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Post by thenephew on Feb 13, 2007 13:06:55 GMT
As was pointed out on the Continental tribes thread, by Arantel, the planet is covered in poisonous $=!+, but we have a lot of well fed tribal nomads nomadding around on it. What do they eat?
Edit: I'm working on the name and final details. Don't suppose Storm wants to step in and halp clean up?
2nd Edit: Description removed as redundant. Dave has been usurped by the new, more complete, Megan.
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Post by inquisitorarantel on Feb 14, 2007 11:15:57 GMT
Right, now we've got edible plants we can have edible meat...
I can't really go into much detail, but some kind of thing that uses fallen coppeleaf leaves to protect itself (or just stays in the canopy) and eats Daves can then be the base of a whole carnivorous food-chain...
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Post by thenephew on Feb 14, 2007 20:10:23 GMT
Ladies and Gents, In association with the Obscure Relatives Foundation, The Nephew and Stormturmoil present... The Meganberry. The ORF would like to thank Storm for his behind the scenes work.
To avoid confusion, Me and Storm are not actually related. Though anyone wishing to join the family need only knock up a nice bit of prose and post it.
Edit: Incoming repost, with additions and extensions. This is closer to (but not quite at) the level of report style writing I envision many of the pieces to be in.
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Post by thenephew on Feb 14, 2007 20:44:29 GMT
The berries of the Meganus plant, as well as it's stem, and to a lesser extent leaves, are well stocked with natural starches and plant proteins. Drained of heavy metal salts by the Copperleaf trees that overhang the forests, the forest floor's soil provides a fertile, non-toxic base for various forms of the Meganus plant to grow. Here, the decomposing matter of dead insects and small animals provides a surprisingly fertile soil for the near lightless zone. Able to survive in low light levels, the Meganus Mellor plant photosynthesises primarily the long wavelength, low energy light that isn't absorbed by the Copperleaf canopies. Being able to efficiently utilise these wavelengths give it a significant competitive advantage over foreign plants, who rarely function well in such low light levels. As a result, Meganus Mellor ("Megan sprays") are found everywhere throughout the forest. Sprays of Meganus plant, called so because of their multiple stems splitting from the end of a single short stem, form small, waist height canopies of leaves over the forest floor. These wide leaves maximise the coverage and absorbance of light, sustaining the plant with a large volume of light that is of a relatively low 'nutritional value'.
Meganus Complecti (the "Megan vine"), however, is of such different apperance it is believed by some of our Biologis adepts to be a different species entirely. Living as a parasitic liana on the Copperleaf trees, the vine-like form spreads it's leaves mere metres below the canopy of it's host. Though initial theories supposed that these leaves must have a very short life expectancy (and hence be replaced regularly, explaining the thick humus layer in the ground soil), the leaves have shown a much greater resilience with regards to both radiation and heat. They appear to be equally long lived, when compared with the spray form leaves. No satisfactory explanation for the plant matter humus has yet been forwarded, as it is clear that Meganus Complecti leaves cannot account for more than one third of the material present, with Copperleaf trees providing at most a further one third. The remaining contributer is as yet unidentified. Despite these great differences, both varieties of Meganus plant are clearly of the same species, and it appears that differentiation between liana and spray form is hormonally controlled. As roots of the young plant spread, the stem mimics the shape of it's root formation, so that roots spreading down a tree from a nook it it's trunk will prompt the spread of stems and leaves upwards, whereas a wide rootbase will produce a multi-branched stand of leaf bearing stems.
Both forms intercept light at a greater height than the (rare) plant-like competitors, and it appears this is an adapted survival mechanism, to prevent competition. They also provide a habitat for various animals, that appear from primary investigation to be mammalian, though no specimens have yet been collected.
The final, and in many cases most relevant use, with regards to this survey, is that they render impossible proper scanning of even relatively open areas of ground - where there are no Copperleaf trees, the Megan sprays simply spread more, to dilute the heavy metals they recieve from the soils. This leads to wide areas of densely covered, low level, shrubland. The combination of these expanses, combined with the heavy sielding provided by the trees, means that the expedition has been greatly delayed in producing the final reports on the geological structure of the main continent. Explorator bands must be sent onto the surface at thousands of selected sites to gather data on rock formation, elemental composition, approximate age and abundancies of extractable ores. Frustratingly, several of these groups have lost contact as they pass through particularly well shielded groves of Copperleaf trees. They have yet to re-establish radio conversation, but are expected to within 72 hours.
Further information on aquatic developments have been delivered by Explorator Mohauk.
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Post by thenephew on Feb 14, 2007 20:47:14 GMT
It is a little incoherent in places, as additions grew in while I was structuring and rewriting it, but most of the sense survives. Feel free to contact me through my profile if you want my email address to send to for proof reading, or for convenience's sake.
Edit: Can anyone suggest a biological sounding suffix for Megan, to make it sound more like a real life plant?
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mohauk
Artisan
Bringer of Fish
Posts: 75
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Post by mohauk on Feb 15, 2007 17:35:44 GMT
Almost always -us or -ix for lifeforms named after people, and for lots of species generally. Then you need a secondary classifier, to make it soud really convincing. Why not something like:
Meganus Mellor (little Megan) or Meganus Complecti (Megan's grasp)
If you named this plant officially, I'd suggest doing the same with the Dave plant too, for consistency.
