![[Commission for http://murky-depths13.deviantart.com/]
First commission of this round complete, lots of fun :D](http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m1ssgwJ7QU1r84j1ao1_1280.jpg)
[Commission for http://murky-depths13.deviantart.com/]
First commission of this round complete, lots of fun :D
Cloakmouth - By Alex Ries
“The flowerjaw body plan reached its peak diversity in marine environments, where this group inhabits almost every major ecological niche. The deep oceans, while low in energy and deprived of oxygen and sunlight, are nevertheless home to numerous creatures. The beings of this ecosystem are able to exploit the abundant surface environment through either migrating vertically at night to feed, or by preying on creatures migrating into the deep to escape surface predators.
Sit and wait predation is an energy efficient way to hunt, and the Crystalline Cloakmouth represents an extreme adaptation to this way of life.
The reduced, soft body hangs below the highly modified mouthparts, which are dominated by huge vertical jaws spanning 13 inches from tip to tip. Sharp semitransparent mandibles are poised ready to snap shut on any prey lured inwards by the bioluminescent tip of the tongue. Prey that comes too close is skewered by the mandibles and then enclosed by the heavily pigmented jaws. This prevents they preys’ defensive bioluminescence being detected by larger foes.
The two huge lower eyes are oriented upwards and modified to detect the bioluminescence of prey, or their shadows’ against the downwelling surface light. The horizontal jaws, thin and elongated, are spread to the sides and covered in a line of fluid filled spheres able to detect vibrations in the water, a system also present around the rim of the main jaws. The horizontal mandibles are shorter and more robust than the crystalline seizing jaws, and are hidden away until prey is captured, which they proceed to butcher and then pass downwards into the pharynx.
The upper eyestalks are highly elongated and the post-ocular sections bifurcated into sensors adapted to detect the sex pheromones of conspecifics. Currents are so slow and the environment so vast that highly sensitive antennae are needed to detect minute concentrations of chemicals in the water. The small eyes on these tentacles are still functional but of low resolution; they monitor the light from the surface world and allow the Crystalline Cloakmouth to tell night from day.
Although ungainly, the Crystalline Cloakmouth can move quickly in short bursts to escape predators. Defence consists of several stages: First, the jaws with their large surface area are clamped rapidly together, shooting the creature away in the opposite direction. At the same time, thin translucent threads are extruded from modified limbs near the tail to form a mesh in the fleeing animals’ wake. Predators caught in this are tangled by the sticky threads, which bioluminesce on contact and thus render the predator visible to its own enemies. Proteins on the Cloakmouths’ skin inhibit this reaction when it becomes entangled in its own threads. As a final defence, the Crystalline Cloakmouth leaves the area using paired fins usually held tightly against its body, swimming slowly backwards to new hunting grounds. “
Protest - Alex Ries
Refugees, faced with starvation and loss of livelihood by the diversion of the river that feeds the vast lakes they live upon, were shipped to uninhabited badlands in neighboring nations. The state responsible for the disruptive developments paid local poor governments, in arms and financial relief, to accept millions of displaced people inside their borders.
Ill feelings due to the destruction of their towns and habitat, anger soon erupted into large scale protests which the financially insecure and corrupt nations had trouble containing.
Seen here is a vast march from a nearby tent city; angry refugees storm an area of newly (but cheaply) build admin towers created to manage the huge displaced population.
Younger and angrier refugees quickly turned to violence, attacking understaffed riot police staff with knives and other improvised weapons.
Kaybor Gate - By Alex Ries
These ruins represent the height of Birrin pre-industrial engineering, and continue to impress tourists from more recent, technologically complex societies today.
Part city and part fortress, this gate was built to defend one of the few entrances to a lush, steep walled floatforest valley beyond, in which a society of several million inhabitants flourished for centuries.
Initially a natural stone monolith with only a narrow passageway dividing it, generations of craftspeople and slaves hammered away at the stone to perfect it into its current form, before finally coating it with a resin/sand mixture to protect it from further natural erosion.
The guardian statues warned foreign armies and traders of the power and capabilities of the valley people, who maintained a massive standing army at all times, based in a garrisons built into the gate walls.
Too heavy to themselves be created from stone, the guardian statues were built from the interlaced and cemented trunks and roots of local float-forest and other imported plants. Treated with resin to prevent decay, this meshwork was then coated in the same substance used to smooth the wall standing behind them.
Ultimately, the civilisation responsible was conquered by a society that had developed steam powered warships, and who attacked from one of the seaward entrances of the valley.
Left to ruin by the conquerors for several centuries, it is now of prime interest to archaeologists attempting to reconstruct the history of the valley society.
Seen here, a small camp of nomadic locals pitch tents in the evening glow of the great gate.
Barnard’s Swordswallower - By Alex Ries
Living in the oceans of a dense metal rich planet, the Swordswallower moves through the sea on a single undulating ventral fin. As it moves, its jaw sweeps planktonic life into its small mouth at the back of the ‘net’, where it is filtered and any food swallowed. The membrane it uses to hunt may look delicate, but is make from silk-like secretions and is easily repaired by glands in the egg shaped ‘mouth’.
To alter its depth, a gas bladder fills much of its insides and can change volume at will, letting the Swordswallower feed using minimum energy.
Under the shadow of this specimen, a school of smaller fish-size relations of the Swordswallower seek shelter under its shadow. If I predator attacks, the feeding mouth of the large creature can be retracted, and the fish size creatures will hide inside. In return for this shelter, the fish like animals keep the Swallower free from parasites.
Trailing from the rear of this specimen are two long pale strings of gametes, releasing hundreds of reproductive cells into the sea as it swims, to mix in the water with the eggs and sperm of others swimming nearby.
The Birrin are a sentient hexapod species from a planet approximately the size of Venus. This individual resides in the tropical region of their world, bordering the uninhabitably hot equatorial zone many birrin call the ‘Kiln’. Low employment, high temperatures and generally harsh conditions mean that narcotic use is high among many of the population here.
This birrin, after ending a work cycle and with no further hive duties, uses and deals in most of the local low end narcotics. The three clasped in the beak offer an enjoyable combination of flavours when partaken together. Other mixes are stored in plain view under a strap on the head for sale or later use. As there is no substance control in this region, they can be shown in plain sight.
Addition accessories include a wrist mounted multimedia device, which feeds headphone cables to the auditory receptors at the tip of the upper two eyestalks; the device was likely traded illegally, or purchased from a wholesale shipment moving from the deep water docks on its way inland.
