Turn 2
More expansion, and details on the Eekraw's reproduction cycles
Alright, now it’s time for the second turn. Right now the Eekraw have spread out into three biomes - their original mountain biome, a temperate forest biome to the north, and a savannah/tropical scrubland biome to the east.
Last time, I numbered all the biomes around the mountains before rolling to see which ones became inhabited. I realized that it would make everything harder when it comes to activating inhabited regions, so I decided to restart the numbering scheme and number only regions that are inhabited by the Eekraw. Those are labeled Regions 1, 2 and 3, as seen on the below map.
Turn Order
As a reminder, here is the turn order (slightly modified since the last one):
For each ‘turn’ I will do the following things:
Activation: Roll a die to decide which region to ‘activate.’ If there are three regions filled, I’ll roll 1d3, if there are fifteen, I’ll roll 1d15
Expansion: The activated region will expand to the one or two (1d2) nearest regions, if they are unpopulated. If there are more than that many, I’ll roll for it. If only one unpopulated region is nearby, they’ll expand to that one. If no regions are unpopulated, then they won’t expand. (The first time it comes up, I may decide to implement a migration/language collision mechanic)
Biome Generation: I will generate a biome for the regions that have been expanded into.
Language Development: Then the activated region and the regions it has expanded to will all go through one turn of language development. That process will be similar to the language development I did in the previous post. For the newly expanded regions, there will also be new animals and sights which will need words to describe them.
Technological Development: Finally, I will roll another die with the new number of regions. Whichever region is activated may have a new technology or cultural or societal innovation occur. I will roll a 1d4 - 1 is technological, 2 is social, 3 is cultural and 4 is biological (i.e., develop different colored feathers). Those will start off minor - things like some small amount of specialization or developing fire, not agriculture or iron-working. That region will also undergo a round of language development.
I may have to implement a technology spread mechanic of some sort as well, but I’ll come up with that when I come to it.
Activation
For the start of the second turn, I roll 1d3 to determine which region is activated. The result is 1, so the home region activates again.
Expansion
I roll a 1d2, getting a 1, so the region expands to one nearby regions. As I’m thinking about it, I do think it would be kind of cool if there was a chance that there’d be a round of migration into an already inhabited region, but I’ll save that for next turn. For this one, I’ll roll between the two available biomes - the tropical deciduous forest to the southwest (1) and the temperate forest to the southeast (2). I roll a 2, so they expand to the temperate forest to the southeast, which I now label region 4.
As a reminder, the lightest green is tropical deciduous forest (i.e. monsoon type climates), the darkest green is tropical evergreen forest (i.e. tropical jungle) and the middle green is temperate forest. The pink is tropical scrubland and the orange savannah, while the small patches of yellow and brown are grassland and chapparal.
Biome Generation
I reuse almost the same prompt as in the last turn, but add a new sentence to the beginning as an experiment to see if it helps. “You are a famous and well-respected science fiction author.” Again, I’ll generate twice with “avoid analogies to terrestrial creatures” at the end of the prompt and twice without, and see what results I get. I’m not sure that I saw any major improvement from telling ChatGPT that its a sci-fi author, but it didn’t seem to have made it worse, at least.
Here are the details of the biome I produced:
Major Predator: Medium-sized creature with sleek body that can adjust its colors to blend with the forest, four multi-jointed legs with flexible, nimble feet that allow it to grip and traverse the trees as easily as the ground. Ambush predator
Minor Predator: Medium-sized green flying creature, similar to the Varkik of the mountains but slightly smaller. Will swoop down on creatures up to the size of an Eekraw from the canopy.
Minor Predator: Semi-transparent gliding kite-like creature (related to the kite-like scavenger creatures of Region 2. Paralyzes its prey then wraps it up and slowly dissolves it
Scavenger: Small, armored insects that travel in swarms to devour carcasses and organic waste
Major Prey Animal: Large floating creatures that are buoyant due to gas-filled sacs within their body, graze on tree tops. When threatened, they release the gas, which both disorients and harms their opponent and causes them to rapidly sink downwards, hopefully evading the predator1
Medium Prey Animal: Medium-sized animal with hard exoskeletal shell, four legs. Feeds on the hard fruits, travels in small family groups
Medium Prey Animal: A medium-sized ground-hugging herbivore with a tough, segmented body. It moves up to bushes and squats on top of them to eat their leaves while keeping its shell between it and any predator.