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Post by thenephew on Feb 16, 2007 11:54:29 GMT
The Megan plant is a reissue of the Dave plant - Dave was just a quick basic mock up of what I wanted the plant to be like. Both names sound great - They'll be edited into the main post in a minut.
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Post by revamp on Apr 25, 2007 21:57:24 GMT
[blue]So there is the biologists appraisal of the damned things but what they miss, as they tend to, is that they taste foul.
To be honest that gastronomical point makes the cause for anyone actually bothering rather obscure, as mentioned they don't really give the body much to work with and are hardly worth the calories you burn out chewing up their stringy flesh.
That considered why they have such time for the leaves is, to be frank, beyond me. Yet time they bestow upon them, melting them down into soups, dicing them into miniscule cubes and sprinkling them upon meat, which they frequently wrap in the leaves as well or else stuff with them. Occasionally even all of the above while marinading them in leafy juices.
As with so many aspects of the Kabrati tribe I find it utterly inexplicable as well as mildly foul.
Their taste for berries however is another matter entirely. The flavour of these is simply delightful and when adequetely prepared {as I experienced a handful of times: roasted carefully and with precise timing by the docile men of the tribe in a fashio which is performed with such apparent ease that its near impossibility seems difficult to grasp until you attempt it yourself} they are exquisite to the extent of the tribe's preference for the leaf becoming simply baffling. The flavour has a rather direct and unambigous nature that makes description via comparison near impossible so I suppose if I inform you that it was a sharp yet soothingly sensual taste that seemed to compensate wholly for the otherwise striking defeceit of local cuisine I suppose that that shall have to suffice.
Another advantage of the berry over the leaf was that only the former could be juiced and then distilled to make a potent form of inebriative fluid. This was a custom only taken advantage of upon a few notable occasions when the Tribe had traditionally considered a day worthy of celebration, a total of five during my stay of a fortnight first stay with them and a number I lost count of during my second. The potency of the liquid was immense and resulted in a strange, virtually catatonic, state from which it is problematic and undesirable to escape from yet upon departure fills the mind with a sense of rambling euphoria which becomes far more focused and intense once the realisation that others are experiencing the same dawns. This resulted in my participation in tribal activities to an unprecedented extent, albeit with my input involving solely the partaking in various joyous raves. When drunken to excess {an easy error to make} the beverage can take on hallucinogenic properties and many of the natives reported seeing looming creatures dart between trees in the corner of their eyes or have heard eerie chants from above, in the branches. Personally I experienced no such encounters although I did experience a melodic pulse seeming to seep from the undergrowth around me and pulsate through my frame during my second use.
However it is not without its side effects: the desire which overwhelmed me the morning after was solely that of wishing to crawl out of reach of the sun, curl up into a foetal ball and remain in that position for the next decade or so. It was only the bracing bucket of river-water I was doused in by the tribespeople after a handful of hours in this state which evoked my reemergence into their society although I noted, perhaps with a sense of slight pride, that I was not especially susceptible relative to others within the tribe.
According to the locals it is advisable not to make any efforts to distill the leaves unless the brewer wishes to be die horribly while drinking their creation, in which case they are the perfect substance imaginable.[/blue]
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Post by thenephew on Apr 26, 2007 9:16:50 GMT
A nice reporting style - a few little cleanups to fix as either a diary entry or an expedition report is all that is needed to make this worthy of inclusion in a DM article. By the style of writing, I think it sounds more like an independent explorer than an AM teammember. A few edits to include the name of the author, a little "Day 42" or similar at the top, and to keep the language style internally consistent, then this will be perfect.
Edit: Indigo Jones you say? Sounds like a good plan. I would suggest replacing the first sentence with one or two introducing him obliquely and explaining how he comes to know what the biologists think of the leaves.
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Post by revamp on Apr 26, 2007 10:27:13 GMT
A nice reporting style - a few little cleanups to fix as either a diary entry or an expedition report is all that is needed to make this worthy of inclusion in a DM article. By the style of writing, I think it sounds more like an independent explorer than an AM teammember. Why certainly. My intention was for this to be the work of a former character of mine, Indigo Jones. Check the IC forum on the Conclave for more of his stuff {The Palian Proposal, EEEEEE, The Ballad of Indigo Jones, The Training and Tutelage of Adara and now Eternal Comprehension all feature him}. He's an opinionated galaxy-hopper and amateur anthropologist {amongst other things} so I thought that he would be useful to channel my input for this project through. I shall see what I can do. I am not sure exactly how it shall fit in, perhaps just his commentary although I'm not sure under what context... Maybe as part of his ever-expanding memoirs.
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mohauk
Artisan
Bringer of Fish
Posts: 75
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Post by mohauk on Apr 29, 2007 15:10:28 GMT
I like it. Fun and informative, and with that oh-so recognisable tone which Jones always appears with. Excellent work.
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Post by revamp on Nov 22, 2007 0:32:57 GMT
Who do I know you as usually, mohauk?
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Post by Doug on Nov 25, 2007 16:36:04 GMT
Who do I know you as usually, mohauk? He's Inquisitor Fa Mohauk on the 'clave, as I recall. This place has slowed to the death, hasn't it? I must try and post more often...
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vendile
Enginseer
The doodler
Posts: 234
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Post by vendile on Nov 29, 2007 23:39:17 GMT
we should really consider the afore-mentioned proposals of how to round everything up. It may even be that for continuities sake that it would be easier for a single person to take on the task of organising all the information and filling in the gaps, then presenting it back to the forum to approve or tweak before being submitted for more general consumption.
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