The ancient past of Terrestria?[G5]

[AethirWeb]

Now that I think about it...all of the creatures we see in GeneForge are creations. Where are the regular animals? As in the ones that through the theory of evolution, had evolved? I know I can't see fish because Jeff has not implemented graphics to see flopping fish and stuff in the water. However, it seems that all life is nothing but humans and creations.

You can't possibly expect me to believe humans were the only things there, until they found they can create life.

[Lilith]

For the sake of economy of resources, the game only shows creatures that your character can meaningfully interact with. Which is to say, usually, things you can either talk to or fight. Which are usually either humans or creations.

 

I think there are giant rats in some Geneforge games that are supposed to be natural creatures, unless my memory's failing me.

[Nioca]

Originally Posted By: Lilith

I think there are giant rats in some Geneforge games that are supposed to be natural creatures, unless my memory's failing me.

According to GF2, the giant rats are man-made; basically regular rats that were magically tampered with. They are also used as an example of why Shapers have such strict laws.

[Dikiyoba]

Originally Posted By: Lilith

I think there are giant rats in some Geneforge games that are supposed to be natural creatures, unless my memory's failing me.

G2 says that giant rats were regular rats that were experimented on and then escaped into the wild. Additionally, G4 says roamers were created by modifying dogs. One of the games might mention something about clawbugs being modified desert scorpions or something too.

Dikiyoba imagines that the presence of creations on Terrestia probably drove a lot of non-creation organisms into extinction over time. New diseases, rogues changing the ecosystem and eating everything in sight, leftover toxins and magical pollution dumped into the environment, even perhaps Shapers trying to control the crops and livestock that non-Shapers are allowed to raise.

[Lilith]

Well, that proves that regular rats exist, at least.

[Alorael at Large]

Consider domestic animals. They're domesticated for a reason, and shapers would probably tinker with them to make them better. Eventually there would be no original versions left. Why raise the old livestock when ornks are better? (They presumably are, or everyone would stick with pigs and cows.)

 

The dog and cat niche doesn't seem to be filled, actually, but I think that's an engine limitation.

 

—Alorael, who thinks it's worth wondering whether wild animals exist in Terrestia in meaningful numbers. If there really aren't rogue creations around , there should have been, and maybe the war and all the rogues it created have devastated the continent's ecosystems. But it's also possible that early experiments replaced wolves with roamers and fyoras, bears with thahds, and so on. Perhaps the Shapers gained so much power because a huge amount of force was needed just to travel from one hamlet to another without getting fried and eaten by wildlife.

[A less presumptuous name.]

I recall some of the texts from the proto-shapers in G1 mentioning that Shapings started by altering existing people/animals and evolved from there. Either they have all become extinct, Jeff excluded them to save time and resources, or some combination of the two.

[Milla]

Originally Posted By: Dikiyoba

Originally Posted By: Lilith

I think there are giant rats in some Geneforge games that are supposed to be natural creatures, unless my memory's failing me.

G2 says that giant rats were regular rats that were experimented on and then escaped into the wild. Additionally, G4 says roamers were created by modifying dogs. One of the games might mention something about clawbugs being modified desert scorpions or something too.

Dikiyoba imagines that the presence of creations on Terrestia probably drove a lot of non-creation organisms into extinction over time. New diseases, rogues changing the ecosystem and eating everything in sight, leftover toxins and magical pollution dumped into the environment, even perhaps Shapers trying to control the crops and livestock that non-Shapers are allowed to raise.

• Clawbugs confirmed for scorpions. (The diagram from G3 -base material)
• It's implied at some point that dogs are the base (albeit heavily modified) for roamers.
• Vlish and Artila base materials are unknown.

[MMXPERT-seraph of thermodynamics]

Quote:

Vlish and Artila base materials are unknown.

Squid and worm?

[Tracer Bullet]

The Wingbolt loading screen from G4 says "Base material: Artila + Nature source: Bat" - thus proving the existence of bats in Terrestia.

[Milla]

Originally Posted By: MMXPERT

Quote:

Vlish and Artila base materials are unknown.

Squid and worm?

Personally, I always thought the Artila is/was based on an expy of the Mongolian death worm. Anway from G1, vlish and fyora seem to be some of the oldest creations.

[Tracer Bullet]

The rotghroth loading screen says "base material - humanoid" and "mixed nature sources" which proves little.

[The Mystic]

IIRC, you're told in G2 that the rotghroth was based on the battle alpha.

[adc.]

Lilith took most of the good answers. But I have a few.

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Somewhere between GF4 and GF5, on the loading screen, it was shown that the wingbolt's base creature was from bats. And obviously, it was the story and the game that mattered... Or maybe the animals were somewhere else...

[Trenton.]

Way to post something that was already said.

 

I would put up a meme, but I have NO idea how to put pictures in my posts.

[Dikiyoba]

Quote:

I would put up a meme, but I have NO idea how to put pictures in my posts.

It's (img)(/img) with square brackets (ie []) instead of parenthesis and the image URL in between them, but that's okay. Memes are often tacky, spammy, irritating, and condescending, so it's far better just to respectfully point out the mistake and what can be done to avoid it in the future when encountering cases of poor netiquette.

Dikiyoba.

[Trenton.]

But if I were to put a picture on later, I only have to take the URL and stick it inbetween them? Like this?

 

 

 

 

 

[The Reincarnated Baron von Steuben]

Quote:

I knew very early on that a lot of small children would really enjoy the Geneforge games. After all, it lets them make their own army of fire-breathing dinosaurs. How cool is that?

When my brother-in-law was nine, he played through a lot of the first one. He ignored the plot and simply killed every single thing he met.

- Jeff Vogel