Small prey Animal: Small, mouse-like creature with long tails that can be shed as a decoy when threatened
Small Prey Animal: Small, winged reptiles that feed on flower nectar and fruit
Staple Food: A fruit with a hard outer shell, and a soft, nutritional inside, primary sustenance for the medium herbivores, but can also be eaten by Eekraw
Staple Food: Large leaf which is edible, and also can be wrapped around other foods to make them portable
Resource: A moss that grows on the north side of trees and rocks. When dried and crushed, it can be used as a bioluminescent paint or marker to help with navigation signs or even art
Resource: Another moss that is incredibly soft and has insulating properties, can be used to line nests and keep eggs and chicks warm
Language Development:
Region 4:
Basics:
Ek - me
Yiee - you
Ru - them
Ewa - us
Kir - yes
Kre - no
Culture:
Yeek - priest/shaman
Vark - evil force of darkness
Eki - youngling
Ekar - home
Descriptors:
Yiti - bad
Jilkee - good
Tiku - unreliable/precarious
Verbs:
KrVark - to fly
KrVar - to succeed/excel
Kril - to use
KrTal - to stand/land
KrRa’ti - to defend (including spiritually, i.e., the shamans)
Tavark’ka - to start
Other:
‘ti - suffix for small
‘ka - suffix for new
Environment:
Raa - sun
Tali - ground/soil
To - underground
Tra - water
Var - air/above
Ray’kre - day
Rai’k - night
Raa’kir - sunset/sunrise
Varkre - flight
Taltir (ground-plant) - forest
Vartraltir (above-forest) - canopy (negative connotation - scary, unpredictable)
Raatal (sun-ground) clearings in the forest
Trak’ti (small water) - stream
Tavark - jumping off points for flight - tall trees
Vartrak (air-water) - mist/fog/dew
Creatures:
Tik - dangerous creature
Skik - non-threatening/harmless creature
Trara’varkre - (old word for large herbivore, plus ‘flight) the large floating gaseous herbivore
Jilktal’varkre (lizard-flight) the flying reptiles
Tikk’tikru (sneaky-dangerous creature) - the large, color-changing predator
Varkre’tikk (flight-danger) the flying predator
Yitik’raa (evildoer-sun - i.e., sun shines through) semi-transparent kite-like predator
Tor’skik’ti (Underground-harmless-small) Scavenger insects
Tuur’jeekti - the mouse-like creatures that shed tails
Trara’ti (herbivore-small) - the medium-sized herbivores with exoskeleton
Ra’tir’skik (defense-harmless) - the medium sized ground herbivore with segmented armor
Plants:
Tir - plant
Varskti - trees
Tir’Ra’tir (plant-defense) - the hard-shelled fruit
Raa’tir (sun-plant) - the luminescent moss
Ekra’tir (shelter-plant) - the insulating moss for insulating nests
Varskti’ti’jilk (tree-small-tasty) - the edible leaves of the tree
Region 1:
While I was doing region 1, I realized that I had done linguistic evolution on that region four times in a row, and each time I went through every word and changed it. It is particularly annoying to get ChatGPT to do that, given the context lengths, and plus, words don’t necessarily change that quickly all the time. I decided to separate the categories into numbers (i.e., basic is 1, culture is 2, etc., and then roll to see which category undergoes changes. In this case, I rolled an 8 for ‘plant’ and therefore, I went through and had ChatGPT conduct changes to all the words in the plant category. This obviously isn’t how real language change works, but it makes it a bit more tractable for me, and over the course of many rounds and rolls should still result in noticeably different languages. I may alter this process again if necessary, though.
Plants (8):
Teer - plant
Tirt’r - tuber
Teerra - sun-reflecting fibers
Tra’tiir - mountain grass
Varskit - trees that are too short to jump off of
Technological Development:
Now there are four inhabited regions, so I’ll roll 1d4. I rolled a 1 again. I thought about re-rolling, since this was the second time that region would have gotten technological development, and the fifth time in a row to do linguistic evolution there. However, I decided that part of the point of this whole thing was to gamify the worldbuilding, so I’ll go with it.
