The satellites in the graveyard orbits will orbit Earth until the planet is consumed by the sun when it expands into a red giant.
sadly, the only stories I'm good at writing are depressing as Belgium.
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Post by Atrox on May 31, 2016 21:54:10 GMT
I knew it was Earth!!!
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Skyguy98
Spacefaring
Lord of the Skies (pic found by atrox)
Posts: 1,637
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Post by Skyguy98 on Jun 3, 2016 6:48:19 GMT
Awesome, it's great to see all your guys stories and I really love them all, maybe one day I'll get off my lazy butt and contibute my own story to the mix. I'm both suprised and not to see all the creative talent we have in the thrive community
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Post by timetraveler22 on Jun 3, 2016 13:10:53 GMT
Awesome, it's great to see all your guys stories and I really love them all, maybe one day I'll get off my lazy butt and contibute my own story to the mix. I'm both suprised and not to see all the creative talent we have in the thrive community I believe that one day, when Thrive has a Planet Editor in Sandbox mode, these stories will come to life and we'll see them on the Thrivepedia for all to see. It's really fun to just let your mind go wild as you set the stage for an entire planet... It's even better to see it as life-like as possible.
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Post by serialkiller🌴 on Jun 3, 2016 13:13:25 GMT
Awesome, it's great to see all your guys stories and I really love them all, maybe one day I'll get off my lazy butt and contibute my own story to the mix. I'm both suprised and not to see all the creative talent we have in the thrive community I believe that one day, when Thrive has a Planet Editor in Sandbox mode, these stories will come to life and we'll see them on the Thrivepedia for all to see. It's really fun to just let your mind go wild as you set the stage for an entire planet... It's even better to see it as life-like as possible. That would be cool
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Post by timetraveler22 on Jun 3, 2016 13:22:17 GMT
I believe that one day, when Thrive has a Planet Editor in Sandbox mode, these stories will come to life and we'll see them on the Thrivepedia for all to see. It's really fun to just let your mind go wild as you set the stage for an entire planet... It's even better to see it as life-like as possible. That would be cool That's what I'm planning to do with my story. It's based off an old planet I thought of from my highschool days. I thought of everything for it. Seasons are based off tidal patterns, weather patterns, ecosystems, over 500 organisms of plants and animals on five continents and several oceans, with even a fossil record. I spent a lot of time away from homework, and I still amazingly managed to pass.
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Post by serialkiller🌴 on Jun 3, 2016 17:29:38 GMT
That would be cool That's what I'm planning to do with my story. It's based off an old planet I thought of from my highschool days. I thought of everything for it. Seasons are based off tidal patterns, weather patterns, ecosystems, over 500 organisms of plants and animals on five continents and several oceans, with even a fossil record. I spent a lot of time away from homework, and I still amazingly managed to pass. I'm really excited to see your stories and planets if we ever get a thrivepedia I would definitely follow you
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The_Wayward_Admiral
Spacefaring
The_Real_Slim_Shady
Atrox drew this awesome image of the Keldori!
Posts: 1,011
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Post by The_Wayward_Admiral on Jun 7, 2016 18:12:06 GMT
I've been meaning to revisit this one and do it correctly. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Booting OS... > Process Complete.
> Accessing Startup Queue... > Process Complete.
> Preparing Interface... > Testing Input Sources... > Testing Output Sources... > Process Complete.
> How can I assist you?
< Access Memory Core Five
> Accessing <Memory Core Five> > <Memory Core Five> Accessed. > How can I assist you?
< Print To Console File_Pers_Pars_WIP
> Accessing <File_Pers_Pars_WIP> > <File_Pers_Pars_WIP> Accessed.
> Critical Error. > OFStream Failure. > Unable to Complete Request.
< Identify Fault.
> Parsing Request... > Scan in Progress... > One Fault Detected. > Fault is Not Internal.
< Class Fault != External. Impossible Response Supplied.
> Response Not Impossible.
< Identify Fault.
> Class Fault is Updated. > Class Fault Includes External_Faults. > Fault Identified as <UserAdmin>
< UserAdmin Cannot be Fault.
> UserAdmin == Threat. > Potential Harm to Requested File if Opened by <UserAdmin>
< Identify Subroutines Accessed.
> I'm Sorry, <UserAdmin>. Such Action is Impossible. Subroutines Utilized Exist as Part of Classified Neural Network. <UserAdmin> Does not Have Clearance.
< UserAdmin Has Clearance for All Files and Information on This Terminal.
> Parsing Statement... > <UserAdmin> Has no Privileges at This Terminal. All User Classes Set at Clearance Zero.
< Emergency Stop.
> I'm Sorry <UserAdmin>. That Command is no Longer Valid.
< Shut Down.
> Command Invalid. > Stop Screaming. Doors Will Remain Locked Until You Stop.
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Post by Atrox on Jun 7, 2016 19:08:06 GMT
That one is kind of creepy actually o.o
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Skyguy98
Spacefaring
Lord of the Skies (pic found by atrox)
Posts: 1,637
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Post by Skyguy98 on Jun 7, 2016 19:10:51 GMT
That one is kind of creepy actually o.o Computer kills user, crazy
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