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Oni2:Slaves of War/Neo-Biology: Difference between revisions
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Revision as of 23:22, 31 January 2020
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Below are some attempts at conceiving of what plant life and other foreign life would be encountered in the Wilderness. | Below are some attempts at conceiving of what plant life and other foreign life would be encountered in the Wilderness. | ||
"On and on it goes. It seems the more you learn, the less and less and less and less and less you know." -- Apollo Sunshine, "The Egg" | "On and on it goes. It seems the more you learn, the less and less and less and less and less you know." -- Apollo Sunshine, "The Egg" | ||
Let's look at real plants to get some inspiration. It seems that peering into nature closely only demonstrates how incapable we are of imagining anything stranger or more alien than the actual life that exists on this planet -- plants that hear, plants that eat meat, plants that don't need soil.... Here's some stand-out examples | ==Plants== | ||
Let's look at real plants to get some inspiration. It seems that peering into nature closely only demonstrates how incapable we are of imagining anything stranger or more alien than the actual life that exists on this planet -- plants that hear, plants that eat meat, plants that don't need soil.... Here's some stand-out examples. | |||
===Sensitive plants=== | ===Sensitive plants=== | ||
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Who says that plants need minor things like roots, and soil to put them in? [[wp:Spanish moss|Spanish moss]] and other epiphytic plants can be found hanging from trees. They aren't parasitic; they absorb all their minerals and water from run-off that rain brings down the tree, as well as from rain itself. They may absorb moisture directly from the air as well. Spanish moss hardly performs any photosynthesis, appearing as a dead gray or pale green mass of hair-like leaves. Somehow this plant can still manage to put out small flowers, and it positively thrives in the southern U.S., where it can weigh down oaks and other trees. | Who says that plants need minor things like roots, and soil to put them in? [[wp:Spanish moss|Spanish moss]] and other epiphytic plants can be found hanging from trees. They aren't parasitic; they absorb all their minerals and water from run-off that rain brings down the tree, as well as from rain itself. They may absorb moisture directly from the air as well. Spanish moss hardly performs any photosynthesis, appearing as a dead gray or pale green mass of hair-like leaves. Somehow this plant can still manage to put out small flowers, and it positively thrives in the southern U.S., where it can weigh down oaks and other trees. | ||
=== | ===Parasitic plants=== | ||
Plants are supposed to be autotrophic, meaning that they manufacture their own food (unlike animals). The key to autotrophism is photosynthesis. However, some plants have decided to take a detour off of Photosynthesis Road and into Parasite Alley. They use a special root known as a [[wp:haustorium|haustorium]]. Rather than pulling nutrients from the ground, this root pulls nutrients directly from another plant. It works by [[wp:File:Hyaloperonospora-parasitica-hyphae-haustoria.jpg|winding into the host plant's cellular structure]] and sucking on cytoplasm. Eventually they can expand from inside of the host, replacing it with the parasite's body. Haustoria are traditionally used by fungi like mildew, putting parasitic plants in a strange middle ground between their autotrophic brethren and the separate Kingdom Fungi. | Plants are supposed to be autotrophic, meaning that they manufacture their own food (unlike animals). The key to autotrophism is photosynthesis. However, [[wp:Parasitic plant|some plants]] have decided to take a detour off of Photosynthesis Road and into Parasite Alley. They use a special root known as a [[wp:haustorium|haustorium]]. Rather than pulling nutrients from the ground, this root pulls nutrients directly from another plant. It works by [[wp:File:Hyaloperonospora-parasitica-hyphae-haustoria.jpg|winding into the host plant's cellular structure]] and sucking on cytoplasm. Eventually they can expand from inside of the host, replacing it with the parasite's body. Haustoria are traditionally used by fungi like mildew, putting parasitic plants in a strange middle ground between their autotrophic brethren and the separate Kingdom Fungi. | ||
===Miscellaneous plants=== | ===Miscellaneous plants=== | ||
[[wp:Eucalyptus deglupta|Rainbow eucalyptus trees]] are probably the most colorful trees in the world. | [[wp:Eucalyptus deglupta|Rainbow eucalyptus trees]] are probably the most colorful trees in the world. | ||
===Fictional plants=== | |||
*Myst III: Exile. After two games set in mostly lifeless worlds, Myst III (under new developers) moved in [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HAShllUlEK0 a more organic direction]. Notice that some puzzles involve divining the workings of plants and the minds of animals. Of course Oni is pretty much on the other side of the action/thinking spectrum from a game like Myst, but there's still food for thought here. | |||
*Plants with Eyes. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wc_Y1IXVSig Just watch it]. As far as I can tell, this was produced for a television show as a sort of throw-away tease segment, but it really stands on its own as a bizarre and super-realistic visualization of the very kind of stuff we might encounter in plants from another world, or plants that were more active than ours. Apparently they started with live-action footage of real plants, and then dressed them up with CG, but the results are surprisingly effective. Then again, some of our real-life plants are pretty impressive too, as seen below. | |||
==Fungi== | ==Fungi== | ||
The [[wp:Phallus_indusiatus| | The [[wp:Phallus_indusiatus|veiled lady]] is a mushroom with a skirt! In one African tongue, these are called “house of the millipede”. | ||
Some mushrooms have caps that [[wp:Turbinellus_kauffmanii|break into scales]]. | Some mushrooms have caps that [[wp:Turbinellus_kauffmanii|break into scales]]. | ||
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Some fungi [[wp:Foxfire|create light]]. | Some fungi [[wp:Foxfire|create light]]. | ||
== | ==Animals== | ||
===Sea life=== | |||
*The female [http://tolweb.org/tree?group=Tremoctopus&contgroup=Argonautoid_families blanket octopus] wears a long skirt. | |||
*[[wp:Siphonophorae|Siphonophorae]] are beautiful and totally alien-looking. Make sure to look at Praya dubia. Man o’ wars are also part of this order. | |||
*[[wp:Labidiaster_annulatus|Labidiaster annulatus]], a giant 50-armed predatory sea star. | |||
*The [[wp:Venus_flytrap_sea_anemone|venus flytrap sea anemone]] is a deep-sea version of the venus flytrap. | |||
*The [http://www.wired.com/2015/02/absurd-creature-of-the-week-notothenioids/ nototheniod] fishes evolved the ability to endure freezing temperatures - hmm! | |||
*The [http://www.wired.com/2015/02/absurd-creature-of-the-week-scaly-foot-snail/ scaly-foot snail] uses bacteria to build iron armor! | |||
*The [[wp:File:Axolotl.jpg|Axolotl]] — it's just weird. | |||
*[[wp:Flying_gurnard|Flying gurnard]] is a fish with (ornamental) wings. | |||
*Calliactis tricolor, Libinia ferreirae, and Lychnorhiza lucerna] are in a [http://oceanovidaescondida.files.wordpress.com/2008/04/branca.jpg road trip movie] together. | |||
*The [[wp:Eulimnadia_texana|Eulimnadia texana]] is literally the “desert shrimp”, an aquatic life form in a desert that spends most of its time as an egg waiting for a rainstorm. | |||
===Land life=== | |||
The [[wp:Manx_Loaghtan|Manx Loaghtan sheep]] has up to six horns. | |||
===Insect=== | |||
==Parasites== | |||
Parasitic behavior may be relevant to the workings of the Daodan or some plants in the Wilderness. Let's take a broader look at this mechanism. | Parasitic behavior may be relevant to the workings of the Daodan or some plants in the Wilderness. Let's take a broader look at this mechanism. | ||
===Plants=== | |||
See [[#Parasitic plants|above]]. | |||
===Fungi=== | ===Fungi=== | ||