Again, I’ll roll another 1d4: 1 is technology, 2 is society, 3 is culture, and 4 is biology (I’m not sure about the last one still, I’ll keep thinking on it, and see how I do it if it comes up).
I rolled a 2, so the society of the Eekraw in region 1 evolves.
Their current state of development is as follows:
Society/Social Structure:
Clan units of extended families, limited specialization
Yee’r (priests)
Culture:
Reverence for the sun
The Var’k are evil shadow spirits (associated in some way with the Varkik (raptor-like predators)
The Yee’r (priests) conduct rituals to try to drive the Varkik away spiritually
Technology/Tools
Shelter: Caves or crevices in cliffs, illuminated with shimmerstones. Sunfibers are used to drape entrance, to reflect light away and to limit IR vision
I came up with a couple of different ideas on how the social structure might evolve. However, as I was writing these options out, I realized that I needed to consider more about the specifics of the Eekraw as a species. Specifically, what kind of sexual dimorphism do they have? Do they pair-bond (like many bird species, as well as humans) or have a different form of relationships? They lay eggs - how does that affect society? How many eggs do they lay and how often? For that matter, how long do they live?
So lets examine these questions. I put the following prompt into ChatGPT to get ideas:
“You are a science-fiction author, who is creative and well-informed about biology and sociology. Help me brainstorm aspects of the following sentient avian species. What kind of sexual dimorphism might the species have? How would the species reproduce? Would there be pair-bonding or multiple partners? How many eggs might they lay?”
For the sexual dimorphism question, I picked a few of the possible answers that seemed most interesting. First, females should have stronger and more dexterous talons on their feet, reflecting their ability to dig out nests for brooding (which may mean they are better at tool-making later). Males have broader and stronger but less agile wings (better able to fly from a standing start, but less able to avoid obstacles/predators). Females have more vibrant feather patterns, while males have more uniform and dull colorations
For the pair-bonding/multiple partner question, ChatGPT proposed three possibilities:
1. Monogamous pairing with extended care
2. Polygomous with single parent care
3. Communal nesting with shared care
I think the third option offers the most interesting distinction from human reproduction, and may offer interesting cultural options. Thus, the Eekraw breed in a communal nest, with eggs from multiple mothers mixed in the nest (thus, neither male nor female know which eggs are necessarily theirs, but rather all are shared). I think a stable nest number is around two or three each of male and female. Multiple nests group together into a clan unit. (specialization is probably at the level of the nest - i.e., a particular nest is a nest of Yee’r, all four-six adults).
For the number of eggs they lay, probably each female can lay 1-2 eggs every few years. The nests try to space out the laying, to avoid having a huge draw on their resources all at once if all the females lay at the same time.
I am going to have them live to around 60-80 years, similar to human lifespans. The Eekraw lay eggs every other year or less frequently.
Eekraw mature slowly, with a full social, physical and sexual maturity not until 20-25 years of age, though they can begin to fly and contribute to gathering at around 10-15.
I haven’t decided how new nest groups or formed or how avians move between them, but I’ll leave that to a later decision.
Here is the updated species description, with a few other minor changes I made:
Avian Species - the Eekraw
Size: Approximately 4 to 5 feet tall. Wingspan is 6 to 7 feet
Lifespan: Can live 60-80 years absent illness or injury. Younglings can fly and contribute to gathering at around 10-15, but don’t reach full social and sexual maturity until 20-25 years.
Plumage: Primarily greenish-brown feathers. Males have duller and more uniform feathers, while females have more varied and vibrant feather patterns
Wings: Strong, broad wings, used for short flights — cannot lift off vertically, need to jump off a cliff face or other horizontal surface. Can use wings to assist in jumping to reach a higher handhold in a tree or cliff. Males have longer wings with more rigid primary feathers, allowing them to more easily lift off even in difficult conditions, while females have shorter and broader wings with flexible primary feathers, allowing them to better avoid obstacles or predators
Wing talons: Tough and strong, but not very flexible - can grasp things, but cannot do dextrous work
Feet talons: Multi-jointed, flexible and strong, with opposable joint, allowing for tool manipulation - evolved for pulling the mouse-like creatures out of burrows or tubers out of soil. Females have stronger and more dexterous foot talons.
Wing and feet talons are both semi-opposable, allowing tool use. Feet talons are more dextrous, so the avians either balance on one leg or hang from something when doing something that requires tool use
Reproduction: Breed in a communal nest, with eggs from multiple mothers mixed in the nest. A stable nest is around two to three male and female adults each, with up to six infants and six younglings. Females can lay 1-2 eggs in a single clutch, every other year or so, depending on food conditions. Nests try to space out their clutches, to avoid having a simultaneous huge draw on resources if all females lay at the same time.
Going back to the possible social adaptations, I created the following options for social development:
While what were once elders are now priests/shamans, I haven’t specified if there is any ruler as such - probably not, still more of a small group decision rather than rulers as such. Perhaps they develop the concept of the ‘big man’ (or ‘big nest’) who acts as clan chief
This species is fundamentally nomadic, but perhaps they start returning to the same cave each year?
Separation out of specific nests of Eekraw as lookouts/defenders to protect the rest of the tribe against Varkik and other threats
Separation of nests of hunters and nests of gatherers
Change to how living units form - larger collections of nests? ‘Nests of nests?’
Trading younglings between clan groups to create new nests
I’ll roll a 1d6 to decide which of these occurs. I rolled a 3, so the Eekraw in the mountains have created additional specialization, with some nests (probably one nest per clan group) separated out as lookouts/defenders to protect the rest of the tribe.
New words needed: First, I need a word for nest and another for clan. I’ll take the word for ‘us’ from the proto-language (Erraw), as the word for the nest group. For the clan, I’ll take the word for shelter (Ekra) and the word for life (Trak) and make the word “Ekra-Trak” for clan.
Next, the word KrRa’tir means ‘to defend,’ and I’ll add the meaning ‘protect’ to it. Then the word Ekra (shelter) fits perfectly to the beginning of the word to defend, even though etymologically they are distinct. So “Ekra’tir” are the defenders of the shelters/caves.
Lastly, I’ll do another round of language evolution. As for before, there are eight groupings of word types in Region 1’s language, so I’ll roll a 1d8 and conduct changes to that grouping. I roll a 7, so it’ll be the words for creatures/animals
Creatures (7):
Teek - dangerous creature
Skikka - non-threatening/harmless creature
Tat’k - medium feline predator
Tikro - snake
Varkee - raptor-like creature
Tikra - scavenger creature
Trar - the large herbivore
Skital - the mammals that can climb sheer surfaces
Rakjil - the nocturnal rabbit-like creatures
Turjekt - the mice-like creatures that burrow
Jilktal - the lizards
And thus ends turn 2. Obviously there was the most change in region 1, the original home of the Eekraw (which makes some sense, really). Still, the Eekraw have spread to another biome, and started to develop some more complex social structures. In addition, I added more detail to their biology, which will make future worldbuilding more sensible and interesting. In particular, the idea that specialization takes place at the level of nests, rather than individuals, is an interesting one that I’m excited to explore more.
One thing I might add to the turn order next turn is some sort of ‘random event.’ There are just a bunch of things I can think of - from a bad winter, to a disease, to a comet flying overhead (thanks Paradox, -1 stability), to a new ice-age. I’m not sure how I’ll implement it, if I do - maybe ask ChatGPT to give a list of possible random events, making long lists of things is one of the things it’s best at. I also might want to implement (at some point) a ‘likelihood’ check, since a heavily populated area is more likely to develop than a sparsely populated, icy one. Actually, that could work with the random events - possibly one of the random events could be splitting a populated area into a second region, which increases the probability of it developing. Might get complex quickly, though.
We’ll see. In any case, tune back next time for Turn 3! I don’t know why I’m writing as if anyone is reading this, I know from my stats that no one has ready any of my posts. Still, writing it this way makes it more fun for me and makes me more likely to write down all my thoughts, which gives an interesting background to the evolution of the Eekraw.
Incidentally, looking back over my posts is really cool to see how the words in these languages change over time. The words ‘you’ and ‘yes’ (Yik and Krii) from the proto-language have evolved into Yee’r to mean priest in region 1, while they have evolved to Yeekree, to mean knowledge, in Region 2. I’m excited to see how all of these continue to change over time.
I also got some hilarious looking results for this one, like the following:
